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MONTREAL - UFC bantamweight Brad Katona joins MMA Fighting’s José Youngs to discuss everything from his love of Lord of the Rings, chess, Star Wars, pizza toppings, bread selections, movies, and more. Katona (14-4), a two-time winner of The Ultimate Fighter, is currently slated to fight Bekzat Almakhan on the preliminary card of UFC 315 in Montreal. The SBG Ireland product is looking to get back into the win column after coming up short against Jean Matsumoto.

Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images The new boxing promotion, headed up by the UFC’s owners at TKO Group Holdings, has ambitious plans for the future with the first card set to launch in September when Canelo Alvarez takes on Terence Crawford in a superfight taking place in Las Vegas. UFC CEO Dana White has already been announced as the promoter for the event with WWE president Nick Khan also involved in the newly formed boxing league, which is financially backed by Saudi Arabia and Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in the country. While some details have been revealed since the boxing promotion was first announced, the new league has ambitious plans when it comes to the full schedule that kicks off with the card on Sept. 12. “I would just tell you that we’re expecting with the boxing organization that we’re putting on an average of call it 12 fights a year, 12 cards a year for each of the next five years,” TKO president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro said during a quarterly financial call with investors. “Still putting that plan together and obviously working hand in hand with our friends from Saudi.” In addition to the 12 cards on average per year, the new Saudi-backed boxing league is also plotting several “superfight” events similar to the one with Canelo vs. Crawford in September. “Irrespective of those, we will look to do anywhere from one to four sort of superfights per year, we’ll see how that plays out,” Shapiro said. “But obviously we would term the Canelo/Crawford September matchup as one of those. And then on that undercard, we would have a number of those undercard fights that would likely air on the television partner/media partner we would have for our newly formed boxing organizations.” As of now, the new TKO boxing league doesn’t have a broadcast partner but those details will likely get sorted out ahead of the actual launch in September. While TKO is running the show, Shapiro was quick to point out again that the company is actually assuming no financial liability for the boxing promotion with Saudi Arabia providing all of the funding. Add to that, the 12 individual fight cards are also going to be kept separate from the “superfights” that could potentially involve some of the biggest names in the sport. “Those are two separate businesses,” Shapiro revealed. “The Saudis are funding what would be these superfight cards. We’ll work with them on media rights deals and take a commission. We’ll work with them obviously on global partnerships. We’ll work with them on ticketing. We’ll handle the production. “We’ll look to potentially promote all of them with Dana White and Nick Khan driving much of that but then separately, we’ll have our boxing organization, our [promotion] with them where we’re going out and doing as I mentioned 12 cards a year on average and getting a separate media rights fee, selling global partnerships to those cards and of course promoting and producing those cards on whatever media platform we choose to tie with. That’s the state of boxing.” Thus far, the new promotion has only been referenced as TKO Boxing but Shapiro promises that’s not actually going to be the name used once the promotion officially launches later this year. He didn’t provide any insight on the new name but promised that’s already in the works. “I should mention it’s not going to be called TKO boxing,” Shapiro said. “That seems like the soup of the day. We’ll be unveiling our name for our business fairly soon here. But it will not be TKO boxing.”

Jean Silva chokes out a fan Jean Silva remains an excellent finisher. In April, Silva submitted Bryce Mitchell with a ninja choke at UFC 314, moving his overall promotional record to 5-0 with five finishes. It was Silva’s first submission win in the UFC, and apparently it gave “Lord” a taste for more. Silva recently added another choke to his resume, putting a fan to sleep at an event in Brazil. Over the weekend, Silva attended a Muay Thai event where the No. 11-ranked UFC featherweight mixed it up with fans, taking photos and the like. As often happens in these situations, one fan requested Silva to choke him, and “Lord” took that request literally, locking on a rear-naked choke and squeezing until the fan passed out, even after the fan started tapping. Silva documented the whole thing on his YouTube channel. After the fan passed out, Silva put him down, and the fan quickly regained consciousness. After getting to his feet, the fan was a bit confused at first, but then smiled and laughed, hugging Silva. Silva’s friend then joked with the fan that “This guy not only is the most aggressive, he’s the most out of it as well.” The two shared a laugh before Silva moved on to other fan interactions. Check out the whole thing below.

Belal Muhammad | Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images Belal Muhammad lost the welterweight title at UFC 315, but he might have earned a few new fans in the process. This past Saturday, Muhammad made the first defense of his welterweight title, taking on Jack Della Maddalena in the main event. Unfortunately for “Remember the Name,” his first defense turned into his last one as Muhammad lost a hard-fought unanimous decision. Following his defeat, Muhammad didn’t dispute the loss or make excuses, issuing a simple statement via social media, saying he’s “been here before and I’ll be back.” In the pre-fight buildup, Muhammad promised he would slug it out with Della Maddalena on the feet, and while he did shoot nine takedowns, the former welterweight champion largely did keep things standing, perhaps to his own detriment. But while Muhammad’s commitment to his striking game may have hurt his chances at winning on Saturday, his willingness to bang it out on the feet, and his reaction to the defeat, seem to have earned him a bit of credit with the fans. Check out how the MMA Fighting community reacted to Muhammad’s loss and post-fight statement. DustinsWoifesDMs Flipped me from a hater to a fan. Respect Belal. Thanks for one of the best fights I've ever seen. Neilos Barross Props to Belal, he was actively trying to hurt Jack & not just use his striking as a distraction as I've criticised him for previously, and showed an incredible chin/heart. Turns out striking so much with Jack & not pushing his grappling earlier was probably a big mistake but fans will remember his name for being more than just a boring fighter now I suppose. Jack looked amazing, clearly did a ton of work after beign taken down 7 times in less than 3 rounds by an aging Gilbert Burns someguy234 I was not a fan of Belal at all but that performance might have changed my mind at least somewhat. When Strickland and Leon lost their belts, it felt like they lost casually without even giving it everything they had. I didn't feel that way about Belal. He laid it all out there, I respect that. He showed a really tough chin, and mental toughness and a warrior spirit. I won't shit on him anymore. Kuch "Remember the Loss." Drhasch It was a real bad idea to try show you got hands like Canelo and not go with your wrestling gameplan Hespect617 A lot of people are rejoicing at Belal's loss. I think he fought a great fight, and showed his warrior spirit. Respect to both fighters. However, something feels dirty about this. Mackachev (Ali?) thanking god for his loss? The UFC matching him up with the worst match-up in the division? Although, rightfully so - I want to see the best fight the best, and JDM earned it fair and square. But It feels as if Belal was set up by everyone. This could be a misread, but I get that impression. It's a cold world. GirlCasual I'm not a fan of his usual fighting style, but I've always felt like the fan-base has been highly unfair to Belal. Props to him for putting on a helluva fight last night, and mad respect for JDM for rising to the occasion and then some. Looking forward to the chaos that all this causes. GirlCasual I'm not a fan of his usual fighting style, but I've always felt like the fan-base has been highly unfair to Belal. Props to him for putting on a helluva fight last night, and mad respect for JDM for rising to the occasion and then some. Looking forward to the chaos that all this causes. Clownfan Classy response. Glad he isn't trying to claim it was somehow a robbery. SexyFatGuy This was a close fight. A good one too. My comment was originally stated by rbd85, but the two 48-47 cards- if Jack doesn't come back at the end of the 5th round, Belal wins this thing. I had it 2-2 going into the final round. Split4u Glad to see Allah's plan is the same as mine, to not have to remember his name. Valiant effort, but it's never been personal, his skillset was always limited. I'm glad he chose the wrong game plan, that he didn't eek out another boring win and can at least get some respect from some fans on his way out. JDM unlikely to be someone I remember either after Islam goes thru him. Hopefully new WW contenders beyond top 3 emerges soon, it is starting to get a bit light. Saku'sMissingEar 6 year run came to an end. I don't like watching him fight but he earned respect, and him vs JDM was definitely entertaining. Best of luck to him on his rebound.

Photo by Matija Habljak/Pixsell/MB Media/Getty Images Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder was arrested this past Friday by Columbus Police as part of a prostitution sting in the city. Columbus Police confirmed the arrest to MMA Fighting on Monday after local outlet 10TV first reported the news. Snyder, 29, was one of 16 men charged during the sting after police led an undercover operation to crackdown on prostitution in Columbus. Police posted escort ads online as part of the operation and then used the responses to set up potential arrests. Snyder reportedly called and texted the number listed in the ad around 8:15 p.m. on Friday and agreed to meet the escort at a local hotel. After arriving, Snyder allegedly paid an undercover officer cash and requested oral sex. He was then arrested for engaging in prostitution and released at the scene. He’s due in court on May 19. One of the most decorated wrestlers in recent American history, Snyder secured his spot in history as the youngest U.S. wrestler to ever capture gold when he won during the 2016 games. Snyder returned to capture a silver medal during the 2020 Olympics before coming short of claiming a third medal during the 2024 games in Paris. In addition to his Olympic accolades, Snyder is a seven-time medalist at the World Championships of wrestling and a three-time National Champion after wrestling at the Ohio State University. More recently, Snyder signed to participate in the new Real American Freestyle wrestling promotion that was started by WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan and former WWE executive Eric Bischoff.