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Rafael Fiziev | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC Rafael Fiziev will get a homecoming of sorts when he takes on rising lightweight Ignacio Bahamondes in the co-main event of UFC Baku on June 21, the promotion announced Friday. RedFuryFT first reported the booking. The first UFC show in Azerbaijan will be topped by former UFC champion Jamahal Hill versus one-time light heavyweight title contender Khalil Rountree Jr. Fiziev (12-4), who was born in Kazakhstan but grew up in Azerbaijan, will attempt to snap a three-fight losing skid. The man that at one point of his UFC career won six in a row, with knockouts against Rafael dos Anjos and Renato Moicano, is now facing a skid after losing to Justin Gaethje (twice) and Mateusz Gamrot. Chile’s Bahamondes (17-5) enters the biggest fight of his MMA carer after boosting his octagon record to 6-2 with a trio of bonus-winning victories over Christos Giagos, Manuel Torres and Jalin Turner since April 2024. Check the updated lineup below. Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Rafael Fiziev vs. Ignacio Bahamondes Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Tagir Ulanbekov Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev Ismail Naurdiev vs. JunYong Park Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Mohammed Usman Melissa Mullins vs. Daria Zheleznyakova Irina Alekseeva vs. Klaudia Sygula

The UFC is back in Missouri, and it’s bringing a banger of a main event. On Saturday, UFC Kansas City goes down from T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, headlined by a welterweight scrap between Ian Machado Garry and Carlos Prates. Garry is coming off his near-upset of Shavkat Rakhmonov in December, while Prates is one of the faces of the Fighting Nerds revolution that has taken the UFC by storm. So, who wins this main event and what’s at stake on Saturday? Ahead of this weekend’s action, MMA Fighting’s Alexander K. Lee and Jed Meshew preview the main event between Garry and Prates, discuss what’s at stake for the winner, wax poetic on the career of Anthony Smith as he makes his final walk to the octagon, highlight some low-key bangers, and even spend some time talking about the World’s Strongest Fight between Mariusz Pudzianowski and Eddie Hall at KSW 105 on Saturday. Plus, Lee and Meshew answer fan questions and react to some breaking news! Catch the UFC Kansas City preview show above. An audio-only version of the show can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Dustin Poirier’s final dance is set. On Friday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show, Poirier announced he will face Max Holloway for the BMF title in his final fight at Smoothie King Center in his backyard of New Orleans at UFC 318 on July 19. “It’s going to be my final fight,” Poirier said. “I’m going to lay my gloves down in Louisiana where it all started for me. The whole journey started there, and I’m just honored the UFC was on the same page, the state of Louisiana was on the same page to make all of this work. ... “July 19, me and Max Holloway are going to fight, five rounds, main event, pay-per-view for his BMF title.” The Last Dance pic.twitter.com/NnGXh5yp66— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) April 25, 2025 Poirier said following his loss to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 301 this past June. that he was down to his final fight, and he wanted it to happen in New Orleans. “The Diamond” got his wish as he looks to go 3-0 against Holloway. Holloway is equally as pleased with the matchup and the opportunity to get some measure of revenge against Poirier, posting on social media that he’s happy to be Poirier’s final fight. Honored to be The Diamond’s Last Dance July 19, 2025 New Orleans, Louisiana ️Smoothie King Areana pic.twitter.com/BAVis53v3c— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) April 25, 2025 “Honored to be The Diamond’s Last Dance,” Holloway said. “Blessed” returns to lightweight after capturing the BMF title with one of the greatest knockouts in UFC history over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April 2024. Holloway went on to get stopped by Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC 308 this past October in his final featherweight bout.

Kamaru Usman | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Kamaru Usman is finally stepping back in the cage. On Friday, the UFC announced that Usman takes on surging welterweight contender Joaquin Buckley in the main event of UFC Atlanta, which goes down on June 14 at State Farm Arena. #UFCAtlanta has its headliners @Usman84kg vs @NewMansa94@RoseNamajunas vs @FearTheMaverickTickets on sale May 2 | Info: https://t.co/8HQfIg4b0R pic.twitter.com/lav45WCWaz— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2025 Usman (20-4) is a former welterweight champion, having held the title from 2019 until 2021, recording five defenses. However, “The Nigerian Nightmare” is currently on a three-fight losing streak and has not competed since losing to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 after accepting the bout up at middleweight and on short notice. Buckley (21-6) has won six in a row since returning to the welterweight division in 2023, four by stoppage. Most recently, Buckley finished former interim champion Colby Covington in the main event of UFC Tampa in December. A previously announced women’s flyweight bout between former two-time strawweight champion Rose Namajunas (13-7) and 12th-ranked contender Miranda Maverick (15-5) will serve as the co-headliner. This will be the UFC’s fifth trip to Atlanta and first Fight Night event, with the previous four visits all being pay-per-view shows. Check out the rest of the UFC Atlanta lineup below. Kamaru Usman vs. Joaquin Buckley Rose Namajunas vs. Miranda Maverick Alonzo Menifield vs. Oumar Sy Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Andre Petroski Cody Brundage vs. Mansur Abdul-Malik Cody Durden vs. Jose Ochoa Jamey-Lyn Horth vs. Tereza Bleda

Dustin Poirier | Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images Dustin Poirier is happy to see Max Holloway in the cage again, but “Blessed” wasn’t his first choice. The future UFC Hall of Famer announced Friday that he is set to headline UFC 318 on July 19 in a trilogy bout with Holloway, with Holloway’s “BMF” belt on the line. Poirier has twice fought Holloway, defeating him at UFC 143 in Holloway’s octagon debut and then again at UFC 236 to win an interim lightweight title. As much as Poirier respects Holloway, there was another trilogy bout he had in mind. “I was asking for [Justin] Gaethje,” Poirier told MMA Junkie. “I was asking [UFC CBO Hunter Campbell] and the UFC for Gaethje because we’re 1-1, I wanted to close out that trilogy. For some reason, they really wanted this fight, so I said, ‘OK, that’s cool’ because I respect the guy from my last fight. I don’t know what their thought process was putting this together for me and Max, but I have a lot of respect for him, so it made sense to me. “I said, ‘Legends only.’ He definitely fits that.” Poirier and Justin Gaethje are even in their series, with Poirier winning their first meeting in April 2018 and Gaethje later avenging that loss with a powerful head kick knockout at UFC 291. Their rematch was for a vacant “BMF” belt, which Holloway later won from Gaethje. The veteran’s request to only fight legends seemed to line up perfectly with former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria changing his name to “La Leyenda” (“The Legend” in English), but Poirier says it was never an option for him to welcome Topuria to the lightweight division despite his interest. “Actually, when he said he was going to ‘55, I texted Hunter, I texted UFC, I said, ‘Hey, what’s up? Let me know what’s going on with this guy now he’s at ‘55,” Poirier said. “But they never entertained it, they told me it’s not happening, and they wanted Max.” With his second crack at the BMF belt, Poirier is excited to add another piece of hardware to his collection. In fact, he’s not only hoping to capture that title for the first time, he’s hoping he’s the last fighter to ever lay claim to it. “If I can get my hand, be the last BMF champion and ride off into the sunset with the belt and retire, hey, that’s forever,” Poirier said. “Because I don’t think they would ever do it again unless something crazy happened. That would be dope.” Even if Holloway wasn’t the ideal opponent, Poirier can’t argue with the location for his final fight: New Orleans in his home state of Louisiana. It’s been 10 years since Poirier most recently fought near his native Lafayette and he’s grateful for the UFC accommodating his wish to have his final fight take place where his career began. “This is the dream,” Poirier said. “This is the plan. I’m the one who reached out to the UFC and said, ‘Hey, I would love to retire at home. To my surprise, they obliged and said, ‘OK, we’ll do everything we can to make it happen.’ It’s amazing when a company works with you like that and has respect for you enough to try to put things in motion because so many things in their schedule is booked up for the whole year previously. People don’t understand how much goes on behind the scenes. These dates and locations are pre-planned for a long time. For them to scrap something and bring the cage to Louisiana and set it up for me to retire at home, it’s a dream come true.”