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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Leon Edwards vs. Nate Diaz 2? Not if Edwards’ coach has anything to say about it.

As Dave Lovell prepares Edwards for his third defense of the welterweight title in this Saturday’s UFC 304 main event, he took the time to talk to Submission Radio about Diaz recently calling Edwards out for a rematch inside the octagon.

Diaz recently earned a close split-decision win in a boxing match against fellow MMA star Jorge Masvidal, and afterwards, the free agent suggested he may return to the UFC with a shot at welterweight gold in his sights. Edwards defeated Diaz by unanimous decision at UFC 263 in June 2021, dominating Diaz for most of the fight before being badly wobbled by a Diaz combination in Round 5.

Lovell firmly shot down Diaz’s callout and suggested that Diaz focus on wrapping up his fighting career instead.

“It’s all a joke,” Lovell said (transcription via Denis Shkuratov). “Leon ain’t got time for that Mickey Mouse business right now. Fair play to him that Nate is making money still and he’s still fighting, but me, personally, I think he needs to leave the game alone.

“He’s taken a little bit too much punishment now. I know it was only boxing with Jorge, but it’s still taking its toll on him, you know? Remember, this guy’s got life after fighting and if he carries on the way he is, he’s not going to have much of a life. I love him and he’s a great guy, but sometimes fighters need to be saved from themselves. I think Nate is one of those cases.”

It’s no secret as to why the 39-year-old Diaz continues to fight, with he and Masvidal both cashing seven-figure checks for the July 6 boxing bout (though Diaz is currently suing promoter Fanmio, claiming he’s still owed another $ 9 million). A UFC return would undoubtedly be lucrative for Diaz, as well.

As long as the money keeps rolling in, Lovell doesn’t see Diaz retiring anytime soon.

“Money talks,” Lovell said. “Obviously, they’re getting purses that they cannot refuse. It keeps them still ticking, doesn’t it? For those that haven’t made use of their money through their career and maybe have to hang onto this to rely to make some decent change to maybe put down for the future, maybe that’s the only thing I see them doing it for. It’s solely just a money-based thing.

“Their best fighting days are behind them, the world knows this, Jorge’s and Nate’s. This is just some moneymaking scheme for them to keep rolling and earning a living, basically.”

On the topic of retirement, Lovell also touched upon how the middleweight landscape could look in the future should the time come for Edwards to move up to the 185-pound division. Though Edwards still has several notable up-and-coming welterweight contenders to worry about, he has spoken in the past about someday becoming a two-division champion.

If the time comes that Edwards vies for the middleweight title, Lovell hopes that Edwards’ friend Israel Adesanya isn’t the one holding the title and that Adesanya can step away from fighting on his own terms.

“I don’t think Israel, because in all fairness, I love him, again, and Israel is my brother, but I think he’s coming to sort of like the twilight of his career now,” Lovell said. “And if I was him, if he fights Dricus [du Plessis], maybe win the title, defend it once, or even just win that title and retire because he’s earned enough. He’s got nothing more to prove.

“I wouldn’t like to see Leon fight Israel because we’re all close that way, we’re all friends, so I wouldn’t like to see that.”

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Kayla Harrison was twelve years old the first time she was tested for performance-enhancing drugs by USADA. She was ranked in the top five nationally in Judo and has been tested frequently ever since. This includes multiple Olympic runs plus matches in the UFC. The US-born athlete did not take kindly to Julianna Pena’s PED accusations.

Kayla Harrison and Julianna Pena

Kayla Harrison is a multi-time Olympic medalist representing the USA, competing in Judo all around the world. Since switching to MMA she earned the PFL MMA tournament title in two separate years. Earlier in 2024, the American athlete signed with the UFC and had an impressive win over the former champion Holly Holm.

Julianna Pena is a former division champion who had an upset victory over all-time great Amanda Nunes. “The Venezuelan Vixen” would later lose her title in a rematch with Nunes.

Brazil’s Nunes then retired with the division championship. This title is now held by the US-born Raquel Pennington who defeated Mayra Bueno Silva for the vacant throne. But fans are looking for a showdown between the former champion and the current star of the division, a match between Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison. These two have been trash-talking back and forth for some time now.

Pena, in an interview with Ariel Helwani, said, “Stay off the needle, bro… No question.” Accusing Kayla Harrison of being on PED’s.

In response, while speaking on The MMA Hour, Harrison said, “Haters gonna hate, dude. It pisses me off. Never once have I tested positive ever in the history of my very long drug-testing career. Don’t f*cking say things like if you don’t have hard evidence… She’s building in an excuse for when I kick her ass.” She added, “I’ve never failed a single test,” in her lifelong athletic career.

Harrison does not care about facing Pena, instead, she wants to face whoever has the belt, whether it is Pena or Pennington. Her eye is on UFC gold.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Michael Bisping gets to call a home show in England as he joins the broadcast team for UFC 304 from Manchester on Saturday.

With Joe Rogan bowing out due to the UFC traveling to an international location, it’s Bisping who gets the call to replace him as a color commentator for the card. Bisping is joined by Jon Anik handling play-by-play duties and UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier serving as the second color commentator for the event.

Megan Olivi handles reporting from inside the arena.

UFC officials confirmed the broadcast plans to MMA Fighting on Monday.

Whenever UFC travels outside of the United States, Rogan stays home and the promotion uses a rotating group of commentators to fill his spot.

The job falls to Bisping this time around, as the U.K.’s first ever UFC champion goes home to England to call the card headlined by current British champion Leon Edwards putting his welterweight title on the line in a rematch against Belal Muhammad.

The co-main event sees interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall rematch Curtis Blaydes.

The card also features an intriguing lightweight matchup as local favorite Paddy Pimblett returns for his toughest challenge to date when he faces King Green on the main card.

UFC 304 takes place at the Co-Op Live in Manchester, with the prelims kicking off at 6 p.m. ET and the main card at the usual 10 p.m. ET start time.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Darren Till finds Jake Paul’s latest win a little suspicious.

Paul scored a sixth-round knockout of BKFC star and former UFC fighter Mike Perry in a boxing bout this past Saturday in Tampa, Fla., adding Perry to a list of notable MMA conquests that includes Anderson Silva, Nate Diaz, and Tyron Woodley.

Though Paul and Perry both had their moments during the fight, from what Till saw, he isn’t impressed with either man’s efforts.

“From the clips I’ve seen, it was just atrocious,” Till told Submission Radio (transcription via Denis Shkuratov). “I didn’t even expect that, like, low of a level from Perry. It was just it was just low-level striking, the boxing, Jake Paul was gassed after the first round. F*ck him. To be honest with you, I don’t even know what Mike was doing myself, like, what he was actually doing in there. He just looked like he was f*cking stumbling over his feet and shit like that. So I’m actually quite speechless, to be honest with you. It didn’t impress me. Jake was terrible and so was Mike.

“Jake was blown out of his ass after the first round, and Mike just was stumbling over his own two feet. It looked to me like Mike has never had or been coached by anyone. He just looked like a total amateur in there, he really did. I get he’s tough, and I get he’s durable, but that just only takes you so far. Yeah, he’s the king of violence in bare-knuckle, but there’s nobody in bare-knuckle. There’s nobody there. He should have beat Jake. Maybe not, Jake was 40 pounds heavier then him, juiced out of his nut, but still, he probably should have put up a better fight than he did.”

Paul, who earned his fame as a YouTuber and social media influencer before becoming a pro boxer in 2020, has polarized critics and fans with his venture into combat sports. While he’s often credited for his dedication to improving as a boxer, he’s also been criticized for fighting opponents considerably smaller and older than him.

“The Problem Child” has also had to deal with accusations of his fights being rigged, something he has vehemently denied. To Till, Paul’s win over Perry didn’t pass the eye test.

“I’m going to be honest, it was a weird fight,” Till said. “It was a weird fight between them. It feels like it’s all fake. I’m not going to lie.”

“Perry’s been beating all these guys, literally beaten the living daylights out of them,” Till continued. “Now I get it, Jake Paul’s 40 pounds heavier and a big, strong guy, he can punch, Jake, as well. We’ve got to give him his due and he is improving. But Jake was gassing after one round, and it just didn’t look normal to me. I’m going to be honest with you. It didn’t look normal. And I bet there’s a few other people thinking the same thing.”

Till went on to say that he’s heard nothing from the Paul camp about a potential fight. The one-time UFC welterweight title challenger recently made a successful boxing debut when he defeated Mohammad Mutie, a win that was overshadowed by a strange ending and a post-fight brawl.

It’s doubtful that Paul and Till ever trade punches in the ring and, if anything, Till thinks that’s just Paul being smart.

“My offer is, ‘You are so lucky that you will not fight me,’ because I would punch holes in Jake Paul,” Till said. “Listen, I respect so much the businessman that him and his brother are, major respect. I respect the fact that he’s actually dedicated his whole life to boxing. I respect a lot of things, but I would seriously injure Jake Paul in a ring.”

“I’d just be too technically tactical for him,” Till continued. “There’s a thing you sort of get over years, of what you do when I do, like, [Israel Adesanya], [Alex] Pereira, you know Anderson Silvas. Your [Stephen Thompsons], your [Robert] Whittakers. It’s not necessarily the shots we throw, it’s the setups and the technical aspect behind it and I’d just lead him into stuff. He wouldn’t even know what was happening. I’d piece him up. It’d take me about three rounds to figure him out and then I’d piece him up to bits. I probably wouldn’t even try to knock him out, I’d just hit him. Just make him want to get out of there. I’ve already got it all planned out. But unfortunately for us, Jake Paul ain’t fighting Darren Till.”

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Do you agree?
| BJPenn.com

UFC

Former UFC middleweight, Darren Till, was supposed to compete on the “Fear No Man” fight card last weekend in Tampa, but withdrew from the “Sunshine State” lineup to focus on some bizarre influencer boxing bout in Dubai.

But “The Gorilla” was able to watch clips of the Jake Paul vs. Mike Perry fight, which “El Gallo” won by sixth-round technical knockout (highlights here). Till claims he was left “speechless” by the not-so-sweet “science” on display.

Even in the absence of old, slow dopes.

“Jake Paul was gassed after the first round,” Till told Submission Radio. “F*ck him. To be honest with you, I don’t even know what Mike was doing myself, like, what he was actually doing in there? He was f*cking stumbling over his feet and sh*t like that. I’m actually quite speechless, to be honest with you. Jake was terrible, and so was Mike. Jake was blown out of his ass after the first round, and Mike just was stumbling over his own two feet — like it looked to me like Mike has never been coached by anyone. He just looked like a total amateur in there, like he really did. I get he’s tough and I get he’s durable, but that just only takes you so far. He should have beat Jake. Maybe not, Jake was 40 pounds heavier than him and juiced out of his nut, but still, he probably should have put up a better fight than he did.”

Conor McGregor, in a scathing critique of the Paul-Perry fight, claimed “El Gallo” was 40 pounds heavier than “Platinum,” a (false) statistic that continues to be parroted by follow-up critics because nobody in combat sports has the ability to think for themselves.

Paul weighed in at 200 pounds and fought at 212 pounds after rehydration.

“Jake Paul will not fight me,” Till continued. “I’m six foot one, I’m 225 pounds and I can box. Like, Jake Paul will not fight me. [He is] so lucky that [he] will not fight me because I would punch holes in Jake Paul. Listen, I respect so much the businessman that him and his brother [have become]. Like, major respect. I respect the fact that he’s actually dedicated his whole life to boxing. I respect a lot of things, but I would seriously injure Jake Paul in a ring. I’d just be too technically tactical for him.”

Till, 31, parted ways with UFC after losing five of his last six fights. His only appearance since getting submitted by Dricus Du Plessis in late 2022 was the thunder-stealing (and unsanctioned) circus in Dubai, which may have been a glimpse into the future of “Gorilla Boxing.”

Here’s how they stack up:

Mike Perry (0-2): 5’10” with 71” reach
Darren Till (0-0): 6’1” with 74” reach
Jake Paul (10-1, 6 KOs): 6’1” with 76” reach

Fair fight?

“I’d love to fight Nate Diaz,” Till said. “I’d love to fight [Jorge] Masvidal. I’d love to fight Tommy Fury. I’d love to fight KSI. I’d love to fight Mike Perry. I would love to fight all of these guys. For some reason, my name just doesn’t get [mentioned] there. Like, I don’t know, maybe I’ll just fight myself now.”

For much more on the “Fear No Man” PPV card in Tampa click here.

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