CombatSports.org

submitted by /u/443610 [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Brian Ortega is looking forward to finishing his story with Diego Lopes.

This Saturday, Ortega takes on Lopes in the featured main card fight of UFC 306. The two were originally supposed to face off in a featherweight bout at UFC 303 in June, however, Ortega struggled with his weight cut and the bout was changed to a lightweight contest the day before the event. Then, on the day of the event, Ortega was forced out of the event due to illness and instead, Lopes faced Dan Ige on just a few hours’ notice before winning a unanimous decision.

On Wednesday, Ortega spoke with reporters at UFC 306 media day, where he recounted how he felt that night watching Lopes compete.

“I was staying in the hotel room and we [watched the fights on TV],” Ortega explained. “I was laying in bed and I saw his fight and I was like, ‘Damn, that should have been me.’ But I also thought, ‘Well, come on, bro. Had that been you that night, you probably wouldn’t have won, the way you were feeling.’ Let’s just be honest. But it was a bittersweet moment, knowing I was there, almost made the weight, and we went through what we went through.

“I didn’t really want to pull out, but you have to make a choice. We made peace with it and that was it. But yeah, I had those feelings that we could have got this done with and moved on to the next.”

Ortega now has the chance to do just that this weekend. Following his win over Ige, Lopes called for this fight to be rebooked and for his part, “T-City” was all for it.

“I wasn’t reluctant at all,” Ortega said. “I have a fire lit underneath me because of what happened before. I got to do the whole weigh-ins, got to face off — we went through the motions and we started the story but we never finished it. Saturday we finish it finally. I don’t want to leave anyone with any doubt or anything of how this story ends.”

But while this story may end on Saturday, the journey will continue for Ortega. Before the Lopes fight was originally booked, Ortega had discussed moving up to lightweight and given the lay of the land at 145 pounds right now, the former two-time featherweight title challenger says that still may be the next chapter for him after Saturday.

“100 percent,” Ortega said when asked if he was still contemplating a move up to 155 pounds. “Because you’ve got [Ilia] Topuria and Max [Holloway] fighting in October. Then after that you’ve got whatever date they decide next year to fight [Alexander Volkanovski], so it’s like a line to fight for the belt.

“Depending how this fight goes this weekend, it’s going to determine whether the fans believe that I deserve another shot or not. But either/or, my goal is to stay busy and if there’s nothing for me in the featherweight division, then I’ll move up.”

UFC 306 takes place this Saturday at Sphere in Las Vegas with the bantamweight title fight between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili headlining the event.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

submitted by /u/rmma
[link] [comments]
MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Norma Dumont isn’t happy with UFC’s decisions at the top of the bantamweight division.

Raquel Pennington beat Mayra Bueno Silva to win the 135-pound championship in January and puts it on the line—for the first time nearly nine months—when she faces Julianna Peña in the co-main event of UFC 307 on Oct. 5. Peña hasn’t fought in 25 months, when she lost a title bout to Amanda Nunes.

At Saturday’s UFC 306 event in Las Vegas, Dumont faces Irene Aldana with the aim of extending her winning streak to five. Even then, she doesn’t expect her next bout to be for the belt.

“I highly doubt [I’m next] because of this ridiculous Julianna vs. Raquel fight,” Dumont said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “Julianna, for the love of God… Julianna was out for two-and-a-half years, running from everybody, and then was gifted this fight with Pennington. It’s going to be hard to watch.”

Peña was the only woman to beat Nunes during her run as UFC champion, submitting “The Lioness” in 2021 but then losing the rematch. Dumont doesn’t think anyone should put too much stock on Peña’s feat to begin with.

“Not taking any merit away from Julianna, but Amanda wasn’t well that night,” Dumont said. “Amanda came back and put a beating on her. That was a beating for five people and Julianna took everything by herself. She was licking her wounds for two-and-a-half years and was still rewarded with a title shot? Come on, man. Why not give it to Irene then, who also got beat up by Amanda but at least stayed on the feet for five rounds, at least trying to threaten until the very end? And came back to beat Karol Rosa? Nah, give to Julianna, who went hiding for two-and-a-half years.”

“I think Pennington wins for being more complete and being tougher than Julianna,” she continued. “The winner of Kayla Harrison vs. Ketlen [Vieira at UFC 307] makes sense for the next in line because [the UFC] put Kayla right there even though she has only beaten an over-the-hill [Holly Holm]. But she’s American, she’s an Olympic champion, and we know how the game works. We’ll have to fight through that. Or maybe Ketlen wins and they finally give her the shot. No way she beats Kayla and they don’t do it, right? But I don’t expect her to win because of the matchup. They have similar styles but Kayla is much stronger and larger than her.”

Dumont is confident that she will win against Aldana and ultimately fight once again to enter the discussion for gold. She predicts that Pennington beats Peña and then faces Harrison, with the two-time Olympic gold medalist emerging victorious.

“And then I’ll probably fight Julianna or Ketlen next,” Dumont said. “Or maybe Macy [Chiasson]. But since we already fought — although it was at 145 [pounds], I don’t know if they would do it again. There’s no other fight for me than the belt if I beat [Aldana and then] one of these three, Julianna, Macy or Ketlen. Kayla will have nowhere to hide, she will have to fight me.”

Dumont said she hopes to be paired up against Peña in early 2025, and advises Peña to reconsider her fighting career if she’s against that idea.

“Go away and retire already,” Dumont said. “Julianna is the one I would really like to put a beating on. I don’t like Julianna, and it would super interesting for me. Macy and Ketlen, that would be just work.”

Aldana is standing in her way to the top, though Dumont isn’t worried about possibly dealing with enemy territory vibes at Sphere, with the UFC celebrating Mexican Independence Day that night.

“It obviously is a tribute to Mexicans but it’s in Las Vegas, and Las Vegas is my home,” Dumont said. “I fought eight times in Las Vegas and never lost. I agreed to fight her in Mexico City earlier this year so I don’t care. I’m fighting Irene, not the crowd, so I’m even more comfortable fighting in Vegas. I’m just knocking off the obstacles on my way to get where I want: the belt. The UFC is pushing me closer to the top and everybody’s prey to be there, and I’m on a hunt.”

Dumont has won her past four fights via decision, including a recent victory over ex-UFC featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie, while Aldana rebounded from a title bout loss to Nunes with a unanimous decision against Karol Rosa in late 2023. Aldana has never been finished in 13 octagon appearances, and Dumont won’t give away her strategy.

“It’s state secret,” Dumont said with a laugh. “There’s a lot of Brazilians on her team watching my Instagram. I saw them the day this fight got booked. I see you all, every day [laughs]. But I have the skills to beat Irene everywhere, both on the feet and on the ground. Irene has good boxing and heavy hands, but she has holes on her striking, against the cage, and holes on the ground. We’ll exploit that with all my weapons to beat her.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

submitted by /u/rmma
[link] [comments]
MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili didn’t get the chance to get too close following the UFC 306 pre-fight press conference because both champion and challenger had plenty to say.

Following a lively question and answer session on stage, O’Malley removed his jacket — the same one that Dvalishvili took from him back at UFC 288 — and he marched towards his opponent with UFC CEO Dana White making sure nobody got too close.

O’Malley immediately began shouting at Dvalishvili and it appeared he was promising to deliver a knockout, which is the same prediction he gave during the press conference.

“I think I’m going to get it done the way I always get it done,” O’Malley said about the way he plans to finish Dvalishvili. “I’m going to put this dude face first.”

Later in the press conference when O’Malley said that he needed a knockout to move closer to an eventual crossover into boxing with a potential fight against Gervonta “Tank” Davis, it was Dvalishvili who answered back.

“Keep dreaming,” Dvalisvhili shouted. “Nobody knocked me out yet. Keep dreaming Sean O’Malley. You don’t knock out Chito Vera [in your last fight].”

That earned him a snide response from O’Malley with a reminder about how he won the bantamweight title from Dvalishvili’s friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling.

“I did knock out Aljo though, didn’t I?” O’Malley said. “That was lucky as f*ck. I keep getting lucky. It’s crazy. Every fight I get lucky.. Somehow, some way, I get lucky.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Depressing
| BJPenn.com

Combat sports and absurd tattoos are a match made in heaven.

Rayne Wells, 42, surprised the community at BKFC 66’s weigh-ins today (Thurs., Sept. 12, 2024). Taking to the scale, Wells weighed in and hit the 165-pound mark for his bare-knuckle boxing (BKB) match against Almat Jumanov. Wells turned to flex and showed off an unexpected new tattoo of an image that featured BKFC President, David Feldman, and new co-owner, Conor McGregor. Photos of the tattoo and video of the weigh-in can be seen in the embedded player above.

McGregor hasn’t been shy to make his presence felt at BKFC events since he got involved with the promotion in May 2024. To an extent, McGregor has become a face for BKFC, arguably more than Feldman. Yet to return from his broken leg suffered in his trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier in July 2021 (watch highlights), McGregor has teased a possible appearance as a competitor in BKFC’s ring.

As for Wells, his fight at BKFC 66 will be his second in the promotion as well as the sport. Unfortunately for Wells, his debut didn’t go his way when he lost via an eight-second knockout to Angel Hernandez in April 2024. Wells is 0-2 in mixed martial arts (MMA) as a professional and 2-4 as an amateur.

MMAmania.com – All Posts

submitted by /u/event_threads
[link] [comments]
MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Demetrious Johnson is widely considered one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time but he recently decided to end his career after announcing his retirement at the ONE Championship event in Denver on Sept. 6.

It was an emotional moment for the former UFC flyweight champion after spending the past 15 years as a professional fighter but it seemed like it was only a matter of time before Johnson called it a career. After settling a trilogy with Adriano Moraes to win and defend his ONE flyweight title, Johnson started hinting that retirement was likely coming soon for him as he began turning his attention towards Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions and building his profile outside of the ring with his podcasts and other endeavors.

While he fought back the tears when making his announcement that he was retiring, Johnson already had his mind made up well ahead of that event in Denver. It turns out, Johnson’s passion for the sport started to diminish and that was the only reason he needed to hang up his gloves for good.

“I’m not going to fight anymore,” Johnson told UFC contender Merab Dvalishvili on his podcast, which was recorded prior to his announcement. “The reason why — I don’t find mixed martial arts fun anymore. The reason why, I find more fulfillment in doing jiu-jitsu because I feel it’s harder. I find more fulfillment in helping and training with different people.”

Throughout his career in the UFC, WEC and ONE Championship, Johnson called AMC Pankration in Washington his home while working under the tutelage of head coach Matt Hume. While training there obviously paid off, Johnson also wanted the chance to branch out and work with different fighters but that opportunity was limited while he was still in the middle of his career.

Now that he’s retired, Johnson expects that he’ll be able to travel anywhere he wants and work with a wide variety of coaches and fighters because he’s no longer looking over his shoulder at a potential future opponent sharing the mat with him.

“I train with [Aljamain Sterling], I train with Mikey Musumeci, I like to train with people,” Johnson explained. “Because if I ever feel like I want to feel Merab’s gas tank, I want to see how good he is, I want to feel his strength. The only way that would ever happen is if me and you were to fight each other. If I was a professional athlete, it would just never happen.

“But if I’m like I don’t care about winning, I don’t care about ever having the opportunity to fight you, ‘hey Merab, can I come train with you?’ ‘Yeah, Demetrious come train, let’s train’ and when we train together you’re not going to have like ‘I need to beat you, you’re trying to learn from me.’”

Just because he isn’t fighting doesn’t mean that Johnson is going to stop being a martial artist.

He’s competed in numerous grappling events over the past year and it appears Johnson is anxious to keep that momentum going now that he’s retired.

Johnson also sounds excited to add more weapons to his arsenal working alongside some of the best athletes in the world because he’s no longer interested in fighting any of them.

“I’ve never trained outside of training camp when I would fight,” Johnson said. “Now, next time I’m in Vegas ‘you’re done fighting, let’s train together.’ I’ll get more fulfillment from training with random athletes from my era than continuing to fight in mixed martial arts. That’s how I feel.”

Johnson retired with a laundry list of accomplishments on his record including title reigns in both the UFC and ONE not to mention serving as the longest reigning champion in UFC history after defending his title 11 consecutive times.

MMA Fighting – All Posts