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Jorge Masvidal isn’t planning to re-retire.

The inaugural Baddest Motherf*cker (BMF) champion, Masvidal, ended his brief retirement to rematch Nate Diaz in a boxing match this past July 2024. Unfortunately for “Gamebred,” things didn’t go his way as he suffered a majority decision loss.

The loss coincidentally kept Masvidal out of the win column since his BMF coronation against Diaz in November 2019. Despite the run of negative results, the 39-year-old Welterweight veteran isn’t done and will return to mixed martial arts (MMA).

“I had a blast doing the boxing, it was fun, it was everything, but there’s just nothing in the world that compares to MMA,” Masvidal told Grind City Media. “There ain’t sh*t in the world like MMA. I just finished up training at American Top Team (ATT) right now and it’s just the funnest thing I’ve ever done in my life. A lot of nights, I went to sleep just missing it, just doing certain training or certain workouts. I f*cking love it, man.

“Definitely 100 percent back to MMA [next],” he continued. “I don’t know when I’m fighting but I’m fighting at either the end of this year or next year.”

Masvidal found himself in a rare position for his Diaz rematch, receiving permission from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to compete outside the promotion while under contract. Even though Masvidal’s come up short in his final four UFC appearances (35-17 overall), he believes a title shot is still within reach.

“When I get the biggest fights that I can possibly get, knock that motherf*cker dead, they’ll be begging me to fight for the title,” Masvidal said. “A title run is never ever out of the question. Especially for somebody as skilled as me.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC Vegas 97 is down a bout.

Promotion officials announced Wednesday that Ovince Saint Preux has been removed from his light heavyweight matchup against Ryan Spann due to illness. As a result, the card is expected to proceed forward with a 12-fight lineup.

A one-time UFC interim title challenger, Saint Preux (27-17) had fallen on hard times in recent years but rebounded to win two of his past three octagon appearances, sandwiching split decisions over Mauricio Rua and Kennedy Nzechukwu between a 49-second knockout loss to Philipe Lins.

Spann (21-10) remains in the midst of a tough run of his own. The 33-year-old Contender Series product has dropped three straight bouts at the hands of Nikita Krylov, Anthony Smith, and Bogdan Guskov, the last of which ended via second-round knockout.

UFC Vegas 97 takes place Sept. 7 at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. A welterweight matchup between one-time title challenger Gilbert Burns and Sean Brady headlines the event.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Belal Muhammad wants Demetrious Johnson to put his money where his mouth is.

The reigning UFC welterweight champion and Johnson, the GOAT of the flyweight division, recently butted heads over Muhammad disagreeing with Johnson’s prediction that Leon Edwards would defeat Muhammad at UFC 304 this past July. Muhammad went on to win a one-sided decision over Edwards to claim the 170-pound title.

Johnson was hardly apologetic after Muhammad criticized his analysis, comparing his high-level experience to that of seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady to explain why he has more credibility than Muhammad. During Johnson’s reign as UFC flyweight champion, he successfully defended his title 11 consecutive times, a promotional record.

Muhammad has since responded to Johnson’s comments via social media, challenging “Mighty Mouse” to make picks for UFC 306 to see who truly knows what they’re talking about when it comes to breaking down fights.

“I didn’t say you suck at fighting,” Muhammad wrote. “I said you suck at analyzing and picking fights.

“I challenge you to a pick-off for the Sphere card. We pick all the fights and loser makes a public apology.”

UFC 306, which takes place Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas, is scheduled to be a 10-fight card. The lineup is headlined by bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley defending his title against Merab Dvalishvili, with flyweight champion Alexa Grasso meeting Valentina Shevchenko in a trilogy bout in the co-main event.

There appears to be no genuine animosity between Muhammad and Johnson, so the welterweight champion is likely just finding ways to stay busy as he considers his options for his first title defense.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Rickson Gracie never fought in the UFC, but he maintains one of the most legendary reputations in mixed martial arts with his famous last name.

Now his life story is being adapted into a feature film.

Breathe: A Life in Flow, Gracie’s autobiography released in 2021, has been acquired by a group of filmmakers including Adam Rifkin, Brad Wyman, and Michael P.J. Gerstein’s FutureIII Entertainment. Wyman is the best known producer out of the three filmmakers after previously working on the Oscar winning feature Monster starring Charlize Theron, and the Pamela Anderson comic book adaptation Barb Wire.

Deadline first reported the news on Tuesday.

The son of Brazilian jiu-jitsu co-creator Helio Gracie, Rickson followed in his father’s footsteps as a top-notch grappler who received his black belt when he was only 18 years old.

While his family became synonymous with the launch of UFC, thanks largely to the involvement of his brother Rorion Gracie and half-brother Royce Gracie, Rickson never competed for the promotion but was still widely considered the best fighter of the family.

Gracie famously touted his undefeated record and claimed he won more than 450 fights during his career, although those numbers have been heavily disputed. As far as what’s proven from his brief MMA career, Gracie held a perfect 11-0 record, which included a pair of wins over Nobuhiko Takada in PRIDE Fighting Championships.

Gracie also won a pair of Vale Tudo Japan tournaments — which were similar in format to early UFC events — where he fought three opponents in one night to claim the title.

“It has been a long time coming for a movie based upon my life,” Gracie told Deadline. “But what’s most important to me, beyond everything else, is that anyone who watches it, will gain some sort of positive perspective or understanding in their lives. That’s my ultimate hope and goal for this project.”

The producers behind the project are currently scouting for directors and a writer to adapt Gracie’s book into a feature length film script. Gerstein, who has spent 24 years as part of Gracie’s jiu-jitsu academy, wants to develop a character driven story that “goes beyond the memoir.”

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Legacy Intact
| BJPenn.com

Merab Dvalishvili is back in the headlines … for all the wrong reasons.

Not long after “The Machine” was sent to the shop for repairs, courtesy of a training camp cut that had UFC CEO Dana White blaring the trumpet of stupidity, the UFC 306 headliner was spotted with a gruesome, Staph-like infection on his arm with less than two weeks to go before his Sean O’Malley title fight on Sept. 14 at The Sphere.

Not surprisingly, fans on social media are starting to panic.

I’m not a doctor (and I don’t play one on TV) but this is the Internet and it’s not only our right, but our civic duty to make wild, uneducated assumptions about the injury in question. Dvalishvili still has to clear medicals before his five-round, bantamweight headliner gets the rubber stamp from Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).

Here’s a recent training video with the injury on display:

Expect Dvalishvili to release another “It’s no big deal!” video in the coming days.

O’Malley has yet to comment on Merab’s injury but don’t be surprised to see a response on social media, where “Suga” routinely eviscerates his bantamweight foe. I’m sure the champ is not looking forward to Dvalishvili grabbing a neck or limb with that wonky arm. Hopefully everything is healed up by fight night.

If not, it might be time to make another call to Usman Nurmagomedov.

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