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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Magomed Ankalaev is getting sick of Alex Pereira.

Long considered one of the top light heavyweights in the world, Ankalaev made it clear that he did not appreciate Pereira teasing the idea of dropping back down to 185 pounds to challenge UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis after UFC 305. Early Sunday morning, Ankalaev erupted on the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion on social media, dubbing Pereira the “biggest chicken in the UFC” and promising to knock out the Brazilian in two rounds or less whenever the two finally do meet in the octagon.

@AlexPereiraUFC biggest chicken in the Ufc he call out guys middleweight he 40 pound more than them I am the only guy he doesn’t even mention my name I promise I’m gonna handle my business in October and I’m gonna knock you out under 2 round

Ankalaev is currently tied with former champ Jiri Prochazka for the No. 2 spot on MMA Fighting’s global light heavyweight rankings. The 32-year-old Dagestan native is unbeaten over his past 12 UFC bouts and many within the sport assumed he would be awarded the next title shot against Pereira. However, that did not turn out to be the case.

Ankalaev is instead set to face Aleksandar Rakic on October 26 at UFC 308, just three weeks after Pereira makes the third defense of his title against MMA Fighting’s No. 9 ranked light heavyweight Khalil Rountree Jr. on October 5 in the main event of UFC 307.

It remains to be seen whether Pereira is serious about his pledge to come down to 185 pounds “one more time,” but if he is, the middleweight champ thinks it’ll be a bad idea.

“I honestly don’t think Alex Pereira should drop down to 185,” du Plessis said at UFC 305’s post-fight press conference. “If he wants to, great, perfect. But then we’re going to hear the excuses. I saw [Israel Adesanya] stiff that man in the first round. I felt Izzy’s punching power tonight. Izzy has great timing, he’s fast, he’s long and he has great combinations, but I felt the power.

“If Izzy stiffens you like that, you do not want to be in there with me, especially not when you’ve got to come in there with the excuses, ‘Oh, I cut too much weight.’ That’s going to happen. Everybody’s going to say it.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Kai Kara-France wants his title shot.

A one-time UFC interim title challenger, Kara-France reestablished his standing in the flyweight division in thunderous fashion on Saturday, knocking out Steve Erceg with first-round barrage in UFC 305’s co-main event. The win marked Kara-France’s return from a 14-month layoff and sent a message to the rest of the 125-pound division after Erceg mounted a mighty challenge to Alexandre Pantoja’s UFC flyweight belt just three months ago.

“If you break down this fight, I just beat the guy that everyone thought should’ve been the champion. I just beat him in the first round,” Kara-France said Saturday night. “It’s taking time away from the sport, coming back and making a statement with my actions. I’ve heard the UFC want to bring in this guy from Japan called Kai [Asakura], but I’m the real Kai.

“This is my home. You can’t just come in and think you can bang with the big dogs because you think you’re good. It just doesn’t work like that. You’ve got to earn it, and I’ve been in this company for a while now, I’ve fought everyone in this flyweight division, and I’ve [said] it time and time again, I’m going to let my actions be my loudest voice and I’m making noise now. So Alexandre Pantoja, I know he doesn’t have a fight booked — I might’ve just leap-frogged my way back into a title shot, so that’s how I see it happening.”

The other Kai referenced by Kara-France is Kai Asakura, a former RIZIN bantamweight champion who inked a deal with UFC in June. Since his signing, Asakura has been rumored to be the next challenger to Pantoja’s flyweight title, but Kara-France has other ideas.

Though the 31-year-old New Zealander entered UFC 305 on a two-fight losing streak to Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi, the Albazi loss was a highly controversial decision and the Moreno loss came in Kara-France’s shot at the interim belt. Prior to that, Kara-France racked up an impressive three-fight UFC win streak over Rogerio Bontorin, Cody Garbrandt, and Askar Askarov.

Kara-France is currently the highest ranked UFC flyweight contender to have not already lost to Pantoja in a professional bout — Pantoja did beat Kara-France in a two-round exhibition on The Ultimate Fighter 24 in 2016 — so Kara-France feels he is well within his rights to tell the UFC newcomer Asakura to wait his turn in lines.

“If they want me to fight for the title, I would happily wait until December,” Kara-France said.

“Me and Pantoja have a history. We’ve shared the octagon, season 24 on The Ultimate Fighter. It was only a two-round fight, so we couldn’t really showcase all our skills cutting weight week in, week out on that show. But I know him, he’s done really well in the UFC, and being the champion now, nothing but props. And he’s a dog and I love his fight style, but I feel like I can be the one to take him out. He hasn’t fought me in the UFC properly yet, so if he wants, let’s do it. If the UFC want to make it, let’s do it in December.”

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UFC 305 was a memorable night for many reasons, but one moment to forget was arguably one of the worst scorecards in the sport’s history courtesy of judge Howie Booth.

The Perth crowd were animated on Saturday night, cheering on fighter’s hailing from Oceania — but they did witness some of their favorites losing. One man who failed to give his country a win was Tai Tuivasa. 

‘Bam Bam’ was outclassed for the majority of the fight and rightfully lost to Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Despite ‘Bigi Boy’ putting on a one-sided display, Judge Howie Booth thought otherwise.

Judge Booth sensationally scored all three rounds in favor of Tai Tuivasa, causing a stir among the MMA fanbase.

#UFC305 Official Scorecard: Jairzinho Rozenstruik (@JairRozenstruik) vs Tai Tuivasa

Complete Perth Scorecards ➡️: https://t.co/Nwdw7XmJlS@WestAustralia | #WAtheDreamState pic.twitter.com/wwz23VAY9F

— UFC News (@UFCNews) August 18, 2024

The general belief among fans is that Rozenstruik won all three rounds, with Tuivasa possibly making a case for the opening round when his opponent was threw less volume.

The Surinamese knockout artist significantly out-struck the home-town favorite in each round, making the judge’s 30-27 scorecard in favor of Tuivasa one of the worst in history.

Moments after the dust settled on the bout and Rozenstruik was awarded the split decision victory, news broke that Howie Booth had been relieved of his duties for the rest of the night.

The legendary Kevin Iole was just one of many who was stunned by the judges scorecard.

“Howie Booth ABSOLUTELY should be let go,” Iole said after Booth’s poor scoring of the fight. “He should not be allowed to judge another fight on this card at the very least. Outrageous.”

Howie Booth ABSOLUTELY should be let go. He should not be allowed to judge another fight on this card at the very least. Outrageous #UFC305

— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) August 18, 2024

Related: Jairzinho Rozenstruik earns controversial split decision win over Tai Tuivasa

Iole continued, revealing that despite being scheduled to work the co-main event clash between Kai Kara-France and Steve Erceg, judge Booth was being replaced.

“Howie Booth, who had Tuivasa winning 3-0, was scheduled to work co-main event between Kara-France and Erceg, but I have been told he has been PULLED from the bout. He’s done for the night.”

Howie Booth, who had Tuivasa winning 3-0, was scheduled to work co-main event between Kara-France and Erceg, but I have been told he has been PULLED from the bout. He’s done for the night. #UFC305

— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) August 18, 2024

Ben Cartlidge stepped in for Booth, but wasn’t needed in the co-main event where Kai Kara-France put on a sparkling performance against Steve Erceg.

Interesting enough, Cartlidge was the only man to have Israel Adesanya winning two rounds to one heading into the fourth in the headlining bout.

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Drake doesn’t exactly have the best record betting on mixed martial arts, which is why Du Plessis was happy to see the Canadian rapper supporting Adesanya in Australia.

The Drake curse was in full effect on Saturday night at UFC 305 after Drizzy bet a whopping $ 450,000 on Israel Adesanya to beat Dricus Du Plessis in Perth, Australia.

A win would have paid the Canadian rapper out $ 855,000, but that’s neither here nor there because Du Plessis walked away with a fourth round submission win (see the finish here), banishing “The Last Stylebender” from the title fight circle he’s existed in for the past 12 fights over five years.

Following the win, Du Plessis took to the internet to thank Drake for his non-support.

“From the bottom of my heart once again, THANK YOU DRAKE,” the middleweight champion wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Drake is now 1-3 betting on Adesanya. He won $ 900,000 when Izzy beat Jared Cannoniner back in July 2022, but lost big with a $ 2 million bet on Adesanya beating Alex Pereira in their first UFC fight. He also placed a $ 500,000 bet on Adesanya to beat Sean Strickland. That puts him $ 2.05 million in the red betting on “Stylebender.”

He’s not complete betting poison, as some would have you think. A comprehensive analysis of all Drake’s public bets was made at the start of August 2024. His record: 16-23, which isn’t great. But after winning roughly $ 18 million and losing $ 11 million, the musician is still ahead by $ 6.5 million.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that all these bets are through Stake, a betting company which Drake now co-owns. We doubt he’s even playing with his own money. Most likely they pay him to play, and he bets with house money. Not a bad gig, being a rich superstar, huh?

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dana White and company are going big for UFC 306.

With UFC 305 in the books, all eyes in the MMA world now turn to UFC 306, which goes down September 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada. Taking place the weekend before Mexican Independence Day, the event has been branded Riyadh Season presents Noche UFC, and in the new trailer that was released on Saturday, UFC CEO Dana White promises the card will be “the greatest live sporting event of all-time.”

Headlined by a bantamweight title fight between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, the card also has a women’s flyweight championship trilogy bout between Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko in the co-main event. All four championship fighters are featured prominently in the new promo, while voice over from White promises fans will “never see anything like this again in your life.” The trailer also highlights the featherweight bout between Diego Lopes and Brian Ortega, which serves as the featured bout of the evening.

Check out the new UFC 306 trailer above.

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