Tag: UFC 303

Alex Pereira overtaking Jon Jones as UFC’s No. 2 P4P is sure to make Dana White lose his mind (again)

Quick, somebody hide the latest UFC pound-for-pound rankings from Dana White! đź«Ł

Uh oh, somebody hide the latest UFC pound-for-pound rankings from Dana White.

After the UFC boss passionately argued with MMA reporter Kevin Iole about how heavyweight champion Jon Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) should be No. 1 pound-for-pound over lightweight champ Islam Makhachev, he’ll very likely lose his mind after the most recent update coming out of UFC 303.

“This is the problem with the conversation that we’re having here and why people aren’t giving Jon Jones the respect for pound-for-pound,” White said during the UFC 303 post-fight news conference.

“This f*cking guy destroyed the best heavyweight in the division. Easily made it look like nothing. Jon Jones is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world and the greatest fighter f*cking ever, period, end of story.”

White won’t be thrilled, but light heavyweight champion [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) moved up two spots to No. 2 ahead of Jones (No. 3) and welterweight champion Leon Edwards (No. 4) after knocking out Jiri Prochazka in their title-fight rematch this past Saturday.

Jones sitting at No. 3 is sure to anger White.

Iole’s argument was that activity plays a factor. Makhachev has fought this past October and in June, whereas Pereira has fought four times in the past year.

Meanwhile, Jones has only competed once in over four years. He was scheduled to defend his title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 but withdrew due to injury. Their fight is expected to be rebooked by the end of the year.

For whatever reason, White made it very clear that he doesn’t hold the inactivity against Jones.

“He got hurt,” White said. “He was trying to fight. It’s not like he’s just f*cking sitting around and doesn’t want to fight. The guy came to fight. It’s the first injury he’s ever had. And listen to me! I’m not defending Jon Jones. Jon Jones has been one of my biggest f*cking headaches in the entire time that I’ve been in this company. The guy hasn’t been the model fighter in the company. No matter what you think of Jon Jones, he’s the f*cking best ever, and he’s the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.

“If you were coming into a fight and you f*cking got hurt, that means you’re not the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world anymore? How does that even make sense? It doesn’t make sense. If he was sitting out and f*cking getting arrested and running around or whatever and you’re like, ‘Well, Jon Jones is inactive.’ I’d say, ‘Maybe you’re right.’ But as an educated adult who knows the fight business, you cannot deny that, while Jon Jones is active, he is the greatest fighter in the world.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.

Martin Buday not thrilled with UFC 303 win over Andrei Arlovski, but blames the ‘Pitbull’ pace

Martin Buday picked up arguably the biggest win of his career at UFC 303, but it might not be one he wants to look back too fondly on.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Martin Buday[/autotag] picked up arguably the biggest win of his career at UFC 303, but it might not be one he wants to look back too fondly on.

Buday (14-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) took a split decision from former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski (34-24 MMA, 23-18 UFC), who confirmed after the fight his time in the UFC is over. Their fight on the early prelims largely was panned by fans and pundits for lackluster action, and Buday put much of the onus on Arlovski for that.

“I’m not happy with the performance at all,” Buday said after his win at T-Mobile Arena. “I accepted his pace, his game, and that was the main issue of my bad performance. I wanted to deliver a finish, for sure. I wanted to be more active in the standup. I had trouble finding distance, so when he closed it, I accepted the clinch game and I tried to work from that. That was probably a mistake.”

Check out Buday’s full post-fight news conference in the video above.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.

Video: Recapping Diego Lopes’ gutsy win, split decision in Ian Machado Garry vs. Michael Page, more

On the latest episode of “Spinning Back Clique,” the panel breaks down some of the key results outside the main event of UFC 303.

A lot happened at UFC 303.

On top of the championship rematch between Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka, Saturday’s UFC event in Las Vegas saw [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag] defeat [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag] in a fight that was put together in hours of notice, [autotag]Ian Machado Garry[/autotag] edge [autotag]Michael Page[/autotag] in a split decision, and a ton more.

MMA Junkie’s Brian “Goze” Garcia, Farah Hannoun, Mike Bohn and host Gorgeous George discuss some of the key results that went down outside the main event of the card.

Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube.

https://youtube.com/live/9bFDhZ86n44

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Rei Tsuruya enjoyed UFC debut win, but wanted finish of Carlos Hernandez at UFC 303

Rei Tsuruya stayed unbeaten and won his UFC debut Saturday, but maybe not in the way he dreamed it up.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Rei Tsuruya[/autotag] stayed unbeaten and won his UFC debut Saturday, but maybe not in the way he dreamed it up.

Tsuruya (10-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) held on and took a trio of 29-28 scores on the early prelims against Carlos Hernandez (9-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC) at UFC 303 at T-Mobile Arena. Tsuruya said he was hoping to get a finish.

“The grappling is something I expected,” Tsuruya said. “I definitely wanted to finish in the first round. I tried – armlocks, knees – I tried a lot of stuff, but I just couldn’t get that finish.”

Still, Tsuruya said he’s happy to stay unbeaten and get his UFC debut out of the way with a win and experience at that level of competition.

Check out Tsuruya’s full post-fight news conference in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.

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Henry Cejudo unsure Diego Lopes would be ready for Brian Ortega after UFC 303

Henry Cejudo has his doubts on Diego Lopes after UFC 303.

[autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag] has his doubts on [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag] after UFC 303.

Lopes (25-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC) was scheduled to face [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag] in a lightweight bout in this past Saturday’s co-main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but Ortega fell ill on the night of the fight. Dan Ige stepped in on four hours’ notice to face Lopes, who won the fight by unanimous decision.

Lopes won the first two rounds, but Ige (18-8 MMA, 10-7 UFC) was able to rally in Round 3. Lopes called for his fight against Ortega to be rebooked for UFC 306, but after watching his performance against Ige, Cejudo would rather see Lopes slowly climb up the ranks.

“I’m not too sure if Diego Lopes would really be ready for a guy like Brian Ortega,” Cejudo said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Kamaru Usman. “Was I impressed? A little bit, but the more film that they now have and the more you’re able to watch him fight other top contenders, the guys that have been ranked in the top 15, top 10 …

“I think Diego Lopes needs to slow down and continue to keep taking a lot of these other fighters in order for him to really catch a guy in the top 10, or even top  5. We have to remember, too, Brian Ortega is No. 3. I think he’s still growing, in that sense. Continue to keep fighting guys that are at his level to eventually then go after a dude like a Brian Ortega.”

Lopes had a lot to deal with on fight week. He first agreed for his fight with Ortega (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) to shift from featherweight to lightweight, to then accepting a completely different style opponent on just hours’ notice at 165 pounds.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.

Vinicius Oliveira calls out Umar Nurmagomedov after UFC 303: ‘He keeps running’

Just one fight into his UFC career, Vinicius Oliveira shot a reasonably big shot Saturday in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – Just one fight into his UFC career, [autotag]Vinicius Oliveira[/autotag] shot a reasonably big shot Saturday in Las Vegas.

Oliveira (20-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) outworked Ricky Simon (20-5 MMA, 8-4 UFC) for a unanimous decision to open up UFC 303 at T-Mobile Arena, the anchor of International Fight Week. Then he called out unbeaten bantamweight standout [autotag]Umar Nurmagomedov[/autotag], cousin of former UFC champ Khabib.

“I’d like to fight so much against Umar Nurmagomedov,” Oliveira said at his UFC 303 post-fight news conference. “He was changing some bad words on Instagram, on social media. But he’s scared of me right now. He must have watched my last fight here and he knows that it’s not easy to put me on the ground. I’m a nightmare for him.

“I think he will refuse to fight against me, so I would like to fight against Dominick Cruz, maybe, I know that (Nurmagomedov has a fight), but I think he was running away from me.”

While asking for Nurmagomedov may seem like Oliveira is fast-tracking himself, he’s got a plan in place.

“I don’t need many fights to fight for the belt,” he said. “I think in around two years, I’ll be fighting for the belt. And Dana (White) – Mr. D, how I say his name – Mr. D, my boss, he can put me to fight for the belt this year. The end of the year, I’ll be ready to fight for the belt, but he can choose all my fights that I’ll be prepared for anyone.”

Watch Oliveira’s full post-fight interview in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.

Islam Makhachev says Michael Chandler not a reliable opponent: ‘One tweet from your master, and you’ll run away’

UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev won’t invest his energy on Michael Chandler as a potential opponent.

UFC lightweight champion [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] won’t invest his energy on [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] as a potential opponent.

Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) revealed that he was offered a title shot against Makhachev in October after his main event with Conor McGregor this past Saturday at UFC 303 fell through.

However, Chandler made it clear that is priority is to rebook the McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) fight for UFC 306 Sept. 14 at the Sphere. He did poke at Makhachev after though, claiming that his wrestling his better than Makhachev’s sambo.

“Good old fashioned passionate American @MizzouWrestling beats sambo all day. @MAKHACHEVMMA.”

“I’ve been 🎯 your ass for 8 years…good, old-fashioned, passionate @MizzouWrestling beats Dagestani sambo every day of the week @MAKHACHEVMMA.”

Chandler continued to angle for Makhachev.

I don’t get taken down in the open, I don’t get taken down on the cage…I don’t get taken down, period. #andNEW.”

Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) responded with a jab of his own, implying that Chandler plays by McGregor’s rules.

“You are unreliable dude, one tweet from your master, and you’ll run away. Champ needs real opponent.”

Makhachev notched his third title defense by submitting Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 in June. No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan was expected to be next in line, but his nine-month suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission for throwing a punch at a fan during his UFC 300 walkout may delay his return.

Chandler has been waiting for the McGregor fight to materialize. He hasn’t competed since a submission loss to Poirier in November 2022.

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Video: Alex Pereira defends his title at UFC 303. Should heavyweight be next?

Should Alex Pereira move up to heavyweight following his latest title defense? We discuss on “Spinning Back Clique.”

The legend of [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] continues to grow.

The UFC light heavyweight champion defended his title in a devastating fashion this past Saturday after putting the lights out on Jiri Prochazka in the main event of UFC 303 in Las Vegas. It was an incredible finish added to an already incredible career.

Should the UFC grant Pereira’s request to move up to heavyweight? Is he MMA’s biggest star today?

MMA Junkie’s Brian “Goze” Garcia, Farah Hannoun, Mike Bohn and host Gorgeous George discuss Pereira’s big win over the weekend and what it means to his legacy.

Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube.

https://youtube.com/live/9bFDhZ86n44

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Michael Chandler angles for Conor McGregor at Sphere again – and threatens to flip for Islam Makhachev title shot

Maybe Michael Chandler is going on the offensive in his fight with Conor McGregor – and dangling his own title shot.

Maybe [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] is going on the offensive in his fight with [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag].

That fight, heretofore, has been a seemingly never-ending stream of speculation and boy-who-cried-wolf-isms between the two. A date finally was booked for this past Saturday at UFC 303 until McGregor pulled out with a broken baby toe.

Now Chandler has implied a lightweight title shot has been offered to him in October – but that he’d be willing to pass it up if McGregor can make a September date at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

“I’ve been offered @MAKHACHEVMMA in October – but if @TheNotoriousMMA little pinky toe is ready by Sept, let’s do sphere. Biggest sporting event in history of sports!!!! @RiyadhSeason #ufc306,” Chandler posted.

Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) and McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) have been booked in a fight that has been building for 18 months. McGregor was set to return from a three-year layoff after suffering a broken leg in July 2021.

It was the first time he has pulled out of a UFC fight. McGregor has said he’d like to fight in August or September, which lines up with the UFC’s Sphere date Sept. 14.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.

Gillian Robertson lights up at idea of becoming UFC women’s strawweight champ

Other than an adjustment to her post-fight medication method, there was little for Gillian Robertson to be upset about at UFC 303.

LAS VEGAS – Although the swelling and bruising meant her face likely had experienced better days, there was little for [autotag]Gillian Robertson[/autotag] to be upset about Saturday.

After her dominant decision win over Michelle Waterson-Gomez (18-13 MMA, 6-9 UFC) on the UFC 303 preliminary card at T-Mobile Arena, Robertson (14-8 MMA, 11-6 UFC) said the biggest bummer about what from name value could be her biggest win yet was she had to get the inside of her lip stitched.

“Physically, I’m feeling great,” Robertson said at her post-fight news conference. “I actually got four or five stitches in my lip. Literally the first thing I said after the fight, I was like, ‘I can’t smoke weed tonight.’ So that was my biggest worry.”

Even if she has to deal with edibles for a few days, perhaps it’ll be worth it given her UFC career is flowering of late. Robertson has won four of her past five fights, including three by stoppage – and two of those were for $50,000 bonuses.

She’ll also be forever linked in this stretch as the woman who sent Waterson-Gomez into retirement, something she said she had a hunch might be coming.

“I considered it as a possibility just knowing her age, where she’s at in this sport,” Robertson said. “I assumed that I was probably going to be her retirement fight. It’s such a weird sport: We elbow each other in the face a hundred times. Then I want to go give her a hug because I see her crying. I respect her so much in her career and all she’s done for the sport. She’s a vet and she’s really made a name for herself with all women in the sport.”

Robertson seems to be peaking at just the right time in the women’s strawweight division. She said she wants another fight before the year’s out, likely in December, and then she figures she might have some big things in store in 2025.

“I’m ranked 15, Michelle was 14. So 1-13, I’m saying yes to anybody who calls,” Robertson said. “Every single fight, you’re going to see me improve as a fighter. I’m evolving every single day, and I think you guys see it every single fight that I’m just really becoming a well-rounded mixed martial artist – and becoming a champion.”

Watch Robertson’s full post-fight interview in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.

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