Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury has been finalized for Feb. 26 in Saudi Arabia. The event will team with Top Rank and air digitally in the U.S. on ESPN+. More here:
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ESPN, by way of Colorado State. We should be friends, probably.
Brett Okamoto’s Tweets
Ihor Poteira says he's a duelist and was showing Shogun respect with his post fight dance by not shooting him. Then he repeated the dance.
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It’s worth saying that in two of the recent fighter/UFC negotiations, one was stuck up by a fighter trying to get his teammates contracts (Diaz) and another for advocating for fighter rights (Ngannou). It’s nice to see some of the people at the top top are still good just humans.
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Francis Ngannou tells @arielhelwani that he asked the UFC for fighters to get in-cage sponsorships, health insurance and a dedicated advocate for athletes as part of his contract negotiations.
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I’m most active fighter in the UFC flyweight division! You like it or not I don’t care!
March 18th it will my 4th fight in 12 months! I will see my people in London #UFC286
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Michelle Waterson-Gomez () vs. Luana Pinheiro (), Nos. 11 and 13 at strawweight, will square off on April 8. That event is expected to be UFC 287, potentially in Brooklyn.
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Muhammad Mokaev () will indeed be in the Octagon at UFC 286 on March 18, after making a quick recovery from recent shoulder surgery. He’ll face Contender Series alum Jafel Filho (). Looking to improve on his No. 14 ranking and to 3-0 UFC record.
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Video: Full in-person interview with Brandon Moreno (). Talked coaching change, any bad blood left with Figueiredo, going to Brazil for the fight and a lot more.
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Video: Spoke to MMA coach Sayif Saud () about stepping into Brandon Moreno's camp midway through preparations for Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 283. This is definitely a story that's worth your time. I'll have a lot more on this later in the week.
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Video: Backstage interview with Umar Nurmagomedov () from the Apex. Talked about his KO win, meeting with Dana White after the fight, a phone call from Khabib and whether Khabib will be in his corner when he eventually fights for a UFC title.
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London. Justin Gaethje () vs. Rafael Fiziev () is nearly finalized for UFC 286 on March 18. Nos. 3 and 6 at lightweight to meet. What a fight.
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Video: After a four-week break, UFC Best Bets is back baby! Last year, started the year with six straight main event hits and four straight parlays. All his picks for Saturday, plus betting predictions from both of us on 2023.
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Congrats to my buddy on this upcoming launch. He’s been working on it for a long time. 👌👌
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Undisputed Early Access begins on January 31st, exclusively on Steam. #BecomeUndisputed 
Wishlist:
store.steampowered.com/app/1451190/
Wishlist:
store.steampowered.com/app/1451190/
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Dana White spoke to media in person on Wednesday in Las Vegas for the first time since NYE incident.
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On the heels of re-signing AJ McKee, Bellator MMA has announced its 8-man lightweight Grand Prix, which includes Usman Nurmagomedov, Benson Henderson, McKee, Tofiq Musaev, among others. Usman vs. Benson will also headline a card on March 10.
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Bellator MMA just sent out a release it has re-signed AJ McKee to a new "multi-year" contract. President Scott Coker also says McKee will be featured in the 2023 lightweight grand prix. McKee vs. current champ Usman Nurmagomedov would be real interesting.
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I’m extremely disappointed to say the least. This not how I wanted to start 2023.
I worked my ass off & battled through a lot of adversary and was ready to put on a hell of a show this weekend.
I apologize to Imavov, his camp as well as and all the fans.
#OnAmission4Gold
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Interesting piece here on the Endeavor, Hollywood side of Dana White NYE incident. Endeavor has declined comment to all outlets, including ESPN.
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First UFC main event of 2023 has underwent a last minute change. Gastelum out with a mouth injury, Sean Strickland has agreed to replace him against Imavov. Five rounds, but now 205 pounds per UFC officials. This is now back to back UFC events headlined by Strickland.
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Video: Early thoughts on 2023 storylines, predictions and potential picks for Fighter of the Year from myself and .
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Some bold predictions for 2023 from ESPN MMA staff ... take a look and let me know what you think and if you have any good ones.
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Video: Caught up with Kevin Lee () for the first time in a while. Talked his status with Eagle FC, talks heating up with PFL, MMA management/landscape in general and more.
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Per a UFC official, Dana White Power Slap league’s debut on TBS has been pushed back one week to Jan. 18. Still no response on a request for comment to TBS on the matter.
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Why didn’t Bryce Mitchell () pull out of his fight against Topuria when he got sick? This is why. And he’s not complaining. This is the game. But it’s important to know what goes into these hard choices fighters face.
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Jake Paul to PFL, under a deal that will pay him 50% revenue share on PPVs, with similar deals to be offered to other fighters in a new PFL “PPV” division.
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Welterweight fight between Geoff Neal () and Shavkat Rakhmonov () that was booked for Jan. 14 has been rebooked for UFC 285 on March 4, per sources.
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Video: As part of our 2023 look ahead, here are the fights and I would love to see in the next 12 months.
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PFL () has officially announced dates for its 2023 Challenger Series. Live event every Friday from Orlando for eight weeks, from Jan. 27 to March 17, and air on Fubo Sports. 2022 CS actually sent a few to the playoffs, like Josh Silveira and Dilano Taylor.
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The UFC has signed 28-year-old Sharaputdin Magomedov to a multifight deal, per his manager Ali Abdelaziz (). Magomedov is 17-0 with 13 KOs and has experience in professional kickboxing. Expected to make his UFC debut in a May/June timeframe.
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Sorry typo****** March 4 is the date
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Middleweight tilt just added to UFC 285 on March 5. Brunson vs. Du Plessis, per sources. Du Plessis also signed a new multi fight deal with the UFC. Some big fights getting booked at 185 during the first quarter of 2023.
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Bellator MMA adds Johnny Eblen () title defense to Feb. 4 event on CBS, with Nemkov out of his scheduled bout against Romero.
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First reported by
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With Kai Kara-France falling out of UFC 284 on Feb. 11 due to injury, his opponent Alex Perez () has been moved to March 25 against Manel Kape () per sources. Nos. 6 and 9 at flyweight.
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