The Hall at Live Casino

Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC The full broadcast team for UFC 317 on Saturday is set as the promotion returns to Las Vegas for the latest installment of International Fight Week with the festivities capped off when Ilia Topuria battles Charles Oliveira to crown a new lightweight champion. The commentary team calling the fights is the usual big three for pay-per-view events with Jon Anik handling play-by-play duties and he’ll be joined by Joe Rogan and UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier. Those three are set to call the event, which also includes a flyweight title fight in the co-main event when Alexandre Pantoja faces Kai Kara-France. Megan Olivi is set to serve as the in house reporter during the event being held at the T-Mobile Arena. When it comes to the analysts working the broadcast desk providing analysis, Brendan Fitzgerald is set to host the show. Joining him are former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and a pair of former title challengers with Chael Sonnen and Anthony Smith both providing analysis for the event. UFC officials confirmed the full broadcast team details to MMA Fighting on Monday. While the week ends with UFC 317, there’s a lot more happening during fight week including the finals of the UFC BJJ series with two champions being crowned along with a match between the coaches on the show. The UFC is also hosting a pre-fight press conference on Thursday just before the UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The official weigh-ins are set for Friday along with the latest Power Slap event hosted by UFC CEO Dana White. That leads into UFC 317 with the main card airing on ESPN+ pay-per-view starting at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Ilia Topuria will try to win another UFC title at UFC 317 on Saturday night. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC At UFC 317, Ilia Topuria tries to become the latest two-division UFC champion on Saturday night. The UFC 317 fight card is headlined two title fights at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. In the main event, Ilia Topuria, who vacated the UFC featherweight title for this title shot, squares off against former UFC champion Charles Oliveira for the vacant UFC lightweight championship. Islam Makhachev vacated the title to move up to the welterweight division. Alexandre Pantoja tries to defend his UFC flyweight title for the fourth time when he battles Kai Kara-France in the co-main event. Check out the UFC 317 fight card below. Main Card (ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET) Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Kara-France Brandon Royval vs. Joshua Van Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano Payton Talbott vs. Felipe Lima Preliminary Card (ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+ at 8 p.m. ET) Jack Hermansson vs. Gregory Rodrigues Hyder Amil vs. Jose Miguel Delgado Viviane Araujo vs. Tracy Cortez Terrance McKinney vs. Viacheslav Borshchev Early Prelims (ESPN+/Disney+ at 6:30 p.m. ET) Sedriques Dumas vs. Jackson McVey Jhonata Diniz vs. Alvin Hines Niko Price vs. Jacobe Smith

Khalil Rountree Jr. | Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC Khalil Rountree was not 100 percent against Jamahal Hill. This past Saturday, Rountree faced off with Hill in the main event of UFC Baku, winning a dominant unanimous decision over the former light heavyweight champion. It was an important win for Rountree, who rebounded from his failed title challenge against Alex Pereira last year, and his performance was all the more impressive because he entered the fight sporting a serious knee injury. “I’d say about halfway through training camp, when I was training jiu-jitsu, is the first time I felt some discomfort in my knee,” Rountree explained on his YouTube channel. “Just from training with bigger guys and doing four sessions a day, on top of running, and jiu-jitsu, and pads, that’s when I first started feeling the discomfort. It only grew from there until one day I woke up and it was really hard for me to walk and even stand. So I got it checked out and ended up having a torn meniscus. “Once I found out what the injury was, I think it was only about three weeks away from the actual fight day. So it was obviously stressful, but I had amazing, positive support to keep going and not let it affect my mental, and to do whatever I could to push through it, and to take challenges and things like this as motivation. Use the obstacle as motivation.” The injury didn’t hamper Rountree’s performance, as “The War Horse” dominated Hill with his superior movement and striking, chewing Hill’s legs up with kicks and dropping the former champion in the third round. While it’s never good to have an injury heading into a fight, Rountree says this one at least came with a silver lining. “Initially, I was devastated, and I wasn’t really able to train how I wanted to,” Rountree said. “But it was kind of a blessing in disguise, because tonight I came into the cage really fresh, because I haven’t been able to spar in three weeks. There hasn’t really been a lot of contact, because the last three weeks has just been recovery, on top of getting sick during fight week.” Rountree also credits the fans for his ability to overcome the hindrance. This was the UFC’s first trip to Azerbaijan, and Rountree says the love and support from those in attendance helped fuel his big win on Saturday. “The positives about having so much fan support was that it’s nice to feel appreciated for what we do,” Rountree said. “Fighting, and committing your life to fighting, is not an easy job. So to see the reactions of people just genuinely appreciating that and genuinely excited to see us, it’s pretty motivational. That really helped keep me in a positive mindset this week, just knowing there were people that were more than excited to have us visit their country and watch us perform and do what we love. So, I’d say for the first time, I really was able to draw energy from the fans and use it as motivation to stay focused and do my job.”

Khalil Rountree and Jamahal Hill | Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC Khalil Rountree Jr. outclassed Jamahal Hill for five rounds in the main event of UFC Baku on Saturday to get back in the win column after he was stopped by Alex Pereira in his first championship opportunity. Did the lopsided win over a former champ get Rountree back in a title fight? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what’s next for Rountree after getting his sixth win in his past seven outings at Saturday’s Fight Night event. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for Rafael Fiziev after his decision win against Ignacio Bahamondes in the co-main event, Curtis Blaydes following his split decision win over Rizvan Kuniev, along with fellow main card winners Myktybek Orolbai, Nazim Sadykhov, and Muhammad Naimov, and more. Audio-only versions of the podcast can be found below, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC Jon Jones is one of the greatest fighters of all time, without question... so why has the reaction to his retirement not been unanimous praise? To say Jones’ legacy is complicated would be an understatement. His in-cage accomplishments are nearly unmatched: The youngest fighter ever to win a UFC title (he did it at 23 when he beat Mauricio “Shogun” Rua). Eight straight light heavyweight title defenses, 11 in total. Won a vacant heavyweight championship and successfully defended it once. Never legitimately lost in 30 pro fights. And then there are the missteps. His first title reign ended when he was stripped for a hit-and-run conviction in which he fled the scene after colliding with two other vehicles, one containing a pregnant woman. He regained the undisputed title with a spectacular head kick of Daniel Cormier, only to have that result overturned when he tested positive for banned substances. A close call against Dominick Reyes. A three-year break from competition. No fight with Francis Ngannou. No fight with Tom Aspinall. Legal issue upon legal issue, including a domestic battery charge in September 2021 on the same night he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame Fight Wing. Again, complicated. Fans seem to feel the same way as there were a variety of reactions to the news that Jones no longer plans to compete in MMA, not all of them reverential. Check out what the MMA Fighting community had to say about Jones’ retirement below. MoodCrusher What a pathetic selfish individual, no regards to his job, all the people waiting for him, delaying a whole division for all that time. Just disappear. aceknighthigh Lol finally. Jon was never fighting this guy and such a blatant duck will be a part of his legacy. Tom said he would retire Jon without even stepping into the cage and he was 100% right. Jon didn't want it with Francis, didn't want it with Tom, and was very selective about who he fought when he moved up to a division where guys were his size. The UFC's handling of this has been an absolute shit show. Complete clowns and idiots running this to take this long to do the obvious. And they basically admit they held Tom out, putting to rest all this bs about Tom choosing to sit out or being some Michael Chandler type "I obviously feel bad for Tom that he lost all that time and obviously money but we'll make it up to him," White said. "Tom Aspinall's a good guy. He's been incredible through this whole process that we've gone through. He's been willing to do anything, fight him anywhere at any time and do this and now he's like 'I'll fight anybody — you tell me who and I'll fight them.' But of course Dana still can't admit he fucked up. If they had competition or any sort of serious leadership everyone involved in choosing to wait this long would be on the chopping block. The fact that a simple deadline got Jon to retire says it all. They weren't even trying to get Jon in there. All hail Tom Aspinall the reigning, defending HW champion of the world, something he's been for a year now. The_Welsh_Idiot So this is it. No octagon interview. No press conference. No pomp, no circumstance. A sport in tatters at the moment. Just a message from the brass, 10 mins into a press conference in Baku. A slimy exit from a Nelk boys podcast. Just another tainted part of the 'Jon Jones legacy'. He dissappears into irrelevance, with fans already tearing that legacy apart. We should have been celebrating his talent and the memories he left us with today. Instead, we are all cheering as a despicable cheat leaves the sport, and we all hope its for good. semantic5 Dana on Jon Jones after Francis KO'd Stipe: If I'm Jon Jones, and I'm home watching this fight, I start moving to 85. Listen, I could sit here all day, you know, and tell you what show me the money means. I tell you guys this all the time, you can say you wanna fight somebody, you know, but do you really want to? Dana on Francis after he left the UFC: Francis didn't wanna fight Jon Jones. We did everything in our power to try to make that Jon Jones fight. Dana on Jon Jones now: I've said it a million times and I'll say it again — he's never ducked anybody I know it's all theatre, and you are quite the Bolshoi artist, Dana, but Jon retired, so please speed along to the part where you say Jon never wanted to fight Tom. We know it's the next act. Nicolas Caged So glad it's finally over. Looking forward to Tom's first defense as undisputed HW champion! #StrippedJonDuckJones Abstractions What a wet fart the end of his career was. Froztken "I'll retire Jon Jones without even fighting him."- Tom Aspinall _Frontman_ How unceremonious. On brand for Jon though, train wreck as a fighter and human being. You would have thought the UFC would have made the announcement a big production, nope just gone. jesusjr Feels weird that I am not sure I believe this until Jon makes official comment. This just feels like more negotiating where down line we were Jon is unretired coming back to fight when UFC needs him. If this is the end of Jon's career its very anti climatic. As much as much as I would have love to see him lose realistically I was expecting Jon to mess up again in his personal life and that would have ended his career. LaRusso Good. I truly hope Jones rides off and lives a great life. One that's so good that he never comes back to the sport again. ClarkJKent When Dana said Jones would fight Aspinall, 100%, thats how you knew it would never happen. stippenstoh Farewell greatest duck of all time, see you in jail in a few years. Here's to Tom, the real HW champ since years. BushSmoosher "My decision comes after months of icing tom and holding up a division for my own narcissistic needs for attention. I'm a clown and the sport is better without me." Birdshow1 If it's the end he goes out on top as undefeated, never losing any of his many title fights, and best pound for pound fighter in MMA's short history. NutsoBullotso Legacy, lol! Fist City I used to be bummed that the BS Hamill loss was on his record, now I am so glad it went down that way. Maybe it's karmic equilibrium for the fact that he absolutely DID lose to Reyes, and I personally scored the first Gus fight for Gus. You know for the rest of his life he's gonna walk around saying "I'm really undefeated"... but that 'L' will always be on the official record, no matter how loud the duck quacks. ppg in that interview from full send podcast a couple of days ago, Jones admits that this coming wave of fighters will keep getting better and better compared to previous (and his) generation. And that it will become almost impossible to be undefeated as he was. So I think he's happy that he can claim greatest ever in his era. Guys like GSP will be very humble and acknowledge it for him, Khabib probably doesn't say anything. He's in a good spot with his contemporaries as far as the legacy that he wants to perceive he has. Verbs Jon who? stippenstoh DW: "Ok Jon, you won, we pay what you demand" JJ: "you know what, I think I'm done" He really solidified his legacy these past years. ThunderingHochuli At least it's done. j*nes was Heavyweight Champion in my eyes even less than GSP was Middleweight Champion. But at least we can move forward. I'll try not to cry about Ngannou. TheRisqueReaper Emotional adolescent. PED cheat. Legendary