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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC Magomed Ankalaev has been anxiously awaiting the chance to defend his UFC light heavyweight title, and it appears his expected rematch against Alex Pereira is likely to take place later this year. On Thursday, Ankalaev’s longtime manager, Ali Abdelaziz, revealed that he anticipates the Russian returning to action in October and running it back with Pereira for a second time. There are currently two pay-per-view events scheduled that month, with UFC 320 on Oct. 4 in Las Vegas and then UFC 321 on Oct. 25 from Abu Dhabi. Competing in Abu Dhabi might make more sense for Ankalaev, but then again, Pereira’s star power could demand a return to Las Vegas, but either way, Abdelaziz expects his fighter to hear “and still” when the night is over. “I think Alex is a good fighter. I think he’s a real fighter. He’s a lion,” Abdelaziz said about Pereira on the Pound-for-Pound podcast. “But in a way, Ankalaev should have been champion two or three years ago. Alex would have never been the champion. I’m going to tell you something — if they fight again, and they will fight again, probably in October — it’s going to be worse for Alex. “Alex, he’s a fighter, but now Ankalaev has the confidence. He understands [Alex] was a scary guy, touching people and knocking them out, but he fought a whole bunch of mediocre strikers. None of these guys were high-level strikers. Ankalaev, he can wrestle, he can grapple, and he can strike. Actually, I think Ankalaev is more of a striker than a grappler. We [saw] him; he hurt Pereira] in the fight. Alex didn’t hurt him. I’m going to tell you something, when you have the confidence to hurt people or you start knocking people out, it’s a feeling.” Ankalaev is undefeated in his past 14 fights, including his unanimous decision victory over Pereira in their first meeting back in March. Since that time, Ankalaev has been rather vocal about trying to get the rematch against Pereira scheduled sooner than later, with hopes that he could stay active as champion. Abdelaziz obviously has confidence that Ankalaev is going to successfully defend his title and stay champion for quite some time now that he’s finally got his hands on the belt. “I think Ankalaev right now is going to be very dangerous,” Abdelaziz said. “And remember, Alex is 38 years old. He travels all over the place. He has a great coach. I like his coach a lot. I think he’s a very good guy, but I think this is Ankalaev’s time. “It should have been Ankalaev’s time. Hunter Campbell, Mick Maynard all the UFC, they was all sandbagging him and now they know what’s coming. They were praying for [Ankalaev] to lose.”

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC Jon Jones’ legal saga over allegedly leaving the scene of an accident back in February took a strange twist with new charges being filed against him in New Mexico. Online records and court officials confirmed to MMA Fighting that a second case was filed against Jones on June 30 with the same charge for leaving the scene of an accident, but this criminal complaint also featured a second charge for Use of Telephone to Terrify, Intimidate, Threaten, Harass, Annoy or Offend. Based on the original police report filed from the incident that allegedly took place on Feb. 21, Jones was accused of leaving the scene of an accident after police responded to a car crash involving two vehicles. A woman was located in the front passenger seat “exhibiting signs of significant intoxication and lacking clothing from the waist down.” The woman claimed Jones was driving her vehicle at the time of the accident and “subsequently fled the scene on foot.” She then placed a call to Jones and allowed a police service aide to speak to him. The police service aide claimed that Jones “appeared to be heavily intoxicated and made statements implying his capacity to employ lethal force through third parties.” The police service aide requested backup, and Officer Andrew Romero responded to the scene and engaged in a separate conversation with Jones where similar “allusions to violence” were made, and the person on the phone evaded questions to confirm if it “was indeed Jon Jones.” When police later contacted Jones, he claimed that the woman in question from the accident called him and handed the phone to an individual she identified as a police officer. Jones told police the person on the phone “immediately opened the conversation with unprofessional language” and that forced him to question the legitimacy of the caller’s claim to be involved with law enforcement. Police eventually subpoenaed Jones’ call records and found that he called the woman involved with the car accident 13 times between 2:17 a.m. and 11:34 a.m. the next morning. Police also stated that there was a gap in Jones’ location based on his phone records from 11:51 p.m. until 2:11 a.m., which is when the accident took place. As a result of the investigation, police filed a misdemeanor charge against Jones for leaving the scene of an accident, to which he already plead not guilty with a bench trial now scheduled for Aug. 14. This new criminal complaint was filed by Officer Romero — the police officer who responded as backup to the scene of the accident and spoke to Jones on the phone — and this new case involved two separate charges for leaving the scene of an accident and use of a telephone to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy or offend. An arraignment hearing is currently scheduled for Aug. 4, but Jones’ attorney, Christopher Dodd, already filed a motion to dismiss on July 9 because of the duplicate charges involving the same case. “Put simply, Mr. Jones is already facing prosecution in a separate case for the same factual allegations set forth in the criminal complaint in this matter, and it was wholly improper for this separate case to be filed,” Dodd wrote in his motion to the court. “The court should dismiss this case as it violates the mandatory joinder rule. “The incidents at issue in both cases are one and the same. Mr. Jones now is forced to defend himself against two separate cases involves the exact same factual allegations. It is unknown why an [Albuquerque Police Department] detective and an [Albuquerque Police Department] officer who were both involved in the investigation of this case would not communicate and coordinate who would file charges but that seems to be what happened, unless the truth is that these law enforcement officers intentionally violated the same mandatory joinder rule for some improper strategic purpose., Either way, the result in the same, this case should be dismissed as Mr. Jones has been impermissibly charged twice for the same underlying incident.” The case was assigned to Judge Brittany Maldonado, but she hasn’t ruled on the motion to dismiss yet. For now, the criminal complaint remains active. Jones retired from the sport in June, and just hours later, the initial charge against him for allegedly leaving the scene of an accident was uncovered. Since then, Jones has already hinted at a comeback with the former heavyweight champion saying he was re-entering the UFC’s anti-doping program after President Donald Trump announced plans to hold a fight at the White House in 2026.

Edgar Berlanga Jr. seems a little more focused on Oscar De La Hoya than his upcoming fight. On Saturday, Berlanga takes on Hamzah Sheeraz in a super middleweight bout in the main event of a DAZN boxing card in New York City. In the co-main event, De La Hoya fighter William Zepeda challenges Shakur Stevenson for the WBC lightweight title, and on Thursday, all parties were at the pre-fight press conference, where things got heated. Before the event, Berlanga made clear his distaste for De La Hoya, threatening physical violence against him, and while that didn’t happen, he did cause quite the scene, calling De La Hoya a stripper — a reference to photos of De La Hoya in women’s clothes that were first released back in 2007 — and then throwing a wig and women’s underwear at him. It is absolutely going OFF between @EdgarBerlangaJr and @OscarDeLaHoya Women's underwear being thrown ️ Buy RING III NOW – link in bio#BerlangaSheeraz x #StevensonZepeda | July 12 | Live on DAZN | @ringmagazine pic.twitter.com/3vdFw67aKk— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) July 10, 2025 For his part, De La Hoya laughed off the gag, but then fired back at Berlanga that he had never been a world champion, and questioning his Puerto Rican heritage. “I do, actually! First of all, sit down,” De La Hoya said. “You have no world titles. Let me put them on now! I’ve got some right here for you! Listen to me, this guy is not even Puerto Rican! I’ve been asking for your Puerto Rican passport! I’m more Puerto Rico than you! Your jewelry is as fake as your wins!” Things continued to escalate until security intervened to prevent Berlanga from confronting De La Hoya. The beef between the two stems back to Berlanga’s fight with Canelo Alvarez, after De La Hoya criticized the value of the contest while taking a dig at his former fighter Canelo. Berlanga was simply collateral damage, but took offense to being viewed as such. Berlanga went on to lose a unanimous decision to Alvarez. You can check out the full press conference below.

Tallison Teixeira | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC Tallison Teixeira has a big task ahead of him, headlining a UFC card versus Derrick Lewis in his second octagon appearance, and he welcomes the extra pressure of ending a “curse.” Teixeira vs. Lewis serves as the main event for UFC Nashville on July 12, and “Xicão” can become the first Brazilian fighter to win a UFC main event in 2025. Nine athletes had this opportunity so far this year, a 0-9 run with losses for Amanda Ribas, Renato Moicano, Gregory Rodrigues, Alex Pereira, Diego Lopes, Carlos Prates, Deiveson Figueiredo, Gilbert Burns and Charles Oliveira. Four of the losses came in championship fights, with “Poatan” dropping the light heavyweight title to Magomed Ankalaev in March, plus failed attempts to win gold by Moicano, Lopes, and Oliveira. “I like this because I’ll be remembered as the man that ended the Brazilian curse,” Teixeira said with a laugh during an interview with MMA Fighting. “I even joked about it. ‘I’ll knock out Derrick Lewis, I’ll beat Derrick. Come ask me later.’ I know that will happen.” The last time Brazilians went winless in main events in the first half of the year was 2017, with losses by Bethe Correia, Jose Aldo, Glover Teixeira, Junior dos Santos, Wilson Reis and Vitor Belfort. That year’s “curse” was only snapped in September, with Amanda Nunes defeating Valentina Shevchenko. “Brazilians need this after sad losses we had,” Teixeira said. “Brazilian needs this incentive, you know? I think that motivates me even more to give my best possible inside the octagon.” Teixeira improved to 8-0 as a professional fighter after a successful UFC debut victory over Justin Tafa in February, a knockout in just 35 seconds. Lewis has fought three Brazilians in a row in the UFC, knocking out Marcos Rogerio de Lima and Rodrigo Nascimento with a decision defeat to Jailton Almeida in between.

Last week, President Donald Trump revealed that he wants to host a UFC event at the White House to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. Is this something that could happen, and if so, what would be the fight to headline such an event? On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel answers questions about that possibility, and the fighters’ reactions to the idea of a White House UFC card. Additionally, topics may include Jon Jones teasing a comeback just weeks after announcing his retirement, UFC Nashville headlined by Derrick Lewis vs. Tallison Teixeira, the women’s boxing event capped off by the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano trilogy fight, and much more. Join MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they answer your questions for the entire show. Watch the show live at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT in the video above. If you missed the show live, you can still watch above, or listen to the podcast version, which can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods.