The fight was originally booked at UFC 313 early last month, but had to be rescheduled after Castaneda pulled out due to illness.

After half a round of back and forth, Gutierrez went down off a slip more than anything, allowing Castaneda to get some time on top. The crowd didn’t love it, but Castaneda was able to get some time on top while Gutierrez attempted to tie things up. Castaneda would eventually moved back to his feed, and have to avoid an upkick situation; Gutierrez then scrambled up – and dropped Castaneda moments later! That straight right hand was the biggest blow of the round, leaving Castaneda in survival mode for the final seconds of the round.

Castaneda had recovered well enough between rounds to avoid a finish early in the second, but there was little doubt he’d been rocked. The pair traded single strikes and kicks in the opening 90 seconds of the frame, with Gutierrez mixing in a good number of feints. Castaneda’s corner suggested Gutierrez was tired, urging their fighter to attack first. He did land a heavy right hand, snapping Gutierrez’s head to the side. They’d battle back and forth on the feet til the bell then head to the third.

Round three came at a slower pace, with things still up in the air for most of it. Castaneda would secure the takedown with two minutes left in the round, working from the top while Gutierrez tried to throw up an arm bar. What he didn’t go was scramble out, however; Castaneda then moved to side control.

With the fight going the distance, it was Gutierrez securing his second straight win, earning the nod on two of three scorecards.

Official Result: Chris Gutierrez def. John Castaneda by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

The post UFC Kansas City: Chris Gutierrez Takes Split Decision Opposite John Castaneda appeared first on Cageside Press.

An illness suffered by John Castaneda, who had another fight cancelled on short notice two weeks ago when Douglas Silva de Anrade was not cleared to compete, is the culprit.

UFC officials announced the news Saturday afternoon. “Due to illness, John Castaneda has been removed from his featherweight bout with Chris Gutierrez,” a brief statement on the promotion’s website reads. “As a result, this bout has been cancelled from today’s card.”

The nature of Castaneda’s illness has not been disclosed. He stepped into the fight on short notice after Jean Matsumoto was pulled from a fight with Gutierrez to instead face Rob Font in Seattle.

Castaneda has not competed since a June 2024 loss to Daniel Marcos. As for Gutierrez, he’s been out since an August win over Quang Le.

UFC 313 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, March 8, 2025. With the cancellation of Chris Gutierrez vs. John Castaneda, the card now features the following match-ups:

• Alex Pereira (c) vs. Magomed Ankalaev – for the UFC light heavyweight championship
• Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev
• Jalin Turner vs. Ignacio Bahamondes
• Amanda Lemos vs. Iasmin Lucindo
• King Green vs. Maurício Ruffy
• Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev
• Joshua Van vs. Rei Tsuruya
• Brunno Ferreira vs. Armen Petrosyan
• Alex Morono vs. Carlos Leal
• Mairon Santos vs. Francis Marshall
• Djorden Ribeiro dos Santos vs. Osman Diaz

The post UFC 313 Loses Fight Hours Out From Event, Castaneda Ill appeared first on Cageside Press.

Castaneda (21-7) is stepping in to replace Jean Matsumoto at UFC 313, where he’ll take on Chris Gutierrez (21-6-2) at featherweight. Matsumoto was pulled from the fight to replace Dominick Cruz at UFC Seattle, leaving Gutierrez in need of a new opponent.

With the Seattle card the week before UFC Vegas 103, and Silva de Andrade pulled from the fight with Castaneda due to medical reasons, the timing simply worked out.

Eurosport was first to report news of the switch. Castaneda later confirmed the pairing on his Instagram Story.

Gutierrez has been trading wins and losses his last four fights, and is coming off a victory over Quang Le last August. In 2022, the Factory X product was riding high off a win over former lightweight champ and Hall of Famer Frankie “The Answer” Edgar, a win that capped off an eight-fight unbeaten streak. He’s 2-2 since, coming up short against Pedro Munhoz and Song Yadong while beating Le and Alateng Heili.

John Castaneda saw a two-fight win streak snapped when he dropped a decision to Daniel Marcos last June.

UFC 313 is set for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada this Saturday, March 8, 2025. The full line-up now looks as follows:

• Alex Pereira (c) vs. Magomed Ankalaev – for the UFC light heavyweight championship
• Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev
• Jalin Turner vs. Ignacio Bahamondes
• Amanda Lemos vs. Iasmin Lucindo
• King Green vs. Maurício Ruffy
• Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev
• Joshua Van vs. Rei Tsuruya
• Brunno Ferreira vs. Armen Petrosyan
• Alex Morono vs. Carlos Leal
• Mairon Santos vs. Francis Marshall
• Chris Gutiérrez vs. John Castañeda
• Djorden Ribeiro dos Santos vs. Osman Diaz

The post John Castaneda Has A New Fight, Faces Chris Gutierrez at UFC 313 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Brazil’s Silva de Andrade had been booked into a bantamweight fight with John Castañeda at the event on Saturday, March 1 at the UFC Apex. That was then shifted to a 140lb catchweight, which was in turn scrapped all together after both fighters had weighed in.

UFC officials confirmed the bout was off due to media issues on the part of Douglas Silva de Andrade, and the pair did not face off following weigh-ins. In a brief statement issued via their official website, promotion representatives wrote that “due to medical issues, Douglas Silva de Andrade has been removed from his 140-pound catchweight bout with John Casteneda. As a result, this bout has been cancelled from this weekend’s event.”

That’s the second fight UFC Vegas 103 lost on Friday, after weight management issues saw Luana Carolina fall out of her fight with Montana De La Rosa.

UFC Vegas 103 now moves forward with ten fights in total. The Fight Night card is headlined by top ten flyweights Manel Kape and Asu Almabayev, the later of whom is stepping in to replace #1-ranked Brandon Royval in the main event.

The post Douglas Silva de Andrade Forced Off UFC Vegas 103 Due to Medical Issues appeared first on Cageside Press.

Kicking off this UFC Vegas 103 edition of TTP is our interview with UFC flyweight, Charles Johnson. Johnson discusses his monumental 2024, in which he took home four wins in a calendar year. Despite having that amazing run, he wanted more and talks about how he tried to get it. Now ready to put his sights on the top of the division in the new year, he discusses his training at Fusion X-Cel Performance and cross training with Mike Perry. Plus, he digs into his matchup this weekend against Ramazan Temirov.

Fights, Dogs, and Parlays: UFC Vegas 103 (22:50)

After a very wild and crazy UFC Seattle, we head back to the Apex for UFC Vegas 103. This fight night card is headlined by a pair of flyweights in Manel Kape and Asu Almabayev. Plus, the co-main event has a showdown between a pair of middleweights who are never in a boring fight – Cody Brundage and Julian Marquez. We’ll break down those fights as well as some of our other favorite fights on the main card. Plus, as always, we’re hitting you with an underdog and a plus-money parlay that we think will make your wallet fat this weekend. For this segment, all odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

John Castaneda Interview (31:45)

Closing out this edition of TTP is our interview with UFC featherweight, John Castaneda. Castaneda discusses dropping his last fight to tough prospect Daniel Marcos and losing his two fight losing streak. While some lose, others learn – and that’s the route that Castaneda took following the fight. He discusses some physical shortcomings in that fight, but also how he apporached the mental side of the game afterwards. Now feeling like a brand new fighter, he’s ready to take on Douglas Silva de Andrade at UFC Vegas 103 this Saturday.

The post TTP Ep. 469 with Charles Johnson, John Castaneda, and UFC Vegas 103 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Marcos remained undefeated, 15-0 plus a No Contest after his fight with Aoriqileng ended early due to an accidental low blow. Castaneda, looking to serve up the first loss of Daniel Marcos’ pro career, came into Saturday on a two-fight win streak.

The fight started out with Marcos taking the center of the octagon but eating a couple of leg kicks from his opponent. Marcos threw a couple punch combination that partially landed as Castaneda again landed some leg kicks. About 90 seconds into the round, Marcos again uncorked a multi-punch combination against the fence that partially found its mark. With about 3 minutes left in the round Marcos landed a straight right that dropped Castaneda momentarily.  Daniel was constantly covering and tapping the lead hand of his opponent and landed a nice front kick to the body. With a minute left in the round, Marcos landed a nice body kick and fired off some powerful single punches. With seconds left, Marcos again landed a flush right straight that wobbled his opponent. Marcos swarmed and landed an uppercut, among other punches, that dropped his opponent.

To open the second round, Castaneda again peppered that lead leg with leg kicks. Marcos landed another combination and Castaneda returned with a takedown attempt. After a battle against the cage, the two men are back in space. Marcos landed some nasty punches and a knee that again dropped his opponent but found him defending yet another takedown. Nearly halfway thru the round and Marcos was the one who pressed his opponent to the cage before he fended off another deep double leg attempt. As the two fighters separate, Marcos landed a nice head kick followed by a 1-2. Castaneda responded with good lateral movement and landed a couple of punches before he shot in on a double, and successfully landed a takedown. John only maintained control for a moment and when the men returned to their feet Marcos landed some nice shots to make him pay. With seconds left, Marcos partially landed a switch kick as the two men stared each other down as time expired.

The two men showed respect to start the final round. Castaneda got right to work with his leg kicks and movement, while being stalked by his opponent. Marcos returned with leg kicks and teeps of his own, before he caught John with a teep to the cup. The ref, Dan Miragliotta seemed to think it was on the belt line, so the action resumed. Marcos was able to defend another takedown with a clinch and land a solid knee on the break. John was still pushing the pace valiantly but was getting hit to the body continually by the teeps of Marcos. Midway thru the round and Marcos was sliding in and out of range and landed shots at will. Marcos landed a nice body shot.

With nearly a minute left in the round Marcos lands two right hands to drop his opponent. The two end up against the cage and Castaneda looked hurt. In the closing seconds, Marcos is cracked by a head kick to the top of the head and took a step back visibly wobbled. The fight would end with as Marcos was chased around the cage by Castaneda.

Official Result: Daniel Marcos def. Jon Castaneda by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

The post UFC Louisville: Daniel Marcos Wins Clear Decision Over John Castañeda, Stays Unbeaten appeared first on Cageside Press.

Castaneda (21-6), who picked up a unanimous decision win inside the famed Madison Square Garden, revealed the news backstage, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press. He also explained that while he was ready to make the bantamweight limit, he’d opted to request the catchweight.

“I’m a big proponent of ‘a closed mouth never gets fed.’ So I asked a good amount, I think probably like two weeks in advance. And I actually think it didn’t get confirmed til probably about a week out.”

Castaneda wasn’t feeling any effects of the infection during the fight, having beat it earlier in training. “I would have pulled out if I was feeling any side effects during training camp. I’ve actually fought, you guys remember my fight with Daniel Santos, I had a staph infection there as well. That one actually did zap me during camp, I thought ‘maybe I’ll shake it during the fight,’ but it zapped me during the fight too.”

“I was kind of gauging it like that. If I would have felt any sort of negative effects during camp, I probably would have pulled out. But I felt great throughout the entire thing. I just took care of the infection, and we’re good. We’re here.”

Looking ahead, John Castaneda believes it’s time to put him in the conversation for the rankings.

“I’ve won four out of my last [five] fights. At least put me in the conversation for a top 15 guy. I’m always analyzing the top 15 guys, especially the 10 through 15. And stylistically I feel I match up well against a lot of them.”

“I’m not one to call people out but if I were to call somebody out, I’d really really love a fight with Adrian Yanez,” he added. “Not because it’s a disrespect thing, but stylistically I think we can put on a banger.”

Watch the full UFC 295 post-fight press conference with John Castaneda above.

The post UFC 295: John Castaneda Ready to Be in Top 15 Conversation appeared first on Cageside Press.

Hailing from South Korea, Kyung Ho Kang has built a great record of 8-3 (1 NC) in the UFC while remaining incredibly under the radar in a stacked bantamweight division.

Kang was able to stay on the front foot and seemed to have a slight advantage in the boxing through much of the first round against a visibly shorter Castaneda. However, Castaneda was an active kicker, even from the back foot, and touched Kang’s legs and midsection continuously. Due to that and the lack of major events the round was quite close.

The second round was more of the same until Castaneda shot in and got Kang to the fence with a rear body-lock. He was able to use his lower center of gravity to get Kyung Ho Kang to the mat. However the South Korean used the fence to stand back up and get back to striking. John tried again but this time when he got the rear body-lock Kang was able to fight the hands and escape before he got taken down. Kang landed more clean strikes on the feet but Castaneda’s lands seemed to have more effect, so the second round was as close as the first, or closer.

The third round began with Casteneda picking up the pace and putting on the pressure. His volume was constant and he got Kang back to the fence early and began to make him look worn from the pressure, as well as three rounds of leg kicks. Kang fought through it, defended a takedown, and Castaneda’s pace slowed after the first ninety seconds. Despite Kang being the party moving forward thereafter, he was unable to consistently land clean while Castaneda picked his moments to counter with straight punches.

After one such flurry, John landed a takedown but could only hold onto top position for a minute before Kyung stood up. With one minute left in the fight Castaneda shot another takedown, failed, and then landed an immediate follow-up. He tried to take the back but fell off, at which point Kang tried for a guillotine and failed. Kang chased Castaneda across the cage in the final moments before the bell.

No one knew who won the fight, as the only clear round was the third one, which was expected to be scored for Castaneda. An expectant Madison Square Garden listened as Bruce Buffer read out the scorecards, which awarded the unanimous decision victory to John Castaneda. Castaneda improved to an impressive 4-2 in the UFC with his second straight victory.

Official Result: John Castaneda def. Kyung Ho Kang by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

The post UFC 295: John Castaneda Sweeps Scorecards in Back and Forth Affair with Kyung Ho Kang appeared first on Cageside Press.

“Kang has used his wrestling on non-wrestlers. If you watch a lot of his fights and who he’s really taken down and dominated on the ground,” he said. “It’s against guys with zero wrestling credentials.”

It’s not just that Kang has looked good against bad wrestlers. Castaneda also points out he’s had trouble with some guys that he would not consider top level.

“If you take a look at one of his most recent losses against Rani Yahya. Rani Yahya is a very, very, very good grappler, but I would be lying through my teeth if I said he had good wrestling,” he pointed out. “Rani Yahya was able to take down Kang three or four times in that fight.”

Given what he’s seen of Kang so far in his career, Castaneda offered an assessment of those skills as a whole.

“In my opinion, Kang has used his size and has used his wrestling to take down people, but he hasn’t taken down any good wrestlers or dominated any decent wrestlers,” he said. “I think he is a below average wrestler.”

With such an advantage in the wrestling, one might expect ‘The Sexi Mexi’ to take him down early and often. While there might be some of that, he’s got a different prediction for how this one ends.

“Look for a patient John Castaneda,” he said. “I’m going to hurt him on the feet and I could knock him down, knock him out, or TKO him. It’s going to be a finish within two [rounds].”

Castaneda’s fight with Kyung Ho Kang can be seen on ESPN+ as part of the early prelim portion of UFC 295. Those fights begin at 6pm EST this Saturday.

You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 2:12.

The post UFC 295’s John Castaneda: Kang is a Below Average Wrestler appeared first on Cageside Press.

John Castaneda Interview (2:12)

Kicking off this edition of TTP is our interview with UFC bantamweight, John Castaneda. Casetenda discusses going back to the drawing board to work on some of the pieces to his striking game. He believes it has really changed him into a much better version of himself. He looks to show it at UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden this weekend. He takes on Kyung Ho Kang in a bantamweight tilt that is sure to keep people on the edge of their seats. He also discusses his wrestling skills and how he feels Kang stacks up to those.

Fights, Dogs, and Parlays: UFC 295 (13:40)

A week removed from UFC Sao Paulo, we discuss the major pay-per-view, UFC 295. This card is headlined by a fight for the vacant light heavyweight title with one of the men who once owned it. Jiri Prochazka looks to reclaim a belt he never lost, but standing in his way is former middleweight champion, Alex Pereira. Then we have a battle for the thrown at heavyweight as well. Sergey Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall do battle for the interim title and a chance at the champ. We’ll discuss those as well as some of our other favorite action from UFC 295. For this segment, all odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

Joshua Van Interview (28:58)

Closing out this edition of TTP is our interview with UFC flyweight, Joshua Van. Van discusses the wild ride going from Contender Series hopeful to already on the active roster in a matter of weeks. Then after picking up the win in his debut, he looks to build on that momentum. He’ll get a chance to do just that at UFC 295 in Madison Square Garden as he throws down with Kevin Borjas. He’ll discuss that matchup as well as his upbringing in the world of MMA.

The post TTP Ep. 403 with John Castaneda, Joshua Van and UFC 295 appeared first on Cageside Press.