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Alex Pereira is fighting for more than just his fourth title defense this weekend (Sat., March 1, 2025) when he takes on Combat Sambo ace Magomed Ankalaev in the UFC 313 main event. If “Poatan” plays his cards right, he could also score a UFC Heavyweight title shot, as well as a possible super fight versus current big man roost-ruler Jon Jones.

That’s according to UFC CEO Dana White.

There are a lot of moving factors to consider when planning the futures of two separate divisions. First and foremost, White’s goal is to get “Bones” booked against interim Heavyweight king Tom Aspinall, and he’s targeting a summer date for that highly anticipated match up.

“The plan is to fight Jon this summer,” White explained on The Jim Rome Show (via MMAFighting). “Obviously, when, where and all that stuff is being determined. My goal this year is to make that fight [with] Aspinall.”

Jones vs. Aspinall is one of the most demanded fights possible right now, widely considered the most dangerous threat to Jones’ (nearly) undefeated record in many years. Unifying the Heavyweight crown is a must, but afterwards, there’s an opening for Pereira to jump into title contention in a third weight class.

“The other thing about Pereira that everybody loves is, this guy wants to go up to heavyweight and fight at heavyweight, too,” White said. “I’m the one that’s actually holding him back on that.”

He continued, “He wants to [fight Jon Jones]. Let’s see how this fight plays out, if he wins, how he wins, all that kind of stuff … I think that the fight that everybody wants to see right now is Jones and Aspinall and then there’s no doubt that Pereira could fight the winner.”

Regardless of who is victorious between Jones and Aspinall, a match up versus a defending “Poatan” would be absolutely huge. Nobody has ever even tried to capture a third UFC title, let alone while being the most exciting knockout artist in the sport. That’s the kind of headliner that makes for the PPV of the year.

If Pereira can get by Ankalaev on Saturday, at least.

Insomnia

What’s your take on the TKO/Turki Alalshikh partnership? Will it disrupt boxing, improving matchmaking, both, or neither?

I thought as a general rule, the combat sports community has agreed not to drug test kickboxing.

Jean Silva knows how to market his fights (aside from simply being extremely entertaining).

One of these days, Daniel Cormer is going to throw his back out shooting singles on Alex Pereira.

The most recent Ultimate Fighter (TUF) winner Ryan Loder returns against 19-3 Azamat Bekoev.

Based on recent officiating, UFC referees would let this fly with a warning.

Mauricio Ruffy named himself after an anime character, and he’s fighting a man who renamed himself King. MMA isn’t real!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Straight right inside the left hook, an eternal battle.

Absolutely devious single leg guard play!

Two of the best Lightweights of their era absolutely throwing down!

Random Land

Beauty at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Midnight Music: Hip-hop, 1996

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

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The full fight card for UFC Kansas City is set.

On Wednesday, the UFC officially revealed the full lineup for its return to Kansas City and the T-Mobile Center on April 26.

The main event is a previously reported matchup between former light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill and recent title challenger Khalil Rountree Jr. This is Hill’s first fight since his TKO loss to Jiri Prochazka at UFC 311 in January. Rountree also suffered a TKO loss his last time out as he was stopped by Alex Pereira in the fourth round of their title fight at UFC 307 last October.

The co-main event features the final fight of former light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Smith as he faces rising knockout artist Zhang Mingyang.

The complete UFC Kansas City fight card can be found below.

• Jamahal Hill (12-3) vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. (13-6)
• Anthony Smith (37-21) vs. Zhang Mingyang (18-6)
• Michel Pereira (31-12) vs. Abus Magomedov (27-6-1)
• Giga Chikadze (15-4) vs. David Onama (13-2)
• Ikram Aliskerov (15-2) vs. Andre Muniz (24-6)
• Randy Brown (19-6) vs. Nicolas Dalby (23-5-1, 2 NC)
• Matt Schnell (16-9, 1 NC) vs. Jimmy Flick (17-8)
• Chelsea Chandler (6-3) vs. Joselyne Edwards (14-6)
• Mitch Ramirez (8-2) vs. Ahmad Hassanzada (12-3)
• Jacqueline Amorim (9-1) vs. Polyana Viana (13-7)
• Malcolm Wellmaker (8-0) vs. Cameron Saaiman (9-2)

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

MMA Fighting has UFC Fight Pass Invitational 10 results and more for the Rodriguez vs. Hugo jiu-jitsu event from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nev., on Thursday night.

In the main event, Nicky Rodriguez will try to avenge three losses to Victor Hugo in the past. Rodriguez owns a 7-1 record at the UFC Fight Pass Invitational events.

Renato Canuto, who is 2-1 at the UFC Fight Pass Invitational, will square off against Oliver Taza in a 170-pound contest in the co-main event.

Check out the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 10 results below.

Main card (UFC Fight Pass at 8 p.m. ET)

Nicky Rodriguez vs. Victor Hugo

Renato Canuto vs. Oliver Taza

Elisabeth Clay vs. Brianna Ste-Marie

Ronaldo Junior vs. Felipe Costa

Andy Murasaki vs. Daniel Sathler

Sarah Galvao vs. Cassia Moura

Maggie Grindatti Lira vs. Helena Craver

Achilles Rocha vs. Nathan Haddad

Alex Enriquez vs. Julia Alves

Carlos Henrique vs. Victor Delibero

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Yoel Romero might be the face of Dirty Boxing.

Last year, BKFC star Mike Perry entered into the promotional game with his own hybrid-rules fight promotion, Dirty Boxing, featuring three-minute rounds and allowing the use of elbows, among a few other rules. The promotion held its inaugural card in November, a private event in Miami, where Romero annihilated Duane Crespo in the main event. Now Dirty Boxing is jumping into the fight game in earnest and once again calling on Romero to headline.

On Wednesday, Dirty Boxing announced that Romero will face former Bellator fighter Ras Hylton in the main event of the promotion’s first public fight card, which takes place on March 22 at The Hangar at Regatta Harbour in Miami.

Romero has not competed since knocking out Crespo at the inaugural Dirty Boxing event, however, the 47-year-old Olympic silver medalist in wrestling did recently sign with GFL where he will reportedly face Mauricio Rua sometime later this year. Hylton, meanwhile, has not competed since a knockout loss in Cage Titans back in 2023.

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September
| BJPenn.com

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO, Dana White, and TKO Group Holdings, Inc. and Saudi’s General Minister for Entertainment, Turki Alalshikh, signed a massive deal earlier today (Wed., March 5, 2025) to form a new boxing league.

While details are still trickling in as to how exactly the new league will look like, White is adamant that his format to pump new life into boxing is no secret: “The best will fight the best.”

“There is zero speculation about the format. You know the format, everyone knows the format, the best will fight the best. You work your way up the rankings and once somebody breaks into the Top 5, there will be no question who the best five guys in the world are in each weight class and they fight it out,” he told Ring Magazine.

“Once somebody holds that belt, you don’t need three letters in front of the belt; whoever has that belt is the best in the world at that weight class. It’s a very simple model,” he added, before Alalshikh chimed by revealing it will be White’s show to run.

“I support him with everything. This is his call now and it is now his responsibility to deliver the people and the fans the best model of boxing.”

During an interview on ESPN’s First Take, White said one of his goals is to not complicate things the way it currently is in boxing, with so many titles across multiple divisions and organizations.

“You get rid of all the five different champions in five different sanctioning organizations. One, it will just be one,” he added.

As far is talent is concerned, White said he and his team have already begun the work to scour new talent across the globe.

“There is a lot of talent that we have been looking at right now that no one knows about. What I would love to do is build this thing from the ground up like we did UFC. When we bought the UFC, we had 12 contracts and nobody knew who anybody was.”

Aside from putting on great fights, the UFC boss said his plans are to also provide fans in attendance with a great experience, as well.

“My son just went to that show (Tank vs. Roach), and he said the live event was terrible and disorganized. We are going to clean that up and make events great again. The run of show will run faster, and it won’t take nine hours to see four fights.

“These guys have a fight, put on a podcast, then have another fight, then another podcast. The show will run like UFC does, fight after fight after fight,” he added before saying his team are currently looking to lock down broadcast deals.

“We will build the sport of boxing here in the United States again. To really grow the sport it has to be strong in the US for it to work anywhere.”

While White has a proven track record with mixed martial arts (MMA), it’s two completely different scenarios when it comes to boxing. White and the Fertitta brothers were able to mold the sport of MMA and UFC into the powerhouse it is today in their image because, let’s face it, it was a new sport on its last leg when they purchased it back in 2001.

Boxing, meanwhile, has been around since the 1920’s and is established. While White isn’t looking to re-invent the wheel, his goal is to put on fights that fans want to see. That said, there is a ton of competition out there with so many boxing promoters who have been doing this all their life such as Goldenboy, Matchroom Sport, Top Rank, Mayweather Promotions, Premier Boxing Championships and the list goes on and on.

And we don’t have to mention that they have all the big name talent at the moment.

So, unless White and Co. are open to co-promoting, something he is totally against in MMA, he has a very steep hill to climb if he ever wants to reach their level. Then again, if anyone can do it it’s White with the backing of Alalshikh’s deep pockets.

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