The UFC is back in Abu Dhabi for UFC 308, and the popular “Embedded” fight week video series is here to document what’s happening behind the scenes.

UFC 308 (pay-per-view, ESPN+) takes place Saturday at Etihad Arena on Yas Island.

In the headliner, featherweight champion Ilia Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) puts his title on the line for the first time when he takes on former champ Max Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC). In the co-feature, Khamzat Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) meets former champ Robert Whittaker (27-7 MMA, 17-5 UFC) to determine the next top contender at middleweight.

The second episode of “Embedded” follows the featured fighters while they get ready for fight week. Here is the UFC’s description of the episode from YouTube:

Khamzat enjoys sports with friends and teammates; Champion Topuria watches his son train BJJ; RDA visits a shooting range and spends time with his family at the park; Lerone Murphy prepares in England; Max trains and gives interviews in Dubai; Whittaker hits the gym with his father by his side.

Previous UFC 308 ‘Embedded’ episodes

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

We’re back, baby!

That’s right, Season 8 of Contender Series is in the books, with 42 new signees joining the UFC roster in what has become the promotion’s single biggest recruitment tool. Now, 42 is fewer than last seasons’ 47 signees, but it’s still a massive influx of talent, and with all these new bright-eyed and bushy-tailed prospects joining the world’s biggest MMA promotion, it’s once again time to separate the wheat from the chaff, the future contenders from the card fillers.

Last season, I separated Contender Series signees into nine different buckets based on their potential, with 10 of the 47 signees being identified as top-tier prospects. And frankly, I did pretty damn well. The collective records of those 10 top-tier prospects is 16-2 in the promotion, with one of those losses being a controversial split decision.

But this year we’re going to do things a little bit differently: instead of nine buckets of nebulous quality, we’re going to simplify things and treat this like an draft board. Prospects are rated by what round of a fictional MMA draft I’d select them in. The rough rubric is as follows:

• Blue Chips: Elite prospects, with the potential to become top-5 fighters in their weight classes, challenge for a title, or even become champion.
• Round 1: Great prospects. Good shot at becoming ranked one day and may even fight for a title.
• Round 2: Good prospects. They’re missing something so they probably won’t challenge for a title, but they have a reasonable shot at earning a ranking.
• Round 3-4: Solid prospects. They lack major upside but can be Day 1 contributors and become a staple of their division for years to come. Maybe they even find their way to a ranking.
• Day 3: Acceptable prospects. Fighters who fill out cards and may stick around for a bit but don’t make much of an impact. Everyone once in a while someone from here might exceed expectations but it’s pretty rare.
• Undrafted Free Agent (UDFA): They did not get a contract but showed flashes of something that suggests they may get signed in the future.

So without further ado, let’s break down the 2024 Contender Series prospect class!

Undrafted Free Agents

An Tuan Ho, Michael Aswell, Jack Duffy, Nick Piccininni, Gauge Young, Igor Cavalcanti, Otar Tanzilov, Aaron Tau, Rose Conciecao, Sean Gauci, Julieta Martinez, Mohamed Ado

Not everyone that goes on Contender Series ends up getting signed, especially as Dana White’s criteria can be a bit inconsistent at times. Plenty of fighters deliver good performances but get snubbed, while other fighters were simply put in there against elite prospects and fell short.

This season there were, frankly, a lot of fighters who flashed enough that I am confident they will at least get another shot on Contender Series, if they don’t get signed to the UFC in a short-notice replacement type of situation. So instead of list all of those fighters (it’s a pretty long list) these 12 fighters represent the best of the bunch.

The most notable names here are both from Week 10: Nick Piccininni and Julieta Martinez. Piccininni fought twice this season, winning his first outing by split decision but not impressing Dana White enough. He then lost in the final episode, but I fully expect Piccininni to fight in the UFC soon. He’s a two-time NCAA All-American at Oklahoma State and has the support of Daniel Cormier. He won’t set the world on fire, but he can be Cody Stamann 2.0.

As for Martinez, she is only 20 years old and dazzled in her Contender Series performance, but White declined to sign her because she is “too young” and “too small.” Instead, White wants her to continue developing outside of the UFC, and honestly, it’s not a terrible idea. Martinez would be a first rounder if she received a contract, but perhaps if she goes back for another year of development, we’re talking about a top-10 pick.

DAY 3

Bruno Lopes, Contavious Romious, Rizvan Kuniev, Andreas Gustafsson, Bogdan Grad, Andrey Pulyaev, Djorden Santos, Seok Hyun Ko, Ahmad Hassanzada, Nick Klein

There’s not a lot to say about this crop of fighters. Each of them won on the show, and did enough to catch White’s attention, but they did not jump off the page as prospects to get excited about. But hey, plenty of uninspiring fighters have made a career in the UFC, winning more than they lose and hanging around.

If you’re looking for possible risers from this group, Rizvan Kuniev actually holds a win over Renan Ferreira in PFL that was overturned to a no-contest after he popped for all the PEDs. The Dagestani is a reasonable fighter, and given how bad heavyweight is, I could see a Shamil Gaziev-like run where he’s on the border of a ranking and in a main event, but don’t envision a lot of long-term success.

If I was putting money down, I’d bet on Bogdan Grad to be the guy who exceeds expectations from this group. Grad’s only career loss is to Tom Nolan on Contender Series last year (a prospect I was very high on) and while he isn’t great at anything, he’s an aggressive scrapper in the vein of Nate Landwehr, so he might carve out a fun career.

Round 3-4

Jose Miguel Delgado, Marco Tulio, Kevin Christian, Daniel Frunza, Torrez Finney, Alberto Montes, Artem Vakhitov, Yadier DelValle, Luis Gurule

This group right here, these are the workhorses. Most of them are a little too old to be a real high-upside prospect, but most of them are ready to jump in and contribute right away, and perhaps a few will event surprise us. Either way, I expect most of this group will hang around the UFC for some time, and there are a few notable standouts from this group.

The first is Torrez Finney who became the first man to win three times on Contender Series after two wins this season. Finney is young and had a few very good traits, but it’s hard to like the long-term ceiling for a 5-foot-8 middleweight, and the man is built like William Knight, so I don’t think he’s making 170.

Next is Alberto Montes who is my favorite fighter from this group. Montes is extremely fun, a bit chaotic (the man attempted a Peruvian necktie), and sort of fights like Charles Oliveira, without the restraint. The issue is that Montes is 30 years old which doesn’t leave him a lot of time in a premium weight class like featherweight, but I could see a Carlos Prates run out of him.

And finally there’s the matter of Artem Vakhitov. Vakhitov is the former GLORY Kickboxing champion who notably holds a win over Alex Pereira and even had Pereira lobby for him to get signed, but I have serious doubts about his ability to transition to MMA the way Pereira did. They just don’t have the same sort of game and Vakhitov has not shown much aptitude for the various parts of MMA thus far.

In all honesty, Vakhitov should probably be in the Day 3 group, but given his story, the UFC may be very selective about his matchmaking so I settled here.

Round 2

Malcolm Wellmaker, Yuneisy Duben, Quillan Salkilld, Nicolle Caliari, Tallison Teixeira, Danylo Voievodkin, Alexia Thainara, Diyar Nurgozhay, Islam Dulatov, Kody Steele, Jonathan Micallef

Now we’re finally into the real prospects here. I firmly believe the people in this group are going to be UFC staples for years to come, and for most of them, there’s just one big issue holding them back from being top prospects. For instance, Wellmaker and Duben are a bit too old to be great prospects, and Teixeira and Voievodkin are great bets to be long-term heavyweights, but lack an A+ trait that is required to be elite in that weight class. Still, this is a collection of talent that could have a number of fighters overachieve from.

As far as best bets to overachieve from this group and become fixtures of the top of their divisions two names stand out: Alexia Thainara and Kody Steele.

Thainara is a plus-athlete with good wrestling and the right mentality, she’s just raw. But at only 26 years old, she just beat the undefeated LFA champion and there’s plenty of time for her to rise up in the strawweight division if she can simply add tools to her game. Working with the Ribas family is a good start, and she’s got a real shot at becoming something.

Steele, on the other hand, is already close to a finished product. The 29-year-old Syndicate MMA product had a ton of hype heading into this season as a wily grappler who can also throw hands. Well, he showed all of that and plus-athleticism which means he’s almost guaranteed for a long UFC career. My only concern is that 29 is a late start for lightweight , where it can take years for fighters to make headway in the stacked weight class. Still, the floor is very high and there’s legitimate ceiling as well. Kody might be the “Steele” of the second round…

Round 1

Now we’re really into the top of the talent pool. The nine prospects below are my best bets to have long lasting, meaningful UFC careers, and given that, instead of the broad grouping, I opted to give each of them a one-sentence breakdown.

Navajo Stirling — City Kickboxing standout who can immediately compete at 205 pounds | shades of Rory MacDonald

Jacobe Smith — 3X All-American wrestler, great athlete who needs time | hints of Jon Jones

Elijah Smith — Explosive grappling but needs a killer instinct | gentler A.J. McKee

Josias Musasa — Fast, powerful, and aggressive but a bit one-note | bantamweight Derrick Lewis

Ateba Gautier — Big fella carved out of wood, extremely raw | next gen Melvin Manhoef

Mansour Abdul-Malik — All the physical gifts in the world | shades of Joaquin Buckley

Cody Haddon — Tight, polished boxer and BJJ black belt | a hint of Ilia Topuria

David Martinez — Fun, dynamic, and well-rounded, but lacks a superpower | a touch of Jonathan Martinez

Mario Pinto — Big man who THUDS without throwing hard | shades of Alex Pereira

Coincidentally, the order this group is listed in is roughly the order I’d draft them in, with Navajo Stiling being the one I’m highest one while Mario Pinto is the fighter most likely to be more of a Round 2 talent. But still, look at the way the big man can floor someone without trying.

Blue Chips

On every draft board, there are Round 1 prospects and then there are Blue Chip guys. These guys are as close to guaranteed successes as possible. Not just good contributors, these guys are STARS. People you can build a franchise around. And this year there are three of them.

Kevin Vallejos

I adore Kevin Vallejos. The 22-year-old Argentinian is an exceptional talent who narrowly missed out on earning a UFC contract last season of Contender Series, because he lost to Jean Silva. Silva was one of my favorite prospects that season and has looked sensational in the UFC this year, already knocking on the door of a ranking. And this kid gave him all he could hand despite being barely of drinking age.

Vallejos has slick, devastating striking with nasty combinations and great body work. Coincidentally, my favorite comparison for him is Jean Silva, and if he continues to improve as he ages, the sky is the limit for this kid.

Austin Bashi

Austin Bashi is an exceptional prospect. Just 23 years old, and already sporting an undefeated 13-0 record, Bashi hasn’t just been beating cans. He has wins over legitimate opposition and has been largely dominant in his career thus far.

The Michigan native is a fantastic athlete and a former IBJJF No-Gi world champion at the brown belt level. His striking game is still in development, but he’s got solid kicks already and he’s willing to mix things up. The best comparison I have for him is either Henry Cejudo or Aaron Pico, which should tell you a lot about how high this kid can climb.

Lone’er Kavanagh

Lone’er Kavanagh is one of the better prospects to ever come through Contender Series. Only 25 years old, Kavanagh is immediately ready to jump into the deep end of the flyweight division. He is a very good athlete with remarkable polish given his age. He’s poised under fire, has a slick, diversified striking game, and nasty power, especially for a flyweight.

As far as a comparison, the best one I have is a flyweight Rafael Fiziev, and that’s essentially talking about who Kavanagh is today. Give him a few more years of development and who knows where this young man might end up. Personally, I’m excited to find out.

Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon has signed a new long-term deal with the Premier League club.

The 23-year-old has scored 15 goals and created 11 assists in 74 appearances since joining the Magpies from Everton in January 2023 in a £45m deal.

Following his England debut in March this year, Gordon was a member of the Three Lions squad that reached the Euro 2024 final.

He had been linked with a return to his hometown with Liverpool over the summer but the move never materialised.

“I just think the club’s in a great place,” said Gordon.

“Since the takeover it’s just been up and up. Me and the gaffer are a perfect match in terms of style of play. I love it here.

“The team is very suited to me – and I’m here to win a trophy. The short story is we need to win a trophy.

“Winning a trophy here would be unbelievable because the fans have waited so long. To be part of that team who finally does it is a massive goal of mine.”

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe says Gordon has grown as a “player and a person” since moving to St James’ Park.

“He is dedicated to improving himself and the team, and when you add that to the quality of his performances and his incredibly high work-rate, it’s clear to see why he has such a special connection with our supporters,” said Howe.

“There’s even more to come from Anthony and I’m excited about what’s ahead for him and us.”

ABU DHABI – Arman Tsarukyan can’t help but think he should be just a few days from fighting Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title at UFC 308. Instead, he’ll have to wait a few more months.

Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) was ready and willing to fight Makhachev (26-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) on Saturday’s card at Etihad Arena, but then the champion sustained a hand injury that prolonged his timeline for a return into early 2025.

Despite that, Tsarukyan flew to the event as a guest fighter to feel the energy of a massive fight week on a card now headlined by Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway. However, he admits he wishes it was him in the main event.

“We were supposed to fight here and then in December, but now they told me beginning of next year,” Tsarukyan told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “I’m getting ready and hopefully it’s going to be in January or February. It’s going to be a title fight for sure. I wish I fight this weekend because I don’t want to waste my time and wait, because I fought just one time this year. I wanted to fight now and then rest and then fight and defend my title next year.”

Tsarukyan’s showdown with Makhachev, whenever it happens, will be a rematch between the two top-ranked lightweights in the UFC. They first met in April 2019, with Tsarukyan losing a decision in the Fight of the Night. He took the bout on short notice and performed admirably, but both men have improved significantly since then.

It’s Tsarukyan’s expectation that the second encounter will be a competitive one, as well, but ultimately he is setting the bar high for himself, and that means finishing the job without the involvement of the judges.

“You can’t say it’s going to be an easy fight,” Tsarukyan said. “I try to think it’s going to be easy for me, and I don’t want to think it’s going to be a decision. I want to finish him.”

According to the UFC’s official rankings, Makhachev is currently the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the organization. UFC CEO Dana White has adamantly rejected that notion and emphatically backed Jon Jones for the position, and Tsarukyan tends to agree with that stance.

“No, he doesn’t deserve it,” Tsarukyan said. “I agree the No. 1 pound-for-pound is Jon Jones because he’s a legend. He’s still fighting. We’ll see. Next month he’s fighting and if he beats Stipe Miocic, he’s got to be No. 1 pound-for-pound. Then when he retires, of course it’s Islam.”

Tsarukyan, 28, said he expects the fight with Makhachev, 32, to be finalized in the coming days, with UFC 311 on Jan. 18 or UFC 312 on Feb. 12 being the most likely dates. If Tsarukyan captures the 155-pound strap, he would be 1-1 in head-to-head competition with Makhachev. Does that mean a trilogy would be next? He can’t say for sure, but Tsarukyan would most certainly be open to more fights with Makhachev going forward.

“For me, it doesn’t matter – I can fight with him three or four times,” Tsarukyan said. “I just want the title. After the title I can tell what I’m going to do. My goal is just to win the title and then after that I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Max Holloway doesn’t mind trading verbal jabs with his opponents, but he doesn’t operate under the “when they go low, you go lower” mantra.

In the leadup to UFC 308, Holloway sat down for a face-to-face interview with opponent Ilia Topuria where they went back and forth for nearly 20 minutes in a heated exchange. At one point, Holloway told him to “speak” as Topuria was seemingly stumbling over his words and the former featherweight champion later revealed that he received criticism as if he was mocking the Georgian fighter for struggling with his English, which is obviously not his first language.

“I need to clear this up,” Holloway told MMA Fighting when addressing the situation. “A lot of people was giving me heat for teasing him how he spoke English. I wasn’t teasing that he was speaking English. I know he speaks like five languages. I speak one language and I have a hard time speaking English. I have a hard time saying names. I understand how hard speaking one language is. I wasn’t teasing his language.

“What I was teasing was that he sounded so scripted and then every time he went off of his scripted words, he started mumbling or he would say ‘shut the f*ck up, motherf*cker.’ I’m like brother, you’re so scripted right now. That’s why I teased him. I’m like speak. Stop using your scripted lines.”

It turns out that was Holloway’s biggest annoyance because he believes Topuria was effectively reading from a script during many of the verbal exchanges.

While Holloway doesn’t spent much time trash talking his opponents, he’s not going to knock a guy for the way he speaks English but he’s not opposed to getting frustrated when he feels like he’s hearing rehearsed lines meant to insult him.

“It wasn’t that deep,” Holloway said. “I was calling him out. You could tell. Watch the interview. Everything he was saying was scripted. As soon as it wasn’t scripted, or he didn’t know what to say, he didn’t have an answer for it, he’d either say ‘shut the eff up, mother effer’ or he would start stumbling. That’s why I was teasing him.

“I don’t talk very good English and this is my only language. Stop attacking me about that.”

Truth be told, Holloway can’t wait to put the talking behind him and just get into the octagon to battle with Topuria as he attempts to reclaim the UFC featherweight title.

He hasn’t sat on top of the 145-pound division for nearly five years after falling to Alexander Volkanovski back in 2019 and then losing a pair of rematches to the Australian.

Meanwhile, Topuria vanquished Volkanovski in impressive fashion back in February, ultimately scoring a second round knockout to win the title. That fight came just under four months removed from Volkanovski suffering a brutal head kick knockout loss to Islam Makhachev and an argument could be made that he rushed back too soon for the showdown against Topuria.

For his part, Holloway doesn’t want to live in a world filled with what ifs because Volkanovski made the decision to fight and Topuria beat him. End of story.

“At the end of the day, we can be like ‘if he did this, if he did that,’ at the end of the day his team, Alex has a great team around him, they thought that he was ready and they went out there and fought,” Holloway said. “Even if he was compromised, Ilia went out there and did his thing. He landed the shot that ended the fight. That’s a hard thing to do. He’s still got to do that part.

“We can say he said, she said and all this kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, Ilia did what he did. He showed up to the fight, Alex showed up to the fight, and he was just on the winning side. You can’t take nothing away from the guy. I’m not going to. He’s a dangerous man and I can’t wait to go out there and share the octagon with him and prove a lot of these naysayers wrong.”

When it comes to his hopes to reclaim the title on Saturday, Holloway admits it would be a remarkably important moment for his career, especially considering what he endured through those three losses to Volkanovski.

Becoming a two-time UFC featherweight champion might not end up as the biggest accomplishment of his career, but Holloway knows it would be pretty special.

“It would mean a lot, especially with the way my career went,” Holloway said. “After that third fight with [Alexander] Volkanovski, a lot of people were saying I should change weight classes or all together, I should just retire because it’s never, ever going to happen.

“I guess a couple of years later we’re here and we’re days away and we get to find out who has the last laugh Oct. 26. I can’t wait for the opportunity.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees will meet up in the World Series, starting with Game 1 on Friday (8:08 p.m. ET on FOX).

This will be the 12th time these iconic franchises will battle for a championship, but the first time since 1981.

Here is the lowdown on Game 1, including how to watch, potential lineups and more.

How can I watch the World Series?

Every game will be broadcast on FOX, and each contest is slated to start at 8:08 p.m. ET. Here is the schedule:

Who is favored?

The Dodgers are currently favored to win Game 1, and also favored (-125) to win the series.

Who will start Game 1?

The Yankees will start reigning AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole. The Dodgers have not yet announced a starter. Walker Buehler was expected to start Game 7 of the NLCS if that had occurred. But the long break gives them more options, including potentially Jack Flaherty or Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Dodgers vs. Yankees preview: Who will win the World Series?

[Related: A look back at past Dodgers-Yankees World Series matchups]

Who will be in the lineup for Game 1?

Neither team has announced its starting lineup, so these are projections based on how Yankees manager Aaron Boone and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts have filled out their cards in recent games. Also, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman has been in and out of the lineup with an ankle injury, so we’ll have to keep an eye on that. This will be updated when things become official.

Yankees

1. Gleyber Torres, 2B
2. Juan Soto, RF
3. Aaron Judge, CF
4. Giancarlo Stanton, DH
5. Jazz Chisholm, 3B
6. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
7. Anthony Volpe, SS
8. Austin Wells, C
9. Alex Verdugo, LF

Dodgers

1. Shohei Ohtani, DH
2. Mookie Betts, RF
3. Freddie Freeman, 1B
4. Max Muncy, 3B
5. Teoscar Hernández, LF
6. Gavin Lux, 2B
7. Will Smith, C
8. Tommy Edman, SS
9. Kiké Hernández, CF

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