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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Rumble’s Gift
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Valentin Moldavsky made an emphatic statement in his Professional Fighters League (PFL) debut, knocking out Ante Delija last night (Thurs., April 4, 2024) in the very first round at PFL San Antonio, making it look easy against the 2022 Heavyweight champion.

From the jump, Moldavsky — the former interim Bellator Heavyweight champion — made it known that he was going to be putting on the pressure, walking down the towering Croatian.

Early in the opening round, Delija was letting his fists go and finding some success, but Moldavsky kept pushing forward, unloading combinations that hurt the big man. Halfway through the opening frame, Moldavsky opened Delija up, then proceeded to tag his foe with a nasty right hand that hurt him badly.

Smelling blood, the Russian big man pounced and unloaded a barrage of vicious strikes that left the referee with no other option but to put an end to the fight, ending Delija’s five-fight win streak. In the process, Moldavsky earned a quick six points in the Heavyweight division, a nice start toward his run at the $ 1 million jackpot at the end of the season.

Furthermore, Team Fedor gets some bragging rights over Team CroCop in their historic rivalry.

For all the latest PFL and Bellator MMA news and notes click here and here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Jamahal Hill will return to the Octagon on April 13 to headline UFC 300, challenging the promotion’s reigning and defending light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira. It will be Hill’s first fight back since suffering a ruptured Achilles during a charity basketball game in July.

Yes, you read that right. July…

‘Sweet Dreams’ is looking to reclaim the crown he never lost a mere nine months removed from one of the worst lower limb injuries you can sustain in sports. The announcement quickly prompted pundits to accuse the UFC of rushing Hill’s comeback in a desperate attempt to deliver a viable main event for its star-studded event in Las Vegas.

Tim Welch, the head coach of current UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, is currently rehabbing the same injury that Hill suffered and offered his take on the recovery process via his YouTube channel.

“Jamahal Hill, he tore his Achilles clean off, just like I did, last July, which is nine months ago,” Welch said. “My surgeon told me I’m not gonna be close to 100 percent until 12 months. He’s at nine months! My surgeon said, ‘You’re not gonna be able to run for a full year.’ They say these Achilles tears are worse than ACL (tears).”

Tim Welch questions the quality of jamahal hill’s fight camp ahead of UFC 300

The announcement of Pereira vs. Hill was met with little fanfare prompting ‘Sweet Dream’ to come to the promotion’s defense following the immediate backlash. ‘Sweet Dreams’ also attempted to quell any concerns about his injury, suggesting that his recovery was ahead of schedule and would be a non-issue come fight night.

“I’m really curious with Jamahal Hill, how much rehab and how well he rehabbed this Achilles,” Welch added. “For me, I was able to do everything under the sun. I was able to do stem cells, all the peptides, I ate the best possible (way), a carnivore diet… didn’t get real fat while I was healing this injury. I’m only about 19 weeks out from my surgery and this puppy is still tight… He’s a couple months farther along than me, but I’m really curious, how well did he rehab this puppy? How long ago did he start this fight camp?”

Meanwhile, Alex Periera has suggested that if he makes it out of UFC 300 relatively unscathed, he has every intention of headlining the promotion’s return to Rio de Janeiro three weeks later, taking advantage of an opportunity to compete in front of his home country.

LowKickMMA.com

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Valentin Moldavsky made one heck of a PFL debut.

On Saturday night at the Boeing Center in San Antonio, Texas, PFL 1 took place, kicking off the regular seasons for the heavyweight and women’s flyweight divisions. In the main event, Moldavsky knocked out Ante Delija in the first round with one one of the best performances of his career.

Delija looked out of sorts almost from the very beginning and Moldavsky wasted no time taking advantage, pressuring the 2022 PFL heavyweight champion around the cage. Just a few minutes into the opening round, Moldavsky landed a powerful right hand, hurting Delija, and leading to a barrage of strikes that ultimately ended the bout. The win earned Moldavski six points and the top spot in the 2024 heavyweight season

In the co-main event, Denis Goltsov overcame a strong start from Linton Vassell to get his first win since losing the 2023 heavyweight finals.

Vassell looked good early on, quickly taking Goltsov down and dominating from top position, but as the first round ended, Goltsov pulled off a sweep as Vassell began to tire. Once the second round started, it was all Goltsov, who took Vassell down early and then worked from top position for most of the round. The third was more of the same, and as Vassell completely gassed out, Goltsov was able to land enough punches to force the referee to intervene. The win earned Goltsov four points for the heavyweight regular season.

In the featured main card bout, Liz Carmouche once again defeated Juliana Velasquez, winning a dominant unanimous decision.

Carmouche beat Velasquez twice for the Bellator flyweight title, but the PFL powers that be decided a trilogy was necessary for the first round of the women’s flyweight season. Carmouche left now doubt as to who was the better fighter, controlling Velasquez for nearly the entire 15 minutes of the fight. The win was Carmouche’s first inside the Smart Cage and earned her three points for the regular season.

In the main card opener, Dakota Ditcheva looked every bit of the -4500 favorite that bookmakers had her, dominating Lisa Mauldin en route to a first-round TKO finish. Maudlin simply had nothing to offer Ditcheva, who romped to her eleventh professional win and six points in the PFL regular season standings.

Check out the full PFL 1 results.

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UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The broadcast team for the historic UFC 300 card is set with the usual suspects behind the desk at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 13.

Jon Anik leads the team handling play-by-play duties as usual. Comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan sits alongside former two-division champion and UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier handles color commentary for the event.

UFC officials confirmed the broadcast team to MMA Fighting on Thursday.

In addition to Anik, Rogan and Cormier on commentary, Megan Olivi serves as the reporter in the arena handling backstage news and interviews. UFC veteran Din Thomas joins the broadcast as the “coach” to offer his insight to the fights during the broadcast.

Multi-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen and Anthony Smith join the desk to provide analysis to the card with famed boxing commentator Teddy Atlas also on the broadcast team.

The massive UFC 300 card features three title fights, including the main event as Alex Pereira puts his light heavyweight championship on the line against Jamahal Hill. In the co-main event, reigning strawweight champion Zhang Weili clashes with Yan Xiaonan, and Justin Gaethje faces Max Holloway in a five-round “BMF” title fight.

The pay-per-view main card airs through ESPN+ with a 10 p.m. ET start time with the prelims expected to kick off at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+.

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