Welcome to the notebook, a quick catchup of all the smaller (but still important) stories from the world of MMA!
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Here are the latest stories we’re following:
UFC
- Tallison Teixeira (7-0) is no longer expected to make his UFC debut at the promotion’s December 7th pay-per-view, as he withdrew from his fight against Lukasz Brzeski (9-5-1). Replacing him will be Kennedy Kzechukwu (13-5), who won his heavyweight debut just last month with a first-round stoppage over Chris Barnett. Brzeski is returning after suffering a loss to Mick Parkin earlier this year.
- It was also announced that a heavyweight fight between Rizvan Kuniev (13-2-1) and Martin Buday (14-2) has been removed from the card.
- Cesar Almeida (6-1) has been matched against Abdul Razak Alhassan (12-6) for UFC’s January 11th card. Former GLORY Kickboxing talent Almeida bounced back from his first pro loss in October, beating Ihor Potieria on scorecards. Razak Alhassan is looking for his first win in nearly two years, as his last two appearances have resulted in a submission loss and a no contest.
- Two high-level matchups have been added to UFC 311 on January 18th from the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
- In a clash between former light heavyweight champions, Jiri Prochazka (30-5-1) and Jamahal Hill (12-2) will meet up. The fight will be Prochazka’s first appearance since losing a title fight to Alex Pereira for the second time, getting stopped by a head kick at UFC 303. Hill similarly also lost to Pereira earlier this year, having an unsuccessful return from injury and getting stopped in just three minutes.
- Past two-division ONE champ Reinier de Ridder (18-2) has been booked against Kevin Holland (26-12), per Alex Behunin of MMA Mania. De Ridder won his UFC debut earlier this month, catching veteran Gerald Meerschaert in the third round with an arm triangle choke. Holland is appearing for the third time since moving back up to middleweight. He returned to the weight class in June, beating Michal Oleksiejczuk in 94 seconds via armbar. He then faced Roman Dolidze at UFC 307 in October, but was taken out of the fight after one round due to a rib injury.
- Three more fights can be confirmed for UFC’s return to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 2nd:
- Looking for his third win as a rookie UFC talent, Vinicius Oliveira (21-3) will meet Said Nurmagomedov (18-3) in a bantamweight clash, as first reported by AgFight. Oliveira has scored a pair of wins in the promotion since March, earning a “Fight of the Night” victory over Bernardo Sopaj, then beating veteran Ricky Simon on scorecards. Nurmagomedov will be making his return, competing for the first time since his October 2023 submission win over Muin Gafurov. A series of cancelled fights – including a matchup which was expected to go down next month – kept him inactive for all of 2024.
- “Dana White’s Contender Series” alum Bogdan Grad (14-2) will make his promotional debut against Lucas Alexander (8-4), per a report from Marcel Dorff. Grad scored a UFC contract in his second appearance on the “Contender Series,” beating Michael Aswell via split decision earlier this year. Alexander is coming back after suffering a quick stoppage loss, getting put away in just 91 seconds by Jeka Saragih just over a year ago.
- Looking for his first UFC win, Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady (15-4) will face off against Jordan Leavitt (11-3), as also reported by Marcel Dorff. Former Fury FC champ Al-Selwady had an unsuccessful UFC debut in March, suffering a third-round stoppage against Loik Radzhabov. He now comes back against Leavitt, who has flipped between winning and losing in recent fights. His last outing was a quick loss, getting submitted in less than three minutes by Chase Hooper.
- Appearing for the first time since winning Season 32 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Ryan Loder (7-1) will face off against Cody Brundage (10-6), as first reported by Alex Behunin of MMA Mania. 33-year-old Loder won the show’s finals in August, putting away Robert Valentin in the second round of a fight with ground and pound. He now faces Brundage, a 10-fight UFC vet who is looking for his first win in over a year.
RIZIN
- Although RIZIN is promoting an exhibition boxing match between Ryan Garcia and Rukiya Anpo – which they held a press conference for earlier this week – the event has run into a potential problem. Golden Boy Promotions head Oscar De La Hoya posted Tuesday that he has not approved of the fight, a step he has argued is neccesary for the bout to go forward: “Golden Boy Promotions has exclusive rights to Ryan Garcia’s fights,” he posted on X. “The organizers of this event have acknowledged as such and have agreed in writing that our sign-off is needed for this event to occur. As no such sign-off has been given, as of today there is no event with Ryan Garcia.”
OKTAGON
- OKTAGON 68 will go down in Stuttgart, Germany on March 8th. So far, it has only been announced that Arijan Topallaj (7-1-1) will appear on the card.
Knockdown News 