'You kidding me?': Fighters lose their minds over Lerone Murphy's KO of Aaron Pico at UFC 319
Murphy (17-0-1 MMA, 9-0-1 UFC) was tasked with welcoming Bellator and PFL veteran Pico (13-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) to the octagon in the co-headliner at United Center in Chicago. Just like every other time in his career, he refused to lose and emerged with a METHOD triumph to further elevate his own profile in the 145-pound title picture.
Check below for the top X (formerly Twitter) reactions to Murphy beating Pico at UFC 319.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: 'You kidding me?': Fighters lose their minds over huge UFC 319 knockout
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USA Today
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Dana White's Contender Series 78 faceoff highlights video, photo gallery from Las Vegas
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Yahoo
an hour ago
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MMA pound-for-pound rankings, August 2025: Khamzat Chimaev makes giant leap after UFC 319
Listen, Khamzat Chimaev cares very little about what you have to say about his performance on Saturday night at UFC 319. He didn't eke out a decision against Dricus du Plessis in Chicago; he turned him into a crash test dummy. Those 50-44 scorecards felt merciful in the eyes of the public. Boring, you say? Dominance of that kind doesn't concern itself with approvals in pay-per-view aesthetics. Boring of his kind doesn't come with emotion. Chimaev is no longer a cameo on the men's side of Uncrowned's MMA Pound-for-Pound Rankings — he's now right in the thick of things. He makes a drastic leap this month into the top five, this time as the UFC's middleweight champion. And for the first time in a long time, a familiar name slips through the cracks. Dricus du Plessis is out. And PFL, do you have any plans for Francis Ngannou? If not, perhaps the UFC should like to borrow him. The panel of Ben Fowlkes, Chuck Mindenhall, Shaheen Al-Shatti, Petesy Carroll, Drake Riggs, Eric Jackman and Conner Burks have ranked both the men's and women's pound-for-pound best, one through 10, using a weighted points system to determine the final rankings (being voted No. 1 equals 10 points, No. 2 equals nine points, down to No. 10 equaling one point). Our only criterion for these monthly rankings is that a fighter has competed within at least a calendar year of the publication date or has at least had a fight booked within that window. If a fighter hasn't competed in a year and books a fight after that time, he or she is once again eligible to be voted back in. Fighters who retire are no longer eligible for the rankings. Though most of the best fighters are currently in the UFC, these rankings are not UFC exclusive. We take into consideration all the major promotions, from Bellator/PFL conglomerate to ONE Championship. 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Khamzat Chimaev — UFC middleweight champion Chimaev seems to be embracing the super-villain persona we have long assigned for him, yet it wasn't those demonic comportments that people groused about after his thrashing of Dricus du Plessis — it was that he removed any drama from the fight in opening seconds and never allowed it to be a competitive fight. Shame on him! (And expect more of that.) 6. Tom Aspinall — UFC heavyweight champion The one name that Aspinall doesn't want to hear — at least not until he's done with his business with Ciryl Gane — is the name that rhymes with Don Phones. That was one of the most exhaustive stretches of his career, and neither man even threw a punch at the other. Now it's time to see what the heavyweight division looks like with the Main Man from Wigam at the wheel. 7. 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Jack Della Maddalena — UFC welterweight champion "JDM" is like a Posturepedic mattress, as people love to sleep on him. They are doing it again in his upcoming title defense against the famous division-jumper Makhachev. Yet you know what Della Maddalena isn't? A soft landing spot. There's already the sound of far-off construction to be heard just outside the door. Construction in the area? Neighbors cutting lumber? No, no, no, that's the buzzsaw from Perth, getting closer. 10. Alex Pereira — UFC light heavyweight contender And look who's back in the top 10, even though he didn't have a fight since our last rankings! Ol' 'Poatan' himself. Pereira enjoyed a little leisure time ahead of his rematch with "Ank," which takes place in October, yet you know he's working on a couple of things. Namely, not to over-respect the threat of the takedown, and when to pull the trigger when that Dagestani mug is in striking distance. 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The first-round submission? No? At this point it feels like a select American audience searches out Izawa's fights the way that record lovers used to go after Japanese imports in the 1970s; it's a hipster passion that loves being ahead of the curve. One day we'll see Izawa in the UFC, and, by joven, we'll smugly say, 'this version's cool, but her earlier work was transcendent.' 10. Manon Fiorot — UFC strawweight contender That loss against Shevchenko was a tough pill to swallow, but the good news is Manon gets to take on the red-hot Jasmine Jasudavicius in October. Jasmine is Canadian, and we all know that means it'll be a partisan crowd out there in Vancouver, ready to see one of its own punch her ticket to contention. But remember the last time Fiorot went into enemy environs? That fight with Erin Blanchfield out in Atlantic City? That was her opus, brother, so don't count her out! (Others receiving votes: Julianna Pena, Jasmine Jasudavicius, Liz Carmouche) Here's how we voted: SHAHEEN AL-SHATTI MEN 1. Ilia Topuria 2. Islam Makhachev 3. Alexandre Pantoja 4. Merab Dvalishvili 5. Tom Aspinall 6. Khamzat Chimaev 7. Magomed Ankalaev 8. Alex Pereira 9. Alexander Volkanovski 10. Dricus du Plessis WOMEN 1. Kayla Harrison 2. Zhang Weili 3. Valentina Shevchenko 4. Cris Cyborg 5. Larissa Pacheco 6. Seika Izawa 7. Dakota Ditcheva 8. Virna Jandiroba 9. Natalia Silva 10. Liz Carmouche CONNER BURKS MEN 1. Ilia Topuria 2. Islam Makhachev 3. Merab Dvalishvili 4. Khamzat Chimaev 5. Alexandre Pantoja 6. Tom Aspinall 7. Alexander Volkanovski 8. Magomed Ankalaev 9. Jack Della Maddalena 10. Dricus Du Plessis WOMEN 1. Zhang Weili 2. Valentina Shevchenko 3. Kayla Harrison 4. Cris Cyborg 5. Dakota Ditcheva 6. Natalia Silva 7. Larissa Pacheco 8. Virna Jandiroba 9. Manon Fiorot 10. Julianna Pena PETESY CARROLL MEN 1. Ilia Topuria 2. Islam Makhachev 3. Merab Dvalishvili 4. Alexandre Pantoja 5. Khamzat Chimaev 6. Tom Aspinall 7. Magomed Ankalaev 8. Alexander Volkanovski 9. Jack Della Maddalena 10. Alex Pereira WOMEN 1. Zhang Weili 2. Valentina Shevchenko 3. Kayla Harrison 4. Dakota Ditcheva 5. Cris Cyborg 6. Natalia Silva 7. Manon Fiorot 8. Virna Jandiroba 9. Jasmine Jasudavicius 10. Julianna Pena BEN FOWLKES MEN 1. Islam Makhachev 2. Ilia Topuria 3. Merab Dvalishvili 4. Alexandre Pantoja 5. Khamzat Chimaev 6. Magomed Ankalaev 7. Tom Aspinall 8. Alexander Volkanovski 9. Alex Pereira 10. Jack Della Maddalena WOMEN 1. Zhang Weili 2. Valentina Shevchenko 3. Kayla Harrison 4. Cris Cyborg 5. Dakota Ditcheva 6. Virna Jandiroba 7. Natalia Silva 8. Jasmine Jasudavicius 9. Manon Fiorot 10. Liz Carmouche ERIC JACKMAN MEN 1. Islam Makhachev 2. Ilia Topuria 3. Merab Dvalishvili 4. Alexandre Pantoja 5. Khamzat Chimaev 6. Tom Aspinall 7. Magomed Ankalaev 8. Jack Della Maddalena 9. Alexander Volkanovski 10. Arman Tsarukyan WOMEN 1. Zhang Weili 2. Valentina Shevchenko 3. Kayla Harrison 4. Cris Cyborg 5. Virna Jandiroba 6. Natalia Silva 7. Dakota Ditcheva 8. Larissa Pacheco 9. Jasmine Jasudavicius 10. Manon Fiorot CHUCK MINDENHALL MEN 1. Islam Makhachev 2. Ilia Topuria 3. Merab Dvalishvili 4. Alexandre Pantoja 5. Khamzat Chimaev 6. Tom Aspinall 7. Magomed Ankalaev 8. Alexander Volkanovski 9. Jack Della Maddalena 10. Dricus du Plessis WOMEN 1. Kayla Harrison 2. Zhang Weili 3. Valentina Shevchenko 4. Cris Cyborg 5. Dakota Ditcheva 6. Manon Fiorot 7. Virna Jandiroba 8. Natalia Silva 9. Jasmine Jasudavicius 10. Liz Carmouche DRAKE RIGGS MEN 1. Ilia Topuria 2. Islam Makhachev 3. Alexandre Pantoja 4. Merab Dvalishvili 5. Khamzat Chimaev 6. Tom Aspinall 7. Magomed Ankalaev 8. Jack Della Maddalena 9. Alexander Volkanovski 10. Alex Pereira WOMEN 1. Zhang Weili 2. Seika Izawa 3. Valentina Shevchenko 4. Cris Cyborg 5. Kayla Harrison 6. Natalia Silva 7. Virna Jandiroba 8. Liz Carmouche 9. Dakota Ditcheva 10. Larissa Pacheco
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bears QB Caleb Williams jokes about Ben Johnson's attitude on game days
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams appears to be more and more comfortable with his new head coach Ben Johnson by the day. Coming into this season after an offseason filled with upgrades to the coaching staff and roster, specifically the offensive line, Williams has to pay off the investment the organization has made into him during this year. In order to do so, Williams will have to show development and production under Johnson, one of the most respected offensive minds in the NFL. After being held out of the Bears first preseason game against the Miami Dolphins, Williams was on the field for two offensive drives against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night, where the second-year quarterback had his first opportunity to show his work in Johnson's offense. Williams looked quite impressive in the short showing, completing 6-of-10 passes for 107 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions or sacks. Speaking to the media after the game, Williams jokingly complimented his head coach for being "calmer" during the game in comparison to how he is at practice. 'He's a lot more calmer on game day in the mic than he is in practice with me," Williams said. "It's great. It's exciting to be sitting there, having the headpiece in my ear right after I had however many plays I had, being able to listen to him encourage the guys. I think there was a moment where we were going for it on fourth down or something like that and something happened the play before where we got the call back and we ended up lining up. He was like, 'We're going to go get this right here.' "It's just small notes like that, that are encouraging in the moment. It's something that I don't know if he knows and he's conscious of it, but it's important to us QBs when we're out there having those small notes. He's a lot calmer on game days in the mic and that's a small note.' There was no secret that Johnson was going to come in and apply pressure to Williams quickly in order to have the young quarterback understand his offense in their first year together. The quicker that Williams can pick up the offense, the quicker the team can erase the memory of their 5-12 season last year and put more wins on the board this year while their quarterback grows and develops to the next level. This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears' Caleb Williams jokes about Ben Johnson's attitude on game days
