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Robert Whittaker and Ikram Aliskerov are about to make history.

When the two middleweight contenders step into the cage to close out UFC Saudi Arabia on Saturday, they will be the first fighters to headline a UFC event in the Middle East’s largest country.

Not only that, but the main event winner might just find themselves in a championship fight soon, with former champion Whittaker having clawed his way back into the title picture and Aliskerov making a hard charge to the front of the contender line.

Watch the cold open for Saturday’s show in Riyadh below, narrated by UFC promotional staple Ron Perlman.

Also featured in the hype video is another bout with potential title implications, as heavyweight knockout artists Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov face off. Pavlovich looks to bounce back from a loss to Tom Aspinall, while Volkov enters Saturday’s card on a three-fight win streak.

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Conor McGregor has made a wild revelation about why Michael Chandler is right to wait for their highly-anticipated matchup.

Chandler has been waiting in limbo for his fight against McGregor since they were rival coaches on the 31st season of The Ultimate Fighter. One year later and fans believe Chandler is making a mistake by waiting for the blockbuster fight, but the Irishman disagrees.

While discussing his potential next outing, Conor McGregor insisted that Michael Chandler was making a good decision to sit on the sidelines prior to their clash.

“Chandler is getting paid 10x of what his contract states for other fights,” McGregor claimed on social media. “Meaning he would need to fight 10 fights to make what he would make in this one. I’m the one.”

“For those saying he could have fought 2 or 3 times by now etc. He’d need 10 to break even with this cheque.”

For those saying he could have fought 2 or 3 times by now etc. He’d need 10 to break even with this cheque.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) June 21, 2024

Doubts began surrounding the fight after the delays began piling up. Following a long period of uncertainty, it looked like Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler would finally get underway. 

Related: Michael Chandler unphased by Conor McGregor fight doubt

The bout was scheduled to headline the UFC 303 pay-per-view on June 29. Just two weeks before the pair would make their walk to the cage, disaster struck once again.

McGregor was forced out of the fight due to injury — for the first time of his career — and Chandler again has some serious questions to answer about the remainder of his time in the sport.

Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka both stepped up on short notice and will now serve as the new UFC 303 main event. Despite no longer featuring at the event Michael Chandler will still turn up on the night.

According to Chandler, he made a vow to show up on June 29th and will follow through with his promise.

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MMA Fighting has PFL Salt Lake City results for the Collard vs. Burnell fight card and more from Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Friday night.

In the main event, lightweights Clay Collard and Mads Burnell face off in a veteran contest light on playoff implications. Collard’s second-round finish of Patricky Pitbull in April put him into position for a postseason spot, while Burnell seeks his first win as a member of the PFL roster.

2023 PFL light heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay fights Jakob Nedoh in the co-main event.

Check out PFL Salt Lake City results below.

Main Card (ESPN, ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET)

Clay Collard vs. Mads Burnell

Impa Kasanganay vs. Jakob Nedoh

Patricky Pitbull vs. Bruno Miranda

Rob Wilkinson vs. Josh Silveira

Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov vs. Simon Biyong

Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Alex Polizzi

Preliminary Card (ESPN+ at 5 p.m. ET)

Brent Primus vs. Solomon Renfro

Sadibou Sy vs. Andrew Sanchez

Gadzhi Rabadanov vs. Elvin Espinoza

Michael Dufort vs. Adam Piccolotti

Sergio Cossio def. Anthony Romero via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

Brahyan Zurcher def. Julian Ruiz via KO (punch) (R2, 1:26)

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Revenge
| BJPenn.com

UFC

UFC will celebrate Mexican Independence Day by holding a blockbuster event independent of Mexico.

UFC CEO Dana White is currently writing a “love letter to Mexican people.”

Unfortunately, it sounds more like hate mail, since his UFC 306 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Sept. 14 will be held at The Sphere in Las Vegas — roughly 1400 miles from the Mexican border — where tickets will cost hundreds of dollars for nosebleeds.

I guess Arena CDMX in Mexico City is reserved for non-PPV “Fight Night” cards like this.

UFC 306 will be held on Mexican Independence Day and feature some of the top Mexican fighters in the promotion. Because of the unusual layout of The Sphere, White and Co. will have to sink millions of dollars into the venue to make it work.

“I’m already $ 16 million into this thing,” White told Club Shay Shay podcast. “This will never be replicated. Anybody who comes in after me into The Sphere is f*cked. We’re working on [the card] and tweaking it every day. Everybody should want to be on that card. Believe me when I tell you, everybody was all fired up about UFC 300. This thing is going to be, you know, and again, if you are Mexican and you are on this, it’s just going to be like nothing anybody’s ever seen before.”

That means White has burned through $ 2 million over the last two weeks, when you compare his sit down with Shannon Sharpe on June 19 to his prior conversation with Andrew Schulz on June 5, where he was only $ 14 million into The Sphere.

Maybe Dana is just really bad at math (or remembering his lines).

“You know how much money I’ve already spent on this thing? I’m $ 14 million in on this f*cking show and it’s not until September,” White told FLAGRANT podcast. “This is going to be a f*cking love letter to the Mexican people. I have this thing with Mexicans. When I tell somebody ‘you fight like a Mexican’ it’s the biggest compliment I can give you. I’ve got goosebumps telling you this right now. Some of the baddest motherf*ckers that have walked the face of this earth have been Mexican. And The Sphere show is on Mexican Independence Day. It’s going to be the greatest f*cking love letter to the Mexican people of all time.”

Sounds more like that letter from Stan: Dear Mexico, I wrote you but you still ain’t callin’…

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Teila Tuli, who competed in the first ever televised bout at UFC 1 in 1993, has died at the age of 56.

The one-time cagefighter’s death was first reported by local Hawaii TV outlet KITV and later confirmed by Hawaii Five-O producer Peter M. Lenkov. Tuli—who changed his name to Taylor Wily when he became an actor—was a featured actor on the CBS program and Lenkov paid tribute to his friend in a social media post.

“T, as I told you many times, I fell in love with you at the first audition,” Lenkov wrote. “You came in with a towel on your head mopping up sweat, and I was smitten. You charmed me into making you a regular… on the show… and in my life. You were family. And I will miss you every day, brother.

“PS: when we spoke last week, we laughed at how right you were from Day 1. Five-0 was our dream job. And I was so lucky we got to share that magic together.”

Tuli also starred in the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall and later scored a prominent role on the Hawaii Five-O reboot.

While he’s best known now for his acting work, Tuli was one of the 10 fighters who competed on the first-ever UFC card in Denver back in 1993. The show was built around the concept of pitting different martial arts styles against each other, so Tuli joined the promotion after a career competing in sumo where he amassed a 57-27-14 record overall.

He eventually moved on to compete in New Japan Pro Wrestling, but continued training in martial arts, which led to his invitation to fight on the first ever UFC show.

Tuli’s bout lasted just 26 seconds after he suffered a head kick knockout from Gerard Gordeau in the first ever UFC fight in televised history (an alternate bout took place prior to this one but was not shown during the broadcast).

That was the only time Tuli ever competed in mixed martial arts.

After changing his professional name, he eventually got into acting with his first prominent role coming in the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall where he played a hotel worker who befriends the lead character played by Jason Segel. He later appeared in 171 episodes of Hawaii Five-O, which ended its run in 2020.

Tuli is survived by his wife and two children.

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