In Dan Hardy’s eyes, the only intriguing opponent for Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall sits outside of the promotion.
Aspinall continues to await news of his next assignment. Despite the division boasting two titleholders for the past 16 months, it remains unclear whether the British powerhouse and Jon Jones will meet in a unification fight.
Following Jones’ successful defense against Stipe Miocic last November, Dana White gave his backing for “Bones” to face Aspinall next. Negotiations for that coming to fruition are seemingly underway.
And according to Hardy, the UFC higher-ups better make Jones an offer he can’t refuse lest they be left with zero “legit” matchups for Aspinall.
Though many might disagree and point to a heavyweight clash with current 205-pound kingpin Alex Pereira, “The Outlaw” believes only PFL star Francis Ngannou would be adequate opposition for the Manchester native.
“Of course, Pereira could touch anybody on the chin on the planet and knock them out. But if you’re looking for a real, legit heavyweight contender for Tom, maybe I’m a broken record, but it has to be Ngannou,” Hardy said during a recent appearance on Submission Radio. “There isn’t anybody else, really. I don’t see any other fight that truly excites me. I can point at that and say, ‘That’s the heavyweight king.’ And I don’t even think I could say that if it was Jones versus Aspinall at this point, because I don’t feel like Jones is — I mean, he’s potentially number three in the heavyweight division right now, behind Ngannou and Aspinall.
“You have to admit, though, someone else in Tom Aspinall’s position might just say, ‘Hey, give me Pereira. Let’s just fight now,’ because that would bring so much money,” Hardy continued. “But he wants the tougher fight in Jon Jones, and if Francis Ngannou were around, he’d want the tougher fight in Francis Ngannou. So it’s one of those things where we should reward the guys that deserve to be rewarded.”
The topic of Pereira moving up another division has long been a prominent topic. And it’ll no doubt return to the surface should he dispatch of Magomed Ankalaev for a fourth successful light heavyweight title defense this weekend at UFC 313.
Ngannou, meanwhile, emerged victorious from his PFL debut last October. He’s expected to next return to the boxing ring.
Curtis Blaydes has been a perennial top-five heavyweight for the biggest part of his UFC career so there were more than a few curious looks when his next fight was booked against relative unknown Rizvan Kuniev.
It’s not to say that Kuniev is an unskilled fighter but he’s making his UFC debut against Blaydes after two fights on The Contender Series, a single appearance in the PFL, and spending a year on the shelf after he was suspended following a positive drug test for multiple steroids. Blaydes admits he didn’t know any of that because he had never heard of Kuniev before the UFC came to him with that name as an opponent.
“I did [a double take] but like I always say, the money’s the same regardless if it’s Jon Jones or if it’s a debut guy,” Blaydes told MMA Fighting. “The money’s the same so I’ll always be down.
“I had to Google him. I watched his fight on The Contender [Series], that’s really the only fight of his I watched. He looks like your traditional heavyweight — swings heavy and hopes to knock you out early.”
Once Blaydes started doing his research he came across Kuniev’s name for the suspension he faced from the Nevada Athletic Commission after he tested positive for a cocktail of banned substances. Kuniev was penalized after a drug test discovered drostanolone, metenelone, boldenone, and 19-norandrosterone, which are all anabolic steroids, in his system.
Discovering that information might give someone pause before a fight but Blaydes didn’t lose any sleep over it.
“I heard about that also,” Blaydes said about Kuniev’s suspension. “Who knows that might be part of this. Maybe he has to get it out of his system but I heard about rumors like that about [Jailton] Almeida and I mean he is very strong and he did have skills, but roids are not going to be the difference. It’s not going to be enough.
“Even if he is on some stuff, I don’t believe it’s going to help him with his sprawling or help him take a punch. I’m all right with it, even if he is on some stuff.”
Perhaps the biggest danger in this fight is that Blaydes walks into UFC 313 as an overwhelming favorite to win based not only on his past resume but also because he’s facing an octagon rookie.
That means the expectations are high for Blaydes to tear through Kuniev but he learned a long time ago that just because something is supposed to happen doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
“I think that’s one of the benefits coming up through wrestling,” Blaydes explained. “I’ve been in this position before where I was a junior in high school, highly ranked, No. 4 in the state, got some unknown dude. I went out there messing around with him, took him down a few times, let him up, I’m playing with my food so to speak, and then got hit with a headlock and I got pinned by some unknown unranked heavyweight.
“After that, I’ve never approached anything athletic like ‘Oh this dude’s a bum.’ He’s here for a reason. He must have some type of skill. I’m not going to not approach him with the respect he deserves. He’s here. He’s in the UFC. They’re not bringing in unskilled heavyweights. I’m approaching it as if he has the ability to beat me, which he does. This is heavyweight. It only takes one sloppy haymaker and lights out.”
While Blaydes didn’t get upset that the UFC offered him a newcomer, he initially had his sights set on a different opponent.
Coming off a knockout loss to current interim heavyweight Tom Aspinall this past July, Blaydes thought a showdown against Ciryl Gane was the fight that made the most sense but he also didn’t get his hopes too high that would happen.
Blaydes has never considered himself a trash talker and he doesn’t go out of his way to stir up trouble but he’s got receipts to back up his belief that Gane has no interest in ever facing him.
“I normally don’t do this but he has turned [it down] — I have heard this from my management speaking with Hunter [Campbell], who does the contracts and negotiations for [heavyweights], he has turned me down three times over the past four years,” Blaydes revealed. “I remember I asked for him originally in 2021 and they gave me Volkov. I wanted him again after that one and they gave me Derrick Lewis. I’ve asked for him a few times.
“Originally that’s the one I wanted after the Aspinall fight. OK, I guess I’ll go for Gane and he ends up in there with Volkov. I don’t think we will ever fight, unfortunately.”
As much as it bugs him that Gane seemingly has no interest in the fight, Blaydes understands the logic, at least based on the visuals of how he expects that matchup to play out.
“We understand why,” Blaydes said. “I go out there and I smash him, he loses a lot marketability. The aura of the Frenchman who does all the fancy stuff. If you see me go out there and just body slam him on his head like four or five times and elbow him into oblivious, it kind of removes the marketability. So I get it.
“It just sucks because I think it would be a great fight for me. I beat him, that should be enough to get another title shot. Beating the guy I’m about to fight right now, it’s hard to say. He doesn’t have any value as a name right now. I don’t even know his name. Rizvan Kuniev? Right now doesn’t have a lot of name value.”
Beating Kuniev might not do much for him in the long run outside of earning another paycheck but Blaydes is proud that he didn’t scoff at the offer when the UFC came calling.
He’s nowhere near done with his career but Blaydes holds his head up high knowing when the day comes that he finally hangs up his gloves that no one can ever say he backed down from a fight.
“That’s a legacy I’ll brag about,” Blaydes said. “I won’t brag about the names. I’ll brag that I never said no. Never ever said no.”
It has been three days since UFC Vegas 103, where Top 15 ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Flyweight Asu Almabayev was stopped by top contender Manel Kape via technical knockout (TKO) from inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada (watch highlights).
While Kape looked absolutely amazing in his stoppage win, the victory was barred with controversy. “Starboy” scrapped Almabayev’s eye a few seconds before the stoppage, and the referee completely missed it.
Today (Tues., March 4, 2025), a picture of Almbayev’s eye has surfaced, and the damage is very visible.
Check out his eye post UFC Vegas 103 below:
Asu Almabayev’s eye after UFC Vegas 103 pic.twitter.com/eCqTZGmopt
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) March 4, 2025
For the second straight week, a UFC main event was plagued by the dreaded eye poke. UFC Seattle’s main event loser, Henry Cejudo, could not continue afterSong Yadong logged his finger into “Triple C’s” eye socket.
Still pissed off by the result of his fight, Cejudo posted on social media immediately after UFC Vegas 103 by writing, “Eye pokes are the greatest threat to the growth of this sport (unbiased).”
Eye pokes are the greatest threat to the growth of this sport (unbiased) #UFCVegas103
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) March 2, 2025
Unfortunately, eye pokes have not gone away in the 32 years that UFC has existed, and it looks like they will stay forever…unless referees actually enforce the penalties for eye pokes.
For what it’s worth, Almabayev (21-3) had his 17-fight win streak snapped this past weekend.
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Ryan Garcia | Photo by Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images
Ryan Garcia wants to prove this is a new chapter in his life.
One of the most popular fighters in boxing, Garcia had a tumultuous 2024. Ahead of his fight with Devin Haney in April, had a number of incidents, that led some to question the state of his mental health, including badly missing weight for the fight with Haney and then chugging a beer in their final face off. Despite these incidents, Garcia delivered a sensational performance against Haney, pulling off an upset victory, only to later have that result overturned after he test positive for a banned substance.
Garcia received a one year suspension for the infraction and now makes his return on May 2 when he takes on Rolly Romero in the main event of mega boxing card that takes place in Times Square in New York City. On Tuesday, Garcia participated in the first press conference for the “Fatal Fury” event and made it clear that this time around there would be no antics from him.
“I want to be great,” Garcia said. “I’ve always wanted to fight the best fighters in the sport. As far as my problems outside the ring, I’ve always had those problems. I don’t know who else struggles with stuff like that, but that’s just something I was struggling with.
“I want to just show everybody that you can come back from anything. I want to show my dedication to the sport and be a true professional. I admit my wrongs and I don’t want anybody to take my actions of drinking and smoking before the fight and try to think that’s a way to handle yourself as a professional. So I came here to change that. This is my first fight to get respect back and to prove to everybody that it wasn’t a fluke, and I’m ready to do it.”
Garcia’s rival Devin Haney is also fighting on the same card, taking on Jose Ramirez in the co-main event, with both parties openly acknowledging that should should they both win, a rematch of their now No-Contest will take place later this year.
PFL standout Dakota Ditcheva was left spooked after an unexpected encounter with a fan.
Ditcheva’s star has grown no end in recent times. After establishing herself as one to watch with success in the PFL Europe regional expansion in 2023, “Dangerous” proved herself on the global stage.
The 26-year-old striking specialist most recently steamrolled through former UFC title challenger Taila Santos to remain undefeated and capture the 2024 PFL women’s flyweight title.
With that, Ditcheva has significantly grown her fanbase. But one supporter recently showed too much enthusiasm.
During a video uploaded to her YouTube channel late last month, Ditcheva detailed her time in Dubai for the PFL Champions Series event in January. At one point, the British fighter spoke to the camera and described an interaction with a fan at the hotel she was staying at.
The individual, who outlined that he’d been “looking” for her, discovered Ditcheva’s location from a post on her Instagram Story that featured the hotel’s branding.
“On the way back from breakfast, then somebody had seen that I was in this hotel on Instagram,” Ditcheva said. “It’s my fault because I put a photo on of that board, the chocolate board that they brought to my room. I put it on my Instagram Story…I don’t normally share my location until I’ve gone.”
Despite the fan being friendly, Ditcheva admitted the experience had still ‘freaked her out’.
“Stupidly, I did that and I just got approached on the way back from breakfast, which was fine, I love for you guys to come up and say hi and things like that, but when I’m on my own, it freaks me out a little bit,” Ditcheva continued. “He said he’d seen me on Instagram and he’d been DM-ing me and was basically looking for me. He was dead excited to see me, which is really nice and he was a really nice guy, but it does freak me out a little.
“It’s always lovely to meet you guys, but when I’m on my own and I haven’t got my brother or my mum with me, it does just scare me a little bit,” she concluded.
Ditcheva’s incident comes soon after tennis star Emma Raducanu’s harrowing stalking experience. The 2021 US Open champion was said to have been followed across four countries by a man whose behavior was described as being ‘fixated’ on Raducanu.
The individual was handed a restraining order after the British tennis player spotted him in the crowd at a recent championship in Dubai.
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