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Preparations are nearly complete for Charles Oliveira’s lightweight title bid against Ilia Topuria in the UFC 317 main event.

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Chute Boxe coach Diego Lima recently spoke with Sherdog about Oliveira’s training camp ahead of the bout, which will take place on June 28 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

"We are very focused on Topuria,” Lima said. “We are using several sparring partners who are his size. We invested a lot in boxing training for this fight considering Topuria's firepower.”

While Lima has already stated there is no bad blood between Chute Boxe and The Fighting Nerds following Ian Garry’s victory over Carlos Prates at UFC Kansas City, he was unable to accept Jean Silva’s offer to help Oliveira prepare for Topuria. However it’s possible that they could collaborate in the future.

“I really like Jean Silva, he knows that,” Lima said. “He’s a guy I have a lot of affection for and admire. I was really happy that he offered, but the fig…

“Movsar is going to be the champ at 145,” says Jorge Masvidal @GamebredFighter shares his experience of wrestling with @MovsarUFC Evloev at American Top Team in Florida. pic.twitter.com/YcStLZ31NM

— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) June 16, 2025

Jorge Masvidal is confident that Movsar Evloev will become a UFC champion.

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Masvidal has been a longtime teammate of Evloev at the American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. While “Gamebred” competed at welterweight and Evloev is a featherweight, they trained together several times. Despite the weight and experience advantage over Evloev, Masvidal recalls having his share of difficulties with the undefeated Russian’s chain wrestling.

However, Masvidal’s prediction of Evloev being a future champ is not just based on their training sessions. The former BMF champ is pleased with Evloev’s tireless work ethic, which involves conditioning after hours of intense wrestling.

“I k…

Umar Nurmagomedov shares inspiring words from Zlatan Ibrahimović 🐺🔥

"I've seen your fights, don't give up. Everything's ahead of you. You're still young, you've got everything in front of you. Keep training.' The fact that Ibrahimović knows who I am — I was shocked."

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🎥:… pic.twitter.com/kSeTwufxQq — Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) June 16, 2025

Umar Nurmagomedov was surprised that Zlatan Ibrahimovic even knew him when they crossed paths. 

The Nurmagomedovs have always shared a deep love for soccer, with Khabib Nurmagomedov even choosing it as his other love besides MMA. His cousin Umar, following in his footsteps, was in attendance at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy, for an AC Milan match earlier this year. The UFC bantamweight was lucky enough to have a chat with the Milan legend. Coming off a failed title bid against Merab Dvalishvili, Nurmagomedov received words of encouragement from Ibrahimovic.

…

Joaquin Buckley is considering a move to middleweight to fight admitted hater Israel Adesanya.

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There was no known bad blood between Buckley and Adesanya until last weekend. Buckley headlined UFC Atlanta on Saturday against Adesanya’s close friend, Kamaru Usman. Despite a valiant rally in the final round, “New Mansa” suffered a unanimous decision loss against Usman. 

Adesanya later released a video of himself watching UFC Atlanta. “The Last Stylebender” couldn’t stop slamming Buckley right from the walkout. It is apparently Buckley’s excited manner of speech that irritates Adesanya. The former middleweight champ eventually admitted he just hates Buckley.

"I hate this n---a bro. I don’t even use the word ‘hate’ lightly but I hate this n----a bro. Something about him just f----g annoys me. I’m just trying to chill talk. [He’s like,] ‘Hey man, we gotta get this going…[gibberish gibberish].’ Like he’s rapping at me. Every single time. He’s just…

KSI tried grappling with Demetrious Johnson and surviving for a minute, and only lasted 17 seconds 😭

🎥 @MightyMousepic.twitter.com/GGtSUgIncy

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 16, 2025

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YouTuber Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji, aka KSI, was brave enough to take on a grappling challenge against Demetrious Johnson. 

Johnson revealed that KSI made a bet to try and see if he could survive one minute on the ground with the former UFC flyweight champ without getting submitted. “Mighty Mouse” acknowledged that the YouTuber-turned-boxer didn’t have much grappling experience. However, Johnson noted that his opponent had over a 50-pound weight advantage. 

“He put up a wager, he put up a challenge,” Johnson said. “He’s like, ‘I want to see if I can survive for one minute and not get tapped out.’ Now, KSI does not grapple. He is more of a boxer. So I am always down for a challenge, especially someone who doe…

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Javier Mendez seems to think Islam Makhachev’s remaining time in in mixed martial arts could be limited. 

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Makhachev recently vacated his lightweight title and moved up to welterweight. He has been promised the next welterweight title shot against Jack Della Maddalena, although a date is yet to be decided. There has already been speculation about whether Makhachev will defend his welterweight title if he wins or move back to lightweight. 

Mendez’s recent revelation makes Makhachev’s career trajectory even more confusing. According to the American Kickboxing Academy head coach, Makhachev will fight only twice more after facing Maddalena.

“I’m anticipating we’ll see him for hopefully maybe another three fights total,” Mendez told Submission Radio. “Let’s see who’s in the works on that. Let’s say if we get by JDM, which is, I don’t really want to say we’re gonna get by him because he’s a tough customer. I’m gonna be p…

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The hype is already beginning to build for Dustin Poirier’s farewell fight.

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Poirier will square off against Max Holloway for the third time in the UFC 318 headliner on July 19 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. In an interview with Louisiana-based news outlet WDSU, UFC CEO Dana White admitted that the event was put together at Poirier’s request.

“Throughout the world, Dustin Poirier is a big star for us,” White said. “He’s accomplished a lot in the sport. This is for him, to be honest with you. This is for him. He wanted to have his last fight and end his career in New Orleans so here we are.”

Poirier has been an interim champion, but has come up short twice in bids for undisputed gold: first against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242 and then more recently vs. Islam Makhachev at UFC 302. Still, “The Diamond” is among the sport’s most beloved fighters for his all-action style, and according to White, is one of the best…

Arman Tsarukyan will get his wish to serve as the backup fighter for the UFC 317 main event.

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The lightweight contender revealed in the comments of a social media post that he will be the alternate for the lightweight title clash between Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira on June 28 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Tsarukyan’s role was later confirmed by MMAFighting.com.

Tsarukyan will presumably be on hand during fight week to make weight and fill in should anything go awry with either Topuria or Oliveira, who are vying for the vacant 155-pound championship after Islam Makhachev vacated the strap to move up to welterweight.

The 28-year-old Russian was slated to challenge Makhachev for lightweight gold at UFC 311, but a back injury forced him to withdraw from the event on short notice. That prompted Dana White to declare that Tsarukyan was no longer the division’s No. 1 contender, as evidenced by the booking at UFC 317.

After besting e…

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According to coach Tim Welch, Sean O'Malley is the type of fighter whose star power transcends mere wins and losses.

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The UFC put its marketing muscle behind “Suga” not long after he appeared on Dana White's Contender Series, and that push propelled him to the top of the bantamweight division. The promotion remained firmly behind O’Malley even after he relinquished the 135-pound title to Merab Dvalishvili in a lopsided unanimous decision defeat at UFC 306, granting the MMA Lab product an immediate rematch when he was ready to return.

While O’Malley made some improvements, so did his opponent, and Dvalishvili rolled to a third-round submission victory in their second meeting at UFC 316 on June 7. Still, Welch believes O’Malley fits into a rare category when it comes to mainstream appeal.

“Look at Nate Diaz, how big of a star he is,” Welch said on his YouTube channel. “How many losses does he have? Jorge Masvidal, how many loss…

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Rose Namajunas was well compensated for her victory in the UFC Atlanta co-main event this past Saturday.

The former strawweight champion took home a disclosed payday of $500,000 for her three-round verdict over Miranda Maverick ($125,000) in their flyweight clash at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The Georgia Athletic & Entertainment Commission recently released a full list of salaries from the event, which is also known as UFC on ESPN 69.

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Kamaru Usman, who was competing for the first time since October 2023, earned a flat purse of $300,000 for his five-round verdict over Joaquin Buckley ($150,000) in the evening’s welterweight headliner.

All told, 13 fighters who fought at UFC Atlanta secured disclosed six-figure purses.

Note: The disclosed purses reported by state athletic commissions do not include any performance-based or discretionary bonuses that may be awarded to a fighter by the promotion. Additionally, the reported figures do not r…

👀😲Umar Nurmagomedov reveals Hunter Campbell came to Dagestan to convince Islam to move up so Topuria can become the champ at 155

"He [Hunter] came to see Islam, and they wanted Islam to move up. They want to make Topuria the champ at 155. They believe he can really sell… pic.twitter.com/bMOiyARPFT

— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) June 15, 2025

Umar Nurmagomedov made some stunning revelations about UFC executive Hunter Campbell’s recent visit to Dagestan.

The featherweight, lightweight and welterweight title pictures were all in a mix prior to UFC 315 last month — and Campbell was surprisingly visiting the Republic of Dagestan in Russia weeks before the event. Nurmagomedov recently revealed the purpose behind Campbell’s visit to his homeland. 

While Islam Makhachev had been eyeing a move up to welterweight for a while, he didn’t confirm the decision until Belal Muhammad was dethroned by Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315. Me…

Raoni Barcelos is aiming for the bantamweight rankings after his win over Cody Garbrandt. 

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Barcelos took on Garbrandt at UFC Atlanta on Saturday. While Garbrandt led the dance in the first round, Barcelos rallied back to control the former champ and earn a hard-fought unanimous decision. Barcelos considers it the biggest win of his career so far and admits to being surprised by Garbrandt’s wrestling defense.

“I think it was definitely the biggest win in my career,” Barcelos said in a post-fight media scrum. “It was a great fight. Cody was in great form, and we put on a great fight… I knew he was gonna be tough. What surprised me is how strong his wrestling was even though he comes from a wrestling base. I think it made for a fun and dynamic fight.”

Barcelos is looking ahead to another significant pairing in the division before the conclusion of 2025.

“I want Rob Font by the end of the year,” he said. “I want to be in the rankings b…

Paddy Pimblett talks a potential lightweight title fight against Ilia Topuria 👀

"If Ilia wins and says he wants to fight me, the UFC will make that fight because they know it's a money fight...

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I know I'd beat him... I know how to beat him. No one goes for his weaknesses,… pic.twitter.com/uQlFanZ2Cn — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 15, 2025

Paddy Pimblett believes a matchup with Ilia Topuria will be a big draw. 

The beef between the two started with Pimblett’s controversial comments about Topuria’s home country of Georgia. The two met at a UFC London card in March 2022, and Pimblett threw a bottle of hand sanitizer at Topuria at the fighter hotel. They have since gone back and forth on multiple occasions, although the feud seems lighthearted.

Pimblett was eager to welcome Topuria to the lightweight division when the former featherweight champ moved up. However, Topuria will fight for the vacant lightwei…

Umar Nurmagomedov picks Merab Dvalishvili to still be champion by the end of the year 🦾🇬🇪

"I've hit Merab clean myself — he didn't even flinch. Tough guy. He's really hard to knock out. He's got cardio for days, and he's just got brute strength. It's not like he's got advanced… pic.twitter.com/dh0AuObotY

— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) June 15, 2025

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Umar Nurmagomedov believes it’s unlikely that Merab Dvalishvili will be dethroned anytime soon. 

Dvalishvili made his first bantamweight title defense against Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 this past January. While Nurmagomedov was widely considered to be the toughest challenge in the division for Dvalishvili, the champ spoiled the challenger’s undefeated record. Dvalishvili has since submitted Sean O’Malley in a rematch at UFC 316 earlier this month. 

Nurmagomedov believes Dvalishvili is hard to beat in every way, even by a puncher’s chance — because Nurmagomedov…

Rodolfo Bellato has opened up on his controversial outing against Paul Craig at UFC Atlanta. 

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Bellato and Craig met in a preliminary light heavyweight clash at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Saturday. Bellato was trying to land ground-and-pound on Craig in the final seconds of the first round when he ate an illegal upkick that sent him crashing to the canvas. While “Trator” initially appeared to protest the illegal upkick, he started grappling with the referee moments later, seemingly out of confusion after being briefly unconscious. Bellato was deemed unable to continue, and the fight was declared a no contest due to an illegal blow. 

Many fans and fighters alike later questioned the authenticity of Bellato’s reaction, accusing the Brazilian of bluffing. Bellato addressed the accusations, detailing what exactly transpired in those final seconds. Bellato claims that while he initially recognized the illegal kick and protested, he sta…

Joaquin Buckley’s six-fight winning streak may have come to an end at UFC Atlanta, but he is confident that the best is yet to come.

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“New Mansa” struggled with his defensive wrestling for much of the evening, dropping a five-round verdict to former welterweight king Kamaru Usman on Saturday night at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. While Buckley staged a late rally, it was too late to sway the scorecards in his favor.

“Hand wasn’t raised last night, but I am still victorious and will be one of the greats,” Buckley wrote on Instagram.

“This trip has been beyond amazing, and I wouldn’t change a thing that happened in my fight camp. Everything was perfectly planned — I just didn’t execute like I know I could… We wanted to land early damage on Usman and get him moving back, but he did a good job neutralizing threats with takedowns.

“But don’t get it twisted: Usman was more concerned about holding me than hurting me in this fight, but he did what …

Kamaru Usman has no interest in settling the score with Belal Muhammad.

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Shortly after “The Nigerian Nightmare” made a triumphant return to the Octagon with a unanimous decision victory over Joaquin Buckley in the UFC Atlanta headliner, Muhammad congratulated Usman on his win while adding, “See you soon.”

Congrats see you soon

— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) June 15, 2025 When Muhammad’s post was mentioned to him at Saturday’s post fight press conference, Usman replied: Who is it? Who’s that? Next.”

The guy that made u cry on ur podcast

— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) June 15, 2025

The rivalry between the two former welterweight champions reached a boiling point during a recent podcast, when Usman and Muhammad allegedy came to blows. The footage from that incident has not been released, and it appears that Usman is more focused on regaining welterweight gold.

Newly-crowned welterweight champ…

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As soon as the light heavyweight clash between Rodolfo Bellato and Paul Craig at UFC Atlanta ended, the speculation began.

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The bout was halted when Craig landed an illegal upick on his Brazilian foe at the 4:59 mark of Round 1. Bellato appeared to go out before suddenly jolting back to consciousness and attempting to grapple with referee Kevin MacDonald. As a result, the bout was declared a no contest.

More than a few observers questioned the legitimacy of Bellato’s reaction, especially since he appeared to be looking at the referee in protest as he fell to the canvas. That skepticism included the UFC Atlanta post-fight show team of Anthony Smith, Stephen Thompson and Dan Hellie. Smith was especially blunt when calling out the Brazilian for his actions.

“It was a great fight up until the way that it ended all weird. Paul Craig was really forcing the takedowns, he ends up shooting the takedown, pulls guard, the round ends and h…

Miranda Maverick fought at a diminished capacity for at least a portion of her encounter with Rose Namajunas in the UFC Atlanta co-main event.

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Maverick revealed that she suffered a torn ACL in the second round of the flyweight bout, which Namajunas won via unanimous decision. Despite that injury, the Elevation Fight Team representative made it a competitive fight, even threatening her opponent with an arm-triangle choke near the end of Round 2.

While Namajunas was credited with a knockdown in the third frame, Maverick claims that it was directly related to her knee.

“Not the result I wanted but I fought with what I had. My ACL was torn in the second round (I’ll have to rewatch to know exactly when but I think it was during a takedown exchange). I never got dropped, but I was unstable on my legs so as soon as I got hit in the third round my leg buckled,” Maverick wrote on Instagram. “ I’m blessed I was able to make it to the end of the fight, …

😳💰 Drakkar Klose once had to write an apology letter to the UFC so he could receive his $50,000 bonus after shouting out a gambling site in his post-fight interview.

(via @TimwelchMT) pic.twitter.com/jevHzdl5sH

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) June 14, 2025

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Drakkar Klose once nearly missed out on a UFC bonus for advertising a brand. 

Klose earned his second-ever $50,000 bonus with a slam knockout over Joe Solecki at UFC Austin in 2023. Klose gave a shoutout to betting site Stake.com in his post-fight Octagon interview, for which he had been offered $10,000. However, little did he know that it would almost ended up costing him his bonus. 

Klose was informed not to mention betting sites during the fighter meeting ahead of the fight. However, he didn’t think shouting out Stake.com would be an issue because they were official betting partners of the UFC. But the promotion was not pleased, and Klose had to w…

🇦🇺🇺🇸Alexander Volkanovski says that Jon Jones needs to retire:

"If you a the champion — defend your belt. It’s a responsibility. I think you need to find whoever is there. If there is an interim champ it’s a no-brainer.

Your resume is incredible. You’re considered the greatest… pic.twitter.com/379HCHrXib

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) June 14, 2025

Alexander Volkanovski has a message for fellow champion Jon Jones.

Jones has earned criticism throughout the world of combat sports for avoiding a fight against Tom Aspinall. Jones won the vacant heavyweight title in 2023 against Ciryl Gane but was forced out of a title defense against Stipe Miocic due to an injury. Aspinall won the interim title against Sergei Pavlovich and defended it against Curtis Blaydes as Jones stayed sidelined. 

However, Jones remained adamant about defending his title against Miocic instead of unifying the title. The matchup came to fruition in …

Marcus McGhee (10-1) is set to face his biggest step in competition so far when he meets Petr Yan (18-5) at UFC Abu Dhabi on July 26.

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McGhee is not the only UFC bantamweight contender from his gym. Led by former champ Sean O’Malley, the MMA Lab in Arizona is a hub of talented 135-pounders.  This includes Kyler Phillips and Mario Bautista, who defeated Patrick Mix at UFC 316.

McGhee revealed that his team has already discussed the possibility of facing each other. “The Maniac” says there are no ill feelings between them and they would preferably avoid fighting each other forever. However, with four elite bantamweights chasing gold, there is only so far they can go without meeting in the cage. If McGhee has to fight a teammate, he wants it to be for the title with a massive payday on offer. And if that inevitably happens, McGhee assures there will be no bad blood inside the MMA Lab.

“We’ve always spoken about it and obviously none of us…

Malcolm Wellmaker appears to have all the makings of a future star.

The Augusta, Georgia, native took home a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus thanks to a first-round knockout of Kris Moutinho in a preliminary bantamweight clash at UFC Atlanta on Saturday night. A right hook from Wellmaker caused his opponent to face plant into the canvas, bringing an abrupt end to the contest at the 2:37 mark of Round 1.

Elsewhere, Kamaru Usman and Joaquin Buckley earned “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their five-round battle in the evening’s main event. While Usman took control early with his wrestling, Buckley made things interesting with a spirited effort down the stretch. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough, as “The Nigerian Nightmare” emerged with a unanimous decision triumph.

Finally, Peru’s Jose Ochoa captured the evening’s other “$50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for putting away crowd favorite Cody Durden in a preliminary flyweight tilt.…