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Up until very recently, The Sphere was known as a spectacularly shitty movie based on a not-so-shitty book. These days, it refers to the Las Vegas super venue (some might say eyesore) that is revolutionizing the way entertainment is consumed in “Sin City.”

Or maybe it’s a costly tech fad that will close down and get demolished in a couple of years.

Either way, UFC CEO Dana White — no stranger to gambling — is placing a $ 20 million bet on the success of UFC 306, the championship doubleheader on pay-per-view (PPV) this Sat. night (Sept. 14, 2024) with Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili leading the charge.

“Suga” will be putting his bantamweight strap up for grabs.

This weekend’s fight card will also feature the flyweight championship trilogy between current titleholder Alexa Grasso and former champion Valentina Shevchenko, fresh off their duties on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 32. Elsewhere on the card, Brian Ortega completes what could be his last fight at 145 pounds against featherweight phenom Diego Lopes.

Get a complete breakdown of all the UFC 306 odds and betting lines HERE.

135 lbs.: UFC Bantamweight Champion “Suga” Sean O’Malley (18-1, 1 NC) vs. Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (17-4)

Sean O’Malley captured the bantamweight crown from Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 last summer in Boston, then legitimized his reign as 135-pound titleholder by defending the strap against Marlon Vera at UFC 299 back in March. Detractors are quickly running out of reasons to discredit O’Malley as a world-class fighter which is why most of the criticism centers on his flamboyant appearance, his love for ganja, or his extramarital exploits. Inside the cage he’s a deadly sniper, currently holding the division record for striking differential at 4.24. For those unfamiliar with striking differential, it measures significant strikes landed per minute against significant strikes absorbed per minute. Armed with a switch stance, “Suga” also holds the bantamweight record for most post-fight performance bonuses at nine, which includes three “Fight of the Night” honors. His takedown defense is good, but not great, and how well he keeps the challenger at bay will determine his success on fight night.

And perhaps his success in replacing Conor McGregor as the top guy in UFC.

“This is what I wanted, something like this,” O’Malley told reporters at the UFC 306 media day (watch the replay here). “Obviously, we didn’t even know The Sphere was a thing at those times, but I wanted 1-of-1 kind of moments. This was it. Conor’s still got one more big fight in him because it’s a big question mark. I think Conor has one more huge fight. If he goes out there and loses his next fight, it’ll be like six in a row or something. It’s got to die down eventually. Maybe not. That just tests how big of a star he is. But I’d assume he goes out there. If he loses, I’m there. I’m the guy. I’m the No. 1.”

Merab Dvalishvili is a longtime friend and training partner of Sterling and presents a similar style inside the Octagon. His 10-fight win streak includes three former champions in Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, and Jose Aldo, though you could argue “The Machine” was able to get Cejudo, 38, and Aldo, 37, when they were well past their competitive prime. Similarly, Yan has dropped four of his last six in what is one of the biggest collapses in bantamweight history. As a wrestler, Dvalishvili is more volume than skill, because he ranks No. 1 all-time with takedowns landed at 66 — but does not even crack the Top 10 in takedown accuracy. That’s like a baseball player who leads the league in both homeruns and strikeouts. It’s also worth pointing out that Dvalishvili has just one finish during his 10-fight win streak and that came over Marlon Moraes during “Magic’s” seven-fight losing skid. On paper, “The Machine” is a force to be reckoned with but when you start to deconstruct his individual performances … not that impressive.

Does it matter? Probably not, because the end result is what counts and Dvalishvili knows how to get there.

“Stylistically, it’s easy for me because my cardio, my grappling, my style should work against him,” Dvalishvili told reporters at the UFC 306 media day (watch the replay here). “But at the same time, we see what he can do. He can throw something big. It’s a challenge. I can dominate, but he can throw one punch and he can change everything. Every fight is like this. I don’t look at any fights in the UFC as easy. There is no easy fights here. Not always the best fighter wins. We’ve seen it so many times.”

The challenger has the conditioning to spam takedowns for all five rounds and I’m not sure O’Malley — taken down six times by Petr Yan at UFC 280 — has the defense to stop him. I just don’t feel comfortable picking the champion on the slim chance he can land the kill shot before getting double-legged into oblivion.

Prediction: Dvalishvili def. O’Malley by unanimous decision

125 lbs.: UFC Flyweight Champion Alexa Grasso (16-3-1) vs. Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko (23-4-1)

Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko have not fought since their Noche UFC headliner last Sept. in Las Vegas, a rematch of their UFC 285 showdown that Grasso won by submission. That’s because they were too busy filming TUF 32, which nobody watched, while the rest of the flyweight division was spinning its wheels. Not that I think the average UFC fan can even name the Top 5 at 125 pounds, but it’s still important to keep the line moving. Grasso has looked unstoppable since getting outwrestled by Carla Esparza back in late 2019, to the tune of five straight wins (pre-draw) and I sometimes wonder if this is the same fighter who lost to Felice Herrig at UFC Fight Night 104. Now 31, Grasso is the -135 favorite on the moneyline, which is likely due to Shevchenko’s performances over the last two years.

“I had an injury in the (second) fight, I needed surgery,” Grasso told reporters at the UFC 306 media day (watch the replay here). “It took me like a few months. My hands are my strongest weapon, you know. I love to box and it was really hard, honestly. But right now, it’s fully healed and I’m ready for that. I’m happy my body heals really well. Like I said before, we’re both professional. We’re here to do our job, we love to compete, and we just found that fighting each other is really, really tough and amazing.”

Coming out of her snuff film starring Lauren Murphy, Shevchenko appeared to be invincible. Then Taila Santos took her to a split decision in a five-round scare at UFC 275, followed by the consecutive performances against Grasso. “Bullet” was the second-best bantamweight in the world before dropping to flyweight, with a submission win over former champion Julianna Pena, so it’s hard to know what led to her recent woes. Perhaps it’s her age (36) or the wear-and-tear on her body. Remember, Shevchenko spent more than a decade competing in both Muay Thai and kickboxing before migrating to mixed martial arts (MMA), so there are a lot of miles on those proverbial tires. She needs a dominant performance this weekend in “Sin City” to reestablish herself as the top dog at 125 pounds.

“The concern is to finish the fight,” Shevchenko told reporters at the UFC 306 media day (watch the replay here). “This is No. 1 what’s in my head. It’s like when to seize opportunity, just do what you have to do, 100 percent, finish the fight. Our second fight, everyone could see that I won the fight but they give a draw. A draw in this circumstances I’d say by itself. What should I do, what should I change? I don’t know. I really had to focus on to perform and prepare myself the best way what I can. I can say I had an amazing training camp. I push myself to all that’s impossible limits, and yeah, just ready for the action and it’s going to be amazing event and amazing fight.”

Shevchenko is a world-class striker with good wrestling and solid submissions, but none of those attributes were able to carry her to victory against Grasso the first and second time out and I’m not sure they’ll come into play here, either. It’s possible that Grasso just has “Bullet’s” number (think Holloway-Volkanovski) but I also expect another close fight that may lead to a fourth encounter somewhere down the line, much like it did for Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo.

Prediction: Grasso def. Shevchenko by unanimous decision

145 lbs.: Brian “T-City” Ortega (16-3, 1 NC) vs. Diego Lopes (25-6)

Brian Ortega is already talking about a jump to lightweight, which makes me wonder how much he invested in this fight, psychologically speaking. Competing as a two-time title challenger, “T-City” carries significant name recognition and usually finds himself at or near the top of every UFC fight card. How much stock you put into Ortega as a featherweight contender may depend on how much you value his recent performance against Yair Rodriguez, which could be looked at as an amazing comeback victory for “T-City” — or an embarrassing collapse for “El Pantera.” Getting lit up then finding a way to battle back and win has been a troubling trend throughout Ortega’s career and it may continue at UFC 306 against a younger but more experienced featherweight in Diego Lopes.

“The new version of myself is someone who is actually taking his job seriously,” Ortega told reporters at the UFC 306 media day (watch the replay here). “After the Max loss, that was the first time we decided to take it serious. Then, I won (against) ‘Zombie’ and I kind of decided just to be stupid again. It’s something that’s hard to shake out there, my lifestyle. After that, after failing recently and hitting rock bottom, that’s when I decided to say, ‘You know what, bro? Stop self-sabotaging yourself because you’re afraid of what you can become.’ I was more happy to be part of the party. I wasn’t supposed to be here. That was always my mentality.”

Lopes has been a nice surprise to the stagnant 145-pound weight class. Previously known as UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso’s jiu jitsu coach, the Brazilian has been able to establish himself as a legitimate threat to the major players in the division Top 10 after racking up four straight wins with three first-round finishes over the last 10 months. His lone defeat in UFC came against No. 6-ranked Movsar Evloev, a bout Lopes accepted on just five days’ notice. In addition, the former “Contender Series” competitor is now sporting double-digit knockout wins, for those detractors who think Lopes is “just a BJJ guy.”

But he is still Grasso’s coach.

“I know Brian is a great fighter. I’m ready for whatever comes up, but the idea is to run back to the locker room, get changed and go back to corner Alexa,” Lopes told reporters at the UFC 306 media day (watch the replay here). “I am ready for a war. I’m ready to go full out, and we do debate this as a team and make decisions according to whatever happens, but yeah we spoke about it. We have a strategy for it. I’m going to fight the No. 3 ranked guy in the division, so it’s just great to hear [compliments from the champion] and that really sets me up in a better position to come up strong.”

Ortega has just one knockout win over the last eight years and that came against the mummified remains of Frankie Edgar. “T-City” has typically relied on his jiu jitsu to bail him out of trouble, a failsafe that won’t be operational against a ground wizard like Lopes. I don’t want to get too carried away and start talking about Lopes like he’s Max Holloway or Alex Volkanovski, I just think he’s on his way up and Ortega is on his way down. We’ll find out for certain this Sat. night in “Sin City.”

Prediction: Lopes def. Ortega by technical knockout

155 lbs.: Esteban “El Gringo” Ribovics (13-1) vs. Daniel “Golden Boy” Zellhuber (15-1)

This is one of those great battles between once-beaten lightweight prospects that almost feels premature, kind of like the time matchmakers booked Arman Tsarukyan against Mateusz Gamrot at UFC Vegas 57. Esteban Ribovics blasted his way to a UFC contract with his “Contender Series” creaming of Thomas Paull back in Aug. 2022, but stumbled out of the gate with a UFC debut loss to “Tajik Tank” Loik Radzhabov. Undaunted, “El Gringo” roared back with consecutive wins over Kamuela Kirk and Terrance McKinney, the latter of which ended by way of brutal, first-round knockout.

Not surprisingly, fans are hyped for this important 155-pound showdown.

“I think there’s hype because he’s a great fighter,” Ribovics told reporters at the UFC 306 media day (watch the replay here). “I respect him a lot. As I said previously, I wish we had the opportunity to fight him further along in my career. Maybe we could have a chance to develop and grow together. But yeah, this is a great fight now. I’m ready for this fight. I think it’s going to be an insane fight and no one wants to miss it. Yeah, I have nothing but respect for him. He’s a great fighter, a great contender, coming up from Mexico. I wish we were going to fight further up, but the opportunity came up now. I’m happy to accept it. I’m happy for this fight.”

Daniel Zellhuber proved himself worthy by knocking around Lucas Almeida on the 2021 edition of “Contender Series” and like Ribovics, got stymied in his Octagon debut after dropping a decision to Trey Ogden. What followed was three straight wins, including his submission finish over Christos Giagos at last year’s Noche UFC card in Las Vegas. The well-balanced “Golden Boy” has more knockouts than submissions — not unlike Ribovics — but has the chops to hang wherever the fight goes. In addition, cardio has not proven to be any kind of issue in his decision wins, should his “El Gringo” contest find its way into the final frame — certainly an option for a slow starter like Zellhuber.

“I feel that the most important thing I’ve been finding is self-confidence,” Zellhuber told reporters at the UFC 306 media day (watch the replay here). “When you get to the UFC and your first fight is a defeat, as is my case, that breaks you mentally a little bit. After I lost that fight, I was struggling with the thoughts about belonging here in the UFC. Now, after a three-fight winning streak, the way I’ve been winning, the way I’ve been evolving in the gym with my training partners, I feel that I’m more dangerous than ever.”

It’s tempting to favor Ribovics based on his aggression, but Zellhuber has a staggering eight-inch reach advantage to complement his three-inch advantage in height. I don’t expect much wrestling in this contest though it remains a factor, it just depends on how long it takes “Golden Boy” — a -230 betting favorite — to find his range and pepper his way to a decision.

Prediction: Zellhuber def. Ribovics by decision

125 lbs.: Ode “Jamaican Sensation” Osbourne (12-7, 1 NC) vs. Ronaldo “Lazy Boy” Rodríguez (16-2)

Ode Osbourne looked to be a promising flyweight prospect when he submitted Armando Villarreal on Dana White’s “Contender Series” back in summer 2019. In addition to his 7-2 (1 NC) record at the time, the “Jamaican Sensation” was also huge for the division, standing 5’7” with a 73-inch reach. Despite showing early promise, Osbourne has performed below expectations over the last couple of years and his UFC record now stands at 4-5 after dropping three of his last four, including consecutive submission losses to Asu Almabaev and Jafel Filho. For tomorrow night’s contest, the 32 year-old flyweight will enter the Octagon as the +130 betting underdog.

“It almost feels like a high school experience where you get invited to the cool party and you’re kind of the nerd and people are like, ‘What’s he doing here?,’” Osbourne told reporters at the UFC 306 media day (watch the replay here). “Everybody has been asking me that, ‘What are the emotions?’ There really isn’t none, honestly. This is my 10th fight in the Octagon. I’ve fought on some great cards. UFC has blessed me with some great opportunities. So I’m pretty used to this personally. In that way there’s no emotions there. I got nothing but love and respect for ‘Lazy Boy’ to be honest. He’s a cool dude.”

Ronaldo Rodriguez was hoping to start his UFC career back in summer 2020 but faltered in his “Contender Series” tryout, losing to Jerome Rivera by way of decision. It took “Lazy Boy” four years and five straight wins on the regional circuit to finally earn a spot on the UFC roster. Rodriguez made the most of it, submitting Denys Bondar as part of the UFC Mexico City lineup back in February. The 25 year-old Mexican is a strong wrestler with aggressive counterattacks and 12 finishes in 15 wins. More importantly, he’s got the momentum that Osbourne is currently lacking.

“I hope he doesn’t think that we’re friends,” Rodriguez told reporters at the UFC 306 media day (watch the replay here). “In the cage I’m going to try to rip his head off. It’s business. I guarantee I’ll put on a show. You know why? Because I have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. I come from nothing. I have everything to gain and that’s why I’m so dangerous. I have nothing to lose. Whoever they put in front of me must be prepared to die.”

Osbourne is now 32 and has looked wholly unimpressive in his last few trips to the Octagon. He certainly has the physical tools to defeat a reckless bulldozer like Rodriguez but is struggling to put it all together. I don’t expect that to change this weekend at The Sphere.

Prediction: Rodriguez def. Osbourne by technical knockout

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 306 fight card right RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 7:30 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPNN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the UFC 306 PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 306: “O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 306 fight card and PPV lineup click here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Few things infuriate MMA fans more than a fight being scored incorrectly, though the term “robbery” tends to be thrown around carelessly and is often steeped in bias. With Robbery Review, we’ll take a look back at controversial fights and determine whether the judges were rightly criticized for their decision or if pundits need to examine their own knee-jerk reactions.

Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko meet for a third time on Saturday at UFC 306, in a fight that’s supposed to determine once and for all who is the true queen of the 125-pound division.

Let’s hope we get a more definitive answer than what we saw in their rematch.

When Grasso shockingly submitted Shevchenko to claim the flyweight title in their first fight at UFC 285, it was all but guaranteed that Shevchenko would be granted an immediate rematch given her impressive run as champion. The runback occurred six months later on Sept. 16, 2023 at the inaugural Noche UFC, and after an awesome 25-minute fight, the judges’ verdict was anybody’s guess.

As it turned out, a split draw was announced, leaving everyone slightly confused, somewhat shocked, and then downright befuddled when the official scorecards were released.

It’s time to take a proper look back at Grasso-Shevchenko 2 before they face off again. For one thing, it’s just fun to rewatch this classic contest, but more importantly, it’s about time that we dusted off the Robbery Review lab equipment to help us figure out if either Grasso or Shevchenko were robbed of a legitimate win on that memorable September night.

What was the official result?

Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko ends in a split draw.

How did the fight go?

Even though Shevchenko arguably had the edge in the first matchup with Grasso before making a fateful mistake, it was obvious how evenly matched these women are and the early part of the rematch was no different.

Shevchenko’s precision was on full display as she went to the body with kicks to set the tone, while keeping her left hand loaded up to catch Grasso coming in. The champion closed the distance, prompting Shevchenko to go for a takedown that was stuffed. Still, she caught a nice elbow off of it. On Grasso’s side, she stuck with her jab, trusting it to keep Shevchenko at bay. However, the former champion found an opening for a takedown and hunted for a back-take before Grasso brought the fight back to the feet.

In Round 2, Grasso let her hands go and it paid off as she scored with strikes before blocking another Shevchenko takedown. The complexion of the fight dramatically changed when Grasso cracked Shevchenko with a counter right that sent her somersaulting backwards. A quick recovery led to Shevchenko tying Grasso up, which only slowed the action momentarily as Grasso used counter-wrestling to set up a few hard knees to the body and punches to the face. Shevchenko anticipated Grasso resetting with the jab and put her on her back with a perfectly timed takedown. For the most part, Grasso tied Shevchenko up and despite Shevchenko’s best attempts to crack Grasso’s defense, the most damaging strike might have been a Grasso upkick. On to Round 3.

Shevchenko’s kicks were so sharp, it was amazing to see her adapt on the fly after 10 minutes of data. She did a much better job of moving in and out of Grasso’s range to open the third, though Grasso continued to come forward with fundamental boxing. Such a great fight. Shevchenko’s wrestling focus paid off big time as she grounded Grasso for much of this round and threatened with a deep guillotine choke. Grasso was left to defend and wait out the clock.

Through three rounds, it was anyone’s fight. Shevchenko’s jab was on display early in Round 4, another wrinkle in her incredibly diverse game. It looked like she might out-strike Grasso for five minutes, but instead she went for a costly takedown. Grasso stuffed it and controlled Shevchenko’s head, rifling in knees while forcing her backwards to prevent Shevchenko from reaching down to ground herself. A slam by Grasso put Shevchenko down, but not for long as Shevchenko stood up hit a hard elbow on the separation. With 90 seconds to go, Shevchenko went back to the jab and added a late trip (that Grasso almost countered with a kneebar), but was it enough to outweigh Grasso’s knees and slam?

Final round. The striking exchanges were so close, it looked impossible for either warrior to create distance on the scorecards. At a glance, Shevchenko appeared to be a shade better with her boxing. Then, déjà vu. Shevchenko went for a trip, only to have Grasso immediately take her back. No fight-ending submission this time, but an emphatic sequence of ground-and-pound for Grasso, leading to at least one *ahem* interesting scorecard.

What did the judges say?

Mike Bell scored it 47-47.

Sal D’Amato scored it 48-47 Shevchenko.

Junichiro Kamijo scored it 48-47 Grasso.

We should probably break these down, right?

Through the first three rounds, all was well in Judgelandia, with Bell, D’Amato, and Kamijo all having it 29-28 for Shevchenko, with “Bullet” taking Rounds 1 and 3.

In Round 4, Kamijo gave a 10-9 to Grasso, while Bell and D’Amato had it 10-9 Shevchenko.

Based on those scores, Grasso was down on two scorecards and needed a finish to retain her title. Or so we thought. Instead, she left the octagon with the belt thanks to Bell issuing a 10-8 score in her favor (D’Amato and Kamijo scored it 10-9 Grasso) and leaving us with a split draw.

Let’s put a pin in this.

What did the numbers say?

(Statistics per UFC Stats)

Total significant strikes: 84-80 in Grasso’s favor. She had a huge advantage in Round 2 (28-15), which is also where she scored the lone knockdown of the fight, but other than that, no round was separated by more than five significant strikes.

Not helpful, numbers!

Digging deeper, Shevchenko had the advantage in control time with over 8:30 over the five rounds, most notably in Round 3 when she nullified much of Grasso’s offense.

Shevchenko also had a slight edge in head (61-54) and ground strikes (7-2), while Grasso scored more to the body (12-6) and legs (18-13).

What did the media say?

Members of the media listed on MMA Decisions were just about split down the middle, with 11 having it 48-47 Grasso and 11 having it 48-47 Shevchenko. I say “just about” because one intrepid soul (who shall remain nameless) actually had it 47-46 for Grasso.

What did the people say?

(Data derived from MMA Decisions and Verdict MMA)

With nearly 2000 scores submitted to MMA Decisions, it’s safe to say that fight fans had some thoughts on this subject. They were just as torn on the result as the judges and the media, with 46 percent having it 48-47 Grasso and 41.3 percent having it 48-47 Shevchenko. For what it’s worth, two percent had it the same as Bell, 47-47.

As far as Round 4 goes, 52.8 percent had it for Grasso, and 45.1 percent for Shevchenko.

On Verdict, the final score was absurdly close according to fans, with Shevchenko winning by a measly 23 points.

Really, that should be even closer because anyone who didn’t score Round 2 for Grasso should be embarrassed.

You want to know how close this fight was? Check out the Round 4 fan score, which had a difference of ZERO points. That almost never happens on the Verdict app as far as I can recall.

How did I score it?

I had it 48-47 Grasso when I first watched and I’m still comfortable with that score. But Round 4 was a toss-up and if you had it for Shevchenko, I don’t blame you. For the sake of transparency, let’s do a brief round-by-round explanation:

• Round 1: 10-9 Shevchenko. She landed the heavier punches in my view and a timely takedown prevented Grasso from mustering up any late-round heroics.
• Round 2: 10-9 Grasso. This is as clear as it gets. The round was decided when Grasso scored a knockdown and followed with big knees in the clinch.
• Round 3: 10-9 Shevchenko. Another round that shouldn’t be difficult to score. Shevchenko dominated on the ground and all but nullified Grasso’s offense.
• Round 4: 10-9 Grasso. Not confident here. Grasso had the best moment of the round when she drove those knees into Shevchenko’s head, plus a slam, but Shevchenko was outboxing her the rest of the time. A 10-9 Shevchenko score is completely acceptable.
• Round 5: 10-9 Grasso. She put a stamp on the round with that late flurry. Was it a 10-8, though? Eeeeh… I can’t get there.

One could argue that Grasso did enough damage to threaten ending the fight, but Shevchenko was always defending intelligently and at no point did I feel referee Herb Dean was close to stepping in. Not to mention Shevchenko was having success in the standup early in the round, so I don’t see how Grasso’s surge mitigates that.

Was it a robbery?

I can’t emphasize enough how much I disagree with giving Grasso that 10-8. I’m not sure I buy the reasoning that Bell was making up for giving Round 4 to Shevchenko (a justifiable call!), because if that’s the case, then that just makes this so much worse.

That said, Grasso indisputably won two rounds and it’s easy to lean towards her in the fourth as well. Since it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, I’ll remind you that I only consider a fight a robbery if it’s blindingly obvious that one competitor was superior and was not rewarded.

That’s not what happened here. What happened here was two of the best in the world fought an incredibly close fight that could have gone either way and the result was muddled by a bizarre scoring decision. Based on the cards after four rounds, Shevchenko was on her way to becoming champion again, but it’s not a travesty of justice that Grasso retained based on her actual performance.

The final verdict

Not a robbery. But Bell’s Round 5 score is real bad and it feels like we’ve just had way too many examples of a lone judge leaving a bad taste in people’s mouths these days.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The Kamaru Usman 2024 welterweight title shot train continues to gain speed.

Depending on who you ask, the “Nigerian Nightmare” is the greatest welterweight of all-time. Okay, that’s admittedly mostly just if you ask UFC CEO Dana White. Regardless, Usman is one of the best to ever do it at 170 pounds, and the former champion still believes he can show he’s competing at an elite level.

The new champion Belal Muhammad has teased interest in facing Usman for his first defense. However, that concept has received backlash from the community thanks to Usman’s recent string of three losses (20-4) that began when he dropped the title to Leon Edwards in 2022. For longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan, none of that matters. Especially considering the savior role that Usman played in his last fight, a short-notice debut at middleweight against Khamzat Chimaev.

“I think they give him Kamaru, that’s the big money fight, it’s the smart fight,” Rogan said on his Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “They owe Kamaru for Kamaru taking Khamzat on 10 days’ notice. Also, a three-rounder instead of a five-rounder when he won the third. So, he’s got the L, but maybe if he goes five rounds, maybe he doesn’t get the L. It looked to me like he was coming on in the third. He had to figure him out, and also he had to trust his gas tank. The guy trained 10 days for one of the scariest motherf*ckers on Earth. On Earth. I say you gotta give it to Kamaru, because I think Kamaru earned it from that alone.”

Chimaev defeated Usman via a majority decision in their bout at UFC 294 last October. Neither has fought since, but Chimaev’s scheduled to return next month while Usman awaits his next move, which he’s publicly said he hopes is a shot at Muhammad.

The top contender in most fans’ eyes is the undefeated 18-0 Shavkat Rakhmonov, who has also hurled verbal jabs Muhammad’s way. Rogan likes that matchup as well, he just sees time as more in “The Nomad’s” favor than Usman’s.

“You don’t have many more years of Kamaru now, he’s like 37 now,” Rogan said. “I say give him another shot. Shavkat, every win he’s a legend. Bigger and bigger legend. Give it to Kamaru.”

Whoever Muhammad defends against first, he’ll continue to battle against the odds after upsetting Edwards by unanimous decision at UFC 304 in July. Muhammad, 36, has gone unbeaten in 11 consecutive fights (24-3, 1 NC) and still has work to do before he fully captures belief from the MMA world, believes Rogan.

“Belal doesn’t get nearly the respect he deserves,” Rogan said. “The way he put it on Leon Edwards, how the f*ck do you not give that guy all the props? All the flowers. He stopped Sean [Brady] standing up. When you see what he did to Leon, you’re like, ‘Good lord.’ Just overwhelmed him. Overwhelming pressure. On the feet, too. On the feet, f*cking dangerous. Never lets you get set. Always on the back foot.”

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Unimpressed. Norma Dumont goes scorched earth on Raquel Pennington vs. Julianna Pena title fight: ‘It’s going to be hard to watch’

Brian Ortega discusses falling off UFC 303, finishing story with Diego Lopes at UFC 306

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LET’S WATCH

UFC 306 Pre-Fight Presser and Staredowns.

Between the Links.

Embedded 4.

Champ life.

Unforgettable KOs.

Full fights

Fancy UFC 306 preview.

Aspinall swims.

MORNING MUSIC

Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or find one of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re currently really into. I’ll pick the best one alongside my daily choice and give you a shoutout! You can also share in the comments below — those are just harder to sift through sometimes!

This month’s full playlist:

SOCIAL SCROLL DOWN

Pinata time.

Choices, indeed.

Noche ready.

Cookin’.

Giddyup.

Mo-Town techniques.

Time.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Nora Cornolle (8-1) vs. Jacqueline Cavalcanti (7-1); UFC Paris, Sept. 28

Kennedy Nzechukwu (12-5) vs. Justin Tafa (7-4); UFC 308, Oct. 26

Mickey Gall (7-6) vs. Ramiz Brahimaj (10-5); UFC 309, Nov. 16

Navajo Stirling (5-0) vs. Tuco Tokkos (10-4); UFC Tampa, Dec. 14

FINAL THOUGHTS

Happy Friday, everybody. Another week in the books with a big weekend ahead. I hope everyone has a great and safe time regardless of the shenanigans you get up to. Cheers, and thanks as always for reading.

EXIT POLL

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.

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UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Preference
| BJPenn.com

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Both Sean O’Malley and Henry Cejudo train in Phoenix, Arizona, but the two are neither friends nor team mates. In fact, the two have traded verbal blows fairly often over the years, but the trash talk has yet to result in an actual fight.

Only an extremely abbreviated podcast appearance.

It’s fight week for “Suga,” who squares off versus Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 306 this weekend (Sat., Sept. 14, 2024) from the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada. Though his attention should probably be fully focused on “The Machine,” O’Malley spared a moment of his media time to tell Daniel Cormier his litany of problems with Cejudo.

“Henry, he’s gonna be at home streaming this fight illegally because he can’t afford it on his couch, kicking his feet up,” O’Malley told Cormier. “Henry is just a little f—king weasel, and I don’t like that guy … It’s his attitude. He rubs a lot of people wrong. He got this big ego like I’m the man of fighting, and I’m pound-for-pound and teaching Jon Jones how to fight.

“Like bro, you’re not that f—king good. Yeah, you won a couple fights but you’re not that f—king good. Talking about going down to 25 because I’m running the division! He’s like, ‘Oh, I wanna fight Sean’ — you don’t wanna fight me. He doesn’t wanna fight me. I’m a nightmare for him. He’s like, ‘Oh I’ll take you down, hold you down.’ Cool, I’ll get up and kill you. You suck, Henry sucks.”

The tricky issue with the “King of Cringe” is that Cejudo is extremely accomplished. An Olympic gold medal and two UFC titles is nothing to scoff at. That said, Cejudo has managed to put his foot into his mouth on more than one occasion outside of the cage as a coach and analyst, and his best years may be behind him after an ill-advised retirement cost him two years of his prime.

Either way, a match up between the two isn’t likely unless “Suga” coughs up his title on Saturday night. Even then, Cejudo recently announced his intention to return to Flyweight, which could also throw a wrench in those theoretical plans.

Maybe an Arizona dojo storm is in order? The beef doesn’t seem likely to end otherwise.

Insomnia

Michael Chandler is sitting in the corner of a dark room, whispering see you at the top to himself repeatedly.

This looks like the least pleasant combat sports experience yet.

These are the dance moves of a man thrilled to leave his construction career behind.

Foot sweeps are always awesome, but gigantic foot sweeps are extra cool.

Sean O’Malley just earned himself a spot on Dana White’s s—t list.

Did you know Merab and “Suga” debuted one week apart? I did not.

Are these odds an indication of Light Heavyweight being terrible, Anthony Smith being terrible, or Welterweight being great?

Diego Lopes’ hands look so much sharper nowadays, and Joanderson Brito doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Impressive turnaround after a nasty spinning kick.

The technique, skill, and toughness of young strikers around the globe is continually mind-blowing.

Pouya Rahmani is 32 years old with four first-round submission wins.

Random Land

Possibly the most important news I’ve ever included in this column.

Midnight Music: Indie rock, 2014

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

MMAmania.com – All Posts