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Robert Whittaker to attend ADCC trials in Tokyo
Champ Khabib Nurmagomedov vows to do to Interim champ Dustin Poirier what he does to everyone
“Before the fight, I thought Holloway was going to beat him. This is my prediction when we talk with fans, with father, with team. But he impress me. Dustin impressed me. I think he has very good boxing, much better than before. Every fight, he becomes stronger and better in boxing, on his feet. And I think he deserves [the] title show. I think because he’s already interim UFC lightweight champion, I am real lightweight champion, we have to fight. And now we’re working on this. ... He have very good background. He have good ground game, not bad. He have good striking game. I follow him a long time. And, versus me? I think I have to maul him, like I do with everybody. This is what I have to do. I respect him like fighter, like human, but when we go to the cage, I have to maul this guy. This is what I want. And right now I’m focused on September, five months before fight.” h/t MMA Fighting
Roxy wants the sister, someday
The UFC has a habit of eating its not young, and that was potentially in the offing in Saint Petersburg with Roxanne Modafferi vs. Antonina Shevchenko, but The Happy Warrior wasn't having it. Round 1 she was outstruck, and finally took it to the mat, and eventually mount, but without enough time to win the round. However, Roxy now knew exactly what to do, and did it, driving the older sister of flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko to the fence, and then the ground, for basically the entire round. Antonina went for the KO in Round 3, but was again put on her back, managing to reverse, only to be re-swept, then another reversal, but Modafferi stood on that scramble, and was kneed hard at the end, but used that to secure another takedown at the close of the round, winning a Split Decision. “I want to fight Cyborg, just kidding,” quipped Modafferi post fight. "The fight went how my coach said it would, so I listened to his game plan. I’m very proud of myself and this camp was special because I got to train for a southpaw. I know Antonina had a lot of hype behind her, but I think a lot of that was due to her sister being the champion. I worked hard to not let that intimidate me. I looked at Antonina as an opponent and didn’t worry about her sister, who I would like to fight someday. Every time I try to call someone out on social media, I don’t get that person. So ‘Cyborg’ was a joke about that. I’ll call her out because I won’t get her. I’ll fight whoever the matchmakers want me to fight. If they want me to smack talk someone, I will do that as well. Shoot me a text and I’ll dress up in my favorite superhero outfit and do it." h/t Sherdog
Sultan Aliex retires after win at UFC Saint Petersburg
What Reem wants right now instead of title shot
Alistair Overeem, following a Round 1 win over Aleksei Oleinik on Saturday, and before that, over Sergei Pavlovich: “I’m aiming for fighting in September and then again later in the year. But after three wins we will start talking about the title. Not yet, it’s too soon. There’s not choice in the UFC. I mean you choose who you fight? That’s not how the UFC works. The UFC will match you with whoever is interesting and that’s based on rankings. To me, Alexander Volkov is still ranked somewhere there, we were supposed to fight tonight. I’m still looking for that fight. Let’s do that first and then we’ll figure out who comes after.” h/t Yahoo Sports
Yakovlev sinks deep front head lock guillotine for win
Latest 10 UFC fight announcements, today's in bold
•Molly McCann vs. Ariane Lipski at UFC on ESPN+ 11 in 6/22 in Greenville
•Ivan Shtyrkov ill, fight vs. Devin Clark canceled at UFC on ESPN+ 7 on 4/20 in Saint Petersburg
•Jessica Penne OUT, Angela Hill IN vs. Jodie Esquibel at UFC on ESPN 3 on 4/27 in Miami
•Deron Winn vs. Markus Perez at UFC on ESPN+ 11 in 6/22 in Greenville
•Cole Smith vs. Mitch Gagnon at UFC on ESPN+ 8 on 5/4 in Ottawa
•Charles Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz 3 at UFC on ESPN+ 9 on 5/18 in Rochester
•Danny Roberts vs. Michel Pereira at UFC on ESPN+ 9 on 5/18 in Rochester
•Joseph Benavidez vs. Jussier Formiga 2 at UFC on ESPN 4 on 6/29 in Minneapolis
•Luke Rockhold vs. Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239 on 7/6 in Vegas
•Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Jack Marshman at UFC 239 on 7/6 in Vegas
Mustaev 'kicks' off UFC St. Petersburg with a knockout!
Conor McGregor takes part in amateur boxing exhibition vs. ammy Michael McGrane in Dublin
Poster released for UFC on ESPN+ 10 on 5/18 in Rochester
Angela Magana's first public words after coma
Brendan Schaub not impressed with UFC 236 double paywall and poor stream
“Did anyone else have problems with ESPN+? So, I have all the family around. We got food and everything. Everyone ready? Here we go. Click. It goes, ‘This service does not work on this device.’ I’m like, ‘Ok, well, that’s not good.’ Try doing it again. Nothing. Try doing it from my phone. Nothing. ESPN, UFC, I’m trying to give you $80. And then finally I went, ‘Yo, if I don’t figure this out in five minutes… I’m going to turn to the dark side and have to illegally stream this.’ I must’ve got 2,000 DMs with different links. When I clicked on that link, that thing was better quality than I had on my f@$%ing… Than ever! What’s best for the fighters, what’s best for ‘Stylebender’ and Kelvin Gastelum and Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier, is getting as many eyeballs on this thing as possible. Not limiting, making people pay behind two paywalls so you’re getting this very small number of diehards that are going to tune into this thing. That’s not the best thing for the fighters. You’ve just lost so many casual fans.” h/t BJPENN.COM • Watch
Joseph Benavidez: 'Clear as day' that UFC is shuttering men's flyweight
Benavidez, who rematches Jussier Formiga at UFC on ESPN 4 for the #1 flyweight contender spot: “That makes me feel good, but it’s like that initial fix of, like, ‘oh cool.' Like, that’s right now, I’m fighting for a No. 1 contender fight, a title fight might be after it. Even if there is a title fight, which I think there will be, I mean, if Henry loses, he’s still going to be like ‘I’m the ’25 champ, you’re not getting rid of me,’ he has to defend it. But then, I kind of look at the state of the rest of the division, like, it’s getting set up for failure and being dissolved, because, there’s no one to defend it with after that. Me and Formiga are up there; who am I going to defend it against after that? Me and Formiga are out there as the No. 1 contenders to fight Henry, but Henry wins, I win, who are we going to fight after that, each other? I know some other guys that were just called and were like ‘hey, you’re a ’35-pounder now.’ And they were just so happy to not get cut that they were just like ‘OK, I’ll do it,’ so that’s what it looks like. It’s clear as day, like, everything is getting dissolved, but it’s not over until it’s over. I’m sure everything is almost dead until it’s not. We’re doing everything we can to revive it but it definitely doesn’t look good.” h/t MMA Junkie
Brandon Vera: ONE could do Vitor Belfort vs. Roy Jones Jr
ONE heavyweight world champ Brandon Vera is currently gearing up for a showdown with light heavyweight and middleweight champ Aung La N Sang in October, and discussed recent signee Vitor Belfort vs. Roy Jones Jr. in a special-rules boxing match: “I think that’s really, really cool. ONE Championship, being the largest sports media company in Asia, it’s perfect. It’s the perfect event, it’s the perfect people. Everything is too aligned for that not to happen. Roy Jones has shown interest and 'The Phenom', man, when he’s in shape, when his hands are flying… He was our best hope for a professional boxer in the MMA world for a long time. It would be very, very interesting to see what happens. I think they can do it. I’ve never put anything past these guys, and I never doubt anyone at ONE Championship anymore. They just make things happen. I believe it could happen.” h/t BJPENN.COM
CM Punk reacts to detractor of his placing 3rd of 3 in BJJ event
Female MMA fighter in Brazil beats up man for indecent exposure
Bantamweight Joyce 'Princess Fiona' Vieira was doing a photoshoot on a Rio beach when a man approached: "When I looked at him, he was the way he was, pants down, standing. On the way people passed by all the time. Children, inclusive. He kept masturbating and said 'why, did not you like it? Come here.' Usually people who are caught doing this always deny, 'no, no'. He no. He continued." He kicked him so hard her shins are bruised, and the man made the mistake of hitting back: "The punch made me even more angry. I wanted to kill him from so much knocking. But killing can not, right? I wanted to grind him up." Note: Image is a recreation. h/t Correio 24 (Brazilian Portuguese language) • Follow Vieira on Instagram
Khabib Nurmagomedov: UFC needs to pay more attention to Russian fighters
“It seems to me that after the event in Moscow there were all the same people, all the same media that were. UFC fans are watching, but I know that most people don’t even know that they are doing UFC in Russia. 20 April, Magomed Mustafaev will fight with a new guy [Rafael Fiziev], no one even knows about this fight. Or Oleinik vs. Overeem. Why not show or promote it? On the first event Taisumov, Khabilov, Omari Ahkmedov fought. Taisumov has five victories in a row. Khabilov has several wins. But they didn’t even participate in any media events or promotion. Krylov participated, who returned after being fired. Petr Yan participated who was conducting the second fight in the UFC. I think the UFC should have a different policy. UFC need to pay attention to our fighters.” h/t BJPENN.com • Watch fan Q&A at M-1 Apeha event
