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Since retirement, UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping has kept plenty busy with his duties as one of the lead color commentators at the UFC along with running a successful podcast and YouTube channel but he still dabbles in acting from time to time. His latest role comes in the upcoming heist thriller Den of Thieves 2: Pantera where Bisping stars alongside Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. in the sequel to the surprise hit film from 2018. Bisping also appeared in the closing minutes of the original film and now he’s returning for the follow up. A new trailer for the upcoming film was released on Wednesday with Bisping making a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance but he’s not the only fighter on the cast list for this particular film. UFC heavyweight Ciryl Gane is also listed on the call sheet for the film, although he doesn’t have a character name yet based on the information available currently, GLORY kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven, who has actually taken on a number of acting roles in recent years, is also slated to appear in Den of Thieves 2. Check out the new trailer for Den of Thieves 2 and see if you spot Bisping in the upcoming heist movie due out on Jan. 10.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC Country singer Zach Bryan received an unexpected shoutout during UFC 309, but it turns out the whole thing may have been staged as a way to get at his ex-girlfriend attending the event. In one of the more bizarre stories coming out of the UFC’s latest trip to Madison Square Garden in New York City, featherweight competitor David Onama took time on the microphone following his win over Roberto Romero to say that he was planning on returning to the Big Apple to attend one of Bryan’s upcoming concerts. “I want to come back here next month to watch — what’s it called? — Zach Bryan for the concert,” Onama shouted when speaking to UFC color commentator Joe Rogan (Bryan will actually perform at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn next month). It turns out Bryan’s ex-girlfriend Brianna LaPaglia was attending her first UFC event that night after a very public breakup with the country music star that has only gotten uglier and uglier in recent weeks. Bryan announced their breakup on his Instagram stories with LaPaglia addressing the end of their relationship on her Barstool podcast where she claimed he was manipulative and emotionally abusive. View this post on Instagram A post shared by UFC (@ufc) LaPaglia’s co-host on her BFF podcast is none other than Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, who erupted about the whole situation after hearing Onama reveal on a podcast that he didn’t even know who Bryan was when he was asked to give him a shoutout during his post-fight interview. Onama admitted on the podcast he is actually a Morgan Wallen fan. View this post on Instagram A post shared by SiriusXM Fight Nation (@siriusxmfightnation) “This small little 4-foot-8 f*cking psychopath is that pathetic and that lost where they got to beg UFC guys for a shout-out just to try to rub it in Bri’s face? Like Brianna gives a f*ck, we know you’re popular Zach. You don’t need to f*cking bribe people to say your name, you pathetic little man. “We get you’re world famous. But everybody knows you’re a f*cking piece of shit loser and now we know how pathetic and small and f*cking low you are. By the way, it’s embarrassing. You look like the smallest man who ever lived.” @stoolpresidente Zach Bryan begged a UFC fighter for a shoutout to make @Brianna LaPaglia ♬ original sound - Dave Portnoy After the whole situation blew up Wednesday, Onama released a separate statement explaining why he shouted out Bryan in the first place following his win. “Hey guys, feel like this is getting blown out of proportion,” Onama wrote on Twitter. “A promoter offered me comp tickets to one of Zach Bryan’s concerts if I made a shout out for his upcoming stadium shows. I did it because my teammates love Zach and Zach has always taken care of them when he played Denver. “Zach did not reach out to me at all about this. Was simply supporting someone who always supported my team.” pic.twitter.com/hfD1cORyav— David A. Onama (@DavidOnama145) November 20, 2024

At the end of Petr Yan and Deiveson Figueiredo’s first staredown ahead of their UFC Macau main event this Saturday, Yan whispered something in Figueiredo’s ear that lip readers have been trying to figure out. “I just told him it’s it’s going to be a very hard and tough night for him that he never faced before,” Yan told MMA Fighting. “I’m not bluffing. I’m not playing any mind games. I just honestly believe that he never faced anything like he’s going to face this Saturday night. [He’s] never had any challenges as I had [in our careers].” This main event will be a treat #UFCMacau pic.twitter.com/xudZKu0wBb— UFC (@ufc) November 19, 2024 Yan makes his second appearance of 2024 after defeating Song Yadong at UFC 299 in March. The former bantamweight champion revealed he suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in the first round of the bout, but also competed with an injury to his other leg that he dealt with during the final month of preparation. Yan has fully recovered and feels great heading into an exciting main event matchup against another former world champ. Figueiredo has looked fantastic since moving up from 125 pounds. The multi-time flyweight champ has picked up dominant wins over Rob Font and Marlon Vera, along with a stoppage of Cody Garbrandt at UFC 300 in his new bantamweight journey. In Yan’s eyes, Figueredo looked great in the fights, but he was supposed to. “I mean, if he moved up, it probably means he had problems making weight at flyweight,” Yan said. “So it means he cut a lot of weight, so he’s pretty heavy anyway. “And talking about his opposition like Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt, Marlon Vera, I believe they’re not that high-level. They’re mid-level, average fighters, and h’se never faced someone as high-level as me.” There’s been a lot of chatter about the potential stakes in the bantamweight five-rounder in the UFC’s return to Macau. New champion Merab Dvalishvili has said that if he gets the victory on Saturday, Figueiredo should be his opponent in his first title defense — a sentiment Figueiredo agrees with as he feels a victory would leapfrog him over Umar Nurmagomedov. But what if Yan plays spoiler and gets his hand raised? “You know, as Merab been saying himself, Figueiredo is a top, most worthy contender right now, so if I beat him, I don’t know what Merab’s going to say,” Yan explained. “But probably, he’s going want to rematch Sean O’Malley... but as you all know what happened when I fought Sean, I believe I was robbed and I believe I beat Sean very decisively. So, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know that I’m not looking [beyond] Figueredo. I’m just very confident that I’m gonna break him and I’m going to take this No. 1 contender spot. “So only a bad soldier doesn’t want to be a general. In my head, I visualize how I win, how my hand get raised, and then I call out Merab.”

Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira at UFC 309 | Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images Michael Chandler had a tough time of it against Charles Oliveira. This past Saturday, Chandler rematched Oliveira in the co-main event of UFC 309, losing a decision in a five-round war. It was Chandler’s first fight in two years and the former Bellator lightweight champion had a difficult welcome back to the octagon as he told Bussin’ With The Boys on Wednesday. “My body is jacked,” Chandler said. “My heart is full. Let’s start with the heart. My heart is full. ... I’m just happy to be home. It was good. I had a phenomenal training camp, we went to war, we did our thing. “My body, the most pain I’ve ever been in my entire life. The most injuries I’ve had in a fight, for sure. Peed blood, inflammation all over, my whole body is swollen. ... The first [blood in my urine] was very light, which was in my drug test. ... It had a light tint and the second one was beet looking juice. It was dark.” On top of all that, Chandler also revealed that he injured his knee early in the fight, saying that he believes it came during an exchange in the first round and severely hampered his ability throughout. “I think something happened to the knee in that first exchange when he had the leg and I did that full 360, he did a kneebar thing, because I walked back to the stool and I looked down at my left leg and it was not working right,” Chandler said. “It wasn’t stepping, it wasn’t catching, it was unstable, it was weird. ... You know what it feels like to be on a solid foundation, to walk forward, move forward, attack, and I just wasn’t. “Moving backwards was no problem, so my body and my brain was telling me moving backwards was cool but moving forward, planting and being in his face, pressure — even if you go back and watch the fifth [round] ... whenever I was pursuing him, my leg was almost flopping rather than stalking and moving forward. ... “We’ll see what happened, but essentially for 23 minutes of that fight I don’t know if the leg was really working that well.” Chandler added that he’s yet to have an MRI but says he’ll see to that in the coming days before making his return plans. But for now he’s tentatively targeting a return next summer at this point and whenever he comes back, he hopes it’s to finally settle his business with Conor McGregor. “Looks like it’s going to be Conor next,” Chandler said. “I’m not saying it’s a real reality, but I am saying if he does his road comes straight through Nashville, Tennessee. His road back to the UFC, we have to finish The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC wants to finish The Ultimate Fighter, Conor wants to fight me. He can fight anybody, but he made a commitment. ... “He’s more sentimental and romantic about the sport than people give him credit for because he has become this big, infamous brand. But he knows he’s nothing without that UFC octagon, he knows he’s nothing without the UFC. He was a plumber on welfare sleeping on a couch and without the UFC, he’s nothing. “So I think he wants to see through to his commitment. Quite frankly, he needs to come back, he needs something to chase or else he’s going to keep chasing the wrong things. And if he does, there’s a guy waiting and I just so happen to think I’m one of the top draws in the UFC. People will pay good money to watch me fight, no matter what.”

David Feldman | BKFC David Feldman has plans to change one lucky bare-knuckle boxer’s life forever. During an appearance on MMA Today with Din Thomas and Alan Jouban, Feldman revealed that BKFC is set to announce a massive tournament with the winner earning a $25 million prize. The news is not official, but Feldman expects to make an announcement in December. “I’m about three weeks out from announcing this, but I’m going to announce the biggest tournament in combat sports history with the largest prize that’s ever been on a tournament in combat sports history,” Feldman said, I’ll just give you a little hint, it’s going to be a $25 million prize and we’re going to be on the search for someone really special.” Thomas, a noted analyst and a veteran of 36 MMA bouts that retired in 2013, replied, “I’m coming out of retirement.” From what Feldman has described, it sounds like Thomas or Jouban would be eligible if they chose to return to competition. Feldman said the tournament is not restricted to members of the current BKFC roster and, in fact, they will be selecting the contestants from a much larger pool. “We’re going to do tryouts,” Feldman said, “I think we’re going to grab, like, a thousand people. We’re going to narrow it down to 24 and then we’re going to get rid of 16 and we’re going to have eight that is left standing and that’s going to be the guys that are going to fight for the real money. “Everybody else is going to get paid along the way, but they’re going to fight for the real prize.” Feldman said it will not be a one-night tournament and that he expects the whole process to take about 11 months. Further details are still to come, but Feldman is confident that fans will be blown away by the news when it becomes official. “Anybody from all over the world,” Feldman said. “Anybody from any organization, from any combat sport, anybody is welcome to do this. Not much more I can say about it right now, it’s going to be, when I announce it I think people are going to be, like, ‘Holy shit, this is unbelievable.’”