Two big fights and four prelims have been added to the Bellator 286 card.
Two big fights and four prelims have been added to the Bellator 286 card.
[autotag]Aaron Pico[/autotag]’s fight with [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] is rebooked for Oct. 1 at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif. Another key matchup also joins the lineup as ex-bantamweight champion [autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag] meets [autotag]Enrique Barzola[/autotag].
A person with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the bookings to MMA Junkie on Tuesday but asked to remain anonymous because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. ESPN was first to report the news.
Pico (10-3 MMA, 10-3 BMMA) was originally scheduled to face Kennedy at Bellator 277 in April, but Kennedy withdrew due to a broken orbital. Pico faced short-notice replacement Adil Edwards instead, knocking him out in Round 3 for his sixth straight win. Meanwhile, ex-UFC fighter Kennedy (17-3-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) hasn’t competed since defeating Emmanuel Sanchez via unanimous decision last December at Bellator 272.
Archuleta (25-4 MMA, 7-3 BMMA) will look to snap a two-fight losing skid. After he defeated Patchy Mix to capture the vacant bantamweight title in September 2020, Archuleta lost his belt to Sergio Pettis at Bellator 258, followed by a knockout loss to Raufeon Stots for the interim title in the bantamweight grand prix quarterfinal at Bellator 279.
Barzola (18-6-2 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) was also eliminated in the bantamweight grand prix quarterfinal when he was submitted by Magomed Magomedov at Bellator 282 in June. Prior to that, the Peruvian fighter won his first two Bellator fights against Darrion Caldwell and Nikita Mikhailov.
Prelim additions include the promotional debut of former UFC fighter [autotag]Max Rohskopf[/autotag] (7-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), as he battles [autotag]Mike Hamel[/autotag] (9-5 MMA, 2-2 BMMA). Also, lightweight contender [autotag]Islam Mamedov[/autotag] (21-2-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) takes on former LFA champion [autotag]Nick Browne[/autotag] (13-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA).
With the additions, the Bellator 286 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD
Patricio Freire vs. Adam Borics – for featherweight title
Spike Carlyle vs. A.J. McKee
Jeremy Kennedy vs. Aaron Pico
Juan Archuleta vs. Enrique Barzola
PRELIMINARY CARD
Cee Jay Hamilton vs. Richard Palencia
Mike Hamel vs. Max Rohskopf
Nick Browne vs. Islam Mamedov
Keon Diggs vs. Ricardo Seixas
Khadzhimurat Bestaev vs. Khalid Murtazaliev
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 286.
Max Rohskopf nearly walked away from MMA after a failed UFC debut. Following back-to-back wins, he’s onboarded to Bellator.
[autotag]Max Rohskopf[/autotag] will get another shot in a big promotion.
Rohskopf (7-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), who had one fight in the UFC, has signed a multifight deal with Bellator, promotion officials confirmed Wednesday to MMA Junkie after an Instagram post from his manager, Brian Butler, of SuckerPunch Entertainment. Neither a debut date nor opponent has been announced.
One of the most highly touted prospects in MMA entering 2020, Rohskopf was signed to the UFC and lost after he retired on the stool. The decision to not go out for a third round was heavily criticized by some viewers, including UFC president Dana White. Shortly after the fight, Rohskopf was released.
The months that followed were rough, Rohskopf detailed in a long-form interview with MMA Junkie nearly one year after the bout took place. While he contemplated MMA retirement, he ultimately decided to give it another shot.
In between his UFC release and Bellator signing, Rohskopf went 2-0 under the Cage Warriors banner. He was scheduled to be half of the Cage Warriors 139 main event June 10, but opponent Erick Sanchez withdrew days prior to the event due to COVID-19 and the bout was scrapped all together.
Former UFC fighter Max Rohskopf will have to wait, as he seeks to continue his unbeaten success outside the promotion.
Cage Warriors 139 is down its original main event, but the card rolls on.
One-half of the former headliner, [autotag]Max Rohskopf[/autotag] (7-1) informed MMA Junkie Radio in an interview Monday of the cancellation and cited a withdrawal of opponent [autotag]Erick Sanchez[/autotag] (10-6). Due to the last-second nature of the withdrawal, Rohskopf will not get a replacement opponent.
“Leading up to every fight, I think I’m a little stressed a little nervous. I think that’s normal,” Rohskopf said. “But I was excited to get in there with someone that’s had a decent amount of fights and that’s fought some really good guys. I was ready to test myself.”
Rohskopf hopes to be re-booked sooner rather than later. Since his UFC departure, he’s 2-0 and would like to keep that momentum rolling.
“I’m cool fighting anyone. I’ve been that way since the beginning. Whoever they put in front of me. I’ve never been very picky or choosy.”
According to promotion officials, a lightweight bout between [autotag]Jordan Bailey[/autotag] (6-5) and [autotag]Alex Trinidad[/autotag] (5-3) will serve as the main event.
Max Rohskopf still has plenty of fight left in him, picking up a first-round TKO in his return at Cage Warriors 126.
It appears [autotag]Max Rohskopf[/autotag] still has plenty of fight left in him.
Rohskopf (6-1) returned for the first time since getting released by the UFC in August 2020 to score a first-round TKO of Jeff Creighton in a dominant performance at Cage Warriors 126 on Sunday.
Rohskopf, who infamously called off his own UFC debut, had to endure plenty of criticism in the past year. The formerly unbeaten prospect elected to retire on the stool after enduring a beating from Austin Hubbard at UFC on ESPN 11 in June 2020, despite his coach Robert Drysdale’s greatest efforts to get him to continue. After Rohskopf refused to get off the stool at the end of Round 2, referee Mark Smith waved the fight off, prompting the UFC to cut Rohskopf after just one fight.
But after some time to reflect, during which he deleted his social media accounts, Rohskopf’s flame was reignited, and just over a year later, he finds himself back in the win column in a big way. The 26-year-old has finished all six of his pro wins.
Cage Warriors 126 results include:
MAIN CARD
Kyle Stewart def. John Poppie via TKO (punch) – Round 1, 4:10
Joseph Morales def. Kevin Wirth via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
For the first time, Max Rohskopf speaks about his UFC release and why he’s coming back to fight at Cage Warriors 126.
[autotag]Max Rohskopf[/autotag] hasn’t spoken publicly since his UFC release.
Things were confusing and complicated for a while. After being given his pink slip, Rohskopf (5-1) laid low and deleted his social media, a decision that was a long time in the making. He endured a period of inactivity that was out of character and completely foreign. But he thinks he’s finally figured it out.
Around this time in 2020, Rohskopf struggled to find motivation. More takeout food was ordered than jiu-jitsu drilled. His internal compass was broken. Financially, mentally, emotionally he sacrificed so much for his dream. To have it play out the way it did, on the stool in a flurry of online criticism, was numbing. The previously intense fire was burned out.
“Once they cut me and I was like, ‘Man, I’ve I got to figure some shit out,’ because before before that, I was making like $200 every two weeks,” Rohskopf told MMA Junkie. “I didn’t have my own apartment. I was living in Robert Drysdale’s pool house. I was just struggling to make it, just training every day, just waiting until I could start making some real money and change my life forever.
“I felt like before they cut me, even though it didn’t go the way I wanted, I thought I was close to somewhat changing my life, but then they cut me. I’m like, ‘All right, well, f*ck, I guess I got to start (over).’ Took some time, and I didn’t leave my room. I spent a lot of money on Postmates ordering food because I didn’t want to leave the house.”
Rohskopf’s was cut by the UFC after he lost his debut to Austin Hubbard, a fight that garnered much attention from the MMA world because of how it played out. After a successful opening round, Rohskopf absorbed a lot of damage in Round 2 and elected to retire to the stool before Round 3.
Seemingly everyone had an opinion about this – not just the trolls online but people in his everyday life, too. Rohskopf’s social media was flooded with comments. People from all over the world were bringing uninformed opinions to the table. He even received harassing phone calls from strangers.
“There were some people that I actually trained with that were saying stuff,” Rohskopf said. “I thought that was funny because they know better. The funniest one was someone was telling me to donate the money that I got paid, because I probably grew up like a rich kid and sh*t. I’m like, ‘Do your f*cking research,’ because I was f*cking dirt poor my whole life, and I still am. And so it’s like, ‘F*ck you, dude.’ I thought that that one was funny. I had people get my phone number actually and calling me and texting me and sh*t, too.”
Austin Hubbard celebrates after his victory over Max Rohskopf in their lightweight bout at UFC Fight Night on June 20, 2020. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
The decision to delete his social media was not based on criticism. On multiple occasions prior, Rohskopf posted about his distaste for social media culture but partook to maintain his brand. After the loss, the opportunity arose to hit “delete” once and for all.
“Every time I posted something, it was to get attention,” Rohskopf said. “That’s everyone. Everyone who posts, whether it’s media or is a personal account, every time you post, it’s to get bullsh*t attention that’s really easy to get. It’s super easy to get that attention on the internet. I’m only concerned with with the people that have my number or I see daily.”
Over the past year, Rohskopf has reached a conclusion. From start to finish, his first UFC experience was what he deserved – nothing more, nothing less. It’s not as much a sore subject as it is a learning experience. The only part that stings is knowing some of those in his circle were caught in the crossfire. If there’s one thing Rohskopf wants people to know, it’s that there’s no one to blame for that but himself – not his coach, not his managers.
“I think I 100 percent deserved, at that time, to fight in the UFC and get into the UFC – but I also deserved the result that I got because of decisions I was making outside of fighting and outside the gym,” Rohskopf said. “I wasn’t necessarily ready at that point in time, but I 100 percent deserved to be there. I also deserved the result of it.”
Through the noise in the wake of his loss, there was a select group of individuals Rohskopf considers himself lucky to know. Those are the people who helped rekindle the fire of his MMA dreams. Those are the people Rohskopf speaks the world of.
“A lot of my life, even with wrestling, and now fighting, my identity has been wrestling, or my identity has been fighting,” Rohskopf said. “It’s like I haven’t had anything else to kind of (be). That’s been everything. After I didn’t get the results I wanted, I was disappointed in myself. I was like, ‘OK, if this is who I am, then this isn’t good.’ So it meant a lot for people around me to support me no matter what I was going to be doing.”
Included in that group is Chase Pami of Gold Rush Wrestling Club, who offered Rohskopf a coaching gig that segued into a combat sports return. That’s right, Rohskopf isn’t done. The fire is back burning. He’ll compete against Jeff Creighton at Cage Warriors 126 on Aug. 1 in San Diego.
The switch from “top prospect” to “not good enough” has actually been a welcomed one. To put it bluntly, Rohskopf isn’t afraid the public might think he “f*cking sucks.” Actually, he loves that.
The humbling mindset is the one that brought Rohskopf to the UFC. Somewhere along the way, being dubbed a top prospect and the next big thing, he entered unfamiliar territory.
“Up until the last two or three years, I never had anyone ever tell me I was talented or going to be good at something – ever,” Rohskopf said. “(Not in) junior high wrestling, in high school wrestling, in jiu-jitsu or in college wrestling, I’ve never been someone that people look at like, ‘Oh, he’s talented.’ But in the last two or three years, for whatever reason, people thought I was some kind of talented kid. That’s never been me, and that’s never been the reason why I’ve had any amount of success at all. It’s always been a little bit more an underdog, ‘f*ck you,’ hard-working attitude, and I think I lost a little bit. It feels good to kind of feel like I have that back.
“… (I’d like to) just let people think the worst of me. I like that a little bit more than people thinking I’m this or people thinking I’m all that. I’d rather people think I f*cking suck and then take it from that angle, I guess. I’m never going to come out and make excuses for that because it’s on me – no one else but me.”
Retiring on the stool is a fairly uncommon practice at the UFC level. If Rohskopf, who was exhausted and damaged, went out and got knocked out in the third round, there’s a chance he’d still be on the UFC roster. Is the stigma pertaining to retirements an unfair one? Rohskopf isn’t sure.
“I don’t think that’s for me to say,” Rohskopf said. “I don’t know. I think that it needed to happen for me. Regardless if it was the right decision or the wrong decision, I needed to do that because if for whatever reason I go out there and it goes to a decision or I get caught or whatever, I don’t think I would have looked at things the same way as I do now. I’m grateful for how everything has played out so far.”
From a technical standpoint, Rohskopf recognizes that adjustments can be made. His training regimen could improve, and he hopes to limit burning himself out, which has been a bad habit throughout his athletic career.
Many MMA observers might think the Max Rohskopf story will be of a prospect who stayed seated on a stool. Roskopf didn’t commit to a different climax of the tale. He doesn’t want to fall into the trap of getting ahead of himself. Regardless of where he ends up, he’s playing with house money and is excited to find out how much he can run up the score.
“Anyone who knows me from growing up or from wrestling in high school and college knows that everything I do up until this point is stuff I shouldn’t have been doing in the first place,” Rohskopf said. “I think I’m lucky to have gone as far as I’ve gone so far. Everything else from here on out, icing on the cake.”
Max Rohskopf is no longer a member of the UFC roster.
[autotag]Max Rohskopf[/autotag] is no longer part of the UFC roster.
The promotion has cut Rohskopf (5-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) after one fight, which came on short notice against Austin Hubbard on June 11 at UFC on ESPN 11.
On Wednesday, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed Rohskopf’s release after an initial report from MMA Fighting.
Rohskopf’s lone UFC fight came to a controversial conclusion. After a competitive first round, Hubbard (12-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) took control of the fight in Round 2. Throughout the second round, Hubbard took it to Rohskopf, who wasn’t able to answer the onslaught.
In between Rounds 2 and 3, Rohskopf told coach Robert Drysdale to “call it,” signaling he didn’t want to continue. Rohskopf also said “I don’t have it.” Despite Rohskopf’s wishes, Drysdale continued to encourage his fighter until the end of the one-minute period.
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When Rohskopf didn’t get off the stool, referee Mark Smith took notice and called timeout. Upon assessing the situation, Smith waived off the fight as Drysdale also indicated the fight should be stopped.
Drysdale later provided insight into his coaching mentality and defended his handling of the situation.
After the event, UFC president Dana White weighed in. He defended Rohskopf from critics but also said the fighter needed to do some soul-searching to figure out his next move.
Dewey Cooper, who was also in the corner for Max Rohskopf’s UFC debut loss, says people are “confused” about the role of coaches.
Although Robert Drysdale took much of the heat for his role in [autotag]Max Rohskopf[/autotag]’s controversial UFC debut, he wasn’t the only one in the corner that night at UFC on ESPN 11.
Dewey Cooper, who serves as one of the main coaches at Zenith MMA Team in Las Vegas alongside Drysdale, was there, too. He said he supports every action that was made and views the backlash to the corner interaction between Drysdale and Rohskopf as “over exaggerated” and “crazy.”
“I was in the corner, and I was the one warming him up as Max is our guy,” Cooper told MMA Junkie. “I didn’t think anything was wrong with what transpired in the corner. I didn’t think anything was wrong with what transpired in the fight. We took the fight on five days’ notice, and it just didn’t go our way. If it weren’t for the coronavirus there would’ve been two coaches in the cage, and it would’ve been Robert and I, and I would have agreed with Robert 100 percent and been saying the same type of sentiments.”
The sequence that led to Rohskopf pleading for his corner to stop the fight against Austin Hubbard after two rounds led to a greater debate on the role of coaches and cornermen. Drysdale has said in multiple interviews since the June 20 contest that he does not think he did anything wrong and felt capable in his ability to lift Rohskopf’s spirits and get him back into the fight.
Drysdale said if he truly believed Rohskopf to be in grave danger, he would have ended the contest instantly. However, he thought he could bring back Rohskopf from a vulnerable spot, even if it didn’t end up working out.
Some have argued that Drysdale didn’t sensibly look out for the safety of his fighter, but Cooper said he completely disagrees. He thinks the public has a false perception of what the role of the cornerman is, and although it might be somewhat polarizing, he said his obligation is to winning and not safety.
“I’m glad I have a platform just to say this: Everyone is saying the No. 1 responsibility for the coach is the fighter’s protection, and I’ll be the first to say I totally disagree with that,” Cooper said. “I’ve been fighting for 36 years. I’ve got as much experience as anyone in the world. I have as many fights combined – more than 75 percent of the guys in the world – under my experience. I think the only responsibility for a coach is to try his best to propel his fighter to victory. That’s the No. 1 thing we’re there for, and that’s in training camp and in the fight. The responsibility of the ringside doctor and the referee is the fighter’s safety. I think everyone has this confused.
“The coach’s No. 1 responsibility is to propel his fighter to victory and make his fighter better than they were before. 1B would the fighter’s safety; 1A is victory. If you truly feel your fighter can keep going, or you don’t feel your fighter has taken a lot of damage, you should definitely motivate him to keep fighting. There was not a lot of damage in the fight, it was not as severe as the fights it was compared to. I think the whole thing was blown out of proportion.”
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Cooper said these types of situations will never be black and white. There are countless variables that go into each fight, and as much as its falls on the athletes, the people outside of the octagon definitely play a role, too.
What works for some fighters may not apply to others. Given what he knows about Rohskopf and has seen from the 25-year-old, Cooper doesn’t think Drysdale did wrong by his fighter and certainly isn’t deserving of all the criticism he’s received.
Cooper said he completely agrees that situations exist where coaches need to take action into their own hands. With the amount of time he’s spent in combat sports, he thinks he’s got a firm understanding on where the line falls, and he didn’t see Rohskopf as someone who needed saving in that moment.
“You base (stopping a fight) on the type of toughness your fighter has,” Cooper said. “You’ve seen them punched, kicked, taken down, tapped out, submitted, and everything in training. You know what type of pain threshold he or she has. You know what type of heart and mind state they have. There’s so many layers to it, but to answer it simply: damage. We can see the difference in a guy being a little exhausted and losing a fight vs. a guy being outclassed and beat the hell up with no chance of winning the fight.
“If your fighter it taking undeniable damage against a person you know has power, aggressiveness and ain’t going to stop, these are the type of intangibles you put into the decision-making of stopping a fight.”
Cooper, who also works alongside UFC notables such as Francis Ngannou and Kevin Lee, said he hopes to see Rohskopf get another UFC opportunity where he can show his body of work on a full training camp.
Jim Miller walked away with a six-figure payday after UFC on ESPN 11.
[autotag]Jim Miller[/autotag] walked away with a six-figure payday after UFC on EPSN 11.
After choking out rising lightweight fighter [autotag]Roosevelt Roberts[/autotag] in the first round of their main card bout Saturday, Miller (32-14 MMA, 21-13 UFC) pocketed $208,0000.
MMA Junkie today acquired a list of fighter salaries from the Nevada Athletic Commission for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 11 event, which took place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, airing on ESPN and streaming on ESPN+.
Miller, 36, was not the only fighter to earn a six-figure paycheck at the event.
Headline victor [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] earned $180,000 for his unanimous decision victory over [autotag]Alexander Volkov[/autotag]. Co-headliner participant [autotag]Josh Emmett[/autotag] took home $152,000 as a result of his back-and-forth brawl win over [autotag]Shane Burgos[/autotag]. [autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] earned $100,000 for his unanimous decision victory against [autotag]Lyman Good[/autotag]. Former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger [autotag]Raquel Pennington[/autotag] collected $126,000 for her unanimous decision win against [autotag]Marion Reneau[/autotag].
The total disclosed pay for the 12-fight card was $1,655,000.
The full list of UFC on ESPN 10 salaries includes:
The figures do not include deductions for items such as insurance, licenses and taxes. Additionally, the figures do not include money paid by sponsors, including the official UFC on ESPN 11 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay. They also do not include any other “locker room” or special discretionary bonuses the UFC sometimes pays. They also do not include pay-per-view cuts that some top-level fighters receive.
For example, UFC officials also handed out a “Fight of the Night” bonus to Emmett and Burgos – and two $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonuses to Jaynes and Miller.
In other words, the above figures are simply base salaries reported to the commission and do not reflect entire compensation packages for the event.
[autotag]Robert Drysdale[/autotag] is standing by his actions.
The lead cornerman for UFC newcomer [autotag]Max Rohskopf[/autotag], Drysdale was criticized by many in the MMA space for his work during Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 11.
In a video statement released Sunday, Drysdale, a former UFC fighter and elite jiu-jitsu practitioner, stood by his cornering. Drysdale said it’s a lot easier for people to criticize from the outside when they don’t have all the facts.
“I stand by what I did,” Drysdale said. “I gave him the mental coach that he needed. I would expect the exact same thing from him if he was in my shoes – or any of my coaches for that matter. I expect nothing but greatness from the people around me. If they’re critiquing me, that’s love. That’s true love. That’s the only way to show you care for someone. It’s to make sure they’re giving the best version of themselves.
“If he had been seriously injured, I would have been the first one to stop that fight. I would’ve stopped that fight before anyone else. No one cares about him more than I do other than his immediate family.”
Had he thought Rohskopf’s issue was physical, Drysdale said he would’ve been the first to stop the fight. However, Drysdale said knowing Max, the issue was mental and emotional. He was trying to give Rohskopf a push to go out for the third round in a fight Drysdale deemed winnable.
“He wasn’t seriously hurt,” Drysdale said. “I know he was not in harm’s way. He was just frustrated. I was trying to give him a push so he overcame that frustration. I still believe he could have won the fight. I felt he won the first round. I don’t see how he lost the first round. He definitely lost (the second) round. I think he thought he could’ve turned it in the third. Even if not in an exciting matter, he could have won a decision. That’s what I was trying to get him to do.”
According to Drysdale, he made the decision to call off Rohskopf’s fight at the last second. He said he was trying to give his fighter as much time to change his mind as possible.
“If you pay close attention, I did call the fight at the very last second,” Drysdale said. “I did the right thing. I exhausted the 60 seconds and at the very last second, I called it. Strategically, that was the correct thing to do. I don’t regret my decision at all.”
From there, Drysdale criticized the media for its coverage of the sequence of events on Sunday. Whether it be the media or “the haters,” Drysdale said he would never step into another profession’s realm and critique the experts. He hopes people will give him that same respect.
“I think you should stand by some code of ethics that you don’t see in journalism today,” Drysdale said. “The video is edited in a way that there is no context. It looks like he’s severely injured and clearly, he wasn’t. There needs to be more context to these things. But, it is what it is. I hope the UFC gives him another shot. I know he’s a champion. That doesn’t change how I feel about him one bit.
“… As for the haters, the only thing I recommend is that you give it a try one day. It’s easier said than done. You don’t see me writing critiques on academic papers on quantum physics. You know why? Because I don’t understand quantum physics. You don’t see me making critical statements about basketball or football – because I never played basketball or football. I barely understand any aspect of it, so I keep it to myself. I try to focus on the things I do understand. I understand fighting. Max was apt. He is apt to be a champion. I have no doubts about that.”
Thoughts and analysis of the biggest storylines coming out of UFC on ESPN 11, which took place Saturday in Las Vegas.
What mattered most at UFC on ESPN 11 in Las Vegas? Here are a few post-fight musings …
* * * * *
1. Curtis Blaydes says he’s ‘the heel’
[autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] is taking a curious approach to his career right now. No one is going to sit here and argue his unanimous decision win over Alexander Volkov was the most exciting of fights, and Blaydes is under no illusions that was the case.
Blaydes said afterward he’s accepted his role as “the heel.” That’s an interesting label to put on himself, mainly because it’s not entirely true. From a professional wrestling context, the heel is someone who intentionally tries to be disliked by fans. Blaydes might be relishing the hate, but he also can’t operate any other way.
It would be a massive disservice for Blaydes to ignore his biggest strength as the superior grappler whenever he can. His previous fight with Junior Dos Santos showed Blaydes can handle himself standing if needed, and while he did show some moment of vulnerability against Volkov standing, he was able to go to his grappling basically whenever he wanted.
Blaydes has made it clear he’s going to use this same approach no matter the opponent or stakes. That might carry him into some additional obstacles as he tries to claim the UFC heavyweight title, but Blaydes seems to recognize he can only be denied for so long.
