Alex Pereira at UFC 300 | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Alex Pereira is an unreasonably tough human being.
This past Saturday, Pereira successfully defended his light heavyweight title with a first-round knockout of Jamahal Hill in the main event of UFC 300. After the fight, UFC CEO Dana White revealed Pereira broke a toe a few weeks before the event but competed anyway, and on Tuesday, Pereira showed exactly what happened.
Posting to his Instagram, Pereira put up a video of the training session two weeks before UFC 300 where he broke his right pinky toe, and the methods his team tried to fix it immediately after.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Alex “Poatan” Pereira (@alexpoatanpereira)
“I broke my toe. … Push it. Push. … See if it went back. … Rotate it a bit. … Do it like this. Out. Out. Forward.”
In the video you can see Pereira recognize the break after throwing a kick. Then his team attempts to push the toe back into place to no avail. While they continue to work on his foot, Pereira sits there and laments the accident.
“Sucks, man. Last round,” Pereira said. “I was doing good.”
Ultimately the broken digit didn’t affect Pereira too much as he was still able to knockout Hill in just over three minutes.
Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt suffered a second-round submission loss to ex-flyweight titleholder Deiveson Figueiredo as part of their UFC 300 “Prelims” clash last weekend in Las Vegas, snapping a two-fight winning streak while failing to reclaim a spot in the division Top 15.
Turns out “No Love” was fighting more than one battle on April 13.
“I felt great in my fight until I started to experience vertigo,” Garbrandt wrote on Twitter. “I couldn’t control the spinning once it was to the ground. Hats off to Deiveson and his camp! I ended up going to the hospital where I was still experiencing the vertigo, throwing up until 4 a.m. I’ll get this corrected. I’ve dealt with vertigo since 2012. Thank you to the fans that came out to support. It wasn’t my night, but I love doing what I do. I’ll be back in there before the year is up.”
Fans on social media insisted his post-fight revelation was “not a good look.”
“Not a good look to say what happened to me in a fight by what I was experiencing? It’s the truth, taking nothing from Deiveson,” Garbrandt continued. You think I would just lay on my back not getting up whole time I was spinning not trying to get my face elbowed in and fighting through it. I felt the best in there, my heart was full laid it on the line and enjoyed myself in there. Of course Figgy is a great fighter honored to fight with him.”
Garbrandt, 32, has been knocked out four times in his professional MMA career and once on the amateur circuit. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is commonly associated with concussions and head trauma, which may raise questions about his ability to get licensed in future fights.
For complete UFC 300 results and LIVE play-by play click HERE.
Arman Tsarukyan | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Arman Tsarukyan is waiting for the right time to step into the cage with Islam Makhachev again.
Tsarukyan scored the biggest win of his career this past Saturday at UFC 300, earning a split nod over former lightweight champ Charles Oliveira to potentially set up a fight with Makhachev, the current champion. A bout between Tsarukyan and Makhachev would mark the second time they’ve shared the octagon, with Makhachev owning an April 2019 win over the then-debuting Tsarukyan.
On The MMA Hour, Tsarukyan confirmed that he was asked if he would be willing to fight Makhachev at UFC 302 on June 1, but he declined.
“It’s true,” Tsarukyan said. “When I left the octagon, right away [UFC COO Hunter Campell] came and said, ‘June 1. Islam.’ I said I’ve got to think. It was, like, seven weeks [away], and I can’t jump too fast, so I’ve got to rest a little bit and have a camp. If it was the end of June, I would take that fight because I’d have at least 10 weeks — two weeks rest and eight weeks for preparation.
“Why I’ve got to take the same risk like I did for the first fight? It’s the same thing, short notice. I want to be ready and I want to have a full training camp. Why, if I’m the No. 1 contender, why I’ve got to take the risk? Of course, if I’m [only] in the top 10 and someone said, ‘Seven weeks, can you fight on June 1?’ Of course, I’m going to take it. But I just beat the former champion, a Hall of Fame fighter, and it doesn’t make sense.”
It was instead announced Saturday that Makhachev will fight Dustin Poirier in the UFC 302 main event. “The Diamond” has alternated wins and losses over his past five fights, but he holds recent wins over Conor McGregor, Michael Chandler, and Benoit Saint Denis.
Tsarukyan has been one of the lightweight division’s hottest fighters since his loss to Makhachev, going 9-1 with his only setback being a narrow split decision loss to Mateusz Gamrot. When the UFC came around to reward him for his efforts, it pained him to decline the title fight offer.
“It was hard to say no,” Tsarukyan said. “It was hard to say no, but I know I’m going to fight next for the title with the winner of that [Makhachev vs. Poirier] fight.”
Tsarukyan added that it’s understanding that the matchmakers want him to face the UFC 302 main event winner.
Currently, Tsarukyan trains at American Top Team in Florida with Poirier, but he would have no issue facing his teammate if it meant fighting for the title, though he’s not sure if Poirier feels the same way. He’s more confident that there would be no issue getting Makhachev to sign on the dotted line.
If Tsarukyan has to choose his next opponent, it’s Makhachev all the way.
“It’s a difficult question because Poirier, he’s my teammate, and Islam, that guy I want to beat so much you can’t even imagine,” Tsarukyan said. “First, he has the title, and second, it’s the rematch. That fight, for me, makes sense. Definitely, I want to see the winner is Islam Makhachev.
“But I’m not going to support anybody there, I’m just going to be out and watch the good fight. Poirier is good. He has a good condition, he can knock out people very easy. If Islam is going to do small mistakes, Poirier is going to knock him out. He has a very powerful punch.”
Iron’ Mike Tyson is racing toward his boxing match with Jake Paul … Literally.
On Saturday, July 20, the former unified heavyweight world champion returns to the ring for a highly anticipated clash with YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul. Emanating from the 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Paul vs. Tyson will broadcast live on Netflix — a first for the streaming giant and its 260 million+ subscribers.
Since the announcement, Tyson has been sharing footage of his intense training sessions, prompting many to suggest that ‘Kid Dynamite’ is looking like a fighter hellbent on proving that he’s still got plenty of gas left in the tank.
Recently, Tyson shared a brief clip of him doing sprints while sending a word of warning to ‘The Problem Child.’
I’m coming for you #PaulTyson pic.twitter.com/la9vrHvq3L
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) April 16, 2024
“I’m coming for you,” Tyson wrote in the cation.
Mike Tyson reveals Taylor vs. Serrano 2 will go down on July 20
Tyson also revealed that in addition to his fight with Jake Paul this summer, fans will also see a highly anticipated rematch between two of the best female boxers in the world today.
Irish star Katie Taylor, who currently reigns as the undisputed lightweight and super lightweight world champion, will put the latter on the line when she runs back her 2022 classic with Puerto Rican sensation Amanda Serrano.
“We have the biggest female boxing event ever on our card,” Tyson wrote on X. “I have always advocated for female boxers getting more recognition and getting paid bigger purses, so for the Taylor vs Serrano 2 fight to be on our fight card is historic.”
Taylor and Serrano’s inaugural meeting was the first women’s boxing match to headline Madison Square Garden and was highly regarded as the biggest women’s fight of all time. It was dubbed Fight of the Year by Sports Illustrated and Event of the Year by The Ring.
Are those hangovers gone yet? Happy to announce that we're back on, folks!
We're extremely excited to announce that UFC artist Gian Galang u/giangalang will be joining us for an AMA tomorrow afternoon at 5PM PDT / 8PM EST. He put in the work for this PPV with this extraordinary mural for UFC 300 as well as this Artist Series Poster done in the same style.
If you're an admirer of his &$ ^%ing awesome artwork, send him a follow here on his Instagram, where you can see even more of what he's done for the UFC as well as other athletes, organizations, and his originals.
Note that this is not the AMA thread, so while you're free to get your questions ready there's no need to post them here.
Like always, please make our guests feel welcome, as that's the only way we'll continue to get fun and exciting interviews like these. We want to send a big THANK YOU to Gian for joining us tomorrow! If you watched the PPV, you saw his work all over UFC 300.
If you or someone you know is notable in the MMA community, reach out to us to schedule your own AMA. We'd be happy to have you!
Cody Garbrandt and Deiveson Figueiredo | Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Cody Garbrandt battled more than just Deiveson Figueiredo in Las Vegas.
This past Saturday, Garbrandt fought Figueiredo in the first fight of UFC 300, submitting to a rear-naked choke in the second round. The loss snapped a two-fight winning streak for Garbrandt, and according to “No Love,” came at least in part due to a recurring medical issue he revealed in his first statement since the event.
UFC 300 pic.twitter.com/Lt2uRwObQg
— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) April 16, 2024
“I felt great in my fight, until I started to experience vertigo I couldn’t control the spinning once it was to the ground. Hats off to [Deiveson] and his camp! I ended up going to the hospital where I was still experiencing the vertigo throwing up until 4 a.m. Thank you Heather and Olivia for monitoring me after the fight. I’ll get this corrected, I’ve dealt with vertigo since 2012. Thank you to the fans that came out to support. It wasn’t my night but I love doing what I do, I’ll be back in there before the year is up.”
According to the National Health Service, vertigo is “the feeling that you, or the environment around you, is moving or spinning” and can be caused by a number of medical issues like infections or Ménière’s disease, an inner ear condition. In a subsequent post, Garbrandt said he went to the Mayo Clinic in 2021 for Ménière’s disease.
I went tot the Mayo Clinic in 2021 for that trust me I’ve been through it all with this. https://t.co/QXgyocpXyP
— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) April 16, 2024
Garbrandt had a good first round against Figueiredo, winning the round on all three judges’ scorecards. In the second round, Figueiredo went to his grappling game and overwhelmed the former bantamweight champion on the floor en route to the submission victory. And while Garbrandt did not outright claim the bout of vertigo caused him to lose, while responding to messages on Twitter, did suggest it played a big factor in his performance.
Not a good look to say what happened to me in a fight by what I was experiencing? It’s the truth takin nothing from Davison, you think I would just lay on my back not getting up whole time I was spinning not trying to get my face elbowed in and fighting through it. https://t.co/xuE5MHLq4J
— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) April 16, 2024
“Not a good look to say what happened to me in a fight by what I was experiencing? It’s the truth takin nothing from [Deiveson], you think I would just lay on my back not getting up whole time I was spinning not trying to get my face elbowed in and fighting through it.”
The loss dropped Garbrandt to 9-6 in his UFC career and once again set back his goals to return to the bantamweight title picture. Meanwhile, Figueiredo jumped to No. 6 in the UFC bantamweight rankings and now finds himself on the cusp of a title shot and a chance to become the 10th two-division champion in UFC history.
UFC 300 over exceeded the lofty expectations, and when the dust settled on the epic UFC pay-per-view event, Alex Pereira knocked out Jamahal Hill in quick fashion to retain his light heavyweight title, before calling for a heavyweight fight at UFC 301 in less than three weeks.
On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses Pereira’s sensational finish, if he should fight at heavyweight in Brazil next, who should be next for the title shot at 205, and where Hill goes from the loss. Additionally, they’ll recap Max Holloway’s history-shifting knockout of Justin Gaethje to win the BMF title, discuss the plethora of options in front of him, what’s next for Gaethje, Zhang Weili’s dominant win over Yan Xiaonan, other superlatives and storylines coming from Saturday’s blockbuster card, Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler announced for UFC 303, Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier and Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa set for UFC 302, and much more.
Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and Eric “New York Ric” Jackman.
Watch the show live at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT in the video above.
If you missed the show live, you can still watch above, or listen to the podcast version, which can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods.
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