UFC lightweight champion Sean O'Malley has no doubt that he will knock out the next title challenger Merab Dvalishvili.
According to the latest information, the fight between the American and the Georgian could take place on September 14 at UFC 306.
"I'm going to knock Merab out. It can be even easier to do that with wrestlers. Vera was not going to wrestle, so I beat him in the standup for 25 minutes. Sterling went for the wrestling and went for the knockdown. I know I can knock Merab out with one punch or I can torture him for five rounds. I personally prefer to win by knockout, but a master class in beating Merab is fine," Bloody Elbow quoted O'Malley as saying.
Former interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington isn't giving up trying to get a bout with Hamzat Chimaev.
UFC lightweight champion Sean O'Malley said he's willing to move up two divisions just for a fight with the promotion's top star Conor McGregor.
"I know what my body is capable of. I'm competing at flyweight, that's where I belong. I could theoretically move up to welterweight to fight Topuria, Volkanovski or Holloway. But going further up, I'm going to have trouble.
I'm willing to move up to lightweight just to fight Conor. That asshole is huge right now. The lightweight is a great fight. It's good money, the fight would be legendary. I'm not likely to agree to fight anyone else that far out of my category," O'Malley told Bradley Martin.
O'Malley's next fight is expected to be against Merab Dvalishvili.
Former UFC interim lightweight champion Dustin Porier shared his prediction for the upcoming bout between former two-division titleholder Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler.
"If Conor is going to be who he was before the injury and stuff, two rounds will be enough for him. I think this fight will be over before the end of the second round," Puryear said on the air of the show The MMA Hour.
Recall that the fight between McGregor and Chandler will be the main event of the UFC 303 tournament, which will take place on June 29 in Las Vegas.
As for Puryear, he will try to take the belt from current lightweight division leader Islam Makhachev on June 1 at UFC 302 in Newark.
The rematch between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal has a new date and a new venue.
The second fight between the two former UFC stars was originally scheduled to take place on June 1 at the Kia Forum Arena in Inglewood, California, but has now been rescheduled due to other events taking place on that date. The boxing bout will now take place on July 6 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, multiple sources said.
It is reported that the main reason for the postponement of the fight was the reluctance of the organizers to hold the event on the same day as the UFC 302 tournament, in the main event of which Islam Makhachev will defend the belt in the lightweight division against Dustin Puryear.
Recall that in the first fight Masvidal defeated Diaz by technical knockout. The meeting took place in November 2019 at UFC 244.
Former interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington denies that the promotion's management offered him a fight against undefeated prospect Ian Harry.
Top American UFC lightweight fighter Cory Sandhagen expressed the opinion that his nearest rival Umar Nurmagomedov has serious endurance problems.
It was previously announced that these fighters will meet on August 3 at a tournament in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
"From a strategic point of view, I really want to fight Umar in a five-round fight because I don't know if you watched his last fight, but he's exhausted. He worked hard though, so I give him credit for that. Being that tired was pretty normal because he worked really hard and didn't relax too much.
But this fool was really huffing and puffing and whistling during the interview, so I think there's a vulnerability here that I can capitalize on," Sandhagen said on the MightyCast podcast.
Former world champion in three weight categories Vasyl Lomachenko admitted that the defeat from Teofimo Lopez helped him come to God.
"After the defeat from Teofimo Lopez then it seemed that I lost, but actually at that moment I won. At that moment I recognized god. That basically changed my whole life.
My goal now is not to be a champion. My goal is to become a better person, to be an absolute champion in life. Right now I'm very happy because I started to realize a lot of things that I didn't realize before the defeat. And speaking of defeats, I don't lose. I win when I lose," - said Lomachenko.
Recall that in 2020 Lomachenko lost to Lopez by unanimous decision of judges in a fight for the title of absolute world champion in lightweight.
UFC lightweight titleholder Alesandre Pantoja admitted that he dreams of one day sharing the octagon with the division's former dominant champion Demetrious Johnson.
"That's my dream. I don't like to say I have dreams as I want to experience everything in this life. According to me, it's better to live than to dream. But if I dream of anything, it's to fight Demetrious Johnson. I have the utmost respect for him. If he does not want to fight me at the professional level, then maybe I will go to the gym and train with him, have a tough sparring," - quotes Pantoja MMA Fighting.
Recall that last weekend at UFC 301 Pantoja defended the belt for the second time, defeating Steve Ercega by unanimous decision of the judges.
Former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Porier spoke about how he took the bout with current full titleholder Islam Makhachev.
The American and the Dagestani will meet in the main event of the UFC 302 show, scheduled for June 1 in Newark, USA.
"As soon as Tsarukyan defeated Oliveira, I got a call from Hunter Campbell and said: "The fight just ended. I'm going to Tsarukyan's locker room right now, I'll call you back in an hour." It turns out that he then offered Arman a fight with Islam in six weeks. And I perfectly understand Arman's decision to refuse.
And to be honest, six weeks is rather short notice for me too. But I didn't have the option to turn it down and say, "Hey, I need more time to prepare." This is my chance that I have to hold on to as tightly as possible," MMA Mania quoted Porier as saying.
