Aljamain Sterling believes Umar Nurmagomedov needs to earn his stripes.

Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), cousin of former undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, was declared No. 1 contender after defeating Cory Sandhagen in the UFC on ABC 7 main event this past August. Sandhagen marked Nurmagomedov’s first ranked opponent.

Sterling’s training partner, UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC), is having a hard time acknowledging Nurmagomedov as his next title challenger. Dvalishvili says he’s been fast tracked, and Sterling thinks that’s largely in part due to being Khabib’s cousin.

“I’m not saying he’s not good,” Sterling said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I love Umar. I think Umar is a great guy, but facts are the facts. I don’t care what your cousin has done. That does not have any bearing on what you have done for the sport. You’ve got to cut your teeth in this game, not riding the coattails of your family’s merit.

“I always say if I have kids, I want to make sure they’re not riding off the coattails of what I do or have done in my life. I want to make sure they’re out there, they’re being go-getters. I think anyone with any type of real self-worth would want to do that, earn their keep. You don’t want to be feeling like the person who’s just here because you were handed an invite vs. actually earning to be at the table. Earn your seat at the table.”

Dvalishvili had to win 10 fights in a row before earning his shot at the title. He dethroned Sean O’Malley to claim the bantamweight title at UFC 306, and despite telling MMA Junkie that he’d be willing to rematch O’Malley in November over Nurmagomedov, “The Machine” clarified that he’ll end up fighting whoever the UFC offers.

Nurmagomedov is eager to fight before Ramadan, which is expected to start at end of February. If Dvalishvili isn’t ready by then, Nurmagomedov is willing to fight once more, and has been linked to a potential matchup with Song Yadong at UFC 311 on Jan. 18.

The UFC 309 press conference features the entire main card from Saturday’s pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York.

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, two-time heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, and lightweight contenders Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler are some of the stars that will answer questions from the media Thursday evening.

Watch a live stream video of the UFC 309 press conference above. The event is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. ET.

Video Details

Jon Jones doesn’t want to hear anymore Tom Aspinall questions.

On Wednesday, Jones refused to sit down with TNT Sports reporter Adam Catterall in anticipation of receiving more questions about the UFC interim champion, who is on friendly terms with Catterall. Jones defends his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic this Saturday at UFC 309 in New York and in the build-up to the event he has frequently been asked whether he plans to meet Aspinall in the future to unify their belts.

Watch a clip of Jones making a quick exit from the interview room below (h/t Championship Rounds):

“Hey, I’m not going to do this interview,” Jones said after initially greeting Catterall. “No, because it’s going to be an Aspinall-fest.”

Jones is later seen speaking to Catterall in the lobby, telling him it was “nothing personal” but “I see how close you [and Aspinall] are common sense tells me what type of questions I was going to get asked.”

Catterall tells Jones, “You’re entitled to it. Speak to who you want to.”

Shortly after, Jones re-entered the interview room for an interview with Nick Peet of TNT Sports. Jones is not asked any questions about Aspinall in the video, which can be seen below.

Jones is widely hailed as one of the greatest fighters of all time, primarily based on his work in the UFC light heavyweight division where he went undefeated for a decade (outside of a controversial disqualification loss to Matt Hamill), recorded numerous title defenses, and defeated a long list of legends and future UFC Hall of Famers. In March 2023, Jones defeated Ciryl Gane to capture a vacant heavyweight title.

Miocic was to challenge Jones at UFC 295 the following December, but a pectoral injury forced Jones out of the matchup and out of action for several months. In their absence, Aspinall defeated Sergei Pavlovich to claim an interim title.

With the Jones-Miocic matchup pushed back a year, Aspinall successfully defended his title with a win over Curtis Blaydes this past July. Since winning the interim belt, he has campaigned for a fight with Jones, but Jones has repeatedly said he has no interest in fighting Aspinall.

Aspinall is set to weigh in as the backup for Saturday’s main event and has said he hopes to convince either Jones or Miocic to stick around to face him regardless of who is victorious.

NEW YORK – It’s not like the UFC’s women’s flyweight division is just overflowing with fighters, so a Viviane Araujo stat this week might be an anomaly.

Still, the fact remains: For the fourth straight fight, Araujo (12-6 MMA, 6-5 UFC), from Brazil, will step into the cage against another Brazilian. This time, it’ll be Karine Silva (18-4 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at UFC 309 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Hulu/FX, ESPN+) on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.

It’s been a mixed bag of results for the 37-year-old Araujo in that run, which includes decision losses to Amanda Ribas and Natalia Silva, the latter of which came in February, and a win over former title challenger Jennifer Maia.

And while she’d like to fight someone not from Brazil, she knows it means women’s 125-pounders in the UFC are making her homeland proud.

“(I’d like to fight) somebody from another nationality, but it only show shows the worth of female MMA in Brazil,” Araujo said Wednesday at a media day for UFC 309. “It shows the work that we put in, and (the matchups against Brazilians are) just a result of that.”

When Araujo arrived in the UFC in 2019, she delivered a third-round knockout against Talita Bernardo – a Brazilian; go figure. But since then, it’s been 10 straight 15-minute fights and a middling 5-5 record of all decisions.

Araujo said she’s battled recent injuries and surgeries, but now has recovered, and has the added inspiration on the home front of her wife getting ready to give birth. She thinks Silva might want the fight on the canvas with her, but also said she’s ready no matter where the near 3-1 favorite wants to play things.

“You can’t forget that I’m a jiu-jitsu black belt. I think she should be wary before coming down to the ground. But I’m ready to strike with her and believe it’s going to be some heavy artillery coming at her.”

Check out Araujo’s full interview in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. The time is now.

Maybe that four-word cliché doesn’t do justice to the upcoming (momentous occasion?circus act? farce?) spectacle, but what else is there left to say about a boxing match few asked for, even fewer expected, and that, in all likelihood, will go down as one of the most watched fights in combat sports history?

When Paul and Tyson step into the ring Friday in Arlington, Texas, anyone with a Netflix subscription is just a few clicks away from seeing the infamous influencer take on a legend of the ring who turned 58 years in between when this fight was originally booked and when it is actually going down. Both fighters have promised this will not be a mere exhibition and that one will be left lying on the canvas.

So how will it all go down?

The MMA Fighting staff knuckled down to give their best guesses as to how Tyson vs. Paul will play out, from the possibility of a regrettable eight-rounder to *gasp* someone going down for the count.

Jed Meshew: We’ve written plenty about this fight already and a week close to the event my thoughts remain the same: this should not be taking place. Tyson is damn near a senior citizen and while he looks amazing for 58 years old, he’s still 58 years old. Tyson likely shouldn’t be fighting anyone at this point in time, but he certainly shouldn’t be fighting a man 30 years his junior. And I think Jake Paul knows it.

While Paul has talked a big game about knocking out Tyson and this being the springboard to bigger “real” boxing matches, he would have to be the dimmest bulb in the box not to realize how bad KO’ing Tyson would look for him. Yes, he’s made a career of beating old MMA fighters up, but Tyson is entirely more beloved and much, much older than those people. If Paul goes out there and thunks him, I think the backlash will be severe.

Add in that Tyson is probably physically incapable of putting on a real boxing match at this point and I strongly suspect the most likely outcome on Saturday is Jake Paul simply moves around the ring, jabs, and carries Mike to a decision in a glorified sparring session. Everyone gets paid, no one gets hurt.

Prediction: Paul def. Tyson via unanimous decision

Mike Heck: I’m with Jed on a lot of this. I absolutely have concerns. but I can at least take some solace in knowing that Tyson looked a billion and a half times better than Evander Holyfield did during his fight week with Vitor Belfort. In that fight, I think Holyfield understood the assignment. Belfort absolutely did not. The former UFC champ won, but he hasn’t recovered from being part of one of the saddest moments of the past decade.

As I said in our roundtable, I think—and I truly hope—we’ll get a Tyson vs. Jones-esque bout. Tyson has shown he can do the 65-70 percent thing, but still look very aggressive in doing so. Paul, as a showman, will likely do the same. I’ll agree with the above, Paul via decision in what I hope will be a fun experience where Paul can pay tribute to one of his heroes, while the former heavyweight champ has one last great moment in the ring with whatever faculties he has left in place.

Prediction: Paul def. Tyson via unanimous decision

Guilherme Cruz: I would love to come here and say you guys are all insane and a 58-year-old legend can still get it done even though he needs a cane to walk properly every time he leaves a plane, or maybe he would give us a wonderful real-life version of Rocky vs. Mason Dixon, but that would be me fooling myself.

When this fight first got booked, I thought Tyson could get it done. He definitely hits hard, he’s way more experienced than Paul, but I’ve changed my mind after seeing so many (short) clips of Tyson training. Rafael Cordeiro is a legendary coach brave enough to stand in front of one of the most violent men humanity has ever seen, but all we see is Tyson throwing the same combination over and over and over again.

Unless Tyson is cocooned back to his 30s, it won’t end well for him. I can’t stop thinking of Belfort rudely putting Holyfield away in seconds, and I fear that’s what we might get Friday. I choose to believe Paul is smart enough to play the game and carry Tyson for a proper sendoff.

Prediction: Paul def. Tyson via split decision

Alexander K. Lee: Where we’re going, we don’t need scorecards. Unfortunately.

If everyone involved is smart, this should be a sanctioned bout in name only with Paul and Tyson agreeing to go 80 percent tops for 24 minutes. That’s a big if though and I fully expect something to go haywire Friday. All it will take is one of the fighters (say, Paul) going a touch too hard in there, causing the other fighter (say, Tyson) to snap and revert to his basest instincts: that being throwing punches as hard as he can until a referee tells him to stop.

It was Tyson himself who famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face,” and as much as Tyson probably wants to stick to the script (metaphorically speaking, of course) how can he resist chasing one last moment of glory? One last knockout to truly cap off his career?

The bad news is that even if this happens and the fight actually becomes a fight, it’s the younger Paul most likely to score a knockout that will be a little impressive and a lot depressing. Let’s hope we’ve got a referee who knows what they’re doing so the ending isn’t worse than it has to be.

Prediction: Paul def. Tyson via fifth-round KO

Damon Martin: It’s difficult to imagine anybody feeling great after this fight is over.

The whole ordeal just feels dirty considering Paul—a 27-year-old social influencer-turned-boxing enthusiast—is taking on Tyson, once heralded as the most ferocious knockout artist on the planet… around 35 years ago. Yes, folks the last time Tyson seemed untouchable in the ring came all the way back in 1989 when he was still undefeated and seven months away from losing to Buster Douglas. You could even argue Tyson hasn’t actually thrown a meaningful punch in over 19 years and that’s if you count Kevin McBride as meaningful!

Now make no mistake, Tyson is in far better shape than your average 58-year-old. He’s probably more fit than most 38-year-old men, but the vast majority of those folks aren’t trying to take a professional boxing match for the first time in nearly 20 years. To his credit, Tyson looked pretty good when he sparred Roy Jones Jr. a few years ago but then you have to remember Jones is way, way past his prime and actually lost fairly recently to former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis—in a boxing match!

Yes, Tyson still hits hard and he’s probably forgotten more about boxing than Paul will ever know. Still, this is essentially a senior citizen signing up for a fist fight against a younger, bigger athlete who—for better or worse—really does hit hard. And because combat sports is almost allergic to giving us a happy ending, the sad reality is this fight probably ends with Tyson laid out and the promoters scrambling to justify making this matchup in the first place.

Prediction: Paul def. Tyson via third-round KO