Alex Pereira did it again, as he knocked out a game Khalil Rountree in the main event of UFC 307 to retain the UFC light heavyweight title. “Poatan” now has options galore, so is sticking around at 205 the way to go, or should he move up to heavyweight to entice Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic to stick around?
On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the fallout of this past Saturday’s pay-per-view event, comparing Pereria’s run to any other we’ve seen in the UFC, Julianna Pena regaining the women’s bantamweight title, whether or not Raquel Pennington was robbed, and other storylines from the card. Additionally, topics include this Saturday’s UFC Vegas 98 event headlined by Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira, PFL’s pay-per-view price, Donn Davis continuing to frustrate the MMA community with his comments, and much more.
Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and UFC analyst Din Thomas.
Watch the show live at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT in the video above.
If you missed the show live, you can still watch above, or listen to the podcast version, which can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods.
Jake Paul has lived in the public since he was a teenager but with all that fame also came a lot of hate and it led him to a very dark period in his life.
Following stints acting on the Disney channel and building an online brand through social media, Paul actually found himself as public enemy No. 2 after his brother Logan Paul invited a storm of controversy when he posted a video to his YouTube channel of a suicide victim while visiting Japan’s “suicide forest” back in 2018.
The decision to film and post the video was Logan’s choice but Jake was unable to avoid the fallout.
“I got lumped into all my brother’s hate,” Paul told The Hollywood Reporter. “It was like, ‘F*ck the Pauls. F*ck both of those people.’ It was bad. The suicide forest thing basically ruined my career and income. I lost probably $ 30 million in deals.
“There was one $ 15 million deal for retail products that fell apart. They were able to get out of it because of a morality clause.”
The downward spiral from that incident left Paul in a very poor mental head space and he began partying in Los Angeles as a way to cope with his struggles.
“Basically, life hit me in the face, and it was like, ‘Who are you? What have you been doing the past couple of years?’” Paul recounted. “It led to drinking and drugs and Los Angeles and going to parties and just that whole entire world. I got sucked up into it really quickly.
“And so there I am: No money, kind of hating myself, the whole world hates me. I’m drinking. I’m depressed and not having a good relationship with either of my parents or Logan. And I was just like, ‘F*ck this shit.’ I just felt wrong in life and by all the cards I had been dealt. It was f*cked up. I just tried to do good my whole life and here I am with what felt like nothing.”
After initially finding notoriety from viral videos posted online, Paul decided take that fame and use it for an elaborate stunt that would actually conclude in his own death.
“I had a plan,” Paul revealed. “I mean, it’s f*cking crazy. I was going to put a bunch of gas cans in my Lamborghini and get really drunk and drive off the top of this cliff in Calabasas. It’s called Stunt Road.”
In the end, Paul obviously didn’t follow through with those plans but it was from that terrifying time in his life that he actually decided to become a professional fighter.
“I was not going to let them win,” Paul said. “I was like, ‘I’m going to fight. This is what every social media hater wants is to wake up and see Jake Paul killed himself.’”
It was boxing that finally gave Paul the structure and discipline he needed to course correct from all the bad decisions he was making.
He credits the sport for saving his life.
“It’s purpose, routine, health, community — all the things I needed,” Paul said. “Since 2020, it’s been boxing’s No. 1 and everything else comes after that. I never really liked YouTube. I was just good at it.”
Paul has parlayed his passion for boxing into a very successful career where he’s put together a 10-1 professional record with a massive fight booked against heavyweight legend Mike Tyson on Nov. 15 with an event that airs live on Netflix.
Holloway was prepared for all of Topuria’s attacks during a new ESPN interview leading into their Abu Dhabi featherweight title fight.
Ilia Topuria has been making a lot of claims about Max Holloway in the lead-up to their UFC 308 fight in Abu Dhabi. Those comments may have earned him headlines when made to the press, but they didn’t work so well when said directly to Holloway’s face.
Topuria and Holloway were recently featured on an ESPN ‘Face to Face’ where a bored Holloway reacted scathingly to “El Matador’s” greatest verbal hits.
“You were forced to fight me, you didn’t want to fight me,” Topuria claimed once again. “You asked to fight with Conor McChicken. You asked to fight with too many fighters because you were trying to avoid me.”
“Who told you this?” Holloway asked. “Exactly. Shut up, you’re lying! This guy’s a liar. I asked for you … You were the first guy I asked for. I want Ilia, I want the easiest fight. That’s Ilia Topuria. That’s what I said.”
“I already opened a home for old people,” Topuria said. “Volk already has his room. I have another one for you. So I’m gonna put you right there after October 26th. All for free, don’t worry. No expenses … Bring your pillow.”
“Oh my gosh,” Holloway replied. “Come up with something new. Say something new. You’ve been saying this the whole time you’ve been talking.”
In the end, none of this banter generates points on the judges’ scorecards. Ilia Topuria talked a big game leading into his fight with Alexander Volkanovski as well, with many wondering if he was going to look foolish after the bout. Instead he crushed Volk and took home the belt.
His trash talk looked pretty different after he walked the walk. Will things be similar after UFC 308 on October 26th?
Glover Teixeira | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Almost a year after saying he had the itch to fight again, but would stay retired, Glover Teixeira now leaves the door open for a potential return to the octagon.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion told MMA Fighting in November 2023 that he was “very comfortable where I’m at right now” as MMA coach and retired fighter, but being around so many great athletes — and sharing the mat with the likes of UFC champion Alex Pereira on a daily basis — has him once again eager for competition.
“There’s nothing [booked], but I’ll definitely go back to competition,” Teixeira said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “I keep going after challenges. It’s hard to stay [training] with no reason why, so I’ll definitely do something. I want to compete.”
Teixeira retired from the sport in January of 2023 after losing back to back UFC title fights to Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill, and won a grappling match against Anthony Smith in June of 2023.
There were discussions of maybe returning to the mat earlier this year against Rafael Lovato Jr., at one of the UFC Fight Pass Invitational grappling shows, but that didn’t materialize.
Teixeira was crucial part of three Pereira training camps this year for successful title defenses against Hill, Prochazka and most recently Khalil Rountree at UFC 307, and the Brazilian veteran, who turns 45 lates this month, is open to offers in multiple sports — even the UFC.
“I’ll do some jiu-jitsu, I wanna do… I don’t know, maybe boxing. Or even go back for some fights in the UFC,” Teixeira said. “That’s got to be it because it’s hard, man. I’m feeling great, fighting hard with the guys in the gym. I’ve rolled with some wrestlers, training with Sean Strickland and ‘Poatan’. I was doing some light sparring with ‘Poatan’ the other day, and he’s like, ‘F*ck, Glover, you have to come back!’
“I’m training well, I’m feeling well. I love this. I’m not saying I want to fight, but I want to compete. If it’s jiu-jitsu, Lovato, guys like that. I wanna do some matches, that’s for sure.”
Teixeira fought professionally 42 times between 2002 and 2023, racking up a record of 33-9 with key UFC wins over the likes of Jan Blachowicz, Rashad Evans, Ryan Bader, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Anthony Smith and Jared Cannonier. Teixeira came up short in his first UFC title fight in 2014, losing a decision to Jon Jones, before finally conquering gold seven years later to become the oldest first-time champion in promotion history at age 42.
Think you can figure out which UFC fighter we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out.
We’re back for another day of the SB Nation UFC in-5 daily trivia game, and we’re switching to a system of a new article each day for the game.
We tried using a single article for the game, updated with the latest game each day, but it was creating a bit of an unwieldy experience in the comments. So, we’ll have the current day’s game plus the previous three days in each new article. That way, you can catch up if you miss a day.
Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game!
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The goal of the game is to guess the correct random UFC fighter player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED FIGHTERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the MMA Fighting layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day.
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