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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC CEO Dana White says Conor McGregor will not be back this year.

After suffering a catastrophic leg injury at UFC 264, McGregor was supposed to make his long-awaited return to the octagon earlier this year at UFC 303 against Michael Chandler. The two served opposite each other as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter and the matchup figured to be the one of the biggest events of the year. But a few weeks out of the event, McGregor suffered a toe injury that led him to withdraw from the bout, and now, it looks like “The Notorious” won’t be returning to the octagon until 2025.

At his Contender Series media scrum on Tuesday, Dana White told reporters that he’s been in contact with McGregor, and that while the former two-division champion is still set on returning, it won’t happen this year.

“We talked. We talked,” White said. “We didn’t meet up but we talked, and yeah, he wants to fight. So we’ll figure it out.

“[But] not this year. He won’t fight this year.”

White’s announcement runs counter to McGregor’s previous statements on his return, where “The Notorious” repeatedly suggested the injury would not keep him out long. This has been a recurring theme, as in 2023 and at the beginning of 2024, McGregor announced multiple different return dates, only for White to dismiss them later on.

White’s announcement once again puts Chandler in a difficult situation as the former Bellator lightweight champion has not competed since 2022 while he’s been waiting on McGregor’s return.

UPDATE: It didn’t take long for McGregor to respond.

Ah Dana, December is the date! Bring the calendar year home with a winning event! Come on now, what’s this? I am off to altitude next month to prepare. DECEMBER! Tell Dana and UFC WE WANT DECEMBER! WE DESERVE DECEMBER!

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko both have a finalist.

Team Bullet’s Robert Valentin (10-3) scored his second quick finish of the season, forcing Team Grasso’s Paddy McCorry (4-1) to tap out to a leg trap Americana in the first round. The finish came after Valentin caught McCorry with a head-and-arm throw out of nowhere before smoothly transitioning to the fight-ending submission.

The Ultimate Fighter 32 middleweight finals are now set, with Valentin moving on to fight Team Bullet’s Ryan Loder for a UFC contract and a TUF tournament crown.

Switzerland’s Valentin was one of the most experienced fighters coming into the season and he was the first middleweight fighter drafted by Grasso to join her team. The pick slightly irked Shevchenko, with whom Valentin had previously trained.

When it came time to fight, Valentin lived up to the hype. He needed less than 30 seconds to knock out Giannis Bachar with a monster elbow, and then he made short work of teammate and friend McCorry in the semifinals.

Loder, representing U.S.A., also impressed on his side of the bracket, having submitted Tom Theocharis in the quarterfinals before cementing his TUF 32 finale spot with a gutsy decision win over Omran Chaaban.

Next week, we find out who Team Grasso’s Kaan Ofli meets in the featherweight finals. His teammate Mairon Santos is supposed to fight Team Bullet’s Zygimantas Ramaska, but lingering injuries threaten to cost him the opportunity.

Should Ramaska be unable to compete, the opportunity will go to either Team Grasso’s Guillermo Torres or Team Shevchenko’s Edwin Cooper Jr.

Another Shevchenko fighter, Nathan Fletcher, learned on this week’s episode that he is unable to step in as a replacement after suffering a fractured fibula in his quarterfinal loss to Ofli.

The Ultimate Fighter 32 airs live every Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

Following the season finale, Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko are set to face off in a flyweight championship trilogy bout at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas.

The finalists of the TUF 32 middleweight and featherweight tournaments will also compete for a six-figure UFC contract at the show’s live finale. A date for that event is yet to be announced.

Here are the TUF 32 rosters divided by team:

Team Grasso

Featherweights

1. Guillermo Torres (Mexico) (7-1)
2. Kaan Ofli (Australia) (10-2-1)
3. Bekhzod Usmonov (Tajikistan) (11-4)
4. Mairon Santos (Brazil) (13-1)

Featherweights

1. Robert Valentin (Switzerland) (10-3)
2. Paddy McCorry (Ireland) (4-1)
3. Omran Chaaban (Finland) (6-1)
4. Tom Theocharis (Canada) (9-5)

Team Shevchenko

Featherweights

1. Roedie Roets (South Africa) (7-1)
2. Zygimantas Ramaska (Lithuania) (9-2)
3. Nathan Fletcher (England) (8-1)
4. Edwin Cooper Jr. (USA) (6-1)

Middleweights

1. Shamidkhan Magomedov (Russia) (7-1)
2. Mark Hulme (South Africa) (12-3)
3. Ryan Loder (USA) (6-1)
4. Giannis Bachar (Greece) (9-2)

See the semifinal results below:

Middleweight

Ryan Loder def. Omran Chaaban via decision

Paddy McCorry def. Robert Valentin via submission (leg trap Americana) (R1)

Featherweight

Kaan Ofli def. Roedie Roets via submission (guillotine choke) (R1)

Zygimantas Ramaska vs. Mairon Santos

See quarterfinal results below:

Roedie Roets def. Guillermo Torres via decision

Robert Valentin def. Giannis Bachar via KO (strikes) (R1)

Kaan Ofli def. Nathan Fletcher via decision

Omran Chaaban def. Shamidkhan Magomedov via technical submission (anaconda choke) (R2)

Zygimantas Ramaska def. Bekhzod Usmonov

Ryan Loder def. Tom Theocharis via submission (arm-triangle choke)

Mairon Santos def. Edwin Cooper Jr. via split decision

Paddy McCorry def. Mark Hulme via submission (guillotine choke) (R1)

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Time to Retire
| BJPenn.com

It’s that time of year again!

Contender Series is back with 10 straight weeks of mixed martial arts (MMA) action. This week’s show starts at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ for the first two weeks (because of The Ultimate Fighter 32 final episodes), and then things switch back to the usual 8 p.m. ET time slot moving forward.

In the main event, undefeated powerhouse Mansur Abdul Malik (5-0) takes on fellow finisher Wes Schultz (6-1) in a Middleweight matchup. The rest of the card is filled with fun fights as Rami Hamed (12-3) steps up on short notice to fight knockout artist Meng Ding (34-8) in the co-main event. Light Heavyweight sluggers Bruno Lopes (12-1) and Mikheil Sazhiniani (13-2) collide in the featured bout. Jose Delgado (7-1) takes on Ernie Juarez (8-0) in a Featherweight bout. And finally, two of the best Flyweight prospects in the world kick off season eight as An Ho (6-0) takes on England’s Lone’er Kavanagh (6-0).

‘Contender Series’ Quick Results:

Mansur Abdul-Malik defeats Wes Schultz via TKO, Round 2 – 3:55
Rami Hamed defeats Meng Ding via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-27, 29-27)
Bruno Lopes defeats Mikheil Sazhiniani via TKO (punches) Round 2, 4:14
Jose Delgado defeats Ernie Juarez via knockout (knee) Round 2, 1:25
Lone’er Kavanagh defeats An Ho via knockout (punch) Round 1, 2:35

‘Contender Series’ Highlights & Results:

185 lbs: Mansur Abdul-Malik defeats Wes Schultz via TKO

170 lbs: Rami Hamed defeats Meng Ding via unanimous decision

205 lbs: Bruno Lopes defeats Mikheil Sazhiniani via TKO (punches)

145 lbs: Jose Delgado defeats Ernie Juarez via knockout (knee)

125 lbs: Lone’er Kavanagh defeats An Ho via knockout (punch)

For more Contender Series news and notes, be sure to hit up our comprehensive archive right here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

A new season of Contender Series is underway and UFC already has four new fighters under contract.

On Tuesday night, season eight of Contender Series kicked off in Las Vegas, and after five fights, UFC CEO Dana White awarded contracts to Mansour Abdul-Malik, Bruno Lopes, Jose Delgado, and Lone’er Kavanagh, who all picked up big finishes at the UFC APEX.

Abdul-Malik brutalizes Schultz

Abdul-Malik showed why the Xtreme Couture gym is so high on him, as the 26-year-old prospect moved to 6-0 in his career with a brutal stoppage of Wes Schultz in the night’s main event.

Abdul-Malik landed big power punches right from the opening bell, but Schultz’s gameness kept him in the bout and even led to Schultz having impressive moments in the second as he poured out some unorthodox offense that had Abdul-Malik reeling.

Unfortunately, that explosion was the last of his gas tank, and after Abdul-Malik weathered the storm, he turned things around, took the mount, and then finished the bout with some nasty elbows, which earned him a UFC contract.

Hamed outpoints Ding

A former kickboxer, Rami Hamed stepped in on short notice against the most experienced fighter in Contender Series history, Meng Ding, and though he didn’t blow anyone’s socks off, the Lebanese fighter did pick up an important win. Showing shades of Stephen Thompson, Hamed bounced around the cage and outpointed Ding, who couldn’t ever find a rhythm, and even had a point deducted for repeated low blows as he struggled to get to Hamed.

Unfortunately for Hamed, his performance didn’t sway Dana White and he missed out on a contract.

Lopes stops Sazhiniani

Last season, Bruno Lopes entered Contender Series as an undefeated fighter, but less than four minutes later, the Brazilian light heavyweight suffered his first loss against contract winner Brendson Ribeiro. Things were different this time around though, as Lopes overcame a rough start to stop Mikhail Sazhiniani with nasty body shots in the second round of their contest.

Sazhiniani came out strong to start with wild, looping shots that dropped Lopes and put him on the defensive. But in the second round, Lopes hurt Sazhiniani with a knee to the body, and the follow-up shots forced referee Herb Dean to stop the bout and for White to give him a contract.

Jose Delgado ices Ernie Juarez

UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby was high on Jose Delgado as a prospect and everyone saw why on Tuesday night.

Despite taking the fight on short notice, Delgado came out aggressively, putting a strong pace on Juarez with punches, knees, and ground-and-pound. Then, in the second round, Delgado backed Juarez up to the cage and landing a gorgeous stepping knee as Juarez ducked down, immediately slumping his opponent and earning his UFC contract.

Kavanagh delivers dazzling knockout over Ho

Hyped up by Laura Sanko as one of the best prospects she’s ever seen on Contender Series, expectations were sky high for Lone’er Kavanagh, and he somehow exceeded them, scoring a brutal knockout in the first round over fellow undefeated prospect An Tuan Ho.

After a few minutes of feeling each other out, Kavanagh stepped in with a vicious left hook that floored Ho and left him on the canvas for several minutes after the bout. Fortunately, Ho was able to eventually come around and walk out of the cage under his own power, and Kavanagh punched his ticket to the UFC.

Check out DWCS results below.

• Mansur Abdul-Malik def. Wes Schultz via TKO (punches) — Round 2, 3:55
• Rami Hamed def. Ding Meng via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-27, 29-27)
• Bruno Lopes def. Mikhail Sazhiniani via TKO (body punches) — Round 2, 4:14
• Jose Delgado def. Ernie Juarez via knockout — Round 2, 1:25
• Lone’er Kavanagh def. An Tuan Ho via knockout — Round 1, 2:35

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts