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UFC Vegas 97 went down last night (Sat., Sept. 7, 2024) from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring a Welterweight showdown that saw Sean Brady defeat Gilbert Burns, after 25 minutes of action (recap here). In the co-main event, Natalia Silva defeated Jessica Andrade in a back-and-forth women’s Flyweight matchup, the biggest win of her surging career.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Winner: Sean Brady

Who He Should Face Next: Ian Garry

Brady called for this fight after his big win over Burns, and I like it. Garry is coming off a win over Michael Page, and he and Brady are only separated by one spot in the rankings. It’s a great stylistic matchup and the winner would without a doubt crack the Top 5, and get one big step closer to a title fight. Brady also called for a Colby Covington showdown, so if this one doesn’t materialize, “Chaos” works, too.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Winner: Natalia Silva

Who She Should Face Next: Erin Blanchfield

Silva secured her twelfth straight win, sixth inside the Octagon, after taking out former Strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade, so her stock is on the rise. I am feeling a fight between her and Blanchfield next. Blanchfield is coming off a tough loss to Manon Fiorot. And while I don’t normally like pairing up a streaking fighter against one coming off a defeat, this one makes sense since Blanchfield is ranked No. 3 at the moment, and Silva is holding down the No. 8 spot.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Winner: Steve Garcia

Who He Should Face Next: Edson Barboza

Garcia upped his win streak to five after taking out Kyle Nelson, so his momentum is growing with each and every win, especially with one finish after another. Garcia did the promotion a solid by stepping in to face Nelson after Calvin Kattar got injured, so let’s see if the promotion returns hims the favor and give him a ranked for next. Barboza fits the bill because not only is he sitting at No. 15, he has a great reputation for putting on exciting fights, as well.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Winner: Cody Durden

Who He Should Face Next: Alessandro Costa

Durden snapped his two-fight losing streak with a big win over Matt Schnell, submitting him in the second round (see it again here). Not only did he get some newfound confidence he sent him into retirement. Since Durden stepped in for Alessandro Costa, why not have them square off against one another to see what’s what.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Winner: Yanal Ashmouz

Who He Should Face Next: Charlie Campbell

“Red Fox” secured his second win inside the Octagon by defeating Trevor Peek via unanimous decision, and in the process improved his overall pro record to 8-1. Up next for Ashmouz, a showdown against Campbell sounds right. Campbell is currently on a three-fight win streak, and is 2-0 under the UFC banner. His last win, interestingly enough, also came against Peek earlier this year.

For complete UFC Vegas 97 results, coverage and highlights, click HERE.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Perhaps the most noteworthy finish of UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Brady on Saturday night came in the featured bout of the preliminary card, as Rongzhu suffered a gruesome facial injury at the hands of Chris Padilla. Padilla landed an elbow that went directly to one of Rongzhu’s eyes, swelling it shut and forcing the […]

Continue Reading Update Provided On Gruesome Eye Injury Suffered By Rongzhu In UFC Fight Night Loss at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Belal Muhammad is the king of the welterweight division and he believes that his talents extend beyond the octagon.

Though it took Muhammad years to earn his shot at the 170-pound belt, he capitalized in dramatic fashion as he outworked Leon Edwards at UFC 304 this past July to become champion. Muhammad awaits his first title challenger, possibly the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov or former champion Kamaru Usman (or maybe both, as Muhammad has playfully suggested), but one name he’s ruling out is UFC superstar Conor McGregor.

McGregor hasn’t fought since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in July 2021, which hasn’t prevented speculation that he could leverage his drawing power into an immediate title shot should he return. Most recently, McGregor was scheduled to fight Michael Chandler in a welterweight bout at UFC 303, but even if that matchup is rebooked, Muhammad doesn’t think McGregor is close to No. 1 contender consideration.

“I don’t think he’ll look good at 170,” Muhammad said of McGregor’s welterweight move, in an interview with Submission Radio. “The dude doesn’t look good in life right now. He looks like he’s coked out. He looks like he’s on drugs. If he beats Michael Chandler, I wouldn’t even let him skip the line, because like I said, there’s guys that work for it. There’s guys that got here. And then even with the last fight with Colby [Covington] skipping the line for Leon. I’m like, I would never do that because there’s guys that are actually putting the work in. For legacy-wise, obviously I would want to slap Conor around, but there would be too much for it not to happen, right? It took him this long to fight this fight. It took him this long to make this fight happen with Chandler.

“So for them to even think that, ‘Conor’s going to fight for the welterweight belt,’ then I gotta sit here and wait two years. No, it’s not going to happen. I’ll give it to the guys that are actually fighting, guys that are actually putting the work in and guys that deserve it. Conor doesn’t deserve it. I hope he fights Chandler, because I feel bad for Chandler, that Chandler waited this long for it. So I hope that fight actually happens. But honestly, I don’t think it happens.”

The welterweight division has seen a surge of promising contenders, including Rakhmonov, Jack Della Maddalena, and Ian Machado Garry, plus a handful of fighters who aren’t far off from entering the top-10 such as Joaquin Buckley and Michael Morales. That’s a long list of names to skip over and that’s assuming McGregor and Muhammad’s timelines ever line up.

McGregor’s inactivity hasn’t stopped him from hurling insults at his fellow fighters on social media and recently bringing his popularity to the big screen with a starring role in Road House. Should his box-office muscle be enough to convince the UFC to grant him a title shot upon his return, Muhammad welcomes the opportunity to silence McGregor on the microphone.

“I want that interaction because I want guys that go back and forth,” Muhammad said. “It’s funner for me when guys talk. When Kamaru’s talking, it’s fun, and I love the going back and forth because I love trash talking. I love hearing it and then it makes the fight for me more exciting. When guys are the nicest guys in the world, there’s nothing that I can say and I wouldn’t even want to fake it where I’m talking trash to them. You can’t talk trash to ‘Wonderboy’ [Stephen Thompson]. You can’t talk trash to Demian Maia. So, for me, those types of fights are the ones that are exciting for me. Those types of fights would be fun.

“Conor’s lost his edge in the trash talk game right now. Even with his last couple of fights with [Poirier], it was just like, ‘Bro, what the… this is Conor?’ It’s like a fake version of Conor now. It would be fun to embarrass him on the mic.”

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Demetrious Johnson announced his retirement from fighting on Friday and it looks like he’s got two Hall of Fame inductions in his future.

Just after he revealed that he was calling it a career, ONE Championship announced that Johnson would serve as the inaugural member of the promotion’s Hall of Fame. Now UFC CEO Dana White said the same for the UFC Hall of Fame after learning that Johnson was retiring from the sport.

“Yeah, I didn’t know that [he retired],” White said about Johnson when speaking to Grind City Media.

“Good for him. Incredible career he had. I never had a problem with Demetrious Johnson. Absolutely [he’s a UFC Hall of Famer].”

While Johnson’s announcement made the rounds on Friday, White actually didn’t hear the news until Saturday but he had nothing but glowing praise for the former UFC flyweight champion.

Johnson was not only the first ever 125-pound champion in the UFC but he also holds the record for the most title defenses in promotion history with 11 straight. Johnson also holds the record for the most wins in UFC flyweight title fights with 12, the most UFC flyweight title fights with 13, the most submissions in UFC title fights with five and a laundry list of other accomplishments after spending seven years with the organization.

His UFC run ended after Johnson was traded to ONE Championship in exchange for Ben Askren in a historic deal. Following the trade, Johnson put together an impressive run in ONE as well capturing both the flyweight title and the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix title as well as a victory over striking legend Rodtang Jitmuangon in a mixed rules fight in 2022.

While his career ended elsewhere, White believes he was actually one of Johnson’s biggest supporters, especially when he struggled to gain acceptance from fans in the UFC.

“Listen if you go back to when he was here, I was defending him from the fans,” White said. “Who’s defended Demetrious Johnson more than me?”

There’s no telling when Johnson may actually go into the UFC Hall of Fame but it appears that’s definitely going to happen one day in the future now that he’s retired.

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