Wants to fight:Israel Adesanya

The callout: “Before I called out ‘Borrachinha,’ but to be honest with you, (expletive) ‘Borrachinha.’ He just came out of a crazy loss. Why would I even fight him? I want to go straight to the title, man. I’ll be honest, I like the fight, but I feel like the top five there’s no opposition. There’s no real opposition.

“Israel is full of (expletive). He was like, ‘Oh, I don’t think I will ever see Marvin again, he will never will make it to the title.’ Well guess what mother(expletive)? I’m here. So, he thinks he has it all figured out. He has nothing figured out. I know his true colors. I met him a few times. I fought him. I knew his true colors. I want that fight.”

The reality: After a frustrating couple of years that have seen Marvin Vettori miss out on a host of bookings due to canceled fights, the Italian middleweight returned with a bang to insert himself into the title conversation at 185 pounds. His ultimate aim is a rematch with the last man to beat him, Israel Adesanya, who edged him via split decision in their first meeting back in 2018, but with the champion set to face Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title, a bout between Vettori and Paulo Costa would seem like a perfect matchup for both men, given the current middleweight landscape. Stylistically, it’s likely to serve up an absolutely slobberknocker, too. Clearly, Vettori wants a piece of “The Last Stylebender,” but it’s likely he’ll be asked to go through one more contender before he gets his wish.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/lists/callout-collection-marvin-vettori-israel-adesanya

UFC president Dana White, following Saturday’s UFC Vegas 16 in Las Vegas, explained the recent decision to cut top five ranked middleweight Yoel Romero loose from the roster.

“Yoel has lost four of his last five. He’s 44 years old,” White said.

That wasn’t the biggest news related to Romero, however, as White indicated that the multiple-time title challenger was just the first of numerous cuts coming by year’s end.

“It’s not just Yoel. We’re going to go through some serious cuts here at the end of the year. We’re probably going to have 60 cuts before the first of the year,” White said.

“Our roster is very inflated right now. We’re going to have some big cuts coming before the end of the year. You’re going to see a lot of names going here in the next several weeks.”

White acknowledged that, while the cuts are necessary to pare down the roster, the UFC is still having one of its best years ever. And this in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic.

At the UFC Vegas 16 press conference, White also discussed some of the stellar performances of the night and also discussed at length the increasing instances of bouts being canceled because of COVID-19.

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TRENDING Jordan Leavitt’s knockout slam earns UFC Vegas 16 performance bonus

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/dana-white-says-yoel-romero-is-the-first-of-about-60-ufc-fighter-cuts-coming-by-years-end

Tony Ferguson will make his return to the Octagon at UFC 256 to square off with Charles Oliveira. The bout will be Ferguson’s first fight since he lost in his bid to regain the interim UFC lightweight title when he fought Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 in May.

Ahead of UFC 256, take a look back at Ferguson’s masterful Fight of the Night performance against Edson Barboza at The Ultimate Fighter: Team McGregor vs. Team Faber Finale.

(Video courtesy of UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship)

TRENDING UFC and Yoel Romero part ways

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/watch-tony-ferguson-take-out-edson-barboza-ahead-of-ufc-256

Another Saturday night of UFC action is in the books, and with it, four fighters will pocket an extra $50,000.

As is customary, the promotion handed out postfight bonus to the evening’s best performers.

In the case of UFC on ESPN 19 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, the company rewarded an outstanding scrap for “Fight of the Night,” after Marvin Vettori and Jack Hermansson slugged it out for 25 minutes, and a pair of “Performance of the Night” awards, which went to Gabriel Benitezand Jordan Leavitt.

Here’s more on each of the evening’s winners:

Fight of the Night: Marvin Vettori vs. Jack Hermansson

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 05: (R-L) Jack Hermansson of Sweden kicks Marvin Vettori of Italy in a middleweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on December 05, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

Both competitors rose to the occasion in the UFC on ESPN 19 main event, a memorable standup war in which they landed shots on one another that would have finished other foes.

They stood tall and went 25 minutes, but Vettori (16-3-1 MMA, 6-2-1 UFC) landed more often and with more precision, and that was enough to earn him a unanimous decision on scores of 49-46, 49-46, and 49-45.

That was good enough to give both fighters an extra $50,000 for “Fight of the Night.” This was the first postfight bonus in Vettori’s career and the second for Hermansson (21-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC).

Performance of the Night: Gabriel Benitez

Body-shot knockouts are rare in MMA. Body shot knockouts delivered via knee? Rarer still.

Gabriel Benitez had a memorable moment on Saturday night when he dropped Justin Jaynes with a knee to the liver. The time of the stoppage was 4:06 of the opening round.

For Benitez (22-8 MMA, 6-4 UFC), that marked the second career postfight bonus.

Performance of the Night: Jordan Leavitt

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 05: (R-L) Jordan Leavitt slams Matt Wiman in a lightweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on December 05, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

It took Jordan Leavitt just 22 seconds to make his mark in the UFC.

That’s how long it took the Contender Series grad to knock out veteran Matt Wiman with a big slam on the undercard. It was scary for a moment as it took awhile for Wiman to get up, but fortunately, he was okay.

And that allowed Leavitt (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) to truly celebrate his big UFC arrival. This is Leavitt’s first UFC postfight bonus, but we bet it won’t be his last.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/lists/ufc-on-espn-19-bonuses-marvin-vettori-jack-hermansson-fight-of-night

LAS VEGAS – According to UFC president Dana White, Yoel Romero’s recent UFC release is one of many that will come by the end of 2020.

A multi-time UFC middleweight title challenger, Romero (13-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC) was released from the promotion Friday after over seven years with the company. Romero last competed in a title fight against middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in the UFC 248 main event in March.

At the UFC on ESPN 19 post-fight news conference, however, White revealed Romero’s release was not an isolated case. The UFC roster is “inflated,” according to White – so more names will follow as 2020 winds down.

“It’s not just Yoel,” White told MMA Junkie, at UFC on ESPN 19 post-fight news conference. “We’re going to go through some serious cuts here at the end of the year. We’re probably going to have 60 cuts before the first of the year. Yoel has lost four of his last five. He’s 44 years old. Our roster is very inflated right now. We’re going to have some big cuts coming before the end of the year. You’re going to see a lot of names going here in the next several weeks. … These are the tough decisions you have to make.”

Romero, who is No. 6 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie MMA middleweight rankings, has since lost decisions to Paulo Costa and Adesanya, giving him a 1-4 record leading up to his release.

Although he didn’t capture a title, Romero still left his mark in the UFC. He has the third-most knockouts in middleweight history (seven), the third-most knockdowns (10), is one of two fighters in UFC history with multiple flying knee finishes, along with other accolades.

Prior to Romero’s release, MMA Junkie confirmed four other fighters – Justin Ledet, Bevon Lewis, Cole Smith, and Collin Huckbody – recently parted ways with the UFC as well.

UFC on ESPN 19 took place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and streamed on ESPN+.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/ufc-news-dana-white-yoel-romero-60-more-cuts-coming-2020