Earlier this month, no fewer than 15 names were removed from the promotion’s athlete database. Now, as of Tuesday, eight more have joined them (and nine if you count Jake Hadley, whose exit was confirmed last week).

Among these latest names are former UFC women’s strawweight and The Ultimate Fighter 20 alum Jessica Penne, Olympic medalist Robelis Despaigne, and talented Brazilian flyweight Matheus Nicolau. While Penne recently lost her third straight fight, and Despaigne was coming off back-to-back setbacks, Nicolau remains something of a surprise. While he had lost three straight, those losses had all come to top talents, including title challengers in Alex Perez and Brandon Royval.

The total list of names removed from the roster on Tuesday are below. The changes were first noted by UFC Roster Tracker, an automated service that monitor’s the promotion’s fighter database. Removal doesn’t necessarily mean “cut” – retirement (as in the case of Daniel Pineda) or fighting out a contract can also see a fighter removed.

• Jessica Penne
• Robelis Despaigne
• Matheus Nicolau
• Daniel Pineda
• Tamires Vidal
• Vinicius Salvador
• Charalampos Grigoriou
• Jesse Butler

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Michel Pereira

Michel Pereira was thoroughly dominated in nearly every aspect of the fight until he was mercifully finished in the final round by his opponent, Anthony Hernandez. Pereira entered the fight ranked at #14 in the UFC’s middleweight division, while his opponent was ranked at #13.

The loss snapped an eight-fight winning streak that dated back to February of 2020. The streak has spanned over two weight classes as Pereira went 5-0 as a welterweight and then went 3-0 at 185lbs. Leading into this bout, every middleweight bout Michel had participated in the UFC, he had not only won in the first round, but also had received a performance bonus (Andre Petroski, Michal Oleksiejczuk, Ihor Potieria).

Pereira should face an up-and-comer for his spot in his next fight. Stand-out prospects, Shara Magomedov and Armen Petrosyan are scheduled to fight at UFC 308 next weekend. Shara is undefeated at 14-0 and is a perfect 3-0 in the UFC. Petrosyan is 8-3 and 3-2 in the UFC. Armen already has solid wins over studs like Gregory Rodrigues and Christian Leroy Duncan. The winner of that fight on the October 26 will be more than ready to step up to take on a ranked fighter like Pereira.

Michel’s next fight: Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan winner

Kyler Phillips

Kyler Phillips lost a unanimous decision at the hands of Rob Font in what was one of the biggest upsets at UFC Vegas 99. The loss snapped a three-fight win streak that dated back to July of 2021 (wins over Marcelo Rojo, Raoni Barcelos and Pedro Munhoz).

Kyler entered the fight ranked at #12 in the bantamweight division while his opponent, Rob Font, was ranked at #10.

Montel Jackson would be a good next fight for Phillips. Jackson is currently just barely in the top 15 at the #15 spot at 135lbs. Montel has won five in a row including three stoppages coming in the very first round and two performance bonuses in the same time period. Jackson was last in action back in July when he KO’d Da’Mon Blackshear with a straight left in just 18 seconds.

Kyler’s next fight: Montel Jackson

Sumudaerji

Sumudaerji was soundly defeated in a very competitive back and forth striking battle with Charles Johnson.  With that loss ‘The Tibetan Eagle’ now falls to 3-4 with the UFC. Sumudaerji has now lost his last three fights in a row after starting off with the UFC going 3-1 from 2018-2021.

A good next fight for Sumudaerji would be a fighter like Jimmy Flick. Jimmy has lost three of his last four fights since his mini retirement ended spanning from 2021-2023.

One of the fighters he lost to since his retirement was none other than Charles Johnson, who finished him in the first round of their bout, last January. Flick was last in action back in June when he lost a unanimous decision to Nate Maness.

Sumudaerji’s next fight: Jimmy Flick 

Jake Hadley

Jake Hadley was stunned on Saturday night when he lost a unanimous decision to the short notice newcomer Cameron Smotherman. With the loss Hadley now falls to 3-4 in the UFC and has lost three of his last four fights.

Hadley should fight Brad Katona in his next bout. Katona fought and lost on the undercard of UFC Vegas 99 to Jean Matsumoto in a unanimous decision. He is 4-4 in the UFC and 2-2 since winning The Ultimate Fighter Season 31 last August. The timing for this fight would make sense and it seems like a more appropriate fight than trying to rebook the fight with Brady Hiestand.

Jake’s next fight: Brad Katona

Daniel Pineda

Daniel Pineda put on an extremely gutsy performance against Darren Elkins but was ultimately defeated in a bloody three round unanimous decision war. The fight would go on to win fight of the night honors.

In his post-fight speech Pineda took of his gloves and laid them in the center of the octagon. He then took to the mic to announce his retirement from the UFC and MMA.

Daniel’s next fight: N/A

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Far from throwing cash around at the night’s big winners, the promotion was anything but spendthrift, awarding just two bonuses on the night spread across three fighters: the traditional Fight of the Night, and a single Performance of the Night bonus.

The single Performance bonus went to headliner Anthony Hernandez, who spent the better part of five rounds wearing down Michel “Demolidor” Pereira prior to putting him away in the fifth. The middleweight fight saw “Fluffy” Hernandez looking quite sharp, setting multiple records on the way to his TKO victory, with Pereira tenderized in the later rounds, pounded on until he could do little more than lay in place, sucking back air.

That victory should propel Hernandez closer to the top 10 if not just inside it. It also pockets him $50,000 in bonus cash. A second Performance bonus might have gone to Joselyne Edwards, who had the night’s other finish — a submission of Tamires Vidal — had Edwards not missed weight by a full three pounds for the fight.

Years back, when the UFC switched to Performance of the Night bonuses from Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night, the idea seemed to be about flexibility. After all, a fighter can have one of the best performances on a given night and not put away a durable opponent. In practice, Performance of the Night still seems to boil down to finishes. So sorry, Elise Reed, who just a week ago got hitched, you don’t get a post-fight bonus despite lighting up Jessica Penne in the second and third rounds.

Instead, just Hernandez and Darren Elkins vs. Daniel Pineda pick up bonus cash. Fight of the Night at UFC Vegas 99 was never in question, with Elkins vs. Pineda a bloody thriller. What’s that, blood in a Darren Elkins fight? Who saw that coming? Yet it was Pineda, not Elkins, spilling pints, though he did he best to catch Elkins in a submission. When that didn’t happen, it was Elkins coming away with the win — and Daniel Pineda calling it a career.

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Elkins entered the fight off a win over TJ Brown, while Pineda was looking to snap a two-fight skid at the UFC Apex on Saturday.

The fight started out with Elkins throwing out a huge overhand. Pineda landed a spinning back kick that stopped Elkins in his tracks for a split second.

Elkins threw another huge overhand which this time, landed. Darren went for the takedown in that same moment and in return, Pineda went for a guillotine. With both fighters still dry, the guillotine was sunken in very tight. But Elkins was able to just reverse the position and scramble out. When Pineda moved back to full guard it revealed a huge gash as a result of the initial overhand. Pineda went for another guillotine that was in deep and even though he wasn’t able to get the finish, this time was at least able to move to a dominate position.

At this point in the fight, Pineda was just pouring blood onto Elkins as he tried to land ground and pound, standing over his opponent. Elkins was able to temporarily regain an advantage before losing it yet again. The final seconds of the round saw Pineda landing some nasty elbows on Darren from the full mount position. Both men were beaten, breathing heavily and bloody at the end of the round.

The second round began with Elkins immediately landing a stinging combination of punches. Pineda struck back with a leg kick that sent Darren crashing to the canvas. Elkins popped right back up and the two resumed striking. Elkins was circling around on the outside pawing jabs. Daniel was a little more reserved with his strikes, attempting to land an ill-advised, backfist before behind takedown by his opponent. Daniel went to the well once again, looking for a guillotine but ended up on his back, absorbing strikes. Pineda worked back up to his base and midway through the round was able to regain his feet.

Even with limited vision (from the blood), Daniel was still evading a lot of the punches coming in his direction. A few seconds later, Pineda successfully defended a takedown. Elkins attempted another takedown and Pineda jumped guillotine. When Elkins popped his head out, he had to defend another submission attempt off of his arm. Darren landed some effective ground and pound to end the round, and Daniel was extremely slow to get up off his back.

To start the final round the doctor took a look at the eye and cut of Daniel and told him he was good to go. Seconds into the round and Pineda was able to defend a deep takedown attempt but ate a big 1-2 combination in space. Elkins went for another takedown and Pineda was able to defend and reverse the takedown. Darren kept moving, kept wrestling and was able to overwhelm his opponent and wrestle back to his feet. Moments later and Darren went for yet another shot. Elkins disengaged after a few seconds and both men started to go blow for blow.

Pineda landed another leg kick that crippled Elkins but somehow, he just kept coming. Elkins was able to have some very nice moments landing highlight reel boxing combinations on his partially blinded opponent. You could see the frustration on the face of Daniel and after a long reset, Pineda landed yet another leg kick that dropped Elkins. Darren responded with one last takedown, trapping his opponent against the cage and landing short strikes. The exhausting and crazily paced fight would end there as Pineda just could not find a way to get back to his feet.

After the instant classic of a fight, Daniel Pineda took off his gloves and set them in the center of the octagon signaling his retirement. Elkins in typical Elkins fashion declared that as long as he was in the octagon the 40-year-old most tenured UFC featherweight would be showing off that ‘dog’ in him.

Official Result: Darren Elkins def. Daniel Pineda by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

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“My manager Jason [House] called me and said how do you feel about fighting this guy?” Pineda recalled. “I hadn’t even been training because I was injured – I just had that fight – for the whole month.”

There isn’t usually any hesitation when it comes to accepting a fight for “The Pit”, but this involved even less (if possible). The prospect of the fight excited him not just for his career, but for the spectacle that it could create.

“I said ‘done!” he said. “We got five weeks, we’re good. Let’s do it. It’s just such a good fight – like even I want to watch that fight. I’m going to be in it, but I want to watch that fight as a fan.”

The aggression that Elkins brings is welcomed by Pineda. He plans to meet that style with a like style in a fashion sure to end with absolute chaos.

“He comes forward, I come forward. There’s not going to be all this running around like a bunch of guys do. We’re just dogs. We’re going to meet in the middle and throw down,” Pineda explained. “It’s going to be a slug-fest. One of us is going to get caught.”

You can catch Pineda’s fight with Darren Elkins as part of the main card of UFC Vegas 99. The fight card begins at 4pm EST with the main card coming your way at 7pm EST. Both are available on ESPN+.

You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 2:11.

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Kicking off this UFC Vegas 98 edition of TTP is our interview with UFC featherweight, Daniel Pineda. Pineda discusses his experience coaching and how that has helped to lead his own fighting career. Plus, he talks about the Contender Series performance of his fighter Michael Aswell – getting up excited for what comes next. Then he previews his upcoming fight with Darren Elkins. He expects the fight to be an absolute banger and said someone is going to sleep.

Fights, Dogs, and Parlays: UFC Vegas 98 (14:05)

Following an exciting UFC 307, we head back to the Apex for a slightly less loaded up card. However, despite having a bit less firepower, we do have a fight with plenty of title shot implications. Tatsuro Taira looks to make a run up to the top of the division with a win over Brandon Royval. We’ll give you our take on that fight as well as some of the other bigger fights as part of our favorite segment on the show. Plus, as always, we’ll dig into the deeper parts of the card to find you and underdog and a parlay to make your wallet fat this weekend. Don’t miss these picks! For this segment, all odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

Melissa Croden Interview (22:02)

Closing out this UFC Vegas 98 edition of TTP is our interview with LFA bantamweight, Melissa Croden. Croden discusses her close fight with UFC bantamweight Jacqueline Cavalcanti and the confidence that she takes from that title bout. With Cavalcanti leaving the organization and vacating the title Croden has her eyes on a possible vacant title shot. Before she can get to that, she’ll need to get through Ashley Deen in a LFA 195 bout. We break it down and she forces Gumby to give out a prediction for it.

The post TTP Ep. 450 with Daniel Pineda, Melissa Croden, and UFC Vegas 98 appeared first on Cageside Press.

News of the booking was announced on Sunday by Iridium Sports Agency, who represent Pineda. The event is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, making it UFC Vegas 99.

Pineda (28-16, 3NC) will be looking to snap a two-fight skid in the bout, after dropping decisions to Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres and Nathaniel Wood in his last two outings. On his second stint under the UFC banner, Pineda, now 39, will be looking for his sixth win inside the octagon.

While Daniel Pineda will join the 40+ club next August, Darren Elkins is already there. Elkins (28-11), coming off a victory over T.J. Brown, hit the milestone this past May, but at 4-2 across his last six fights has yet to show signs of slowing down.

Middleweights Michel Pereira and Anthony Hernandez are expected to headline the UFC’s October 19 Fight Night event, with the following bouts reported for the card thus far:

• Michel Pereira vs. Anthony Hernandez
• Matheus Nicolau vs. Asu Almabayev
• Brad Katona vs. Jean Matsumoto
• Su Mudaerji vs. Charles Johnson
• Robelis Despaigne vs. Austen Lane
• Rob Font vs. Kyler Phillips
• Jessica Penne vs. Elise Reed
• Daniel Pineda vs. Darren Elkins

The post UFC: Daniel Pineda vs. Darren Elkins Set for October 19 appeared first on Cageside Press.

“Usually I don’t sleep well on weight cut night anyway,” Wood told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

“I started overthinking the sleep pattern thing and just could not sleep. Today tried to sleep, couldn’t sleep.”

Wood (20-6) wasn’t only dealing with sleep issues. His daughter, who is facing health issues at a very young age, had to go to accident and emergency (equivalent of the emergency room in the US).

“My daughter had to go to A&E my wife said so I was a bit stressed about that and yeah it’s just been one of those things where it’s just one thing after another, but I got the win that’s the main thing. I could do with some sleep,” he said.

“She’s as good as she can be. The A&E situation wasn’t necessary. It was more my wife just making sure she’s ok with obviously not having doctors open on a Saturday. We got a few ongoing issues, but at the moment everything’s good.”

Knowing his daughter was ok was a huge relief for Wood. In the octagon however it was the crowd that got the featherweight going.

“Mate the crowd’s everything. Just before we came out for that third round when the doctor kind of came and checked his eye and then the crowd cheered when he gave it the all clear that’s everything,” Wood told Cageside Press.

“That makes it all worth it. Getting the win’s always the main priority, but hearing that crowd and I want to entertain people. That’s the main thing. When you hear the crowd cheering you on you know you like to think you’re doing something right.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Nathaniel Wood above.

The post Nathaniel Wood Details Stressful 48 Hours Prior To Pineda Fight appeared first on Cageside Press.

Pineda had never been to a decision and won, something that had not been a problem for Wood, who was 6-2 to start the night before the judges.

The first round was off to a nice start with both fighters making their reads. Pineda tried to go to his wrestling with Wood defending nicely. Wood landed a nice front kick that hurt Pineda and put him in the guard of Pineda. Wood did some nice work on top but Pineda who is a specialist on the ground used submission attempts from his back to eventually sweep Wood. Pineda finished the round with some good elbows to end the round and the fight got to see a round two of the highly anticipated featured prelim.

Nathaniel Wood was doing a great job at chopping the legs in round two. He landed a nasty combination that hurt Pineda whose right eye seemed to bother him the rest of the round. Pineda the fighter he is went down swinging to save him from being finished in the second round of the fight. After a quick stoppage for a groin strike to Pineda, Wood seemed to just take over the round dropping him with calf kicks and a stiff jab. Every calf kick was sitting Pineda down. Wood, who was looking spectacular in the second round sat Pineda down with a left hand to finish the round on top.

After domination for most of the fight Pineda fought a much better round in round three. He was successful with his wrestling and was looking for a submission every chance he could while he was on top. Unfortunately, it would not be enough as Nathaniel Wood found a way to hang on for the unanimous decision win Over Daniel Pineda to close out the prelims.

Nathaniel Wood is now 4-1 since moving up to featherweight and he has looked phenomenal. He might just be inching closer to a top 15 ranking in the featherweight division.

Official Result: Nathaniel Wood def. Daniel Pineda by unanimous decision (29–27, 29–27, 29–28)

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After all, he explained to media outlets including Cageside Press on Wednesday, the adrenaline should carry him through, no different than if he learned someone was stealing his car in the middle of the night.

That leaves Wood focused on opponent Daniel Pineda, who he was familiar with in an indirect way.

“I’ve seen the name only because he fought previous opponents that I’ve had. So I’ve looked at his fights when studying other opponents,” stated Wood. “As you say, he’s been in the game for a very long time. He’s very experienced. I think he fought Mike Brown back in UFC 1-3-something. A long time ago. Obviously, I put respect on his name. He’s been in the game a very long time. Good match-up. Comes to fight, and I look forward to fighting him Saturday night.”

Pineda did fight Mike Brown, back at UFC 146 in 2012, so Wood wasn’t far off. What Daniel Pineda has not done is won a fight via decision. He’s lost six of those, but has finished in all of his victories. Wood recognizes his opponent as tough, but sees another angle in that stat.

“Obviously he’s tough as old boots. He’s a veteran, he’s obviously a fighter. I know that I’m going to need to put him out to finish him. I expect him to be very durable.” That said, Wood noted that Pineda seems to gas a fair bit in his fights. “If he can’t get the stoppage straight away, he maybe deteriorates in the fight. I’m confident with my skill set that I’m going to go in there and do the job. Just need to put my money where my mouth is.”

Watch the full UFC 304 media day appearance by Nathaniel Wood above.

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