Tag: Noche UFC

Video replay: ‘UFC 306: O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili’ pre-fight press conference

The entire UFC 306 card, including Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, will field questions and face off at Thursday’s press conference.

LAS VEGAS – The highly anticipated UFC 306 pre-fight press conference took place Thursday, and MMA Junkie has a video replay.

The entire card was in attendance, including Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, who fight for the bantamweight title in the main event; Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko meet for the women’s flyweight title in the co-main event; and Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopes goes down as the featured contest.

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In addition, seven more fights featuring a plethora of Mexican talent to celebrate Noche UFC and Mexican Independence Day, and the presser represented the spirit of the show.

UFC 303 takes place Saturday at Sphere. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews.

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

UFC 306’s Daniel Zellhuber embracing popularity growth, eager to ‘put on a show for the people’

UFC lightweight Daniel Zellhuber knows what the fans like to see, and plans to deliver again at UFC 306.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Daniel Zellhuber[/autotag] is just a few fights into his UFC career, but he is turning more and more heads with each outing.

The Mexican UFC lightweight knows what catches a fan’s eye. At UFC 306, the event celebrating his home country’s independence at Sphere, Zellhuber (15-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) is ready to captivate his growing fanbase again when he takes on Esteban Ribovics on the main card (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+).

“Every fight you get more fans, every fight you get the people to know you better, and that’s why I’m trying to go out there and give my best performance,” Zellhuber said at UFC 306 media day. “Because I know at the end of the day, even if you go out there and win, but you kind of look not that good, people isn’t going to follow your career.

“So, that’s why I’m always trying to be amazing, do flashy things. You know, just put on a show for the people.”

Zellhuber, who has won back-to-back fight bonuses, enters this matchup against Ribovics (13-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) on a three-fight winning streak. They’re both at similar points in their careers, with only a few fights separating them in overall experience. Because of this, Zellhuber questioned the matchup while still up-and-coming, but can also see why.

“I don’t understand why UFC is making us fight as young prospects,” Zellhuber said. “I guess they are trying to spice up things in the division. Lightweight division is one of the toughest in the sport, if not the most competitive one. We see time after time after time, contenders getting into the top 10, top 5 and then they just go kick out again.

So, I feel that it’s also good that they are doing this because the guys that made it to the rankings, nothing is for free, you know? There’s a couple of divisions where you fight one, two fights, and you’re already in ranking conversations. But in the lightweight division, you can even be on a nine-win fight streak and not even be top 10.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.

Video: UFC 306 creative panel gives insight to first-ever live sporting event at Sphere in Las Vegas

Hear from the creative team tasked with creating the UFC 306 experience at Sphere in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – In just a few days, UFC 306 will become the first-ever live sporting event from Sphere.

The unique venue will host the Mexican Independence Day-themed event, which will include two fantastic title fights on Sept. 14.

As a part of fight-week activities, a panel of the creative team gathered to give insights to reporters, including MMA Junkie, about what to expect this Saturday and explain some of the challenges they faced.

The panel included a trio of UFC executives: chief content officer Craig Borsari, senior vice president of production and programming Chris Kartzmark, and senior vice president of global brand and creative Heidi Noland. Film director Carlos Lopez Estrada and costume designer Marina Toybina also participated.

Check out the full panel discussion hosted by Mauricio Pedroza in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.

Alexa Grasso before UFC 306 trilogy: Fighting Valentina Shevchenko ‘really, really tough and amazing’

At UFC 306, Alexa Grasso looks to defend her women’s flyweight title in a championship trilogy bout against Valentina Shevchenko at Sphere.

LAS VEGAS – UFC women’s flyweight champion [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag] is thrilled to be a part of the first-ever live sporting event at Sphere, and eager to close the book on her rivalry with Valentina Shevchenko.

On Sept. 14 at the second Noche UFC event, Grasso (16-3-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) will attempt to pick up her second victory over Shevchenko (23-4-1 MMA, 12-3-1 UFC) in a the promotion’s first-ever women’s championship trilogy bout.

Their second meeting at the first Mexican Independence Day-themed event resulted in a rare split draw, which meant Grasso exited the same way she entered, as a champion. However, while she came away with gold, a hand injury also followed.

“I had an injury in the fight, I needed a surgery,” Grasso explained to reporters at UFC 306 media day. “It took me like a few months. My hands are my strongest weapon, you know. I love to box and it was really hard, honestly. But right now, it’s fully healed and I’m ready for that. I’m happy my body heals really well.”

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Grasso is ready to step into the octagon for the third time against Shevchenko in a historic title fight, adding another chapter to their incredible rivalry. In their first fight, Grasso became the first-ever Mexican woman to win a UFC title by tapping Shevchenko at UFC 285.

After a split draw in the rematch, and then coaching opposite one another on “The Ultimate Fighter,” the pair have seen a lot of each other, perhaps more than their own families. For Grasso, it’s all a part of the game, but she intends to get the job done at Sphere and move on to the next challenge.

“(It’s) a competitive, professional relationship,” Grasso said. “Like I said before, we’re both professional. We’re here to do our job, we love to compete, and we just found that fighting each other is really, really tough and amazing.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.

Valentina Shevchenko aims to keep judges out of UFC 306 trilogy vs. Alexa Grasso: ‘The concern is to finish the fight’

Valentina Shevchenko wants to keep the judges out of the result of the UFC 306 trilogy title bout against Alexa Grasso at Sphere.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] has one focus going into a historic third meeting with Alexa Grasso at UFC 306, and that’s to ensure the judges don’t have a say in the result.

The former women’s flyweight champ Shevchenko (23-4-1 MMA, 12-3-1 UFC) will share the octagon with current champ Grasso (16-3-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) for the third consecutive time on Sept. 14 in the first live sporting event at Sphere.

Shevchenko is currently 0-1-1 in the rivalry. At UFC 285, she was submitted in Round 4, dropping the title to Grasso and crowning her the first Mexican woman to win a UFC title. The rematch took place six months later at Noche UFC, but the result was a split draw.

To this day, Shevchenko believes she won the fight and is heavily critical of the scorecards, especially judge Mike Bell’s 10-8 score in Round 5, which led to a 47-47 draw total on his card.

This time around, “Bullet” wants to avoid the judges altogether.

“The concern is to finish the fight,” Shevchenko told reporters at UFC 306 media day. “This is No. 1 what’s in my head. It’s like when to seize opportunity, just do what you have to do, one hundred percent. Finish the fight.”

The trilogy bout, like the second meeting, takes place at a Noche UFC event, themed around Mexican Independence Day. This time, it’s “a love letter” to Mexico, as UFC CEO Dana White has dubbed the event. With Grasso being a Mexican champion, naturally, the crowd will be heavily in her favor.

However, Shevchenko isn’t concerned with the outside noise, as she’s had to deal with that throughout her career. In fact, she recalls a time she had to deal with adverse forces inside the confined competitive space.

“Definitely like all my career, I was fighting so many places, so many different fighters in their home countries like against not only the opponent, crowd, but I had world muay Thai championship where I had to ‘fight’ against the referee,” Shevchenko explained.

“There was a woman referee who was actually doing everything. I was fighting the final with a Thai girl, and she was doing everything like taking points from me and prohibited permitted techniques, so she invented that I couldn’t do it. … No matter what, I won the fight, and you know, when she was raising my arm, she said, ‘You’re very lucky.’ Because what she was trying to do, it’s never worked.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.

Ode Osbourne feels blessed to be ‘invited to the cool party’ with UFC 306 main card spot

Ode Osbourne admits he feels a little out of place fighting on the UFC 306 main card.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Ode Osbourne[/autotag] admits he feels a little out of place fighting on the UFC 306 main card.

Osbourne (12-7 MMA, 4-5 UFC) is tasked with opening the main card of Noche UFC at Sphere on Saturday (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) in a flyweight clash with Ronaldo Rodriguez (16-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC).

With UFC CEO Dana White long touting the historic event as a legendary night for combat sports, some fans expected the fight card to be deeper and more star-studded. So when Osbourne’s matchup with Rodriguez got prominent placement, even he was a slightly caught off guard.

“It almost feels like a high school experience where you get invited to the cool party and you’re kind of the nerd and people are like, ‘What’s he doing here?,'” Osbourne told MMA Junkie and other reporters at UFC 306 media day on Wednesday.

Osbourne, who is a Las Vegas resident, said it’s strange to be in “enemy territory” in a sense with the Mexican theme around Noche UFC. However, he is not unfamiliar with these types of scenarios. He’s fought on marquee cards before against more proven competition, so he’s not going to get flustered by the experience.

“Everybody has been asking me that, ‘What are the emotions?’ There really isn’t none, honestly,” Osbourne said. “This is my 10th fight in the octagon. Madison Square Garden, (Kamaru) Usman vs. (Colby) Covington, I fought on ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone vs. (Conor) McGregor. I’ve fought in Houston. I’ve fought on some great cards. UFC has blessed me with some great opportunities. So I’m pretty used to this personally. In that way there’s no emotions there.”

Despite his self-deprecating demeanor about his main card position, Osbourne, 32, said he fully understands the significance of this opportunity. He plans to shine with a ton of eyes watching, and thinks Rodriguez, whom he shares something of a history with, is an ideal dance partner.

“I sparred him actually at Xtreme (Couture) about three weeks before we got announced to fight,” Osbourne said. “As a professional I messaged him and I was like, ‘Hey man, I got a call that they want me to fight you, and I’m sure you got the same call as well. What do you think? Do you want to take it? Whatever you decide I respect.’ He was like, ‘I think it would be a great opportunity for the both of us.’ I was like, ‘Let’s do it. Thank you.’ I got nothing but love and respect for ‘Lazy Boy’ to be honest. He’s a cool dude.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.

Merab Dvalishvili vows to ‘humble’ Sean O’Malley and take his belt at UFC 306

Merab Dvalishvili is letting go of his personal animosity toward Sean O’Malley and locking in as the days wind down to UFC 306.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Merab Dvalishvili[/autotag] is letting go of his personal animosity toward Sean O’Malley and locking in with tunnel vision as the days wind down to the UFC 306 headliner.

Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) has been trying to fight O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) since he started his octagon tenure with consecutive losses in 2017. He finally gets his wish on the biggest stage when he challenges for the bantamweight title in Saturday’s Noche UFC main event at Sphere (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+).

The road to a UFC title shot hasn’t been easy for Dvalishvili. He needed a 10-fight UFC winning streak to get his crack at UFC gold, and he intends to make the most of it. That requires extreme focus, and part of that goes back to letting go on the origins of his beef with the champion.

“No, it’s not personal,” Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 306 media day. “This a professional fight for the UFC belt. This is for legacy. I was mad at him a couple times. I was very mad when he mentioned my country in a disrespectful way. Because my country, it’s more than religion for me. I have my country here (on my necklace), and that’s why I started fighting, because I want to represent my country. This is healthy competition. This is what we do. Then when somebody, it doesn’t matter who, disrespects your family or your country, you have to be mad. If you’re a man you have to be mad and I wanted to smack his face that time.

“But now I have an even more important thing. To beat him on Saturday night and grab his belt, take his belt. I can talk after the fight. Maybe I can forgive him, or we can talk. I want to keep it that way. I want to just win and show him he has to be humble and he has to respect everybody.”

Dvalishvili appears very aware there’s no greater payback than achieving his title dream. The Georgian is arguably the worst stylistic matchup for O’Malley in the bantamweight division, and if his relentless grappling approach has the same success as his most recent string of fights, he could be leaving with the belt in one-sided fashion.

Although his path to victory is clear in the eyes of many, Dvalishvili emphasized he’s preparing for all possible outcomes – because that’s what it takes to be UFC champion.

“Stylistically, it’s easy for me because my cardio, my grappling, my style should work against him,” Dvalishvili said. “But at the same time, we see what he can do. He can throw something big. It’s a challenge. I can dominate, but he can throw one punch and he can change everything. Every fight is like this. I don’t look at any fights in the UFC as easy. There is no easy fights here. Not always the best fighter wins. We’ve seen it so many times.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.

Diego Lopes aims to beat Brian Ortega then corner Alexa Grasso at UFC 306: ‘That’s absolutely the plan’

Diego Lopes has a perfect night in mind at UFC 306, and it involves two trips to the octagon.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag] has a perfect night in mind at UFC 306, and it involves two trips to the octagon.

Lopes (24-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC) meets Brian Ortega (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) in the featherweight featured bout on Saturday’s Noche UFC at Sphere (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+). Minutes after Lopes’ fight concludes, teammate Alexa Grasso will put her women’s flyweight title on the line in a historic trilogy bout with Valentina Shevchenko in the co-main event.

If Lopes can execute everything as he hopes, he’ll beat Ortega then return to the cage to be part of Grasso’s corner team.

“That’s absolutely the plan,” Lopes told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at Wednesday’s UFC 306 media day. “I know Brian is a great fighter. I’m ready for whatever comes up, but the idea is to run back to the locker room, get changed and go back to corner Alexa.”

Lopes admits there are contingencies in place if he takes significant damage in the fight with Ortega and becomes unavailable. He wants nothing more than to be there for Grasso but trusts that his team and coaches will provide the necessary support no matter what.

“Absolutely we do talk about this,” Lopes said. “I am ready for a war. I’m ready to go full out, and we do debate this as a team and make decisions according to whatever happens, but yeah we spoke about it. We have a strategy for it.”

As important as cornering Grasso is to Lopes, the main priority is the fight with Ortega. It’s the biggest opportunity of Lopes’ career and represents the opportunity to break into title contention.

Reigning 145-pound champion Ilia Topuria recently told MMA Junkie that he sees Lopes as a strong candidate for a future title shot if he can get past Ortega impressively. Lopes is using those comments as a driving force entering UFC 306.

“It’s not every day that you hear that,” Lopes said. “I’m going to fight the No. 3 ranked guy in the division, so it’s just great to hear that kind of compliment and that really sets me up in a better position to come up strong.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.

Photos: UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas event preview

Check out these photos previewing the upcoming UFC 306 event celebrating Mexican Independence Day at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Check out these photos previewing UFC 306, the upcoming pay-per-view event at Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 14, celebrating Mexican Independence Day. (Photos courtesy of UFC)

UFC 306’s Daniel Zellhuber explains how Yair Rodriguez inspired early career

Mexican fighter Daniel Zellhuber recalls how Yair Rodriguez’s UFC journey caught his attention.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Daniel Zellhuber[/autotag] recalls how [autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag]’s journey caught his attention.

Zellhuber (15-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) watched Rodriguez win Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America” in 2014, when he represented Team Mexico under coach Cain Velasquez. Rodriguez (18-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) helped put Mexico on the MMA map and has had a standout career, capturing the interim UFC featherweight title in the process.

“When I kind of got more into MMA was at the time that the first ‘Ultimate Fighter’ (Latin America) was streaming, so one of the first fighters that I ever watched and really became a fan of is Yair,” Zellhuber told MMA Junkie Radio. “And now we’re friends, so it’s funny. I remember watching him on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ really desiring to win and when he won the tournament and his whole UFC career.”

As he looks to pave his own way, Zellhuber moved to Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas and built a team around him, which has produced results in the form of three consecutive wins and two bonuses to go along with it.

On Noche UFC, a night when the promotion celebrates Mexican Independence day, Zellhuber takes on Esteban Ribovics (13-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) on the UFC 306 main card Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas.

“Being here (Vegas) training is not enough to be successful,” Zellhuber said. “So that’s when I searched for coach (Jorge) Capetillo, coach Dewey (Cooper), coach Hector (Vasquez). I started getting more and more coaches to really help me develop what I need to be a world champion. I feel right now I’m in a good spot.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.