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Ex-UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez will return to his old stomping grounds on Saturday when he serves as a coach and cornerman for Gabriel Benitez.

Velasquez, who is currently out on bail after being charged with attempted murder, was previously given permission to corner Usman Nurmagomedov for his fight at a Bellator event in California this past October. Now he’ll fall under direction from the Nevada Athletic Commission to corner Benitez for his fight against Jim Miller at UFC Vegas 84.

UFC officials confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Tuesday following an initial report from Claro Sports.

After spending eight months in jail, Velasquez was granted bail back in November 2022 while awaiting trial on attempted murder charges. The retired fighter was then granted permission by the courts to travel for work, including appearances at professional wrestling events as well as coaching fighters like Nurmagomedov and Benitez.

Velasquez works with numerous fighters training out of American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, which was also where he trained during his UFC career.

Velasquez was initially arrested on Feb. 28, 2022, after he allegedly engaged in a high-speed chase while firing several rounds from a handgun aimed at a car carrying Harry Goularte. Goularte faces separate charges for allegedly sexually molesting the fighter’s son at a daycare owned by Goularte’s mother. Goularte’s stepfather, Paul Bender, was wounded by a bullet during the altercation and suffered non-life threatening injuries as a result.

Afterward, Velasquez was arrested without incident and charged with numerous felonies, including premeditated, attempted murder.

Numerous hearings have been held over the past year to set a trial date, but each time the proceedings have been pushed back. This past September, Judge Daniel Nishigaya granted another extension to Velasquez’s attorney but stated that a trial date should be set for some time in January.

Ultimately that date was pushed back yet again, with a new trial setting date now scheduled for Feb. 14.

If convicted on all charges, Velasquez faces the potential of life in prison.

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Alan Belcher and ex-UFC champion Junior dos Santos will collide for the heavyweight title of Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Bare-Knuckle MMA promotion on March 2 in Orlando, Fla.

Masvidal announced the pairing on Tuesday.

Belcher makes his second appearance in Gamebred after earning a split decision win over Roy Nelson in his promotional debut. Prior to his move to bare-knuckle MMA, Belcher put together an impressive 4-0 résumé in bare-knuckle boxing under the BKFC umbrella, where he also served as heavyweight champion before his title was stripped and he left the organization.

A 15-time UFC veteran, Belcher retired in 2015 before making his return as a bare-knuckle fighter five years later. He has also dabbled in boxing, most recently earning a win over social influencer Chase DeMoor this past July.

As for dos Santos, he also makes his second appearance under the Gamebred banner after winning a split decision over Fabricio Werdum this past September. Afterward, Dos Santos committed to stick with bare-knuckle MMA for his immediate future.

Dos Santos now attempts to add another title to his résumé when he clashes with Belcher in a bare-knuckle MMA fight in March.

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| BJPenn.com

Everybody loves a good old-fashioned fantasy match up.

The crazier, the “better,” especially when we’re getting people like Brock Lesnar involved in the fantasy mixed martial arts (MMA) debates. UFC 300 is booked and on the way in April 2024 and despite Lesnar’s previous appearances at UFC 100 and UFC 200, he’s gone and retired from MMA (at least according to the old man himself).

That hasn’t stopped Anthony Smith and Michael Bisping from having some fun with the topic, however. Getting extra fantastical on their recent podcast, Bisping brought up the question: How many Jim Millers would it take to beat Lesnar? While the UFC veteran and record-holding Lightweight, Miller, cannot duplicate himself, Smith doesn’t believe he’d need any assistance to topple the former UFC Heavyweight champion.

“One, maybe,” Smith said on Believe You Me of how many Millers would be needed to beat one Lesnar. “If Jim gets ahold of a neck or something. Maybe [Lesnar could beat him]. I think that’s a 50/50. If Brock Lesnar lands big, Jim Miller goes to sleep and dies.

“I’m not sure I would,” he responded when Bisping told him he’d bet $ 50,000 on Lesnar over Miller. “Maybe I have so much love for Jim Miller that I can’t imagine him not catching Brock Lesnar in a submission, but that guy’s nasty on the ground. Definitely Jim Miller on the street.”

Miller, 40, has been one of the best submission artists at 155 pounds since his October 2008 arrival in the promotion. When it comes to wins and fights inside the Octagon, no one has more than Miller as he holds the records at 25 and 42, respectively (36-17, 1 no contest). He’ll extend the latter against Gabriel Benitez with hopes of also getting win No. 26 at UFC Vegas 84 this weekend (Sat., Jan. 13, 2024). After that, Miller has been vocal about his goal of getting to complete his UFC trifecta and fight on UFC 300.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 84 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 7 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 84: “Ankalaev vs. Walker 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

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Dominick Reyes and Carlos Ulberg will get another chance to dance.

The two hard-hitting light heavyweights have officially been rescheduled to meet on March 30 at UFC Atlantic City. Reyes vs. Ulberg was previously slated for Jan. 20 at UFC 297, however Ulberg had to withdraw due to injury.

Reyes (12-4) continues to look to right his ship after dropping four consecutive bouts dating back to his controversial 2020 title loss to then-champ Jon Jones. A 34-year-old native of California, Reyes’ past three losses against Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka, and Ryan Spann have all ended in devastating knockouts inside of the first or second round.

On the other side, Ulberg (9-1) rides a five-fight UFC win streak into the bout, punctuated by a quartet of stoppage victories over Tafon Nchukwi, Nicolae Negumereanu, Ihor Potieria, and Da Un Jung. A 33-year-old up-and-comer out of New Zealand, Ulberg is a training partner of former two-time UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at City Kickboxing.

UFC Atlantic City takes place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

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Ex-UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping doesn’t believe Brock Lesnar’s return at UFC 300 is as far-fetched as one might think.

With the promotion’s next big milestone event a few short months away, the stage is slowly being set for one of the biggest nights in MMA history. Fight fans already have a slew of exciting matchups to look up to, including the recently announced lightweight title eliminator between Charles Oliveira and rising contender Arman Tsarukyan. But the million-dollar question remains — who will feature in the evening’s main event?

With many of the promotion’s top stars already booked and titleholders like Jon Jones and Islam Makhachev not slated to return until summer, there is a surprising lack of big-money fights to make. However, Bisping believes he has the answer in former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar.

UFC CEO Dana White has already debunked rumors of Lesnar’s return at the event, but with both the UFC and the WWE now under the same banner, ‘The Count’ is convinced that fight fans could see ‘The Beast Incarnate’ step back inside the Octagon on April 13.

“UFC 300, will we see Brock Lesnar on there again?” Bisping stated on his YouTube channel in a recent video. “It sounds stupid, because Brock Lesnar is no spring chicken. He’s 46 years old, 46 years old but remember Randy Couture fought into the ripe old age of 47. Fighters have gone longer. Guess what, when there’s millions of dollars on the line, people will come and fight.”

He continued, “People would love to see Brock Lesnar stepping in there once again… He’s only 46, he’s still a draw and people love him. The UFC and the WWE, they’re both owned by the same parent company now. So, I would imagine that the politics and the contractual stuff would be pretty easy waters to navigate. So I can’t see that being a hurdle. But, who would the opponent be?”

Bisping Lobbies For Brock Lesnar vs. Tom Aspinall at UFC 300

But who could Brock Lesnar face in his hypothetical return? Well, Bisping even has the perfect opponent in mind for the WWE Superstar.

“…Call me crazy, call me Tom Aspinall’s number one fanboy, but could you imagine Brock Lesnar vs. Tom Aspinall headlining UFC 300?” Bisping concluded. “… Maybe it’s just wishful thinking. But Tom Aspinall, Brock Lesnar, that would be mental. That is the type of thing I think the UFC are going to do” (h/t BJPenn.com).

Tom Aspinall has been undeniably frustrated with his position as the current interim heavyweight champion. Since winning the title with a stunning 69-second KO of Sergei Pavlovich in November, he has been lobbying for a fight with the division’s undisputed king, Jon Jones. Currently, ‘Bones’ is sidelined while recovering from a pectoral injury, but even when he returns, it won’t be Aspinall he fights.

Instead, Jones will move forward with a previously scheduled scrap against two-time titleholder Stipe Miocic later this year. With Aspinall forced to sit out and wait, a fight against someone like Brock Lesnar could be just what the doctor ordered for one of the UFC’s most exciting heavyweights.

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