Category: Blue Corner

UFC’s Youssef Zalal nails Kevin Hart impression. Who knew?!?

Youssef Zalal has a three-pronged philosophy about how to stay grounded. Plus, he does a mean Kevin Hart.

[autotag]Youssef Zalal[/autotag] has a three-pronged philosophy about how to stay grounded.

A fourth unofficial philosophy might be to make sure his impression game is strong. It not only could be a hit at parties, but who knows what it could lead to?

It turns out Zalal’s impression of superstar comedian and actor Kevin Hart is pretty spot-on. Ahead of a featherweight fight against longtime contender Calvin Kattar at UFC Fight Night 251 on Feb. 15 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas (ESPN+), Zalal showed off his talent to MMA Junkie Radio.

You can see and hear the remarkable audial doppelganger in the video above. But as for the philosophy Zalal has, it’s a tenant that goes beyond doing a good Kevin Hart.

“Discipline, consistency and faith is most important in life,” Zalal told MMA Junkie Radio. “You have those three things, I think you can go anywhere you want. Anything you want in this world, you can have. I don’t care what your faith is. I don’t care what you believe in. You have something that you believe in, it means you know you’re not above everybody. I feel like some people forget that and get plateaued and we forget about that stuff.

“I know I’m a human. I’ve lost before. I know there’s a lot of things that can happen in life and outside life and stuff like that. But I stay consistent and I stay disciplined to my game and to my culture and it’s paying off.”

The 36-year-old Moroccan featherweight is in his second stint with the UFC. He currently is on a six-fight winning streak, all finishes, with three straight submission wins in his return to the UFC.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 251.

That time Michael Bisping took his fake eye out to mock Luke Rockhold …

The good news is, ex-rivals Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold are on decent terms now.

The good news is, ex-rivals [autotag]Michael Bisping[/autotag] and [autotag]Luke Rockhold[/autotag] are on decent terms now.

Maybe they aren’t sharing a table at Friendsgiving, but they’re probably not putting sugar in the other guy’s gas tank, either.

So when they got together on fellow former UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s podcast recently, they did some playful ribbing. The pair are 1-1 against each other. Rockhold submitted Bisping in 2014, but Bisping got big-time comeuppance when he upset Rockhold with a knockout to win the middleweight title in 2016.

But when he wasn’t in title fights, Bisping was dealing with eye issues – and a detached right retina from his 2013 head kick knockout loss to Vitor Belfort eventually led to full blindness in that eye, and he wears a cosmetic one.

That gave him the perfect opportunity to let Rockhold know that when he beat him, he beat him with one eye – and proved it by taking it out of his head, much to the discomfort of the rest of the room.

Check out the footage on the “JAXXON” Podcast above (around the 16 minute mark).

Watch UFC champ Jon Jones do the nearly impossible at a Knicks game

The oddsmakers will set a line for almost anything if given a chance, and the odds for what Jones did would have been astronomical.

The oddsmakers will set a line for almost anything if given a chance.

So let’s say hypothetically they were asked to give odds for UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] on the basketball court at Madison Square Garden. He gets four shots from 3-point range, and all he has to do is hit … SOMETHING … something other than the floor.

No pressure for nothing but net – but at least make the net MOVE, right? Graze the rim? Thud off the backboard? ANYTHING. Just hit something.

What would the odds have been for Jones to hit something? -10,000, perhaps? a +6000 type of comeback for him to shoot four airballs? It would’ve been crazy to think in four shots, he’d really come not very close.

But that’s exactly what happened (H/T Bleacher Report). Four shots before a Knicks game, four airballs. And it’s caught on film. Jones was at the Knicks-Utah Jazz game on New Year’s Day and hung out a little with Knicks guard Josh Hart – who even gently ribbed him to at least hit the rim.

 

@bleacherreport Jon Jones with FOUR airballs in a row 😭 (Via @ufc_korea/IG) #nba #nbabasketball #basketball #ufc #jonjones ♬ original sound – bleacherreport

Jones, considered by many to be the best fighter in the world and best of all time, also is, by default, considered one of the world’s best athletes. But apparently fighting prowess does absolutely nothing when it comes to the fairly simple act of shooting a basketball. Both Jones’ brothers are longtime NFL players.

True, tell the guy he sucks at basketball at your own peril if you’re about to fight him. But that said, ummm … don’t quit your day job?

Video: Referee punched twice in mid-fight brawl at RIZIN 49: Decade event

A referee wound up on the receiving end of multiple punches while trying to separate a fight at RIZIN 49: Decade.

A referee wound up on the receiving end of multiple punches while trying to separate a fight at RIZIN 49: Decade.

During Rukiya Anpo and Sina Karimian’s mixed rules exhibition bout Tuesday morning in Saitama, Japan, a brawl broke out between both fighters, and the referee was caught in the middle of it. Anpo was originally scheduled to face boxing star Ryan Garcia on the card, before Garcia withdrew due to a hand injury.

In Round 6, Karimian threw an spinning backfist, which is illegal in the ruleset they were competing in. That forced the referee to call a timeout, but shortly after, Anpo returned the favor with an illegal spinning backfist of his own, prompting Karimian to attempt a second spinning backfist.

Chaos ensued as the referee jumped in to separate the two, and he ended up getting tagged by a few blows himself. Security was forced to step in to stop the melee.

Moments later, the fight resumed, and Anpo won the bout by unanimous decision, earning scores of 60-54 from all three judges.

Video: UFC champion Alex Pereira gets double KO in Christmas pillow fight with his son

Watch UFC champ Alex Pereira gets a double KO in a hilarious Christmas pillow fight.

[autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] is a menace across many fighting disciplines.

From kickboxing to MMA, Pereira has delivered all kinds of brutal knockouts that have enamored fans across the world. Well, now the UFC light heavyweight champion has added a new art to his game – pillow fighting. In a hilarious Christmas-spirited video, “Poatan” absolutely killed with faints and set up shots in a pillow fight against his son.

You can watch Pereira’s technical pillow fighting skills in the video below.

 

Pereira is coming off a very successful 2024 in the UFC. He defended his title three times, delivering devastating knockouts to Jamahal Hill at UFC 300, Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303, and most recently, Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 in August.

Although no fight booked, the Brazilian is expected to defend his belt against top contender Magomed Ankalaev sometime in 2025.

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UFC Saudi Arabia poster released for Israel Adesanya vs. Nassourdine Imavov

Israel Adesanya, Nassourdine Imavov, Shara Magomedov and Michael Page are highlighted on the UFC Saudi Arabia event poster.

The UFC makes its second visit to Saudi Arabia early in the 2025 calendar with UFC Fight Night 250, which features [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Nassourdine Imavov[/autotag] in the main event.

The octagon will touch down in the budding combat sports region with a strong lineup, which takes place Feb. 1 at anb Arena in Riyadh (ESPN+), and former middleweight champ Adesanya (24-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) returns to action for his first non-title bout in six years when he clashes with the streaking Imavov (15-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) in a five-round contest.

Naturally, the headlining bout got primary real estate on the official event poster, which the UFC dropped on Monday, but it also features the middleweight co-main event between the unbeaten Shara Magomedov (15-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) and former Bellator contender Michael Page (22-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC).

Check out the poster below, as well as the latest UFC Fight Night 250 lineup (via X):

  • Israel Adesanya vs. Nassourdine Imavov
  • Shara Magomedov vs. Michael Page
  • Sergei Pavlovich vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
  • Ikram Aliskerov vs. Andre Muniz
  • Said Nurmagomedov vs. Vinicius Oliveira
  • Damir Hadzovic vs. Terrance McKinney
  • Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Jordan Leavitt
  • Lucas Alexander vs. Bogdan Grad
  • Muhammad Naimov vs. Kaan Ofli
  • Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Jamal Pogues
  • Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
  • Shamil Gaziev vs. Thomas Petersen

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 250.

Video: Jiri Prochazka’s latest UFC 311 training footage is on brand

If you forgot that Jiri Prochazka has his own way of doing things in MMA, he offered another reminder before UFC 311.

Simply running on the treadmill is not enough for former UFC light heavyweight champion [autotag]Jiri Prochazka[/autotag].

Prochazka (30-5-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) is well known for his different approach to the fight game. Whether it’s his mentality heading into the cage, his hard-to-mimic style when competing in the highest level of competition, or his unusual training methods, there is no denying Prochazka is a unique entity.

He has always leaned into that, and gave another peek at his preparation ahead of his Jan. 18 matchup with Jamahal Hill (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) at UFC 311, which takes place at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+)

Check out the video below to see Prochazka’s shadow boxing while running on a treadmill (via X):

The showdown between former 205-pound titleholders Prochazka and Hill has been brewing for some time. They are less than one month away from finally sharing the octagon, and by all appearances, Prochazka is putting in maximum effort to ensure he’s ready.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.

Sydney Sweeney shares body-shaming comments that came during training to play boxer Christy Martin

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is a saying that’s a real thing. So is this: “People are idiots.”

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is a saying that’s a real thing.

Quite simply, what you find appealing, I might not. It used to be a little easier to understand, but then internet trolls came around.

But there’s another saying that’s a real thing, too: People are idiots.

And in that vein, actor Sydney Sweeney, one of Hollywood’s most definite “it” stars of the moment the past few years, has shared some of those idiots’ takes on her recent boxing training to play Hall of Famer Christy Martin.

Sweeney by most metrics – keeping that saying in the lead in mind – has entered the upper echelon of stardom in the entertainment world and is a regular fixture in advertisements and on social media. But she posted a video on Instagram showing some of the comments she’s gotten while training to play Martin, and suffice it to say … yeah: People are idiots.

We compiled the comments below since they flash through Sweeney’s video in a hurry.

Martin went 49-7-3 with 31 knockouts and in 2020 was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. The as-yet untiled biopic is being directed by David Michod, an Australian who directed the highly regarded 20120 Oscar-nominated “Animal Kingdom.”

Michod co-wrote the script for the Martin drama and is a producer, along with Sweeney, who stars with Ben Foster, Merritt Wever and Ethan Embry, among others.

The film is planned for a 2025 release and will come on the heels of “The Fire Inside,” a biopic about Claressa Shields out now that is garnering excellent reviews.

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New combat video game star – and an NPC! – born from crazy karate kick caught on cam

Rashad Eugene had a great karate resume already, but now the phone’s really probably going to ring.

Rashad Eugene had a killer karate resume already, but now the phone’s really probably going to ring.

Eugene posted a video to social media that was picked up by ESPN MMA that shows an utterly insane flip kick that landed on a karate opponent and took him out. It’s the kind of thing seen in video games, but seldom in reality.

Yet there it was, and after his opponent hit the deck, in true video game style, a potential non-playable character was right there … with a full-size janitorial broom, as if he was ready to clean up Eugene’s trash after the finish.

Check the wild scene in the video below. And what are we calling Broom Guy when he makes it into the game as an NPC?

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDxCWjlu6_V/

‘XtremeYogurt.com’ on the ass: See Hendo’s KO of Bisping at UFC 100 from a new angle

Some of the UFC’s most legendary finishes look a little different from other angles.

Some of the UFC’s most legendary finishes look a little different from other angles.

The vast majority of MMA fans have seen [autotag]Dan Henderson[/autotag]’s UFC 100 knockout of Michael Bisping, which came with an extra shot for good measure. But from the opposite side of the broadcast angle and above, it takes on a new bit of brutality.

Plus, we get this fantastic reminder of the sponsorship days in the UFC. In case it comes up as an MMA trivia question one day, Henderson was sponsored by “XtremeYogurt.com.” It’s no CondomDepot.com, but it’s up there. The two of those together would’ve been legendary. But the internet doesn’t forget, and XtremeYogurt.com on Henderson’s ass was a real thing – and that’s just the cold, hard math.

Check out that finish from a new angle above, as well as a bunch more from angles the UFC says haven’t been released to the masses.