CombatSports.org

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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UFC

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!

What we need from you

1. Play the game
2. Share your result in the comments and on social media
3. Provide feedback (Google Form or in comments below)

Today’s UFC in-5 game

Tuesday’s UFC in-5 game

Monday’s UFC in-5 game

Sunday’s UFC in-5 game

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.

After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media.

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Artem Vakhitov has an opportunity to earn a UFC contract when he competes on The Contender Series on Oct. 8, but even before he sets foot in the octagon for the first time, he’s got light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira’s attention.

The former rivals who met twice in GLORY with Vakhitov holding the final win over Pereira before he left the promotion to sign with the UFC have already engaged in a war of words. With Vakhitov making his transition into MMA — with a 2-1 record, which is almost identical to Pereira when he joined the UFC roster — he’ll have plenty of eyes on him when he fights next Tuesday night.

While he still has to perform and impress the UFC executives in attendance to guarantee himself a contract, Vakhitov knows Pereira is already looking over his shoulder.

“I didn’t ask for any attention from him but he already knows he lost to me two times,” Vakhitov said about Pereira when speaking to MMA Fighting. “It’s worrying him a little bit.

“For sure for fans around the world, it’s very interesting. Let’s see for the future. I think we can do it.”

Much like Pereira signing with the UFC largely due to his wins over then champion Israel Adesanya in kickboxing, Vakhitov knows he’s got a leg up on the competition when it comes to a fast rise up the ranks.

Add to that, the 33-year-old Russian doesn’t believe there are many strikers even close to Pereira’s level on the feet, which is another reason why he wants to shake things up with his arrival.

“You see now that he is very easily beating all the guys now,” Vakhitov said. “For sure, they really needed some guy who can beat him in that striking style. I guess we will see who is the best striker very soon.”

Because he shares so much history with Pereira thanks to those back-to-back fights in 2021, Vakhitov competes on The Contender Series with a much brighter spotlight on him than the average prospect.

That might intimidate some fighters but don’t count Vakhitov among them.

“I’m not getting any pressure,” Vakhitov said. “I just have it in my own way. My aim and my focus is only on Dana White’s Contender Series for sure. If I will get Pereira in the future, I will show a great fight and let’s hope that will be meet soon in the octagon.

“I was thinking that I could get in the UFC directly without Dana White’s Contender Series but anyway it’s a very good chance for me. A great opportunity to get there. I will take this chance and for sure I will only show great fights in the future. I think it’s a very good opportunity for me.”

Beyond his training at home in Russia, Vakhitov has also spent significant time training at Kill Cliff FC in Florida, the same gym that houses notable UFC fighters such as Shavkat Rakhmonov, Gilbert Burns and Michael Chandler.

Making the move from kickboxing to MMA is never easy but Vakhitov believes he’s learned a lot already and he’s still adding more and more weapons to his arsenal everyday.

“From the beginning, I was starting to work on defense from takedowns, about things to help me defend from guys on the ground,” Vakhitov said. “I’ve got a few camps in Moscow and here in [Florida] so I’m already experienced and a lot of high level guys are training with us.

“It for sure helped me with the experience and I’m getting more into this stuff. It looks like the transition is going well and we are still working on it. Continuing to work on it.”

Assuming he wins next Tuesday and UFC CEO Dana White offers him a contract, Vakhitov doesn’t expect that he’ll just get handed a fight against Pereira right away.

Vakhitov has no problem earning the chance to face his old foe again but until then he’ll keep rooting for Pereira to hold onto his title — just like he did in his latest defense over Khalil Rountree at UFC 307.

“For sure [rooting] for Alex to win, it’s all I can wish for him,” Vakhitov said. “Just continue to win and I hope we will meet very soon. He just has to wait for me.”

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Chip on the shoulder
| BJPenn.com

UFC

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

All eyes were on Artem Vakhitov ahead of his Contenders Series main event slot versus Islem Masraf, which wrapped up earlier on Tuesday (Oct. 8, 2024) from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Why was everyone so interested in a 2-1 Light Heavyweight?

Being a Glory champion certainly separates him from the pack at bit, but the real answer is that he’s the last man to defeat Alex Pereira in kickboxing! After the whole Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira saga in the Octagon, we know just how substantial a rivalry from the ring to the cage can be. These two fought twice in 2021, and their connection was enough that Pereira — who just fought four bloody rounds in Utah three days ago — flew in to attend his kickboxing rival’s fight.

Vakhitov hit a bit of trouble early against Masraf, finding himself controlled in close quarters. Masraf didn’t actually manage to take down the striker, but Vakhitov was getting pinned to the fence for a fair portion of the first. Fortunately, he made it count when he did create separation. Masraf was a touch winded from the grappling, leaving him very vulnerable to a series of right hands.

Check out the knockout clip below:

With the knockout, Vakhitov improves to 3-1 as a professional. Despite the win and history with “Poatan,” it was still up in the air whether Vakhitov would score the contract, because he has very little cage time overall and showed some wrestling inexperience in the bout. UFC CEO Dana White turned to Pereira for advice, and the Brazilian acknowledged his former foe as skilled and experienced enough for UFC competition.

It will be very exciting to see Vakhitov’s career develop. He’s still a long way from earning an MMA rubber match versus the champion, but Adesanya and “Poatan” both demonstrated that elite kickboxers are capable of fast rises up the ladder. If nothing else, any injection of talent at 205-pounds is sorely needed!

Insomnia

It’s cool to see fan art of unranked fighters, although I don’t know that Bryan Battle will hold that status for much longer.

Khalil Rountree motivating his team!

Retired UFC fighter Tim Kennedy somehow found his way onto Last Week Tonight, and it’s not because he found Hitler.

Renato Moicano and company have released the most accurate theoretical UFC salary numbers yet.

There’s only one Nick Diaz.

Joshua Van is a glutton for punishment. This is going to be a great fight, but I see no way it doesn’t end with these two taking lumps out of each other.

In other Flyweight news, Tatsuro Taira is the main event and does very cool stuff on the canvas. Click through for the full thread!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Being a kickboxing legend from several decades ago, sadly, is not a good recipe for success in 2024.

The ten finger guillotine always creates such unpleasant pressure on the neck and spine. Blue should’ve tried kicking off the fence, it bizarrely works sometimes.

Stand-and-bang until somebody falls down!

Random Land

Surfing the green!

Midnight Music: Chappell Roan has taken over the pop world in the last 12 months or so, and I finally got around to listening to her work. I like an earworm chorus!

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

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