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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Merab Dvalishvili could find out soon just how heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Hot on the new bantamweight champion’s heels following his dominant win over Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 is Umar Nurmagomedov, an undefeated Dagestani nightmare who has all the makings of a future champion… perhaps near future.

But Nurmagomedov isn’t the only one shaking up the rankings. Natalia Silva just knocked off two-division threat Jessica Andrade. Caio Borralho has crashed into the upper tier of the middleweight ranks after beating Jared Cannonier. And Diego Lopes dispatched of Brian Ortega to charge up the featherweight ladder. Could one of these contenders beat Nurmagomedov to championship glory?

Host Alexander K. Lee is joined by fellow MMA Fighting rankings panelists Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as we do an impromptu power ranking of the fighters who could be next in line to top the charts. We also predict what the heavyweight and Pound-for-Pound rankings could look like with Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou set to fight in the coming months, plus plus we take a look back at the illustrious career of Demetrious Johnson.

Listen to the latest episode of the MMA Fighting Rankings Show below and don’t forget to subscribe to the MMA Fighting feed on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and all your other favorite podcast platforms for the latest episodes from the team.

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PFL?
| BJPenn.com

Fight fans witnessed a long list of memorable action inside of the boxing ring on Friday night (Sept. 20, 2024), but not everything ended in a flashy finish. Instead, one of boxing’s most exciting heavyweight prospects saw a knockout win slip through his hands after his opponent was unable to keep his mouthpiece in.

After Callum Walsh delivered a brutal knockout finish in his Ireland debut it was Top Rank Boxing’s turn to showcase even more young talent inside the squared circle. This included a Friday clash between undefeated heavyweight up-and-comer, Richard Torrez, and veteran fighter, Joey Dawejko. Torrez, who is a 25-year-old wrecking machine, was the heavy betting favorite to not only walk away with a win but also another knockout to his name.

Torrez looked to be on his way to just that as he landed power shots that rattled Dawejko early and were even strong enough to knock his mouthpiece out. Surprisingly, Dawejko lasted a few more rounds than expected. Torrez was turning the heat up in the middle rounds, but after repeatedly losing his mouthpiece inside of the ring Dawejko ended up getting disqualified by the referee.

It’s a rare stoppage because usually fighters get properly fitted for a mouthpiece and the only way they lose it is if they get absolutely rocked by a punch. Still, Dawejko kept having issues keeping his mouthpiece in place and the referee wasn’t going to let him fight unprotected against a proven knockout artist like Torrez.

Check out the action from the fight below including the unfortunate stoppage:

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Michael Chandler will finally re-enter the octagon later this year, and it won’t be his long-awaited match with Conor McGregor. Instead, he rematches Charles Oliveira in a five-round co-main event bout at UFC 309 on Nov. 16. The Brazilian won’t criticize him for staying on the sidelines so long waiting for “The Notorious”.

The UFC officially announced Chandler and McGregor as The Ultimate Fighter season 31 coaches back in February 2023, a show that only aired nearly four months later. Fast forward 16 months, and several cancelled plans in between, and Chandler is officially no longer fighting McGregor.

“It’s complicated because we’re not in his shoes and no one knows what was negotiated,” Oliveira said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “If he waited two years without getting paid anything, so that’s two years away. But do you think someone would wait [without getting paid]? They did TUF, so he definitely made some money there. Was he paid his show money when Conor pulled out [of UFC 303]? So, in reality, people talk and talk and talk, but no one knows what the reality is.

“I’m not here to criticize anyone. If he waited, that’s because it was good for him. I hope it was good for him because two years with no fights is a lot and Chandler has a family to provide to, and when you have a family to provide to, a small child, you have to make things happen, so I hope it went well for him.”

Although he won’t criticize Chandler for his decisions, Oliveira probably wouldn’t have done the same — especially knowing how much he loves to compete, and how much that time away can affect your performance when you return.

“I can speak only for myself, and I don’t feel the timing of the fight when I’m away for so long,” said Oliveira, who last entered the cage in April of 2024, losing a close split decision to Arman Tsarukyan. “I like to stay on rhythm and competing, you know? Of course, not taking one fight right after the other because this is MMA and we’re breaking each other every day, but I feel like it takes some time to find myself when I’m away for too long. Chandler hasn’t fought in two years, and I don’t know how he’s doing, if he was resting of not.”

Chandler has likely done more than one full camp preparing specifically for McGregor after seeing the fight pushed back multiple times, and Oliveira has a different fighting style. The duo battled for a vacant title back at UFC 262 in 2021, and Oliveira was dropped before coming back and finishing Chandler with punches early in round two.

“He’s still an explosive guy who walks forward,” Oliveira said of Chandler. “We know we have to stay focused like we’ve been in my last fights, not worrying about what my opponent can bring to the cage and more on what I can bring. We’ll watch our last fight, and his recent one, so we can impose the rhythm and do my game and put on a great fight. Like I said, he’s very explosive, very dangerous, and he hits hard, so we have to plan things out right to get there 100 percent for the fight.”

With Tsarukyan likely next for UFC gold against champion Islam Makhachev in early 2025, Oliveira said he hopes to position himself in line with a victory over Chandler, but knows a McGregor match-up could also be on the horizon. He, however, would rather embrace a chance to re-gain UFC gold rather that fight “The Notorious” next after UFC 309.

“Am I next in line if I beat McGregor? If that’s the plan, then I’m 100 percent in. But if you say, ‘No, you have to choose one of the two,’ I’m definitely going for the title,” Oliveira said. “If I have the opportunity to fight Conor and we make a lot of money, because he sells a lot and so do I — and we would definitely brow the roofs off with this pay-per-view —, not to mention the money off the purse, and I’m still next for the belt, I would definitely do it. Why not?”

“[My managers Diego Lima and Jorge Patino] know what my plan is, I want the fights that take me to the belt,” he continued. “I’ve been posting a lot these days, ‘waiting for the boss to call’, and the UFC definitely sees that. Diego and ‘Macaco’ came with the Chandler fight, and I’m definitely much closer to the title with a win over Chandler. I’ll just stay focused now. Chandler is super tough and deserves all the respect. He knows how much I respect and care for him, so it’s definitely going to be a great fight.”

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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 adding something to your daily mix! Every morning, we’ll have a daily trivia game that we hope offers a little something fun to get your day started.

The goal of the game is to guess the correct UFC fighter with the help of up to five clues. We have a database of both active AND retired fighters, so keep that in mind with your guesses. It won’t always be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it.

The game will appear in this article each day, with the most recent games listed below today’s. That means, bookmark this page and you can enjoy the game in here. After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media. We’d love your feedback as well, so drop those in the comments or in this Google Form.

Have fun!

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Today’s UFC in-5 game

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts