Latest news with #MMA
USA Today
2 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
UFC Vancouver adds important flyweight bout: Manon Fiorot vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
An important women's flyweight bout is headed to Canada. Manon Fiorot and Jasmine Jasudavicius will square off in a three-round bout on the UFC FIght Night event Oct. 18 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie of the booking but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Fiorot (12-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) looks to bounce back after a failed title bid vs. Valentina Shevchenko in May. Fiorot went all five rounds with the flyweight champion but had her 12-fight winning streak snapped by unanimous decision. Fiorot holds UFC wins over Erin Blanchfield, Rose Namajunas and Mayra Bueno Silva, among others. Jasudavicius (14-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) steps into the biggest fight of her life on home soil. She enters the bout on a five-fight winning streak that includes victories over Priscila Cachoeira, Fatima Kline, Ariane Lipski da Silva, Mayra Bueno Silva, and Jessica Andrade. With the addition, the UFC Vancouver lineup includes:
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Reinier de Ridder lambasts old home ONE Championship: 'They're just trying to ruin people's careers'
Very rarely does a player in a team sport spend their entire career in one spot, going to work every day alongside the same set of teammates. Whether from contract disputes, trades, off-field problems, or any number of issues, it's just not very common. The same parallel can be applied in MMA, both with gym changes and organizational transitions — they're just part of the fight game. Former two-division ONE Championship titleholder Reinier de Ridder arguably may already be the most successful fighter to go from ONE to the UFC. The Dutchman has won his first three fights in the Octagon since his November debut, all by finish, including a massive upset of Bo Nickal. Now he's set for his biggest test yet this Saturday in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi, where he takes on former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. Yet the path to get to this point didn't unfold as quickly as De Ridder would've liked. De Ridder, 34, entered ONE as a 9-0 prospect in 2019 before quickly rising through the ranks and capturing the promotion's 205-pound title with an epic upset in 2020 of Aung La N Sang. The jiu-jitsu ace then toppled the Myanmar fan-favorite again for the 225-pound title in their rematch, accumulated two title defenses — and then got stuck in contractual limbo. De Ridder was sidelined for all of 2023 and eventually forced his way out of ONE last year after losing back-to-back fights against Anatoly Malykhin. Coincidentally, UFC Abu Dhabi also hosts the Octagon debut of de Ridder's former ONE stablemate, jiu-jitsu legend Marcus "Buchecha" Almeida, who's echoed similarly frustrating experiences about his time with ONE. Buchecha has gone as far as calling de Ridder an inspiration for any ONE fighter currently stuck in their old stomping grounds, trying to continue their career. "He's my guy, so I know exactly what he's been going through," de Ridder told Uncrowned. "We train together regularly. The guy is so f***ing good and such a good guy. Good person as well. And I'm very happy that he's finally in the UFC and that he very finally has an option to be active and to go as far as he can go. I think he will really be able to go to the top of the division, so I'm very excited that he's on this card, I'm very happy to see him in the UFC. So it's very cool." ONE's focus has made a clear shift away from MMA in recent years, instead hosting events that primarily consist of Muay Thai and kickboxing. Formerly based in Singapore, the promotion relocated its base of operations to the Cayman Islands and holds nearly every event at Bangkok's Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong reecently took to social media to address the company's decade-long struggle to become profitable — among other setbacks — despite promises that it'd reach that milestone by now. While de Ridder doesn't know exactly why ONE has made it difficult for fighters to leave or why its contracts are so restrictive, he believes there may be an element of maintaining a mirage. "That's the question. I don't understand. I just don't understand," de Ridder said. "Obviously, they're not doing well. Obviously money's running out and whatever, but they're just making the wrong decisions. Why would you want to f*** up somebody's career? I just don't understand. Our time is so short. We only have a couple of years in our prime, and they're just trying to ruin people's careers. It's just that plain and simple. It's coming out more and more. Everybody sees what's going on. It's just, why? I don't know. "I've had a lot of messages [from fighters] over the last year, and I've given out a lot of advice, but what I did, I was at a point where I knew I was not going to get a fight anymore [with ONE Championship], and I knew they were going to park me again for an extended period of time. I just said f*** it. If this is going to cost me everything that I own, then at least it's not worse than costing me the rest of my career. "So I just said f*** it — I'm going to fight somewhere else and we'll see what happens. And I've been very, very fortunate with the people around me supporting me in that decision, with my manager Ali Abdelaziz taking a big risk. With Abu Dhabi here, Palm Sports and UAE Warriors — they were sued just as I was sued for fighting here [in UAE Warriors in July 2024]. And they also took a big risk in having me compete. But it just got to a point where I thought, 'I'm not going to throw my career away. I need to do this. I need to give myself another chance at fighting.' And it kind of paid off in the last year." De Ridder bet on himself and the gamble has paid off tenfold thus far. In the UFC, "RDR" has become a low-key Fighter of the Year candidate, with the potential to become a front-runner if he gets past Whittaker and then rattles off another big win before the end of 2025 for a 4-0 campaign. He's been making up for the time he lost in ONE, and de Ridder appears to be getting more well-rounded and dangerous everywhere. His stoppage of Nickal this past May opened the eyes of many still questioning him. "RDR" isn't surprised, though. He's just reinvigorated by the new opportunities. "I've been working on that for like over 10 years," de Ridder said of his strong striking performance against Nickal. "I knew, and I'm always happy to keep it a secret as well. But it had to come out. It had to come out one day, and it happened in the Bo fight, which seems like a week and a half ago in my mind. It's like these training camps fly by for some reason. "Just to work at [my gym] Kill Cliff, it's so cool to just have to show up and there's endless good people to work with. Endless good coaches to work with. That's really been a blessing." Although he sits at No. 13 in the official UFC rankings ahead of Saturday, de Ridder will presumably launch into Whittaker's No. 5 slot with a win. From there, he'll likely be one win away at most from a UFC title shot. De Ridder has moved fast in his new promotional home, but he's also staying realistic. The Whittaker bout is one of three big ones on the horizon for the middleweight division — UFC champion Dricus du Plessis defends his title against challenger Khamzat Chimaev on Aug. 16 at UFC 319; after that, top contenders Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho headline UFC Paris on Sept. 6. De Ridder believes its all set up for the best performance of the group to earn the next shot at the du Plessis vs. Chimaev winner. "I'm very interested in what's going to happen," he said of UFC 319's title fight. "I'm very interested to see how Khamzat's going to come in. I'm very interested to see how well Dricus is going to be able to stop the takedown. It's a very cool fight. "I don't really see Khamzat finishing him early. I see Dricus building over the third, fourth and fifth rounds. I see him maybe finishing Khamzat late or getting a decision late. That's what I see when I think about the fight, but it might all just be very different because I never get any predictions right."
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Swedish neo-Nazis are using MMA to recruit new members
Swedish neo-Nazis are using MMA to recruit new members NewsFeed Neo-Nazis in Sweden are using mixed martial arts events to try to attract new followers to their white supremacist ideology. Al Jazeera's Nils Adler has been investigating. Video Duration 00 minutes 54 seconds 00:54 Video Duration 03 minutes 18 seconds 03:18 Video Duration 00 minutes 40 seconds 00:40 Video Duration 03 minutes 00 seconds 03:00 Video Duration 01 minutes 39 seconds 01:39 Video Duration 01 minutes 47 seconds 01:47 Video Duration 02 minutes 57 seconds 02:57
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Darren Till and Luke Rockhold face-to-face, Tony Ferguson, Dakota Ditcheva, On The Nose and more
Catch today's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show" live on Uncrowned and YouTube at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT/6 p.m. UK time as Ariel Helwani and the Boys In The Back set the table for another big combat sports weekend with huge lineup of guests. Wednesday's rundown can be seen below. 1 p.m. ET: Darren Till and Luke Rockhold go face-to-face ahead of their Misfits Boxing main event. 1:30 p.m. ET: Tony Ferguson previews his Misfits Boxing debut against Salt Papi. 2 p.m. ET: Ariel and the gang answer all your questions on the latest edition of On The Nose. 3 p.m. ET: ATT coach Marcos 'Parrumpa' DaMatta joins the show. 3:30 p.m. ET: PFL superstar Dakota Ditcheva is back after her latest highlight-reel win. Catch all new episodes of "The Ariel Helwani Show" live every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET on Uncrowned and The Ariel Helwani Show's YouTube page. To listen to every episode, subscribe on Spotify or iTunes.
USA Today
9 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Khabib Nurmagomedov: Jack Della Maddalena tougher for Islam Makhachev than Ilia Topuria
Khabib Nurmagomedov is not expecting it to be a given that Islam Makhachev will roll through Jack Della Maddalena and become a two-division UFC champion. Former lightweight titleholder Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC), who has the most successful defenses in divisional history, will venture to welterweight later this year when he challenges champion Della Maddalena (18-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) for the belt and the opportunity to further enhance his legacy. Many MMA fans wanted Makhachev to stay at 155 pounds and face Ilia Topuria, who since captured the vacant strap with a first-round knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in June. That didn't happen, and it's not because of ducking or fear. Makhachev explained to MMA Junkie in a recent interview that he's pushed by wanting greatness of a second belt, and his coach Nurmagomedov said it's going to be no easy task. 'I think Maddalena is the toughest opponent in Islam's career," Nurmagomedov told Hustle Show. "That's my opinion. Not Charles (Oliveira), no one else. None of those other fighters. Not even Ilia, if that fight were to happen. That's just my personal opinion. "First of all, Maddalena is twice the size of Ilia. Taller, bigger, stronger legs, bigger frame. His boxing is just as good. And, in grappling, he scrambles really well if you've watched him. For me, if I was preparing Islam for either Ilia or Maddalena, I'd be more concerned about Maddalena." Nurmagomedov isn't isolated in his stance. Makhachev also praised Della Maddalena as a tough test when breaking down the expected contest. With 15 straight octagon victories on his resume, Makhachev will have the opportunity to not only become the 11th in UFC history to claim belts in two separate weight classes, but he can also tie Anderson Silva's longstanding record of most consecutive UFC wins at 16. 'It's going to be a hard fight," Makhachev told MMA Junkie. "Honestly, it's going to be. I saw his fight against Belal (Muhammad). He's good, man. When he began fighting in the UFC, he had problems with wrestling, but now he's improved because I've seen him training a lot with wrestlers and grapplers, and that's why he's champion right now. He's good everywhere. But we will see who's the best fighter in the world very soon.'
