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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Glover Teixeira will be in Alex Pereira’s corner when “Poatan” defends his light heavyweight belt against knockout artist Khalil Rountree in the UFC 307 main event Saturday, and he likes Pereira’s chances in a potential move to heavyweight.

Pereira teased the idea in the past, but recently said he would be more willing to cut back down to 185 pounds to face champion Dricus du Plessis instead. Teixeira, however, said Pereira’s punching power would translate just fine to UFC’s heaviest division.

“[Pereira’s] knockout power is unbelievable,” Teixeira said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “He’s doing great on the ground, and he’s a natural knockout artist. If he goes up, these guys won’t beat him, man. They would have the same chance the other ones have [at light heavyweight]. Khalil, Jon Jones or Stipe [Miocic]? Ok, I believe Poatan catches them.”

Pereira claimed UFC middleweight gold in November 2022 and lost it in an immediate rematch with Israel Adesanya six months later, then left the division to kick off a 4-0 run at 205 pounds that already includes a trio of knockouts and two title defenses.

Teixeira said the team would focus on getting Pereira “stronger and heavier” for a potential move to Jon Jones’ weight class, but “I’ve trained with many heavyweights, and [Pereira] is that strong.”

A former UFC light light heavyweight champion who has previously fought Jones in the past, Teixeira said he would opt to move up to heavyweight instead of going back to middleweight if he were in Pereira’s shoes. Still, he supports whichever decision “Poatan” makes next.

“Maybe going up would be definitely easier. That would be my opinion, but it’s just an opinion.” Teixeira said. “We would have to see what the doctors say, if he can move down healthy, but I think he would definitely need to lose muscle. There’s no other way. He’s gained a lot of muscle training wrestling. He used to make 185 in GLORY, but he was doing kickboxing only, and he kept growing [with wrestling], and the cut got harder. We have to see what the professionals say. If he wants to go down, we’ll go down together. And we’ll win anywhere.”

Rountree stands across the cage from the champion on Saturday looking to spoil any plans of Pereira holding multiple UFC belts simultaneously, and Pereira’s team is taking him seriously. Poatan moved his entire camp to 8,500-feet above sea level to prepare for Salt Lake City’s high altitude, and won’t be surprised if Rountree changes his entire style to avoid Pereira’s hands and kicks.

“It’s a fight,” Teixeira said. “Even ‘Cro Cop’ [Mirko Filipovic] shot for takedowns. Maybe he’s like, ‘It’s f*cking hard here, I’ll try to take him down.’ Everyone at this level trains jiu-jitsu. That might not be his biggest strength, but he trains it. And he definitely might shoot for a takedown. Poatan trains everything, always, but his threats are on the feet. He’s fast, and he’s explosive.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Stylebender’s desire
| BJPenn.com

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Torrez Finney might just be the biggest story of Contenders Series 2024.

The 25-year-old “Punisher” appeared on Contenders Series for the first time in October 2023, picking up a rear naked choke win but failing to score a contract from UFC CEO Dana White. After picking up another win on the regional scene, Finney picked up his second Octagon victory a few weeks ago in August, but White heavily critiqued his performance and questioned his dedication.

Finney argued his case against White’s “flawed logic” well, revealing the circumstances behind his inactivity. In response, White booked him on Contenders Series for a third time, pitting him against Abdellah Er-Ramy earlier on Tuesday (Oct. 1, 2024). In yet another strong performance, Finney was able to use his wrestling to pound out Er-Ramy towards the end of the fight round.

Check out the highlight clip below:

After the win, Finney’s detractor White acknowledged his performance and finish. Given he made Contender Series history as the first fighter to rack up 3-0 wins on the show, it was only appropriate that Finney finally scored a UFC contract.

“My boy Torrez,” White began. “Listen to me kid. You, Uncle Snoop, Aunt Didi, Coach Larry, Uncle BayBay, Mom and Dad — none of you can disagree with me. You brought a different energy tonight than you did the last two fights. That’s how ya do it! Get over here, welcome to the UFC!”

Now 10-0 as a professional, Finney should be expected to make his official UFC debut either late this year or in the first quarter of 2025. How high do you think “Punisher” can climb at 185 pounds?

Insomnia

In the end, Bryan Battle won over the crowd too.

Teofimo Lopez can always be counted upon for a funny quote.

New rules are coming in one month! How long until we see the first UFC fighter get legally smoked by a knee despite one hand being on the canvas?

This reminds me: now that Demetrious Johnson is retired, we need to see what his secret “Mouse Trap” move is/was!

Light sparring between elite strikers.

Good luck outrunning Michael Bisping even after all his surgeries. The champion put in his roadwork!

The most kickboxing headline of all time.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Threw that left hook from his back pocket …

A cool move that you see sometimes in collegiate wrestling or BJJ but rarely in MMA. Jon Jones did it to Ryan Bader though!

A-Frame on the floor into grounded knees — nasty!

Random Land

Quite the cave.

Midnight Music: Folk rock, 1967

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

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Past opponents Alex Pereira and Sean Strickland have reunited once again ahead of Pereira’s next title defense in new sparring footage.

Pereira is set to defend the UFC light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree this Saturday in the main event of UFC 307 in Salt Lake City. The two former middleweight champions met up in the host city for the pay-per-view card to engage in a hard five-minute round just days before the card.

Check out the sparring session in the video above.

Pereira and Strickland met in a pivotal 185-pound clash at UFC 276 in July 2022, where “Poatan” earned his first championship opportunity with a vicious first-round knockout victory. Pereira went on to capture the title in his next fight over Israel Adesanya at UFC 281 four months later, before dropping the belt back to Adesanya at UFC 287 the following April in Pereira’s final middleweight bout.

Strickland would dethrone Adesanya five months after that in a stunning upset at UFC 293.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts