Hear everything Kamaru Usman had to say at the UFC 258 Media Day from Las Vegas at The APEX. Usman will be facing Gilbert Burns, defending his welterweight championship belt.

Usman vs. Burns headlines Saturday’s UFC 258 fight card at The Apex in Las Vegas. At the UFC 258 Media Day, Usman discussed having the bout derailed twice already, addressed his training with Burns in the past, how many times he’d like to fight in 2021, and more.

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Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/kamaru-usman-burns-is-the-most-dangerous-guy-for-me-ufc-258-media-day

Gina Carano, a pioneer in women’s mixed martial arts, is no longer a part of the Star Wars series The Mandalorian. Carano’s character, bounty hunter Cara Dune, was a major character in the Disney+ award-winning show.

Carano’s social media posts and interaction have drawn criticism for months. The news comes a day after Carano posted an alleged anti-Semitic story to her social media accounts. It was quickly removed, but the damage had been done. The hashtag #FireGinaCarano trended for hours on Twitter.

“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views,” she wrote.

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“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable,” a Lucasfilm spokesperson said in a statement.

Carano brought women’s mixed martial arts into the mainstream during her three-year fighting career in the Elite XC and Strikeforce promotions. She retired after losing the inaugural women’s Strikeforce featherweight title bout to Cris Cyborg in 2009.

Carano left mixed martial arts to pursue a career in Hollywood. She’s starred in Fast Furious 6 and Deadpool, among other projects.

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/gina-carano-fired-from-the-mandalorian-for-social-media-posts

LAS VEGAS – Kelvin Gastelum doesn’t care about the past, or the distant future. He’s focused on the task at hand, which is going into UFC 258 and defeating Ian Heinisch.

Gastelum (16-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) and Heinisch (14-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) will fight Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas in a three-round middleweight bout on the pay-per-view main card, with Gastelum on a three-fight losing skid.

When he entered an interim UFC middleweight title fight against Israel Adesanya in April 2019, Gastelum was riding a two-fight winning streak. He lost to Adesanya in the “Fight of the Year” before dropping a split decision to Darren Till in November 2019. In July 2020, Gastelum was submitted by Jack Hermansson in 78 seconds.

“To be honest, I haven’t really thought about it much,” Gastelum told MMA Junkie at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday when asked about the skid. “I’ve just been concentrating on this fight and concentrating on Ian Heinisch and being more present – being more aware and more present into who Ian Heinisch is. That’s who I’m focused on.”

Being “present,” Gastelum elaborated, means he’s concentrating on what’s in front of him. The past doesn’t matter. He attributes recent defeats to a snowball effect. He’s been too eager to erase them rather than learn from them.

“For my past two fights, I’ve maybe gotten away from that a little bit,” Gastelum said. “I’ve thought about my loss. After Israel, I wanted to get back on the horse and fight Darren Till. I knew that if I won, it might’ve propelled me to where I wanted to be. (It was) the same thing with the Jack Hermansson fight. I knew I needed to get back on a winning streak. I was just focused on more ahead than actually being present and focusing on my actual opponent.”

Despite the recent struggles to reenter the win column, Gastelum hasn’t lost confidence. UFC 258 will be another chance to prove what he believes: He’s still one of the best middleweights in the world.

“Not for a second (have I doubted myself),” Gastelum said. “I know who I am, and I know how good I can be. I’m excited to show that on Saturday.”

UFC 258 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/02/ufc-258-kelvin-gastelum-focused-present-recent-losses-out-of-mind

Bellator lightweight and featherweight champion Patricio Freire has a date for his next fight: a defense of his latter title belt against Emmanuel Sanchez at Bellator 255.

And while that April 2 bout was officially announced at Bellator’s Tuesday news conference, another major item seems to have caught his attention: Bellator’s new partnership with Showtime, which kicks off with “Pitbull’s” card at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

Freire doesn’t just see big things for Bellator with the new Showtime deal. He sees the potential for crossover fights, too. Specifically, Showtime-promoted boxing star Adrien Broner.

“I like that we can put Bellator in this division,” Freire said in Portuguese through a translator. “And also we can do a boxing match. I’m looking for that, too. I can beat that (expletive).”

Broner has held titles in four different weight classes. And while Freire has proven to be a belt collector himself, he says a potential boxing match isn’t about collecting gold, but just the challenge in and of itself.

“I like challenges. In boxing, you have someone who is good, I want to fight him,” Freire said. “I don’t care about the titles. I care about the challenges. I put myself in a dangerous (situation) and take care of that.”

Any chance of “Pitbull” engaging in a big boxing match is long down the road, at best. And in the meantime, he’s got quite the challenge ahead of him in the Bellator featherweight grand prix semifinals.

Freire and Sanchez already have met once, and Sanchez gave “Pitbull” one of the toughest fights of his career before falling by unanimous decision at Bellator 209.

Perhaps that’s why Freire hasn’t made a grudge match out of this like he does for most of his bouts, including his last fight against Pedro Carvalho or the one he’s trying to cook up with Broner. Sanchez and “Pitbull” have earned one another’s respect as they vie to meet A.J. McKee in the final.

“Pedro is a young man. He got the loss, now he’s going to make himself a better fighter,” Freire said. “I know he’s a good boy. So with Sanchez, I fought him and I know he knows it was a war, so that’s why we have a respect for each other.”

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/02/bellator-patricio-freire-would-like-adrien-broner-boxing-match

(Editor’s note: This story originally published at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network.)

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Authorities have charged a sixth person in the July 2017 home invasion and fatal shooting of mixed martial arts fighter Aaron Rajman west of Boca Raton.

Alton Anders, 31, was ordered to remain in jail without bail after his first appearance in court before Circuit Judge Charles Burton on Tuesday morning, according to court records.

It’s unclear how Anders, who was arrested Monday, is connected to the homicide. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office did not release any further information.

Investigators say a group of individuals went into Rajman’s home, in a neighborhood south of Palmetto Park Road between State Road 7 and Lyons Road, at about 10:30 p.m. July 3, 2017. A fight broke out and Rajman was fatally shot.

It’s unclear who shot the 25-year-old. Family and friends said Rajman was a “kind, gentle” person who didn’t have any enemies and was one of only a few Orthodox Jews in the MMA arena.

Summer Church, Jace Swinton, Roberto Ortiz, Austin Baker and Cameron Burgess-Clark also have been arrested in connection to the homicide.

The indictments allege Church, Swinton and Ortiz stole swords, marijuana, a scale, narcotics and money in what is believed to be a targeted home invasion.

Aaron Rajman, left, during one of his fights. (File photo)

Church and Swinton, who were arrested in 2017, took pleas in their cases. Teens at the time of the shooting, they pleaded guilty in 2019 to the lesser charge of second-degree murder and were sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation.

Ortiz’s case has yet to reach a conclusion. He was arrested in 2017 and is scheduled to be in court for a status check in March. Most jury trials and hearings have been on hold since March 2020 as the courts, along with other government entities and businesses, closed in an effort to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

Baker was serving a prison sentence for burglary when a grand jury charged him in 2019. His case remains open.

In an August motion from his lawyer, Public Defender Carey Haughwout, and in a December letter he wrote to Circuit Judge Rosemarie Scher, Baker said the only evidence against him are the words of of Church and Swinton, who took pleas in exchange for their testimony.

Investigators have not released how Baker is connected to the homicide.

Burgess-Clark’s case also remains open. It’s also unclear how he is connected to the alleged crime.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/02/aaron-rajman-2017-shooting-death-sixth-suspect-arrested