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Title Aspirations
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Diego Lopes is aiming to fight and play cornerman in two weeks when he travels to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the promotion’s long-awaited debut at The Sphere for Noche UFC.

Fight fans have seen Lopes rise the featherweight ranks over the past two years and he’s nearing the top of the weight class. Lopes was expected to fight Brian Ortega at UFC 303 this past June, but “T-City” pulled out of his fight with hours to spare and was replaced by Dan Ige. The switch didn’t effect Lopes as the Brazilian contender earned a unanimous decision win to push his UFC record to 4-1.

Lopes is now scheduled to fight Ortega again at Noche UFC in two weeks from inside The Sphere in “Sin City.” It’s a massive fight for both men, but if Lopes wins he should be fast tracked to his first UFC featherweight title shot. The only problem — outside of defeating one of the toughest featherweights on the planet in Ortega — is the fact that Lopes also wants to corner teammate and current UFC women’s flyweight champion, Alexa Grasso, who defends her title on the same night in a trilogy fight with Valentina Shevchenko.

As of now, the plan for Lopes is to finish his fight against Ortega in shot time in order to help Grasso for her title fight. It may be cutting it close, but Lopes has been in Grasso’s corner since she moved down to 125 pounds back in 2020.

“We have talked about this a lot, how we’re going to handle this, because I’ve been in her corner ever since she moved to 125 [pounds],” Lopes told MMA Fighting. “We work together, we help each other, I teach her and learn from her, but we have no idea what we’re going to do. I’ll fight my fight, and then comes Alexa. We know how we come out of a fight, especially knowing how tough Ortega is. It could be a war and we both might come out bad. [Laughs.] But I’m focused. It’s extra motivation to come out fine in this fight, to win quickly and rush to the locker room, change clothes and be in Alexa’s corner.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Veronica Hardy looks to keep a win streak going at Madison Square Garden.

MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz confirmed with sources with knowledge of the matchup that the fast-rising flyweight contender next fights Eduarda Moura (10-1) at UFC 309, which takes place on Nov. 16 in New York. Ag. Fight was first to report the bout.

Hardy (9-4-1) returned from a three-year hiatus in March 2023 with a win over The Ultimate Fighter 30 champion Juliana Miller and she hasn’t looked back, adding decision nods over Jamey-Lyn Horth and JJ Aldrich to her record. She can make it four straight with an impressive performance against Moura in November.

A 2023 Contender Series signing, Moura recently suffered her first loss, dropping a split decision to Denise Gomes at UFC Louisville in June. “Ronda” won her first 10 pro bouts before the loss to Gomes.

UFC 309 goes down at Madison Square Garden in New York. A main event is yet to be announced for the ESPN+ pay-per-view event, though it’s widely assumed that a long-awaited heavyweight matchup between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic will land in the headlining spot.

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Although Jon Jones will most likely be booked to fight Stipe Miocic next, his rivalry with Tom Aspinall is also heating up on the sidelines. The interim UFC heavyweight champion is eager to unify the belts, requiring him to face the winner of Jones vs. Miocic.

Aspinall has bagged 15 wins since turning pro in MMA, and all of them have been stoppages via KO or submission. On top of that, he’s finished all but one fight in the UFC in the first round. This explains why fans consider him to be Jones’ real test instead of Miocic, who hasn’t fought since losing to Francis Ngannou in 2021.

Aspinall has looked unstoppable till now, but Chael Sonnen has concerns about him not being tested enough in the Octagon yet…

Chael Sonnen Highlights Striking Similarities In Early UFC Careers Of Tom Aspinall And Ronda Rousey

Sonnen discussed the rivalry between Aspinall and Jones on his YouTube channel recently. He believes that the interim champ bringing up the undisputed kingpin’s past PED usage was bound to rub the latter the wrong way.

“The American Gangster” then stated that a fight between “Bones” and Aspinall, if it happens, will likely be scheduled for UFC International Fight Week in 2025. It might be hard for Aspinall to get an opponent during this time as the interim champ, and his inactivity would work in favor of the former UFC light heavyweight champion.

Sonnen also revealed the downside of Aspinall firing through the competition with such ease so far. His rise to the top resembles Ronda Rousey, who had 11 first-round finishes in her pro career, including five in the UFC.

“I’m not sure you understand that. That is not helpful, that is not a good thing. It looks good and it sounds good, it’s not good! When you find yourself in a fight harder than you’re used to, it’s a problem for everybody. It is the number one reason that Ronda lost to Holly Holm. It was not the right leg kick. It was because the six other girls that Ronda had been in there with checked out collectively in a shorter time than Holly had made it. That was the problem. It’s a problem for everyone. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

According to the former UFC middleweight title contender, Rousey lost to Holly Holm because she wasn’t used to opponents surviving her initial onslaught. As soon as someone put her to the test, she was overwhelmed and it all came crashing down.

Sonnen fears that Aspinall might have similar problems if he takes on an opponent as durable and experienced as Jones. For now, though, there is no way to confirm whether we’ll ever see the two meet in the Octagon.

• READ MORE: ‘Everybody Suffers’ – Frank Mir Explains How UFL Could Get Past The Conor McGregor Effect Seen In The UFC

Continue Reading ‘It’s Not Good!’ – Chael Sonnen Predicts Tom Aspinall Could Suffer The Same Fate As Ronda Rousey Against Jon Jones at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Myktybek Orolbai and Mateusz Rebecki meet in a clash of two of the lightweight division’s most intriguing up-and-comers.

MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck confirmed with sources with knowledge of the matchup that Orolbai (13-1-1) and Rebecki (19-2) are set to face off at UFC 308 on Oct. 26. The bout was first reported by Full Violence.

Kyrgyzstan’s Orolbai has impressed in two UFC appearances, submitting Uros Medic in his debut and then earning a unanimous decision nod over Elves Brener at UFC 301 this past May. Prior to being signed by the UFC, Orolbai was a standout in LFA.

Rebecki also won his first two UFC fights before running into veteran Diego Ferreira at UFC St. Louis in May. Ferreira stopped Rebecki with just seconds remaining in the third round, snapping Rebecki’s impressive 16-fight win streak dating back to his days on the Polish MMA scene.

UFC 308 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The ESPN+ pay-per-view event is headlined by undefeated featherweight champion Ilia Topuria’s first title defense, in which he faces former champion Max Holloway. In the co-main event, former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker looks to hand 13-0 Khamzat Chimaev his first loss.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Anthony Taylor backed up his talk with a win over the son of an MMA legend.

“Pretty Boy” successfully defended his light heavyweight title in the co-main event of Saturday’s Misfits Boxing 17 event at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, putting a beatdown on Gabriel Silva, whose father is longtime UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

The end came in the third when Taylor knocked Silva down three times to secure a technical knockout. That round included one sequence where Taylor landed a right hand square on Silva’s chin to put him down on the canvas.

Watch the fateful blow below.

Silva was able to answer the count, but shortly after Taylor swarmed him again and referee Joerg Milke stepped in to wave off the bout as Silva struggled to defend himself with his back against the ropes.

Afterwards, Taylor called for a matchup with one-time UFC welterweight title challenger Darren Till.

“Listen, Darren Till, what’s up?” Taylor said. “I know you want this smoke. I know you all want to see Darren Till get his ass whooped. Let’s go!”

Till (18-5-1 in MMA) recently made a successful pro boxing debut, defeating Mohammad Mutie via second-round TKO this past July.

Though Taylor is no stranger to MMA, having previously fought for Bellator among other promotions, he’s made a name for himself under the Misfits Boxing banner. He has now won four straight fights for the influencer boxing organization.

Silva suffers his first loss after a 3-0 start to his boxing career.

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