An unprecedented event took place on the latest episode of season eight of Contender Series as on Tuesday, less than an hour before he was set to face Kody Steele in the penultimate fight of the evening, Quemuel Ottoni withdrew from the event.
The UFC broadcast team revealed that while getting his hands wrapped backstage, Ottoni simply decided he no longer wanted to compete and after speaking to UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby, took off his gloves and exited. UFC CEO Dana White spoke moments after the bout cancellation was revealed.
BREAKING NEWS!
Quemuel Ottoni versus Kody Steele is off after Ottoni pulled out from the fight! #DWCS pic.twitter.com/CS7aL70j8d
— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) September 11, 2024
“That’s what this show is all about,” White said. “Sometimes you don’t have to actually get in the cage to realize, ‘This isn’t for me. I can’t handle the pressure. I don’t want to do this.’ This is what this is all about.”
MMA Fighting reached out to Ottoni for comment but received no response.
Ottoni was supposed to face Kody Steele, a highly-touted prospect and BJJ competitor, in a lightweight contest, and White further spoke and what this means for Steele.
“I think he’s part of the problem,” White said. “I think he’s part of why the kid pulled out. He will be paid in full tonight, his show and his win, and we will get him on another episode of Contender Series this weekend.”
Steele is currently undefeated in his MMA career at 6-0 and most recently competed this past April for Fury FC, scoring a third-round TKO.
The most expensive event in UFC history is right around the corner, and fans worldwide are gearing up for the celebration of Mexican Independence Day through it. In the last few days, Dana White has finally revealed how the event will feature several films showcasing Mexico’s contributions to combat sports. UFC 306 has already become […]
Continue Reading ‘Nobody’s Gonna Pay Anything’ – Mexican UFC Fighter To Dana White On High Ticket Prices For The Sphere Event at MMA News.
Welcome to r/mma's discussion of Contender Series 2024: Week 5, from Las Vegas, Nevada, United States! Please keep the fight discussions in here. We also have a fight thread in ourKbin communityfor those who would prefer not to use Reddit but would still like to talk about the fights.
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Card Info
Airing on Tuesday 09.10.2024
Main Card on ESPN+ @ 8PM ET
Division
Fighters
Light Heavyweight
Navajo Stirling vs. Phillip Latu
Welterweight
Kody Steele vs. Quemuel Ottoni
Middleweight
Y. Belgaroui vs. Taiga Iwasaki
Bantamweight
Otar Tanzilov vs. Josias Musasa
Flyweight
Corinne Laframboise vs. Nicolle Caliari
Fight card order and start times may be inaccurate.
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On the second episode of UFC 306 Embedded, bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley and his coach predict a knockout of Merab Dvalishvili, Daniel Zellhuber takes a few swings at the golf range, Brian Ortega sneaks in some Fortnite, Dvalishvili pushes himself in training, plus more.
MMA is a sport that’s built on wins and losses almost as much as popularity and hype. Some fighters like UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley find fame quicker than most and those athletes get a bigger push from a promotion like the UFC while others have to work twice as hard to get noticed.
Put Dvalishvili into that latter category after he had to rattle off 10 wins in a row including three victories over former UFC champions to finally get his own chance at winning a title. He’s not bitter about the road he had to travel to get here but Dvalishvili knows it’s going to mean that much more when he finally puts that gold belt around his waist.
“I will be so proud,” Dvalishvili told MMA Fighting. “Because I know I don’t get nothing handed to me. I had to work for everything that I got and I will be very proud. I’m already proud of myself and I know and all the true MMA fans know. I’m here and fighting hard. I don’t have pressure or anything. It will be special for me. But first I have to win this fight.
“This is a tough challenge for me. Sean O’Malley is a good fighter and that’s why I always wanted to fight him. I want to win this fight and I want to be organic. I don’t want to overthink. I don’t want to be cocky. First I have to win this fight and after we can talk. One thing is for sure, I’m working hard and I’m very hungry.”
In the days and weeks leading up to the fight, Dvalishvili has displayed a lot of confidence that he’s going to become champion but he’s also acknowledged that O’Malley isn’t just going to roll over and play dead.
On the flipside, O’Malley has continuously promised that he’s going to deliver a first-round knockout and Dvalishvili says he’s heard over and over again how he’s going to get dispatched just like Aljamain Sterling.
O’Malley finished Sterling inside two rounds to win the UFC title but Dvalishvili reminds the always outspoken and colorful champion that as much as he values his friend and teammates, they’re not the same fighters.
“That’s their problem — they are too cocky,” Dvalishvili said. “Even Sean told me during the faceoff [at a promotional shoot for UFC 306], he told me ‘what’s going to be different between you and Aljo? I’m going to knock you out the same thing.’ First of all, you don’t knock Aljo out. Yes, you dropped him and Marc Goddard stopped the fight early. Second of all, every fight is different. If you fought Aljo 10 more times, I believe he will beat you nine times. Same thing with me.
“Don’t underestimate me. I’m a fighter. I’m here. Hard work got me here and you’ve got to show me respect. If you don’t show me respect, see what I did against Petr Yan? I’m going to do the same thing against Sean O’Malley. Same thing, [Yan] didn’t show me respect and I’m going to be rude. I’m going to make him humble. I don’t like these bully people. I don’t like these people who look over you. They look on top, they think they are better than you but we are the same. We’re fighters. Maybe I’m even better than him so we will find out soon.”
On paper the UFC 306 main event looks like the classic “striker versus grappler” matchup with O’Malley preferring to stay on his feet to deliver punches and Dvalishvili employing a high-paced wrestling based offense that suffocates his opponents.
But Dvalishvili believes deep down inside that his own striking arsenal is being vastly underrated by O’Malley and his camp heading into the fight. In fact, Dvalishvili made quite a bold prediction about how that’s going to come back to bite them.
“I want to knock Sean O’Malley out,” Dvalishvili declared. “I will knock him out. You guys will be surprised. Watch this fight and you guys will see. I know people think I’m a grappler. You guys will see. I’m going to show different skills. I’m going to knock him out. I’m going to outstrike him. You guys will see. I’m going to f*ck the shit out of him, too. You will see.”
Of course, Dvalishvili isn’t going to reveal his full strategy for the fight but he’s been working tirelessly to ensure he has a few new toys to play with come Saturday night and that includes “Mexican style” boxing to surprise O’Malley on the feet.
Maybe it’s just mental warfare to make O’Malley forget about the way Dvalishvili goes for takedowns like he’s mashing the same button over and over again in a game of Mortal Kombat.
Then again, Dvalishvili might just believe that O’Malley’s hubris really will come back to bite him.
“One thing is for sure, I’m working hard and I’m very hungry,” Dvalishvili said. “I’m going to surprise a lot of people. I’m telling you I’m looking for the knockout and don’t be surprised if I knock him out.”
Boxing megastar Canelo Alvarez returns to MGM Grand to battle Brooklyn brawler Edgar Berlanga in a super middleweight title fight that runs head-to-head with UFC 306 at The Sphere! Who wins the battle of Mexican Independence Day pay-per-view (PPV) events? We’ll find out this weekend in Las Vegas!
Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga super middleweight title fight goes down this Sat. night (Sept. 14, 2024) LIVE on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV) from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This weekend’s boxing spectacle, carrying a price tag of $ 89.99, also features the championship title fight between Erislandy Lara (c) and Danny Garcia in the co-main event, as well as Caleb Plant vs. Trevor McCumby for the WBA interim super middleweight title.
Here’s the complete Canelo vs. Berlanga fight card and PPV lineup:
Canelo vs. Berlanga DAZN PPV Main Card (8 p.m. ET):
168 lbs.: Canelo Alvarez (c) vs. Edgar Berlanga for WBC, WBA, WBO, Ring Magazine titles 160 lbs.: Erislandy Lara vs. Danny Garcia for Lara’s WBA world middleweight title 168 lbs.: Caleb Plant vs. Trevor McCumby for WBA interim super middleweight title 140 lbs.: Rolando Romero vs. Manuel Jaimes (super lightweight)
Note: Main event ring walks expected at or around 11 p.m. ET.
Canelo vs. Berlanga YouTube Prelims Card (6 p.m. ET):
126 lbs.: Stephen Fulton vs. Carlos Castro 147 lbs.: Roman Villa vs. Ricardo Salas 130 lbs.: Jonathan Lopez vs. Ricky Medina 175 lbs.: Lawrence King vs. Vaughn Williams 160 lbs.: Yoenli Hernandez vs. Jose Charles 168 lbs.: Bek Nurmaganbet vs. Joshua Conley
“I feel like right now, it’s my time,” Berlanga told TMZ Sports. “Everything is destined for me, for this moment, for this opportunity that I got, the time, everything is just — I’m destined right now to make history, September 14 and to become a legend that day, and to take over the sport of boxing and become the face.”
“I feel like he did what he had to do in the sport of boxing, he a legend, but I think right now it’s my time,” Berlanga continued. “I feel like right now is our time to come over and just take over. It needs a new face at 168, you know what I’m saying.”
To order Canelo vs. Berlanga on DAZN PPV click here.
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