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A pair of title contenders are going to be very happy to hear Dana White’s comments after UFC 308.

Starting with undefeated bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov, who has been anxiously awaiting word on his title shot against Merab Dvalishvili amid calls from the champion for an immediate rematch with Sean O’Malley. While Dvalishvili made claims that Nurmagomedov was “scared” and didn’t deserve a title shot, the UFC CEO seems to disagree.

When asked about Dvalishvili’s comments, White cemented Nurmagomedov as the No. 1 contender while stating “absolutely” that’s the fight the UFC wants next.

As far as Dvalishvili hinting at other options, most notably his constant calls for a second fight against O’Malley, White also shut that down by answering “Umar” when addressing immediate plans for the bantamweight title.

White also dealt with the recent rumors that Nurmagomedov was actually working towards a fight against Song Yadong after learning that Dvalishvili wouldn’t be ready to compete again until March. That month represents the start of Ramadan and Nurmagomedov has stated that he doesn’t want to compete during the holy month when Muslims fast from dawn until sunset every day.

“Did we announce it?” White said about Nurmagomedov vs. Song. “Then no [it’s not official].”

A few weight classes higher, White also responded to inquiries about Magomed Ankalaev finally earning his long awaited title shot against light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

On Saturday, Ankalaev extended his unbeaten streak to 13 straight with a unanimous decision win over Aleksandar Rakic. Ankalaev’s manager Ali Abdelaziz previously told MMA Fighting that as long as the Russian handled his business at UFC 308, then he expected a title shot would be next.

Now White is backing up those plans after watching Ankalaev’s performance on Saturday.

“He looked good,” White said about Ankalaev. “He absolutely looked great. I would have to say yes [he gets his title shot].”

With Ankalaev and Nurmagomedov in place as challengers, Pereira and Dvalishvili can respectively start planning for the future once the UFC schedule starts coming together for 2025.

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Aljamain Sterling likes his chances against Ilia Topuria.

This past Saturday, Topuria secured the first defense of his featherweight title, stopping former champion Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 308. Topuria is now the first person to finish Holloway with strikes and given his second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski earlier this year, “El Matador” has established himself as one of the most devastating strikers in the sport currently, so much so that even his possible future opponent was impressed.

“I ain’t standing with that guy. I would never stand and trade with that guy!” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “I saw comments from the reaction, ‘You should change weight classes.’ I thought that was so funny… I made a joke, ‘I want to go back to 135.’ [Laughs] …

“I’ll point to the ground but I’ll do my running man dance instead.”

All kidding aside, Sterling may soon be in a position to face Topuria.

Volkanovski appears to be next up for Topuria, with Diego Lopes waiting in the wings, but the former bantamweight champion faces Movsar Evloev at UFC 310 and the winner could also be in the mix for a shot at the champion. And should that happen, “The Funkmaster” believes he can give Topuria a run for his money.

“If I were to fight him, god willing, I beat Movsar and I do get the crack, I do think I have a great style to neutralize his offense,” Sterling said. “Bro, most of these guys are striking with him. I ain’t doing that, bro! I ain’t doing that. We’re sitting there looking for a takedown. I have to make it a grappling match. I’m trying to the the W, I’m not trying to get my brain and my head sent to the next dimension again. I’m cool on that.”

Sterling notably lost his UFC bantamweight when he was knocked out by Sean O’Malley last year at UFC 292. Following that loss, Sterling moved up to featherweight where he defeated Calvin Kattar in his debut.

After he left bantamweight, his longtime friend and teammate Merab Dvalishvili dethroned O’Malley to become the 135-pound champion. And for Sterling, that might be the only downside to a matchup with Topuria: making Merab choose sides.

“Merab and I are boys. Merab is also boys with Ilia, so I don’t know what that turns into,” Sterling said. “… Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that anytime soon. I’ve got one other tough opponent in front of me and then we kind of go from there.”

UFC 310 takes place on on Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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Heavyweights collide
| BJPenn.com

2024 ‘Fighter of the Year’ will be a fun debate for the next two months, but after Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria became the first person to knockout Max Holloway (watch it) at UFC 308 last weekend (Sat., Oct. 26, 2024) from inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE, the undefeated Spanish fighter may have snatched the crown.

Former UFC Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who was in attendance on Sat and locked up a rematch with Topuira after the win, gave his opinion today (Mon., Oct. 28, 2024) on who he believes is the ‘Fighter of the Year.’

“A few things come into play when you’re saving cards,” Volkanovski told Ariel Helwani. “Put it this way, if it wasn’t [Alex] Pereira saving cards and putting his belt on the line while saving cards, it would be clearly Ilia. Yeah, you’ve had three [title] defenses, but the two that Ilia took out and finished us both, it’s hard to pick against Ilia, to be honest. Before this past weekend, I was like, ‘How does Pereira not get it?’ It was pretty clear… It’ ‘s pretty impressive, man. It’s tough to say.”

The debate between Alex Pereira and Topuira for 2024 ‘Fighter of the Year’ will be subjective, and here is why.

Indeed, Pereira saved UFC’s ass this year. He headlined their biggest card to date, UFC 300, then saved 2024 International Fight Week, UFC 303, and then headlined UFC 307. All of the fights were championship bouts, relatively short notice, and he knocked out all three opponents brutally. Oh, all in seven months, breaking Ronda Rousey’s previous record of the shortest time between three world title defenses, which was 175 days.

It is simply incredible.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Now, Topuira, on the other hand, had quality wins over quantity. He first became the first person to defeat Volkanovski at Featherweight, knocking him out at UFC 298. Then, eight months later, he became the first person to knock out Holloway – something Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, Conor McGregor, Jose Aldo, or Volkanovski could not achieve.

Volkanovski and Holloway are two of the best Featherweights ever, and Topuria knocked them out back-to-back.

I repeat that quality wins over quantity, but the award will ultimately depend on how UFC values the honor.

What say you, Maniacs?

For complete UFC 308 results, coverage, and highlights, click HERE.

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Light heavyweights Johnny Walker and Bogdan Guskov are expected to meet at the upcoming UFC 311 card, which is set to take place on Jan. 18 with a location still to be determined, although Los Angeles is the rumored destination.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Monday. Red Corner MMA initially posted the news.

Walker returns to action in January with hopes of returning to the win column after going 0-2 with one no contest in his past three fights. Most recently, Walker suffered a first-round knockout loss to Volkan Oezdemir at the UFC’s first ever card in Saudi Arabia.

While the Brazilian has fallen on harder times, he remains a constant threat at 205 pounds with impressive wins over names like Anthony Smith and Paul Craig in recent years.

As for Guskov, the 32-year-old fighter from Uzbekistan looks to build on the momentum from his past two fights where he knocked out Ryan Spann and Zac Pauga. Overall, Guskov has gone 2-1 in the UFC with his loss also coming to Oezdemir when he fell to the one-time title challenger by submission back in September 2023.

Walker vs. Guskov is the latest addition to the UFC 311 card with a main event still to be determined. There are rumors that lightweight champion Islam Makhachev could potentially return in January but that hasn’t been finalized yet.

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Francis Ngannou’s emotional fight week was shown like never before.

The former UFC heavyweight champion, and now PFL superfights titleholder made his promotional debut at Battle of the Giants earlier this month in Saudi Arabia. Ngannou obliterated opponent Renan Ferreira in the first round with brutal ground and pound. The bout served as his first in MMA since defending the UFC heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January.

Ngannou also competed with a heavy heart after losing his 15-month-old son Kobe in April, which was an emotional motivator for the fight. That was shown in an exclusive behind-the-scenes video he posted on his YouTube channel. Check it out in the video above.

After choosing to leave the UFC and vacating the heavyweight championship, Ngannou signed with the PFL, but did not compete for the promotion until the recent pay-per-view event. In between, Ngannou took two boxing fights against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, losing both contests.

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