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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Nate Diaz appears to like the idea of a “BMF” title tournament, but he doesn’t like all of the names.

In a recent interview with Sirius XM, Dustin Poirier expressed interest in a one-night tournament for the belt, which would also feature past opponents Justin Gaethje, Dan Hooker, and current titleholder Max Holloway.

Diaz agrees that Holloway and Hooker belong in the mix, but he doesn’t feel Poirier or Gaethje do, which he stated in an Instagram story.

“Dana White, Dan and Max are eligible for my belt but get the other two nerds out of there, they don’t fit the description,” Diaz wrote.

White was asked about the concept following Tuesday’s Dana White Contender Series Season 8, Week 9 event at UFC APEX in Las Vegas, and the UFC CEO thought it was intriguing.

“Sounds fun,” White said. “Never thought about it but yeah, I love it.”

Since fighting out his UFC contract, Diaz has competed twice in the boxing ring — losing a decision to Jake Paul in August 2023, and defeating Jorge Masvidal via majority decision in July. Diaz and Masvidal battled for the inaugural BMF title in November 2019 in the main event of UFC 244, where Masvidal earned the win via doctor’s stoppage TKO.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alexander Volkanovski’s alter ego is back.

With plenty of time on his hands as he awaits his next fight, the former featherweight champion has kept himself busy filming another “Old Man Volk” sketch that was uploaded Tuesday by sponsor Sportsbet.com.au. Volkanovski’s aged character now finds himself invested in an independent pasta sauce business, with an old rival still breathing down his neck.

Watch the video below.

In the sketch, Volkanovski, who turned a spry 36 in September, makes several cheeky references to his fighting career, at one point telling a customer that wants to pay by card that “he never taps” and then assuring another that he plans to continue fighting (though this is actually a segue into his ongoing beef with neighbor Beverly, last seen terrorizing Volkanovski in the original Old Man Volk clip.)

Volkanovski has gotten plenty of mileage out of his comedic character, even showing up as Old Man Volk at a press conference ahead of his fight with Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 this past February. That bout didn’t go so well for Volkanovski, as he suffered his first loss at 145 pounds and lost his featherweight title to Topuria via knockout.

Let’s hope for Volkanovski’s sake that this time the skit is a more positive omen.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alex Pereira and Artem Vakhitov may be fierce rivals when it comes to combat sports, but there’s nothing but respect between them outside the ring.

On Tuesday night, Vakhitov scored a first-round knockout on Contender Series but UFC CEO Dana White was on the fence about whether or not to sign him to a contract. After attending the UFC APEX show to watch Vakhitov’s performance, Pereira actually put in a good word for the former GLORY Kickboxing champion and he was signed to a contract.

Following the event, Pereira and Vakhitov ran into each other backstage and chatted through translators.

“To be honest, I’m very happy see you winning,” Vakhitov told Pereira. “I love what’s happening with you right now over here. So just keep doing it, keep winning, I’ll be watching this. I’ll be focused on myself. Hopefully after a few more defenses, it will happen so that we’ll meet each other again.”

(Video courtesy of Vakhitov’s manager Andrey Busygin)

While both fighters were competing in GLORY, Pereira defeated Vakhitov by split decision in their first encounter before the Russian got his revenge with a majority decision in the rematch. That fight served as Pereira’s final appearance in GLORY before signing with the UFC where he’s gone on to become a two-division champion in short order.

After Vakhitov decided to make a full-time transition to MMA, he exchanged more than a few messages with Pereira through interviews and over social media.

No matter what was said, Vakhitov promised it was never anything personal but just about business.

“Nothing but respect,” Vakhitov said. “All love and it’s just sports. That’s all it is.”

The fighters shook hands and shared a hug, with Pereira giving Vakhitov a few parting words with a laugh between everybody involved after he gave his former opponent the extra nod he needed to get into the UFC.

“You owe me one,” Pereira said.

Vakhitov joins the UFC with a 3-1 record in his MMA career with all of his wins coming by first-round knockout.

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A true warrior
| BJPenn.com

Amanda Nunes is teasing a return to UFC.

That would suggest the nerve damage in her legs is all better now, or maybe she’s just ignoring the pain. I don’t really know how nerve damage works but maybe the idea of putting another beating on newly-crowned bantamweight champion Julianna Pena is too tempting to resist.

Pena captured the crown from Raquel Pennington at UFC 307.

“She looks good,” UFC CEO Dana White told reporters following last night’s Contender Series. “She looks great. Looks like she’s still in shape. So you know where her head is at, and I love that about her. There’s a lot of things I love about her, I love that about her. She’s keeping an eye on who wins the title next and I think she’s teasing that she might be interested in coming back. I love Amanda Nunes. I have an incredible relationship with her. I would absolutely love to see her come back.”

Glad to see this drama didn’t get in the way of their “incredible relationship.”

Outside of Pena, the 36 year-old Nunes also has unfinished business with this former training partner. Whether or not “Lioness” waits for Pena to defend her title against top contender Kayla Harrison remains to be seen, assuming her comeback plans are legit and not just an excuse for attention on social media.

Time will tell.

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Dricus du Plessis may not get his wish after all.

Du Plessis is the UFC’s first South African champion and even before he won the middleweight title, “Stillknocks” talked about bringing a UFC event to the continent. The talk only ramped up after claiming the title from Sean Strickland at UFC 297.

Everything reached a peak when ahead of du Plessis’s title defense against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, UFC CEO Dana White promised that if the champion retained his title, the promotion would bring an event to South Africa next. Well, du Plessis did his job, submitting Adesanya in the fourth round of their fight, but he may not get what was promised.

“You know how bad I want this,” White told reporters after the most recent episode of Contender Series. “I’ve been trying to get this thing done. The arena situation there is tough. It’s tough to pull off. So that’s been the challenge with Africa as a whole. We’re trying to figure it out.

“The place that we would have to do it at is outdoors, and you know how I feel about that. So I’ve been trying to figure out the weather and one of the big things that I’ve been hearing out there is that wind is a big problem. We’ve done it a couple times, but anything that could affect the outcome of the fight makes me not even want to try. And it’s anything, from wind, rain, bugs, too much humidity. A lot of things can interfere with the fight.”

White has flirted with the idea of a UFC Africa card for years, dating back to the “Three African Kings” era when Adesanya, Francis Ngannou and Kamaru Usman all held UFC titles. The event never came to fruition though and now du Plessis is the promotion’s only African champion.

But while the future of UFC Africa remains in question for now, there’s one thing that is certain: du Plessis’s next opponent.

Despite a surge of new contenders in the middleweight division, and an upcoming bout between former champion Robert Whittaker and the highly popular Khamzat Chimaev set to take place at UFC 308, White confirmed that a Strickland rematch is next up for du Plessis, wherever the fight ends up happening.

“Yes, [Strickland is still next],” White said.

Du Plessis and Strickland fought for the middleweight title back at UFC 297 in January, with the South African winning a close split decision to take the belt. Since then, Strickland won a split decision over Paulo Costa to maintain his spot atop the middleweight contender rankings.

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