Bellator/PFL Merger, BMF Talk & Conor McGregor Talks Floyd Mayweather: MMA News & Notes For 6/15/23
– Scott Coker reveals that Viacom has been in talks with the PFL:
“We’ve been out there,” Coker said following Bellator 297 ceremonial faceoffs (transcript via Nolan King & Matt Erickson of MMA Junkie). “Bellator has been looking to take a partner. That’s really been Viacom that’s been handling that. So we’ll see where that nets out. We’ll probably have some clarity in the next 60 to 90 days. … (PFL) is definitely in the conversation. There’s a couple conversations going on right now with Viacom and other companies. PFL is definitely one of them.”
– Israel Adesanya believes the UFC screwed over Francis Ngannou:
“This is not a guy that just quits,” Adesanya said on The MMA Hour (transcript via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie). “He never just quits. Dana’s said some stuff in the past. ‘Women will never fight in the UFC.’ It’s on video. Look where we are now. ‘Francis will never fight in the UFC again.’ I think he might do what he does and come back, and then they’ll pay him what he deserves, what he’s earned, because they f*cked him for a long time.”
– MMA Junkie reports that former UFC fighter John Dodson will face JR Ridge for the vacant BKFC Flyweight Title in the main event of BKFC 48 on August 11.
– The UFC announced that Miles Johns is injured and has been pulled from a bout against Raoni Barcelos at UFC On ESPN 46.
– 2023 PFL 5 Weigh-In Results:
Main Card (10pm EST., ESPN/ESPN+)
Ante Delija (251) vs. Maurice Greene (255.4)
Larissa Pacheco (145.6) vs. Amber Leibrock (145.8)
Renan Ferreira (259) vs. Matheus Scheffel (260.6)
Aspen Ladd (145) vs. Karolina Sobek (145.6)
Biaggio Ali Walsh (155.6) vs. Travell Miller (154.4)
Preliminary Card (6:30pm EST., ESPN+)
Denis Goltsov (246.2) vs. Yorgan De Castro (264.8)
Marina Mokhnatkina (145.4) vs. Evelyn Martins (147) *1
Danilo Marques (250.6) vs. Marcelo Nunes (248.4)
Julia Budd (145.6) vs. Martina Jindrova (146.0)
Olena Kolesnyk (145.0) vs. Yoko Higashi (144.2)
Patrick Brady (256.8) vs. Jordan Heiderman (247.8)
Isaiah Pinson (247.8) vs. Denzel Freeman (261.8)
*1: Missed weight by 1 pound
– Conor McGregor says there is no meaning behind Floyd Mayweather’s exhibition fights:
“I wasn’t that impressed to be honest with you,” McGregor told TMZ (transcript via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie). “We’ll have a go up if he wants. I don’t know where he’s at. There’s no meaning behind it. He’s just here and there. There’s no meaning behind the bouts. There’s nothing to it. I enjoyed the brawl afterward more than I did the actual bout.”
– Bellator 297 Weigh-In Results:
Main Card (9pm EST., Showtime)
Vadim Nemkov (203.8) vs. Yoel Romero (205)
Sergio Pettis (134) vs. Patricio Freire (134.2)
Corey Anderson (205) vs. Phil Davis (206)
Daniel James (265) vs. Gokhan Saricam (246)
Preliminary Card (6pm EST., Youtube)
Wladmir Gouvea (264) vs. Gabriel Sayeg (261)
Kyle Crutchmer (171) vs. Bobby Nash (171)
Pieter Buist (156) vs. Gadzhi Rabadanov (156)
Ramazan Kuramagomedov (170) vs. Jaleel Willis (171)
Mike Hamel (155) vs. Shamil Nikaev (156)
Norbert Novenyi Jr. (185) vs. Kamil Oniszczuk (186)
Archie Colgan (155) vs. Emmanuel Sanchez (155)
Karl Moore (205) vs. Alex Polizzi (204)
Timur Khizriev (145) vs. Richie Smullen (145)
Jordan Newman (186) vs. Matthew Perry (184)
Edwin Chavez (146) vs. Cody Law (145)
– Alexander Volkanovski open to fighting for the BMF Championship:
“At the end of the day, fight anyone, anywhere, anytime,” Volkanovski said on Israel Adesanya’s YouTube channel (transcript via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie). “Who’s the ruler of the badasses? It’s the guys that will fight injured and consistently, guys like Israel Adesanya, like myself.
“That’s something that I’d love to do. I’d do it anywhere, any place, any time. Maybe a ‘BMF’ belt fight while – if Islam is there doing his thing and then we do our immediate rematch after, then I can have three belts. I’d love that. Featherweight, ‘BMF’ belt, and that lightweight belt.”
– MMA Junkie is reporting that Carlos Ulberg will fight Da Un Jung at UFC 293.
– Jorge Masvidal says the UFC once paid him $5 million for fighting:
“I’d say right around $5 million,” Masvidal told NFL wide receiver Tyreek Hill on It Needed to Be Said (transcript via Mike Heck of MMA Fighting).
“The UFC takes care of us to an extent with medicals, right? So if anything happens to you at the fight or in preparation for the fight, we’re very well taken care of — and even after the fight. Anything that happens in the gym, we’re very well taken care of. But we don’t have insurance outside of that like a dental plan, but anything related to fighting or training they take care of.”
– Max Holloway has thought about fighting for the BMF Championship:
“For sure, there’s the other belts.” Holloway said on The MMA Hour (transcript via Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting). “… But it’s always better to go to a different division while you’re holding a belt. That’s just what it is. We’ll see what happens. We’ll see how July pans out, we’ll see how my next fight pans out, and we’ll see. Who knows? We saw that fun BMF belt, with Gaethje and Poirier. Me and Poirier fought two times [already] and people keep harassing me about Gaethje anyway.
“At the end of the day, that would be fun at ‘55. I know there are a lot of fun fights for me at ‘55, maybe [Charles] Oliveira two, and of course I never got to finish the thing with Khabib [Nurmagomedov] but Islam [Makhachev] is there so that would be a great thing. … We’ll see what happens. Like I said, we’ll see the lay of the land. Never say never. I know people shouting out that BMF belt. That BMF belt would look real nice in my collection.”
– Nate Diaz says two dorks are fighting for the BMF Championship:
“I don’t feel they meet the criteria,” Diaz said to Inside Fighting (transcript via Mike Heck of MMA Fighting). “Yeah, they’re dorks, Poirier and Gaethje, right? Yeah, what are you talking about?”
