- MMA Fighting is reporting that Rob Font will fight Song Yadong at UFC 292.
- MMA Junkie is reporting that Terrence Mitchell is replacing an injured Christian Rodriguez against Cameron Saaiman at UFC 290.
- Former Jacksonville Jaguars player Austen Lane talks about making his UFC debut in Jacksonville this weekend:
“To fight in Jacksonville, where my book really started here playing football, now another sport, it’s awesome,” Lane told reporters at a UFC on ABC 5 news conference (transcript via Nolan King & Danny Segura of MMA Junkie).
- Rob Wilkinson issues statement on failed drug test and removal from 2023 PFL season on Instagram:
Firstly, I would like to thank you for your support over my career and I want to provide you all with an explanation for my nonattendance in the 2023 PFL season.
After my last fight on April 1st, I failed an in-competition drug test, which has resulted in my suspension for the rest of the 2023 PFL season.
I have and will continue to reflect on all the reasons that led me down this path, but regardless of these reasons, I am extremely disappointed in myself. I want to emphasize that I wholeheartedly accept full responsibility for the choices I have made and the consequences that have come with it.
To my family, friends, team, fans, and the PFL, I’ve let you down and for that I am sorry. All I can do now is learn and grow from my mistakes, as I’ve always tried to do. I will take this time to improve my mentality and skill set and will be back better than ever. Through every set back, is an opportunity for a stronger come back.
To all of those who have reached out and shown unwavering support during this challenging time, I want to express my sincerest gratitude to you all. I truly appreciate each and every one of you.
I am looking forward to putting this behind me and getting back to what I love. I promise you that I will be bringing the PFL 2024 LHW belt back to Australia.
- Marlon Vera critical of Sean O’Malley getting a shot at the UFC Bantamweight Title:
“If you see accolades and who fought who, the fight shouldn’t be a problem for Sterling,” Vera said on The MMA Hour (transcript via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie). “O’Malley can say whatever the f*ck he say, the two guys that have been in the top five that beat him were what? Me, was one and I beat him, I put him out. Pedro Munhoz who’s been around and is a top-five caliber guy, poked him in the eye and the fight was a no-contest, in a fight that he didn’t show anything.
“I mean you get an opportunity to fight somebody in the top five like that, you try to go and smoke him. Then, the B-level competition, yeah he put all of them out. Almeida was washed a lot of times. He wasn’t washed out, he was super washed out. Eddie Wineland, respect to the guy, he’s a legend but he got KO’d like four more times, or three more times. Then, the green-haired kid couldn’t win a fight in the UFC.”
- Eddie Hearn claims Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz is a mismatch:
“I watched clips of Nate Diaz hit pads, I think I might’ve even told you, and I was like [staring blankly, open-mouthed],” Hearn said on The MMA Hour. “You know that it’s going to be a mismatch against Jake Paul, don’t you?”
“I know you love Nate Diaz, and I love him. Listen, I’ve only met him a couple times — what a gent. But for it to be a mismatch against Jake Paul? Yes [he’s getting smoked].”
- John Gotti III believes the referee prematurely stopped the fight with Floyd Mayweather to save Mayweather:
“100 percent [Bayless called it because I was having success],” he said on The MMA Hour. “I was touching him a little bit. I was getting closer to him. In the sixth round, we clinched, and I kissed Floyd on the cheek and told him, ‘That’s it. You have nothing left. You shot your wad early in the fight.’ I was comfortable. I felt his power diminish, his speed was gone, I started letting my hands go and I was catching him, and conveniently they call the fight off. I’ve never seen that in all the years I’ve been watching boxing. ...
“That’s Floyd’s guy. They’re not going to make Floyd look bad at any cost, even if it’s a little bit. Of course he was protecting Floyd.”
- 2023 PFL 6 weigh-in results:
Main Card (9pm EST., ESPN/ESPN+)
Olivier Aubin-Mercier (155.6) vs. Anthony Romero (155.4)
Shane Mitchell (170.8) vs. Sadibou Sy (170.6)
Shane Burgos (155.8) vs. Yamato Nishikawa (155.8)
Magomed Magomedkerimov (171) vs. David Zawada (170.2)
Nayib Lopez (170) vs. Magomed Umalatov (170.4)
Clay Collard (155.1) vs. Stevie Ray (155.6)
Preliminary Card (6pm EST., ESPN+)
Carlos Leal (170.6) vs. Dilano Taylor (171.2) *1
Raush Manfio (156) vs. Natan Schulte (156)
Alexander Martinez (156) vs. Bruno Miranda (155.8)
Jarrah Al-Silawi (170.8) vs. Solomon Renfro (169.4)
Mike Bardsley (144.4) vs. Brahyan Zurcher (146.8) *2
Abdullah Al-Qahtani (144.8) vs. Lamar Brown (146)
*1: Missed weight by 0.2 pounds
*2: Missed weight by 0.8 pounds
