UFC fighter Paul Craig has spoken out about his upcoming fight with Brazilian Caio Borrallo at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro on the night of May 5.
"Obviously, the UFC set up this matchup because they want me to go to Rio and get defeated. They want to promote this young guy. I truly believe that. I don't know, maybe it's the fact that I'm just being myself, being that British fighter, and we always write ourselves off, thinking we're outsiders. I'm 36. What do you do with a 36-year-old champion if I get the opportunity to be one? It's a lot easier to promote a Brazilian champion, it's a lot easier to promote a much younger guy, it's a lot easier to promote a guy who has no losses in the UFC."
Golden Boy Promotions, the promotional company that handles the affairs of famous American boxer Ryan Garcia, has issued an official statement regarding the fact that traces of the banned drug ostarine were found in the fighter's doping sample.
"We are working with Garcia's team to find out how this conclusion was reached. Ryan has repeatedly stated that he denies the intentional use of banned substances, and we believe him," the ESPN edition of Golden Boy Promotions quotes a statement from Golden Boy Promotions.
It's worth noting that Garcia failed a doping test before his fight with Devin Haney. He also failed to make weight before the fight.
Recall, Garcia defeated Haney by decision of the majority of judges. At the same time, the belt of the world champion in the first welterweight according to the WBC remained with Haney because of the fact that Ryan did not make weight.
Dustin Porier, former interim UFC lightweight champion, has not ruled out that he may end his career after a fight with the organization's current featherweight champion Islam Makhachev.
"Maybe I haven't made an official decision yet, but anything can happen. I've said it over and over again, I still have a lot of tread on my tires, I can beat young guys, I just did it.... It's all about how much I want to give to the sport. I don't want to make a decision based on just how I feel. I need to go out and fight first, like I already did in Miami," Sportskeeda quoted Puryear as saying.
Alex Volkanovski, former UFC featherweight champion, has named what he believes to be the best welterweight in the promotion's history.
Bill Haney, father of WBC bantamweight champion Devin Haney, pounced on Ryan Garcia's criticism that he failed the weigh-in before his son's fight.
"It was calculated. It's cheating. It's a bad thing to come to the weigh-in overweight by 1.3 pounds if you position yourself as a professional. They did what they did, and they'll be known for it. And Devin Haney will be known for being a true professional," BoxingScene quoted Haney as saying.
Today it was revealed that in addition to the weigh-in, Garcia also failed a doping test. In his sample were found traces of ostarine.
Recall, Ryan Garcia won Devin Haney by majority decision.
Andre Rozier, a famous American trainer, named the only way to defeat Artur Beterbiev, the world champion in the light-heavyweight division under the WBC, WBO and IBF versions. According to the specialist, only age can defeat the boxer.
"No one will defeat Beterbiev. The only way to defeat this man is to wait for his old age. Beterbiev is a wrecking machine," Rozier said in an interview with YouTube channel FightHype.
Artur Beterbiev will have his next fight against Dmitry Bivol, the WBA light heavyweight champion of the world. Their confrontation will take place on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. At stake will be the title of absolute world champion in the flyweight division. The winner of this fight can meet the winner of the fight Benavides - Gvozdik.
Max Holloway, former UFC featherweight champion, addressed the organization's current featherweight champion Elijah Topuria, who had previously put a number of conditions on Max for the fight.
"Bro, you're the one making it hard. Hvvvaaaattttttttt already. I'm bringing your 'Whiny Bastard' belt. All you're doing now is putting words together. You're spiraling," Holloway wrote on social media X.
Earlier, Topuria gave Holloway the following conditions for the fight:
"Do you want to fight? If the answer is yes, there's nothing more to discuss. Bring my belt and your pillow".
Recall, Topuria won the championship belt in the welterweight division by knocking out Alex Volkanovski. The fight took place in February this year.
Alex Volkanovski criticized UFC featherweight champion Elijah Topuria, who finds himself fighting a number of challengers at his weight but is challenging lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
"This situation smells bad. Because the status of a champion is connected with responsibility. It's a serious pressure. You can't say 'no, no, no'. It's not right. People are used to the way I acted when I owned the belt. I understand he's up to his game. But you have to know how to be a champion. Does he even want to fight anytime soon? Probably not. But the UFC will make him. Topuria isn't in a position to decide anything on his own. He's not worthy of challenging the same Islam Makhachev. Although I understand why he's doing it. Topuria still has a lot to prove," Fox Sports quoted Volkanovski as saying.
Manel Kape, a fighter in the UFC's lightweight division, said in a recent interview that he would beat former promotion middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in a street fight. According to Kape, he has beaten guys on the street many times who were bigger than him.
"I'm not beatable on the streets. I don't care, I've beaten a lot of guys bigger than me. Size doesn't matter. Put Adesanya in front of me on the street and see where it ends," MiddleEasy quoted Kape as saying.
Manel Kape is currently on a streak of four straight wins. Two fights out of the four he has won by knockouts.
As for Adesanya, he lost a unanimous decision to Sean Strickland in his last fight.
The other day it became known that Khabib Nurmagomedov, former UFC lightweight champion, attended the Champions League semifinal match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Khabib, who has long been known as a fan of the Spanish grand, called the bout historic. Later in the comments under Nurmagomedov's post was his friend, former UFC champion in two weight categories Daniel Cormier. He sided with the German team, saying Bayern were better than Real Madrid.
"Give us credit when we deserve it. We were better yesterday. We are better," Cormier wrote on social networks.
Recall, after the end of the fighting career Daniel Cormier works as a commentator and analyst for the UFC.
