Ramirez (8-2) a long layoff of over a year following a tough loss in March 2024 against Thiago Moises. The Contender Series alumn looked for his first UFC victory against Davis in Nashville.

Davis (11-3) was coming off a loss to Fares Ziam in February which snapped a 4-fight win streak. Tough luck in the injury department has effectively brought his UFC career to a creep having withdrawn from a number of bouts. A victory over Ramirez would be the first step towards building momentum back.

Round 1 Davis came out with a ton of pressure forcing Ramirez to go for a takedown, but no good. Davis shots in for one of his own, lifted and dumped Ramirez, and then took hs back.

Right away the arm was under the chin and Ramirez was fighting the choke arm. Ramirez kept his composure, but Davis continued to work to get a full body triangle. Ramirez was able to get the choking arm out from under his neck, but Davis stayed on the back.

Ramirez did a good job of defending the submission attempts and the position. He tried repeatedly to get back to his feet, but Davis did well to keep him in place in the position.

The rest of the round was all a game of chess between Davis fishing for the neck and Ramirez defending and trying to change the position. Ramirez survived the round.

Round 2 Ramirez came out like a man possessed going for the takedown, but then bailing on it and landing bombs on Davis. Ramirez looked like he had the speed advantage, but Davis’ timing worked well for him landing clean shots.

Davis kept his composure and landed very accurate and damaging shots. Compared to Ramirez’s high volume attack it paid off with cleaner shots.

A flying knee from Davis put Ramirez on skates, and Davis finished the job with a flurry of shots that dropped his opponent and ended the fight.

Mike Davis got back in the win column.

Official Result: Mike Davis def. Mitch Ramirez via R2 TKO, 4:08

The post Mike Davis Violent Jump Knee Finishes Ramirez In Nashville appeared first on Cageside Press.

Israel Adesanya

Nassourdine Imavov dropped and finished Israel Adesanya to hand ‘Style Bender’ a loss in his first fight without a UFC belt on the line since 2019. Adesanya briefly questioned the stoppage before showing a classy display of sportsmanship with his competitor.

Israel entered the fight ranked at #2 in the UFC’s middleweight division while Imavov came in at #5.

Adesanya has now lost four of his last five fights. That was his third loss in a row. This was his first fight off a PPV card since 2018. Definitely could be a change of tide here for Adesanya, he turns 36 this year and has been through many wars in the octagon. Adesanya’s combat sports career is far from over, but Izzy’s next fight will be a test to see if he is still currently competing on an elite level.

What better fight for Adesanya then to visit an old foe like Paulo Costa. Paulo is just outside middleweight’s top 10 at #11.  Costa has also lost three of his last four fights. Costa’s only victory since August of 2019 was against Luke Rockhold in August of 2022. “The Eraser” last fought this past June when he dropped a split decision to Sean Strickland. Plenty of common opponents shared and an identical record in the last four fights. The pair’s first meeting showed just how elite Izzy is, but it was also before he suffered his first loss in MMA in the following fight. That defeat at the hands of Izzy was Costa’s first loss in MMA. Feels like this would be an interesting one to revisit and it would be a good test to reevaluate where Adesanya is at currently.

Adesanya’s next fight: Paulo Costa Rematch

Shara Magomedov

Michael Page outclassed Shara Magomedov to win a unanimous decision in a technical chess match in the co-main event of UFC Saudi Arabia.

A bitter pill for Magomedov to swallow as Page is coming off a loss to Ian Garry at welterweight last June. But definitely not a loss to hang his head about as MVP is as accredited as a point-fighting style striker as it gets.

Magomedov came into this fight just ranked at #14 in the UFC’s middleweight division while MVP was ranked at #15, in the 15lbs. lighter, welterweight division.

Shara’s next fight should be against another rising star that had a misstep in his most recent bout. What about a fight with Ikram Aliskerov? Ikram went 2-0 in the UFC with two first round finishes before stepping in to face Robert Whittaker last June on short notice. The bout didn’t go Aliskerov’s way, but he answered the call against a former UFC champion. Ikram was supposed to face a common opponent in Antonio Trocoli but the bout was cancelled. Aliskerov was supposed to be on UFC Saudi Arabia but his opponent, Andre Muniz, withdrew because of passport Issues. This fight could really shape the future of the division but if it’s not the direction the UFC would like to go in at this time, they could always match Shara up against a guy like Chris Curtis.

Magomedov’s next fight: Ikram Aliskerov or Chris Curtis

Jairzinho Rozenstruik

Jairzinho Rozenstruik gave up a unaimous decision to Sergei Pavlovich in what many fans in the arena felt was a lackluster heavyweight bout. Rozenstruik, much like his opponent, looked hesitant to engage as he dropped his second bout in five fights.

Rozenstruik entered the bout ranked at #9 in the UFC’s heavyweight division while his opponent was ranked at #4.

Sticking to an earlier loser’s edition for this pick. It still seems like a solid matchup for Rozenstruik to take on Serghei Spivac who was finished by Jailton Almedia a couple of weeks ago at UFC 311. Heavyweight really is a crowded division at the top ranks. These two also share common opponents and outcomes with Ciryl Gane (loss), Jailton Almeida (loss) and Tai Tuivasa (win). Making the fight make all the more sense, along with the time frames matching up.

In Rozenstruik’s performance Saturday, Pavlovich’s grappling attack was a large part of what triggered his loss. Spivac’s specialty is his ground game, but would he be able to get past the multifaceted striking of Rozenstruik?

Rozenstruik’s next fight: Serghei Spivac

Said Nurmagomedov

The wheels fell off on Saturday for Said Nurmagomedov as he started off strong but ran into a cardio issue late in his fight with Vinicius Oliveira. The bout scored Fight of the Night honors as the back-and-forth bantamweight scrap was high paced from start to finish. The unanimous decision defeat stings a little more as Said has not competed in the UFC since October of 2023. Nurmagomedov has had four fights canceled since March of 2023 with his withdrawal being the primary cancelation cause of three of those bouts.

Despite the timeframe, Said has lost two of his last three fights and is 7-3 in the UFC since signing in 2018. A good matchup for Said moving forward would be a fight against Victor Henry. Victor was last in action back in November when Charles Jourdain submitted him in the second round. Henry is 3-2, 1 NC in the UFC since signing in 2022. Victor has wins over Raoni Barcelos, Tony Gravey and most recently, Rani Yahya. Although Herny is 37, he is a complete fighter who is a challenge for most on the bantamweight roster and he has faced solid competition.

Nurmagomedov’s next fight: Victor Henry

Mike Davis

Mike Davis had his four-fight win streak snapped by Fares Ziam to start the main card of UFC Saudi Arabia on Saturday. The unanimous decision defeat was Mike’s first defeat since his 2019 submission loss then-lightweight Gilbert Burns. Davis is coming off a bicep tear last year that forced him out of a fight with Drew Dober. And now this.

Davis is a fun fighter, and another fun fighter fought on the undercard of UFC Saudi Arabia, Terrance McKinney. Terrance scored a first round TKO over his opponent, Damir Hadzovic, and has now won three of his last four fights.

McKinney has also fought both Dober and Ziam, although he was able to submit the latter in their 2022 bout. This fight could match up with time frame could be one that fans could really like to see. Not to mention, fireworks.

Mike’s next fight: Terrance McKinney

The post What’s Next: UFC Saudi Arabia Losers appeared first on Cageside Press.

Ziam (16-4) was on an impressive 4-fight win streak. Victories over Michal Figlak, Jai Herbert, Claudio Puelles and Matt Frevola got him a date with Davis in Saudi Arabia.

Davis (11-2) was on a streak of his own with wins over Thomas Gifford, Mason Jones, Viacheslav Borschev, and Natan Levy coming into UFC Riyadh.

Round 1 Ziam came out on fire landing on Davis with nasty shots. Davis endured the flurry, and then pulled guard. The rest of the round was more of Davis pulling guard and attempting to find a submission off his back. He ended the round on top.

Round 2 Davis came out aggressive using his strikes to get to the clinch, but was unable to get the takedown. Instead Ziam put him on the fence and the two engaged in some cage dancing with reversals.

Davis got Ziam locked into a nasty calf slicer for what felt like forever. It wasn’t just the calf that was in trouble, but the torque to the knee that causes the most damage. Ziam toughed it out, ended the round on top, landing shots on Davis.

Round 3 Ziam went to work with his jab before shooting in and getting a takedown by the cage. Davis, clearly running out of gas, used whatever energy he had to change positions, but Ziam was still moving like he was fresh. Davis tries to find submissions, Ziam blocked him every way, and the fight ended on the ground.

Official Result: Fares Ziam def. Mike Davis via Unanimous Decision (30-27×3) 

The post Fares Ziam Bloodies Mike Davis To A Decision Victory appeared first on Cageside Press.

Davis tweeted on Tuesday, dejected after obviously having received a professional opinion saying, “This kills me man… Completely tore my bicep during my sparring rounds on Tuesday. June 11th. Resulting in a 3.5″ retraction in my bicep.” Davis continued writing,

“Yes, I need surgery. They have to reattach the tendon by drilling it back into the bone.”

Mike also tweeted a graphic video of the grappling exchange that caused the injury captioning it with, “You can literally hear it snap” and “I’m so disappointed.”

Heartbreaking news for Davis who was on a 4-fight win streak since dropping his UFC debut to Gilbert Burns. With an injury like this, requiring surgery, Davis undoubtedly will be out of action for an extended period of time.

This also leaves Drew Dober, who fights out of Denver, without a partner for the fight date. No word yet on whether or not Dober will get a replacement to stay on the card.

The new UFC Denver line up, set to go down in Ball Arena, now looks as follows:

• Rose Namajunas vs. Maycee Barber
• Luana Santos vs. Mariya Agapova
• Viviane Araujo vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
• Gabriel Bonfim vs. Ange Loosa
• Mike Malott vs. Gilbert Urbina
• Cody Brundage vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
• Christian Rodriguez vs. Julian Erosa
• Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Muslim Salikhov
• Josh Fremd vs. Andre Petroski
• Nazim Sadykhov vs. MarQuel Mederos

The post Mike Davis Tears Bicep in Sparring, Out of Dober Fight at UFC Denver appeared first on Cageside Press.

News of the pairing was first reported by The Denver Post’s Kyle Newman on Tuesday.

Drew Dober (27-13) will be looking to get back on the right track after dropping a unanimous decision to Renato Moicano in his last fight, back in February. After a successful 2022, that featured three finishes and two performance bonuses, Dober, who fights out of Denver, has gone 1-2 in his last three fights. Dober’s last win came in October of 2023, when he TKO’d Ricky Glenn in the first round.

Mike Davis (11-2) will be entering enemy territory riding a four-fight winning streak. ‘Beast Boy’ is 4-1 with the UFC, with his only loss coming in his promotional debut, when he was submitted by a very respectable Gilbert Burns in 2019. Since then, Davis has scored four wins and two finishes against the likes of Thomas Gifford, Mason Jones, Viacheslav Borshchev and Natan Levy.

UFC Denver now has 10 fights announced including the women’s flyweight main event, Rose Namajunas vs. Maycee Barber. Here is what the lineup looks like so far:

• Rose Namajunas vs. Maycee Barber
• Luana Santos vs. Mariya Agapova
• Viviane Araujo vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
• Gabriel Bonfim vs. Ange Loosa
• Mike Malott vs. Gilbert Urbina
• Cody Brundage vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
• Christian Rodriguez vs. Julian Erosa
• Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Muslim Salikhov
• Josh Fremd vs. Andre Petroski
• Drew Dober vs. Mike Davis

The post Drew Dober Will Meet Mike Davis at UFC Denver on July 13 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Levy was just a half pound over, but had not been cleared to continue his cut on Friday.

For Davis, it was his first action since 2022, but he remained on a three-fight win streak, most recently claiming victory over Viacheslav Borshchev. Levy had also been out since 2022, and had won his last two.

“Beast Boy” Davis came out swinging, dropped Natan Levy, then quickly transitioned to the back. In went a body lock, and Davis pursued the rear-naked choke while Levy fought the wrists to defend. Not a great spot for Levy to be early, but he appeared to have his wits about him.

The problem for Levy appeared to be that he had no way out of the position. Davis was easily controlling him from the back, Levy sat on top. While the submission wasn’t really close, Davis was controlling the action and winning the round, while barely breaking a sweat. When Levy did finally make it up, Davis stayed on the back. They dropped back down, got up, and finally Levy freed himself, and returned the favor by controlling the back of Davis, before ending up caught in a kneebar.

With Levy surviving the late kneebar attempt, the pair headed to round two. The pair wound up in a scramble on the ground early, with Levy on bottom in the end. Davis worked from side control and again took the back with apparent ease. When Levy rolled, he wound up in an arm-triangle choke, and it wasn’t long before he was tapping — giving Mike Davis his fourth straight win!

Official Result: Mike Davis def. Natan Levy by submission (arm-triangle choke), Round 2, 1:43

The post UFC Vegas 88: Returning Mike Davis Shows Slick BJJ, Submits Natan Levy appeared first on Cageside Press.

Yan Xiaonan

After a heart-stopping win over Mackenzie Dern on Saturday, Yan Xiaonan righted the ship from a two-fight losing streak and now looks to strike out towards a title shot once again.

There is no better way to earn such a shot than by beating a former champion and divisional GOAT like Rose Namajunas. Namajunas lost her title in a disappointing fight against Carla Esparza, who coincidentally beat Xiaonan to earn her own title shot, and if she wants to earn her belt back she needs to fight top contenders like Xiaonan. Both fighters are exceptional strikers who bring action to the octagon almost every time out. Marina Rodriguez would seem to be next for a title fight after the upcoming bout between the champion, Esparza, and Zhang Weili in November, but after that the division is wide open. Rose and Yan each can make a strong case for themselves by beating the other, and could even earn a fight of the night bonus in the process given their fighting styles.

Xiaonan’s Next Fight: Rose Namajunas

Randy Brown

Randy Brown got his fourth win in a row in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 61. After his fight he soon tweeted, “I’m not satisfied with that at all. I’m going to fight again this year.” That statement lines up neatly with Jake Matthews’ call for a ranked opponent this past week. Jake has been having trouble getting a fight with someone in the top fifteen, apparently, but sits on the edge of the rankings just like Brown. A fight between the two would be one to catch many fans’ eyes and the timelines match up as both seem to want to fight before the end of the year. Additionally, each fighter has won four of their last five and would be the logical next choice for a shot at the rankings despite a lot of competition for places.

Brown’s Next Fight: Jake Matthews

Raoni Barcelos

Raoni Barcelos put himself back in the winner’s circle on Saturday by beating Trevin Jones in a comprehensive performance that showed why so many fans were so excited about him before his two fight losing streak. He still sits on the fringe of the rankings of one of the most stacked divisions in the sport’s history and so one of those other fringe contenders should be next.

Enter Cody Stamann. Despite losing three fights in a row not that long ago, Cody Stamann held a ranking before his losing streak and all of his losses have been against top tier competition. Stamann and Barcelos are both looking to stack a second win in a row on top of their most recent one and the winner has a real shot at a ranked opponent in the near future if they can win this fight. This fight would have a bit of everything as both men are supremely well-rounded, so it is easy to see why the promotion would look to book it.

Barcelos’ Next Fight: Cody Stamann

Sodiq Yusuff

Sodiq Yusuff was booked against Giga Chikadze before the Georgian was forced to withdraw, leaving Sodiq forced to take a debuting opponent in his fight on Saturday. Having done so, a fellow ranked opponent is on the cards and there is no good reason not to rebook the fight with Chikadze. That fight seems on paper to be an excellent striking-heavy matchup between two high level kickboxers. Fans will be in for a treat if the UFC decides to revisit that one.

Yusuff’s Next Fight: Giga Chikadze

Mike Davis

After beating Vlacheslav Borshchev at UFC Vegas 61, Mike Davis has three wins in a row, even if it has taken three years to accrue those wins. Mike Davis is closer than ever before to facing a ranked opponent. Joel Alvarez has only lost to elite prospects Damir Ismagulov and Arman Tsarukyan, much like Mike Davis who has only ever lost to Sodiq Yusuff and Gilbert Burns. Additionally, fans always look forward to seeing each man when they appear on a card. A fight between the two of them would have fight of the night potential and give one athlete the chance to try for a ranked opponent in the near future.

Davis’ Next Fight: Joel Alvarez

The post What’s Next: UFC Vegas 61 Winners appeared first on Cageside Press.

Mike Davis is perhaps best known for his FOTY contender vs Mason Jones in his last fight, early in 2021, while Slava Claus started off 2022 with the first KO of the year with a vicious body hook. However, Slava Claus had issues in his last fight when Mark Diakiese wrestled him for three rounds, so a big question in this fight was whether Mike Davis would look to wrestle. Both men have a primarily volume and action-heavy striking style with many knockouts to their name, so fans were looking forward to this one.

The first heavy strike of the fight was an uppercut from Davis that snapped his foe’s head back about a minute in. Slava returned fire with a liver shot and the pair started to open up. Thirty seconds later, Mike Davis charged forward and shot a takedown that he landed with apparent ease. Slava was able to get back to his feet but Mike Davis mat returned him and shucked to his back. Slava stood back up and Davis soon landed a legal knee that dropped Slava. Slava Claus survived however and eventually extricated himself from the grappling exchange to get back to striking. When Slava charged forward himself, Mike Davis ducked under, took his opponent down, and got right into full mount immediately. Ground and pound rained down and Slava Claus was unable to do anything about it except turn to give up his back and turn back into the full mount. The referee looked close to stopping it at points but with only seconds left Slava somehow escaped and got back to his feet as the bell rang. Beast Boy clearly won the round, with perhaps a 10-8 being on the cards.

Slava Claus began the second round with constant volume and feints but few significant lands. Eventually he landed a few big body shots and a leg kick that buckled Davis’ leg. After two minutes a massive overhand right landed from Slava but Mike Davis ate it. The lack of volume from Davis was puzzling early on until halfway through the round he finally shot a takedown, landed it, and settled in full guard. He soon passed to north south but lost the position when trying to take the back. However he shot another takedown when getting back to the feet and passed right to the mount. Mike Davis attempted an arm triangle that appeared as tight as could be but he let it go, apparently feeling he could not get the finish with it, and returned to the full mount. With thirty seconds left Slava Claus gave up his back and Davis fell over the top, but was able to get up, land another takedown immediately, and close the round out with ground and pound. The round was close as it was about evenly split between striking success from Slava and ground success for Davis, both of which included significant amounts of damage.

The beginning of the third round was similar to the beginning of the second. Slava Claus began to find the range again and land some good strikes, including one that swelled up the right eye of Mike Davis badly. Soon after, he made the decision to take the fight to the ground and was successful at landing in half guard. Slava Claus regained full guard but was unable to do much to get up against the heavy top pressure of Davis despite his constantly struggling. On a scramble Slava was able to begin to stand up but from his knees Mike Davis was able to grab Slava’s legs and drag him back to the mat. At the very end of the fight Davis passed to full mount and tried one last choke before the bell rang.

When Bruce Buffer read the scorecards it was Mike Davis, predictably, who had got the decision unanimously. In his post-fight interview Davis discussed seeing four of his opponent after his eye was struck, feeling like he is not where he needs to be, the changes he has made in his camp, and the game plan of taking down his striking-based opponent.

Official Result: Mike Davis def. Vlacheslav Borshchev by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-26, 30-26)

The post UFC Vegas 61: Mike Davis Defeats Viacheslav Borshchev by Unanimous Decision appeared first on Cageside Press.

UFC officials recently revealed that England’s own Jai Herbert (11-3) will face Mike Davis (9-2) at the Fight Night event. The bout is expected to take place in the lightweight division.

Herbert, a former Cage Warriors champ at 155 pounds, picked up the first win of his UFC career in his last outing. After starting his run with the promotion 0-2, he stopped Khama Worthy by TKO last October.

Davis has won two straight, including a Fight of the Night performance last time out. That saw “Beast Boy” win a unanimous decision against Welsh fighter Mason Jones. Davis missed all of 2020, but also had a KO of Thomas Gifford in 2019.

UFC London is set to take place on March 19, 2022 at the O2 Arena in London, England. The main event features heavyweight action between Tom Aspinall and Alexander Volkov; the following fights have been reported for the card thus far:

• Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall
• Jack Shore vs. Timur Valiev
• Jake Hadley vs. Allan Nascimento
• Luana Carolina vs. Molly McCann
• Muhammad Mokaev vs Cody Durden
• Makwan Amirkhani vs. Mike Grundy
• Sergei Pavlovich vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov
• Arnold Allen vs. Dan Hooker
• Gunnar Nelson vs. Cláudio Silva
• Cory McKenna vs. Elise Reed
• Nathaniel Wood vs. Liudvik Sholinian
• Paddy Pimblett vs. Rodrigo Vargas
• Nikita Krylov vs. Paul Craig
• Jai Herbert vs. Mike Davis

The post Jai Herbert vs. Mike Davis Added to UFC London appeared first on Cageside Press.

That means there are plenty of UFC athletes to keep an eye on. We’ve got our top 20 compiled, consisting of unranked fighters with five fights or less inside the UFC cage.

First, here is a recap of the 20 UFC prospects we chose last year:

• Movsar Evloev (2-0 in 2021 and now ranked #13)
• Arman Tsarukyan (2-0 in 2021 and now ranked #13)
• Ilia Topuria (1-0 in 2021)
• Sean Brady (2-0 in 2021 and now ranked #9)
• Mudaerji Su (1-0 in 2021 and now ranked #13)
• Kyler Phillips (1-1 in 2021 and FOTN bonus)
• Miguel Baeza (0-2 in 2021 but both FOTN bonuses)
• Brad Riddell (1-1 in 2021 with both FOTN bonuses while now being ranked #14)
• Mounir Lazzez (0-1 in 2021)
• Guram Kutateladze (Didn’t fight in 2021)
• Duško Todorović (1-2 in 2021)
• Lerone Murphy (2-0 in 2021)
• Damis Ismagulov (1-0 in 2021)
• Alexander Romanov (2-0 in 2021)
• Ludovit Klein (0-2 in 2021)
• Tafon Nchukwi (1-1 in 2021)
• Makhmud Muradov (1-1 in 2021 with a POTN bonus)
• Jack Shore (2-0 in 2021)
• Joe Solecki (1-1 in 2021)
• Mariya Agapova (1-0 in 2021)

Now, let’s take a look at this year’s 20 UFC prospects to watch out for.

The post 20 UFC Prospects To Watch For This Year appeared first on Cageside Press.