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Aaron Tau and Elijah Smith face off ahead of Contender Series, week six | Zuffa LLC MMA Fighting has DWCS results for all the action from season eight, week six of UFC’s Contender Series on Tuesday night at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nev. In the main event, undefeated prospect Aaron Tau takes on the 6-1 Elijah Smith in a bantamweight contest. Contender Series starts at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday on ESPN+. You can find the results for season eight, week six below. Fight Card Aaron Tau vs. Elijah Smith Tallison Teixeira vs. Arthur Lopes Benjamin Bennett vs. Joey Hart Yura Naito vs. Ateba Gautier Dylan Mantello vs. Ahmad Hassanzada

Mike Tyson and Jake Paul | Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul just got a little bit bigger. On Monday, Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions announced the upcoming fight card between Paul and Tyson will also feature a WBC welterweight title fight between Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos. FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT MVP is excited to announce that on the same night as Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson, we will have an electrifying WBC Welterweight Championship bout between reigning champion Mario “El Azteca” Barrios @Boxer_Barrios (29-2, 18 KOs) and Abel Ramos @abelramosboxing… pic.twitter.com/V3q2Hf03gG— Most Valuable Promotions (@MostVpromotions) September 16, 2024 Barrios won the WBC interim welterweight title a year ago with a unanimous decision victory over Yordenis Ugas. He then defended the interim belt back in May with a decision win over Fabian Maidana. Barrios was elevated to undisputed WBC welterweight champion in June, after demoting Terence Crawford following his move up to super welterweight. Sporting a 28-6-2 professional record, Ramos is most notable for losing a split decision to Ugas for the WBA welterweight title back in 2020. Most Valuable Promotions also announced a bout between Indian boxer and influencer Neeraj Goyat and Brazilian YouTuber and boxer Whindersson Nunes. Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul takes place on Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX and will be streamed globally via Netflix. Below is the full Tyson vs. Paul fight card as it currently stands. Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul — 8 two-minute rounds, heavyweight Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano — 10 rounds, undisputed lightweight title Mario Barrios vs. Abel Ramos — 12 rounds, WBC welterweight title Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Darren Till — 6 rounds, cruiserweight Ashton Sylve vs. Floyd Schofield — 10 rounds, lightweight Neeraj Goyat vs. Whindersson Nunes — 4 rounds, middleweight

@iHeartGeorgius1, Twitter Merab Dvalishvil’s championship triumph rang across the continents. “The Machine” dominated Sean O’Malley in Saturday’s UFC 306 main event at Sphere in Las Vegas to earn a unanimous decision win and become the new UFC bantamweight champion. Back in his native Georgia, thousands of Dvalishvili fans gathered in a Tbilisi square to watch their countryman go to battle. He didn’t disappoint, thrilling the gathered masses and delivering the European country its second UFC titleholder, alongside current featherweight champion Ilia Topuria. Watch footage of the festivities below, courtesy of Setanta Sports. An unforgettable day for Georgia, Georgian sport and Georgian people ❤7-8AM, thousands of people in the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia, paralyzed capital city, and #AndNew UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili! What a time to be alive as a Georgian! Setanta… pic.twitter.com/yiL6SLBewR— Giorgi Kokiashvili (@iHeartGeorgius1) September 15, 2024 This is how Georgian fans celebrated Merab Dvalishvili's Championship victory over Sean O'Malley in the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia 7AM, more than 10'000 people, paralyzed streets, total joy and unforgettable emotions! ❤ Setanta Sports#UFC306 | #NocheUFC |… pic.twitter.com/fVk5fnERf4— Giorgi Kokiashvili (@iHeartGeorgius1) September 15, 2024 According to Setanta Sports’ Giorgi Kokiashvili, there were over 10,000 people gathered to watch Dvalishvili achieve his championship dream. Dvalishvili made his UFC debut in 2017 and after a pair of losses, he hasn’t looked back since. The new bantamweight king made it 11 straight wins with his victory over O’Malley, adding “Suga” to a hit list that includes former UFC champions Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, and Jose Aldo. Up next for Dvalishvili is presumably undefeated contender Umar Nurmagomedov. Whenever that fight is booked, expect Dvalishvili’s supporters to once again show up en masse.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is nearing a return date after suffering a torn ligament in his hand that delayed his next fight after dispatching Dustin Poirier in June. Most believed Makhachev would fight top ranked contender Arman Tsarukyan in October at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi but the hand injury prevented that from happening. Now the 33-year-old champion has a better idea in mind when he should be able to fight again. “Most likely Tsarukyan [is next],” Makhachev told Russian reporter Igor Lazorin. “[He’s] the No. 1 contender now. I have a small injury now but I’m finishing up my treatment and I’ll be ready around the end of the year, beginning of [next] year, January.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Igor Lazorin (@igorkakdela_official) Right now, the UFC has scheduled out major fights and pay-per-views through November with UFC 309 set for Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 16. That card is headlined by Jon Jones making his long-awaited return to face Stipe Miocic in a heavyweight title fight. The only major event without a headliner for the rest of 2024 is UFC 310 on Dec. 7, which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s possible Makhachev could end up on that card, although that’s relatively early in the month so perhaps a return in early 2025 is more likely. The UFC has plans to eventually go back to Saudi Arabia next year after striking a deal with Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority, following a successful partnership launching with a Fight Night event in June and another card set for 2025. Makhachev remains a massive star in the Middle East so it’s possible the UFC waits until a show in Saudi Arabia or Abu Dhabi to book his next fight. Either way it appears Tsarukyan is stuck waiting until at least the end of 2024 before he gets his shot at becoming UFC lightweight champion.

Photo by Michelle Farsi/Zuffa LLC The UFC continues negotiations with the plaintiffs involved in a pair of antitrust lawsuits filed against the company but after a judge denied the initial settlement agreement, it’s impossible to tell how this ends. In a surprising move, Judge Richard Boulware from Nevada shut down a settlement agreement in July after the UFC agreed to pay out $335 million to settle a pair of lawsuits with the first one filed all the way back in 2014. The judge previously stated in court that he objected to the settlement because the agreed upon payout seemed low and that the fighters represented in the second lawsuit — covering athletes from 2017 to the present — could object to arbitration and class-action waiver clauses in existing contracts. On Wednesday, TKO Group Holdings president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro addressed the judge’s decision to deny the settlement against the wishes of both the plaintiffs and the defendants. “Anyone that is a student of our business that has closely followed this story knows what’s going on is just ridiculous,” Shapiro said while appearing at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference. “We ultimately cut a deal to settle these cases, both suits, where the plaintiffs — the fighters if you will — near unanimity that this was good for them. By the way, we spent a lot more than anybody thought we were going to spend, [what] our board wanted us to spend, or we even thought was frankly appropriate, when it came to the two cases before us. But nonetheless to take it off the table we reached a deal and we’re on our way and then the judge doesn’t even grant preliminary approval. “Keep in mind, if you grand preliminary approval then that gives a window for anybody to come forward, fighters who don’t agree or there isn’t unanimity [saying] ‘wait a second, this isn’t fair,’ to step up and be heard. He shut this down before they even had a chance to be heard. That’s somewhat unprecedented I’d have to say, in the sense that it’s a hell of a payout and the [Kajan] Johnson case, which is the second case [covering fighters from 2017 to present], just taken to the testimony in court with the judge, very clearly say ‘we don’t think on our own we have a case, we can’t find a lawyer to take our case, it’s very difficult here, this is why we want this deal.’ So you had both plaintiffs totally aligned with the UFC and our lawyers that this settlement was fair and we’re going to move on and we’re looking for your approval. He saw it another way. Asked us to get back together and talk about another way to skin the cat.” The judge eventually set a new trial date on Feb. 3, 2025 for the first antitrust lawsuit filed by fighters such as Cung Le, Nate Quarry and others while instructing both parties that he wouldn’t push the start of the trial unless he approves a new preliminary settlement agreement. Of course, the UFC continues to dialogue with the plaintiffs in hopes of reaching a new agreement so the case never goes to trial but Shapiro made it clear that the company already reached a ceiling as far as a potential payoff for the settlement. If the case ends up going to trial and a judgment goes against the UFC, Shapiro promised that the company would exhaust all legal means to fight the ruling to the bitter end. “We are having those conversations because that’s the direction,” Shapiro said. “I would tell you this is a difficult one because we’re not going to just be writing a bigger check. This is frankly at the top of where we wanted to ever be or ever thought we would be. We feel very strongly in the merits of both cases. We are going to pursue this and chase this and defend ourselves in a very intense way, let’s put it that way. “If there is an adverse outcome, we will go all the way. I want to make that clear. We will appeal and we will appeal and we will appeal and we will appeal, just like the NFL said they were going to do with their Sunday Ticket/DirecTV situation.” Back in June a jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to subscribers after ruling that the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon football games on a premium subscription service. Before a potential appeal process could even get going, a Federal judge overturned the ruling and granted judgment to the NFL while ruling that testimony from a pair of witnesses in the trial should have been excluded. Shapiro obviously sounds confident that the UFC will eventually close this chapter but that doesn’t absolve the ruling that shut down the initial settlement agreement to resolve both cases. “This is kind of absurd what’s happened” Shapiro said. “Nobody is on board with it. The plaintiffs want the money and the sport and the competition will be better for it. All this is doing is lining the pockets of more lawyers.”