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With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from June 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from June 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month award for June.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submission from June 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from June 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for June.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from June 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from June 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for June.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
Pat Sabatini was more impressive than ever in rebounding from his first UFC loss, and now he’s looking for “a number next to my name.”
Pat Sabatini got past the first major adversity of his UFC career, and now he’s looking ahead to a brighter future.
After suffering his first octagon loss in a 69-second TKO upset to Damon Jackson in July 2022, Sabatini came back stronger than ever this month when he finished Lucas Almeida with a fierce second-round submission at UFC on ESPN 46 in Las Vegas.
With five UFC fights under his belt and an 80 percent winning rate, Sabatini is keen to stack more victories on his record and climb the ranks, To do that, he knows staying active is essential.
“I’m definitely open to that idea of taking a fight on the quicker side,” Sabatini told MMA Junkie Radio. “I do have a few bumps and bruises, but other than that, no serious damage. Definitely healthy. I want a number next to my name at some point in the not-so-distance future. The only way to get there is to keep the ball rolling, keep winning and keep making statements.”
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Sabatini, 32, is reluctant to call out any specific names in the UFC featherweight division. He hasn’t done so to this point in his career, and said he’s enjoyed the different range of tests the matchmakers have thrown his way.
His approach might change in the future, but for now, Sabatini is satisfied with being hands-off.
“I’m going to have to go through and see which ranked opponents make sense,” Sabatini said. “But I might just keep rolling with the flow of seeing who the UF throws at me. At the end of the day I want to just keep winning. I think there’s still a lot of room for growth at my end, and I think when the time is right, I’ll be really breaking through those rankings.”
Tim Welch sees a five-round fight heavily benefitting Jared Cannonier over Khamzat Chimaev.
Tim Welch sees a five-round fight heavily benefitting [autotag]Jared Cannonier[/autotag] over [autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag].
Cannonier (17-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) set the single-fight record for most significant strikes landed in a UFC middleweight bout when he defeated Marvin Vettori this past Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Welch, who is the head coach of Sean O’Malley, was very impressed with Cannonier’s performance.
“Dude, him breaking the record, that much output from a big guy like that is f*cking next level,” Welch said of Cannonier’s performance against Vettori on his Timbo Sugar Show podcast.
After his win, “The Killa Gorilla” was asked if he’d entertain a fight with Chimaev, who teased his next fight at 185 pounds.
“I’m trying to get to the title,” Cannonier said. “I’m not fighting to just try and entertain you people. I know you guys want to see it. It will be a good fight. If that fight gets me the title shot, then yes. But I’m not looking back. I just beat No. 3. I’m looking at the champion.”
If the matchup were to materialize, Welch sees Cannonier winning – especially if it’s a 25-minute fight.
“That much output, five rounds?” Welch added. “I mean, who does he go against next? Someone was asking him about Khamzat at the post-fight conference, and he was like, ‘Does that get me the title shot?’ He wants whatever’s going to give him the title shot. But that would be sick. I think, five rounds, Jared f*cks him up. But Khamzat is not even in the rankings.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 46.
Sean Strickland gave Marvin Vettori some tough love after his UFC on ESPN 46 loss.
[autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] gave [autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag] some tough love after his UFC on ESPN 46 loss.
Vettori (19-7-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC) absorbed a middleweight record amount of strikes in a Fight of the Night decision loss to Jared Cannonier (17-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) this past Saturday at the UFC Apex. He was able to wobble Cannonier early, but went on to absorb tons of punishment in the fight.
Strickland, who’s trained with Vettori at Xtreme Couture, lauded him for his toughness, but thinks he needs better guidance.
“The problem with Marvin, you guys: Marvin’s dumb,” Strickland told The Schmo. “Marvin’s stupid. If I went to Marvin and he put me in a position of power and I said, ‘Marvin, I want you to stand on one leg, just for five days and I think you’re still gonna win the fight,’ he would stand there on one leg for five days and not move. I just think Marvin needs to find a better short bus driver.
“You know what I’m saying? Right now, he’s on that short bus, and the people driving the short bus, they’re taking him in bad directions. I think if Marvin could find a better special needs helper, it will put him in the right direction. Marvin is a tough guy, great cardio, a lot of heart, stupid as f*cking dirt, but he has all the potential in the world. He just needs better voices.”
Strickland (26-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) will look to emerge as a title contender when he meets Abus Magomedov (25-4-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) on July 1 at a UFC Fight Night main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 46.
Check out the numbers behind UFC on ABC 5, where Neil Magny can become the ninth fighter in history to join UFC’s 21-win club.
The UFC will travel to Jacksonville, Fla., for the fourth consecutive year Saturday with UFC on ABC 5, which takes place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena with a main card that airs on ABC following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
A matchup of ranked featherweight contenders serves as the main event of the card. [autotag]Josh Emmett[/autotag] (18-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) will attempt to rebound from his failed bid at the interim title in February when he takes on undefeated rising star [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] (13-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC).
For more on the numbers behind the lineup, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about UFC on ABC 5.
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Dan Argueta thinks he was robbed of finishing Ronnie Lawrence at UFC on ESPN 46 by referee Keith Peterson.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag] thinks he was en route to finishing Ronnie Lawrence at UFC on ESPN 46 before the referee intervened.
In the first round of their featherweight bout this past Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Argueta (9-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) caught Lawrence (8-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) in a mounted guillotine choke. Referee Keith Peterson thought he witnessed Lawrence tapping, prompting him to waive the fight off.
Peterson stopped the fight after grabbing Lawrence’s arm to check for consciousness, but Lawrence never made a tapping motion. The Nevada Athletic Commission reviewed the footage, and the bout was ruled a no contest. An upset Argueta reflected on the fight-ending sequence, which he thinks cost him a win.
“I was about to get that finish,” Argueta told reporters, including MMA Junkie, post-fight at UFC on ESPN 46. “I threw that shallow guillotine on him. Obviously it’s one of my tricks, and I held it, and I held it, and when I felt the ref pulling him off, I was like, ‘Oh damn, he’s already asleep. I didn’t even start the crank yet.’ There’s two chances to tap. It’s suffocating him, and then all I have to do is kind of crank it a little bit, and usually I’m getting just about everyone to tap.
“So, that was really unfortunate. That was quite a few months of work. That was about 14 months since I was at bantamweight. That’s the weight class that all you guys wanted me to come into the UFC at. And that’s what I can do in, I don’t even know, two minutes? Two and a half minutes?”
Argueta gave Peterson the benefit of the doubt but hopes the UFC schedules a rematch between him and Lawrence.
“I want to run it back,” Argueta continued. “I think it’s the same outcome minus – OK, Keith has a hard job. I’m not even going to sh*t on him. I get it, his arm was up, I watched it, it looked like he could have been sleeping when his arm’s up because I did have his shoulders kind of pinned up like that.
‘I can’t really apologize. I wish I could apologize to all the fans who wanted to either see me get my hand raised, see me walk off with an L, or just wanted to just wanted watch me fight in general. I apologize to all those fans, that’s a tough one to swallow, and I’m just grateful for the UFC that I even have the opportunity to go try something like that.”
Argueta, who is now 1-1-1 in his three octagon appearances, is disappointed with the premature stoppage.
“That’s the most focused I’ve ever felt in my life,” Argueta said. “I felt amazing. It’s just tough when things don’t go your way, and I had so many plans for myself this year, and that was the first hurdle, and someone took it from me. That hurts.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 46.
Nicolas Dalby wants on the UFC’s 30th anniversary card in November after his UFC on ESPN 46 win.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Nicolas Dalby[/autotag] spoke to the media after his UFC on ESPN 46 win.
Dalby (21-4-1 MMA, 5-3-1 UFC) answered questions from MMA Junkie and other media members after notching his third-straight win over Muslim Salikhov this past Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Dalby talked about how the fight played out, wanting to compete on the UFC’s 30th anniversary card in November, and breaking Martin Kampann’s record for the Danish fighter with most UFC wins.
Watch the video of Dalby’s complete post-fight media availability above.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 46.
After scoring a bonus-winning knockout of Nikolas Motta at UFC on ESPN 46, Manuel Torres dreams of an Islam Makhachev matchup.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Manuel Torres[/autotag] spoke to the media after his UFC on ESPN 46 win.
Torres (14-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) answered questions from MMA Junkie and other media members after scoring a bonus-winning elbow knockout of Nikolas Motta this past Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Torres broke down the elbow finish, his desire to fight on the UFC’s Sept. 16 card and his dream matchups at lightweight.
Watch the video of Torres’ complete post-fight media availability above.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 46.
