The UFC returns to Miami this Saturday, as UFC 327 will be headlined by Jiri Prochazka, who is facing off against Carlos Ulberg for the vacant light heavyweight championship.

UFC CEO and President Dana White was not pleased to hear that Prochazka almost got into a physical altercation with heavyweight Josh Hokit just days before UFC 327.

With the card already suffering a huge blow when, just a week before the event, the flyweight title co-main event between Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira had to be scrapped after Van suffered an injury. The last thing White and the UFC need is a dust-up between two fighters on the card that could jeopardize it.

Hokit is also on the main card and will face Curtis Blaydes in a heavyweight bout, which is a huge fight for the division.

The altercation occurred during media day on Wednesday when the two crossed paths and Hokit decided to stop and stare at the former light heavyweight champion. This prompted Prochazka to stand up and confront Hokit.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Hokit asked. “You don’t wanna come up to heavyweight. Sit down.”

Prochazka replied with “What did you say?”

“I said, sit down. You won’t come up to heavyweight.”

Prochazka wisely decided to go on about his day before starting anything that would not end well.

Footage has leaked, revealing altercations involving boxer Nurideen Shabazz in livestreams hosted by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. 

The first was on Feb. 17, when footage showed Shabazz being slapped by powerlifter Larry Wheels. On Feb. 18, Shabazz was dropped to the ground by former UFC star Tiki Ghosn. 

Shabazz was attempting to say hello to Ghosn, but Ghosn didn’t acknowledge him. Shabazz accused Ghosn of lying, saying the two did know each other. 

Ghosn then asked Shabazz if he was the guy who got slapped, referring to the slap he received from Wheels the day before. Shabazz told him he was, but that he’d slap Ghosn.

Ghosn looked confused but still defended himself by dropping an elbow strike on Shabazz. Ghosn attempted to walk away, but Shabazz followed him. Shabazz seemed to want to keep fighting, but observers broke it up. 

Shabazz is known as “Deen TheGreat” on YouTube. Shabazz started his channel in 2013, where he did boxing training videos. He worked with other famous YouTubers and even professional boxers.

Shabazz made his boxing debut in 2022 against TikTok star Evil Hero. Shabazz knocked him out in the first round. His most recent fight was in 2024, when he defeated Dave Fogarty by knockout. Shabazz has a 5-0 career record, including three knockouts. 

Ghosn was a mixed martial arts fighter from 1998 to 2009. He won his final fight against Brian Warren in 2009 with a unanimous decision. This improved Ghosn’s career record to 10-8. Ghosn now runs a sports agency called Arsenal Sports Agency. This company represents several mixed martial arts athletes, including Dustin Poirier. 

Shabazz has no official fights scheduled in the near future. However, he often competes in the Danz league. This league features several celebrity boxers like Shabazz and KSI.

The former UFC bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey, is returning to mixed martial arts after a near decade long hiatus from the sport. Rousey is set to face Gina Carano, who is a trailblazer for women’s MMA. The fight was confirmed by Most Valuable Promotions on Tuesday.

The bout is scheduled for May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. This will be the first professional MMA contest promoted by Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions and will air on Netflix.

Rousey and Cerano will fight at 145 pounds, and it will be professionally sanctioned, with five five-minute rounds and four-ounce gloves in a hexagon cage.

Rousey released a statement to ESPN, saying she has, “been waiting so long to announce this: Gina Carano and I are gonna throw down in the biggest super fight in women’s combat sport history!”

The former UFC champion was the first American to win an Olympic medal in judo back in 2008. She was also the first woman to sign with the UFC.

Rousey, 39, took the world by storm when she arrived on the scene in 2013, dominating her opponents in the octagon on her way to a bantamweight title. Rousey holds the UFC record for successfully defending her title six straight times.

Rousey was most known for her vaunted armbar finish, forcing her opponents to tap out. 11 out of her first 12 fights ended in the first round, and beating three consecutive opponents in under one minute. She holds a record of 12-2, with her losses coming against Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes.

Carano is widely known for trailblazing the way for women in mixed martial arts, competing from 2006 to 2009. The last time Carano fought, she lost to Cris Cyborg for the inaugural Strikeforce women’s 145-pound title, via TKO.

Both Carano and Rousey spent some time in Hollywood, as both appeared in the “Fast & Furious” franchise.

Rousey vs. Carano will have a kickoff news conference on March 5 at the Intuit Dome. More fights will be added to the card and announced at a later date.

Former UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson issued an apology after his son appeared to assault a pro wrestler during what he called “bad judgment, and a work that went wrong.”

Video footage of the event hosted by KnokX Pro Entertainment & Academy last week showed Jackson’s son, Raja Jackson, entering the ring during a match and slamming wrestler, Stuart Smith, known as Syko Stu, to the mat.

In the video livestream on the platform Kick, Raja mounts Smith, repeatedly punching him in the face and side of the head while Smith lay motionless. Other wrestlers at the event had to restrain Raja.

Jackson said in a post on X Sunday morning that Smith is awake and stable.

“Raja is an MMA fighter, not a pro wrestler, and had no business being involved in an event like this,” he wrote in the X post. “I don’t condone my son’s actions AT ALL!”

Jackson referred to the incident, saying his son was unexpectedly hit in the side of the head by Smith before the match and was told he could get his “payback” in the ring.

In a statement released on Facebook, KnokX Pro Entertainment & Academy suggested that the incident was a scripted part of the show that had been taken too far.

“What was supposed to be a planned and agreed-upon wrestling spot turned into a selfish, irresponsible act of violence against Mr. Smith,” the organizer wrote. “This egregious act is reprehensible and never should have occurred.”

Kick confirmed that Jackson’s account was banned after the video of the alleged attack began circulating online.

“I am very upset that any of this happened, but my main concern now is that Mr.Smith will make a speedy recovery,” Rampage Jackson wrote. “I apologize on his behalf and to KICK for the situation.”

Jake Paul ran away from an altercation with boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. after a Miami Heat game, accusing Mayweather of ambushing him with a group of at least 50 people. Other reports of the incident contradict this, however.

Mayweather fought Paul’s brother, Logan Paul, in June 2021. Jake stole Mayweather’s hat during a press conference leading up to the event, which exacerbated tensions and reportedly led to someone from Mayweather’s entourage giving the YouTuber a black eye backstage. The two have maintained a rivalry ever since.

It’s no secret that highly anticipated pay-per-view UFC matches as well as boxing bouts are one of the biggest draws on television. Fighters such as Khabib, Nate Diaz, Isreal Adesanya and Connor McGregor have become larger-than-life celebrities, with their dominant performances and their antics in and out of the Octagon. Now, the craze of mixed-martial arts is sweeping across the younger generation.

The California-based United States Fight League is looking to expand regulation of youth mixed martial arts. According to the USFL they are, “a non-profit athletic organization that fosters and supports Youth, Military, and Public Safety Pankration competitions. Modern Pankration is an alternative for Mixed Martial Arts that develops all skills in a safe and responsible manner. While some of our athletes develop into elite MMA athletes, far more become productive citizens. Our goal is to build their character and keep them safe until they can make an educated decision as to which avenue to pursue.”

The USFL has continued to expand and gain popularity amongst amateur and professional fighters. Founded in the early 2000s by former Marine Jon Frank, the USFL is providing opportunities for youth 8-17 to have organized fights and competitions. Since there is no national governing body for youth mixed martial arts, the sanctioning of such events relies solely on the individual state athletic commissions.

The USFL has had success in the development area as well. It has helped develop three top MMA fighters including Angela Lee of ONE Championship, the current 115-pound champion, and Christian Lee, a former champ in the 170-pound class.

As of now, the USFL is the only organized league for fighting at the youth level, but the number of kids interested in the sport is only expected to grow.

On Saturday night, YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul knocked out five-time UFC champion Tyron Woodley.

Paul’s record now sits at 5-0, though he has not yet faced anyone with a boxing background. Woodley is an MMA fighter and stepped in two weeks ago for Tommy Fury, brother of Tyson Fury who had to pull out of the fight due to an injury. With Woodley agreeing to take Fury’s place, a rematch with Paul was settled. The two fought in August with Paul winning by split decision. On Saturday, Woodley took Paul to the sixth round before Paul’s right hand hit Woodley and knocked him out.

“This guy is a legend,” Paul said of Woodley. “This guy is a legend, don’t take anything away from his career as a UFC champion and respect him for taking this fight on two weeks’ notice … this is a real fighter, a real dog and a warrior. That’s a tough fighter right there.”

Now, Paul is asking for a bigger challenge. In a post-fight interview, he called out UFC President Dana White and mentioned some of the top names in boxing.

“I just knocked out a five-time UFC champion and embarrassed your whole company,” Paul said. “And please, please let me get Kamaru Usman, please let me get Diaz, please let me get Masvidal, please let me get McGregor. Because I’m gonna embarrass them, too. I promise you that, Dana. I promise you that.”

“You can’t f—ing afford me,” Masvidal responded. “Me and those other names you mentioned, you can’t fucking afford. … I’ll tell you a little secret: I fight for money, or I fight the best in the world. You’re neither.

Masvidal is also an MMA fighter, who has only boxed in one fight, which he won. His MMA record is 35-15. He offered to fight Paul in the octagon instead of the boxing ring.

Connor McGregor has managed to land himself in hot water again.

The Irish MMA star is now being accused of punching DJ Francesco Facchinetti out of the blue while he was in Italy. McGregor was in Rome for the baptism of his third son at The Vatican. He was then at a nightclub for over two hours with Facchinetti.

“At 2:30 this night I was attacked by Mr. McGregor,” Facchinetti said in an Instagram video. “The very famous McGregor, who punched me in the mouth, broke my nose in front of ten witnesses, his friends and his bodyguards. He attacked me without motivation as we talked for more than two hours and we also had fun together. I could have shut up and not say anything to anyone, but since I’m here to tell it, I must say that that person is really violent and dangerous.”

“I took a punch for nothing. That punch could go to anyone. My friends, my wife, or other friends. That’s why I decided to sue Conor McGregor because he is a violent and dangerous person,” he said.

Facchinetti’s wife spoke out about the incident with McGregor.

“Then out of nowhere, he threw a punch in the face of Francesco. He was inviting us to another party. Francesco said, ‘Okay, let’s go’ and he hit him. Luckily, he [Francesco] was very close so he [McGregor] couldn’t load up on his punch. Francesco flew back, fell on the table, and then on the ground. The first thing that came to mind was ‘are we kidding? Is it a show?’ Then I was paralyzed. I turned around and saw that his friends were holding him against the wall because he wanted to continue beating Francesco. Then they took him away. I turned on the light and the guards turned them off. Francesco was bleeding. I wanted to help him and the guards chased us away.”

“He will stay in Italy until October 26th,” she added. “If you see him stay away from him. Don’t go near him and ask for autographs because he is an unstable and dangerous person.”

McGregor has not responded to the allegations.

Justin Thornton, a former MMA and Bare Knuckle fighter, has died at the age of 38 after being hospitalized in late August.

Thorton took on Dillon Clecker on Aug. 20 at the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship in Mississippi. Clecker was able to land a couple of blows within the first 20 seconds of the fight that knocked Thorton unconscious. He was immediately hospitalized and has suffered from several medical ailments during the past month.

On Sept. 23, Thorton’s partner of seven years “on and off” Amber Willard posted to Facebook to update his supporters. “He is on a ventilator; he has a tracheotomy; he is on iv’s for infection in his lungs and medication for his spinal cord injury,” she wrote. She also explained that he is in good spirits and “watches his favorite TV shows” and “makes jokes.”

Thorton had lost to Clecker for the first time in 2013 and wanted a rematch. He took his chance in August after a long wait, and it ended in catastrophe. Clecker, after hearing news that his last opponent in the ring had passed, immediately expressed his sadness for the losss as well as his admiration for Thorton as a fighter.

Jake Paul defeated UFC legend Tyron Woodley on Sunday in an exhibition boxing match by split decision, moving his professional boxing record to 4-0. In his previous fights against YouTuber AnEsonGib, former NBA star Nate Robinson and former Olympic wrestler Ben Askren, Paul won within the first two rounds via KO or TKO.

The YouTube star faced adversity for the first time in his young boxing career in the fourth round when Woodley struck a mean blow to Paul’s head that sent him against the ropes. However, the 39-year-old mixed martial arts legend appeared uncomfortable moving around in the ring and was too passive to deliver a finishing punch, a critique that has long been associated with him.

The inconsistent scoring of the fight also prompted criticism, as the three judges could only agree on the first two rounds. For instance, one judge Phil Rogers gave the final five rounds to Woodley while Dana DePaolo gave the last four rounds to Paul.

After the fight, Woodley insisted on a rematch, Paul immediately agreed to on the condition that the former would get an “I love Jake Paul” tattoo.

It remains to be seen what’s next in line for the Jake Paul boxing circus. His popularity has sparked ongoing debates over whether he’s a net positive for attracting newer and younger eyeballs to the sport. Others argue he’s exploiting the sport for self-serving motives and that, if he were truly serious, Paul would be targeting professional boxers instead of MMA fighters who are primarily known for their grappling ability.

Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has been outspoken about his belief that Conor McGregor has seen the last of his days in mixed martial arts and advocates for the MMA to stop supporting McGregor after his recent loss to Dustin Poirier.

Prior to Nurmagomedov’s retirement in 2020, he defeated McGregor in a 2018 title fight. Both before and after the fight, things got chaotic. McGregor threw an object at the bus Nurmagomedov was on and insulted Nurmagomedov’s wife, father and religion. Nurmagomedov famously leaped out of the octagon and confronted McGregor’s team after defeating him.

On Saturday, July 10, McGregor lost to Poirier at UFC 264 after a doctor stoppage was implemented due to McGregor breaking his leg. Even after the loss, McGregor directed threats and insults at Poirier. Nurmagomedov claims the sport will be damaged if they continue to support McGregor. He believes McGregor will not see any more success in the future.

“Money and fame show who you are. All the time we hear that money and fame change people. No. When money and fame come, these two things show who you are. And what has McGregor done? He punched an old guy in a bar in 2019. You guys can watch everything he did and understand, it’s just like Dustin said, ‘This guy is a bag of s—,'” said Nurmagomedov in an interview with ESPN.

Nurmagomedov’s statement continued, “I saw a lot of tweets try to support him. How are you gonna support this guy? When kids, young generation watch him, watch this sport? If you want to promote your fight, promote. If the MMA community is going to support this bad people, this sport is going to go in a bad way.”

Nurmagomedov discussed McGregor’s current level of fighting and does not believe his old rival will ever return to his peak performance due to a ‘lack of hunger’ and the recent leg injury.

“Without broken legs, yes, he could be the same,” Nurmagomedov said. “But with broken legs, he’s never going to kick the same. With him, no, I don’t believe he’ll return to the top. Conor have good age 32, but what happened with his mind, legs — this guy is finished, but he’s good for promotion.”

Nurmagomedov went on to predict McGregor would be provided a matchup with either Poirier or Nate Diaz next but expects him to lose no matter the opponent.

Conor McGregor had an untimely injury in his UFC matchup against Dustin Porier, but the superstar and face of fighting is not letting the setback keep him down.

McGregor lodged his ankle and foot under himself when moving backward against Porier, leading to a gruesome-looking injury to his left leg. The injury forced a stoppage in the first round of the bout.

“Just out of the surgery room, everything went to plan, everything went perfect and I’m feeling tremendous. We’ve got six weeks on a crutch now and then we begin to build back,” McGregor said on social media.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRLtcwMJwyz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

While the injury has caused many to question whether McGregor will ever step into the octagon again, UFC President Dana White assured reporters that there would be more fights offered to the Irish fighter and that he expects to see McGregor back soon.

Conor McGregor (22-5) returns to the octagon to fight Dustin Poirier (27-6) in a highly-anticipated trilogy bout at UFC 264.

Their first meeting took place in 2014 and it resulted in McGregor defeating “The Diamond” in the first round. Earlier this January at UFC 257, it was Poirier who took the win with a second-round KO over McGregor. Now McGregor gets another opportunity to step back in the cage for a third bout against “The Diamond.”

It’s a pivotal moment in McGregor’s career because he has never lost consecutive MMA bouts. In 2016, he avenged a second-round submission defeat to Nate Diaz by defeating him five months later by majority decision. The fight also matters to the Irish fighter because a defeat will surely relegate him from the list of possible title contenders at 155 pounds.

The two will fight at UFC 264 on Saturday, July 10. The McGregor vs Poirier trilogy bout will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be in front of a full-capacity crowd featuring close to 20,000 fans. UFC 264 is the first UFC-hosted full-capacity event in Las Vegas since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

The Full Fight Card will feature:

Early Prelims

Jennifer Maia (18-7-1) vs. Jessica Eye (15-9-0)

Omari Akhmedov (21-5-1) vs. Brad Tavares (18-7-0)

Zhalgas Zhumagulov (13-5-0) vs. Jerome Rivera (10-5-0)

Alen Amedovski (3-2-0) vs. Hu Yaozong (8-2-0)

Prelims

Carlos Condit (32-13-0) vs. Max Griffin (17-8-0)

Niko Price (14-4-0) vs. Michel Pereira (25-11-0)

Ryan Hall (8-1-0) vs. Ilia Topuria (10-0-0)

Dricus du Plessis (15-2-0) vs. Trevin Giles (14-2-0)

Main Event

Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor

Gilbert Burns (19-4-0) vs. Stephen Thompson (16-4-1)

Tai Tuivasa (12-3-0) vs. Greg Hardy (7-3-0)

Irene Aldana (12-6-0) vs. Yana Kunitskaya (14-5-0)

Sean O’Malley (13-1-0) vs. Kris Moutinho (9-4-0)

Anderson Silva has been a prominent face for electrifying victories in the MMA – now, he is doing it again, this time in the boxing ring.

Silva defeated a well-trained boxer in Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. via a split decision card, the final line being 75-77, 77-75, 77-75. The last time Silva boxed was over a decade ago in 2005. This didn’t slow the career fighter, who took down the previous WBC middleweight champion. The loss inverses the proverbial “adding insult to injury” for Chavez Jr., who – prior to a defeat at the hands of Silva – was forced to relinquish $100,000 of his purse due to missing weigh-in requirements.

Silva had to shake off the rust in the first few rounds, gaining great confidence as the match moved along. He gained enough swagger to visibly taunt Chavez Jr., dropping his hands and mocking the former titleholder. Silva’s southpaw was deadly all night, throwing haymakers that had Chavez Jr. on defense for multiple rounds. Outside of a cut eye on the face of Silva, Chavez Jr. failed to land any truly devastating blows.

The final stat line favored Silva, who outpunched Chavez Jr. 99-53 overall and 60-41 in power punches. That power is no surprise coming from a seven-year UFC middleweight titleholder in Silva. The heavy hitter also holds the record for the most consecutive wins in the UFC (16), a feat that should not be taken lightly.

Conversely, Chavez Jr. has never lived up to the hype that comes with his family name, with this loss being his fourth in his past six fights. While Silva celebrates a hard-earned victory, Chavez Jr. has major issues that he will need to go back to the drawing board to address.

Women’s MMA fighter Tatiana Suarez is going to be making her return to the octagon soon.

Suarez revealed that she has been medically cleared to return to the ring soon. The UFC fighter is targeting a September return. Suarez has been sidelined with a recurring bulging disc in her neck since June 2019.

“I’m super excited to get back out there,” Suarez said. “It’s fun to practice, for sure. But it’s just different competing. Everybody knows that. It’s super exciting to just show what you’re working on.”

The UFC fighter revealed that she had been approved for live training in February, but then she broke her hand and suffered a concussion while wrestling with her boyfriend. However, that was only a minor setback, and she has since engaged in training for the past several weeks and she plans on starting a training camp soon.

Once Suarez returns, she has a mission of fighting in the UFC Flyweight division. Before the injury that sidelined the fighter for two years, Suarez had dominated the UFC’s women’s strawweight division.

Now she is ready to cut weight to be able to play in the division. The fighter is willing to cut to 125 pounds so she could compete and retain her explosiveness. “Maybe if I’m not cutting too much weight at all, I’ll be a little more stronger and explosive,” Suarez said.

Speaking on the women’s strawweight division, she is confident in taking down women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko. “I do think I have a good skillset in terms of my wrestling [that] can give her trouble,” Suarez said.

It is almost but certain that UFC fighter Anderson Silva has fought his last fight.

The longtime UFC middleweight champion revealed that he is likely done with MMA. Silva was released from the UFC following his loss to Uriah Hall in October last year.

“I think MMA for me is done. It’s hard to stay training at a good level because you hurt yourself a lot,” Silva said. “Now, I just try to enjoy. I need to prove nothing for anybody. I just try to enjoy every single moment.”

What is next for the UFC legend? The MMA fighter revealed what is next in his post-UFC career. “Maybe my next challenge is jiu-jitsu — gi or no-gi,” Silva said. “Just enjoy the moment. The whole martial arts.”

Silva has already ventured into boxing and already partook in two boxing bouts. The 46-year-old has an upcoming boxing match with Julio César Chávez Jr. The bout between the two will take place on June 19 at Guadalajara, Mexico. The 46-year-old holds a 1-1 career boxing record.

Nicknamed, “The Spider,” the fighter became one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time and remained a UFC star for 15 years. Some of his accomplishments include holding the UFC middleweight title for nearly seven years, from 2006 to 2013. “The Spider” holds the UFC record for the longest title reign (2,457 days). One of his biggest and famous accomplishments was his iconic 16-fight win streak that lasted from April 2006 to October 2012. The 16-fight win-streak became the longest in UFC history.

Silva’s final UFC fight was a TKO loss to Hall last year. Heading into that fight, UFC president Dana White said going into that bout that it would be Silva’s last in UFC. Silva agreed and asked for his UFC release so he could compete in other combat sports. White granted that request in November. Following his release, he received offers from MMA promotions in Japan to compete, but he declined them.

UFC star Conor McGregor and his business partner sold their majority stake in Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey to Proximo Spirits in a deal that is worth up to $600 million.

Proximo Spirits is a company that owns Jose Cuervo and other alcohol brands that acquired the majority stake in Proper No. Twelve. Proximo already had a 49% stake in the company. The $600 million earned in the deal will go to brand co-founders McGregor, his agent Audie Attar and their trade partner Ken Austin.

Austin told Shanken News Daily that it was their plan all along to have Proximo eventually buy a majority stake in the company. “When we started this business with Proximo, we basically laid out, I’ll call it certain hurdles, that would allow them to buy pieces of the company over time,” Austin said. “We hit a milestone and it gave Proximo the opportunity to own a significant stake.”

Mike Keyes, Proximo’s CEO, revealed that McGregor will still play an active role in the Irish whiskey brand. “Since introducing this brand with Conor and his partners just two and a half years ago, Proper No. Twelve has been the most exciting brand in the Irish whiskey category,” Keyes said. “The brand continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, and this agreement reflects Proximo’s commitment to expanding its presence in the whiskey category as a whole.”

The Irish fighter made a social media post following the deal with Proximo. “Wow!! In just under 3 years, we went from a dream to the biggest Irish Whiskey in the world!” McGregor said. “A HUGE step for Proper No. Twelve today as we now forge ahead”

“Proper Twelve is my baby for life, and I am just warming up the barrels here!” the UFC fighter wrote. “What I have in store for you all will not only take Proper Twelve to the absolute pinnacle of Irish Whiskey! But of all spirits!”

Jake Paul fired back at Dana White in their latest feud.

It was White who dished out the first verbal spat against Paul during the UFC 261 post-fight press conference. In the conference, White bashed the company Paul and Triller, saying the company lied about its pay-per-view buys and how much money Paul made for facing Ben Askren. “The numbers are there? Nah. I don’t know if the numbers are there,” White said. “Do you know what would happen to this guy? He ain’t fighting in the UFC.” The UFC president continued, “He’s getting hand-picked opponents, and God knows what else is going on with that whole f—ing thing.”

The UFC president did not stop there and further claimed that the sales of UFC were better than Triller and what Paul drew. “What happened tonight is, we sold this place out and it was packed, and the numbers that you’re hearing [Triller] did they’re full of s–t. They’re full of s–t. OK?” White said. “They didn’t pull that kind of numbers at all not even f—ing close.”

Paul did not take the claim too lightly and went on Twitter to fire back at the UFC president. The social media-turned boxer published a note on Twitter with his response to White. “Dana you claimed you would bet $1M on me losing,” Paul wrote. “[You] Set up Askren to train with Freddie Roach … gave him full access to UFCP,  and he still got his a-s handed to him.” The social media influencer then said, “Seems like you are the real douche…not Ariel.” This was a reference to when White called out ESPN MMA reporter Ariel Helwani. 

“In my third fight, I made more in total pay than any fighter in UFC history,” the boxer said. “Maybe it’s time to pay your fighters their fair share?” The boxer called out White on the low payouts that the company gives to its fighters. “No wonder they all want to get into boxing,” Paul said.

“Dana, you say you make the fights fans want to see…so hurry up and make Jones vs. Ngannou. Pay them their fair share… $10M purse for each guy, plus PPV,” the note read.

The note ended with one final statement questioning the low payouts again. “Why are UFC fighters so underpaid vs. boxers? Why did I make more money in my third fight than all but two [Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor] UFC fighters have in history? I know why …”

UFC fighters Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier got into a heated Twitter fight over the weekend.

The exchange first started when Poirier responded to McGregor’s prediction of their upcoming fight. Poirier accused McGregor of not donating $500,000 to charity as promised after their previous fight earlier in January.

“That’s a fun prediction! @TheNotoriousMMA you also predicted a donation to my foundation and you and your team stopped responding after the fight in January,” Poirier wrote.

McGregor instantly responded, but he was not happy with the accusation. “A donation, not a debt,” McGregor started it off, “We’ve been awaiting the plans for the money that never came…. I do with all my donations, know where it’s going dot for dot. Otherwise, it goes walking. As is the case with a lot of these foundations, sadly.”

The American fighter tweeted back. “100% never a debt,” Poirier wrote to McGregor. “You offered, we accepted, and like I said your Team never responded to our emails regarding the process of where funds would be put to work! July 10th you will taste defeat yet Again”

The Irishman then proceeded to go on a tirade against Poirier and seemingly called off the fight, writing, “the fight is off.”

However, Poirier responded with one word and a clip of him knocking out McGregor in their previous fight.

UFC is back in full swing, and it will start with UFC 261 in a full fan capacity setting. UFC president Dana White had vowed that the MMA promotion will not return to live crowds during the pandemic. White wanted there to be full fan capacity allowed for a live event in order for UFC to return.

White finally got his wish and UFC 261 will be held at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on April 24. The event will have a full crowd meaning fans will be allowed at full capacity for the event.

UFC 261 main events will be the rematch of welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal. The two had previously fought in UFC 251 and at that time it was Usman who came out with an easy victory. In that bout, Usman easily nullified Masvidal’s offense. Now Masvidal has a chance to try again and we’ll see if he has learned from his mistakes. Usman is currently the favorite to win.

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Women’s Strawweight Title: Weili Zhang (c) vs Rose Namajunas

The card will feature current Women’s Strawweight champion Zhang battle Namajunas for the title. Zhang is currently on a 21-win streak and is the favorite to win. Zhang effortlessly captured the title by beating Jessica Andrade in just 42 seconds to win the title. Zhang then won her first title defense in UFC 248 against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, which was decided in a split decision favor for Zhang.

Namajuanas is a former strawweight champion herself. She had won the title from Jedrzejczyk in 2017. Namajuanas will look to win back the title and will face her biggest challenge yet.

Women’s Flyweight Title: Valentina Shevchenko (c) vs Jessica Andrade

Defending champion Shevchenko will be the favorite to win this bout. The champion already has four dominant wins when defending her title. Yet, Andrade is no slouch herself as she is a former Strawweight champion.

UFC 261 Fight Card:

• Kamaru Usman (c) -400 vs. Jorge Masvidal +310, Welterweight Championship
• Weili Zhang (c) -195 vs. Rose Namajunas +165, Women’s Strawweight Championship
• Valentina Shevchenko (c) -400 vs. Jessica Andrade +310, Women’s Flyweight Championship
• Uriah Hall -110 vs. Chris Weidman -110, Middleweight
• Jimmy Crute -195 vs. Anthony Smith +165, Light Heavyweight
• Randy Brown vs. Alex Oliveira, Welterweight
• Brendan Allen -135 vs. Karl Roberson +115, Middleweight
• Danaa Batgerel -150 vs. Kevin Natividad +125, Bantamweight
• Qileng Aori -125 vs. Jeffrey Molina +105, Flyweight
• Jamey Simmons vs. Johnny Munoz, Bantamweights
• Rong Zhu -240 vs. Kazula Vargas +200, Lightweight
• Dwight Grant vs. Stefan Sekulic, Welterweight
• Ariane Carnelossi -150 vs. Na Liang +125, Women’s Strawweight

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