The semifinals have arrived (they kicked off last week), and with Conor McGregor going 1-7 as a coach this year, there was a real question as to what was going to happen with the surplus of talent on rival Michael Chandler’s team. Fighters were given the chance to switch teams, and Katona — a teammate of McGregor under John Kavanagh at SBG Ireland — is the only one to make the jump.

We’re recapping each and every episode of The Ultimate Fighter 31 this season — if you’re trying to avoid spoilers, turn back now until you’re caught up!

Chandler has no hard feelings about the switch, admitting that Katona will probably perform better under his longtime coach. McGregor, meanwhile, focuses on balance in training.

“Pound for pound, Timur is easily the strongest guy in this competition,” Chandler proclaims. Valiev was definitely one of the favorites heading into the season.

No issues at the weigh-ins, and no surprise there given both fighters are UFC veterans.

Katona presses forward early in the fight itself, getting his hands going. Valiev stays on the outside, using his movement and flashing a few feints and kicks. A minute in, Katona takes the fight to the fence and lands a takedown, but he’s also cut bad, leaking blood. Valiev, meanwhile, is very mobile off his back and manages to scramble up. Katona goes right back on the attack, finding some success with his left hand. Valiev’s kicks continue to be money.

Luckily for Katona, the cut is on the side/under the eye, so while it’s a gory scene, the blood doesn’t appear to impede his vision any. Later in the round, however, Valiev catches a kick, dumping Katona on his back. He looks to throw up a submission, and soon scrambles out. Valiev ends the frame with a mat return in what turned out to be a very spirited round from both fighters.

The general consensus from both corners between rounds is that Valiev took it, though his own team adds “not by much.” McGregor wants Katona to add in a backhand. Round two sees Katona find a home for his left hand again early. Valiev’s kicks? Just as nasty as they were in the first. He goes low then high with a kick and follows up with a left hand of his own. Neither man shows any sign of slowing. Katona doubles up on a left, and fights off a takedown after Valiev closes the distance and looks to change levels.

In another closely contested round, it’s Katona looking to finish strong. He closes the distance with about a minute to go, pinning Valiev on the fence. A positional battle ensues; Katona fires some knees, and Valiev fights hands. But coming off the fence, it’s Valiev landing a throw just ahead of the buzzer! That one was anybody’s round.

“Let’s go, let’s take this!” hollers McGregor ahead of round three. Valiev opens with lots of kicks, while Katona bullies him up to the fence. He can’t keep Valiev there, however. Valiev is just ripping Katona’s lead leg at this point, connecting to the outside. Two minutes in, Valiev shoots, landing a takedown. Not opportune timing for Katona, but he makes it back up, albeit with Valiev leaning on him. Valiev doesn’t do a ton from there, and draws a warning to keep working from the ref. Moments later, Katona peels Valiev off him anyway, and goes back on the attack.

Katona presses forward, hitting the body and firing a combo. Valiev is still whipping kicks, and Katona’s leg is showing it. Katona catches a kick, and backs Valiev to the fence, trapping the leg and an arm and peppering Valiev with shots to the head. After some more grappling back-and-forth, Katona rips the body a few times.

“Great fight,” UFC President Dana White says after three rounds. “In my mind, this fight is absolutely a toss up,” he later adds. He’s not wrong.

The judges have it a split decision — and it goes to Team McGregor’s Brad Katona, who is going to the final with a chance to become a two-time Ultimate Fighter winner.

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The fallout from the delay, however, came down to weight cutting — would the fighters be required to cut weight again after already doing so, successfully, once previously?

We’re recapping each episode of The Ultimate Fighter 31 — spoilers lay ahead if you’re not up-to-date with the show.

UFC President Dana White opts to leave it to coaches Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler to hash it out and come to a decision. On the McGregor side, the thinking seems to be to push for the originally scheduled weight, 135. Chandler clearly feels it’s unfair that his fighter, Valiev, had to cut weight again for something outside of his control.

After losing the first three fights of the season, McGregor brings in Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. “There’s a lot of pressure on these young kids,” McGregor notes. He calls Thompson one of “the best distance management practitioners in the game.”

One of the major improvements in recent Ultimate Fighter seasons has been the show downplaying the drama, and putting the spotlight on the fighters and their home lives. Of course, with TUF 31, half the cast is comprised of former UFC fighters looking for another shot in the company.

Rather than giving them the newbie treatment, it might have been nice to focus on their prior UFC run and what went wrong. In the case of Valiev, it would have been lovely to know what the hell the UFC was thinking when they cut the talented Dagestani fighter off a single loss.

That might be asking a little much, however. So we get Valiev talking about training in Thailand.

Conor being Conor no-shows the meeting with Chandler to discuss weight, and a catchweight of 144lbs is set in his absence. Chandler then takes a call from Dana White, relaying that Conor offered 142lbs. Chandler, with a sigh, accepts.

Wells says he believes he’s better than Valiev in all areas. He expects to throw more volume and land more shots, and even believes he has better wrestling than the Dagestani fighter.

Ahead of the fight, we learn that Wells is adopted, and has spent his whole life in the same home in Temecula, CA. He was led into fighting after being beat up by an older kid at school. “I am broke as a joke, so I need to win The Ultimate Fighter” says Trevor.

The latest TUF 31 fight starts out with Wells pressing, while coach McGregor hollers “your space! Beautiful!” Valiev soon has a leg, and in true Dagestani fashion, chain wrestles his way to a takedown. One hook goes in, and suddenly Valiev has a body triangle on from the back. Wells stands up, carrying a Valiev-shaped backpack’s full weight.

Wells fights one hand, while Valiev tries to get under the chin with his other arm. Valiev finally slips off, and they break, with Wells going back on the attack. But it’s Valiev throwing a spinning attack, and later an overhand right and a spinning back fist. Just as Valiev appeared to be finding his flow, a kick lands low on Wells. He doesn’t take much recovery time however.

Wells and Valiev battle it out on the feet for the remainder of the round. In the second, Valiev is just quicker to the punch, even setting up a combo with a spinning back first. Moments later, he’s landing a takedown. Wells believed he was better in all areas ahead of the fight, but the opposite appears to be true. Valiev has worlds of time on top, and eventually makes it to mount, dropping nasty elbows and punches. Wells, to his credit, manages to reverse. He gets in a few blows and a knee to Valiev on the way up — but Wells needed a finish there, and he didn’t get it.

No third round was required, as the judges had seen enough after two. Valiev gets the win. If you had any inkling of who Timur Valiev is, this result wasn’t much of a surprise.

McGregor believes there should have been a third round, but congratulates Valiev nonetheless.

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Shore (16-0) defeated Timur Valiev via unanimous decision at UFC London at The O2 Arena on Saturday night.

Even though he was fighting at home in front of his home fans the fight itself wasn’t actually as easy as Shore may have hoped. Valiev had him in trouble with a guillotine early in the fight.

“Not as much trouble as he did after being sat down twice. It was close. It was right under my neck it was squeezing a little bit but I knew if I stayed in half guard that I’d be alright. Well I thought that and next thing I knew it started getting tighter and tighter. I could hear the crowd reacting and I just thought ‘Well, there’s no way I’m tapping in front of these large shows. You’re either going to get out or you’re going to sleep’. Next thing I knew my head popped out, but yeah it was close. It was close, but not close enough,” Shore told reporters at his post-fight scrum.

Shore took a bit of time to get going in the fight, but once he was in rhythm the scales seemed to tip his way.

“Little bit slow start. He was unorthodox. I knew coming in it’d take me a little bit longer to get a read on him. He changes angles and his attack up a lot. I could feel him getting tired, I know I’ve got a good engine, and I could hear the corner saying ‘Keep the pressure on’. I could hear him getting tired and I could see him slowing down. Specially during that third round. If I keep the pressure on anyone they’ll start to show cracks. Minus the guillotine,” laughed Shore.

During the broadcast the team in the booth repeatedly referred to Shore as the “Welsh GSP”.

“It’s very high praise. Who else better to be compared to in my eyes than the best to every do it? One of my idols in the sport. If I can achieve a third of what GSP achieved I’ll be be able to retire a happy man. Keep comparing me to the greatest as long as they’d like to. I welcome it with open arms,” Shore said.

With a lot of eyes on this card Shore can see the opportunity to take advantage of the momentum to get back into the cage sooner than later.

“I’d love to get a fight with Assuncao, Ricky Simon, any of those guys. I want to fight in June.”

Watch the full UFC London post-fight press scrum with Jack Shore above. More coverage from the event can be found below.

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Shore was leading the charge for Welsh MMA, alongside Bellator’s Brett Johns, and fellow UFC London fighter Cory McKenna. Russia’s Valiev, meanwhile, was looking for his third straight win.

Both men start the round feeling each other out, Shore looking for a clinch and both trading some calf kicks. Shore pressures Valiev through 3:30, keeping him on the back foot which is the plan him and his team had coming into this bout. Valiev continues to land solid calf kicks through the three minute mark and follows it up with a takedown that Shore is able to quickly get back up and clinch Valiev against the cage. Heavy low kicks are the story through round one. Close round.

Round two starts the same way the first ended with both getting straight to it and Shore landing a quick takedown. Valiev is not deterred though and quickly makes it to his feet and secures a takedown of his own. Shore is again able to work to his feet at the 3:10 mark and create some distance. Shore is able to work his combos very effectively, landing two nice right hands, leading to another takedown from the clinch at the 59 second mark. Continuing the story of this fight Valiev is able to secure a takedown after getting back up and Shore almost immediately pops back up. Yet again another very close round and fight through two.

Shore lands a huge right hand, knocking down Valiev almost immediately. Shore attempts to work to the back, but Valiev is able to shake it off and create some distance. Valiev locks in a guillotine and attempts to submit shore, but shore is able to reverse it and gain top control before the two minute mark. Shore once again drops Valiev at the 59 second mark, but Valiev shows his toughness and continues to fire back. Shore is able to secure another takedown at the 29 second mark of the third, were he will continue to maintain top control for the rest of the round.

After a very tough fight Jack Shore continues his very impressive win streak and moves onto 16-0. Valiev moves to 18-3 after this bout, but loses no stock and showed that he is one of the toughest guys in the 135 division. A great performance from both sides was on display and continues the trend of BW being one of, if not the toughest division in the UFC.

Official Result: Jack Shore def. Timur Valiev via Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)

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The curse of not having a full fight camp without having an opponent pull out continues for Jack Shore. Multiple sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have confirmed to Cageside Press that Shore will now fight Valiev on March 19 at a yet-to-be-announced UFC event. MMA Fight Universe was first to report the news.

Shore (15-0) has been perfect thus far in his UFC career, defeating all four of his opponents. The Welsh fighter is coming off of his most active year in the promotion. In April, he defeated Hunter Azure via unanimous decision and then finished his year picking up a win against Liudvik Sholinian. “Tank” is no stranger to having opponents pull out on him. He has had more than six different opponents withdraw in his four UFC fights.

Valiev (18-2-1) went 2-0 in 2021 after losing his UFC debut to Trevin Jones the previous year. After that, Valiev would defeat Martin Day to pick up his first UFC at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov, and then four months later, he would defeat Raoni Barcelos via majority decision.

The UFC’s March 19, 2022 event does not have an official location, venue, or broadcast plan announced. There are rumors the promotion will be going back to London, but nothing official has been announced.

The Fight Night card currently breaks down as follows:

• Jack Shore vs. Timur Valiev
• Molly McCann vs. Luana Carolina
• Jake Hadley vs. Francisco Figueiredo
• Muhammad Mokaev vs. Cody Durden
• Makwan Amirkhani vs. Mike Grundy
• Tom Aspinall vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov

The post UFC: Umar Nurmagomedov Out, Jack Shore Will Now Fight Timur Valiev On March 19 appeared first on Cageside Press.

In a press release on Tuesday, UFC officials revealed that Ricky Simon (18-3) vs. Timur Valiev (18-2, 1NC) was the latest addition to the Las Vegas card. Recently, Simon had been in the running as a short-notice placement for Sean O’Malley, but had been campaigning to fight at featherweight.

It will be back to bantamweight for Simon against Valiev, however. Simon has won three straight, though his last outing did come at featherweight against Brian Kelleher. Overall, the 28-year old is 6-2 inside the octagon, with his only losses coming to Urijah Faber and Rob Font.

Valiev arrived in the UFC with a ton of hype behind him last year, only to lose his debut to Trevin Jones. After a dominant opening round by Valiev, Jones came back to claim the victory — but the fight was later overturned to a No Contest due to Jones failing a drug test, for marijuana.

Since that fight, Valiev has won two straight, against Martin Day and Raoni Barceles. The Barcelos fight earned the Russian his first Fight of the Night bonus.

UFC 266 is set to take place September 4, 2021 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card is headlined by Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega, with the featherweight title on the line. A co-headliner featuring women’s flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko taking on Lauren Murphy has also been announced.

The post Ricky Simon vs. Timur Valiev Announced for UFC 266 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Ciryl Gane

Gane is in a weird position as he is currently ranked number three in the division only behind Stipe Miocic and the champion, Francis Ngannou. Dana White has said that Derrick Lewis will be getting the next shot at the title. Jon Jones has said that he needs more time before making his UFC debut. Does Gane wait for Jones to be ready and fight him for a number one contender spot? He also has the option to fight Stipe Miocic which also gives Miocic another shot to challenge the belt in the near future. It would be my guess that Jones takes close to another year off and Gane fights Miocic in the meantime.

Gane’s next fight: Stipe Miocic (though it appears an interim title fight between Gane and Lewis is in the works)

Tanner Boser

After knocking out OSP, Boser should be looking to fight someone inside the top 15. Serghei Spivak would be a perfect next opponent for Boser. Spivak is coming off a win just two weeks ago. A win that put him at the number 14 spot in the heavyweight division. Both men have knockout power and like to keep their fights standing.

Boser’s next fight: Serghei Spivak 

Timur Valiev

After Timur Valiev beat Raoni Barcelos this past weekend, he called out Sean O’Malley for his next fight. Sean O’Malley is currently booked to fight Louis Smolka on July 10th. Both O’Malley and Smolka are great stylistic match-ups for Valiev and the timing would work perfectly for Valiev to fight the winner.

Valiev’s next fight: Winner of O’Malley-Smolka 

Tim Means

At UFC Vegas 30, Tim Means won a decision over Nicolas Dalby. This win puts Means on a three-fight winning streak. Every fight Tim Means is in is a banger, so from the UFC’s standpoint, they should be looking to find Means an exciting dance partner. That fighter could be Muslim Salikhov. Salikhov just won a decision over Francisco Trinaldo on June 5th. Means is tough as nails and Salikhov has a very unique striking style. This match-up would be a fan favorite for whatever card it landed on.

Means’ next fight: Muslim Salikhov 

Renato Moicano

Renato Moicano submitted his opponent, Jai Herbert, in the second round of their bout at UFC Vegas 30. This makes Moicano 2-1 since making the move to lightweight. Moicano was once a top-ranked featherweight so I’m sure he would like to see a number next to his name soon. The best fight for him would be against Drew Dober. Dober was ranked at lightweight until he lost his last fight against Brad Riddell. A win over someone who just fell out of the top 15 would be the next best thing after someone already in the top 15. Plus, it would be good to see how Moicano does against a powerful striker at 155 like Dober.

Moicano’s next fight: Drew Dober 

The post What’s Next: UFC Vegas 30 Winners appeared first on Cageside Press.

Russia’s Valiev became the first man to defeat Raoni Barcelos at UFC Vegas 30. It was not easy, as he was dropped in round two and looked like he end up finished. Valiev survived, however, showing significant heart, and went on to defeat the Brazilian via unanimous decision.

During his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier, Valiev cut a promo saying to remember his name, and he took UFC President Dana White’s line “if you don’t know, now you know.”

“I’m here. Listen, guys, three fights in UFC, three different weight classes, who does that before? You know someone who has done that before, three first fights-three different weight classes, only me,” Valiev told Cormier in the octagon. “Remember this name. If you don’t know, now you know, guys.”

Timur Valiev wasn’t done making his presence known. During his post-fight interview with the media, he said he don’t want an easy path like Sean O’Malley and said he would finish him in under one round.

“I’m here. I don’t want to be like this O’Malley guy who talk a lot and fight with, like, easy opponent, you know. I don’t want to be like this. I want the hardest guy in the division. If you give me O’Malley, I finish him first round; I promise you guys. I take him down and finish him. I don’t want to play with these guys,” Valiev said.

“I don’t want to be like this O’Malley guy who talk a lot and fight with easy opponent. I don’t want to be like this. If you give me O’Malley, I finish him first round, I promise you.” – Timur Valiev

Shots fired.
pic.twitter.com/uYbCpDRdh2

— Alex Behunin (@AlexBehunin) June 27, 2021

O’Malley is currently booked for a fight at UFC 264, but the timing isn’t bad.

The post Timur Valiev Sends Message To Sean O’Malley After Win at UFC Vegas 30 “I Finish Him First Round, I Promise” appeared first on Cageside Press.

Knockdowns? Who cares! That seemed to be the message. But to be fair to Barcelos, Valiev was nearly finished in the second round when Barcelos caught his opponent not once, but twice. Somehow, perhaps calling on the spirit of the (very much alive) Edgar, Valiev managed to persevere. And he did enough in the first and third rounds to take home a majority decision win in a fight that wound up taking home the Fight of the Night bonus on Saturday.

Joining Barcelos and Valiev in the bonus-winning column were Marcin Prachnio and Kennedy Nzechukwu. The light heavyweight pair both earned Performance of the Night bonuses for come-from-behind wins. Prachnio, who was lit up early in his fight with Ike Villanueva, managed to land a liver kick resulting in a clean KO for his second win inside the octagon. The Polish ONE Championship veteran, who had been on the brink of losing his job, now has back-to-back wins.

Nzechuwku, meanwhile, had Danilo Marques riding him like a backpack for most of the opening round of their featured preliminary card bout. The soft-spoken fighter carries a big stick, however — or at least has very heavy hands. He mounted a comeback, scoring the TKO in the third.

All four bonus winning fighters will pocket an extra $50,000 for their efforts at UFC Vegas 30.

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Valiev, who joined the UFC with a lot of hype last year, had seen his debut go haywire after nearly finishing opponent Trevin Jones. A non-call by the ref allowed Jones to survive; Jones then rallied to earn a TKO in the second round that was overturned to a No Contest following a failed drug test that turned up trace amounts of THC.

Bouncing back with a win over Martin Day, Valiev had a game opponent in Raoni Barcelos at UFC Vegas 30 on Saturday.

There was a bit of a feeling out period between Valiev and Barcelos in the early going on Saturday. Barcelos fired a fight hand while Valiev closed the distance, but came up just short. Both men would trade kicks as the round progressed, both low and high. Late in the round, Valiev would drive Barcelos to the fence, but the pair stayed standing. Through five minutes, it was a rather close affair.

Barcelos opened round two with a low kick, and again, Valiev answered back. The lack of action was a drag for both fighters, but Timur Valiev might have been just slightly more active in the early going. As the round progressed, Barcelos found a home for his right hand. Valiev went to the body, but Barcelos landed a low kick, and an uppercut over top of it. The uppercut in particular he fired a couple of times. Valiev then caught a kick and dumped Barcelos, but the Brazilian quickly rolled to his feet.

Moments later, a counter from Barcelos sent Valiev to his back. Barcelos got on top, thinking finish. Then, as Valiev got back up, Barcelos dropped him again! Barcelos got on top with ground n’ pound, but Valiev was dazed. He barely survived the round and was unquestionably compromised starting the third.

Barcelos, no doubt aware, looked to put some pressure on early. Valiev did find some success, landing a right hand. The pair traded low kicks, but come the middle of the round, Valiev was still standing. He drove in for a takedown, but Barcelos fought it off. Valiev was, as in the first, slightly more active, and caught Barcelos in an exchange, with Barcelos landing as well.

In the end, Valiev and Barcelos would go the distance. The biggest moment of the fight was the knockdown for Barcelos in the second.

Official Result: Timur Valiev def. Raoni Valiev by majority decision (28-28, 29-28, 29-28)

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