Mansher Khera happy UFC finally gave him a look – and now awaits the real call-up
Mansher Khera waited and waited... and waited some more.
When a call from his manager Jason House finally came, the timing and circumstances weren't ideal – but Khera (9-0) found a way to emphatically make things work.
"I got the contract two weeks before the fight," Khera recently told MMA Junkie. "I think my opponent was supposed to fight somebody else. I don't know what happened. But then, two weeks before the fight, I got the opportunity, and of course, I was not going to turn it down. These opportunities come once in a lifetime, so I was like, 'Hell yeah, man.'"
While it wasn't the direct UFC call he'd hoped for, Khera was happy to accept a Road to UFC bout on short notice. On May 22, he dominated experienced Chinese fighter Aziz Khaydarov en route to a unanimous decision.
Khera sees room for improvement, despite sweeping the scorecards. He has already identified specific factors that suppressed his potential.
"It was a pretty sh*tty performance, to be honest with you," Khera said. "Not getting the finish. If I had gotten the finish, I'd have been really, really happy. I was happy with my composure. I was happy with my composure and the things that I could control. I just know that there is so much more to my performance than I showed last night. I just felt like that was maybe me at 40 percent. I found out two weeks before. I literally got my visa last-minute. I was in Canada.
"... So everything that went into it was hectic and my time in Shanghai, I didn't really have time to adapt to the time zone. It's 12-hour difference. I was not getting any sleep. I had to cut weight and like I said, I didn't have a big fight camp. So I had a lot of weight to lose. Everything was just hectic. If I'm being honest, I didn't feel like my best self. But that's the fight game. Everybody has something going into the fight. That helped me power through it because I knew my opponent had his own struggles as well."
Khera, 33, is an accomplished BJJ black-belt, who transitioned fully into MMA in 2021. His record is unblemished and he won Fury FC lightweight gold in November.
While he's a little on the older side for a fighter the UFC would typically onboard, Khera is an atypical talent. Complementing his abilities, Khera is a proud Indian-American, a group underrepresented in MMA.
Despite his self-criticism, the win certainly didn't harm Khera's chances of a real UFC call. Even though he's a bigger lightweight, he'll stay by the phone ready to accept whatever offer comes through.
"I haven't heard anything from the UFC yet," Khera said. "I'm just going off of what my manager is telling me. He told me that this is a really good opportunity and whatever happens after is going to lead me toward the path of being in the UFC. But what exactly? I'm not sure. I should fight out soon. He did tell me that this gets in the system. Now, I'm in the UFC system. I have my bloodwork done. I have my brain scan, everything, done. I just stay ready because who knows? It could be another short-notice fight pretty soon. I'm just trying to stay prepared so I'm in the gym today."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
27 minutes ago
- USA Today
Chael Sonnen still wants to see Bo Nickal fight Khamzat Chimaev, but 'we are not there'
Chael Sonnen includes Bo Nickal in his list of desired opponents for new UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev. Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) claimed the middleweight title with a dominant grappling display over Dricus Du Plessis in Saturday's UFC 319 headliner at United Center in Chicago. Many are wondering who can stop Chimaev, and Sonnen thinks Nickal's wrestling background as a three-time NCAA Division I champion could make it an interesting fight. Nickal (7-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) is coming off his first-career loss when he was finished by Reinier de Ridder at UFC on ESPN 67. Sonnen clarified he does not mean Nickal has earned that opportunity now, but that doesn't mean he doesn't hope to see the fight someday. "I love the idea of Caio (Borralho) getting that opportunity," Sonnen said on "Good Guy/Bad Guy" with Daniel Cormier. "I don't want to continue down my usual road of dismissing (Nassourdine) Imavov. When Imavov got over on Izzy, he got a brand new look from me. But if you made me just throw one name at you, I mean, listen, not for nothing, I really want to see him go with Bo Nickal. That's just personally. I understand that we are not there. I like that idea." Sonnen went onto give his pick for Chimaev's current biggest threat. "I'm not dismissive to 'Fluffy' Hernandez, but the one that could offer the biggest threat from what we've seen in the past, and that's going to be De Ridder," Sonnen said. "One thing that Chimaev, and one of the reasons his fight with Gilbert Burns was so fun and so unusual, is he respected Gilbert's ground game so much that he wasn't in a huge hurry to get him there like he was Saturday against Dricus. I only offer you that De Ridder's ground game is respected in the same regard. He's a tremendous jiu-jitsu player, but specifically from the bottom. So, I like RDR right now."
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
What do the Nets have in former UNC forward Drake Powell?
NEW YORK -- The Brooklyn Nets selected forward Drake Powell out of the University of North Carolina with the 22nd overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft about two months ago. Brooklyn made five first-round picks in the Draft and Powell is one of the players that could present a different skill set from the rest of the class. Powell is ready for the change in role. "I feel like my defense, that's mainly just pride. That's just something that I've had since growing up at a young age playing with my older brother, older cousin," Powell said during the press conference that the Nets put on with the rookies following the Draft. Coming into the Draft, Powell was regarded as the prototypical 3-and-D wing who has the potential to add more to his game due to how he played in high school. "He didn't put up flashy numbers as a freshman, but he showed glimpses of his potential on both ends," Bleacher Report's NBA staff wrote in its scouting report of Powell. "His frame, motor and willingness to compete give him a strong foundation to build on. Of course, Powell's game is still raw, especially on offense. He will need time to polish his handle, shot and feel, particularly in the half court." Powell, 19, is coming off a 2024-25 college basketball season at North Carolina in which he averaged 7.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 48.3% from the field and 37.9% from three-point land. Despite heading into his freshman season as a 2024 McDonald's All-American, Powell was asked to play a supporting role to RJ Davis and Ian Jackson. Powell will be entering a 2025-26 season in which he will have to compete with the likes of Michael Porter Jr., Ziaire Williams, and Terance Mann for playing time at the small forward position for the Nets. Brooklyn finished the 2024-25 season 20th in defensive rating (115.8) so if Powell can bring their defensive ability to the floor early on, he may be able to play enough to show his growth on the offensive end as well.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'This is a power grab': What boxing insiders really think about planned revisions to Ali Act
More than a dozen insiders in boxing — from promoters to fighters, coaches, and experts across the business in logistics, broadcast and law — are divided over a fast-moving piece of federal legislation that could reshape the sport in the U.S. Some told Uncrowned it's a long-overdue modernization that boosts fighter welfare and injects fresh capital into a stagnating market. Most, though, warn it's a Trojan horse for monopoly power, designed to strip away the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act's core protections while concentrating control in the hands of a single promoter. That promoter is likely TKO Group Holdings, parent company of the UFC, which supports a bill co-sponsored by the U.S. Representatives Brian Jack (R-GA) and Sharice Davids (D-KS), a former MMA fighter. They've pitched the Muhammad Ali American Revival Act as a way to give boxers 'more opportunities, better pay, and greater safety standards.' A UFC spokesperson told ESPN in July that it's a 'thoughtful solution' that offers 'more choices and opportunities, greater health and safety protections, and better pay for up-and-coming fighters.' On a later investor call, TKO executives insisted the Ali Act remains intact — but said the bill introduces a new category alongside the existing sanctioning bodies: The Unified Boxing Organization, or UBO. A UBO would run its own rankings, crown its own champions, and stage its own events — a self-contained circuit that could, in theory, sit alongside the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF. All sources that Uncrowned spoke to received anonymity to speak freely. 'This is a power grab,' one industry insider said. TKO and UFC executives have stressed that they're not changing the wording of the Ali Act, but instead amending the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996. Critics say that distinction is exactly the point. By existing under a prospective 'UBO' category, a promoter could run a fully sanctioned boxing league without having to comply with the Ali Act's rules — no requirement to disclose fight purses, ticket sales or broadcast revenue to athletes, and no firewall between promoter, sanctioning body and rankings. 'UBO basically means they just get to be the UFC in boxing without having to abide by the Ali Act disclosures,' one source said. Another warned: 'If they don't have to comply [with the Ali Act], then it's an unfair advantage over every other promoter.' Not everyone sees the bill as a threat to sport, though. Andy Foster, executive officer of the California State Athletic Commission — one of the most influential regulators in the U.S. — told "The Ariel Helwani Show" last week that he believes a well-financed company with broadcast muscle entering boxing lifts the sport, rather than buries others operating within it. 'Any time you get a big corporation that is well-financed, and has good broadcast deals — that's good for fighters,' Foster said. 'I expect a broadcast deal, for it to be televised, and I expect it will be good for American boxers. It will make stars out of people we normally wouldn't have seen.' Foster pointed to the UFC's track record in MMA as proof of what sustained investment and promotion can do for athlete visibility. 'Go back to 2004 or 2005, 'The Ultimate Fighter' with Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar. Go back then and see how it has progressed. If it can do 5% of that, boxing will be benefitted.' One area in which UFC progressed MMA beyond boxing is the construction of its Performance Institutes. This reporter toured the Las Vegas facility multiple times, which is open to any athlete from any sport. Uncrowned has seen boxers there, WNBA stars and football players. While other sportspeople have to pay for its use, anyone on the UFC roster gets rehabilitation, strength and conditioning, and their nutrition taken care of for free. The UFC is in the red $7 million every year for keeping the facility running, one P.I. exec said. There is nothing like this in boxing. Any boxer who joins TKO's venture would be privy to that facility and the state-of-the-art departments within it. It is a significant benefit to an up-and-coming fighter who is perhaps overlooked in, or discarded from, the current system. Foster continued by avoiding weighing in on the business-side changes or Ali Act exemptions, and strongly supports the bill's welfare provisions, especially for lower-paid boxers. 'Ali Act is decided by seven-figure boxers,' he said. 'This bill sets a national minimum, insurance requirements, medical requirements. In my view, these are good things that will help low-income boxers.' California already has the highest minimum in the country — $200 a round — a standard Foster says works fine. The proposed $600 minimum for a four-round fight is, in his view, 'more than reasonable,' and wouldn't put regional promoters out of business. 'If people should be making $150 a round, or more, and have insurance … this should happen,' Foster finished. Other industry voices echo that optimism. One Uncrowned source said the bill could push the sport toward higher standards, even if it forces smaller players to adapt, or bow out entirely. 'This law will put pressure to raise the standards, but it will be hard for a small promoter to keep a guy who can get better money, services, and insurance elsewhere,' they said. 'Fighters deserve that. They deserve more than $150 a round, really.' This source cited what they saw as parallels to how UFC built its ecosystem in MMA. 'They didn't get rid of low-level promoters — they co-opted them and fed them talent. If they're successful, they may be making opportunities for others. UFC spawned PFL — it may spawn others.' But for most of the insiders Uncrowned spoke to, the risks far outweigh the potential gains. One promoter was blunt about boxing's fragile state: 'It would be crazy to not set up boxing so you could do that,' they said. 'The sport is on life support right now.' Their biggest worry is the disappearing television deals. The sport is yet to replace the absence of premium broadcasters HBO, Showtime Sports, and most recently, ESPN. This has led the sport to a near-wasteland, if it weren't for DAZN. Top Rank is scrambling for a partner. Premier Boxing Champions is reduced to a half-dozen shows a year on Prime Video, despite a significant roster. Without television, this source said, no promoter can sustain a UFC-style system. 'I don't see how the sport is sustainable without TV,' that source said, adding that disappearing broadcast revenue across the board is a far greater problem for boxing than whatever TKO has planned. And even if a company like TKO secures a lucrative broadcast deal, smaller promoters already feel squeezed out by the cost of staging shows. 'Buying slots on other promoters' cards is cheaper than running your own card,' this source said. 'It's a huge problem.' Others frame the bill's supposed welfare improvements as a marketing sleight-of-hand. A veteran boxing coach dismissed the minimum pay and insurance provisions as window dressing: 'Every fight you do already has insurance,' this source said. 'Are you putting lipstick on a pig? It's still a pig!' A boxing manager Uncrowned spoke to was unimpressed by the proposed floor of $150 per round because, as they said, '$150 is low. We can make more money than that in a four-round fight [for our lower-level fighters].' One millionaire boxer, who has yet to take part in a title fight, told Uncrowned their own experience under their current promoters has been exemplary. 'My promoter has paid me very well,' they said. 'I'd have no intention to leave for the payment scale TKO is suggesting.' For others, the issue is less about pay and more about power. A legal expert said the bill's creation of Unified Boxing Organizations would remove the single biggest check on a promoter's influence — the Ali Act's transparency requirements. The same source flagged an even deeper concern — that a UBO could merge the role of promoter and sanctioning body: 'Who decides who fights who [in this scenario]?' They said the bill is 'tailored to let the UFC do to boxing what it does in MMA — without obeying the Ali Act.' They then questioned whether this would help the U.S. market at all, particularly if fighters progressed through a TKO league, only for finals to end up on Riyadh Season, far away from the States. 'How does this help American boxing? How does it revive the American market?' That sentiment — that this is more about control than reform — came up repeatedly in Uncrowned's conversations. One boardroom executive said flatly that legislative changes only serve to 'benefit the people who have put the changes in, obviously, for their own benefit.' They questioned why a UBO would be exempt from disclosing revenues to fighters: 'Why? That's why that model, that business, is so much more successful than boxing — because 80% or more of the revenue isn't going out the window from the get-go.' They predicted the UFC's 'take-it-or-leave-it' negotiating style will come with it into boxing. 'If you don't like it, then don't fight.' That, they said, is a fundamental shift from how boxing contracts currently work: 'In our contracts, minimums are just where you start. No one actually fights for the minimum.' Another industry veteran called the bill 'a problem in search of a problem,' adding: 'I fail to see anything good about it. Even the four-rounders [with major promoters] are getting $6,000–$10,000 … so $150 a round is an embarrassment.' This source said that removing the firewall between promoters, rankings, and managers would allow promoters to control who gets title shots, and who doesn't. When it's 'completely within the promoters' control' it becomes 'an illusory process,' they said. In this source's view, fighters would be giving up their only protections in exchange for scraps at the table. 'Trading [existing] protections for $150 a round and $25,000 of insurance doesn't make sense.' And if the structure mirrors UFC's in MMA, they warned, boxing will be 'UFC-ified' within five years, and lead to 'all-consuming control of a fighter's career by the promoter.' From the legal side, the most troubling detail for multiple sources is that a UBO could bypass key provisions in the Muhammad Ali Act. Under the Ali Act, promoters must disclose to fighters 'the amounts of any compensation, all fees and charges,' as well as purse and gate figures. To qualify that point, Uncrowned has heard from key decision-makers time and again at numerous marquee Las Vegas events, from Saul "Canelo" Alvarez's shows, to Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford and heavyweight spectacles, that even a media budget — from hiring a room for press conferences and other activations throughout the week, to food and beverages — are signed off by the headlining fighters. Those athletes have complete oversight and awareness of what all costs are related to their events, and where every dollar goes. That requirement — found in Section 13 of the Ali Act — would not apply to a UBO. The same expert pointed to Section 11, which grants fighters the right to appeal rankings decisions. UBOs, he said, would not have to honor that. 'The promoter also being the sanctioning body — [this is the] biggest problem people have' because there are appeals processes in the Ali Act, but 'a UBO is not going to have to do that.' Without those protections, this source warned, rankings could be manipulated to lock fighters into long-term deals, with those same fighters being told by an UBO: 'Look, you're getting paid what it says [and] not a penny more.' This source argued that fighter pay minimums under the bill are meaningless in practice: '$25,000 medical [is a] modest improvement, at best; $150 a round [is] inconsequential. You can't even get opponents for that.' And the business model, this source suggested, is designed to dominate the top of the sport. 'Antitrust is when you control all top fighters and the title — that's monopoly.' The endgame, the source said, is for a TV deal paid by boxing financier Turki Alalshikh, a key partner for TKO in boxing, for which TKO get a flat fee. The same source predicted that if the bill passes, other promoters might rush to form their own UBOs — flooding the sport with new titles and further diluting championships. 'What's to stop every other promoter from forming one? Twenty UBO belts is even crazier [than the situation we have right now].' And even if the first UBO is built in the U.S., he said, the real business plan may lie overseas. It is contrary to a revival of American boxing if the biggest bouts from this prospective venture heads to Riyadh, the source said. For this source, and for many of the bill's critics that Uncrowned spoke to, the bottom line is simple: 'Anyone on the business side who is for this is either delusional, ignorant … or getting something,' one source said. Whether the Muhammad Ali American Revival Act becomes law may depend less on the boxing industry's divided opinion than on the political and financial momentum behind it. TKO Group Holdings has the resources, relationships and lobbying muscle to push the bill through Congress, and multiple sources told Uncrowned they doubt there's enough organized opposition to stop it. 'No way this bill won't pass without major uproar,' one source said, 'and not enough people care,' they finished. If passed, the legislation could open the door to a new kind of promotional monopoly in boxing — one that mirrors the UFC's model in MMA, where a single company controls matchmaking, titles, rankings and broadcast rights. To some, that's a nightmare scenario that undermines decades of hard-fought protections for fighters. To others, it's a chance to inject stability, marketing muscle and mainstream visibility into a fragmented sport struggling to connect with casual fans. The split in opinion reflects a deeper truth about boxing in 2025 — this is a sport that is independent but vulnerable. Its best nights still generate global attention and life-changing purses. But those nights are few and far between as the business is too fractured, and the financial stakes make it an irresistible target for corporate consolidation. Whether the bill ushers in a new era of opportunity or accelerates the sport's decline will depend on how — and by whom — the first Unified Boxing Organization is built. If history is any guide, the fighters who step through the ropes will feel the consequences long before the rest of us do.
