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Torrez Finney finally earned his spot in the UFC.

On Tuesday night, the eighth episode of season eight of Contender Series took place in Las Vegas at the UFC APEX, and after five fights, UFC CEO Dana White handed out contracts to all five winners.

The most notable of the contracts was Finney who already won twice on Contender Series before Tuesday, including a decision win earlier this season. After that win, White ripped Finner for his performance and told him to come back. That turned out to be the motivation Finney needed as he became the first fighter to ever win three ties on the show and finally made his way to the UFC.

Nurgozhay sleeps Szewczyk

In the main event of the evening, Diyar Nurgozhay moved to 10-0 in his career, starching Bartosz Szewczyk with a head kick to earn his shot in the UFC.

Yet another fighter coming from the emerging MMA superpower of Kazakhstan, Nurgozhay entered Contender Series with big hype and for awhile, it looked like he might not live up to up. But after a controlled first round where Nurgozhay found his range, in the second the 27-year-old fighter delivered a thunderous head kick that immediately floored Szewczyk and landed the undefeated fighter in the UFC.

Montes submits Calderon

In the penultimate fight of the evening, Alberto Montes scored his fourth submission in a row, locking up an anaconda choke on Carlos Calderon to earn his spot in the UFC.

Originally set to compete on Contender Series years ago, Montes finally got his shot on Tuesday and he made the most of it, showing off crisp counter-boxing against the frenetic offense of Calderon. But it was Montes’s grappling which really stood out as he repeatedly dove for D’Arce chokes, anacondas, and even a Peruvian necktie, before ultimately finding the anaconda choke against a gassed Calderon, forcing a tap.

Martinez outclasses Franklin

In the third fight of the evening, David Martinez won a very fun fight against Xavier Franklin to earn a unanimous decision and a UFC contract.

A former Combate champion, Martinez is also the brother of UFC fighter Melissa Martinez, and the undefeated fighter made a compelling case to join his sister in the promotion with his impressive kickboxing display. From the opening bell Martinez darted around the cage, chopping Franklin’s leg and landing combinations with his punches that busted Franklin up and led to Martinez winning every single round.

Finney runs over Er-Ramy

In the second bout of the evening, Torrez Finney became the first fighter in Contender Series history to record three wins as he demolished Abdellah Er-Ramy in the first round.

Earlier this season, Finney scored a lackluster win that drew criticism from Dana White. This time around, there were no such issues as Finney bulldozed right through Er-Ramy, scoring a takedown and dominating him on the ground with submission attempts and punches before moving to the back mount and finish the fight with a series of big shots to the defenseless fighter. That finish proved to be just the ticket to finally get Finney into the UFC as White effusively praised his performance afterward.

Smith cruises past Savoie

In the opening bout of the evening, Jacobe Smithe delivered a dominant performance against Christien Savoie, stopping the Canadian fighter with elbows in the second round to earn a UFC contract.

A former D-1 All-American wrestler out of Oklahoma State, Smith entered Contender Series as one of the biggest favorites this season and the standout wrestler delivered, taking Savoie down early and often and pummeling him with elbows. Savoie fought on valiantly but was simply overmatched and in the second round, referee Mark Smith stopped the fight after repeated elbows.

Check out the DWCS week 8 results below.

Diyar Nurgozhay def. Bartosz Szewczyk via knockout (head kick) — R2, 3:32

Alberto Montes def. Carlos Calderon via submission (anaconda choke) — R2, 2:38

David Martinez def. Xavier Franklin via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Torrez Finney def. Abdellah Er-Ramy via TKO (punches) — R1, 4:10

Jacobe Smith def. Christien Savoie via TKO (elbows) — R2, 2:55

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dana White disputes the idea that Francis Ngannou made more money in boxing than he would have in the UFC.

Over the past few years, one of the biggest stories in combat sports has been Ngannou’s departure from the UFC to move to the PFL and pursue boxing. Though Ngannou had many reasons for leaving the promotion, one of the biggest was his claim that he would make more money in boxing than he would with the UFC.

But Dana White refutes this claim.

On Tuesday, the UFC CEO spoke with Kevin Iole where he unloaded on the notion that Ngannou made more in boxing than in the UFC, saying that the idea of money in boxing is “a myth.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” White said. “That’s the bullshit publicly that people believe, but that’s not the truth. Total bullshit. Total bullshit.

“That’s that whole myth that makes everybody go, ‘Oh, let’s f*cking go to boxing!’ and all this bullshit. Boxing don’t work. Boxing does not work. What makes it work? You need a Saudi f*cking trillionaire to make f*cking fights. And even Saudi trillionaires get tired of the f*cking bullshit. It’s all a f*cking myth. It’s all a myth.

“Like the whole statement you just made is absolutely positively not true. It’s those types of f*cking statements and those type of quotes by the media that makes all this shit. All these fights are happening, it takes a Saudi f*cking trillionaire. Every f*cking guy that tries to do the boxing thing, they all end up losing shit-loads of f*cking money. The model doesn’t work. A Saudi unlimited amount of money pops up and that’s what makes these fights happen, and even guys with that kind of money get f*cking tired of the bullshit.”

Over the past few years, Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, has invested heavily in boxing, including bankrolling Ngannou’s boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua which reportedly netted Ngannou $ 30 million between the two fights. That’s a considerable sum more than the $ 8 million Ngannou claimed the UFC offered him to fight Jon Jones, but when speaking with reporters following the latest episode of Contender Series, White reiterated his denial.

“I know all the shit that you people don’t know, and I don’t care what everybody says,” White told reporters. “It doesn’t matter to me. But that’s a fact. He was offered more money, because I know the real numbers.”

Ngannou makes his long-awaited return to MMA later this month when he faces PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira at PFL: Battle of the Giants which takes place on Oct. 19 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Return in 2025
| BJPenn.com

“Eat what you kill!” — Dana White

Fake news!

Francis Ngannou will make his highly anticipated return to mixed martial arts (MMA) later this month (Oct. 19, 2024) against Brazilian giant, Renan Ferreira, headlining PFL Super Fights: “Battle of the Giants,” which will take place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion will take a break from boxing after getting knocked out by Anthony Joshua earlier this year (watch highlights).

UFC CEO, Dana White, was asked about his former Heavyweight champion’s foray into professional boxing and the massive “life changing” multi-million paydays he has earned, comparing it to if he had stayed with UFC.

“That’s not necessarily true,” White told Kevin Iole. “It’s not really true. That’s the bulls—t that the public believes, but that’s not the truth. Total bulls—t. That’s that whole myth that makes everyone go, ‘ahh, lets f—king go to boxing’. It’s f—king bulls—t. Boxing don’t work. Boxing doesn’t f—king work … it takes a f—king Saudi trillionaire to make boxing work.”

According to Forbes, Ngannou banked a $ 10 million payday for his controversial bout with Tyson Fury back in Oct. 2023 and a $ 20 million purse for Joshua just a few months ago.

For what it’s worth, White has been on record saying Ngannou would have been the highest-paid Heavyweight of all time if he had stayed in UFC. “The Predator” revealed he made $ 600,000 for his final UFC fight.

Impossible!

To checkout the latest PFL-related news and notes click here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

PFL has released a new trailer for the MMA return of Francis Ngannou.

The former UFC heavyweight champion competes in the cage for the first time in nearly three years as he faces Renan Ferreira in the main event of the PFL’s Battle of the Giants pay-per-view event Oct. 19 in Saudi Arabia.

Check out the Godzilla-style trailer for the fight below.

Ngannou’s most recent MMA fight took place at UFC 270 in January 2022 where he defeated Ciryl Gane via unanimous decision to retain his title. “The Predator” would enter free agency and elected to vacate the title, leave the UFC and sign with the PFL. After signing with his new promotion, Ngannou entered the boxing world, losing a close split decision to Tyson Fury in October 2023, and then suffering a brutal knockout against Anthony Joshua in March.

Ferreira enters the toughest fight of his career on a four-fight win streak, including a 21 second finish of current Bellator heavyweight champ Ryan Bader at PFL vs. Bellator in February.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

On the second episode of UFC 307 Embedded, Khalil Rountree Jr. trains with the youth, Julianna Peña trains with UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, Kayla Harrison goes hiking, Roman Dolidze spars, Stephen Thompson plays disc golf, Alex Pereira goes to Oktoberfest, and more.

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