MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC, PFL and Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Oct. 21-27.
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UFC 310, Las Vegas, Dec. 7
Martin Buday
UFC Fight Night, Tampa, Fla., Dec. 14
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UFC Fight Night, Las Vegas, Jan. 11
Jul 13, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Abdul Razak Alhassan (red gloves) reacts during a pause in his fight against Cody Brundage (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
UFC Fight Night, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 1
Jul 22, 2023; London, UNITED KINGDOM; Paul Craig (red gloves) fights Andre Muniz (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at O2 Arena. Mandatory Credit: Per Haljestam-USA TODAY Sports
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Former Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has joined Serie A club Genoa on a free transfer.
The 34-year-old had been without a club since departing Turkish Super Lig side Adana Demirspor this summer.
Balotelli, who has 36 Italy caps, returns to playing in his home country more than three years after leaving Monza.
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Part of Manchester City’s title winning squad in 2012, Balotelli joins a struggling Genoa side who sit in the relegation positions.
Genoa, managed by Alberto Gilardino, are 18th after taking six points from their opening nine games.
Balotelli made headlines for his behaviour on and off the pitch during his time in the Premier League.
At Manchester City that included a training-ground bust-up with manager Roberto Mancini, and he famously revealed a ‘why always me?’ T-shirt after scoring in a 6-1 demolition of rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.
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Balotelli scored 30 goals in two and a half years with the Blues, helping the club win a first league title since 1968.
After a first, brief stint at AC Milan, an unsuccessful move to Liverpool in 2014 followed, which led to a loan back to the San Siro.
Since then, Balotelli has played across Europe for a number of clubs, including French sides Nice and Marseille, and Italian clubs Brescia and Monza.
A member of the Italy squad that finished as runners-up at Euro 2012, Balotelli has not played for his country since 2018.
When asked about Dvalishvili’s comments, White cemented Nurmagomedov as the No. 1 contender while stating “absolutely” that’s the fight the UFC wants next.
As far as Dvalishvili hinting at other options, most notably his constant calls for a second fight against O’Malley, White also shut that down by answering “Umar” when addressing immediate plans for the bantamweight title.
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White also dealt with the recent rumors that Nurmagomedov was actually working towards a fight against Song Yadong after learning that Dvalishvili wouldn’t be ready to compete again until March. That month represents the start of Ramadan and Nurmagomedov has stated that he doesn’t want to compete during the holy month when Muslims fast from dawn until sunset every day.
“Did we announce it?” White said about Nurmagomedov vs. Song. “Then no [it’s not official].”
A few weight classes higher, White also responded to inquiries about Magomed Ankalaev finally earning his long awaited title shot against light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
On Saturday, Ankalaev extended his unbeaten streak to 13 straight with a unanimous decision win over Aleksandar Rakic. Ankalaev’s manager Ali Abdelaziz previously told MMA Fighting that as long as the Russian handled his business at UFC 308, then he expected a title shot would be next.
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Now White is backing up those plans after watching Ankalaev’s performance on Saturday.
“He looked good,” White said about Ankalaev. “He absolutely looked great. I would have to say yes [he gets his title shot].”
With Ankalaev and Nurmagomedov in place as challengers, Pereira and Dvalishvili can respectively start planning for the future once the UFC schedule starts coming together for 2025.
After Basharat (13-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) defeated a heavy Victor Hugo on Saturday at Etihad Arena, he called for a fight against one of the consensus greatest fighters of all time.
“Beginning of 2025, I want ‘The King of Rio,’ Jose Aldo,” Basharat told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conferencfe. “We could do it in Brazil, America, London, Saudi, wherever. It doesn’t matter. He wins, he proves he belongs with this new generation. I win, he passes me the torch. Let’s see. Generations collide. I’ve been watching him since I was 11 or 12. I think it’s the perfect fight that makes sense.”
Aldo (32-9 MMA, 14-8 UFC) most recently competed Oct. 5 at UFC 307 and lost a controversial split decision against Mario Bautista. After the fight, Bautista found himself under fire from many viewers that criticized his wall-and-stall-heavy approach.
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Basharat recognizes the possibility a grindy attack might be the easiest route to victory. But if Basharat ever fights Aldo, he said he doesn’t want that to be the path he takes.
“If I’m being completely honest, I think he won,” Basharat said. “I thought Jose won. But at the same time, how many times has Jose lost like that now where he kind of rests along the cage? Because it’s Jose, everybody loves him so much and they give him the benefit of the doubt. But you can’t just rest on the cage like that and expect to get the benefit of the doubt just because you’re a legend. I think he won. Yeah, he needs to do a little bit more sometimes.
“… I’ definitely try to approach it differently. You never really want to win like that essentially. But at the same time, he has proven to have sure holes there. But that’s not really my style to just lay and pray, lean on somebody along the cage. I’ll take you down and I’ll keep you down, but I’m not just going to lay and pray on you along the cage and keep on you. I’m going to get you down. I’m going to stick and move. I’m going to kick you. Ultimately, I feel like at this stage of my career and this stage of Jose’s career, I have the advantages in most places. Besides experience and maybe power, I think I’m better than him everywhere.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
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The Gamecocks won the national title in 2022, lost in the Final Four in 2023, and then won the title again this past season.
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With head coach Dawn Staley at the helm, the Gamecocks, once again, are atop the oddsboard to make it two in a row.
Let’s take a full look at the early NCAA tournament betting board at DraftKings Sportsbook as of Oct. 28.
NCAA Women’s Tournament Winner 2025 odds:
South Carolina: +180 (bet $10 to win $28 total) USC: +450 (bet $110 to win $55 total) UConn: +450 (bet $10 to win $55 total) Texas: +500 (bet $10 to win $60 total) Notre Dame: +800 (bet $10 to win $90 total) UCLA: +1500 (bet $10 to win $160 total) LSU: +2000 (bet $10 to win $210 total) NC State: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total) Iowa State: +4000 (bet $10 to win $510 total) Duke: +5000 (bet $10 to win $510 total) Stanford: +5000 (bet $10 to win $510 total) Baylor: +5000 (bet $10 to win $510 total)
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Second to South Carolina on the oddsboard is another No. 1 seed from last year’s tourney, the USC Trojans.
With Caitlin Clark now in the WNBA, USC has arguably the most famous college baller in Juju Watkins, who is entering her sophomore season in Socal.
As a freshman, Watkins averaged 27.1 points, second in the nation to Clark. Her Trojans were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Women’s Tournament after winning the Pac-12 title.
Joining Watkins at USC is graduate transfer Kiki Iriafen, an all All Pac-12 performer at Stanford last season who averaged 19.4 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinal.
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UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis kept a watchful eye over his division on Saturday when he witnessed Khamzat Chimaev potentially become the new No. 1 contender at 185 pounds.
Chimaev’s ascension ran parallel to Robert Whittaker’s demise after he saw his championship window potentially close for good when his jaw and teeth were shattered following a nasty submission that ended his night at UFC 308. Both had an impact on du Plessis with Whittaker serving as the person he beat to earn his own title shot while it’s entirely possible that Chimaev now becomes the next challenger at 185 pounds.
“Feel really sorry for Rob,” du Plessis wrote on Twitter. “He looked super ready but this is the fight game. Well done on a good performance, Khamzat. That being said I can’t wait to take your ‘O.’”
Feel really sorry for Rob he looked super ready but this is the fight game well done on a good performance Khamzat That being said I can’t wait to take your 0
Considering the results on Saturday, du Plessis may have found his next opponent, although he’s been expected to clash with Sean Strickland in a rematch sometime in early 2025.
Strickland earned his spot as the No. 1 contender with a decision win over Paulo Costa but it’s tough to deny that Chimaev may have just jumped the line with his performance.
Even UFC CEO Dana White wasn’t ready to commit to Strickland on Saturday after watching what Chimaev did to Whittaker inside the first round.
“That’s a good question,” White said when asked about who’s next for du Plessis. “Call me on Tuesday.”
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Given the attention that Chimaev’s win received and the potential for a blockbuster fight that could sell a whole lot of pay-per-views, the UFC might just sit Strickland down and begin hyping up “Stillknocks” vs. “Borz” right away.
To make matters worse for Strickland, the reigning UFC middleweight champion also retweeted a message hyping up a potential fight between him at Chimaev with the caption saying “this is the fight.”
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