Month: October 2020

Blachowicz vs. Adesanya? LHW champ sounds like he wants the superfight

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC News

By most accounts, it seems like the UFC should have a next contender at light heavyweight lined up soon. The promotion has a bout lined up between no. 4 ranked Glover Teixeira & no. 2 ranked Thiago Santos for just next week. Santos, should he win, already even has a victory over current champ, Jan Blachowicz. That failing, there’s also a recently announced fight between Dominick Reyes and Jiri Prochazka set for early next year. Should Prochazka win that fight, he might just rocket himself to immediate contention. And there’s always the potential for Aleksandar Rakic to make some noise.

Still, none of those options are half as tantalizing as the idea of a champ vs. champ fight between Blachowicz and middleweight king Israel Adesanya. Especially not if you’re the recently crowned Polish king. The former KSW title holder made a somewhat shocking late career run to the UFC belt, snatching a 2nd round TKO over Dominick Reyes just back in September—at the age of 37. If he’s going to make some real money, battles with name opponents probably need to happen sooner rather than later.

Perhaps that’s why Blachowicz took to Twitter earlier this week to push for a potential bout with the ‘Last Stylebender.’

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Unbeaten to date in his MMA career, Adesanya is fresh off a crushing 2nd round TKO victory over Paulo Costa back in September—to claim his second title defense. With the recent MW bookings falling the way they have, the UFC has essentially left themselves with a rematch against Whittaker as the only sensible next title fight at 185 lbs for the City Kickboxing talent. But, speaking recently to the media, Dana White has suggested that Adesanya, in fact, “has a lot of options right now.”

Could that mean a bout against Blachowicz? Or a light heavyweight fight with Jon Jones that cuts the Polish champ out of the picture altogether? Time will tell. In the meantime, it’ll be up to the light heavyweight field of contenders to make their case that they should be the only realistic next option for gold.

Dana White has ‘a feeling’ Khabib isn’t retired: ‘His dad wanted him to get to 30-0’

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC News

When Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement in the cage after UFC 254, following his second round submission victory over Justin Gaethje, it seems he caught the entire MMA world by surprise. After all, just days earlier, he was casually brushing off questions about the potential end of his career. “I don’t know why people talk about my retirement. Maybe you guys are tired of me?” Khabib asked reporters at a recent press confreence, without even a hint that he might be ready to walk away.

“I learned about it when he was giving the speech,” Khabib’s coach, Javier Mendez, admitted in an interview with Submission Radio. “My jaw dropped. I was like, ‘What?!’ I mean, he played the best poker face on the planet.”

If even Khabib’s coaches didn’t know, how could the UFC and their various business partners have been cued in on the lightweight champion’s plans? In a recent interview with CBS Sports Radio, Dana White admitted that he too had no idea the ‘Eagle’ would be leaving his gloves in the Octagon on October 24th.

“No. Nobody knew,” White said of Khabib’s retirement. “Not even his coach. Nobody knew.”

“I wasn’t,” White admitted, when asked how he “processed” the news. “I was sitting there going, ‘Oh my god, you gotta be kidding me.’ But, I’ll tell you this – and I haven’t told anybody this yet – Khabib and I have been talking. And he was completely emotional that night, when he got through that fight. I have a feeling that he might go for 30-0.”

“Yeah, I do,” White added when asked if he thought Khabib would be coming back. “I think that he’s not going to retire. I think, you know, his dad wanted him to get to 30-0. And, I think he wants to honor his dad’s wish.”

When asked what the “something special” White had had planned for Khabib was, now that the man’s fighting future is uncertain, the UFC president said he still hasn’t even told Khabib what the surprise he had in store was supposed to be. “I haven’t even said it him, so I’m not going to say anything publicly.”

With the UFC moving their time slot on UFC 254, and seemingly taking in a lot less revenue for it, it’s hard not to think that the promotion had hoped to bank on extra exposure in the Middle East and Russia for Khabib’s next title fight. As such, it’s not terribly surprising to see White working hard to lure the champion back for one last title defense. If for nothing else than to really cash in on one of the promotion’s biggest PPV stars before he rides off into the sunset altogether.

Report: Khabib pulls 675,000 PPV buys in title defense against Gaethje at UFC 254

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC News

On October 21st, just three days before UFC 254 kicked off at ‘Fight Island’ in Abu Dhabi, Yahoo! Sports ran an article titled UFC Leaving Short-Term Money on the Tabe With Early Start For Khabib Megafight. Inside, the piece noted that the decision to air their latest PPV event starting at 2:00 pm Eastern would almost certainly cost the promotion a significant chunk of it’s normal sales revenue for the event, however, the move is hoped to be a boon to the UFC further down the road.

“In the long term,” UFC COO Lawrence Epstein said of the UFC 254 scheduling decision, “the more you deliver for your partners from a ratings standpoint, the better off you are at monetizing that going forward.”

Whether or not that gamble on the future will pay off we may never know. Knowledge of Endeavor’s ability to leverage a move like this one in future negotiations isn’t likely going to reach beyond the boardroom. However, we do now have a good idea of just what those short term losses might look like.

According to a recent report by the Sports Business Journal, UFC 254 pulled in somewhere in the neighborhood of 675,000 buys for what seems increasingly likely to have been the final bout of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s career. Making the event their 5th highest selling card of 2020 (out of 9 total)—lagging even behind UFC 249, headlined by Justin Gaethje against Tony Ferguson.

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While it seems unlikely anyone might have expected this event to touch anything like Khabib vs. McGregor numbers (a whopping estimated 2.4 million buys), the card does leave Khabib well short of the estimations for his UFC 242 bout against Dustin Poirier (1 million buys). Still, it’s almost double what his short notice UFC 223 bout against Al Iaquinta did, so news isn’t all bad.

It can’t help but be wondered, though, if part of what the UFC was hoping to sell off the back of this PPV was more Khabib title fights. Would Endeavor have been willing to take what appears to have been a fairly solid hit on sales to deliver a Khabib bout in primetime to Europe, Russia, and North Africa had they known they might never have another bout with the ‘Eagle’ to sell to those same markets?

After all, as Dana White himself is so fond of saying, “This is not a career, this is an opportunity. Anything can happen in any given moment.” Did Endeavor take a risk on Khabib being around longer than he planned? Or will the move have paid off regardless. At 675k buys, it’ll certainly still be a solid moneymaker for the promotion. Just not to the degree that might have been expected for Khabib’s final bout in the UFC.

The MMA Vivisection – UFC Vegas: Hall vs. Silva picks, odds, & analysis

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA Podcasts, UFC Gambling

After a huge PPV like UFC 254, the UFC is cooling things down a bit with this week’s Fight Night offering. The promotion is back in Vegas for a fight card that has a couple highlights, but mostly just feels like a grab-bag of whoever was around and interested in fighting on the date. The main event, Anderson Silva vs. Uriah Hall, feels like a bout that was supposed to go down in much different circumstances than Silva coming off his 3rd two-fight losing skid in the last seven years. The co-main, between Andre Fili and Bryce Mitchell is a legitimately awesome action contest, and the card is otherwise carried by Kevin Holland and Bobby Green once again making quick turnarounds.

For those that want to dive deeper into the undercard, check out the Prelims Vivi below.

The MMA Vivisection is brought to you by Combat Wombat, makers of combat sports themed artwork featuring MMA’s legendary fighters and legendary fights. Visit chrisrini.com for the latest pieces and commissions. Get your Combat Wombat themed Vivi t-shirts today! cottonbureau.com/products/dr-wombat

Here’s a look at how the UFC Vegas 12 fight card stacks up right now:

ESPN+ MAIN CARD | 7pm/4pm ET&PT
Uriah Hall vs. Anderson Silva – At 0:39, Odds 19:50, Picks – Zane: Hall, Connor: Silva
Andre Fili vs. Bryce Mitchell – At 22:00, Picks – Zane: Mitchell, Connor: Fili
Kevin Holland vs. Makhmud Muradov – At 40:56, Odds 54:22, Picks – Both: Holland
Maurice Greene vs. Greg Hardy – At 54:46, Odds 57:02, Picks – Zane: Hardy, Connor: Greene
Bobby Green vs. Thiago Moises – At 57:38, Odds 1:01:12, Picks – Both: Green

ESPN+ PRELIMS | 4pm/1pm ET&PT
Chris Gruetzemacher vs. Alexander Hernandez – At 1:09, Odds 13:43, Picks – Both: Hernandez
Adrian Yanez vs. Victor Rodriguez – At 14:46, Odds 22:17, Picks – Both: Yanez
Sean Strickland vs. Jack Marshman – At 24:34, Odds 33:09, Picks – Both: Strickland
Cole Williams vs. Jason Witt – At 34:09, Odds 43:13, Picks – Both: Williams
Dustin Jacoby vs. Justin Ledet – At 43:58, Odds 51:16, Picks – Both: Jacoby
Cortney Casey vs. Priscila Cachoeira – At 51:39, Odds 58:10, Picks – Both: Casey
Miles Johns vs. Kevin Natividad – At 58:44, Odds 1:07:08, Picks – Both: Johns

For those of you following the picks made on the show, we started tracking them with the July 13th, 2020 Vivisections for ‘Kattar vs. Ige’. So far, here are the standings:
Last week for UFC 254:
Zane went 11 out of 11, and Connor went 8/11
Zane is now 109/167 and Connor is now 110/167

Be sure to follow Zane on twitter @TheZaneSimon, follow Connor, @BoxingBusch, and follow @BloodyElbow for all the latest in MMA happenings. If you enjoyed our show, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, or give us a “like”, share & subscribe over on whichever BE Presents Podcast Channel happens to be your listening platform of choice: SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes & Apple TV, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, TuneIn, OverCast, or Player FM, & NOW AMAZON MUSIC! – While you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to Bloody Elbow Presents; that way you’ll always be the first to get all of BE’s daily MMA offerings. For previous episodes of the show, check out our playlists on all of our BE Presents channels.

The Reaper still has his edge

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Editorial

Even before UFC 243, and Robert Whittaker’s disastrous loss to Israel Adesanya, doubts were creeping into the discourse. After all, ‘Bobby Knuckles’ had just gone 10 of the most brutal, unforgiving rounds imaginable against the earth-elemental-made-man that is Yoel Romero.

In his first fight with the ‘Soldier of God’ he blew out his knee, in the second, he busted his hand. Between the two bouts he suffered a staph infection in his stomach as well as an intestinal hernia, leaving him in “serious condition” and ultimately requiring surgery to repair. None of this even mentions the intense amount of head trauma he suffered on the way. When Izzy sparked him in the second round of their 2019 title bout, for many it seemed a sign that a decade’s worth of prize fighting had truly taken its toll. Robert Whittaker’s days as an elite talent may just have been behind him.

Those kinds of concerns, after all, aren’t so poorly founded—fighting rarely affords teen prospects the incredibly long & glorious career so often advertised. However, MMA as always, tends to be a bit more narratively complex than that.

A remarkable time at 185.
Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

Still only 29, it’s clear that as long as Whittaker’s body isn’t actively self-destructing, he’s still one of an increasingly small number of clear middleweight elites. A division that once boasted Jacare, Weidman, Romero, Whittaker, and Rockhold all in their primes (and hilariously lorded over by Michael Bisping) suddenly sits with one clear champion and one clear contender. There’s even word on the street that the undying Romero may finally be headed to light heavyweight. And although other potential contenders have tried to rise and take their place, few it seems are actually ready for the jump.

Paulo Costa made a hell of a run, rattling off five straight victories on his way to contention—only to get so humiliated by Adesanya that Whittaker’s loss to the champ looks like a carefully considered masterclass by comparison. Edmen Shahbazyan ran his hype train straight into the avalanche that is Derek Brunson, who nonetheless remains Derek Brunson—even for that victory. Even Kelvin Gastelum, fresh off of a nail-biting scrap with the now-champion, drifted through a listless loss to Darren Till before getting unexpectedly pantsed by Jack Hermansson.

All that noise has mostly left Till and Cannonier as the new blood fans might have hoped to see challenge for UFC gold. And in back-to-back performances, Robert Whittaker has clearly outclassed them both. He took his lumps getting there – as he almost always has – but showed his consistency and class as a creative, powerful striker. One who can perform with the kind of output and consistency that his competitors simply cannot match. And while he’s slugging it out in the trenches (and battling gruesome maladies on the sidelines) he’s also still one of the UFC’s toughest fighters to put away.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Darren Till clobbered him with a remarkable counter elbow, possibly the greatest single strike he’s ever thrown, and Whittaker merely scraped himself up off the canvas and battled his way back to victory. Jared Cannonier leaned hard on his power kicking game in the first two rounds of his fight with Whittaker on Saturday night. But through it all, Whittaker let his jab do the talking—countering kicks with punches, and setting up opportunities to land the kind of power strikes that would take Cannonier reeling away from his game.

At some point, being a fighter that’s always been willing to eat the shots to create his own will absolutely catch up with Whittaker, potentially in less decisive, but more meaningful ways than a series of well placed counter-shots from the ‘Last Stylebender’. The damage will become such that every exchange will appear to drive him to the edge of breaking, every round will contain the possibility that he’ll end up laid out cold. That’s the way this sport goes for practically everyone who decides to stick with it for long enough.

But, until that day comes, Robert Whittaker is still only 29; sitting square in the prime of his career. And, at this exact moment, triumphant as the only meaningful contender for Israel Adesanya’s belt. Whether or not he can win that title once again remains to be seen, but for the foreseeable future it doesn’t look like the chance to compete for it will be sitting far out of reach.

UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje – Fights to make

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page

UFC 254 – ‘KHABIB VS GAETHJE’ was a remarkable event. The UFC didn’t stack the card, but sometimes everything just falls into place anyway. The main event delivered in spades, with Khabib not only retaining his title in a masterful performance of his grappeling prowess, but then walking away from his MMA career—a perfect record intact. In the co-main event Robert Whittaker proved that he is still the only other clear figure in the middelweight title picture. And every other fight on the PPV finished inside the distance (most of them violently).

So, with Khabib vacating, how does the UFC fill his shoes? Is there any other option for Adesanya than a Whittaker rematch? And has Lauren Murphy truly staked her claim to a flyweight title shot?

To answer those questions – and a whole lot more – I’ll be using the classic Silva/Shelby fight booking methodology from the UFC of years past. That means pitting winners against winners, losers against losers, and similarly tenured talent up against one another. Hopefully, by following that model, a few of these bout ideas will actually make it off the page and into the Octagon. Now, let’s get to the fights.

KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV

He said it, I believe it. I know combat sports retirements have all the shelf-life of an ice swan in Hades, but the reasons for Khabib to walk away stack up high against any potential reasons for sticking around. He won his belt, he had the longest title reign in UFC lightweight history, he met the record for most title defenses, and he’s done it all with an unbeaten 29-0 record. After the loss of his father he said he promised his mother his time in the Octagon was done—and given that their relationship was the backbone of his career, that seems entirely reasonable.

He’s made money, he has fame, and – if other star Russian athletes are anything to judge by – he may find himself with a future in politics as well. Maybe someday, in a few years, he’ll come back for some huge showcase fight against some future champion. It will be a massive spectacle and afterward he’ll ride off again, with the reminder that he’s still capable of great things. But, for now, I see no reason not to take Khabib Nurmagomedov at his word, that his time with the UFC is finished.

JUSTIN GAETHJE

Whatever the title picture in the lightweight division is going forward, Justin Gaethje deserves to be part of it. Most likely, and straight forwardly, that means fighting the winner of Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier this coming January. Depending on the way the UFC wants to go, the winner of that bout may even walk away from it with Khabib’s vacated title around his waist anyway.

But, if that man is McGregor? I wouldn’t count too heavily on getting a Gaethje/McGregor fight booked. Especially not if he’s suddenly got UFC gold again. The former double-champ has always seen UFC titles as a means to negotiate something bigger. Possible bouts with GSP, Nate Diaz, or even Jorge Masvidal may all carry more interest to the mercurial Irishman—rather than attempting to defend a belt against Justin Gaethje.

The UFC could, of course, save all that hassle and decide that the winner of Poirier/McGregor should fight Gaethje for the belt. But in combat sports the best play is almost always to make the most money in the moment, and hanging a belt on an upcoming McGregor fight is an easy way to make that happen. If, however, the UFC isn’t comfortable giving Gaethje another title shot off this loss, then a scrap with Michael Chandler is right there waiting to crown either man the top contender. But, my first instinct is still that Gaethje should take on the McGregor/Poirier winner.

ROBERT WHITTAKER

This was exactly the win Robert Whittaker needed to make him a title contender once again. Which makes it interesting that he frankly doesn’t sound at all like he cares about getting a shot to take Adesanya’s belt back. Given the opportunity to make a call out, he talked about going home putting up the Christmas tree, and spending time with his growing family. I get it, really. After his brutal title run Whittaker has made it abundently clear that he needs to pace himself with the rigors of an MMA career. But, with Hermansson vs. Till the only other middleweight top contender’s bout on tap, there really isn’t another option for the champion. Whittaker vs. Adesanya 2 is a great fight and well worth making. Will the ‘Reaper’ make the same mistakes? Is Adesanya actually a whole level above him in the Octagon? Whittaker’s proved he’s still the best man without the title at 185. Time to take another run at it.

JARED CANNONIER

Cannonier made a hell of a run to put himself in title contention. But there’s just a big difference between picking off Jack Hermansson and the shell of Anderson Silva and taking on a former champion like Whittaker still in his prime. And while the ‘Killa Gorilla’ showed that he’s still clearly a powerful, dangerous fighter against all comers, he also didn’t show the depth of skill needed to keep pace with an elite striking game. Time for a step back, a chance to take on another fighter looking to carve out their contender status; someone like Kelvin Gastelum or Paulo Costa. And when I put it like that, is there really any other choice than Paulo Costa vs. Jared Cannonier? ‘Borrachinha’ was a deer in the headlights against Adesanya, if he can’t compose himself better against Cannonier, he might be looking at another hard loss. But, if he can, he pushes exactly the kind of pace that Cannonier has yet to show he can meet. Costa vs. Cannonier is a violent fight to see which man can make a bounce back into contention in the near future.

ALEXANDER VOLKOV

Volkov had a list of names ready when Anik asked him what he wants next. Namely JDS, Overeem, or Rozenstruik. Word on the street is that Dos Santos is getting lined up for a fight against Ciryl Gane. But that still leaves Rozenstruik and Overeem wide open. While the Rozenstruik fight definitely has a fun factor, as an all-out striking contest, the Overeem fight, to me, seems like more of a ‘now or never’ booking. The ‘Reem’ is looking for his path back to title contention and with two straight wins he’s building a compelling argument. But having already been KO’d by most of the division’s top contenders, he’s gonna need to put some serious work in. Volkov’s takedown defense would give the Dutchman a clear path to victory. But his durability and work rate would be a real problem. Both men have something serious to gain out of victory. Alistair Overeem vs. Alexander Volkov is a great way for both men to assert their arguments as heavyweight top contenders.

LAUREN MURPHY

There weren’t a lot of options for Lauren Murphy in this fight. She’s had her eyes set on becoming champion, which means she had to dominate a relatively short-notice UFC newcomer like Liliya Shakirova. Anything less than that and she’d just be treading water. Afterward she said that the next time she steps in the cage it will be for the UFC belt, but behind closed doors, she should be arguing hard for a fight against Jessica Andrade. Right now, the chances that the Brazilian pips her spot for a bout against Valentina Shevchenko seem especially high. If Murphy can get that fight, and a win against her, though? Then she’s basically guaranteed herself that chance at UFC gold she’s looking for. The other option would be a quick re-booking against Cynthia Calvillo, if that fight can be made soon. But, the real prize here for Murphy seems like it has to be Andrade. Anything else and she may find herself waiting a long while to compete for the strap.

MAGOMED ANKALAEV

No questions about how this fight might have gone now. Much like the first time around, Cutelaba threw some wild strikes and got countered with deadly consistency. Only this time, when he got hurt, there wasn’t any act to go with it. Ankalaev put Cutelaba down hard and nailed him to the canvas with brutal GnP. The win puts him on a 5-0 run after his shocking upset loss to Paul Craig in his debut. Time to get the man into the cage against a top ranked opponent. Nikita Krylova, Misha Cirkunov, Jiri Prochazka, Johnny Walker? I was hoping to see Walker in against OSP. But OSP’s got a fight booked in the meantime. So why not do Ankalaev against Walker. The Dagestani would likely be a serious favorite, but Walker is always powerful, and crazy enough to make something unexpected happen. If nothing else, it’s a must-see chance to enter the top-10 conversation. Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker would be a thriller for as long as it lasted.

TAI TUIVASA

A win Tuivasa desperately needed just to stay in the UFC, following three straight losses. He’s been dropping weight, and working on his wrestling—and if nothing else, Tuivasa looked much more patient this time out. He’s got the athletic gifts, he’s got the size, and he’s got the durability. Just being a more consistent performer would go a long way to correcting the issues that have seen him lose lately. And a confidence boost from a first-round KO doesn’t hurt either. While this win could line him up to jump in against someone like Marcin Tybura, at this point, I’d rather see Tuivasa keep proving himself against some relatively lower end talent. The winner of Maurice Greene vs. Greg Hardy wouldn’t be a bad idea. But I’ll go with a fight against Chris Daukaus. Daukaus has proved himself a shockingly quick finisher so far, behind a sharp boxing game. Would that be enough to take Tuivasa apart, or would ‘Bam Bam’’s athleticism and power be too much for him? Tuivasa vs. Daukaus seems sure to end early.

CASEY KENNEY

Just an unbelievable performance from both Kenney and Wood. Especially considering that Kenney went three hard rounds with Heili Alateng earlier this month. He and the ‘Prospect’ poured every ounce of offense they had into three rounds, and it’s just a shame that either man had to walk away with a loss. That said, Kenney is now on a three fight win streak in the bantamweight division coming off his defeat to Merab Dvalishvili earlier this year. Time to get another top 15 opponent. And, given the current shape of the division, there’s really only one option on the table: Song Yadong. Kenney would be a hell of a challenge for the top prospect out of China, especially given Kenney’s pace and pressure out of the gate and his top flight scrambling. And for Kenney, Yadong is the kind of elite, power punching athlete he’ll have to beat regularly if he wants to challenge for gold. Casey Kenney vs. Song Yadong would be a great fight.

OTHER BOUTS: Walt Harris vs. Ben Rothwell, Phil Hawes vs. Dusko Todorovic, Jacob Malkoun vs. KB Bhullar, Liliya Shakirova vs. Diana Belbita, Ion Cutelaba vs. Rua/Craig loser, Stefan Struve vs. Hardy/Green loser, Nathaniel Wood vs. Montel Jackson, Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Ramazan Emeev, Alex Oliveira vs. Anthony Rocco Martin, Da Un Jung vs. William Knight, Sam Alvey vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk, Miranda Maverick vs. McCann/Procopio winner, Liana Jojua vs. Luana Carolina, Joel Alvarez vs. Jalin Turner, Alexander Yakovlev vs. Damir Hadzovic

Dana White: Leon Edwards vs. Khamzat Chimaev is a done deal, ‘Rocky’ returned to rankings

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC News

Leon Edwards has his spot in the welterweight rankings back. The only price he had to pay, it seems, is taking a fight with rising UFC star Khamzat Chimaev. Dana White announced the news of the Edwards vs. Chimaev booking during a recent interview on CBS Sports’ Jim Rome Show.

“So, we just got a deal done yesterday, for Leon Edwards vs. Chimaev,” White revealed, when asked when fans could expect to see ‘Borz’ back in the cage again. “They will fight; it will be a great fight. And yeah, he can stop calling everybody out on Twitter now. He’s got an opponent.”

As for when and where the bout will take place, White wasn’t sure of the particulars, telling Rome, “I don’t know yet, I’ll figure that out when I get home.” But, ESPN has since reported that the bout will take place on December 19th, serving as the headliner for the planned Fight Night event in Las Vegas.

The UFC president went on to spend some time building Chimaev up to fans who may not have seen him compete yet, noting his impressive string of finishes in the Octagon as well as the quick turnaround he made between each bout.

“This guy had 30,000 followers in his first fight, he has almost a million followers now,” White enthused. “This kid is one fight away from being a massive superstar. If he can beat Leon Edwards, he’s gonna be a massive superstar in the UFC.”

For Edwards, this bout announcement marks the end of several months of seemingly stalled negotiations between the welterweight top contender and the world’s largest MMA promotion. After having a bout against Tyron Woodley fall apart during the COVID-19 pandemic, Edwards reportedly declined short notice fights against Usman and Covington. He also turned down a bout with Geoff Neal, and a previous offer to fight Chimaev. Edwards, explained his disinterest in fighting opponents lower down the division recently, noting that he only wanted a top-4 fighter.

“For me to get to the world title, which is my aim and my dream, is to beat one of those top-four [guys],” Edwards explained back in early October. “I have to fight someone in the top-four to get my title shot.”

However, the UFC made ‘Rocky’’s negotiating position much more clear earlier this week when they knocked Edwards off their rankings list citing inactivity. If his hope was to leverage his position for a title contender’s bout, that chance was clearly no longer on the table.

Just a few days later, though, and here we are. Edwards is back in the rankings and Chimaev has his booking. And the rest of the roster has a firsthand lesson about trying to play chicken with the UFC machine.

Dan Hardy ‘50/50’ on Gaethje win after Khabib’s suspicious weigh-in

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC News

When the UFC wants to be sure that a fight makes it to the cage, the beam scale is one of the best friends they could ever have. Who really needs to know if the champion is off by .02 lbs or not heading into a massive PPV title unification bout? Give the makeshift commission a tippy set of bars and weights to slide around and as long as a deft-handed lackey can make it all look just about right, then there’s no reason the champ can’t hide an ounce or two.

Not to say that that’s what happened with Khabib Nurmagomedov’s weigh in for UFC 254 at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, just that the video can speak for itself.

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But, while the main event between Justin Gaethje and Khabib Nurmagomedov may now officially be going full steam ahead, that doesn’t mean that Khabib’s seemingly difficult weight cut hasn’t left people with a few concerns. Most notably, UFC color commentary analyst Dan Hardy. The former title contender weighed in with his own thoughts about what he saw from the champion as he hit the scales during the BT Sport broadcast of the event (transcript via MMA Mania).

“I’m a little more 50/50 after seeing Khabib stepping on the scale,” Hardy admitted. “Because I still don’t know the situation with him being so close to the weight and needing the towel. The fact that he was the first one on the scale was still a big statement.”

“If we get into the fourth round it starts to swing toward Gaethje,” Hardy added. “Those first two rounds are going to be very difficult for him to win against Khabib. There’s no doubt about it. And the question is, how does his conditioning hold up after 10 minutes of wrestling. Does he get into the third round with punching power or does he start to look slow and a little bit broken in his conditioning.”

Gaethje, on the flip side, appeared to hit his marks without issue, trunks and all. But, this is hardly the first time fans have seen the ‘Eagle’ look hard-pressed to make weight. And for all those struggles, he’s rarely (if ever) seemed to feel the effects inside the Octagon.

UFC 254 goes down this Saturday morning on Yas Island, in Abu Dhabi. The card is expected to be co-mained by a middleweight top contender’s bout between Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more news and updates as fight time approaches.

‘Khamzat want to fight then?’ – Leon Edwards giving Chiamev bout a look after rankings removal

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC News

That didn’t take long.

Earlier this week the latest set of UFC rankings hit the promotion’s website. Jessica Andrade found herself suddenly slotted in as the women’s flyweight top contender and Jim Crute snagged a place in the light heavyweight top 15 for the first time. But one name was notably missing.

Formerly ranked in the welterweight top 5, Leon Edwards was suddenly nowhere to be found. News quickly spread that he had been removed from eligibility due to his long period of inactivity.

While he hasn’t fought since besting Rafael dos Anjos in July of 2019, Edwards was booked to fight Tyron Woodley in March of this year—at an event cancelled in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in the months that have followed, he’s made it clear that unless he could fight a current welterweight title contender, ‘Rocky’ wasn’t interested in what the UFC had to offer. That included potential match-ups with Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, and streaking promotional newcomer Khamzat Chimaev.

“He has to at least beat somebody in the top-f-cking-25 before you go straight to f-cking fight No. 3,” Edwards told MMA of a potential fight with Chimaev just back in early October. “At least fight somebody in the top-25 or -30 first.”

Following his removal from the rankings, however, that tune has changed dramatically. The Team Renegade athlete out of Birmingham hit Twitter on Thursday with what appears to be a fresh perspective on fighting Sweden’s ‘Borz.’

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The Chechen-born 26-year-old fighting out of the Allstar Training Center took his first fight in the Octagon only three months ago, back in July—where he bulldozed John Phillips on his way to a second round submission. Just 10 days later he fought former Cage Warriors champion and promotional newcomer Rhys McKee, defeating the welterweight via first round TKO. A mere eight weeks after that he took on longtime middleweight veteran Gerald Meerschaert to pick up his third straight finish in the UFC.

A bout between Chimaev and Edwards seems like a high-risk, low-reward proposition for the man who was knocking on the door of title contention just a few months ago. But, Edwards played a tough game with the UFC—attempting to wait out the promotion for the big fight he felt he’d earned. A bout against Chimaev may just end up being the price to pay.

‘What’s up Dana, you don’t like Mexicans?’ – Tony Ferguson rips Chandler’s UFC 254 backup status

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC News

For fighters looking to hold on to their spots atop the UFC’s ranking structure, business relations with the promotion can get complicated. Look no further than Leon Edwards’ recent removal from the rankings, following several months of making it clear that he’d only take a top-4 opponent for his next bout.

Tony Ferguson may not be going that far, but he’s certainly got an axe to grind when it comes to getting big fights. “I want to be paid what I’m worth, and my value has increased,” Ferguson told MMA Junkie in a recent interview—speaking as to why he hasn’t been booked for another fight since losing to Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 back in May. Ferguson went on to note that while he and Dana White aren’t friends, he has “zero problem” with the UFC president.

Still, when it comes to the matter of former Bellator champion Michael Chandler serving as an alternate for this week’s lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Khabib Nurmagomedov, it seems Ferguson couldn’t help but ponder why it isn’t him in that position instead.

“Chandler? Think about this: How many times are you going to put another (expletive) person in the (expletive) shuffle of the cards?” Ferguson asked. “Dana keeps shuffling me down the list. What? Because I’m (expletive) Mexican? What’s up Dana, you don’t like Mexicans? You don’t like brown people? I’m not going to call you a racist, but what the (expletive), man? What’d I do to you? Why do you treat me like (expletive)? My last name is Ferguson. I don’t want to get mad anymore. I don’t. I’m not going to. But that being said, I said my piece. I’m too busy working.”

Ferguson went on to explain that he’s got his management team working on coming to terms with the UFC for whatever fight may come next—even spitballing a tournament featuring himself, Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Justin Gaethje. In the meantime, however, he’ll just bide his time and wait until the money’s right.

“A lot of these younger fighters, they don’t respect the fact (that) Chuck (Liddell) and Tito (Ortiz) and all those older guys – those are like my big brothers and my big uncles – they got treated like (expletive), too,” Ferguson said. “My age group got treated like (expletive) by Dana, too. Dana’s like—I’m going to be real, I don’t think he’s very religious. But, he’s going to make his decisions and he’s going to be him. But I know one thing, I know the company, they are clutch. And so am I.

“All of us as the fighters at the UFC, I’ve been here for a very long time and these are some of the hardest (expletive) working people. That work under pressure, the most clutch (people) and they get the (expletive) (expletive) done. I’ve witnessed it first (expletive) hand. I love it. I love to be a part of it. That’s why I say there’s no conflict in this (expletive). I hire people for that stuff. Seriously, man. I love this (expletive) game. It’s so awesome, dude.”

UFC 254 goes down this Saturday morning live from the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi. The PPV card will be headlined by a lightweight title unification bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje. Unless of course, one of them has to pull out of the fight. In which case, Michael Chandler will step in on short notice to fill their shoes.