Latest news with #UFCKansasCity
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Former UFC champion Jamahal Hill shares an unusual interaction with upcoming rival Khalil Rountree Jr. - 'It's weird to me'
Jamahal Hill with The Schmo. Image via The Schmo/YouTube (screengrab) Former light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill Khalil Rountree Jr Jamahal Hill details the weird interaction with Khalil Rountree Jr, tags Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria bout as the best possible matchup for IFW Jamahal Hill Details 'Weird" Locker Room Encounter with Khalil Rountree, Alex Pereira Title Rematch will face light heavyweight contender. in Azerbaijan on June 21, 2025. The fighters were supposed to face each other earlier at UFC Kansas City, which got replaced by the Ian Machado Garry vs. Carlos Prates bout. Both Hill and Rountree are looking for redemption following the previous losses faced by the fighters. In a recent interview, Hill deep dives into the relationship he shares with Rountree while talking about the possible main card event of the upcoming International Fight and awkward conversations between fighters are quite common in the world of combat sports. And former UFC champion Jamahal Hill is not new to the experience. The fighter has had such interaction with other athletes like Alex Pereira ahead of Pereira's bout against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313. Hill's recent confrontation involves his upcoming opponent for UFC Azerbaijan, Khalil Rountree Jr. Both fighters are currently training for their upcoming bout in Las Vegas, specifically at the UFC Performance Institute , a place that facilitates innovation, research and training for the athletes and members of the MMA in his recent interview with the Schmo, shares an awkward incident that the fighter had to face while confronting his rival Rountree in the locker I was in the UFC PI, walked into the locker room, and I'll say 'What's up' to anybody. And I walked into the locker room and he's like, 'Man, you really don't like me do you?'…and I was like what? And he was like 'You really don't like me, do you?'', The statement took Hill by surprise and he continued, 'I was like 'I don't even know you, we haven't even had a conversation'.It's almost like he's gotta build me up as this villain or this person that he hates, which is fine with me.'Hill further explained the possible repercussions of such an attitude, 'But whenever you start putting the energy off the UFC staff and sh*t like that like we can't be around each other, or something's going to happen, you're not going to do sh*t. So what's the point of that? It's weird to me.'When Hill was asked about what he is most prepared for in context of his rival, the fighter talked about the consistency that Rountree showcases within the Octagon, 'He is able to take damage and still have a game to throw and deal it out. So you got to be ready for that. He's got some fast twitches on some of his strikes into his game. So you got to be ready for that as well.'Towards the end of the 10-minute-long interview, Hill puts his opinion in on the possible main card event of the International Fight Week, 'I am hearing Islam and Topuria, but who knows man!' The fighter continued, 'If they want to make a lot of noise about it, I don't see too many other fights outside of that, you know.'Also read: 'I want to fight asap' - UFC Middleweight contender Bo Nickal opens up on future plans following the first loss of his pro-MMA career Both Hill and Rountree faced defeats in their previous matchups and are looking for a redemption towards the next title shot of the division. After losing the belt to Pereria, Hill lost another bout against Jiří Procházka and is aiming to bounce back and claim the light heavyweight championship belt.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
How Demian Maia continues to influence a new generation of UFC fighters, from Ian Machado Garry to Reinier de Ridder
Demian Maia fought in the UFC for 14 years, challenging for titles in two different divisions. Now, at 48, his work as a coach and mentor is shaping a new crop of fighters. (Jason da Silva-USA TODAY Sports) If you were watching closely last Saturday night you might have seen him. He was there in Ian Machado Garry's corner, whispering in the welterweight's ear between rounds, chiding him for his risky use of the wrong half-guard in the final round, fine-tuning the already pretty finely tuned points of the fighter's transition game. Of course, in order to know who you were looking at and why he still matters so much to mixed martial arts, you'd need to know at least a little bit of the history of this sport. Advertisement Or you could also ask Reinier de Ridder, who fights Bo Nickal in the co-main event of Saturday's UFC Fight Night event in Des Moines, Iowa. Ask him who he looks up to as a submission grappler trying to make that style work for MMA. 'It's really just one guy, and that's Demian Maia,' de Ridder told Uncrowned earlier this week. 'He's the guy. You look at what he did, his creativity — he's the one.' He's not the only fighter who feels this way. Years ago I talked to Neil Magny right after he'd been submitted by Maia at UFC 190. He'd gone into the fight knowing that Maia was supposed to be some kind of jiu-jitsu wizard, but so what? He'd fought good submission grapplers before. He'd won seven straight fights in the UFC and was feeling pretty confident. 'I had a great training camp, felt like my coaches had brought in the guys I needed to train with, all that,' Magny told me in 2016. 'But then getting in there and experiencing his pressure, I realized, wow, this guy is on another level. … I had kind of got to feeling like I was untouchable, then this guy comes along and exposes me on the ground. I was like, how can I get to the point that he's at right now?' Advertisement Maia still gets this kind of thing a lot from other fighters. At age 47, he has a few flecks of gray in his beard, but otherwise looks like the same guy we remember from an MMA career that spanned nearly 20 years, almost all of it in the UFC. These days Maia is mostly a coach and trainer, and his expertise is in high demand. Last Saturday's UFC Kansas City main event, for instance, was comprised of two guys who both sought out his services. (Garry got there first, so Carlos Prates had to look elsewhere.) What they come to Maia for isn't just instruction on jiu-jitsu or submission grappling, though. You can get that lots of places. The MMA world is teeming with black belts, after all. Advertisement Maia offers something different. He's the rare guy who knows exactly how to tailor a jiu-jitsu game for the specific demands of an MMA fight. He knows what works in those cages, with those rules and rounds. He also knows what doesn't. And he knows because he figured it out himself, the hard way, over the course of many years. 'A lot of people, they think the grappling in MMA is just no-gi jiu-jitsu,' Maia told Uncrowned this week. 'It's not. It's totally different. I put a lot of effort into trying to be the best grappler of my time, and to try to develop and understand a way of using jiu-jitsu for MMA.' That, in itself, was a process. When Maia first came to the UFC in 2007, he raged through the middleweight ranks like a wildfire. He won his first five fights, all via submission, beating the likes of Chael Sonnen and Nate Quarry without ever facing much in the way of resistance. He was simply that far ahead of everyone else when it came to the ground game. Demian Maia (right) has been a big part of Ian Machado Garry's UFC journey. (Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC) (Mike Roach via Getty Images) But as he climbed higher up the division, he discovered the limitations to his style. He suffered a knockout loss against Nate Marquardt in 2009. He had a fairly disastrous title shot against Anderson Silva in 2010. He realized he needed to up his striking game if he was ever going to reach the top, so he dedicated himself to improving his boxing. Advertisement 'For a long time, I trained just boxing,' Maia said. 'That was a mistake. A lot of guys still do this. They train just their striking, and then just their ground game. But in an MMA fight, they are not separate. In MMA, most things happen in the transitions. You have to understand that and work that into your training.' The fork in the road came after his 2012 decision loss to Chris Weidman. Against a talented wrestler, Maia opted to stand and trade punches for most of the fight. But while his boxing was improved, it wasn't a real threat in isolation. Weidman easily outpointed him on the feet and went on to fight for — and win — the UFC middleweight title the next year. Maia went back to the drawing board with his team, who hit him with some tough love regarding the necessary course corrections. 'I remember [after the Weidman fight] we were talking about what we needed to change and all that,' Maia's longtime manager Eduardo Alonso told me in 2019. 'At one point, [Maia] said, 'But I felt like I was right on the verge of knocking him out at any minute.' We all looked at each other and at him and we had to say, 'No, that was never close to happening.' You know, that was the peak of him wanting to be a striker, and he was in that bubble partly for emotional reasons.' What Maia and his team realized was that, no matter how he improved his striking game, he was never going to be as elite on the feet as he was on the mat. His boxing was a thing that had to exist, but it had to be a means to an end. To the extent that he spent any time striking on the feet with opponents, it needed to be done with the goal of transitioning to the ground, which was where he would really win fights. Advertisement 'I changed my training then, and my thinking,' Maia said. 'I wouldn't just do boxing; I would do boxing with clinches, with takedowns. I would train with boxers, but I would throw two punches and then look for where I could clinch, where I could take down. In MMA, you need to know where all the opportunities are, not just for you but also your opponent, where he could elbow you or throw a knee. You can't just do these things separate.' The result was a late-career renaissance. Maia changed his whole outlook on the sport. He dropped down to welterweight. He won seven straight fights at one point. He submitted guys like Carlos Condit and Matt Brown. He choked decorated wrestlers like Ben Askren. One night he squeezed Rick Story's face so hard he made blood shoot out of his nose on live television. Advertisement Every opponent knew exactly what Maia wanted to do, but he kept doing it anyway. He even earned a UFC title shot in a second division, though he came up short in a decision loss to Tyron Woodley in 2017. His last fight came in 2021, when he lost a decision to current UFC welterweight champ Belal Muhammad. After that, Maia moved more into a coaching role. He'd always been a teacher of jiu-jitsu — even former opponents like Magny came to his seminars to learn the magic he'd wielded against them, and Maia enthusiastically taught it to them without worrying that they might become future opponents — and so the transition came easily to him. But beyond his own instruction in the gym, his career in the cage provided a blueprint that other grappling-based fighters like de Ridder still benefit from and attempt to emulate. 'Some of those very creative moments in his game, like when he couldn't take a guy down so he'd use the half-guard or the deep half, he showed different ways you could make it all work together,' de Ridder said. 'I really liked all the stuff that he did and wanted to be like that. He's not the most physical guy, not the strongest guy, but he could dominate people.' Advertisement These days, Maia said, hearing this kind of thing from the younger generation of fighters helps him feel like he hasn't been forgotten. He may have had to struggle through the wilderness to find a new path to the waterfall, but it was worth it to see others follow him while paying their respects to the man who led the way. 'That makes me very happy when I hear that,' Maia said. 'I tried to always be learning and growing. ... When I was starting out, I would ask lots of questions of the older guys and they would always help me. I wanted to do that for other guys too." These days the UFC has plenty of fighters who would say he has. And he's not done yet.
Time of India
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Biggest UFC Heist Incoming: Ian Machado Garry Teases Bold Plans Post Carlos Prates Win
Biggest UFC Heist Incoming: Ian Machado Garry Teases Bold Plans Post Carlos Prates Win (Image Source: Getty Images) Just days after his unanimous decision victory over Carlos Prates at UFC Kansas City on April 26, 2025, Ian Machado Garry has revealed an unprecedented contract clause that could result in 'the biggest heist in UFC history.' Irish welterweight, the undefeated fighter, has secured a backup fighter position ahead of his upcoming UFC 315 title bout, which could see him earn a shot at the title on just two weeks' notice. Ian Machado Garry's strategic contract negotiation opens an unexpected title path Ian Machado Garry disclosed during his appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, "I negotiated it into my contract that when I win, I get the opportunity to go and be the backup," following his dominant performance against Carlos Prates. The 27-year-old fighter explained that his willingness to save UFC cards by accepting short-notice bouts has earned him this rare opportunity. Ian Machado Garry Reacts To DOMINANT Win Over Carlos Prates, Why He Deserves Title Shot Next UFC CEO Dana White confirmed at the UFC Kansas City post-fight press conference that Ian Machado Garry will in fact be the official backup for the welterweight championship bout between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena, which takes place May 10, 2025, at UFC 315 in Montreal, Canada. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Google Brain Co-Founder Andrew Ng, Recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo Ian Machado Garry, however, was quick to announce he would travel to Las Vegas to get the best recovery treatment possible, despite the fact that he came off a gruelling five-round battle. 'Could anybody slip up? If so, what would the world look like?' He is seen as it would be the biggest heist in UFC history, fighting twice in 14 days, and the possibility of UFC gold. Welterweight division tensions rise as Joaquin Buckley's confrontation adds to the storyline Following UFC Kansas City fight week, the welterweight landscape has become increasingly convoluted with an altercation between Ian Machado Garry and fifth-ranked contender Joaquin Buckley. Buckley made an appearance at Garry's weigh-in and is said to have approached the Irishman's family, causing a tense situation. Ian Machado Garry commented that Joaquin Buckley's actions were just desperation. "So he can't do stuff he does, he can't generate enough talk about himself, so he has to try and piggyback off other people." Although Ian Machado Garry is acknowledging physical soreness from his recent five-round contest, he is confident he will be able to compete at UFC 315 if called upon. But the welterweight contender also predicted that current champion Belal Muhammad will beat Della Maddalena and then go on to challenge himself in the future. UFC 315, featuring a welterweight title fight between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena, will be live on pay-per-view on May 10, 2025. Prelims will be on ESPN+. Also Read: UFC Shake-Up: Tom Aspinall Reportedly Agrees to Ciryl Gane Fight as Jon Jones Unification Bout Stalls With top contender Shavkat Rakhmonov sidelined by injury, Ian Machado Garry's unprecedented contractual arrangement could potentially reshape the welterweight division's immediate future in dramatic fashion.
The South African
30-04-2025
- Sport
- The South African
Cameron Saaiman promises to bounce back from brutal UFC knockout
South Africa's MMA star Cameron Saaiman has promised to bounce back from his brutal knockout defeat at UFC Kansas City last weekend. Taking to social media on Wednesday, Saaiman spoke of a 'challenging last 12-18 months' and said he 'WILL bounce back'. Saaiman wrote: 'I would firstly like to thank each and every person who showed their support. I really appreciate you guys. 'To my team, family, friends and sponsors, 'Thank you for sticking by my side through a very challenging 12-18 months. I am deeply grateful to you guys for always being there through the highs and lows. 'I felt amazing in that cage. It felt like home. So it really pains me knowing that I could not live up to the expectations and standards that I set out for myself. 'I truly love this sport more than anything in the world and I will not allow these losses to define me. 'I know that I WILL bounce back from this. 'Thank you all ' Malcolm Wellmaker's right hand earned him a UFC contract and on Saturday night it earned him his first UFC victory. The 30-year-old bantamweight made a spectacular octagon debut at UFC Kansas City, needing less than two minutes to land a right hook that floored South African opponent Cameron Saaiman. Wellmaker was aggressive from the start, cutting off the cage in pursuit of Saaiman. When Saaiman attempted to punch his way off the fence, Wellmaker slipped the shots and countered with his own, landing square on Saaiman's chin and sending him crashing to the canvas. The official time of the stoppage was 1:59 into Round 1. Wellmaker, known as 'The Machine', improved to 9-0 as a professional. Meanwhile, Saaiman now finds himself in something of a slump after a 3-0 start to his UFC career. He is now heading in the opposite direction, having lost three straight fights. Whether he's given another UFC fight any time soon remains to be seen. Click HERE to watch the end of the fight Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ian Machado Garry plotting 'the biggest heist in UFC history' after Carlos Prates win
Ian Machado Garry is only getting better. Ireland's Garry capped off UFC Kansas City with a rebound effort on Saturday night, scoring a unanimous decision over Carlos Prates. Garry needed the win to keep himself near the top of the welterweight division after his hard-fought loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov in December, the first setback of his pro career. Advertisement Afterward, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed Garry as the backup fighter for UFC 315's welterweight title bout between champion Belal Muhammad and challenger Jack Della Maddalena on May 10. Speaking on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show," Garry asserted his feelings about his standing at 170 pounds. "I believe I'm next [for the title]. That's the way I believe it," Garry said. "I made sure that when I took this fight that I was given another opportunity, because that's what happens when you save cards. You get opportunities. So I negotiated it into my contract — now, when I win, I get the opportunity to go and be the backup. But also, when you take back-to-back fights on short notice, you save the UFC [with] two cards in a row, those rewards pay off. And for me, there is no one more exciting in the division right now. There is no one getting as much attention. There is no one that, if you put the champion of the welterweight division versus Ian Machado Garry, that will beat that right now. "Shavkat is out injured and I don't believe Jack Della Maddalena wins this fight, so Belal will stay the champion." Garry, 27, has been on a stretch of big fights since the start of 2024. He's remained busy and available, as noted by his past two appearances as a replacement fighter on short notice. In general, the strategy has begun adding to Garry's allure. His hope is that if he can keep being a hero for the UFC, he will succeed. Advertisement Considering the quick turnaround for UFC 315 in Montreal, Garry said he plans to head to Las Vegas immediately for the best recovery possible during the short time between events. "If anybody slips up, could you imagine?" Garry said. "It would be the biggest heist in UFC history. Ian Machado Garry goes back-to-back-to-back, goes out and proves to the world that he's not afraid of anybody, anywhere, at any time. Goes out, wins the belt on 14 days' notice after just going five rounds with one of the scariest guys in the division [Prates] — and he pulls off the victory, and he gets that belt wrapped around his waist? That's some cinematic s*** right there." Garry said the UFC hasn't made any promises regarding his potential title shot, no matter the outcome of Muhammad vs. Della Maddalena. If needed, Garry said, he'll enter the Octagon again. Going off of his performance at UFC Kansas City, you'd be hard pressed to believe Garry didn't have a full training camp for Prates. He picked apart his Brazilian counterpart and became the first man to take Prates down in the UFC. Outside of an admittedly sloppy final takedown that gave Garry a late scare, it was the fight he expected. Advertisement "I told you I'm going to beat him at his best and there's going to be no excuses," Garry said. "I went out there and I dominated him for the first round all the way to the last round. I made one mistake, but other than that, I was absolutely dominant. In his own realm. In the space where he has the most fights, most experience. So there's no excuses when he goes back home. I am the better fighter, I am the better man, and my hand got raised and he knew it." Ian Machado Garry continues to prove his doubters wrong after another big win at UFC Kansas City over Carlos Prates. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC) (Josh Hedges via Getty Images) Although the fight was Prates' first UFC bout to go the full five rounds, the Fighting Nerds product maintained a solid gas tank and gained steam toward the end. Because of his aggression and pursuit of the late finish, Prates drew criticism over not initiating that pace earlier in the 25-minute contest. Garry believes it was purely a result of his own game plan and the stylistic realities of the matchup. Advertisement "I can't imagine how anyone would s*** on someone like Carlos Prates trying to push at the end when you think that I just put him through an absolute pace," Garry said. "I looked at the stats — I threw 262 significant strikes and shot for 26 takedowns, and the world just expects Carlos Prates to up the gear? I put a pace on that man. That man was lucky to be standing in the Octagon. He came in that last round more dangerous than he did the other four because he knew he had to win. He was like a wounded animal. He was more dangerous in that fifth round, and he went out there and he tried his best. Unfortunately, his best wasn't good enough." The welterweight title remains firmly in Garry's crosshairs, starting with UFC 315 and the potential of stepping in if misfortune befalls either Muhammad or Della Maddalena. If that doesn't happen, however, Garry may still have his work cut out for him as he sits at No. 7 in the official UFC rankings. Among the contenders ranked ahead of Garry is Joaquin Buckley, whom Garry was supposed to fight in December until he received the call to face Rakhmonov on short notice. Advertisement Buckley's next fight is already booked — the main event of UFC Atlanta against Kamaru Usman on June 14 — but he didn't let that stop him from appearing at UFC Kansas City fight week. At the ceremonial weigh-ins, Buckley lingered around Garry's wife and son, causing a small scene that left Garry refusing to leave the stage until Buckley left. Buckley explained to the media backstage on fight night that he wanted to "see what Garry was about" after some trash talk in the past. Should the stars realign for the welterweight contenders, Garry is open to the matchup but doesn't see it as viable anytime soon. "It's just desperation. That's all it is," Garry said. "It's quite sad. It's desperation, and he can't generate enough talk about himself by doing stuff he does, so he needs to try and piggyback off other people. It's OK. Let him be. "My man's focusing on trying to get all the content he can with me this week. Meanwhile, he's got a fight he should focus on. He should get his fight done, then we'll see what the future holds. "I think he demolishes Usman," Garry added. "Again, I still think it's Belal next. I think I win the belt like I know I can, and then I absolutely welcome an Islam [Makhachev] or Shavkat rematch. Either order, but that's the way I'm going with it."
