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Nate Diaz is looking for a fight.

At least that was the message from the Stockton, California, native when he briefly spoke to TMZ Sports on the red carpet during a party over Super Bowl weekend.

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“I’m ready to get back in real action,” Diaz said in a video that was posted on Monday. “I want to fight either [Conor] McGregor 3. I want to fight maybe Dustin Poirier, if he stops being such a p—y, and then maybe Mike Perry. We’ll see what happens in the future.”

Diaz rose to superstardom thanks to his rivalry with McGregor, particularly when he submitted for the former two-division champion in their first meeting at UFC 196 in March 2016. Diaz would lose the rematch to the Dublin native via majority decision at UFC 202. While McGregor has seemed intent on fighting at the UFC’s White House event, the “Notorious” hasn’t competed since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in July 2021.

As for Poirier, the popular Louisiana native retired from the spo…

Everyone has a thought on the unceremonious exit of Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight Jailton Almeida.

The UFC’s release of Almeida set fire to the internet on Wednesday. After two lackluster fights, the top-10 UFC heavyweight was let go despite a promotional record of 8-3. The unexpected cut immediately reached the trending topics of MMA world with media, fans and fighters discussing the reason in a division where Tai Tuivasa suffered his sixth straight loss and still remains on the roster.

Some of performances rubbed the UFC brass the wrong way, namely when Almeida outgrappled Derrick Lewis in a dreadful five-rounder where he unleashed very little damaging offense. His slow, plodding decision defeats to Alexander Volkov and Rizvan Kuniev spelled his undoing, and UFC veteran Gilbert Burns picked up on that. “Durinho” shared his opinion through his YouTube channel on Thursday about his countryman’s release, bringing up two very important points that may explai…

It will be quite some time until Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Torrez Finney is up and walking again under his own power.

During his UFC 325 encounter against Jacob Malkoun, Finney sustained multiple major leg injuries early into the match. The Tennessean went on to drop a decision after three lackluster rounds. Per the fighter on social media this Thursday, his leg was torn to shreds mere seconds into the matchup. As a result, the UFC medical staff and Finney’s team determined that he needed to be rushed to surgery the day after his bout.

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“Thank God he’s built me to overcome every obstacle I’ve faced and that will be the story once again,” Finney wrote. “I tore my ACL and my both of my meniscus within my knee. Got me into surgery the next day. [Doctor] said it’s insane I was able to fight tearing that 15 seconds into the fight.”Finney Far from FinishedOn his Instagram page, “The Punisher” added additional comment of his performance, …

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is jamming the first show in April full of intriguing mid-tier matchups.

Fresh off his shocking upset of Malcolm Wellmaker at UFC 322 this past November, Ethyn Ewing (9-2) will be returning to action on April 4 at the Apex in Las Vegas as part of UFC Fight Night 272. He will be relocating to his standard weight class of bantamweight, where he will be met by ex-flyweight Rafael Estevam (14-0) who is moving up to greet him. News was first reported on Wednesday night by Ewing on his Instagram.

“The Professor Finesser” established himself as one to watch when he outworked highly touted prospect Wellmaker in a short-notice effort. Ahead of that pairing, Wellmaker closed as high as a -500 favorite, and Ewing put the screws to him across three tough, thrilling rounds. In the process, Ewing handed “The Machine” his first career defeat, halting several streaks for Wellmaker including a four-fight stretch of knockout victories.

More Macap…

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight kingpin Alexandre Pantoja is only a few short months away from returning to competition.

The second-longest reign of any UFC men’s flyweight champion came to an inglorious end at UFC 323 in December, when Pantoja’s arm snapped early in what was to be his fifth consecutive title defense against Joshua Van. The Brazilian recovered apparently without requiring surgery to repair the damage, which included tendons and ligaments but no fractured bone. Much has been speculated about his return to action, and Sherdog spoke to Pantoja’s chief coach at American Top Team, Marcos da Matta, about his top fighter.

“He did the first light sparring today,” “Parrumpa” revealed the good news on Tuesday. “Everybody was able to see how hard the injury was, two months ago. But Pantoja is such a focused person, he worked hard to heal since day one. He can’t wait to return and [get a finish] against Joshua Van.”

You Bet I’ll Be Coming Up i…

The Persian Gulf will once again be the focus of a $100K Professional Fighters League tournament in a few months.

Per a press release received on Thursday, the PFL will be commencing its next and third season of the PFL MENA spinoff league come May 8. The first of four events held in the Middle East/North Africa regions will be staged at the Dharan Expo in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, and it will receive the title of “Rise of the Gulf.” While last year included four brackets for tourneys in the welterweight, lightweight, featherweight and bantamweight divisions, the company scales it back to three for this go-round. In lieu of 135-pounders will be what the promotion is calling “a slate of high-profile showcase bouts featuring the region’s fastest-rising stars.”

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The tournament will begin one day before last year’s, when May 9 served as the kickoff date for the grand prix that also opened in Saudi Arabia. Spanning that date to Dec. 5, four athletes picked up…

Jailton Almeida went 8-3 during his UFC tenure. | Getty/UFC

Not even the promise of a change in weight classes was enough to save Jailton Almeida.

According to an initial report from Laerte Viana, the UFC has released the 34-year-old Brazilian on the heels of back-to-back losses to Alexander Volkov and Rizvan Kuniev. Meanwhile, MMAjunkie.com has confirmed that the promotion already has informed Almeida of its decision.

The news comes a couple days after the announcement that Almeida was planning to return to the light heavyweight division, where he began his UFC career.

“Malhadinho” earned a UFC contract by winning a light heavyweight fight on Dana White's Contender Series in September 2021. He was successful in his Octagon debut at 205 pounds, finishing Danilo Marques in the opening stanza at UFC Fight Night 200 in February 2022. After one 220-pound catchweight victory, the Brazilian moved to the heavyweight division, where he has compiled a 5-3…

Professional Fighters League continues to build the talent pool in its women’s flyweight division.

The promotion has signed former Legacy Fighting Alliance flyweight queen Cheyanne Bowers, with a debut date and opponent to be determined. The PFL confirmed the new addition following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com.

A Knack for Submissions Bowers owns a 7-2 professional mark, with all but one of her bouts taking place under the LFA banner. The 31-year-old known as “The Boss” captured 125-pound gold with a first-round submission of Veronika Borisova at LFA 193 in September 2024. After losing the strap to Shannon Clark in her first title defense, Bowers rebounded to post back-to-back submission victories against Elizabeth Rodriguez and Maritza Sanchez in her next two outings. The Omaha, Nebraska, native has finished five of her career wins via submission.

Bowers will join a PFL women’s flyweight division that includes the likes of Dakota Ditcheva, Liz Carmouche, Tail…

Dana White thinks the UFC White House card will be the promotion's most-watched event of all-time. | Jim Watson/ AFP via getty

As one might expect, Dana White has high hopes for the UFC’s historic event at the White House.

The UFC CEO is expected to begin matchmaking in earnest for the highly-anticipated card this week, with bouts potentially being finalized by the weekend. Ever since the UFC White House event was announced by President Donald Trump, there has been plenty of speculation regarding what the final product will look like, and there have been numerous fighters campaigning to be on the card. Regardless of what the final lineup looks like, White expects the event to be a boon for broadcast partner Paramount.

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“We’re going to figure that all out this week. This is like a one-of-one event,” White recently said on CBS Sports. “It’s something that will never happen again. Building this card — we had this video rendering of what it …

Javid Basharat was released from the UFC despite a winning record in the promotion. | Getty/UFC

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is moving on from some fighters following its most recent event.

The Las Vegas-based promotion has parted ways with Javid Basharat, Alex Morono and Lucas Almeida. Sherdog.com contributor Tom Feely initially brought word of the releases, which were later confirmed by MMAFighting.com. It’s unclear if the aforementioned fighters were cut, or if the UFC simply elected not to renew their respective contracts.

Basharat snapped a two-bout skid at UFC Fight Night 266 this past Saturday, earning a unanimous decision triumph against short-notice opponent Gianni Vazquez. The Dana White's Contender Series alum compiled a 4-2 mark with one no contest in the Octagon. However, all four of his triumphs came via decision.

No Last Dance Morono, meanwhile, displayed plenty of heart but was largely outmatched in a unanimous decision loss t…

On Tuesday, Flávio Alvaro revealed exclusively to Sherdog.com that he believes Jean Silva and Mauricio Ruffy will eventually overcome their disagreement regarding Ruffy's trip to Australia to train with Alexander Volkanovski.

With Ruffy's return to São Paulo, the coach believes the two will reconcile for the greater good of The Fighting Nerds team's health. During on appearance on Ag.Fight’s "Direto de Las Vegas" podcast, Silva didn’t hesitate when asked to name the best striker in the UFC.

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”Mauricio Ruffy,” Silva said. “He’s not pragmatic and manages the fight very well."

When it came time to choose the best grappler, Silva didn't hesitate either.

“[Khamzat] Chimaev. He won the belt fighting five rounds without throwing a single punch,” Silva said.

Arman Tsarukyan was named by Fighting Nerd as the best wrestler across all divisions, and he recognized former opponents Kevin Vallejos and Diego Lopes as having the toughest chins on the…

Tom Aspinall looks like something out of a horror flick after recently undergoing surgery on both of his eyes.

The UFC heavyweight champion recently shared a photo of himself following the procedure, humorously comparing his red-eyed image to Michael Jackson’s Thriller video while playing the theme from “Silence of the Lambs” in the background.

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Tom Aspinall shows his eyes one day after surgery 👁️😬

(Via @AspinallMMA ) pic.twitter.com/KDUjNnvULB

— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) February 11, 2026 No Laughing Matter The incident that led to Aspinall’s current plight was no laughing matter, however. The Brit was on the receiving end of a double-eye poke early in his heavyweight title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 this past October. The bout was ruled a no contest at the 4:35 mark of Round 1 when it was determined that Aspinall couldn’t continue.

The medical team who performed the surgery on Aspinall shared …

Charles Oliveira believes he is a completely different fighter since he first fought Max Holloway. 

Oliveira faced Holloway for the first time in a featherweight tilt in 2015. Holloway folded Oliveira with a couple of body shots in the opening round, forcing the referee to step in. Oliveira was carried out with his neck braced due to an esophagus injury. 

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Oliveira is now scheduled to challenge Holloway for the BMF title in a lightweight matchup in the main event at UFC 326 on March 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Oliveira says he has evolved into a completely different fighter since his first fight against Holloway. While Oliveira knows that Holloway has grown as well, “Do Bronx” believes he is more well-rounded than he was in their first fight.‘A Lion Among Lions’ “From that last fight to this one, I evolved a lot,” Oliveira said on YouTube. “In that fight, I entered with an injury. It’s a completely different Charles. I know he’s ev…

Geoff Neal has been through a rough patch for the past few years. 

Neal recently revealed that he has been battling alcohol and drug addiction for the past five years. It started around 2020 when Neal went into septic shock. Neal claims his longest periods of sobriety in the last five years were a couple of weeks before his fights. Despite going into his fights underprepared, “Handz of Steel” has surprised himself by managing to stay in the rankings all along. Neal recently overcame addiction by staying sober for 75 days straight.

‘I Fell Into a Hole’ “I got done with the 75 hard challenge two weeks ago,” Neal told Home of Fight. “But I had a real issue for five years, around COVID, when I got sepsis, I fell into a hole… I had a problem with addiction, drugs and alcohol, it was rough, five years of it. The longest I was sober within those five years was two weeks, and those weeks were usually before fights. I’d slow down two weeks before the fight, come to the fight …

Chael Sonnen believes Jon Jones’ drug testing failures don’t take away his GOAT status. 

Jones (28-1) is widely considered the greatest fighter of all time by virtue of his light heavyweight title run, which saw the most title defenses in UFC history. However, Jones’ legacy is marred by multiple performance enhancing drug violations, threatening his GOAT status. Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach, Javier Mendez, recently said he picks Khabib over Jones as the GOAT, as “Bones” was caught cheating. 

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However, Sonnen believes the PED violations shouldn’t deprive Jones of GOAT status. According to Sonnen, Jones probably used PEDs like most others, but was caught for it. While Jones might not be the cleanest fighter, he is still the GOAT for his former foe, Sonnen.Not the Cleanest “I don’t know that Jon ever took anything that the rest of them didn’t take, but he got caught for it,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “I’m going to have to go with no… J…

Like many Dagestani MMA stars, Usman Nurmagomedov has the late Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov to credit for his success.

Usman (21-0) recently defended the Professional Fighters League lightweight title for the second time against Alfie Davis at PFL Road to Dubai. Usman subsequently thanked his uncle for the heights that he has scaled in his career. Usman revealed that while their father pushed him and his brother, Umar, into sports, he didn’t have championship aspirations for them. However, their uncle Abdulmanap saw great potential in them and alerted their father about the same. While Abdulmanap is no longer with them, Usman is glad to have his son, Khabib Nurmagomedov, fill in his shoes.

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Realizing His Potential “This everything is from my uncle Abdulmanap,” Usman said on the PFL Dubai broadcast. “My father pushed us into sports, but he didn’t have any plans that we’d be champions. But my uncle Abdulmanap, he believed in us. He always came to my father …

Joaquin Buckley is frustrated with the lack of activity in the welterweight division. 

While the welterweight division is teeming with contenders, Buckley can’t find a fight. “New Mansa” recently went off on champion Islam Makhachev and top contenders like Michael Morales, Carlos Prates, Ian Garry and others. Buckley called out former champ Jack Della Maddalena, who he thinks is still recovering from his title loss against Makhachev last year. Buckley is coming off a loss against Kamaru Usman in June 2025. Buckley believes a matchup against Maddalena will be a fresh change for both of them, as they were both held down by wrestlers in their last losses.

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A Call for Action   “If I can get anybody active, I’d say JDM,” Buckley said on Instagram. “Me and JDM would be good money. It ain’t because of where he is placed on the rankings, No.1. But I think me and JDM, stylistically we’re just meant, fireworks. And I’m sure because of what we both went…

Daniel Cormier doesn’t think Jon Jones’ arthritis news was leaked without his knowledge. 

While Jones retired last year, he returned to the drug testing pool weeks later following the announcement of UFC White House plans. Jones was rallying for a White House matchup against Alex Pereira until recently. However, that all changed after news of Jones’ arthritis was leaked last week. Jones was at a DirtyBoxing event when he revealed that his left hip is severely compromised with arthritis. “Bones” subsequently accused the fan of recording him with Meta glasses without his knowledge. 

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However, Jones’ archrival, Cormier, isn’t buying his version of the story. “DC” believes Jones intentionally leaked the news because he is done fighting. Cormier argues that Jones’ couldn’t have been filmed without his knowledge, as the Meta glasses show a white light when recording starts.Nothing Left? “Jones said the kid filmed him without his knowledge,” Cormie…

Geoff Neal is currently not ready for the drama that could have come with a potential rematch against Kevin Holland.

Neal suffered the first knockout loss of his career against Holland under the Xtreme Knockout banner in 2017. While they both made their way to the UFC next year, a rematch between them never materialized. There were recent rumors of a potential rematch between Neal and Holland. However, Neal is now booked to fight Uros Medic at UFC Houston on Feb. 21. 

Drama Free Zone Neal recently revealed that he is currently not in the ideal frame of mind to fight Holland. Having recently won his battle with addiction, Neal has his hands full, with no room for additional drama. And drama is likely to follow with a matchup against Holland. Neal revealed that his coach and Holland hate each other. To add to the tension, some members left Neal’s gym, Fortis MMA, for Phalanx MMA Academy, where Holland trains. Meanwhile, Neal’s matchup with Medic is unlikely to have an…

Former BKFC foes Mike Perry and Eddie Alvarez apparently had some unfinished business to settle outside of the ring.

In a video that surfaced on Tuesday, Perry appears to be involved in a verbal dispute with people in the crowd — with Alvarez standing nearby — at BKFC Knucklemania 6 at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. Eventually, that interaction turned into a full-blown melee, and footage seems to show Perry being punched and kicked by multiple people in the audience after he fell to the floor.

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Eventually, security was able to intervene and separate both sides. Meanwhile, Perry reacted to the incident on social media.

“They welcomed me to Philly as one of their own, and that floor was slippery as heck and his wife fell on her face, and I laughed at her,” Perry wrote. “ Looks like I was just down underneath everybody slipping for the first minute. Told y’all, eventful.”

They welcomed me to Philly as one of their…

Tom Aspinall remains on the road to recovery after undergoing surgery on both eyes.

The medical team that performed the procedure shared an update on the UFC heavyweight champion’s condition on Tuesday via Instagram. Late last year, Aspinall revealed he would need to undergo surgery after being poked in both eyes by Ciryl Gane in their title bout at UFC 321.

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“After his highly publicized eye poke injury, Optegra’s expert team is proud to have supported MMA fighter and UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall,” the post read. “Over recent months, we’ve been working closely with him on his recovery.

“Following his operation on both eyes we continue the journey to get Tom’s vision back to fighting fitness.”

Uncertain Timetable Aspinall has dealt with vision issues since UFC 321 and earlier this year shared that he was diagnosed with traumatic bilateral Brown’s syndrome, a condition which makes it difficult for an individual to move their eye freely in …

A feud between Fighting Nerds teammates Jean Silva (pictured) and Mauricio Ruffy recently became very public. | Getty UFC

After spending three weeks in Las Vegas helping Fighting Nerds members Jean Silva and Bruna Brasil in their UFC fights, Flavio Álvaro arrived in São Paulo on Monday and spoke to Sherdog.com about the conflict between Silva and Mauricio Ruffy.

A black belt in jiu-jitsu with over 60 Vale Tudo fights and one of the main figures responsible for grappling training on the team, Álvaro assures that he wasn't upset by Ruffy's statement saying that training with Volkanovski made him realize he knew nothing about grappling.

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"Ruffy hadn't shown up for grappling training at The Fighting Nerds for a long time,” Alvaro said. “He always focused on striking with us, and you can see his excellence in that area. This change of scenery to Australia certainly motivated him to train grappling, and I think that's very positive. In fact, …

Max Holloway has top billing at UFC 326, but he's unlikely to make the CBS portion of the broadcast. | Getty/UFC

For a two-hour window, UFC 326 will be broadcast on both Paramount+ and CBS.

The network announced on Tuesday that CBS will air its first-ever UFC event on March 7, simulcasting the final hour of the event’s prelims from 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT to 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and the first hour of the main card from 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT to 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. As usual, the entirety of the UFC 326 lineup will stream on Paramount+.

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UFC 326 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a BMF championship clash between Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira. A co-main event has yet to be confirmed for the card after Brian Ortega withdrew from a proposed matchup against Renato Carneiro. As it currently stands, it appears that Rob Font vs. Raul Rosas Jr. and Gregory Rodrigues vs. Bruno Ferreira would be the main card fights to …

Demetrious Johnson can’t be lured out of retirement. 

Johnson’s former foe, Henry Cejudo, recently retired from the UFC following a loss to Payton Talbott in December 2025. Cejudo is now set to compete in a wrestling match against fellow UFC veteran Urijah Faber at RAF 6 on Feb. 28 in Tempe, Arizona. Cejudo was recently telling Johnson how excited he is about the offer, which also allegedly includes a lucrative payday. Cejudo also briefly tried to convince Johnson to complete their trilogy on the wrestling mats at RAF.

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“I know, dude… I’m stoked. It’s good stuff, and they’re paying good money, DJ… A lot of people are calling you out,” Cejudo said. “This is the trilogy!”Resolute in Retirement However, Johnson was having none of it. “Mighty Mouse” is firm on his decision to stay retired from all sorts of competition.

“Don’t try to con me into this s—t,” Johnson replied. “I don’t wrestle, man. I’m retired and super busy. I’ve got my other stuff go…