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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Kayla Harrison is the newest marquee name to be added to the UFC roster, but not everyone is thrilled with the move.

First and foremost, Bellator featherweight champion Cris Cyborg — who has long been tied to a potential bout with Harrison — is wondering why Harrison has chosen to jump from the PFL to the UFC instead of signing up to face her. Following UFC CEO Dana White’s announcement that Harrison will fight Holly Holm at UFC 300 on April 13, Cyborg was quick to coin the nickname “Kayla Gump” for Harrison.

The jab is a reference to the popular phrase, “Run Forrest, run,” from the Academy Award-winning 1994 film Forrest Gump.

Cyborg was not the only fighter to make this reference, as Harrison’s longtime PFL rival Larissa Pacheco also suggested that the two-time gold medal-winning judoka was avoiding her top opposition. Pacheco has twice lost to Harrison, but she defeated her by unanimous decision in their most recent duel in November 2022 to hand Harrison her first loss in MMA.

See more reactions from the MMA community below, including several fighters wondering if Harrison can cut down to the bantamweight limit.

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Former undisputed welterweight title challenger, Jorge Masvidal has opened and currently remains a betting favorite to beat his fellow UFC alum, Nate Diaz in a potential boxing rematch as soon as March – as the duo find themselves linked to a blockbuster re-run – this time in the squared circle. 

Masvidal, a former undisputed welterweight title chaser twice during his tenure with the Dana White-led UFC, called time on his storied combat sports career back in April of last year, after suffering his fourth consecutive Octagon loss in the form of decision defeat to Gilbert Burns in his hometown.

As for Diaz, the Stockton veteran departed the promotion back in 2022, landing a rallying fourth round guillotine choke submission win over former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson in the pair’s impromptu UFC 279 headliner at the welterweight limit.

Making his professional boxing debut back in August, Diaz headlined a card in Texas against professional boxer, Jake Paul, suffering a one-sided unanimous decision loss in his first outing in the squared circle – which included a late knockdown.

And despite his more recent boxing experience, Diaz has opened as a +250 betting underdog to beat Floridian striker, Masvidal, who himself is sitting as an impressive -325 betting favorite at the time of publication.

Jorge Masvidal emerges as betting favorite to beat Nate Diaz 

Yet to officially book their expected Las Vegas clash, fans are sure to place a wide and varied array of bets and wagers on an earmarked rematch between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz – and from the likes of ‘Sin City’ – all the way ‘Down Under’, some of the best-recognised slots and gambling games bring with them many instant withdrawal casino Australia if a punter is successful with their flutters and wagers. 

Sharing a distinct history, Jorge Masvidal became the inaugural BMF championship winner under the banner of the UFC back in 2019 against the Stockton native, headlining a November pay-per-view that year at Madison Square Garden.

Starting in vicious fashion, Jorge Masvidal elbowed his way through Diaz early in the bout against the fence following a clinch exchange, before the latter walked onto a massive high kick in an attempt to evade, sending him to the canvas with a massive laceration surrounding his notorious scar tissue. 

Dropped once again later in the bout following a brutal right body kick from Masvidal, Diaz was controversially prevented from answering a fourth round against the former by the Octagon-side physician, who determined that the gushing blood around The Ultimate Fighter victor’s right eye was too severe, paired with a nasty cut around his eye socket.

Going to on fight for undisputed welterweight gold twice after hid symbolic victory against Diaz, Jorge Masvidal would first fight to a unanimous decision loss to two-fight rival, Kamaru Usman in a short-notice clash, before returning to fight him in an immediate rematch – dropping a hellacious second round KO of his own in Florida in a championship re-run. 

Continually linked with a return to the UFC, potentially to settle his rivalry with former two-time foe, Conor McGregor, Diaz’s next venture appears all but signed to occur in the boxing ring once more. 

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The middleweight title changed hands in the UFC 297 main event on Jan. 20 in Toronto, Canada.  Dricus Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland via split decision to capture the 185-pound championship.  

The fight was a closely contested match and some, including UFC President Dana White, scored the fight for Strickland.  Knowing that he lost the first round, Du Plessis believed that he won the next three.  

“The fight was pretty close.  I knew I had lost round one when I went to the corner because that was our game plan.  Our game plan was to fight Sean Strickland’s fight in the first two rounds but fighting the exact fight that he would fight, going forward and landing one punch, one punch, one kick,” Du Plessis told the Anik & Florian Podcast.    

“That would surprise them, though, because they’d think I would come out with big bombs early.  Obviously, the first round I went to the corner and obviously my coach was shouting to me when the round. is about to end to get the takedown, and we made sure we got that at the end of every round to either level the playing field or make sure we tipped the round in our favor.  That was our plan.  It wasn’t to get him down and hold him down.  It was to get the takedown, secure the position, and get back up,” continued Du Plessis.  

“The first round I went to the corner and I said I think we need to do a little bit more than that because we lost that round and they said, ‘you definitely did.’  In the second round, I thought we won that.  He said he thinks it was really close but my coach said, ‘I think you won that round but it was very close.’  Three and four, I definitely won those rounds.  I felt incredibly good in those rounds.”  

Related: Robert Whittaker on Dricus Du Plessis beating Sean Strickland” ‘I don’t know why it’s controversial’

When the scorecards were being read by Bruce Buffer, Du Plessis had no doubt that he won the fight.

“Before we went to a split decision in my mind I won the fight.  I felt going into the fifth, even in the fifth, I felt Sean Strickland gave it his all but only at the end of the round.  I felt I controlled that fifth round up until the very, very end,” Du Plessis said.  

“How I took that, when he started throwing those just haymakers, I took that as, and his corner shouted ’30 seconds.  There’s 30 second of the round left,’ in my mind I thought, yeah, because he has to.  This is his Hail Mary.  He is losing this fight.  I really, honestly thought I won the fight.”      

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC 300 is expected to deliver a loaded lineup for the promotion’s historic April event.

Following one of the most chaotic years in recent memory, the UFC will bring UFC 300 to its home base of Las Vegas on April 13. UFC CEO Dana White has promised one of the most stacked, and perhaps, unpredictable lineups in company history.

With four title fights already on the books for the first quarter of the year, including Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight title, and Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Raquel Pennington for the vacant women’s bantamweight title at UFC 297, Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria for the featherweight title at UFC 298, and Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera for the bantamweight title at UFC 299, there’s a number of directions the UFC could go in terms of booking potential blockbuster fights.

Will UFC 300 mark the long awaited return of the sport’s biggest star in Conor McGregor? Time will tell as the countdown to UFC 300 is officially on.

For now, keep this page bookmarked: We’ll have a rundown of every fight announced, rumors, athletes raising their hands and calling their shots, and more.

Current UFC 300 fight card:

Zhang Weili vs. Yan Xiaonan

Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway — BMF title fight

Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan

Kayla Harrison vs. Holly Holm

Aljamain Sterling vs. Calvin Kattar

Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic

Cody Garbrandt vs. Deiveson Figueiredo

Jim Miller vs. Bobby Green

Bo Nickal vs. Cody Brundage

Jan. 24: Big moves

In a stunning announcement, two-time Olympic champion and two-time PFL champion Kayla Harrison has jumped ship from PFL to face Holly Holm at UFC 300. Harrison, 33, is expected to make her bantamweight debut after fighting her entire MMA career at lightweight and featherweight. Holm, 42, is a former UFC bantamweight champion.

Also joining the card is a battle between featherweight veteran Sodiq Yusuff and MMA Fighting’s 2023 Rookie of the Year Diego Lopes.

Jan. 16: BMF title back up for grabs

In a surprise move, UFC CEO Dana White announced Tuesday that Justin Gaethje is set to defend his BMF title against Max Holloway in a lightweight matchup at UFC 300.

White also announced that Jim Miller will get his wish following his third-round submission of Gabriel Benitez at UFC Vegas 84. The current record-holder for the most bouts and wins in UFC history, Miller faces fellow longtime veteran Bobby Veteran in a lightweight bout on the card, per White. Miller is shooting to become the only fighter to compete at UFC 100, UFC 200, and UFC 300.

Jan. 12: Cody Garbrandt gets his wish

UFC CEO Dana White announced Friday a long-awaited matchup between former champions Cody Garbrandt and Deiveson Figueiredo is the latest addition to UFC 300.

Garbrandt called for a matchup against Figueiredo following his latest knockout win over Brian Kelleher at UFC 296. The two former champions were previously booked to meet in August 2020 with Garbrandt moving down in weight and challenging for Figueiredo’s then-held flyweight title, however Garbrandt was forced to pull out of the contest due to illness.

Now they’ll get a chance to settle their business on one of the biggest cards of the year.

Jan. 13: Jim Miller calls out Paul Felder and Matt Brown following UFC Vegas 84 win

Jim Miller has been linked to UFC 300 for years, and there was another hurdle he needed to leap over, and that was his UFC Vegas 84 bout with Gabriel Benitez. Miller extended his UFC win record with a third-round submission victory, and then turned his attention to the April pay-per-view event.

Following the win, “A-10” showed interest in fighting Paul Felder, who was doing commentary for the event, as well as Matt Brown for a potential shootout on the historic card — along with a hilarious callout of Brock Lesnar.

Miller has to be on the card, and at the end of the day, the opponent doesn’t really matter, but either Felder or Brown would be excellent opponents for the veteran lightweight that competed at both UFC 100 and UFC 200.

Jan. 11: Nate Diaz wants to headline UFC 300 after missing out on UFC 200

Nate Diaz might be interested in coming home again.

After he was originally scheduled to headline UFC 200 against Conor McGregor back in 2016, Diaz now likes the idea of returning to his old stomping grounds to potentially serve as the UFC 300 main event instead.

Diaz took to Twitter on Thursday to tease the possible reunion after hitting free agency following his last fight in the octagon — a win over Tony Ferguson in 2022.

“I was supposed to headline UFC 200,” Diaz wrote. “Headline UFC 300 would be better.”

The original plan for UFC 200 was to set with McGregor and Diaz squaring off in a rematch but the bout was ultimately delayed until UFC 202 two months later.

Diaz remains on good terms with the promotion with UFC CEO Dana White often saying that he would welcome the Stockton, Calif. native back if he ever wanted to return. As UFC 300 continues to wait on a headliner, Diaz has at least made an offer that his former bosses might have to consider.

Jan. 9: Alex Pereira says he’s ‘back,’ but will it be at UFC 300?

Light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has been attached to this card already with his math equation that led to remarkable speculation.

Pereira posted to Instagram on Tuesday a photo of himself with the championship wrapped around his waist with a caption of “DE VOLTA,” which translated says “BACK.”

While an announcement hasn’t been made in regards to Pereira’s timeline, UFC 300 is currently without a main event, and with Pereira ending 2023 which incredible momentum, the UFC could certainly put “Poatan” in a spot to capitalize on it.

Jan. 7: Dana White announces Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan for UFC 300, confirms Dustin Poirier will be at UFC 299

One former lightweight titleholder has been booked for UFC 300, while another is now set to compete a month earlier.

UFC CEO Dana White officially announced that Charles Oliveira is set to fight Arman Tsarukyan in a bout that is expected to determine the next challenger for lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. In his announcement, White said that he expects Makhachev to return to competition sometime this summer.

White also confirmed that former interim champion Dustin Poirier will not be competing at UFC 300. Poirier had previously shot down the possibility of a fight with Nate Diaz at UFC 300, and he instead fights fast-rising contender Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299 on March 9. The bout is set for five rounds and is scheduled to be the co-main event, with bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley defending his title against rival Marlon “Chito” Vera in the headliner.

Jan. 4: Dana White says more matchups to be announced soon

During an IG live on Wednesday, UFC CEO Dana White was asked about what else could be on the UFC 300 card.

White, who has been traveling, said that he returns to Las Vegas in the next few days, and that he will be announcing more matchups “on Tuesday.” White didn’t say anything about whether or not the main event, or any of the top-of-the-bill bouts would be announced, but it appears as if the current three-fight slate will be expanding.

Jan. 3: Dustin Poirier rules out Nate Diaz rematch

If Dustin Poirier competes at UFC 300, it won’t be against Conor McGregor or Nate Diaz.

Poirier ruled out a clash with Diaz overnight with “it ain’t happening.” Poirier has been linked to a showdown with Diaz for years now, but for whatever reason, the two fighters have never met in the Octagon.

Dec. 31: Conor McGregor could be out for UFC 300

Conor McGregor, arguably the UFC’s most popular star, likely won’t compete at the massive event. The former two-division UFC champion has plans to finally fight Michael Chandler during International Fight Week on June 29.

The UFC has yet to announce the fight.

Dec. 31: Leon Edwards puts belt on line at UFC 300

Leon Edwards believes he will compete at UFC 300. The UFC welterweight champion made the announcement during a soccer match and thinks he will return for a summer event in Birmingham, England, as well.

Dec. 23: Nate Diaz comeback?

Nate Diaz’s UFC days might not be done.

In a brief social media post, Diaz teased having interest in returning to the promotion he called home for 15 years, writing, “UFC 300 would be tight but there’s nobody to fight.”

Diaz parted ways with the UFC following a win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 in September 2022, with the bout marking the expiration of his contract. The split appeared to be an amicable one, despite Diaz occasionally having a contentious relationship with the promotion and UFC CEO Dana White, and the octagon doors have remained open for a Diaz return.

Since parting ways with the UFC, Diaz was able to book a lucrative boxing match against Jake Paul, who defeated Diaz by unanimous decision this past August.

It’s too early to say for sure if Diaz has genuine interest in fighting at UFC 300, but a pair of lightweight contenders have already volunteered their services should he come back. Dustin Poirier not-so-subtly called Diaz out to potentially put the bow on a matchup that was once set to be resolved at UFC 230 before Poirier withdrew due to an injury, and Michael Chandler also mentioned Diaz as an option as he continues his interminable wait for a fight with Conor McGregor.

Dec. 23: Izzy vs. Khamzat?

Israel Adesanya could fight before 2027 after all. The former UFC middleweight king might also have a dance partner in the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev.

Chimaev, who recently defeated Kamaru Usman at UFC 294, put his hat into the ring for Adesanya with a pair of Instagram slides on Saturday.

Dec. 23: Tom Aspinall fans the flames

With Jon Jones on the shelf for the near future, Tom Aspinall doesn’t want to wait until the end of 2024 for his return to the Octagon. He responded to UFC light heavyweight Alex Pereira’s recent math equation with his own graphic on his IG story.

Dec. 21: Dana White announces first three fights for UFC 300

On Thursday night, UFC CEO Dana White announced the event’s first three fights. Although he didn’t announce the main event, White did reveal that former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling will officially make the move up to featherweight to face the dangerous Calvin Kattar.

Additionally, former light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka will return for the second time in five months following recovery from a shoulder injury and will face Aleksandar Rakic, and super prospect Bo Nickal will make his third octagon appearance against Cody Brundage. White also said he plans to announce more bouts for the card after the new year.

Dec. 21: Alex Pereira’s combat algebra problem, and a possible heavyweight move?

Alex Pereira has already broken the sport (and the way rankings are done) forever. Pereira began 2023 on the receiving end of the probable Knockout of the Year when he lost the middleweight title to Israel Adesanya at UFC 287 in April, only to move up to 205 pounds, beat a former champion, and then capture the vacant title by knocking out Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295. In just seven UFC fights — and 11 pro MMA bouts total — Pereira is a two-division UFC champion. But is that enough?

On Thursday, Pereira went to his Instagram stories and posted a math problem with a thinking emoji that read 30 + 300 = 3. I’m certainly no math expert, but I do know that the answer doesn’t fit in the equation — so what is Pereira trying to say?

Many people believe that Pereira is teasing a move to heavyweight: Gain 30 pounds, fight at UFC 300, win a third divisional title. If that’s what he means, would he fight heavyweight Jon Jones or 30-year-old (!) interim champ Tom Aspinall? Considering what the UFC has been telling us, and just using logic, this doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. But maybe that’s the beauty of it — a swerve, if you will — to throw people off for this mega card.

Another way you can look at the problem is that Pereira has 30 knockouts in his combat sports career, wants to fight at UFC 300, and maybe the “3” means an MMA trilogy fight with Adesanya. Whatever Pereira is trying to say, it may soon be revealed.

Dec. 17: Dustin Poirier calls out Nate Diaz for UFC 300?

The day after the UFC’s final pay-per-view of the year, Poirier continued to tease competing at UFC 300, before throwing out a name on social media — his longtime rival Nate Diaz.

Diaz fought out his UFC contract at UFC 279 in September, where he stopped Tony Ferguson in the main event. Since then, the superstar fighter lost a unanimous decision to Jake Paul in a boxing match in August, and has yet to reveal his next move.

Personally speaking, and with so many factors in play, I doubt Diaz returns for UFC 300, and based on the lay of the land, I’m quite confident Diaz will fight in the first half of 2024 but it won’t be in the UFC. The most notable factor is that Diaz is not on the roster, or a part of the organization in any way. Diaz is a star, and he can make a ton of money competing outside of the octagon, scratching any and all itches in combat sports. While I’ll never say never, given the current lay of the land, I would be shocked if it happens.

Poirier certainly will have other options, including surging contender Arman Tsarukyan, who is fresh off of a 64-second knockout of Beneil Dariush at UFC Austin.

Nov. 7: Dustin Poirier eyes return at UFC 300

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Poirier said that he’s hoping for a fight that excites him, which would include the opportunity to fight at UFC 300.

“My current mindset, I’d fight in six weeks, I’d fight in eight weeks if the fight made sense and I was excited about it,” Poirier told MMA Fighting. “But other than that, I think a chance to fight on UFC 300 is a big deal.

“I’ve been in the UFC since UFC 125 and I missed 200. Know I’m not gonna be around for 400, so it’s kind of a cool opportunity if it comes together, but I honestly have no clue of my my return date or time frame, but UFC 300 is enticing.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

For the first time since she became a professional fighter, Kayla Harrison will call another promotion home.

After spending the past six years with the PFL, Harrison is set to debut in the UFC against former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm at the historic UFC 300 card in April. Despite the best efforts of the PFL to keep her, Harrison ultimately decided to move on to the UFC, however it doesn’t appear there’s any bad blood with her former employer.

“Listen, we wish Kayla well,” PFL CEO Peter Murray said on Wednesday when asked about Harrison’s exit. “She’s a two-time champion with us, women’s 155, and she’s moving on to UFC. She’s going to be on a historic card, which I believe is a testament to the level and quality of talent in the PFL. We wish her well.

“It’s going to be interesting to see Kayla fighting in the 135 division, but [we wish] nothing but the best, nothing but love. We’ll continue to be excited about supporting women in the sport. We have some of the best women on the planet in combat sports.”

Prior to Harrison signing with the UFC, there were attempts made to book her against Bellator featherweight champion Cris Cyborg after the two engaged in a war of words for years over a potential fight.

There was hope that perhaps Harrison could face Cyborg on the upcoming PFL vs. Bellator card in February or maybe even later in the year. Ultimately, talks never got that far because Harrison was already considering a move to the UFC.

Murray admitted that’s probably the biggest loss from this entire situation, because he believes Harrison vs. Cyborg would be a marquee main event.

“We’re disappointed that fight between Cyborg and Kayla did not happen,” Murray said. “Kayla chose not to make it happen and move on to her next chapter.

“We had the fight that matters. The fight that matters most. Candidly, the biggest fight in women’s sports, in MMA. Ultimately, Kayla made a decision to move on. We wanted to make that fight, but once again, we’re going to continue building what we’re building. We have a great PFLW roster, and in respect to contract details, it’s all good. We’re supportive of Kayla.”

Murray declined to go into details of Harrison’s contract after PFL co-founder Donn Davis previously stated that he believed the two-time Olympic champion still had one bout remaining on her PFL deal. In the end, PFL didn’t put up any roadblocks once it was clear that Harrison wanted to move on to the UFC.

“We’re not going to get into contract details, but like I said, we’re supportive of Kayla’s next chapter,” Murray said. “Listen, six and a half years, we ushered Kayla into the sport. She’s a champion and we’ll definitely continue to root for her, and representing the PFL and mixing it up with the UFC and their fighters.”

With Harrison gone, Murray also announced that the PFL will be introducing a women’s flyweight division, however women’s featherweight will not take part in the upcoming 2024 season format.

Featherweights will still have a home in the PFL and Bellator, as the promotion now pivots to potentially pitting 2023 champion Larissa Pacheco against Cyborg sometime later this year.

“You think about Larissa Pacheco — Larissa, a two-time PFL champion, women’s 155 in 2022 and she won the 145 championship this past year,” Murray said. “So she holds two belts, two different weight classes. She obviously defeated Kayla in 2022 in that championship. She’s ready. She wants Cyborg, I know that for a fact.

“We have a great division between 145ers and 155 and we’re bringing in women’s 125 up from PFL Europe. We decided to bring in women’s 125 as the women’s weight class alongside the five men’s weight classes [in 2024]. Outside of that, you’ll see Larissa and Cyborg on a pay-per-view card, you’ll them on potential Bellator cards, global events. So we have the opportunity to sort of expand our focus with women and that was the goal.”

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Canada’s Justin Trudeau is now under immense pressure with many wanting him to step down as prime minister. He is recently coming under fire after his use of martial law back in 2022 has been ruled ‘unreasonable’ in a Canadian federal court on January 23.

Trudeau has been dividing opinion from his people since he came into power almost nine years ago. It’s not only Canadians who are speaking out against his leadership, with the UFC’s former middleweight champion Sean Strickland, commentator Joe Rogan, and CEO Dana White all having their say on the matter.

First reported by Blaze Media, Richard Mosley issued a statement on Trudeau’s actions back in 2022. The prime minister insisted trucker protest was an act of terrorism, though it was later said to be peaceful by the judge.

“The decision to issue the Proclamation was unreasonable,” Mosley said following the court’s ruling on Trudeau. “And led to infringement of Charter rights.”

Justin Trudeau has been targeted by the media and the public alike for showing no care in past protests—some of which essentially harmed the country—but stopped the peaceful actions of the truckers.

Just a reminder two years ago @JustinTrudeau called this terrorism pic.twitter.com/ubeczVXLp2

— Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) January 24, 2024

Was the ruling against Trudeau aided by the comments made by Sean Strickland and others just days prior?

Related: Sean Strickland slays reporter: ‘You are an infection’

In the build-up to his clash against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297, Sean Strickland got into a verbal altercation with one media member for his stance on Justin Trudeau.

Strickland didn’t hold anything back and blamed the prime minister for a large portion of the misfortune that continues to plague the Canadian people.

Dana White sided with free speech refusing to censor the UFC star by insisting no leashes would be placed upon his fighters and that freedom of speech would forever be prevalent within the promotion.

More recently, Joe Rogan weighed in on the situation. He was visibly joyous to hear the ‘f*** Trudeau’ chants ring around the Scotiabank Arena at UFC 297.

In reaction to the crowd’s chants, the podcast host pleaded with Canada to ‘get their sh*t together’ and return to their former glories as a nation.

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