ABU DHABI – Many viewers were surprised at what they heard when the official decision of his fight was read Saturday, but Rinat Fakhretdinov wasn’t.
Following his unanimous decision win over Carlos Leal at UFC 308, Fakhretdinov (23-1-1 MMA, 5-0-1 UFC) voiced his disagreement with the broadcast team that the judges got it wrong.
“Why were they surprised with the decision?” Fakhretdinov said to MMA Junkie and other reporters at his UFC 308 post-fight news conference. “… Really bad commentators. … First round was pretty close. It could’ve gone either way. I didn’t have any doubt the second or third round was mine. After your words, people will say again the Arabs bought the decision.”
According to MMA Decisions, 100 percent of voting media members scored the fight for Leal with more than 75 percent of viewers also scoring the fight for the Brazilian.
Advertisement
The court of public opinion is meaningless when it comes to the victory added to his win column. Fakhretdinov now rides a 23-fight unbeaten streak, the current longest in the promotion. Fakhretdinov thinks he’s ready for the best of the welterweight division and is eagerly awaiting the next call.
“It doesn’t matter,” Fakhretdinov said. “Anyone from the top 15, top 10, if you put in front of me will be the same. I will get the win. Maybe it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a hard win, but I’m going to win. … Even the day after tomorrow I can fight for the title if you give me the chance.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
Advertisement
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones squares off against former UFC champion Stipe Miocic in the main event. UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall serves as a backup for the two legends.
The co-main event features former UFC champion Charles Oliveira in a rematch against Michael Chandler, who gave up on his quest to face Conor McGregor. Oliveira defeated Chandler via second-round TKO at UFC 262 on May 15, 2021.
Here is the UFC 309 main card, which is televised exclusively on ESPN+ pay-per-view, below:
The only fight still to be finalized is the top preliminary bout that was scheduled to feature Mauricio Ruffy, who still needs an opponent. The UFC 309 prelims will possibly feature eight fights.
Amon-Ra St. Brown discussed why the Detroit Lions’ offense has been so potent. Additionally, he talked about how important QB Jared Goff and RBs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs have been for his success.
Magomedov (15-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) has captivated the audience with his unique look and the fact he competes with just one eye. He said prior to the event that Michael Bisping was his inspiration to become UFC champion, and if he keeps delivering performances like this, he might be well on his way.
The issue is how the UFC can use Shara “Bullet” going forward. Will there be any Stateside commissions who will be willing to license him for a fight? If so, it’s going to expand his options in a significant way. But if he’s limited to only being on cards in the Middle East or other regions where the UFC self-regulates, then it might stunt his ultimate potential.
Nevertheless, this was a great moment for Magomedov. Was it a top three knockout in company history as UFC CEO Dana White suggest post-fight? Nah. But it is going to live on the UFC highlight reels for years to come.
Advertisement
4
Time to give Magomed Ankalaev his title shot
There’s not much more to add than the headline of this section. It’s 13 fights unbeaten now for Magomed Ankalaev in the light heavyweight division after his unanimous decision win over Aleksandar Rakic, and although it wasn’t the most thrilling contest, it wasn’t for a lack of trying for the Russian.
Advertisement
It would be an extreme injustice if Ankalaev (20-1-1 MMA, 11-1-1 UFC) got passed over for the next fight with Alex Pereira, and the official end of meritocracy in the UFC. You can make an argument that time ended long ago, but it’s the right fight to make, and an actually compelling affair for Pereira.
Hopefully the UFC does the right thing here, and White suggested it would when I asked him about it at the post-fight press conference.
3
Advertisement
Khamzat Chimaev makes his title statement
Khamzat Chimaev delivered the pinnacle performance of his career when he absolutely ran through Robert Whittaker by first-round submission to leave no doubt about his worth for a title shot.
Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) showed what happens when he takes care of himself and gets into the cage when he handed Whittaker his first submission defeat since October 2011. It’s going to be much to the dismay of Sean Strickland, but I think at this point you have to give him the next title shot against champion Dricus Du Plessis.
That fight would be nothing short of interesting to watch. How would Chimaev’s brute force stack up against the powerhouse nature of Du Plessis? There’s only one way to find out, and I truly hope the UFC makes it happen.
Advertisement
Although Strickland had been previously assured a title rematch with Du Plessis, the support for him just doesn’t seem to be there from the MMA community at this very moment.
Chimaev wants Du Plessis. The champ made has made it clear he wants Chimaev. And from the UFC’s perspective? Chimaev would likely sell more pay-per-view units at this point in time, and that’s probably going to sway the next booking in his favor.
2
Advertisement
Shock and disbelief for Max Holloway
I don’t know if there’s a fighter in MMA that I’ve attended more fights for than Max Holloway. From a start in the company as a baby-faced 19-year-old to his title coronation against Jose Aldo to his BMF title knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 to this opportunity to reclaim the belt and make history against Ilia Topuria on Saturday, the entire adventure is something that I’ve seen from up close.
So given all that, I was at shocked as anyone to see Holloway’s iron chin finally break at the hands of Topuria, who put the Hawaiian down for the first time in his career with strikes courtesy of a third-round knockout. It was crazy to witness, but another reminder that nothing is impossible in this crazy MMA game.
Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC), to the surprise of no one, was pure class in the wake of his defeat. And he admitted this is probably the final chapter in his historic tenure as a featherweight. He is still owner of the BMF belt (despite Topuria claiming otherwise), and said he likes the idea of a permanent move to lightweight going forward.
Advertisement
I think that’s the right call for Holloway. He never looks great when cutting down to 145 pounds, and as he gets older that’s only going to cause him more trouble. It would be nice to see him fully commit to the physical transformation up a division, and there’s no shortage of fun, exciting and significant matchups for him up there.
Holloway made sure to tell everyone “this is not a funeral” after his loss, and as sad as it made many people to see him go down that way, it’s also hard not to be uplifted by his positive spirit.
1
Advertisement
Is Ilia Topuria the 2024 Fighter of the Year?
There have been some competitive races for the Fighter of the Year award within the past decade, but nothing has come close to the head-to-head between Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira in 2024.
Just a few weeks ago many people, myself included, argued Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) had an ironclad case for the distinction after he completed a record-setting third consecutive UFC title defense in a 175-day span with his TKO of Khalil Rountree at UFC 307. It’s been a masterful year for “Poatan,” but boy did Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) ever make this a challenging discussion with his sick knockout of Holloway.
If it was any other outcome for Topuria in a winning fashion, be it a submission, decision or more of an underwhelming TKO finish, then Pereira would no doubt be the guy. But he got the ideal outcome when he flatlined Holloway in the third round, putting a bow on a 2024 campaign that saw him become the first to finish Alexander Volkanovski at featherweight to claim the belt at UFC 298 in February, then do what he did to Holloway in his first defense.
Advertisement
The cowardly way out of this would be to give them a co-award, but there can only be one in my opinion. The part of my mind that says not to be a prisoner of the moment still thinks it should be Pereira given his unprecedented run of title defenses, all of which were on short notice and finished by knockout. But Topuria’s work is unprecedented as well, and against superior competition.
Thankfully, we have two months to continue to mull over this debate, and I think an answer will crystallize as we move further away from the immediacy of the results.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
Advertisement
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
Rafael dos Anjos turned 40 this past Saturday, but a knee injury suffered during his UFC 308 welterweight bout with Geoff Neal cut his celebration short in Abu Dhabi.
On a three-fight losing skid now and winless for almost two years, the former UFC lightweight champion laments the fact he could have to go under the knife and delay his return to the cage, although he’s still unsure of what was the injury suffered at UFC 308.
“I think it was on my second kick thrown, me and Neal kicked at the same time and I felt a big snap, a big pop behind my knee,” dos Anjos said in a video posted on his social media. “Throughout my whole UFC career, it’s my second time being hospitalized after the fight and it makes me realize how blessed I am. It’s a very tough sport, and going to the hospital only twice in your whole career is a good number.”
Dos Anjos had to undergo post-fight surgery back in August of 2010, when he tapped against Clay Guida after fracturing his jaw. The Brazilian veteran, now 21-15 under the UFC banner and 7-9 since losing his title in 2016, said he’s not ending his career just yet.
Advertisement
“Definitely it was not how I want to celebrate my 40th birthday, it was a tough loss,” dos Anjos wrote on a separate post. “Time to heal up, enjoy the family. I’m not done yet, I’ll be back soon. God bless you all.”
Brentford manager Thomas Frank says he is ‘irritated’ with his side’s performance despite a 96th minute winner from Bryan Mbuemo helping his side claim a 4-3 win over struggling Ipswich.
ABU DHABI – The old adage about three sides to every divorce – each side, plus the truth – no doubt comes in to play in MMA on the regular.
That likely is the case in the ongoing war of words between former UFC heavyweight champion and current PFL heavyweight superfights champ Francis Ngannou and his ex-promoter, UFC CEO Dana White, who Saturday brought his latest salvo when he told MMA Junkie he has a personal dislike for Ngannou that goes back years, prior to when he became the UFC heavyweight champion.
But recency bias and revisionist history also seem to come into play in MMA on the regular, and though he touted Ngannou as the proverbial “baddest man on the planet” while he was his heavyweight titleholder – and even famously said Jon Jonesshould reconsider moving to heavyweight, where Ngannou would be waiting, and should drop to middleweight, instead – White now says Ngannou ran from Jones, and then White got what he wanted, which was Ngannou out of the company.
“(Ngannou) didn’t want that fight (with Jones),” White told MMA Junkie after UFC 308 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi. “He could have stayed and took that fight. He didn’t want that fight. Tom Aspinall deserves that fight.”
Advertisement
Former light heavyweight champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC), who won the vacant belt against Ciryl Gane after Ngannou left the UFC for the PFL, is set to fight former champ Stipe Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) in three weeks in the UFC 309 main event at Madison Square Garden. Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) currently holds the interim heavyweight title and presumably will fight the Jones-Miocic winner.
Ngannou (17-3) maintains he left in a contract dispute, and this past week said he suspects White has been hoping for him to fail outside the UFC. Since he left, Ngannou lost two boxing matches to Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, then made his PFL debut with a quick first-round finish of 2023 champ Renan Ferreira in the PFL: Battle of the Giants pay-per-view headliner eight days ago in Saudi Arabia.
Instead, White pointed to Ngannou’s fight against Derrick Lewis at UFC 226, one fight after he lost a title shot to Miocic in January 2018. That bout, which Lewis won by decision, has been widely panned as one of the worst heavyweight fights in the promotion’s history – at least relative to the expectations on paper going into it.
“When have you ever heard a story in all the years (about us owing a fighter money)? We’ve been a business, even when it was upside down, where we owed somebody money – never happened. So he’s full of sh*t there. Then (he says) I lost? I didn’t lose anything. I was done with Francis after the – he actually owes me money, because we had to watch that fight with him and the ‘Black Beast.’ He should actually pay me back for that fight, and all of you. And me praying for (him to fail) – trust me: I don’t think about Francis that much.
Advertisement
“You guys asked me the question about the PFL (last week), and I responded. Other than that, the only one who’s praying for his demise is probably the PFL, because they signed a sh*tty contract with a guy that doesn’t deliver any numbers and ticket sales or pay-per-views, and they’ve got to keep paying this guy for however long. Good for him – not good for them.”
In recent months, White has maintained a stance that Jones is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, despite the fact he has fought just twice in the past five years. But he said in spite of that, his personal thoughts on Ngannou go back a lot farther than his contract dispute.
White implied that in his opinion, the quality of Ngannou’s character was not in line with the kind of fighter he wants to have part of the promotion, but did not explicitly detail reasons why.
“Let me tell you what: There were two guys here. I wanted to cut him. Some day, I’ll tell you the story,” White said. “I was all about Francis in the beginning, and then I found out who Francis was. I told the two guys who asked me not to cut Francis, ‘When somebody shows you who they are, believe them.’ Believe me: I have no sleepless nights over Francis leaving.
Advertisement
“I didn’t like Francis as a person – wasn’t a guy I wanted to do business with. I didn’t like Francis. My boys were telling me he’s misunderstood, and I told them when somebody shows you who they are, believe them. It wasn’t about him becoming the heavyweight champion of the world. Francis isn’t a good guy. He plays the good guy – ‘I don’t understand the (English) language’ – so he seems like he’s a nice guy. He’s not. He’s just not a guy that I wanted to be in business with, period, end of story, whether he became the champion or not.”
As for the chances of White figuring out a way to have Jones and Ngannou fight each other, don’t count on it as long as Jones is in the UFC and White calls the shots.
Although the MMA world at large only really heard rumblings of a soured White-Ngannou working relationship in the months leading up to his departure from the UFC, White told MMA Junkie the bad vibes go back at least around seven years.
“We’ll never be in business together (again). I mean, you can tell: We don’t like each other,” White said. “And this goes way back. This goes back to before the first Stipe fight (at UFC 220 in Jaunary 2018). He pulled some sh*t before the first Stipe fight, and I said, ‘I’m done with this guy.’ And then Stipe beat the sh*t out of him – great night – and we never had a relationship after that.”
Advertisement
After his loss to Miocic, Ngannou lost to Lewis in mid-2018. White was publicly critical of him during the period of those two losses and said his ego got the best of him.
Later that year, Ngannou knocked out Curtis Blaydes in 45 seconds and won a bonus. He put away former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez in 26 seconds. He stopped former champ Junior dos Santos in 71 seconds. He knocked out Jairzinho Rozenstruik in 20 seconds to get a title shot with Miocic.
After he finished Miocic in the second round, he defended his title against Gane in Jaunary 2022, then left the promotion after his contract was up.
Ngannou’s backstory of his rise from poverty in Africa to to homeless on the streets of Paris before he discovered MMA is a famous part of MMA lore. In April, the 38-year-old suffered the tragic death of his 15-month-old son Kobe.
Advertisement
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login