Veteran referee Marc Goddard blasted those responsible for a recent fight in Russia featuring a 529-pound man fighting a 139-pound woman. Goddard, a respected official who’s overseen dozens of high-profile fights in MMA promotions around the world, said the bout damaged the sport’s image and gave ammunition to its critics. This is what we are dealing with - in 2020. This is what we are fighting against as the parallels & negative connotations are continually drawn. To outsiders & detractors this is MMA. Shameful. Sickening. Abysmal. https://t.co/lWDyXy7R0z— Marc Goddard (@marcgoddard_uk) November 28, 2020 The bout took place at an event titled “Our Business” that was promoted by Nashe Delo Fights in Moscow, Russa. It was released online on Thanksgiving. According

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLCWhile 2020 has been a rough year on most, Joaquin Buckley has certainly made the most of it and now wants to kickstart his 2021 campaign with by playing out a local rivalry. Buckley followed up his KO of the year nominee of Impa Kasanganay with a second-round stoppage win over Jordan Wright at November’s UFC 255 event. “New Mansa,” who improved his promotional record to 2-1, used his time following his second straight finish to once again call out James Krause. After his viral KO of Kasanganay in October, Buckley joined MMA Fighting’s What the Heck and called for a fight with Krause, but didn’t give a lot of context to it. Clearly, there was a story

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLCWhether or not Khabib Nurmagomedov has another fight left in him remains a mystery, but Dana White plans to sit down with the undefeated lightweight champion in the near future. This past week, Nurmagomedov put out a somewhat cryptic post on social media saying that he would be seeing the UFC president soon. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Khabib Nurmagomedov (@khabib_nurmagomedov) Following Saturday’s UFC Vegas 15 event, White spoke with reporters backstage at the UFC APEX and confirmed that he will be meeting with Nurmagomedov soon, but wasn’t ready to confirm an actual timeframe. “We’re

Deiveson Figueiredo met with UFC president Dana White days after his win in Las Vegas. | Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesDeiveson Figueiredo scored an impressive first-round submission over Alex Perez in the main event of UFC 255 on Nov. 21, and agreed to a historic three-week turnaround to defend his flyweight title against Brandon Moreno in the main event of UFC 256 three weeks later. That victory alone, however, didn’t seem to impress Dana White enough to grant him a post-fight performance bonus. That said, the president of the UFC invited Figueiredo to his office in Las Vegas a few days later to hand him a bag with $50,000 in cash, admitting he “f*cked up.” “He told name he made a mistake

Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for TrillerMike Tyson is a fighter at heart and that’s why he will continue fighting. On Saturday night, the 54-year-old former heavyweight champion returned to the ring for the first time in 15 years and put on a stunning performance over eight rounds while battling with Roy Jones Jr. in a special exhibition bout. Not only was Tyson in incredible shape but he looked sharp with his boxing, both offensively and defensively while simultaneously silencing a lot of critics who were baffled by his return to action. Still, Tyson felt like he could have done so much more and he plans to show improvements in his next exhibition bout in the near future. “I say I’ll be better

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesIn the 20th episode of On to the Next One, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee put on their matchmaker hats following Saturday’s UFC Vegas 15 event at the UFC APEX. Future fights are discussed for Anthony Smith—who submitted Devin Clark in the first round of the main event—Miguel Baeza, Parker Porter, Bill Algeo, Norma Dumont, Jonathan Pearce, and more. The podcast can be found below, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Stitcher.

Esther Lin, MMA FightingIn 2018, the UFC flyweight division was in dire straits. Though they had a long-time, dominant champion in Demetrious Johnson, the division still had not gained traction with the fans and there was open consideration of folding up the division. But after Henry Cejudo won the flyweight title from Johnson, he and other flyweights campaigned to save the division and ultimately, the UFC acquiesced. Shortly afterwards, Cejudo also won the bantamweight title and then chose to vacate his 125 belt, and since then the division was once again in a state of limbo. All that changed this year though when Deiveson Figueiredo claimed the vacant title with a dominant performance over Joseph Benavidez in July and, earlier

Diego Ferreira and Beneil Dariush first met at UFC 179 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2014. | Guilherme Cruz, MMA FightingDiego Ferreira will attempt to avenge his first MMA loss when he meets Beneil Dariush at a UFC Fight Night event on Feb. 6, multiple people with knowledge of the booking told MMA Fighting. ESPN first reported the matchup. Dariush and Ferreira were originally scheduled to face Charles Oliveira and Drew Dober in October and November, respectively, but both bouts fell through. Dariush (19-4-1) was in his first year as a UFC fighter when he met the Brazilian in Rio de Janeiro in 2014, winning via unanimous decision. Dariush enters the rematch riding a five-fight winning streak over Scott Holtzman, Drakkar

Thomas Lakes, MMA FightingA fight between exciting bantamweights is heading to the octagon in early March. Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that a matchup between Randy Costa and Trevin Jones will take place at the UFC’s event on March 6. The card, as of now, does not have a location or venue. MMA Junkie was the first to report the booking. After losing his octagon debut in just his fifth pro fight to Brandon Davis at UFC 236, Costa has responded with consecutive first-round finishes. “The Zohan” put away Boston Salmon in just over two minutes in front of a hometown crowd at UFC Boston in October 2019. In his most recent appearance, Costa earned

Roy Jones Jr. and Mike Tyson | Getty Images for TrillerRoy Jones Jr. improbably crossed an item off his bucket list on Saturday. In an exhibition boxing bout that drew massive interest despite some confusion about its rules, Jones went the distance with fellow legend Mike Tyson in the main event of a show that took place at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Though Tyson was the aggressor for much of the bout, Jones apparently did enough to earn a draw decision on celebrity judges’ scorecards. Jones, a four-division champion who won a middleweight world title in 1993 and 10 years later became a heavyweight champion, wasn’t ecstatic about the draw, but he reflected positively on the experience of going the distance