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Easy fight
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Jalin Turner is ready to show off his new and improved grappling.

After a nearly a year layoff, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) No. 13 ranked Turner returns to action at UFC 313 this weekend (Sat., March 8, 2025) against surging Chilen Ignacio Bahamondes from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“The Tarantula” has been out of action since losing to Renato Moicano at UFC 300, but it’s been for a good reason: to work on his grappling even more, which kind of got exposed in his fight against Moicano.

Turner almost scored a walk-off first-round knockout against Moicano at UFC 300, but when Moicano survived and the fight entered the second round, Turner was taken down by Moicano, did not get back up, and eventually finished (watch highlights).

The 29-year-old’s grappling has never been bad, as evidenced by his four submission wins and countless high-quality scrambles, but at UFC 300, he got into a place where he got uncomfortable, and Turner does not want that ever to happen again.

“Grappling was a personal journey. It has nothing to do with this matchup or anything like that; it was just me wanting to be a better martial artist,” Turner told UFC.com. “Taking into account how my fight at UFC 300 went, I felt like I needed to stay more disciplined and polished in my grappling. It was something I really needed to focus on and work on. That’s what I did the last 11 months.”

Turner takes on Bahamondes in the ‘Featured’ bout of the UFC 313 main card.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 313 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN2/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, before the main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 313: “Pereira vs. Ankalaev” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The UFC 313 fight card will feature 12 fights, including UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira defending his belt against Magomed Ankalaev in the main event.

Pereira, who has reeled off five straight UFC wins, will attempt to defend his UFC light heavyweight title for a fourth consecutive time. Ankalaev, who is 11-0-1 with 1 no-contest in his past 13 UFC fights, hasn’t lost since his UFC debut on March 17, 2018.

In the co-main event, Justin Gaethje will square off against Rafael Fiziev in a lightweight contest. Gaethje and Fiziev have clashed once before with Gaethje winning via majority decision at UFC 286 on March 18, 2023.

Check out the UFC 313 fight card below.

Main card (ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET)

Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev

Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev

Jalin Turner vs. Ignacio Bahamondes

Amanda Lemos vs. Iasmin Lucindo

King Green vs. Mauricio Ruffy

Prelims (ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET)

Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev

Joshua Van vs. Rei Tsuruya

Brunno Ferreira vs. Armen Petrosyan

Alex Morono vs. Carlos Leal

Prelims (ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET)

Mairon Santos vs. Francis Marshall

Djorden Santos vs. Ozzy Diaz

Chris Gutierrez vs. John Castaneda

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In Dan Hardy’s eyes, the only intriguing opponent for Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall sits outside of the promotion.

Aspinall continues to await news of his next assignment. Despite the division boasting two titleholders for the past 16 months, it remains unclear whether the British powerhouse and Jon Jones will meet in a unification fight.

Following Jones’ successful defense against Stipe Miocic last November, Dana White gave his backing for “Bones” to face Aspinall next. Negotiations for that coming to fruition are seemingly underway.

And according to Hardy, the UFC higher-ups better make Jones an offer he can’t refuse lest they be left with zero “legit” matchups for Aspinall.

Though many might disagree and point to a heavyweight clash with current 205-pound kingpin Alex Pereira, “The Outlaw” believes only PFL star Francis Ngannou would be adequate opposition for the Manchester native.

“Of course, Pereira could touch anybody on the chin on the planet and knock them out. But if you’re looking for a real, legit heavyweight contender for Tom, maybe I’m a broken record, but it has to be Ngannou,” Hardy said during a recent appearance on Submission Radio. “There isn’t anybody else, really. I don’t see any other fight that truly excites me. I can point at that and say, ‘That’s the heavyweight king.’ And I don’t even think I could say that if it was Jones versus Aspinall at this point, because I don’t feel like Jones is — I mean, he’s potentially number three in the heavyweight division right now, behind Ngannou and Aspinall.

“You have to admit, though, someone else in Tom Aspinall’s position might just say, ‘Hey, give me Pereira. Let’s just fight now,’ because that would bring so much money,” Hardy continued. “But he wants the tougher fight in Jon Jones, and if Francis Ngannou were around, he’d want the tougher fight in Francis Ngannou. So it’s one of those things where we should reward the guys that deserve to be rewarded.”

The topic of Pereira moving up another division has long been a prominent topic. And it’ll no doubt return to the surface should he dispatch of Magomed Ankalaev for a fourth successful light heavyweight title defense this weekend at UFC 313.

Ngannou, meanwhile, emerged victorious from his PFL debut last October. He’s expected to next return to the boxing ring.

MMA News

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Curtis Blaydes has been a perennial top-five heavyweight for the biggest part of his UFC career so there were more than a few curious looks when his next fight was booked against relative unknown Rizvan Kuniev.

It’s not to say that Kuniev is an unskilled fighter but he’s making his UFC debut against Blaydes after two fights on The Contender Series, a single appearance in the PFL, and spending a year on the shelf after he was suspended following a positive drug test for multiple steroids. Blaydes admits he didn’t know any of that because he had never heard of Kuniev before the UFC came to him with that name as an opponent.

“I did [a double take] but like I always say, the money’s the same regardless if it’s Jon Jones or if it’s a debut guy,” Blaydes told MMA Fighting. “The money’s the same so I’ll always be down.

“I had to Google him. I watched his fight on The Contender [Series], that’s really the only fight of his I watched. He looks like your traditional heavyweight — swings heavy and hopes to knock you out early.”

Once Blaydes started doing his research he came across Kuniev’s name for the suspension he faced from the Nevada Athletic Commission after he tested positive for a cocktail of banned substances. Kuniev was penalized after a drug test discovered drostanolone, metenelone, boldenone, and 19-norandrosterone, which are all anabolic steroids, in his system.

Discovering that information might give someone pause before a fight but Blaydes didn’t lose any sleep over it.

“I heard about that also,” Blaydes said about Kuniev’s suspension. “Who knows that might be part of this. Maybe he has to get it out of his system but I heard about rumors like that about [Jailton] Almeida and I mean he is very strong and he did have skills, but roids are not going to be the difference. It’s not going to be enough.

“Even if he is on some stuff, I don’t believe it’s going to help him with his sprawling or help him take a punch. I’m all right with it, even if he is on some stuff.”

Perhaps the biggest danger in this fight is that Blaydes walks into UFC 313 as an overwhelming favorite to win based not only on his past resume but also because he’s facing an octagon rookie.

That means the expectations are high for Blaydes to tear through Kuniev but he learned a long time ago that just because something is supposed to happen doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.

“I think that’s one of the benefits coming up through wrestling,” Blaydes explained. “I’ve been in this position before where I was a junior in high school, highly ranked, No. 4 in the state, got some unknown dude. I went out there messing around with him, took him down a few times, let him up, I’m playing with my food so to speak, and then got hit with a headlock and I got pinned by some unknown unranked heavyweight.

“After that, I’ve never approached anything athletic like ‘Oh this dude’s a bum.’ He’s here for a reason. He must have some type of skill. I’m not going to not approach him with the respect he deserves. He’s here. He’s in the UFC. They’re not bringing in unskilled heavyweights. I’m approaching it as if he has the ability to beat me, which he does. This is heavyweight. It only takes one sloppy haymaker and lights out.”

While Blaydes didn’t get upset that the UFC offered him a newcomer, he initially had his sights set on a different opponent.

Coming off a knockout loss to current interim heavyweight Tom Aspinall this past July, Blaydes thought a showdown against Ciryl Gane was the fight that made the most sense but he also didn’t get his hopes too high that would happen.

Blaydes has never considered himself a trash talker and he doesn’t go out of his way to stir up trouble but he’s got receipts to back up his belief that Gane has no interest in ever facing him.

“I normally don’t do this but he has turned [it down] — I have heard this from my management speaking with Hunter [Campbell], who does the contracts and negotiations for [heavyweights], he has turned me down three times over the past four years,” Blaydes revealed. “I remember I asked for him originally in 2021 and they gave me Volkov. I wanted him again after that one and they gave me Derrick Lewis. I’ve asked for him a few times.

“Originally that’s the one I wanted after the Aspinall fight. OK, I guess I’ll go for Gane and he ends up in there with Volkov. I don’t think we will ever fight, unfortunately.”

As much as it bugs him that Gane seemingly has no interest in the fight, Blaydes understands the logic, at least based on the visuals of how he expects that matchup to play out.

“We understand why,” Blaydes said. “I go out there and I smash him, he loses a lot marketability. The aura of the Frenchman who does all the fancy stuff. If you see me go out there and just body slam him on his head like four or five times and elbow him into oblivious, it kind of removes the marketability. So I get it.

“It just sucks because I think it would be a great fight for me. I beat him, that should be enough to get another title shot. Beating the guy I’m about to fight right now, it’s hard to say. He doesn’t have any value as a name right now. I don’t even know his name. Rizvan Kuniev? Right now doesn’t have a lot of name value.”

Beating Kuniev might not do much for him in the long run outside of earning another paycheck but Blaydes is proud that he didn’t scoff at the offer when the UFC came calling.

He’s nowhere near done with his career but Blaydes holds his head up high knowing when the day comes that he finally hangs up his gloves that no one can ever say he backed down from a fight.

“That’s a legacy I’ll brag about,” Blaydes said. “I won’t brag about the names. I’ll brag that I never said no. Never ever said no.”

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No Trilogy Fight
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UFC

OUCH!

It has been three days since UFC Vegas 103, where Top 15 ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Flyweight Asu Almabayev was stopped by top contender Manel Kape via technical knockout (TKO) from inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada (watch highlights).

While Kape looked absolutely amazing in his stoppage win, the victory was barred with controversy. “Starboy” scrapped Almabayev’s eye a few seconds before the stoppage, and the referee completely missed it.

Today (Tues., March 4, 2025), a picture of Almbayev’s eye has surfaced, and the damage is very visible.

Check out his eye post UFC Vegas 103 below:

For the second straight week, a UFC main event was plagued by the dreaded eye poke. UFC Seattle’s main event loser, Henry Cejudo, could not continue after Song Yadong logged his finger into “Triple C’s” eye socket.

Still pissed off by the result of his fight, Cejudo posted on social media immediately after UFC Vegas 103 by writing, “Eye pokes are the greatest threat to the growth of this sport (unbiased).”

Unfortunately, eye pokes have not gone away in the 32 years that UFC has existed, and it looks like they will stay forever…unless referees actually enforce the penalties for eye pokes.

For what it’s worth, Almabayev (21-3) had his 17-fight win streak snapped this past weekend.

To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.

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