Both the UFC and WWE will return to Perth later this year as part of a blockbuster new four-event deal that will run until the end of 2026.

In an announcement held in Perth on Saturday morning, it was revealed TKO and the Western Australia government had partnered to bring both organisations to RAC Arena, the city staking its claim to being the nation’s combat sports hub.

As part of the contract, a UFC pay-per-view event will be staged at a yet-to-be-determined date in 2026. This will be in addition to the UFC Fight Night that will take place later this year, an event that was negotiated under a previous agreement with the Western Australia government.

There will be three more opportunities to catch the WWE with a SmackDown, a Premium Live Event, and Raw all to feature over the next 20 months.

“The return of UFC and WWE in 2025 is a major coup for Western Australia, following the roaring success of UFC 284 and WWE Elimination Chamber that collectively injected nearly $50 million into our economy last year,” said Western Australia premier Roger Cook. “Both UFC and WWE have proven to be huge drawcards with a dedicated fan base, and we expect to see thousands of out-of-state visitors travel to Perth to attend these blockbusters.”

Further details for all five upcoming UFC and WWE events, including ticket on-sale dates, bout cards, and participating WWE Superstars, will be announced in the months ahead.

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The UFC’s middleweight division has long been known for dominant title reigns by the sport’s biggest stars (Anderson Silva, Israel Adesanya) and a wealth of talented contenders who have each had a turn holding championship gold (Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold, Robert Whittaker). When Adesanya regained the title in April 2023 by avenging his first knockout loss in MMA with a KO win over Alex Pereira, it looked as if an epic rivalry would define this era’s then-stacked 185-pound division.

However, Pereira shuttered the idea of a trilogy fight and moved up to light heavyweight, where he claimed the championship and began a successful run that has cemented him as one of the biggest stars in the UFC. Meanwhile, Adesanya’s second tenure as champion ended stunningly after five months, when he dropped the title to massive betting underdog Sean Strickland, starting a three-fight skid from which Adesanya has yet to recover.

Since 2024, Adesanya (0-2), Whittaker (2-1), Strickland (1-2), Paulo Costa (0-2) and Jared Cannonier (1-2) — once considered the division’s anchors as former champs and title contenders — have a combined record of 4-9.

In 2025, the 185-pound division is almost unrecognizable compared to where it was in 2023, with fans on social media calling it shallow and one UFC champion, welterweight Belal Muhammad, questioning the level of competition. “I think 185 is probably the easiest weight class, besides [undefeated middleweight contender] Khamzat [Chimaev],” Muhammad recently told Barstool Chicago. “When you look at that main event, you’re like, ‘Bro, Strickland and [Dricus] Du Plessis suck.'”

The main event Muhammad was referring to happened this month at UFC 312, where Du Plessis retained the middleweight championship with a lopsided decision victory over Strickland. It was a rematch of the bout a year ago in which Du Plessis had taken away the title in a plodding matchup. And once again, after their second meeting, both fighters were heavily criticized for underwhelming technical prowess (Du Plessis) or underperforming on the grandest stage (Strickland).

Strickland’s coach, Eric Nicksick, called his fighter’s performance “uninspired.” Former light heavyweight champion Jiří Procházka praised Du Plessis’ pressure and aggression but also criticized the champion for a lack of technique and rhythm.

While the sport may not have seen a champion who is, according to UFC CEO Dana White, as “awkward and unorthodox” as Du Plessis, the champ continues to rack up wins, with 11 consecutive victories dating to 2018. Adesanya and Whittaker, both of whom have fallen to the South African during that run, have acknowledged the effectiveness of Du Plessis, even while being surprised by his ascent.

“He’s just weird, man, he’s like the best s— fighter in the world,” Adesanya told the “MMArcade” podcast. “He’s so good that I can’t even fault him for it.”

Whittaker recalled thinking that Du Plessis was slow when they fought in 2023 — until he got punched in the face and finished in the second round.

“It works,” Whittaker said.

It may not always be pretty, but Du Plessis certainly has been effective. Might the skeptics be missing something by discounting the champ’s run of success and focusing on his technical flaws?

“I think we overgeneralize the concept of technique, and Du Plessis is living proof that guys aren’t as technical as they thought they were,” MMA analyst Din Thomas told ESPN. “Everybody goes: ‘Oh, I’m technical.’ But if you really relied on your technique, you wouldn’t allow DDP to get away with the things that he does.”

Going forward, Du Plessis will have to continue proving himself in a middleweight division that seems to be shaking itself into form. February has spotlighted the 185-pounders with six championship or contender fights that helped give a clearer picture of the division’s depth. Aside from Du Plessis retaining the belt, the month saw Nassourdine Imavov knock out Adesanya, Michael “Venom” Page slow down the hype train of Shara Magomedov, Cannonier come from behind to finish Gregory Rodrigues, and Anthony Hernandez win a decision over Brendan Allen.

“Honestly, I think the division is healthier than it’s ever been,” Thomas said. “We are starting to see the depth of the middleweight division. It’s still not as deep as lightweight or [men’s] bantamweight, but we are starting to see some healthy competition within the top 10 of the division.”

The talent of the contenders vying for the title is just as important to the division’s health as the champion. And that is something previous eras of the middleweight division haven’t had.

While many gush over Silva’s 2,457-day reign as middleweight champion in the 2000s, Chael Sonnen, who came within seconds of pulling off a massive upset over Silva in 2010, believes the division “The Spider” ruled over was at its weakest.

“If you look really close at Silva’s run, it was at a time when the division was still forming and a lot of his opponents just weren’t very good,” Sonnen told ESPN, citing the likes of Patrick Cote and Travis Lutter as fighters who may not have been worthy to challenge Silva. “The division today is established. We have an undefeated blue-chip prospect in Bo Nickal ranked at No. 15, several former world champions [Adesanya, Whittaker, Strickland] floating around, a guy who almost everyone thinks is unbeatable [Chimaev] and a lot of worthy contenders [Imavov, Caio Borralho, Joe Pyfer]. It is a uniquely deep division that doesn’t get the credit it deserves.”

Perhaps the biggest reason for the criticism is because the man who has long been considered the uncrowned champion has yet to get his opportunity at UFC gold. Chimaev burst onto the scene in 2020 and tore through the competition at both middleweight and welterweight. However, health concerns have slowed his ascent, with Chimaev competing only twice since September 2022. For many, it isn’t a matter of “if” but “when” Chimaev gets a title shot. And until then, Du Plessis has been widely considered a seat warmer for the fighter from Chechnya, Russia.

“I don’t think the rightful guy is champion,” Sonnen said. “I don’t know how sincere people are when they say they don’t love the middleweight division. I think they just aren’t sold on DDP, while Chimaev has the skill and should have already been the champion if it weren’t for injuries.

“DDP and Strickland were simply at the right place at the right time to become champion.”

Former middleweight champion Michael Bisping can relate to Du Plessis and the criticism he receives as a flawed titleholder. The British fighter shocked the world when he stopped Rockhold on short notice as a significant betting underdog to win the championship at UFC 199 in 2016 — a time when, like today, the division was amid a turnover. Bisping had one successful defense before dropping the title to former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

But unlike his own short tenure as champion — when a retired welterweight leapfrogged the middleweight contenders to challenge him for the title — Bisping sees sublime depth in today’s 185-pound division.

“Divisions move along, new blood always comes through and there’s the next star waiting to be discovered,” Bisping told ESPN. “Let’s be real: Adesanya and Whittaker are future hall of famers and are still top-10 fighters. They are not easy to beat. And now you have the rise of Caio Borralho, Nassourdine Imavov, Chimaev and Brendan Allen in the top 10. This division is loaded compared to previous eras.”

Although Adesanya and Whittaker are coming off of losses, their credentials are undeniable. Adesanya’s eight title fight wins and 12-fight winning streak at 185 pounds from 2018 to 2022 both rank second all time in the middleweight division. Whittaker’s eight-fight winning streak from 2014 to 2019 is tied for fifth all time. Both Borralho and Hernandez are riding seven-fight winning streaks, also in the all-time top-10 at middleweight.

MMA analyst and former UFC welterweight Alan Jouban also believes the criticism of the middleweight division is unjust, just like the criticism of its champion. “People are acting like this is the light heavyweight division after Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier moved up to heavyweight and the title played hot potato,” he said.

Jouban is referring to 2020 to 2023, when the 205-pound division saw four champions in five years, with only Jan Blachowicz having a successful title defense, albeit against a smaller Adesanya. “Nobody stood out,” he continued. “That division was shallow until Alex Pereira steadied it.”

Jouban also said that even though there’s an expectation for Chimaev to become champion, Du Plessis has proved to be a worthy champion atop a deep division. “I don’t see another guy in the division who has a championship mindset like Du Plessis,” he said. “Some people just get s— done. They always say there’s a guy that’s bigger, faster and stronger. But what if he’s that guy? What if he’s the bigger, faster, stronger guy in the division who always finds a way to win? I think the thing that’s driving the train is that he’s just a bigger, badder dude who weaponizes his cardio and has a stronger mindset than just about everyone in the division.”

A look at his numbers reveals that Du Plessis’ ability to get the job done puts him on par with the division’s all-time greats. His nine-fight winning streak in the UFC ties him with one former champion, Weidman, and leaves him behind only two others, Silva (13) and Adesanya (12), for longest in the division’s history. His three title fight wins are tied for fourth most ever in the division, behind Silva (11), Adesanya (8) and Weidman (4). Criticism about his fighting style aside, it’s clear Du Plessis knows how to win and nobody has been able to figure out how to stop him.

While he may not be a box-office attraction such as Adesanya and Silva, Du Plessis continues to prove himself. However, his lack of star power has led some to call the division he rules over weak when that is far from the reality of the current state of the 185-pound division.

“The reality is that the people haven’t come onboard with DDP as champion, and when you have a champion that isn’t the guy you want, people will bring down the entire division and take away from his accomplishments,” said Sonnen. “You can’t discredit the division as weak because you don’t like the champion. If Khamzat Chimaev becomes world champion, I bet that there won’t be talk about this being an easy division anymore. And that’s not fair.”

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Former light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill will face Khalil Rountree Jr. in the main event when the UFC heads to Kansas City, Missouri, on April 26.

In the co-main event, former light heavyweight title contender Anthony Smith will compete in his retirement bout against Zhang Mingyang.

Representatives from the UFC confirmed both fights with ESPN on Wednesday.

Hill and Rountree were originally set to meet in June at UFC 303. However, Rountree was forced to withdraw from the fight after revealing that he accidentally had taken a banned substance. Hill also pulled out of the card due to injury.

Rountree (13-6) faced Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight title in October, suffering a fourth-round TKO loss in a spirited battle. The loss ended Rountree’s five-fight winning streak. He is ranked as the No. 7 light heavyweight by the UFC.

Hill (12-3), the UFC’s No. 4-ranked light heavyweight, has lost consecutive fights by stoppage, to Pereira in April and to former champion Jiri Prochazka in January. He won the vacant light heavyweight title in 2023 with a unanimous decision victory over Glover Teixeira but was forced to relinquish the championship after rupturing an Achilles tendon playing basketball.

Smith (37-21) will compete for the final time in the Octagon after 17 years competing as a professional. Smith, 36, was knocked out by Dominick Reyes in December and hopes to end his career on a high note. He announced on his “On Paper with Anthony Smith” podcast last week that his fight against Zhang will be his last and that competing in Kansas City was important to him because it is close to his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.

Zhang (18-6) made his UFC debut in February 2024 and is 2-0 with both wins coming by knockout. All 16 of Zhang’s professional MMA wins have come by knockout or submission in the first round.

UFC Fight Night will be part of the TKO Group Holding’s first “TKO Takeover” weekend in Kansas City, showcasing a series of events from April 24-28 at T-Mobile Center. Along with UFC Fight Night, WWE’s weekly flagship program “Monday Night Raw” will be held April 28, and the Professional Bull Riders will kick off the weekend of festivities April 24.

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Rafael Fiziev will replace Dan Hooker on short notice to face Justin Gaethje in the co-main event of UFC 313 on March 8.

UFC CEO Dana White announced the fight Wednesday on Instagram Live.

Hooker was originally set to face Gaethje (25-5) in a five-round co-main event at UFC 313 in Las Vegas but was forced to withdraw with a hand injury less than two weeks before the fight. Hooker announced the injury in a YouTube video Tuesday. The UFC was left scrambling to keep Gaethje on the card, which is set to be headlined by Alex Pereira defending his light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Fiziev was one of the first to volunteer as Hooker’s replacement, along with fellow lightweights Renato Moicano and Mateusz Gamrot. It will be a three-round fight instead of five.

Fiziev and Gaethje previously met in March 2023, with “The Highlight” winning a majority decision. The fight was awarded a “Fight of the Night” performance bonus. Since then, Gaethje has gone 1-1. He knocked out Dustin Poirier to win the mythical BMF title in July 2023 and lost it to Max Holloway at UFC 300 in April.

Since losing to Gaethje, Fiziev (12-3) has competed only once. A knee injury prematurely ended his 2023 fight with Gamrot in the second round, and he has been on the mend since that loss.

Gaethje is ranked as the No. 3 lightweight by the UFC with Fiziev ranked as No. 11 in the division.

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• 

  Brett OkamotoFeb 25, 2025, 10:22 AM ET

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  • MMA columnist for ESPN.com
  • Analyst for “MMA Live”
  • Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun

Dan Hooker has withdrawn from his scheduled five-round fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 313, on March 8, due to a hand injury.

Hooker (24-12) revealed his injury in a YouTube video with his daughter on Tuesday. The UFC has not commented on Hooker’s status, nor whether Gaethje (25-5) will remain on the card. The 155-pound bout was set to co-headline UFC 313 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. A light heavyweight title fight between Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev is scheduled as the main event.

“Dad had a fight, or was supposed to have a fight, but I’ve busted my paw,” Hooker said.

UFC lightweight Rafael Fiziev was quick to volunteer as Hooker’s replacement. Fiziev and Gaethje already fought in March 2023. Gaethje won via majority decision.

It’s an uncertain development for Gaethje, who was scheduled to fight for the first time since he was on the wrong end of one of the greatest knockouts in UFC history. Gaethje was next in line for a lightweight title shot early last year, but accepted a ‘BMF’ bout against Max Holloway to help the company bolster its UFC 300 event in April. Gaethje suffered a knockout loss in the final second of the five-round contest.

Gaethje is currently ranked No. 3 in the lightweight division, behind fellow contenders Arman Tsarukyan and Charles Oliveira. Defending champion Islam Makhachev does not have his next title defense set but is likely to return this summer.

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  Brett OkamotoFeb 23, 2025, 12:21 AM ET

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  • MMA columnist for ESPN.com
  • Analyst for “MMA Live”
  • Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun

A key bantamweight matchup between Song Yadong and Henry Cejudo came to an unfortunate conclusion Saturday, one that might require the UFC to book an immediate rematch.

Yadong (22-8-1) defeated Cejudo (16-5) by technical decision when the fight was stopped after the third round because Cejudo couldn’t see after an accidental eye poke. The 135-pound bout, which headlined UFC Fight Night in Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, was scheduled for five rounds.

All three judges scored the abbreviated fight in Yadong’s favor: 30-27, 29-28, 29-28.

The fight went to a technical decision because it went three full rounds, as Cejudo tried to continue after the eye poke and ultimately finished Round 3. Had Cejudo been unable to continue immediately when the eye poke happened, the fight would have been called off and ruled a no contest.

After the result, Yadong suggested an immediate rematch.

“That was totally an accident,” Yadong said of the eye poke. “The result is not what I wanted. I’m so sorry. Henry is a legend. We should run it back. We will fight again.”

A former two-weight champion, Cejudo, 38, who made his first appearance in almost a year, also expressed interest in a rematch. He made it clear that retirement was not on his mind after the unfortunate result.

“I couldn’t see out of my left eye,” Cejudo said. “The right is OK. That last minute [of the third round] when he was chasing me, I didn’t know what he was throwing. I wanted to continue, but if I couldn’t see, he was just going to hurt me. Of course, we can run that back. One hundred percent.”

The eye poke occurred late in the third round, as Cejudo moved forward with punches and Yadong extended his hand defensively. The contest was heating up at that moment, as Yadong had seized a lot of early momentum but Cejudo was finding success with jabs and straight left hands. Cejudo, a former Olympic gold medalist in wrestling, couldn’t get Yadong down and had committed to a stand-up affair.

Cejudo bloodied Yadong’s nose with punches in the second round. Yadong, who is 11 years younger than Cejudo, consistently beat him to the punch in exchanges in Round 3. According to UFC Stats, Yadong outlanded Cejudo 84-67 in total strikes. Cejudo went 0-for-3 on takedown attempts.

Heading into Saturday, Cejudo was the No. 7-ranked bantamweight in the UFC. Yadong was ranked No. 8.

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The UFC was busy announcing big fights Wednesday night, unveiling the main and co-main events for both UFC 314 in April and UFC 315 in May.

The fight bookings, which CEO Dana White announced on Instagram Live, answered many lingering questions and raised new questions.

With former champion Alexander Volkanovski set to face Diego Lopes for the featherweight title at UFC 314, what does it mean for the champ who is vacating? Will Ilia Topuria get the lightweight title fight he craves?

Does Belal Muhammad have staying power with the welterweight belt now that he’s been booked for his first title defense against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315?

Those are the main events, but both fight cards are packed with intrigue. At UFC 314, Michael Chandler will finally step into the cage with a star from across the pond, but it’ll be Paddy Pimblett, not Conor McGregor. At UFC 315, women’s flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko finally gets to fight someone not named Alexa Grasso — how will the 36-year-old two-time champ fare against top contender Manon Fiorot?

Several weight classes will feel the impact of these fights. Beyond the three divisions with newly booked title bouts — welterweight, featherweight and women’s flyweight — there’ll be a new top contender at lightweight now that Topuria is moving up, and strawweight will remain under the rule of Zhang Weili, at least for the time being. Her planned move up to the 125-pound division will be delayed, now that there’s a flyweight title fight on the books.

ESPN’s Brett Okamoto and Andreas Hale tackle these and other questions, and betting expert Ian Parker picks out three fights that he believes he has figured out.

On paper, is UFC 314 the best card since UFC 300 a year ago?

Hale: Uh, yeah! As long as the card stays together, far from a given these days. The UFC has been snakebit by injuries since UFC 300, and while it has been fun to see Alex Pereira repeatedly come to the rescue, the quality of the pay-per-view cards has been somewhat lacking. Although UFC 308 (Topuria-Max Holloway) and Noche UFC (Sean O’Malley–Merab Dvalishvili) were solid, UFC 314 is impressively loaded with meaningful fights.

Aside from Volkanovski-Lopes and what could be a really fun fight between Chandler and Pimblett, we are finally getting the UFC debut of Patricio “Pitbull” Freire in a banger of a fight against former title contender Yair Rodriguez.

This card also features a wicked showdown between ferocious striker Carlos Prates and Geoff Neal, a generational battle as 41-year-old Jim Miller gives up 16 years of age to 25-year-old Chase Hooper, and a women’s strawweight bout with major title implications between Yan Xiaonan and Virna Jandiroba. Add in light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes, who is aiming to continue his resurgence against Nikita Krylov, and a sneaky fight-of-the-night contender as Darren Elkins battles Julian Erosa in a featherweight bout, and you have a fantastic Miami fight card.

All the UFC has to do now is put every fighter in bubble wrap and hope for the best.

With the featherweight title soon to be vacant, are we looking at an Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev fight later this year?

Okamoto: That’s the million-dollar question, right? It would certainly seem likely. It’d be a massive event, which means the UFC likes it. Had Topuria tried to hold up the featherweight division in this pursuit, the UFC would be less onboard. But since he’s vacating the belt, there’s no obvious reason the promotion would keep him from a lightweight title fight.

Here’s the catch: Makhachev is on record saying he doesn’t believe Topuria deserves it. Makhachev is the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, i and his opinion does mean something. My prediction is that Makhachev will defend his belt against another contender, and Topuria will have to book one nontitle fight at lightweight before getting his crack at the belt — which is fair, by the way.

Money talks and this is immediately one of the biggest fights the UFC can make, but I do believe it won’t happen right away if Makhachev remains uninterested. Just because it’s not next, however, doesn’t mean it can’t happen in 2025.

If Paddy Pimblett beats Michael Chandler, he has a chance to be …

Okamoto: The new Michael Chandler of the division. It’s a funny way of saying it, but it’s true. What has Chandler been to the lightweight division since debuting in the UFC in 2021? He’s been an all-action, breath-of-fresh-air opponent for top guys. He’s been a perennial title challenger and a proposed opponent for Conor McGregor.

If Pimblett wins, he immediately becomes all of those things. He’d be a household name and could headline his own card or do exactly what he’s doing at UFC 314: take on another big name in a five-round co-headliner to sell pay-per-views. He’d be right there in terms of title contention. And even though very few of us expect McGregor to ever fight again, if he does … Pimblett is probably the No. 1 option.

What should UFC fans expect from longtime Bellator fighter Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire?

play

Patricio ‘Pitbull’ chokes out Straus to regain title

Patricio “Pitbull” Freire defeats Daniel Straus via guillotine choke just 37 seconds into the second round of the Bellator featherweight title fight on Friday night.

Hale: Those who haven’t watched Pitbull in action are in for a treat. The UFC matchmakers didn’t give the former two-division Bellator champion an easy fight for his debut. Instead, Pitbull will have to deal with the incredibly creative striking of Yair Rodriguez in his first fight inside the Octagon.

This is an excellent matchup that will almost certainly deliver fireworks. It can be argued that Pitbull arriving in the UFC just a few months shy of his 38th birthday with 43 MMA fights under his belt could mean that we have missed out on the Brazilian’s prime years. But the opportunity to see arguably the best fighter to compete outside of the UFC finally make his debut on the world’s biggest MMA stage is more than worth the price of admission.

What should you expect? Violence. A lot of violence. And then we’ll start to figure out exactly where Pitbull fits into a now wide-open featherweight division with Topuria moving up to 155 pounds. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that Pitbull could find himself challenging for UFC gold before the end of the year.

Will Belal Muhammad’s welterweight title reign be one-and-done?

Hale: No. The level of disrespect Muhammad has had to deal with is outrageous. But I also understand why people expect Muhammad to be a transitional champion. While Muhammad hasn’t lost in over six years and is undefeated in his last 11 fights, he has just two finishes during his current run, and that’s not enough from the fighter who carries the moniker “Remember the Name.”

The reality is that Muhammad has been exceptional during his unbeaten run and got to his title opportunity the hard way by defeating Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Sean Brady and Gilbert Burns before running roughshod over Leon Edwards last July.

While Jack Della Maddalena is incredibly talented, overlooking Muhammad in this fight would be a fool’s errand. This isn’t the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmamov. Della Maddalena had to dig himself out of a hole to beat Burns last March and won two narrow split decisions over Kevin Holland and Bassil Hafez to get this opportunity.

Muhammad should be the favorite heading into the fight with Della Maddalena, but something tells me that fans will root for his downfall in his first title defense.

Coming out of UFC 315, are we more likely to see Valentina Shevchenko-Alexa Grasso 4, Shevchenko-Zhang Weili or Manon Fiorot-Grasso?

Okamoto: Shevchenko vs. Zhang for sure. The UFC won’t look to do Shevchenko-Grasso 4 under any circumstances other than pure desperation (Shevchenko-Grasso are 1-1-1 in their trilogy). If one of those scenarios happens where a card has to be saved and Shevchenko is already on it, then maybe the UFC would go there again. But no one is in any kind of hurry to book that matchup for the fourth time.

Fiorot is a tough title challenger for women’s flyweight champion Shevchenko, but in my mind, Shevchenko is still the favorite to beat anyone in this division, especially after the exclamation point she put on the Grasso trilogy. If Shevchenko wins, I am pretty certain the UFC will look to book the champion vs. champion matchup. Zhang, the strawweight champion, has no huge fights left in her division, after disposing of the undefeated Tatiana Suarez earlier this month at UFC 312. The UFC already discussed the idea of Shevchenko vs. Zhang as recently as last year. Not only do I expect that fight to come out of UFC 315 (depending on the outcome, of course), I expect it to be a big part of the conversation before and immediately after the event.

How does betting expert Ian Parker lean on the top fights announced for UFC 314 and UFC 315?

Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes: Even though I’m happy Volkanovski gets a chance to win his featherweight title back, I have to go with the surging Lopes. Lopes has the power, physical size and strength that Volkanovski has had trouble with in recent KO losses.

Paddy Pimblett vs. Michael Chandler: When it comes to action and fun fights, look no farther than Chandler. His five-round co-main event with Pimblett at UFC 314 has fight of the night written all over it. This fight is going to come down to whether Pimblett can survive the early onslaught of Chandler in the first round. If he can, he can catch Chandler when he slows down in Round 2 and latch onto a submission. Either way, someone is getting finished in this fight.

Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena: I think this is a much better matchup for Muhammad than fighting Shavkat Rakhmonov, who was expected to get the title shot but is injured. We’ve seen Della Maddalena struggle with grappling against previous opponents including Gilbert Burns. Against a better wrestler with endless cardio such as Muhammad, he’s going to have an issue. Look for Muhammad to utilize his boxing to close the distance and turn this into a Belal Muhammad type of wrestling match where he probably gets the win by decision.

The post How the UFC 314 and UFC 315 title fights impact 5 weight classes appeared first on The Sports Affiliate.

Two championships will be on the line when the UFC heads to Montreal on May 10.

Belal Muhammad (24-3) will defend the welterweight championship against Jack Della Maddalena (17-2) in the main event of UFC 315, and women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko will put her title on the line against Manon Fiorot in the co-main event of the fight card that will take place at the Bell Centre.

Muhammad was originally slated to make his first title defense against top contender Shavkat Rakhmonov in December. However, a bone infection in his foot forced Muhammad out of the fight. The plan was for the bout to be rescheduled for the first half of 2025, but Rakhmonov has been dealing with a lingering injury and will not be available for May. In his place will be Della Maddalena, who had been slated to face former welterweight champion Leon Edwards at UFC Fight Night in London on March 22. But with Rakhmonov unavailable, the Australian fighter was pulled and will now get his first opportunity at UFC gold. Sean Brady will step in for Della Maddalena to face Edwards in March.

Muhammad has not lost a fight in six years and is coming off a one-sided decision win over Edwards to win the 170-pound championship in July. He will look to end Della Maddalena’s 17-fight winning streak.

Shevchenko (29-4-1) reclaimed the strawweight championship by defeating Alexa Grasso in September. ESPN’s No. 2 women’s pound-for-pound fighter avenged the only submission loss of her career and will now look to begin a second run as flyweight champion. “Bullet” successfully defended the championship seven times during her first run as champion and will kick off her second tenure against a slick striker who will look to match Shevchenko in the standup.

Fighting out of France, Fiorot (12-1) made her UFC debut in January 2021 with a knockout of Victoria Leonardo and hasn’t looked back since, running her current winning streak to 12 with wins over Rose Namajunas and Erin Blanchfield. The UFC’s No. 2-ranked women’s flyweight will get her first crack at gold against one of the best to ever do it.

Also announced for UFC 315 were:

• Former women’s flyweight champion Grasso will look to bounce back from the Shevchenko loss when she faces Natalia Silva.

• Former welterweight title contender Gilbert Burns will look to stop the surging Michael Morales in a showdown between 170-pound fighters jockeying for position in the championship pecking order.

UFC 315 will mark the promotion’s first event in Montreal in 10 years.

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There will be a new featherweight champion at UFC 314.

UFC CEO Dana White announced on Instagram Live that Alexander Volkanovski (26-4) will look to become a two-time featherweight champion when he faces Diego Lopes (26-6) in the main event of the fight card at the Kaseya Center in Miami on April 12.

White said current featherweight champion Ilia Topuria will vacate the title and move up to the lightweight division in pursuit of a world championship in a second weight class. There is no fight lined up for Topuria’s forthcoming lightweight debut.

Volkanovski has suffered consecutive knockout losses, falling to current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in October 2023 before losing the featherweight title to Topuria last February. Lopes will enter the fight on a five-fight winning streak, with his last victory coming by dominant unanimous decision over former title contender Brian Ortega at Riyadh Season Noche UFC last September.

The co-main event will be a five-round lightweight fight between Michael Chandler and Paddy Pimblett.

Chandler, the UFC’s No. 7-ranked lightweight, is coming off a decision loss to former champion Charles Oliveira in November. Chandler, 38, was famously tied to a major showdown with superstar Conor McGregor and was sidelined for two years as the UFC targeted a fight between the two. A fight was announced for UFC 303 last June, but McGregor was forced out with a toe injury two weeks before the fight date. Rather than wait again, Chandler (23-9) opted to face Oliveira. He is 1-4 in his past five fights.

Pimblett (22-3) is the UFC’s No. 12-ranked lightweight and is 6-0 in the UFC. Fighting out of Liverpool, England, Pimblett was last in action when he submitted King Green in the first round of their 155-pound fight at UFC 304 in July.

Also announced is the UFC debut of former Bellator two-weight world champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, who will face Yair Rodriguez in a featherweight fight. Freire was the second simultaneous two-division champion in Bellator MMA history and was widely considered the best fighter to never compete in the UFC. That will end at UFC 314 against a former title contender.

Freire, 37, was released from his PFL contract in January after months of disagreements over his lack of activity in the MMA promotion. He last fought in March 2024 when he successfully defended the featherweight championship against Jeremy Kennedy.

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  Brett OkamotoFeb 19, 2025, 01:34 PM ET

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  • MMA columnist for ESPN.com
  • Analyst for “MMA Live”
  • Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun

Aaron Pico says he will never fight for the PFL again, even if it means sitting out an entire year.

Pico (13-4) is currently a free agent and has made it clear he wishes to sign with the UFC. The 28-year-old is considered one of the top featherweights in the world, with nine of his 13 wins coming by knockout.

One potential hiccup in Pico’s move to the UFC, however, is the PFL holds a contractual right to match any offer he receives. On Wednesday, Pico told ESPN that if the PFL were to exercise that right, he would rather sit out an entire year to let it expire before signing a new deal with the promotion.

“If they match it, then I’m with the PFL and I’ll sit out one year,” Pico told ESPN. “I don’t want to fight for the PFL. If that means me sitting out, then I’ll do it. Yes, [I will never appear under their banner again].”

Pico’s career is unique in that he signed a developmental contract with Bellator MMA in 2014, three years before he even made his MMA debut. A former standout in amateur wrestling and boxing, Pico’s entire MMA career has taken place in Bellator. He came under contract with the PFL when the league purchased Bellator in late 2023.

Pico, who is from California and fights out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has fought only once since the PFL took over Bellator ownership. He claims he has had three canceled fights during that time and has lost trust in the PFL, which is why he refuses to accept any deal that keeps him there.

In a statement on social media on Tuesday, PFL co-founder Donn Davis said he “loves” Pico, and the PFL is simply holding its matching rights, which is standard business.

“I understand that, but it’s standard to make sure that your fighters are fighting three fights [per year],” Pico said. “I haven’t been able to work.”

Several Bellator MMA fighters have complained publicly about a lack of fights since PFL took over the company. Former champions Gegard Mousasi and Patricio Pitbull Freire have already secured their respective releases. Bantamweight champion Patchy Mix has also publicly requested his release.

The PFL has announced a major change to its format for 2025, moving away from a “regular season” point system to a single elimination tournament.

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