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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Merab Dvalishvili says it’s title shot or bust at UFC 298.

Dvalishvili faces former two-division champion Henry Cejudo in the co-main event of UFC 298 in February. After the bout was announced, Cejudo claimed the winner would earn a title shot against the winner of the upcoming bantamweight title bout between Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera at UFC 299.

While Dvalishvili said he hasn’t been guaranteed anything like that from the UFC, he agrees with Cejudo’s declaration.

“No, they don’t tell me like this, but now I’m going to be ready again for a title fight,” Dvalishvili said on The MMA Hour. “That’s all I want to do now. Nothing left. I’m winning fights, and now my goal is fight for the title and win for the title. That’s my only goal right now.

“Like everybody knows, I have a nine-fight win streak and I beat two former champions. I’m fighting now one of the greatest fighters, Henry Cejudo, Olympic champion, two-division champion, and if I beat Henry Cejudo, I don’t understand why they shouldn’t have given me title. So I am pretty sure that now this time they will give me title fight after this.”

Dvalishvili has won nine fights in a row since losing to Ricky Simon back in 2018, including wins over former UFC champions Jose Aldo and Petr Yan in his two most recent performances. Adding a third in a row by beating Cejudo would, in his mind, leave only one possible next step.

“How I’m gonna go back and keep fighting guys from behind?” Dvalishvili said. “I want to fight guys that are in front of me, and I want to fight the champion. That’s how it’s goes. If you’re winning, winning, winning, you have to fight whoever is front of you, the champion. If you’re losing, then yeah, you have to back up a little bit if you win and come back again, you know, that’s how it works. That’s how this sport it. But nothing is guaranteed.”

Even so, the question remains why Dvalishvili even accepted this fight in the first place. He currently is the No. 2 ranked bantamweight in the UFC rankings, behind only his teammate Aljamain Sterling. The former bantamweight champ also plans a move up to featherweight. Dvalishvili has already done more than enough to warrant a title shot, but he said he didn’t want to sit around and wait when another big fight was possible.

“I have so much respect for Henry Cejudo,” Dvalishvili said. “And I want to be busy. I don’t wanna wait too long. I wanna keep fighting, and I wanna fight against the great guys. I fight Jose Aldo, you know, my mentality was with Jose Aldo, if he beats me, God bless him, he’s gonna fight title. But with Henry Cejudo, I’m not this kind this time. I want to beat him, and I want to fight title like, I won’t be too much happy if he beats me.

“I think a win against Henry Cejudo will be enough, even if I win a split decision. But I’m not looking for a split decision. I’m looking to dominate this fight, and I’m looking for maybe finish. But like I said, it’s a fight, we never know.”

However he gets it done, 10 wins in a row is likely to put Dvalishvili in line for a title shot. But that could also depend on who wins the scheduled bantamweight title fight. For his part, he hopes it’s O’Malley, as the two already have some heat between them and he

“I hope so, but it’s not gonna be easy,” Dvalishvili said. “I think ‘Chito’ can beat him again, unfortunately. But I hope O’Malley wins this.

“Let’s see. I think it will be a very boring fight, maybe. Chito usually, first couple of rounds, he’s not doing nothing. And O’Malley, last time with Aljo, he was running before Aljo tried to make action. Maybe let’s see. Maybe they’ll both run from each other. We’ll see how this fight is going to go.”

UFC 298 takes place Feb. 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

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Here we go!
| BJPenn.com

MMA Mania has a brand new original podcast — Sound & Pound! It will feature previews, recaps, lists, prospects, WMMA, and a Q&A. Oh, and a cool movie club.

MMA Mania has a brand new original podcast — Sound & Pound! It will feature previews, recaps, lists, prospects, WMMA, and a Q&A. Oh, and a cool movie club. All brought to you by yours truly, Alex Behunin and Drake Riggs.

This week reflects on 2023, answering your questions, and everything in between. Watch it in the player above.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Ian Machado Garry has big plans for 2024.

Monday marked the start of a new year and as such, many people laid out their resolutions and goals for what they hope to achieve in 2024. Machado Garry was one such person, posting a video to his Instagram set to J. Cole’s MIDDLE CHILD with Machado Garry writing his own hit list for 2024, including Geoff Neal, Colby Covington, and one more name.

While Machado Garry does not write the surname to his final target for 2024, it’s not a huge leap to assume he is referring to Sean Strickland. Machado Garry and the UFC middleweight champion had a very public feud at the end of 2023 including a run-in with each other at the UFC Performance Institute.

Machado Garry also feuded with Covington at the end of 2023 when Covington attacked his wife following UFC 296 and the drama that surrounded the Machado Garry-Strickland beef.

Machado Garry is currently scheduled to face Neal at UFC 298, which takes place Feb. 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The event is set to be headlined by a featherweight title matchup between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria.

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Dan Hooker believes Islam Makhachev would rather follow in the footsteps of his mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and retire from the sport of MMA before being matched up with rising contender Arman Tsarukyan.

Since capturing the 155-pound crown at UFC 280, the ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ has defended his title twice, both times against current featherweight king, Alexander Volkanovski. With ‘The Great’ now firmly in his rearview, Makhachev is gearing up for his next big challenge. As it stands, there are a handful of viable contenders vying for the opportunity, including Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, and Dustin Poirier.

However, if you peel back the curtain a bit more, you’ll find another emerging contender that could very well hold the key to ending Makhachev’s title reign. Riding a three-fight win streak, Arman Tsarukyan revealed himself as one of the division’s top talents with a brutal 64-second knockout of Beneil Dariush in December.

Tsarukyan has come a long way since coming up short in his promotional debut in 2019 which, ironically, came against none other than Islam Makhachev. Their history would certainly add a level of intrigue to a potential lightweight title tilt, but Hooker doesn’t see the ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ hanging around long enough to run it back with the Armenian.

“Yeah, they had a pretty close fight in the first one,” said Hooker during an appearance on The MMA Hour. “Yeah, he could beat him. He’s not going to fight him. I guarantee he’ll retire by the time Arman gets there, for sure. It’s too risky, there’s too much risk. There’s too many other easier fights out there that he’d rather fight. There’s easier fights out there, stylistically.”

Will Fans pay to see Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan 2?

Dan Hooker also questioned whether or not fight fans would be willing to pay a premium price to watch an event headlined by a Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan rematch.

“There are bigger names,” Hooker continued. “No one’s going to buy an Arman Tsarukyan pay-per-view. No one’s tuning in to the press conference. No one’s giving $ 80 for the pay-per-view. You’d rather watch Islam fight McGregor or Gaethje or something like that.”

With a majority of the lightweight top 10 angling for big-money fights and title opportunities, Hooker may be the one to bite the bullet and accept a fight with Tsarukyan once he’s medically cleared to return.

“I don’t like the guy, I think he’s an idiot,” Hooker added. “I think he’s annoying. Can he fight? A hundred percent. That’s why he’s a very talented young fighter, but he’s just annoying. He’s just a dweeb. I just don’t like him” (h/t Bloody Elbow)

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Sean Strickland is a modern-day gladiator who puts it all on the line each time he enters the octagon. Alongside his love to fight, he is a controversial and bold individual who often speaks his mind, but even he has strong emotions too.

The UFC middleweight champion has seen a steady increase in his fanbase over the years and a large reason for that is his ability to say whatever he wants without being ‘canceled’. During a recent podcast appearance, the 32-year-old showed a side of himself the public has never seen before.

While sitting down with Theo Von for an episode of his ‘This Past Weekend’ podcast, Sean Strickland got real on the struggles of trauma. Since the recent release of the episode, an audio clip surfaced online of the exchange that caused the UFC star to get emotional.

Sean Strickland got emotional talking about a moment from his childhood during his recent appearance on Theo Von's (@TheoVon) podcast This Past Weekend. pic.twitter.com/yqcPQMXxLs

— MMA Mania (@mmamania) January 2, 2024

Sean Strickland explained how his conflict at home began damaging his time in school and his lack of sleep caught up with him from a young age. Just before he gets upset, Strickland reveals he stopped believing in god due to his circumstances at home.

The California native has been open about his troubled past before but this is the first time he’s delved deep into his childhood and become clearly emotional.

PTSD affects millions of Americans and countless more people worldwide each year. Whether you’re a young child or a UFC champion, the distress can be daunting and needs to be treated with the utmost care.

Related: Sean Strickland speaks out on his PTSD struggles following appearance on Theo Von’s podcast

How did Sean Strickland react to Dricus Du Plessis’ comments on his past?

Dricus Du Plessis may be the first man to have gotten in Sean Strickland’s head and he did so during their press conference last month.

The South African made some vulgar comments surrounding his opponents’ past and the two have been heated ever since. Strickland has recently come out and blasted ‘Stillknocks’ for his actions.

“There’s some things that are off limits. You don’t really talk about a man’s wife, you don’t talk about a man’s kids, and you don’t talk about a kid being abused. These things are all off limits.”

“Whenever Dricus goes on there and he jokes about that sh*t, dude, you have no idea. I’ll f***ing kill you, you have no idea. I think the issue is too, when you’re a kid and you’re made to be a victim your whole life, as an adult, you’re like, never again. I’ll f***ing kill you.”

Check out Sean Strickland’s appearance on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend below.

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