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Dana White is fully on board with Alex Pereira going back down to middleweight.

In October, Pereira defends his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree Jr. in the main event of UFC 307, but “Poatan” already has his eyes set on another opponent: UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis.

After du Plessis’s recent title defense over longtime Pereira rival Israel Adesanya, the light heavyweight champion suggested he’d be open to return to his old middleweight stomping grounds for a matchup, and on Tuesday, he doubled down on that claim, saying regardless what happens at UFC 307, he wants to drop back down and attempt to reclaim the middleweight title he lost to Adensanya last year.

Given that Pereira already has a fight coming up and that he’s previously mentioned the possibility of moving up to heavyweight, some might think “Poatan” is biting off more than he can chew at the moment, but White is not one of them.

“My take on him is he’s f*cking nasty. That’s my take on him,” White said at Tuesday’s Contender Series press conference. “He wants to move up, he wants to move down. That’s why people love him. Those are the type of fighters people love. Pereira wants to fight everybody. I love it.”

Pereira’s willingness to fight anybody at any time has been a huge boon to the UFC this year in particular. The light heavyweight champion stepped in on relatively short notice to serve as the main event of UFC 300, knocking out former champion Jamahal Hill in the first round. He then stepped in on just a couple week’s notice to save UFC 303 when Conor McGregor withdrew from the International Fight Week card due to injury.

But despite what Pereira has done for the UFC this year, White isn’t prepared to commit to allowing him to drop back down and challenge du Plessis. At least not right now.

Instead, White wants to keep their options open.

“I don’t know,” White said when asked if Pereira vs. du Plessis will get booked. “The thing that’s great about it is, first of all, I said a minute ago it’s why everybody loves him and it’s great, but it also gives us a ton of options as we’re matchmaking. Should we do this? Should we do that? Shouldn’t we do this? Shouldn’t we do that? It’s a good problem to have with a guy like him.”

For Pereira, though, there may not be much time left. Already 37 years old, “Poatan” had an extensive kickboxing career before joining the UFC, which suggests he may not have many prime years left in the sport. Given that, a Pereira vs. du Plessis matchup may not be guaranteed if the UFC doesn’t jump on it soon. Still, White insists that when it comes to Pereira, the UFC wants to weigh all its options and not just rush into a fight.

“Listen, all these guys are battling time,” White said. “They all battle time. We’re just going to have to see what happens over the next couple of months. There’s a lot of fights happening in these weight classes. First Stipe [Miocic] and [Jon] Jones needs to happen and then we figure out where we go there. [Tom] Aspinall is obviously the next guy that should get the next title shot, and we’ll see how this all plays out.”

UFC 307 takes place on Oct. 5 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

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When Demetrious Johnson was the UFC flyweight champion, the division suffered to some degree because of how dominant he was.

No one could knock “Mighty Mouse” off the top spot and that gave his fights a feeling of predictability, because he was levels above all challengers.

After he left the UFC following his loss to Henry Cejudo, the division became a lot more competitive and after title reigns from Cejudo, Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno, a new champion has started to make his mark at 125 pounds.

Alexandre Pantoja has produced back-to-back title defenses since becoming champion at UFC 290 last year and the flyweight GOAT believes that the Brazilian is here to stay.

Demetrious Johnson Says Alexandre Pantoja Was Underappreciated, Doesn’t See Him Losing The Title Soon

In a recent appearance on the JAXXON Podcast, Johnson gave his thoughts on the man that currently holds the title that once belonged to him.

The current flyweight king in ONE Championship is a big fan of Pantoja and said that he has been for a long time, after feeling like he was underappreciated for many years.

“I think he’s great. Alex Pantoja, I’ve always felt he’s been a dark horse at the beginning of his career in the UFC… I just felt, well to begin with, I feel like the flyweight division always had a hard time picking up any traction. This isn’t something new, I mean even when I was a champion in the UFC, it wasn’t the most popular in the whole roster of the UFC and I think Alex Pantoja, he came into The Ultimate Fighter, he didn’t win The Ultimate Fighter, Tim Elliott ended up winning it.”

As he stated, Pantoja made his way into the promotion through The Ultimate Fighter where if he had won the series, he would’ve challenged Johnson for the title.

Johnson then went on to say how in his opinion, there aren’t many contenders left for Pantoja that aren’t rematches because he beat many of them on his way to the title already.

The one exception being Muhammad Mokaev, who is no longer in the UFC after the promotion chose not to resign him at the end of July.

Due to this reason, “Mighty Mouse” doesn’t see Pantoja losing his grasp at 125 pounds anytime soon.

“It’s his [Pantoja’s] division and I think it’s his time to shine. He’s worked very hard his whole entire career and I’m very happy for him.”

Read also: Brandon Moreno Set To Return In UFC Fight Night Edmonton Main Event On Nov. 2

Continue Reading Demetrious Johnson Gives Stamp Of Approval To UFC Champion at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Prediction
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Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

UFC CEO Dana White is tired of the pound-for-pound discussion. In his mind, it’s absolutely undeniable that Jon Jones is the current pound-for-pound king of MMA (despite having just a single victory in the last three years). Despite the UNDEBATABLE nature of Jones’ greatness, White has been forced to defend his position so much so that he learned the definition of “glazing” from the online UFC fanbase.

Given a full week to prepare his argument before this week’s meeting with the media, White has utilized the UFC production crew to create a Jon Jones promotional video advertising him as the greatest of all time (GOAT). It’s chockfull of Jones’ statistics and facts, and it can be seen in full above.

It should be noted, however, that the promotional video doesn’t announce Jones’ planned bout versus Stipe Miocic. Technically, “Bones” remains unbooked, so this is a rare case of UFC quite actively promoting a fighter who doesn’t have a fight scheduled.

White reflected to the video in the post-fight press conference of Tuesday’s episode of Contenders Series. White seemed very pleased with the video and revealed that it won’t be long until the UFC rankings are run by artificial intelligence.

“Did you guys read that stats?” White asked the media. “He recently just beat the No. 1 Heavyweight in the world. Hope you guys read that stat. You know what is f—king great about technology? We’re not far away from AI actually doing these rankings, and it’ll be a great f—king day when AI starts doing this s—t. I’m really excited about that!”

Just for fun, I went on ChatGPT and requested that the program “Compile a list of the top 10 current pound-for-pound best UFC fighters.” Here’s the result:

As of September 2024, the top 10 current pound-for-pound UFC fighters are often debated among fans and analysts, but here’s a list based on recent performances, titles, and overall impact in the sport:

Alexander Volkanovski – UFC Featherweight Champion and highly skilled with impressive victories across multiple weight classes.

Islam Makhachev – UFC Lightweight Champion known for his dominant wrestling and striking abilities.

Jon Jones – UFC Heavyweight Champion and former Light Heavyweight Champion, regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time.

Leon Edwards – UFC Welterweight Champion with a well-rounded skill set and notable victories.

Israel Adesanya – Former UFC Middleweight Champion and a standout striker with a dynamic fighting style.

Charles Oliveira – Former UFC Lightweight Champion with exceptional grappling and finishing skills.

Kamaru Usman – Former UFC Welterweight Champion, known for his strong wrestling and striking.

Amanda Nunes – Former UFC Featherweight and Bantamweight Champion, with a powerful and aggressive fighting style.

Jamahal Hill – UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, noted for his striking power and recent rise in the division.

Aljamain Sterling – UFC Bantamweight Champion, recognized for his grappling prowess and technical skills.

Given that more than half of the names above lost their last bout and one is retired, it looks like the rankings panel gets to exist for at least one more week. As for Jones, he has a much stronger case for GOAT than current pound-for-pound king, so I’m not sure that video entirely hit the mark either.

They are, after all, different things!

Insomnia

Cody Durden is stepping up to replace the injured Alessandro Costa!

Every time Javier Mendez posts behind-the-scenes bantering at American Kickboxing Academy (AKA), it’s going in the column.

It’s cool to see Terence Crawford on the other side of the mitts, offering insight and advice.

Whatever Russian promotion this is having face-offs take place in a matted area … smart!

This prompt ignited a bit of discussion, and all I can think about is just how mangled Michael Bisping’s face was after five rounds with geriatric Dan Henderson.

How many people can actually force Tom Aspinall back? An accomplishment in its own right.

Petr Yan has some of the coolest takedowns of all time.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Since being released from the UFC, Vince Morales has won five in a row with four stoppages. A strangle this slick deserves a second chance!

I miss watching Demian Maia knife through opponent’s defense like butter.

High kick rocked him straight through the guard.

Random Land

Every balding man has this level of attachment to his hat.

Midnight Music: Soul/Jazz, 1968

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alex Pereira has doubled down on a return to middleweight as he sent a message to Dricus du Plessis. Of course, “Poatan” has to defend his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree first at UFC 307 on Oct. 5, but if he is successful — or even if he isn’t — will Pereira make that huge weight cut one more time to fight du Plessis?

MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee react to Pereira’s challenge to du Plessis, discuss the likelihood that it happens, why the callout of the middleweight champ with Jon Jones likely getting ready to face Stipe Miocic with Jones’ already-expressed interest in that matchup, what a betting line for a potential Pereira vs. du Plessis fight would look like, who would win, and more.

If you missed the show live, you can still watch above, or listen to the podcast version, which can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Sean O’Malley will defend his UFC bantamweight championship against Merab Dvalishvili on September 14, 2024. Riyadh Season Noche UFC is the most expensive UFC event ever and it’ll go toe-to-toe with a boxing event featuring Canelo Álvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga.

While UFC 306 is booked for the Las Vegas Sphere, Álvarez will defend one of his super middleweight titles against Berlanga at the T-Mobile Arena. The date and timings of the boxing and MMA bouts will clash, and fans can’t help but anticipate which event will be a bigger commercial success.

According to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach, O’Malley won’t be able to outsell Álvarez in PPV terms despite the UFC calling its event a celebration of Mexican heritage…

Javier Mendez Blames Prices And Sean O’Malley Not Being As Popular As Conor McGregor For Underwhelming Noche UFC Sales

Nurmagomedov’s coach discussed whether O’Malley is a big enough draw to compete with Álvarez directly on the Javier Mendez Podcast recently. He outright highlighted the boxer’s massive following in Mexico and how “Suga” is yet to achieve Conor McGregor’s levels of stardom.

“That’s mexican’s day for pay-per-view, it’s always been that way for as long as I remember. And Canelo being the biggest superstar in Mexico fighting on that night, I think on a pay-per-view level, it’s going to be difficult to compete. On top of that, if you look at the prices.”

The Mexican Independence Day is September 16, and unsurprisingly, sporting events around the date have usually been headlined by the most popular Mexican athletes. Mendez called Álvarez the biggest star in Mexico and predicted that his fight could generate more revenue than Riyadh Season Noche UFC.

Mendez didn’t put all the blame on O’Malley, though. Despite the recent price drop, the cheapest tickets for Riyadh Season Noche UFC cost over $ 700. In contrast, the cheapest tickets to Canelo vs. Berlanga are $ 400 at the time of writing.

According to Nurmagomedov’s coach, unless someone’s a huge MMA fan, they would consider watching one of the biggest names in boxing history for a lesser price.

“I don’t think that O’Malley’s a huge star yet. I think he can be, and I, but I don’t think he’s Conor-ish. I don’t think he’s, honestly speaking, where he needs to be yet. I mean, he’s got all the charismatic personality. He’s got the fighting style. But I just don’t think he has that he has that, the people that can propel him into that next level.”

Mendez admitted that “Suga” has the personality and fighting style to be a much bigger star in the future. However, he’s more interested in the winner of the UFC 306 main event defending their belt against Umar Nurmagomedov, who potentially secured a title shot by defeating Cory Sandhagen recently.

As of now, around 1,700 Riyadh Season Noche UFC tickets remain to be sold and Dana White expects a sell-out and a record $ 21 million gate.

• READ MORE: Tyron Woodley Reveals How Nate Diaz Backtrack Led To Dana White Feud

Continue Reading Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Coach Doesn’t Consider Sean O’Malley ‘A Huge Star Yet’ To Sell More PPVs Than Canelo at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts