Michael Bisping wants to see UFC champ Alexander Volkanovski return to 155 pounds – but after he gives Ilia Topuria “what he has earned.”
UFC Hall of Famer [autotag]Michael Bisping[/autotag] doesn’t want to see UFC featherweight champion [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] move back up to lightweight just yet.
Volkanovski (26-2 MMA, 13-1 UFC) notched his fifth title defense when he stopped Yair Rodriguez by TKO in the third round in this past Saturday’s UFC 290 main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Volkanovski, who fell short against lightweight champ Islam Makhachev (24-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC) this past February at UFC 284, is eager to run things back. However, with [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) emerging as a top contender following a five-round beatdown of Josh Emmett less than three weeks ago, Bisping wants to see Volkanovski stick to featherweight.
“He tried last time out,” Bisping said on the BT Sport post-fight show. “He has a division to defend, so does Islam Makhachev. There are a lot of contenders certainly at lightweight, and there’s a clear No. 1 contender, Ilia Topuria. That is the guy that he should fight next.”
That doesn’t mean Bisping doesn’t think Volkanovski should attempt to become dual champion again. He sees massive fights for him at 155 pounds but doesn’t want them to happen right now.
“I would love to see him go up to lightweight again,” Bisping said. “I would love to see him maybe beat Topuria, maybe one more, and then move up to lightweight because I want to see him up there against the likes of Justin (Gaethje), Dustin Poirier, (Charles) Oliveira, Islam, all those people. I mean, they are blockbuster fights waiting to happen, and of course try and become a double champ, as well. But he’s got to give Topuria what he has earned.”
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Should Alexander Volkanovski try to silence Ilia Topuria or dethrone Islam Makhachev after his UFC 290 title defense?
[autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] solidified his status as undisputed champion with a dominant win in the UFC 290 main event, and now many are left wondering which move he’ll make next.
After Volkanovski (26-2 MMA, 13-1 UFC) scored a third-round TKO of interim champion Yair Rodriguez this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White essentially put the future in the champ’s hands.
White said he would take Volkanovski’s preference under significant advisement, and his two options seem clear: A title defense against unbeaten contender Ilia Topuria (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), who has talked a whole lot of trash about the Aussie. Or, a rematch with lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev (24-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC), who handed Volkanovski his only octagon loss at UFC 284 in February.
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It seems “The Great” is leaning toward wanting the rematch with Makhachev, but is that the wisest move for his career?
MMA Junkie’s “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Mike Bohn and Farah Hannoun joined host “Gorgeous” George Garcia to talk about the possibilities.
Check out their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below.
UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja doesn’t see a clear-cut contender for his first title defense.
UFC flyweight champion [autotag]Alexandre Pantoja[/autotag] doesn’t see a clear-cut contender for his first title defense.
Pantoja (25-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC) dethroned Brandon Moreno (21-6-2 MMA, 9-3-2 UFC) to claim the flyweight title in this past Saturday’s UFC 290 co-main event. Weighing in as a backup for their fight was Brandon Royval, whom Pantoja submitted in August 2021.
Also recently emerging as a top contender was [autotag]Amir Albazi[/autotag] (17-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC), who edged out Kai Kara-France (24-11 MMA, 7-4 UFC) in the UFC on ESPN 45 main event in June. However, Pantoja doesn’t think anyone has quite earned the title shot yet. He suggests Albazi fight Royval to determine the No. 1 contender.
“I respect Amir a lot. He’s making a good job, but he just took one guy off the top 10 with a close fight,” Pantoja told MMA Junkie. “Brandon Royval, that’s a very good name. I like this kid, but I beat him in my last two fights. Put these guys to fight end of the year, and take one and give to me. Who deserves it more, put these guys to fight. That’s what I think is the best choice.”
Pantoja isn’t against running things back with Moreno but would like to see fresh blood in the division get their shot. In a pre-fight interview with MMA Junkie, Pantoja envisioned dominating Moreno, so is a little disappointed with his performance.
“I respect Moreno a lot, I want to fight with Moreno, of course, because I think I need to prove more for me, not for everyone,” Pantoja said. “For me, because I know I can finish him. It’s not disrespecting him. It’s about my vision, about the life and my vision of what I do in the gym.
“At this point, I don’t think he needs to fight again for the belt. I wait a lot for this belt. I think the UFC needs to give the opportunity to other guys. Moreno fought for the belt for the last three years, and I wait for that. There are a lot of guys in the division that wait for that too. I respect all the division. Everybody doing a lot of beautiful work.”
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Dan Hooker emerged victorious at UFC 290 and would like to be rewarded accordingly with a huge fight on home soil.
[autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag] is ready to start taking on big names again.
Hooker (22-12 MMA, 12-8 UFC) picked up his second consecutive win this past Saturday at UFC 290 when he rallied to defeat Jalin Turner in a Fight of the Night effort.
The grueling battle with Turner left Hooker with a broken arm and a facial fracture to his right cheek area. “The Hangman,” who has competed against the likes of current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier, hopes to draw a compelling name for his next outing – and would love for it to be at home.
“I heard 2024 they’re coming back to New Zealand, back to Auckland,” Hooker told Submission Radio. “So, if I could drag that back to New Zealand, back to Auckland and get like a big-name fight, that would be cool. That would be cool next. Yeah, like something big, something big. But I think I’ve only got … that next one, that’s the last fight of my contract. So yeah, it’s time to sit down with the boys at the UFC and get something big next and get another contract underway.”
Hooker has fought in New Zealand three times, scoring a first-round TKO of Ian Entwistle in his UFC debut, knocking out Ross Pearson in 2017, then outlasting Paul Felder in a main event in 2020.
If the UFC returns to New Zealand next year, Hooker wants a fight that would excite the fans.
“Yeah, it would need to be a big fight, because the stress of that is incredible,” Hooker said. “Especially coming off the performances like that. That’s three fights in Auckland. Fought on every single card, and they were all big wins. You know, first-round TKO, then the Pearson knockout, and then the absolute war with Paul Felder. So that’s three incredible performances. I feel like the expectations for coming back to Auckland are enormous. So, it’s like, you need a dance partner that warranted that excitement.
“I feel like you’d need a dance partner where it’s either one of those guys that’s like super exciting that the fans are just like, man, this is going to deliver 100 percent. Or you need an opponent that’s going to tickle the fans’ balls. You know what I mean? Be like, ‘Ooh, I don’t know if he could beat that guy.’ You know what I mean? Like, it needs to be a big, exciting fight. If we’re going to pack out … oh, I think we easily pack out the arena in New Zealand. I think that’s a sellout. That’s hands down a sellout.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.
Volkanovski is unbeaten at 145 pounds and has defended his belt five times. The lone blemish in his UFC career came against lightweight champ Islam Makhachev in February, in which Volkanovski pushed him to the brink in a close decision loss. Former title challenger Chandler sees Volkanovski as the most well-rounded fighter on the roster today.
“I break it down to three Cs of why I think Alexander Volkanovski is the most unbeatable – not just unbeatable champion, but the most unbeatable guy in the entire world,” Chandler said on his YouTube channel. “There’s a reason why he’s the pound-for-pound No. 1. I break it down to three Cs: completeness, cardio and composure. He is the most complete fighter that we have on the roster in the UFC – the most complete fighter in the world.
“The ability to be at home and be two to three to four steps ahead of his opponents in every single position in a fight, on the feet, navigating and negotiating the distance, navigating and negotiating the striking, his plethora of strikers that he has, very basic. He doesn’t try to get crazy out of his comfort zone even with however many titles defenses he has had now.”
Volkanovski has options. Unbeaten rising star Ilia Topuria awaits at featherweight, and a rematch with Makhachev at UFC 294 on Oct. 21 is also possible. Based off what he’s seen, Chandler sees Volkanovski giving both featherweights and lightweights problems.
“There’s not a featherweight alive that he can’t take down, and as we saw, there might not be a lightweight in the world that he can’t take down since he took down Islam Makhachev in their fight – which was a very closely contested fight,” Chandler said. “I know he wants that fight, and in my honest opinion, he might be the guy who might get that title shot.”
Chael Sonnen thinks Israel Adesanya may soon surpass Conor McGregor as the No. 1 draw in the sport.
[autotag]Chael Sonnen[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] may soon surpass [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] as the No. 1 draw in the sport.
Middleweight champion Adesanya (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC), who recently regained his belt with a highlight reel knockout of Alex Pereira in April, was in attendance for UFC 290 this past Saturday. Adesanya watched Dricus Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) emerge as the No. 1 contender when he TKOd Robert Whittaker, and jumped into the octagon to face off with him.
Adesanya, who was irked by Du Plessis’ comments on wanting to be the first UFC fighter to bring a belt back to Africa, stared him down in a racially charged face-off. Notorious for his ability to sell a fight, Sonnen lauds “The Last Stylebender” for capitalizing on the moment.
“There’s a different game being played here by Izzy,” Sonnen said on The MMA Hour. “You want to know who should be watching this? It’s not Du Plessis, and it’s not the rest of the division. It’s Conor McGregor. Izzy’s coming for his spot. Izzy is coming for top draw in this sport, and he’s not that far away. By the way, he truly made that program for me.”
“What Adesanya did, that show’s not the same,” Sonnen said. “I was at a bareknuckle show about two months ago, and Conor McGregor showed up, and it was a massive deal from a perspective of entertainment. From having something to look forward to that you weren’t promised, and wasn’t on the marquee. The presence of Conor was greatly felt, and it was discussed in the media long after. That’s why I bring the example of Conor and Adesanya because now I’m seeing that Izzy can play that same game, and he can play it very powerfully.”
Alexandre Pantoja is the new UFC flyweight champion, and as a result, nearly reaches the top of the divison’s rankings in this week’s update.
The UFC’s flyweight division has a new champion, and his name is [autotag]Alexandre Pantoja[/autotag].
In the co-feature of UFC 290, Pantoja emerged victorious by split decision against Brandon Moreno in a five-round affair. It was an intense fight, and aside from the one judge who saw the fight in Moreno’s favor, most agreed with the other two judges that Pantoja was the correct winner of the flyweight title.
Pantoja entered the bout ranked No. 5 in the USA TODAY SPORTS/MMA Junkie flyweight rankings. After claiming the title, he rises up to settle in at No. 2, only behind Demetrious Johnson.
The main event of the pay-per-view event saw [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] maintain his stronghold over the featherweight division by recording a third-round TKO of Yair Rodriguez. Volkanovski unified the title, and keeps his No. 1 position in the division. However, his run has elevated him to No. 1 elsewhere, taking the top spot in men’s pound-for-pound.
Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings above.
New UFC champ Alexandre Pantoja insists that his six-month stint working for UberEats on his rise to gold shouldn’t be anti-UFC ammunition.
In the immediate aftermath of claiming the flyweight title from Brandon Moreno in the UFC 290 co-main event, [autotag]Alexandre Pantoja[/autotag] told Joe Rogan that few people were aware of the struggles he endured to get his hands on gold.
Every fighter who chooses to compete in a volatile sport like MMA has taken risks and made sacrifices, and only few make it to the top. Pantoja (26-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) is now one of them after his split decision win over Moreno (21-6-2 MMA, 9-3-2 UFC) this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The road had many obstacles along the way, and in recent years, Pantoja had plenty.
On Monday, MMA journalist Ariel Helwani reported that during his rise up to the 125-pound belt, Pantoja had a six-month stint working for UberEats in order to support himself. For a fighter who has been in the top 15 ranking for more than half a decade and in the top 5 since 2019, that came as jarring news to some.
The topic of UFC fighter pay has been a constant point of discussion for fans, media and fighters themselves for years, but Pantoja doesn’t think his situation should be used as an anti-UFC talking point. He said there was a time when financial security wasn’t a high point of stress, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and it aligned with some major life decisions.
“I don’t want to put like the UFC needs to give more money to the fighters,” Pantoja told MMA Junkie. “I don’t try to do that. I want people to understand: When COVID was coming, my family moved back to Brazil. I came back to keep training and I fight with Manel Kape (in February 2021) and I made a good fight. Then I brought my family back so I could make a down payment on a house, and I put a lot of money for that. I’m a very family guy. I can’t live without my family. I brought my family back to the U.S., but of course, I made a down payment, and money was short. In that moment, of course, what am I going to do? I don’t have daddy to take care of me. I don’t have anybody in the U.S.
“I’m a man, bro. I learned that very young. I’m a man and I need to take care of my business. My wife started working and I started working. This like, ‘Oh my God, he’s a UFC fighter and he’s working for UberEats.’ This is life. What are you talking about? I’m not trying to put some bad thing for UFC. I love UFC. They take care of all the fighters. This is the best event for fighter in the world. UFC gave me everything. I’m living good. I had to take care of my kids before the belt.”
Pantoja, 33, did not reveal the specific amount he invested into a down payment on a home close to his home training base at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla., but admitted the commitment left him in something of a financial bind. Without a fight immediately on the horizon and not knowing when his next purse would come in, Pantoja didn’t feel comfortable asking the people around him for assistance, so he took matters into his own hands.
“I made my choice,” Pantoja said. “If I’m living in Brazil, I’m a rich guy. Because in Brazil if you have a dollar, you’re a rich guy. But no, I chose to come to Florida. I chose to raise my kids here, and I have my green card. This is very special for me. But in that moment after COVID, because I wanted my family by my side, I brought my family back, I made a down payment. In that moment I really didn’t have enough money to take care of all the bills. What am I going to do? Ask somebody to help me? Of course not. I work. Then I worked and worked and work so hard to keep my dream alive. It’s not about dreams, it’s about your life. What are you going to do? I worked. That’s not a big deal.
“I worked some jiu-jitsu tournaments, (worked for) like a production guy and I worked with UberEats. I tried to do like $150 a day. I could do that fast. Sometimes I don’t. … I had one month where I had to pay my bills. I was really thinking about, ‘I need to work. I need real work.’ Because one month I had to pay my mortgage. I don’t want to lose my house. I put everything for that house for my kids here. In that moment, just one month to live, and I have to fight, and I worked so hard in the Uber.”
Fighters are very proud and confident individuals, and some others at Pantoja’s level of the sport might not have been willing to put their ego aside and take on such a task. He thinks he was ultimately rewarded for his sacrifice, though, because his next fight against Brandon Royval in August 2021 was the beginning of his turning point.
With a heavy burden on his shoulders, Pantoja submitted Royval in the second round at UFC on ESPN 29, and received a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his efforts.
“It was Saturday night one week before the fight (with Royval) and it rained a lot in Florida, and I still did the (UberEats) delivery because I had to make $150 for the day. Then I was sick and I went to the fight week sick, and I’m thinking, ‘Damn, I pray to God this is not COVID.’ But it came from the raining and it was just the flu. I just prayed it’s not COVID. Then I made the weight and they tested me and it wasn’t COVID. Then I had the fight. After you make the weight, of course, you’re going to receive your payment (for show money). I said, ‘Thank you, God. If you give me the victory I will appreciate that.’ But I came, I grabbed the money and I had security for a couple months. God gave me much more. He gave me the victory. He gave me the Performance of the Night.”
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Following the finish of Royval, the UFC called Pantoja and offered him a championship fight against Moreno. It was everything he’d been working toward, but then disaster struck. A lingering knee injury worsened, and Pantoja was forced to go under the knife and receive surgery. His original diagnosis of a three-month recovery turned into six months, and he was left with no choice but to decline the title shot.
“The same day I left the hospital, the UFC called me and said, ‘You want to fight for the belt? You have the contract. You have everything,'” Pantoja said. “But then my doctor said, ‘Hey, you need six months (to recover). You can’t train for six months. You just need therapy. If you train before you’ll get hurt again and need another surgery.’ Then I had to say no to fighting for the belt. I really did six months of therapy. I didn’t go to the gym. This made my legs very strong.”
It took 11 months for Pantoja to return to competition following the win over Royval. He was able to sustain the layoff without returning to secondary work such as UberEats, he said, and came back to score a 91-second submission of Alex Perez at UFC 277 in July 2022 that netted him another Performance of the Night bonus. That solidified his title opportunity.
“When I went back to the gym, three months after I went back to the gym, I had a fight with Alex Perez and win the fight within one minute and 30 seconds and I proved to Dana White I’m next in line,” Pantoja said. “This is some history behind (my road to) the belt. That’s why when I fought for the belt, I didn’t lose.”
It took just shy of another year for Pantoja to see his title shot come to fruition. The series of rematches between former champs Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo left him in waiting, but it only gave Pantoja time to train and dial in for when his chance arrives.
He made the most of it when he finally did by leaving UFC 290 with the gold, and now that he’s reached the point he gave so much toward, he can finally exhale.
“I don’t need the belt to say I’m a champion,” Pantoja said. “I come from nothing. I have my family here. I have a house. I have the best life I could ever dream. But this belt represents the best things in my life and I keep full with the happiness about that. I didn’t get here alone. I had all the support. Now, I’ll go to Brazil and put this belt on the shoulder of everybody in my hometown and everybody who helped me get to this moment. I know when I go defend this belt, I’m going to feel like I can use more of my techniques and I can relax and enjoy the moment with a different part because I worked so hard for that. And now I can relax.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.
Alexander Volkanovski’s performance at UFC 290 has Javier Mendez excited about a rematch with Islam Makhachev.
[autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag]’s performance at UFC 290 has Javier Mendez excited about a rematch with [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag].
UFC lightweight champion Makhachev (24-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC) handed Volkanovski his first octagon loss when he edged him out in a five-round battle at UFC 284 in February. This past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena, featherweight champion Volkanovski returned to his weight class and retained his title with a third-round TKO of Yair Rodriguez in the main event.
Volkanovski (26-2 MMA, 13-1 UFC) is set to undergo a procedure on his elbow, but expects to be ready by Makhachev’s date of return at UFC 294 on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi. Makhachev’s head coach Mendez was very impressed with Volkanovski’s performance against Rodriguez.
“It was one of those fights where Alex proved how great he is by what he did,” Mendez said on his podcast. “He adjusted. He did something he normally doesn’t do. He was again outstruck on the range fighting, so he changed the script to being the wrestler, and he could wrestle, and he proved he could wrestle, also. So he took Yair down and he thoroughly dominated him on the ground.
“It wasn’t until he hit him with the right hand and then he pounced on him … he went boom, boom, dumped him. That was a beautiful display of a guy that’s super smart, great IQ. Let’s see what happens. Let’s see if they give him to Islam or they give someone else to Islam. But somewhere down the line, we’re going to have to fight him again. I look forward to it because it’ll be a great fight, definitely after that performance.”
Another potential rematch that awaits Makhachev is against Charles Oliveira, who rebounded from his title loss to Makhachev with a first-round TKO of Beneil Dariush at UFC 289 in May. Oliveira said he can’t make Oct. 21 to run things back with Makhachev, but Mendez says he doesn’t get to call the shots.
“Oliveira is talking about how he wants to fight in November or December,” Mendez said. “Well, he’s not going to get to decide when he fights for the title. The UFC decides that. I believe that Islam’s scheduled on Oct. 21 because they need him for Abu Dhabi. I believe that’s 100 percent the fight that makes sense for Islam to stay there. Who the opponent is? I don’t know. And it could be Oliveira still. Oliveira could say, ‘Never mind, I’ll fight him in Abu Dhabi.’ I don’t know.”
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Robbie Lawler called it quits on a Hall of Fame career this past Saturday, and he went out in just the kind of style he’s known for.
[autotag]Robbie Lawler[/autotag] called it quits on a Hall of Fame career this past Saturday, and he went out in just the kind of style he’s known for.
Lawler (30-16 MMA, 15-10 UFC) knocked out Niko Price (15-7 MMA, 7-7 UFC) just 38 seconds into their fight to close out the preliminary card at UFC 290 in front of a packed T-Mobile Arena crowd in Las Vegas. Lawler’s retirement bout was decided and announced months out, but in a bit of a perfect twist, the quick finish to end the prelims left the UFC with in the neighborhood of 20 minutes to give Lawler time on the microphone and let him make his exit.
UFC 290 was filled with standout fighters, and ahead of the card that anchored International Fight Week, those stars paid tribute to Lawler, a former UFC welterweight champion. Check out what they had to say about “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler in the video above.
