Tag: ufc

Variety covers UFC fighter’s homophobic & anti-female remarks at press conference

Posted on by Josh Nason

While former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland is no stranger to making controversial comments about anything that comes to mind, it’s rare those comments are picked up anywhere outside native MMA media.

That changed Wednesday night as Variety published a piece covering Strickland’s comments from a press conference earlier in the day where he took aim at musician Bad Bunny as well as Ronda Rousey and women’s sports in general.

During Wednesday’s presser to promote his fight with Anthony Hernandez this Saturday on Paramount+, Strickland twice used a gay slur to reference Bad Bunny and his Super Bowl halftime performance, also pantomiming the NFL making a decision to “gay it up” and “bring in a gay foreigner who doesn’t speak English” in an effort to “f**king ruin the sport.”

Variety reached out to both Paramount and UFC but had not heard back. Paramount is also a partner with the NFL.

Strickland also was asked about the announcement of Rousey fighting Gina Carano in May, suggesting they fight “half naked” while putting over Rousey’s abilities while then joking she “lost a few fights to her ex” — a reference to a violent incident with a past boyfriend Rousey discussed in a book.

He also discussed Carano, saying he was a kid when she was fighting and that he pleasured himself to her “once or twice back in the day.”

He also said that “no one gives a f*ck about women’s sports,” adding that there is nothing wrong with women because they can do great things like cooking and cleaning.

UFC head Dana White has been hesitant, if not defiant, in punishing any fighters for outlandish comments in the past, notably from Bryce Mitchell who last year praised Adolf Hitler, denied the Holocaust happened, and blamed Jewish people for turning people gay. He remains under contract.

It appears unlikely Strickland will suffer any punishment this time around given that precedent.

Former football player turned media personality Robert Griffin III also denounced Strickland’s comments on his X account which has over two million followers.

Ronda Rousey pitched Gina Carano fight to Dana White, but ‘it didn’t exactly work out’ for UFC

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: Zuffa

UFC Hall of Fame member Ronda Rousey attempted to get her newly-announced fight with Gina Carano in the Octagon, but there was apparently no interest from UFC in hosting it.

Announced on Tuesday, Rousey will fight Carano for the first time ever in both woman’s first fight in years and in a fight that was once attempted to be made in UFC but was derailed due to misrouted texts to Carano that referred to her as a “bitch.”

Speaking to ESPN MMA Tuesday, Rousey said she reached out to Dana White to ask if he was interested in it.

“…It didn’t exactly work out with the UFC, but it led us her today,” she said, not saying if White or TKO leadership turned down the idea and for what reason.

Rousey said the idea for the fight has been in process for more than a year as while she was pregnant with her second child, she saw Carano and didn’t think she looked good and wanted to do anything she could to help as “I owe her immensely.” She said as much as Carano needs this fight, she also needs it.

“We fought for this. We fought to fight each other,” Rousey said, mentioned both women had to work together to overcome obstacles to get to this point.

The 145-pound MMA fight will take place on Saturday, May 16 from Los Angeles’ Intuit Dome, promoted by Jake Paul’s MVP promotion and airing live on Netflix.

The 39-year-old Rousey last competed in December 2016 in a first round TKO loss to Amanda Nunes while the 43-year-old Carano last fought in August 2009 in a first round loss to Cris Cyborg.

Cain Velasquez released on parole

Posted on by Ian Carey

Cain Velasquez has been granted parole and released from prison.

Velasquez posted a message over the weekend stating that he is scheduled to leave prison on February 15. Footage of him being released was posted to social media on Sunday by ACD MMA:

Velasquez pleaded no contest to charges of attempted murder, felony assault, and other gun offenses in August 2024. The charges stemmed from a February 2022 incident in Santa Clara County, California, in which Velasquez was arrested following a high-speed chase. During the chase, he fired a handgun at a vehicle carrying a man he believed had sexually abused his young son. The man’s stepfather was shot in the arm and torso and suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Velasquez was later sentenced to five years in prison with credit for time already served in custody and on house arrest, which made him eligible for parole in early 2026.

Velasquez’s social media post reads:

“After my release on February 15th, I’m exploring the idea of hosting a one-day Holotropic Breathing Seminar in the San Jose area.
This would be an in-person experience focused on:
• Guided holotropic breathing
• Mental & emotional reset
• Stress release & clarity
• A personal meet & greet
• Q&A and shared conversation
• Group photo
Breathwork has been a powerful tool for me—physically, mentally, and spiritually—and I’d like to share it with others in a focused, intentional setting.
This would be a PAID, limited-capacity seminar.
👉 If you’re interested, drop a 🔥 in the comments and join the interested list at the link in bio. This post is just to gauge interest. More details coming soon.
— Cain”

UFC & Paramount announce date for CBS debut

Posted on by Josh Nason

Just over a month into their seven year deal with Paramount Skydance, the UFC now has a date for their debut on CBS.

Announced on Tuesday, two hours of UFC 326 on Saturday, March 7 will air on the “Tiffany Network,” marking its return to broadcast TV. Some previous events aired on ABC during their multi-year deal with Disney/ESPN.

The two hours that will air on CBS will be from 8-10 pm Eastern, encompassing one hour of the prelims and the first hour of the main card. The entire show from 5 pm through midnight will air on Paramount+.

When the two companies announced their seven year, $7.7 billion domestic TV rights contract, it was stated that some shows would air on CBS.

UFC 326 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas is headlined by Max Holloway vs. Charles Olivera for the ceremonial BMF title with Renato Moicano vs. Brian Ortega as the co-main event. The bout order for the show is not yet official for what fights will air on CBS.

UFC Fight Night 266 live results: Mario Bautista vs. Vinicius Oliveira

Posted on by Ryan Frederick

The first Fight Night event of the Paramount era goes down today at the newly-minted Meta Apex in Las Vegas for UFC Fight Night: Bautista vs. Oliveira.

The main event is a five-round bout in the bantamweight division featuring a pair of ranked 135-pounders in their first UFC main events as Mario Bautista takes on Vinicius Oliveira. Bautista is looking to get back into the win column after a loss in his last fight ended a long win streak. Oliveira is looking to keep his win streak in tact as he’s won six straight heading into this fight.

In the co-main event, it is a pivotal bout at flyweight as Amir Albazi takes on former title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi. Also on the main card is a heavyweight bout between Jailton Almeida and Rizvan Kuniev; a middleweight slugfest pitting Michal Oleksiejczuk against Marc-Andre Barriault; and a bantamweight bout between Jean Matsumoto and undefeated Farid Basharat.

PRELIMS | 5 PM ET/2 PM PT

> Women’s Bantamweights- Klaudia Sygula (7-2, 1-1 UFC) vs. Priscila Cachoeira (13-7, 5-7 UFC)

They come out trading right away. Cachoeira lands a solid right hand. Sygula lands a front kick to the body. They trade punches. Sygula with more front kicks and Cachoeira lands a calf kick. Cachoeira lands a right hand followed by a leg kick. Sygula lands a combo. Sygula hurts Cachoeira with a combination. Sygula working the jab. Cachoeira’s face is busted up. Sygula heavy on the volume. Sygula landing at will as Cachoeira is busted up some more. Sygula lands a solid flurry. They trade heavy shots. 10-9 Sygula.

Sygula lands a combination. Sygula looks for a takedown but Cachoeira backs away and then rushes in and lands a right hand. They are both landing big shots inside the pocket. Sygula lands a front kick. Sygula with some heavy combinations. Cachoeira lands a solid left hand. They trade punches and Sygula’s face is now showing some damage. Sygula with a combo and lands a front kick that stumbles Cachoeira up, but she gets right to her feet. Sygula lands a jab. She lands a combo after Cachoeira lands a right hand. Sygula lands a combination. Sygula with a combo as Cachoeira lands a right hand. Cachoeira’s face is busted all up. 10-9 Sygula, 20-18 Sygula.

Sygula landing combos and circling away. Sygula keeping it on with the volume as Cachoeira lands a few right hands, but isn’t stringing anything together. Sygula with a front kick followed by a right hand. Cachoeira lands a big right hand, and then Sygula lands a counter right hand. They trade in close range. Sygula lands a big right hand. Cachoeira lands a left hook. Cachoeira with a right hand but eats a counter combination from Sygula. Cachoeira catches a kick and Sygula goes to her back. Cachoeira gets on top and lands. 10-9 Cachoeira, 29-28 Sygula.

Fight Result- Klaudia Sygula def. Priscila Cachoeira by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

> Bantamweights*- Muin Gafurov (20-6, 2-2 UFC) vs. Jakub Wiklacz (17-3-2, 1-0 UFC)

*Gafurov missed weight by 5 pounds

Wiklacz lands a front kick followed by a solid right hand. Wiklacz lands another right hand and is throwing kicks. Gafurov lands a leg kick. Wiklacz with a body kick. Gafurov lands an elbow on a brief clinch. Wiklacz with a body kick. Wiklacz with more body kicks. They clinch and Wiklacz lands a knee before they break. They both land as Wiklacz rushes forward. Gafurov lands a big right hand. They clinch against the fence and Gafurov lands to the body as they separate. Wiklacz lands a right hand and a knee as they clinch, then he looks for a guillotine choke but they break. Gafurov lands a spin kick. They trade kicks and Gafurov lands a flurry at the end. 10-9 Gafurov.

Wiklacz hurts Gafurov to the body and jumps for a guillotine choke, but Gafurov escapes. Wiklacz ends up in side control and lands some elbows. Wiklacz lands several knees to the body. Gafurov was complaining about something but everything Wiklacz was landing was legal. Wiklacz looks for the neck as they scramble up. They break apart. Wiklacz lands some kicks. Gafurov throws a spin kick but Wiklacz catches him and grabs the neck. They break apart. Gafurov gets a takedown against the fence, but Wiklacz scrambles right into top mount. Wiklacz with some body shots. Wiklacz pressuring and landing from the top. Wiklacz takes the back. Wiklacz almost has a rear-naked choke locked in late. 10-9 Wiklacz, 19-19.

Wiklacz landing short kicks to start the third. They trade in close range. Gafurov lands a big flurry. Gafurov landing big shots in this round as he pushes Wiklacz against the fence. Gafurov lands on the break. Gafurov lands a combination. Wiklacz looking a little tired. Gafurov lands a spinning back fist. Gafurov pushes it against the fence and Wiklacz grabs the neck and is looking for a choke. Wiklacz has it locked in tight and Gafurov is tapping right as the horn sounds. Gafurov tapped right before the horn sounded with one hand and right as it was sounding with the other hand.

Fight Result- Jakub Wiklacz def. Muin Gafurov by submission (guillotine choke) at 4:59 of Round 3

> Women’s Flyweights*- #12 Wang Cong (8-1, 3-1 UFC) vs. #13 Eduarda Moura (12-1, 3-1 UFC)

*Cong missed weight by 1.5 pounds; Moura missed weight by 1 pound

Moura comes forward right away and starts landing. Cong lands a leg kick as Moura lands a right hand. Cong with more leg kicks as Moura lands another right hand. They clinch against the fence and Moura gets a takedown and has the back as they stand. Moura drags it back down. They break apart. Cong lands a right hand and then drops Moura with a right hand. Cong starts landing big shots and hammerfists from the top as Moura tries to grab a leg. Moura with some hammerfists from the bottom. Cong lands an elbow and stands. 10-9 Cong.

Cong lands a right hand then a pair of kicks. Moura looks for a takedown but Cong defends and lands a knee as they’re tied up. Moura is able to score a takedown and is inside the guard of Cong. Moura is cut open after Cong landed an elbow from the bottom. Moura is able to get the mount as Cong tried to escape. Moura gets the back of Cong and is working for a choke. Cong lands some backward punches. Moura has the choke locked in but Cong is fighting it. Cong is able to somehow escape. Moura stands at the end. 10-9 Moura, 19-19.

Cong lands a leg kick. She lands another. Moura lands a right hand. Moura looks for a takedown but Cong ends up on top. They work back to their feet as Moura has body control. Cong lands a couple of elbows trying to break the position. Moura tries to drag it down but Cong stays upright and throws Moura off of her. Moura is quickly able to grab the back but isn’t doing anything as Cong lands short punches. Cong forces separation and lands a flurry. Moura shoots for a takedown but Cong defends. Moura tries a trip but Cong gets back control. Cong looks for a choke. Moura is bleeding badly from her nose. Cong lets go and lands some punches. Cong has a choke around the chin. Moura is trying to fight it. Moura survives as Cong lets go and lands to end it. 10-9 Cong, 29-28 Cong.

Fight Result- Wang Cong def. Eduarda Moura by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

> Bantamweights*- Javid Basharat (14-2 1 NC, 3-2 1 NC UFC) vs. Gianni Vazquez (13-4-1, 0-0 UFC)

*Vazquez missed weight by 5 pounds

Basharat lands a leg kick followed by another. Vazquez with a heavy leg kick. Basharat lands a body kick. Vazquez lands another heavy leg kick. Basharat with a leg kick. They trade kicks. Vazquez lands a right hand. Basharat with a leg kick. Vazquez with a left hand and a leg kick. Basharat drops Vazquez with a right hand and starts landing from the top. Basharat with some elbows to the body. They stand and Basharat lands a knee directly to the head of Vazquez. They break apart. Basharat lands a combination. Basharat lands a heavy combination that hurts Vazquez. Basharat with a body kick followed by a combo. Basharat with a right hook to the body. 10-9 Basharat.

Basharat lands a body kick as Vazquez lands a left hand. Basharat with a combo and a high kick. Basharat with a pair of left hooks. Vazquez hurts Basharat with a right hand and grabs the neck as Basharat looks for a takedown. Basharat is able to stand and circle away. Vazquez continues to land as Basharat is still recovering. Basharat gets a takedown and Vazquez attacks the arm from the bottom. Basharat gets out and they scramble. Vazquez grabs the leg, but Basharat is able to roll and remains on the top. Vazquez back attacking the leg but Basharat is able to scramble out and stays on top and lands. Basharat gets the mount and lands to end the round. 10-9 Vazquez, 19-19.

They trade big punches. Basharat with a pair of leg kicks. Basharat with a combo. Vazquez lands a right hand to the body. They trade punches when Basharat looks for a takedown. Vazquez defends before dropping down to attack the guillotine choke, but Basharat escapes and is on top. They get to the fence and scramble up as Basharat keeps back control. Basharat gets it back down to the mat. Basharat with some shots from the top. Vazquez lands small body punches from the bottom. Basharat takes the back as they scramble. Basharat works for a choke. Vazquez circles and ends up on top and stands after landing a few punches. Vazquez with some late punches. Close fight. 10-9 Basharat, 29-28 Basharat.

Fight Result- Javid Basharat def. Gianni Vazquez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

> Women’s Strawweights- Bruna Brasil (11-5-1, 3-3 UFC) vs. Ketlen Souza (15-6, 2-3 UFC)

Brasil lands a body kick. Brasil with a step-in knee to the body. Souza looks for a takedown as she pushes it to the fence. Not much happens before they separate and Brasil lands a knee. Souza looks for a takedown against the fence and is just holding Brasil. Brasil lands a knee. Brasil gets a trip takedown, but they quickly stand. They trade knees against the fence. They are separated by Herb Dean. Brasil lands a kick and Souza stumbles down for a moment, but she stands and lands a right hand. Souza grabs the body against the fence. Brasil lands a knee. Souza with a head kick and a right hand. 10-9 Brasil.

Souza lands a combination. Brasil lands a knee as Souza looks for a takedown. Souza has Brasil pushed against the fence. Brasil reverses position and lands a pair of knees. They are separated. Souza looks for a takedown but Brasil defends against the fence. Souza with a spin kick that Brasil blocks. Brasil looks for a takedown but Souza defends. Souza lands a body kick as they separate. Brasil lands a body kick. Souza lands a stiff jab that hurts Brasil. Souza grabs the body against the fence. 10-9 Souza, 19-19.

Souza pushes Brasil against the fence, but there is not much action taking place. They are being warned to work and Souza lands a small knee, but they are separated by Herb Dean. Brasil lands a jab and Souza with a left hand. Brasil lands a big knee. Souza with a flurry as Brasil is running away. Souza looks for a leg but Brasil runs away. Brasil lands a spin kick. Souza with a body shot. Souza lands a combination. Souza with a body kick. Brasil lands a body kick. They clinch against the fence and trade some knees. They are separated. Souza lands a big right hand. Brasil with a leg kick. Souza grabs a leg and trips Brasil to the mat, but lets her back up. They tie up and Brasil looks for a trip but Souza keeps it upright. Brasil with a knee. Close fight. 10-9 Souza, 29-28 Souza.

Fight Result- Ketlen Souza def. Bruna Brasil by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

> Welterweights- Nikolay Veretennikov (13-7, 1-3 UFC) vs. Niko Price (16-9 2 NC, 8-9 2 NC UFC)

They trade to start. Price lands a right hand. Veretennikov with a leg kick. Veretennikov lands as he presses forward. Veretennikov with a right hand. They tie up and Veretennikov lands some knees. Price with an uppercut. Veretennikov with some right hands as they separate. Veretennikov with another right hand. They trade with Price’s back against the fence. Veretennikov lands a big right hand and a knee and then lands a big right hand and Price is out on his feet! What a finish by Veretennikov!

Fight Result- Nikolay Veretennikov def. Niko Price by TKO (punches) at 1:42 of Round 1

> Welterweights- Alex Morono (24-12 1 NC, 13-9 1 NC UFC) vs. Daniil Donchenko (12-2, 1-0 UFC)

Morono throws a right hand that misses. Donchenko lands a leg kick and then lands two more that are heavy. Donchenko lands a body kick followed by another hard leg kick. Donchenko with a heavy combo and kicks Morono’s legs out from under him. Morono stands and they clinch against the fence. Morono lands a right hand on the break. Donchenko lands a big combination. Morono with a front kick. Donchenko lands a right hand. They tie up and Donchenko lands a knee and a right hand as they break. Donchenko lands to the body. Morono lands a pair of jabs. Donchenko with a heavy leg kick. Donchenko lands a big overhand right. Donchenko lands a left hook and Morono drops to his knees. Donchenko is landing lots of big shots and Morono is busted open. Donchenko landing hammerfists and right hands but Morono is able to close his guard. Donchenko takes the back and is landing lots of shots. Morono is able to stand. Morono with a back elbow. 10-9 Donchenko.

Donchenko lands a heavy leg kick and Morono falls to his back, but Donchenko lets him up. Donchenko with a heavy combination as they clinch. They break apart. Donchenko with another heavy leg kick. Donchenko lands another hard leg kick. Donchenko with a heavy inside kick. Donchenko with another hard leg kick and Morono is clearly hurt from them. Donchenko lands a body kick. They trade punches. Donchenko with another leg kick. He lands another. Morono lands a right hand. They clinch against the fence. Donchenko lands a leg kick and Morono falls down. 10-9 Donchenko, 20-18 Donchenko.

Donchenko lands some early leg kicks. Morono is pressing forward and lands the jab. Donchenko lands a leg kick. They trade left hands and Donchenko lands a stiff jab. Donchenko with a leg kick. Morono works the jab. Donchenko with another hard leg kick. Donchenko with some high kicks. Donchenko lands a front kick to the body. Morono lands a right hand as Donchenko is covering up. Morono grabs a neck and lands a knee before the separation. Donchenko lands a right hand. Donchenko with a left hand to the body. Donchenko with another leg kick. Donchenko hurts Morono with some punches. They trade wild shots at the end and Donchenko lands and Morono goes down. 10-9 Donchenko, 30-27 Donchenko.

Fight Result- Daniil Donchenko def. Alex Morono by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)

MAIN CARD | 8 PM ET/5 PM PT

> Light Heavyweights- Dustin Jacoby (21-9-1, 9-6-1 UFC) vs. Julius Walker (7-1, 1-1 UFC)

Jacoby works the jab as Walker lands a leg kick. Walker lands a right hand. Jacoby lands a leg kick. Walker looks for a takedown and Jacoby grabs the neck as he sprawls. They get back to their feet. Jacoby back working the jab. Jacoby with a leg kick. Walker is able to pick Jacoby up and slam him down and takes Jacoby’s back as they scramble. They get to their feet with Walker still on the back. Walker lands a series of knees. Walker gets a brief takedown and has back control as they stand. Walker lands a knee and tries for a takedown, but Jacoby stays on his feet. Walker with a big slam takedown to end the round. 10-9 Walker.

Jacoby working the jab. Both land big shots and Walker briefly stumbles back. Jacoby lands a big combination and Walker is retreating. Jacoby lands a right hand and Walker goes down. Jacoby lands from the top as Walker looks for a leg. Jacoby continues to land and Walker is able to get to his feet and grab the back. Jacoby landing elbows and they go to the mat with Jacoby in the mount. Jacoby hammers from the top and is still landing as they stand. Walker goes back down after Jacoby lands and some more punches end it. What a finish from Jacoby!

Fight Result- Dustin Jacoby def. Julius Walker by TKO (punches) at 1:42 of Round 2

> Bantamweights- Jean Matsumoto (17-1, 3-1 UFC) vs. Farid Basharat (14-0, 5-0 UFC)

Basharat lands a leg kick. Matsumoto lands a leg kick. Basharat lands a spinning back fist and follows with a leg kick. Basharat lands a step-in elbow and Matsumoto has a small cut opened up. They clinch as Basharat pushes it to the fence. Matsumoto reverses and lands before they separate. Basharat with a leg kick. Basharat lands a right hand as Matsumoto lands a leg kick. Basharat looks for a takedown and pushes it against the fence. They separate. Matsumoto with a pair of leg kicks. They tie up against the fence. Matsumoto gets a brief takedown but they get to their knees. They separate and Basharat lands a right hand. Close round. 10-9 Basharat.

Matsumoto lands a leg kick as Basharat lands a few jabs. They clinch and Basharat pushes it to the fence. They break apart and Basharat lands a spin kick. Basharat stuns Matsmoto with a punch and Matsumoto starts backing up. Matsumoto looks for a takedown but eats a knee from Basharat. Matsumoto with a leg kick as Basharat works the jab. Basharat lands a knee as Matsumoto lands a right hand. Matsumoto grabs the back as they go to their knees and he lands some punches and knees. Matsumoto is trying to drag it down but Basharat is playing good defense. Matsumoto drags it down and is on the back, but Basharat escapes and ends up on top. They trade knees as they stand. Basharat with some right hands and Matsumoto lands a pair of body kicks. Basharat with a combo. Matsumoto gets a brief takedown. Matsumoto with some punches as he has back control. Matsumoto lands as they break. They trade kicks. Another close round. 10-9 Matsumoto, 19-19.

Matsumoto rushes forward and lands a flurry of punches and a body kick. Matsumoto gets body control against the fence and lands some punches. Basharat with an elbow as they separate. Basharat looks for a takedown and they trade knees. Matsumoto with a high kick. Matsumoto lands a combination. Basharat scores a takedown. They get to their feet and both land against the fence before separating. Basharat lands a solid right hand. Matsumoto gets the body lock against the fence. Basharat reverses and forces separation and lands. They trade in the center. Matsumoto lands a solid right hand. Basharat gets another takedown but they scramble right up. Both are landing as they are throwing big shots. Matsumoto pushes it against the fence. Matsumoto lands as they break. Both are landing in close range and Basharat gets a takedown. They scramble up and Basharat lands a knee and a combination. Close fight. 10-9 Basharat, 29-28 Basharat.

Fight Result- Farid Basharat def. Jean Matsumoto by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

> Middleweights- Michal Oleksiejczuk (21-9 1 NC, 9-7 1 NC UFC) vs. Marc-Andre Barriault (17-10 1 NC, 6-9 1 NC UFC)

Oleksiejczuk with a heavy leg kick. Oleksiejczuk lands a left hand. He lands another. Barriault lands a body kick. Oleksiejczuk with a leg kick and lands a big left hand. Oleksiejczuk starts teeing off but Barriault circles away. Oleksiejczuk with a leg kick. Oleksiejczuk lands to the body and they trade stiff punches. Oleksiejczuk with a combination. Barriault lands a knee. Oleksiejczuk lands to the body. They trade body kicks. They trade and Oleksiejczuk lands a left hand. Oleksiejczuk lands to the body. Oleksiejczuk with a left hand. Oleksiejczuk lands a leg kick. Oleksiejczuk with a pair of left hands. Barriault lands a right hand. Oleksiejczuk with an inside leg kick. Oleksiejczuk catches a leg and gets a takedown and lands from the top. 10-9 Oleksiejczuk.

Oleksiejczuk lands a jab. Oleksiejczuk with an inside leg kick. Barriault with a left hand. Oleksiejczuk lands a combination. Barriault lands a right hand. Oleksiejczuk lands a stiff combination. They trade punches. Oleksiejczuk with a right hook to the body. Oleksiejczuk with a stiff combination and then lands a big body kick. They clinch and Barriault with some dirty boxing and he backs Oleksiejczuk up. Barriault lands a right hand. Barriault with some dirty boxing and a knee. Oleksiejczuk lands to the body. Barriault lands an elbow. Oleksiejczuk lands to the body. They trade punches. Barriault with a spinning back fist. They trade inside the pocket. 10-9 Barriault, 19-19.

They trade left hands. Barriault with a combination. Oleksiejczuk lands to the body. Barriault lands a right hand. Oleksiejczuk lands a left hand. Barriault lands a right hand as they briefly clinch. Oleksiejczuk lands a pair of left hands. Oleksiejczuk lands some left hands. Oleksiejczuk swinging the left hand. They clinch and Barriault lands an elbow. They break apart and Oleksiejczuk lands to the body. Oleksiejczuk with a high kick. Barriault lands a knee. Oleksiejczuk with a left hand. Oleksiejczuk works the jab and they trade punches. Oleksiejczuk with a left hand. Oleksiejczuk with a flurry and a body kick. Oleksiejczuk lands big late. 10-9 Oleksiejczuk, 29-28 Oleksiejczuk.

Fight Result- Michal Oleksiejczuk def. Marc-Andre Barriault by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

> Heavyweights- #6 Jailton Almeida (22-4, 8-2 UFC) vs. Rizvan Kuniev (13-3-1 1 NC, 0-1 UFC)

Almeida immediately looks for the takedown and pushes it against the fence. Kuniev with some hammerfists to the thighs of Almeida. Almeida still chasing a takedown. Kuniev reverses position, but not much is happening and they are separated. Almeida shoots for a takedown but Kuniev defends and Kuniev pushes it to the fence. Kuniev lands before almost separating. They are separated. Almeida with a leg kick. He lands another. Kuniev with a leg kick and a flurry before he pushes Almeida to the fence. Kuniev lands to the body and a big elbow. Kuniev lands a knee to the body. 10-9 Kuniev.

Kuniev lands the jab. Almeida with some short punches inside the range. Almeida with a pair of front kicks. Almeida lands a right hand. Almeida shoots for a takedown but Kuniev defends and pushes it to the fence. There is not much happening and they are separated. Almeida backs up to the fence. Kuniev lands a double jab but eats a combination from Almeida. Almeida with a front kick. They clinch but break apart quickly. Kuniev lands a right hand. Kuniev with an uppercut as they’re clinched along the fence. Almeida with short knees. Kuniev lands a left hand. They break. Kuniev with a front kick. 10-9 Kuniev, 20-18 Kuniev.

Kuniev pushes it against the fence and lands to the body. Almeida circles away. Almeida lands to the body followed by a left hook to the chin. Almeida landing slightly more at a distance but they clinch. They break and Almeida lands. Kuniev lands an uppercut. Almeida lands a right hand. Kuniev pushes it against the fence but they are quickly separated. Kuniev lands a jab. Almeida with a combination. Almeida lands a few right hands. Kuniev forces a tie-up. Almeida reverses. Almeida lands an elbow. They are separated. Kuniev lands a knee. Almeida lands a right hand. Kuniev lands a big combination. 10-9 Almeida, 29-28 Kuniev.

Fight Result- Rizvan Kuniev def. Jailton Almeida by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

> Flyweights- #6 Amir Albazi (17-2, 5-1 UFC) vs. #8 Kyoji Horiguchi (35-5 1 NC, 8-1 UFC)

Horiguchi with an inside leg kick. Horiguchi with a leg kick. Horiguchi lands and they tie up as Horiguchi pushes it to the fence. They trade knees along the fence. They separate. Horiguchi lands a right hand. Horiguchi with a leg kick. Albazi lands a left hand. Horiguchi with a left hook. Horiguchi with a combination. They trade punches as both throw at the same time. Albazi lands and Horiguchi slips but stands right up. They clinch but separate after little action. 10-9 Horiguchi.

Horiguchi lands and pushes it to the fence but they break. Albazi lands and then Horiguchi unloads with a flurry. Horiguchi wobbles Albazi with a left hand. Albazi is looking for takedown openings but Horiguchi keeps pressure by landing. Horiguchi with a body kick. Albazi is cut open. Horiguchi with a leg kick. Horiguchi lands a right hand. Horiguchi lands a right hand. Horiguchi pushes it against the fence. Albazi takes the back along the fence. They separate. Horiguchi lands a stiff jab. Horiguchi with a left hand after a failed spin kick. Horiguchi with a jab. 10-9 Horiguchi, 20-18 Horiguchi.

Albazi grabs the back as he pushes it against the fence. Horiguchi is able to break away. Horiguchi lands a left hand and Albazi stumbles. Horiguchi is pouring it on as he lands a flurry. Horiguchi with a combination. Albazi grabs the back but this isn’t going to win him the fight. They break apart and Horiguchi is landing as he pressures. Albazi shoots for a takedown but Horiguchi defends as they clinch against the fence. Albazi with a shoulder strike. They break apart and Horiguchi lands as Albazi goes backward. 10-9 Horiguchi, 30-27 Horiguchi.

Fight Result- Kyoji Horiguchi def. Amir Albazi by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

> Bantamweights- #9 Mario Bautista (16-3, 10-3 UFC) vs. #11 Vinicius Oliveira (23-3, 4-0 UFC)

Oliveira with some early calf kicks. Bautista rushes in and they clinch. Oliveira has the advantage against the fence. They break apart. Oliveira with a body kick and they tie back up. Bautista almost gets a takedown and Oliveira has Bautista pressed against the fence. Oliveira attacking the single leg as Bautista lands punches. Bautista is able to score a takedown. Oliveira looks to attack a leg. Bautista rolls and lands from the top. Bautista lands and stands and lands before going back into the guard. Bautista postures back up and lands. 10-9 Bautista.

They tie up and Bautista gets the back. Bautista gets a brief trip and is on the back. Bautista gets a takedown and has the back as they stand. Oliveira spins and Bautista is looking for a takedown as he lands a knee. Oliveira lands as they break. Bautista lands a right hand and Oliveira lands a counter left hand. Oliveira is already looking gassed. Bautista lands a body kick. Bautista lands a flying knee. Oliveira looks for a takedown but Bautista ends up on top. Bautista controlling from the top. Bautista lands big elbows from the top. Oliveira rolls for an arm but gives up his back and Bautista locks in a rear-naked choke and Oliveira quickly taps! What a win from Bautista!

Fight Result- Mario Bautista def. Vinicius Oliveira by submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:46 of Round 2

TKO exec says WWE & UFC are each $20 billion properties

Posted on by Josh Nason

TKO head Mark Shapiro isn’t shy about the success of both WWE and UFC.

During a Super Bowl week appearance on The Pat McAfee Show Friday, he and TKO executive chairman Ari Emanuel talked about TKO business, boxing, and personal stories.

At one point, Shapiro said that both WWE and UFC were ‘$20 billion properties…each” which led to Emanuel intimating in a joking way that he wasn’t supposed to say that followed by Shapiro saying “it’s all public info.”

As of Friday at 2 pm Eastern, TKO’s listed market cap is just over $41 billion which includes WWE, UFC, Professional Bull Riders, OnDemand, and IMG. The company was officially formed in September 2023 with the merger of WWE and UFC.

TKO has more than doubled in value since September 2023 and is trading at nearly $211 per share as of this writing. They will announce their Q4 and full 2025 financials in late-February.

WOR: Royal Rumble review and news, UFC, Collision title change, more!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including a full recap of both the Royal Rumble and UFC with special guest Paul Fontaine, lots of Rumble notes and WrestleMania thoughts, what happened with Ava, Sandman retiring, Hobbs’ deal, Billy Gunn, ratings, Collision recap with a title change, and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

Timestamps:
Start: WWE Royal Rumble recap
32:05: UFC 325 recap
45:58: Ava leaves WWE, The Sandman’s last match announced, Braun Strowman dealing with knee infection
49:55: Clarification on Powerhouse Hobbs/AEW negotiations
55:51: More on Billy Gunn, ratings
1:05:48: CMLL changing their rules for AEW matches
1:11:38: AEW Collision recap

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UFC 325 live results: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes 2

Posted on by Ryan Frederick

After a succesful debut on Paramount+ last weekend for UFC 324, major UFC action is back as the Octagon returns to Australia for UFC 325 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.

The main event is a rematch for the UFC Featherweight Championship as reigning champion Alexander Volkanovski defends against Diego Lopes. It has been less than a year since their first fight, a fight for a then-vacant featherweight title won by Volkanovski. He hasn’t fought since then, while Lopes is coming off a thrilling knockout win over Jean Silva in September that got him right back into a title fight.

In the co-main event, it’s an exciting lightweight fight pitting fan favorite Dan Hooker against Benoit Saint-Denis. Also on the main card is a lightweight bout between Rafael Fiziev and Mauricio Ruffy; a heavyweight bout that sees fan favorite Tai Tuivasa return against Tallison Teixeira; and a lightweight bout between Quillan Salkilld and Jamie Mullarkey kicks off the main card.

PRELIMS | 5 PM ET/2 PM PT

> Road to UFC 4 Bantamweight Final- Sulang Rangbo (10-3) vs. Lawrence Lui (7-1)

They trade before Lui scores a takedown and has the back of Rangbo and lands some knees. They get to their feet. They separate. Lui lands a combo. Rangbo lands some punches. Lui with a series of punches as Rangbo backs up. Rangbo then rocks Lui with some shots, and Lui lands an uppercut in return that briefly hurts Rangbo. Rangbo lands an uppercut as Lui looked to shoot. Rangbo lands a combination. Lui looks for a takedown and has the back as they go to their knees. They break and Rangbo lands a nice body kick. 10-9 Rangbo.

They trade left hooks. Rangbo lands an uppercut as Lui throws a combination. Lui shoots for a long takedown but Rangbo is able to escape. Lui lands a combination with a solid left hand. Lui looks for a takedown, but Rangbo defends and lands a right hand as they separate. Lui pressuring and lands a combo. Rangbo lands a quick combo. Lui has the back and drags the fight to the knees and lands some left hands. They get to their feet but Lui still has the body lock and lands some knees. They scramble and Rangbo lands a series of shots on the break. They trade to end the round. 10-9 Lui, 19-19.

Rangbo lands a right hand as they trade combinations. Rangbo lands a combination. They’re both landing punches as Lui is pressuring. Lui scores a takedown and is landing shots against the fence as he is controlling Rangbo. Lui with some knees. They get to their feet for a moment but Rangbo trips it back down. They scramble up but Lui has back control and is keeping Rangbo against the fence. They separate and both throw big punches to end. 10-9 Lui, 29-28 Lui.

Fight Result- Lawrence Lui def. Sulangrangbo by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

> Road to UFC 4 Featherweight Final- Keiichiro Nakamura (7-1) vs. Sebastian Szalay (10-1)

Nakamura lands a leg kick as Szalay lands a counter flurry of punches. Szalay lands a left hand and then backs Nakamura up with another. Nakamura lands a body kick. Szalay lands a spin kick. Nakamura lands a few leg kicks. Szalay with a combination to the body and lands a right hook as Nakamura tripped while circling. Nakamura lands a leg kick. Szalay lands a combination. Szalay with a combo to the head and body. Nakamura just landing kicks and not really a lot of them as Szalay is more active. Nakamura lands a leg kick. 10-9 Szalay.

They trade kicks and Szalay backs Nakamura up with a combo. They trade and Szalay drops Nakamura with a left hand but he is able to get right up. They trade leg kicks. Nakamura tries a spin kick, but Szalay grabs the leg and dumps him to the mat, though Nakamura gets right up. Szalay with some body shots but pokes Nakamura in the eye, so time out is called. It was actually a clash of heads and they continue. Szalay lands some punches and Nakamura lands a leg kick. Szalay lands a combo. They trade punches. Nakamura lands some late kicks. 10-9 Szalay, 20-18 Szalay.

They’re trading inside the first minute. Szalay lands a body kick. Nakamura is doing more pressuring as he’s working the jab more, and Szalay is backing up more this round. Szalay lands a combination to the body and then to the head. Szalay with more body shots followed by a solid right hand. Nakamura then lands a brutal knee that drops Szalay and some follow-up shots end it! What a finish by Nakamura!

Fight Result- Keiichiro Nakamura def. Sebastian Szalay by TKO (strikes) at 3:48 of Round 3

> Road to UFC 4 Lightweight Final- Sangwook Kim (13-3) vs. Dom Mar Fan (8-2)

Kim grabs a single leg right away and pushes it against the fence looking for the takedown. Fan tries to separate but Kim grabs the leg again. Kim gets Fan down and has the back. Fan is throwing back punches that aren’t doing a whole lot. Fan is able to escape and has the advantage as they get to the feet. They trade knees in the clinch and Kim lands body shots. Fan with a pair of elbows as he’s looking for a takedown. They’re both battling for a takedown as they go down for a moment, but stay clinched as they stand. Kim with a shot and Fan lands a knee to the body. Kim lands some body shots. Fan lands an elbow. Close round. 10-9 Fan.

They’re trading and Fan lands some shots that hurt Kim. Kim gets the body lock and presses it against the fence. They separate. They exchange jabs. Fan lands a body kick and Kim with a leg kick. Kim attacks the single leg and they go to the mat, but Fan ends up back on top. Fan takes the back as they stand, but Fan drags it back down. Fan keeps control as they scramble and lands an elbow as they break. Fan with some big punches but Kim is now landing some big shots. Fan lands a knee. 10-9 Fan, 20-18 Fan.

Kim immediately grabs the body lock and pushes it against the fence. Fan lands a knee and a pair of elbows as Kim lands to the body. They break apart and Fan works the jab. Fan landing more and Kim lands a groin strike, but Fan is ready to go. Fan then lands a kick to the groin of Kim and time out is called. They get back going and Kim lands a right hand. Fan with a combo and lands a head kick. They’re trading big shots in close range. Kim lands a right hand and then to the body before clinching. Fan lands an elbow on the break. Fan lands a left hand and they tie up. Kim lands to the body. They trade inside the pocket late. 10-9 Mar Fan, 30-27 Mar Fan.

Fight Result- Dom Mar Fan def. Sangwook Kim by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

> Featherweights- Kaan Ofli (12-4-1, 1-2 UFC) vs. Yizha (26-5, 1-2 UFC)

They both throw but are missing before Ofli gets the clinch. They scramble to the mat and continue to scramble as Ofli gets on top. Ofli gets inside the guard and lands a right hand. Ofli lands some more and they scramble up but remain clinched. They separate and Ofli rocks Yizha with a punch. Yizha recovers and they trade as Ofli is slowing down. Yizha lands a body kick and a right hand. Yizha lands a right hand that hurts Ofli. Close round. 10-9 Ofli.

Ofli lands a leg kick. Yizha drops Ofli with a left hook and starts landing from the top. Yizha attacks the back as they stand. They break and Yizha lands some more big punches and Ofli is backing up. Ofli looks for a takedown but Yizha defends. Yizha lands to the body. Yizha lands some knees and some elbows. Ofli lands a right hand. They trade leg kicks. Ofli lands and then Yizha lands some big body and head shots. Yizha lands a left hand and Ofli briefly goes down, but gets right up and they both land. Yizha lands a leg kick. 10-9 Yizha, 19-19.

Ofli lands a leg kick. Ofli with another stiff calf kick. Yizha lands to the body. Ofli lands a body kick. Yizha with a right hand to the body. Ofli shoots for a takedown against the fence but Yizha defends. They separate. Yizha catches a leg and lands a right hand. Both land combinations. Yizha lands a solid left hand. Yizha gets a brief takedown and has the back as they stand. They trade late. 10-9 Yizha, 29-28 Yizha.

Fight Result- Kaan Ofli def. Yizha by majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)

> Welterweights- Jonathan Micallef (8-1, 1-0 UFC) vs. Oban Elliott (12-3, 3-1 UFC)

Micallef throws a body kick but Elliott catches the leg and scores the takedown. Elliott is working inside the guard of Micallef, but Micallef is able to get to his feet. Elliott has clinch control against the fence. They separate. Elliott lands a right hand. Elliott lands a combination. Elliott lands and has brief clinch control. They separate and Micallef lands a right hand that puts Elliott on his knees, but he quickly stands. They trade inside the pocket. They clinch and Micallef lands a knee. Micallef has the back and lands some knees. They separate. Elliott lands a left hand and Micallef has a cut open around his eye. 10-9 Elliott.

Elliott lands a high kick. Micallef throws and Elliott lands some counter punches. Elliott lands a right hand. Micallef with a short uppercut. Micallef lands a jab but eats a stiff calf kick from Elliott. Micallef lands a right hand. Elliott lands a big combination before they clinch. Micallef gets the back and drags it down and has full back control. Micallef locks in a rear-naked choke. Elliott is trying to fight it off as he throws some punches. Micallef locks it in tighter and Elliott goes out cold! What a finish from Micallef!

Fight Result- Jonathan Micallef def. Oban Elliott by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:31 of Round 2

> Middleweights- Jacob Malkoun (8-3, 4-3 UFC) vs. Torrez Finney (11-0, 1-0 UFC)

Malkoun works the jab and looks for a takedown, but Finney defends it. Malkoun back to working the jab. Malkoun lands a right hand. Malkoun lands a combination ending with a right hand. Finney lands a quick left hook. Malkoun backs Finney up with a right hand. Malkoun hurts Finney some more with more punches. Malkoun lands an uppercut followed by a jab. Finney lands a left hook. Malkoun with a big combination against the fence. Malkoun continues to connect and hurt Finney. Malkoun throws Finney to the mat and starts landing big shots from the top. Malkoun looks for a guillotine choke. Finney fights it off and gets inside the guard of Malkoun. Finney with a big right hand from the top. 10-9 Malkoun.

Finney looks to be dealing with a knee injury. Malkoun works the jab and they trade big punches. Malkoun lands a combination. Finney lands a few big punches on Malkoun. Malkoun works the jab, landing a series of them. Malkoun continues to work the jab. Malkoun drops Finney with a big right hand. Finney is trying to scramble for a takedown but Malkoun lands some big shots from the top before taking the back. Malkoun lands some left hands from the back as Finney crawls to the fence. Malkoun with more left hands from the back. Malkoun is looking for a choke. He’s got a neck crank locked on. He lets go. They stand late. 10-9 Malkoun, 20-18 Malkoun.

Finney lands more to start the third, but Malkoun connects with a right hand. Malkoun works the jab. They clinch and Malkoun lands a right hand on the break. Malkoun lands a right hand. Malkoun goes back to the jab. Malkoun pushes Finney against the fence as they clinch. Malkoun just pressuring against the fence. They break apart and Malkoun lands some punches. Malkoun lands some big shots and gets Finney down to the mat. Finney gets up but Malkoun still has control and they go back down. 10-9 Malkoun, 30-27 Malkoun.

Fight Result- Jacob Malkoun def. Torrez Finney by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)

> Middleweights- Cam Rowston (13-3, 1-0 UFC) vs. Cody Brundage (11-7-1 1 NC, 5-6-1 1 NC UFC)

Rowston lands a leg kick. Brundage connects with a pair of left hands. Rowston lands a solid combination followed by a leg kick. Rowston lands a high kick. They trade leg kicks. Brundage lands a combination. Brundage with a left hook as Rowston was ducking. Brundage rushes forward and lands a left hand as they clinch against the fence. Rowston lands a knee as he reverses and lands some more knees in control. Brundage clips Rowston with a right hand and lands a pair of big punches that hurt Rowston for a moment. Rowston lands a calf kick. Rowston with another heavy calf kick. Rowston lands a low blow and time out is called. They get back going and Rowston lands a leg kick. He lands another. Rowston connects with a flush right hand. They trade. 10-9 Rowston.

Rowston pressuring forward and lands a front kick. Rowston connects with a right hand. Brundage rushes forward and lands some wild shots. Rowston with a big combo. Rowston has Brundage against the fence and lands. Rowston lands a knee as Brundage looks for a takedown. Rowston sprawls and lands some big punches. Rowston landing lots and lots of punches from the back and Brundage isn’t defending and it is stopped! Big finish from Rowston as he continues to impress.

Fight Result- Cam Rowston def. Cody Brundage by TKO (punches) at 4:08 of Round 2

> Light Heavyweights- Junior Tafa (6-4, 2-4 UFC) vs. Billy Elekana (9-2, 2-1 UFC)

Elekana lands a leg kick. Elekana with a body kick and Tafa lands a leg kick. Tafa drops Elekana with a right hand. Elekana starts scrambling for a leg and grabs the body lock as they stand. Tafa forces separation. Tafa with a leg kick. Elekana with a left hand. Elekana shoots for a takedown but Tafa defends it. Tafa lands a solid counter left hand. Elekana hurts Tafa with a jab. Elekana shoots for a takedown against the fence. They separate and Elekana stuns Tafa again with a jab. Tafa lands a left hand. Tafa lands a big right hand and some follow-up shots against the fence. Tafa lands a leg kick. Tafa lands to the body. Tafa lands some big shots at the end of the round but eats a counter from Elekana. 10-9 Tafa.

Tafa pressing forward and landing more to start the second. Tafa works the jab. Elekana works the jab as well as he’s avoiding and Tafa is slowing. Elekana hurts Tafa with a right hand. Tafa lands to the body. Elekana gets Tafa down to the mat and takes the back. Elekana locks in a rear-naked choke and Tafa pretty much immediately taps. Elekana gets the win.

Fight Result- Billy Elekana def. Junior Tafa by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:18 of Round 2

MAIN CARD | 9 PM ET/6 PM PT

> Lightweights- Quillan Salkilld (10-1, 3-0 UFC) vs. Jamie Mullarkey (18-8, 6-6 UFC)

Salkilld immediately goes for a takedown but Mullarkey is trying to defend it as he gives up his back. Salkilld lets go and lands some punches before they tie back up. Mullarkey scores a takedown but Salkilld quickly reverses to the feet. Salkilld with a leg kick. Mullarkey forces a clinch against the fence. Salkilld gets a big takedown into side control, then steps around to take the back. Salkilld looking for a rear-naked choke and has it locked in and Mullarkey taps! Another impressive win for Salkilld.

Fight Result- Quillan Salkilld def. Jamie Mullarkey by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:02 of Round 1

> Heavyweights- #12 Tai Tuivasa (14-8, 8-8 UFC) vs. #15 Tallison Teixeira (8-1, 1-1 UFC)

Tuivasa rushes forward and both swing before Teixeira scores a takedown. Teixeira landing big shots from the half-guard. They get to their feet as Teixeira still has body control. Teixeira trips Tuivasa back down and is in the full mount. Teixeira lands a pair of elbows. Teixeira still landing as Tuivasa is trying to escape. There is not a lot happening. Teixeira lands some punches and mixes in an elbow. They stand and Teixeira lands a knee on the way up. Tuivasa lands a right hand as they clinch. 10-9 Teixeira.

Both throwing kicks but none are connecting. Tuivasa lands a right hand and Teixeira lands a knee. Tuivasa lands an elbow and Teixeira with a knee followed by a body kick. Tuivasa with a pair of leg kicks. Tuivasa with another hard calf kick and lands a right hand. Teixeira lands a combination and scores a takedown. Tuivasa almost works his way up but Teixeira keeps him down. Teixeira gets the full mount. He takes the back and lands some punches. Teixeira gets back the full mount and lands. 10-9 Teixeira, 20-18 Teixeira.

Teixeira with some side kicks. Teixeira tries for a takedown but Tuivasa shakes him off. Teixeira is tired. Tuivasa clinches and lands a knee. He separates and Tuivasa lands some big punches that hurt Teixeira. Teixeira lands a right hand. Tuivasa lands a left hook then a big right hand. Teixeira gets a tie up. Both men are exhausted. Tuivasa lands an elbow. Tuivasa forces a clinch as both are tired. Tuivasa lands some big punches, mixing to the body. Tuivasa lands an elbow and a right hand and Teixeira shoots for a takedown, but Tuivasa sprawls to rest. Tuivasa lands some body shots. Tuivasa gets the back and lands a big shot but falls down and the fight ends. 10-9 Teixeira, 29-28 Teixeira.

Fight Result- Tallison Teixeira def. Tai Tuivasa by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

> Lightweights- #9 Rafael Fiziev (13-4, 7-4 UFC) vs. #14 Mauricio Ruffy (12-2, 3-1 UFC)

Both throwing and missing on kicks early. They trade leg kicks about a minute in. Fiziev lands a left hand. Ruffy lands a knee. Fiziev lands a hard calf kick. They briefly clinch and Fiziev lands a body kick after they separate. Ruffy lands a jab and Fiziev lands a left hand. Ruffy lands a head kick. Fiziev with a body kick. Ruffy works the jab. Ruffy lands a knee followed by a right hand as Fiziev lands a leg kick. Ruffy lands the jab and a leg kick. 10-9 Ruffy.

Fiziev lands a leg kick. Ruffy with a spin kick to the body. Fiziev lands a body kick. Ruffy works the jab. Ruffy lands a leg kick. Fiziev is still pressing forward and controlling the distance. Ruffy with a double jab. Ruffy lands a nice right hand. Fiziev tries a spin kick but almost falls as it misses. Ruffy with a leg kick. Fiziev with a solid body kick. Ruffy works the jab. Fiziev with a leg kick but Ruffy counters with a jab. Ruffy rocks Fiziev with a right hand and Fiziev goes down. Fiziev is trying to get Ruffy down but Ruffy gets on his back and lands. Fiziev stands and Ruffy lands more big shots as Fiziev goes back down and more punches from Ruffy ends it! A big finish from Ruffy to pick up the win.

Fight Result- Mauricio Ruffy def. Rafael Fiziev by TKO (punches) at 4:30 of Round 2

> Lightweights- #6 Dan Hooker (24-13, 14-9 UFC) vs. #8 Benoit Saint-Denis (16-3 1 NC, 8-3 UFC)

Saint-Denis lands a hard body kick. Hooker with a high kick. Saint-Denis looks for a takedown but Hooker grabs the neck, though Saint-Denis escapes. Hooker with a high kick and Saint-Denis grabs the leg, but lets go. Hooker with a body kick. He lands another. Saint-Denis lands a right hand. They tie up but break apart. Saint-Denis lands a left hand. They clinch and Hooker reverses and lands to the body. They separate. Hooker with a body kick then a head kick. They tie back up and scramble for underhooks. Hooker pushes Saint-Denis against the fence. Saint-Denis gets Hooker down and is in side control. Saint-Denis lands some elbows. Saint-Denis is working for an arm. Hooker scrambles and they get to their feet. Saint-Denis with a knee and an elbow as Hooker lands to the body. They are both throwing wild shots and Hooker connects before Saint-Denis gets a takedown. Saint-Denis lands from the top and lands some elbows. 10-9 Saint-Denis.

Saint-Denis goes for a takedown and Hooker looks for a guillotine choke, but they scramble up. Saint-Denis is still working for a takedown as Hooker tries to defend. Saint-Denis gets it down into mount and lands lots of elbows. Saint-Denis looks for an arm. Hooker with body shots from the bottom. Saint-Denis lands from the mount. Saint-Denis is looking for an arm-triangle choke. It is close to being in but Hooker is fighting it. Saint-Denis lets go but gets back into mount and is landing lots of shots. Hooker is busted open. Saint-Denis lands to the body. Saint-Denis with lots of elbows from the top. Saint-Denis with more big shots from the top. Tons of punches from Saint-Denis and Herb Dean steps in to stop it. Big win for Saint-Denis!

Fight Result- Benoit Saint-Denis def. Dan Hooker by TKO (punches) at 4:45 of Round 2

> UFC Featherweight Championship- C Alexander Volkanovski (27-4, 14-3 UFC) vs. #2 Diego Lopes (27-7, 6-2 UFC)

Lopes lands a leg kick. He lands another. Volkanovski lands a pair of leg kicks. Lopes lands another leg kick and connects with a right hand as Volkanovski shoots for a takedown. They trade kicks. Volkanovski lands a right hand and they exchange inside the pocket. Lopes with a leg kick. They trade kicks. Volkanovski shoots for a takedown and has the body lock against the fence. Volkanovski lands as they break. Lopes lands a body kick. 10-9 Volkanovski.

Volkanovski lands a leg kick. They trade kicks. Volkanovski with a jab and Lopes lands a solid leg kick. Volkanovski with a leg kick and Lopes fires one back. Lopes with a leg kick followed by a right hand. Volkanovski lands a jab. Lopes with a combo and a nice leg kick. Volkanovski lands a left hand as Lopes comes forward. Volkanovski lands a series of punches and Lopes lands on the end. Volkanovski with a big right hand. Volkanovski lands two more right hands and Lopes partially connects with a left hand. Volkanovski with another combo that lands. Lopes looks for a takedown but Volkanovski grabs the neck and jumps up for a guillotine choke. Lopes escapes and is inside the guard of Volkanovski. They stand and Lopes jumps up on the back as the round ends. 10-9 Volkanovski, 20-18 Volkanovski.

Lopes lands a combo. They’re both being more patient right now. Lopes lands a leg kick. Lopes with a combo and Volkanovski lands a jab. Volkanovski lands a right hand. Volkanovski with a right hand to the body. Lopes lands an elbow off a brief clinch and Volkanovski works the jab. Volkanovski lands a right hand and then hurts Lopes with another right hand. Volkanovski looking for a takedown but Lopes defends. Volkanovski with another right hand. Lopes lands a body kick. Volkanovski lands a right hand and Lopes lands to where Volkanovski goes to his knees for a brief second but he gets right up. Lopes with a knee. 10-9 Volkanovski, 30-27 Volkanovski.

Lopes lands a leg kick. Volkanovski lands a solid jab followed by a hard right hand. Volkanovski with a short right hook. Volkanovski lands a combo. Lopes with a body kick. Lopes with a pair of leg kicks. Volkanovski works the jab. Lopes with a leg kick and a right hand. Volkanovski lands a right hand. Time out is called after Volkanovski lands a groin strike. They get back to action and trade. Volkanovski lands a right hand. 10-9 Volkanovski, 40-36 Volkanovski.

Volkanovski working the jab. Volkanovski gets the takedown and Lopes grabs the neck. Lopes lands a knee as they stand. Volkanovski lands a jab that almost drops Lopes as they clinch. Volkanovski gets a takedown and has back control as they stand. Lopes reverses and gets a takedown and takes the back. Volkanovski rolls to his feet and has Lopes on his back. Volkanovski shakes him off and lands some elbows before reversing position. Volkanovski has the leg and Lopes looks for an arm as they go to the mat. Lopes looks for an armbar from the bottom. Volkanovski gets out and is on top. Volkanovski stands. 10-9 Volkanovski, 50-45 Volkanovski.

Fight Result- Alexander Volkanovski def. Diego Lopes by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45) to retain the UFC Featherweight Championship

State official: TKO is ‘very good at instilling fear’ due to WWE & UFC revenue

Posted on by Josh Nason

New reporting from The Guardian Wednesday has the estimated amount that Paramount Skydance is paying TKO for Zuffa Boxing broadcast rights in addition to some interesting quotes regarding the tactics of WWE and UFC’s parent company.

Longtime boxing writer Thomas Hauser delved into the emergence of the new Zuffa entity and the concerns around fighter pay that have been a part of the conversation around UFC for years.

In a passage regarding the controversial amendments around the Ali Act that TKO would like to put into place, Hauser wrote that several arenas like MSG and the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles support the amendments as do various officials with state athletic commissions.

“TKO and Zuffa play hardball,” one state regulator told the Guardian. “And they generate so much revenue from WWE and UFC that no one wants to cross them.”

“They’re very good at instilling fear,” another official said.

The article also goes into a Zuffa Boxing contract in full detail, a contract which reads very similar to UFC contracts with regard to fighter’s rights, fights they have to be offered every year and that process, merchandise rights, and more.

“Many of these rights, while not exclusive beyond the term of the contract, extend non-exclusively in perpetuity,” Hauser notes. WWE contracts were not mentioned.

From the article, Hauser stated that it’s believed TKO is getting $100 million per year for 12 boxing cards which is a wide gap from the the $1.1 billion UFC gets per year for its 40+ numbered events and Fight Night cards via their new seven year domestic rights deal.

Daily Update: WWE Raw, UFC & CMLL notes

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

*A look at Saturday Night’s Main Event, the interest level, the Royal Rumble and Rumble odds
*Big Bad Bobby Duncum, a look at the career of a worldwide headliner who worked on top with almost every major babyface of the 70s, including big WWF and AWA runs and Japanese major tournaments
*CMLL has a big business week with Bandido, Ricochet, Komander, Gates of Agony and Lee Moriarty.  A look at some of the best matches so far this year and the craziness that ruined could have been the best of all of them.
*A look at prior plans for 2025 PPV shows that changed
*A look at Netflix numbers over the past six months, as well as how every PPV in 2025 did and some surprises in that direction, as well as how Smackdown did internationally as well as NXT, and how shows that went head-to-head with AEW PPVs drew.
*Notes on the TNA ratings for the first show on AMC and what they tell us.
*TNA Genesis coverage
*2025 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards ballot
*More AEW stars to CMLL next week
*AAA TV taping notes
*Thoughts on the current AAA product and how it relates to Lucha Libre and WWE
*Stardom makes claim against Marigold
*Saya Kamitani returns early
*Notes about a mainstream model who became one of the first big stars in Stardom and women’s MVP
*Best tag team match of the year
*New Japan next major show lineup
*Eight promotions combine for a singles tournament
*The potential best actual wrestler in the world signs with RAF
*Feast or Fired thoughts
*More on AEW’s future with the WBD sale to Netflix
*Trey Miguel situation
*Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
*The most detailed look at the TV ratings over the past week
*UFC returns to action with first big show of 2026
*Top exec since the inception of  PFL leaves
*More notes regarding a lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE
*WWE headliner talks bowing out
*WWE and AEW injury updates
*Punk movie box office
*Talent coming and going from promotions
*TKO and WWE execs get millions this quarter

This issue covers the following topics:

  • The changes in the WrestleMania plans, the Drew McIntyre title win, Roman Reigns return and the whys.
  • WWE getting Will Hobbs while AEW signs a slew of new talent as well. A look at each case-by-case.
  • Notes on the big weekend coming to Mexico City
  • Kayla Harrison injury and what is the future for the biggest women’s fight in years
  • Win-loss records and total bouts for all top WWE/NXT talent in 2025
  • WWE Iron Man winner from 1984-2025
  • What cutting back on the schedule has taught us about injuries
  • Who gets protected in booking and who doesn’t
  • The problem with the current schedule and development of young talent
  • A star who has been around through various eras talks timing and injuries and best schedule
  • A look at TNA’s debut on AMC, what went right and wrong
  • When did wrestling start being a work. Studying of history shows it’s a lot earlier than you would think
  • Odds for WWE matches upcoming
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the pro wrestling shows this past week, as well as comparisons with the past and a look at the level of declines and why
  • What wrestler has already main evented 12 sold out shows in 2026
  • One woman wrestler announces retirement and another retires
  • Kazuchika Okada in Japan
  • Most watched New Japan World matches of 2025
  • Ted DiBiase Jr. on trial
  • Death of Rick Link, from fan clubs to main events
  • Jesse Ventura speaks about the current political environment
  • The greatest wrestler in the world signs with Eric Bischoff’s promotion
  • Tons of major independent shows coming
  • AEW gets TV in new market
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA events
  • Most viewed YouTube videos from AEW and WWE
  • Tag team returning to AEW
  • Dana White shuts down talk of major match
  • A new lawsuit filed against WWE
  • Notes on the recent WWE tryout
  • Notes on all the WWE arena shows this past week.

This Week’s Back Issue

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Monday Update

— Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw, weekend TV, as well the latest news with Wrestling Observer Radio.

— Raw tonight is in Toronto in the blizzard. It’s the go-home Raw for the Rumble so they should go hard on it on the show. Advertised is a Natalya promo on why she turned on Maxxine Dupri, Bron Breakker meets with Adam Pearce about his suspension, build for AJ Styles vs. Gunther and New Day vs. Creeds vs. Otis & Tozawa vs. Rayo & Bravo with the winners facing the Usos for the tag team titles. They had 14,800 tickets out as of today so it should be a big crowd even with the difficulties of people getting into town.

— Claudio Castagnoli returns to CMLL on Friday night at Arena Mexico to face Xelhua for the CMLL heavyweight title. Mansoor, Mason Madden and Johnny TV are also on that show.

— DJ Khaled will be in a Super Bowl commercial with a pro wrestling theme.

— The CMLL show tonight in Puebla has sold out with Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Atlantis Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. as the main event. That makes 15 Mistico sellouts this month.

— UFC did gigantic numbers as was indicated yesterday by the Google search volume. On Paramount, and this would be covering not just the U.S. but also all of Latin America, the main card averaged 4.96 million streaming views and peaked at 5.93 million, likely during the main event. There were 7.18 million devices who clicked in at some point during the show. Keep in mind this is not a U.S. number, but also not a worldwide number. If you go with 1.6 viewers per home, which is what UFC was doing for PPV prelims on television often, it would be 7.89 million viewers, but we don’t know what percentage was in the U.S. But this was an excellent number which may have been due to the novelty of a PPV card that doesn’t cost much to watch. We’ll see if they release numbers going forward, although we will going forward have a pretty good idea how these shows do. I’ve seen this mistakenly reported as the viewer number, and these are significantly lower figures than the viewer number, but also people comparing it to a U.S. TV number, and you can’t compare it to that at all.

— TNA Impact on Thursday did 171,000 viewers and an 0.03 in 18-49. Viewers were almost the same as last week due to a major increase in viewers per home. 18-49 dropped from 0.04 to 0.03.

— AEW Dynamite on Thursday did an 0.08 in 18-49 but we don’t have the viewer number. If it did 1.25 viewers per home it would be 480,000. At 1.30 it would be 500,000. At 1.35 it would be 518,000. Once again the 50-54 number was ridiculous at about 84,000, which is a ridiculous number if you’re doing that number of viewers and have so many congregated in that one age group, it’s suspicious to me, particularly when it’s every week. The show was 6th in the first hour and fifth in the second hour for the night.

— Although the most impressive numbers for the week would be the NXT growth on Tuesday covered in yesterday’s update.

— Lots of rumors Islam Makhachev vs. Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title at the 6/14 UFC White House show.

— Dustin Poirier, who retired last week, indicated being up for a fight with Justin Gaethje. Poirier beat Gaethje in 2018 and Gaethje beat Poirier in 2023. Both fights were memorable.

— Paul Levesque has a 2K26 video game cover.

— Eddie Kingston & Ortiz wrestle on Friday night in Brooklyn at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel for Outlaw Wrestling.

— Cody Fluffman of the Savannah Bananas will be in the Battle Riot for MLW on Thursday night in Kissimmee, FL. The Battle Riot match will air on YouTube on beIN Sports on 2/5.

— Mercedes Mone turned 34 today. Taylor Wilde turned 40. Other birthdays include Hall of Famer Emil Duske in 1909, Hall of Famer Gordon Solie in 1929, Hall of Famer Road Warrior Hawk in 1957 and non-Hall of Famer but California and Mexico star Raul Mata in 1947 (thanks to Tony Richards).

Daily Update: UFC & WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event fallout, Shinsuke Nakamura

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

*A look at Saturday Night’s Main Event, the interest level, the Royal Rumble and Rumble odds
*Big Bad Bobby Duncum, a look at the career of a worldwide headliner who worked on top with almost every major babyface of the 70s, including big WWF and AWA runs and Japanese major tournaments
*CMLL has a big business week with Bandido, Ricochet, Komander, Gates of Agony and Lee Moriarty.  A look at some of the best matches so far this year and the craziness that ruined could have been the best of all of them.
*A look at prior plans for 2025 PPV shows that changed
*A look at Netflix numbers over the past six months, as well as how every PPV in 2025 did and some surprises in that direction, as well as how Smackdown did internationally as well as NXT, and how shows that went head-to-head with AEW PPVs drew.
*Notes on the TNA ratings for the first show on AMC and what they tell us.
*TNA Genesis coverage
*2025 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards ballot
*More AEW stars to CMLL next week
*AAA TV taping notes
*Thoughts on the current AAA product and how it relates to Lucha Libre and WWE
*Stardom makes claim against Marigold
*Saya Kamitani returns early
*Notes about a mainstream model who became one of the first big stars in Stardom and women’s MVP
*Best tag team match of the year
*New Japan next major show lineup
*Eight promotions combine for a singles tournament
*The potential best actual wrestler in the world signs with RAF
*Feast or Fired thoughts
*More on AEW’s future with the WBD sale to Netflix
*Trey Miguel situation
*Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
*The most detailed look at the TV ratings over the past week
*UFC returns to action with first big show of 2026
*Top exec since the inception of  PFL leaves
*More notes regarding a lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE
*WWE headliner talks bowing out
*WWE and AEW injury updates
*Punk movie box office
*Talent coming and going from promotions
*TKO and WWE execs get millions this quarter

This issue covers the following topics:

  • The changes in the WrestleMania plans, the Drew McIntyre title win, Roman Reigns return and the whys.
  • WWE getting Will Hobbs while AEW signs a slew of new talent as well. A look at each case-by-case.
  • Notes on the big weekend coming to Mexico City
  • Kayla Harrison injury and what is the future for the biggest women’s fight in years
  • Win-loss records and total bouts for all top WWE/NXT talent in 2025
  • WWE Iron Man winner from 1984-2025
  • What cutting back on the schedule has taught us about injuries
  • Who gets protected in booking and who doesn’t
  • The problem with the current schedule and development of young talent
  • A star who has been around through various eras talks timing and injuries and best schedule
  • A look at TNA’s debut on AMC, what went right and wrong
  • When did wrestling start being a work. Studying of history shows it’s a lot earlier than you would think
  • Odds for WWE matches upcoming
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the pro wrestling shows this past week, as well as comparisons with the past and a look at the level of declines and why
  • What wrestler has already main evented 12 sold out shows in 2026
  • One woman wrestler announces retirement and another retires
  • Kazuchika Okada in Japan
  • Most watched New Japan World matches of 2025
  • Ted DiBiase Jr. on trial
  • Death of Rick Link, from fan clubs to main events
  • Jesse Ventura speaks about the current political environment
  • The greatest wrestler in the world signs with Eric Bischoff’s promotion
  • Tons of major independent shows coming
  • AEW gets TV in new market
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA events
  • Most viewed YouTube videos from AEW and WWE
  • Tag team returning to AEW
  • Dana White shuts down talk of major match
  • A new lawsuit filed against WWE
  • Notes on the recent WWE tryout
  • Notes on all the WWE arena shows this past week.

This Week’s Back Issue

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Sunday Update

— We did two shows over the weekend. Our Friday show talked about the news of the week, Rumble, Saturday Night’s Main Event, WWE Unreal, a look at how many people outside the U.S. watched the PPV shows in 2025 and the surprises. Last night we talked about the first UFC show on Paramount, WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event and the rest of the weekend news.

— Pretty much everyone stepped up last night with the SNME show in Montreal. Every match and the non-match with Cody Rhodes and Jacob Fatu delivered, particularly AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. The weather made travel difficult but everyone was there advertised. AEW and many independent shows last night were canceled, which is why AEW taped Collision on Wednesday instead of last night in Arlington, TX.

— Regarding the Shinsuke Nakamura Instagram post regarding AJ Styles and that he was retiring at the Royal Rumble, he later took that down. It was legit in the sense Styles did tell him he was finishing up at the Rumble. It wasn’t a planted story so they can say they fooled the Internet. That doesn’t mean they can’t change it but to do so Gunther would have to lose, and that was not the plan.

— There evidently was a ton of interest in UFC’s debut on Paramount last night. It did 2.5 million searches, the second most searched for topic of the weekend behind Alex Pretti. Saturday Nights’ Main Event was No. 21 with 100,000. UFC had seven of the top 100 searches with Paddy Pimblett leading.

— Regarding scoring from last night, in the Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett bout, there was no doubt Gaethje won. I had it 48-46 (10-8 round two) although scores varied ranging from 49-45 to 48-47. However Gaethje did a second eye poke that should have cost him a point since he’d been warned and followed up with some big punches after. It was an early fight of the year candidate. Not great on the skill side since Gaethje was just firing big punches, with some major misses, but he landed enough of them hard enough to win. Most wouldn’t have stayed standing. Pimblett did show a lot of durability.

— In Sean O’Malley vs. Song Yadong the judges had it 29-28 across the board with O’Malley getting rounds one and three on all scorecards. Media scores were 59 percent for O’Malley so it was a close fight.

— Most had Rose Namajunas over Natalia Silva. All three judges had rounds one and three for Silva. However, media scores were 74 percent for Namajunas. The winner was to get a shot at Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight title, but I could see that not happening since either looked like they should be getting a title fight coming out of this.

— Lilian Garcia will be the ring announcer on Raw tomorrow night. Alicia Taylor was unable to get into Toronto due to flight cancellations. Garcia was in Montreal for last night’s show so they had her go to Toronto to fill in.

— There was a very notable increase in viewers for NXT last Tuesday. While the overall number was about the same as usual (608,000 viewers and 0.08 in 18-49), it grew from 18,000 to 68,000 in 18-49 from the first half hour to the final half hour, which was the three-way women’s tag match with Sol Ruca & Zaria over Kendall Grey & Wren Sinclair. It also went from 68,000 to 156,000 in 18-49 over the same period. That is an extremely unusual level of growth.

— Last night’s fight with Michael Johnson vs. Alexander Hernandez was pulled from the UFC show. What happened was all of a sudden a ton of money was coming in on Johnson, the underdog. Evidently Hernandez was injured, the word got around from people who knew him and started betting on him to lose. The odds started falling which is the sign of either a fixed fight or people getting inside info and using it to lay a lot of money down in one direction. After the last time this happened and UFC didn’t call the fight, which in hindsight appeared to be fixed, Dana White said that they had gotten called from the gaming integrity service and they decided to pull the fight. There were gambling sites that had already pulled the fight by that time.

— CMLL had a big last two nights. Usually for Friday, and even more for Saturday, it takes a major show to sell out. Friday was just a normal Mistico & Mascara Dorada vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Averno and they drew 16,000 to Arena Mexico. Last night at Arena Coliseo, the sellout was Templario & Atlantis Jr. vs. Volador Jr.

— Juggalo Championship Wrestling announced a 4/17 show in Las Vegas at the Horseshoe Casino for StrangleMania. It will air on Triller on 4/24 at 7 pm with seven matches. The main event is Vampiro’s retirement match against PCO. Yes, he is going to Terry Funk’s record. Plus Rob Van Dam & Willie Mack & 2 Tuff Tony vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson & KENTA, a four-way for the JCW world title with Ken Anderson, Nic Nemeth, Matt Riddle and Kaleb Conley with James Storm as referee. Also appearing are John Layfield, The Rock & Roll Express, Vince Russo, EC3, Ninja Mack, George South, ICP and Mecha Wolf.

— They’ve been in talks with Layfield about becoming a full-time performer on their weekly television show. They are also repackaging EC3 as a full-timer with a new gimmick starting on the 2/27 show in Miami. Former ECW personality Joel Gertner will also become a regular and will manage a tag team. Former WCW announcer Scott Hudson will be coming in in maybe six weeks or so. Jonathan Coachman will also be a TV regular.

— Mayu Iwatani had her 15th anniversary show at the Marigold show yesterday at Korakuen Hall, beating Utami Hayashishita. Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane, who were the big three stars with Iwatani in Stardom for years, sent massive flowers to Iwatani at the show.

— Willow Nightingale has been added to the Pro Wrestling Eve show on 3/8 in London that Will Ospreay is part of putting together.

— 48 years ago today was the Superbowl of Wrestling, with NWA champion Harley Race vs. WWWF champion Superstar Billy Graham at the Orange Bowl in Miami. This clip from the WWE Vault off Championship Wrestling from Florida shows the press conference and highlights of the 60-minute match with the wet ring from a rainstorm. Graham told me about this, as it was one of the bigger matches of his career. It was not a fond memory as he was not a wrestler to go 60 and doing it in the rain made it worse. It was not the financial success expected because in those days everyone bought tickets the day of, and people didn’t want to go to an outdoor stadium in the rain.

— Nik Sobic, the Senior Vice President of Business Development, Partnerships and Video Games with AEW, has been let go. He had been with AEW since the start working in business, live events and on the video game.

— Mercedes Martinez appears for Progress Wrestling on 3/29 in London at the Electric Ballroom.

— The woman on Collision last night who took the selfie with Andrade was Sofia Sivan, who is an independent woman wrestler.

— Ian Douglass has written a new book called Highland Games and Hippodromes: Scottish Identity and Influence at the Dawn of the American Pro Wrestling Industry, about the early era of pro wrestling in the U.S. and Scotland. He focuses on Donald Dinnie (a super athlete at the time), Duncan C. Ross, Duncan McMillan and Dan McLeod, and how they shaped pro wrestling in the U.S. from 1870 to 1905. Drew McIntyre wrote the foreword.

— Roy Wayne Farris (Honky Tonk Man) turned 73 today. Rod Price turned 64. Stephanie Bellars, the former Gorgeous George with Randy Savage in WCW, turned 50. Michelle McCool turned 46. Stu Grayton turned 37. Willow Nightingale turned 32. Jay Briscoe was born 42 years ago today. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Georgiann Makropolous, who was well known inside wrestling for doing newsletters and was someone many, including myself, considered a close friend, died 16 years ago today at the age of 67. She helped so many wrestlers out with bookings and connections and asked for no money for her work. She was the President of both the Bruno Sammartino Fan Club in the 60s (the biggest in the country) and the Buddy Rogers Fan Club, which tells you something because they hated each other.

— The University of Nebraska set its home college wrestling attendance record last night in their meet against Iowa at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. They drew 7,891 fans, breaking the record of 7,094 set earlier this season against Oklahoma State.

— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling sold out more than a week in advance in Newark, CA for the annual January Battle Royal and Roy Shire trophy. The Cow Palace Battle Royal was the biggest show of the year in Northern California during the 70s and led to the creation of the Royal Rumble by Pat Patterson, also held annually in late January. CJ Cleary won the Battle Royal. Other results saw Ricochet b Starboy Charlie in what I was told was a fantastic match, Cleary b Alan Angels, Gates of Agony b Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito (why is this guy not signed anywhere?), Aaron Solo & Chase Emery b Big Fonz & Marcus Lewis, Los Suavecitos b Hard Boy Summer, VertVixen b Brittniue Brooks. The next show is 3/20. They are also running Las Vegas on 4/17 over WrestleMania week. (thanks to Jim Davis)

April 21, 2008 Observer Newsletter: Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle tear it up at TNA Lockdown

Posted on by F4W Staff

Image: TNA Wrestling

For this week’s new Wrestling Observer Newsletter that has been added to the archives, Dave Meltzer leads off with TNA “figuring it out” and the legend of the match at April 2008’s TNA Lockdown between Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle.

Releases were brewing at UFC and business for EliteXC were looking bad which Dave delved into.

Dave also had a ton of results, a look at the attempted comeback of the All Japan Champion Carnival after a bad 2007 edition, news and more.

Oh, there was also the debut of the Yamma Pit Fighting Championships.

Click here to read.

UFC 324 live results: Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett

Posted on by Ryan Frederick

A new era begins for the UFC this weekend as Paramount+ takes over as the UFC’s media partner for at least the next seven years, and it all kicks off with UFC 324 taking place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The main event sees an interim title in the lightweight division on the line as Justin Gaethje takes on Paddy Pimblett. This fight was put together after current UFC Lightweight Champion Ilia Topuria announced he was taking a break from fighting due to personal issues, though he is expected to return within the next few months, likely to face the winner of this bout.

Gaethje is coming off a win in his last fight, while Pimblett is undefeated during his UFC tenure, and on a nine-fight win streak overall.

In the co-main event, former UFC Bantamweight Champion Sean O’Malley looks to get back into the win column against Song Yadong. Also on the main card is a heavyweight slugfest between Waldo Cortes-Acosta and fan favorite Derrick Lewis; a women’s flyweight fight with title shot implications as Natalia Silva battles Rose Namajunas; and a featherweight bout pitting Arnold Allen against Jean Silva.

PRELIMS | 6 PM ET/3 PM PT

> Welterweights- Adam Fugitt (10-5, 2-3 UFC) vs. Ty Miller (6-0 1 NC, 0-0 UFC)

Miller lands a right hand. Fugitt throws a high kick that Miller blocks. Miller is connecting with right hands as one gets through. Fugitt lands a body kick, and then lands another one. They trade inside the pocket as Fugitt lands a pair of body kicks. Miller lands a solid straight right hand. They trade in close range as Miller connects with a flush right hand. Fugitt with a high kick as Miller connects. Miller lands a big combination. Miller lands a solid right hand. They trade inside the pocket and both are bloody. Miller drops Fugitt with a clean right hand and lands from the top, landing an elbow as Fugitt stands. Miller lands two more big right hands. Miller teeing off and drops Fugitt to a knee with a right hand and continues to land and gets the finish at the buzzer! What a finish from Miller!

Fight Result- Ty Miller def. Adam Fugitt by TKO (punches) at 4:59 of Round 1

> Heavyweights- Josh Hokit (7-0, 1-0 UFC) vs. Denzel Freeman (7-1, 1-0 UFC)

Hokit shoots for a takedown right away and is able to get it. Hokit gets the back and has body control as Freeman is attempting to escape to his feet. Hokit with a knee to the thigh of Freeman. They get to their feet as Hokit maintains body control. They break apart. Hokit lands a series of punches with a knee to the body mixed in. Hokit lands a series of uppercuts and Freeman goes to his knees. Hokit with more punches as he looks for neck control. Hokit lands punches from the back. Hokit lands more punches as he spanks Freeman, but they stand. Hokit lands against the fence and Freeman goes for a takedown, but Hokit rolls through to the feet. Hokit lands some punches and Freeman falls down. Hokit with a knee to the body and some more punches as they stand. Freeman runs away and falls to a knee and Mark Smith steps in and stops the fight. A weird finish, but Hokit picks up the win.

Fight Result- Josh Hokit def. Denzel Freeman by TKO (punches) at 4:59 of Round 1

> Flyweights*- #11 Alex Perez (25-10, 7-6 UFC) vs. #13 Charles Johnson (18-7, 7-5 UFC)

*Perez missed weight by 2.5 pounds

They trade to start off as Perez lands a combination. They trade leg kicks. Perez rushes in with a combination, and Johnson lands a body kick. Perez drops Johnson with a left hand and starts landing from the top. Johnson gets to his feet and Perez continues to connect as Johnson is wobbly on his feet. Perez lands a knee and continues to land. Johnson is circling away to survive. Perez lands some more big punches. Johnson looks for a takedown but Perez sprawls and lands more punches as they stand. Perez lands a combo against the fence. Johnson with a pair of body kicks. Perez lands a left hook and Johnson falls face first to the mat and it is stopped! Big finish from Perez, though he did miss weight.

Fight Result- Alex Perez def. Charles Johnson by TKO (punches) at 3:16 of Round 1

> Light Heavyweights- #13 Nikita Krylov (30-11, 11-9 UFC) vs. Modestas Bukauskas (19-6, 7-4 UFC)

Krylov lands a pair of kicks. Bukauskas connects with a right hand. Bukauskas with a combination and lands a right hand afterwards. Krylov shoots for a takedown and pushes Bukauskas against the fence. Krylov still working for a takedown against the fence but not much is happening. Krylov lands a right hand and a high kick as they separate. Krylov with a pair of low kicks. Bukauskas lands a right hand as Krylov lands a leg kick. They trade as Krylov comes forward. Both land and Krylov briefly hurts Bukauskas with a punch. 10-9 Krylov.

Krylov with a leg kick as Bukauskas lands a combination. They trade in close range, and then Bukauskas lands a right hand. They both land as both throw big shots in close range. They tie up and Krylov pushes it to the fence and lands a knee. They end up separating after not a lot of action. Krylov lands a right hand. Bukauskas with a heavy leg kick. Bukauskas lands a combo but Krylov lands a counter right hand. Krylov lands a body kick. Bukauskas with a right hand. They trade late. 10-9 Krylov, 20-18 Krylov.

Bukauskas with a left hand as Krylov throws some front kicks. Krylov connects with a big left hand. Bukauskas lands a left hand. They trade but both are staying out of the range of one another. They trade punches and Bukauskas lands a leg kick. They trade as they nearly clinch up. Krylov with a leg kick as they exchange left hooks. Krylov lands a jab and Bukauskas lands an overhand right. Bukauskas lands a right hand. Krylov drops Bukauskas late with a right hand and lands from the top to get the finish seconds before the fight ends.

Fight Result- Nikita Krylov def. Modestas Bukauskas by knockout (punch) at 4:57 of Round 3

> Middleweights- Ateba Gautier (9-1, 3-0 UFC) vs. Andrey Pulyaev (10-3, 1-1 UFC)

Gautier drops Pulyaev with the first right hand he lands. He lets Pulyaev up and then lands some big punches. Pulyaev lands a body kick and slips, but then Gautier lands as Pulyaev stands. Pulyaev lands a body kick. Pulyaev lands a left hand but Gautier lands a right hand moments later. Gautier lands a right hand. Pulyaev with a left hand. Pulyaev lands some kicks. Pulyaev with a left hand. Pulyaev with a body kick. Pulyaev with a pair of body kicks. 10-9 Gautier.

Gautier is slowing down as the second starts. Pulyaev lands a left hand and a body kick. Pulyaev with another body kick. Pulyaev lands some more kicks as Gautier is looking like he’s just trying to load up on a right hand. Gautier lands a right hand and Pulyaev backs up and falls briefly, but he gets right up. Pulyaev lands a body kick. Gautier with a big right hand. Gautier drops Pulyaev with a right hand and starts landing punches and knees against the fence. Pulyaev looks to have recovered. The pace has slowed. Pulyaev with a short leg kick. Pulyaev lands a high kick. 10-9 Gautier, 20-18 Gautier.

Pulyaev lands a high kick. Gautier lands a right hand. Pulyaev with a body kick. The pace is very slow as Pulyaev lands a left hand and a leg kick. Pulyaev with a high kick. Gautier with a high kick. Pulyaev with a body kick. Gautier with a left hand. Pulyaev lands a body kick followed by a jab. Pulyaev with another stiff body kick. 10-9 Pulyaev, 29-28 Gautier.

Fight Result- Ateba Gautier def. Andrey Pulyaev by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

> Bantamweights*- #2 Umar Nurmagomedov (19-1, 7-1 UFC) vs. #6 Deiveson Figueiredo (25-5-1, 14-5-1 UFC)

*Figueiredo missed weight by 2.5 pounds

Nurmagomedov lands a leg kick. He lands another. Nurmagomedov with a front kick to the body that backs Figueiredo up. Figueiredo lands a leg kick. Nurmagomedov lands to the body as they clinch up. They separate as Nurmagomedov lands an uppercut. Nurmagomedov with a high kick. Nurmagomedov shoots for a takedown and briefly had it, but Figueredo had neck control and they break apart. Nurmagomedov grabs the body and gets a trip takedown. Nurmagomedov working from the half-guard. Nurmagomedov lands to the body and then to the head. Nurmagomedov with more punches from the top. 10-9 Nurmagomedov.

Nurmagomedov landing kicks and punches to keep Figueiredo at a distance early in the second. Nurmagomedov looks for a takedown, but Figueiredo defends. Nurmagomedov lands a body kick. Figueiredo looks for a takedown, but Nurmagomedov defends. Nurmagomedov with a high kick. They both land right hands in close range, and then Nurmagomedov lands a body kick. Nurmagomedov lands a combo before they clinch up. Figueiredo defends and they both start landing as the round winds down. Figueiredo lands a right hand. Nurmagomedov with a left hand. 10-9 Nurmagomedov, 20-18 Nurmagomedov.

Nurmagomedov lands a body kick. Nurmagomedov is pressing forward and controlling as Figueiredo has thrown no offense in the first 90 seconds of the round. Nurmagomedov gets a takedown and is working from inside the guard of Figueiredo. Nurmagomedov lands some punches and moves to side control, but Figueiredo gets him back inside his full guard. Nurmagomedov transitions and lands from the top. 10-9 Nurmagomedov, 30-27 Nurmagomedov.

Fight Result- Umar Nurmagomedov def. Deiveson Figueiredo by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

MAIN CARD | 9 PM ET/6 PM PT

> Featherweights- #6 Arnold Allen (20-3, 11-2 UFC) vs. #10 Jean Silva (16-3, 5-1 UFC)

Allen lands a pair of kicks. Silva lands to the body. Allen lands a left hand. He lands another left hand. Silva with a right hand to the body as Allen lands a high kick, and they then exchange kicks. Allen with a straight left hand to the body. Silva lands a combination. Allen with a body kick. Silva lands a right hand as Allen is working the jab and lands a left hand. Silva lands a right hook to the body followed by a left hand. Allen lands a left hand but Silva ends the round with a big flurry. 10-9 Silva.

Silva lands a high kick. Silva with an inside leg kick. Silva with another high kick. Silva lands a flurry and gets a brief takedown, but they get up and Allen lands several punches. Silva lands an elbow before they break to the center. Allen lands a left hand, and Silva lands an uppercut. Silva with two right hands, one to the body and one to the head. Allen with a high kick followed by a flying knee. Silva lands a solid combination. They tie up and Allen lands a big knee. Silva lands a right hand as Allen lands a spinning attack. Silva with a series of leg kicks. Allen lands a right hand after blocking a head kick. Silva with a spinning elbow. Allen lands a head kick. 10-9 Allen, 19-19.

They trade short leg kicks. Silva with a high kick. Silva with a body kick, then mixes a combo to the body and head. Silva with a series of right hands. Allen grabs the back as they move to the fence. Allen controls, but Silva is able to keep it on the feet and force a separation. Silva looked for a single leg as he initiates a clinch and lands a pair of elbows. Silva moves to the back and gets a brief takedown. Allen lands a body kick on the feet. Silva with a combo and Allen lands a knee to the body. Allen with a high kick. Silva lands a high kick. Silva lands a head kick then a right hand and then another head kick. 10-9 Silva, 29-28 Silva.

Fight Result- Jean Silva def. Arnold Allen by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

> Women’s Flyweights- #2 Natalia Silva (19-5-1, 7-0 UFC) vs. #6 Rose Namajunas (14-7, 12-6 UFC)

Namajunas lands a leg kick. She lands another. Silva hasn’t landed anything in the first 90 seconds. They trade jabs. Namajunas lands a leg kick as Silva lands a combo. Silva with a right hand. Namajunas lands a leg kick. Namajunas lands a right hand as Silva throws a high kick. Namajunas with a leg kick. Namajunas lands a combination as Silva lands a leg kick. Namajunas with a high kick and lands a spinning back fist. They trade leg kicks. 10-9 Namajunas.

Namajunas lands a leg kick. Namajunas with a jab as Silva throws but misses. Silva lands a leg kick as Namajunas lands a right hand. Silva lands a high body kick. They trade inside the pocket. Namajunas lands a right hand. Silva lands a right hand. They clinch and Silva looks for a trip, but Namajunas stays on her feet as they go to the fence. They briefly scramble to the mat, and Namajunas has control as they stand and are at the fence. Namajunas is able to score a takedown and gets inside the guard of Silva. Namajunas controlling from the top as Silva tries to find an opening. 10-9 Namajunas, 20-18 Namajunas.

Namajunas lands a leg kick as Silva lands a combination. Silva starting to land more punches. Silva with an inside leg kick. Namajunas lands a left hook after faking a takedown attempt. Silva lands a combination. Silva with some leg kicks and a spin kick to the body. Namajunas lands a front kick. Silva lands a high kick. They trade kicks. Silva with a high side kick. They trade inside the pocket. Silva with a side kick to the leg. Silva scores a takedown and is in the half-guard of Namajunas. They get up and both land late in the round. 10-9 Silva, 29-28 Namajunas.

Fight Result- Natalia Silva def. Rose Namajunas by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

> Heavyweights- #5 Waldo Cortes-Acosta (16-2, 9-2 UFC) vs. #8 Derrick Lewis (29-12 1 NC, 20-10 UFC)

Lewis lands a body kick. Cortes-Acosta lands a leg kick. Lewis lands a high kick. Lewis lands another high kick as Cortes-Acosta is just moving forward but doing nothing on offense. Cortes-Acosta works the jab. Cortes-Acosta lands a leg kick. Cortes-Acosta lands a right hand. Cortes-Acosta catches a Lewis leg kick and scores a takedown, but lets Lewis back to his feet. 10-9 Cortes-Acosta.

Cortes-Acosta lands a right hand as Lewis was coming forward. Cortes-Acosta works the jab. Lewis with a right hand. Cortes-Acosta lands a left hook. Lewis with a left hook. Lewis lands a right hand. Cortes-Acosta lands a shot and Lewis goes down. Cortes-Acosta starts landing big punches and elbows from the top and it is stopped! Big finish from Cortes-Acosta.

Fight Result- Waldo Cortes-Acosta def. Derrick Lewis by TKO (punches) at 3:14 of Round 2

> Bantamweights- #3 Sean O’Malley (18-3 1 NC, 10-3 1 NC UFC) vs. #5 Song Yadong (22-8-1 1 NC, 11-3-1 UFC)

Yadong lands a leg kick right away. O’Malley with a body kick and they trade leg kicks. They trade kicks as O’Malley lands a left hand. O’Malley with another left hand. Yadong lands a quick combo and O’Malley counters with a spin kick to the body. O’Malley works the jab. Yadong with a lunging left hand that partially lands. O’Malley with a front kick and Yadong lands a leg kick. They continue to trade kicks often. Yadong with a heavy leg kick before he scores a takedown. O’Malley attacks for a guillotine choke but Yadong is able to get his head free. Yadong lands to the body from the top to end the round. 10-9 O’Malley.

Yadong lands a leg kick. O’Malley with a body kick as Yadong lands a right hand. O’Malley lands a body kick. Yadong with a leg kick. Yadong looks for a takedown as he grabs a leg and they scramble down for a moment before standing. Yadong has back control as O’Malley lands back elbows. Yadong gets it down as O’Malley attacks for a guillotine choke, but Yadong escapes and is inside the guard of O’Malley. They scramble to their feet. 10-9 Yadong, 19-19.

O’Malley lands to the body as Yadong lands a calf kick. Yadong lands another leg kick as O’Malley lands a pair of left hands. Yadong lands a combo. O’Malley with a front kick. They trade jabs. Yadong shoots for a takedown but O’Malley easily defends it. O’Malley works the jab. O’Malley lands a body kick, and both land right hands, with O’Malley landing with more power. O’Malley lands a kick as Yadong is throwing punches. Yadong shoots for a takedown, but O’Malley defends and lands a right hand followed by a nice knee. Yadong is bleeding. O’Malley with a left hand and follows with a right hand. O’Malley lands a right hand and a high kick. Close fight. 10-9 O’Malley, 29-28 O’Malley.

Fight Result- Sean O’Malley def. Song Yadong by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

> Interim UFC Lightweight Championship- #4 Justin Gaethje (26-5, 9-5 UFC) vs. #5 Paddy Pimblett (23-3, 7-0 UFC)

Pimblett lands a right hand. He lands a body kick. Pimblett with a leg kick. He lands another. He lands a left hand but Gaethje lands a counter right hand. Pimblett with a solid right hand followed by a leg kick. Pimblett lands a combo with a knee and lands some more, but Gaethje counters back with some right hands. Gaethje lands a right hand and Pimblett goes down. Gaethje starts landing as he grabs the neck. He backs off and lets Pimblett stand. Pimblett lands an uppercut. Pimblett lands a leg kick. He lands a body kick followed by a left hand. Pimblett lands a small flurry. Gaethje grabs the body against the fence. They break apart. Pimblett lands a calf kick. He lands an uppercut. Pimblett lands another uppercut and Gaethje lands a right hand. Time out is called for an eye poke by Gaethje. They get back going and Pimblett lands some leg kicks. They start teeing off against the fence. Pimblett lands an elbow as they clinch, and also some knees as they break apart. 10-9 Gaethje.

Pimblett lands a left hook and a leg kick. Gaethje lands against the fence and grabs the neck as they go to the mat. Pimblett escapes and they stand. Gaethje lands a stiff jab. Pimblett lands a body kick and stumbles. Gaethje lands a knee as they clinch and both are swinging. Pimblett with an uppercut, but Gaethje fires back with a big combination. They tie up and Pimblett with a knee to the body. They trade knees but separate. Pimblett with some more knees to the body. Gaethje lands a right hand and grabs the front headlock, dragging Pimblett to the mat. They start to scramble and Gaethje hurts Pimblett with a knee, but they both stand. Gaethje lands a right hand and Pimblett goes to his butt. Gaethje lands from the top, mixing elbows and punches. Gaethje jumps back on top and lands big shots to end the round. 10-9 Gaethje, 20-18 Gaethje.

Pimblett works the jab. He lands another followed by a leg kick and a right hand. Gaethje starts to land but Pimblett continues to work the jab and is doing better on offense here. Pimblett lands a body kick then a high kick. Gaethje lands a leg kick. Gaethje with an overhand right. Pimblett lands a body kick. They trade leg kicks. They both land a left hand at the same time. Pimblett comes forward but eats a right hand from Gaethje. Pimblett lands an uppercut and Gaethje lands a leg kick. Time out is called after a groin strike by Pimblett. They get back going and Pimblett is landing more as Gaethje lands a solid jab. Pimblett with some leg kicks. Gaethje lands a flush right hand. They trade jabs. 10-9 Pimblett, 29-28 Gaethje.

They trade big shots and Gaethje hurts Pimblett with a right hand. Gaethje lands a left hook as Pimblett shoots for a takedown. Gaethje has the neck but Pimblett escapes and they stand. Gaethje pushes Pimblett against the fence but they separate. Gaethje lands a big right hand. Gaethje hurts Pimblett with some big punches but Pimblett recovers. Gaethje lands a leg kick. They tie up and Gaethje with some knees and an elbow. Gaethje with an uppercut. They break apart and trade jabs. Pimblett lands a nice sequence but eats a jab from Gaethje. Pimblett lands a right hand. Pimblett with a pair of high kicks. Pimblett lands a combo as they scramble down late and Gaethje lands. 10-9 Gaethje, 39-37 Gaethje.

They trade and Pimblett hurts Gaethje with some shots. Gaethje recovers and lands a huge right hand. They tie up against the fence and Gaethje lands to the body and a right hand as they break. Gaethje with a leg kick. Gaethje lands a jab. Pimblett with an uppercut. Pimblett lands a combo. Pimblett with an uppercut in the clinch. Pimblett shoots for a takedown, but Gaethje defends it. Pimblett pushes it to the fence and lands some knees. They separate and Gaethje lands a big right hand. Pimblett lands a combination. They trade right hands. Pimblett lands a big flurry and Gaethje forces a clinch. Pimblett lands to the body and lands a small flurry on a brief break. Gaethje with a right hand in the clinch. They break apart. They both swing late. 10-9 Pimblett, 48-47 Gaethje.

Fight Result- Justin Gaethje def. Paddy Pimblett by unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46) to win the Interim UFC Lightweight Championship

Daily Update: WWE SmackDown, UFC, Ted DiBiase Jr.

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

*A look at Saturday Night’s Main Event, the interest level, the Royal Rumble and Rumble odds
*Big Bad Bobby Duncum, a look at the career of a worldwide headliner who worked on top with almost every major babyface of the 70s, including big WWF and AWA runs and Japanese major tournaments
*CMLL has a big business week with Bandido, Ricochet, Komander, Gates of Agony and Lee Moriarty.  A look at some of the best matches so far this year and the craziness that ruined could have been the best of all of them.
*A look at prior plans for 2025 PPV shows that changed
*A look at Netflix numbers over the past six months, as well as how every PPV in 2025 did and some surprises in that direction, as well as how Smackdown did internationally as well as NXT, and how shows that went head-to-head with AEW PPVs drew.
*Notes on the TNA ratings for the first show on AMC and what they tell us.
*TNA Genesis coverage
*2025 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards ballot
*More AEW stars to CMLL next week
*AAA TV taping notes
*Thoughts on the current AAA product and how it relates to Lucha Libre and WWE
*Stardom makes claim against Marigold
*Saya Kamitani returns early
*Notes about a mainstream model who became one of the first big stars in Stardom and women’s MVP
*Best tag team match of the year
*New Japan next major show lineup
*Eight promotions combine for a singles tournament
*The potential best actual wrestler in the world signs with RAF
*Feast or Fired thoughts
*More on AEW’s future with the WBD sale to Netflix
*Trey Miguel situation
*Ticket sales for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
*The most detailed look at the TV ratings over the past week
*UFC returns to action with first big show of 2026
*Top exec since the inception of  PFL leaves
*More notes regarding a lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE
*WWE headliner talks bowing out
*WWE and AEW injury updates
*Punk movie box office
*Talent coming and going from promotions
*TKO and WWE execs get millions this quarter

This issue covers the following topics:

  • The changes in the WrestleMania plans, the Drew McIntyre title win, Roman Reigns return and the whys.
  • WWE getting Will Hobbs while AEW signs a slew of new talent as well. A look at each case-by-case.
  • Notes on the big weekend coming to Mexico City
  • Kayla Harrison injury and what is the future for the biggest women’s fight in years
  • Win-loss records and total bouts for all top WWE/NXT talent in 2025
  • WWE Iron Man winner from 1984-2025
  • What cutting back on the schedule has taught us about injuries
  • Who gets protected in booking and who doesn’t
  • The problem with the current schedule and development of young talent
  • A star who has been around through various eras talks timing and injuries and best schedule
  • A look at TNA’s debut on AMC, what went right and wrong
  • When did wrestling start being a work. Studying of history shows it’s a lot earlier than you would think
  • Odds for WWE matches upcoming
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of all the pro wrestling shows this past week, as well as comparisons with the past and a look at the level of declines and why
  • What wrestler has already main evented 12 sold out shows in 2026
  • One woman wrestler announces retirement and another retires
  • Kazuchika Okada in Japan
  • Most watched New Japan World matches of 2025
  • Ted DiBiase Jr. on trial
  • Death of Rick Link, from fan clubs to main events
  • Jesse Ventura speaks about the current political environment
  • The greatest wrestler in the world signs with Eric Bischoff’s promotion
  • Tons of major independent shows coming
  • AEW gets TV in new market
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA events
  • Most viewed YouTube videos from AEW and WWE
  • Tag team returning to AEW
  • Dana White shuts down talk of major match
  • A new lawsuit filed against WWE
  • Notes on the recent WWE tryout
  • Notes on all the WWE arena shows this past week.

This Week’s Back Issue

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Friday Update

— I will be doing a show today with Garrett Gonzales covering the news of the week and will be back on Saturday night covering Saturday Night’s Main Event, UFC 324 Collision and other weekend news.

— SmackDown is tonight in Montreal and had 8,000 tickets out as of yesterday. The show features Damian Priest vs. Trick Williams, Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax & Lash Legend vs. Giulia & Kiana James with the winners facing Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky for the tag titles, Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy defend the tag titles against two members of the MFTs, Jade Cargill defends the women’s title against Chelsea Green, AJ Styles is on the show and Carnelo Hayes will have an open challenge. With only three matches scheduled for SNME tomorrow night, I would expect a fourth match to be made tonight.

— It appears Royce Keys will be the name for Powerhouse Hobbs in WWE. At least they could have called him Rickson.

–Smackdown did 968,000 viewers for the show last Friday. We had all the demo info and comparisons in the Observer but not the total viewer number. Friday’s show using the old panel data did 1,203,000 viewers and an 0.29 in 18-49 while the new method was 968,000 and 0.21, or 24 percent higher in viewers and 38 percent higher in 18-49. These are not minor differences. (thanks to Wrestlenomics)

— At press time we still don’t have the Tuesday NXT number. I would expect that number and the Wednesday AEW numbers to be out today.

— Daniel Cormier and Justin Gaethje had a talk about fighter pay when Gaethje went to Cormier who was saying with the new UFC rights deal that everyone is making more than they did and Gaethje said he’s making the same. Gaethje asked why you would say that when you have no idea. Cormier said that he knows. Gaethje said he was fighting for the same money as pre-deal and Cormier said “I never said everybody.”

— The first UFC show of the year is tomorrow night in Las Vegas. Dana White was talking that the show will have an $11 million gate. The show on Paramount+ starts at 5 p.m:

  • Adam Fugitt (171) vs. Ty Miller (170)
  • Josh Hokit (234.5) vs. Denzel Freeman (257.5)
  • Michael Johnson (156) vs. Alexander Hernandez (155.5)
  • Alex Perez (128.5) vs. Charles Johnson (126) – Perez missed weight by 2.5 and was fined 20 percent of his purse
  • Nikita Krylov (205.5) vs. Modestas Bukauskas (204)
  • Ateba Gautier (186) vs. Andrey Pulyaev (186)
  • Deiveson Figueiredo (138.5) vs Umar Nurmagomedov (136) – Figueiredo missed weight by 2.5 pounds and was fined 20 percent of his purse
  • Arnold Allen (145.5) vs. Jean Silva (146)
  • Natallia Silva (126) vs. Rose Namajunas (125.5)
  • Waldo Cortes-Acosta (262) vs. Derrick Lewis (263.5)
  • Sean O’Malley (135.5) vs. Song Yadong (136)
  • Justin Gaethje (155) vs. Paddy Pimblett (154) for the interim lightweight title

There was a very bad situation earlier today at the weigh-ins. Cameron Smotherman, who was to face Ricky Turcios, weighed in at 135.5. He seemed fine, got off the scale, was walking away and just collapsed. The fight has been canceled.

— The Toronto Raptors NBA team announced WWE Night on 2/4 in their game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Fans will get a WWE/Raptors wrestling mask.

— NWA champion Thrillbilly Silas Mason and 80s headliner Tommy Rich will be on Memphis Wrestling tomorrow. Rich, who grew up in Hendersonville, TN, was a star on the Jarrett circuit before he became a national star on Georgia Championship Wrestling in the late 70s and into the 80s.

— The reason Ted DiBiase Jr. is asking for a mistrial in his misappropriation of funds case is because he said attorney Scott Gilbert, who heads his defense, is dealing with a sudden medical issue that has left him incapacitated and would be unable to finish the trial. He said he’s had Gilbert representing him since 2020 in this case.

— The Skyscraper climb on Netflix that the service has heavily promoted for weeks starts tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern. Seth Rollins will be a guest on the show.

— Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling show for tomorrow night has been canceled due to the weather. The weather is expected to be so bad that Tony Khan made the call Wednesday to cancel taping in Arlington, TX and they taped Collision instead in Orlando Wednesday night.

— We’re looking for reports on tonight’s Impact tapings in Albuquerque. Matches scheduled are Nic Nemeth vs. BDE, Eleyna Black vs. ?, Elijah vs. Jason Hotch plus they announce the Feast or Fired briefcases. We’re looking for results, angles and highlights to [email protected]

— CMLL has a big advance for tonight’s Arena Mexico show. It’s been two months since they were under 14,000 which is crazy when you think about it. The top bouts tonight are Mistico & Mascara Dorada vs. Averno & Angel de Oro, Templario & Titan & Flip Gordon (returning after knee surgery) vs. Cavernario & Soberano Jr. & Yutani and Esfinge & Star Black & Star Jr. vs. Barboza & Difunto & Furia Roja. Sunday’s Arena Mexico has Mistico & Titan & Atlantis Jr. vs. Gran Guerrero & Ultimo Guerrero & Stuka Jr and Esfinge & Star Black & Xelhua vs. Valiente & Euforia & El Terrible. Puebla on Monday has Mistico & Dorada & Atlantis Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr.

— On the upcoming Fantastica Mania tour in Japan, New Japan World will be airing shows on 2/18 in Tokyo at the Yoyogi Gym, 2/24 in Osaka at the smaller Edion Arena as well as the big shows on 2/26 and 2/27 from Korakuen Hall.

— AAA will air at 9 p.m. Eastern tomorrow night on YouTube with Laredo Kid vs. Mini Vikingo vs. Octagon Jr. for the cruiserweight title, Pagano & Psycho Clown vs. Motor City Machine Guns for the tag titles and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Mecha Wolf for the Latin American title.

— Shocker’s situation continues to be sad. Battling drug addiction issues for decades, the former box office star and Dusty Rhodes favorite was arguing with his wife allegedly about her being mad he wanted to go out and buy drugs while going through withdrawals, and he punched a mirror in the house, cutting his fist up.

— The Beekeeper 2, a movie Adam Copeland is in that stars Jason Statham, will have its theatrical release on January 15, 2027.

— Leilani Kai turned 69 today. She was the best of the American women wrestlers in the 80s. Nigel McGuinness turns 50 and Will Hobbs turns 35. Dominic DeNucci was born on this day in 1932 and Giant Baba was born on this day in 1938. Hall of Famer Bobby Bruns died 43 years ago today at the age of 68. Archie Gouldie, the famed Mongolian Stomper, died ten years ago today at the age of 79. Ice Train died two years ago today at 58.