Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Take a look at each international city the UFC has been to just once – with Paris about to come off the list.
The UFC is back in Paris this week for just the second time.
That means the city is about to come off our list of places around the world the UFC has only visited once. But even without the “City of Lights,” there’s a solid list of cities still in the international one-timers club.
There are dozens of locations in which the UFC has touched down just one time each. Take a look at the ones outside the U.S. (Cities listed alphabetically.)
The UFC has narrowed its list of top 2022 events down to a shortlist of four, including events in London, Paris and New York.
The UFC has narrowed its list of top 2022 events down to a shortlist of four.
The promotion this past week unveiled the four finalists on its list for Event of the Year. Fans can vote for their favorite of the four through the UFC’s YouTube channel or social media platforms.
Two international cities, including one the UFC visited for the first time, are on the list, as is another of the most famous cities and venues in the world.
Check out the four finalists on the UFC’s list below, as well as looks back at their aftermaths. In addition, you can see a recap of all four highlight-reel finishes in the video above.
“I think he’ll have another big fight and he’ll still be in that title picture.”
UFC featherweight champion [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] doesn’t think [autotag]Tai Tuivasa[/autotag] lost much stock against [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag].
Although Tuivasa’s winning streak snapped Sept. 3 at the hands of Gane at UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris, the Aussie slugger brought out a version of Gane (11-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) the world was yet to see.
Tuivasa (15-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) became the first man to drop Gane and turned their matchup into a dog fight. However, Gane survived and eventually punished Tuivasa’s body before he got the knockout finish. Just based off his gutsy performance, Volkanovski says Tuivasa isn’t out of the title race yet.
“His stocks are still rising at that,” Volkanovski said in an interview with Fox Sports Australia. “I don’t think he goes further down. I think he’s still right up there so I don’t think he’s in too bad of a position. I don’t think he’s lost too much there.
“I think he’ll have another big fight and he’ll still be in that title picture. I think because he’s a big name, he’s a fan favorite, people love to watch him fight and people are gonna want him to fight for that title soon if he gets another win, which I hope happens shortly.”
Prior to the Gane loss, Tuivasa knocked out five straight opponents, including Augusto Sakai and former title challenger Derrick Lewis. Tuivasa’s entertaining back-and-forth battle against Gane earned him a $50,000 performance bonus for Fight of the Night – his fourth straight bonus.
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Former UFC heavyweight champ Junior Dos Santos has been very critical of Ciryl Gane.
[autotag]Junior Dos Santos[/autotag] is not the biggest fan of [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag].
The former UFC heavyweight champion has criticized the former interim champ, specifically calling Gane a “dirty fighter” after his knockout victory over Tai Tuivasa at UFC Fight Night 209.
In the final moments that led to the third-round stoppage, Gane landed what appeared to be an illegal hammerfist to the back of Tuivasa’s head in the heat of a massive flurry of strikes.
“What a dirty fighter this Gane is,” Dos Santos wrote on Twitter in the aftermath.
Dos Santos has felt a certain way about Gane’s striking ever since the pair met in 2020. The former champ felt he was also struck in the back of the head moments before being stopped by Gane.
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Is it fair or foul for Dos Santos to categorize Gane as a “dirty fighter?”
That’s the question we asked our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Dan Tom and Danny Segura, who discussed the topic with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. You can watch their conversation in the video above, or check out this week’s full episode below.
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Dana White said the energy at UFC Paris was good enough to get the promotion back to France – and to probably a new city, to boot.
LAS VEGAS – It took essentially the entirety of the UFC’s existence for it to make its first trip to France – through no fault of the promotion, of course.
But don’t expect that long of a wait for the UFC to head back there, [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] said. Legalized MMA finally happened in France in 2020, and though the UFC wasn’t the one to break the major MMA ceiling – that honor went to Bellator – by most accounts its debut there this past Saturday was a big success.
UFC Fight Night 209 took place at Accor Arena in Paris, where home city fan favorite and former interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane thrilled the crowd with a third-round knockout of Tai Tuivasa in the main event.
White said he expects the UFC to be back there in the near future, in part thanks to the boisterous response from the French fans.
“It was incredible,” White said Tuesday after Dana White’s Contender Series 53 in Las Vegas. “The energy was probably as big and as badass as anything we’ve ever done. There was a lot of pent-up demand (for MMA) and frustration in France, and you felt it on Saturday night. The thing I’m always proud of is when we go into a market like France, and you see how educated the fans are – all these little moves that happen on the ground, and people are reacting to it. That’s what I love.
“It’s a different vibe in Europe. You guys know how good it is (in the United States), and then when you go to Europe, the fans are different than they are here. They sing, they chant – it’s just a different buzz and energy. It’s fun. I tell people all the time, ‘If you’ve never been to a fight in Europe, you’ve got to go.'”
White said a return to Paris, France’s capital city, largest city, and one of the most popular and storied cities in the world, will happen – but it’s not a lock that it’ll be the location of the UFC’s next trip to the country.
Instead, he said, the promotion is likely to go to a different city for a smaller event before heading back to the “City of Lights” for a major card.
Paris is by far the country’s largest city with more than 13 million people. But Lyon has in excess of 2 million people, and Marseille, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, has nearly 2 million.
“We’ve got to figure out what’s next, but you know how we like to do it: We like to move it around,” White said. “So we’ll probably do a different city – maybe a Fight Night or something in a different city (in France), and then head out there with a big pay-per-view in Paris again.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 209.
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At UFC Fight Night 209 this past Saturday, Ciryl Gane took out Tai Tuivasa with a third-round knockout. Did that change the pecking order?
At UFC Fight Night 209 this past Saturday, [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] took out Tai Tuivasa with a third-round knockout.
It was a huge win for the Frenchman in front of his home fans in Paris, and now he can make a claim to be back in the heavyweight title picture. Gane (11-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) lost a title unification fight to heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou in January. But in France, he bounced back in a big way – including by showing some resilience after Tuivasa had him hurt.
So how should we sort out the heavyweight division in the UFC now that he’s back on track? He made the climb over Stipe Miocic to No. 2 behind Ngannou in the MMA Junkie rankings, so what’s next? We’re still waiting for Jon Jones’ debut in the weight class and the returns of Miocic and Ngannou.
Things are a little complicated, given the pecking order. So how should things shake out now?
That’s the question we asked our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Dan Tom and Danny Segura, who discussed the topic with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. You can watch their conversation in the video above, or check out this week’s full episode below.
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Check out our MMA rankings update after Ciryl Gane’s big knockout win over Tai Tuivasa at UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris.
A former interim champion is back on the rise in the UFC.
[autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] (11-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) knocked out the streaking Tai Tuivasa (15-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC), who had won five straight by knockout, in the third round of the UFC Fight Night 209 main event this past Saturday. To make it even sweeter, he did it in front of his home fans in Paris in the UFC’s debut in France.
Gane needed to rebound after heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou beat him in a title unification bout in January, and he did so in a big way – including by showing some resilience after Tuivasa had him hurt.
The champ still is above him at No. 1, but Gane’s win was enough to push him past former titleholder Stipe Miocic and back into the No. 2 spot. It also gave him a bump into the pound-for-pound rankings thanks to his long-term dominance.
Check out all of the moves following UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris and ahead of Saturday’s big UFC 279 show in Las Vegas.
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Italian fighter Alessio Di Chirico says he’s hanging up the gloves after a loss this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris.
Italian fighter [autotag]Alessio Di Chirico[/autotag] says he’s hanging up the gloves after a loss this past Saturday in Paris.
Di Chirico (13-7 MMA, 4-7 UFC) was stopped by Roman Kopylov (9-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) with a on the main card at UFC Fight Night 209 at Accor Arena. The event was the UFC’s debut in France.
The loss was the middleweight’s fifth in his past six fights dating back a little more than three years. Di Chirico posted his retirement announcement on his Twitter account.
“I wrote this message hundreds of times, hot blooded, cold blooded, alone, after talking about it with the people I love and every version got me crying.
“This is a message to all my fans: … Sadly, it was not enough. Sadly I gave you another defeat.
“I can’t think about how hard the people who really love me suffered for me and with me throughout my career, I’m sorry for every one who just cared about me even if we don’t know each other, I’m so grateful.
“I think it’s time to move to another chapter in my life.
“I know that’s not coming back from there, I know I will miss it so badly. I know it’s the right time to stop. …”
— Alessio 'Manzo' Di Chirico (@ManzoDiChirico) September 6, 2022
The 32-year-old Di Chirico started his pro career 9-0 and came to the UFC in 2016. His promotional debut was a decision loss to Bojan Velickovic in Croatia. He rebounded with a split call win over Garreth McLellan later that year, but was stopped for the first time in his career when Eric Spicely submitted him in January 2017.
Things appeared to be going in the right direction after that, though. Following a layoff of nearly a year, Di Chirico knocked out Oluwale Bamgbose in Canada and picked up his first UFC post-fight bonus check. He followed that win up with a split decision over Julian Marquez in July 2018.
But after a layoff of nearly another year, his struggles began. Di Chirico dropped three straight decisions to Kevin Holland, Makhmud Muradov and Zak Cummings.
With his UFC career potentially in jeopardy, he pulled off a stunner when he knocked out Joaquin Buckley with a bonus-winning head kick in January 2021 in Abu Dhabi – just a few months after Buckley had himself gone viral with a spinning back kick win.
That, however, will stand as Di Chirico’s final win for now. In August 2021, he was knocked out in just 17 seconds by Abdul Razak Alhassan, and after a yearlong layoff he had his knockout loss to Kopylov in Paris.
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Many have criticized UFC champion Israel Adesanya for his recent performances – but Robert Whittaker won’t.
PARIS – Many have criticized UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] for his recent performances – but [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] won’t.
Adesanya (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) has gone the distance in his past three title defenses, including a close decision win over Whittaker at UFC 271 in February. Whittaker (24-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC), who’s come up short to Adesanya twice, was asked about Adesanya being dubbed a “boring” fighter and but said he can’t fault him as long as he’s getting his hand raised.
“I’m pretty sure he’s just paid to win,” Whittaker told MMA Junkie and other reporters post-fight at UFC Fight Night 209. “You know, and that’s the most important thing whether it’s boring or not. You can have the most exciting fight of the night. If you lose, no one is talking about you tomorrow.
“As cold as it sounds, winning is all that matters. If I could just take someone down and hold them down until someone took them home, I would. Love my fans, but I would happily hug someone on the ground for 25 minutes if that gets me the W. That’s the sport we’re in.”
Whittaker has defeated every opponent at middleweight except for Adesanya. He shut down former title challenger Marvin Vettori this past Saturday, which leaves him in a bit of a quandary.
But “The Reaper” isn’t worried and is willing to knock off every contender until he gets another crack at the belt.
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Daniel Cormier doesn’t see Robert Whittaker reclaiming the UFC middleweight title as long as Israel Adesanya is champion.
[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] doesn’t see [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] reclaiming the UFC middleweight title as long as [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] is champion.
Outside of two losses to Adesanya, Whittaker (24-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) hasn’t lost at middleweight. His resume includes wins over Yoel Romero twice, Kelvin Gastelum, Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, and most recently former title challenger Marvin Vettori this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 209.
So where does that leave Whittaker? Cormier said the best-case scenario is if Alex Pereira dethrones Adesanya (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) when they square off in the UFC 281 main event on Nov. 12.
“I think Robert Whittaker is so clearly ahead of everyone else,” Cormier said on his “DC & RC” ESPN show. “When you put him in there, he’s just gonna keep winning, and that is where the problem lies in the middleweight division, because you have a clear No.1, and you have a clear No. 2. You have a clear No. 1-A essentially, because outside of Robert Whittaker losing to Izzy, nobody else can beat him.”
He continued, “He’s better than everyone but the champion, which is not something to be ashamed of when you’ve held the championship before. So for him, it’s not as much about going out there and beating everyone else. It’s beating everyone else but also hoping for a little bit of luck. He needs Alex Pereira to win the fight in November.”
While Max Holloway recently got a third crack at Alexander Volkanovski after losing to him twice, Cormier just doesn’t see Whittaker getting a trilogy with Adesanya or beating him.
“It’s not about getting back to Izzy,” Cormier said. “He needs change at the top, because he doesn’t seem to have the style to really deal with Adesanya’s length. His issue with Adesanya is Adesanya is too tall. The style makes it difficult for him, but he’ll beat everyone else.”
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Not only does Cormier think Whittaker should hope for Pereira to become champion, but he needs the Brazilian to beat Adesanya convincingly so the division can move on.
“He needs something different to happen at middleweight,” Cormier said. “Something very definitive. So if Pereira goes out there, and he starches Izzy, then maybe you start going, ‘Maybe Izzy cannot fight him right back,’ because if you remember, Jose Aldo got knocked out so clearly (by Conor McGregor) that they moved on. Leon Edwards can’t move on, because he was getting beaten and then he got the finish at the end (vs. Kamaru Usman).
“But if Pereira can do something very definitive, that is what Robert Whittaker needs if he hopes to find himself fighting for a championship again. Something definitive in a win from Alex Pereira. If it ain’t definitive, Izzy will get an immediate rematch even if he loses.”
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