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Francis Ngannou couldn’t have had a better return to MMA as he knocked out Renan Ferreira in the first round to win the PFL heavyweight championship on October 19, 2024. Jon Jones, on the other hand, is finally returning to the Octagon against Stipe Miocic on November 16, 2024.

Ngannou was the UFC heavyweight kingpin before Jones moved up to the division. Many fans eagerly wanted to see them fight, but before anything could materialize, Ngannou left the UFC and signed with the PFL. He also boxed in high-profile matchups against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

“The Predator” was recently asked on The Ariel Helwani Show if he could still fight “Bones”. The lineal heavyweight MMA champion claimed that the superfight is not completely off the table and that figures like Turki Alalshikh might play a role in it.

Alalshikh, as the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, has helped organize several major combat sports events over the last few years.

Daniel Cormier reviewed Ngannou’s statements on his YouTube channel recently. He admitted that White’s rocky relationship with the PFL champ is a problem, but Riyadh Season’s inclusion could shake things up.

The former UFC champ mentioned that Riyadh Season sponsoring UFC 306 was a huge development, and might have laid the foundation for crossovers like Jones vs. Ngannou.

“Dana does not like Francis, that is a massive problem. Massive problem. But hell, when in the world do you put that over business. I don’t know that he will, he’s one of the smartest, sharpest businessman you’ve ever met. If the dollars make sense, the fight could potentially happen,” DC continued. “If Francis is to be believed, and Francis has had these conversations, we’re now entering a world where multiple partnerships already established in this realm. ESPN UFC, ESPN PFL, Riyadh Season UFC. Ladies and gentleman, maybe, just maybe, we get that fight.”

DC also believes White is smart enough to put personal differences aside for a lucrative business opportunity. He isn’t sure that Ngannou and Jones will fight in MMA, but he’s not ruling out the possibility entirely.

• READ MORE: Bo Nickal: I Want My First UFC Title Fight To Look Like A Masterclass

Continue Reading Daniel Cormier: ‘Sharpest Businessman’ Dana White Can Make Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou at MMA News.

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Azamat Murzakanov is out of UFC 309.

On Wednesday, MMA Fighting confirmed that Murzakanov is out of his scheduled fight against Nikita Krylov next Saturday. It is unclear at this time if the UFC is seeking a replacement fighter for Murzakanov. Nolan King was first to report the news.

Currently ranked No. 11 in the UFC light heavyweight rankings, Murzakanov is undefeated in his MMA career, with four wins in the UFC since joining the promotion off the Contender Series in 2021. Most recently Murzakanov knocked out Alonzo Menifield back at UFC Abu Dhabi in August, and was looking to continue climbing the light heavyweight rankings.

Krylov is currently the No. 6-ranked light heavyweight in the UFC. Originally a heavyweight, Krylov put together a 5-2 run in the UFC light heavyweight division before leaving the promotion in 2017. He returned in 2018 where’s he’s been up-and-down since. However, Krylov is currently riding a three-fight winning streak, most recently submitting Ryan Spann in March of 2023.

UFC 309 takes place on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden and is headlined by a heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic.

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Dana White has long talked about getting involved in the sport of boxing but the owners at the UFC aren’t ready to commit to anything just yet.

Back in September, White commented that he was finally ready to dive head first into boxing with plans to start making some major announcements about his commitment to the sport in early 2025. White has already been backing undefeated Irish prospect Callum Walsh but he made it clear that a bigger investment into boxing was coming soon.

“People have been talking about the demise of boxing for 30 years, and we’re still here talking about boxing right now,” White said at the time. “I have always had an idea of how I thought it should be done. I don’t know if that’s possible, but we’re going to find out. I’m coming in guns blazing.”

Now White’s interpretation of “guns blazing” might be a little different than what the UFC owners at TKO Group Holdings have in mind when it comes to boxing.

On Wednesday during a quarterly earnings call, TKO Group Holdings president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro addressed White’s comments about getting involved in boxing sooner rather than later.

“First of all, some off the cuff comments from Dana White do not translate into a strategy that we’re communicating to the street,” Shapiro said. “Dana says a lot of things and has a lot of passions and that’s why we love him. He’s also the best promoter the sport of MMA and frankly if it was boxing has or will ever see.

“What I can tell you is boxing at its best is confused and fragmented. At its worst, it’s broken. We think the sport presents an interesting growth opportunity for us. Dana White, and I should mention [WWE president] Nick Khan, have deep expertise and longstanding relationships in what they call the sweet science, otherwise known as boxing. If we were to get involved in boxing, we would expect to do so in an organic way, not [mergers and acquisitions] way. So i.e. we’re not writing a check. If we launched the vertical at any time, we kind of see it as doing it with a partner that would fund it and pay us to operate.”

What that boils down to is TKO won’t be making any major financial investments into boxing any time soon.

Now, it’s entirely possible that White has plans to get into boxing in the same way he tackled slap fighting with the launch of Power Slap — an organization that counts TKO CEO Ari Emanuel as an investor — but the promotion isn’t directly tied to TKO Group Holdings.

Perhaps that changes in the future but for now TKO remains in wait-and-see mode when it comes to potentially getting involved in boxing in addition to the organization’s main focus with MMA through UFC and professional wrestling with WWE.

“Nothing to announce today but this is one area we’re going to continue to explore,” Shapiro said. “We’ve talked about a dearth of leagues that are out there. Obviously, we’re acquiring [Professional Bull Riders], there’s not much else. We don’t necessarily need to add anything to our model but boxing is ripe for a fix.

“We’re blessed to have two experts in the field and if an opportunity presents itself or we can chase one down that does not put much risk or any risk for that matter on us financially, then we’re going to pursue it. In terms of models and leagues and how we’d structure it, etc, etc, that’s way down the road. Once we have something — if we have something — you’ll be the first to know.”

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UFC

UFC 309 has lost two awesome fights next weekend (Sat., Nov. 16, 2024).

Today (Wed., Nov. 6, 2024), MMA Junkie reported that Top 15 Light Heavyweight matchup Nikita Krylov vs. Azamat Murzakanov because Murzakanov has pulled out and MMA Fighting reported that Featherweight Lucas Almeida is out of his fight against David Onama, which would have been a banger.

MMAMania.com has confirmed with sources close to the situation that both fights are canceled. It is unknown if Krylov or Onama will stay on UFC 309.

Murzakonov vs. Krylov being off the card is a huge bummer because both fighters are pretty inactive.

Krylov (30-9) has been out of action since his first-round submission win over Ryan Spann (watch highlights) at UFC Las Vegas in 2023. Krylov is ranked No. 6, and with another significant win, he could be a dark horse to fight UFC Light Heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
Murzakov (14-0) has been on a roll thus far in UFC, winning all four of his fights. However, he has only fought once a year since 2022.

Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Onama (12-2) has been must-watch television since entering UFC in 2021 and is coming off an upset unanimous decision win over Jonathan Pearce. In contrast, Almeida (15-3) is coming off a somewhat forgettable win over Timothy Cuamba.

Here is the current UFC 309 card:

265 lbs.: UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic

155 lbs.: Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler 2

185 lbs.: Bo Nickal vs. Paul Craig

185 lbs.: Chris Weidman vs. Eryk Anders

125 lbs.: Viviane Araujo vs. Karine Silva

205 lbs.: Nikita Krylov vs. TBD

125 lbs.: Veronica Hardy vs. Eduarda Moura

135 lbs.: Jonathan Martinez vs. Marcus McGhee

170 lbs.: Mickey Gall vs. Ramiz Brahimaj

145 lbs:. David Onama vs. TBD

170 lbs:. Oban Elliott vs. Bassil Hafez

125 lbs:. Veronica Hardy vs. Eduarda Moura

265 lbs:. Jhonata Diniz vs. Marcin Tybura

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Fresh off the heels of UFC Edmonton, the world’s leading MMA promotion heads back to the APEX for a historic event: UFC Vegas 100, headlined by a welterweight matchup between Neil Magny and Carlos Prates. And No Bets Barred is back to break it all down.

Host Jed Meshew runs solo this week to break down this legendary event with all his favorite plays. Topics discussed include Prates’s incredible run through 2024 and whether Magny can pull off the upset yet again, how much does former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt have left in the tank, the return of “Brazilian Killer” Nicolas Dalby, and the debut of Jed’s boy, former two-division ONE Champion Reiner de Ridder.

And speaking of ONE, they also have an event taking place this weekend with ONE 169 going down on Friday, headlined by a heavyweight title fight between Anatoly Malykhin and Reug Reug. Jed also breaks down the big fights from ONE, plus the latest edition of “THE CLIMB” and more on this week’s episode.

Tune in for episode 107 of No Bets Barred.

New episodes of the No Bets Barred podcast drop every Wednesday and are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. The latest episode can be heard below.

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