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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Rodney Petersen, also known as Not Logan Paul for his upcoming appearance Misfits Boxing 12, said he’s “lucky to be alive” after suffering a serious concussion and receiving eight staples in his head from an altercation with Nate Diaz.

Petersen, an amateur MMA and celebrity boxing vet with an 0-6 record, told Misfits he welcomes a second, sanctioned fight with Diaz after getting choked out by the UFC vet on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

“If he wants to fight me in the ring, yeah, but as far as the street goes, there was no money to be made in that,” Petersen said in a new video. “If he wants to box, for sure, I’d box him tomorrow.

“If he wants to do an MMA match, you’re going to have to give me some time to train … so maybe five or six years?”

Diaz turned himself into New Orleans police this past April after a warrant was issued for his arrest on suspicion of second-degree battery. Prosecutors ultimately decided not to file charges against the 38-year-old Stockton, Calif., native.

Petersen said he introduced himself to Diaz at the Misfits Boxing 6 event that Diaz attended to support competing teammate Chris Avila.

“He’s like, ‘You’re the fake Paul brother,’” Petersen said. “I’m like, ‘Yeah! I am, dude! It’s freaking awesome!’”

Diaz got Petersen’s attention when he allegedly threw a water bottle at reality TV star Chase DeMoor, sparking a brief melee at the event. But the Paul lookalike said all was well until the event’s afterparty, when Diaz and a large entourage went outside to confront DeMoor.

“I walked up to him, I was like, ‘Hey dude, calm down,’” Petersen said. “I would have bought him a drink. I did not think that he was … he walks up to me, grabs both my hands, I’m like, ‘Whoa, dude, calm down.’ He grabs both of my hands, tosses it down, throws a hook, lands on my jaw, pulls me down into a guillotine choke.

“Not only am I being choked out by Nate freaking Diaz, but I have two of Nate’s friends — one of them’s in the UFC — blast me in my ribs. At this point and time, I’m pretty sure I was already asleep. That choke was tight.”

All things considered, Petersen was in good spirits about the episode and didn’t appear to have any ill will toward Diaz. With a Misfits fight and a slate of appearances as a lookalike, he was living his dream as an influencer who also works two full-time jobs to support his family.

Petersen joked that he’d really fight Diaz under any circumstances — they all benefit him in the end.

“I’ll fight him tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t give a f***. When it boils down to it, it’s money.”

Below is Petersen’s full interview.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley is taking his UFC 299 training camp with more focus that past training camps.  “Sugar” puts his title on the line in a rematch against Marlon Vera in the UFC 299 main event on March 9.

Vera handed O’Malley his first and only career loss when the two first fought at UFC 252 in August 2020.  It’s a loss O’Malley clearly wants back.  He called out Vera in his post-fight interview after defeating Aljamain Sterling to win the title.  

Part of his new focus, O’Malley has vowed to be on his phone less and particularly on Instagram and Twitter less.  O’Malley deleted the apps off his phone because they were a ‘distraction.’  

“You can’t get on them if you delete them off your phone.  That’s what I did.  I haven’t checked Insta or Twitter on that phone once and I deleted it off my main phone,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel.  

“It’s just a distraction, and it’s not a judgmental thing to anyone that does it.  Every camp I dial it in a little bit more.  What can I do a little bit more of this camp?  Be on my phone less, be on Insta and Twitter less.  I’m still snap chatting a good amount…  It’s been really, really f**king nice.  It’s weird.  I was in bed last night thinking if I deleted snap chat off my phone I would have no sense of being in the world.  Without Instagram and Twitter I feel this sense of almost relief.  I don’t know what’s going on.  It feels good right now.  So far.  I don’t really have an idea.  Maybe after the fight I’ll get back on, but maybe not because I have been liking it.

O’Malley is still active on Instagram and Twitter making a certain number of posts.  The apps themselves are one someone else’s phone.     

UFC 299 takes place the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.  The fight card includes the promotional debut of former Bellator welterweight standout Michael “Venom” Page.  Former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier returns in the fight card’s co-main event taking on the dangerous Benoît Saint Denis.  

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The PFL Pay-Per-View Super Fight Division will kick off on Feb. 24 in Saudi Arabia as the expected PFL vs. Bellator champions event has been officially announced. With the main card heading to pay-per-view, and the UFC bringing a free event with UFC Mexico City that same day, can this card outkick its coverage?

MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, Shaun Al-Shatti, and Jed Meshew react to the event’s announcement, and give their 1-to-10 scores in regards to excitement levels — which may or may not change throughout the reaction. Additionally, they discuss the card, the main card being behind a paywall, if the PFL should’ve made an effort to stick it to the UFC by booking the card for March 2, how the event can be deemed a success for the PFL, any names that are visibly missing from the lineup, and much more.

Audio-only versions of the podcast can be found below, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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No Joe in TO
| BJPenn.com

UFC

Professional Fighters League (PFL) — in partnership with General Entertainment Authority (GEA) — has announced its first-ever PFL vs. Bellator MMA “Champions vs. Champions” mega event, set to go down inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sat., Feb. 24, 2024.

The stacked pay-per-view (PPV) event will feature a whopping four title fights pitting the best from each promotion facing off against one another. Of course, PFL acquired Bellator MMA earlier this year in a massive deal that shook up the mixed martial arts (MMA) world.

While the plan is to keep both promotions running as separate entities with PFL having all of the control, the powers that be revealed highly-anticipated “champions vs. champions” mega events would take place. And now the first wave of massive title fights has been revealed.

Per the press release:

The first-ever PFL PPV Super Fight event will feature seven matchups between current and former champions, as well as title challengers from PFL and Bellator, and will be available on ESPN+ PPV and DAZN beginning at 3 pm ET. In addition, three major showcase bouts will take place during the preliminary card airing in the U.S. on ESPNEWS and ESPN+ in the U.S. beginning at 12 pm ET.

The first-ever event will be headlined by a Heavyweight title fight as PFL’s champion, Renan Ferreira, will battle it out against Bellator 265-pound champion, Ryan Bader. Ferreira recently won the 2023 PFL championship with a knockout win over Denis Goltsov in Nov. 2023, which was his third straight win (watch highlights). As for Bader, he is coming off his second knockout win over Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 290, his third straight title defense.

In further action, two-time PFL Welterweight season winner, Magomed Magomedkerimov, will face off against Bellator’s newest champion, Jason Jackson, who won the 170-pound strap by upsetting Yaroslav Amosov at Bellator 301, handing him his first-ever defeat by stopping him in the third round (highlights),

In the Featherweight division, newly-crowned PFL Featherweight king, Jesus Pinedo, will go toe-to-toe with the man many consider the face of Bellator, Patricio Pitbull. The Brazilian champion has lost two straight fights, but he is still the current Featherweight champion. He now looks to turn things around by adding another piece of hardware to his mantle.

The fourth “champion vs. champion” fight will have a bit of a twist to it since there is no current PFL champion at 185 pounds. Impa Kasanganay, who won this season’s Light Heavyweight belt, will drop down to the Middleweight division to challenge Bellator 185-pound champion, Johnny Eblen, who is undefeated at 14-0 and is coming off a dominant knockout win over Fabian Edwards at Bellator 299 (video here).

Aside from those four massive title fights, PFL is stacking the deck even further with several showcase fights, including Bellator Light Heavyweight champion, Vadim Nemkov, moving up to Heavyweight to face off against former champion, Bruno Cappelozza. Also, longtime MMA veteran Yoel Romero returns to action to face off against ex-UFC stablemate, Thiago Santos, in a 205-pound bout.

Rounding out the main card will be former Bellator Featherweight champion, A.J. McKee, taking on former title challenger, Clay Collard, at 155 pounds. McKee moved up to the Lightweight division shortly after losing his 145-pound strap to Patricio Pitbull, and has gone on to win three straight fights. As for Collard, he came up short in his bid to win the 2023 season, losing to Olivier Aubin-Mercier at PFL 10.

But wait, there’s more…

The undercard will feature Aaron Pico making his return to face off against Gabriel Braga, who lost to Jesus Pinedo at PFL 10 in the season-ending championship fight. Pico, on the other hand, is currently on a two-fight win streak and has won seven of his last eight fights.

Also, Claressa Shields will make her long-awaited return to the cage to face off against Kelsey DeSantis, who is 1-2 as a professional. As for Shields, she is 1-1 in her young MMA career and was last seen losing to Abigail Montes inside the SmartCage in Oct. 2021. Since then, the professional boxing champion returned to her roots and defended her WBA, WBC, IBF, WBF, and The Ring female Middleweight titles three times, while adding the WBO strap to her collection with an impressive win over Savannah Marshall.

Check out the entire card below:

PPV Card – ESPN+ PPV and DAZN – 3 pm ET

265 lbs.: Renan Ferreira (PFL champ) vs. Ryan Bader (Bellator champ)
185 lbs.: Impa Kasanganay (PFL Light Heavyweight Champ) vs. Johnny Eblen (Bellator Middleweight Champ)
170 lbs.: Magomed Magomedkerimov (PFL champ) vs. Jason Jackson (Bellator champ)
145 lbs.: Jesus Pinedo (PFL champ) vs. Patricio Pitbull (Bellator champ)
265 lbs.: Bruno Cappelozza vs. Vadim Nemkov
205 lbs.: Thiago Santos vs. Yoel Romero
155 lbs.: Clay Collard vs. AJ McKee

Early Card – ESPNEWS and ESPN+ (US) – 12 pm ET

145 lbs.: Gabriel Braga vs. Aaron Pico
155 lbs.: Biaggio Ali Walsh (debut) vs. Chris Morris (debut)
155 lbs.: Claressa Shields vs. Kelsey DeSantis
145 lbs.: Abdullah Al-Qahtani vs. Edukondal Rao
125 lbs.: Malik Basahel vs. Vinicius Pereira

For all the latest PFL and Bellator MMA news and notes click here and here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts