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Fresh Ink: Meet the 23 fighters the UFC signed in September 2022

The UFC added 32 fighters to its roster last month. Find out who joined and learn more about them here.

The UFC roster is bigger than ever – and it continues to expand.

Fresh faces appear on nearly every card, whether onboarded as short-notice opening fillers, Dana White’s Contender Series signees, or the increasingly rare straight-up additions. Sometimes, it’s hard to keep track of the hustle and bustle of the mixed martial arts news beat, but here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got you covered.

“Fresh Ink” is your list of fighters added to the UFC roster the previous month and provides background on who they are and where they came from.

Bellator 278 ceremonial weigh-in faceoffs highlights and photo gallery

Check out video of the final staredowns and photo gallery from Bellator 278 ceremonial weigh-ins ahead of Saturday’s event.

LOS ANGELES – UFC 278 ceremonial fighter weigh-ins took place Friday, and the fighters came face-to-face one final time before Saturday’s event.

The weigh-ins took place at the Bellator host hotel. Long Beach Arena hosts Saturday’s event, which has a main card on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Check out the video above to see the athletes from all 15 scheduled matchups come face-to-face and view the photo gallery below.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 286.

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Bellator 286 ceremonial weigh-ins and faceoffs: Best photos

Check out the best photos from the Bellator 286 ceremonial weigh-ins and faceoffs.

Check out the best photos from the Bellator 286 ceremonial weigh-ins and faceoffs. (Photos via Lucas Noonan/Bellator MMA).

A staff member checks players in before their rounds at Winter Park Golf Course with social distancing guidelines enforced. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

Winter Park Golf Course (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

VIDEO: Liver King destroys Paulo Costa, Patricky Freire in liver eating contest

Watch Paulo Costa, Patricky Freire try to challenge Liver King in a liver eating contest.

LOS ANGELES – There’s a reason why Liver King is Liver King.

The health and fitness influencer has gone viral in the past year for living shirtless, his wild beard and muscles, a drastic lifestyle, and of course eating tons of liver.

Well, on Friday afternoon ahead of Bellator 286, Bellator lightweight champion [autotag]Patricky Freire[/autotag] and UFC middleweight contender [autotag]Paulo Costa[/autotag] tried to challenge Liver King and put his title to a test.

The three gentlemen engaged in a liver eating contest in front of the media. And as expected, Liver King remained king. You can watch all the craziness in the video above.

Bellator 286 goes down this Saturday at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif. The card is being headlined by a featherweight title fight between champion Patricio Freire and challenger Adam Borics.

Below is the full line up for the event:

MAIN CARD (Showtime 10 p.m. ET)

Patricio Freire vs. Adam Borics
Spike Carlyle vs. A.J. McKee
Jeremy Kennedy vs. Aaron Pico
Juan Archuleta vs. Enrique Barzola

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie 7 p.m. ET)

Nick Browne vs. Islam Mamedov
Vladimir Tokov vs. Jay Jay Wilson
Khadzhimurat Bestaev vs. Khalid Murtazaliev
Sumiko Inaba vs. Nadine Mandiau
Weber Almeida vs. Ryan Lilley
Dominic Clark vs. Lance Gibson
Mike Hamel vs. Max Rohskopf
Cee Jay Hamilton vs. Richard Palencia
Keoni Diggs vs. Ricardo Seixas
Miguel Peimbert vs. Bobby Seronio III

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 286.

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Bellator 286 main card weigh-in highlights: A.J. McKee on point for lightweight debut

A.J. McKee making weight for his move to lightweight was among the highlights from Bellator 286 official weigh-ins.

LOS ANGELES – [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] is officially a lightweight for the first time in his career.

McKee (18-1 MMA, 18-1 BMMA), a former Bellator featherweight champion, will move up a division on Saturday when he meets [autotag]Spike Carlyle[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) – who missed weight – in the Bellator 286
co-main event at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif. It’s one of the key bouts on the main card airs that on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Watch the video above to see both co-headliners weigh in ahead of Bellator 286, as well as the rest of the main card for Bellator 286.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 286.

Bellator 286 weigh-in video: Champ Patricio Freire, challenger Adam Borics set for title clash

Bellator 286 on Saturday has a title fight locked in at the top of the bill after Patricio Freire and Adam Borics made weight.

LOS ANGELES – Bellator 286 has a title fight locked in at the top of the bill after [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] and [autotag]Adam Borics[/autotag] made weight.

Freire (33-5 MMA, 21-5 BMMA) will put his featherweight title on the line against Borics (18-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA) in Saturday’s main event at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif. The card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Both men did their part ahead of the contest as they made weight on Friday at weigh-ins. The champ “Pitbull” registered at 144.6 pounds, while the challenger Borics tipped the scale at an even 145 pounds.

Check out the video above for the Freire vs. Borics weigh-in.

Freire will compete in his record 15th Bellator title fight on the bout, while Borics challenges for gold for the first time.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 286.

Bo Nickal set to debut at UFC 282 vs. Jamie Pickett

Two days after he earned a UFC contract, Bo Nickal already has his debut booked.

It’s two days after [autotag]Bo Nickal[/autotag] earned a UFC contract and he already has his promotional debut booked.

Thursday, the promotion finalized a middleweight bout between Nickal (3-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and [autotag]Jamie Pickett[/autotag] (13-8 MMA, 2-4 UFC) for UFC 282, which takes place Dec. 10 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie after an initial report by ESPN, but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Nickal, 28, trucked CFFC champion Donovan Beard en route to a 52-second, UFC contract-earning submission Tuesday at Dana White’s Contender Series. The win moved him to 3-0 in his pro MMA career with three quick, first-round finishes. He has yet to absorb a strike.

Meanwhile, Pickett enters the fight on a two-fight skid. Following a two-fight winning streak with victories over Laureano Staropoli and Joseph Holmes, Pickett was finished in back-to-back fights against Kyle Daukaus and Denis Tiuliulin.

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Spotlighted long before his MMA career kicked off, Nickal was a three-time Division-I national champion and three-time Big Ten conference champion for Penn State. He won a national championship and an under-23 world championship, both in 2019 in the 92kg (202.8-pound) weight class. He finished college with a 120-3 record, including a combined 61-0 record in his junior and senior years.

In 2019, Nickal earned the 2019 Dan Hodge Trophy, an accolade awarded to the nation’s best wrestler. He also twice won the Schalles Award, an honor given to the nation’s best pinner. In addition, in 2019 he was named Big Ten Athlete of the Year. Nickal is a blue belt in jiu-jitsu and trains at American Top Team in South Florida.

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Damir Ismagulov vs. Arman Tsarukyan targeted for UFC Fight Night on Dec. 17

A compelling matchup of lightweights Damir Ismagulov and Arman Tsarukyan has been added to the final UFC card of 2022.

A compelling matchup of lightweights [autotag]Damir Ismagulov[/autotag] and [autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag] has been added to the final UFC card of 2022.

Ismagulov (24-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) and Tsarukyan (18-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) have verbally agreed to a clash at UFC Fight Night on Dec. 17, a person with knowledge of the situation verified to MMA Junkie following an initial report from EuroSport Nederland.

The event takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Broadcast plans have not been revealed at this time.

Ismagulov, 31, has only fought five times since making his octagon debut in December 2018, but no one has been able to figure him out thus far. The Russian is currently on a 19-fight winning streak dating back to his sole career defeat in September 2015.

Tsarukyan, 25, meanwhile, will attempt to rebound from his first main event setback. After winning five-straight bouts at 155 pounds, the Russian lost a competitive unanimous decision to Mateusz Gamrot at UFC on ESPN 38 in June.

The latest lineup for UFC Fight Night on Dec. 17 includes:

Julian Marquez vs. Deron Winn
Tafon Nchukwi vs. Jamal Pogues
Sergey Morozov vs. Journey Newson
Amir Albazi vs. Alex Perez
Albert Duraev vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
Damir Ismagulov vs. Arman Tsarukyan

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Kevin Gastelum vs. Nassourdine Imavov headlines first UFC event of 2023

The first UFC event of 2023 will be headlined by a middleweight bout between Kelvin Gastelum and Nassourdine Imavov.

The first UFC event of 2023 has its headlining act.

Ranked middleweights [autotag]Kelvin Gastelum[/autotag] and [autotag]Nassourdine Imavov[/autotag] will clash in a five-round bout Jan. 14 at UFC Fight Night from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Two people with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie that Gastelum (17-8 MMA, 11-8 UFC) and Imavov (12-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) have both signed for the fight following an initial report from LaSueur podcast.

Gastelum and Imavov originally were scheduled to face off this past April at UFC 273, but Imavov’s VISA issues forced the bout to be canceled. Now they’ll come back together.

Since getting outlasted by Israel Adesanya for the interim middleweight title in the 2019 Fight of the Year at UFC 236, Gastelum has struggled. His lone win in his past six fights came against Ian Heinisch at UFC 258, and the Season 17 “Ultimate Fighter” winner is coming off back-to-back main event losses to former champion Robert Whittaker and top contender Jared Cannonier.

Imavov, a main training partner of former UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane, has won three fights in a row. After stopping Heinisch in July, the 25-year-old Dagestan-born, France-based fighter scored a second-round TKO of fellow prospect Edmen Shahbazyan at UFC 268 in November. He most recently edged Joaquin Buckley at UFC Fight Night 209 earlier thismonth.

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