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Confirming at the end of last year how is planning a quickfire return to the Octagon instead of a confirmed layoff until 2027 at the very earliest, former two-time middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has been backed to fight Alex Pereira at the light heavyweight limit – appearing to show off a significant weight gain during his time away from the Octagon.

Adesanya, a former undisputed middleweight titleholder twice under the banner of the promotion, has been sidelined from competition since he headlined UFC 293 back in September, suffering a one-sided unanimous decision loss to Sean Strickland in Australia in an upset judging loss.

And initially announcing plans for a sidelining until 2027 amid his loss to Strickland, Adesanya has since confirmed plans to make a return to the UFC in the near future – amid links to a trilogy rubber match with undisputed light heavyweight champion – potentially at UFC 300 as part of the monumental April flagship card. 

Israel Adesanya appears to have significantly bulked up

And despite initially rubbishing Sao Paulo rival, Pereira’s offer of a rubber match for the light heavyweight title this year, Adesanya has fueled speculation of a third fight with the two-weight champion – appearing to put on significant muscle mass and size since his most recent walk. 

Briefly making a light heavyweight division climb back in 2021, Adesanya challenged for undisputed divisional spoils against common-foe and former champion, Jan Blachowicz at the UFC Apex facility, suffering his first Octagon loss in the form of a unanimous decision loss. 

Commenting on Adesanya’s apparent lack of interest in a third fight, Pereira admitted that he wanted to give the City Kickboxing an opportunity to close out their rivalry in the form of an Octagon trilogy bout. 

“It doesn’t matter for me,” Alex Pereira said. “I called him (Israel Adesanya) out in the cage after the title win, and I wanted to give him the chance, and I saw he did not give me any respect for this – he was laughing about it and making some jokes.”

“So for me, it doesn’t matter anymore,” Alex Pereira explained. “I gave him the chance. If he comes up, nice; if he doesn’t, it doesn’t matter.”

Do you think Israel Adesanya is set for a light heavyweight move next?

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Predictions
| BJPenn.com

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Jake Paul’s carefully managed boxing career continues to produce … interesting match ups.

“The Problem Child” may be brash in the media and hype up his chances against the likes of Canelo Alvarez, but Paul has been consistent in his approach to fielding opponents. Simply put: he prefers older, smaller opposition. He’s started to move away from boxing MMA fighters exclusively, but the general idea here is that Paul wants all the athletic advantages on his side.

His last opponent? A 35-year-old boxer who faced a considerable height and reach disadvantage. The outcome? First-round knockout!

Based on recent online discussion, that pattern may continue. Accomplished professional boxer Neeraj Goyat (18-4-2) would certainly be the most decorated boxer of Paul’s young career, as he has experience as an amateur in the 2016 Olympic trials. However, he’s also roughly 50 pounds lighter and would face a six inch height disadvantage.

On Instagram, Paul said he would take the fight “Any time, any where” but also admitted, “Brother, you are too small.” MVP promotions added in that the discussions were ongoing, so perhaps we now know who will be opposite “The Problem Child” on March 2, 2024 in Puerto Rico? The 32-year-old Goyat isn’t exactly a household name, but he’s been ranked in the WBC World Rankings and has a strong following in India.

And, again, he’s a whole lot smaller than the power-punching influencer. It reads like another match up intended to rebuild Paul’s boxing image and perhaps set him up for a serious money fight later in 2024.

Insomnia

MMA trivia! Bas Rutten is the man.

How high can Khalil Rountree climb now that he’s finally found some consistency inside the Octagon?

Today, I saw clips of Manny Pacquiao shadowboxing and Floyd Mayweather taking Ryan Garcia on an early morning run. Maybe the rematch is happening?

I know some fans are bored of the low/calf kick meta, but picking apart someone’s lead leg is such a display of timing and distance that I’m always impressed.

If Max Holloway isn’t visiting Lightweight in his next bout, then a Josh Emmett showdown is the move.

I’m curious just how jacked Michael Chandler can get with six months to build to 185-pounds.

Easy mistake!

The Jiri Prochazka we know and love.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

If you sign up to fight random people, sometimes you roll double zero.

It takes guts to stand your ground and go up on one leg in the pocket against an opponent swinging heavy, but body knees can be killer.

It’s tough to defend once the leg is swiped passed the centerline.

Random Land

Going full Khabib may not be the best way to secure a lenient sentence.

Midnight Music: Indie rock, 2000

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

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Following claims from former undisputed welterweight title challenger, Jorge Masvidal that his eight month retirement from combat sports is no more, former opponent, Ben Askren has offered to follow suit and fight the Floridian in a rematch at UFC 300 in April.

Askren, a former undisputed ONE Championship and Bellator MMA champion, called time on his mixed martial arts career back in late 2019, after suffering a submission loss to common-foe and former UFC title challenger, Demian Maia in a main event clash in Singapore.

As for Masvidal, the former two-time welterweight title challenger and inaugural symbolic BMF championship winner, called time on his storied mixed martial arts career back in April, following a fourth consecutive loss in the form of a unanimous decision defeat to former title chaser, Gilbert Burns.

However, just eight months later, Masvidal, over the course of the weekend, claimed he was now “unretired” from combat sports competition, leading to speculation that the Miami native is lining up either a UFC comeback or a professional boxing rematch against former foe, Nate Diaz. 

Ben Askren suggests UFC 300 return with Jorge Masvidal

And recently offering to make a return against Iowa rival, Askren in a rematch of their UFC 239 clash back in the summer of 2019, Masvidal has again been approached with the idea of a re-run – by Askren himself, who suggested a potential UFC 300 showdown in April.

“I mean, probably because he (Jorge Masvidal) ain’t got no more money,” Ben Askren told Daniel Cormier during a recent interview. “That’s my best guess. People spend it. Mike Tyson spent $ 400,000,000.” 

“Listen, if Dana (White) called me and said, ‘Ben, Jorge Masvidal, UFC 300,’ I don’t give a damn, I’m out of retirement,” Ben Askren continued. “I’ll fight him, I don’t care. I suck at boxing. You guys all saw that. I’m not gonna fight him in boxing. What are you? Dumb?”

Who wins in a future rematch? Ben Askren or Jorge Masvidal?

LowKickMMA.com

Cody Garbrandt has left his poor run of form behind and looks like a new fighter each time he steps into the octagon.

After going 11-0 in the sport, picking up some huge knockouts and an all-time championship performance against Dominick Cruz along the way, ‘No Love’ saw his career take a U-turn. The fan-favorite would suffer knockout defeats in his next three outings, and later go on to lose a further two fights, taking him to a disastrous 1-5 out of 6.

Now back and rejuvenated, Cody Garbrandt has returned to winning ways and finds himself riding an impressive two-fight win streak. With his swagger and confidence back, the former 135 lbs champion has his eyes firmly set on a showdown with Deiveson Figueiredo.

“I think it’s a great fight, you know. Stylistically, I love that fight. I think it’s a fan favorite, for me. I enjoy the matchup,” Gabrandt said during an interview with ESPN MMA. “Two former world champions, now in the same division, [it was] previously supposed to be made in 2020. Obviously, I had COVID, I was going to go down to 125.”

“There’s a lot of rights that make it an exciting fight. And you know, I thought of it, it just came to me the week of the fight, you know.”

“I was not overlooking Brian [Kelleher] or anything like that but I wrote down, I think Tuesday or Wednesday fight week that I was going to knock Brian out in the first round and call out Figgy.”

Garbrandt scored a huge knockout of the aforementioned Brian Kelleher at UFC 296 in December. His interests now lie in fighting big-name opponents but rematching a former world champion isn’t in his plans.

“Honestly, that fight doesn’t interest me,” Garbrandt said in response to a potential Dominick Cruz rematch. “I mean, what am I supposed to do to the guy, you know? I mean, going out and knocking him out this time? That’s the only thing that would kind of put a statement, or not even a statement, would top that.”

“It’s so hard to top that performance… I’ll fight anybody, it doesn’t matter, but at the end of the day, I think Deiveson Figueiredo coming to the bantamweight division, just having a win over Rob Font. You know, I go and knock Deiveson out, it puts me right back into title contention and that’s what I’m here to do.”

Related: Cody Garbrandt: Sean O’Malley ‘has a lot of holes and weaknesses’

Cody Garbrandt then spoke of his title hopes and his feud with the current champion Sean O’Malley. 

“If Sean’s still the champion when it’s my time to punch that ticket again, I would absolutely love that… I think a clash course with Sean is definitely in the near future. A money fight, you know. That’s what it’s all about.”

“I think Deiveson’s far more dangerous than Sean O’Malley. I truly believe that. Sean’s, you know, he’s got good skills, he’s got good things.”

Check out everything Cody Garbrandt had to say in the video below.

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