Barber came into the fight on a winning streak of five, with her most recent fight being her best, a violent ‘Performance of the Night’ finish over Amanda Ribas. Cerminara returned to face her after a year off since a loss to Manon Fiorot which ended Katlyn’s four-fight winning streak. With a ten year age gap between them, this fight represented a passing of the torch from her to Maycee ‘the Future’ Barber.

Maycee came out swinging hard to start the bout which prompted a takedown attempt from Cerminara, that Barber defended. Cerminara was able to control Barber in the clinch for a long period, showing Maycee’s inexperience there, though Barber hurt her on the break, and again after sprawling out Katlyn’s next takedown attempt. Cerminara may have even hurt herself from hitting her head on the canvas when that attempt got sprawled on. The first round had some wild exchanges in the pocket, most of which Maycee landed the bigger strikes in, giving her a likely 10-9 lead after five minutes.

The second round started with Barber doing well but then getting hit by a clean right hand when she got overconfident. Cerminara used sideways movement to get out of the way of many wild blitzes from her foe, who wanted to get on the inside and make the fight messy. Katlyn did a better job of avoiding that in the second round, keeping her distance with good footwork. Maycee still had some lands, but less so. With two minutes left Barber got her first takedown from the clinch, but Cerminara bounced right back up. Still, ‘the Future’ gained the rear body-lock from that exchange, which she held onto for almost a minute and landed some decent strikes with. She held onto the clinch most of the rest of the round, making it close going into the final frame.

Barber blitzed to start round three but Cerminara turned the tables by smothering her with the clinch and shooting a takedown, which failed. They both had moments, but Maycee had a big one with three hooks that connected on wild swings ninety seconds into the round. Barber then clinched up and after a minute got a takedown, but Katlyn used a leg entanglement to create a scramble and get back up. Cerminara did good things with her straight shots, but Barber just landed harder, from her body kicks to her hooks. She landed a takedown with ten seconds left, that Cerminara got right back up from, and the pair swung in the pocket for the last few seconds.

After a competitive fight, the decision was read out by Bruce Buffer. The judges awarded the winner unanimously, giving it to Maycee Barber, with two of them giving her all three rounds. Now on a six-fight winning streak, Barber likely is only one more win away from her first UFC title shot.

Official Result: Maycee Barber def. Katlyn Cerminara by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

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Katlyn Chookagian is finally going by her legal name, Katlyn Cerminara, professionally starting with UFC 299, where she faces Maycee Barber. The flyweight was actually married several years ago, but dedication to Armenian fans and fan recognition in general made her hold on to her maiden name when it came to fighting.

At the same time, since all her paperwork, legally speaking, has Katlyn Cerminara, she’s finally making the switch.

That was not the takeaway from Wednesday’s UFC 299 media day appearance by the “Blonde Fighter,” a longtime veteran and former title challenger. Instead, it was Cerminara opening up about the tragedy that has kept her out of the octagon.

At last summer’s UFC X, Cerminara told Cageside Press that she was dealing with some nagging injuries. On Wednesday, she revealed to us that that wasn’t exactly the case. Not sports injuries anyway.

“Actually, so for the past year, I’ve been going through fertility treatments. It’s been a long year, that’s kind of why I thought I was going to be taking [time] off from fighting a little longer. For the last year, I went through three, four rounds of IVF, and I had two miscarriages.”

A clearly emotional Cerminara then explained that her return to fighting is to get her mind off that tragedy.

“It’s been a trough year, but I wanted to take a break from that, not just mentally but physically,” she told us. “And going through fertility is so hard. It’s so hard that I’m taking a fight to take a mental and physically break from fertility treatments. I’m taking a fight, because this is way, way easier than dealing with that.”

Cerminara also knows that she’s not alone in her struggles to conceive. “It’s a shame because unfortunately I know so many people that are going through this right now. Just my friends alone, my close friends are dealing with this. And you hear it, but people don’t talk about it because it’s very personal and obviously it’s hard to talk about.”

“It’s really hard, and there’s so many people going through that, and the amount of mental and physical strain you put on yourself, doing like four to eight hormone injections a day, back-to-back. Not just the mental load but the physical load. In the summer, after I had my second miscarriage, I was 170lbs from all the hormones and everything. Taking this fight wasn’t just ‘okay, here’s a camp, let’s get in shape.’ It was dealing with the mental load of that, getting over that, and then it’s like ‘okay, I’m already big for 125, so now I’m even bigger.’ So I had to kind of reset my body, I needed a little bit of extra time to get back in to fight shape.”

Following her second miscarriage, Cerminara went to dinner with her manager, and told him she needed to get a fight. She was looking for a mental break, and fighting being something she loves offered that. “Taking this break and focusing on fighting has been a nice relief from the stress I’ve had this year,” she added.

As for opening up about it during her media day appearance, “it’s a weird thing,” she later admitted. “I went back and forth like, should I say something, should I just keep it private, say this?” Cerminara admitted she was concerned about being perceived as using her own issues to gain a platform. “But I do think that, even with like my friends and me being open about it, there were so many people that I would tell about it, and they’re like ‘oh you know what? I’ve been doing that [IVF] the past year.’ And then we would talk about it, and I would feel good.”

Katlyn Cerminara also found a lot of women on social media struggling with fertility. “There’s a lot of people going through this, which can be comforting, but it’s also alarming that so many people my age are going through this.”

Watch the full UFC 299 media day appearance by Katlyn Cerminara above.

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“I fight so often that I think people are like oh my God you haven’t fought in forever, but a lot of people that fought on the last card I fought on haven’t fought,” Chookagian told Cageside Press at UFC X on Friday.

“I just had a couple injuries. I’ve been fighting 3-4 times a year for the last like 5 years so I just took a little bit of time off just to cure the injuries.”

Since Chookagian has been out of action the flyweight picture has changed dramatically with longtime champion Valentina Shevchenko losing her title to Alexa Grasso and the rematch being booked. Add to that addition of Rose Namajunas among others, and you have the makings of an exciting division.

“It’s kind of nice because I waited a little. Now things mixed up a little bit in the division so there’s a lot of great matchups coming up.”

Chookagian mentioned that since she’s been gone she’s dropped down a bit so she might get some easier matchups or even make the move to bantamweight.

“Rose moving up, that threw in the mix, for so long I felt like ‘oh the flyweight division’s a little bit boring’, but it’s the newest division,” she said.

“I feel like now the balls moving and it’s like really exciting where even if it’s not the title fight other matchups are super exciting.”

Watch the entire UFC X interview with Katlyn Chookagian above.

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Chookagian (18-5) is a perennial contender in the women’s 125lb weight class, so it does feel odd that she’s been out of action so long. But as she told Cageside Press during Friday’s UFC X, much of that is because she’s kept a busy schedule for years.

“I fight so often that I think people are like ‘oh my god you haven’t fought forever.’ But a lot of people who fought on the last card I fought on haven’t fought, and they don’t get it,” Chookagian observed. “I’m used to fighting three, four times a year, but I just have a couple of injuries that, I’ve been fighting three, four times a year for the last five years. So I just took a little bit of time off just to heal the injuries and stuff.”

That said, “Blonde Fighter” appears ready to jump back into the pool. “I’m ready to go, and it’s kind of nice that I waited a little. Now things are mixed up in the division. There’s a lot of great match-ups coming up.”

Chookagian, who for years fought the best of the best in the weight class, has seen a wave of new blood enter the ranks over the past 12 months or so. And that has made things rather interesting.

“I’m kind of in this weird position where I don’t know who I’m going to fight next. I’m kind of like, dropped down a little bit,” said Chookagian. “So I’m like ‘ooh maybe I’ll get some lower-ranked girls to fight, or maybe I’ll go to 35. I don’t really know, I’m open to everything.'”

The division, however, is “super-exciting” these days, noted Chookagian. “We have, like you said, all those people, and also Rose [Namajuanas] moving up, which is another that threw [her name] in the mix. For so long it felt like ‘oh the flyweight division’s a little boring,’ but it was the newest division. So I feel like now that the ball is moving, it’s really exciting, where even if it’s not the title fight, other match-ups are super-exciting, and can either main event for Fight Nights or co-main event.”

“Thug” Rose is one name that stands out to Blanchfield — she makes her flyweight debut this September in Paris. Then there’s the rest of the emerging contenders at 125.

“I would love to fight Rose. I’ve always said that, but she was at 15, so I didn’t think it was an option, then she moved up. I was like ‘oh, okay.’ She’s one of my favorite fighters. I would like to fight her, [Taila] Santos, [Erin] Blanchfield, all those girls. [Alexa] Grasso. All those girls I haven’t fought, and they’re all in the top five. So anyone, anyone is exciting.”

With options a-plenty, Chookagian is hoping she can get in a big card in November: UFC 295, in New York City. Already, Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic has been announced to headline. “Ideally that’s like, every New Yorker wants to be on that card. That’s the best one. That seems far away; time goes by really quick but for MSG I’m willing to wait a little bit longer. So if that’s an option, I definitely want to lock that in.”

Check out our full interview with women’s flyweight contender Katlyn Chookagian above.

The post “Thug” Rose Among Names Appealing to Katlyn Chookagian, Who Hopes to Return at MSG appeared first on Cageside Press.

Atop of the card was a highly anticipated vacant lightweight title bout between former champion, Charles Oliveira, and Dagestani challenger, Islam Makhachev. ‘Fathers plan’ was accomplished and Makhachev was crowned ‘and new’. Let’s take a look at what could be next for the losers on the night.

Charles Oliveira

Oliveira’s loss this past weekend puts him in a strange spot, with Makhachev’s first title defense being all but confirmed as Alexander Volkanovski. Of course immediate rematch’s aren’t always a thing in MMA, and rightly so. There isn’t much interest to see that fight again, at least not straightaway.

Having said that, there are few fun matchups for the former champion. It becomes hard to matchup the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist when he’s already beat 3 of the fighters currently occupying spots in the top 5. One man who is coming off a hugely impressive win this past weekend is Beneil Dariush. Having said that, a matchup I would selfishly love to see, is Oliveira vs Fiziev. Of course, the Muay Thai fighter has been rumoured with Justin Gaethje, but that is yet to come to fruition, and with growing murmurs of McGregor’s comeback fight being against Gaethje, that leaves Fiziev without a dance partner.

It is hard to deny Beneil Dariush the next title shot after Volkanovski. And so in that case, I don’t mind a world in which Dariush waits around, and Oliveira fights Fiziev in Brazil.

Charles Oliveira’s Next Fight: Rafael Fiziev

TJ Dillashaw

As one of the most highly anticipated fights of the year, the events that proceeded felt like a big kick in the teeth for MMA fans across the globe. But it’s the fight game, things like this happen. After the events proceeded, Dillashaw admitted that he has been suffering shoulder dislocations since back in April, which begs the questions, who let him fight?

Having said that, the legitimate win cannot be taken away from Aljamain Sterling, who made easy work of the former champion. One would think, that Dillashaw would’ve been better off disclosing his injury issues early in his camp, and hoped for the fact that the matchup could be rebooked for later in the year. But none of that matters now, and that poses the question of, what is next for the 36-year-old?

There is no denying that Dillashaw is at the tail end of his career. But another man who is in a similar situation, possibly looking for one last farewell fight, is Dominick Cruz. A rematch of their extremely close contest back in 2016 makes a whole lot of sense given the stages of their careers they’re both at.

TJ Dillashaw’s Next Fight: Dominick Cruz

Petr Yan

It is almost impossible to get through one event and avoid any controversial judging decisions. Unfortunately for the former bantamweight champion, Petr Yan, he was on the wrong end of what the majority of fans are calling a ‘robbery’, a term that gets thrown around far too often in the fight business. Despite that being the general consensus, it is without question, that it was an extremely competitive and close fight.

The result rides on how you scored the opening round between the two bantamweights looking to earn themselves a title shot. And in the case of judges Ben Cartlidge and David Lethaby, they believed that ‘Suga’ Sean had done enough to separate himself.

Yan now finds himself with only 1 win in his last 4 fights, some of which his own doing and some not. The top of the 135lb division is in a weird spot. Merab Dvalishvili is a fighter who has been on a tear since his loss to Ricky Simon back in 2018, and since then, he has gone onto win 8 fights in a row. There is already half a narrative there in a potential fight between the two top 135ers, as on UFC 280 fight week, videos surfaced of each of them sizing one another up.

The main issue I find in a potential matchup between the two, is if Merab “The Machine” was victorious, something would have to give in the friendship between him and current champ, Sterling. However, that is a bridge we’ll cross when we get to it.

Petr Yan’s Next Fight: Merab Dvalishvili 

Mateusz Gamrot

Coming into the fight with Beneil Dariush, there was a lot of expectation that with a win, Gamrot could have been on the edge of a title shot. But Dariush is aging like a fine wine, and is just now reaching his prime.

Some of the scrambles during this fight were as wild as expected, and the counter striking of Dariush just proved too much for the former KSW lightweight champion. With “Gamer” Gamrot being just 31-years-old, there is still the potential to rebuild from this loss, and rebound back into title contention in a couple of fights time.

Someone who he’s formerly shared the cage with, Arman Tsarukyan, is scheduled to share the cage with the almost flawless, Damir Ismagulov. If “Gazaq” can find a way to beat the young prospect at the end of the year, then i’d love to see him matched up with the Polish fighter. Outside of that, the only other fight that would make sense for Gamrot, is a fight with 13th ranked, Jalin Turner.

Mateusz Gamrot’s Next Fight: Damir Ismagulov (If victorious vs Tsarukyan) or Jalin Turner

Katlyn Chookagian

Chookagian’s 4 fight win streak came to an end, and with that, the division found a new top contender in Manon Fiorot. It is the first time in Katlyn’s 23 fight pro career that she has been on the wrong side of a unanimous decision. Having said that, there is no doubt that the 33-year-old former title contender, is still one of the best in the women’s flyweight division.

Again, there are a number of different options for Chookagian, and one in particular that would be a rematch. “Lucky’ Lauren Murphy rebounded from her title loss with a comprehensive win of Miesha Tate, and there is no doubt that since the two met back in 2016, they have both come a long way. That is just one of many options I like. Depending on what the promotion decide to do with the impressive Alexa Grasso after her win over Araujo, that could be another option.

Katyln Chookagian’s Next Fight: Alexa Grasso 

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The highly touted French prospect, Fiorot, came in undefeated in the UFC and looked to steal Chookagian’s number one contender spot and perhaps earn a title shot against Valentina Shevchenko with a win.

The fight opened with Fiorot, in orthodox stance, trying to pressure the southpaw Chookagian. Both women took turns rushing forward with combinations early, at which point the opponent would slide backwards out of the way or just slip the punches. Fiorot looked to work her low side kick to the knee and counter Chookagian’s blitzes with a lead right hook. The volume was quite high but very few punches made a big, clean impact. A front kick from Chookagian was the first large strike of the fight, hitting/grazing Fiorot in the head as she was bent over, but the Frenchwoman ate it without going down. Manon was having trouble catching Katlyn as Katlyn just slid back out of the way when Fiorot threw punches. After five minutes, the head kick from Chookagian was the biggest strike and could have won her the round.

Fiorot began to overextend on her punches in the second round as she tried to catch Chookagian when Chookagian retreated from Manon’s strikes. She did land some but the fight remained close. When she threw straight punches she had much more success than when she looped hooks. Katlyn began to sit down more on her punches when she threw and as such she got into more pocket exchanges, which favored Fiorot, who began to gain a decent lead in round two. When Chookagian threw, Manon began to time and counter her with the straight left, the punch that continually found the target.

The third round began with Fiorot throwing more straight punches down the pipe, continuing her success from the previous round. Chookagian was throwing a lot of strikes but hitting even less than the first two rounds, where she landed at around a 30% rate according to Jon Anik on commentary. Fiorot was not dominating but she was just out-striking her opponent enough to be ahead in the third round. With one minute left, Manon Fiorot level changed and landed a double leg but Chookagian elevated and was able to scramble back to her feet. The fight ended with a knee to the body by Fiorot and the judges would be required.

After three rounds, all three judges had the score 29-28 for Manon Fiorot, who had dethroned the perennial number one contender in Katlyn Chookagian.

Official Result: Manon Fiorot def. Katlyn Chookagian by Unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

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“Disappointed (not to be a part) of UFC France in Paris for the first time but, I love Abu Dhabi and I’m really to be there,” Fiorot told the media through a translator at media day on Wednesday.

Fiorot (9-1) had been set to face Jessica Andrade in Paris before Andrade was forced to withdraw. Chookagian actually accepted the bout, but then Fiorot pulled out due to injury so the bout was pushed to UFC 280.

“Difficult to watch because UFC fans and French fans are really amazing. French fighters (did) a great, great job. I’m really sure UFC will come back in France a few times and (I’ll) be part of this,” Fiorot said.

The matchup with Chookagian is a big time fight for Fiorot. Chookagian continues to beat fighters hoping to challenge the champion Valentina Shevchenko and remains a top flyweight.

“It’s why I called out Katlyn after my Jennifer Maia fight because I want to show I’m ready for the title fight,” she said.

With Alexa Grasso putting on an impressive performance just a week ago with a win over Viviane Araujo at the UFC APEX many are expecting her to get a title shot sooner than later.

“To be honest I (didn’t) watch the fight. I know she won by decision, I know she do five rounds, so I think I can do better. I want to finish my fight,” Fiorot said.

Watch the entire media day scrum with Manon Fiorot above. Fiorot takes on Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 280 on Saturday October 22nd.

The post Manon Fiorot Looking to Finish Chookagian At UFC 280, Earn Title Shot appeared first on Cageside Press.

“I think I’ve fought so many different fighters that I’ve kind of seen it all which is an advantage for me. This is, I think, my 16th UFC fight. I think all but maybe two of them were top 10. I don’t know if many other fighters have done that. At this point in my career everyone I kind of fight is looking to get past me to the title shot,” Chookagian told the media on Wednesday.

“It doesn’t faze me. I’ve been here, I’ve seen it, there’s a reason why I’m still at the top of the division for so long.”

Many call her the gatekeeper at flyweight, but it’s not something that bothers Chookagian.

“I’d prefer to be in Valentina’s (Shevchenko) position to be honest, but if I’m not there yet it’s not a bad place to be. I think for me it’s been almost, over two-and-a-half years since I fought for the title. I’ve had 7 fights in the UFC since. 6-1 since then. If I win this fight on Saturday it’s a 5-fight win streak so I think a win on Saturday would kind of change my position a little bit to maybe be in the conversation for another title shot,” Chookagian said.

Chookagian and her next opponent had been matched up for UFC Paris earlier in the year, but the fight never materialized pushing it to UFC 280 this weekend.

“I never pulled out. I never originally took the fight. I was coming off my last fight. I had a couple injuries and I wanted to take the fight if it was pushed back a little bit. Obviously they wanted her on the Paris card so they gave it to (Jessica) Andrade instead pushing it back for me which was understandable,” she said.

“I didn’t pull out. I never took the fight. I think people were confused about that.”

Andrade ended up withdrawing from the bout, and Chookagian then accepted the bout for UFC Paris. Fiorot then pulled out of the fight herself.

As far as a possible rematch with Shevchenko many have said that the blueprint to beat the champion is out there already, but Chookagian isn’t so sure.

“I don’t know. It’s a tough position for her to be in where she’s fighting five rounds all the time and when you’re so dominant if you have one little moment when you’re not dominant everyone highlights that instead of all the other things,” Chookagian said.

“At the end of the day she won and that’s all that matters.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Katlyn Chookagian above. Chookagian takes on Manon Fiorot at UFC 280 on Saturday October 22^nd.

The post UFC 280: Katlyn Chookagian Not Worried About Being The One To Beat For Title Shot appeared first on Cageside Press.

News of Andrade’s exit from the bout and Chookagian’s return was first reported by Jon Anik during the UFC Long Island broadcast this past Saturday. ESPN later reported that per Chookagian’s manager, the bout agreement had been signed.

Andrade’s withdrawal comes as a result of an undisclosed injury.

Fiorot (9-1) called out Katlyn Chookagian following her last win, against Jennifer Maia in March. The French flyweight has been perfect in the UFC, putting together four consecutive wins since debuting with the promotion last year.

Chookagian (18-4) has won four straight fights, most recently via split decision against Amanda Ribas in May. Since losing a title bid against Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 247, “Blonde Fighter” has posted a 5-1 record, with the other loss coming against former strawweight champ Jessica Andrade.

The women’s flyweight division currently sees Chookagian ranked #1 overall. Fiorot sits in the #6 spot at the moment.

UFC Paris takes place September 3, 2022 at the Accor Arena in Paris, France. The Fight Night event currently features the following reported match-ups:

• Ciryl Gane vs. Tai Tuivasa
• Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori
• Katlyn Chookagian vs. Manon Fiorot
• Alessio Di Chirico vs. Roman Kopylov
• Nassourdine Imavov vs. Joaquin Buckley
• Zarah Fairn Dos Santos vs. Ailin Perez
• John Makdessi vs. Nasrat Haqparast
• Makhmud Muradov vs. Abusupiyan Magomedov

The post Out, Then Back In Again: Katlyn Chookagian Will Face Manon Fiorot at UFC Paris appeared first on Cageside Press.

The bout was announced by the UFC via social media on Monday. The fight had been in the works for some time, with both fighters agreeing to the match-up previously.

Whittaker (23-6) is coming off losing a rematch against current middleweight king Israel Adesanya at UFC 271 in February. Prior to that he had put together a 3-fight win streak with wins over Kelvin Gastelum, Jared Cannonier and Darren Till.

Vettori(18-5-1) notched a win against Paulo Costa in October 2021. Vettori has had fights fall through since, the original bout against Whittaker included, but he returns to the octagon in Paris.

Three other bouts expected for UFC Paris include a flyweight bout between #1 contender Katlyn Chookagian and #6 Manon Fiorot. A heavyweight showdown between Ciryl Gane and Tai Tuivasa is widely expected to headline the event.

The remaining match-up is a middleweight fight between Makhmud Muradov and Abusupiyan Magomedov.

UFC Paris will mark the promotion’s debut in France, more than two years after the country finally legalized mixed martial arts.

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