MMA News

  • UFC trivia: Your in-5 daily game, Tuesday edition
    by Mike Heck on July 1, 2025 at 11:00 am

    Think you can figure out which UFC fighter we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out. We’re back for another day of the SB Nation UFC in-5 daily trivia game. Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game! Feel free to share your results in the comments and feedback in this Google Form. Today’s UFC in-5 game If you can’t see the game due to Apple News or another service, click this game article. Previous games Monday, June 30, 2025Sunday, June 29, 2025Saturday, June 28, 2025 Play more SB Nation in-5 trivia games NFL in-5MLB in-5 The goal of the game is to guess the correct random UFC fighter player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED FIGHTERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the MMA Fighting layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day. After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media.

  • On To the Next One: What’s next for Ilia Topuria after UFC 317?
    by Mike Heck on July 1, 2025 at 12:00 am

    Ilia Topuria is the new UFC lightweight champion after viciously knocking out Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317 on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Topuria faced off with rival Paddy Pimblett following the victory, and while it may not be the meritocratic way to go about things, is this the fight to make for Topuria’s first title defense? 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 Topuria after winning his second divisional UFC world title, along with who Oliveira could face in his next outing. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Kara-France following Pantoja’s submission win, Joshua Van after his win over Brandon Royval in a Fight of the Year contender, along with fellow main card winners Beneil Dariush, Payton Talbott, and more. Watch the UFC 317 edition of On To the Next One in the video above. Audio-only versions of the podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

  • RIZIN announces complete field for flyweight world grand prix
    by Guilherme Cruz on June 30, 2025 at 11:00 pm

    RIZIN will crown a new flyweight champion after the departure of Kyoji Horiguchi, and 10 fighters have been announced for the 125-pound grand prix. The first round of the tournament will take place July 27 in Japan, when Super RIZIN 4 card goes down at the Saitama Super Arena. The brackets have yet to be announced, but the field features Jose Torres, Makoto Shinryu, Yuki Ito, Hiromasa Ougikubo, Yuki Motoya, Erson Yamamoto, Alibek Gadzhammatov, Hiroya Kondo, Nkazimulo Zulu and Takaki Soya. Super RIZIN 4 will be headlined by a rematch between former featherweight champion Kleber Koike and local star Mikuru Asakura. Naoki Inoue and Seika Izawa will defend their titles against Ryuya Fukuda and Yu Jin Shin, respectively, while Patricky Pitbull makes his return to the promotion against Shunta Nomura. Torres (13-4-1), a UFC veteran and ex-champion in Brave CF and Titan FC, will take part in the grand prix. He fought once in RIZIN, defeating Makoto Shinryu via split decision in December 2024, and returns to Japan after losing a decision to Dias Yerengaipov under the Brave banner. Ougikubo (27-8-2), one of the most experienced in the field at age 38, won decisions over John Dodson and Shinryu in his most recent appearances. He won a RIZIN tournament in the past, beating bantamweights Naoki Inoue and Kai Asakura on the same night in December 2021, and also holds a win over future UFC champion Alexandre Pantoja on The Ultimate Fighter back in 2016. Shinryu (19-4-1, 1 no contest) topped Yuki Ito via decision in his most recent appearance in May, improving his RIZIN record to 5-3. He’s fought twice for the title against Horiguchi, losing via submission after a previous eye-poke no contest. Ito (18-6) looks to get back on track after Shinryu snapped his five-fight winning streak, a run that included a win over veteran Masatoshi Ueda in 2024. The former DEEP flyweight contender won eight of 10 so far under the RIZIN banner. Motoya (37-13, 1 no contest) entered the RIZIN ring more than 20 times already with key wins over the likes of Rogerio Bontorin, Justin Scoggins and twice against Shinobu Ota. He cuts down to flyweight after challenging Naoki Inoue for the bantamweight throne in March, a rematch he lost via split decision. Yamamoto (5-7) is the nephew of late Japanese legend Norifumi Yamamoto and had all but one of his MMA bouts take place under the RIZIN umbrella. He has stumbled since losing his debut to Kron Gracie in 2015, including a loss to Manel Kape a couple of years later, but enters the tournament off of a second-round submission over Daichi Tomizawa. Gadzhammatov (5-0) stopped Daichi Kitakata by knockout in his RIZIN debut in November 2024 after building a perfect record in his native Russia since 2021. The Dagestani 23-year-old has yet to go to a decision as a professional fighter. Kondo (11-13-1) had an unstable career in the sport but enters the grand prix after collecting back-to-back wins over Yuya Shibata and Tatsuki Shinotsuka, bringing his promotional record up to 3-3. Zulu (16-7-1), a former two-division champion at Africa’s EFC, came up short against Horiguchi on the latest New Years’ Eve card, losing a hard-fought championship decision. “Zulu Boy” scored 87 percent of his victories by way of stoppage, a perfect split between seven knockouts and seven submissions. Soya (13-6-1) fought John Dodson twice in a row in RIZIN, scoring a MMA decision victory over the former UFC title contender after losing their previous match under bare-knuckle boxing rules.

  • Paul vs. Chavez Jr. fight night weights: Jake Paul actually weighed less than Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
    by Damon Martin on June 30, 2025 at 10:00 pm

    Esther Lin/Most Valuable Promotions Jake Paul is often accused of being a bully while facing smaller opponents but it turns out he actually weighed less than Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. this past Saturday night. On Monday, the California State Athletic Commission released the fight night weights to MMA Fighting for all of the athletes who competed on the card in Anaheim headlined by the showdown between Paul and Chavez. The commission collects information like this to help curb poor weight cutting practices and flagging anybody ballooning up over 10 percent of their body weight. When he hit the scale on Friday, Paul weighed 199.4 pounds and he ultimately gained 10 pounds prior to the fight. Paul weighed 209.4 pounds on Saturday, which was only a five-percent increase. Meanwhile, Chavez, who spent much of his career competing in much smaller divisions came in at 198.4 pound for the official weigh-ins and then packed on 15.1 pounds before competing on Saturday night. Chavez weighed 213.5 pounds for fight night — more than four pounds heavier than Paul. The extra weight certainly didn’t help Chavez in the fight as he struggled to keep up with Paul during the 10-round contest. Paul ended up winning a unanimous decision on the scorecards to move his professional record to 12-1 with his only loss coming in a split decision to Tommy Fury back in 2023. Former UFC champion Holly Holm also competed on the card in her first boxing match in over a decade and she put on a stellar performance before winning a shutout decision over opponent Yolanda Vega. Holm weighed 136.6 pounds on Friday and then gained 14.5 pounds before fight night. She competed at 151.1 pounds, which means she gained 11 percent of her weight back before winning a unanimous decision. As for Vega, she weighed 136.8 pounds on Friday and then gained 10.8 pounds to weigh 147.6 pounds for the fight on Saturday. Here are the full weights for the Paul vs. Chavez Jr. card from Saturday with official weight, fight night weight and the percent of weight gained: Jake Paul: 199.4 to 209.4 pounds (10 pounds), 5% Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.: 198.4 to 213.5 pounds (15.1 pounds), 8% Gilberto Ramirez: 199.8 to 220.2 pounds (20.4 pounds), 10% Yuniel Dorticos: 198.6 to 208 pounds (9.4 pounds), 5% Raul Curiel: 146.4 to 159.8 pounds (13.4 pounds), 9% Victor Rodriguez: 145.2 to 165.4 pounds (20.2 pounds), 14% Avious Griffin: 146.8 to 160.2 pounds (13.4 pounds), 9% Julian Rodriguez: 146.6 to 163 pounds (16.4 pounds), 11% Floyd Schofield: 134.8 to 153 pounds (18.2 pounds), 14% Tevin Farmer: 135 to 151 pounds (16 pounds), 12% Holly Holm: 136.6 to 151.1 pounds (14.5 pounds), 11% Yolanda Vega: 136.8 to 147.6 pounds (10.8 pounds), 8% Joel Iriarte: 146.8 to 164.4 pounds (17.6 pounds), 12% Kevin Johnson: 146.4 to 152.5 pounds (6.1 pounds), 4% Alexander Gueche: 124 to 138 pounds (14 pounds), 11 % Vincent Avina: 120 to 127.2 pounds (7.2 pounds), 6% Joshua Edwards: 226 to 226.2 pounds (.2 pounds), 0% Dominic Hardy: 251.4 to 251.6 pounds (.2 pounds), 0% Victor Morales Jr.: 130 to 148.2 pounds (18.2 pounds), 14% Rene Alvarado: 129.6 to 138.6 pounds (9 pounds), 7% John Ramirez: 119.8 to 131.6 pounds (11.8 pounds), 10% Josue Jesus Morales: 121.6 to 133.8 pounds (12.2 pounds), 10%

  • Fighter attacked by Sean Strickland reacts to viral moment: ‘I didn’t think he was going to take it that personal’
    by Mike Heck on June 30, 2025 at 9:00 pm

    Luis Hernandez has been part of a viral moment in the past, but it doesn’t compare to what happened on Sunday in Las Vegas. Hernandez improved to 6-0 at Tuff-N-Uff 145 with a second-round submission victory over Miles Hunsinger in a middleweight bout. In the final moments of the bout, Hernandez has a guillotine locked up, then looks at Hunsinger’s corner, says something and sticks out his tongue. From there, Hernandez cranks on the submission and eventually gets the tap, which led to Hernandez celebrating with the D-Generation X crotch chop at Hunsinger cornermen Sean Strickland and Chris Curtis. Both Strickland and Curtis entered the cage and charged towards Hernandez, with Strickland throwing punches. The moment has since exploded all over social media. Hernandez says things were brewing from the walkouts to the cage. Luis Hernandez stays undefeated with a Round 2 guillotine choke submission over Miles Hunsinger at #TNU145!The Miami prospect made a statement — both in the cage and on the mic, calling out Sean Strickland post-fight #MMA | #FutureStarsOfMMA | #UFCFightPass pic.twitter.com/onhk1U5N9b— Tuff-N-Uff MMA (@tuffnuff) June 29, 2025 “So when I saw them walking out from their corner, I don’t want to go too crazy on details, but I noticed they looked at me and they laughed,” Hernandez told MMA Fighting. “They said something, I think he said something to one of the other corner men — I know it’s like three of them — they said something and they started laughing at me. And I was like, man, I’m not a joke. I believe I am the real deal. I’ve got 11 fights, six pro fight finishes now and five finishes in amateur. “So they [were] probably [thinking], ‘Oh yeah, this guy’s a cop,’ and they looked at me and I saw them laughing and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, you’re going to laugh at me? I’m going to get the last laugh.’ And some things were said... I’m trying to remember everything now, but I was having a great time. I just wanted to have fun. When the whole moment happened itself, you see me laughing. I want to show that there’s two sides: I have my career, and then inside the cage, I’m able to have fun. This is literally fun for me. I enjoy it. This is my passion. “At work, I’m a professional being in law enforcement, and I have to do everything by the book. In the cage, I can have fun. It’s like I get to flip the switch, enjoy myself, and I honestly think things escalated. I didn’t expect that at all. You see me, I’m laughing. I didn’t expect what happened to happen. I was like, ‘OK, I guess this is happening.’” Hernandez was asked why he first stuck his tongue out at Strickland and talking in the former UFC middleweight champion’s direction before the incident went overboard. “The Stache” says it stemmed from a comment Strickland made in that moment. “I believe I heard, ‘Oh, he’s tired, his arms are going to blow out,’ and I’m like, ‘No, I’m not,’ [then] blow the kiss and I did the tongue,” Hernandez said. “I was just so ready. I think a lot of people see me and they’re confused and [don’t know] what I’m capable of. I believe I’m the real deal, and I was like able to show it. “I heard them saying little things, and I was focused. Miles is a hell of an opponent, man. I truly respect him. The guy was in The Ultimate Fighter house, 7-1, and he took this fight on short notice because I’ve been having issues getting opponents, and this was a great experience, and I honestly had, like I said, a great time with the sticking the tongue out. I didn’t think he was going to take it that personal, because I’m pretty sure he does a lot of talking in the cage.” After improving his record to 6-0 and celebrating the victory in Strickland and Curtis’ direction, the viral moment occurred with Strickland storming the cage and throwing punches. Referee Chris Tognoni pulled Strickland away, while Curtis maintained a collar-tie. Hernandez says Curtis told him, ‘Don’t do that’ before pushing Curtis away. But seeing Strickland heading his way so angrily was not on Hernandez’s bingo card. “I was like, ‘What’s going on here? Is this a reality TV show?,’” Hernandez explained. “I felt like I was almost in, you know how they have the Russian [version of] TUF? You know how on the Russian TUF people just start fighting? I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’ I was like, damn. “I actually like Sean Strickland. I wasn’t expecting it to escalate to that level at all, because I’m like, man, I hope he knows I’m a professional fighter, but I’m a cop, too. You’re swinging on somebody for I don’t know what reason. It was something I wasn’t expecting at all. ... There’s some angles [of the punches] and I said it [in the post-fight interview], he hit me and I’m still standing. I’m still smiling, still look good. These [marks on my face] are actually from Miles. Maybe one of these might have been from Strickland, but I wasn’t expecting that at all. If this was a sanctioned bout, we can do it. I’ll do it for money. “If me and Strickland want to fight for money, I’ll do it for money. I wasn’t expecting an unsanctioned fight, but if this would be a matchup in the future, most definitely I’ll do it, 100 percent.” Hernandez is not just a pro fighter, he’s in a special tactical response unit for the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Department. It’s the goal of the 28-year-old up and comer to become a successful fighter in the UFC’s welterweight division, and maintain his role as a police officer at the same time. While being part of a highly-viewed moment involving one of the most-known UFC fighters will certainly gain the type of attention the UFC looks for, Hernandez doesn’t want that to come at the expense at Strickland and Curtis’ fighting careers, and hopes the Nevada Athletic Commission won’t punish either fighter. “I think things escalated to a point where they shouldn’t have because I don’t want anything to happen to these guys,” Hernandez said. “These guys are professional fighters just like I am. I have a career, they have their careers, and I would say [it’s] squashed on my end. I have no bias against anybody from that corner, that team. That’s a great team. Xtreme Couture is a great team. I’m still here in Vegas, I was like, ‘Hey, maybe I could go train there,’ now, I don’t think so much. “But yeah, I really have nothing towards them, and hope the commission does not... like they even asked me, ‘Hey, you’re gonna press charges?’ I’m like, ‘What? No.’ I would never want anything to happen to these guys because I actually like them, and I hope they watch this. I have nothing against Sean, nothing against Chris, nothing against Xtreme Couture. I like those guys. ... “I would say we’re all adults here, and I have nothing against them, and I will say this again: I hope the commission does not take this out on them at all because, at the end of the day, we’re all professionals and this is entertainment.”

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