Tag: TA block

UFC cuts ties with Aspen Ladd after latest weight miss

It appears Aspen Ladd’s next fight will be outside the UFC after another mishap on the scale and another canceled fight.

It appears [autotag]Aspen Ladd[/autotag]’s next fight will be outside the UFC.

Ladd, once considered one of the most promising women’s prospects in MMA, no longer is with the UFC in the wake of her most recent issue trying to hit her mark on the scale for the women’s bantamweight division.

Citing UFC officials, MMA Fighting reported the move Tuesday after algorithm-based Twitter account UFC Roster Watch first alerted social media she was removed from the official UFC women’s bantamweight rankings database.

Ladd, 27, has not made an announcement that she’s no longer with the UFC, but a Monday post about one of her dogs on Instagram made a potentially veiled reference to something new in her future when she posted “Here’s to … the next huge milestone in my own life that she will be there for.”

Ladd (9-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) was set to fight Olympic medalist and former UFC title challenger Sara McMann (13-6 MMA, 7-6 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 210 11 days ago. That matchup was one that was rebooked from a withdrawal by Ladd earlier this summer.

Ladd weighed in at 138 pounds for her fight with McMann in Las Vegas. It was her third UFC weight miss and fourth in her career overall, including a 2016 weight miss under the Invicta FC banner.

According to a UFC official, Ladd’s weight cut for the McMann fight was stopped by commission officials. She made no additional attempts to cut weight after her trip to the scale, and subsequently the bout was canceled.

Ladd has a lengthy history of bad weight cuts and misses. In September 2018, she missed weight and her fight with Leslie Smith was scrapped after Smith declined to fight an overweight opponent.

In July 2019, Ladd had a scary scene while shaking on the scale ahead her fight against Germaine de Randamie. She made weight and was allowed to fight, but suffered a quick TKO loss.

Ladd missed weight in October 2021 for a fight with Macy Chiasson, which then was canceled. She then moved up to featherweight for one fight, which she lost to Norma Dumont, before moving back down to 135 pounds.

She made the bantamweight limit for an April fight with Raquel Pennington, which she lost by unanimous decision, before the most recent incident against McMann. The loss to Pennington gave her three setbacks in four fights after she started her career 8-0, including three straight wins to open her UFC career with two knockouts and two post-fight bonuses.

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Shane Burgos vs. Marlon Moraes in the works to fight at 2022 PFL Championships event

Former UFC veterans Shane Burgos and Marlon Moraes are expected to make their PFL debuts against each other.

[autotag]Shane Burgos[/autotag] and [autotag]Marlon Moraes[/autotag] won’t have to wait long to debut in their new promotion.

The former UFC contenders are being targeted to square off in a featherweight fight at the 2022 PFL Championships, which is expected to take place Nov. 25 at a yet-to-be-announced location. News of the booking was first reported Tuesday by ESPN, the PFL’s broadcast partner.

Moraes, who recently came out of retirement to sign with the PFL, will be moving up a weight class to compete in Burgos’ normal division.

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Burgos (15-3 MMA, 0-0 PFL) finished his contract with the UFC on July 16 when he defeated Charles Jourdain by majority decision on the main card of UFC on ABC 3. The win put the 31-year-old on a two-fight wining streak after he’d lost two in a row against Josh Emmett and Edson Barboza in Fight of the Night bouts.

Meanwhile, Moraes (23-10-1 MMA, 0-0 PFL), a former World Series of Fighting champion, is looking to bounce back from a four-fight losing streak, which marked the end of his UFC career. The Brazilian last recorded a win in December 2019 when he edged out Jose Aldo in a split decision at UFC 245.

With the addition, here’s the updated 2022 PFL Championships lineup:

  • Kayla Harrison vs. Larissa Pacheco – for women’s lightweight championship
  • Bubba Jenkins vs. Brendan Loughnane – for featherweight championship
  • Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Stevie Ray – for lightweight championship
  • Sadibou Sy vs. Dilano Taylor – for welterweight championship
  • Omari Akhmedov vs. Rob Wilkinson – for light heavyweight championship
  • Ante Delija vs. Matheus Scheffel – for heavyweight championship
  • Shane Burgos vs. Marlon Moraes
  • Biaggio Ali Walsh vs. opponent TBA

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Bellator 285 post-event facts: Yoel Romero makes history with late knockout

Check out the numbers behind Bellator 285, where Yoel Romero added to one of the most unique records in MMA.

Bellator returned from a six-week hiatus on Saturday with Bellator 285, which went down at 3Arena in Dublin and featured a 13-fight lineup on the card.

The main event featured a dominant performance from former UFC and WEC lightweight champion [autotag]Benson Henderson[/autotag] (30-11 MMA, 7-6 BMMA), who shut down Ireland’s [autotag]Peter Queally[/autotag] (13-7 MMA, 2-3 BMMA) over the course of five rounds to win a unanimous decision and begin his late-career push toward the title.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the event, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from Bellator 285.

Joaquin Buckley vs. Chris Curtis booked for UFC 282

A fun middleweight bout has been added to UFC 282.

[autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag] has his fourth fight of 2022 booked.

The UFC middleweight returns against [autotag]Chris Curtis[/autotag] in the final UFC pay-per-view of the year – UFC 282. The card is set to go down on Dec. 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Curtis’ management announced the news on Saturday, and MMA Junkie independently confirmed the matchup with various sources.

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Buckley (15-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Nassourdine Imavov earlier this month in the UFC’s first event ever in France. Prior to the defeat, Buckley was on a three-fight winning streak that included two stoppage victories that earned him Performance of the Night bonuses. Buckley is having a busy year having fought in February, June, September, and now booked to return in December.

Curtis (29-9 MMA, 3-1 UFC) is also coming off a defeat. He was last seen in action back in July when he lost in a unanimous decision to Jack Hermansson FC Fight Night 208 in London. It was a bout that he took on short notice, replacing an injured Darren Till. The defeat snapped an eight-fight winning streak for the 35-year-old.

With the addition, the UFC 282 lineup includes:

  • Robbie Lawler vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
  • Dricus Du Plessis vs. Darren Till
  • Chris Daukaus vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
  • Joaquin Buckley vs. Chris Curtis
  • Dalcha Lungiambula vs. Edmen Shahbazyan
  • Alexander Hernandez vs. Billy Quarantillo
  • TJ Brown vs. Erik Silva

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Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac to headline Nov. 19 Fight Night event

Serghei Spivac gets his first UFC main event opportunity against former title challenger Derrick Lewis.

A heavyweight clash is set to main event a UFC Fight Night card in November.

Former heavyweight title challenger [autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] is set to return against a fresh opponent, [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag], in a five-round main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Nov. 19.

The promotion officially announced the matchup Saturday afternoon.

Lewis (26-10 MMA, 17-8 UFC) will look to get back into the win column after dropping his last two outings against Tai Tuivasa in February and Sergei Pavlovich in July. Lewis’ last victory came against Chris Daukaus in December, a vicious one-round, record-setting knockout finish.

Pavlovich (15-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) is a winner of his two previous bouts, picking up stoppage wins over Greg Hardy in March and Augusto Asakai in August. He enters the first main event of his UFC tenure in his 10th appearance.

With the addition, the Nov. 19 lineup includes:

  • Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac
  • Andre Fialho vs. Muslim Salikhov
  • Kevin Natividad vs. Ricky Turcios
  • Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Maria Oliveira
  • Kyler Phillips vs. Jack Shore
  • Cody Brundage vs. Rodolfo Vieira
  • Charles Johnson vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
  • Jennifer Maia vs. Maryna Moroz
  • Fernie Garcia vs. Brady Hiestand

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Twitter reacts to Yoel Romero’s brutal KO of retiring Melvin Manhoef at Bellator 285

See the top Twitter reactions to Yoel Romero’s lopsided knockout in Melvin Manhoef’s retirement bout at Bellator 285.

[autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] has back-to-back wins on his record for the first time since 2016 after beating [autotag]Melvin Manhoef[/autotag] in the Bellator 285 co-main event.

Romero (15-6 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) sent Manhoef (32-16-1 MMA, 4-5 BMMA) into retirement on a low note when he earned a third-round knockout victory in Friday’s light heavyweight co-headliner, which took place at 3Arena in Dublin.

“The Soldier of God” now puts himself in a prominent position in the company, and could be on the cusp of a title shot.

Check below for the top Twitter reactions to Romero’s victory over Manhoef at Bellator 285

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Daniel Rodriguez’s quick turnaround vs. Neil Magny in the works for UFC Fight Night 212

After a wild week at UFC 279, Daniel Rodriguez will make a quick turnaround.

After a wild week at UFC 279, [autotag]Daniel Rodriguez[/autotag] will make a quick turnaround.

Rodriguez (16-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) faces [autotag]Neil Magny[/autotag] (26-9 MMA, 19-8 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 212 on Oct. 15, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

A person with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie that the booking is in the works but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. MMA Island was first to report the news, which Rodriguez has since confirmed on his social media.

Rodriguez competed on the re-shuffled UFC 279 card less than two weeks ago. Originally scheduled to face Kevin Holland, Rodriguez drew Li Jingliang instead after Holland was pulled to face Khamzat Chimaev. Rodriguez edged out Jingliang by split decision to notch his fourth straight win.

Meanwhile, Magny will look to rebound from his submission loss to unbeaten prospect Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC on ESPN 38 in June. Prior to that, the 35-year-old veteran scored back-to-back wins over Geoff Neal and Max Griffin.

With the addition, the UFC Fight Night 212 card includes:

  • Viviane Araujo vs. Alexa Grasso
  • Askar Askarov vs. Brandon Royval
  • Jonathan Martinez vs. Cub Swanson
  • Misha Cirkunov vs. Alonzo Menifield
  • Raphael Assuncao vs. Victor Henry
  • Tatsuro Taira vs. CJ Vergara
  • Brandon Davis vs. Mana Martinez
  • Mike Jackson vs. Pete Rodriguez
  • Jacob Malkoun vs. Nick Maximov
  • Loopy Godinez vs. Angela Hill
  • Melsik Baghdasaryan vs Joanderson Brito
  • Dusko Todorovic vs. Jordan Wright
  • Neil Magny vs. Daniel Rodriguez

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Dana White’s Contender Series 55: Grading the winners

MMA Junkie fight analyst Dan Tom takes a closer look at the performances of the UFC hopeful DWCS 55 winners.

Week 9 of Dana White’s Contender Series (2022) took place Tuesday in Las Vegas, and we’re grading the winners from the five-fight card, which streamed on ESPN+ from the UFC Apex.

With a simple but digestible format that has had the MMA fanbase responding, this series has shown to have legs in multiple ways while serving as a crockpot for contenders whom the UFC matchmakers can use for future events. So, with that trend in mind, I will once again be taking a look at the winning fighters regardless of whether or not they won a UFC contract and grading their performances in regards to their probability of returning to a UFC stage.

Best photos: Raul Rosas Jr. earns UFC contract at Dana White’s Contender Series 55

Check out these photos from 17-year-old Raul Rosas Jr.’s dominant unanimous decision win over Mando Gutierrez at DWCS 55.

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Check out these photos from 17-year-old Raul Rosas Jr.’s dominant unanimous decision win over Mando Gutierrez at Dana White’s Contender Series 55 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. (Photos courtesy of Joshua Hedges, UFC)

Dana White’s Contender Series 55: Best photos

Check out the best images from Dana White’s Contender Series 55 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Check out these photos from the five fights at Dana White’s Contender Series 55 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. (Photos courtesy of Joshua Hedges, UFC)