CombatSports.org

UFC

submitted by /u/ToronoRapture [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Francis Ngannou is plotting his return to MMA.

The former UFC heavyweight champion, who inked a lucrative multi-fight deal with PFL in free agency, is nearing his debut for the promotion with plans to compete again in October. Just after signing with PFL, Ngannou got the opportunity to clash with Tyson Fury in a heavyweight boxing match, which was followed by a fight against Anthony Joshua.

While he still plans on returning to boxing again in the future, Ngannou says his next fight is going to be MMA with expectations that a date could be finalized soon.

“I think Renan Ferreira is the guy,” Ngannou said about his opponent when appearing on The Joe Rogan Podcast. “I’ve been telling people about this guy for almost two years. Very athletic. Fast hands, knees, very athletic. I think it’s going to be him.

“That’s what the PFL is working on. October, sometime. They’re working on October. It’s not finalized but they were talking about Oct. 19.”

Additional sources close to Ferreira confirmed to MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz that talks are ongoing for a showdown against Ngannou in October.

Ngannou also revealed that Saudi Arabia is the most likely destination with talks about potentially adding Cedric Doumbe to the card as well.

PFL entered into a partnership with Saudi Arabia back in 2023 after selling a minority stake in the company for $ 100 million. The promotion debuted there back in February with the next date now apparently expected in October.

When it comes to Ngannou’s involvement, he originally planned on debuting for the PFL at an earlier date but now he’s sticking to his commitment by returning to the cage before the end of 2024.

“I will say MMA [is definitely] next,” Ngannou said. “Because I was supposed to fight, it’s been a little over a year now since the PFL agreement, and I was supposed to have a fight within a year so now we’re getting a little out of the timeline.”

Ferreira earned the opportunity to welcome Ngannou to the PFL after he knocked out Bellator champion Ryan Bader at that debut card in Saudi Arabia back in February.

Assuming that fight happens in October, Ngannou obviously plans to win and then at that point, he’ll turn his attention back to another boxing match.

“I will say most likely boxing [after my PFL debut],” Ngannou said. “I will see the landscape and who I can get.”

If he ultimately fights in October as scheduled, Ngannou would return just a month after turning 38 years old and that’s an age where he knows there’s probably limited time left for him in combat sports.

He’s certainly not putting an expiration date on his career but “The Predator” is staying realistic when it comes to how many years or fights he has left in him.

“I want to leave the sport before the sport leaves me,” Ngannou said. “I’m thinking like 41. By [then]. Maybe in my 40s, I still feel like I have it. If I feel like at 41, I feel like I have it … take one at a time. What I really don’t want to do is wake up and go to the gym like I’m forced [to go]. If I feel like I have it or I’m excited, oh today’s a sparring day, I’m going to get there whether I beat somebody up or they’re going to beat me up. Either way, I’m excited!

“If I still have that, I’ll keep going. As soon as I don’t have that, even if I’m not 40 yet, I think that’s a sign.”

Ngannou really isn’t putting too much thought into that right now and he’s confident that there’s still plenty of fight left in him before calling it a career.

“I think I still have a couple [boxing matches] in me,” Ngannou said with a smile. “A couple of boxing fights. I have a couple of MMA fights.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Comeback Season
| BJPenn.com

UFC

Boxing megastar Canelo Alvarez is finalizing a super middleweight title defense on Mexican Independence Day, expected to pair him against current NABO titleholder Edgar Berlanga on Sat., Sept. 14, 2024 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

That’s according to ESPN.

Battling “The Chosen One” puts Alvarez head-to-head with the UFC 306 pay-per-view (PPV) card inside The Sphere, also in Las Vegas, forcing combat sports fans, or at least those who know who Edgar Berlanga is, to choose between two major fight cards.

UFC 306 is likely to feature Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title.

“I’m the best fighter in the history of boxing coming out the east coast,” Berlanga wrote on Twitter. “I’m tired of showing people love and they be lowkey jealous and envy of me! This why I stay on my bully forever.”

Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) is coming off a decision win over Jaime Munguia back in May. As for Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs), he’s looking to build on his sixth-round knockout victory over Padraig McCrory earlier this year in Orlando.

For more boxing news and notes click here.

MMAmania.com – All Posts

submitted by /u/ToronoRapture [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Sean O’Malley has his next assignment with an expected fight against Merab Dvalishvili, but a new No. 1 contender at bantamweight could potentially be crowned in August.

When UFC returns to Abu Dhabi, one-time interim title challenger Cory Sandhagen continues his pursuit of undisputed gold when he faces undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov in the five-round main event. The winner is expected to get the next shot at the title, UFC CEO Dana White announced after the fight was revealed for August 3.

Of course, that’s assuming the fight actually takes place, because O’Malley has his doubts.

“I’ll tune in … if it happens,” O’Malley recently told MMA Fighting. “We know Umar likes to pull out if something happens. I’ll be surprised if the fight happens.”

Since arriving in UFC, Nurmagomedov has won five straight fights but also been forced to drop out of four scheduled bouts due to various circumstances, including illness and injury.

The inconsistent pattern of appearances has O’Malley convinced that Nurmagomedov may not even make it to the fight in August, especially after the Russian already missed out on a previously scheduled fight against Sandhagen a year ago.

Assuming disaster doesn’t strike, O’Malley actually favors Sandhagen to beat Nurmagomedov, which could put O’Malley on a collision course with the perennial bantamweight contender from Colorado.

“I’m surprised Cory is such a massive underdog,” O’Malley said. “I think Cory’s one of the most skilled guys in the entire UFC. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cory beat him at all.

“Yeah [I’m picking Sandhagen]. I think Umar is as good as everyone thinks he is. I just think Cory is better.”

Sandhagen, best known as a dynamic striker, could present an interesting challenge to O’Malley, as the champ prides himself on having some of the nastiest knockout power in the entire division.

While he still has a wait-and-see approach about that fight, O’Malley would relish the challenge if Sandhagen gets through Nurmagomedov.

“I agree [that would be a good fight],” O’Malley said.

The fact that O’Malley has Dvalisvhili on his mind and then potentially either Sandhagen or Nurmagomedov is a far cry from the fight he sought after dispatching Marlon Vera in March.

Immediately after notching his first title defense at UFC 299, O’Malley turned his attention to UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria as a dream opponent, calling for the opportunity to potentially claim a title in a second division.

The idea was thoroughly criticized, especially with Dvalisvhili still waiting in the wings after building a 10-fight unbeaten streak in the bantamweight division.

So rather than pursue Topuria and another belt, O’Malley happily shifted his focus back to Dvalisvhili instead. The same goes for the future. O’Malley still hopes for “champ-champ” status one day, but if the fans want to see him stick around at bantamweight to defend his belt, then that’s exactly what he’s going to do.

“I’m here for the people,” O’Malley said. “I thought me moving up to fight Ilia would get people excited. Ilia’s, in my opinion, way more dangerous than Merab. So I was pumped when people were like, ‘No, fight Merab, we don’t want to see you fight Ilia.’ I’m like, ‘Hell yeah, bet. I’ll fight Merab.’

“I’m here for the people. If they want to see me as double champ, let’s do it. If they want to see me defend, let’s do it. I’m here for the people.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Dominick Cruz believes Sean O’Malley will have a stylistic advantage against his next bantamweight title challenger, Merab Dvalishvili.

The inevitable clash between ‘Sugar’ and ‘The Machine’ does not have an official date, but all signs point toward the two going toe-to-toe in either September at Sphere in Las Vegas or in The Crossroads of the West when the UFC heads back to Salt Lake City in October.

But no matter where their 135-pound title tilt goes down, ‘The Dominator’ believes O’Malley’s size and standup game will be more valuable than the wrestle-heavy attack of Dvalishbili.

“O’Malley has the advantage,” Cruz said on the Anik & Florian Podcast. “You saw Henry [Cejudo] was able to kind of hurt Dvalishvili a little bit and force the wrestling. So, O’Malley’s going to hit him. We’re all going to get hit. If you’re going in there expecting, ‘I’m not going to get hit once. I’m just going to finish him in a minute…’ You could, yeah, but it’s quite an expectation for yourself, so I expect he’s going to get hit.”

“The question is how is he gonna close the distance? That’s why this is a good fight for O’Malley, is the distance and the stance switches and the footwork. Stylistically, you got a short guy who wants to wrestle and we know for a fact doesn’t want to stand up. It’s not what he wants to do. It’s not where he’s comfortable, so the fight starts standing. That’s where I see it’s a good stylistic matchup for O’Malley” (h/t SI.com).

Will Merab Dvalishvili stand and trade with Sean O’Malley?

Though wrestling is undoubtedly Dvalishvili’s best path to winning a world title, the Georgian boldly claimed that he would stand and trade with O’Malley. Of course, Michael Bisping quickly called bullsh*t on that, but only time will tell if ‘The Machine’ is willing to risk it all to prove a point against one of the most intriguing strikers in the game today.

In 10 career victories under the UFC banner, Dvalishvili only has one finish to his credit — a second-round TKO against Marlon Moraes in 2021.

LowKickMMA.com

In four years competing on the sports’ biggest stage, UFC 304 co-headliner Tom Aspinall has added to his mixed martial arts highlight reel in a big way.

The interim heavyweight champion will return in the co-main event of this weekend’s pay-per-view card at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester, England, where he’s tasked with defending his belt in a rematch against Curtis Blaydes.

Aspinall captured the title with a thunderous knockout of Sergei Pavlovich in their short-notice championship bout on the Madison Square Garden-held UFC 295 card last November.

While perhaps the most destructive of his UFC finishes, it was just the latest in a string of stoppage victories for the Mancunian behemoth, who is yet to require the scorecards inside the Octagon.

To put himself in position to receive the late-notice call eight months ago, Aspinall returned from injury with a bang by knocking out Marcin Tybura just 73 seconds into their London headliner last July.

That marked Aspinall’s second finish in a main event staged in England’s capital. His headline debut came the previous year opposite veteran contender Alexander Volkov, whom the Brit put away with a gruesome Americana lock.

And prior to entering title contention, Jake Collier, Alan Baudot, Andrei Arlovski, and Serghei Spivac all fell to either Aspinall’s strikes or submission prowess.

Ahead of Saturday’s event, the promotion has uploaded a video showcasing Aspinall’s brutal finishes inside the Octagon to its official YouTube channel.

Aspinall will hope to further add to his highlight reel this weekend at UFC 304, where he’ll no doubt get a raucous reception as he walks out in front of fans in his home city for the first time since his professional debut back in 2014.

• Read More: Curtis Blaydes Defends UFC 304 Opponent Tom Aspinall Against Overconfident Claims: ‘Can You Really Blame Him?’ 

Continue Reading VIDEO: UFC 304 Co-Headliner Tom Aspinall’s Brutal Finishes Inside The Octagon at MMA News.

MMA News