Tag: Linton Vassell

Valentin Moldavsky vs. Linton Vassell headlines 2024 PFL 4 at Mohegan Sun

The second half of the PFL’s 2024 season starts in mid-June with heavyweights and women’s flyweights on the card in Connecticut.

The second half of the PFL’s 2024 season starts in mid-June with heavyweights and women’s flyweights on the card in Connecticut.

For the first time, the promotion will touch town at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. That venue was the East Coast home for Bellator for years before the PFL purchased it this past fall. PFL 2024, Week 4 is set for June 13.

Former Bellator standouts [autotag]Valentin Moldavsky[/autotag] (13-3) and [autotag]Linton Vassell[/autotag] (24-9) will meet in the heavyweight main event, the promotion announced Monday. Moldavsky is at the top of the standings after a first-round knockout of Ante Delija earlier this month. Vassell was stopped by Denis Goltsov in the third round.

Because only four fighters make the playoffs and the top four at heavyweight all have 4 pints or more, Vassell will need a finish of Moldavsky if he wants a shot at making the postseason.

In the co-main event, [autotag]Dakota Ditcheva[/autotag] (11-0) takes on [autotag]Chelsea Hackett[/autotag] (4-2-1). Ditcheva is one of three fighters with 6 points atop the women’s 125-pound standings after her first-round knockout of Lisa Mauldin in San Antonio. Hackett was submitted by Jena Bishop, so like Vassell finds herself in position to need a stoppage to have a realistic shot at the postseason.

Although there will be four other matchups in each of those divisions, those two matchups are the only ones the promotion announced Monday. The other fights are expected to be announced in the coming days.

After PFL 4 in Connecticut, the promotion heads to Salt Lake City for light heavyweights and lightweights June 21, then Sioux Falls, S.D., for welterweights and featherweights June 28.

“The PFL’s season format is the toughest test in MMA with the addition of elite athletes from Bellator, returning to Mohegan Sun, and PFL Europe looking to clinch a position in the 2024 PFL Playoffs,” PFL CEO Peter Murray said in a news release. “The PFL is excited to bring our brand of MMA to Connecticut, as well as our fans from 160 countries around the globe.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL 2024, Week 3.

Linton Vassell on entering 2024 PFL season: ‘I can’t be waiting around’ for Ryan Bader

Linton Vassell expected Ryan Bader next but explains why he ended up entering the 2024 PFL season instead.

[autotag]Linton Vassell[/autotag] expected [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] next but ended up entering the 2024 PFL season instead.

Vassell (24-8) was scheduled to challenge Bellator heavyweight champion Bader (31-8) this past October but withdrew due to lingering effects of COVID. In the meantime, Bader faced 2023 PFL champion Renan Ferreira in February but was knocked out in just 21 seconds.

Vassell still thought he’d get to run things back with Bader but ended up accepting an offer to join the 2024 PFL season when he was told Bader isn’t ready yet.

“I was supposed to fight Bader, which didn’t happen,” Vassell told MMA Junkie Radio. “I got sick in October. So, me and my manager were saying I’m going to fight him depending on what happens with him and Ferreira. Obviously he lost the fight, so I’m expecting I’m going to fight Ryan next. I get a phone call saying that fight is not happening. ‘Do you want to go into the PFL tournament?’

“This was about maybe four weeks ago. That’s exactly what happened. I didn’t even get a chance to really decide what I wanted to do, but I wanted to fight. I’ve been training, so I thought why not? It’s a year pretty much when I fought (Valentin) Moldavsky. I can’t be waiting around for Ryan or whatever fight could be lined up later.”

Vassell meets Denis Goltsov in Thursday’s 2024 PFL 1 (ESPN2, ESPN+) co-main event, which takes place at Boeing Center in San Antonio. The 40-year-old is enjoying his best career run having won five straight, and despite his age, is ready for the strenuous tournament format.

“I know what I’ve put myself into,” Vassell said. “How would I know unless I tried? I could always be like, ‘Oh, I’m not ready,’ but I could be like, ‘I’m 40 now, I’m not going to fight,’ but I feel I’m at my best right now. I’ve won my last five fights. It’s not like I’m winning and it’s going the distance. Out of five fights, one fight went the distance, and I’ve beaten the top guys.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for 2024 PFL 1.

Video: Which champions retain (if any) at Bellator 300?

The tricentennial Bellator event takes place Saturday at Pechanga Arena in San Diego and features three title fights.

Bellator 300 is just days away – a milestone event for the promotion that will transpire in its most uncertain of times.

While it’s unclear how long Bellator will be around for, it’s tricentennial event features three title fights after a fourth, Ryan Bader vs. Linton Vassell was canceled Tuesday. The remaining title fights include [autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Brent Primus[/autotag], [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Linton Vassell[/autotag], and [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ilima-Lei Macfarlane[/autotag].

The event takes place Saturday at Pechanga Arena in San Diego with a main card on Showtime after prelims on MMA Junkie.

Which champions will retain (if any)? Which will lose (if any)?

MMA Junkie’s “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Dan Tom, and Danny Segura joined host George Garcia to break it all down.

Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s full “Spinning Back Clique” episode below on YouTube or in podcast form.

Linton Vassell withdraws from Bellator 300 title fight vs. Ryan Bader

An undisclosed illness has forced Linton Vassell to pull out of Bellator 300 just five days from the historic event.

Bellator 300 is down one of its title fights.

Just five days from the historic event, [autotag]Linton Vassell[/autotag] has withdrawn from his heavyweight title fight against champion [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] because of an undisclosed illness. As a result, the bout has been scrapped altogether. Bellator 300, which takes place Saturday at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, will proceed with a three-title-fight main card.

Two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the news Monday. Bellator later made an announcement.

Bader (31-7 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) vs. Vassell (24-8 MMA, 12-5 BMMA) would have been a rematch of a November 2017 light heavyweight title fight in which Bader made his first successful title defense by second-round TKO at Bellator 186.

Bader vs. Vassell was one of four scheduled title fights at Bellator 300, along with Cris Cyborg vs. Cat Zingano at women’s featherweight; Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Brent Primus at lightweight; and Liz Carmouche vs. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane at women’s flyweight.

With the cancellation, here is the updated Bellator 300 lineup:

MAIN CARD (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Champ Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Brent Primus – for lightweight title; lightweight grand prix semifinal
  • Champ Cris Cyborg vs. Cat Zingano – for women’s featherweight title
  • Champ Liz Carmouche vs. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane – for women’s flyweight title

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie, 6:30 p.m. ET)

  • Davion Franklin vs. Slim Trabelsi
  • Henry Corrales vs. Kai Kamaka
  • Leah McCourt vs. Sara McMann
  • Jena Bishop vs. Ilara Joanne
  • Alberto Garcia vs. Bobby Seronio III
  • Romero Cotton vs. Grant Neal
  • Sergio Cossio vs. Jesse Roberts
  • Mukhamed Berkhamov vs. Herman Terrado
  • Maciej Rozanski vs. Doveltdzhan Yagshimuradov
  • Dmytrii Hrytsenko vs. Justin Montalvo
  • Bryce Meredith vs. Miguel Peimbert
  • Jackie Cataline vs. Lorrany Santos
  • Josh Hokit vs. Spencer Smith

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 300.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Aug. 7-13)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by a promotion from Aug. 7-13.

Bellator 300: Historic event set for Oct. 7 in San Diego with 4 title fights

Bellator 300 finally has a date and location, as well as a historic main card with four title fights.

Bellator 300 finally has a date and location, as well as a historic main card.

The event is set for Oct. 7 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego and will feature four title fights. The promotion is saying Bellator 300 will have four main events, but atop the card will be heavyweight champion [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] against challenger [autotag]Linton Vassell[/autotag].

In addition, women’s featherweight champ [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] takes on challenger [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag], lightweight titleholder [autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag] meets former champ [autotag]Brent Primus[/autotag], and in a long-discussed matchup, women’s flyweight champ [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] will put her title on the line against her good friend, training partner and former champ, [autotag]Ilima-Lei Macfarlane[/autotag].

Bellator officials announced the card Wednesday. The event date, location and lightweight title fight first were reported by BJPenn.com. The additional three title fights were announced on “The MMA Hour” ahead of a Bellator news release. The main card will air on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

“When I first joined Bellator, we set out to sign and develop the best available talent in the world and produce events for massive audiences,” Bellator president Scott Coker said in a press release. “Our first tentpole event was Bellator 131 in San Diego, and we couldn’t be more excited to return to that very same arena for this monumental Bellator 300 event.

“We wanted to give the fans and supporters an epic night of fights and there is no better way to do that than showcasing these four incredible champions all putting their belts on the line. I’m proud of the all the work we have done to grow this brand and its athletes since I came on board. I can’t wait for Bellator 300, which is going to be the biggest event in the history of Bellator MMA.”

Former two-division champ Bader (31-7 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) lost the light heavyweight title in 2020, but has held onto the heavyweight belt. After he was knocked out by Corey Anderson in the 205-pound tournament in 2021, he has three straight heavyweight title wins over Valentin Moldavsky, Cheick Kongo and Fedor Emelianenko.

The fight against Vassell will be a rematch of a Bader win at Bellator 186 in November 2017, which Bader won with a second-round TKO to defend his light heavyweight title. Now Vassell will try again, but a weight class up.

Vassell, who is all of four days older than Bader, lost his first fight at heavyweight in 2019, but has been on a tear since then with five straight wins and four stoppages in the division. In March, he knocked out Moldavsky in the first round.

Cyborg (26-2 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) re-signed with Bellator earlier this year after she tested the free agency market. Ultimately, she decided to stay put, but stayed at least a busy boxing. But now she’ll have a grudge match with Zingano. Cyborg is considered one of the best women’s fighters in history and has held titles for Bellator, the UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta.

Zingano (14-4 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) has been waiting for a shot at Cyborg since she signed with Bellator after a lengthy run in the UFC. She’s been perfect out of the gate and now will get her first shot at a title since she challenged Ronda Rousey at UFC 184 in 2015. Her resume already includes wins over Amanda Nunes and Miesha Tate, and a win over Cyborg would be a legacy-defining moment.

Nurmagomedov, a cousin over former UFC lightweight champion Khabib, won the title in November 2022 against then-champ Patricky Freire. In March, he submitted former UFC and WEC champ Benson Henderson for his first successful title defense in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Primus (12-3 MMA, 10-3 BMMA) was on the outside looking in when the tournament started, but stepped in as a late replacement alternate. Then he silenced the crowd in Paris with a unanimous decision over local French fan favorite Mansour Barnaoui at Bellator 296. He beat Michael Chandler for the title in 2017, and an upset of Nurmagomedov would give him the belt back and put him in a $1 million title defense in the final.

And finally, Carmouche (19-7 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) and Macfarlane (13-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA) get their dream matchup. Macfarlane has said she wants to win back the flyweight belt she used to hold, then retire. To do it, it’ll have to come against her good friend and longtime training partner.

Carmouche defended the title against DeAnna Bennett in the Bellator 294 main event in April in Honolulu. The next night, Macfarlane took a split decision from Kana Watanabe in front of her home fans to set up the fight between the two. Carmouche has been unstoppable since she signed with Bellator. Macfarlane has bounced back from the first two losses of her career with wins over Bruna Ellen and Watanabe.

There have been reports that Bellator may be on the cusp of being acquired from Paramount, and the strongest rumored bidder has been the PFL. Further speculation has been that Bellator 300 could be the promotion’s final event before a merger.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 300.

MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month for March: ‘MVP’ delivers another one-shot finish

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from March 2023.

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from March 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for March.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.

Nominees

Scott Coker reveals next Bellator heavyweight title challenger for Ryan Bader

Following Bellator 293, promotion president Scott Coker revealed whom he is leaning toward fighting Ryan Bader next.

TEMECULA, Calif. – [autotag]Daniel James[/autotag] added a powerful knockout to his highlight reel Friday, but [autotag]Linton Vassell[/autotag] is solidified as the next man up for a crack at gold.

Although James (15-6-1 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) knocked out Marcelo Golm with a three-punch combination in Friday’s Bellator 293 main event, the heavyweight title shot for Vassell has been hinted at in multiple recent Bellator broadcasts.

According to promotion president Scott Coker after Bellator 293, Vassell (24-8 MMA, 12-5 BMMA) will be the next challenger for champion [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] (31-7 MMA, 9-2 BMMA).

“The title shot is most likely going to go to Linton Vassell, because he’s been on a tear or two,” Coker said. ” But I think (James) is right up there. We definitely will invite him to come fight (at Bellator 297) in Chicago.”

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Vassell, 39, has won five in a row at heavyweight, with victories over the likes of Valentin Moldavsky, Tim Johnson, Tyrell Fortune, Ronny Markes, and Sergei Kharitonov during that stretch.

The upcoming heavyweight title fight between Bader and Vassell will be a rematch of their November 2017 matchup. Bader defeated Vassell by second-round TKO due to ground-and-pound.

As for James, the aforementioned Bellator 297 card in Chicago takes place June 16 at Wintrust Arena, and according to Coker, he’ll be a part of it. That notion James later affirmed.

“Yeah, my leg will be healed. I heal like a dog,” James said. “My leg will be healed fast, but you can’t have nothing in Chicago without me. People are already buying tickets. … Chicago, they’re waiting on me.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 293.

Bellator 292 salaries: Five get six-figure paydays, including Benson Henderson in retirement fight

Check out the full list of fighter salaries from this past Friday’s Bellator 292 event in San Jose, Calif.

Twenty fighters competed this past Friday at Bellator 292 with the titleholders leading all disclosed payouts.

California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) executive director Andy Foster released a full list of fighter payouts Thursday to MMA Junkie. The amounts reflect the disclosed payouts only and do not include any off-contract bonuses, sponsor payments or discretionary bonuses.

Three of five fighters who pocketed six-figure disclosed paydays tied for the top spot on the list with $150,000. Lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov (17-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) submitted Benson Henderson (30-12 MMA, 7-7 BMMA) in the main event, which also was the opening round of Bellator’s lightweight grand prix.

Both Nurmagomedov and Henderson made a disclosed $150,000 flat purse for their fights, win or lose. The other $150,000 recipient was Alexander Shabliy (23-3 MMA, 4-0 BMMA), who made $75,000 to show and a $75,000 win bonus for his finish of Tofiq Musayev (20-5 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) in the tournament’s opening round.

In addition, Linton Vassell (24-8 MMA, 12-5 BMMA) made a flat $100,000 for his heavyweight knockout of Valentin Moldavsky (11-3 MMA, 6-2 BMMA) and Michael Page (21-2 MMA, 17-2 BMMA) made a flat $100,000 for his quick injury TKO of Goiti Yamauchi (28-6 MMA, 14-5 BMMA).

Scroll below to see what the 20 fighters on Bellator 292 were paid – disclosed amounts only.

Coker: Ryan Bader vs. Linton Vassell title fight is two men better at heavyweight

It’s fair to say Bellator president Scott Coker is reasonably excited about the next heavyweight title fight he’s likely to promote.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – It’s fair to say Scott Coker is reasonably excited about the next heavyweight title fight he’s likely to promote.

[autotag]Linton Vassell[/autotag] (24-8 MMA, 12-5 BMMA) had some early issues in his rematch with Valentin Moldavsky (11-3 MMA, 6-2 BMMA) at Bellator 292 this past Friday in San Jose, Calif. But he worked his way out of trouble and rallied for a big knockout win to avenge a past loss.

The fight was a No. 1 contender fight for a title shot against champion [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag], which will be another rematch for Vassell. He lost a light heavyweight title shot to Bader in November 2017.

Bader has since lost the 205-pound title, but has looked nearly untouchable at heavyweight. And so, too, has Vassell – with five straight wins and five finishes since he entered the division with his loss to Moldavsky. Coker thinks both of them are where they should be now.

“I think both these guys are better at heavyweight than they are at light heavyweight, and for whatever reason, they perform at a higher level when they’re in the heavyweight division,” Coker told MMA Junkie at the post-fight news conference. “I’m looking forward to it because the Linton I saw (Friday) is not the Linton I’ve ever seen before. Moldavsky is no joke. He is a real solid heavyweight, has great skills all the way around, has had a great training camp, obviously trains with Fedor (Emelianenko) and that whole team, and it seemed like (Vassell) just dominated him and took it to him.”

Coker said the plan is for Vassell to challenge Bader for the heavyweight title. But like everything in MMA, nothing is set in stone. Still, he expects the matchup to happen, and maybe not too far in the future, either.

Bader is coming off a quick finish of Emelianenko to defend the heavyweight belt. Vassell’s time preference is late fall, but he’d no doubt answer the call for a title shot no matter when it is.

“We look forward to promoting that fight,” Coker said. “I think Bader should be the next opponent (for Vassell). We haven’t talked to Ryan yet, so there’s still some things to be discussed. But that’s my goal is to put that fight together as soon as possible.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 292.

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