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Former UFC strawweight sensation and part-time bareknuckle boxer, Paige VanZant, will make her “sweet science” debut against social media pugilist and current women’s middleweight champion, Elle Brooke, as part of the upcoming Misfits Boxing 15 event on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV), scheduled for this Sat. night (May 25, 2024) at NRG Arena in Houston, Texas.

To order Misfits Boxing 15: “Brooke vs. VanZant” click HERE.

Both combatants will take the stage on Thurs. afternoon (May 23), LIVE from the “Lone Star State” at 4 p.m. ET in the embedded video above. Expect “Dumbledong” and “12 Gauge” to face off (again) immediately after today’s media festivities. This weekend’s headliner is a professionally sanctioned bout scheduled for five, two-minute rounds.

Check out the entire Misfits Boxing 15 fight card and DAZN PPV lineup right HERE.

“How do you go from being in the UFC, arguably one of the biggest stages in fighting, in combat sports, to then going on to fight an influencer?” Brooke told VanZant on The MMA Hour. “There’s a reason that [Floyd] Mayweather does it, it’s for money. I don’t think it’s necessarily for the passion anymore. You’re doing it for the money and who am I to judge?”

“I just don’t think that you can necessarily say it’s for the love of the sport,” Brooke said. “Because you are fighting an influencer. What do you gain from that? She’s gone from UFC, BKFC, to now fighting an influencer. I don’t know, in my head it’s not because she’s on a losing streak and she’s just like, ‘I want an easy fight.’ Is she underestimating me?”

We’ll find out in two days on DAZN.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Gegard Mousasi is no longer employed by PFL and Bellator.

On Thursday, PFL and Bellator officials announced that Mousasi had been released from his contract after threatening legal action over his grievances with the company.

“Bellator has released Gegard Mousasi from his agreement. We wish him all the best in his next fighting chapter,” Mike Kogan, head of fighter operations, said a statement released by the organization.

Following a long Bellator run where he served as a two-time middleweight champion, Mousasi recently complained that he had effectively been sidelined after Bellator sold to PFL at the end of 2023.

Mousasi initially claimed that PFL officials told him that he made “too much money” based on his previous contract, which was signed under the former regime at Bellator when it was owned by Paramount. He also stated that the promotion had gone radio silent on him in recent weeks as he attempted to reach some sort of resolution.

On Wednesday, during an appearance on The MMA Hour, Mousasi escalated his complaints by potentially threatening legal action over his issues with the contract and the fact that the company still hadn’t booked him for a fight since the sale was finalized this past December.

“At this moment, I’m like, listen, if someone doesn’t want me, I’m like, ‘F*** it. Let’s go.’ But my team around me is like, ‘F*** it, we’ll sue them,’” Mousasi said. “If it was up to me, I would just go, but I don’t know. We’ll see. The team around me is not that happy. So I think there is going to be legal action against them.

“Yeah, [I feel disrespected] because they don’t even want to pick up the phone and talk to us,” Mousasi continued. “It’s not even funny anymore. It’s the worst organization so far. I’ve fought in a lot of organizations, this is the worst one.”

Now it appears Mousasi has been granted his wish to exit the organization.

At age 38, Mousasi now becomes a free agent and still seeks to compete after serving as a top UFC contender for several years before leaving to join Bellator in 2017. Once there, he became a two-time middleweight champion until losing the belt to current titleholder Johnny Eblen in 2022.

Most recently, Mousasi suffered a decision loss to Fabian Edwards in May 2023 in what now serves as his final appearance under the Bellator banner.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

UFC superstar Israel Adesanya has been immortalized with a magnificent mural in his home country.

Owen Dippie, an internationally recognized artist from New Zealand recently unveiled his latest work which features the former two-time middleweight world champion in stunning detail.

“I saw his work of this beautiful Maori lady with a tāmoko,” Adesanya told 1News in New Zealand. “I never knew who he was at the time and I’ve seen his work all across Auckland and he does a lot of work worldwide. To be immortalized on the wall in the city that I’ve stood on by one of the greatest to do it, and right by the Sky Tower, it’s fitting, it’s poetic, it’s awesome.”

The mural can be seen on Victoria Street West in Auckland.

“He had to chip away the paint for days, then paint the walls with like four coats of white, and then look at this mug for how many weeks?” Adesanya added. “It’s a lot of work but it’s much appreciated.”

Owen Dippie Draws Inspiration From Israel Adesanya and everything he does

Breaking onto the scene in 2006, Owen Dippie’s impeccable artwork can be seen around the world in cities like Brooklyn, NY, and Los Angeles.

He is also involved with mental health and suicide awareness outreach, and breast cancer research fundraising

“His dedication to whatever it is, whether it’s fighting, art, music, you want to do something and you take it to that level,” Dippie said when asked why he chose to make Adesanya the subject of his latest masterpiece.

LowKickMMA.com

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Ryan Garcia insists that he is not a cheater.

Following a report that Garcia’s latest B-sample drug test results for his April 20 fight with Devin Haney came back positive for the banned substance ostarine, Garcia’s legal team responded to the news via a statement provided to MMA Fighting.

See the full statement below.

Ryan Garcia is committed to clean and fair competition and has never intentionally used any banned substance. Soon after being notified of his positive test, Ryan voluntarily had his hair collected and shipped to Dr. Pascal Kintz, the foremost expert in toxicology and hair-sample analysis. The results of Ryan’s hair sample came back negative. This is consistent with contamination and demonstrably proves that Ryan had not ingested Ostarine over a period of time — the only way he would have had any advantage whatsoever in the ring.

Ryan has voluntarily submitted to tests throughout his career, which have always shown negative results. He also tested negative multiple times leading up to the fight against Haney. All of these factors, combined with his ultra-low levels from samples taken on April 19th and 20th (in the billionth of a gram range), point to Ryan being a victim of supplement contamination and never receiving any performance enhancing benefit from the microscopic amounts in his system. We are certain that one of the natural supplements Ryan was using in the lead up to the fight will prove to be contaminated and are in the process of testing the supplements to determine the exact source.

In the statement, Garcia’s team states that the presence of any banned substance was not due to intentional use and that a test of the boxer’s hair that was voluntarily provided to a toxicology expert came back negative. According to Garcia’s team, this lends credence to their argument that Garcia is the victim of a contaminated supplement.

Garcia himself has publicly questioned how he could pass several tests leading up to his fight with Haney, only to see positive results in the aftermath of the April 20 contest. He has also said that the quantity found in his system could not possibly have given him an advantage in the fight. His team wrote that they are “in the process of testing the supplements to determine the exact source.”

The Garcia-Haney duel was shrouded in controversy well before the drug test results were reported, with Garcia exhibiting erratic behavior on social media in the weeks leading up to the fight and then missing weight for the contest by three pounds. Fight night was no less eventful as Garcia became the first fighter to knock the previously undefeated Haney down, doing so two more times en route to a majority decision win.

Haney’s team seeks to have the result of the Garcia fight overturned, with the hope that the loss will be switched to a disqualification victory for their boxer.

Shaun Al-Shatti contributed to this report.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

For the past three-plus years, Belal Muhammad has been calling for a rematch against Leon Edwards. He finally gets his wish when he challenges Edwards for the welterweight title in the UFC 304 main event on July 27.

Initially, Muhammad only wanted to settle some unfinished business from when he stepped up as a short-notice opponent for Edwards at a UFC Fight Night main event back in 2021. On that night, Muhammad suffered a brutal eye poke that didn’t allow him to continue and the fight was declared a no-contest.

He immediately asked to run it back, but Edwards effectively ignored the callouts, leaning on his dominant start to the fight and seeing no reason to accept a rematch. Since that night, neither fighter has tasted defeat and Muhammad believes Edwards made an error by waiting so long for the rematch — now with his welterweight gold on the line.

“This was literally the biggest mistake of his life,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “Even dragging this fight out as long as possible because I’m getting better every single day. I’m not a guy that stays out of the gym. We’re growing. Now you’ve got a guy that’s been watching you for a full year. Even when I trained the backup role, I’ll show you text messages where I sent my boys [messages] like, ‘Can we do film study?’ I’d be like, I’m only breaking down film on Leon. I don’t really care about Colby. Colby’s an easy fight.

“So the whole time we broke down film on Leon and we took that as a full camp. Now having back-to-back-to-back camps all on you. I’m growing my own skills to your weaknesses. So the worst thing you could have did was give me time. The worst thing you could have did was [give me] extra time. You should have took me back then.”

As he studied Edwards in hopes that he would eventually earn that rematch, Muhammad got to know the 32-year-old UFC veteran rather well. He started recognizing tendencies and habits in his fight style, especially when he was preparing for grappling-heavy opponents like Kamaru Usman or Colby Covington.

While Edwards ended up beating Usman twice and just recently earned a decision win over Covington, Muhammad saw enough in those performances to feel like he’s actually built to dismantle the reigning UFC welterweight champion.

“I think when you look at stylistically the reasons why they thought Colby would be a bad matchup for him — it was cardio, it was pressure, it was taking him down, keeping volume in his face and I do all of those better than Colby,” Muhammad said. “I do all of those better than Usman.

“Usman in that third fight, he wasn’t the same Usman. People can say whatever they want. I think he came back too soon off that head kick [knockout] but in the second fight, it was volume, pressure and it was breaking Leon, and Leon’s easily broken.”

That fight back in March 2023 saw Edwards down on the scorecards heading into the final round when he uncorked a vicious head kick that ended Usman’s title reign. When they fought for a third time just nine months later, Edwards eked out a majority decision win to retain the belt and effectively close the book on their rivalry.

Muhammad believes it was the fight where Edwards won the belt that actually changed him moving forward because he struggled to deal with Usman’s pace, pressure, and wrestling before landing the knockout late in the fifth round. In his two subsequent performances, Edwards was victorious, but Muhammad recognized right away how that rematch with Usman changed his style for the worse.

“He’s got weak mentality,” Muhammad explained. “He’s not strong enough to go in there and figure it out on his own. Once he starts getting on his backfoot, he starts breaking. Once he starts getting taken down, he starts breaking. Once he starts getting hit, he hates it.

“His last two fights that he’s had, it’s been more ‘Let me stay on the outside, let me keep the pace at what I like it at’ and Colby let him keep it at the pace he liked it at. Usman in that third fight let him keep the pace at what he liked it at, let him keep the distance at what he liked it at and when I’m in there, it’s not going to be that at all. I’m going to be in your face for the whole 25 minutes.”

Since that no-contest with Edwards three years ago, Muhammad scored lopsided wins over several top 10 opponents including Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, Vicente Luque and Gilbert Burns while also delivering an emphatic knockout of highly touted grappler Sean Brady.

In many ways, Muhammad believes those fights were tougher tests than what he’ll face against Edwards on July 27, which is why he believes his UFC title reign starts with another shutout performance.

“I honestly think it’s going to be one of the easiest matches I’ve ever had,” Muhammad said. “I think that I’m going to go in there and I’m going to walk through him. I’m going make it look easy. Everybody always has an excuse and they’re wondering why or there has to be this reason why I won this fight or why I won that fight, this or that. Once I have that belt, none of that ever matters.

“I said from the beginning, I’m the best welterweight in this division and I said from the beginning that I’m going to make it look easy when I beat Leon and dominate Leon. I haven’t had a close fight in the last five years.”

Even stepping into enemy territory by facing Edwards on his home soil in England only gets Muhammad that much more excited. He actually relishes the chance to face Edwards in front of a hostile crowd, because he expects to leave his opponent’s fans sad and crying into their English breakfast.

“Watch what I do to Leon,” Muhammad said. “Watch what I do in front of his people, in front of his hometown, in front of all of those fans out there that are going to be booing. I’m going to go enemy territory and I’m going to freaking smash him.

“I’m going to look at his coach, I’m going to look at his brother and I’m going to smile. I’m going to wait for them to say anything, I’m going to wait for their excuses and it’s going to be one of the best trips of my life.”

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