Sunday MMA Quick Hits: Dodson Captures BKFC Gold, UFC Supporting Hawaiian Relief Efforts

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John Dodson, BKFC 48
John Dodson, BKFC 48 Credit: Bare-Knuckle FC

Former UFC flyweight title challenger John Dodson continued his late career resurgence this past week, winning gold in BKFC. Another Musk vs. Zuck update, plus the UFC pitches in to help out Hawaii. It’s your Sunday MMA Quick Hits!

John Dodson is a BKFC champion

John Dodson has been making magic happen of late. “The Magician” won the inaugural BKFC flyweight title on Friday night, stopping JR Ridge by TKO inside of a round at BKFC 48. That’s his third win in three outings in the bare-knuckle realm; the former UFC title challenger is also on a three-fight win streak in MMA.

What’s next for Dodson? Good question. He recently made his RIZIN FF debut and now has two wins in the Japanese promotion. At 38, he doesn’t have a ton of time left in combat sports, especially at flyweight, but The Ultimate Fighter 14 winner is having a heck of a late-career resurgence.

Musk Claims Zuck Fight to Happen in Roman Colosseum, Zuck Refutes Claim, Wants to Work with UFC or ONE Championship

Now for your weekly update on the dreadful Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg fight proposal. This past week, Musk took to Twitter, or X, or whatever he intends to call it, to claim the fight would stream on the platform and take place in the Roman Colosseum. The Tesla and Space X CEO even claimed to have spoken to the Italian government about the proposal. Dana White and the UFC, said Musk, will not be involved.

Not so fast. Zuckerberg, Meta’s head honcho and founder of Facebook, says he would only do the fight if the UFC or a similar promotion like ONE Championship were involved.

“I love this sport and I’ve been ready to fight since the day Elon challenged me. If he ever agrees on an actual date, you’ll hear it from me. Until then, please assume anything he says has not been agreed on,” Zuckerberg wrote on Threads, his latest social media platform.

“Not holding my breath for Elon, but I’ll share details on my next fight when I’m ready. When I do compete, I want to do it in a way that puts a spotlight on the elite athletes at the top of the game. You do that by working with professional orgs like the UFC or ONE to pull this off and create a great card.”

Frank Mir wants to wrap up career with two fights in UFL

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir isn’t done fighting just yet. Speaking to MMA Fighting recently, Mir revealed that he plans on taking two more fights under the United Fight League (UFL) banner, a promotion he’s currently working with.

“Obviously, I’m in the twilight of my career,” Mir told MMA Fighting. “Now I’m starting to shift over in how I train and how I move. I realized training three times a day is over for me. I have other responsibilities that I have to address but training once a day is still good and then I go lift weights to keep myself healthy and sane. Because mentally I wouldn’t be able to cope with life if I didn’t have training and martial arts as an outlet. It’s my religion.

“So I want to do possibly two more fights and I want to do it for the UFL, to fight for us.”

Ideally, the heavyweight legend wants to share a card with daughter Bella for his final bow.

“I want to fight one just to get back into it before I do a last fight with Bella. Hopefully I can fight sometime from December to February time period is what I’m looking for to come back as far as a first fight to knock the rust off me and then hopefully this summer [2024] come out sharp and fight on the same card as Bella.”

UFL 3 went down on Saturday in Mesa, AZ. The promotion made a splash when it announced it was providing health insurance for its fighters.

Fighter destroys leg at ACA 161

Not for the feint of heart.

Grigoriy Ponomarev rolled over his own leg at ACA 161, breaking it and possibly damaging his ligaments and tibial plateau. Whatever the outcome, this is a very nasty injury.

UFC Donating $1 million to relief effort in Maui

Devastating wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui have led the UFC to donate $1 million to the relief effort, UFC President Dana White announced on Saturday.

In addition, the promotion is selling a UFC Hawaii t-shirt that will see 100% of the proceeds donated to support relief efforts as well.

Great move by the promotion. Upwards of 80 people were killed in the recent sudden, unexpected wildfires, with victims jumping into the ocean to escape oppressive smoke and flames.

McKinney Reacts to UFC Vegas 78 Win

It was back to the win column on Saturday for Terrance “T.Wrecks” McKinney, snapping a two-fight skid with a first-round stoppage of Mike Breeden. Here’s his reaction.

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