Month: December 2024

Check out these photos from the fights at RIZIN 49, their big New Year’s Eve show featuring three title fights at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. (Photos courtesy of RIZIN FF) Hiroto Gomyo def. Koki Akada – RIZIN 49 Hiroto Gomyo def. Koki Akada – RIZIN 49 Hiroto Gomyo def. Koki Akada – RIZIN

Mike Valle’s work has been seen in premiere MMA for a long time. However, 2024 was the year when his coaching really stood out. The veteran trainer, who operates out of Chicago with VFS Academy, helped create two UFC champions this year and helped further the trajectories of other UFC and regional fighters. Valle’s most

Kevin Holland sees Belal Muhammad as an easier fight than Dricus Du Plessis. Holland, who has extensive experience under the UFC banner across multiple weight classes, was asked how he would stack up against both welterweight champion Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) and middleweight champion Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC). Having competed at both

Aaron Pico, once regarded as perhaps the biggest prospect in MMA history, could soon be on the move. At 20, Pico made his MMA debut in 2017 under the Bellator banner. There was some turbulence in the early portion of his career, but he has currently won nine of his past 10 fights, with the

Kyoji Horiguchi experienced multiple scares from Nkazimulo Zulu at RIZIN 49: Decade, but he ultimately found his path to victory and defended the flyweight title. After largely dominating in the opening round of the matchup on Tuesday in Saitama, Japan, Zulu (16-7-1) achieved his biggest moment when he rocked the former UFC title challenger with

Hall of Famer Michael Bisping foresees a changing of the guard in four UFC divisions by the end of 2025. Every year, the UFC crowns new champions in multiple divisions, guaranteeing a new landscape every 12 months. In 2024, titles changed hands seven times, and in 2023, a record-tying 11 times, so Bisping sees a

With the top of the UFC’s featherweight division featuring a slew of names that range from the reigning champ Ilia Topuria to the streaking Diego Lopes, it’s not hard to make a case for multiple 145ers on the come-up when it comes to awarding 2024’s Under-the-Radar Fighter of the Year. Although fighters like Lerone Murphy

The voting for the UFC’s 2024 awards continues this week with some of the best “Say Uncle” moments of the year. Few people hate on a good old-fashioned submission in MMA, and the UFC had plenty to pick from the past dozen months. But they’ve been boiled down to the best four. What would your

If UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja is running out of options, Khabib Nurmagomedov has a suggestion. Pantoja (29-5 MMA, 13-3 UFC) has already notched three title defenses over Brandon Royval, Steve Erceg, and most recently Kai Asakura at UFC 310. He holds wins over the majority of the UFC’s top 15 flyweights. Nurmagomedov thinks former

Thirteen years ago, a former UFC champion made his final walk to the octagon. At UFC 141 in 2011, Alistair Overeem stopped former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in a main event at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The event’s poster touted the size of both men: Lesnar standing at 6-foot-3, 265 pounds, and

There were fight cards in 2024 that were put together to be too big to fail. And in the business of selling pay-per-views, that’s obviously a very smart thing. But how often do those shows turn into ones that were merely good for “on-paper” views, and when it came time to deliver the goods, they left

Khalil Rountree experienced something strange in his brutal loss to UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. Rountree (13-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) was battered in a Round 4 TKO loss to Pereira at UFC 307 this past October. He underwent septoplasty surgery from the damage suffered in the fight. Although Rountree failed to become champion, he

Now that the dust has settled, Damon Jackson has made the decision not to retire from MMA. Jackson (23-8-1 MMA, 6-6-1 UFC) took his gloves off and left them in the middle of the octagon following his first-round submission loss to Jim Miller at UFC 309 in November. All signs point to him walking away

Azamat Murzakanov has accepted a six-month suspension for violating the UFC’s anti-doping program, despite proof there was no performance-enhancing element to his situation. Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) announced Monday through the UFC that Murzakanov (14-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) tested positive for a banned substance prior to his scheduled fight with Nikita Krylov at UFC 308.

UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is aiming for a very active 2025. Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) kicks off next year with a title defense against Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC 311 on Jan. 18 in Inglewood, Calif. (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+). If he gets past Nurmagomedov, Dvalishvili is

Joaquin Buckley emerged as a UFC welterweight title contender in 2024. Buckley (21-6 MMA, 11-4 UFC) entered 2024 2-0 after dropping back down to 170 pounds. He kicked the year off with a big finish of perennial contender Vicente Luque at UFC on ESPN 54 in March, and campaigned for a spot at UFC on

Every year, the UFC sees championship turnover in multiple divisions. Following a record-tying year in 2023 where 11 new champions were crowned, UFC championships changed hands seven times in 2024. The first title fights of 2025 take place at UFC 311 on Jan. 18 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. In the main event, Islam

Sean Brady insists on getting his hands on his first ex-UFC champion for his octagon return. The top welterweight contender once again called out Leon Edwards, who’s the most recent former UFC welterweight champion after losing his belt to Belal Muhammad in July, for a showdown in Edwards’ home country. Brady (17-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC)