Maybe the third time could be the charm for Tracy Cortez and Miranda Maverick.
Just over a month away from the upcoming UFC Tampa card on Dec. 14, Cortez has been forced out of her scheduled fight against Maverick. It’s the second time the fight was scheduled and then scrapped with Cortez being pulled from the previous matchup when she got a short notice opportunity to face Rose Namajunas at the UFC Denver card in July.
This time around Cortez pulled out of the fight with an undisclosed injury with multiple people close to the situation confirming the news to MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck on Tuesday. MMA Junkie initially reported the change to the fight.
With Cortez out, the search is underway to find an opponent for Maverick but a new fight hasn’t been determined yet.
Maverick is looking to build on a three-fight win streak after scoring victories over Dione Barbosa, Andrea Lee and Priscila Cachoeira in consecutive appearances.
Unfortunately she’ll now have to shift her attention to a new opponent with Cortez unable to compete at the upcoming card in Tampa, which serves as the final UFC event for 2024.
UFC 310 no longer boasts two title fights as Belal Muhammad has pulled out of the main event because of a toe injury. While some fans want the newly crowned champion to be stripped for inactivity already, others are more concerned with finding a new opponent for Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Several contenders in the UFC welterweight division could benefit by stepping in and winning on UFC 310. Former champs Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman would want to re-enter the title race by beating a top prospect. On the other hand, fresh talents like Ian Garry, Sean Brady, and Jack Della Maddalena should be interested in securing their first title shots.
While discussing how UFC 310 should be dealt with, Michael Bisping pointed out that replacing Muhammad could help Edwards get his rematch quickly. “Rocky” gave the new champ his props after losing the welterweight belt at UFC 304 but also admitted to feeling fatigued due to the unusual timing.
Here’s why Bisping expects Edwards to take a risk by fighting Rakhmonov at UFC 310:
“For Leon Edwards, this does everything. You beat Shavkat Rakhmonov, you are the man. You step up, you are the man. You beat this man that’s finishing everybody. What does that do for you? Well, then you’re right back in the title conversation. In fact, you will be probably getting a rematch against Belal Muhammad.” He continued, “He wants to get his hands on Belal Muhammad once again. He wants to right the wrongs, he wants to prove to the world and himself that he’s the better man. But more importantly, to get back to becoming the welterweight champion of the world.”
Edwards holds two wins over Usman, and “The Count” claims beating an intimidating opponent with a 100% finish rate would be another feather in his cap. Additionally, a rematch with Muhammad in the United States would ensure he gets a chance to avenge his loss and fight at a more favorable time.
The former UFC champ understands that losing to “Nomad” is a huge risk for the English fighter as it would further extend his path back to the title. However, he thinks that the rewards outweigh the risks in this situation.
Bisping lastly called UFC 310 a great card regardless of the main event falling out. Like countless other fans, though, wouldn’t mind seeing the undefeated Rakhmonov put to the test again.
Read More: Ilia Topuria Reveals The One Thing That Surprised him About Max Holloway Fight
Continue Reading Former UFC Champ Argues Leon Edwards Should Fight Shavkat Rakhmonov At UFC 310: ‘Rematch Against Belal Muhammad…’ at MMA News.
The UFC’s return to Madison Square Garden, and the massively hyped heavyweight championship main event between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic is less than two weeks away.
Jones and Miocic are set to battle for the UFC heavyweight title to cap off UFC 309 on Nov. 16 in New York City. “Bones” puts his belt on the line for the first time since capturing his second divisional title at UFC 285 in March 2023, while Miocic competes for the first time in nearly four years.
During Saturday’s UFC Edmonton event, the UFC released a new promo video hyping up the Jones vs. Miocic championship encounter. Watch the video below.
The Jones-Miocic promo for #UFC309 is pure pic.twitter.com/ZDFGUY9S2c
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 3, 2024
Miocic seeks his first victory since defeating Daniel Cormier in their trilogy bout at UFC 252 in August 2020. The multi-time heavyweight champion lost the title in his next fight, suffering a brutal knockout at the hands of Francis Ngannou at UFC 260.
Jones makes the walk to the octagon for the just the second time since retaining the light heavyweight title — which he vacated shortly after to move to heavyweight — in a controversial decision against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in February 2020.
Rob Wilkinson and Tom Breese | Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
No wonder Tom Breese had such a disappointing tenure in the PFL.
Back in April, Breese face Rob Wilkinson in the opening round of the PFL’s 2024 light heavyweight season and things could not have gone much worse as Wilkinson demolished him in just 70 seconds. It was a disappointing outcome for the British fighter but perhaps not an unexpected one as Breese recently told Polish Fighters Info that he was actually under the influence on fight night.
“I was on drugs in the fight,” Breese said. “I did magic mushrooms. I was taking drugs all week. That’s honest. [Laughs] It is what it is. It was a rough time.”
While the PFL does test for performance-enhancing drugs via USADA, psilocybin mushrooms are not currently prohibited.
But Breese’s substance use doesn’t stop there. During the interview, Breese also revealed that he struggled with drug use for some time, which blames for his underwhelming performances the past few years.
“For me, obviously I’ve had some ups and downs, but I was always a very disciplined person, and then I started letting some bad habits come into my life,” Breese said. “Smoking, some drugs, stuff like that. And that was he cause of a lot of these issues, to be honest. Now I’m back on the straight and narrow. It’s not really going to be a thing. I’m going to blow through all my competition. I just had some problems with drugs.”
Undefeated in his first nine professional fights, Breese made a name for himself in the UFC but was released from the promotion in 2020 after a fight day withdrawal from a scheduled bout with Antonio Arroyo at UFC Vegas 28. He then competed for Levels Fight League before signing with KSW for three fights. Most recently Breese competed for Levels Fight League again, winning a unanimous decision over Renato Rangel back in October.
And with his PFL career seemingly over for now and his personal life now in a better spot, Breese hopes to return to KSW in the near future.
“I’d like to come back to KSW,” Breese said. “I really enjoyed my time in KSW, and I feel like there’s a lot of good fights there for me. I’d love to fight Pawel [Pawlak] again. I’d really like that fight.”
Former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo looks to continue his march toward a second world title in his new home at 135 pounds, but the path to the promised land includes a head-on collision with former bantamweight champion Petr Yan atop the UFC Macau fight card on ESPN+!
Event: UFC Macau: “Yan vs. Figueiredo” Date: Sat., Nov. 23, 2024 Location: Galaxy Arena in Macau Broadcast: ESPN+ Start Time: 3 a.m. ET Prelims Card | 6 a.m. ET Main Card
UFC Macau Main Event On ESPN+:
135 lbs.: Petr Yan vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
UFC Macau Main Card on ESPN+ (6 a.m. ET):
115 lbs.: Xiaonan Yan vs. Tabatha Ricci 205 lbs.: Ozzy Diaz vs. Mingyang Zhang 170 lbs.: Kenan Song vs. Muslim Salikhov 125 lbs.: Cong Wang vs. Gabriella Fernandes 205 lbs.: Volkan Oezdemir vs. Carlos Ulberg
UFC Macau ‘Prelims’ Card on ESPN+ (3 a.m. ET):
125 lbs.: Carlos Hernandez vs. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel 115 lbs.: Xiaocan Feng vs. Ming Shi 125 lbs.: Kiru Sahota vs. Dong Hoon Choi 135 lbs.: Su Young You vs. Balgyn Jenisuly 145 lbs.: Kangjie Zhu vs. Bin Xie 125 lbs.: Lone’er Kavanagh vs. Jose Ochoa 105 lbs.: Long Xiao vs. Quang Le 155 lbs.: Maheshate Hayisaer vs. Nikolas Motta
*Fight card, bout order and amount of fights remain subject to change.*
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Macau news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
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