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Paul Felder undergoes surgery on collapsed lung
In the closing moments of his unanimous decision win over James Vick on Sunday night in Phoenix, Paul Felder believes his lung was punctured when he took a shot to the ribs. The collapsed lung did not heal on its own, so he was forced to undergo surgery at a local Phoenix hospital Wednesday afternoon; the surgery was a success. It is hoped that Felder will be discharged next week, Butler said. The UFC is currently working on flying his family from Philadelphia to be with him. h/t ESPN
UFC Fight Night 145 faceoffs
Brave partnership will help promote Filipino warriors
Brave Combat Federation has announced a deal with Philipines' TV5. The partnership will start with the broadcast of Brave 22: Storm of Warriors, which Filipino fans will now be able to watch live on the biggest sports channel in the country. Both parties are excited about this deal's potential as they announced details and talked about it in a press conference held this week in Manila. Brave president Mohammed Shahid: "A lot of promotions use their local stars only when they go to their backyard. We don't. We make sure to make this a global event, and these Filipino warriors have defended their flag all over the world. Stephen Loman has faced and beaten tough fighters from Brazil, Ireland, and India. Jeremy Pacatiw has beaten a Brazilian prospect in Brazil. People ask me why they're not known here, but they will be now. They are known all over the world and will now have the chance to be known here."
Team Velasquez narrative on loss evolves
AKA founder and head coach Javier Mendez appeared recently on Submission Radio and presented an evolving narrative around Cain Velasquez's loss to Francis Ngannou at UFC on ESPN 1 on Sunday. Velasquez said that the loss was due to a knee that went out: “It was just the knee, he didn’t even, like, touch me, you know?” Now Mendez says he watched the replay, and believes it was an illegal blow to the back of the head: “If you guys watch the video, the very first punch Ngannou threw at Cain, he came into shoot, he got hit in the back of the head, an illegal shot that dazed him a little bit when he went in for the takedown, and that’s what kind of jacked up his knee to start. So, I didn’t see that, I did not see that. And today I looked at it and said, oh my god. And guess who told me about it? Cain. Today, he said, ‘hey coach, I got hit in the back of the head, so I was a little dazed’. So that’s kind of did what happened. ... nothing to take away from Ngannou, he’s a great fighter, he came in prepared, the better man won that night. There’s nothing you can say about that. But, it was a freak accident.”
Watch GSP retire on livestream from Montreal
# of people DC sees at LHW who can challenge Jones: 0
“Anthony Smith is a great guy but being a great guy doesn’t win you fights. I think he loses to Jones. ... The only person at the weight class to challenge [Jones] is me but there’s the young kid from Brazil [Johnny Walker], who over time could be tough. Dominick Reyes, with time he’ll be real good. ... Outside of Gustafsson, everybody else I finished on my title reign. I finished Volkan, I finished Rumble twice. I finished everybody. I just think that we’re competing on a different level than a lot of these other dudes. And I don’t like saying that because it sounds like I’m disrespecting these guys but I feel like we’re competing on a different level than these other guys.” h/t MMA Weekly
Why Whittaker believes Adesanya's not as good as he thinks he is
“I’m looking to fight the winner of [Kelvin Gastelum vs. Israel Adesanya]. In terms of timelines and dates, it will be two or three months after that. ... I think that Adesanya isn’t as good as he thinks he is. ... I don’t think the pedestal that he’s on is as high as everyone else thinks it is, as he thinks it is. ... We’re not kickboxing. The difference in striking in the Octagon as opposed to the ring is night and day. ... Having very high technical skills in striking isn’t the same as being a very dangerous striker. If you were to look at Romero, he is not technically great at stand-up [but] most of his wins have been knockouts. He hits like a truck. He would have to be one of the most dangerous strikers in the world. Most of his wins come by knockout standing up - punches, flying knees - he’s a very, very dangerous striker but you can’t say he’s super technical, because he’s not. Adesanya is dangerous and technical, but he’s not the same as Romero. He’s not super, super dangerous.” h/t MMA Fighting • Watch Grange TV
UFC on ESPN+ 6 in Nashville poster released
Latest 10 UFC fight announcements, today's in bold
•Anderson Silva vs Jared Cannonier on 5/11 at UFC 237 on May 11 in Curitiba
•Bethe Correia vs. Irene Aldana on 5/11 at UFC 237 in Curitiba
•Paige VanZant vs. Poliana Botelho on 4/13 at UFC 236
•Wilson Reis vs. Alexandre Pantoja on 4/13 at UFC 236
•Elias Theodorou vs. Derek Brunson on 5/4 at UFC on ESPN+ 8 in Ottawa
•Sarah Moras vs. Leah Letson on 5/4 at UFC on ESPN+ 8 in Ottawa
•Arjan Bhullar vs. Juan Adams on 5/4 at UFC on ESPN+ 8 in Ottawa
•Aiemann Zahabi vs. Vince Morales on 5/4 at UFC on ESPN+ 8 in Ottawa
•Brian Kelleher vs. Mitch Gagnon on 5/4 at UFC on ESPN+ 8 in Ottawa
•Andrew Sanchez vs. Marc-Andre Barriault on 5/4 at UFC on ESPN+ 8 in Ottawa
•Brad Katona vs. Merab Dvalishvili on 5/4 at UFC on ESPN+ 8 in Ottawa
•Brian Kelleher vs. Mitch Gagnon on 5/4 at UFC on ESPN+ 8 in Ottawa
Is Vitor Belfort coming to ONE?
ONE flyweight world GP starts 3/31
Anderson Silva gets his wish to fight on Brazil card
Thug Rose announces Reebok sponsorship
Since 2014 all UFC fighters are required by contract to wear Reebok apparel during fight week, but a select few have directed sponsorship deals. Over the years these have included Jose Aldo, Claudia Gadelha, Johny Hendricks, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Conor McGregor, Francis Ngannou, Sage Northcutt, Anthony Pettis, Ronda Rousey, Paige VanZant, and Chris Weidman. Reebok recently declined to re-sign the mediagenic PVZ; the latest direct sponsored athlete, Rose Namajunas, has far greater in cage credentials. Namajunas defends her strawweight championship vs. Jessica Andrade on 5/11 at UFC 237 in Rio de Janeiro. h/t Instagram
Promo for $1 million Shamil Zavurov vs. Mansour Barnaoui ROAD FC tournament finals
Expert attempts to predict fights via body language (7:43)
GSP responds to Khabib’s callout
Woodley responds to GSP retirement
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley: “Just had a vision of calling him out after my next fight. Congrats to one of the Greatest! Georges St-Pierre since we will never cross paths in the Octagon would love to do so in the gym! Would be an honor. You have had the best run of any fighter to grace the caged canvas!” h/t Instagram
With no offers on table Poirier hopes for release
UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier, 30 has campaigned hard for a big fight, and with none forthcoming, he wants out of his UFC contract to go fight "anywhere [else]", tweeting, “These guys should just release me." Barring a release, he wants more than his contracted purse to fight Al Iaquinta at UFC 236. Ragin' Al responded, saying “I hope the UFC can reach down into their pockets and make him happy to take the fight. Because from what I’ve been hearing, it’s going to be Conor and ‘Cowboy' in the summer, and Max Holloway is going to come up to fight Ferguson for an interim belt. So that leaves me and him.” h/t MMAjunkie
