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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja may have let the cat out of the bag on his second title defense.

While appearing at an event featuring the Brazilian soccer team Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, Pantoja revealed his plans to striker Gabriel Barbosa.

“I’ll be defending the belt in Rio, on May 4,” he said.

The UFC flyweight champ didn’t reveal his opponent. With ex-champ Brandon Moreno rematching Brandon Royval at UFC Mexico city next month, and Manel Kape currently benched after badly missing weight for a bout against Matheus Nicolau at UFC Vegas 84, immediate options for the next title challenger aren’t apparent.

Pantoja successfully defended his title for the first time this past December at UFC 296, outpointing Royval in the co-headliner. It was Pantoja’s fifth straight win and followed a rematch victory over Brandon Moreno to capture the flyweight title at UFC 290.

Pantoja previously told The MMA Hour that he wanted to fight in Brazil and welcomed another fight with Moreno, or the ex-champ’s previously scheduled opponent, Amir Albazi.

“Everyone talks a lot about how good Moreno is right now, and I want to see that,” he said. “I want to see how good Moreno is now, and if he wants, we can make the fourth fight with me.

MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz contributed to this report.

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Admitted defeat
| BJPenn.com

One major sponsor has already put a hold on its current dealings with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in the wake of Vince McMahon’s ongoing trafficking lawsuit.

On Friday, it was announced that the American meat snack brand, Slim Jim, will “pause our promotional activities with WWE” in light of McMahon’s current legal issues. Slim Jim is the first major sponsor to speak out after the allegations against McMahon were made public and will continue to monitor the situation in effort to gauge future involvement with WWE.

A spokesperson for Slim Jim released the following statement below (per Wrestle Ops):

“Slim Jim values integrity and respect in all of our partnerships. Given the recent disturbing allegations against Vince McMahon, at this time we’ve decided to pause our promotional activities with WWE. This decision reflects our commitment to our brand values and responsibility to our community.

We will continue to monitor the situation and base our future engagements on our values and what’s best for our brand.”

Slim Jim, which partnered with WWE in Aug. 2023 in what was the largest sponsorship deal in wrestling history. was expected to promote the brand this Saturday at the 2024 Royal Rumble. All Slim Jim sponsorship and promotion will be removed from the event.

WWE recently merged with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) under TKO Group Holdings, Inc., in which McMahon is the current executive chairman. The WWE founder is being accused by a former employee of violating Trafficking Victims Prevention Act, Negligence, and Civil Battery, among other allegations, in relation to alleged sexual and emotional abuse.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for McMahon released the following statement:

“This lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and a vindictive distortion of the truth. He will vigorously defend himself.”

Stick with Mania for more news pertaining to McMahon’s ongoing lawsuit and the WWE fallout

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Sean Strickland continues to sell himself as the people’s champion of the UFC.

The former UFC middleweight champion on Friday came to the defense of MMA fans after longtime UFC commentator Jon Anik expressed displeasure with the hostility he encountered from those who disagreed that Dricus du Plessis beat Strickland at UFC 297. Anik said he considered covering the NFL instead of MMA as a result of the backlash.

Whereas several active UFC fighters and industry vets came to Anik’s defense, Strickland chided the UFC employee for not being grateful to the promotion’s fan base, using an expletive to describe them.

“What I’d say to Jon Anik calling mma fans ‘the lowest common denominator,’” Strickland wrote on X. “These people are way you have a paycheck, and you make way more than most. … Maybe the NFL is a better choice for you than MMA. ….Also you guys are a bunch of savage c****. I’m here for it…..”

After losing a unanimous decision to du Plessis, Strickland initially congratulated his opponent before doing an about-face where he blamed the outcome on a headbutt from the South African fighter late in the five-round fight. Du Plessis said he didn’t remember landing such a strike during the bout.

Media scores for the UFC 297 headliner were split down the middle on who won the fight, while UFC CEO Dana White scored the bout for Strickland. A wave of Strickland fans blasted the decision and those who agreed with it, which included Anik.

In an impassioned response to the vitriol he received, Anik wrote he had observed “a lot of malice and disrespect” from MMA fans as of late, and the level of it he encountered about the UFC 297 outcome had him reconsidering his desire to stay in the industry.

“Those of you suggesting that there’s any bias, or you don’t like me, well, you’ll probably get your f****** wish come 2026 because honestly, at this point, I’ve had it,” Anik said.

Anik’s startling honesty prompted an outpouring of support from industry vets who praised the UFC commentator’s skills on the microphone and urged him not to step away.

Anik later thanked UFC vet (and regular Fighter vs. Writer co-host) Matt Brown and others for stepping to his defense.

Strickland was the obvious fan favorite heading into UFC 297, gathering a raucous response from fans at the press conference, including one who rushed the stage simply to shake his hand. After promising to stab du Plessis over comments made about his abusive past, he buried the hatchet with the then-title challenger.

White downplayed controversy Strickland sparked prior to the fight with blatantly homophobic remarks, again painting the leading MMA promotion as a bastion of free speech where fighters wouldn’t be censored for what they said.

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A fight with Max Holloway was not Justin Gaethje’s first choice for his return to the Octagon at UFC 300.

Earlier this month, UFC CEO Dana White revealed that ‘The Highlight’ would put his BMF title on the line against the former featherweight champion. The announcement came with a lot of fanfare, but it admittedly left Gaethje a little disappointed considering everyone, himself included, believed his next fight would be for lightweight gold.

“It’s always funny how it works out,” Gaethje said in an interview with Kevin Iole. “You always think it’s going to go one way, and you can never guess what’s going to happen with the UFC. Once the Oliveira and Tsarukyan fight got announced, I was really confident that I was going to get the Makhachev fight, because I figured, obviously, there is nobody else to fight him. … I don’t know what’s going on. Some injury or something, but he’s not going to fight till June or July, I guess.

“I was under the impression that if not for sure a title eliminator, that the fight with Dustin Poirier was as much a title eliminator as this Tsarukyan and Oliveira fight is. Now, me fighting on the same card as those guys, I’m going to be obviously above them, all four of us – you know, me, Max, Tsaruykan, Oliveira, we all got a chance to stand out” (h/t MMA Junkie).

Though he’s fighting someone outside of the lightweight division, a loss for Gaethje could potentially derail his claim as the next man in line for Islam Makhachev. But instead of looking at it as a negative, ‘The Highlight’ is embracing the opportunity to stand out among some of the best fighters on the planet and re-solidifying his status as the most deserving contender.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” Gaethje continued. “I think it’s second-best obviously if they lined me up with Makhachev – that’s the best-case scenario. Second best scenario is I get to fight for it, and that’s the scenario I’m in. I get to go in there, I get to stand out. There’s going to be two contenders coming out that night. So, we’ll see what happens after that.”

Justin Gaethje Talked His Fight with Max Holloway ‘Into Existence’

Justin Gaethje has nothing, but respect for Max Holloway. It is for that reason that he never wanted to find himself in a position where he had to repeatedly punch ‘Blessed’ in the face. Unfortunately, the fight game can be cruel like that sometimes.

Well, unless you’re Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili. Then you just switch divisions.

“I kind of talked this into existence on accident,” Gaethje said. “I said, ‘I didn’t want to punch Max Holloway, but he’s also a guy that could fight for a BMF belt.’ That turns out into going to be having to punch Max Holloway. It’s the name of the game, and I am the best in the world at creating damage.

“The last two fights, I have been very tactical and very, very, very methodical in my approach. I think that obviously I’m going to continue to do that, and if I can do that, then it’s going to be very hard for Max to overwhelm me and put me in positions where I shouldn’t be.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Merab Dvalishvili has quite the sense of humor.

Scheduled to face former two-division champion Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 next month in Anaheim, Calif., Dvalishvili has put himself in a position for a bantamweight title shot against Sean O’Malley. But the current champ already has his first title defense set for UFC 299 against Marlon Vera — the man O’Malley called out after his UFC 292 win over Aljamain Sterling, and the only fighter to defeat him.

Avenging prior losses seems to be a theme for O’Malley, along with facing fighters lower in the rankings then Dvalishvili. Acting as “Professor Machine,” the Georgian contender is leaning into the gimmick with full force.

Checki out Dvalishvili’s creative video below.

In the video, Dvalishvili gets to the point where he wins the title, predicting he will take it from Petr Yan. Then, he calls out Frankie Saenz, who is retired from the sport.

Following his divisional predictions, Dvalishvili has a message for Cejudo ahead of their matchup.

“We have a result from the hospital: Henry Cejudo has a longer tongue than himself,” Dvalishvili said. “But no worries, Dr. Merab will fix this problem on Feb. 17. See you there, Henry. I’m coming for you.”

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