1/10/25: Three Fights Join UFC 312 From Australia

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

• A trio of fights have recently been added to UFC 312, which goes down on February 8th from Sydney, Australia:
  • Jimmy Crute (12-4-1) has a new opponent following the withdrawal of Marcin Prachnio (17-8), the promotion has recently announced. Crute will now meet Rodolfo Bellato (12-2), a Brazilian prospect who won his UFC debut just over a year ago via second-round stoppage against Ihor Potieria. Crute has struggled for years, attaining three losses and one draw since 2021.
  • Undefeated lightweight prospect Kody Steele (7-0) will make his UFC debut against Rongzhu (25-6), Alex Behunin of MMA Mania is reporting. Fury FC standout Steele won a UFC contract in October, stopping Cage Warriors prospect Chasen Blair on “Dana White’s Contender Series.” Rongzhu, a Chinese talent who re-joined the UFC roster last year by winning the 2024 “Road To UFC” lightweight bracket, suffered a doctor stoppage loss in September to Chris Padilla.
  • City Kickboxing talent Jonathan Micallef (7-1) is also set for his promotional debut, meeting French welterweight Kevin Jousset (10-3), per Christopher Reive of The New Zealand Herald. Micallef, a former HEX Fight Series Champion, submitted Mohamed Ado in the first round on the “Contender Series” to secure a contract in October. While Jousset started his UFC run with back-to-back wins, he re-enters the cage this year following a stoppage defeat against Bryan Battle in September.
• A fair amount of Brazilian talent will be showcased at UFC 313, which is expected to go down on March 8th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Here are some of the show’s latest additions:
  • Coming back after an eventful 2024, Brunno Ferreira (12-2) will take on Armen Petrosyan (8-4), per Laerte Viana. Ferreira earned back-to-back “Performance of the Night” bonuses to start 2024, beating Phil Hawes and Dustin Stoltzfus in the first round each. However he comes back with the hopes of bouncing back, having lost his most recent fight against Abus Magomedov via submission. Petrosyan will be looking to avoid slipping into a three-fight skid, haivng lost in recent appearances to Rodolfo Vieira and Shara Magomedov.
  • Djorden Santos (10-1) will make his first UFC walk when he takes on Ozzy Diaz (9-3), Marcel Dorff reported. Santos, a 2022 Thunder Fight champ in Brazil, beat Cage Warriors stand-out Will Currie on the “Contender Series” last year to join the promotion. Diaz is a flashy fighter who gained a reputation on the U.S. regionals for his finishes, but lost his UFC debut in November via first-round finish to Zhang Mingyang.
  • 22-fight UFC vet Alex Morono (24-11) will try to snap the first two-fight skid of his career when he meets Carlos Leal (21-6), per AgFight. Morono is coming off decision defeats against Niko Price and Daniel Rodriguez from 2024 and has won just two of his last five fights. Brazil’s Leal, who has experience in the PFL and LFA, is coming off a UFC debut loss against Rinat Fakhretdinov from October.
  • Undefeated Jean Matsumoto (16-0) will receive his toughest UFC test yet, meeting former “Fight Night” headliner Chris Gutierrez (21-5-2) at bantamweight, per Laerte Viana. Matsumoto has kept his flawless record intact since joining the UFC roster last year, submitting ex-LFA champ Dan Argueta and beating “The Ultimate Fighter” winner Brad Katona on scorecards. Gutierrez will be looking for a second consecutive win, returning after beating short-notice opponent Quang Le in August.
• Looking to extend the first-ever two-fight UFC winning streak of his career, veteran Cody Gibson (21-10) will meet Da’Mon Blackshear (15-7-1) at UFC’s March 15th card, as first reported by Nolan King of MMA Junkie. Gibson, a fighter who showcased perseverance by starting his third run on the UFC roster 2023, put together wins over Brian Kelleher and Chad Angeliher during the second half of 2024 to officially mark his current campaign with the promotion as his most successful yet. Blackshear possibly kept his spot in the promotion alive with his last appearance, snapping a two-fight skid with a “Performance of the Night” submission win over Cody Stamann in November.
• In the coming months, media rights for UFC will become a major business story in the sport, as exclusive negotiation between the leading fight promotion and ESPN is set to begin this month and run until mid-April. However, some news elsewhere in the world has emerged for now: Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting is reporting that UFC has ended its TV deal in Brazil with Band, cutting off a three-year agreement before its expiration at the end of 2025. This weekend’s card is slated to air on UFC Fight Pass, although it’s unclear whether it will stay there or find a new broadcasting home eventually. Cruz noted in his report that UFC has talked with Globo, a past broadcasting partner, about a new deal.
• Matt Hamill, a now-retired fighter who became the first-ever deaf UFC talent back in 2006, appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show this week to discuss his recent ability to gain hearing through newly-aqcuired hearing aids. You can watch the full interview here.

PFL/Bellator

• MMA Fighting released an interview with the manager of Daiane Silva (3-0), a Bellator talent who was placed under a medically induced coma last year following a failed weight cut. The manager, Alex Davis, called the incident a “wake-up call” that has made him believe that the sport needs changes to the way it runs weight classes: “We’ve become hardened to it. We’ve become accustomed to it. We think this is normal. We just think this is the way things are. We can change it but first it takes us realizing this is wrong. I don’t know who else has to go through this. I don’t know if someone else has to die. I don’t know what it’s going to take. The truth is as wrong as it is, as ignorant as it is, it’s still happening.” I highly reccomend the read.
• PFL Founder Donn Davis will appear for a second-ever town hall Q&A with MMA Fighting next week. Davis previously appeared for an hour last October, fielding questions from viewers of the broadcast. Our five takeaways from that last conversation can be read here.

Misc.

• Vice TV’s “Dark Side of the Cage” series premiered on Wednesday night, with the first episode telling the story of street fighter turned MMA star Kimbo Slice. Vice has uploaded the full episode to Youtube, and you can watch here.
• In Case You Missed It: I appeared on the We Are Rizin podcast this week to discuss RIZIN’s New Year’s Eve card, plus other headlines from the world of Japanese MMA. You can watch the full episode here.