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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Wang Cong broke a record in her octagon debut at UFC Vegas 96 and now she’s getting a much deserved bonus for her efforts.

The Road to the UFC veteran made quite a splash in her first UFC fight after she demolished Victoria Leonardo with a brutal knockout just 62 seconds into the opening round. The rapid-fire knockout helped Wang earn the fastest finish for any debuting flyweight in UFC history and the second fastest knockout in the entire history of the UFC women’s flyweight division.

That’s why she was a little disappointed to learn that her stunning finish didn’t come along with a $ 50,000 bonus at the end of the night.

“Wake up and find out there is no [Performance of the Night],” Wang wrote on Instagram. “Next fight you will see more spectacular finish UFC. Don’t play with Joker again!”

While he wasn’t in attendance at the event at the UFC APEX on Saturday, White definitely caught up to watch the fights and he responded to Wang by informing her that she would get the $ 50,000 bonus she definitely deserved.

“I was out of town and watched the fight at Mystique Boston on TV,” White wrote to Wang. “You looked AMAZING. I’m adding another [Performance of the Night] bonus for you. Congrats you get $ 50K”

This isn’t the first time that White has decided to hand out a bonus when he wasn’t in the building to determine who gets the extra cash at the end of the night. Thankfully for Wang, the UFC CEO saw her handiwork and determined she definitely should have left with an extra $ 50,000 in her pocket.

The win moved Wang to 6-0 in her MMA career and she also boasts an impressive resume in kickboxing, which includes a 2015 win over former UFC champion Valentina Shevchenko.

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A four-time foe of former two-time middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, undisputed light heavyweight best, Alex Pereira has suggested the former may have been carrying an injury into his return at UFC 305 earlier this month — pointing to his kick-light approach to his fight with Dricus du Plessis.

Adesanya, a former undisputed middleweight champion twice under the banner of the promotion, headlined UFC 305 in Perth, Australia against bitter-rival, du Plessis — dropping his second consecutive loss for the first time in his mixed martial arts career.

Struggling with the pressure and timing of Pretoria native, du Plessis, Adesanya was stunned in the fourth round before he was swept off his feet with a takedown, and wrapped in a taut rear-naked choke — forced to tap and give up a middleweight title fight for the second bout in a row.

Alex Pereira shares thoughts on Israel Adesanya’s loss at UFC 305

And sharing his thoughts on the City Kickboxing staple’s performance, Pereira speculated that the Nigerian-Kiwi may have been harboring an injury ahead of his UFC 305 title fight with du Plessis — pointing to his kick-light display ‘Downunder.

“Of course, I don’t know how (Israel) Adesanya was,” Alex Pereira said on his YouTube channel. “When we are there, we don’t talk about injuries, don’t talk about problems. We are there. We want to fight, want to win — no excuses. Maybe Adesanya had an injury. You could see he kicked very little.”

“That inside kick of Adesanya’s is very good,” Alex Pereira explained. “Not everyone can do that, but he can do it very well. It was a good weapon and he didn’t continue doing that inside kick. Even Dricus (du Plessis) said it bothered him; it also bothered me. He didn’t continue to do it. When he is only throwing hands, I think it’s easier for the opponent to protect themselves or get out.”

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The future appears to be bright for Caio Borralho after pulling off a decision win over Jared Cannonier in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card at the Apex.

The two had a hard-fought battle filled with plenty of strikes. Borralho’s kicks seemed to get the better of Cannonier in the first round before the former title challenger found a groove with his punches in the second.

They were even in terms of striking numbers in the third, but “The Natural” managed to get “The Killa Gorilla” wobbly late in the frame. Cannonier battled back in the fourth round by delivering with his power, forming heavy damage around one of Borralho’s eyes.

The Brazilian managed to gain the fifth round, however, by dropping Cannonier with a one-two in the closing minutes and nearly scoring the finish.

“I caught him with some good jabs, and I think all these jabs hide my left hand, and when I (was) touching with my left hand, he felt (it) all the times,” Borralho told Megan Olivi for ESPN. “But he’s so durable, you know? He’s so tough. He’s been with the best in the world so many years. Crazy. He was in the UFC in 2015. That was the year of my last defeat, my second MMA fight.”

Caio Borralho Claims He Is A New Champ On The Rise

Borralho ventured his way into the UFC after a pair of wins over Aaron Jeffrey and Jesse Murray on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021. Since then, “The Natural,” representing the Fighting Nerds team, has surged upward in momentum by defeating the likes of Paul Craig, Michał Oleksiejczuk, and Makhmud Muradov prior to Cannonier.

Now with bigger opportunities in his future, in addition to his callout of champion Dricus Du Plessis in the Octagon, Borralho is expecting to be placed in the top five of the middleweight ranking when they’re updated next week.

“I hope to see my name on Tuesday in the top five of this division,” Borralho said. “You know I’m coming for my belt. The mantra of this training camp was to show the new champ arrived. And I think everybody saw that (there is) a new champ on the rising [sic] – a guy that never gives up and (has) all skills.”

• Read More: UFC Fight Night Results & Highlights: Caio Borralho Decisions Jared Cannonier

Continue Reading Caio Borralho Reveals ‘Mantra’ Of Training Camp For Jared Cannonier Win: ‘The New Champ Has Arrived’ at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Diego Lopes expects Brian Ortega to make it to the octagon with no hiccups on Sept. 14 at UFC 306 despite all the drama that unfolded hours prior to their scheduled June bout.

Lopes and Ortega agreed to face each other in a featherweight showdown on short notice at UFC 303 after the card suffered major hits, most notably the cancellation of Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler, but the bout was then moved to 155 pounds hours before official weigh-ins after Ortega had issues cutting weight.

In an unprecedented move, Dan Ige ultimately replaced Ortega just hours before the fight, facing Lopes in a 165-pound catchweight after Ortega fell ill. Lopes defeated Ige via decision for his fourth straight UFC win, and asked the promotion to retry the Ortega fight.

Both fighters have now agreed to meet in a featherweight contest next month at the Sphere, and the Brazilian is confident that Ortega will make weight and stay healthy.

“I have no fear,” Lopes told MMA Fighting. “He’s always had a hard time to make 145, but he always makes weight. It didn’t work out last time, unfortunately, but I understand it. We had two weeks [notice], he weighed over 176 pounds. We knew something like that could happen so we even offered to fight at 155, but the UFC said no. But I have no fear [about Ortega missing weight now]. I’m cool, I’m focused on my work and focused on evolving every single day, to go there and do a good job.”

Lopes said he was “caught by surprise” with the offer to fight Ige on just hours’ notice and that it felt like “going to the gym on sparring day and randomly sparring someone.”

It was an experience that taught him important lessons.

“I proved something to myself, that I’m ready for any situation in a fight,” Lopes said. “They changed the weight, changed the opponent on late notice, and that showed I have a strong mind to be prepared for any adversity.”

Lopes and Ortega will have full camps to prepare for each other this time around, and the Mexico-based athlete sees similarities between them in the boxing and grappling departments.

“The idea is always the same — walk forward and go for the finish as fast as possible,” Lopes said. “I know that doing a good work in the Ortega fight and beating him emphatically could elevate me in the rankings and my name will be strong to fight for the belt in the future.

“I don’t know if I’ll go straight for the belt [with a win at UFC 306], but my name will definitely be on the table if something happens. If the UFC has any last-minute changes, my name will be on the table, just like it was when they had to replace the co-main event at UFC 303. We can say a chance [for the belt] won’t be that far.”

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Amid the never-ending rumors, Ronda Rousey has shut down any chance of her returning to the UFC.

The former UFC women’s bantamweight queen suffered her first loss inside the octagon nine years ago. A year later, ‘Rowdy’ was knocked out by Amanda Nunes — which will likely serve as her final ever outing in the sport.

Despite reports suggesting otherwise, Ronda Rousey has confirmed that she will never return to the UFC. According to Rousey, her body will no longer hold up at the highest level of combat.

“Every couple of years or months, the same rumor comes out,” Rousey said while addressing her return. “It’s nice to feel missed, I guess.”

“But yeah, it’s not happening.im just not neurologically fit to compete anymore at the highest level. I just can’t.”

“You just get to a level where the neurological injuries you take accumulate over time, they don’t get better.”

Rousey attributes her inability to continue fighting to the damage she’s endured over the years.

“When I got into MMA, I had already had dozens of concussions that I trained through. Like, not even stopped for. So that was about a decade of having concussion symptoms more often than not.”

“So, when I got into MMA, it was really, I was playing a game of zero errors. It got to the point where I was fighting more often than anybody. I had more outside of fighting responsibilities than anybody.”

Related: Ronda Rousey apologizes to Sandy Hook victims 11 years after posting controversial video

“It just got to be that lighter and lighter hits were hurting me more and more and more. It got to a point where I couldn’t take a jab without getting dazed, without getting concussion symptoms.”

“It just got to a point where it just wasn’t safe for me to fight anymore. I just couldn’t continue to fight at that higher level.”

Ronda Rousey revealed that she wanted to retire much earlier, but felt she owed women’s MMA more.

“I wanted to retire undefeated, I was trying to find a way out already.”

“But, it was all dependent on me. What I learned from pro wrestling is that, retiring undefeated would have been such a selfish goal to be able to accomplish.”

“I would have taken all of that equity with me and no one would have respected the rest of the women that I left behind.”

Watch Ronda Rousey’s interview below.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

There’s a new nominee for the 2024 knockout of the year.

On Saturday, KSW returned to action at Arena Jaskolka in Tarnow, Poland with KSW 97. In a flyweight main card matchup, 20-year-old Wiktoria Czyzewska faced Erianny Castaneda. Just two minutes into the bout, Czyzewska uncorked an incredible left hook, right high kick combination that knocked Castaneda out cold on her feet before crashing to the canvas.

Watch the unbelievable finish in the video below.

Czyzewska improved her pro MMA record to 4-1, with all wins coming via first-round finish. “Chicatoro” began 2024 by bouncing back from her lone pro loss and delivering a first-round body kick knockout victory over Petra Castkova at KSW 91 in February. She has now competed in the KSW cage in her past four contests.

Castaneda competed in her promotional debut in the bout, with her pro record now moving to 4-5. She entered the contest coming off of a stoppage victory for Jungle Fight in April.

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