Anderson Silva’s Retirement Fight, UFC Main Event News & More: MMA News & Notes For 6/16/23
– Anderson Silva says he is in talks to hold final professional MMA fight in Japan:
“I’m now focused on these two projects and pretty soon we’ll have something nice regarding fighting,” Silva said to MMA Fighting. “We’re in talks with Japan for a possible last MMA fight in Japan. It makes all the sense. I started my career internationally there, so we probably want to it end there, too. Let’s see if that happens.”
– Tyson Fury says he is in talks for hybrid fights with Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones:
“I’ve been in talks with Francis Ngannou for a hybrid fight,” Fury said on Twitter Space (transcript via MMA Fighting). “There’s talks of me and Jon Jones doing a hybrid fight as we talk, right now. I received an offer from the UFC yesterday, so you never know what’s going to happen. The future’s bright, for sure, and there’s a lot of options out there.”
– MMA Fighting reports that Seika Izawa will defend the RIZIN Women’s Atomweight Title against Claire Lopez at Bellator x Rizin 2.
– Ciryl Gane vs. Serghei Spivac will headline the upcoming UFC Fight Night Paris card according to MMA Fighting.
– A report from MMA Fighting reveals that Cory Sandhagen will face Umar Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC Fight Night Nashville.
– Max Holloway faces Chan Sung Jung in the main event of UFC Fight Night Singapore, according to MMA Fighting.
– MMA Fighting has reported that Cody Brundage will replace Puna Soriano and face Sedriques Dumas at UFC Fight Night Jacksonville.
– Shooto Boxing has announced that Jose Aldo will fight Esteban Gabriel in the main event of their July 2 card.
– MMA Fighting has revealed that Zhalgas Zhumagulov has been pulled from UFC Vegas 75 and will now face Joshua Van at UFC Fight Night Jacksonville.
– Yoel Romero says he plans on fighting into his 50’s:
“No chance, no chance (he retires after Bellator 297),” Romero told MMA Junkie. “No chance, no chance at all. That doesn’t even go through my mind. I’ve got five more years in this sport. That’s what I think of. I plan on fighting until I’m 52. That’s my focus.”
– UFC Vegas 75 weigh-in results:
Main Card (10pm EST., ESPN/ESPN+)
Jared Cannonier (185.5) vs. Marvin Vettori (185.5)
Joaquim Silva (155.5) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (155.5)
Christian Duncan (186) vs. Armen Petrosyan (186)
Lucas Almeida (145.5) vs. Pat Sabatini (145)
Nikolas Motta (155.5) vs. Manuel Torres (156)
Nicolas Dalby (170.5) vs. Muslim Salikhov (170)
Preliminary Card (7pm EST., ESPN2/ESPN+)
Alessandro Costa (126) vs. Jimmy Flick (125.5)
Kyung Ho Kang (135.5) vs. Cristian Quinonez (135)
Denys Bondar (126) vs. Carlos Hernandez (125)
Tereza Bleda (125) vs. Gabriella Fernandes (126)
Dan Argueta (136) vs. Ronnie Lawrence (136)
Modestas Bukauskas (205) vs. Zac Pauga (205)
– Aljamain Sterling says UFC 292 will probably be his last fight at bantamweight:
“Win or learn, this is probably my last fight at bantamweight,” Sterling said on Smack Talk With Sandhu (transcript via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie). “Even if I were to learn and I didn’t get my hand raised, it damn sure ain’t because of Sean O’Malley running me out of the division.
“It’s more so this sh*t is getting old, man. It hurts. You think I wouldn’t like to just turn around? Yeah, I could turn around and go fight 145 and go fight three-and-a-half months later, which is pretty much what this fight is. It’s the weight cut.”
– Alexander Volkanovski believes quick turnaround will help Aljamain Sterling get more fans:
“I’m glad he’s doing the quick turnaround,” Volkanovski said on Israel Adesanya’s YouTube channel (transcript via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie). “I think that’s gonna get a lot of people on his side. Not only that, it’s a massive fight. Sean O’Malley pulls numbers, this is incredible, so I’m really looking forward to see how that plays out.
“You heard your Henry’s and your Aljo’s talk about moving up to featherweight which I would love that. A big win from Aljo if he was to take out O’Malley, that would be huge for him. That sets him right up for a fight at featherweight. Him doing the quick turnaround, I love it.”
