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Mikey Musumeci will headline UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9 on Thursday night. | Photo by Amphol Thongmueangluang/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images MMA Fighting has UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9 results and more for the Musumeci vs. Machado jiu-jitsu event from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nev., on Thursday night. In the main event, Mikey Musumeci will make his debut against Felipe Machado in a bantamweight contest. Musumeci, who has reeled off 10 straight wins, hasn’t lost since Sept. 25, 2021. Jason Nolf, a three-time NCAA wrestling champion at Penn State University, squares off against Renato Canuto in the co-main event. Nolf was submitted by Tye Ruotolo at the Craig Jones Invitational this past August. Check out UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9 results below. Fight card (UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. ET) Mikey Musumeci vs Felipe Machado Jason Nolf vs Renato Canuto Nick Mataya vs Ronaldo Junior Kyle Chambers vs Jonnatas Gracie Raquel Canuto vs Michele Oliveira Ryan Aitken vs Gabriel Almeida Maggie Grindatti Lira vs Giovanna Carneiro Damien Anderson vs Sandrey Silva Michael Pixley vs Luccas Lira Shelby Murphey vs Lavinia Barbosa

Chael Sonnen will host the 2024 World MMA awards Thursday night. | Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images MMA Fighting has World MMA Awards 2024 results and more from Thursday’s event at The Theater at the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Nev. UFC veteran Chael Sonnen will be the host of the event. MMA Fighting has been nominated for MMA Media Source of the Year, an award that the outlet has won five times. The World MMA Awards will be televised on ESPN+ at 11 p.m. ET. Here are your nominees for the 16th Annual Fighters Only (nomination period spanned from July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024) below. The winners will be bolded. Charles Lewis Fighter of the Year Alex Pereira Alexandre Pantoja Dricus du Plessis Islam Makhachev Renan Ferreira Female Fighter of the Year Kayla Harrison Larissa Pacheco Liz Carmouche Raquel Pennington Zhang Weili Breakthrough Fighter of the Year Anatoly Malykhin Benoit Saint Denis Diego Lopes Ian Machado Garry Tom Aspinall International Fighter of the Year Chihiro Suzuki Dricus du Plessis Ilia Topuria Jack Della Maddalena Zhang Weili Fight of the Year Alexandre Pantoja vs. Brandon Moreno (UFC 290) Clay Collard vs. Shane Burgos (PFL 9) Dan Hooker vs. Jalin Turner (UFC 290) Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint Denis (UFC 299) Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje (UFC 300) Knockout of the Year Josh Emmett vs. Bryce Mitchell - Overhand Right (UFC 296) Justin Gaethje vs. Dustin Poirier - Head Kick (UFC 291) Levy Carriel vs. Mathieu Rakotondrazanany - Head Kick (Brave CF 74) Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje - Overhand Right (UFC 300) Vinicius Oliveira vs. Bernardo Sopaj - Flying Knee (UFC Vegas 87) Submission of the Year Alexander Volkov vs. Tai Tuivasa - Ezekiel Choke (UFC 293) Brian Ortega vs. Yair Rodriguez - Arm-Triangle Choke (UFC Mexico City) Da’Mon Blackshear vs. Jose Johnson - Twister (UFC Vegas 78) Diego Lopes vs. Gavin Tucker - Triangle Armbar (UFC Nashvillle) Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier - D’Arce Choke (UFC 302) Comeback of the Year Brian Ortega vs. Yair Rodriguez (UFC Mexico City) Elves Brener vs. Guram Kutateladze (UFC Vegas 76) Jose Aldo (career) Rodolfo Bellato vs. Ihor Potieria (UFC Austin) Tom Aspinall (career) Upset of the Year Dricus du Plessis vs. Robert Whittaker (UFC 290) Jason Jackson vs. Yaroslav Amosov (Bellator 301) Neil Magny vs. Mike Malott (UFC 297) Ovince Saint Preux vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu (UFC Vegas 88) Sean Strickland vs. Israel Adesanya (UFC 293) Commentator of the Year Brendan Fitzgerald John Gooden Jon Anik Laura Sanko Sean O’Connell Analyst of the Year Dan Hardy Din Thomas Michael Bisping Paul Felder Sayif Saud Shawn Tompkins Coach of the Year Eric Nicksick Francisco Grasso Marcos ‘Parrumpa’ DaMatta Plinio Cruz Tim Welch Trainer of the Year Everton Oliveira Heather Linden Ian Larios Jordan Sullivan Phil Daru Gym of the Year American Kickboxing Academy American Top Team Lobo Gym The Fighting Nerds Xtreme Couture Referee of the Year Marc Goddard Jason Herzog Mark Smith Herb Dean Keith Peterson Ringcard Girl of the Year Holly Barker Brookliyn Wren Kasia Motloch Kejsi Luciana Andrade Red Dela Cruz Leading Man Dana White (UFC) Ed Soares (LFA) Graham Borlan (Cage Warriors) Martin Lewandowski (KSW) Peter Murray (PFL) Best Promotion UFC Oktagon LFA KSW PFL Personality of the Year Bruce Buffer Chael Sonnen Daniel Cormier Nina-Marie Danielle Joe Rogan Best MMA Programming Morning Kombat The MMA Hour Dana White’s Contender Series The Anik & Florian Podcast UFC Embedded MMA Media Source of the Year MMA Fighting Sherdog MMA Junkie ESPN The Mac Life MMA Journalist of the Year Ariel Helwani Aaron Bronsteter Oscar Willis Carlos Contreras Legaspi Nolan King Fighting Spirit Award Gabriel Braga (Heart - strength to overcome the loss of his father and coach) Leon Edwards (Composure - strength during disgusting mental antics by an opponent) Jim Miller (Endurance - the only fighter to compete at UFC 100, UFC 200, and UFC 300) Mark Coleman (Bravery - fearlessly rescuing family and loved ones from a burning building) Thomas Paull (Resilience - successfully competing in MMA despite being deaf)

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images UFC 311 just landed two title fights with Islam Makhachev defending his lightweight belt against Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch in the main event while Merab Dvalishvili puts his bantamweight strap up for grabs against Umar Nurmagomedov in the co-main event on Jan. 18 at the new Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. UFC CEO Dana White announced the fights on Wednesday. While Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan has long been expected for the January pay-per-view, the bantamweight title fight apparently came together at the last minute. Dvalishvili originally stated that he wanted to return in March but that timeline didn’t work for Nurmagomedov with Ramadan starting the same month. That led to more than a few ugly exchanges between them with Dvalisvhili eventually turning his attention to a potential rematch against Petr Yan while Nurmagomedov said he was ready to fight anybody the UFC would throw at him. That all changed this week with White revealing details about how the fight came together. “Merab came into the office late last night, told us he is tired of listening to Umar disrespect him, and wanted to make this fight happen as soon as possible,” White said. “We called Umar, he was sleeping in Dagestan and he said ‘hell yes, anywhere, anytime.” Dvalishvili enters the fight off 11 consecutive wins including his victory to dethrone Sean O’Malley and become bantamweight champion. Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov sports a perfect 18-0 recording including six wins in the UFC. As for the main event, Makhachev runs it back with Tsarukyan after they first met in a Fight of the Night back in 2019. While Makhachev won the initial meeting, Tsarukyan gave him a tough time, especially considering he accepted the matchup on short notice. Now nearly six years later they’ll meet again with Makhachev seeking his fourth straight title defense after a pair of wins over Alexander Volkanovski and his most recent victory against Dustin Poirier. Tsarukyan has now won four in a row with a 9-1 resume since falling to Makhachev in his octagon debut. Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan 2 and Dvalishvili vs. Nurmagomedov headline UFC 311 with more fights expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Alexandre Pantoja | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images The final pay-per-view of the year is here! This Saturday, UFC 310 takes place in Las Vegas, headlined by a flyweight title fight between Alexandre Pantoja and UFC-debutant Kai Asakura. Also on the card, two undefeated welterweights collide when Shavkat Rakhmonov faces down Ian Machado Garry in a title eliminator bout. It’s the final big event of the year and No Bets Barred is here to break it all down. MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew is joined by The Action Network’s Billy Ward to dive deep into UFC 310. Topics discussed this week include Asakura’s chances to even make 125 pounds successfully, whether Shavkat can continue his finishing streak, if the Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov rematch is destined to end like the first, the big featherweight bout between Movsar Evloev and Aljamain Sterling, a bevy of gimmick bets, the next level up in THE CLIMB, and much more. Tune in for episode 110 of No Bets Barred. New episodes of the No Bets Barred podcast drop every Wednesday and are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. The latest episode can be heard below.

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting Kai Asakura is ready to make history. This Saturday in the main event of UFC 310 in Las Vegas, Asakura challenges champion Alexandre Pantoja for the UFC flyweight title. Should Asakura pull off the upset, he’ll not only win a title in his first appearance for the promotion, he’ll also become the first Japanese champion in UFC history. Asakura has no shortage of confidence and that was evident at media day on Wednesday, where he promised to deliver an unprecedented performance. “The UFC fans have never seen anybody like me fight ever before,” Asakura said via a Japanese translator. “I always aim to go for a KO finish. I’m an exciting fighter and I’m here to bring excitement back to the flyweight division.” During his time with RIZIN, Asakura become one of the faces of the Japanese promotion. Asakura twice won titles at 135 pounds and developed a reputation for thrilling knockouts, with 13 of his 21 pro victories coming by way of KO/TKO. Asakura drops down to 125 pounds for his debut, a decision he attributes to wanting to revitalize the smallest men’s weight class in the UFC. “When I signed my contract with the UFC, I told them I’m willing to fight either at flyweight or bantamweight and then as discussions progressed, I said to them, ‘Look, I think I can bring some excitement into this division so it would be better for me to fight at flyweight for you,’” Asakura said, “So that’s why I’m fighting at flyweight.” The end goal for Asakura is to not only become champion, but to become an undeniable star in the eyes of the fans and matchmakers. He aims to headline a UFC event in Japan, which the UFC octagon hasn’t visited since 2017. However, he knows that his first task is to take the belt from Pantoja’s waist. After that, the sky is the limit. “At present, I haven’t made an imprint yet on the UFC because I haven’t had a fight,” Asakura said. “So it’s difficult for us to ask them to put forward an event. Of course, I explained to them we’d like the UFC to go back to Tokyo, but when I win this championship, things will change and we’re hoping to have the UFC come back to Japan to showcase and highlight what great MMA talent exists in Japan.” “The last time the UFC came to Japan was [seven] years ago,” Asakura continued. “There was a lull in the MMA scene at that time, there wasn’t a lot of local activity going on. It took a few years for RIZIN to make an imprint and recover and then I was, of course, at the leading forefront of RIZIN and one of the main stars. Eventually, when the UFC comes back to Japan, hopefully they’ll come on my back and I’ll show them what it looks like to have a sold-out event in Japan.”