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Alexa Grasso has taken control of The Ultimate Fighter 32.

Two Team Grasso middleweights have now advanced in the reality show competition with her No. 3 pick Omran Chaaban (6-1) taking out Valentina Shevchenko’s No. 1 pick, Shamidkhan Magomedov (7-1). After dropping the first round, Chaaban battled back to finish Magomedov with a tight anaconda choke.

This is the third win in the first four fights for Grasso, who also saw her No. 2 featherweight pick Kaan Ofli advance last episode with a win over Nathan Fletcher.

Chaaban and Magomedov were to compete in an earlier episode, but an open cold sore on Chaaban’s lip caused the bout to be postponed. During their time in the house, the Muslim fighters bonded over their shared faith. That didn’t stop them from engaging in an intense battle when they stepped into the cage against one another.

The opening round of the fight saw Magomedov go for takedowns early and often, ducking under his larger opponent’s strikes to close the distance and wrap up Chaaban’s hips. He persistently worked to take Chaaban’s back and emphasized control as he favored position over offense. Chaaban shook Magomedov off, but could not keep the Russian fighter from tying him up. Magomedov capped off a clear 10-9 round with a slam in the closing seconds.

Chaaban fought with desperation in Round 2 and was rewarded. Despite Magomedov scoring another takedown and attacking with a leglock, Chaaban remained calm until he could explode out of danger and control Magomedov on the ground. He landed a few ground-and-pound strikes, then went for an anaconda choke that Magomedov tried to fight off. Magomedov refused to tap and eventually went to sleep.

The Finnish-Lebanese fighter advances to the middleweight semifinals alongside teammate Robert Valentin. By eliminating Magomedov, Chaaban earned a measure of revenge for coach Grasso as Shevchenko’s top 145-pound pick Roedie Roets had previously beaten Grasso’s No. 1 featherweight Guillermo Torres.

In other storylines, both coaches engaged in team building, with Shevchenko bringing her fighters to her favorite Las Vegas casino, and Valentin emerging as one of the leaders on Grasso’s side.

Next week, featherweights are back in action with Team Shevchenko No. 2 Zygimantas Ramaska fighting Team Grasso No. 3 Bekhzod Usmonov.

The Ultimate Fighter 32 airs live every Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

Following the season finale, Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko are expected to face off in a flyweight championship trilogy bout at a date still to be determined.

The finalists of the TUF 32 middleweight and featherweight tournaments will also compete for a six-figure UFC contract at the show’s live finale. A date for that event is also yet to be announced.

Here are the TUF 32 rosters divided by team:

Team Grasso

Featherweights

1. Guillermo Torres (Mexico) (7-1)
2. Kaan Ofli (Australia) (10-2-1)
3. Bekhzod Usmonov (Tajikistan) (11-4)
4. Mairon Santos (Brazil) (13-1)

Middleweights

1. Robert Valentin (Switzerland) (10-3)
2. Paddy McCorry (Ireland) (4-1)
3. Omran Chaaban (Finland) (6-1)
4. Tom Theocharis (Canada) (9-5)

Team Shevchenko

Featherweights

1. Roedie Roets (South Africa) (7-1)
2. Zygimantas Ramaska (Lithuania) (9-2)
3. Nathan Fletcher (England) (8-1)
4. Edwin Cooper Jr. (USA) (6-1)

Middleweights

1. Shamidkhan Magomedov (Russia) (7-1)
2. Mark Hulme (South Africa) (12-3)
3. Ryan Loder (USA) (6-1)
4. Giannis Bachar (Greece) (9-2)

Here are the quarterfinal results so far:

Roedie Roets def. Guillermo Torres via decision

Robert Valentin def. Giannis Bachar via KO (strikes) (R1)

Kaan Ofli def. Nathan Fletcher via decision

Omran Chaaban def. Shamidkhan Magomedov via technical submission (anaconda choke) (R2)

Advancing to semifinals: Roets, Valentin, Ofli, Chaaban

Eliminated: Torres, Bachar, Fletcher, Magomedov

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Former Bellator welterweight standout Michael “Venom” Page made his octagon debut in March at UFC 299, defeating Kevin Holland via unanimous decision.  For his second UFC fight, kicking off the UFC 303 main card on Saturday, Page is pitted against seventh-ranked Ian Machado Garry.  

Page (22-2) will enter the fight ranked just inside the Top 15 and will be looking to hand Garry his first career loss.  Garry (14-0), is ranked seventh in the division and wasn’t thrilled about being matched up against a fighter ranked below him.

“I’m still not interested in it (the fight with Page),” Garry told The MMA Hour five days before he’s set to make the walk to the octagon at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.  “I have no interest in it.”    

“Here’s the way that I look at it.  I’m undefeated.  I’ve beaten everybody put in front of me in the best way I believe I can.  And I go out there and get my hand raised any way, shape, or form possible.  That is my job.  When I do that, I fight up because my goal is to be the world champion.  

“I’m looking at the guys above me.  I’m looking at the six or seven guys ahead of me.  There’s Gilbert [Burns].  There’s Shavkat [Rakhmonov].  There’s Jack Della Maddalena.  There’s Colby [Covington].  There’s [Kamaru] Usman, Belal [Muhammad], and Leon [Edwards].  All I’ve done in my career is win.  I deserve to fight one of those guys,” Garry continued.  “I have to fight one of those guys because that is my projection.  I’m on a projection of being one of the world champions.  I’m on a projection to be one of the biggest stars the sport has ever seen.  I have no interest in fighting below me.”

Related: Alex Pereira reveals what must happen before Israel Adesanya trilogy fight

Garry had to change the way he looked at the fight against Page.  He realized that once a champion, he’ll simply have to fight whoever the top contender is regardless of where they are ranked.  

“I still have no interest in fighting Michael.  I have no interest in fighting him,” Garry said.  “I wanted to kind of realign my focuses and everything like that.  The shift of energies and the shift of focus for me is when I get that belt wrapped around my waist I’m going to be fighting whoever the people believe is the next best guy worthy of that title shot whether he’s (ranked) 1, whether he’s 2, whether h’s 6, or if he’s 9 in the world.  I want to put on those shows.”

“This is the first time I’m stepping into an octagon with that championship mentality of I am better than you.  I’m going to prove it and that’s all my job is, is to go out there and prove that there is a reason why you’re ranked below me.  There’s a reason I’m ranked higher than you.  And now I’ll go out there and completely outclass MVP in any way, shape, or form necessary to get my hand raised,” Garry continued.  

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| BJPenn.com

UFC

UPDATE: Barber now expected to be replaced by Tracy Cortez.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) main events continue to change.

MMA Mania has confirmed with sources that the No. 4-ranked Flyweight contender, Maycee Barber, is out of her scheduled main event bout against the No. 7-ranked Rose Namajunas at UFC Denver in two weekends (Sat., July 13, 2024). The reason for Barber’s withdrawal is currently unknown. The promotion hopes to keep Namajunas on the card.

The fight would have been Barber’s first UFC headliner since she debuted in November 2018 after winning a contract through Dana White’s Contender Series. “The Future” has won six in a row after she suffered her second career loss (14-2) at the hands of the now-champion, Alexa Grasso, in February 2021.

UPDATE: MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck reports that Tracy Cortez is now targeted to replace Barber. UFC is close to finalizing a new opponent for Cortez’s original opponent, Miranda Maverick, per Heck. The pair were supposed to fight at UFC Vegas 94 the weekend after UFC Denver (Sat., July 20, 2024).

The former two-time Strawweight titleholder, Namajunas, returned to the win column in her last time out when she earned a unanimous decision win over Amanda Ribas at UFC Vegas 89 in March 2024. Based in Denver, Colorado, Namajunas has never fought in the state in her 18-fight career (12-6).

The current UFC Denver line up can be seen below.

• 125lbs.: Rose Namajunas vs. TBD
• 170lbs.: Mike Malott vs. Gilbert Urbina
• 170lbs.: Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Muslim Salikhov
• 170lbs.: Gabriel Bonfim vs. Ange Loosa
• 145lbs.: Julian Erosa vs. Christian Rodriguez
• 185lbs.: Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Cody Brundage
• 125lbs.: Viviane Araujo vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
• 125lbs.: Luana Santos vs. Mariya Agapova
• 185lbs.: Josh Fremd vs. Andre Petroski
• 155lbs.: Marquel Mederos vs. Nazim Sadykhov

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The upcoming UFC Denver card on July 13 will see a significant shift to one of its pivotal matchups.

Maycee Barber has been forced to drop out of her scheduled bout against Rose Namajunas for undisclosed reasons. In her place, Tracy Cortez is expected to now clash with Namajunas in a flyweight bout taking place at the Ball Arena in Denver.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Tuesday. Barber’s withdrawal was first reported by Alex Behunin on Twitter.

While the situation is an unfortunate turn of events for Barber, it’s Cortez who now benefits after she was already scheduled to face Miranda Maverick at a separate UFC Fight Night card on July 20.

Now she’ll move up one week earlier with a chance to take on a former champion in Namajunas. As for Maverick, she’s expected to stay on the July 20 card with the search ongoing for a new opponent.

The 30-year-old fighter remains undefeated in her UFC campaign with a perfect 6-0 record in the octagon including wins over Jasmine Jasudavicius, Melissa Gatto and Justine Kish. She also holds a split decision win over highly touted flyweight contender Erin Blanchfield before both fighters joined the UFC roster.

Cortez takes a decided step up in competition to face Namajunas in July as the former two-time strawweight champion looks to build on her recent win over Amanda Ribas, which was her second appearance at 125 pounds after falling to Manon Fiorot in her debut.

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Conor McGregor is once again targeting his forever foe Khabib Nurmagomedov after a former member of the ex-lightweight champion’s gym was found to be part of the militant group that carried out a horrific terrorist attack in Dagestan.

On Sunday, reports emerged of assailants targeting multiple places of worship and a police outpost in Derbent and Makhachkala. Per CNN, at least 15 police officers and four civilians including a priest were killed in the attack.

According to the Russian state news agency TASS, the gunmen responsible for the violence included relatives of a regional official and former mixed martial arts fighter Gadzhimurad Kagirov, who had previously represented Nurmagomedov’s Eagle MMA.

As a result, all MMA gyms in Dagestani are to be investigated for “religious extremist elements” per a report from James Porrazzo on X.

“The FSB has announced through Dagestani media that ALL Dagestani MMA gyms are being investigated and INSPECTED for religious extremist elements – especially Eagles MMA, the gym of Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov, where at least one terrorist trained. Expect his to not be a “timid” campaign.”

Following the attacks and news of Kagirov’s involvement, Eagle MMA released a statement on Instagram, saying:

“Peace be upon you. We all witnessed yesterday’s terrorist act that left no one indifferent. On behalf of the school, we want to say that we are against any aggression and similar acts of terrorist. The management and coaching staff pay great attention to continue the work of the founder of our school, Honored Coach of Russia, Abdulmanap Magomedovich Nurmagomedov in educating our youth. Our school has grown and nurtured many worthy and educated athletes who represent our country and country worldwide.

“Our school is regularly visited by athletes from all over our country and all over the world, they go through a training and preparation phase for their competitions and upcoming fights. We would like to say that a participant in yesterday’s events has just completed a training kit for an upcoming professional fight and at the request of a teammate was allowed to practice at our school.”

Conor McGregor goes off on Khabib Nurmagomedov and the ‘fake lying rats’ at Eagle MMA

After making an initial statement of his own condemning the terrorist attack in his hometown, Khabib Nurmagomedov posted a follow-up, presumably once learning of Kagirov’s role in the massacre.

“May the Almighty disfigure the face of this creature and all its followers, who, under the slogan of freedom of speech, offend the feelings of more than one and a half billion Muslim believers,” Nurmagomedov wrote. “May the Almighty humiliate them in this life, and in the next. Allah is quick in calculation and you will see it.

“We are Muslims. We love our prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) more than our mothers, fathers, children, wives, and all other people close to our hearts. Believe me, these provocations will come back to them, the end is always for the God-fearing.”

Given the intense history between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, it should come as no surprise that the Irish megastar chimed in on all the unwanted attention being directed at the UFC Hall of Famer and his gym.

Aside from a post that refers to Nurmagomedov and his gym as “fake lying rats” and telling them to “rest in piss,” McGregor also kickstarted a couple new hashtags while sharing the Dagestani’s most recent statement.

“#Conorwasright #payyourtaxes #deadrats,” McGregor wrote in a since-deleted post on X.

The dig about taxes refers to a previous report claiming that Nurmagomedov owes the Russian Federal Tax Service a whopping $ 3.3 million. Multiple accounts associated with ‘The Eagle’ were frozen as a result.

“That’s typical rat behavior,” McGregor said on a Duelbits live stream. “Scurrying rat. So, he has bills to pay. Two main events or something he has in the UFC and he owes his bollocks to the Russian government. So, he’s gonna pay his f*ckin’ money that he owes instead of siphoning it out through to other countries. I’m ecstatic and delighted that that’s coming on top of him.

“We all will welcome him back into the fight game where he’s ran from. It’s a rat trap. The rat trap has been set. We’re excited about that and to see where it goes. We noticed a little rat scurrying on back. We see him back around. The fat rat we call him” (h/t BJPenn.com).

LowKickMMA.com

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Oleksandr Usyk has little left to prove after becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.

That may be one reason why the unbeaten Ukrainian star announced Tuesday that he is officially vacating his IBF belt and opening the door for Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois to potentially compete for the title. Joshua and Dubois have been rumored for a clash in Wembley Stadium in London on Sept. 21, though the matchup is not official.

Watch Usyk’s announcement below.

“Anthony and Daniel, listen, I know IBF title important to you,” Usyk said. “[Call] it my present to you on Sept. 21.”

Usyk still retains the WBA, WBC, and WBO belts. He added the WBC heavyweight title to his already impressive collection—that also previously included undisputed status at cruiserweight—this past May when he won a thrilling split decision over the previously undefeated Tyson Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The two are already set for a rematch in Riyadh, which is set to take place on Dec. 21.

Usyk was previously granted an exemption by the IBF to hold onto his title while he awaited his rematch against Fury in December. He was still at risk that the sanctioning body could ultimately decide to take the title away from him so it appears Usyk beat them to the punch.

Should Joshua and Dubois be booked to fight one another as expected, they’ll likely be hoping to face Usyk somewhere down the road. Both boxers have scores to settle with Usyk, who defeated Dubois by knockout in August 2023 and also holds two decision wins over Joshua.

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