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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Teen sensation Raul Rosas Jr. finally has his return booked with a rescheduled fight against Ricky Turcios at a UFC Fight Night card on June 8.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Thursday, noting bout agreements have been issued for the matchup.

The matchup between Rosas and Turcios was originally scheduled at the UFC Mexico City card back in Feburary, but Rosas fell ill just before the fight, forcing him to drop out. Attempts were made to reschedule the fight at the next UFC event one week later at UFC Vegas 87, but that bout was also cancelled.

Now, the bantamweights run it back in June.

A highly touted prospect who debuted with the UFC at just 18, Rosas sports a 2-1 record overall including a lightning-quick first-round finish in his previous outing against Terrence Mitchell this past September.

As for Turcios, he claimed The Ultimate Fighter Season 29 title in 2021, but he dropped his next fight against Aiemann Zahabi. He bounced back with a win over Kevin Natividad back in November 2022, but he’s since been out of action.

Rosas vs. Turcios is the latest addition to the card on June 8, which is expected to take place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. No main event has been confirmed for the card.

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Alex Pereira thinks Jamahal Hill asking two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya for advice is a smart move.

On Saturday night (April 13) ‘Sweet Dreams’ returns to the Octagon for the first time since a light heavyweight title-winning performance against Glover Teixeira in January 2023. Sadly, Hill never had the chance to defend the strap as he suffered an Achilles injury six months later, forcing him to vacate the 205-pound crown.

Having never lost the belt, Hill hopes to pick up right where he left off when he challengers current champ Alex Pereira in the UFC 300 headliner in Sin City.

Considering it’s only been nine months since Hill sustained the devastating injury, pundits were quick to question how healthy Hill could actually be by the time he steps inside the cage. Pereira, on the other hand, is not overly concerned with Hill’s status, one way or another.

“I definitely don’t have expectations of him just sitting out, not training because of an injury,” Pereira said through his translator at the UFC 300 media day. “If he signed the contract to fight this fight, he did for a reason. He knows the test he has ahead of himself, so I’m very aware of it.”

Earlier this month, Jamahal Hill revealed that he had sought out the advice of former middleweight champion and perennial Alex Pereira adversary, Israel Adesanya. Hill said that ‘The Last Stylebender’ shared “some advice and insights on what he’s seen and his experience of being in there fighting Alex.”

Responding to the news, Pereira offered up a cheeky response to both Adesanya and his UFC 300 opponent.

“I think it was good,” Pereira said. “Actually, it was the best thing he could have done for himself, because if he had went and sparred with Israel Adesanya, it would have been a big frustration for him, especially for the fact that I beat him so many times.”

Alex Pereira has gone toe-to-toe with the ‘Stylebender’ on four separate occasions — twice under the GLORY Kickboxing banner and twice inside the Octagon. ‘Poatan’ went 3-0 against Adesanya, knocking him out in back-to-back fights before the New Zealander finally broke through and got himself into the win column.

Alex Pereira not concerned with a potential move to heavyweight

Having already claimed both the middleweight and light heavyweight titles in his first seven fights under the UFC banner, rumors have been circulating that ‘Poatan’ could make the move up to heavyweight in an attempt to become the promotion’s first-ever three-division champion.

Perhaps one day, but for now, Pereira is perfectly content stacking bodies at the 205 level.

“There is no plan.” Pereira said. “The next step is to keep defending the title, unlimited times. I’m not the kind of guy to call out opponents because I’ll fight anybody. I’m the champ. I’ll keep defending it.”

LowKickMMA.com

Former women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey opened up about her UFC 193 knockout loss to Holly Holm in an interview with Valeria Lipovetsky.  Rousey blamed the loss on having a concussion, a difficult weight cut, and a bad mouth guard.

“My mouth guard was bad. I literally came into that fight concussed from slipping down some stairs already after all these years of concussions,” Rousey said.  “Then, I had an absolutely terrible weight cut, which means you have less fluid in your brain to protect it.”

On Wednesday, at the UFC 300 Media Day, Holm reacted to Rousey’s comments.    

“I say this out of respect.  In order to have a big upset like that fight was you have to have a dominant champion.  So without her being so dominant then I couldn’t have been able to have such an upset,” said Holm.  

“With that being said, I was the better fighter.  I was the better fighter that night,” Holm continued.  “Every fighter at this point, if you’ve made a career of fighting, you’ve had a concussion at some point.  You go back and look at some of my boxing fights and some of the things I’ve done I’ve definitely had some concussions.  I’ll never sit here and use that as an excuse for any loss.  I think it’s just probably hard for her to really like want to maybe admit that, I was just the better fighter.  

“Was she so dominant and a good champion?  100 percent.  I give her that, but she wasn’t better than me and especially that night.”  

Holm welcomes two-time Olympic Gold medalist and former Professional Fighters League lightweight champion Kayla Harrison to the octagon this weekend at UFC 300.  

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Gary Shaw, the famed boxing promoter who famously crossed over to MMA when he helped launch Elite XC, has died. He was 79 years old.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaimann first posted about Shaw’s passing. Shaw’s longtime friend Seymour Zivick also confirmed the news to Kevin Iole.

Shaw got his start in combat sports in 1971 when he began working for the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, where he served for almost 30 years. He eventually transitioned into promoting events in the early 2000s, perhaps most notably when he helped stage the 2002 heavyweight title fight between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson.

In 2007, a new upstart MMA promotion Elite XC launched, with Shaw eventually becoming the public face of the company as the live events president. He also appointed his son Jared “$ kala” Shaw as an executive to help with talent development and matchmaking.

The following year in 2008, Elite XC inked a deal to bring MMA fights to CBS for the first time in history in what was originally a multi-year contract for several events. The debut CBS card in May 2008 featured famed street brawler turned MMA enthusiast Kimbo Slice in the main event, where he scored a knockout of James Thompson that helped rocket him to even bigger stardom.

Elite XC also championed women’s MMA, especially after signing Gina Carano, who became one of the faces of the promotion with a win over Kaitlin Young on that same CBS card.

Unfortunately, only a few more Elite XC shows took place after that initial CBS debut, but the promotion was instrumental in helping to give a bigger platform to notable fighters such as Jake Shields, Cris Cyborg, and numerous others.

The promotion’s demise largely came later that same year when Slice suffered a devastating 14-second knockout to late-replacement opponent Seth Petruzelli after UFC legend Ken Shamrock suffered a cut warming up backstage for the fight.

In October 2008, Elite XC’s parent company Pro Elite filed for bankruptcy, which ultimately led to the end of the promotion after a total of 20 events.

Despite Elite XC falling, Shaw remained a stalwart in combat sports for years and continued to work in boxing, promoting fighters such as Shane Mosley, Diego Corrales, and Winky Wright.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

LAS VEGAS – Alex Pereira or Jamahal Hill? Pros predict the winner of UFC 300’s main event, featuring Cody Garbrandt, Kayla Harrison, Jiri Prochazka, Bo Nickal, Aljamain Sterling, and more.

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