Tag: Roman Kopylov

Video: Former UFC champ Sean Strickland keeps making headlines

Our “Spinning Back Clique” discusses the latest reasons Sean Strickland has been making headlines.

[autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] continues to make headlines in and out of the octagon, for better or worse.

Before losing the middleweight title to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297, Strickland made headlines that reached far beyond the MMA bubble because of his homophobic tirade during media day. It didn’t take long after the event for Strickland to keep his name in the news cycle.

Strickland recently sparred the popular streamer Sneako, leaving him bloodied after going way too hard on someone who is not a professional fighter, and does not remotely possess the fighting skills of a former UFC champion.

Then, at a recent Power Slap event, Strickland made headlines again for actions outside of the octagon as he got into a verbal altercation with musical artist Machine Gun Kelly.

Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Farah Hannoun, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Danny Segura discuss the latest with Strickland with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia, and whether or not the UFC should intervene in some capacity.

Check out their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s full episode on YouTube or in podcast form below.

https://www.youtube.com/live/DpQXebnLHXU?si=PEqd-7rByiGTULnV

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Video: Which fight is the hidden gem of UFC 298?

Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel takes their pick of which UFC 298 fight is flying under the radar.

UFC 298 is topped by a fantastic title fight in the featherweight division.

Aside from [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag]’s return to the 145-pound division to defend his title against an undefeated [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag], there are plenty of solid matchups throughout the card that could potentially steal the show.

But which of the bunch is the true hidden gem? Is it the main card opener [autotag]Anthony Hernandez[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Roman Kopylov[/autotag]? How about former two-division champ [autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag] taking on [autotag]Merab Dvalishvili[/autotag]? What about another former titleholder [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] taking on [autotag]Paulo Costa[/autotag]?

Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Farah Hannoun, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Danny Segura take their picks with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia.

Check out their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s full episode on YouTube or in podcast form below.

https://www.youtube.com/live/DpQXebnLHXU?si=PEqd-7rByiGTULnV

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.

Video: UFC 298 press conference faceoffs with Whittaker-Costa, Neal-Garry, Dvalishvili-Cejudo

The stacked UFC 298 main card engaged in faceoffs following Thursday’s pre-fight press conference.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The UFC 298 pre-fight press conference went down Thursday and it was the initial opportunity to get a look at fighter staredowns for the second numbered event of 2024.

The card, which is headlined by a featherweight title bout between [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) and [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), goes down Saturday at Honda Center with a main card that airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

In addition to the main event, a stacked slate of matchups round out the undercard. That includes [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] (24-7 MMA, 15-5 UFC) vs. [autotag]Paulo Costa[/autotag] (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), [autotag]Geoff Neal[/autotag] (15-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) vs. [autotag]Ian Machado Garry[/autotag] (13-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), [autotag]Merab Dvalishvili[/autotag] (16-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) vs. [autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag] (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) and [autotag]Anthony Hernandez[/autotag] (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) vs. [autotag]Roman Kopylov[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC).

All five pairings were in attendance at the pre-fight press conference, where they answered questions and engaged in faceoffs.

Check out the video above to see all the staredowns.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.

Anthony Hernandez’s game plan for Roman Kopylov at UFC 298: ‘Gas a motherf*cker out and drown him’

Anthony Hernandez won’t change his approach for Roman Kopylov at UFC 298.

IRVINE, Calif. – [autotag]Anthony Hernandez[/autotag] won’t change his approach for [autotag]Roman Kopylov[/autotag].

Hernandez (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) went from being scheduled against Combat Sambo champion Ikram Aliskerov to now facing knockout artist Kopylov (12-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 298 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) main card opener at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Hernandez thinks Aliskerov is the more well rounded fighter, but the submission specialist’s game plan remains the same.

“Obviously this guy is a striker, not a wrestler,” Hernandez said of Kopylov at Wednesday’s UFC 298 media day. “The other guy had way more weapons. This guy is a really good kicker, a good striker. So it does change a little bit, but it’s the same game plan no matter what: Gas a motherf*cker out and drown him.”

Hernandez, 30, is on a four-fight winning streak – most recently stopping Edmen Shahbazyan by third-round TKO last May. Inactivity has slightly halted his momentum, but “Fluffy” hopes to change that with a more active 2024.

“Main goal is to win,” Hernandez said. “Second goal would be to stay healthy and definitely want to bang out some fights. I’m not getting any younger, so I need to go f*cking get this sh*t. I need to make my run at the title, and that’s all I want.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.

Roman Kopylov predicts a short reign for Dricus du Plessis, calls out Sean Strickland before UFC 298

Roman Kopylov is one of the biggest betting underdogs Saturday, but that’s not stopping him from being ambitious.

IRVINE, Calif. – [autotag]Roman Kopylov[/autotag] is one of the biggest betting underdogs Saturday, but that’s not stopping him from being ambitious.

Kopylov (12-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) is set to open the UFC 298 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) main card in a middleweight bout against Anthony Hernandez (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Hernandez is around a -250 favorite, which says plenty about his reputation given Kopylov has four straight wins, all by knockout.

But Kopylov appears to be brimming with confidence, which jibes with the mindset of a fighter who took the bout with Hernandez as a short-notice fill-in on about a month’s notice.

The 32-year-old Russian said he plans to take out Hernandez, then former champion Sean Strickland. If that leads to title consideration, he’s not too sure current champ Dricus du Plessis will be there, though.

“Middleweight is one of the toughest divisions. This is a great division. Everybody is pretty tough in here,” Kopylov told MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s media day for UFC 298. “When it comes to the champion, anybody in the top five could become a champ soon. I’m not sure what to say about the champion – for some reason I have a feeling he’s not going to stay a champ for a very long time.”

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A Strickland matchup, though, is one he thinks could come to fruition with a win simply because the former champ would be forced to see Kopylov as a new title contender and in a new light he hadn’t viewed him in before.

“If the win does happen on Saturday, I think Sean himself would be interested in fighting against somebody like myself, who’s a striker, and I think it would be a really great fight for the fans. I think Sean will look at it more seriously that way,” Kopylov said.

Check out Kopylov’s full media day interview in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.

Video: UFC 298 media day interviews

Before UFC 298 on Saturday, the main card and prelim fighters are scheduled to speak to reporters at media day.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The UFC 298, which takes place at Honda Center with a main card that airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+, goes down Saturday.

Before fight night arrives, though, notable athletes from the main card and preliminary are scheduled to speak to reporters Wednesday at media day, and MMA Junkie will be on-site.

Check below for the archived videos of each media day.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.

UFC 298 pre-event facts: Alexander Volkanovski can make history with post-KO title defense

The best facts and figures about UFC 298, which sees Alexander Volkanovski take on the rare task of a title defense after a knockout loss.

The octagon returns to Anaheim, Calif., for the first time in more than two years and ninth time in its history on Saturday with UFC 298, which goes down at Honda Center with a main card on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

An anticipated featherweight championship bout gets top billing. Champion [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) returns to the division he rules following a knockout loss to lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev in October when he takes on unbeaten contender [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC).

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about UFC 298.

Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria

UFC 298 main card takes hit, but Roman Kopylov steps up to face Anthony Hernandez

Two UFC middleweights on four-fight winning streaks, Anthony Hernandez and Roman Kopylov, will collide.

[autotag]Roman Kopylov[/autotag] will look to continue his recent success when he steps into the UFC 298 main card on short notice.

With [autotag]Ikram Aliskerov[/autotag] out, Kopylov (12-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) slides into the void opposite [autotag]Anthony Hernandez[/autotag] (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) on the Feb. 17 pay-per-view main card at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. MMA Fighting was first to report the fight.

Aliskerov revealed on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) that a staph infection was the cause of his withdrawal.

Kopylov, 32, kicked off his UFC career at 0-2 but has rattled off four straight wins since. All four of those victories were finishes by strikes, including a brutal body shot TKO of Josh Fremd in his most recent outing in September.

Hernandez, 30, rides a four-fight winning streak of his own. Three of those four performances have been finishes, including a third-round ground-and-pound stoppage vs. Edmen Shahbazyan in May.

With the change, the UFC 298 fight card includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN+ pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Champ Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria – for featherweight title
  • Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker
  • Ian Garry vs. Geoff Neal
  • Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili
  • Anthony Hernandez vs. Roman Kopylov

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)

  • Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Justin Tafa
  • Rinya Nakamura vs. Carlos Vera
  • AJ Dobson vs. Tresean Gore
  • Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Lemos

EARLY PRELIMINARY CARD

  • Zhang Mingyang vs. Brendson Ribeiro
  • Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick
  • Danny Barlow vs. Josh Quinlan
  • Oban Elliott vs. Val Woodburn

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC, PFL, Bellator fights announced in the past week (Jan. 15-21)

Check out the UFC, PFL, and Bellator fights 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, PFL, and Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Jan. 15-21.

Roman Kopylov hopes Sean Strickland stays champ so he eventually can answer Kopylov’s old callout

Roman Kopylov won for the fourth straight time, all by knockout, at Noche UFC in Las Vegas. Then he remembered an old callout of the champ.

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LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Roman Kopylov[/autotag] beat Josh Fremd with a second-round TKO Saturday on the preliminary card at Noche UFC at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Kopylov, who won for the fourth straight time, all by knockout.