CombatSports.org

UFC

submitted by /u/imrosskemp [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Unsurprisingly, Anderson Silva is a huge favorite over Chael Sonnen for their upcoming trilogy fight.

This past weekend, news broke that Silva and Sonnen will face off in a boxing match in Brazil on July 15. While there are still several details of the fight yet to be announced, such as weight class and rounds, the fight is being promoted as the “grand finale” of Silva’s illustrious combat sports career. The 44-year-old Silva has yet to confirm whether this will be his retirement fight, but if it is, he’ll go into it as a healthy betting favorite, per the opening odds courtesy of Sportsbetting.ag.

• Anderson Silva -500
• Chael Sonnen +325

The odds on Silva require a bettor to wager $ 500 to earn $ 100 back, plus the wager, and imply an 83.3 percent change of victory for “The Spider.”

Silva and Sonnen met twice before inside the UFC in one of the most memorable rivalries in UFC history. Silva won both meetings, but is perhaps best known for his incredible comeback submission win in their first encounter at UFC 117, a fight that will be enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame later this summer.

In recent years, Silva shifted his focus from MMA to boxing, most recently losing a unanimous decision to Jake Paul in October of 2022. Meanwhile, Sonnen has not competed since 2019, losing to Lyoto Machida at Bellator 222.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor didn’t hold back when discussing featherweight titleholder Ilia Topuria in a recent live stream.

Topuria won the 145-pound title by knocking out longtime champion Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 in February.  He’s expected to face former champion and newly crowned BMF titleholder Max Holloway later this year.  McGregor believes Holloway will defeat Topuria to become a two-time featherweight champion.      

“Holloway, too light, too fast.  I think Holloway picks him apart,” McGregor said in the live stream.  “I think Holloway picks him apart if they fight.  Holloway has done it.  He has that featherweight title.  He’s had it for a long time.  He’s now the BMF.  Topuria, for me, is a non-champion in my opinion.  He might have a strap, but it’s a meaningless strap in my opinion as he holds it.”

McGregor also took issue with Topuria’s comments about wanting to be the highest paid UFC athlete in 2025.  He then compared the featherweight champion to his former friend Artem Lobov.  Lobov and McGregor have been involved in an ongoing lawsuit surrounding McGregor’s ‘Proper 12’ whiskey brand.        

“I don’t get the buzz with him (Topuria).  There is no buzz with him.  He needs to keep fighting.  Topuria needs to keep fighting.  He’s talking,” McGregor said.  “I’ll tell you why I said what I said about him.  Because he’s talking about, he’s going to be the highest paid athlete in 2025. It’s 2024. It’s actually now. The 2025 highest paid athlete list begins right now. The list came out only recent and that means he’s going to have to rake in about $ 200, $ 300 million. Don’t be silly, lad.  Don’t be silly.

“It just reminded me of Artem Lobov. Just a stupid, little fool. Talking billions from a f*cking banger of a car. Thinks he knows it all, he’s only a little baldy fool.”  

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

UFC

submitted by /u/imrosskemp [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dustin Poirier isn’t leaving it in the hands of the judges when he fights Islam Makhachev.

“The Diamond” is set to take on the reigning lightweight champion—and MMA Fighting’s No. 1 Pound-for-Pound fighter—in the main event of UFC 302 in Newark, N.J., on June 1. This is Poirier’s third crack at undisputed gold after previously falling short against Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira.

Makhachev, a protege of the Nurmagomedov family, has spoken about his confidence in defeating Poirier. Unsurprisingly, Poirier has a different take on the matchup.

“I’m going to knock him unconscious and the ref is going to be pulling me off of him,” Poirier told Yahoo! Sports.

Poirier hasn’t gone the distance in almost four years, so in all likelihood he and Makhachev are both correct that whoever has their hand raised on fight night, it won’t have anything to do with the scorecards. Since his most recent decision, Poirier has scored finishes of Conor McGregor, Michael Chandler, and Benoit Saint Denis.

Much has been made of Poirier’s fixation on the guillotine choke, a submission technique that he has attempted several times in his illustrious career but never actually won a fight with. Poirier has been known to go for the maneuver even though it could lead to him ending up in a disadvantageous position. He said that his coach Mike Brown has cautioned him against utilizing the risky attack.

“Don’t give up position,” Poirier said. “That’s the record on repeat. Don’t go for it even if you think it’s getting tight or you have a good feel for it, don’t give up position. Especially for a guy like Islam. You give up position, you might be trying to get back to your feet for the rest of the round and losing the round, or putting yourself in deeper water and getting into a worse, dangerous position.

“So I have to play it and feel how I feel in there, see how I feel in there, in those positions. But I’ll probably jump it.”

Jokes aside, Poirier is well aware of the challenge he has ahead of him.

Makhachev has often been compared to Nurmagomedov, who dispatched Poirier by submission back in 2019. Given the similarities of their styles, there’s good reason to think that Poirier goes 0-3 in undisputed title challenges.

So not only is Poirier chasing lightweight gold again, he also gets a second chance to defeat the consensus best fighter on the planet.

“He’s a good competitor,” Poirier said. “Those guys coming out of Dagestan, that whole team, they compete hard. They stick to the game plan. They’re very strict on the way they move and I don’t see a whole lot of holes, honestly. If I’m sitting here watching footage with my coaches, we’re watching and looking at things, he has good standup. Obviously, his wrestling is good. Really good bodylocks—not traditional wrestling—really good bodylocks, sweeps, trips, things like that. Seems really strong for the weight class, very dominant on top, seems very heavy.

“It’s exactly what it is. I’m fighting the No. 1 pound-for-pound guy.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

“Childish Behavior”
| BJPenn.com

The team responsible for bringing UFC to Saudi Arabia was reportedly unhappy with the promotion’s first attempt at assembling an all-star lineup, a claim UFC CEO Dana White denies, but there’s unlikely to be any complaining with UFC matchmakers’ second effort, which features a blockbuster main event between middleweight maulers Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev on ABC!

Event: UFC Saudi Arabia: “Whittaker vs. Chimaev”
Date: Sat., June 22, 2024
Location: Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Start times: ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” at 12 p.m. ET | ABC/ESPN+ Main Card at 3 p.m. ET

UFC Saudi Arabia Main Event On ABC/ESPN+:

185 lbs.: Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev

UFC Saudi Arabia Main Card on ABC/ESPN+ (3 p.m. ET):

265 lbs.: Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alexander Volkov
170 lbs.: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Daniel Rodriguez
205 lbs.: Johnny Walker vs. Volkan Oezdemir
205 lbs.: Shara Magomedov vs. Joilton Lutterbach

UFC Saudi Arabia Prelims Card on ESPN/ESPN+ (12 p.m. ET):

135 lbs.: Farid Basharat vs. Montel Jackson
155 lbs.: Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jared Gordon
135 lbs.: Kyung Ho Kang vs. Muin Gafurov
170 lbs.: Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Nicolas Dalby
205 lbs.: Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs. Brendson Ribeiro
145 lbs.: Muhammad Naimov vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
185 lbs.: Abu Azaitar vs. Denis Tiuliulin
135 lbs.: Xiao Long vs. Chang Ho Lee

*Fight card, bout order and number of fights remain subject to change.*

For more upcoming UFC events click here.

MMAmania.com – All Posts

submitted by /u/imrosskemp [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts