Zhalgas Zhumagulov

UFC 257 medical suspensions: Conor McGregor faces potential lengthy layoff due to injury

Following his first career knockout loss, Conor McGregor was handed a potential lengthy suspension.

[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] is facing hefty time off following his UFC 257 loss to [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] on Saturday.

Former UFC double champion McGregor (22-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) suffered a technical knockout loss – the first of his career – in a rematch against Poirier (27-6 MMA, 20-6 UFC). Prior to the finish, Poirier damaged McGregor’s legs with an onslaught of leg kicks.

McGregor, 32, was handed a 180-day medical suspension as a result of a potential right tibia/fibula injury sustained in the fight. Like all medical suspensions, he will be eligible to return sooner, if his injuries are cleared by a doctor.

Poirier, meanwhile, received a seven-day suspension for mandatory rest.

MMA Junkie obtained the full list of medical suspensions from MixedMartialArts.com for UFC 256, which took place this past Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

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After the fight, McGregor was on crutches. He hobbled his way backstage and to the post-fight news conference, where he expressed the pain he felt.

“My leg is completely dead,” McGregor said. “Even though I felt like I was checking them, it was just sinking into the muscle in the front of the leg, and it was badly compromised. It was like an American football in my suit at the moment, so it is what it is.”

UFC 257 competitors [autotag]Andrew Sanchez[/autotag] and [autotag]Matt Frevola[/autotag] were also each handed 180-day suspensions. Sanchez, who lost via TKO to Makhmud Muradov on the main card, suffered potential nasal and tibia/fibula injuries. In the featured preliminary card bout, Frevola suffered a potential right hand injury in a unanimous decision defeat to Arman Tsarukyan.

The full UFC 257 medical suspensions include:

Dustin Poirier: Suspended seven days (mandatory rest).
Conor McGregor: Suspended 180 days or until right tibia/fibula x-ray is cleared by a doctor; also suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days.
[autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag]: Suspended seven days (mandatory rest).
[autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag]: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to TKO loss.
[autotag]Joanne Calderwood[/autotag]: Suspended seven days (mandatory rest).
[autotag]Jessica Eye[/autotag]: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to left brow laceration
[autotag]Makhmud Muradov[/autotag]: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days due to “hard bout.”
Andrew Sanchez: Suspended 180 days or until nasal and right tibia/fibula x-rays are cleared by a doctor; also suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days.
[autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag]: Suspended seven days (mandatory rest).
[autotag]Amanda Ribas[/autotag]: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to TKO loss.
[autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag]: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days due to left brow and scalp laceration.
Matt Frevola: Suspended 180 days or until right hand x-ray is cleared by a doctor; also suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days.
[autotag]Brad Tavares[/autotag]: Suspended seven days (mandatory rest).
[autotag]Antonio Carlos Junior[/autotag]: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days due to “hard bout.”
[autotag]Julianna Pena[/autotag]: Suspended seven days (mandatory rest).
[autotag]Sara McMann[/autotag]: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days due to “hard bout.”
[autotag]Marcin Prachnio[/autotag]: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days due to “hard bout.”
[autotag]Khalil Rountree[/autotag]: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days due to left ankle pain.
[autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag]: Suspended seven days (mandatory rest).
[autotag]Nik Lentz[/autotag]: Suspended 45 days with 21 days no contact for right brow laceration.
[autotag]Amir Albazi[/autotag]: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days due to “hard bout.”
[autotag]Zhalgas Zhumagulov[/autotag]: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days due to “hard bout.”

UFC 257 took place Saturday at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The main card streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.

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Amir Albazi vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov pulled from UFC on ESPN 18 lineup

Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 18 lineup has lost one of the bouts scheduled for its main card.

Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 18 lineup has lost one of the bouts scheduled for its main card, as [autotag]Amir Albazi[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Zhalgas Zhumagulov[/autotag] has been removed from the lineup.

A passport issue has prevented Zhumagulov (13-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) from facing Albazi (13-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in a flyweight bout at the upcoming event, which takes place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The bout is expected to be postponed to a later date.

MMA Junkie verified the fight scratch with a person close to the situation who wished to remaining anonymous. Russian news outlet TASS first shared the news, reporting that Zhumagulov’s U.S. visa was approved, but he did not receive his passport in time to compete at UFC on ESPN 18.

That means Albazi will have to wait a bit longer to make his second octagon appearance after his debut at UFC Fight Night 172 in July, where he won by first-round submission.

The latest UFC on ESPN 18 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN2/ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET)

Curtis Blaydes vs. Derrick Lewis
Devin Clark vs. Anthony Smith
Josh Parisian vs. Parker Porter
Miguel Baeza vs. Takashi Sato
Bill Algeo vs. Spike Carlyle

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

Gina Mazany vs. Rachael Ostovich
Norma Dumont vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith
Martin Day vs. Anderson dos Santos
Malcolm Gordon vs. Su Mudaerji
Nate Maness vs. Luke Sanders
Kai Kamaka III vs. Jonathan Pearce

UFC on ESPN 18: Make your predictions for Curtis Blaydes vs. Derrick Lewis

We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 18 event in Las Vegas.

Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).

Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the UFC on ESPN 18 event staff predictions we release Thursday ahead of the event. UFC on ESPN 18 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The event airs on ESPN2 and streams on ESPN+.

Make your picks for the six main card fights below.

UFC 251 rookie report: Grading the newcomers at ‘UFC Fight Island’

Fighters from around the globe dream of the day they’ll step into the octagon the first time. How did the four newcomers perform Saturday?

Fighters from around the globe dream of the day they’ll step into the UFC octagon for the first time. For four athletes, Saturday’s UFC 251 event marked that special moment in their respective careers.

Check out this week’s rookie report to see what kind of first impression they made on the sport’s biggest stage from Flash Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

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Division: Flyweight (competed at 129-pound catchweight)
Result: Raulian Paiva def. Zhalgas Zhumagulov via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Record: (13-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC)
Grade: D

Like many UFC debutants, [autotag]Zhalgas Zhumagulov[/autotag] headed into his maiden octagon appearance with the deck stacked against him. But “Zhako” found himself dealing with more disadvantages than most.

The Kazakh fighter already knew he’d be conceding significant reach advantage to No. 14-ranked Raulian Paiva. But when the Brazilian missed weight by four pounds for their flyweight matchup, it meant the newcomer took on a man who didn’t have to go through the punishing final pounds of his cut.

Despite this, the 31-year-old produced a solid display on his debut as he battled the bigger, rangier man throughout the full 15 minutes.

Zhumagulov started pretty well as he looked to close the distance and connect with his honey punch, the right hook, early. But it quickly became apparent that the Kazakh was fighting an uphill battle against a much bigger man.

Then, with the seconds ticking down in the final round, a thumping Paiva kick planted all five of the Brazilian’s toes deep into the Zhumagulov’s groin. It left him in absolute agony as he tried to fight off the pain during his injury timeout.

Despite still being in clear discomfort, Zhumagulov returned to action and received a knee to the same region in the final seconds of the matchup.

The judges’ verdict added insult to Zhumagulov’s injury as he ended up on the losing end of a unanimous decision, with all three scorecards reading 29-28 in Paiva’s favor.

Ultimately, size proved a huge factor in the contest as the gritty Zhumagulov just couldn’t land enough offense to push Paiva. But his willingness to scrap will certainly see him in an entertaining flyweight fight or two as he looks to bounce back from his debut defeat.

Next up: Light heavyweight gets tough welcome in short-notice heavyweight bout

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UFC announces full ‘Fight Island’ lineup, includes 47 bouts in 15 days

“Fight Island” is real, and now the four cards that will take place there are real, as well.

UFC president Dana White today announced the complete lineup for the four cards that will take place next month in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The unique setup has been necessitated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has made it difficult to get international fighters into the U.S. to compete.

“I think this is going to be a really unique experience, not just for the fighters, but for us,” UFC president Dana White said during the announcement. “It’s going to be cool. It’s going to be something different. It’s never been done before, and however long this thing goes on, and however long it’s hard to get people in from other countries, we will have these fights at ‘Fight Island’ – Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.”

First up, it’s UFC 251 on July 11, which features a trio of title fights.

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

Champ [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag] – for welterweight title
Champ [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] – for featherweight title
[autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jose Aldo[/autotag] – for vacant bantamweight title
[autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Rose Namajunas[/autotag]
[autotag]Amanda Ribas[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Paige VanZant[/autotag]

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)

[autotag]Volkan Oezdemir[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jiri Prochazka[/autotag]
[autotag]Muslim Salikhov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos[/autotag]
[autotag]Makwan Amirkhani[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Danny Henry[/autotag]
[autotag]Roman Bogatov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Leonardo Santos[/autotag]

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)

[autotag]Alexander Romanov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Marcin Tybura[/autotag]
[autotag]Raulian Paiva[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Zhalgas Zhumagulov[/autotag]
[autotag]Vanessa Melo[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Karol Rosa[/autotag]
[autotag]Martin Day[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Davey Grant[/autotag]

The promotion then returns on July 15 with an event headlined by featherweight contenders [autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag] (21-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag] (14-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC).

The complete lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (10 p.m. ET)

Calvin Kattar vs. Dan Ige
[autotag]Frankie Edgar[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Pedro Munhoz[/autotag]
[autotag]Carla Esparza[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag]
[autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag]
[autotag]Chris Fishgold[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jared Gordon[/autotag]

PRELIMINARY (7 p.m. ET)

[autotag]Modestas Bukauskas[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Vinicius Moreira[/autotag]
[autotag]Molly McCann[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Taila Santos[/autotag]
[autotag]Lerone Murphy[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ricardo Ramos[/autotag]
[autotag]John Phillips[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Dusko Todorovic[/autotag]
[autotag]Ryan Benoit[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tim Elliott[/autotag]
[autotag]Diana Belbita[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Liana Jojua[/autotag]

Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo

Three days later, on July 18, the promotion hosts its third card in eight days, when top flyweight contenders [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag] (18-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and [autotag]Joseph Benavidez[/autotag] (28-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) meet for a second time with the vacant UFC flyweight title on the line.

The full card includes:

MAIN CARD (9 p.m. ET)

Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Joseph Benavidez – for vacant flyweight title
[autotag]Kelvin Gastelum[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jack Hermansson[/autotag]
[autotag]Marc Diakiese[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Rafael Fiziev[/autotag]
[autotag]Luana Carolina[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ariane Lipski[/autotag]
[autotag]Askar Askarov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Alexandre Pantoja[/autotag]

PRELIMINARY CARD (6 p.m. ET)

[autotag]Roman Dolidze[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Khadis Ibragimov[/autotag]
[autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Nad Narimani[/autotag]
[autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Joe Duffy[/autotag]
[autotag]Montel Jackson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Brett Johns[/autotag]
[autotag]Aleksander Doskalchuk[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tagir Ulanbekov[/autotag]
[autotag]Davi Ramos[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag]
[autotag]Carlos Felipe[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag]

Finally, the UFC’s run in Abu Dhabi ends on July 25 with a much-anticipated middleweight contest between former champion [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] (20-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) and former welterweight title challenger [autotag]Darren Till[/autotag] (18-2-1 MMA, 6-2-1 UFC).

That night’s full lineup includes:

MAIN CARD

Robert Whittaker vs. Darren Till
[autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Mauricio Rua[/autotag]
[autotag]Alex Oliveira[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Peter Sobotta[/autotag]
[autotag]Alexander Gustafsson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Fabricio Werdum[/autotag]
[autotag]Nicolas Dalby[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Danny Roberts[/autotag]

PRELIMINARY CARD

[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jake Collier[/autotag]
[autotag]Raphael Pessoa[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag]
[autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Mike Grundy[/autotag]
[autotag]Bethe Correia[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Pannie Kianzad[/autotag]
[autotag]Umar Nurmagomedov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Nathaniel Wood[/autotag]
[autotag]Ramazan Emeev[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Shavkat Rakhmonov[/autotag]

UFC 251 adds Zhalgas Zhumagulov vs. Raulian Paiva to July 11 lineup

A flyweight matchup between Zhalgas Zhumagulov and Raulian Paiva is the latest addition to UFC 251.

A flyweight matchup is the latest addition to UFC 251.

On July 11, [autotag]Zhalgas Zhumagulov[/autotag] will face [autotag]Raulian Paiva[/autotag] on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi – also known as “Fight Island.”

Two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the booking on Tuesday but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Zhumagulov (13-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was scheduled to make his promotional debut vs. Jordan Espinosa on June 13 in Kazakhstan, but the event was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Zhumagulov, a former FNG flyweight champion, has won his last four in a row, including wins over former UFC flyweight title challenger Ali Bagautinov, Tyson Nam, and newly-signed Tagir Ulanbekov.

Paiva (19-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) punched his ticket to the UFC in 2018 with a win over Allan Nascimento in Dana White’s Contender Series. In his last outing, Paiva snapped a two-fight losing skid with a knockout win over Mark De La Rosa – his first UFC victory.

With the addition, the current UFC 251 lineup includes:

Champ Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns – for the UFC welterweight title
Champ Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway – for the UFC featherweight title
Jose Aldo vs. Petr Yan – for the vacant UFC bantamweight title
Amanda Ribas vs. Paige VanZant
Frankie Edgar vs. Pedro Munhoz
Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Ciryl Gane
Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jiri Prochazka
Raulian Paiva vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov

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UFC Kazakhstan adds Zhalgas Zhumagulov homecoming vs. Jordan Espinosa

UFC Kazakhstan will feature a native son when Zhalgas Zhumagulov faces Jordan Espinosa in the promotion’s first event held in the country.

UFC Kazakhstan will be a homecoming for promotional newcomer [autotag]Zhalgas Zhumagulov[/autotag].

Recently-inked flyweight Zhumagulov (13-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will welcomes Dana White’s Contender Series alumnus [autotag]Jordan Espinosa[/autotag], in one of the first UFC fights held on Kazakhstani soil.

Two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the booking, but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

UFC Kazakhstan is expected to take place June 13 at Astana Arena in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The event has still not been officially announced by the UFC, so no streaming info is available yet. No other bouts have been announced for the event at this time.

Zhumagulov, 31, has won four straight fights, and seven of eight, entering his promotional debut. His most recent eight outings have come under the Fight Nights Global promotional banner, where he’s picked up the flyweight title.

As for Espinosa (14-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC), the Luttrell’s MMA product is in need of a victory. Since winning his UFC debut against Eric Shelton in March 2019, Espinosa has dropped back-to-back outings. In August 2019, Espinosa was submitted in the first round by Matt Schnell. In January 2020, history repeated itself when Espinosa was once again submitted in Round 1 – this time, at the hands of Alex Perez.

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