Amanda Nunes | Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
Amanda Nunes took on social media to send a unique message to UFC CEO Dana White.
“The Lioness”, who retired from the sport after defending her UFC bantamweight title against Irene Aldana in June of 2023, posted a video singing “Outdoor”, of Brazilian samba group Só Pra Contrariar.
Nunes changed the lyrics to ask White to “call me, please,” adding that “I miss you so much.”
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A post shared by Guilherme Cruz (@guicruz.mma)
The original lyrics are as follows.
I can’t believe you won’t look for me
I’ve suffered too much beyond what I deserve
Oh, please call
I miss you so much
Nunes left the UFC as a two-division champion, winning 14 of her past 15 fights. Julianna Peña — the lone loss for Nunes during that stretch, who beat “The Lioness” for the 135-pound belt before losing their rematch — called for a trilogy bout after defeating Raquel Pennington in the co-main event of UFC 307 this past Saturday in Salt Lake City.
Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Israel Adesanya knows as well as anyone when Alex Pereira is ready to rock.
The combat sports rivals have squared off twice in kickboxing and twice in MMA championship bouts, with Pereira winning two of those fights via knockout, and Adesanya holding bragging rights most recently when he flattened Pereira at UFC 287.
Pereira subsequently moved up to light heavyweight, where he captured a second UFC title that he has defended three consecutive times. This past Saturday at UFC 307, Pereira was taken to the limit by challenger Khalil Rountree Jr., but emerged victorious with a fourth-round finish.
As he does with most major UFC events, Adesanya uploaded video of his reaction to the main event and the rest of the main card, which can be watched below.
“If Khalil knocks him out, it would be amazing, but I think Alex is going to knock him out,” Adesanya predicted ahead of the fight.
During the contest, Adesanya broke down how Pereira’s strategy differed from previous fights, pointing out how Pereira was keeping a higher guard than usual and that Rountree would need a knockout to win after absorbing a number of debilitating leg kicks in the fight.
He also marveled at Pereira’s ability to continue pushing the pace in the championship rounds.
Rountree was actually up on all three judges’ scorecards heading into Round 4, but Pereira appeared to be gaining strength at the end of the third and Adesanya sensed the end was near for the challenger.
“I can feel it,” Adesanya said. “Now, it’s going to be ‘Chama’ time.”
Sure enough, Pereira closed the show with a brutal flurry of offense, hammering a resilient Rountree until he crumbled to the canvas and was saved by referee Marc Goddard.
It was yet another crowd-pleasing performance from “Poatan” and Adesanya made sure to pay him his proper respect.
“He’s got some hard fights in front of him, but he is that guy right now,” Adesanya said.
Despite his constant complaining on social media, there doesn’t appear to be much urgency from the “Notorious” lightweight, who is certainly not short on potential opponents. That said, one fighter who will not score a life-changing red panty night is veteran “Highlight” reel Justin Gaethje.
That’s according to longtime manager Ali Abdelaziz.
“He got offered this fight at least five times,” Abdelaziz told Submission Radio. “At least five. He never wanted to have to do anything with Justin. He said the reason he didn’t want to fight Justin is because Justin talked bad to him on Twitter and Instagram before — and the history we have with him. He didn’t want to lose to our team, I guess. Even UFC told me, ‘Hey, leave him alone, he doesn’t like to fight people who talk bad to him on the Internet.’ Why do you think [Michael] Chandler was being so nice to him? Because he was being told not to talk bad to Conor. Conor has to start talking bad and then he can talk bad back. You know, he’s a weak, mental midget. He’s soft like a marshmallow. And he’s a no good son of a bitch. This is what he is.”
McGregor, who turned 36 last July, dropped three of his last four and has not competed since losing to Dustin Poirier back in summer 2021.
“I believe Dan Hooker will be the next fight [for Gaethje],” Abdelaziz continued. “I don’t think he deserves it. It’s been six years since Conor last saw Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. Khabib took everything away from him. He took his manhood, he took his soul. He was never the same. He will never be the same. He took everything away from this man. The UFC lost so much money because of Khabib. But this is the game. You know you have to fight the best and Khabib was the best at the same time. Conor fought the best and he got whooped.”
To be fair, Gaethje has also turned the fight down (because of this).
McGregor is not expected to compete until 2025, long after the promotion has its new broadcast deal — a decision that is likely to help the promotion command top dollar on the open market. Despite his inactivity and mediocre record, McGregor remains the biggest draw in mixed martial arts (MMA).
Middleweight contender Roman Dolidze handed Holland a rough loss this past Saturday at UFC 307, with their bout ending at the very end of the opening round when it was ruled Holland could not continue due to a rib injury suffered while Dolidze attacked him on the ground. Holland looked like he wanted to come out for Round 2, but the bout was eventually waved off.
Holland later replied to an internet troll on Instagram, who wrote him a vulgar message (screenshot courtesy of The Fight Bubble):
Kevin Holland responds to a troll in his DMs:#UFC307 pic.twitter.com/Td61Ub8OxD
— The Fight Bubble (@thefightbubble) October 6, 2024
Holland captioned the Instagram Story post, “Can’t have a response to everyone but yeah I feel like a total piece of shit. My bad to all the ones who put some bread on the line or told they friend I was gonna win. I’m a p*ssy.”
The screenshot also contains a DM reply from Holland, in which he wrote, “I feel like a piece of shit. Rib pain like a vagina.”
With the loss, Holland has now dropped three of his past four fights competing in both the middleweight and welterweight divisions. The extent of his rib injury is unknown.
Alex Pereira’s remarkable run in the UFC continued with a fourth-round knockout of Khalil Rountree in the main event of UFC 307 to retain the light heavyweight championship. “Poatan” has many options in front of him, and while he says he plans to remain at 205 to defend his belt, is that what ultimately happens for one of the UFC’s biggest stars?
On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what could be next for Pereira and Rountree following their thrilling headliner on Saturday night in Salt Lake City. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for new women’s bantamweight champ Julianna Peña and Raquel Pennington after their co-main event ended with a controversial split decision, Mario Bautista following his split decision victory against Jose Aldo, Roman Dolidze after his injury TKO win over Kevin Holland, along with fellow main card winner Kayla Harrison, and more.
Watch the UFC 307 edition of On To the Next One in the video above. Audio-only versions of the podcast can be found below, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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