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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Tom Aspinall will be at UFC 309, so says UFC CEO Dana White.

Over the weekend, the UFC officially announced UFC 309 will be headlined by a heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and former champion Stipe Miocic. It’s a bout well over a year in the making and after hearing the news, interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall made his case for serving as the backup fighter for the matchup. And apparently White agrees.

On Tuesday, the latest episode of Contender Series took place in Las Vegas and afterward, White spoke to reporters where he confirmed that Aspinall will get his wish for UFC 309.

“Yes,” White said when asked about Aspinall serving as backup. “Tom Aspinall is next in line for anything that happens after this fight.”

Of course, being the backup fighter does not necessarily guarantee Aspinall will get a shot at the undisputed belt if something happens to either Jones or Miocic before the event. After all, Jones and Miocic were first scheduled to face each other at UFC 295, with Sergei Pavlovich serving as backup fighter, but when Jones sustained an injury, the promotion postponed the bout entirely and called Aspinall to step in on short notice against Pavlovich for the interim title.

Hopefully nothing similar will happen this time, however, even if they fight does go through, Aspinall may not get his “dream fight” against Jones afterward as the heavyweight champion recently declared UFC 309 will “more than likely” be the final fight of his career. That flies in direct opposition to White’s previous contention that he believes Jones will fight Aspinall should he beat Miocic, but for now, White says he can’t worry about that.

“Why speak to him after this event?” White said when asked about Jones’s comments. “You’ve got to figure out what’s going to happen in this fight. See how this fight plays out and then we’ll go from there.”

UFC 309 takes place on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

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Warning Shots
| BJPenn.com

It’s that time!

Contender Series keeps rolling on for 10 straight weeks of mixed martial arts (MMA) action. Week five goes down tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, in front of UFC CEO, Dana White, as well as his cadre of matchmakers.

As has become standard for the program of late, all four fighters earned UFC contracts last week.

In the main event this evening, Dan Hooker’s protege, Aaron Tau (8-0), takes on Elijah Smith (6-1), the son of former UFC fighter, Gilbert Smith. The co-main event sees Heavyweights clash as 6’8” Brazilian Tallison Teixeira (6-0) fights fellow Brazilian, Arthur Lopes (6-1). The “Featured” bout has Welterweight knockout artists as Benjamin Bennett (6-1) clashes with Joey Hart (6-1). Yura Naito (6-0), who has all first round finishes, fights Cameroon slugger Ateba Gautier (5-1). To kick off week six, two Lightweight hopefuls return to the show for a second time as Dylan Mantello (8-3) takes on Ahmad Suhail Hassanzada (11-3).

‘Contender Series’ Quick Results:

Aaron Tau vs. Elijah Smith
Tallison Teixeira vs. Arthur Lopes — Teixeira def. Lopes via knockout (punches) in round one
Benjamin Bennett vs. Joey Hart — Bennett def. Hart via split decision (29-28×2, 28-29)
Yura Naito vs. Ateba Gautier — Gautier def. Naito via technical knockout (ground-and-pound) in round two
Dylan Mantello vs. Ahmad Suhail Hassanzada — Hassanzada def. Suhail via submission (rear-naked choke) in round three

‘Contender Series’ Highlights & Results:

135 lbs.: Aaron Tau vs. Elijah Smith

265 lbs.: Tallison Teixeira vs. Arthur Lopes

Final result: Teixeira def. Lopes via knockout (punches) in round one

170 lbs.: Benjamin Bennett vs. Joey Hart

Final result: Bennett def. Hart via split decision (29-28×2, 28-29)

185 lbs.: Yura Naito vs. Ateba Gautier

Final result: Gautier def. Naito via technical knockout (ground-and-pound) in round two

155 lbs.: Dylan Mantello vs. Ahmad Suhail Hassanzada

Final result: Hassanzada def. Suhail via submission (rear-naked choke) in round three

For more Contender Series news and notes, be sure to hit up our comprehensive archive right here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

A presumptive No. 1 contender bout is headed to Las Vegas.

Top-ranked UFC strawweight contender Tatiana Suarez (10-0) will face No. 3-ranked Virna Jandiroba (21-3) at UFC 310, which takes place on Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena. Ag Fight was first to report the news which was later confirmed to MMA Fighting via multiple sources with knowledge of the booking.

A decorated wrestler before transitioning to MMA, Suarez won season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter and made an immediate impression in the UFC, winning her first five bouts in the promotion. A title shot seemed imminent but then Suarez was beset by injuries that kept her out of the cage for nearly four years. She finally returned to action in 2023, with wins over Montana de la Rosa and Jessica Andrade, and now hopes to cement her claim to a shot at 115-pound champion Weili Zhang.

A former Invicta strawweight champion, Jandiroba was handed a tough task in her UFC debut back in 2019, losing to former champion Carla Esparza. An up-and-down stint followed but recently the BJJ black belt seems to have found her stride, winning four fights in a row, all over ranked opposition.

UFC 310 does not currently have a main event scheduled.

Guilherme Cruz and Damon Martin contributed to this report.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili UFC 306 main event began as most fights do, and then seconds in, Dvalishvili began screaming at O’Malley’s head coach Tim Welch which caused a brief stop to the action.

“That really caught me off guard,” Welch said on O’Malley’s YouTube channel. “Literally, we sat down, I was really calm, I said, ‘You got to be patient, Merab. You got to be patient, Merab.’ Then he starts bucking around, almost having a seizure.”

Dvalishvili would go on to defeat O’Malley via unanimous decision to capture the UFC bantamweight title at Sphere this past Saturday.

Welch was certainly thrown off by Dvalishvili’s early reaction. Referee Herb Dean, who has taken flack from the MMA community for his performance in the fight, apparently told Welch that the opposing coach is not allowed to yell out the opponent’s name during the fights.

“So I didn’t realize there was a rule that if you have a callout, it can’t be the other guy’s name,” Welch explained. “I told Herb that some of our callouts have Merab’s name in it, and he’s like, ‘Nope, nope, nope.’ Didn’t know that. Would love to see that f*cking rule.”

That wasn’t the only weird moment in the fight. At the end of Round 2, Dvalishvili grabbed a front face lock, and began kissing the upper back of O’Malley. Dean began yelling at Dvalishvili, which led the then-challenger to break the hold, stand up, and head back to his corner.

Wisely, O’Malley stood up and punched Dvalishvili before the horn sounded, which confused the commentary team, and even Aljamain Sterling — who was in the corner of Dvalishvili.

O’Malley, who plans to take an extended break after the loss, reacted to the two very strange moments in the first 10 minutes of the fight.

“I don’t know why the ref stopped the fight,” O’Malley said. “Then he was kissing me. I don’t know, there was like two to three seconds left on the time, looking back on it I’m surprised that I even knew that, and then the ref was like, ‘Hey, quit kissing him on the back,’ so he got up thinking the time was up, and then I juiced him once. I was hoping I’d put him out.

“But Aljo got up like he was about to f*cking storm the cage, like I f*cking hit him illegally. I don’t think he even realized there was time on the clock. The ref didn’t stand you up, he said to quit f*cking doing that.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

PFL heavyweight Daniel James has been handed a 10-month suspension by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after a failed drug test.

James was suspended under the rules of the PFL’s anti-doping policy, which is governed by USADA.

“James, 42, tested positive for bis-(4-cyanophenyl) methanol, a metabolite of letrozole, as the result of an out-of-competition sample collected on May 8, 2024,” USADA officials said in a statement. “Letrozole is a Specified Substance in the class of Hormone and Metabolic Modulators, subject to a maximum 12-month period of ineligibility, and is prohibited at all times under the PFL Anti-Doping Policy and PFL Prohibited List.

“James received a reduction to the default period of ineligibility for his full and complete cooperation. James’ 10-month period of ineligibility began on May 8, 2024, the date his positive sample was collected.”

Letrozole is an estrogen blocker primarily used to treat breast cancer in women but the drug can also be used to prevent side effects from anabolic steroid abuse.

This is not the first time James has dealt with a suspension after a positive drug test. He was pulled from his Bellator debut back in 2022 following a failure from an out-of-competition drug test administered prior to his fight. James then had his win over Tyrell Fortune overturned to a no-contest after another failed drug test for an anabolic agent.

The latest incident now counts as a third failed drug test for James in the past two years.

James last appeared in the PFL back in April when he scored a first-round stoppage over Marcelo Golm. The result in that fight still stands because James’ failed drug test came from an out-of-competition sample collected just over a month after that bout.

With the 10-month suspension, James won’t be able to return to action until after March 8, 2025.

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