Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC‘UFC 259 countdown’ video gives an early look into the three title fights Saturday night in Las Vegas. In the main event, UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will square off against UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz. Also, UFC featherweight champion Amanda Nunes will battle Megan Anderson in the co-main event, and UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan faces Aljamain Sterling on the main card.

Six years passed between Pedro Munhoz and Jimmie Rivera’s first and second fights. But the result of the rematch at UFC Vegas 20 was set almost from the outset by a single technique. The calf kick, ever-present in today’s octagon, was Munhoz’s key to dismantling Rivera over three rounds. First one that I threw, I saw in his eyes that he felt a little bit lost, like a little bit hurt,” Munhoz told UFC broadcaster Laura Sanko on the ESPN post-fight show. “Then in the moment, I realized, I said, ‘I’m going to keep applying it.’” The more kicks Rivera took, the less mobile he was. Unable to cut angles as quickly, he was forced to slug it out with Munhoz,

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLCJorge Masvidal claims he’s already booked a date for his title fight rematch against UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman but it might not be a done deal just yet. On Saturday night, Masvidal served as part of the commentary team for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s one-sided drubbing of Avni Yildirim and he spoke to several media outlets after the boxing match was finished. In an interview with Boxing Social, Masvidal broke the news that he was already cementing his second shot at UFC gold later this year after he fell to Usman by unanimous decision in their first meeting in 2020. “Right now I’m focused on me fighting for the belt, which is going to be in August/September, actually September,

Paulo Costa (pictured) suffered the first defeat of his professional MMA career against Israel Adesanya | Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesPaulo Costa lost the biggest fight of his MMA career in September 2019, losing via second-round TKO to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in Abu Dhabi, and has pointed at lack of sleep as one of the reasons why he couldn’t perform so well at UFC 253. Five months later, “Borrachinha” reveals he drank a bottle of wine the night he fought “The Last Stylebender” on Fight Island as an attempt to sleep. In a video posted Saturday on his YouTube channel, Costa said Adesanya had “all the merits for knocking me out,” but was impaired the moment he entered the

Instagram: @usman84kgWhat makes professional fighters so relatable? At first glance, probably nothing. But take away the gloves, gis and bulging hematomas, and they’re actually not so different than the rest of us. These posts prove that even the toughest fighters are only human after all. Here is the latest edition of The Weekly Grind. View this post on Instagram A post shared by KAMARU USMAN (@usman84kg) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Derrick Lewis (@thebeastufc)

Jorge Masvidal | Esther Lin, MMA FightingThe UFC’s “BMF” champion has a return date in mind. Jorge Masvidal told iFL TV that he is lining up his first fight of 2021 for either August or September. He spoke to the boxing site backstage at Saturday night’s Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim super middleweight championship bout in Miami. Masvidal was working the event as a Spanish color commentator for ESPN’s Latin America broadcast. “Right now I’m just focusing on the MMA, I’ve got some guys to beat up,” Masvidal said when asked about any potential boxing aspirations. “August, September, somebody’s getting baptized and that’s what I’m worried about. People are going to like it when they find out who it is.” Masvidal did not

Esther Lin, MMA FightingKelvin Gastelum is staying ready so he doesn’t have to get ready. After only competing once in 2020 — a fight that ended with a disappointing result after falling by submission to Jack Hermansson in the first round — the former interim title contender got back on track with a win over Ian Heinisch at UFC 258 to kick off the New Year. Now he’s already anticipating a quick turn around after the UFC came calling with a new offer for Gastelum to compete again in March. “I was offered to fight March 27, I believe, I don’t know against who,” Gastelum revealed when speaking to MMA Fighting on Thursday. “I told them let’s go. I want to stay active

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLCIn his first UFC main event, Ciryl Gane pitched a shutout while winning every round against Jairzinho Rozenstruik to remain undefeated in his career. Despite the overwhelming dominance he displayed, the 30-year-old French heavyweight didn’t exactly set the world on fire with a largely technical performance that didn’t feature a single knockdown over 25 minutes. With the spotlight shining down on Gane on Saturday night, UFC President Dana White admittedly wanted to see a little bit more out of him, especially with an opportunity to really draw attention to himself in a headlining fight. “Everybody’s talking about Ciryl being this big contender, but look what Francis [Ngannou] did to Jairzinho,” White told Yahoo Sports’ reporter Kevin Iole after UFC

Jon Jones | Esther Lin, MMA FightingJon Jones wasn’t thrilled with a five-round main event between Ciryl Gane and Jairzinho Rozenstruik. As he often does after UFC events, the former light heavyweight champion took to Twitter to opine about the result. But this time, he chided the fighters in the heavyweight division he’s soon to join, giving the verbal thumbs down to Gane and Rozenstruik after their lackluster five-round affair on Saturday. These boys better get used to pushing the pace, all this standing around ain’t gonna fly when daddy comes home. #ufcvegas20— BONY (@JonnyBones) February 28, 2021 Jones’ heavyweight debut has yet to be confirmed, but UFC President Dana White has said the ex-champ will get the winner of a UFC 260

MMA FightingThe Great Divide is a recurring feature here at MMA Fighting in which two of our staff debate a topic in the world of MMA – news, a fight, a crazy thing somebody did, a crazy thing somebody didn’t do, or some moral dilemma threatening the very foundation of the sport — and try to figure out a resolution. We’d love for you to join in the discussion in the comments below. Six champions. Five titles on the line. One month. Let’s go. The UFC has loaded up its March calendar with four fight cards and two pay-per-views at the APEX in Las Vegas and they’ve stacked those PPV lineups with a quintuplet of matchups that would all be worthy headliners