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Bryan Barberena is stepping away from the octagon for now.

The 30-fight veteran announced on social media that he has fought out his contract with the UFC and not been re-signed. See Barberena’s statement below.

It’s been a hell of a ride!

My contract has ended with the UFC and I have not been resigned. In the meantime I’ll be enjoying my family, farming, and drinking some Ridge Rum. A lot of opportunity out there to let the hands fly and hurt some feelings, so we will see where the Bam Bam Nation rises next.

Thank you to the Bam Bam Nation, the fans, and those who enjoyed watching my fights. Thank you to the UFC, It’s been a blast.

In the statement, Barberena said he plans to take some time to enjoy life and that he is grateful for the opportunities afforded to him as a UFC fighter.

Barberena also called for an opportunity to face Mike Perry in bare-knuckle boxing following Perry’s 60-second knockout of Thiago Alves at BKFC KnuckleMania 4 on Saturday.

Barberena, 34, first fought for the UFC in December 2014. In his debut, he defeated Joe Ellenberger via third-round TKO, and went on to score notable victories over Robbie Lawler, Matt Brown, Sage Northcutt, Warlley Alves, and Jake Ellenberger. The veteran welterweight moved up to 185 pounds for his past two fights, both of which were losses.

In 19 UFC appearances, Barberena went 9-10 and won five Fight of the Night bonuses. His overall pro record stands at 18-12.

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UFC

Dustin Poirier may be a beast on the feet, but Islam Makhachev is a beast on the ground, and that’s where he plans on taking their UFC 302 fight.

Islam Makhachev is looking forward to an easy fight against his UFC 302 opponent Dustin Poirier.

The lightweight champion has a lot of respect for “Diamond,” but at the same time he believes he’s stylistic poison for Poirier. His ground game is just too strong, and that will carry him through their June 1st showdown in Newark, New Jersey.

“Dustin, he is a warrior, legend, he have more than anybody, experience in this sport,” Makhachev told TMZ Sports in a new interview. “His problem is his style. That’s the one problem this guy has. His weak point is wrestling and grappling. And I have the key for the easy fight, and if I follow the plan, I can beat him easy.”

“My style and Khabib’s style, it’s worst style for this guy, Dustin. People that can take him down, hold him there, always give him problems.”

Islam gave Poirier his props for stepping up and fighting him, considering there was no one else ready after the lightweight contender eliminator round we witnessed at UFC 300.

“Dustin is a good opponent because Oliveira, Arman [Tsarukyan], I already beat these guys already,” he said. “My dream fight for this division is Gaethje, but he lose already. Right now in this division, we just have Dustin because Arman said no, Gaethje lose, Oliveira lose. We don’t have someone.”

“Honestly, my dream fight is for the second belt at 170,” Makhachev added. “I don’t know who is gonna be there. Now we have champion Leon Edwards. About BMF, I don’t need this belt. I don’t know what is this belt, for what? And I’m not under-estimating Poirier because this guy’s a legend, he have better than everybody striking, in my division, in this sport. I prepare myself for this tough fight.”

His message to Poirier for UFC 302?

“Dustin: be ready and wrestle a lot,” he said before joking, “I defend my neck, I’m ready for your guillotine. It’s not happening in our fight, but I will be ready.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Thiago Alves has competed in his final fight.

Alves headlined BKFC KnuckleMania 4 on Saturday night against Mike Perry in Los Angeles. Perry knocked out Alves in 60 seconds with a brutal left hand. Following the event, Alves was asked what was next.

“I’m going back to retirement,” Alves said at the post-fight press conference. “I pretty much was already retired, but didn’t make an announcement [or] anything because I wanted to do one more, and this was it. Unfortunately it didn’t go my way, but I’ve been fighting professionally since I was 15 years old. I took this fight on [an] eight-week notice, and I lost my mother on April 5. So I’ve been through a lot, and I put my family through a lot already.

“I’m happy being a coach, living the life that I live, but I got no regrets. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to go out on top when you’re competing at this level, but I’m happy with the man I see in the mirror. And on to the next one, right?”

Alves competed in the BKFC ring for the third and final time on Saturday. The former BKFC 185-pound champion was not able to continue after the knockdown, with the referee ultimately stopping the bout.

Alves reacted to the stoppage with the media.

“I got dropped, and I was getting up and then the referee was looking at me and told me, ‘Take a few steps,’ and I did, and I guess he didn’t like what he saw,” Alves explained. “I figured I would go out on my shield, but that wasn’t the case today.”

The 40-year-old ends his career with a 23-15 pro MMA record, including a 15-12 record in the UFC, which featured a championship bout against Georges St-Pierre at UFC 100. After leaving the UFC, Alves transitioned more into a coaching role at American Top Team, but picked up a pair of wins in the BKFC ring, winning a decision against Julian Lane and finishing Uly Diaz to win BKFC gold at BKFC 18 in June 2021.

Now that his career is over, Alves said he accomplished everything he’s ever wanted to, and will leave the competition side of combat sports with his head held high.

“I’m just thankful,” Alves said. “I came here when I was 19 years old, had $ 40 to my name, I spoke no English, and was just a little kid from Brazil with a dream to become one of the best fighters in the world,” Alves said. “I think I was able to do that. I became a world champion in one of the most savage sports, badass sports out there [in] bare-knuckle boxing, and I’m just thankful to be able to provide a good life for my family, be able to leave this business in perfect health, and yeah, man, I’m just thankful to be here.”

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Michael Chandler is doing some “plotting” with Machine Gun Kelly ahead of his highly anticipated clash with Conor McGregor.

On Saturday, June 29, the Irish megastar will return to the Octagon for the first time in nearly three years when he headlines UFC 303 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. With their scrap just a few weeks away, ‘Iron’ appears to be playing some mind games with McGregor after posting a picture with Grammy Award-nominated artist Machine Gun Kelly.

McGregor and MGK, whose real name is Colson Baker, nearly threw hands during a brief interaction at the MTV Music Awards in 2021. To this day, nobody knows what caused the near-scuffle, but rumors immediately began flying that the animosity was the result of McGregor allegedly sending a direct message to Kelly’s girlfriend, actress Megan Fox.

However, representatives for McGregor have denied that narrative.

Recently, Chandler posted a picture with Kelly in what felt like a pretty clear dig at McGregor.

“63 days…. Plotting with ⁦@machinegunkelly,” Chandler wrote on X.

After Kelly opted not to comment on his interaction with McGregor, the Irishman told Entertainment Tonight”

“Absolutely nothing happened. I don’t know. He showed up, and I don’t know. I don’t know the guy. Nothing happened with me, I only fight real fighters, people that actually fight, you know what I mean? I certainly don’t fight little vanilla boy rappers. I don’t even know the guy. I don’t know anything about him, except that he’s with Megan Fox.”

McGregor reignited his rivalry with MGK after the incident, commenting on a video of Kelly riding a skateboard on social media. “Watch out guys we got a badass over here,” McGregor wrote in a since-deleted post.

Conor McGregor isn’t the only UFC fighter Machine Gun Kelly has had a bad experience with

It’s certainly not the first time that Machine Gun Kelly has had a run-in with a former MMA world champion. While attending a Power Slap event during Super Bowl weekend, Sean Strickland took issue with Kelly’s attire, telling him to “dress like a f*cking man” and likening him to a vampire.

“I don’t know who the f*ck that guy is,” Strickland tells the cameraman before yelling, “I’m easy to find, vampire man.”

Strickland offered some additional insight into the incident on his YouTube channel.

“I met some good people. Cowboy [Cerrone] was there. I met a vampire, apparently [the] guy dating Megan Fox,” Strickland said of meeting MGK. “You had some Transformers with a broken down car. I don’t know what happened to Megan Fox, but something happened to Megan Fox.

“I don’t know who did it, but I wanna find that man. I wanna have a conversation with him ’cause me and you, dude, we’re not cool. I meet this vampire-like, ‘Dude, you wake up every day and you dress like a vampire.’ I don’t know if he does or doesn’t. Maybe just a wardrobe. But dude, you dress like a vampire man. You look like the goth kid on South Park. And you go out in the world like this, like this only happens because you are in an insulated bubble” (h/t LoudWire).

LowKickMMA.com

UFC Vegas 91 took place on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.  The event was headlined by a flyweight bout between fifth-ranked Matheus Nicolau former title challenger and eighth-ranked Alex Perez.

Nicolau had a six-fight winning streak snapped in his last outing losing to Brandon Royval by knockout a year ago. Perez had lost his last three fights heading into Saturday’s showdown and was in desperate need of a win. 

Perez inched forward behind his jab early in the opening round.  Perez connected with a right hand.  Both fighters were cautious early until Perez pressed forward with a flurry of punches to the body.  Perez continued to target the body of Nicolau.  Perez moved in the pocket with a combination.  Nicolau connected with a counter combination displaying his hand speed.  They exchanged leg kicks late in the round.  MMAWeekly scored the round 10-9 for Perez due to a higher output.  

Perez’ corner was happy with the first round.  The two exchanged leg kicks to start the second frame.  Perez pressed forward with a flurry of punches that were mostly blocked.  The pace in the second round picked up from the first.  Perez continued to land to the body of Nicolau.  Perez stunned Nicolau with a right hand.  He kept the pressure on.  Nicolau tried to move laterally to escape but Perez connected with a right hand the crumbled Nicolau forcing the referee to stop the fight.  

The official time of the knockout came at 2:16 of the second round.  With the win, Perez will likely debut inside the Top 5 rankings.  

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts