Check out which veterans of the UFC are competing in combat sports across the globe this weekend.
This week, the UFC wraps up its year with a pay-per-view event in Las Vegas.
UFC 296 takes place at T-Mobile Arena, and features a pair of title fights. In the main event, [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] looks to defend his welterweight title against [autotag]Colby Covington[/autotag], and [autotag]Alexandre Pantoja[/autotag] defends his flyweight crown against [autotag]Brandon Royval[/autotag].
Elsewhere, many other combat sports events are taking place that feature a number of familiar names that have competed under the UFC banner.
Check out which veterans of the global MMA leader are competing Dec. 14-17.
Scroll below to see how the UFC veterans fared last week, and see the names and details of this weekend’s competitors.
Anthony Pettis will try and recreate his infamous “Showtime Kick” when he makes his Karate Combat debut.
[autotag]Anthony Pettis[/autotag] will try and recreate his infamous “Showtime Kick” when he makes his Karate Combat debut.
Pettis meets familiar foe [autotag]Benson Henderson[/autotag] in the main event of Karate Combat 43 on Dec. 15 at the Expo at World Trade Market in Las Vegas, marking their third combat sports encounter.
“He’s not an easy opponent, bro,” Pettis told MMA Junkie. “We fought twice already. The first fight was such a close fight. Even standing, striking. The ground portion was a very close fight. Second fight I obviously had my success with the body kicks, but Ben’s a competitor. Nothing but respect for that dude. We’ve been doing this for 10-years-plus now each, and he’s still competing at the highest level.
“I know he’s coming to bring it. Obviously he has something to prove. Every time that ‘Showtime’ Kick – they basically made that promo off the ‘Showtime’ Kick. I heard the pit was designed off that, the Karate Combat pit. So I’m sure Ben is going to try to go out there and even the score up. So I’ll be ready for whatever he brings.”
Pettis also used the cage to his advantage when he became the first man to knock out Stephen Thompson, landing a perfect Superman punch to shut his lights out.
“I feel like offensively I’m going to be able to use it to my advantage,” Pettis said. “I’ll be able to jump off that thing. I’ll be able to climb up it, move around it. So I’m going to be able to have some fun with that.”
With the Karate Combat ruleset involving striking only, Pettis expects to shine against Henderson.
“I am a lifelong martial artist,” Pettis said. “This is something I’ve done forever. I come from a point sparring background, so I feel like this favors me definitely. Having the ability to throw any strike I want without having to worry about getting taken down or getting pressed against the fence. If you watch our first couple fights, a lot of his success came from that.
“Pushing me against the fence, holding me on the fence. Doing some moves I’ve never seen before on the fence, but he won’t have that opportunity this one round. That’s why I said yes to this. It plays well into what I’ve done my whole life.” I think he definitely wants to win and with these rule set, we’ve got three-minute rounds. I’ve just got to be on my game the whole time.”
Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”
Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.
On Episode 3,419, the fellas welcome in a pair of high-level guests from the fight game: former UFC lightweight champion [autotag]Anthony Pettis[/autotag] and former UFC title challenger [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag]. Tune in!
Anthony Pettis’ initial reaction to Mike Perry’s callout for a BKFC clash is to accept, but he admits additional consideration is needed.
[autotag]Anthony Pettis[/autotag]’ initial reaction to [autotag]Mike Perry[/autotag]’s callout for a BKFC clash is to accept, but he admits an additional layer of consideration is needed.
Pettis, a former UFC and WEC lightweight champion, has expanded his combat sports horizons since completing his UFC contract in December 2020. He’s competed five times under the PFL banner, defeated Roy Jones Jr. in a boxing match, and is currently scheduled to face Benson Henderson under the Karate Combat banner on Dec. 15 in Las Vegas.
Could a bareknuckle boxing match be next for Pettis? “Showtime” admits he was intrigued when Perry dropped his name after defeaing Eddie Alvarez to win the “King of Violence” title last Saturda at BKFC 56. His natural instinct is to agree to the challenge, but given the brutal nature of BKFC, Pettis said it’s something he would have to discuss more thoroughly with his team if and when an official offer comes through.
“That’s definitely different from something I’ve ever done before, that bareknuckle sh*t,” Pettis told MMA Junkie Radio. “That’s like real fighting. You’re going to get cut. I know Eddie had like two broken orbitals after that fight. I would have to talk to my wife about that one. I’ve done everything. I’ve boxed. I’ve done mixed martial arts my whole life. Now I’m doing Karate Combat. I wouldn’t say no to it, but it’s definitely something I have to talk to my coaches about, talk to my team about and make sure it makes sense about everything.”
Whether a Pettis vs. Perry fight materializes remains to be seen, but regardless, 2024 is going to be a busy year, Pettis said.
He is obligated to another fight under the PFL banner, has multiple boxing matchups potentially in the works, and is open to listening to any other opportunities that come his way.
“(Next) year I will definitely have some big boxing fights,” Pettis said. “I have a pay-per-view fight with (PFL). I think that will be in April or May. I’m waiting for them to announce that. But my MMA fight will be one more with PFL. But I’m allowed to do Karate Combat. I’m allowed to box. I’m able to make money everywhere.”
B.J. Penn was instrumental in building the UFC’s lightweight division, and Anthony Pettis thinks he’s the 155-pound GOAT.
[autotag]Anthony Pettis[/autotag] thinks [autotag]B.J. Penn[/autotag] was instrumental in building the lightweight division.
Pettis, a former WEC and UFC lightweight champion, listed his top five greatest lightweights of all time.
His No. 1 pick was former champion Penn, who defended his UFC lightweight title three times with finishes of Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez. Penn also is a former UFC welterweight champion
“(I’ve) got to go B.J. Penn,” Pettis said in an interview with Low Kick MMA. “I mean, B.J. Penn is one of the pioneers of the whole thing. Without B.J., none of this would even be possible. Ben Henderson’s in my top five, as well. You’ve got to go with Khabib (Nurmagomedov). He’s definitely on there – a dominant guy, never lost. Dustin Poirier is another guy that’s on my top-five list, and then I would take myself.”
Pettis thinks it’s too early to include current UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, but thinks he has all the potential to become an all-time great.
“He still has some work to do,” Pettis said. “He just beat (Alexander) Volkanovski, and Volkanovski is an amazing fighter – but he’s not a lightweight. He doesn’t have any wins against a top-10 lightweight, so I think once he can prove himself – he’s a tremendous fighter, but he still has some work to do.
“That’s the hard thing. Once you get to the top, things change. You’ve got sponsors pulling you, you’ve got events, you’ve got promotions, you’ve got a lot of other options besides training. … Seeing how he can balance that and see when he fights and how dominant he is, that’s when we’ll see how great he can be.”
Pettis, who dethroned Henderson twice, once to become WEC champion, and again to become UFC lightweight champ, meets “Bendo” for a third time in combat sports in the Karate Combat 43 headliner on Dec. 15 at the Expo at World Trade Market in Las Vegas. Their contest will take place at 170 pounds.
Benson Henderson, Anthony Pettis set to meet a third time, but under Karate Combat rules.
[autotag]Benson Henderson[/autotag] and [autotag]Anthony Pettis[/autotag] are headed to Karate Combat.
The two former UFC lightweight champions will meet for a third time in combat sports in the main event of Karate Combat 43 on Dec. 15 at the Expo at World Trade Market in Las Vegas. They will compete in a 170-pound contest.
The news was confirmed by the promotion on Tuesday following an initial report by MMA Fighting.
Henderson and Pettis have fought twice before under MMA rules.
The first time they met was in 2010 at WEC 53, where Pettis defeated Henderson in an all-out war to win the promotion’s lightweight title. It was also the birth of Pettis’ famous “Showtime kick.” The second time was three years later in 2013 at UFC 164. That night, Pettis submitted Henderson with an armbar to crown himself UFC lightweight champion.
Pettis was recently seen fighting in MMA under the PFL banner. He signed with the promotion in 2021 and fought for them five times, going 1-4. The 36-year-old last fought in August 2022, losing a decision to former UFC fighter Stevie Ray.
Meanwhile, Henderson retired from MMA in March after losing by first-round submission to Usman Nurmagomedov for the Bellator lightweight title. Prior to that, he was on a two-fight winning streak.
Former UFC champion Anthony Pettis sees positives and negatives to the dissolution of the USADA anti-doping program.
Former UFC and WEC champion [autotag]Anthony Pettis[/autotag] sees positives and negatives to the dissolution of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) program.
USADA announced Wednesday that its anti-doping program agreement with UFC will expire at the end of the year. It hasn’t been announced if a new partner will be put in place or what the future of UFC drug testing holds, and Pettis has mixed thoughts on the situation.
As someone who was part of the UFC roster prior to USADA’s introduction in 2015, competed inside the octagon for most of its duration, and has now had fights in other promotions during his post-UFC run, Pettis has experienced it all.
Pettis thinks performance-enhancing drug use in the UFC was far more prevalent prior to USADA than it is today, but he thinks it reached that point by asking too much of the athletes.
“I think most fighters are going to like it (going away),” Pettis told MMA Junkie moments after USADA’s announcement. “There’s so much stuff that you’ve got to do to be part of that program. It kept the sport fair. Dudes are getting drug tested the night of the fight, before the fight, the week of the fight. There’s ways to do it, I think, to keep it fair. As the fighter, we had to update our whereabouts. We’re fighters – we’re traveling, moving around, training at different gyms. If you didn’t update your whereabouts (you got suspended). Little things like that I just think there’s a better way to do it. USADA, they’re a great company. I have no bad things to do say against USADA. But I think there’s other ways to do it. They’re not the only person who can do it.
“There’s just so many ways around it. You announce that you retire, USADA stops coming to your door. That’s a flaw right there. These guys are like, ‘I’m retired, I’m going to fight next year.’ I think where the sport was at when they first came in, they cleaned it up big time. The guys that I think were juicing, they had to figure something out.”
Pettis thinks the circumstances around the termination of the program is what could ultimately create the most angst among fighters. The looming return of Conor McGregor has become a hot-button issue over the past year, because before stepping back in the octagon, the policy stated he needed to submit two clean drug tests over a six-month period after re-joining the testing pool.
There is an amendment to the policy that would allow the UFC to waive the testing period and McGregor could become immediately eligible to fight, and USADA claimed clashing views over that point caused “untenable” friction between the two sides that contributed to failed negotiations on extending the agreement.
Pettis said it’s hard to ignore McGregor’s influence over how everything came to a head.
“A lot of fighters are going to be pissed off because it was about Conor McGregor,” Pettis said. “If it wasn’t about Conor McGregor and UFC was like, ‘Yo, as a business it just doesn’t make sense for us to use this company, we’re going to use a different company.’ I think it would go differently. But with Conor’s face on it and the Dana White privilege, people are going to get behind that. But when it comes down to it, it’s a business. And people want to see Conor fight.”
Although Pettis doesn’t fight under the UFC banner anymore, his preference is for the sport as a whole to be clean. It’s an impossible task, in his opinion, because no matter the degree of regulation, he thinks there are always avenues to cheating, and those determined enough will find them.
“I was fighting in the wild, Wild West days where drug tests wasn’t random,” Pettis said. “Unless you were fighting for a title shot, you probably wouldn’t even get a drug test. I’ve had both ways. The USADA way, it definitely makes me feel a little more safe that like, ‘The guy I’m fighting isn’t on some sh*t.’ If they want to get around it, there’s ways to get around it. There’s tricks and stuff that these guys have. When money is involved – you know.”
Doumbe (5-0) needed just nine seconds to knock out Jordan Zebo in his promotional debut this past Saturday at PFL Europe 3 in Paris. The former Glory Kickboxing champion thrilled his home crowd and already has his sights set on some of the biggest and most established names in the sport.
Before he enters the $1 million welterweight tournament, Doumbe wants to test his standup against a few veterans.
“I want to make big fights before that $1 million tournament challenge that I know I will win for sure,” Doumbe said on The MMA Hour. “I want to make big fights, like big superfights, face big guys like Jorge Masvidal, Nate Diaz, or maybe Anthony Pettis, you know. I want to face these kind of guys because I know that I can knock them out. I know I’m better than them. I just want to prove, to show to the world, who am I.”
The first to respond to Doumbe’s callout was former WEC and UFC lightweight champion Pettis (25-14), who sees a potential fight with Doumbe doing blockbuster numbers for the PFL.
Pettis was most recently seen in action this past April, when he made his professional boxing debut against Roy Jones Jr. at Gamebred Boxing 4. He won the bout by majority decision. He hasn’t competed in MMA since April 2022, when he was eliminated from the PFL lightweight tournament semifinals by Stevie Ray.
Check out which UFC fighters of the past and present currently run their own promotions.
In the fight game, fighters fight and promoters largely promote. It’s a nearly exclusive rule, but there are some exceptions.
While promoters never fight, occasionally a fighter will promote.
An increasing trend in recent years, more and more combat sports athletes are testing out the waters of running their own promotions. Oftentimes, it’s a fighter who has some name recognition, buzz, or influence in the sport. There are exceptions to the rule, however – fighters who have just figured out how to run a regional promotion successfully.
There are the more obvious stars like [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] and [autotag]Jorge Masvidal[/autotag], who have used their big platforms to promote their recent dive into promoting. There are also others who have quietly promoted behind the scenes for years.
Scroll below to see which current and former UFC fighters currently run their own promotions.
Note: Promotions that have not held an event since before 2019 were not included in this list – and this list is not necessarily all-inclusive.
See the disclosed payouts for Anthony Pettis, Roy Jones. Jr., Vitor Belfort, Jose Aldo, and more, per the state of Wisconsin.
Gamebred Boxing 4 took place Saturday at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisc., where six fighters took home six-figure paydays as a result of their bouts.
Thursday, MMA Junkie acquired a list of the disclosed payouts from the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, which oversees the state’s athletic commission and regulation of combat sports events.
The amounts reflect the disclosed payouts only and do not include any off-contract bonuses, sponsor payments, or discretionary bonuses.
Of the 26 fighters to compete on the card, 20 were on flat purse contracts, while the remaining six fighters were on show-win deals. Headliners [autotag]Anthony Pettis[/autotag] and [autotag]Roy Jones Jr.[/autotag] took home the largest purses of the bunch, as they combined for $1,350,000.
The total payout for all fighters on the card was $2,827,700.
Scroll below to see what the 26 fighters on Gamebred Boxing 4 were paid – disclosed amounts only.
