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Jamahal Hill is making up for lost time.

UFC announced Friday that a pivotal light heavyweight matchup between former champion Hill and top contender Khalil Rountree is the latest addition to UFC 303. The announcement comes just six days after Hill suffered a first-round knockout loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 300.

UFC 303 takes place June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The card headlines UFC’s 2024 International Fight Week celebration, and features former two-division champ Conor McGregor making his long-awaited return against Michael Chandler in the main event.

Hill (12-2, 1 NC) is MMA Fighting’s No. 6 ranked light heavyweight in the world. A former titleholder who won his belt with a short-notice victory over Glover Teixeira, Hill vacated his title this past July after sustaining a torn Achilles while playing a pickup basketball game during 2023’s International Fight Week. Hill ultimately made a swift recovery but fell short in his bid to recapture the strap, losing in brutal fashion this past Saturday at UFC 300.

Rountree (13-5, 1 NC) is MMA Fighting’s No. 9 ranked light heavyweight. After struggling early in his UFC career, the 34-year-old has turned his fortunes around to put together the best run of his octagon tenure. Rountree has won his past five bouts, a streak highlighted by bonus-winning knockouts of Anthony Smith, Chris Daukaus, and Karl Roberson.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

NEW YORK — Ryan Garcia chugged a “nice ass beer” and promised to meet Devin Haney in the center of the ring after badly missing weight for Saturday’s bout in Brooklyn.

Garcia missed weight by 3.2 pounds at Friday’s official weigh-ins, tipping the scales at 143.2 pounds and rendering him ineligible to win Haney’s super lightweight title. Garcia confirmed Friday afternoon that he gave Haney $ 1.5 million because of his weight miss.

Watch the chaos of the final Haney vs. Garcia faceoff above.

“I just said, meet me in the f****** center of the ring like you [promised],” Garcia said after the heated faceoff. “I gave you your money, you better give me my f****** money. You want that center of the ring? Let’s f****** do it.”

“He’s very unprofessional. I’m a true professional,” Haney said. “And I told him yesterday, his antics will betray him, and this is just the start. Tomorrow, the world will see that I’m levels above this average fighter.”

Haney vs. Garcia takes place Saturday at the Barclays Center.

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UFC 300 took place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 13 and featured two world title bouts and a ‘BMF’ bout.  

The light heavyweight title was on the line in the fight card’s main event between champion Alex Pereira and former titleholder Jamahal Hill.  Pereira knocked out Hill in the first round.  

In the co-main event, women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili faced fellow Chinese fighter Yan Xiaonan.  Weili won the fight via unanimous decision.  

Lightweight contender and ‘BMF’ winner Justin Gaethje faced former featherweight titleholder Max Holloway in the third ever ‘BMF’ bout.  Holloway secured a last-second knockout win and became a viral sensation.  Look back at the slow motion highlights.

UFC 300 Slow Motion Highlights

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Ryan Garcia knows his limits.

On Friday, Garcia made headlines when he missed weight for his fight with 140-pound champion Devin Haney, coming in 3.2 pounds over the limit. Due to the miss, Garcia is ineligible to win Haney’s WBC super lightweight title, though the bout is currently set to proceed as scheduled.

Thanks to a wager the two made at a press conference this past Thursday, Garcia also owes Haney $ 1.5 million after they agreed that should one of them miss weight, the offending fighter would pay the other $ 500,000 per pound over the limit.

Despite these embarrassing circumstances and a public shellacking on social media, Garcia remains unapologetic for his error, and he insists that there was no way he could cut any more weight.

“At the end of the day, my last fight was at 143,” Garcia said on Twitter Spaces. “That’s all my body could completely get down to. My body absolutely cannot get lower than 143. There is nothing I could have done unless I killed myself. My team can speak for me. Did we or did we not try our hardest? All night working, trying to make the weight.

“But again, I’m not going to kill myself over the scale. The only thing I’ll sacrifice my life for is for Jesus Christ, not the scale.”

Garcia’s weigh-in gaffe is the latest incident in a bizarre pre-fight build between Garcia and Haney, which was initially sold as two of boxing’s brightest young stars facing off. “King Ryan” has come under increased scrutiny for going on multiple, confusing tirades on social media and in interviews, including spreading a variety of popular conspiracy theories.

He commented Friday on his public behavior, apparently claiming that everything he’s done in the lead-up to the Haney fight has been part of a plan.

“There’s always a different story to be told,” Garcia said. “Every fight you’re going to get something new. Today, this time around, it’s what it was. I’m most likely not going to carry like this ever again, but I did what I had to do. … Once you commit to a plan, if you back out, you’re a b****. I did not back out.

“I said what I was going to do, I have it all recorded. I recorded this months ago. What did I say? Step by step what was going to happen. Everybody was going to be covering this, it’s going to go insane. Everybody’s going to think I’m crazy. We have it all recorded.”

Garcia did not explain exactly what parts of his behavior were part of his plan, why he was motivated to act this way, nor the purpose of his actions, though he agreed with Twitter Space commentators who praised him for selling the fight.

Currently, Garcia is around a +600 underdog on DraftKings. Garcia defeated Oscar Duarte via eighth-round knockout to rebound from his first pro loss, a knockout at the hands of Gervonta Davis.

The long odds heading into Saturday have done nothing to shake the confidence of Garcia, who invites Haney to trade hands with him in the center of the ring.

“I’d risk everything in that ring,” Garcia said. “At the end of the day, I’m fighting for the children. I’m not about to go down and p**** out in any situation, I guarantee you that. Ain’t nothing going to stop me from just being in that b***** ready for the fire.

“If he’s dead-ass to meet in the center of the ring, I’ll stand right there in the center of the ring the whole time. We can fight inside, outside, whatever he wants, but there’s no way he’s fighting me in the center of the ring. There’s no way.”

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“I feel great and I got a three-pound advantage,” Garcia wrote on social media. “Let’s gooo hahahahaa. Winners do what they have to do, I’m still sharp! Belts don’t feed your family. Why would I force myself to make weight so I can be weak? Nah, I’m here to win. That’s it.”

In case you were wondering if Ryan Garcia was putting on a “lolol look how crazy I am” act to help draw attention to his upcoming Devin Haney super lightweight title fight on Sat. night (April 20, 2024) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, today’s official weigh ins should serve as proof that Garcia is, in fact, completely off his rocker.

Or scared and trying to do everything he can to get out of this fight.

“Ryan Garcia is indeed waaaay overweight for the fight,” veteran boxing reporter Dan Rafael wrote on Twitter. “He scales 143.2 pounds, per source in the room. He will not be eligible to win the WBC 140-pound title. Absolute disaster and absolutely expected. The sides have made a financial deal to go forward but way less than the $ 500k they shook on at the presser. That was not binding when it comes to actual contracts.”

“You still think Ryan is trolling? Please. Kid shouldn’t be fighting,” Rafael told the Doubting Thomases. “He’s not mentally or physically ready, obviously. He has problems and I feel bad for him. He has a good heart but is messed up and has nobody around him who gives a damn. Haney going to hurt him.”

Even Garcia’s promoter believes he’s “mentally unstable.”

“Ryan has weighed in over his contractual weight,” Golden Boy Promotions wrote in a prepared statement. “He will honor the handshake made at the final press conference yesterday. We have a fight.”

The show must go on … but at what cost? $ 69.99 on DAZN!

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts