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Flyweights Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot clash in a potential No. 1 contender’s bout when they meet in March.

UFC CEO Dana White announced the matchup on Instagram with the fight set to take place at the upcoming March 30 UFC Fight Night card in Atlantic City, N.J.

Blanchield, the No. 3-ranked flyweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, has yet to taste defeat since joining the UFC in 2021. In her most recent effort, the New Jersey native scored a hard-fought decision win over one-time title challenger Taila Santos at UFC Singapore in August. Prior to that victory, she rattled off stoppage wins over Jessica Andrade, Molly McCann, and JJ Aldrich.

Fiorot, the No. 5 ranked flyweight, is coming off a bloody decision win over former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas at UFC Paris in September. Fiorot has also earned decision wins over past title challengers Katlyn Chookagian and Jennifer Maia as well as current bantamweight contender Mayra Bueno Silva.

The entire card is slated to go down inside Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on March 30. No other bouts have been made official.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

RIZIN Fighting Federation is the Japanese MMA organization that Anderson Silva was referring to when he revealed to MMA Fighting in June that he was “in talks” with for his retirement bout, company president Nobuyuki Sakakibara confirmed.

Sakakibara, who was the head of PRIDE when Silva went 3-2 in the promotion, told MMA Fighting that “our doors are always open” for the former UFC middleweight champion if he decides to compete one final time in MMA.

“Anderson has fought for us – our relationship goes way back,” Sakakibara said through a translator. “To answer your question, yes, we have spoken, but…you know, for us, if he has some ideas, and if we really want to do something, our doors are always open, we’re always here to listen. If things make sense, we’ll always put something together.”

Silva hasn’t fought MMA since parting ways with the UFC in 2020 following a stoppage loss to Uriah Hall. Back in June, Silva said fighting in Japan “makes all the sense,” because “I started my career internationally there, so we probably want to it end there, too.”

The Brazilian legend, who is 34-11 with one no-contest in MMA, was inducted to the UFC Hall of Fame after collecting boxing victories over Julio César Chávez Jr. and Tito Ortiz. In his most recent appearance in October 2020, Silva lost a decision to YouTube sensation Jake Paul.

“We do have a relationship with Anderson,” Sakakibara said. “I can’t really talk about details, but if the opportunity is there and if it makes sense, we’re always open to making things happen.”

The same rule applies for other legends of the game, such as Fedor Emelianenko. “The Last Emperor,” a former PRIDE heavyweight champion, entered the RIZIN ring in 2015 for his return from retirement to knock out Jaideep Singh before signing with Bellator. After challenging Ryan Bader for the Bellator belt earlier this year, Emelianenko announced he’s walking away from the sport.

“One of our concepts that RIZIN has is to provide a platform for the legendary fighters to perform their final fight, to kind of show them the way out with respect, so that’s definitely one of our concepts,” Sakakibara said when asked about possibly offering a deal to Emelianenko to compete in front of an Japanese audience. “We’re not going to get rid of that concept right away.

“Obviously, if Takanori Gomi decides to retire, and if he wants to do a retirement fight, we’ll be happy to book that, we’ll be happy to show that and provide that platform opportunity for that fighter,” he added. “Our concept always have had that, to reaching out to the legendary fighters. One day we might just put together a matchup that would definitely cater and make the old school fans all excited. There’s definitely a possibility for that in the future.”

RIZIN’s next event is scheduled for Dec. 31 in Saitama, Japan, with two titles on the line. Kyoji Horiguchi will rematch Makoto Shinryu for the vacant flyweight strap in the co-main event of RIZIN 45, while Juan Archuleta puts his bantamweight title on the line for the first time versus Kai Asakura.

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Travis Kelce has had a year to remember in 2023. Becoming one of the biggest names in the NFL, making his relationship with superstar musician Taylor Swift, and winning his second Super Bowl were just some of the great achievements he managed this year.

Despite his rise to global recognition, his latest business venture hasn’t gone down well with some and one man that is disgusted with his actions is Colby Covington. Kelce reportedly signed a huge $ 20 million deal with Pfizer to promote the COVID-19 vaccine, which didn’t sit well with the UFC star.

During an appearance on the PBD Podcast, ‘Chaos’ described how important free speech is and how he feels sorry for those celebrities and athletes who aren’t allowed to speak their minds.

“NBA is not a free league. Like, I have guys that have reached out to me on Instagram from the NBA. They’re like, man, we appreciate what you’re standing up for Colby but we can’t say the same thing because then we’ll lose our livelihood. Then we won’t have our cheques to pay for our houses and pay for our food on the table for our families.”

“I feel bad for these guys where they’re not allowed to express their real thoughts and feelings. They have to listen to the narrative from the left in the NBA and that there’s one way, and if you go up against it then you’re going to lose your job.”

“I mean, look at what they did to Kyrie Irving. They painted him out in the street like he was the biggest villain of all time. The guy just, you know, believes in free speech, believes in, you know, his own right to choose what he should do with his body. My body, my choice.”

Covington continued, this time bashing Travis Kelce for his involvement with Pfizer.

“He’s not like a guy like Travis Kelce out there who’s believing in, ‘Oh, I’m paid off by Pfizer. Guys, get two shots at the same time, that’s the healthiest thing you could ever do with your life.’ Dude, two shots? I didn’t get the vaccine, I don’t believe in [the] vaccine but I’m not against someone that does believe in [the] vaccine.”

“If you do get the vaccine, you should probably just get one at a time because if there’s an adverse and wrong effect in it, then how are you going to know which one’s the cause of it if you’re getting two at the same time? That’s irresponsible. Travis Kelce is one of the biggest pieces of sh*t of all time the fact that he’s advising people to do that.”

“You know he’s not doing it, he’s just telling people to do it because he’s getting paid off and bought for by Pfizer. It’s disgusting.”

Related: Colby Covington claims biased judges and broken foot cost him the fight

The former UFC interim welterweight champion continued his barrage on Kelce and insisted that he would never sell himself out for any amount of money.

“You know he’s not really actually taking two jabs. The guy talks about health is his cornerstone of his career, you know. The things he puts in his body for his diet, you know. His work ethic in the gym lifting weights. Those are the things but they’re trying to brainwash these kids, like, ‘Oh, take the jab, this is what’s going to make you healthy. This is what’s going to make you a star NFL player.’ So that’s gaslighting.”

“No, I wouldn’t do that for any amount of money. You can’t buy me… There’s not a cheque I would say yes to, you know. For me, and I know that everybody doesn’t have a price because some people have a conscience, and to have that on your conscience, living every day that you’re advising people that this is healthy and this is what you should do for your body when people are dying by the masses from heart attacks.”

“I mean, look at LeBron James’ son. Did he have a cardiac arrest at 17 years old? 17-year-old little, you know, super athlete in the James family having a cardiac arrest. That’s unheard of. You never heard about that 10, 20 years ago before these Jabs came out.”

“So no amount of money am I going to be able to live with and feel good about myself. Like, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. I’d go to bed thinking, ‘Man, I’m just fooling everybody in America right now. I’m leading them down a path of destruction.”

“I just couldn’t live with myself with that, there’s no amount of money. I already have enough money. Where I came from a million dollars was going to set me up for life. So there’s no amount of money.”

Check out Covington’s appearance on the PBD Podcast below.

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Parts ways
| BJPenn.com

Kamaru Usman has always done the brunt of his talking in the Octagon with his fists.

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight champion had two vocal rivals during his reign in the forms of Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington. In all four fights, Usman remained unrattled by his opposition and earned pairs of unanimous decisions and knockouts, splitting them one-a-piece between those challengers.

UFC 296 was a particularly more volatile fight week than normal this past week. The pre-fight press conferences provided heated interactions between both match ups of Covington and current Welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, as well as Middleweight champion and challenger, Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis, who fight at UFC 297 next month (Jan. 20, 2024). For Usman, it’s not necessary, personally, but he understands why line-riding (or crossing) comments have become common in the modern day.

“Nowadays, we’re in these weird times in society to where everybody wants to be seen, everybody wants to be heard,” Usman said on the PBD Podcast (h/t MMA Junkie). “It’s information overload. We have these mics, we have these phones, we have these things that just — we all want to just be out there. People just — they’re willing to say or do anything, whether it’s men, whether it’s women willing to do and say anything just to be seen. These guys are just kind of being lost in that, to where they just — ‘I’m not going to be seen if I don’t say this or cross that line or do this.’”

Ahead of Edwards vs. Covington, Usman was somewhat surprisingly complimentary of his old rival, Covington, which led to what felt like a temporary hatchet burial between the rivals. Ultimately, “The Nigerian Nightmare” believes his lack of banter throughout his career has been a possible negative. He just hasn’t ever felt the need, considering his results.

“For me, I’ve never been that kind of guy,” Usman said. “I guess that’s kind of been a knock on me. Some people didn’t like the fact that when I’m dominating everyone, I’m not belittling them. I’m not saying this or saying that.

“There wasn’t a line that [Conor] McGregor wasn’t willing to cross,” he continued. “We saw where that got him. McGregor’s probably one of the most famous mixed martial arts fighters ever, no doubt. With that, you have all these young kids now looking at that and going, ‘Oh yeah, I can just say and do whatever I want to do that’s going to make me famous.’”

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