Battle (12-2, 1NC) came in heavy at Friday’s UFC 319 official weigh-in in Chicago, with Cageside Press on hand. Stepping on the scale at 190lbs, he was a full four pounds heavy for the preliminary card match-up.

Winner of The Ultimate Fighter 29 in 2021 as a middleweight, Battle later dropped to 170lbs, but missed weight twice there. The first miss came in 2023, where Battle blew weight for a fight with Gabe Green that he won via knockout (picking up a Performance bonus despite the flub at the scales). The second miss came in his most recent outing, a split decision win over Randy Brown.

Those fights, at welterweight, were no doubt behind Bryan Battle moving up. Missing weight as a middleweight, however, is more concerning.

Ruziboev was not happy with Friday’s weight miss, posting a note with a pig emoji on his Instagram Story. “Instead of talking too much, you need to make the weight first. This is a professional sport Blondie.”

The UFC has since issued a brief statement on the bout’s cancellation. “Due to Bryan Battle weighing in over the middleweight limit, his bout against Nursulton Ruziboev has been cancelled from this weekend’s event.”

UFC 319 takes place on Saturday, August 16, 2025 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

The post Bryan Battle vs. Nursulton Ruziboev Scratched from UFC 319 After TUF 29 Winner Misses Weight appeared first on Cageside Press.

Michael Morales

Gilbert Burns may have been on a three-fight skid entering this main event, but those three losses were to former champion Belal Muhammad, current champion Jack Della Maddalena, and current number 2 contender Sean Brady. “Durinho” had only lost to the very best, so for Morales to dust him off that easily inside a round is still very impressive.

Welterweight is on fire right now. The young are eating the old and the turnover is exciting to watch. Morales now adds his name to that mix as this win will have him crack the top10. However, with Islam Makhachev moving up to fight for the title, the division is on the verge of clogging up at the top. Shavkat Rakhmonov, the aforementioned Brady, Ian Machado Garry and the winner of the Atlanta main event next month will have legitimate claims to a title shot in the coming months. If the UFC books Morales against a top5 fighter, they will clog the title picture even more. That’s why, despite Leon Edwards making a ton of sense as Morales’ next opponent, the promotion should instead take its time with him. The Ecuadorian is still just 25 years old. He has all the time in the world to work his way to the top. When looking at it with that perspective, the winner of the Vicente Luque vs Kevin Holland fight at UFC 316 then becomes a good option. Morales also trains in Mexico and has expressed desires to fight on the Guadalajara card in September. That’s a turnaround that both Luque and Holland should be able to make.

Morales’ next fight: Luque/Holland winner

Mairon Santos

When he won The Ultimate Fighter last summer with a stunning KO in the finale, a lot of hype followed Mairon Santos into his UFC debut. This made his performance in March against Francis Marshall quite disappointing, as most people think he lost that bout despite getting his hand raised.

Even after barely winning his debut, the UFC gave the 24-year-old prospect a step up in competition in “Super” Sodiq Yusuff at UFC Vegas 106. The Nigerian fighter was ranked for a long time at featherweight before dropping two fights to Edson Barboza and Diego Lopes. The discrepancy in high-level experience didn’t deter the young Santos from winning a convincing, professional unanimous decision, earning two 30-27s in the process.

Julian Erosa would make a lot of sense as an opponent for Santos. “Juicy J” is 9-4 in his last 11 outings, with wins over names like Sean Woodson, Nate Landwehr and Charles Jourdain. He represents a respectable test for the 24-year-old Santos, who shouldn’t be rushing to the top15.

Santos’ next fight: Julian Erosa

Nursulton Ruziboev

The 6’5” Uzbekistani won his second bout of 2025, improving his UFC record to 4-1 (4-0 at middleweight). His sole loss was a short notice welterweight fight with Joaquin Buckley, a loss that has aged quite gracefully, all things considered. Though his callout of Bo Nickal wasn’t terrible, I highly doubt it’s a matchup that will materialize. Ruziboev still needs a signature win in this division before thinking about names like Nickal. Fighters like Cesar Almeida, Christian Leroy Duncan and Gerald Meerschaert would all be proper opponents for Ruziboev. In the end, I went with veteran Eryk Anders, who is also currently riding a two-fight win streak.

Ruziboev’s next fight: Eryk Anders

Melquizael Costa

Not even five full months into 2025 and Melquizael Costa has already fought three times, winning all three bouts. After submitting Andre Fili in Seattle in February, he beat Christian Rodriguez in a hard-fought three-round fight in Mexico City. On Saturday at UFC Vegas 106, he was facing off with Julian Erosa, who was also on a three-fight win streak entering this contest. The bout got Fight of the Night honours and saw Costa extending his win streak to four.

As he keeps inching closer to becoming a real player in the division, booking Costa now becomes dependent on his intentions going forward. If he wants to be matchmade for strategically to advance his career towards the rankings, and eventually the title, then he might wait for the outcome of the Calvin Kattar vs Steve Garcia fight going down in July. However, if he wants to stay active and become featherweight’s own Kevin Holland, then the opponent truly doesn’t matter that much. A name that satisfies both lines of thinking is Pat Sabatini. The Philadelphia fighter is 7-2 in the UFC and is back on a winning streak after a dominant outing over a dangerous Joanderson Brito last month. Costa was also the name I picked for Sabatini on What’s Next after he defeated Brito at UFC Vegas 105.

Costa’s next fight: Pat Sabatini

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The only strange thing about the callout is that Nickal is coming off a loss at UFC Des Moines. Ruziboev understands this, but still wants to try his hand at the former NCAA D1 wrestler.

“I watched his fights before. He’s a great wrestler, he’s a legendary wrestler. I think that it’s a comfortable fight for me,” Ruziboev told reporters including Cageside Press through a translator at his post-fight scrum.

“It’s a fight that I coud win. I want to try myself against him. If he would have won they wouldn’t have given it to me. Because he lost I think that this fight could happen. I think that he would accept my challenge.”

Ruziboev (36-9-2) was a sizeable favorite against Stoltzfus, but you wouldn’t know from watching the fight. Many expected it to be a quick night for Ruziboev, but Stoltzfus proved to be much tougher than he expected.

In fact at one point in the fight Stoltzfus had him in a tough spot going for a guillotine choke. The submission was unsuccessful, but to the viewer it looked rather tight.

“After the first time he got me in the choke I realized that I had to move. I kept on moving around and I improve my position,” he said.

“I thought that I was going to be able to finish him in the fight. Once we got into the fight, I felt his punches, they were harder than I thought. I wasn’t able to finish him.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Nursulton Ruziboev above.

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Stoltzfus had been trading wins and losses of late, and was coming off a victory against Marc-Andre Barriault. Despite that bonus-winning performance, Ruziboev was given the edge on the strength of a resume that had him 3-1 in the UFC, with the only loss to Joaquin Buckley. At 185 pounds, Ruziboev was undefeated in the promotion with 33 stoppage wins in his career.

The first round saw Ruziboev press forward throwing a few front kicks to the body and jab that landed upstairs. Stoltzfus blitzed forward throwing a few heavy hooks before returning to the center of the cage. Ruziboev pushed forward and got cleaned by a right hand that sat the betting favorite down. Stoltzfus immediately grabbed a guillotine and threatened the choke from full mount. Ruziboev remained calm however, and reversed position ending up on top. Now landing solid ground and pound, Ruziboev returned to his feet. A spinning back kick connected for Ruziboev, but Stoltzfus ate the big shot and kept fighting. Ruziboev was starting to find a home for his straight right hand landing multiple big shots before securing a takedown. After getting dropped early in the round, Ruziboev rebounded nicely and seemed to have recovered.

In the early moments of round two, Nursulton attempted another spinning back kick but the strike was blocked. Stoltzfus decided to rush in for a takedown and got Ruziboev to the ground. The nose of Stoltzfus was now leaking blood while he was in the top position. Remaining in half guard, Stoltzfus was able to land good ground and pound before attempting a guillotine choke. Ruziboev escaped and had a minute thirty seconds left in the round to damage his opponent. Stoltzfus attempted a leg lock but was quickly reversed and ate multiple big elbows on the ground. Damaging shots were reigning down from Ruziboev near the end of the round.

In the third round both men seemed extremely spent after a hard fought ten minutes. Stoltzfus was able to land a few leg kicks at distance but continued to bleed from the nose. Ruziboev seemed exhausted and had low output through the early moments of the final frame. With two minutes left in the round Stoltzfus was able to land a takedown that may secure him the biggest win of his career. Ruziboev had no energy left to return to his feet and was controlled on the ground by Stoltzfus for another thirty seconds. Ruziboev got to his feet with nearly no time on the clock as the horn sounded.

Going to the judges scorecards they were unanimous but went in the direction of Ruziboev, a shock to the camp of Stoltzfus, who seemed like they thought the fight would go in their favor. Ruziboev now has successfully returned to the middleweight division with his second win at 185 pounds this calendar year.

Official Result: Nursulton Ruziboev def. Dustin Stoltzfus by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

The post UFC Vegas 106: Nursulton Ruziboev Decision Win Leaves Dustin Stoltzfus in Disbelief appeared first on Cageside Press.

Ruziboev (35-9-2, 2NC) came into fight week on a bit of a down note, after watching his own brother struggle with a weight cut one week prior.

“I’m so happy with this performance. A week ago, my brother’s fight got cancelled because he couldn’t make weight. We were stressed a little bit, and this win also has already fixed that straight,” stated Ruziboev, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press. “Everything is fixed now, we’re happy.”

To be clear, it wasn’t just about his brother’s fight being waved off. “My brother, he’s my real brother and he couldn’t make his weight,” explained Ruziboev, noting how drained his brother looked. “When I saw him, he was so bad to my eyes, that’s why this was a little bit stressed, not the fight [being] cancelled.”

With the win over McConico, a DWCS grad, Nursulton Ruziboev is hoping to get back to action soon. “I didn’t get any injuries from this fight. We’re going to go home, we’re going to celebrate this fight with my coaches, and then after that we’ll see. Pretty soon we’ll be back to the cage.”

The question, however, is in what weight class. Thus far, Ruziboev has competed in both the welterweight and middleweight divisions. The UFC Seattle bout was at middleweight, and Ruziboev admits that the weight cut there is obviously easier. However, he’s open to opportunities in both divisions.

“My manager told me we will have a chance in future for welterweight. Right now, I have fights at 185, but in future if they offer me 170, 185, we will get any of them,” he told Cageside Press.

Watch the full UFC Seattle post-fight media appearance by Nursulton Ruziboev above.

The post UFC Seattle’s Nursulton Ruziboev Came Into Fight Week Stressed Due to Brother’s Bad Weight Cut appeared first on Cageside Press.

McConico might have otherwise gone the Contender Series route, but with the card falling apart minute by minute a week or two back, the UFC booked the match-up on short notice. Showing once again why it pays to be ready for fighters.

The fight started with both men taking it slow and feeling each other out. It was Ruziboev who began inching forward. He was slowly working his kicks in, keeping McConico hesitant. McConico wasn’t throwing anything, perhaps being a little too worried about the power of Ruziboev. When McConico finally did throw something Ruziboev caught a kick and put him against the fence. They separated with a minute left and the rest of the round saw little in the way of action initiated by either fighter. Single strikes, but nothing significant from anyone. Ruziboev was at least slightly more active.

When round two got underway, Eric McConico was already more aggressive than he was in round one. Perhaps too willing to engage, as he was clipped with a right hand dropping him. McConico got back up but Ruziboev swarmed with punches along the cage and as soon as he fell down again, the ref stopped it.

Official Result: Nursulton Ruziboev def. Eric McConico by TKO (punches), Round 2, 0:33

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News of the booking was first reported by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Netherlands. The action will go down at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Rinat Fakhretdinov (23-2-1) obviously has a stellar record as a pro and hasn’t lost a fight in over 10 years. Rinat started his career with the UFC in 2022 with a win over Andreas Michailidis. Fakhretdinov captured a decision victory over TUF 29 winner, Bryan Battle, at the tail end of 2022 and stopped an 170lbs. Kevin Lee, in under one-minute, last July. Fakhretdinov also fought Elizeu Zaleski in a competitive war that ended in a majority decision draw last November.  In Rinat’s most recent fight, he snagged a hard-fought spilt decision against Nicolas Dalby.

Much like his upcoming opponent, Nursulton Ruziboev (34-9-2) has had a lengthy career in MMA before his stint with the UFC. Ruziboev signed with the UFC last July. He earned a performance bonus in his debut when he finished 10-0 fighter, Brunno Ferreira, in the opening round. The bout was a middleweight bout and so was his next bout against Sedriques Dumas in March. Ruziboev took less than a round to easily finish Dumas. In Nursulton’s most recent fight, he lost a lopsided unanimous decision to Joaquin Buckley(#11 ranked WW) in his first co main event appearance for the UFC. That fight was back at 170lbs. like his bout will be in October.

Fakhretdinov vs. Ruizboev is the first reported fight revealed for UFC 308 on October 26, 2024.  The card has been rumored to feature former Interim UFC Heavyweight champion, Ciryl Gane, who would be taking on top ranked Russian, Alexander Volkov. That match-up has not been confirmed at this point.

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UFC veteran, Derrick Lewis defended his relevancy in the heavyweight division taking down Rodrigo Nascimento in what was the Brazilian’s first UFC main event appearance.

Rodrigo Nascimento

Rodrigo Nascimento was stopped by Derrick Lewis in the third round of their main event bout on Saturday night.

Nascimento is now 4-2, 1 NC in the UFC and had his four-fight unbeaten streak snapped. Nascimento’s most impressive victories in that span were two split decision wins against Tanner Boser and Ilir Latifi.

Nascimento is just 31 years old and has a lot of time left in his pro career. No need to rush, Nascimento should get another veteran like Marcos Rogerio de Lima. Marcos has 18 fights with the UFC. Marcos just defeated Junior Tafa back in February and also has a stoppage loss to Derrick Lewis in his previous fight. The bout would make sense and could easily grace a main card.

Nascimento’s next fight: Marcos Rogerio de Lima

Nursulton Ruziboev

Nursulton Ruziboev suffered the first loss of his UFC career when Joaquin Buckley defeated him in a unanimous decision victory in the co main event slot of UFC St. Louis.

Ruziboev is now 2-1 with the promotion including two first round finishes over Brunno Ferreira and Sedriques Dumas. Nursulton defeated both fighters at 185lbs. before dropping to 170lbs. for his most recent fight.

Ruziboev had won ten in a row dating back to 2019, with just two of those fights being at 170lbs. He has been incredibly successful in the middleweight division especially in his pre-UFC career.

If the 6’5″ fighter wants another welterweight fight: Give him the winner of Charles Radtke vs Carlos Prates, who fight June 8th.

As for middleweight-Ruziboev was slated to take on Caio Borralho back in November of last year. While that is way too high of a matchup for Ruziboev right now, Ruizboev did call out Gerald Meerschaert back in March. Solid name for him and he should get the call out that he wants at middleweight thanks to how much he’s won at that weight.

Nursulton’s next fight at welterweight: Winner of Charles Radtke vs Carlos Prates 

Nursulton’s next fight at middleweight: Gerald Meerschaert

Alonzo Menifield

Alonzo Menifield was violently finished in just seconds on Saturday night by Carlos Ulberg.

The stoppage snapped Alonzo’s five-fight unbeaten streak, featuring the likes of Dustin Jacoby, Jimmy Crute, Misha Cirkunov and Askar Mozharov.

Menifield is now 8-4-1 with the UFC. Menifield has also had a lot of cancelled fights while with the promotion. Most of the time Menifield eventually ends up getting the opponent, just at a later date. One of the few guys Menifield has not ended up fighting off of his cancelled bouts list would be Nicolae Negumereanu. The two were originally scheduled to fight in June of 2022 before Nicolae withdrew. Nicolae’s most recent fight was also a first-round stoppage to Carlos Ulberg at the end of 2022. However, Nicolae has been inactive since that bout and he is also, obviously unranked.

A solid back up choice for Menifield would be the winner of the Dominick Reyes vs. Dustin Jacoby fight scheduled for June 8th. Reyes was scheduled multiple times to take on Carlos Ulberg this year and both times the bout fell through. Jacoby’s most recent fight was a unanimous decision loss to Alonzo Menifield back in December.  Might seem redundant but with Reyes still hanging onto a fringe Top 15 ranking, the winner of the bout should come out ranked, even if just barely.

Either scenario would be a solid next matchup.

Menifield’s next fight: Dominick Reyes vs. Dustin Jacoby winner

Mateusz Rebecki

Mateusz Rebecki suffered his first loss in the UFC on Saturday night, at the hands of the 15-fight UFC veteran in Carlos Ferreira.

Rebecki entered the bout a heavy favorite but was ultimately stopped late after suffering tons of damage, in what was an entertaining comeback for Ferreira.

Mateusz is now 3-1 with the UFC since winning his Contender Series bout back in 2022.

As usual, the lightweight division is incredibly busy. There are a couple of matchups that potentially make sense for Mateusz. The deciding factor will likely be just how fast can Mateusz turnaround and fight again after the late stoppage.

Chase Hooper, among others, would be a solid matchup for Rebecki. Hooper picked up an impressive win on the undercard of UFC St. Louis and has been steadily improving since entering the UFC in 2019. Hooper is currently on a 3-fight win streak and has 9 fights in the UFC despite having less than 20 pro fights. Rebecki already has 21 fights of pro experience so the extra UFC experience would aid Hooper and make the bout a more even matchup.

Rebecki’s next fight: Chase Hooper

Alex Caceres

Alex Caceres lost his second straight bout via unanimous decision when he was defeated by St. Louis’ own, Sean Woodson.

Caceres’ last win came in June of 2023 against Daniel Pineda. Alex has now won two of his last four since the end of 2022.

Nate Landwehr would be a great opponent for Alex Caceres. Landwehr last competed against Jamall Emmers at the tail end of March, stopping him at the end of the opening round. Caceres was actually scheduled to fight Landwehr back in March of last year but withdrew from the bout. It’d be the perfect time of the pair to run that matchup back.

Caceres’ next fight: Nate Landwehr

The post What’s Next: UFC St. Louis Losers appeared first on Cageside Press.

The three-round welterweight bout saw #11 Buckley, a local fave, with the crowd firmly behind him. He opened the bout with feints and foot movement, looking to close the distance. When he did, it wasn’t a dazzling strike but a powerful takedown that Buckley connected with. But Ruziboev escaped, went on the attacked, wobbled Buckley- only for Buckley to land another, this one extremely timely.

Ruziboev didn’t stay down long, but the action to that point had sparked a “Buckley” chant throughout the arena. From there they traded at range, with Buckley eating a few punches to close the distance, then fire a spinning kick that missed.

Round two saw Joaquin Buckley landed another takedown all of 30 seconds in. The tall, lanky middleweight would make it back to his feet soon after, but the wrestling of Buckley was having its intended effect. Ruziboev was fighting with the thought of a takedown on his mind, and his offense appeared limited as a result. When Buckley landed another takedown late in the second frame, Ruziboev chased an arm-bar, but wasn’t close.

Three key blows landed for Joaquin Buckley early in round three- a right/left combo then a third punch that put Ruziboev down! Buckley followed him down and had to avoid upkicks; Ruziboev made it back up, only to find himself dropped again moment slater! This time “Newmansa” got on top and began dropping ground n’ pound, elbows and punches flowing. Buckley was in mount, Ruziboev holding on only to eat more elbows. Somehow, Ruziboev managed to get on top in a scramble, but another scramble saw the reverse play out, with Buckley ending up back in control.

With time winding down the ref halted things when Ruziboev connected with an illegal upkick. Ref Keith Petersen gave Buckley the choice of position and he opted to stand things up, finishing the round on the feet. While he couldn’t put Ruziboev away, there was no question as to the winner with a dominant showing from Joaquin Buckley.

Official Result: Joaquin Buckley def. Nursulton Ruziboev by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 29-27)

The post UFC St. Louis: Joaquin Buckley Shows Off Complete Game Against Nursulton Ruziboev appeared first on Cageside Press.

“After Atlantic City I asked for June 1st. This was the fight card that I wanted to be on, but they called me and they told me that there was a fight in 170 that I can do against a top 15 opponent,” Ruziboev told reporters through a translator on Wednesday.

“Second I heard that I accepted the fight. I knew that I wanted to do it.”

Ruziboev (34-8-2) has fought at 170 and 155 before in his career. This will be his first UFC bout at welterweight however leaving many to wonder if he can make the weight safely.

“My weight is coming down pretty easy. Everything is going simple for me so I think I’m going to have no problem getting down there,” he said.

It’s not just the weight class that could cause him a problem, but he’s stepping in against Buckley in his hometown of St. Louis.

“I fought a lot in enemy territory so it doesn’t really matter to me because inside the octagon it’s going to be just me and him,” he said.

“Even though everybody going to be rooting for him, but he’s going to be the only one standing in front of me.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Nursulton Ruziboev above. He takes on Joaquin Buckley at UFC St. Louis on Saturday night.

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