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Dana White's Contender Series, Ultimate Fighting Championship

Dana White’s Contender Series: Week 8 Preview

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Now that the UFC is back in Vegas, Dana White’s Contender Series gets to resume to end the run for the year. This should add some more action for the week if you’re in the market for more fights during your week and care to see the new crop of exciting prospects.

And what a crop this is. Main event honors for this week go to Carlos Ulberg (2-0), a City Kickboxing rep and teammate of UFC champions Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski. While his mixed martial arts record is shallow, he’s quite the exciting kickboxer that’s been doing damage and looks to stay on the MMA side of things. But first he’s got to square off with Brazil’s Bruno Oliveira (8-1), who only last year had his first and only fight stateside for Titan FC. That fight was a tough one to watch because maybe the ref had better things to think about during the fight. Also a teammate of former RIZIN talent and Jungle Fight champ Bruno Cappelozza, Oliveira has a fair amount of polish on his striking but may be overpowered here. His game on the ground may be enough to get him by, but Ulberg seems to be the more technical and disciplined of the two, and clearly the one with the better support system and coaching staff.

The co-main event is another one of the strange fights we’ve been treated to in the Contender Series, with Chilean Ignacio Bahamondes (10-3). Training out of Illinois along with Alejandro Flores and Yair Rodriguez, he’s got patience, some slick hands and not-quite-great takedown defense but can work his way back up off the floor. He’s still green, but has a fair amount of hope as a prospect. And his opponent is Edson Gomez, a fighter that has a MMA record of 6-1 despite being a pro since 2015. His first few fights were in Gladiator Challenge, then he moved up to King of the Cage. One of his Gladiator Challenge opponents was 0-8 at the time, and his bounceback fight after his lone loss in King of the Cage was against another fighter who at the time was 2-5. He’s a strong striker that muscles his way through takedowns, but this is an odd matchup from top to bottom. Perhaps Gomez has an impressive enough set of finishes for the brass to overlook everything else here, but there’s almost always a fight on these cards that has a handful of red flags, and this is it.

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UFC 254 Results: Khabib Retires A Champion

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Last Saturday, Khabib Nurmagomedov retired as arguably the greatest UFC fighter of all time. At UFC 254 Nurmagomedov was able to retain his UFC World Lightweight title against his opponent, Interim Lightweight Champion Justin Gaethje by a triangle choke submission early in the second round. Nurmagomedov was able to take Gathje down very easily in the second round and got right into the top mount position. From there he skilfully turned that into a triangle choke and put gathje to sleep forcing the official to stop the fight, as Nurmagomedov improved to an undefeated record of 29-0.

Following his victory, Khabib dedicated the fight to his father who recently passed away over the summer and announced that it was his last fight. Prior to the fight, Khabib spoke with his mother and promised her that it was going to be his last fight because she only wants her son to fight with his father in his corner.

There is no doubt that Khabib will not be returning to the UFC without his father here. Following his retirement, this leaves the Lightweight division wide open for a new champion. With quite the stacked weight class, there are many names that could be chosen to potentially fight for the title. Superstars like Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, Tony Ferguson, & Justin Gaethje.

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UFC 254 Preview: Nurmagomedov vs. Gaethje

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The UFC 254 main event is arguably the most anticipated fight of 2020. Undefeated lightweight king, Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0), will be defending his crown against the interim champion, Justin Gaethje  (22-2).

This fight is trending to be one of the biggest UFC fights of all time. Nurmagomedov has become such a global superstar since becoming champion in the UFC. The dominant Russian is a rare fighter who’s level of domination is unheard of. Nurmagomedov is so special because he tells his opponents exactly what he’s going to do during the fight. Somehow his opponents still can’t stop it. Nurmagomedov has ragdolled superstars in the sport like Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, Edson Barboza, Rafael Dos Anjos, and many more on his run for dominance.

This year has been a tough year for Nurmagomedov. The champion lost his father this past summer, he was also his trainer. This fight sees Nurmagomedov with a different kind of motivation to finish the journey that he started with his father years ago.

2020 has been a great year for Justin Gaethje in terms of his career in the UFC organization. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Nurmagomedov – Tony Ferguson matchup to be cancelled, the UFC called on Justin Gaethje to step up against Ferguson. He went on to defeat Ferguson at UFC 249 to capture the interim title. Justin Gaethje fought that night looking like the best lightweight on the planet. His precision power striking along with his ability to stay composed for all five rounds was remarkable.

They say that styles makes fights. Stylistically, Justin Gaethje is the toughest opponent for Khabib Nurmagomedov in the UFC. Gaethje has incredibly good and powerful leg kicks which can zap anyone’s base very quickly. In addition to that, he hands are extremely fast and carries a lot of power with his swings. It only takes one clean shot to hurt you with Gaethje. On top of that, he’s an All-American wrestler who might be able to hold his own against Nurmagomedov.

If Justin Gaethje can keep the fight standing the majority of the time, he’s going to win tomorrow afternoon. However, that would mean Gaethje would pull off something that nobody has been able to do in 28 fights. Gaethje definitely has the skills to get it done tomorrow. However, most people find it hard to bet against Nurmagomedov. Gaethje is looking to find some success early, but eventually, Nurmagomedov will be able to do what he does best as well, and that’s dominate.

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Preview – UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. Jung

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This very busy month for the UFC continutes tonight with another Fight Night on ESPN+. UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. Jung will once again bring us back to UFC Fight Island in Abu Dhabi for another great night of fights, including a meeting of two great featherweight contenders. A future title shot could very well be on the line in tonight’s main event when two of the best in the UFC’s featherweight division step into the octagon. 

This bout is being advertised as a title eliminator, so the stakes here are clear. For Jung, that’s a step that makes sense, as “Korean Zombie” has leveled up in the last couple years. He’s hitting harder and scoring knockouts with a viciousness that is rather intimidating, to the point that fans were already arguing he receive a title shot. Ortega is in something of an opposite situation, having sat on the sidelines for nearly two years following his beating at the hands of Max Holloway. Somehow, this may also be a title eliminator for “T-City” as well, which would be quite the reversal of fortunes.

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UFC Fight Night Preview Moraes vs. Sandhagen

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Tomorrow night’s main event on UFC Fight Island 5 is a bantamweight bout between some of the top contenders in the division, as Marlon Moraes and Cory Sandhagen battle in a fight tomorrow night that could go away to determining who gets a chance in the future for a title shot.

Having been a champion prior to this fight in the WSOF before entering the UFC, Moraes is a proven bantamweight top talent. On the other side of the octagon will be Sandhagen, who has also been an up-and-comer in the organization himself. Sandhagen has had an opportunity to try and fight for the belt before, so this weekend on Fight Island 5 he’s looking to get redemption.

The co-main event of UFC Fight Island 5 will see one of the best strikers in this sport, Edson Barboza, look to change his momentum back to winning ways and get his first win at featherweight. His opponent, submission specialist Makwan Amirkhani, looks to earn a second straight win after finishing Danny Henry that helped him rebound from a TKO loss at the hands of Shane Burgos.

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UFC 253 Results

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Israel Adesanya reminded the world why he’s the middleweight king on Fight Island. UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya came into Saturday night’s title fight with an undefeated 19-0 record. His opponent, Paulo Costa, entered the fight also with an undefeated record of 13-0. And when the UFC 253 main event began and it was time for these two men to put their unbeaten records on the line, Adesanya completely outclassed Costa. And he did so in style, picking the Brazilian apart from the start with kicks to his lead leg, the torso and the head. He slowed Costa down, bloodied him, then finished him in the second round at the 3:59 minute marker. Adesanya was able to show off everything he had.

The light heavyweight title fight between Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz was the co main event in UFC 253. Jan Blachowicz broke Dominick Reyes’ nose during the fight, and then his spirit, on his way to claiming the vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 253 with a second-round TKO on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

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UFC 253 Preview

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Tomorrow night the two best middleweights in the world will be going to war in the main event of UFC 253 as Israel Adesanya defends his title against the No. 2 ranked Paulo Costa at Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. With both fighters being undefeated, Adesanya vs. Costa is the first UFC title fight featuring unbeaten fighters since UFC 98 in 2009.

For the first time since 2011 UFC 253’s co-main event will be featuring a Light-Heavyweight title fight where former champions Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier will not be in the fight. The Light-Heavyweight UFC belt is currently vacant and No. 1 ranked Dominick Reyes will meet No. 3 ranked Jan Blachowicz tomorrow night to compete for the title.

The Main Card starts tomorrow night at 10 p.m. ET and is able to be streamed via ESPN+.

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