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Marco Tulio wants to secure a finish against Matthieu Duclos at Tuesday’s Contender Series event to ensure he’s leaving the UFC APEX with a deal this time around.

The Chute Boxe middleweight, who turns 30 years old on Friday, first competed on Contender Series in August 2023 against Yousri Belgaroui, a man with past kickboxing bouts against the likes of Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya. Tulio ultimately won in an upset, however his decision victory wasn’t enough to convince White to offer a UFC contract.

“I knew I had won the fight there,” Tulio told MMA Fighting. “And the contract, given who I had fought, I expected to be offered as well. I fought someone that everybody thought should be in the UFC already. If the decision went the other way, I knew he would be in.

“‘Poatan’ was there, Glover Teixeira was there [to corner him], so there was a lot of buzz around him. The UFC and Dana White were posting about him. For many people, I was just seen a punching bag there, someone put there to lose [to Belgaroui]. I went there to show who I was, to show my talent and potential, and I left with my hands raised.”

Still, Tulio’s performance boosted his win streak to six straight. He then returned to LFA in January and knocked out Cemey dos Santos to earn another Contender Series shot.

“I was super relaxed for that [Belgaroui] fight,” Tulio said. “I was like, ‘I’ll go for it. He’s good, but I train really hard too.’ I knew he had never fought anyone like me. I went for it, respecting his history, but with a good strategy, and was able to find some holes in his game.”

Tulio said he had “the worst pre-fight month in my life” when he faced Belgaroui, but now returns better prepared to fight Duclos at Tuesday’s card in Las Vegas.

“He’s tough, but it’s whole different story,” Tulio said. “He’s a popular YouTuber, you know? It’s a different audience but he’s very famous, and he’s good. I’m expecting a difficult fight. I’m not overlooking him only because I fought a decorated kickboxer like Yousri before. But I’m going for the knockout now. A knockout or a submission.”

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Jon Jones is the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world and you’re not going to convince Dana White otherwise.

After another successful episode of Dana White’s Contender Series that saw one of the best fights in DWCS history, the UFC CEO sat down to address members of the media. While the questions started simple enough, much of them surrounding the evening’s action, things quickly took a turn as soon as someone in the room dropped Jon Jones’ name.

“He’s the No. 1 best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and the GOAT, and you all know this,” White said. “Numbers don’t lie.”

MMA journalist Kevin Iole then asked White, “Does he have pictures of you?” which generated laughs around the room.

“Are you guys that f*cking stupid?” White laughed back. “You can’t be that f*cking stupid to think that Jon Jones is not the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world and the GOAT… but maybe you are?”

White stood up from the table seemingly ready to leave, but quickly sat back down to re-engage with everyone and continue discussing his favorite debate topic.

“Question me,” White said. “Who’s better than Jon Jones? Who’s pound-for-pound better than Jon Jones?”

John Morgan, host of The MMA Road Show, jumped in and answered, “At what point does inactivity come into play, right? We all agree there is nobody better than Jon Jones. He is the greatest of all time. There’s no question about it. But at some point, when you’re looking at rankings, they do have to represent what’s happening in the organization at that moment, right at that time, and in the past three years, he’s had one fight.”

White responded by noting that Jon Jones’ inactivity was not a choice. ‘Bones’ was originally scheduled to defend the undisputed heavyweight title against Miocic last November in Madison Square Garden before a pectoral injury forced him to bow out of the bout.

“You talk about inactivity and that he’s only fought one time. Jon Jones was supposed to fight,” White said. “If Jon Jones was sitting on the couch saying, ‘I don’t know when I’m going to fight again,’ then he’s definitely not in the pound-for-pound discussion right now. He was scheduled to fight and he got injured. He’s an active fighter.”

Dana White disputes Islam Makhachev’s Status as the No. 1 P4P fighter in the world

White then brought up current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, the man who currently sits atop the P4P rankings.

“Islam, many people believe, lost to the guy [Volkanovski] who’s a weight class below him,” White said. “Is that how pound-for-pound works?”

White and Iole continued to go back and forth over their differing definitions of being an “active fighter” before switching gears to the Jones vs. Miocic booking which White all but confirmed will headline the promotion’s pay-per-view event in November.

“Everyone in this room thinks Aspinall is more highly-rated than Stipe, at this point,” Iole said. “Stipe’s reputation is fantastic but he has not won a fight since he beat [Daniel Cormier] – in four years. That also plays into it as partially a factor when you have a guy like Aspinall knocking out Sergei Pavlovich in less than a minute, Curtis Blaydes in less than a minute, etc., etc.”

White didn’t necessarily disagree with what Iole had to say regarding Aspinall but offered up an explanation from his viewpoint, suggesting that ripping away Miocic’s fight with Jones would be disrespectful to the consensus heavyweight GOAT, especially when their previously scheduled clash fell apart through no fault of his own.

“Here’s the flip side to that,” White said. “What do I do? The guy who’s looked at as the greatest heavyweight in the UFC, right? This fight’s set up. Jon Jones gets hurt. It’s not his fault. He has to wait and go back into training camp again. He was training. So do I just yank it away from Stipe and say, ‘Hey, go f*ck yourself and sit on the sidelines for two more years’? If I did that you guys would be like, ‘Oh, you f*cking disrespected the greatest heavyweight ever,’ so would the f*cking fans. So I should just sh*t on Stipe because Jon got hurt, and not make the fight that he was already supposed to fight?’”

Iole pointed out that Miocic could have fought Aspinall instead of sitting on the shelf for another year while waiting for ‘Bones’ to come back.

“This is the fight [Jones and Miocic] both want,” White said. “What do you do? You don’t show the guys their respect. I guarantee you this, if Stipe wins, Stipe is going to retire. This will be Stipe’s last fight. Are you the media telling me I should just tell Stipe to f*ck off and [say], ‘Good luck to you Stipe. Go ride off into the sunset and fight some fires and that’s a wrap for you, buddy,’ because Jon got hurt?  Or do I show this guy the respect that I should show him and give them both the fight that they want? That’s the position I’m in.”

Before removing himself from the situation, White flashed a smile and once again reminded the room that Jon Jones is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

LowKickMMA.com

Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili will fight for the UFC bantamweight championship on September 14, 2024, at the Sphere, Nevada. While the champion is already one of the most popular MMA fighters out there, Dvalishvili has all the hype around him due to his ten-fight win streak in the UFC.

Both O’Malley and Dvalishvili have defeated former UFC bantamweight champ Petr Yan. “Suga” knocked out Aljamain Sterling for the title after that win, while “The Machine” defeated another former champ Henry Cejudo.

Despite their evenly matched resumes and countering fighting styles, Tim Welch has explained why O’Malley will defeat Dvalishvili at Riyadh Season Noche UFC…

Tim Welch Reveals Why It Is Hard To Train For Sean O’Malley And What Makes Merab Dvalishvili An Intimidating Opponent

O’Malley’s coach Welch reviewed Dvalishvili’s latest training footage and other antics on his official YouTube channel recently. He pointed out that “The Machine” is a tough opponent due to his relentless pace, level changes, and cardio.

However, he could not help but notice how Dvalishvili can be hit while shooting for takedowns. On top of that, he loses balance when he punches going forward making him extremely vulnerable against an accurate striker like O’Malley.

“Loses balance a little bit on the punches. Falls forward and that’s something that definitely could get him in trouble here and it’s too close to the fight now to fix. Really lunging in here, throwing the overhand right, bringing his back foot with him which is another thing that could get you in trouble. You saw it with Aljo.”

Welch believes that “The Machine” cannot improve his balance in the coming weeks, and the UFC bantamweight champion will capitalize on it. The Sterling fight is a good example of “Suga” catching opponents as they lunge towards him.

According to the coach, it is hard to find training partners who can properly replicate O’Malley’s style during sparring. This should be another key factor in the favor of the champ.

“I’m thankful that I’m not having to be a trainer training someone against sugar because it would just be so hard to find sparring partners that can do anything remotely close to him. And then you find sparring partners that try to mimic him. They do their best at mimicking him.”

Although Welch is confident about O’Malley winning via knockout, he explained why Dvalishvili is not an easy opponent at all. He breathes through his mouth for long durations without any impact on his pace. He can take quite a few shots as well so “Suga” must be prepared for the challenger forcing takedowns on him.

“Merab doesn’t even like, control his breath. He doesn’t even think about controlling his breath. He just, he’ll just breathe in, he’ll be mouth breathing the whole time and he’ll be able to keep up the pace. That’s one thing that’s scary about him. He’ll be able to just keep up the pace the whole time. Just at that, frantic breathing, frantic pace, that’s one of the things that make him really dangerous.”

• Read also: Kamaru Usman Compares Career To Israel Adesanya & Alexander Volkanovski Ahead Of Rumored Return Against Belal Muhammad: ‘How Disrespectful Are MMA Fans’

Continue Reading Sean O’Malley’s Coach Calls Merab Dvalishvili ‘Scary’ But Highlights Major Flaw In His Game: ‘Too Close To The Fight Now To Fix’ at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

After another night of exciting fights, the UFC has four new fighters joining its ranks, along with a few others receiving special consideration.

On Tuesday night, the third episode of season eight of Contender Series took place in Las Vegas at the UFC APEX and after five fights, UFC CEO Dana White awarded contracts to Andrey Pulyaev, Bogdan Grad, Marco Tulio, and Malcolm Wellmaker. That wasn’t all though.

Despite losing to Grad, White gave Michael Aswell a special shoutout as someone who will receive a call for any future short-notice opportunities, and he also got creative with the controversial decision in the opening matchup between Jack Duffy and Nick Piccininni, suggesting a rebooking of the fight for later this season.

Pulyaev battles past Anderson

Andrey Pulyaev fought for the first time outside of Russia on Tuesday and it appears that the Vegas air agrees with him because the 26-year-old put on the best performance of his career when he outlasted Liam Anderson in the main event.

Pulyaev showed extremely effective kickboxing right from the jump, tagging Anderson with both kicks and jabs at range, and then landing nasty hooks when Anderson came inside. As the fight dragged on, Anderson was able to score some takedowns to battle back, but Pulyaev was equal to the grappling and ultimately won a unanimous decision and earned a UFC contract.

Grad goes to war with Aswell

After falling short against Tom Nolan last year in Contender Series, Bogdan Grad made the most of his second chance, putting on one of the best fights in Contender Series history with Michael Aswell.

Grad and Aswell went toe-to-toe in a battle of wills, with Aswell’s straight boxing playing a perfect foil to Grad’s aggression and power punches. After 15 minutes, both men were bloodied and beaten, and Grad eked out a split decision. Truly though, there were no losers in this fight as afterward, Dana White announced that for their incredible scrap, both fighters would be paid their show and win purses, along with a special fight bonus and a UFC contract for Grad, and Aswell wasn’t left out in the cold as Dana White said he would be the first call if someone falls out of any upcoming fights.

Tulio spins to victory over Duclos

In 2023, Marco Tulio made his Contender Series debut and picked up a win by unanimous decision, plus an edict from Dana White to go out and get better. On Tuesday, Tulio showed he did that just, finishing Matthieu Duclos with a nasty spinning back kick and punches.

Tulio came out aggressive early but Duclos proved equal to it early, battling back in a competitive round. But in the second, Tulio kept the pressure on and landed one of the most brutal spinning kicks you will ever see to the liver, immediately incapacitating Duclos. A few follow-up punches sealed the deal and got Tulio his shot in the UFC.

Wellmaker flatlines Bramhald

Malcolm Wellmaker promised a first-round starching, and he delivered just that, icing Adam Bramhald in under three minutes.

The undefeated prospect out of Augusta, GA came out and put it on Adam Bramhald with low kicks and a snappy jab. As a result, Bramhald got a bit reckless to close the distance and when he did, Wellmaker slept him right a devastating right hand counter that left no doubt as to whether or not he would get a contract from the UFC.

Piccininni outlasts Duffy

A three-time NCAA Division 1 All-American in wrestling, Nick Piccininni came in to Contender Series with high expectations given his pedigree, but he had his hands full, grinding out a split decision win.

Despite being a big underdog, Jack Duffy came out firing against Piccininni with low kicks and a super active guard when Piccininni did go to the wrestling. But after a tough opening round, Piccininni managed to have more success with the grappling, scoring takedowns and getting to the back repeatedly. In the end, the judges gave Piccininni the decision, but Dana White did not agree, so instead of offering any contracts, he offered to run this fight back on episode 10 of this season, if both fighters agree.

Check out the DWCS results below.

Andrey Pulyaev def. Liam Anderson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Bogdan Grad def. Michael Aswell via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)

Marco Tulio def. Matthieu Duclos via TKO (spinning back kick and punches) — Round 2, 2:38

Malcolm Wellmaker def. Adam Bramhald via knockout — Round 1, 2:29

Nick Piccininni def. Jack Duffy via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC CEO Dana White isn’t backing down on waiting for Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic.

Jones and Miocic were originally supposed to face off for the heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 295 in November 2023. But shortly before the event, Jones suffered a torn pectoral muscle that forced him from the card, and instead of having backup fighter Sergei Pavlovich step in against Miocic, the UFC opted to postpone the fight entirely. The two are now looking to finally matchup against each other in November, and while the bout has received an increasing amount of backlash recently, White isn’t having it.

“What do I do?” White said to the media following the latest episode of The Contender Series. “A guy who is looked at as the greatest heavyweight in the UFC, this fight is set up, Jon Jones gets hurt, it’s not his fault. He has to wait and go back into f*cking training camp again. He was training. So do I just yank it away from Stipe and say go f*ck yourself and sit on the sidelines for two more years?

“If I did that, you guys would be like, ‘Oh, you f*cking disrespected the greatest heavyweight ever!’ and so would the f*cking fans. So I should just shit on Stipe because Jon got hurt and not make the fight that he was already supposed to fight?”

The growing criticism to the Jones-Miocic matchup comes both from the rise of interim champion Tom Aspinall and Miocic’s recent history. Though Miocic is considered one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, the 42-year-old has not competed in over three years, when he was brutally knocked out by Francis Ngannou, and holds no wins over current UFC fighters. In contrast, Aspinall has five wins over currently ranked heavyweights in that time, including his short notice to fight for an interim title when the UFC postponed Jones-Miocic at UFC 295.

But when reporters pushed back on Miocic being given a title shot under those circumstances, White remained adamant that this was the only realistic way to handle this scenario.

“I have two legends of the sport that wanted to fight each other,” White said. “These guys are lined up, one guy gets hurt, and this is the fight that they both want. What do you do? You don’t show the guys the respect? I guarantee you this, if Stipe wins, Stipe is going to retire. This will be Stipe’s last fight. So are you, the media, telling me I should just tell Stipe to f*ck off? ‘Good luck to you Stipe, ride off into the sunset, go fight some fires and that’s a wrap for you buddy, because Jon got hurt.’ Or do I show this guy the respect that I should show him and give them both the fight that they want? That’s the position I’m in.

“If Stipe was 32 years old, then yeah, [an interim title fight] is probably what we do. But this is probably Stipe’s last fight, win or lose, and I’m not going to disrespect the guy. He accepted the fight, he was ready for the fight, and Jon got injured.”

Of course that’s cold comfort for Aspinall, who has lobbied for a shot at the undisputed title since winning the interim belt. But White says that eventually, he’ll get his turn.

“Aspinall’s a young, badass dude,” White said. “He’s got plenty of time. These guys are going to fight in November and he will fight Jon Jones if he wins, I almost guarantee you that. And if Stipe wins, we’ll figure out what’s next for Aspinall.”

Though not yet official, Jones and Miocic are expected to face off in the main event at UFC 309 which takes place on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

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Machine Gun Kelly didn’t pull his punches when responding to Sean Strickland’s earlier comments.

Strickland has a knack for making enemies, often rubbing people the wrong way with his blunt personality. If it’s not a fellow UFC fighter, the 33-year-old is oftentimes feuding with celebrities — social media influencers being the most common opposition.

For the first time since Sean Strickland unleashed a barrage of abuse towards him, Machine Gun Kelly has responded.

“The art of me standing or existing makes people furious,” MGK said during an appearance on the ImPaulsive Podcast. “I don’t know this guy from a crumb of bread.”

“I didn’t now who he was when I met him. I got hip afterwards that he’s insanely racist and homophobic, and just not my type of guy. So, I would have never even wanted to shake hands with him in the first place.”

“He also is just a representative of every person who’s too scared to just be themselves. Because, if you’re comfortable as yourself, you just don’t care who anybody else is and how they are.”

Machine Gun Kelly then attempted to give advice to Strickland, though he doesn’t believe the UFC star will listen.

“He’s so dumb that I’m going to tell him right now. You should not keep saying stuff, because it just makes me look better.”

“But, you’re going to keep saying stuff. So, I know that you’ll react and say more things but you just shouldn’t.”

“As a person who’s just giving you big bro advice, learn this: shut the f*** up and don’t speak on me anymore and live your life. But, you won’t. And I’m going to continue laughing at you because you’re a f***ing idiot.”

Machine Gun Kelly talks Sean Strickland.

Full podcast here:https://t.co/f97Tj3gfyp pic.twitter.com/2BrcrSQ1p1

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) August 27, 2024

Meeting in the flesh at a Power Slap event spurred one of the strangest internet feuds in recent history.

Strickland has been gunning for MGK’s head since their encounter. It didn’t take long for the UFC standout to respond to the rapper’s comments.

“Getting lectured by a guy who drinks blood and wears a purse,” Strickland said on X. “Dawg, you had a mid-life crisis and tattooed your entire body.”

“The ‘The X community of intolerance’ y’all, I’d hang out with you toxic trolls any day over this c***. Go back to cutting yourself you f***ing weirdo.”

Watch Machine Gun Kelly discuss Sean Strickland feud and more below.

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Strickland fires back
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