Daniel Frunza picked up a key win in style when it mattered most Tuesday in front of the UFC brass.
At Dana White’s Contender Series 73, Frunza (9-2) punched his way to a stoppage against experienced BRAVE CF alumnus Vadim Kutsyi (17-2). The TKO stoppage came at 3:30 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas (via X):
Both Frunza and Kutsyi battled through adversity over the course of the sub-eight-minute bout. Kutsyi was dropped early but stormed back and found success in the remainder of the round.
In Round 2, the tables turned as Kutsyi slowed down. Eventually a mixture of exhausted and damaged, Kutsyi was unable to defend the attack from the relentless Frunza.
With the win, Frunza extended his streak to five. In defeat, Kutsyi has a 10-fight streak snapped in his first action since 2022.
Up-to-the-minute DWCS 73 results include:
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 73.
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Harrison tried to get up after the second-quarter incompletion but appeared to stumble. He then headed into the injury tent on the sideline and eventually walked into the tunnel. Early in the second half, Arizona ruled him out of the game.
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Harrison has 17 catches for 279 yards and four touchdowns for the Cardinals, who selected him out of Ohio State with the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft.
In other injury news, New Orleans Saints starting receiver Chris Olave was ruled out to be evaluated for a concussion following a helmet-to-helmet hit as he lost a fumble that was returned for a Tampa Bay Buccaneers touchdown on Sunday.
Olave was in the process of being stripped from behind by Bucs defensive back Tykee Smith moments after catching a pass from Saints rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler when the receiver absorbed a heavy hit to the head from cornerback Zyon McCollum.
Olave sat on the field, apparently dazed, while Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr. scooped up the loose ball and ran it back 58 yards for a score that gave Tampa Bay a 14-0 first-quarter lead.
Blakemen then delivered his decision that the fumble — and resulting Bucs score — would stand to a Superdome crowd that also had seen replays and booed in apparent anger over the missed personal foul call that put the Saints’ No. 1 receiver into the concussion protocol and out of the game.
Olave, a 2022 first-round draft choice also out of Ohio State, entered the game with 22 catches for 275 yards and a touchdown through the season’s first five weeks.
Olave had been in the NFL’s concussion protocol twice before in the past three NFL seasons.
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Reporting by The Associated Press.
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Barnett steps in on two weeks’ notice to face Kennedy Nzechukwu at UFC 308, which takes place Oct. 26 at Etihad Arena. The news was announced during Saturday’s UFC Vegas 98 broadcast.
The fan-favorite Barnett replaces Justin Tafa, who has been removed from the bout for undisclosed reasons. Barnett was slated to fight on Saturday’s event at the UFC APEX but was unable to compete due to reasons associated with Hurricane Milton.
Barnett returns to the octagon for the first time in over two years, a second-round TKO win over Jake Collier at UFC 279 in September 2022. “Beastboy” is 2-2 in his UFC run, including a memorable stoppage of Gian Villante at UFC 268 in November 2021 at Madison Square Garden.
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Nzechukwu looks to snap a two-fight losing streak as he competes at heavyweight for the first time in his UFC career.
LAS VEGAS – Grant Dawson wants to get back in the UFC official rankings, and he hopes to do so by beating someone on that list.
Dawson (13-2-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) was briefly ranked prior to his quick KO loss to Bobby Green in October 2023, but since has picked up two consecutive wins. Saturday, Dawson became the first to stop Rafa Garcia (16-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) and put him away in a violent TKO on the main card of UFC Fight Night 244.
The American Top Team product hopes to get a ranked opponent next or a bout against Drakkar Klose.
“In the top 15, I’m actually not sure because the guys that make sense are booked and the guys that don’t make sense are apparently fighting for a world title in other weight classes for some reason,” Dawson said at the UFC Fight Night 244 post-fight press conference. “You’ve got (Rafael Dos Anjos) in there – and nobody is a bigger fan of RDA than me, I’ve been watching that dude since I was a child. I’m a big fan of his. He should not be in the rankings at 155. He’s fighting at 170, he’s fought at 170, and he’s openly said he’s not fighting at 155 anymore. Get him out of there and put me in.
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“If I don’t get a top-15 fight next, the guy that makes most sense to me would be Drakkar Klose. I have two losses in my professional career, and he’s beaten both of them. That would be a fight that would really prove to people how much better I’ve gotten.”
As far as the performance on Saturday, Dawson was happy with what he was able to display. He thought he would have a much tougher time dealing with Garcia, but that wasn’t the case.
“That was the game plan, but through the entire fight camp everyone that had trained with him or seen him, I had people messaging me, ‘This guy has really good takedown defense. This guy is strong. This guy is so hard to take down. He is so difficult to get down,’” Dawson said. “Even the UFC was saying that this guy has really good takedown defense and Grant might get pushed here. I come in with the mindset that I might not be able to take this guy down. I think what separates me from the rest of the division is that I don’t get discouraged. I’m a problem solver.”
Former France captain Amandine Henry has retired from international football with immediate effect.
The 35-year-old midfielder won 109 caps, scoring 14 goals, and was recently in the France side who reached the quarter-finals at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“After many years of passion, challenges and unforgettable memories, it is time for me to turn the page,” she said on a post on X., external
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Henry was France’s captain from 2017 to 2020 when she was dropped by then manager Corinne Diacre.
She was selected in France’s 2023 World Cup squad before withdrawing with a calf injury.
Henry finally returned to the France team in September 2023, after three years away, and often stood in for current Les Blues captain Wendie Renard.
Now with Mexican side Toluca, Henry won seven Champions League titles and 13 French league titles with Lyon, who she played for across two long spells between 2007 and 2023.
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“Wearing the colours of my country these past years has been the honour of my life and has allowed me to experience extraordinary emotions,” Henry said.
LAS VEGAS – Ramazonbek Temirov beat CJ Vergara with a first-round TKO Saturday to close out the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 244 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Temirov, who was dominant in his UFC debut – and put the flyweight division on notice that he’s coming for a title shot.
“If it’s five rounds, I prepare for the five rounds. If it’s three rounds, I always prepare for the three rounds. We never know when the fight is going to be done, when we might finish the fight. But today, it happened. I finished him in the first round, and we’re happy.”
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Temirov on title aspirations
“The UFC was my childhood dream, which just came true today. I’m so happy. After this, I will be only going forward and my goal is to be a champion of the flyweight division. I never thought I would be in the UFC, to be honest, but I was always dreaming to be in here and to be a champion. Today we’re here, and we’re chasing the dream.”
Temirov on what he wants next
“The next goal is, and the dream is definitely to become a flyweight champion. We will see how long it will take – maybe a year, maybe two years. Only God knows.”
To hear more from Temirov, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
To be clear, that’s not from a lack of interest on Masvidal’s side. Prior to his retirement from MMA in 2023, the UFC’s first-ever “BMF” champion called for a showdown with McGregor numerous times. Now that he’s planning to return to action sometime in late 2024 or early 2025, Masvidal sees a lot of possibilities for his first fight back, but he highly doubts McGregor ever competes again after sitting out for the past three-plus years.
“We’ll see him at a bar and shit,” Masvidal responded to MMA Fighting when asked if we’ll see McGregor again. “Are you talking about in the cage? Like as an official or to be judges? You mean fighting? I don’t think so. I hope he proves me wrong but I don’t think so.”
McGregor has been teasing his comeback for well over a year already after he healed up from a devastating broken leg suffered in his trilogy fight against Masvidal’s longtime teammate and friend, Dustin Poirier.
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Following his recovery, McGregor coached on The Ultimate Fighter opposite Michael Chandler with a fight originally expected between them sometime in 2023. Instead, a broken toe forced McGregor to withdraw from their scheduled meeting at UFC 303 this past June.
There were rumors swirling that perhaps McGregor could fight before the end of 2024 but UFC CEO Dana White nixed those plans and instead pointed towards 2025 for the Irish superstar to return. With each passing day more and more doubts are creeping in about whether or not McGregor will actually return and Masvidal knows with absolute certainty that he won’t be the opponent if that happens.
“Conor, under no circumstances, is fighting me,” Masvidal said. “He’s backed out of fighting Chandler — poor little Chandler, I don’t know how many times he let that dude eat dust. Imagine me?
“That guy is never fighting me. He can’t do enough cocaine to f*cking get [jacked] up to fight me.”
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If McGregor remains absent from the UFC, Masvidal wouldn’t mind taking his place in the fight against Chandler, although he sees that as just one of many options open to him.
Chandler has been out of action for nearly two years in anticipation of fighting McGregor and Masvidal doubts that ever comes to fruition. If Chandler finally wants to return to action, Masvidal invites him to a fight where he should know without a shadow of a doubt that the opponent will show up.
“That wouldn’t be a bad fight to get my feet wet again with MMA,” Masvidal said about fighting Chandler. “Kind of an introductory course to MMA. I wouldn’t mind that fight. But there’s a lot of fights that I would take. I was just throwing that one out there.
“You can’t sit in silence forever. Let’s go. You want to throw down with one of the most f*cking electrifying motherf*ckers that ever touched the sport? Let’s f*cking go.”
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