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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight kingpin Sean Strickland is content to sit on the shelf until an opening to fight for the belt arises, but that doesn’t mean he’s staying idle.

Recently, Strickland went on vacation to Japan. While in “The Land of the Rising Sun,” Strickland received an invite to spar from Rukiya Anpo, former K-1 Super Lightweight champion. Though Anpo is significantly lighter — he fights mostly at 70 kilograms or 154 pounds — he promised to throw down with Strickland, who infamously loves a gym war.

Well, the two met up and went to battle! The clip above shows highlights of their sparring session, which was definitely more of a full-on fistfight than technical session. The duo clashed for five rounds, and Anpo found a lot of success early on with his explosive combinations and body punching. That’s a fatiguing way to box, however, and Strickland’s combination of size and pressure wore down “Demolition Man” by the latter half of the match. Their rounds ended with Strickland teeing off on his tired opponent.

“Nothing like some brain damage on vacation haha,” Strickland wrote on social media about the training session. “Yes I know I’m fat. Fuck off lol.” He also credited Anpo with being “tough as nails” in another post.

Anpo, meanwhile, posted a picture of the two afterward and showed off some bruising. There’s an open invitation for Anpo to come visit and train with Strickland in Las Vegas, but he may not be so eager. In one post, Anpo wrote (via Google Translate), “This is the hardest I’ve ever been beaten in my life.”

Will Strickland bring that same aggression to his next UFC fight? His last bout versus Paulo Costa was a solid victory, but it wasn’t nearly as electrifying as the clip above.

Insomnia

Alex Pereira helping a fight fan out of a jam is pretty cool!

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao still don’t get along.

Strickland remains adamant that he’ll wait for the next title shot, but we shall see if that strategy pays off …

Sean O’Malley finally came up with a response to Merab’s “Suga” impersonator. It’s not terrible?

Khabib Nurmagomedov reacts to a terrorist attack in Dagestan, partially orchestrated by an athlete who once trained at his gym.

My experience in France taught me that spicy food isn’t really their thing.

Paige VanZant putting in the “training” for her Power Slap debut.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

That’s a lot of blood for the first round.

Miller landed his right hand perfectly specifically because he took his head off the centerline while throwing. That’s the difference!

Dear lord, Masumoto can take a shot.

Random Land

My wife and I laughed so f—king hard at this stupid clip.

Midnight Music: Rock, 2008

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

On the second episode of UFC 303 Embedded, Alex Pereira visits New York City, Jiri Prochazka shares his secret for strength training, Michael “Venom” Page undergoes a special treatment, Alexa Grasso breaks down Diego Lopes vs. Brian Ortega, and more.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Jiri Prochazka is requesting that Alex Pereira lay down his magic stones and Shamanic spells and meet him inside the Octagon mono e mono.

In November 2023, ‘Poatan’ scored a second-round knockout against Prochazka inside Madison Square Garden to capture the light heavyweight championship, his second title in the span of a year. Seven months later, they’ll run it back on just 16 days’ notice when they step into the main event spotlight at UFC 303 on June 29.

Both fighters are coming off big wins at UFC 300 in April. Prochazka scored a stellar come-from-behind KO against Aleksandar Rakic while Pereira closed the show with a highlight-reel knockout of former champion Jamahal Hill.

“I saw how he was working against Jamahal and after the fight against Jamahal,” Prochazka said during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. “I don’t want to be bad in (saying this), but I think he believes a lot in help of spiritual things, and that’s something that I think he can’t fight without because I want to keep that in a clear line.

“Just the sport performance, pure performance, man versus man, but I think he doesn’t know how to fight without that because he used these things every time, so I think right now, I’m looking forward to that” (h/t MMA Mania).

Asked to clarify what he meant by “spiritual things,” Prochazka shared his belief that ‘Poatan’ is using Shamanic magic to win his fights.

“Everybody knows he is working with some Shamanics, with some Shamans from his hometown and he believes in some spiritual help from them.

“I believe too, but I believe in the best performance, in human performance right here right now, without no magic, and let’s see if Alex will still work like that because it’s working but I believe in a clear way, and I will do that and I want to win by that way,”

It sounds like Jiri Prochazka is accusing Pereira of using a new type of PED — Performance Enhancing Deities. Or perhaps ‘BJP’ has been playing a little too much Elden Ring.

Jiri Prochazka is no stranger to unusual training methods

Of course, Alex Pereira isn’t the only one using unusual training methods in between fights. Prochazka is well-known for locking himself in a dark room for days at a time with nothing, but some water and his thoughts.

“It was great, three and a half days without food, just you, water and training, spending time with your best ideas and best motivations, going through your fears, that’s all,” Prochazka said.

Prochazka is 4-1 under the UFC banner, his lone loss coming against Pereira at UFC 295. All of his wins inside the Octagon have come via second-round KO with the lone exception being his Fight of the Year candidate with Glover Teixeira in June 2022.

‘BJP’ finished the Brazilian in the fifth round via RNC to claim the light heavyweight title.

LowKickMMA.com

UFC 303 features an exciting welterweight bout between to of Europe’s premier strikers.  Irish star Ian Machado Garry takes on UK striking specialist Michael “Venom” Page to kick off Saturday’s main card.

UFC 303 takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a middleweight championship rematch between champion Alex Pereira and former titleholder Jiri Prochazka.  

MMAWeekly.com | UFC and MMA News, Results, Rumors, and Videos

UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

With UFC 303 on Saturday night, it’s time for a closer look at the top two fights on the pay-per-view main card thanks to the ‘UFC 303 countdown’ video.

Alex Pereira will defend his UFC light heavyweight title against former UFC champion Jiri Prochazka in the main event. Also, Ian Machado Garry puts his undefeated record on the line against Michael Page in the first fight on the UFC 303 pay-per-view.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts