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UFC 301 takes place this weekend at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.,  The event is headlined by flyweight title bout between champion Alexandre Pantoja and tenth-ranked Steve Erceg.  In the co-main event, former two-time featherweight champion Jose Aldo returns from retirement to take on Jonathan Martinez in a bantamweight bout.  

UFC 301 Embedded, Episode 1

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Claressa Shields knows she’ll always have detractors being in the combat sports public eye, but she’s learned the fan bases are much different between boxing and MMA.

Shields, the undisputed light middleweight boxing champion, recently improved her pro MMA record to 2-1 with a hard-fought split decision win over Kelsey DeSantis at PFL vs. Bellator in Saudi Arabia. “T-Rex” has seen how the MMA community has cast some doubt on her future in the sport, so picking up the win on a big stage was satisfying — mostly because of her doubters.

“If I was just a regular old Joe and not athletic, and not really a true fighter and a true combat fighter, then MMA wouldn’t even exist for me,” Shields said on The MMA Hour. “But it’s the fact that I am just really a dog and I love fighting. I love the art of war and I’m willing to put in a hard work. That’s how I won the fight. I put in so much hard work for this girl. She’s a purple belt in jiu-jitsu.

“It’s just like, for her to be a purple belt and me be a white belt, and then she’s also more experienced in MMA, she had three fights compared to my two and I’m 1-1, but she also had Muai Thai fights and have Brazilian jiu-jitsu [matches] and I don’t have those things — so I knew that going in there with her was a risk, but we worked on my weaknesses.

“But winning in MMA, it’s fulfilling, and then it’s funny to me because I feel like in MMA, I have more doubters than I have in boxing. Nobody in boxing doubts me. It’s a couple of haters here and there, but [are] you seriously going to tell me that there’s a girl right now in boxing that can beat me? Nobody can stand on that. But when you say [there are] girls in MMA who, even on a lower level, can beat me, people get all excited, like, ‘Yeah, somebody can finally beat her.’ And then when I win, it just makes all of them mad. So it’s very satisfying to me when they’re punching the air and pulling their hair when I win, because it’s just like, yes, I worked hard, I won.

“You doubted me, you’re mad, you suck.”

Shields was victorious in her MMA debut when she stopped Brittney Elkin via third-round TKO at PFL 4 in June 2021, before dropping a split decision to Abby Montes four months later at PFL 10.

Getting her first MMA victory was admittedly satisfying, but now that she’s been in the cage three times and has yet to get blown out, she knows there is indeed a future for her in MMA, and it could lead to some extra hardware getting wrapped around her waist down the line.

“MMA is just different, but in a weird crazy way, I actually find some kind of comfort in a whole not being the greatest thing in MMA — knowing that when I win, it’s always going to be a surprise to people,” Shields explained. “It’s always going to be something in a fight where it’s like, ‘Oh, this is MMA, this is what she’s not good at,’ and I just feel like, at first, I was doing MMA to prove to people like, ‘Hey, boxers can do MMA.’

“I wanted to win a fight, and then I won that fight by a third-round knockout with Brittney Elkin. And then I fought against Abby and I lost a split decision, but in my mind, at first, I was like, ‘If these girls got way more ground game than me, way more experience, way more just everything that I have in MMA compared to them except my boxing, why aren’t these girls submitting me? Why aren’t they knocking me out, why aren’t they choking me out?’ The answer I got was because I have potential to be an MMA champion.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Elves Brener is on roll in the UFC, rattling off a 3-0 start with two performance bonuses in a span of nine months. Ahead of his #UFC301 return against Myktybek Orolbai, the Chute Boxe lightweight talent ventured to Mogi Guaçu’s Velocitta race track to join Felipe Fraga, youngest champion in Stock Car Brazil history, for a hot lap on his brand new 550hp car.

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UFC 301 takes place this weekend at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event is headlined by flyweight title bout between champion Alexandre Pantoja and tenth-ranked Steve Erceg.   It’s the 12th time the fight promotion has held an event in Brazil’s second-most-populous city.  

Former middleweight champion Michael Bisping gave his prediction for the flyweight title bout on his YouTube channel and favored the champion.  

“Alexandre Pantoja, this man’s phenomenal.  He’s pretty much gone through the entire flyweight division.  Brandon Moreno, the Royvals, the Kapes.  You name it, he’s been there and done it,” said Bisping.  “He’s got no weak areas.  He’s got a strong mind.  He’s resilient.  He’s got an amazing gas tank.  He can strike.  He can wrestle.  He’s got world class jiu-jitsu, and he’s a nasty bastard on top of it.”  

“Steve Erceg, only 28-years-old, flying from Perth, Australia flying to Rio de Janeiro.  12-1, okay.  The man is on an incredible win streak and last time got the job done.  Knocked out Matt Schnell with a vicious left hook, but he’s not a knockout artist,” Bisping continued.  “In 12 wins he’s only had two knockouts and six submissions.”

“He’s a big underdog.  He should be a big underdog.  There’s a reason why he will be.  He’s going to try to shock the world.  Get a massive upset.  Will he get it done?  I love Steve Erceg.  Nice guy, but this isn’t the one.  It’s just not the one.  Not right now, and I say that with respect to Steve.”  

The fight will be Pantoja’s second title defense, and Bisping believes the belt will stay with the champion.  

“Alexandre Pantoja, he’s too skilled, too experience, but you never know.  One shot.  One shot is all it takes in those four ounce gloves,” said Bisping.  “Of course, in the main event, I have the one and only Alexandre Pantoja.”

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Ilia Topuria’s first title defense has yet to be decided.

The groundwork has been laid for a match up between the Featherweight champion and current Baddest Motherf—ker (BMF) titleholder, Max Holloway. The Hawaiian’s epic fifth round knockout win over Justin Gaethje (watch highlights) all but secured him with the option to do as he pleases going forward, which he’s made clear to be a shot at 145-pound gold.

However, Topuria has slightly changed his tune since UFC 300 earlier this month (April 13, 2024). With mentions of Brian Ortega and declining an Alexander Volkanovski rematch, according to Joe Rogan, Topuria isn’t starting on the best foot as champion, believes Daniel Cormier.

“Ilia Topuria is the champ, and as the champ, at times, you have some say into who you’re going to fight, when you’re going to fight him, when you’re ready, and all of that,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel (h/t MMA Fighting). “I don’t know, though, if he has as much say in this as he thinks he does.

“Max Holloway to me is clearly the guy, [but] if not, [it’s] Alexander Volkanovski. Max told me that,” he continued. “Him and I spoke personally, and he goes, ‘I thought Volk was going to get a rematch. How in the world does he not get a rematch?’ This is coming from the guy that’s waiting for the title fight. But he recognizes, ‘Look, man, this dude beat me three times, long-reigning champion, if anyone deserves an immediate rematch, it’s this guy.’”

Topuria, 27, defeated Volkanovski to become the champion via a second round knockout at UFC 298 this past February 2024 (watch highlights). For Holloway, his title reign at 145 pounds ended at the hands of Volkanovski in December 2019, who defeated him in their following two match ups. “Blessed” has only been bested by Volkanovski at Featherweight since 2013.

As a former two-division champion, Cormier has some advice for “El Matador.”

“I think Ilia Topuria needs to come right out and say, ‘Hey, I want Max Holloway on this date,’” Cormier said. “Then it would be on Max. … Because now, Max is the guy — and sure he has the BMF title — but he wants the Featherweight championship. Ilia has that. When Ilia says, ‘I want this fight on this date,’ Max will have to say, ‘Okay,’ or he will say no and they will move on.

“And then Ilia Topuria, at that point, can then start to go, ‘I don’t want to fight him,” he continued. “He had his chance, he could’ve did it then, he didn’t want to play by the rules.’ He has to make a statement saying, ‘This is what I want as the champ,’ and then put the ball in Max’s court to deny it. But right now, it’s not coming off great, because he’s batting away all of these guys with no clear idea of who else there is.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

On the second episode of UFC 301 Embedded, Steve Erceg trains in the streets of Rio, Jonathan Martinez goes shopping, Jose Aldo hits pads, Michel Pereira arrives in Rio and runs into Caio Borralho, Borralho hits the beach, Alexandre Pantoja leaves for Brazil, and more.

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