Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Check out a full recap of 2023’s most significant footnotes and milestones from the events, the fights and individual performances.
Now that the year has come to a close, and with a major assist from UFC research analyst and live statistics producers Michael Carroll, here are some of 2023’s most significant milestones from the events, the fights and individual performances.
Daniel Cormier explains why he agrees with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev for wanting fresh challenges.
[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] explains why he agrees with UFC lightweight champion [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] for wanting fresh challenges.
When asked if he’d rather run things back with [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] or [autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag] next, Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) said he prefers a new challenge in the form of “BMF” champion Justin Gaethje.
Although Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) and Tsarukyan (21-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) are top contenders, Makhachev has already beaten them both. But it’s something Makhachev said about his fighting future that makes Cormier think he’s right for not being keen on rematches.
“We’re missing why Islam says he doesn’t want rematches and why I think he’s right, if I’m being honest,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “That probably comes as no surprise to you guys because you’re going to say that I’m always biased toward Islam and everything, but I think he’s right. I’m going to tell you why I think he’s right for the simple fact that when the reporter then followed up with Islam, ‘Can you see yourself doing this until you’re 40?’ Islam said, ’40? No. Maybe a couple more years.’
“That’s why I think it’s right that he doesn’t want to fight rematches because if he’s only going to be around for a couple more years, do we want to see him continue to recycle opponents or do we want to see him in there with different people time and time again? That’s why I think he’s right. He said only a couple more years of fighting, and if we have learned anything, Khabib (Nurmagomedov) walked away at the height of his popularity, at the height of his dominance, at the height of the sport, and never looked back.”
Makhachev submitted Oliveira to claim the vacant lightweight belt at UFC 280. He defeated Tsarukyan by decision in April 2019, in what was Tsarukyan’s octagon debut.
Tsarukyan has since gone 8-1, whereas Oliveira rebounded with a first-round TKO of Beneil Dariush at UFC 289. Cormier isn’t saying that they’re not worthy of a title shot, but he prefers seeing Makhachev clearing out the division.
“When you hear Makhachev saying ‘I’ve got a couple years left,’ do we really want to see him fighting guys like Charles, who has proven to be the second best in the division, at least, according to their first fight?” Cormier said. “Or Arman Tsarukyan who he fought a long time ago, who has proven to be one of the best lightweights in the world? Do we want to see that, especially when guys don’t fight as frequently as they used to? If Makhachev is fighting twice a year and he’s fighting for only a couple more years, that’s four fights.
“Or would we like to see him fight a Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler maybe, Mateusz Gamrot or one of the other great young challengers that are coming up that we haven’t seen him in there with before? Now, I’m not saying I’m not going to tap into a fight with him and ‘Do Bronx’ (Oliveira) or with him and Tsarukyan. I’m not saying that those guys are not warranted a title championship opportunity if they are giving it to them. They have earned that. For me, I’m like, well, if it’s not going to be a long time, then maybe we should see if he’s the guy that can keep that next wave of guys from dethroning him.”
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Javier Mendez believes Arman Tsarukyan has earned a UFC lightweight title shot, but there are people ahead of him.
American Kickboxing Academy coach [autotag]Javier Mendez[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag] has earned a UFC lightweight title shot, but there are people ahead of him.
Tsarukyan (21-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) scored a quick knockout of Beneil Dariush in the UFC on ESPN 52 headliner and called for a rematch with champion [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC).
But with [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag] waiting for his title shot and [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] hoping to get his rematch with Makhachev rebooked, Mendez doubts Tsarukyan is Makhachev’s next title defense. Tsarukyan gave Makhachev a valiant effort in his UFC debut in 2019 but ultimately fell short.
“It was very impressive,” Mendez said on his YouTube channel. “Definitely because they had history and the fight was a very tough fight for Islam, you would think the UFC being the marketing machine that they are, that they’re always looking for intriguing matchups. But I think honestly there’s too many people ahead of him.
“I think Justin Gaethje, Charles are head of him, so I think that’s something they can hold later. I think, honestly speaking, we’re going to be looking at I would imagine would be Charles or Justin. Arman would be later, but I think he’s going to have to have one more fight. Not because he has to have one more fight, but because he’s not going to want to settle and do nothing.”
Whether the UFC opts to reschedule the Oliveira rematch or give Gaethje the title shot, Mendez says Makhachev is willing to face whomever is offered to him.
“I already know on Islam’s part, he’s not choosing the opponent,” Mendez said. “So, it comes down to whoever the UFC is going to offer, who they work out the deal with. Not who Islam chooses because whoever they say, he’s going to fight.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 52.
Charles Oliveira, Michael Bisping, Mark Coleman, Lyoto Machida, Cris Cyborg – Who was the “ultimate” snub?
The UFC’s 30th anniversary date has come and gone, and in the build-up to the milestone date, MMA Junkie counted down its 30 greatest fighters of all time to compete for the promotion.
There was plenty of debate about the entire list from top to bottom, and perhaps an even larger conversation about who was the most deserving fighter to not make the cut. Our first five out of the top 30 were all former champions: [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag], [autotag]Michael Bisping[/autotag], [autotag]Mark Coleman[/autotag], [autotag]Lyoto Machida[/autotag], and [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag].
The final list was tabulated through a points system after voting from MMA Junkie’s 12-person staff.
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On a special edition of “Spinning Back Clique,” the majority of our staff members came together to discuss and debate the finer points of the list. Who was the “ultimate” snub? Which fighter right outside of our top 30 deserved to make this list?
Check out the discussion in the video above, or watch the entire 30 greatest UFC fighters of all time podcast below.
Dustin Poirier isn’t counting Charles Oliveira out in a rematch vs. Islam Makhachev.
NEW YORK – [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] isn’t counting [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] out in a rematch vs. [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag].
Lightweight champion Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) submitted Oliveira to capture the vacant title in a dominant win at UFC 280 in October 2022. Since then, Oliveira rebounded with a first-round TKO of Beneil Dariush to earn another crack at Oliveira.
Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) holds wins over every fighter in the UFC’s top five lightweight rankings, including Poirier. So, “The Diamond” thinks if Oliveira’s mind is right, he can beat Makhachev.
“If Oliveira’s mindset is in, if he’s the same guy who fought me, who fought (Michael) Chandler, I think he can win that fight,” Poirier told MMA Junkie. “I don’t think he wanted to fight in that title fight. He looked like he didn’t want to be there. He quit on himself, it looked like.
“That’s my opinion. But I know personally he has the skills to beat the best guys in the world, and he has done that time and time again. If he goes in there with his mindset locked in, ready to go, I think he can beat him.”
Makhachev is coming off back-to-back wins over featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski – once by decision, and the other by first-round head kick knockout at UFC 294.
Poirier (29-8 MMA, 21-7 UFC) also got the call to step in against Makhachev at UFC 294 after Oliveira withdrew due to a cut, but the promotion ultimately chose Volkanovski. Poirier only expects Makhachev to continue growing after finishing Volkanovski.
“He’s been competing for a long time. He’s the champ. He’s defending his belt. He’s only going to continue to get better,” Poirier said. “He’s surrounded by great guys, a great camp, great team, and he’s going to continue to get better. Everybody’s getting so good at everything. Looking at somebody as a one-dimensional fighter – those days are kind of gone.”
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“I can’t think of anything I did well,” Beneil Dariush says of his loss to Charles Oliveira five months later.
Five months later, [autotag]Beneil Dariush[/autotag] says he wasn’t himself when he fought [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag].
Dariush (22-5-1 MMA, 16-5-1 UFC) saw his eight-fight winning streak snapped this past June when he was stopped by former champion Oliveira in the first round at UFC 289. Although Dariush was able to take down Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) early, he was rather critical of his performance.
“Just I didn’t show up that night,” Dariush told MMA Junkie. “No matter how I look at it, I just didn’t show up that night. That’s the best way I could put it unfortunately. I wish I did. I wish I put on a better performance and I was more myself, but I just didn’t look good. I can’t think of anything I did well.”
Dariush is no stranger to bouncing back strong. Prior to stringing together eight wins, the 34-year-old was winless in three consecutive fights.
“All my losses sting,” Dariush said. “Honestly I never get over my losses. That’s also one of the reasons why I’ve got to where I got to. I never get over my losses. I just continue to dig and get better. As far as which one stings the most, obviously the Charles fight is the most recent, but I can still remember all my losses, and I want them all back.
“It’s a really weird thing how obsessive I could be over losses to a point where, if I overthink it, it could crush me. But fortunately for me, being a devout Christian, I don’t put my identity in fighting, and that really helps me just step away from it.”
Dariush meets Arman Tsarukyan (20-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) in the UFC on ESPN 52 headliner Dec. 2 at Moody Center in Austin, Texas. He expects Tsarukyan to try and mix things up, and he’s ready for it.
“I think he’s going to be looking to go low and go high. By low I mean takedowns, and by high I mean striking,” Dariush said. “But that’s what I prepare for every day. I prepare to fight guys that can do it all. I don’t know if he does anything that would surprise me.
“Once I get in there, I’ll have a better idea. I will say I need to get a better idea of his strength. That’s something that could be out of my expectations. When I went with Gamrot, he was strong, but I didn’t feel, ‘Oh man, this guy is overwhelming me.’ Let’s see if Tsarukyan is going to be the same thing.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 52.
Charles Oliveira is eagerly awaiting a date to rematch Islam Makhachev, but claims to be surprise at new reports about UFC 297 in January.
[autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] is eagerly anticipating a date for his rematch with [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag], but claimed to be surprise at new reports of a January clash at UFC 297.
Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) was forced to withdraw from his anticipated second encounter with lightweight champ Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) at UFC 294 this past month. He sustained a cut over his eye in one of his final departure training sessions, causing him to pull out and be replaced by Alexander Volkanovski, who was knocked out in the first round.
UFC CEO Dana White expressed interest in booking Oliveira vs. Makhachev 2 next at 155 pounds, but it would depend on how quickly Oliveira’s cut healed. According to the Brazilian, he is nearing a return to full contact training.
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“It was quite a deep cut,” Oliveira said on Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 231 post-event show in Sao Paulo. “I don’t have any planned, scheduled fights at the moment. We get to take our time to get a good recovery, so I might go back into training in about a week or so.”
MMA reporter Ariel Helwani reported Saturday that the promotion is working on booking the rematch at UFC 297 on Jan. 20, which is expected to take place in Toronto. Oliveira claims he was unaware of that, and has yet to be contacted with any offers.
“We just heard this from the locker room,” Oliveira said. “People were asking us on the messages about getting it. This is the first time we heard about it. That’s the timeline, January maybe. So who knows?”
Oliveira suffered a second-round submission loss to Makhachev in their vacant title encounter at UFC 280 in October 2022. “Do Bronx” rebounded from that defeat with a second-round TKO of Beneil Dariush at UFC 289 in June, and will look to avenge his loss and regain the strap whenever the details become official.
“You’ll see the Charles you always see, always going forward, always going for the submission, for the knockout, going for the win,” Oliveira said. “I want to be champion. I want to be the next champion. That’s what I want.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.
Henry Cejudo sees Jailton Almeida as the heavyweight version of former UFC champ Charles Oliveira.
[autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag] sees [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag] as the heavyweight version of former UFC champion [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag].
Almeida (19-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) will look to catapult himself to title contention when he meets former title challenger Derrick Lewis (27-11 MMA, 18-9 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 231 headliner at Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo. The event streams on ESPN+.
“Malhadinho” boasts a 100 percent finish rate, with 12 of his professional wins coming by submission – most recently a first-round rear-naked choke of Jairzinho Rozenstruik in May.
“Almeida is the replica of what Charles Oliveira is at the heavyweight division,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “His jiu-jitsu and top submissions, I mean, he’s an artist at heavyweight. We saw a lot of his submissions, from rear-naked chokes to triangles. I mean, we’re taking about a damn heavyweight here.
“Very crafty off of his back, very crafty up top, and he will slide things in because he knows that’s where his No. 1 strength is. And his finishing ability. All of his wins have come from stoppages. He’s either knocked you out, or he’s submitted you. This dude’s not planning on going five rounds with Derrick Lewis.”
Cejudo also pointed to Almeida’s 14-fight winning streak and the type of confidence it brings him. According to BetMGM, Almeida is a big -470 favorite over Lewis, who is a +350 underdog.
“His movement and his athleticism,” Cejudo continued. “This dude could almost be a damn football player. He can almost be a quarterback, a wide receiver, you call it. The dude has a certain agility that makes him different from a lot of the other heavyweights. And the most important gift of them all, his confidence. He’s a very confident human. He believes in himself.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.
Charles Oliveira praises Islam Makhachev for the way he finished Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 294.
[autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] praised UFC lightweight champion [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] for the way he finished [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag].
Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) knocked out Volkanovski (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) with a head kick in the first round of their title-fight rematch last Saturday at UFC 294. Volkanovski stepped in on short notice to replace Oliveira, who was forced out due to a cut.
Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) was impressed with the strides Makhachev made in his striking, especially his kicking game.
“This only goes to show with the things that I’ve said before, the evolution of Islam’s game standing up,” Oliveira said through an interpreter on “The MMA Hour.” “I mean, what a read that he had of that fight to start kicking low and just ended up kicking high. So, I mean, kudos to him.
“All props to him and also all the props, as well, to Volkanovski for actually taking that fight on short notice. I mean, all respect to both of them. They’re great fighters, and obviously Islam is a great champion and all respect to both fighters. It shows his evolution as an MMA fighter.”
UFC CEO Dana White initially said the plan is to rebook Makhachev vs. Oliveira 2, then said it will depend on how long it takes for Oliveira’s cut to heal. While he expects their rematch to be rebooked, Oliveira said he’s yet to receive a definitive word.
“No one has said anything,” Oliveira said. “They know who I am, they know what I’m all about, they know that I’m going to train to become a champion. I’m training, and I’m getting ready for it. They know what I’m all about. I don’t fight for money. I fight to make history, and I fight for my legacy.
“So, I’m going to continue to train, continue to get prepared and try to get up to 100 percent just like I was right before this fight. When I’m at 100 percent, that’s when I’ll be ready to fight. … I want the belt. Whoever’s got that belt, it doesn’t matter who has it. I want that belt.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 294.
Dana White won’t fully commit to rebooking Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev just yet.
LAS VEGAS – UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] won’t fully commit to rebooking [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] just yet.
Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) was scheduled to challenge lightweight champion Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) in a title-fight rematch this past Saturday at UFC 294, but he withdrew after suffering a laceration in training. Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski replaced Oliveira on short notice but lost to Makhachev by first-round knockout.
Prior to UFC 294, White said Oliveira could get the next title shot. After the event, he’s yet to confirm that Oliveira is next and said that will depend on when he’s cleared to compete.
“That’s all going to be determined by his cut,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters Wednesday. “It was a pretty nasty cut. It was pretty deep. The thing that’s really good about it is he went to a plastic surgeon, so they sewed it up from the inside out, and hopefully that’s going to help it heal faster and heal properly.”
Former champion Oliveira was submitted by Makhachev at UFC 280 last October. He then rebounded with a first-round TKO of streaking Beneil Dariush at UFC 289 in June to earn himself a rematch with Makhachev.
After beating Volkanovski a second time, Makhachev has options. “BMF” champion Justin Gaethje, who’s coming off a knockout of Dustin Poirier at UFC 291, made his case for a title shot. Another option is top contender Mateusz Gamrot, who weighed in as a backup for Makhachev vs. Volkanovski.
Makhachev also has his sights set on the welterweight title, eyeing the winner of champion Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington at UFC 296 on Dec. 16.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 294.
