Tag: UFC Fight Night 214

Tagir Ulanbekov to use Umar Nurmagomedov’s ‘blueprint’ to beat Nate Maness at UFC Fight Night 214

Flyweight Tagir Ulanbekov’s teammate defeated Nate Maness in his last outing, and plans to use a similar approach at UFC Fight Night 214.

LAS VEGAS – UFC flyweight [autotag]Tagir Ulanbekov[/autotag] may be entering his upcoming bout with a number of advantages over his opponent.

Ulanbekov (14-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) welcomes Nate Maness to the flyweight division on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 214 inside the UFC Apex. It’s an opponent he’s very familiar with because his teammate, Umar Nurmagomedov, was the last man to face him. Nurmagomedov defeated Maness (14-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) by unanimous decision in June, and Ulanbekov plans to follow the same path his teammate traveled.

“Nate is a very tough opponent, he’s very strong, but we already have a blueprint on how to beat him,” Ulanbekov told reporters through an interpreter at Wednesday’s media day. “My teammate Umar, we have a tape on him how to do it exactly. We have a gameplan. I’m just going to do what my teammate did and get my hand raised.”

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Just getting to the fight is a bit of a question for Ulanbekov’s opponent as he will be making the cut to flyweight for the first time. Maness fought four times in the bantamweight division before deciding to drop down a weight class.

“If this is the first time he’s making flyweight, and I’m not sure if he is, this is a different division,” Ulanbekov said. “First of all, his first fight is going to be weight cut. If he gets through that fight and recovers well, good for him. The second fight is going to be me standing across the octagon looking him right in the face, in his eyes.”

Both fighters will be looking to rebound from a loss in their last outing. Ulanbekov won his first two fights under the UFC banner with decision wins over Bruno Silva and Allan Nascimento, before ending up on the wrong end of the scorecards against Tim Elliott. The loss snapped a five-fight win streak, but he hopes to start another run with a win over Maness.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 214.

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Chase Sherman dissects Josh Parisian, plans to make him ‘crumble’ at UFC Fight Night 214

In a heavyweight clash at UFC Fight Night 214, Chase Sherman explains why he will overwhelm Josh Parisian.

LAS VEGAS – While UFC heavyweight Chase Sherman has a lot of respect for his upcoming opponent, he believes there will be a point of no return.

Sherman (16-10 MMA, 4-9 UFC) will look to make it two wins in a row as he takes on Josh Parisian at UFC Fight Night 214. The event takes place at the UFC Apex and streams on ESPN+.

After diligent film study, Sherman believes he has Parisian (15-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC) figured out. While acknowledging his opponent has what it takes internally, “The Vanilla Gorilla” believes Parisian lacks the skill to hang with him in the octagon.

“When I go and look at film on fighters, usually I try to take two key kind of elements and break it down,” Sherman told reporters including MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s media day. “What can we take away from this person? Is it going to be their body is going to break first or is it going to be their will? And I think when we look at Josh Parisian and his fights, the cat, I don’t think he particularly got to the UFC on a certain skillset. I think he got to the UFC because he’s got a lot of heart and is very durable.

“So, when looking at that, looking at the fight footage, I know that his will is going to surpass what his body is capable of enduring. So, gonna go out there and systematically take my time and pick this guy apart, and inflict as much damage as possible to where he has no choice but to crumble, you know what I mean? It doesn’t matter what your will is if your body can only take so much.”

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Sherman will cap off a very busy calendar year of four UFC fights on Saturday. Although his first two outings against Jake Collier and Alexandr Romanov didn’t go his way, he got back on track with a third-round stoppage of Jared Vanderaa in July.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 214.

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UFC Fight Night 214’s Nate Maness out to ‘get some respect back’ from Team Khabib in flyweight debut

Nate Maness makes his debut in the flyweight division against Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protege Tagir Ulanbekov at UFC Fight Night 214.

LAS VEGAS – After four fights in the UFC’s bantamweight division, [autotag]Nate Maness[/autotag] discovered it was time to make a change.

At UFC Fight Night 214, Maness (14-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) will drop down to the flyweight division for the first time in his career, where he will face Tagir Ulanbekov. The event takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex and streams on ESPN+.

Despite winning his first three fights under the UFC banner at bantamweight, Maness believes the switch to a lighter division makes sense because he was arriving at each fight week weighing less and less.

In his last outing, Maness’ four-fight win streak was snapped in a unanimous decision loss to Umar Nurmagomedov. On Saturday, he will get a chance to rebound against another [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] product in Ulanbekov (14-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC), who will also be looking to get back into the win column.

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But facing back-to-back fighters under the tutelage of the UFC Hall of Famer isn’t about revenge for Maness.

“All those guys are super nice to me, I wouldn’t say revenge,” Maness told reporters including MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s media day. “But I definitely want to have a better and stronger performance and get some respect back.”

You can watch Maness’ full media day interview in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 214.

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Nearing a decade in UFC, Neil Magny relearned how to get priorities in order before Daniel Rodriguez matchup

Ahead of UFC Fight Night 214, Neil Magny reflects back on when he feared his tenure was over – until Donald Cerrone gave him advice.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Neil Magny[/autotag] reflects on his UFC journey with an incredulous smile. It’s been almost a decade since his debut – and a little over 10 years since he was on “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Time flies when you’re fighting and winning, as Magny (26-9 MMA, 19-8 UFC) realized as he sat at a UFC Fight Night 214 pre-fight news conference. It seems like just yesterday he as in between his third and fourth UFC bouts, fearful his tenure was over.

“It’s crazy to look back on it and see how long it’s been that I’ve been here now, especially with the way my UFC career started,” Magny said ahead of his 28th UFC bout. “I didn’t win ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ My UFC career started going 1-2 that first year. I was literally at the point like, ‘All right. Maybe this is as far as I’ll (go) at this point.’ I remember literally walking into training one day and I’m like, ‘Man, I might be getting cut. I lost two fights in a row. I haven’t heard from the UFC in a while. This might be it.'”

That’s when friend and former training partner [autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag] came through with some great advice.

“Donald Cerrone at the time was like, ‘Why don’t you email the UFC right now and get to training? There’s nothing you can do about it anyway. Let them know. Ask for a fight. If they give it to you, great. If they cut you, great. But there’s no point sitting around bitching about it now. It’s not going to change anything,'” Magny said. “I was like, ‘You know what? You’re right. Let’s see what happens.’ I sent the email, set my phone down, went ahead and trained and after training, I had a fight in my email for a couple weeks later.’

“… That fight started a seven-fight winning streak for me in the UFC. It catapulted my career to where it is now. I’m definitely grateful that I stuck with it and didn’t make that decision to hang it up and move on, sort of speak. I’m fortunate to be here 10 years later.”

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Saturday at UFC Fight Night 214, Magny looks to bounce back from a June loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov when he fights Daniel Rodriguez (17-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC). Even this far deep into his UFC career, Magny said he’s still learning ways to crucially improve. That was particularly the case during this camp.

“Surprisingly, there’s still a lot to learn in this game,” Magny said. “The last fight was definitely one of those lessons. For me, the biggest thing is getting complacent. … I’m in a position where I have business outside of fighting. I have real estate outside of fighting. I have two kids to worry about. I have a marriage to worry about. All these different things that aren’t necessarily negatives, but at the end of the day, they end up being distractions, especially in the training camp. (I’ve been) just learning how to prioritize and be present at the same time. It’s a difficulty. My last fight definitely put me in a position to kind of start figuring that thing out more.”

“… Fighting the best guys in the world, I can’t go out with the idea like, ‘OK cool. I had an OK training camp. I had an OK fight week.’ I need to make sure the training is impeccable. There are no flaws. There are no holes in it. I make sure I check every box that I need to and I go in there and get the job done.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 214.

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‘Kick the crutches, punch him in the face’: Mark Madsen hunted for Drakkar Klose at Mayo Clinic after UFC bout cancellation

The bad blood is real, so real Mark Madsen went to find Drakkar Klose at the hospital.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Mark Madsen[/autotag] tried to take [autotag]Drakkar Klose[/autotag] up on his offer, but wasn’t able to find him.

Rivals due to past training ties, Madsen (12-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) and Klose (13-2-1 MMA, 7-2 UFC) were expected to fight this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 213. However, an ACL injury to Klose nixed the grudge match, at least for now.

“I’m still excited to fight Drakkar Klose,” Madsen told MMA Junkie and other reporters Wednesday at UFC Fight Night 214 pre-fight news conference. “I can’t wait to get in there and punch my right hand through his face. He called me out early.”

The withdrawal didn’t soften the hard feelings. If anything, it sparked even more disdain between the two lightweight fighters. After Klose told Madsen to meet him outside the cage to settle the score, Madsen took him up on the offer and showed up at Mayo Clinic, where Klose was supposedly treated.

“I actually went there,” Madsen said. “He was supposed to have surgery. I asked at the front desk. Nobody heard about Drakkar. Nobody has seen him. He did not manifest on any list. I don’t know what’s going on with Drakkar. I know he pulled out, but let me send the message out right here. I’m ready to fight Drakkar Klose any time. If it’s a case of him not being injured as severely as some people say, I’m ready to go tomorrow.”

“… I was going to fight Drakkar Klose anywhere he wanted to – even at a hospital. … Let me go with my game plan. Kick the crutches. Punch him in the face. I don’t know if Mayo Clinic is paying for that, but anywhere he wanted.”

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Unable to successfully meet up with Klose, Madsen now has Grant Dawson in front of him. Dawson (18-1-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC) sports an undefeated record inside the promotion.

“Great matchup,” Madsen said. “Undefeated vs. undefeated in the UFC. There’s always a nice ring to that. Grant has been dominating with his wrestling, with his grappling. He has some amazing skills in the areas where I also have amazing skills, so I’m excited. It’s a great matchup. This is really a fight that will put me toward the top 15, the big fights. Going in there, putting a clinic on Grant Dawson, getting a dominant win and really putting him away is going to put me on the map.”

Once Dawson is out of the way, Madsen indicated his attention will fall back on – you guessed it.

“I could beat Drakkar Klose on a Friday and then fight Saturday,” Madsen said. “I’ll probably get around that. I don’t know how long Drakkar is going to be out. As I told you guys, I’ll fight him anywhere he wants it.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 214.

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Marina Rodriguez expects UFC 281 title fight winner ‘no matter how’ she beats Amanda Lemos

Marina Rodriguez predicts a title shot between the Carla Esparza vs. Zhang Weili winner “no matter how” she wins at UFC Fight Night 214.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag] admits the matchmaking for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 214 main event with Amanda Lemos “doesn’t make a lot of sense” based on the rankings, but she’s confident in what a win will do for her career.

With just one loss in her past eight fights, Rodriguez (17-1-2 MMA, 6-1-2 UFC) was hoping for a strawweight title shot, or at least a booking with a former champion like Rose Namajunas. She got neither, though, and meets surging fellow Brazilian contender Lemos (12-2-1 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in the headlining act at the UFC Apex, which streams on ESPN+.

The bout takes place just one week prior to the next 115-pound title fight between Carla Esparza and Zhang Weili at UFC 281 in New York, and everything seems perfectly in line for the winners to clash. Rodriguez agrees, so while the opponent wasn’t what she wanted, the stakes don’t get much higher.

“I’m very confident that I defeat Amanda, no matter how, I’m going to be the next challenger,” Rodriguez told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 214 media day. “If everything goes perfectly I’m going to be there to see this fight.”

Rodriguez said if there’s anyone who doubts her, she’ll convince them otherwise in the cage with Lemos. She sees it being an all-action fight, and would be surprised if both women don’t leave with an additional $50,000 bonus.

“I know she’s really tough,” Rodriguez said. “She’s got good victories – she’s got really good victories in the UFC. But we are both aggressive strikers, so I’m 100 percent confident that our fight has everything to be Fight of the Night.”

If Rodriguez’s plans go as she hopes, there will be a cageside seat reserved with her name at UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden in New York. She thinks the challenge Weili (22-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) has a good chance of reclaiming the belt, but won’t count out Esparza (19-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) – who is the only fighter to beat Rodriguez in MMA – from winning.

“It looks like Weili,” Rodriguez said. “She’s well-rounded as a fighter, but it’s MMA. There’s a surprise effect in every fight, like when Carla defeated Rose. But for me, to be honest, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is I’m going to be there. I’m going to be ready.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 214.

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Daniel Rodriguez: Rebooking failed UFC 279 fight with Kevin Holland essential to close ‘chapter in my career’

Daniel Rodriguez needs to get closure on his failed matchup with Kevin Holland at UFC 279.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Daniel Rodriguez[/autotag] needs to get closure on his failed matchup with Kevin Holland at UFC 279.

Prior to the infamous weigh-in day shakeup on the pay-per-view card in September, Rodriguez (17-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and Holland (23-8 MMA, 9-5 UFC) were booked to fight each other. When Khamzat Chimaev missed weight, though, the top three bouts were shuffled, and Holland ended up fighting Chimaev while Rodriguez took on and defeated Li Jingliang.

Fast forward to today, and Rodriguez meets Neil Magny (26-9 MMA, 19-8 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 214 co-headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, which streams on ESPN+, and Holland headlines UFC’s Dec. 3 card vs. Stephen Thompson in Orlando.

Their paths splinted in the aftermath of UFC 279, but Rodriguez said they need to merge again if he’s ever going to feel closure.

“I really want to fight Kevin Holland,” Rodriguez told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 214 media day. “I’m looking forward to fighting him in the future. I’m down to fight him next. The winner of him vs. ‘Wonderboy’ or whatever. I’m waiting for him.

“He’s a dude that I have to fight. He’s a chapter in my career that I just have to know what the f*ck is gonna happen, or what would’ve happened.”

After beating Jingliang at UFC 279, Rodriguez attempted to keep the momentum going when he accepted a fight vs. Magny on Oct. 15. He was forced to withdraw due to a staph infection in his elbow, though, and the fight was postponed. He said it was “really bad,” but said everything cleared up in time for the fight to be pushed back just a few weeks later.

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He’ll now get the chance to test himself against one of the most-travelled names in the division in Magny, who holds a multitude of records to his name. Rodriguez knows what Magny brings to the table, and is ready to show he’s capable of getting through it.

“He’s a well-rounded fighter,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a true vet. He’s got the most wins in the division. He’s got all the experience. He’s not really a finisher, in that he’s known to grind out and have grueling fights. He pushed the pace and in preparation, I just worked on what I’ve worked on my whole career, of me being a striker, a really good striker, and takedown defense.

“It’s another fight. It’s another top guy that’s right in the ranks where I’m at. It’s a good matchup. I feel like taking out a guy like Neil Magny will put me in a really, really good spot as far as fighting the next tier of opponents and possibly main events.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 214.

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Video: UFC Fight Night 214 media day interviews

Before UFC Fight Night 214 happens Saturday, the main card fighters are scheduled to speak to reporters Wednesday.

LAS VEGAS – The UFC hosts another event from its home base Saturday with UFC Fight Night 214, which takes place at the UFC Apex and streams on ESPN+.

A key strawweight matchup serves as the main event, with [autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag] (17-1-2 MMA, 6-1-2 UFC) set to take on fellow Brazilian contender [autotag]Amanda Lemos[/autotag] (12-2-1 MMA, 6-2 UFC).

Before fight night arrives, though, notable athletes from the main card are spoke to reporters Wednesday at media day.

If you happen to miss any of the individual sessions, check below for the archived videos of each fighter’s session.

UFC free fight: Marina Rodriguez sparks Amanda Ribas to hand her first octagon loss

Ahead of her main event showdown with Amanda Lemos, relive Marina Rodriguez’s finish of Amanda Ribas at UFC 257.

[autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag] showed she has serious power in her hands against Amanda Ribas.

Rodriguez faced Ribas at UFC 257 in January 2021, which kickstarted her run to top contention.

Ribas pressured Rodriguez early, keeping her on her back foot. Less than two minutes into the round, Ribas landed a takedown and was able to ride top control for the rest of the round.

But in the opening minute of Round 2, Rodriguez dropped Ribas with a counter right and some big follow-up shots, leading referee Herb Dean to take a close look. Rodriguez thought the fight was over, but Dean called her back. Shortly after, Rodriguez stunned Ribas with an elbow and a big right, and Dean finally stopped the fight with Ribas out on her feet.

Since then, Rodriguez (16-1-2 MMA, 6-1-2 UFC) has won three straight over Michelle Waterson, Mackenzie Dern and Yan Xiaonan. She returns to action Saturday when she takes on fellow Brazilian Amanda Lemos (12-2-1 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in the main event of UFC Fight Night 214, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Before she faces Lemos, relive Rodriguez’s finish of Ribas in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 214.

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UFC Fight Night 214 pre-event facts: Neil Magny goes for welterweight wins record

Neil Magny will look to break out of a tie with Georges St-Pierre for most welterweight wins at UFC Fight Night 214.

The UFC begins its November event schedule on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 214, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

A matchup between strawweight title hopefuls serves as the headliner of the card. [autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag] (17-1-2 MMA, 6-1-2 UFC) is set to face fellow Brazilian, [autotag]Amanda Lemos[/autotag] (12-2-1 MMA, 6-2 UFC), in a bout that could put the winner in the conversation to fight next week’s UFC 281 championship bout between Carla Esparza and Zhang Weili.

For more on the numbers behind the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about UFC Fight Night 214.