MMA News

Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol square off in the main event in Saudi Arabia on Saturday | Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images MMA Fighting has Beterbiev vs. Bivol results live for the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol fight card at Freedom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday afternoon. When the main event begins around 6 p.m. ET, check out our Beterbiev vs. Bivol live round-by-round updates for our live blog of the main event. Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol square off to determine the undisputed light heavyweight champion. Artur Beterbiev (20-0) is the WBO, IBF, and WBC light heavyweight champion. Beterbiev has only fought once this year when he knocked out Callum Smith in the seventh round this past January. Dmitry Bivol (23-0) is the WBA light heavyweight champion. Bivol knocked out Malik Zinad in the sixth round in his only fight of the year in June. Check out Beterbiev vs. Bivol results below. Main Event (ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET) Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol — for the IBF, WBC, WBO and WBA light heavyweight titles Undercard (DAZN live now) Fabio Wardley vs. Frazer Clarke Jai Opetaia vs. Jack Massey — for Opetaia’s IBF cruiserweight title Chris Eubank Jr. def. Kamil Szeremeta via seventh-round TKO (1:50) Skye Nicolson def. Raven Chapman via unanimous decision (99-91, 98-92, 98-92) Ben Whittaker vs. Liam Cameron (injury after fighters fell out of the ring) — 58-57, 57-58, 58-58), fight ends in split draw Mohammed Alakel def. Jesus Gonzalez via unanimous decision (40-36 x3) Marco Maric def. Christian Lopez Flores via unanimous decision (40-36 x3)

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Belal Muhammad makes the first defense of his welterweight title against Shavkat Rakhmonov in the main event at UFC 310 scheduled on Dec. 7 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The co-main event is also set as Alexandre Pantoja puts his flyweight title up for grabs against former RIZIN champion Kai Asakura, who is making his octagon debut with a chance to become champion in his first fight with the promotion. UFC CEO Dana White announced the fights on Saturday. Muhammad returns to action after a dominant performance over Leon Edwards to become champion back in July. It was a long time coming for Muhammad after he went on a 10 fight unbeaten streak before getting his opportunity at becoming champion. As for Rakhmonov, the undefeated welterweight wrecking machine comes into the title fight with a perfect 18-0 record and a remarkable 100 percent finishing rate. Rakhmonov has actually only seen the third round two times during his career and now he’ll look to add Muhammad to his resume in an attempt at winning the UFC title. Meanwhile, Pantoja returns for the third defense of his flyweight title after dispatching Steve Erceg back in May at UFC 301. He faces a unique challenge from Asakura, who comes into the fight with a 21-4 record, including 13 wins by knockout. Asakura gets the rare opportunity to fight for a UFC title in his octagon debut after racking up notable wins over names like Kyoji Horiguchi, Manel Kape and Juan Archuleta while competing for RIZIN in Japan. In addition to the main and co-main events, Nick Diaz also makes his return to action against Vicente Luque after the welterweights were originally scheduled to meet back in August but the matchup was delayed. Also on the card, Ciryl Gane clashes with Alexander Volkov in a pivotal matchup in the UFC heavyweight division. Previously announced matchups for UFC 310 include undefeated featherweight Movsar Evloev taking on Aljamain Sterling and Anthony Smith facing off with fellow former title challenger Dominick Reyes. UFC 310 goes down Dec. 7 from Las vegas in the final pay-per-view card for the promotion in 2024.

Oscar Willis — the man responsible for running Conor McGregor’s website The Mac Life — scored an emphatic first round finish over fellow media member Ben Davis in a lightweight fight at BKFC Spain on Saturday. Willis came out aggressive as he was launching hard and heavy punches at Davis in every exchange. He ultimately scored four knockdowns with referee Bryan Miner finally seeing enough to stop the contest at 1:57 in the first round with Willis earning the TKO victory. .@oscarswillis GOES OFF ON @BenTheBaneDavis IN ONE #BKFCSpain pic.twitter.com/5KvsRa0Qpd— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) October 12, 2024 The wild bare-knuckle brawl saw Willis and Davis step out from behind the keyboard and do battle in the ring in what turned out to be an entertaining affair for as long as it lasted. From the start, Willis showed no fear stepping into the pocket with Willis as he kept throwing bombs with speed and precision. Davis did his best not to get overwhelmed but he just couldn’t avoid the power coming from Willis as they continued trading punches. With each knockdown, Davis kept getting back to his feet but he was clearly getting rattled from the damage done. Davis, who works on the broadcast team for KSI’s Misfits Boxing, beat the 10 count on the third knockdown after it looked like he shook his head, which had the commentary team wondering if he was waving off the fight. Instead, Davis returned to his feet to continue the fight but he only made it a few more seconds before Willis delivered another crushing blow. As Davis’ mouthpiece went flying, he crashed down to the canvas again and this time when he made it back to his feet, the referee would not allow him to continue. Once the fight was stopped, McGregor rushed into the ring and held up the arms of both fighters to celebrate a job well done as the media members went to battle in the bare-knuckle ring.

Ben Whittaker left the arena in a wheelchair after suffering a leg injury when he fell out of the ring along with opponent Liam Cameron during a wild exchange on the Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev undercard on Saturday. Ben Whittaker vs Liam Cameron has been stopped and can’t go on after both fighters fell over the top rope.. Whittaker seemingly injured his leg and can’t fight on #BeterbievBivol pic.twitter.com/YtNJZBp534— BoxingEnthusiast (@BoxingEnth) October 12, 2024 The incident happened as Cameron and Whittaker were backing up towards the ropes at the end of the round. As the fighters hit the ropes, they both toppled over in a dramatic scene as the crowd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia jumped to their feet. The fighters crashed on the side of the ring after spilling over the ropes but while both athletes remained down momentarily, it was clear that Whittaker got the worst of it. As he got back to his feet, Whittaker was favoring his leg as he got back into the ring to receive medical attention. It wasn’t long before Whittaker had his shoe removed with his trainers checking his leg and the fight was stopped when it was clear that the highly touted British prospect would not be able to continue. With the fight stopped due to injury, the scorecards were gathered up to provide a decision but even that ended in some controversy. The final scores were 58-57 for Whittaker, 58-57 for Cameron and 58-58 with the fight being declared a split draw. The fight goes to the scorecards and it is a DRAW Who wants to see @BenGWhittaker and @liamcameron21 run it back?#BeterbievBivol | #RiyadhSeason | Oct 12, live NOW on DAZN | @Turki_alalshikh | Click the link in bio to buy pic.twitter.com/bdbYX8id9J— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) October 12, 2024 A dejected Cameron left the ring after believing he did enough early in the fight to deserve the win with the broadcast team marveling over his performance while admitting that Whittaker was having a tough night at the office. In the end none of that matters with the fight scored a split draw and Whittaker requiring medical attention after falling out of the ring. It seems like these two are headed for a rematch in the future once Whittaker is healthy enough to compete again.

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images Maybe Terence Crawford is having second thoughts about a pair of fights against Conor McGregor? The undefeated, multi-division boxing champion recently confirmed that McGregor reached out to him about potentially battling it out in boxing and then fighting in MMA, but Crawford passed on the offer with no desire to get kicked or elbowed in a fight. Perhaps Crawford had a change of heart because he posted a video on Saturday showing him on the wrestling mats where he sent a direct message to McGregor. “We out here working,” Crawford said with McGregor tagged on his video on Instagram. “We getting back on the mat. Getting back on the mat. I’m getting back on the mat. “Hey, Conor, I’m getting back on the mat. Stay tuned. Working.” That’s a far cry from Crawford’s comments about a potential MMA fight when he first addressed McGregor’s interest in the crossover matchup. “I told Conor, I said hell no!” Crawford said. “They called me and they offered me the fight. Me and Conor got on the phone and we start politicking, trying to figure something out, and I just told him, ‘I’m not getting in no f*cking octagon with you so you can be kicking me and elbowing me and shit.’ While Crawford has built his name off being one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the sport, he’s occasionally dabbled in wrestling in the past. Back in 2023, Crawford posted a video showing him wrestling somebody on a front lawn and even three-time NCAA champion wrestler and current UFC prospect Bo Nickal was impressed. “Legit,” Nickal wrote. “Bud was being nice here (in the video).” View this post on Instagram A post shared by betr combat (@betrcombat) Now perhaps Crawford is just having some fun with his message to McGregor but maybe he’s re-thinking that series of fights that would undoubtedly earn both men a hefty payday.