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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Tatsuro Taira has a clear goal in mind.

This past Saturday, Taira scored the biggest win of his career when he stopped Alex Perez in the main event of UFC Vegas 93. The finish came after Taira took Perez’s back, leading to Perez struggling to keep his feet and ultimately injuring his knee as Taira dragged him to the mat. While Taira acknowledges the injury wasn’t planned, the Japanese fighter says that it’s the sort of thing that can happen if you try to defend that position.

“The position, I am used to it and it is one of my strengths that I work on,” Taira told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour on Wednesday through a Japanese interpreter. “It was an accident, but if he wants to keep that position long, that’s the result that’s going to happen.

“When I was on his back, I did feel he was defending the choke pretty well, so the only option for me was to take him to the ground.”

The win is Taira’s sixth straight since joining the UFC in 2022, and elevated the 24-year-old super prospect into the UFC’s flyweight top 5. It’s a better start to his UFC run than even he could have imagined, but Taira doesn’t plan on stopping there.

“Very, very honestly, after fighting six fights, would I be 6-0? That probably wasn’t what [I would have thought] back then,” Taira said when asked about the impressive start to his UFC career. “But when I came to the UFC my goal was to take the belt so the goal has never been changed…”

“To become the first Japanese UFC champion is definitely my goal.”

No Japanese fighter has ever won a divisional title in the UFC, though Kazushi Sakuraba and Kenichi Yamamoto both won one-night tournaments, at UFC Ultimate Japan and UFC Ultimate Japan 2, respectively. And though he is still just 24 years old, Taira believes he’s ready to join those men in holding UFC gold, if champion Alexandre Pantoja will only give him a chance.

“I would just say I am ready,” Taira said. “But I know everyone will think I’m [just now] top-five. Just looking at the top-5 other fighters, I’m excited to fight anyone…”

“Pantoja, can you fight against me in Japan?” Taira added. “I’ve [followed] you since The Ultimate Fighter days, I know you’re a great fighter, but I do want to challenge you and get that belt.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

ONE Championship’s three-division world titleholder Anatoly Malykhin has his next title defense lined up.

Headlining the promotion’s highly anticipated debut inside State Farm Arena on November 8, ‘Sladkiy’ will put his 26 pounds of heavyweight gold on the line against Senegalese standout Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane.

Malykhin has established himself as a one-man wrecking machine inside the Circle, amassing an undefeated record of 14-0 with a 100% finish rate. Along the way, he has captured the heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight championships, making him MMA’s first-ever simultaneous three-division king.

In his last outing, he dispatched ‘The Dutch Knight’ Reinier de Ridder for the second time, securing a third-round TKO to claim the middleweight belt. As a heavyweight, his most recent victory came against former titleholder Arjan Bhullar.

Now, Malykhin will test himself against a world-class wrestler ready to cash in on his first shot at a ONE world title. Overall, ‘Reug Reug’ is a solid 6-1 with five of his six wins coming inside the Circle. In August, Kane shocked everyone with a stellar performance against previously undefeated MMA standout and former 16-time BJJ world champion Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida at ONE Fight Night 13.

Tawanchai vs. Nattawut III joins Anatoly Malykhin vs. ‘Reug Reug’ at ONE Championship’s ‘Hotlanta’ debut

Also announced for ONE 169 in ‘ATL’ is a trilogy fight between current ONE featherweight Muay Thai world champion Tawanchai and ‘Smokin’ Jo Nattawut. After Nattawut took Tawanchai to the limit in a critically acclaimed kickboxing clash at ONE Fight Night 15, the two tussled on June 7 in a Muay Thai clash for Tawanchai’s coveted title.

After five intense rounds of action, Tawanchai was declared the winner unanimously—a decision that drew the ire of fight fans inside Bangkok’s iconic Impact Arena and ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

“I thought Jo Nattawut won,” Sityodtong said during the ONE 167 post-fight press conference. “It was a very close fight, very close. But I thought Jo did enought to win. For me, I would have gone to damage. Tawanchai had more damage on him that Jo did.”

Tickets for ONE 169 go on sale on Friday, July 12 via Ticketmaster with pre-sale tickets starting on July 5.

LowKickMMA.com

Michael Chandler was preparing for the biggest fight of his career just a couple of weeks ago.  The three-time Bellator lightweight champion was scheduled to face former two-division UFC titleholder Conor McGregor in the UFC 303 main event on June 29.  That all went away when McGregor was forced out of the fight with an injury.  

Despite not competing on the fight card, Chandler still plans to attend the event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.  In a video posted to social media on Tuesday, Chandler stated, “Your word is your bond, and if your word is no good then eventually you are no good.” 

View the original article to see embedded media.

“I’m still going to UFC 303 much to the surprise of the UFC and everyone behind the scenes.  It’s the UFC X, the UFC Fan Experience.  It’s UFC 303: Alex Pereira vs. Jiri Prochazka, and just six days ago it was McGregor vs. Chandler.  It’s my card,” Chandler said.  “It was my card whenever I signed the bout agreement and signed my name to a piece of paper that said I would be at UFC 303.  I made a promise.  I made a commitment and that commitment still stands because your word is your bond and without your word you are no good.  If you can not be relied upon, if people don’t believe that you’re going follow through with what you say you’re going to do – The definition of integrity is doing what you say you’re going to do without fail.”

When McGregor was forced out of the fight due to injury, the fight promotion put together a completely new UFC 303 main event.  Chandler was pulled from the fight card altogether and a middleweight championship rematch between champion Alex Pereira and former titleholder Jiri Prochazka became the new event headliner.    

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Shannon “The Cannon” Ritch, an old school MMA veteran with more than 140 professional fights on his resume, was released by police in Phoenix after claiming self-defense in a deadly shooting that left one man dead this past Saturday.

FOX 10 in Phoenix initially reported the news with Phoenix police confirming the incident in a statement sent to MMA Fighting on Wednesday.

The altercation allegedly started over a parking spot at a local bar called Twin Peaks where Ritch got into an argument with 32-year-old Alejandro Samplina.

Read full police statement below:

“On June 15, 2024, around 9:20 p.m., officers responded to the area of 3060 West Agua Fria Freeway for a call of a shooting. Information on the call indicated at least one person was shot and the shooter was still onsite. Officers arrived and detained the suspect identified as Shannon Ritch without incident and recovered a firearm from his person. The victim identified as Alejandro Samplina was located down in the parking lot and was transported by Phoenix Fire to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. Homicide investigators responded and assumed the investigation.

“Preliminary investigation found the victim Alejandro Samplina got into a dispute with the victim/suspect Shannon Ritch over a parking issue. During the argument, Samplina produced a knife and chased Ritch around his vehicle. Ritch was able to retrieve his handgun from the open door of his vehicle. Samplina proceeded to walk towards Ritch with the knife in a threatening manner, in response Ritch fired one round, striking Samplina. Ritch remained on scene and was interview by detectives. Ritch provided a self-defense claim consistent with witnesses and surveillance video. He was released at the conclusion of the investigation; charges will be submitted to Maricopa County Attorney’s office for review.”

Ritch has not been charged with any crime, although the investigation is ongoing.

During his fight career, Ritch has competed in dozens of promotions and faced a laundry list of top up-and-comers over the years. His record includes fights against UFC veterans such as Joe Riggs, Shonie Carter, Diego Sanchez and UFC Hall of Famer, Dan Severn. He also competed once for PRIDE Fighting Championships, where he lost to another UFC Hall of Famer Kazushi Sakuraba, and fought a single time in BKFC back in 2019.

The 53-year-old veteran holds an MMA record of 58-90 overall.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Jake Paul has never been an underdog during his professional boxing career and he keeps that streak alive for his next scheduled bout against BKFC superstar Mike Perry.

The social influencer-turned-combat sports enthusiast clashes with Perry on July 20 in Tampa, Fla., which is the same date Paul was supposed to face heavyweight boxing legend Mike Tyson. Unfortunately, Tyson faced a medical issue that forced him to delay the fight against Paul until Nov. 15.

Despite the Tyson fight looming, Paul opted to stay busy and book a matchup against arguably one of his toughest opponents to date. Perry remains undefeated as a bare-knuckle boxer with wins over names like Luke Rockhold, Eddie Alvarez and Michael “Venom” Page.

The former UFC fighter also has some past boxing experience including a win in a hybrid rules matchup against 27-3 pro boxer Michael Seals back in 2021. Still, Perry enters the fight as the underdog based on the opening odds for the fight from Sportsbetting.ag.

Mike Perry: +190

Jake Paul: -240

Based on those odds, a $ 100 bet on Perry would return $ 190, but it would take a $ 240 bet to win back $ 100 gambling on Paul. Perry is being given a 34 percent chance to win, while Paul is favored at 70 percent.

Since leaving the UFC in 2021, Perry has become one of the biggest names in all of combat sports while reigning as the “King of Violence” in BKFC. Most recently, Perry needed just 60 seconds to dismantle former BKFC champion and one-time UFC title challenger Thiago Alves to boost his bare-knuckle record to 5-0 overall.

Meanwhile, Paul comes in with a 9-1 record in boxing with notable wins over ex-UFC stars Tyron Woodley, Nate Diaz, and Anderson Silva with his lone loss coming in a split decision to Tommy Fury back in 2023.

Paul vs. Perry headlines a Most Valuable Promotions card from Amalie Arena in Tampa on July 20. The card airs live on DAZN pay-per-view.

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