Then again, Chimaev appears to have brought in an all-star roster of training partners for his fight with Sean Strickland atop UFC 328. Names include Allen, Khalil Rountree Jr., Pat Downey, and Baisangur Susurkaev, among others, plus Chimaev’s own crew. “It’s been a great opportunity, it’s been a great experience,” Allen (26-7) told media outlets including Cageside Press on Thursday. “I’ve learned a lot, had a lot of good goes, and what a way for me to jump into camp than finishing up with the champ at the end of his camp.”

“The team was great, creating a bond with Khamzat was great, he’s a good friend to me now, and I look forward to the future.”

Of course, Allen was once campaigning for a fight with Chimaev, and even spoke up to get it. That’s something he addressed wit hthe UFC middleweight champion in advance of working with him.

“I know it’s going to come out eventually that I used to talk sh*t or talk about Khamzat. But I had that conversation with him and his team before I came here. It was just trying to get the fight. I wanted to fight him, I knew he had the biggest name at the time, I’m always trying to fight the best guy I can fight,” Allen explained. “But after being here with him, sharing rounds with him, talking with him, communicating with him, creating that bond, I think he’s an awesome guy. I think he’s a standup guy. I think that old adage of him as a wild guy, I don’t know that Chimaev. All I know is the Chimaev that I got to meet this time, and I consider him a good friend at this point.”

Chimaev and Strickland face off at UFC 328 in New Jersey in just over a week’s time. Brendan Allen meets Edmen Shahbazyan on June 6, 2026 at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas.

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With Chimaev bringing an entire team with him to train stateside, Rountree told Cageside Press and other media outlets on Thursday that “I’ve never seen such a well-put together group. Very organized, very structured, very hard-working.”

“I got to see Khamzat as a leader. He’s not just responsible for himself, but he makes sure the team is taken care of and everybody gets the same type of training and recovery as he does. So that’s very cool.”

Rountree, a dangerous striker in the 205lb weight class, had high praise for the middleweight champ. “There’s no doubt about it in my mind, he’s one of the best on the planet.”

Of course, Chimaev has been teasing an eventual move to light heavyweight himself. That has Routree feeling “many different ways,” he admitted. “When I first heard the news, I was a bit bummed out really. Just to know that a guy like Khamzat would come to the division, and that could be a potential match-up if that happened, it doesn’t make me happy to be think about that.”

Part of that is Rountree’s belief that Chimaev is one of the best in the world. Beyond that, “no one gets an easy round with Khamzat. It doesn’t matter what weight class, what size,” he added. “So that was my initial thoughts of like, if he made the move up, we’re all kind of screwed.”

It’s not a matter of cleaning out the division, Rountree later clarified. The top of the division is simply full of winnable fights for the middleweight star.

“Being able to clean something out, yeah it takes a lot of work. But I think if he were to be placed in the top five right now, there’s not an easy fight for any of us up there if it were Khamzat Chimaev. Like when it comes to all of us being heavy in striking primarily in the top five, then he’s going to find a way around it. And then if we just try to up our wrestling to match with him, we’ll get outmatched.”

“It’s not a clear sweep for him, but it’s not an easy challenge for the guys of the top five if he chose to go up there,” Rountree finished.

Watch Thursday’s full media scrum with Khalil Rountree Jr. above.

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The comments, the latest escalation in the feud between the former training partners, might be seen as promotion, but they’ve strayed into dangerous territory in an American where shootings are as common as hot dogs at a ballpark.

Chimaev, however, doubts the authenticity of Strickland’s comments. At least, that’s the point he seemed to illustrate speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press on Thursday.

“Bro he didn’t shoot any chickens in the world, how’s he going to shoot a human?” questioned Chimaev (15-0). He’d go on to add that “I don’t think the guy wants a real war outside the cage. If he wanted [that], he would be dead already.”

Asked again if he thought Strickland might actually go through with a shooting, Chimaev said that in New Jersey, it might be a bad idea. “Bro, in New Jersey, this is Muslim community. It’s my home. I don’t think he’s going to come out with the guns there. Otherwise there will be a lot of people in jail, because he’s dead.”

Strickland is no stranger to making death threats and previously threatened to murder Dricus Du Plessis during their feud a few years back. Instead, he simply lost a pair of fights to the South African.

Chimaev, who noted that “clowns are always going to talk” on Thursday, also addressed the pair’s training history.

“He never had success with me. It’s not going to be different this time as well. I was fighting 170 that time, so imagine I beat him on that weight. I was cutting the weight, at that time I beat him. Right now, people know how big I am, how hungry I am.”

“I like white American chicken,” he added.

As for Strickland’s deluge of trash talk, Khamzat sees an upside to it on the promotional front. “I like his talking, it’s good for me. I don’t need to worry about, like I need to talk. he’s talking for everyone.”

Watch Thursday’s full media scrum with UFC 328 headliner Khamzat Chimaev above.

The post Khamzat Chimaev: If Strickland Wanted War Outside the Cage, “He’d Be Dead Already” appeared first on Cageside Press.

Then, as often transpires in mixed martial arts, the fight gods threw England’s Vassell (25-10, 1NC) a curveball. Goltsov, the 2024 PFL Global season champion, was out. Jose Augusto was in. Actually, another would-be opponent was offered prior to Augusto, “but for some reason, the guy couldn’t get a visa,” Vassell told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview ahead of the bout.

Augusto was next in line. “Even before I’d even watched his fights, I agreed and signed the contract. Because I’d been training for a fight, I’d been training for Denis. I think when you get offered a replacement, all you can say is yes,” explained Vassell. “So I took the fight, and here we are.”

Denis Goltsov, of course, is a very different opponent from Jose Augusto. Goltsov is a towering figure, Augusto not so much, and outside of teammate Steve Mowry, Vassell had had a tough time finding fighters similar in stature to the Russian PFL star.

“I’ve been sparring with strikers and grapplers. It’s kind of like I was preparing for this fight without even noticing really, if you understand. Because it’s not like everyday you can go down the road and find a 6’8″ guy. So the height adjustment, it kind of just worked out perfectly.”

Jose Augusto might be remembered for fighting Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in Bellator MMA on short notice, replacing Yoel Romero in their 2021 fight. It was Rumble’s last professional bout prior to his untimely passing due to cancer.

Still, Augusto has only flirted with the limelight, which might make him more dangerous in a way. “I don’t doubt he’s going to come and try and knock me out and make a statement for himself,” noted Vassell. “There’s no doubt he’s going to come and bring it, but I’m know I’m ready. I’ve been ready for a long time. Whatever he’s going I’m going to nullify that, and work my game. Eventually take him down after beating him up on the feet, and go for the finish.”

“Either TKO or referee stoppage. That’s how I see this fight going.”

It’s a brand new day, to borrow from the next Spider-Man film, for the PFL in 2026. No more tournaments, traditional matchmaking. Vassell has plenty of experience with both. “Don’t get me wrong, it was fun to get three fights in a year, so obviously I was active and I got paid, but it is taxing on the body. And me getting a little bit older, 42 now, to do that again would have been tough.

With that in mind, Vassell is “pleased” to see things go back to the regular format. “If I win, obviously then you get another ranked guy and like you said, eventually it’s probably a quicker way to get to the belt. For me, I think this works perfect for myself.” Vassell has always trained for one fight at a time, he added. “In a way, I’m glad there’s no more tournaments.”

Watch our full interview with PFL Madrid heavyweight Linton Vassell above.

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With apologies to Philipe Lins, who was never expected to say much, having three notable names in Ronda Rousey, Gina Carano, and Francis Ngannou, all of whom can be charming and work a mic, meant there would be a multitude of storylines. And there have been.

Perhaps the biggest has been Rousey positioning the fight as the start of something bigger, perhaps the start of a charge against MMA’s entrenched, dominant force, the UFC.

On Tuesday, she told media outlets including Cageside Press that her fight with Carano appearing on the world’s leading streaming service, Netflix, “was always the ultimate goal.”

“They’re the biggest player out there, the most premium channel or outlet that we could be on. And that’s what I think that this fight really deserves. And I think that the UFC made a huge mistake going with Paramount and just taking the biggest check, because they left the biggest streamer in the world with a need that they want filled, and someone else is going to fill it.”

The UFC signed a $7.7 billion dollar broadcast deal with Paramount Skydance to have all their content, including numbered events, appear on Paramount+. In the process, Pay-Per-View dollars were eliminated; the fight with Rousey and Carano, once destined from Rousey’s old fighting home, was axed as a result.

In short, the UFC didn’t want to pay up. Just as they reportedly didn’t want to pay Jon Jones, and, apparently, Conor McGregor.

“The UFC just feels like they’re too big to fail, and it doesn’t matter. Then they have this fight of me and Gina, the two biggest names in the sport when it comes to international name recognition— I think a lot of people in MMA don’t realize how few people outside of MMA know who anyone in it is.”

Rousey added that she’s had plenty of fans mention that they haven’t watched fighting since she wrapped up her career, calling it “common.”

“Because of their short-term greed of trying to hog as much of that Paramount check for the shareholders as possible, they let the biggest fight in recent history, or maybe in the history of the sport go to the biggest streamer, that they left wide open for somebody else to take. And now this is going to be the most viewed MMA fight of all time easily. And they just let it go why? They think they’re the only gig in town. And somebody’s going to come and fill that void that they’re leaving, and MVP is ready to be there and to innovate and to take the risk, and honestly it’s not much of a risk.”

Rousey, who throughout Tuesday’s press conference suggested that Dana White is no longer entirely in charge of the MMA juggernaut, went on to say that she hopes the UFC “sees that the writing is on the wall.”

“They’re going to lose the market share of the sport if they don’t start prioritizing the fighters, and not just trying to get away with putting up fights that are basically as cheap as possible. Because that’s how they keep most of that upfront check, right? They don’t have any incentive to put on the best fights possible. They’re not doing Pay-per-View anymore. The way that they keep the most of that 7.7 billion dollars is to spend as little as possible. There’s no incentive for them to have the biggest names and the best fights.”

Perhaps hinting at more to come, Rousey added that “change is coming, and I’m very happy to be at the forefront of it.”

The post Rousey: Netflix “Always the Ultimate Goal,” “Change Is Coming” appeared first on Cageside Press.

The fight, promoted by Jake Paul’s MVP, took many by surprise, despite rumors of it dating back over a year. Initially, it had been lined up for the UFC, until they jumped to Paramount+. Then, PPV dollars were gone, and the promotion didn’t want to give guaranteed money to a couple of stars of yesteryear.

During Tuesday’s Rousey vs. Carano press conference, both headliners spoke with Cageside Press about the respect shared between them. For Rousey, it’s as simple as the fact that without Carano, she wouldn’t have known what MMA was.

“I would not have known that women’s MMA existed if it wasn’t for her. I was training for the 08 Olympics when I saw her fight Julie Kedzie, and saw the awe and admiration and respect that she commanded from everybody in the room. She stole the show,” recalled Rousey. “And I was so envious of her. I saw her fight and I was like ‘I can totally kick her ass,’ but I was also so in awe and enthralled with her. She planted that seed in my mind, when I was training for the Olympics, I would try to listen to music and think about ‘ooh I’m going to win the Olympics,’ and my Olympic matches and all of this and doing Judo, and it just kept creeping into my mind.”

“I would think of winning MMA, and winning MMA matches. She planted that seed. My mom has a saying, that you can’t unthink a thought. It’s because of her. She changed my whole life, and she already was changing the world of sports and went and moved on to bigger and better things for herself, and I was able to change the world because of her.”

Carano, meanwhile, referenced a years-old interview she had given, in which she predicted the girls she was inspiring in her heyday would in turn inspire her.

“The women that I’m inspiring now are going to re-inspire me later, and I didn’t know how prophetic those words would be. And it has come full circle to exactly that,” stated Carano, who had an undefeated career until the ran into Cris Cyborg in what turned out to be Carano’s final fight. “Ronda— they’ve tried to get me to come out of retirement. There’s nobody I would have come out for except for her. And, when we were having kind of a tough time getting it done, because I have walked away before, Ronda got on the phone with me and she’s like ‘okay, let’s sit down and talk about it.'”

“I call her little wolf, because she’s wagging her tail and she’s charming, but at the same time, she wants to rip my arm off and shove it up my ass,” Carano later added with a laugh, realizing just a moment too late that those would no doubt be the words that would go viral.

“She’s completely inspired me. I didn’t realize how badly I needed it. I don’t care about the time off. I’ve had a lot of extreme things happen. I used to get really for stuff like this, and I feel freakin’ great right now,” Carano continued. “It’s got good energy for this fight, and I agree with Ronda, this is the biggest fight going on right now. And it’s a complete honor.”

Ronda Rousey faces Gina Carano under the MVP banner on Netflix on May 16, 2026 in Los Angeles, CA at the Intuit Dome.

The post Gina Carano Explains Why She Calls Ronda Rousey “Little Wolf” appeared first on Cageside Press.

“During this fight week I began to feel like I belong here. I belong in the UFC and I belong at the highest level.”

Montes (11-1) described himself as a well-rounded fighter capable of adapting to whatever style a matchup demands. While he believes he can compete comfortably in every phase of MMA, he admitted there is one approach he naturally gravitates toward.

“I’m the type of fighter than can do it all. I can counter, I can pressure, I can grapple, I can fight anywhere. You won’t find holes in my game,” he said.

“But if you’re asking what I prefer to do, I love to bring the pressure and go forward at my opponent.”

Montes said the experience of his UFC debut only fueled his desire to return to the Octagon as quickly as possible. After the emotions of fight week and the performance itself, he made it clear he’s eager to build momentum in the division.

“I’m looking to come back very soon. I want to feel what I felt this fight week again, what I felt in camp and what I felt in this fight. I’ve got some personal things to figure out, but I’m going to ask for another fight,” he said.

“I’ll be ready to go.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Alberto Montes above. 

*Translated by Cageside Press

The post Alberto Montes Beats Ricky Turcios in UFC Debut, Says “I Belong Here” appeared first on Cageside Press.

Ferreira had done the same to “Robocop” the first time around, but the finish was even more spectacular this past Saturday. Now, Rodrigues (19-6) is setting his fights on the top 5 of the middleweight division, and one Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez.

“I’m ready for everything, man. I sent my message. I sent my message to the division,” Rodrigues said following the fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “I’m happy with how my career goes. For sure, something big is gonna come. I want to fight probably in the top 5, I want one of the top 5s. Maybe Anthony Hernandez, that was a good name, good match-up.”

Rodriguez plans on sitting down with his manager and working out his next steps, but he does expect to fight Ferreira once more. “I told him right after the fight, I said ‘man, for sure I will see you at the top again. And probably we’re going to face each other one more time.'”

Rodrigues showed considerable restraint after knocking out Ferreira, leaving it at a single punch and not dropping any follow-up blows.

“Oh man, yeah, but the ref did amazing work. Because he was right there,” Rodrigues told Cageside Press. “I thought to do one more shot, but when I came and I saw him, I said ‘I don’t need it.’ One was enough, and the ref did an amazing job.”

That’s not always the case. Rodrigues himself has been criticized for landing more shots than necessary in the past; Ferreira felt the same criticism in their first fight. Keep in mind, fighters are trained to continue until the ref intervenes.

“That happened. That happens with anybody. People complain for everything. I don’t care about it,” Rodrigues finished.

Watch the full UFC 326 post-fight press conference with Gregory Rodrigues above.

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“I’ve been working so hard for this moment. I wish I could have got the finish, but either way, I feel like the performance was good and I passed this test with flying colors,” Rosas Jr told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

“It means a lot being able to connect with the fans and they’re always showing love. I appreciate everybody’s supporting me along the way.”

Rosas Jr (12-1) said he expected a cautious approach from the veteran once the fight hit the mat, especially given how dangerous the submission exchanges became.

While he was able to maintain control throughout the grappling sequences, he admitted Font’s defensive awareness made it difficult to fully lock in a finish.

“I knew he was going to play it safe, but he played it more safe than I thought. Every time I felt like the submission was there, he would reset, and he just wouldn’t give me anything. Props to him,” he said.

Rosas Jr. said the victory represented a significant milestone in his development, especially against a veteran who has consistently faced the top names in the bantamweight division.

For the rising prospect, the win served as validation that he’s ready to begin testing himself against the division’s elite.

“Rob Font’s been in there with the best and I passed this test with flying colors,” he said.

“So I’m ready to compete against the best in the world. If I’m not ready, I’ll figure out how to be ready, I got the best team now. I’m with the (MMA) Lab. I got good people around me that are going to help me get ready for any challenge that’s ahead of me.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Raul Rosas Jr above.

The post Raul Rosas Jr On Dominant Win Over Rob Font: “I Passed This Test with Flying Colors” appeared first on Cageside Press.