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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Daniel Dubois vs. Anthony Joshua was one of the hottest events of the year, and a ticket request led to a heated confrontation between Eddie Hearn and Devin Haney.

The Matchroom Boxing promoter was already upset with Haney after the boxing champion went public with a request for tickets this past Saturday, blasting Hearn for allegedly not hooking him up on fight day. Hearn responded accordingly, telling Haney to “ask someone else and drop the arrogance.”

Cooler heads did not prevail when Haney eventually made it into London’s Wembley Stadium as he and Hearn were caught on camera arguing in the arena. Hearn told Boxing News that the conversation was not friendly as he felt that Haney’s behavior needed to be addressed.

“It was heated,” Hearn said. “I just couldn’t believe—bear in mind the relationship that I’ve got with Devin, bear in mind everything that we’ve been through—I could not believe he would put that out on social media. Because he was moaning and this is what he was trying to say to me, I said, ‘No, no.’

“I received a message from him at 6 a.m. on the day of the fight saying, ‘I need tickets for Joshua.’ He messaged me about 24 hours before saying, ‘Yo.’ And I had so much going on, I didn’t reply. Then when I replied Friday night, he messaged me back Saturday at 6:00 in the morning, 7:00 in the morning, ‘I need tickets for tonight.’”

Hearn claims he made it clear that the majority of the ringside tickets were handled by Saudi Arabian boxing promoter Turki Alalshikh, whose Riyadh Season helped bankroll the Dubois-Joshua fight, and that several seats were occupied by associates of the fighters competing on Saturday night.

When Hearn told Haney he may have to ask Riyadh Season representatives for a ticket instead, he didn’t receive a reply. Not in private, anyway.

“So then I’m sitting there at the show and it’s like, ‘Wow, Eddie Hearn didn’t get me tickets. He’s so two-faced.’ So I just replied, ‘You’re an arrogant f*cking prick, to be honest with you.’ And I pulled him at the show and I said, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ He said, ‘Hey, hey.’

“I said, ‘What are you doing? 1) You couldn’t be more arrogant. 2) Why are you just not messaging me after I’ve messaged you to say, ‘Come on, Eddie, you sure you can’t help?’ Like, whatever, you put a tweet out? I said, ‘You’re like a little kid. You used to be a good kid, you did. Now, I don’t like this arrogance that I’m seeing from you. Don’t ever do that again.’ Then he’s like, ‘You said something about me in the media.’ I said, ‘No, I’m just answering questions. I don’t represent you. So if I get asked about Devin Haney, I’m going to tell you what I think about the situation. I’ve never said anything disrespectful, but you have.’

“I said, ‘Don’t ever disrespect me again.’”

Hearn and Haney have recent history, with Hearn serving as Haney’s promoter for his fight with Ryan Garcia this past April. Garcia defeated Haney by majority decision in a bout that was shrouded in controversy.

Prior to fight day, Garcia missed weight by three pounds, making him ineligible to win Haney’s WBC super lightweight title; on June 20, Garcia later tested positive for ostarine and the bout was overturned to a no-contest, restoring Haney’s undefeated record (Garcia was also fined $ 1.1 million and received a one-year suspension from competition).

Following the news of Garcia’s positive drug test, Hearn heavily criticized Garcia for his behavior while standing by Haney.

It’s unclear what kind of relationship Hearn and Haney will have egoing forward, but Hearn mentioned that an upcoming documentary on the Wembley Stadium show will be released sometime in the first half of 2025, and that he expects their confrontation to be featured for all to see.

“Anyway, you’ll be able to watch it all on Netflix very soon,” Hearn said.

Watch video of Hearn and Haney’s confrontation below.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

The bad guy
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This weekend (Sat., Sept. 28, 2024), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventures forth to Accor Arena in Paris, France for UFC Paris. It’s really nice to go back on the road for a UFC “Fight Night.” As one would expect, the card heavily features French and European talent from top-to-bottom. All eyes will be on the attempted rebound of Benoit Saint-Denis, who crashed and burned opposite Dustin Poirier after a strong start earlier this year. He faces another veteran contender in Renato Moicano, who is in the midst of something of a resurgence. There’s also a stellar co-main event in Brendan Allen vs. Nassourdine Imavov, as the victor walks away in strong position for a Middleweight title shot in 2025.

Let’s dig into all the main card fights leading up to the co-main event:

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Featherweight: William Gomis (+220) vs. Joanderson Brito (-270)

Best Win for Gomis? Francis Marshall For Brito? Andre Fili
Current Streak: Gomis has won three straight in the Octagon (11 overall), while Brito has won his last five
X-Factor: Brito should be fighting ranked opposition
How these two match up: I’m not sure I understand this match up.

Gomis is a talented French fighter, a long distance kickboxer with crafty setups. He is not, however, blowing his fairly average UFC opposition out of the water. Brito, conversely, has already been facing the bigger names, and he’s usually been finishing them. The Brazilian is downright nasty, a high-powered finished on the feet and the floor alike.

I don’t really see how Gomis wins this fight, why he deserves it, or why the French fanbase should see one of their more talented prospects set up to be destroyed. Brito is a wild fighter focused on offensive above all else, so it’s always possible that he’s caught in the middle of a big swing, but that doesn’t feel particularly likely.

Instead, I’m expecting another “Tubarao” finish. He has the low kicking game to ruin Gomis’ movement, leaving him a sitting duck when the bombs start dropping. Hell, Brito could also probably score a finish by exploding early into a takedown and trying to jump on the back.

Either way, it spells a rough night for “Jaguar.”

Prediction: Brito via knockout

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Lightweight: Fares Ziam (+114) vs. Matt Frevola (-135)

Best Win for Ziam? Jai Herbert For Frevola? Drew Dober
Current Streak: Ziam has won three in a row, while Frevola lost his last fight
X-Factor: How does Frevola respond from a knockout loss?
How these two match up: Lightweight match ups are always welcome, and this one features an interesting style clash.

Ziam is a very technical kickboxer. When he puts together combinations, they’re very clean and often attack multiple levels. Frevola is a bit more wild but also hits considerably harder. “The Steamrolla” has a solid background in wrestler, and he’s proven surprisingly good on the counter in several fights.

On paper, I could see Ziam picking apart Frevola. He’s a pretty strong defensive wrestler, and he definitely holds the edge in form on the feet. A seven year advantage in youth, as well as significant height and reach gap, strengthen the reasoning behind a minor upset pick here.

Sadly for the French fans, I think Frevola’s physicality is enough to make up for those disadvantages. He hits so much harder than Ziam and is far more likely to score a takedown. In what’s likely to be a competitive fight that goes 15 minutes, power punches and a big slam or two is likely to influence the judges.

Prediction: Frevola via decision

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Welterweight: Kevin Jousset (+124) vs. Bryan Battle (-148)

Best Win for Jousset? Kenan Song For Battle? Takashi Sato
Current Streak: Jousset has won two in a row in the Octagon (five overall), while Battle is unbeaten in his last three
X-Factor: Battle seems to improve considerably between fights
How these two match up: This should be a scrappy fight.

Jousset has a long background in Judo, and those skills occasionally make an appearance in the form of high-amplitude clinch throws. In his UFC career, however, he’s been incredibly active and pushed a really high pace on the feet, though he’s still not the prettiest technician.

Battle is a really well-rounded prospect. Huge for the Welterweight division, Battle has a knack of catching his opponents coming forward or circling away with big shots. That opportunism separates him from the pack at 170 lbs., and it has helped him build up an impressive 5-1 UFC record.

The most notable advantage I see here is Battle’s kickboxing edge. Jousset is game, but he never looks overly comfortable in exchanges. He prefers to kick at distance, which would seem to play into the lankier man’s game. There is the question of whether or not he can blanket Battle like Rinat Fakhretdinov … probably not. Fakhretdinov is a monstrously physical Welterweight in a way that Jousset cannot match, and Battle looked good recently in denying Ange Loosa’s takedown attempts.

I expect most of this fight to take place on the feet, and Battle is the sharper man in that realm.

Prediction: Battle via decision

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Featherweight: Morgan Charriere vs. Gabriel Miranda

Best Win for Charriere? Pedro Souza For Miranda? Shane Young
Current Streak: Charriere lost his last bout, while Miranda scored his first UFC win
X-Factor: Charriere has way more experience against good opposition
How these two match up: Though Charriere has skills everywhere, I expect this to play out as a striker vs. grappler match up.

“The Last Pirate” really impressed me in his last fight against Chepe Mariscal despite ultimately coughing up a split-decision loss. Against an excellent pressure fighter who is surging up the ranks, Charriere landed his own takedowns as well as funky distance kicks and counter combinations.

It was slick, slick work.

Miranda, conversely, has fought just seven minutes in his three years on the UFC roster. The jiu-jitsu black belt is definitely dangerous on the canvas, but the rest of his game leaves something to be desired.

My thoughts here are probably already clear: Charriere is the better man. Miranda might be able to submit him in a jiu-jitsu match, but he has no trustworthy path to dragging the French athlete to the floor. On the feet, he is woefully outmatched to the point that a guard pull wouldn’t surprise me.

Those rarely work in modern MMA.

Prediction: Charriere via knockout

‘X-Factor’ Picks for 2024: 37-26 (3)

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson understands that most of his opponents aren’t going to want to stand and trade with him on the feet.

So he wasn’t shocked when Shavkat Rakhmonov promised to out-strike him in their fight this past December, but ultimately ended up taking Thompson down and securing a rear-naked choke submission late in the second round. Thompson doesn’t fault Rakhmonov for taking the path of least resistance — that’s actually smart strategy — but he didn’t love the explanation from the undefeated welterweight about why that happened.

“It is funny when guys are like ‘I’m going to go out there [and knock him out],’” Thompson told MMA Fighting. “I mean even Shavkat was ‘I’m going to go out there and I’m going to beat him striking. He can’t strike with me’ and then he ended up turning into a grappler out there. Of course, his excuse was ‘I had a hurt ankle’ but that dude was running on the treadmill the day before just fine.

“It is funny when guys are out there, all over social media, they want to get you thinking one thing — and obviously it’s kind of smart — they want to get you thinking one thing and then they go do the other.”

Following his win, Rakhmonov revealed he suffered through a serious ankle injury that nearly made him pull out of the fight, but decided to move forward with the bout as scheduled.

Thompson never likes losing, but he has no problem conceding that Rakhmonov was the better man that night. His frustration comes from Rakhmonov trying to explain away his change in strategy after vowing to show he was the better striker.

“I’m going to be honest with you — yes [it’s frustrating],” Thompson said. “Just the fact because like come on man, you’re not fooling anybody. We all know that was your game plan the whole time.”

In fact, Thompson says he had a conversation with Rakhmonov’s head coach Henri Hooft following the fight where he addressed the game plan used to beat him.

The reason the interaction stands out so vividly in his mind is Thompson remembers a similar interaction after he faced Gilbert Burns back in 2021.

“It was funny because afterwards the same coach as Gilbert Burns, and after the Gilbert Burns fight, the coach came up and was like ‘I’m sorry the fight was boring but that’s the only way to beat you,’” Thompson recounted. “He said the same thing after the Shavkat [fight].

“So I knew that’s what they were planning on. He was not planning to strike with me. He wanted to hem me up, get me to the floor and submit me, which he did that very well. That’s part of the game. I’ve got to be ready for that. But especially after the fight, they’re saying that. You can say that during the fight to get me thinking one thing but after the fight, you’re saying ‘I was going to strike with the guy but I hurt my ankle.’ Nah, dude. It got me a little bit. Very few things frustrate me — that got me a little bit. Just admit it. Come on.”

As far as his upcoming fight against Joaquin Buckley at UFC 307 goes , Thompson doesn’t expect the former middleweight to come out and trade with him on the feet no matter what he says.

Much like most of his appearances in the UFC, Thompson is preparing for Buckley to shoot for takedowns and it’s up to him to stop it.

“I think he’s going to shoot,” Thompson said. “I think he’s going to wrestle. You saw what he did with the tall Russian [Nursulton Ruziboev] that made 170. Of course he was 6-foot-5 so the butt cheeks are right there, right at his level so it was easy for him to take him down.

“I’m a very difficult guy to take down. I really am. I pride myself on that. I really make my opponents work to get me down. When they do, they tire themselves out.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Think you can figure out which UFC fighter we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out.

We’re back for another day of the SB Nation UFC in-5 daily trivia game, and we’re switching to a system of a new article each day for the game.

We tried using a single article for the game, updated with the latest game each day, but it was creating a bit of an unwieldy experience in the comments. So, we’ll have the current day’s game plus the previous three days in each new article. That way, you can catch up if you miss a day.

Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game!

What we need from you

1. Play the game
2. Share your result in the comments and on social media
3. Provide feedback (Google Form or in comments below)

Today’s UFC in-5 game

Tuesday’s game

Monday’s game

Sunday’s game

The goal of the game is to guess the correct random UFC fighter player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED FIGHTERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the MMA Fighting layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day.

After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Will he do it?
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