Kelvin Gastelum: Learning how to be champion outside of camp will head UFC bounce-back
Less than one month removed from his loss to Joe Pyfer at UFC 316, Gastelum (19-10 MMA, 13-10 UFC) won't speculate who his next fight will be against or who it will be.
"It's unfortunate he couldn't fight in Mexico City because we wanted to use the elevation as a weapon," Gastelum recently told MMA Junkie Radio at the UFC X fan experience. "We went out there a month ahead and did everything right so that we were able to use the elevation and the training that I had out there as a weapon."
Throughout his career, Gastelum has had ups and downs – quite literally. He bounced between welterweight and middleweight, but has firmly nestled himself into the mix at the heavier weight class. He has not interest in dropping back down.
What Gastelum is focused on are the adjustments he can make to get a different result. Largely, Gastelum thinks the most room for improvement can be found in the areas of outside-the-cage discipline.
"I think I just need to make some changes maybe in my daily life," Gastelum said. "Maybe, I'll sacrifice a little bit more when I'm not in training camp. I do whatever, whenever. I go party. I go out to restaurants more than I should. When I'm not in training camp, I need to learn how to be a world champion, even when I'm not in training camp – staying disciplined and making sacrifices, even when I don't have a fight."
"... "I think over the last few years, I've been making changes in my daily life to make necessary changes so I can reflect on my career. It's a never-ending game, this MMA. I'm still trying to figure things out 13 years later, which is crazy. But here we are."
MMA is a sport of momentum, in Gastelum's eyes. Although he's alternated losses and wins across his most recent five outings, the goal hasn't changed. UFC gold is still what he strives for.
"I just know that I need to restart, man, get a fresh start, get a streak going and keep it going, just keep the ball rolling," Gastelum said. "It's so hard to build that momentum when it comes to fighting. I'm just trying to build that momentum up again to go on a run and ultimately, that's what I want."
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UFC Shanghai odds: Best betting props, parlays and picks
goes down this weekend (Sat., Aug. 23, 2025) inside Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China. The main event pitches a veteran Light Heavyweight against a young and hungry up and comer with Johnny Walker vs. Zhang Mingyang. If Zhang can get a big win, in his home country, he could be knocking on the door of a Top 10 ranking next week. UFC Shanghai's co-main event is an intriguing Featherweight tilt. Brian Ortega vs. Aljamain Sterling sees a former Featherweight title challenger take on a former Bantamweight champ, with Sterling making just his third appearance at 145 pounds. Rounding out ESPN+'s main card on Saturday is Sergei Pavlovich vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta, Sumudaerji vs. Kevin Borjas and Kiefer Crosbie vs. Taiyilake Nueraji. UFC Shanghai's 'Prelims' are headlined by Maheshate Hayisaer vs. Gauge Young. The undercard also has Lone'er Kavanagh vs. Charles Johnson. Kavanagh isn't the only fighter on the card known for exciting fights, though. UFC Shanghai's 'Prelims' also have space for the likes of Rongzhu, Yizha and Michel Pereira. As always, there's lots to bet on this card and we've got odds for all the fights below: UFC Shanghai Main Card Money Line Odds Yikes, someone must hate Johnny Walker in UFC's offices. Walker has been finished twice in a row, losing by uppercuts from Volkan Oezdemir (see it ) and Magomed Ankalaev (see it ). The Oezdemir loss was in June 2024. Since then, he has been matched up against killers Bogdan Guskov and Azamat Murzakanov. He withdrew from both of those. In a nod to the Joe Silva era, where every turned down fight brings you a tougher match-up, UFC have now put Walker against the hottest prospect in the division. Zhang carved up Anthony Smith in his last fight, making sure Smith got bloodied up before partaking in one of the longest and most saccharine retirement ceremonies UFC has ever conducted (see it ). Before that, he plowed through Ozzy Diaz, Brendson Ribeiro and Tuco Tokkos. Zhang has been fighting professionally since he was 18 and it wasn't until 2020 (when he was 22) that he hit his stride. Before 2020, he was 7-6. But, since then, he's gone undefeated (12-0). All of his career 19 wins are by stoppage (13 T/KOs, six submissions). I have concerns for Walker here. In his past two fights he's not seen the knockout blows coming and he's been wobbled and/or put down with every clean shot that has landed. The amount of damage he has taken has made it less easy to enjoy Walker's mercurial and often silly character. The antics were fun when they were paired with someone who was competitive in his division. However, his shtick is now reading more jester than comedian. Walker's defense against significant strikes is 44 percent. And that's not good enough in a division where so many guys have one-shot knockout power. Zhang certainly has that and he lands his significant strikes at a way above average 64 percent clip. Zhang has only had four UFC fights. You need five for your stats to be considered in UFC's official stat leader categories. His 64 percent right now would put him second, behind Alex Pereira who has landed 64.4 percent of his significant strikes. Second place on that list right now belongs to Murzakanov, who has landed 58.2 percent. Walker's accuracy is 53 percent, which is good enough to be sniffing around the Top 10 in that category. Zhang's significant strikes landed per-minute stat is wild. In four contests. he's landed 10.91 significant strikes per-minute. The current leader in that stat is Carlos Ulberg, who has landed 6.82 significant strikes per-minute across nine tracked contests. The current leader in the stat, for all of UFC, is Joshua Van with 8.8 significant strikes per-minute. The most significant strikes Zhang landed in a fight was 63 in his last contest against Smith, which lasted little more than four minutes. Smith's toughness and ability to not get finished a few minutes earlier is the main reason Zhang landed that many. He needed just 17 significant strikes in each of his prior two bouts to elicit finishes. If I were to make a case for Walker, I would lean heavily on his size advantage. He's four inches taller than Zhang and he has a seven-inch reach advantage. Zhang's shots are rather loopy, so it might be difficult for him to close distance and land strikes — especially if Walker keeps him away with front kicks to the body. Walker is also very unpredictable, so there's a chance he catches Zhang coming in with something like a leaping knee. Walker is also, I presume, spending time with his brother Valter Walker (I'm really clutching at straws now). Maybe his bro has been teaching him that heel hook that he's so good at? That's all I have for Walker and none of it really convinces me that Walker is going to be able to resist Zhang's ferocious fast start and all the power and volume he'll be throwing. I think Walker is going to go down again and the conversations around his chin are going to get louder. Vegas are showing Walker more respect than I was expecting. If I were an oddsmaker, I would have given him +500 or higher chances in this bout. I suppose Zhang's inexperience at this level is keeping that all in check. As it stands, -340 isn't that terrible on the moneyline in a fight that I am pretty certain is only going to go one way. Even so, there are better options out there. The round total is set at 1.5 rounds with the over at +230 and the under at -315. Those are very short odds for this round total. Vegas must think the only way Walker gets a win is with a quick knockout himself. Zhang by KO/TKO/DQ is a paltry -280. Those odds are too short for me on this kind of bet. Plus, I don't think it's out of the question that Zhang gets a submission. I can see him wrenching Walker's shoulder out of its socket for a kimura or for him to do the classic club-and-sub routine. Zhang by submission is +1200. I'll revisit that in my long shot section. Draft Kings' same game parlay for this fight has Zhang moneyline, KO/TKO/DQ method and under 4.5 rounds for -255. That's slightly tempting with those odds, but even so, I'm still wary of those submissions. For my best bet I'm looking at the winning round. Zhang to win in Round 1 is -160. Winning round, in general, is -200. I'm both confident that this doesn't get out the first round and that Walker doesn't stun Zhang, so I'll go for the longer odds here. Ortega took another beating last time out. He gave up 106 significant strikes to Diego Lopes and landed 63 on route to a unanimous decision loss. Before that, he submitted Yair Rodriguez, after getting dropped (see it ). The Rodriguez fight was a make-up fight after an injury ruined their first attempt in Mexico City. Before that, Ortega was pasted by Alexander Volkanovski in a title fight, where he was hit 214 times. Ortega is most known for that Max Holloway fight where he was hit 290 times and even had Holloway trying to coach him mid-fight on how to guard against being punched in the side of the head. Sterling is 1-1 as a Featherweight after making the jump from Bantamweight. He left his old division after Sean O'Malley knocked him out and took his belt in 2023 (see that ). In his first 145-pound fight, he smothered Calvin Kattar. In his second, he was just about out-wrestled by Movsar Evloev. Thankfully for Ortega, Sterling is not an opponent who is going to beat him up on the feet. Sterling lands 4.41 significant strikes per-minute. That's a decent number, but Sterling's shots aren't that powerful so I'm not expecting to see Ortega wading through most of this fight with that 1,000-yard stare we've grown accustomed to seeing from him. Sterling is going to try and dominate this fight with takedowns and back control. Ortega probably fancies his chances on the feet, but will also be very confident of surviving on the ground with Sterling and possibly sweeping him and threatening with submissions. I think this is going to be a close fight with Sterling's wrestling and Ortega's grappling causing a bit of a stalemate. I think Sterling will get Ortega down, but in the scrambles and guard play that ensues, Ortega can do enough to give the judges a hard a time over determining who is winning in those positions. I've been more impressed by Sterling than Ortega lately and I think he had a really good showing against Evloev, who is the Featherweight not enough folks are talking about right now. Sterling is a decent-sized favorite in this match-up and I'm somewhat tempted by his moneyline. Though, I am a little wary of that because I think Ortega's line is suffering from how bad he has looked against fighters who fight nothing like Sterling. This is a five-round fight, which feels a little odd to be honest. I think we are likely to go the distance, since I don't see either of these guys being able to finish this fight with strikes and I think both Sterling and Ortega's submission defenses are pretty high level. Ortega +5.5 at -120 is very tempting. If there's going to be a submission in this bout, I feel like Ortega might have more chances of pulling it off. His ground game might look pretty elite on Saturday morning, thanks to him being able to plan out moves and flow without his bell being rung constantly. And if we go to the scorecards, after five rounds, I doubt there's going to be a shutout either way. I think the scores could be all over the place and we might even see a split decision. Exact method of victory — decision is -200. That's also quite tempting. It's a toss up for me between Ortega plus the points and this bet. I'll go with the point spread, believing that Ortega can keep this close and go the distance. Pavlovich is coming off a very restrained win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik. The fight was terrible, with Pavlovich deciding to use lay-and-pray for long portions of the fight. That win came after he was frustrated and out-pointed by Alexander Volkov last year. In that fight, Pavlovich had no answer for Volkov's jab. Before that, he was ended by Tom Aspinall in about a minute (see that ) for the interim Heavyweight belt. Cortes-Acosta has somehow managed to put together a five-fight win streak and improve his UFC record to 7-1. This has him knocking on the door of UFC's Heavyweight title picture. Last time out, he took a very close decision over Serghei Spivac. I scored the fight for Spivac. In that fight, Cortes-Acosta was wobbled by a shot and tried to play it off like he was taunting Spivac. Among Cortes-Acosta's other wins are the departed Robelis Despaigne and Andrei Arlovski and the human punching bag, Lukasz Brzeski. This is a tough fight to predict. Pavlovich has shown a tendency to fight down to his opposition lately. And Cortes-Acosta has shown an ability to avoid big power punchers with long reaches, while not firing back with much offense of his own. This could lead to a fight that is very similar to the Pavlovich vs. Rozenstruik fight, with Pavlovich looking too cautious to engage (likely due to memories of Aspinall finishing him and Volkov lighting him up). If that happens, then we might just see a leg kick fest and a lot of time spent up against the fence. Because of how Pavlovich has looked lately, I think there is value in Cortes-Acosta as the underdog. I think the oddsmakers are assuming the Pavlovich we see on Saturday is the same one that went undefeated and earned an interim title shot. I don't know if that's the case. This belief has the round total being set at 1.5. With Pavlovich going to decision in his last two fights, and Cortes-Acosta winning half his 14 pro fights by decision, I think that round total is way too low. Most people agree with me, the odds on the over are -175. But, that's still a good bet for me. I just don't see Pavlovich steamrolling over Cortes-Acosta in this fight and I wouldn't be surprised if we get a decision after a pretty dull affair. Sumudaerji managed to earn a split decision over Mitch Raposo in his last fight. Sumudaerji earned the win thanks to his striking, but was taken down a lot. That was his first win since 2021. During his barren spell, he lost a decision to Charles Johnson, was submitted by Tim Elliott and was submitted by Matt Schnell in a 'Fight of the Year' candidate (see it ). Borjas put in a complete performance to beat Ronald Rodriguez last time out, hurting him on the feet. That was Borjas' first win inside the Octagon (not including his obligatory Contender Series fight). When you think of Sumudaerji, you think of someone who takes a lot of punishment. But that's really just because of that epic war he had with Schnell. His numbers are pretty surprising. He's actually got an excellent 60 percent defense against sig. strikes and he only absorbs 2.63 significant strikes per-minute. His own striking is pretty potent, too, albeit not terribly accurate (50 percent accuracy on significant strikes). Borjas has been involved in some back and forth brawls in his short UFC career and he's actually been hit quite a lot. His defense against sig. strikes is 51 percent and he absorbs an above average 5.99 significant strikes a minute. He only lands 5.10. That negative differential is always a red flag for me. I'm liking Sumudaerji in this match-up and I think he's going to be leading the dance on the feet. I don't think he'll get a finish, but I think he will pick up a pretty convincing decision here. Crosbie has not looked cut out for UFC life since joining the promotion in 2023. He lost his first fight in the first round to Kevin Jousset, by submission. And he lost his second fight in the first round to Sam Patterson, by submission (see it ). In both those fights, he seemed to have a total lack of understanding for fundamental grappling. He was supposed to fight veteran Kenan Song at this event. However, Song pulled out so they've hooked Taiyilake off the regional circuit to make up the numbers. He's 11-1 with all his wins being finishes. Crosbie is not a very good mixed martial artist. I know next to nothing about Taiyilake, but everything I've seen of Crosbie makes me think a hot shot KO artist fighting at home is going to sleep him. The round total for this one is 1.5 with the under at -200 and the over at +154. This is a test of how little faith I have in Crosbie. With Taiyilake unproven at this level, I'm tempted to go with the over, thinking Crosbie might be able to survive a few rounds. But, I really do think Crosbie is not cut out for this, so ultimately I'm going to go with the under. Maheshate is 2-3 in UFC and is coming off a decision loss to Nikolas Motta. Prior to that he took a split decision win over Gabriel Benitez. His most notable win is a knockout over Steve Garcia (see it ) in 2022. That knockout set Garcia on a six-fight win streak that most recently included him dominating Calvin Kattar. Young did UFC a solid by coming in on short notice to fight Evan Elder in April. He lost the decision there. His previous experience in UFC was a decision loss to Quillan Salkilld on Contender Series. The UFC are repaying Young with a fight where he will probably spend more flying his corner men out than he will getting paid to actually fight (even with a win bonus). Both Maheshate and Young have negative significant striking differentials. Young's numbers (in particular his 6.53 sig. strikes absorbed per minute) are inflated by him only having two UFC fights, though. In his second fight he gave up 115 strikes. Maheshate is not a threat to throw or land much volume, though. Maheshate has a terrible 29 percent accuracy on significant strikes. That has to be one of the lowest in the promotion. I think this could go like Maheshate's last fight in China, where he was outworked by Motta. Young might not have much upside, but I think he's going to do enough to get a decision here. Betting on sports involves risk, so please only wager amounts you can afford to lose. 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Prior to that, he beat Sumudaerji and KO'd Flyweight du jour Joshua Van (see it ). This could be our 'Fight of the Night.' Kavanagh's style is very easy on the eye and Johnson is not adverse to throwing down and having a war. Johnson lost to Temirov because he was overpowered in the first two rounds. He almost won it at the end, though, through good cardio, good boxing and a lot of motivation to try and win the fight. Kavanagh is not a fighting fire hydrant like Temirov, though. I don't think he's going to beast on Johnson and sap his strength early. This could mean Johnson is able to get off to a good start. If that happens, he's a serious threat to hand Kavanagh his first pro loss. I kind of hope that happens, that would give us a great fight. Either way, though, I don't think there's too much between who these fighters are right now. I do think Kavanagh has a lot more upside, though. The round total is 2.5 and the over is -395. I'm disappointed those odds aren't longer, so then that bet could bail me out of making a pick here. I'm going to pick Johnson, though, believing he might carry on from that good third round against Temirov and look to start this fight with a fire under him. Rongzhu fought an awesome fight against highly-touted prospect, Kody Steele, last time out. As an underdog, he lit up Steele with his striking and earned 'Fight of the Night' honors. Before that, he lost to Chris Padilla due to a doctor's stoppage, after an elbow strike caused his eye to swell shut. Hubbard has lost back-to-back split decisions against MarQuel Mederos and Alexander Hernandez. In both those fights, he failed to get out of first gear and really commit to any kind of offense, whether it be striking or his so-called strong suit, wrestling. I really like watching Rongzhu fight. He does it with a lot of verve and desire to win. Hubbard does not do that. He always looks like he's trying to figure out how and why he got here. Hubbard's lack of conviction is enough for me to fade him here, especially when his striking seems a step below Rongzhu's and given how good Rongzhu's takedown defense is (84 percent). I don't know what's going on with Pereira. His last fight, with Abus Magomedov, may be one of the worst fights of the year. He put on a flashy walkout and then did next to nothing in the fight. Magomedov didn't do much more than that, but he did wobble Pereira once or twice. Before that Pereira took one of the worst beatdowns I've seen in recent memory. That was to Anthony Hernandez, though, so you can forgive some of that. Daukus is back with UFC for the first time since 2022, when he lost to Eryk Anders and Roman Dolidze, both by technical knockout. Since then, he's been a champ in CFFC. Oh boy… what to do with this fight. I have serious questions over what Pereira has left in the tank after these two most recent displays. Daukaus isn't UFC quality, but his length and wrestling might be enough to beat up on an out of sorts Pereira. If Pereira comes out like in the past, full of confidence and willing to blitz with fierce and bizarre striking combos, then I think that all will be too much for the slow and hittable Daukaus. It's just hard to know which Pereira shows up. If it's the good Pereira, then I think he gets a finish. If it's the bad Pereira, then I think we are going the distance. The round total is 1.5, which is low. I think I'll take the over here to try and find that happy medium between the two Pereira's. Yizha had a war with the very good Gabriel Santos in his last fight. He was second best for that whole fight and lost an obvious decision, but he showed a lot of toughness and grit. He got that Santos fight off a successful run in Road to UFC. That was his second stint on the show. His first run ended with a split decision loss to Jeong Yeong Lee. I think UFC brought him back a second time because he puts on good fights. The 36-year-old Wilson got his first UFC win in his last fight (which was over a year ago). He submitted Jeka Saragih with a triangle armbar in the first round (see it ). He got that win after being fed into the wood chipper for his first two bouts, with technical knockout losses to Jean Silva and Joanderson Brito. Right now Yizha is one of the biggest favorites in UFC history. And a lot of that is down to how ineffective Wilson has been for the bulk of his time in the Octagon. I've already written a lot about significant strike differential, but get a load of Wilson's — he lands just 1.68 significant strikes per-minute (a very low number) and he absorbs 5.72 per-minute (a very high number). Usually, when it comes to these negative differentials, the numbers are pretty similar (like with Yizha, who lands 2.8 and absorbs 2.83). Wilson being this hittable is a big problem in this match-up. Yizha has good boxing and he should be able to find Wilson's chin. The round total is 1.5 and the under is -175. I'm taking that because I only have that and the moneyline to choose from and no one should ever be betting on -1200 odds. Long's striking was on point in his last fight. He put down Quang Le in the third round after touching him up throughout the fight (see it ). Prior to that he lost a split decision to Chang Ho Lee. Lee looked like a beast when he beat up Cortavious Romious earlier this year. You is 2-0 in UFC (not including his two wins on Road to UFC). Last time out, he took a decision over AJ Cunningham. He dominated Cunningham with his wrestling in that bout. This is a real coin flip. I like Long's striking. But, I really like You's wrestling. I think You is going to be capable of nullifying Long's striking more than Long is able to nullify his wrestling. Nurgozhay came off his Contender Series win and laid a big ol' egg in the Octagon for his proper debut. He missed weight for his fight with Brendson Ribeiro and then looked terrible in the fight itself. He was tagged by Ribeiro, who himself has looked terrible more than once in the Octagon, and was then submitted with a kimura (see it ). He was a -400 favorite for that fight. Satybaldiev lost his UFC debut, too. He was out-worked by Martin Buday (who was recently released after he beat Marcus Buchecha). That was at Heavyweight, on short notice. Satybaldiev vacated his LFA Light Heavyweight title to do that. I have very low expectations for both of these guys and this fight itself. I think we could be in for some very lazy and haphazard Light Heavyweight MMA. I suppose you could chalk up both their past performances as 'Octagon jitters.' That would be nice, maybe we would get a decent contest out of them here then. My bet will be on Satybaldiev and it's mostly because of his size. He'll have five inches of reach on Nurgozhay and he's just a lot thicker. I think that will help drain Nurgozhay in the clinch on route to a decision win. UFC Shanghai Long Shots! Here's a couple of long shots for Saturday's action. This fight probably ends in a knockout by Zhang. However, I do think there's a chance Zhang knocks Walker down and, during Walker's subsequent flailing around, a submission opportunity could present himself. There's also the chance that Walker has studied some leg locks under his brother. If Walker has awareness of where he is in his career right now and how much damage he has taken, he would be wise to investigate this as a route to victory (especially against Zhang). Fighters being self-aware is never a sure thing, though. Either way, I'll take a little punt on this one ending with a tap out. I think Sterling vs. Ortega is a very close fight and that it will go the distance, with neither Ortega or Sterling having the skill set that has traditionally caused either man a lot of pain and regret. With this fight going five rounds, there's a lot of room for scorecards to disagree with each other. Due to how this fight will play out, with scrambles on the ground, reversals, sub attempts from the bottom, etc., there will likely be lots of different ways to interpret who won a given round. All that spells out a likely split or majority decision for me. I think Sterling likely gets that decision, due to how much top and back control time I think he'll suck up. I've put two underdogs together here. I think Charles Johnson is a very stiff test for the young Lone'er Kavanagh and that we might see Johnson edge past him after a very fun fight. I think Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Sergei Pavlovich might be the opposite of a fun fight. I think there's a real chance that Pavlovich under performs again and that he gets sucked into a long and boring fight with Cortes-Acosta. If that happens, Cortes-Acosta is just as likely to win as the favored Pavlovich. LIVE! Stream UFC Shanghai On ESPN+ LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT MONSTERS! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to Shanghai, China, on Sat., Aug. 23, 2025, with UFC Shanghai: 'Walker vs. Zhang' inside Shanghai Indoor Stadium. In the main event, explosive 205-pound standout, Johnny Walker, faces fast-rising knockout artist, Zhang Mingyang, in a high-stakes clash scheduled for five, five-minute rounds. In UFC Shanghai's co-main event, top-ranked Featherweight contenders, Brian Ortega vs. Aljamain Sterling, square off, both aiming to solidify their spot in the 145-pound title miss a single second of face-punching action! Where to Buy: Check price at STREAM NOW Remember that will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire fight card, starting with the ESPN+ 'Prelims' matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 3 a.m. ET, before the main card start time at 6 a.m. ET (also on ESPN+). To checkout the latest and greatest UFC Shanghai: 'Walker vs. Zhang' news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right .
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3 hours ago
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Israel Adesanya once dismissed ‘Rat Lip' Khamzat, but now he's reversing course after UFC 319 blowout — ‘The division is in good hands'
Times have changed. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) boogeyman Khamzat Chimaev captured Middleweight gold at UFC 319 last night (Sat., Aug. 16, 2025) by completely dominating former 185-pound kingpin Dricus du Plessis, winning via unanimous decision inside the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Several fighters reacted to Chimaev's title-winning performance, including a surprising voice of praise: former champion Israel Adesanya, who once dismissed 'rat lip' as unimpressive. In a complete 180, Adesanya now believes the division he once ruled is in very good hands. 'Not what I expected, but I'm glad Khamzat fixed his cardio, or improved his cardio to the point where he can go five rounds and just rag doll people,' Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. 'That's a mess to deal with, because I thought DDP, maybe Round 4, he'd be able to stuff the takedowns because Khamzat would get tired, but he didn't slow down. 'He slowed down DDP. He slowed him down, which is very impressive because that's why he finished me in Round 4,' Adesanya added. 'I thought, OK, I got him now, but he just finds a way to get his third wind, his fourth wind. But Khamzat made sure he didn't get the first wind and just smothered him. Khamzat, new middleweight champion, and yeah, the division is in good hands.' Depending on how active Chimaev can be, the division may be in incredible hands. Already a big superstar, 'Borz' now looks nearly unbeatable. Chimaev built his reputation on relentless activity, and if he has his way, he'll be back inside the cage as soon as UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi. On top of his skills — and possible quick turnaround — the Middleweight division is stocked with fresh contenders who make for fun stylistic matchups and compelling storylines. So, yeah — 'Borz' is not only great for the division, but it's safe to say the belt is in capable hands. For more UFC 319 results, coverage, and highlights click .
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3 hours ago
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No mercy? UFC releases promising ‘Butcher,' TUF 29 winner after disastrous scale fail
Bryan has lost the Battle. Just five days after missing weight by four pounds and causing the cancelation of his UFC 319 fight, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 29 winner and Welterweight prospect, Bryan Battle, has been released from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The unfortunate news was first reported by social media account UFC Roster Watch. Battle's release comes as a surprise given his strong Octagon resume. The 30-year-old North Carolina native went 7-1 during his UFC tenure, earning four stoppages, three 'Performance of the Night' bonuses, and one of the most memorable post-fight interviews in recent years after knocking out Kevin Jousset in Paris (watch it below). His only loss came to Rinat Fakhretdinov. Still, weight management issues plagued his run. Battle missed the scale three times under UFC's banner, including two egregious misses. While he deflected blame after one failed cut at UFC 310, he was more forthcoming following last week's disaster, admitting his body may no longer handle the cut as easily and even saying he would understand if the promotion cut ties. Now, it has. Despite the setback, Battle remains young and has options. He could regroup on the regional scene, rack up a few wins, and make a UFC return. Or, he could test free agency and pursue the $500,000 season prize in Professional Fighters League (PFL). For now, UFC fans will remember him as a TUF champion who brought grit, finishes and some unforgettable moments inside the cage. So long, 'Butcher.' Thanks for the memories. To checkout UFC's upcoming schedule of events click here.
