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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dana White might want to have a word with the “co-leader” in MMA.

Following a historic UFC 300 card with 20,067 fans in attendance, the UFC CEO spent most of the post-fight press conference celebrating an incredible night of action until somebody made the ill-fated decision to mention the name “Bellator” to him. The subject came up while discussing a possible UFC card in Hawaii, which White shot down due to infrastructure problems that would prevent the promotion from actually traveling there.

When a reporter mentioned that Bellator previously held cards in Hawaii, White scoffed at the remark before joking that the organization now owned by PFL could probably “put on a f****** fight in the parking lot.” That led to White noting that the PFL actually promoted a card in Las Vegas this past Friday night, a fact he only heard about at the very last minute.

“You know ‘PFL-ator’ was here on Friday?” White said combining PFL and Bellator into one name. “Did anybody know that? I didn’t know until f****** Friday.”

The PFL 2 card took place at The Theater at Virgin Hotels with light heavyweights and lightweights headlining event.

White promised he wasn’t trying to take unnecessary shots at his competition but he couldn’t help but mention a promotional email he saw from PFL trying to drum up ticket sales.

“They were selling tickets buy two, get two free,” White said. “I’m not busting on them. That’s a f****** fact. They put out a memo buy two, get two free. You’re having a bad f****** week if those are the memos you’re putting out. There were more people in my f****** green room tonight than there were at the fight.”

To be fair, PFL actually sent out an email advertising “buy two tickets, get two free” for the upcoming card in Chicago scheduled on Friday, April 19 and not the event just held in Las Vegas this past week.

The April 19 card takes place at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Either way, White couldn’t help but note the struggle for ticket sales that seems to indicate if a promotion was willing to offer that kind of deal for any event. UFC 300 certainly didn’t face those problems after producing a $ 16.5 million gate, the third-highest in the company’s history.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Until Max Holloway shocked the world with a last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje, he was a UFC 300 underdog.

“Brother, I was counted out,” he said at the post-fight press conference for Saturday’s event. “People were telling me, ‘What are you doing, Justin’s too big, too strong,’ just a lot of stuff. People needed to get reminded, and I let them know. I was telling people all week, ‘I’m him. I’m here,’ and you guys need a reminder.”

Holloway gave them one, and then some. Reaction to his knockout quickly filled the social media feeds of MMA fans around the world. Among them were several of his colleagues cageside at T-Mobile Arena – and the man who thrice beat him, former UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski.

Volkanovski perfectly embodied the journey Holloway took fans on in the final 10 seconds of the five-round BMF title fight. Until that point, the action appeared to be cruising well toward a decision that Holloway would easily win. Gaethje had been ordered by his corner to apply more pressure. But Holloway had broken his opponent’s momentum and was well on his way to becoming the third BMF champ.

Clearly, that wasn’t enough. Holloway pointed to the canvas and implored Gaethje to slug it out, just as he did nearly eight years earlier against Ricardo Lamas at UFC 199. By his next fight, Holloway had captured his first UFC belt, an interim featherweight title.

The potential upside of a last-second slugfest went entirely to Gaethje. Yet Holloway still decided to sling it out, he said, because he felt the favor would have been returned.

“If that’s not a BMF moment, I don’t know what is,” Holloway said. “If the cards were flipped and Justin was up … I knew he would give me that 10-second shot.”

The logical question after UFC 300 is, will anyone oblige Holloway in center octagon again?

“I hope so,” he said. “If you want to be a man, if you want to be great, that’s what great fighters do. Everybody thought I was lying when I said I was a gladiator. I ain’t lying. Any weight, whoever, whatever, anyone can get it.”

After such a result, the list of options facing Holloway is long and varied. As the man of the hour – and potentially the year – he could fight at featherweight or lightweight against a vareity of top-tier opponents. Even featherweight champ Ilia Topuria broke from his earlier position, when he advised Holloway and other 145-pound vets to retire because he wouldn’t give them title shots.

With an immediate lightweight title shot off the table – UFC CEO Dana White confirmed Dustin Poirier is set to face Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 – the idea of a return to 145 pounds didn’t sound bad to Holloway.

“I’ve got options, it feels great,” he said. “Dana’s happy, [UFC COO Hunter Campell is] happy, [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby’s happy. We’re going to sit down with the team and figure it out. I saw they just announced the [lightweight title fight], so it looks like he’s finally defending against a ‘55er, which is good on him.

“Like I said, there’s ‘El Matador,’ he’s doing everything in his will to try to escape the bull in the pen, so I’m here.”

Holloway has already renamed the belt “Blessed Man Forever,” and that’s an apt name considering his incredible, career-defining moment.

“This is the type of stuff you do to etch your name in the history books, and I’m just happy that I was the one landing,” he said. “I was getting hurt by the wind of [Gaethje’s] shots … that’s how hard he hits.”

“It was just a huge moment for me, being blessed enough to be in there, being at UFC 300, having this event, this event is going to be talked about for ages,” he added later. “I don’t know what card is going to have 12 or more champions on top of it. We might have to wait for UFC 400, and that’s a ways away.”

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The return of former two-division champion Conor McGregor has a date and location.  

UFC CEO Dana White announced that McGregor will headline the June 29th UFC 303 pay-per-view event against Michael Chandler.  The event takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.  

Chandler (23-8) has been sitting on the sidelines waiting for McGregor to be ready to step back inside the octagon.  Having last fought in November 2022, Chandler and McGregor coached opposite one another on The Ultimate Fighter 31 last summer. 

McGregor (22-6) last fought in July 2021 in a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier.  McGregor suffered a broken leg in the final seconds of the opening round.  Sidelined with recovery and acting obligations, McGregor’s return has been long awaited.  

“June 29th, Conor versus Chandler,” White said during the UFC 300 Post-Fight Press Conference.  The fight will take place at 170 pounds.  

There have been four other bouts announced for the June 29th Las Vegas pay-per-view event.  The fight card also features a women’s strawweight bout between 14th-ranked Michelle Waterson-Gomez and 15th-ranked Gillian Robertson.  A featherweight bout between Andre Fili and Cub Swanson also takes place on the fight card.  A flyweight bout between promotional newcomer Rei Tsuruya and Carlos Hernande has also been announced.  

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Max Holloway entered the UFC 300 cage last night (Sat. April 13, 2024) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, as a man with a defined legacy.

Holloway won his Featherweight title at just 25 years of age. Already an interim title holder, Holloway stepped to the greatest Featherweight of all time, Jose Aldo, and he utterly beat his butt twice. Consecutive knockout losses definitively ended Aldo’s time at the top, and the Hawaiian scored two more title defenses before meeting rising contender, Alexander Volkanovski.

Their trilogy is well-documented.

Volkanovski came into the first fight with a perfect gameplan, destabilizing Holloway’s boxing with his low kicks then walking him into counters. Holloway stormed back and very arguably took the second fight, knocking down the Australian twice in 25 minutes. Debate the decision as much as you’d like, but Volkanovski shut the door on the whole conversation by beating the bejeezus out of Holloway in the (unofficial) rubber match.

Just like that, Holloway’s legacy was written and filed away. No longer was he the young upstart champion who quickly racked up multiple title defenses. Now, he was the high point of Volkanovski’s Hall of Fame-worthy career, forced into second place and acting as a filter for would-be Featherweight title contenders.

Still beloved by the fan base, certainly, but nobody was optimistic about his future as a champion. A lot of people were hoping he would retire on account of all the punches absorbed.

Either way, that second place position is one that breaks a lot of former champions. Nobody who reaches the apex of the sport is content to settle for near the top (just like this). Most grow static and are passed by when the next class of contenders tries to stake their claim.

Holloway didn’t settle into that mold. After losing to Volkanovski, he smoked really talented fighters like Calvin Kattar, Yair Rodriguez and Arnold Allen, among others. He continued to improve and put on showcase performances. UFC didn’t book Ilia Topuria against Holloway because he was still at the top of his class, and the promotion didn’t want to risk another marketable contender getting smoked before he had a chance at gold.

Good call.

By putting in the work to stay fit and keep developing, Holloway put himself in prime position to contend again as soon as Volkanovski lost. Holloway vs. Topuria was a marketable fight as soon as Volkanovski’s body hit the canvas (watch highlights). Then, because he’s genuinely one of the most self-confident men in the sport, Holloway risked it all by jumping up to Lightweight for the second time to challenge Justin Gaethje.

Ignore the “BMF” belt silliness — that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Gaethje has been a Top 5-ranked Lightweight contender and feared knockout artist since 2017. He’s a terrifying opponent for anyone, and Holloway stepped up to the task with his usual boldness.

For most of five rounds, Holloway delivered a brilliant technical performance. From the first bell, it was clear that Holloway and his team had game-planned Gaethje to perfection. Right away, Holloway was working the body and then firing strikes up the middle. His right uppercut and left upjab found early homes on Gaethje’s chin, the most significant punches of the first round.

The spinning back kick was a brilliant read. Holloway landed the blow at an absurd accuracy rate, and the first one ripped up the middle — a historical hole in Gaethje’s defense first exploited by Eddie Alvarez — to shatter Gaethje’s nose.

That surely hurt Gaethje’s performance, as did the next dozen spin kicks that landed into the mid-section. It’s a good thing most Lightweights don’t throw spinning back kicks, because it’s apparently the perfect antidote to Gaethje’s squared, crouched forward advances.

Holloway’s body punches and uppercut success served to set up the straight right, his money punch. It was clipping Gaethje upside the temple often, and it seemed to buckle his legs every time.

Lightweight Holloway has power.

Holloway was on his way to a clear-cut decision win, one that likely secured him a Featherweight title shot. Once more, Holloway doubled the bet on himself. He pointed to the floor and traded with Lightweight’s most notorious bruiser … and it was Gaethje who hit the floor in a heap (watch highlights).

It’s one of the best knockouts of all time. It’s the kind of win that gets Holloway whatever he wants (besides UFC Hawaii). A Featherweight title shot? Lightweight title shot? BMF title defense against a Conor McGregor? The world is Holloway’s oyster.

It’s also a victory that recontextualizes Holloway’s entire career moving forward. No longer is he the also-ran to Volkanovski, who may or may not be aging out of the Featherweight title picture. Sure, he still came up short in their trilogy, but no longer does it feel like the Volkanovski rivalry will be the defining story of Holloway’s career.

At 32 years of age, there’s even more greatness on the precipice.

For complete UFC 300: “Pereira vs. Hill” results and play-by-play, click HERE.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Jamahal Hill didn’t get the result he wanted after suffering a brutal knockout loss to Alex Pereira in the UFC 300 main event on Saturday night.

It was Hill’s first fight back after a torn Achilles’ tendon cut his light heavyweight title reign short but he jumped right back into the deep end with a shot at the 205-pound belt on the biggest card of the year. Unfortunately for him, Pereira had other ideas after connecting with a devastating left hook that put Hill down and out in the first round.

Following the fight, Hill released a brief statement on social media with an update on his health along with a promise that he’ll be back soon.

“Oh well, that’s the game we play,” Hill said. “Got caught. For anybody that cares, I’m good. I’m well. We still doing our thing tonight. Y’all know where we at, we’re over at Hakkasan. We’ll just be able to come right back.”

Hill made an almost miraculous recovery after he suffered his Achilles injury in a pickup basketball game this past July and managed to get ready to compete again for the UFC 300 card in April.

Despite the long layoff, rehabilitation from the injury and his last fight happening all the way back in January 2023, Hill still showed plenty of confidence that he would dethrone Pereira on Saturday.

He didn’t show much fear in the face of one of the most ferocious strikers in the sport but both fighters were cautious in the early going. It was after Hill threw a body kick that landed low when Pereira stepped into a combination capped off with the punch that led to the finish.

As soon as Pereira’s shot landed, Hill fell backwards, crashing to the canvas in a heap.

Pereira followed him to the ground where he blasted away with a few more punches until the referee saw Hill go limp and the fight was stopped.

The loss was only Hill’s second defeat in his career after he fell by submission to Paul Craig back in 2021. Following that setback, Hill rattled off four straight wins including his title fight victory over Glover Teixeira.

He’ll certainly attempt to build that same kind of momentum after falling to Pereira at UFC 300.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

While celebrating the smashing success of UFC 300 on Saturday night, CEO Dana White took a moment to roast the Professional Fighters League — or as he calls them, “PFL-ator.

On April 13, the Ultimate Fighting Championship delivered its biggest event in promotional history, headlined by an epic light heavyweight title fight between reigning and defending titleholder Alex Pereira and ex-champion Jamahal Hill. Just past the three-minute mark, ‘Poatan’ sent Hill crashing to the canvas with a vicious left uppercut, bringing a quick end to a stellar night of action.

As stunning as Pereira’s KO was, the talk of the night was undoubtedly Max Holloway’s absolutely insane buzzer-beating knockout of Justin Gaethje to claim the BMF title.

Speaking with media members during the post-fight press conference, White was questioned about potentially taking the UFC to Holloway’s native Hawaii one day. White didn’t have much to offer in response but he somehow segued into talking about the PFL who put on a show in Las Vegas just 24 hours before UFC 300 kicked off.

“Bellator could put on a fight in the f*cking parking lot,” White said. “You know, PFL-ator was here on Friday. I didn’t know that. They were here on Friday selling tickets, buy two, get two free. I’m not busting on them. That’s a f*cking fact. They put out a memo, buy two, get two free. You’re having a bad f*cking week if those are the memos you’re putting out. There were more people in my f*cking green room than there were at the fight.”

Dana White bags on PFL-Bellator meger

It’s far from the first time that White has thrown shade at the PFL and its merger with Bellator.

“I’ve covered this before,” White said at a post-fight event in December. “One sh*tty organization that sells no tickets and nobody watches buys another sh*tty organization that sells no tickets and nobody watches. Sounds like a f*cking winner to me. Woo!”

One of the PFL’s biggest stars, Kayla Harrison, made her Octagon debut at UFC 300 against former bantamweight women’s champion Holly Holm. The two-time Olympic gold medalist delivered a dominant performance, dispatching ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ via TKO in the second round. The win will likely put her in line to challenge for the 135-pound title later this year.

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