Category: MMA

Dan Hardy: Knockout loss to Anthony Joshua won’t affect Francis Ngannou as a brand or fighter

Dan Hardy expects Francis Ngannou’s boxing experience to serve him well against Renan Ferreira.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – [autotag]Dan Hardy[/autotag] expects [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag]’s boxing experience to serve him well against [autotag]Renan Ferreira[/autotag].

Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou (17-3) takes on Ferreira (13-3) in Saturday’s PFL: Battle of the Giants (DAZN/ESPN+) main event at The Mayadeen.

Since parting ways with the UFC, Ngannou boxed twice – a controversial decision loss to Tyson Fury, followed by a knockout loss to Anthony Joshua in March. Despite Ngannou coming off the first knockout loss of his combat sports career, Hardy says the skills he acquired as a boxer will benefit him against the taller and rangier Ferreira.

“I don’t really think it affected Ngannou as a brand in any way,” Hardy told MMA Junkie. “So, I don’t necessarily think it will affect him as a fighter in any way, if that makes sense. I think that the time he’s spent in boxing, it will make him a better MMA fighter. …It allows people to manage range better. They’re able to step into range to land punches, but not crowd themselves and go into a clinch, and that’s going to be really, really valuable for him in this fight.

“Because I would say that he needs to be close to Renan Ferreira to get inside his reach. I don’t know if he wants to waste too much energy grappling with him. I think we will see some wrestling and grappling out of Ngannou. Ferreira’s huge, he’s a sizable individual. Just to take him down and control him is going to be a massive amount of energy expended. So, I think Ngannou being able to stay in the pocket and box is going to be very useful for him in this fight.”

Ngannou returns to MMA for the first time since successfully defending his UFC heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane in January 2022.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL: Battle of the Giants.

Tommy Fury challenges Jake Paul to MMA fight after training with UFC champ Tom Aspinall

If Jake Paul needs a debut opponent in the PFL, a familiar foe is willing to step up.

If [autotag]Jake Paul[/autotag] needs a debut opponent in mixed martial arts, a familiar foe is willing to step up.

Paul intends to make his MMA debut after partnering with PFL. CEO Peter Murray expects “The Problem Child” to enter the cage in 2025.

Paul’s lone loss in boxing came by split decision to [autotag]Tommy Fury[/autotag] in February 2023. Fury spent some time training MMA with UFC interim heavyweight champion [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] and would love nothing more than to beat Paul in MMA, too.

“Jake Paul’s in the PFL, isn’t he? I’m going to smash his face in when I get good at MMA,” Fury said on his YouTube channel. “I’ll beat him in boxing and the cage. Big useless prick. I reckon a year-and-a-half to two years of training until I’ll beat him in a fight, no problem, in the cage.

“He’s got the funds, he’s got the best trainers in the world, he’s got the best sparring in the world. So he’s doing all right. But no match for me. I swear to you, next time I fight him, I’ll knock him out. In MMA, I just want to give him a big fat (knee). All elbows, no fists.”

Since losing to Fury in the ring, Paul (10-1) rebounded with four consecutive wins, most recently a TKO of Mike Perry in July. He takes on 58-year-old boxing legend Mike Tyson (50-6-2) on Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.

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Australian MMA fighter Casey O’Neill did a Raygun celebration after a win at UFC 305

This is for sure a Raygun tribute.

Although Raygun the Australian Olympic breaker has gotten too much criticism and has been mocked for her performance in Paris, this one feels more like a tribute.

MMA fighter Casey O’Neill is from Australia, and after she won in a bout over Luana Santos at Saturday’s UFC 305, O’Neill delivered the perfect celebration: a very clear tribute to Raygun, with her doing the famous rolling back-and-forth on the ground and a little kangaroo hop. Yep, that’s for sure The Raygun.

This is so, so good and delightful, and I hope Raygun sees it and smiles. Here’s a look at that moment:

Video: Who did the UFC leave off this best title fight head-kick KO list?

Holly Holm and Valentina Shevchenko might have something to say about being left off a recent best-of list put out by the UFC.

Holly Holm and Valentina Shevchenko might have something to say about being left off a recent best-of list put out by the UFC.

The promotion earlier this week published a compilation video of “legendary head shot KOs for UFC gold.” The description with the video on YouTube said: “With pressure at an all time high, relive the greatest head kick KOs that secured these top fighters UFC gold.”

The list includes Leon Edwards’ welterweight title-winning finish of Kamaru Usman. Edwards will try for his third title defense at UFC 304 on Saturday against Belal Muhammad. You’ll also see Anderson Silva shut down Vitor Belfort, Alex Pereira stop Jiri Prochazak, Georges St-Pierre wipe out Matt Hughes, Rose Namajunas’ finish of Zhang Weili and Amanda Nunes’ finish of Holly Holm.

But what about Holm’s finish of Ronda Rousey? Or Valentina Shevchenko’s finish of Jessica Eye? Hmmm …

Take a look at the video above to see the UFC’s list.

How to buy tickets to UFC 303 in Las Vegas

Catch all the UFC action in person this Saturday in Las Vegas. Limited tickets remain for as little as $246.

UFC 303 will be running it back in Las Vegas this weekend.

Ultimate fighting returns to T-Mobile Arena and will be headlined by light heavyweights Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka.

The fight is a promising bout that replaces another. Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler was originally scheduled to headline 303’s card. But after McGregor suffered an injury during training, we have a switch.

SHOP: UFC 303 tickets

Pereira and Prochazka did battle at UFC 295 in Madison Square Garden for the then-vacant UFC light heavyweight title. Pereira took it with a TKO.

In addition to Pereira and Prochazka, Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes will fight while Carlos Ulberg will now face former contender Anthony Smith.

You won’t want to miss all this UFC action, and limited tickets still remain for as little as $246.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop UFC 303 tickets” link=”https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/0eQ0LNP”]

How to buy tickets to UFC 303 in Las Vegas

Catch all the UFC action in person this Saturday in Las Vegas. Limited tickets remain for as little as $246.

UFC 303 will be running it back in Las Vegas this weekend.

Ultimate fighting returns to T-Mobile Arena and will be headlined by light heavyweights Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka.

The fight is a promising bout that replaces another. Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler was originally scheduled to headline 303’s card. But after McGregor suffered an injury during training, we have a switch.

SHOP: UFC 303 tickets

Pereira and Prochazka did battle at UFC 295 in Madison Square Garden for the then-vacant UFC light heavyweight title. Pereira took it with a TKO.

In addition to Pereira and Prochazka, Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes will fight while Carlos Ulberg will now face former contender Anthony Smith.

You won’t want to miss all this UFC action, and limited tickets still remain for as little as $246.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop UFC 303 tickets” link=”https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/0eQ0LNP”]

MMA heavyweight avoids TKO by kicking opponent square in the beans

Justice was served in the end, but hoooooo boy things looked grim for a minute.

MMA is a violent, occasionally beautiful sport. At its best, it pairs two elite athletes in a chess match of concussive strikes and savvy grappling. At its worst, it’s a slopfest where an overmatched opponent can save himself with stupid technique or illegal strikes.

On Thursday, the Professional Fighters League gave us the latter.

In a battle between heavyweights Tim Johnson and Danilo Marques, Johnson uncorked a massive left hand that sent his opponent sprawling to the canvas. He was unable to follow up, however, because Marques blasted a kick right to his cup at the exact same moment. Marques shook off the cobwebs and assumed he’d won, only to be reassured by the referee that, no, none of that was even remotely legal.

Johnson needed about three minutes of stoppage time to shake off the foul Despite the setback, he still managed to rally. Moments later, he dropped Marques en route to a first round TKO.

After the fight, Johnson discussed his roller coaster win.

“That hurt. That was definitely the worst groin strike I’ve ever had,” Johnson told former fighter turned interviewer Dan Hardy. “I didn’t know. I just heard everyone booing. So I was like ‘I’m sorry guys, I just got kicked in the groin. I’m trying.’ Then I found out they were booing at Danilo so, whatever.”

Johnson improved to 17-9 — and 1-0 in the PFL — with the win.

Derrick Lewis had the cheekiest celebration after beating Rodrigo Nascimento in UFC on ESPN 56 main event

Derrick Lewis is out here mooning the crowd at UFC on ESPN 56.

There was a moon over UFC on ESPN 56 Saturday night.

Derrick Lewis came in against Rodrigo Nascimento for a battle of heavyweights and emerged with a knockout in the third round of their fight, but it was Lewis’s celebration that rightfully made headlines everywhere.

Lewis stripped off his shorts and fanned Nascimento with them. Then, when the fight was over, he briefly … well, removed his briefs to show the crowd an NSFW sight. He also took off his protective cup at some point and tossed into the audience.

Here are those moments that everyone is talking about after this one:

Wild!

Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis take their vicious UFC 296 fight in crowd to social media

The two fighters went at each other as fans at UFC 296.

One of the biggest fights at UFC 296 wasn’t in the octagon.

Nope, it was in the crowd. But it was between two MMA fighters who will be facing each other in the future.

Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis will face each other at UFC 297 in January, and they had words for each other at a recent press conference. Oddly, the pair were seated near each other and came to blows in the crowd — MMA Junkie reports Dana White and security broke up the melee and Strickland was forced to leave.

But the fight didn’t stop there: The two called each other out on X (formerly Twitter):

And here’s footage of the fight: