Ramiro Jiminez, one of the sport’s top featherweight prospects, is staying with Combate Global.
Promotional officials confirmed to MMA Fighting that 2023 Copa Combate winner Jimenez has signed a new multi-fight, multi-year agreement to remain with the promotion for the foreseeable future. The 10-0 finisher has won all eight of his promotional bouts, earning stoppages in seven of those appearances.
The 25-year-old went 4-0 in 2023, which includes his Cope Combate tournament championship — which saw ““El Cachanilla” win three fights in one night at the December event. He earned a majority decision over Pablo Burgos in his first-round matchup, before winning the one-night tournament with back-to-back first-round finishes against Mauricio Eguiluz and Tommy Garcia.
Jimenez had his professional debut with Combate Global at just 20 years old, and made the most of it with a first-round submission win in February 2019. He is expected to return to action in late July.
Interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall says the start time for UFC 304 which is set to take place in Manchester, England is terrible for fans.
The UFC announced that UFC 304 would take place in Manchester, England on July 27. It was exciting news for UK fans that the promotion is heading back to the card, but the event will be catering to the US market as the pay-per-view start time will be 10 p.m. Eastern time, which means 3 a.m. local time.
Aspinall, who is expected to be on the card, took to social media to share his thoughts on the start time.
Tom Aspinall believes the start times for #UFC304 in Manchester is unfair on the fans:
“As a fighter, in all honesty doesn’t make that much difference…
As a fan who wants to watch it live, I think it is absolutely terrible. It’s just not fair on the fans…
Why can’t the… pic.twitter.com/lkHwhcfBjO
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 29, 2024
“As an athlete, as a fighter, it honestly doesn’t make that much difference,” Tom Aspinall said (via MMAMania). “For a couple of weeks before, I’ll have to wake up and train at that time or stay up or whatever. I’ve flown across the world multiple times and fought in different time zones, so it’s not as bad as that. As a fan who wants to watch it live? I think it’s absolutely terrible.
“I think it’s just not fair on the fans, not fair on the UK fans. Obviously predominantly it’s an American audience so I understand that, they want to sell to them. But why can’t they sell to them in the afternoon which is our evening time? Why can’t Americans watch it in the afternoon and the UK fans, the Manchester fans, the European fans can all fly to the event, sell out this new arena. It’s going to sell out regardless. We’re very lucky to have a PPV in Manchester. But it’s UK MMA, let’s put it on UK time,” Tom Aspinall continued.
The last time the UFC held a pay-per-view in the UK was when Leon Edwards was defending his welterweight title against Kamaru Usman. That card was held in primetime for England, but this time around, that won’t be the case.
Tom Aspinall Likely To Be On UFC 304, Opponent Not Known
Tom Aspinall does not have his next fight booked, but all signs point to the Brit defending his interim heavyweight title on the card.
Mandatory Credit: Zuffa LLC
Aspinall won the interim title back in November with a first-round knockout over Sergei Pavlovich. The Brit has called for a rematch with Curtis Blaydes, so that is a potential next opponent for him.
Aspinall and Blaydes fought back in July of 2022 when Aspinall blew out his knee just seconds into the fight.
UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja isn’t happy with some of the things former middleweight titleholder Sean Strickland has said about the lighter weight classes.
“I don’t want to see two f**king little cats fight; I want to see lions,” Strickland said in the lead up to his UFC 297 title bout against Dricus Du Plessis. Pantoja hasn’t forgotten Strickland’s January comments and responded to the former champion in a recent interview.
“Every flyweight in the world before the UFC worked so hard,” Pantoja said during an interview with SHAK MMA. “It’s crazy because people say that. Don’t say that. You want I to lose my money, I lose my job? That’s so crazy. Why? Why you say that?”
“I’m very mad when Strickland said that for women and flyweight guys. Shut your mouth. Respect my job,” Pantoja continued. “I put food on my table with that. You crazy? Every flyweight worked so hard for that, and that’s why everyone respects each other in the flyweights.
“It’s hard (when) you see someone say bad things about us because we work hard. That’s a very hard division. We need to be training 100-percent (of the) time. It’s not just about one punch here. You need to be good in grappling, good cardio, good striking, good every time in every place.”
Pantoja puts his world title on the line in the UFC 301 main event on Saturday against tenth-ranked Steve Erceg in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It will be Pantoja’s second title defense.
The Brazilian flyweight, who was disqualified and later released from the UFC for biting opponent Andre Lima during a card in March, faces a full disciplinary hearing or possibly a new adjudication agreement after the Nevada Commission denied a recommended six-month suspension as penalty.
During a scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Nevada Deputy Attorney General Matthew Feeley presented an agreed upon adjudication agreement where Severino would face a six-month suspension along with a $ 3,000 fine — representing 30 percent of his $ 10,000 purse — and prosecution fees for his actions.
Feeley explained that there was no prior precedent set for an incident of this nature because it hasn’t really happened since the infamous moment when Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield in their fight all the way back in 1997.
It was noted that Tyson’s behavior was considerably worse, which is why he had his license revoked for over a year and he faced $ 3 million in fines.
Despite the recommended adjudication agreement, the commission ultimately decided the penalty wasn’t stiff enough because suspending Severino for six months sets a standard for future altercations if this happens again in Nevada.
“The bigger issue is the precedent we set going forward if this happens again, you’re stuck at six months,” commissioner Anthony Marnell said during the hearing. “That is unbelievably dangerous for this commission. That’s my opinion.”
Severino wasn’t present during the meeting so he was unable to give a statement to the commission about the incident.
The commissioners noted that Severino was released from the UFC for his actions but he could still be signed by any other promotion and the six-month suspension really didn’t appeal to them as adequate punishment.
As a result, Severino now faces a second disciplinary hearing in May before the Nevada Commission or the attorney general’s office will work with the fighter on a different adjudication agreement that could be presented next month. One commissioner recommended at least a one-year suspension for the altercation but that was tabled until a full hearing could be held in May.
For now, Severino remains on temporary suspension from the commission, and he won’t find out what kind of penalty he faces until the next meeting in May.
Charles Oliveira | Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Charles Oliveira is both anxious to fight again and ready to negotiate his UFC next move.
The former UFC lightweight champion lost a close split decision to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300 earlier this month in Las Vegas, then returned home to be close to his family and “rest my mind, spirit, and body” before booking another fight. “Do Bronx” doesn’t want to waste too much time on the sidelines, though.
“I left [Las Vegas] asking for another fight right away,” Oliveira told MMA Fighting. “I want to fight as early as possible. I had two or three stitches over my eye but that’s gone already. I have no injuries whatsoever. I’m ready to fight again as soon as the UFC calls me. Of course, I don’t have anything to prove to anyone and everybody knows my history in the UFC, so there’s no point accepting fights with the No. 8 or 10 in the division. I want to fight people who are ahead of me. That’s why we have to wait and think, analyze the next step we’ll take. My managers and coaches will analyze that.”
Oliveira already returned to the gym to train and will fly to Rio de Janeiro to corner his Chute Boxe teammate Elves Brener against Myktybek Orolbai at UFC 301 on May 4.
“Do Bronx” expressed interested in a rematch with Justin Gaethje, who also lost at UFC 300, however the former BMF titleholder announced plans to take “six months, at least, before I get back to taking shots” following his brutal knockout defeat against Max Holloway.
“He’s not wrong,” said Oliveira, who submitted Gaethje back in 2022. “You don’t have to fight to show off to people or anything like that, you have to fight when you’re well. [Taking time off is] not my idea, I want to fight way earlier than that, so [waiting for Gaethje] doesn’t align with what I’m planning on doing.”
“There’s so much going on [at lightweight now],” he continued. “Conor [McGregor] and Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier and Islam Makhachev, fights that are about to happen soon, so I don’t want to rush things. I just fought, it was recent. I have no injuries but everybody knows that a camp is a camp. I want to take it slow, no craziness, to do things the right way.”
With Gaethje unavailable and the lightweight division loaded with big fights in June, Oliveira said he’s open to moving up to welterweight if it makes sense for all parties involved.
“Why not?” Oliveira said. “Why not take a fight that will lead us to money and history and legacy? We have to think about it and talk to the organization. Why not move up in weight and do a big fight? A fight that makes sense and gives us money? Why not?”
Oliveira said he didn’t watch his Tsarukyan loss and doesn’t plan on doing it because “I don’t even watch the ones I won.” He won’t argue against the judges, either.
“I had the best opportunities to finish the fight but they decided to give the other side the win,” Oliveira said. “Many people say, ‘The victory was yours.’ I have nothing to say. If I wanted the victory to be mine, I should have knocked him out or submitted him. When it goes to a decision, it’s kind of complicated. But I had the best opportunities to finish the fight and they gave [Tsarukyan] the victory, so there’s nothing I can do.
“There’s no point complaining about something that won’t change. The result won’t change. Many people gave me the win just like many people said I lost. A lot of people will talk crap online like they always do, of course, but it won’t change. That only fuels me to work harder. I know how hard I worked to get where I got and put on that fight.”
That being said, the ex-champ sees what he could’ve done to prevent a judges’ decision.
“I could have been more aggressive, walked forward and pushed the pace on the feet,” Oliveira said. “I shouldn’t have waited that long on the ground, I could have battled and moved more. In my eyes, I think I won the first round pretty clearly. I lost the second round. The third was the closest one. Everything I say here will be controversial, but that’s the reality. If you watch it, he took me down, but what did he do? He did nothing. He just laid there, quietly. I was trying to submit him. I won’t create any controversy here, I won’t whine about it and say I won or lost. The result is that and there’s nothing I can do.”
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings in the wake of the UFC Vegas 91 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last weekend (Sat., April 27, 2024) at APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alex Perez is now ranked in the Top 5 at flyweight after crushing Matheus Nicolau in the UFC Vegas 91 headliner, sending the Brazilian down to the No. 8 spot. In the UFC Vegas 91 co-main event, Bogdan Guskov stopped Ryan Spann to debut at No. 12 on the light heavyweight chart, with “Superman” tumbling all the way down to No. 15.
Here’s how UFC compiles its official rankings:
Rankings were generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.
Take a look at what the latest rankings field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, T = tie, *NR = Not previously ranked).
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Islam Makhachev 2. Jon Jones 3. Leon Edwards 4. Alex Pereira 5. Ilia Topuria 6. Sean O’Malley 7. Alexander Volkanovski 8. Max Holloway 9. Dricus Du Plessis 10. Alexandre Pantoja 11. Israel Adesanya +1 12. Tom Aspinall +1 13. Charles Oliveira -2 14. Sean Strickland 15. Aljamain Sterling
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Alexandre Pantoja
1. Brandon Royval 2. Brandon Moreno 3. Amir Albazi 4. Kai Kara France 5. Alex Perez +3 6. Muhammad Mokaev +1 7. Manel Kape -1 8. Matheus Nicolau -3 9. Tim Elliott 10. Steve Erceg 11. Matt Schnell 12. Tagir Ulanbekov 13. Tatsuro Taira 14. Su Mudaerji +1 15. David Dvorak -1
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Sean O’Malley
1. Merab Dvalishvili 2. Cory Sandhagen 3. Petr Yan 4. Marlon Vera 5. Henry Cejudo 6. Deiveson Figueiredo 7. Song Yadong 8. Rob Font 9. Umar Nurmagomedov 10. Kyler Phillips 11. Dominick Cruz 12. Jonathan Martinez +1 13. Mario Bautista -1 14. Ricky Simon +1 15. Pedro Munhoz -1
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Ilia Topuria
1. Alexander Volkanovski 2. Max Holloway 3. Brian Ortega 4. Yair Rodriguez 5. Movsar Evloev 6. Arnold Allen 7. Josh Emmett 8. Aljamain Sterling 9. Calvin Kattar 10. Giga Chikadze 11. Edson Barboza +1 12. Bryce Mitchell -1 13. Dan Ige 14. Diego Lopes 15. Sodiq Yusuff
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Islam Makhachev
1. Arman Tsarukyan 2. Charles Oliveira 3. Justin Gaethje 4. Dustin Poirier 5. Mateusz Gamrot 6. Beneil Dariush 7. Michael Chandler 8. Rafael Fiziev 9. Max Holloway 10. Renato Moicano 11. Dan Hooker 12. Jalin Turner 13. Benoit Saint-Denis 14. Rafael dos Anjos 15. Bobby Green
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Leon Edwards
1. Kamaru Usman 2. Belal Muhammed 3. Shavkat Rakhmonov 4. Colby Covington 5. Jack Della Maddalena 6. Gilbert Burns 7. Ian Machado Garry 8. Sean Brady 9. Stephen Thompson 10. Geoff Neal 11. Joaquin Buckley 12. Neil Magny 13. Michael Page 14. Vicente Luque 15. Kevin Holland
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Dricus Du Plessis
1. Sean Strickland 2. Israel Adesanya 3. Robert Whittaker 4. Jared Cannonier 5. Marvin Vettori 6. Paulo Costa 7. Brendan Allen 8. Nassourdine Imavov 9. Roman Dolidze 10. Jack Hermansson 11. Khamzat Chimaev 12. Anthony Hernandez 13. Paul Craig 14. Caio Borralho 15. Chris Curtis
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Alex Pereira
1. Jiri Prochazka 2. Magomed Ankalaev 3. Jamahal Hill 4. Jan Blachowicz 5. Aleksandar Rakic 6. Nikita Krylov 7. Johnny Walker 8. Khalil Rountree 9. Volkan Oezdemir 10. Anthony Smith 11. Alonzo Menifield +1 12. Bogdan Guskov *NR 13. Azamat Murzakanov 14. Dominick Reyes 15. Ryan Spann -4
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1. Tom Aspinall 2. Ciryl Gane 3. Sergei Pavlovich 4. Curtis Blaydes +1 5. Stipe Miocic -1 6. Alexander Volkov 7. Jailton Almeida 8. Marcin Tybura 9. Serghei Spivac 10. Tai Tuivasa 11. Jairzinho Rozenstruik 12. Derrick Lewis 13. Alexandr Romanov 14. Marcos Rogerio De Lima 15. Rodrigo Nascimento
1. Julianna Pena 2. Ketlen Vieira 3. Mayra Bueno Silva 4. Kayla Harrison 5. Irene Aldana 6. Holly Holm 7. Macy Chiasson 8. Miesha Tate 9. Karol Rosa 10. Norma Dumont 11. Pannie Kianzad 12. Yana Santos 13. Julia Avila 14. Chelsea Chandler 15. Germaine De Randamie
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the flyweight division, following the UFC 301: “Pantoja vs. Erceg” pay-per-view (PPV) event on ESPN+, scheduled for Sat., May 4, 2024 at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.
File under: Mmafighting.com | Leave a comment »