If there were any surprises in the fight, Gautier (11-1) didn’t let on, telling media outlets including Cageside Press following the second-round TKO that “I know he wanted to shoot, but I was ready for anything. It’s what happened.”

Ahead of the fight, fellow middleweight prospect Baisangur Susurkaev suggested that Gautier wasn’t famous enough yet to interest him in a match-up. Gautier gave his response backstage at the Prudential Center following the win.

“Let’s go step-by-step. Susurkaev says I’m not [famous], who knows him? Who knows him, for what? Who knows him? Nobody. I build my name myself, not behind some other peoples’ names. Myself, alone. With my team.”

As for a return, Gautier isn’t sure when exactly, other than “soon as possible,” adding that “I don’t know who they’re going to give to me, but I’m ready.”

He did call out Israel Adesanya in the cage after the win over Diaz, something of a surprise given it’s a fellow African fighter. By way of explanation, Ateba Gautier said that the callout was “because I admire him a lot. He’s a good fighter, he’s a very good quality fighter. He’s an African brother. I want to face him because I admire him.”

How big would the fight be, and how famous is Adesanya, a former two-time middleweight champ, in Africa? Gautier explained that “he’s more than famous in Africa. More than famous. Everybody knows him. If you fight in Africa and you don’t know Adesanya, you don’t know what a fight is. As a fighter, everybody knows him.”

Beyond that, Ateba didn’t have any other names on his mind— just food, including pizza.

Watch the full UFC 328 post-fight press conference with Ateba Gautier above.

The post Ateba Gautier Explains Adesanya Callout at UFC 328 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Gautier remained undefeated in the UFC, while Diaz was 1-1 and entering off a win over Djorden Santos.

Ateba Gautier quickly got things started with a few combinations, leading with a double jab. Diaz retreated, as he was forced onto the back foot by the powerful Gautier. Trying to feint his way into range of the favorite, Diaz found some success showing a single leg, then wrapping up Gautier in the clinch.

The strength of Gautier allowed the middleweight to muscle his way back into striking range, where the top prospect started flowing, landing an assortment of punches to soften the high guard of Diaz. The biggest shot from Gautier was a nice uppercut up the middle, though overall, the big underdog in Ozzy Diaz survived any major shots early.

Into round two, Gautier was done playing around. A lead jab by Diaz was quickly returned with a massive right hand over the top by the -1400 favorite, crumpling Diaz to the mat as referee Gary Copeland rushed in to stop the fight.

In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Gautier stated his desire to fight Israel Adesanya in the future. While that matchup seems unlikely, big things are ahead for the rising star as Ateba Gautier moves to 11-1 as a professional and 5-0 in the UFC.

Official Result: Ateba Gautier def. Ozzy Diaz by KO (punch), Round 2, 1:10

The post Ateba Gautier Crumples Ozzy Diaz to Close Out UFC 328 Prelims appeared first on Cageside Press.

That would be Baisangur Susurkaev, who in his own time with the press suggested Gautier would be “easy money.”

Gautier admitted he pays attention to everyone in his weight class, though no more so to Susurkaev than anyone else. “To be honest, as a fighter, I pay attention to every middleweight fighter, my division and stuff. Pay attention to him particularly? No. The attention I give to him is the same I give to everybody else.”

“If you you to fight, let’s fight. We’ll be happy. That’s what we like. So it’s fine as well,” he added.

The “easy money” comment, he added, didn’t bother him. “How can it bother me? It’s just a word. If you say something, I don’t care. It doesn’t effect me,” exclaimed Gautier. “But saying like ‘easy money,’ like you’ll be in hospital, maybe without your head, concussion, stuff like that. They say easy money, [just] to show up for him will be good. But anyway it’s fine, he’s fine still.”

Gautier trains with a few heavyweights including Oktagon MMA champ Will Fleury. There’s a chance fight fans could see him switch to 205lbs at some point.

“Move to light heavyweight, probably eventually one day,” he suggested. “But for now, as you can see, I’m cutting weight to get to 185. So I’m still here.”

Watch the full UFC 328 media day appearance by Ateba Gautier above.

The post UFC 328: Ateba Gautier Sees Light Heavyweight Move Some Day appeared first on Cageside Press.

On Thursday, UFC officials announced that Chimaev (15-0) will make his first title defense in May, when he’ll take on Sean Strickland (30-7) in the main event of UFC 328.

The card takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on May 9, 2026, and sees Alexander Volkov vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta serving as co-headliner.

Chimaev defeated Dricus Du Plessis with apparent ease at UFC 319 last August. That marked the Chechen’s long-awaited summit at the top of the middleweight mountain. The only knock on “Borz” over the past few years has been his lack of activity, partly due to illness. He’s fought just once in each of 2023, 2024, and 2025.

That’s a drastic change of course from his early UFC career, when he set activity records in the promotion.

Strickland reinserted himself in the title picture by defeated the surging Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez by knockout in the main event of UFC Houston last month. After shocking the MMA world by defeating Israel Adesanya to claim gold in September of 2023, Strickland lost the title to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 in Toronto the following January.

A win over Paulo Costa earned Strickland a second crack at Du Plessis last year, but that fight didn’t go his way either. Yet with Reinier de Ridder falling off, Caio Borralho coming off a single win, and Hernandez having had the best case for a chance at gold, Strickland’s timing has proven perfect.

Thought Nassourdine Imavov might have something to say about it.

Announced for the UFC 328 card on May 9 are the following match-ups:

• Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland – for the UFC middleweight championship
• Alexander Volkov vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta
• Sean Brady vs. Joaquin Buckley
• Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov
• King Green vs. Jeremy Stephens
• Ateba Gautier vs. Ozzy Diaz

The post Chimaev vs. Strickland Title Fight Headlines UFC 328 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Gautier (10-1) had gone the distance just once before, on the wrong side of a split decision early in his career. The outcome against Andrey Pulayev on Saturday was quite different, with all three judges scoring the preliminary card bout for Cameroon’s Gautier.

“I feel good. I really feel good,” he told media outlets including Cageside Press following the bout. “I feel it’s a good fight, good experience. I usually go for one round when I fight. I don’t train for one round, but it [the finish] always happens in the first round.”

“Now I’m happy. I proved to people— people say all the time that I don’t have the gas tank to go for 15 minutes. So now I proved that I have to gas tank to go for 15 minutes.”

In other words, Gautier seems to feel he’s sent a message. “I’m happy to show them— shut the f*ck up, bro. I can go for 15 minutes.”

As for being damaged in the fight, Ateba Gautier wasn’t sweating it. “Blood is blood. Just red water, that’s it.”

Getting a fight in early in 2026, Gautier could be looking at a busy year. He admitted that he’d enjoy fighting in Paris, where many from Cameroon reside.

“Yes, obviously I want to fight on UFC Paris one day. There’s many people there from Cameroon. It would be also good to fight in front of people from my country. It would be cool.”

Asked for a callout, meanwhile, Gautier had a big one. A former title challenger known as “The Italian Dream.”

“I’ve got a name, I’ve got a name. I want to fight Marvin Vettori. I want to fight him. He’s also a tough guy, so let’s go for a fight,” exclaimed Gautier, who believes his performance on Saturday shows he can hang with the likes of the Italian. “It would be fun, it would be fun to have this test of fighting a tough guy. Show him I’m here, I’m here, it’s my time, no matter what. I just proved to you, he’s always going three rounds now, he’s tough, hard to get knocked out. Now I showed them I can go for three rounds as well, so let’s go now.”

Watch the full UFC 324 post-fight press conference with Ateba Gautier above.

The post UFC 324: Ateba Gautier Targeting Marvin Vettori Next appeared first on Cageside Press.

While Pulyaev was 1-1 since entering the UFC off Dana White’s Contender Series, Gautier had won his first three bouts for the promotion. That run included two post-fight bonuses and three finishes in his three fights inside the octagon. A number that boded well, with the company introducing a finishing bonus in 2026.

Round 1 – Pulyaev opened up with front kicks to the body, looking to maintain range and keep Gautier away. Gautier slowly entered boxing range and dropped Pulyaev with the first punch he threw, a massive overhand right. Pulyaev got back to his feet but had to eat a knee and some other big punches on the way up.

Gautier proceeded to stalk Pulyaev around the cage, pushing him back with every punch he threw. Pulyaev landed a nice right hand down the middle to hold Gautier back, but it didn’t work as well as he would’ve liked. Gautier kept throwing the right hand at range, but Pulyaev started to get wise to it and circle to the left.

The Russian did a good job of making Gautier miss while landing some strikes, but none as impactful as his opponents’. Pulyaev actually finished the round with more strikes landed than Gautier, but he still had a lot of work to do.

Round 2 – Gautier started the round the same way he ended the first, pushing Pulyaev back while throwing big right hands. Pulyaev landed a nice body kick, but was immediately countered with a right hand and sent on the retreat, but seemed more comfortable than before. He continued to be the more active fighter, especially with his kicks, but was momentarily dropped again when Gautier got into range. A solid head kick into a left hand landed for Pulyaev, who was again rocked as Gautier started to tee off. Pulyaev fired back despite being hurt and stayed alive while maintaining his kickboxing range. Another big body kick ended the round for Pulyaev, who looked much better than previous Gautier opponents.

Round 3 – Gautier opened the round with a stunning right hand. Both men seemed to slow down and stuck to their basics, with Gautier just throwing massive right hands. Pulyaev was switching stances effectively, which opened up a nice left hand. Gautier responded with some kicks, none of which landed clean, but showed more than he previously had needed to. Pulyaev stayed reserved to end the fight, staying far at kicking range while Gautier stopped throwing punches.

The fight was a tough test for Gautier, showing he still has things to work on. Still, he came away with the unanimous decision win, the first of his career, and just the second time he’s gone to the judges.

Official Result: Ateba Gautier def. Andrey Pulyaev by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

The post UFC 324: Ateba Gautier Earns First Decision Win, Beats Andrey Pulyaev appeared first on Cageside Press.

The violent finish seemed like a given, since Gautier (9-1) was a massive favorite in the fight. Despite that, Gautier hasn’t had a problem finding motivation in his fight camps. Mainly because he looks inward, not outward.

“With my team, my coach, we never really had a like a training camp for specific opponents,” he told media outlets including Cageside Press following Saturday’s victory, his third straight inside the UFC octagon. Instead, the focus of his fight camp is to “make me good, make be better than the previous fights.”

“It’s not about him, it’s about me. I’m the main person there, not the opponent,” he later put it.

Asked if he’d noticed a rise in his popularity among fans, Ateba Gautier noted that he pays little attention to his profile.

“I don’t really care about— obviously I want to be the best, but I’m not focused on looking at if I’m popular or not. That’s not important for me. The most important is being good, being the best. I want to be the best, I will be the best. I don’t need distraction, I need to be focused.”

Gautier isn’t about to start calling out top 5 or top 10 opponents any time soon, however. Despite wanting to be the best, “that’s being stupid,” he observed.

“I want to go step-by-step, take my time. There’s no rush. I’m 23. So why should I go quick? It’s okay. I’m going to be the champion. I will be the champion. There’s no point to rush, I will be, for sure, definitively, 100% I will be champion. But I need more experience. Experience changes everything.”

Watch the full UFC 320 post-fight press conference with Ateba Gautier above.

The post UFC 320: Ateba Guatier Focused on Skill, Not Popularity appeared first on Cageside Press.

Vines had competed for promotions including CFFC and LFA earlier in his career, and entered his UFC debut on a four-fight win streak, albeit against some wildly disproportionate opposition, including an 0-7 fighter in what was Vines’ 11th pro contest.

The fight that played out as the featured prelim on Saturday took very little time to unfold. Gautier, frankly, wasted no time finding the finish.

Round one started, and Gautier was the one with all the eyes on him. He started off by stalking Vines down, throwing one shot at a time, but Vines wasn’t engaging at all. Vines tried a takedown, but it was from too far out, and Gautier landed a knee that dropped him. Right after that, Vines got in on another takedown, and that time it was better timed. Vines was working on the legs against the cage, and Gautier landed two hard elbows to the side of the head. It was a delayed reaction, but Vines went down stiff and the extra shots from Gautier sent the ref in.

Official Result: Ateba Gautier def. Tre’ston Vines by knockout (elbows and GnP), Round 1, 1:41

The post UFC 320: Ateba Gautier Wastes No Time Finishing Newcomer Tre’ston Vines appeared first on Cageside Press.

Gautier (8-1) faced off with Valentin at ceremonial weigh-ins. The latter screamed in his face trying to get a reaction from Gautier, but got nothing more than a slight smirk.

“About the energy, you know, I didn’t really care. Everything he was doing for me was ok. You can do whatever you want, but in the cage you’re going to be just you and me. Whatever you can do it won’t change the results,” Gautier told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

If earning a bonus was his plan well then it worked perfectly as he scored a 50k bonus. It was something he expected following the result.

“I’m going to get the bonus (the scrum was before those were announced). I was violent. Have you hear(d) the noise of my punch like BOOM, BOOM. Like a small explosion. So I’m going to get the bonus,” he said.

Not many people know that Gautier has actually attended university and earned degrees, but the reason behind it is interesting. Mama Gautier laid down the condition that, if he wants to fight, he must have a degree.

“I always used to fight, but not like proper fight. I always used to fight in the street in my country. For me it was normal. I wanted to fight, but my mom (was) like you can’t fight if you don’t get degrees,” he said.

“So that’s why I went to uni. I did physics just to make her like, ok, I’m smart, but fighting for me is for like stupid people. I’m smart, but I want to fight. I just enjoy it.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Ateba Gautier above.

The post Ateba Gautier’s Mom Made Him Earn Degrees Before He Could Fight appeared first on Cageside Press.

The first six fights on the preliminary card ended in finishes, and some thrilling battles transpired later in the evening, including a pair of barnburners on the main card that both saw multiple knockdowns: Kevin Holland vs. Daniel Rodriguez, and the main event between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier.

While both of those fights presented a strong case for Fight of the Night, the UFC instead awarded the preliminary card grudge match between Brendan Allen and Marvin Vettori with the honor. Allen came away from the fight with the decision win, leaving Vettori bloodied after three rounds.

Allen’s status as a fighter with strong ties to Louisiana (his parents are from there, and Allen attended Southeastern Louisiana University) might have sealed the deal, as a local star, despite being born in South Carolina and training in Florida.

Ateba Gautier, Islam Dulatov and Carli Judice earned Performance of the Night bonuses on Saturday. Judice kicked off the event by flooring Nicole Caliari with a knee, while Dulatov flatlined Adam Fugitt with a punch. As for Ateba Gautier, he simply steamrolled Robert Valentin, an Ultimate Fighter alum, en route to a TKO finish.

All five fighters pick up an extra $50,000 for their efforts at UFC 318.

The post Five Fighters Awarded Bonus Money Following UFC 318 appeared first on Cageside Press.