Dominick Cruz will replace Joe Rogan on the broadcast team for the upcoming UFC 297 pay-per-view, which originates from Toronto, Canada on Saturday.
Typically a staple of the pay-per-view team calling fights, Rogan rarely travels outside of the United States so Cruz got the call to take his seat for the first major card in 2024.
Cruz will be joined on the broadcast team by play-by-play man Jon Anik and UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier calling the fights on Saturday.
Megan Olivi serves as the in-house reporter for the card while Din Thomas joins the broadcast as the “coach” offering insight during the fights.
UFC 297 will be headlined by a middleweight title fight as reigning champion Sean Strickland clashes with Dricus du Plessis in the main event. Strickland shocked the world this past September when he pulled off an upset to beat Israel Adesanya to claim the 185-pound title.
Meanwhile, du Plessis has gone 6-0 since joining the UFC roster including a stunning knockout over former champion Robert Whittaker in his last outing.
The co-main event will crown a new women’s bantamweight champion as Mayra Bueno Silva clashes with Raquel Pennington in a five-round fight.
The main card will air on ESPN+ pay-per-view starting at 10 p.m. ET with the prelims kicking off on ESPN+ starting at 6:30 p.m. ET.
The PFL x Bellator supercard is officially set for February 24 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
A few short months after the Professional Fighter League’s blockbuster announcement that it had acquired Bellator MMA, we now know when and where the highly anticipated event featuring PFL champions vs. Bellator champions will go down. According to a report from Ariel Helwani, the event will emanate from the Saudi Arabian capital next month with a slew of exciting fights.
In the main event of the evening, 2023 PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira will take on Bellator MMA heavyweight titleholder Ryan ‘Darth’ Bader. In the co-main event, 2023 PFL light heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay will face Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen in a 185-pound fight.
The poster: pic.twitter.com/MtI18Zwgo9
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 16, 2024
Also announced for the main card is 2023 PFL featherweight champion Jesus Pinedo who will face Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull, and 2023 PFL welterweight champion Magomed Magomedkerimov will square off with Bellator welterweight champion Jason Jackson.
Rounding out the card will be a series of can’t-miss clashes, including former PFL heavyweight champion Bruno Cappelozza vs. Bellator light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov in a heavyweight bout. Clay Collard vs. A.J. McKee will go down in a lightweight scrap and fight fans will also be treated to a heavy-hitting affair as Thiago Santos meets Yoel Romero.
Also expected to feature on the card will be the return of women’s boxing ‘GWOAT’ Claressa Shields, and the pro mixed martial arts debut of Muhammad Ali’s grandson, Biaggio Ali Walsh.
Check out the full fight card below:
PFL vs. Bellator Main card (ESPN+ PPV at 3 p.m. ET):
Despite coming up short rather controversially last time out, Francis Ngannou is ready to lace up the boxing gloves and get into the winners’ column this time around.
‘The Predator’ will come face to face with yet another huge name in the boxing world following his defeat to Tyson Fury. This time around, it will be Anthony Joshua who stands across the ring from him, and although he is much less experienced in the sport, some believe he has a real chance at victory.
While speaking with TNT Sports, Retired UFC title challenger Dan Hardy piled on the praise for Francis Ngannou after his incredible debut showing.
“Honestly, he surprised me, as well, you know. For as much as I backed Ngannou, I did feel like Tyson would get to him, sort of fifth or sixth round. But there were so many things that Ngannou did that surprised me as well as everybody else.”
“He maintained his composure, he was patient, he wasn’t biting on any feints or anything. Just an outstanding performance, honestly.”
“At the same time, I do think he proved a few things. He can do 10 rounds, he can punch, he can stand and hold his shape like a boxer, and I feel there are certain things he showed in that fight that are going to be very useful in this one against AJ.”
Dan Hardy went on to make a surprise prediction about the bout. He claimed Anthony Joshua could panic in certain areas of the fight and believes Ngannou will walk away with his hands raised.
“Tyson’s a much more difficult person to hit than AJ. For me, AJ pushes really well behind his jab but he leaves himself in range, that’s where the counterpunches from Ngannou, even if they’re landing on the guard, I still think he’s going to be able to rock him and move him around.”
“And then, of course, the psychological impact of, ‘My goodness, this guy hits really hard.’ Then you clinch up with him and he’s incredibly strong as well.”
Related: Francis Ngannou and Anthony Joshua face off for the first time | VIDEO
“There are a couple of different moments in these opening rounds where AJ could really start to panic when he realizes what he’s up against. And I don’t think he’s got the same kind of composure that Tyson has to be able to at least hold it together for 10 rounds.”
“I am actually [predicting an Ngannou win], yeah I am. As I said, I thought Tyson was going to do the last one and I still feel like Ngannou won that fight. I feel this is a much more winnable fight for Ngannou and I am going to back him in this one.”
Watch Dan Hardy discuss all things Joshua/Ngannou in the video below.
Photo by Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
The highly anticipated PFL vs. Bellator pay-per-view fight card finally has a date and location.
After acquiring Bellator at the end of 2023, PFL founder Donn Davis declared that one of the first orders of business for the promotion would be a “mega event” pitting PFL champions against Bellator champions sometime early in 2024. Now the event is set as on Tuesday, PFL officials confirmed with MMA Fighting that the PFL vs. Bellator super-card will take place on Feb. 24 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ariel Helwani was the first to report the news.
Along with the date and location, PFL confirmed a number of bouts for the card, including four champion vs. champion fights. In the main event, 2023 PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira will face Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader. In the co-main event, 2023 PFL light heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay will face Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen in a 185-pound fight.
Also on the main card, 2023 PFL featherweight champion Jesus Pinedo will face Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull, and 2023 PFL welterweight champion Magomed Magomedkerimov will face Bellator welterweight champion Jason Jackson.
The fight card will also feature a number of other high profile matchups between PFL and Bellator fights, including former PFL heavyweight champion Bruno Cappelozza vs. Bellator light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov in a heavyweight bout, Clay Collard vs. A.J. McKee at lightweight, Thiago Santos vs. Yoel Romero, Gabriel Braga vs. Aaron Pico, and the pro debut of Biaggio Ali Walsh. Claressa Shields is also expected to be on the card though she does not have an opponent at this time.
Matt Brown couldn’t imagine a better scenario than fighting Jim Miller at UFC 300 in the final appearance of his career.
As he awaits word from UFC matchmakers, the 43-fight veteran with the most knockouts in UFC welterweight history hopes that he’ll get the call to compete at the historic event on April 13. Miller specifically asked for Brown as an opponent following his win over Gabriel Benitez this past Saturday night.
Now Brown has answered the challenge with a resounding yes — and is revealing that he’s already contemplating that night for his retirement.
“It would be an honor,” Brown said on the newest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I love Jim Miller. Much respect for him. The only downside is he is a [155-pounder] so he’d be coming up to my weight class. If anything, it would be an advantage for him because he wouldn’t be cutting weight and I would, so it would be a little advantageous [for him]. But he would be the smaller guy. That would take a little bit away from it.
“But the fact is, I’m at the tail end of my career. I get on [UFC] 300, there’s a good chance that could be my last fight.”
Brown has hinted at retirement in the past, particularly after he bludgeoned Diego Sanchez with an elbow for a highlight-reel knockout back in 2017. At the time, Brown was dealing with a divorce, which had him thinking that it might be time to hang up his gloves for good.
Two years later, however, Brown returned to action — and he’s continued to add to his UFC résumé with three more knockouts, including his most recent win over Court McGee this past May.
That being said, Brown explained why retiring now would feel much different than seven years ago, and it all comes down to parenthood.
“I’d say a pretty good chance, to be honest [that it’s my final fight],” Brown said. “Just life isn’t what it used to be. The kids are growing up. I miss so many things of theirs for training. It’s kind of to that point now, where my son’s in wrestling season right now and I don’t want to be missing his wrestling matches, because I’ve got to go train. I want to go to his wrestling matches. On top of that, I’ve got so many up-and-coming fighters that just aren’t really getting any attention from me. I’ve got some f****** killers, some guys you’re going to see in the UFC soon, and I can’t really help them out a whole lot.
“I’ve just got a lot of other things going on. I’ve kind of lost my passion for fighting, but I feel like life is taking me down a different road right now. It’s just a different season of my life.”
Brown actually sat out for the second half of 2023 largely because he didn’t want to miss out on spending time with his kids once they were back in school and their extracurricular activities picked up again.
With twin teenage sons, and a daughter not far behind them in age, Brown prefers to put more focus into their futures rather than spending more time on his fighting career.
“They’re at that age where they’re going to remember if I was there,” Brown said. “Like, my boys being 13, my daughter’s eight — of course they’ll remember when they were younger, too, but they’re at that age now if my son goes and wins a wrestling match and my other son, he’s a huge golfer, he goes and wins a golf match, they’re going to remember that I was standing there watching and took pictures at the podium. They’re going to remember if I wasn’t [there] also.
“Of course those memories of going to UFC 300, they get to come out there, and they’ll remember that too, but I’d rather them remember me being at their match than them being at my match.”
Since the day he arrived in the promotion by way of The Ultimate Fighter, Brown never handpicked opponents, much less turned down fights offered to him.
That won’t change this time around either, although the Ohio native knows he couldn’t really fathom a much better ending than going out in a fight against somebody like Miller at a monumental card such as UFC 300.
“There’s no anger, there’s no beef there or anything like that,” Brown said. “It’s just me and him saying we’re f****** killers that want to fight killers, and this works out really well. This matches up well. I think it’s a good promotion for 300, I think it’s a good fight for 300. It’s an easy job for the matchmakers. We’re both already into it. What more is there to say? Let’s do it.
“I think we’re both deserving of it. I think we’re both deserving of that card. What else can I say? That’s a fun place for us to be and it brings a good fight to the card. I say either open the main [card] or close the prelims, which, I’d be fine to close the prelims too. There’s going to be a lot of people watching those, and especially with our names closing out the prelims, I think there’d be a lot more people watching. I’d be stoked.”
If he gets the matchup he wants at UFC 300, Brown will still have to ultimately decide if that will be the night he retires, but right now it’s trending in that direction.
“This might be it,” Brown said. “It would be an honor to go out and fight a guy like Jim Miller to end it all.”
Listen to new episodes of The Fighter vs. The Writer every Tuesday with audio only versions of the podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio
UFC 297 Countdown previews the promotion’s return to Toronto, as brash middleweight king Sean Strickland takes on the hard-hitting South African, Dricus du Plessis.
UFC 297 takes place at Scotiabank Arena. For the seventh time, Toronto will an UFC event. The fight card is headlined by two world title bouts. In the co-main event, Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva fight for the vacant women’s bantamweight championship.
There’s now an official roadmap for former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou to win the undisputed heavyweight boxing title in 2024.
If Francis Ngannou defeats Anthony Joshua on March 8th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he’ll move on to face the winner of Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight title.
That’s according to His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, who is the mastermind behind Riyadh Season and all the insane boxing events being held at Kingdom Arena lately. During a press conference to promote Ngannou vs. Joshua, Alalshikh also revealed the Undisputed Heavyweight belt that Fury (WBC champ) and Usyk (WBA, IBF, and WBO champ) would be fighting for.
It’s not the prettiest belt we’ve ever seen, but the money being paid to those who fight for it makes up for that.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has unveiled their new World Heavyweight Undisputed Champion belt which will presumably be awarded to the Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk winner on Feb 17th as they are fighting for the undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO heavyweight world titles. pic.twitter.com/O1oRxZ9E3H
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) January 15, 2024
That money, and Saudi Arabia’s growing stranglehold on top-tier heavyweight boxing, is making a lot of fights that once seemed impossible … possible! On the undercard of Joshua vs. Ngannou is Zhilei Zhang vs. Joseph Parker. Zhang is one of the most interesting heavyweights on the verge of breaking through to elite level.
Before, it looked like Zhang would be stuck on the outside looking in as opponents ducked him for more lucrative and less dangerous options. With Turki Alalshikh handling the cash and matchmaking duties, we could see him in the mix for undisputed champion by the end of the year.
Fans of the sport who have complained about a lack of inter-promotional fights will also be pleased by a new development announced at the Ngannou vs. Joshua press conference: a 5 vs. 5 event where the top names from Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom boxing take on Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions.
With all these big happenings, it’s little surprise that Saudi Arabia told UFC to go back to the drawing board for their debut event in the Kingdom. It’s big things, and only big things, happening there right now.
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