Yadier del Valle was the fighter with his hand raised at the end of it all, as he defeatedAntonio Monteiro via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).
A strong first round earned del Valle a 10-8 on one judge’s scorecard, but it somehow was not enough to put Monteiro away. As the fight progressed, Monteiro would not go away and the exchanges became closer.
In Round 2, del Valle escaped a Monteiro guillotine attempt before he landed some big damage with elbows on the face of the Brazilian.
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The final round saw both fighters dig deep. While their arms labored through the punches, their hearts remained strong. At the end of the fight, both men were exhausted and the UFC brass rose out of their seats.
A new fight has been added to the upcoming UFC Macau card as Nikolas Motta faces off with Maheshate as part of the promotion’s return to China on Nov. 23.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Wednesday with bout agreements issued in the lightweight matchup.
Motta, a five-fight veteran of the UFC, returns to action after scoring an impressive finish over highly-touted prospect Tom Nolan in just 63 seconds back in January. That victory brought Motta’s UFC record to 2-2 with one no-contest along the way.
He’ll attempt to score back-to-back wins for the first time since joining the UFC roster when he meets Maheshate, who gets the chance to fight in his home country when he returns in November.
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A Contender Series veteran, Maheshate defeated known finisher Steve Garcia in his UFC debut back in 2022 but then suffered losses in his next two fights. He got back on track with his most recent fight where he defeated Gabriel Benitez in April.
Now Maheshate meets Motta in a lightweight showdown as part of the UFC Macau card headlined by former champions Petr Yan and Deiveson Figueiredo meeting in a key matchup in the bantamweight division.
NEW YORK — Typically, when Aaron Judge connects on a high fastball, there is little doubt about how far it will go, and where it will land. But lately, the results of his at-bats haven’t been as much of a foregone conclusion.
Not only was the Bronx crowd unsure whether Judge’s fly ball would go out as it traveled toward the deepest part of Yankee Stadium in the seventh inning Tuesday night, even his own teammate of seven years wasn’t convinced. Gleyber Torres, who was on base with a single, tagged up at first as the entire stadium held its breath. By the time the ball landed beyond the wall, Judge had already caught up to Torres at first base, barely a step or two behind him. He let Torres start jogging before beginning his home run trot.
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“He did that this year earlier, too, so I was pretty pissed then,” Judge quipped of Torres tagging up. “I was pretty pissed again. … You never know, when it’s windy like this, what the ball is going to do in center field. He’s trying to get into scoring position. So I let this one slide.”
First baseman Anthony Rizzo joked that he expected better from Torres.
“I’m a little disappointed in Gleyber for not knowing Judge’s pop there,” Rizzo said while smirking. “We were ribbing him a lot about that. It’s a big swing for Judgey. He’s had really good at-bats and come up in big situations. To get the home run, it was a really easy swing, and he’s the best in the business at that.”
Judge’s two-run shot in the seventh inning of the Yankees‘ 6-3 win over the Guardians marked his first home run of this postseason. Before Tuesday night, his last playoff home run was in Game 5 of the 2022 ALDS — also against Cleveland. He had gone 35 postseason at-bats without a homer, and boy would the Yankees be thrilled if the worst is finally behind him.
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The Yankees captain entered Game 2 of the American League Championship Series batting .133 (2-for-15) with a .564 OPS and just one RBI across five playoff games this fall. This wasn’t the first time in his career he went from being a nuisance in the regular season to a lesser concern in the playoffs. After crushing 62 home runs in an MVP season in 2022, Judge went 5-for-36 with three RBIs and two walks over nine games that October. Until he got the monkey off his back Tuesday night, Judge’s playoff slide had reached the point where even the opposing team wasn’t so afraid of the mighty slugger.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt went so far as to pull the ultimate insult in the second inning when he opted to intentionally walk Juan Soto to load the bases for Judge. The decision seemed to bewilder Judge’s teammates in the Yankees dugout. Anthony Volpe waved his arms in front of him and declared, “No way! No way!” Jazz Chisholm stared into Cleveland’s dugout with wide eyes, in apparent disbelief.
“That’s super disrespectful,” Chisholm told FOX Sports of intentionally walking Soto ahead of Judge. “It’s Soto, we understand he’s playing great and everything. I mean, I would walk Soto in any other situation. But it’s an insult there.”
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Left-hander Nestor Cortes added: “That’s crazy. You’re intentionally walking Soto to pitch to the MVP.”
Judge, who responded by hitting a sacrifice fly to center field and padded New York’s lead to 3-0 in the process, downplayed Cleveland’s decision. He said he didn’t take it personally and joked that he “would probably walk Soto, too, at this point.” But Judge’s teammate Oswaldo Cabrera told FOX Sports he thought the intentional walk to Soto might have woken Judge up. Cabrera believes Judge wants those types of moments to remind himself he’s the captain of the Yankees and provide another edge to his at-bats.
Judge being woken up out of his postseason slumber should petrify opposing teams, particularly because the Yankees were managing just fine without him hitting the cover off of the ball. The Bronx Bombers comfortably dismissed the Royals in the ALDS, and they had a 4-2 lead against Cleveland on Tuesday before Judge raised the decibel level in the seventh inning. Though he has helped out and has had better swings and productive at-bats, New York has now cruised to a 2-0 lead in the ALCS against the Guardians without Judge’s heroics.
That is to say, Judge is warming up at exactly the right time. If the Yankees take care of business the rest of this series — and all signs are flashing that they will — then they will need the monster, MVP version of Judge to win against more potent offenses in the World Series. The National League Championship Series features two more formidable lineups than Cleveland’s, and whichever team comes out of that alive knows it will need to mash against the Juan Soto and Judge-powered Yankees.
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“Always a matter of time with Aaron,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Definitely good to see him put one in the seats and really give us a cushion there.”
The Guardians — not to mention the Dodgers and the Mets — can only hope Judge is not just getting started.
Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Peter Murray believes PFL: Battle of the Giants is the biggest MMA event of the year.
PFL: Battle of the Giants (DAZN/ESPN+ pay-per-view) takes place Saturday at The Mayadeen. Two super fight belts will be on the line, with former UFC champion Francis Ngannou (17-3) taking on 2023 PFL champion Renan Ferreira (13-3) in the heavyweight main event. In the co-main event, Cris Cyborg (27-2-1) will look to collect her fifth belt from a major organization when she faces two-time PFL champion Larissa Pacheco (23-4). A Bellator title-fight rematch between champion Johnny Eblen (15-0) and Fabian Edwards (13-3) is also on the card, as well as a lightweight banger between A.J. McKee (22-1) and Paul Hughes (12-1).
Murray sees this event not only as the biggest in company history, but the PFL CEO even puts it ahead of UFC 300 and UFC 306 at Sphere.
“This is the biggest event of absolutely the PFL company history and the biggest event of the year,” Murray told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “I’m looking forward to stacking this up against – when you look at the cards from UFC 300, the Sphere, but as it relates to the card, this event on Oct. 19 is the biggest of the year, second to none.”
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Murray and PFL co-owner Donn Davis’ bold claims have received heavy criticism from UFC CEO Dana White, who trashes PFL and its product every time he’s asked about them.
White’s words don’t seem to bother Murray.
“Listen, we’re focused on our game,” Murray said in response. “Our roster is second to none. The quality of our production and presentation is second to none. We bring more innovation to the sport of MMA than anyone has in the last two decades, and so we’re proud of the position we’re in as, I would say, a co-leader in the sport. There’s so much more room for growth, and why we exist is to expand the sport, grow the sport, create a system in the sport that’s lacking around the world, and ultimately get fighters opportunity.
“That’s our focus. And fans, all they want is great fighters and great fights. We do it with purpose as it relates to growing the sport, professionalizing the sport. I’m not about talking about the other guy. We’re focused on what we’re building, and I think the fans are really excited about it. We’re in growth mode and major growth underway, particularly internationally. We’re going to be making announcements, how we’re going to be expanding in the Middle East. Obviously we’re staging first-ever professional global MMA events in Africa with the launch of PFL Africa, and then PFL Australia will also be launched.”
Dana White is serious about changing the rankings.
Over the past couple of months, the UFC rankings have been a source of constant consternation for White, and on Monday that continued as White ripped the rankings for Khalil Rountree Jr. remaining at No. 8 at light heavyweight after his thrilling loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 307.
But though White has attacked the rankings before, and even called for A.I. to take over, this time the UFC CEO intends to do something about it.
“If you look at who Pereira has beat, and how he’s beat them leading up to this fight, [Rountree] was winning on the scorecards when he got stopped,” White said at his Contender Series media scrum on Tuesday. “He was ahead on the scorecards. Stayed in the pocket, put on one of the greatest fights anybody has ever seen, and he stays at No. 8.
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“I can’t handle incompetence. I can’t take it anymore. It’s driving me crazy. And I can’t let people that I don’t believe know what the f*ck they’re talking about deal with the rankings anymore. I just can’t do it. I have to figure out a solution.
“Tomorrow I have a meeting with a group of people that are coming to me saying they have a solution to this problem. And God I hope they’re right, because I’m going to change it. The media will no longer control the rankings in the UFC.”
For White, the rankings are significant because of how they play into the UFC’s matchmaking. While White says that rankings are not the end-all-be-all when it comes to booking a fight, he also says they’re part of the conversation he, Mick Maynard, Sean Shelby, and Hunter Campbell have when making those decisions. But he also wants to draw a clear line between the promotion and however the rankings are done.
“The rankings are very important,” White said. “It’s important or I wouldn’t be — the rankings, judging, reffing. There are a lot of things we can’t control. Because there should never be a scenario where we are personally controlling the rankings. Can’t happen. You have to have another system in there.
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“At the end of the day, I make fights that people want to see anyway, but I believe that I should not be the one controlling the rankings. So we’re going to figure out a different system, because it can’t be the people who are doing it, because they’re not doing it right.”
This then begs the question, why can’t the UFC take control of the rankings? And for White it seems to be a hedge against biases among the UFC staff.
“We can’t do it,” White said. “I don’t think that it’s right that we would do the rankings. No matter how unbiased you try to be, it’s impossible. And I’ll be honest with you, there are some fighters I don’t like. There’s fighters that I really like. And there’s things that are good for the business. There are things that I don’t want in our hands at all. Not mine, not Mick’s, not Sean’s not Hunter’s, nobody. There has to be a third party or AI or something that does the rankings. It’s impossible not to be biased.”
Garry (15-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) has been angling to meet Covington (17-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) in the octagon for several months now, and the unbeaten welterweight contender revealed that the UFC came to him with a bout offer a month ago.
Garry accepted but said he’s yet to hear back from Covington.
“What’s up, everyone? So, I’m coming on to let everybody know, keep everybody in the loop and keep everyone updated because it matters,” Garry said in a video on his Instagram. “A month ago, I was offered a fight with Colby Covington. It took me all of 20 seconds to respond to the email saying, ‘Yes, I’m in.’ A month later, we’ve still got no response from Colby. He’s avoiding me like the plague, and there’s one reason and one reason only this fight isn’t happening, and his name is Colby Covington.”
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