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Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev won the UFC 155-pound title at UFC 280 in October 2022 by submitting Charles Oliveira.  13,400 spectators filled Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi to see Makhachev become a champion.  

Makhachev puts his title on the line for the third time on June 1 in the UFC 302 main event against Dustin Poirier.

Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira Fight Video

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The build up to Jorge Masvidal’s combat sports return hasn’t been ideal for “Gamebred.”

Masvidal, 39, was originally scheduled to take on Nate Diaz in a boxing rematch of their November 2019 mixed martial arts (MMA) bout inside the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, California on June 1, 2024. However, after assessing the scheduling conflict with UFC 302 on that same night in Newark, New Jersey, the event was relocated to the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and delayed until July 6, 2024.

“You don’t want to go up against other dates and other fight events,” Masvidal told ESPN. “Especially, you don’t want to go up against UFC. So, from the beginning, I was trying to switch this date. Nate’s a f—king idiot. He was adamant about staying on that date because he’s not a UFC employee no more and, ‘I don’t have to do nothing for the UFC,’ and this and that.

“It just doesn’t make sense, especially when I know Nate thinks he’s a boxer now because he boxed the Jake Paul guy, but he’s not a boxer,” he continued. “He doesn’t have a boxing fanbase. The fanbase that he has is from MMA and UFC. So, why go up against our own fanbase? Me as a promoter, I’m thinking I don’t even want to do it. I know a lot of fight fans would buy both or watch both events, but in my opinion, why even do it if there were dates that weren’t conflicting?”

Masvidal was openly displeased to be going up against UFC before the change happened. “Gamebred” noted how even one week earlier (Sat., May 25, 2024) was a perfectly open and acceptable date.

When Masvidal and Diaz collide for the second time in a combat sports contest, it will be Masvidal’s first appearance in action since his unanimous decision loss to Gilbert Burns in April 2023. Masvidal announced his retirement from MMA after the bout and has been promoting his Gamebred Bareknuckle promotion and the occasional boxing event since. Masvidal’s last victory came in his first clash with Diaz when he became the inaugural Baddest Motherf—ker (BMF) champion by earning a third round doctor’s stoppage technical knockout.

“I don’t like that another month and a week got added to this already long training camp,” Masvidal said. “In hindsight, it doesn’t really matter because I’m making the transition from one sport to another. So the more time I get to practice and perfect my craft, sharpen my tools, it doesn’t hurt me or bother me.

“Now, Nate Diaz’s ass is somebody that does bother me and I want to f—k him up,” he continued. “We could have had this fight at an earlier date but this guy’s such a f—king diva and a f—king coward that he wouldn’t want to fight in Miami, didn’t want to fight in Texas because things didn’t go his way in Texas against Jake Paul. Didn’t want to fight in New York. Didn’t want to fight in California unless it was in his hometown. I’m here pent up, frustrated, training my ass off every day just to get in there with this guy, and f—king hurt him.”

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Top-ranked strawweights Amanda Lemos and Virna Jandiroba collide on July 20 at a UFC Fight Night event at the UFC APEX, multiple people with knowledge of the booking confirmed to MMA Fighting following a report from Igor Melotto.

UFC has yet to announce the main event for the Fight Night card.

Lemos moved to No. 5 on the MMA Fighting Global Rankings following a decision win over Mackenzie Dern this past February, rebounding from a unanimous decision defeat to 115-pound champion Zhang Weili in August 2023.

Jandiroba, who sits at No. 7 among MMA Fighting’s strawweight ranks, enters the cage hoping to earn a shot at the belt. The jiu-jitsu ace is currently riding a three-fight winning streak over Loopy Godinez, Marina Rodriguez, and Angela Hill.

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Ronda Rousey loved seeing Travis Browne pummel her ex-boyfriend into retirement.

Before the former bantamweight women’s world champion walked away from mixed martial arts and married Browne, Rousey spent some time in a relationship with another former UFC heavyweight contender — Brendan Schaub.

While Rousey has stayed mostly tight-lipped about her time with Schaub, he has been fairly open about the past relationship, speaking about it on more than one occasion via his plethora of podcasts. However, Rousey recently offered some insight into the situation via her new book, Our Fight: A Memoir.

In it, Rousey reveals some of the struggles she faced while dating Schaub. Though she doesn’t name him specifically, ‘Rowdy’ provides enough details for fight fans to quickly identify who she’s talking bout.

“Travis had been training with us for a while when it was announced that his first fight as an official member of our team would be against my ex-boyfriend,” Rousey wrote. “My ex thrived on playing f*cked-up mind games with me when I had a fight coming up and insisted we hide that we were dating so he wouldn’t be labeled ‘Ronda Rousey’s Boyfriend.’

“As Travis headed into the match up, I pretended it wasn’t personal,” she continued. “I tried not to be overly involved or emotional. This wasn’t my fight. I was hoping he would win, but I was in training camp, so I didn’t really think too much more about it. That is until it was on live TV, and I lost my goddamn mind. Screaming at the top of my lungs, ‘Get him, Travis!’ while punching the arm of the person on the couch next to me.”

Ronda Rousey basks in seeing her ex-boyfriend getting beaten down

Travis Browne fought six more times following his first-round knockout of Brendan Schaub. He went 1-5, suffering finishes against Cain Velasquez, Derrick Lewis, and Aleksei Oleinik. Overall, Browne went 18-7-1 in his MMA career.

Schaub ultimately retired from the sport a year after his loss to Browne, closing out his career with a 10-5 record.

“When Travis knocked him out at the end of the first round, I didn’t think it could get any more gratifying,” Rousey said. “My ex covered up on the ground while Travis pounded away on him. The referee waved the match over. Then Travis, towering over the crumpled, semi-conscious body of my ex, leaned down and whispered something in his ear. His words were indiscernible to the camera, but I swore I could hear Travis’ voice saying, ‘Ronda says f*ck you.’”

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John Fury has no regrets about his incident this week.

This Saturday, Fury’s son Tyson Fury faces Oleksandr Usyk in a highly anticipated boxing match that will crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion in almost 25 years. It’s a massive event, and fight week got off to a heated start on Monday when the elder Fury headbutted a member of Usyk’s team during a media event.

A day later, Fury has no regrets about what happened.

“It’s the fight game,” Fury told iFL TV. “Emotions are running high. At the end of the day, I was sat there, minding my own business, and all I could hear was, ‘Usyk! Usyk! Usyk!’ And I’m going to stand up for my son. At the end of the day, he’s my son, he’s the best in the world, and I want people to respect him and give him the credit he deserves as the champion. He’s the best in the world.

“When I was in amongst them, all I could hear was badness. So at the end of the day, some little idiot came forward — I don’t know who he was — in me space, he got what he got, and that’s the end of it. It happens every other week for me, that.”

For better or worse, that does appear to be the case. The Fury patriarch has become infamous for his antics during his sons’ rivalries. In the past few years, Fury challenged Jake Paul to a fight when his son Tommy Fury was feuding with Paul, and he also challenged Mike Tyson when Tyson trained Francis Ngannou for his boxing match against Tyson in 2023. And it sounds like John Fury has no intention of reigning that part of himself in any time soon.

“People are in positions. Tyson and Usyk can say what they want to each other,” Fury said. “They’re the ones that are going to fight. But I don’t think anybody else has got the authority to call anybody else [anything]. Because if one of my team was to insult Usyk, they’d be sacked, because they haven’t got the authority to do that. So at the end of the day, leave the fighting men to fight.

“At the end of the day, I’ve done what I’ve done. I have no complaints about anything. I am what I am. I’m going to defend my name with everything I’ve got. You see me walk amongst every man on me own. I don’t care if it was a rugby field, when it comes to a fight, I don’t care if I get kicked to death. Win, lose, or draw, I’ll have me say. That’s just the way I am.”

Tyson Fury faces Oleksandr Usyk this Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Fight week for the Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk boxing match kicked off on Monday with John Fury head butting a member of Usyk’s team.  The incident caused a cut on the older Fury’s forehead.  

Former UFC middleweight champion and commentator Michael Bisping reacted to the incident and criticized Fury’s father for trying to steal the spotlight every chance he gets.  

“It’s the beginning of fight week between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, the Gypsy King, the first undisputed title fight to go down in 25 years,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel.  “This is a monumental boxing event, and I can not wait for it. Any boxing fans, any purists, any casuals, anyone that loves combat sports is looking forward to this fight.”

“You’ve probably seen it by now.  At the fighter hotel, it looked like it was the hotel, Team Fury and Team Usyk, they come head to head.  They’re talking.  They’re chanting.  All their entourages and cornermen and people like that, their trainers and their fans were having a bit of a shouting match.  They’re having a bit of a cheering match,” Bisping continued.  “That’s all well and good.  You’re allowed to be passionate.  You’re allowed to be a strong supporter, and you can have a bit of fun and games with it.  Sometimes it goes a bit too far, but there’s no need to start assaulting people.  That’s essentially what John Fury did.”  

John Fury regularly inserts himself into the storyline when his son fights.  Bisping believes that he seeks to steal the spotlight.  

“It’s just a bit of an embarrassment,” Bisping said.  “When you start head butting people and assaulting people, there’s no place for that.  And this isn’t even the fighters.  It’s not even Tyson Fury and Usyk that’s doing this.  If it was them doing that, that would hype the fight, and this fight doesn’t need hyping.  It doesn’t need the extra bulls*t that goes along with it because this sells itself.  It’s the first undisputed heavyweight title fight in 25 years.  The last time we saw that was Lennox Lewis versus Evander Holyfield.  This is a monumental, historic fight that doesn’t need any bullish*t.

“John Fury, I don’t want to say this but it’s kind of true, he’s going to try to steal the limelight.  He’s going to insert himself into it at all times.  Every time Tyson fights, John Fury is there.  When [Francis] Ngannou and Fury were squaring off, he’s there.  He’s got his shirt off.  He’s involved.  ‘No man alive’ and all this type of sh*t.  Jesus Christ, take a backseat and let your son have the spotlight.”

“There’s a line, man, and you don’t really cross it like that.  This is a huge moment for Tyson Fury.  If he can go out there and beat Usyk, be the first person to do so, the first person to unify the belts in 25 years.  Don’t tarnish that by acting like a dickhead all fight week.  I mean, it’s the first day of fight week and he’s already head butting people.”   

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