In the latest round of cuts (or in some cases, contracts expiring, plus a retirement), Tristan Connelly and TJ Laramie, two Canadian talents, have been removed from the promotion’s active roster. Additionally, Felipe Colares, Louis Smolka, Andreas Michailidis, Alex Da Silva,
Frank Camacho, and Niklas Stolze have been removed, per automated service UFC Roster Watch.

Felice Herrig is also out, though that should come as no surprise — the strawweight veteran announced her retirement this past weekend, after a loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz.

Smolka (17-9) confirmed his exit from the promotion recently. It’s the second time “Da Last Samurai” has been shown the door by the company, but he’s not letting that get his spirits down.

“I’m kinda excited to test free agency, the MMA landscape is changing a lot and pretty soon it might be like boxing where huge entities are roaming the globe to take each other out,” Smolka wrote on social media in response to the news. “Sounds like it has the potential to be really lucrative to me.”

Tbh I’m kinda excited to test free agency, the MMA landscape is changing a lot and pretty soon it might be like boxing where huge entities are roaming the globe taking each other out. Sounds like it has the potential to be really lucrative to me https://t.co/zrvTZR1gPF

— Louis Smolka (@LouisSmolkaMMA) June 7, 2022

Connelly (14-8) came into the UFC on a high, defeating Michel Pereira in an upset at welterweight at UFC Vancouver in 2019. After an extended layoff, he moved to featherweight to face Pat Sabatini last year, coming up short. Following another year on the sidelines, he returned this past April, losing a decision against Darren Elkins.

Laramie (12-5), a Contender Series winner in 2020, was unable to pick up a win inside the octagon, losing both of his fights. The Windsor, Ontario native also suffered a loss against Sabatini, after losing his promotional debut to Darrick Minner.

Niklas Stolze fought this past weekend, and told Cageside Press going into the fight that he knew his back was against the wall. Alex Da Silva fought and lost on the very same card, falling to 1-3 through four UFC fights.

The post Nine Fighters Removed from UFC Roster, Including Two Canadians appeared first on Cageside Press.

Rob Font

This loss puts Rob Font on a two-fight losing streak, and he is in need of a win in his next fight. Song Yadong is a great counter-striker ranked number nine in the bantamweight division. Yadong is currently on a three-fight winning streak and a win over him would help Font keep his his position in the bantamweight division. Lot’s of recovery time for Font first though.

Font’s next fight: Song Yadong 

Jake Collier

Jake Collier lost a controversial split decision this past weekend against Andrei Arlovski. One of the judges gave Collier all three rounds and the other two judges said he lost two rounds to one. Collier is 2-3 since making his move to heavyweight back in 2020. He has scored a submission win over Chase Sherman and a decision win over Gian Villante in that time. Collier has a good chin and underrated striking. In his next fight, Collier should fight Chris Barnett.

Barnett is 1-2 in the UFC and is an exciting striker in the UFC’s heavyweight division. Barnett is a shorter heavyweight just like Collier and has shown over his 30-fight professional career that he has knockout power and good takedown defense.

Collier’s next fight: Chris Barnett 

Andre Fili

Joanderson Brito knocked Andri Fili out in the first round at UFC Vegas 53. Fili is now 1-3-1 since 2020 with his only win being a split decision win over Charles Jourdain in June of 2020. He is a veteran of the UFC making his debut at UFC 166 in 2013 but he is in desperate need of a win to stay with the company. Fili is a great striker but just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time by Brito this past weekend. In his next fight, he should be fighting a good striker that will help him put on a Fight of the Night type of performance.

That man might just be Tristan Connelly. Connelly’s fight with Darren Elkins was an easy close second in the Fight of the Night running at UFC Vegas 53. He is tough as nails and has a brawler fighting style and would match up perfectly with Andre Fili.

Fili’s next fight: Tristan Connelly 

Tristan Connelly

Well, this one’s obvious. See above!

Jared Gordon

Jared Gordon got submitted in the third round of his bout with Grant Dawson this past weekend. Gordon looked good up until the time of the submission landing some good shots on Dawson early in the fight. Gordon is now 6-3 in the UFC but he is 3-1 in the past two years. He is a brown belt in jiujitsu and has a very good chin.

In his next fight, Gordon should fight someone like Vinc Pichel. Pichel is a black belt in jiujitsu and has knocked out his opponent in eight of his 14 wins. He is 7-3 in the UFC and he is 3-1 in the past three years. A striking bout between Pichel and Gordon would easily be a possible fight of the night.

Gordon’s next fight: Vinc Pichel 

Gerald Meerschaert

GM3 lost a decision to Krzysztof Jotko to open up the UFC Vegas 53 main card. Meerschaert had a three-fight win streak snapped in the loss, his first since running into Khamzat Chimaev in September 2020.

Meerschaert 49-fight veteran, so his next fight will be a big one. It might be interesting to see him run it back with Ian Heinisch, but that probably won’t happen. Instead, what about Welsh middleweight Jack Marshman? He’s looking for a win, and depending on when Meerschaert wants to go again, this could land on the UFC London card in July.

The post What’s Next: UFC Vegas 53 Losers appeared first on Cageside Press.

Elkins expected and received a very tough fight against Connelly who himself has shown to be very durable in fights.

“I knew that Tristan is a dog fighter himself like me. I figured the difference would be the takedowns my wrestling background. I know he’s got a jiu-jitsu background, he’s a black belt, but I figured my wrestling would be the thing that gets me the win,” Elkins told reporters in his post-fight media scrum.

“I watched a lot of his fights. That’s exactly the type of fight I thought it was going to be. I was tired, he was tired, and we both just kept on pushing through. I knew it was going to be one of those ‘who can swim in the deeper water, who can dig deeper’. I’ve been there so many times I felt like I could do it,” Elkins said.

With some of his Team Alpha Male teammates on the card Elkins fed off that for his bout.

“Yeah it’s like a big party. You get a bunch of Team Alpha Male guys, and a bunch of our friends come here. We hang out, and we train together. We feed off each other’s energy. It’s a lot more fun when you’ve got more people with you,” Elkins said.

Elkins revealed that this was the last fight on his contract, but he was optimistic about getting another offer from the UFC sooner than later.

“I’m not in a hurry to get back in there too fast, but I definitely want to get back in here around September. This was the last fight on my contract. I’m pretty sure I’ll get a new contract I have a good relationship with the UFC. This is where I want to finish my career I don’t want to fight anywhere else. I’m pretty sure I’ll be back here soon,” Elkins said.

As for possible opponents “The Damage” wasn’t in a hurry to name anyone.

“I’m going to sit down, look at the roster, and figure that out too. I don’t like making decisions anymore last minute. Calling out somebody. I like to see who’s kind of available and go from there.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 53 post-fight media appearance from Darren Elkins above. More coverage from the event can be found below.

The post UFC Vegas 53: Darren Elkins Confident UFC Will Re-Sign Him, Wants Sept Bout appeared first on Cageside Press.

This one started as expected, at a frantic pace that led to a scramble on the ground. Elkins wound up on top, working from Connelly’s guard about a minute in. Elkins moved into half guard, looking for an arm-triangle choke, but Connelly was hip to the attempt, and worked his way back to the feet — landing an elbow in the process. They’d move back to range briefly, but “The Damage” immediately landed another takedown, planting Connelly on his back.

Again, Elkins went to work in guard. This time, they were well away from the fence; Connelly fired some elbows from bottom, while Elkins looked to score with ground n’ pound. Connelly then feigned a leg lock, instead escaping to his feet. They’d exchange, and the round would come to an end.

Round two round Connelly working his jab and front kick, before the pair came together about a minute in, bumping heads but continuing on. Connelly fought out of a clinch, moments later, Elkins would shoot for a takedown, which the Canadian stuffed. A second attempt landed for Elkins, however. Connelly tried to work up, but had Elkins high on his back; Elkins would hang on, and eventually get a body triangle in place.

Connelly, however, freed himself, and fired a right hand once upright. A couple of lefts landed for Connelly, and he began to pressing, punching his way in, mixing in calf kicks, and grabbing a clinch. Elkins would grab a single-leg and almost had the fight down; Connelly was caught grabbing the fence, and the ref moved them back to the original position, giving Elkins another chance to ground his opponent.

The second was a better round for Connelly. The third started with him eating a left that opened up a cut, as the pair did a little stand and bang fighting. In a clinch, Connelly avoided a takedown, fired an elbow or two up top, and worked the body. Elkins fired uppercuts and landed a heavy right hand! Connelly came back and pressed forward, clinching up and digging the body. They broke, Connelly fired a front kick, a rather lazy spinning kick, then cracked Elkins with a right hand! Elkins then changed levels to grab a calf kick; Connelly nearly stayed up, but couldn’t maintain his balance.

Connelly then risked giving up his back getting up, and Elkins locked on a body triangle. Elkins fired punches to the head, then slid under the chin; Connelly fought hands, but he’d finish the fight being slowly tenderized by Elkins.

Official Result: Darren Elkins def. Tristan Connelly by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

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As a result of a car accident in 2019, Connelly (14-7) has been on the shelf for months, his second layoff as a result of a lingering neck injury. He’s endured a pair of neck surgeries in recent years; it’s been so long, he barely remembers how he felt prior to the crash, he told The Top Turtle Podcast on Cageside Press recently.

It was months off from training, in any case. “For months, nothing. They don’t [let you] lift more than ten pounds. So that’s pretty much impossible. But after a month, you can pretty much start doing anything non-contact, just don’t start at 100%.”

That meant running, lifting weights, and slowly upping the intensity as the months went by. But thanks to the second surgery, an anticipated match-up with featherweight Makwan Amirkhani fell through.

“I was devastated, man. I was so excited to fight Makwan. As soon as I heard the name, I was like ‘give me the contract right now, let’s go.’ I was un-f*cking-believably stoked. Then to have it come on again for the same reasons that I’ve had in the past, it was devastating, it was heart-breaking,” Connelly recalled. “The only pros were, I knew what the process going forward was, because I’d already had the surgery, and I fought after having the first surgery.”

You might even consider Connelly a bit of a Terminator these days. “I’ve got two titanium discs in my neck, and I’m good to go.”

There was a bright side to the situation at least. Connelly went from one big name in Amirkhani to another in Darren Elkins. He’s even more amped for this latest match-up.

“Even more, even more,” Connelly replied when asked if he was as jazzed to fight Elkins as he had been for the Makwan fight. “There’s going to be so many eyes. Everyone knows who Darren Elkins is. Even if they don’t, as soon as you start explaining him, they’re like ‘oh yeah yeah I know that guy.’ And the way I fight, the way we fight, I think it’s an awesome match-up stylistically, and the fans are going to love the fight.”

Tristan Connelly faces Darren Elkins at UFC Vegas 53 this Saturday, April 30, 2022 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Check out the full interview with Connelly on The Top Turtle Podcast below.

The post UFC Vegas 53’s Tristan Connelly Even More Jazzed for Elkins Fight After Amirkhani Bout Fell Through appeared first on Cageside Press.

The delay has been the result of multiple neck surgeries, the result of a car accident that left the Canadian featherweight with lingering issues.

Now, he’s in a “dream come true” sort of match-up with Darren Elkins, and he sees a Fight of the Night bonus as a real possibility. When it comes to that paycheck, “I’m not cashing it, but I am writing it,” Connelly (14-7) told media outlets including Cageside Press during this week’s media day promoting UFC Vegas 53.

The surgeries, mind you, had Connelly down in the dumps for a bit. “Going through a second neck surgery, same one— not for the same spot, but another level in my neck, it hit me hard. I was super-motivated, super-positive for the first one, came back and my neck felt pretty good. From there I was excited to get going, and the second one hit me.”

Connelly knew right away that he’d need another surgery. “I could tell there was no recovery, because I tried to recover from the first one, and it just got worse. That was a dark couple months there, when I first had surgery and the first couple months, but as soon as I was able to start training again— one thing is that, I’ve really never had many setbacks in my career as far as injury-wise that have kept me from training,” he explained. “I love training, it’s all I want to do every day. Rest days are one of the hardest things for me. I really wanted to make sure I was 100% coming back, and it’s always a question in your mind, ‘am I going to be able to do this again?’ But you know what, I had faith in the process, and as soon as I started training again, everything started getting better, so much quicker.”

Heading into this Saturday in Las Vegas, Connelly sounds elated both to be back, and to have the match-up with veteran Elkins.

“I’ve been so happy and thankful all camp, just to be able to be here doing what I’m doing, and getting to fight a guy that is a legend of the sport, that I’ve looked up to,” he said. “That I’m a fan of. Most of the time when Darren’s fighting, I’m rooting for Darren. It’s not going to be this weekend, but I wish him the best, because he’s an animal, man. He’s done things that I would dream to do.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 53 media day appearance from Tristan Connelly above. The event takes place this Saturday, April 30, 2022 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. More coverage can be found below.

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Joining the April card will be Darren Elkins (26-10), with “The Damage” taking on Canadian Tristan Connelly (14-7). Global News was first to report the match-up, with both fighters subsequently confirming the bout on social media.

“Never been so excited for a matchup!!” Connelly wrote in response to the news.

A native of Victoria fighting out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Connelly will have been out a full year by the time he makes his return this April. “Boondock” won his debut in the promotion at welterweight, going the distance with the popular Michel Pereira. He’d then drop two weight classes, to 145lbs, but came up short against Pat Sabatini at UFC 261 in April 2021.

Elkins saw a two-fight win streak snapped when he was stopped by Cub Swanson in his last outing, at UFC Vegas 45 back in December. Prior to that, he’d racked up wins over Darrick Minner and Eduardo Garagorri.

The UFC’s April 30, 2022 event is expected to take place at the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The following bouts have been reported for the card:

• Gina Mazany vs. Shanna Young
• Daniel da Silva vs. Francisco Figueiredo
• Antonina Shevchenko vs. Cortney Casey
• Mike Breeden vs. Natan Levy
• Yohan Lainesse vs. Gabriel Green
• Jessica Penne vs. Luana Pinheiro
• Tatsuro Taira vs. Carlos Candelario
• Tristan Connelly vs. Darren Elkins

The post Darren Elkins vs. Tristan Connelly Joins UFC’s April 30 Event appeared first on Cageside Press.

TSN was first to report the news that Makwan Amirkhani will fight Tristan Connelly at UFC 267 on September 25. Both fighters would confirm the booking on social media.

Amirkhani (16-6) is currently on the first two-fight losing streak of his career. After getting back into the win column by submitting Danny Henry at UFC 251, “Mr. Finland” would return three months later against Edson Barboza and lose a unanimous decision. He welcomed Kamuela Kirk to the octagon in his most recent loss and would lose another unanimous decision.

In April, Tristan Connelly (14-7) had his five-fight win streak snapped at UFC 261 against Pat Sabatini. He returned to featherweight for the first time since 2015 and will give it another shot. In his promotional debut, he upset fan-favorite Michel Pereira.

UFC 267 is expected to be a free pay-per-view, and if promotion President Dana White gets his way, it will be the company’s third ABC card. Jan Blachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira will headline the event.

The UFC 267 fight card so far looks like this:

• Jan Blachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira – for the light heavyweight title
• Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan – for the bantamweight title
• Islam Makhachev vs. Rafael dos Anjos
• Amanda Ribas vs. Virna Jandiroba
• Khamzat Chimaev vs. Li Jingliang
• Walt Harris vs. Tai Tuivasa
• Alexander Volkov vs. Marcin Tybura
• Michał Oleksiejczuk vs. Shamil Gamzatov
• Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Allan Nascimento
• Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Ricardo Ramos
• Makwan Amirkhani vs. Tristan Connelly

The post Makwan Amirkhani vs. Tristan Connelly Added To UFC 267 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Sabtini was finally making his octagon debut, after a fight in February with Rafael Alves was scrapped when Alves missed weight.

Connelly found himself in another car crash early on Saturday night. An early punch from Sabatini put him on his backside, and Sabatini quickly got on top. Connelly looked to force Sabatini into half-guard, but he was in a rather awkward position, and nowhere near escaping. Still, Connelly managed to work his way back closer to the fence — but he ate a left hand from Sabatini, who then moved in for an arm-triangle choke. In response, Connelly gave up his back; Sabatini locked in a body triangle. That left Connelly fighting off a rear-naked choke, with well over a minute remaining in the opening round. He’d survive, but the round belonged to Sabatini.

Round two had the pair trading early, and Sabatini tried a switch kick. But again, it found Connelly on his back, with Sabatini on top of him. A scramble ensued, but eventually, Sabatini would again take the back, and again, he would lock on with a body triangle. This time, Connelly rolled to his knees, trying to shake Sabatini off. Which sort of worked, but he had to contend with an arm-triangle, which forced him to give up his back again. Connelly ended the round throwing backfists and hammering at the thighs of his opponent, which wasn’t going to score him any points.

Round three found Tristan Connelly in need of a finish. Early in the frame, he managed to fight off a Sabatini takedown attempt. A small victory for the confidence of the Canadian, perhaps, but he was no closer to finding a finish. That was the story of the round. Improved takedown defense from Connelly, but with Sabatini already out in front, the writing was on the wall. Connelly even landed a takedown of his own in the final minute, but that was a too little, too late situation.

Official Result: Pat Sabatini def. Tristan Connelly by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

The post UFC 261 Results: Pat Sabatini Takes Early Lead, Decision Over Tristan Connelly appeared first on Cageside Press.

While that was a fairy tale beginning to a UFC career, it hasn’t been all roses for Connelly since then. Cancelled fights, a car accident and a global pandemic have combined to keep him out for nearly a year and a half. While this did give him some time to spend at home following the birth of his daughter, he’s also used that time to focus on getting back from a neck injury stemming from the car crash.

“For me, all I’ve been thinking about other than my daughter, is how do I get back and fight, and what am I going to do,” Connelly shared. “Everything in my life has been planning for getting back for a fight. So I wasn’t just going into a three-month camp.”

Instead of thinking of it as a three-month camp, Connelly sees the surgery as the beginning of the work for this fight, which dates back to a year ago. From the minute he decided to go into surgery, he started thinking about what he’d need to do when he got back.

“I was going into surgery saying ‘okay, I know I have a timeframe after surgery’. The surgeon is telling my three months before I can get back to any kind of contact. I have to do three months of absolutely no contact,” he remembered. “So what can I be doing in this time where I can’t be training? I can not be eating any food. I can be dieting. I can be doing cardio. I can be doing strength exercises. So every minute of every day that I had free was preparing for my return.”

And that careful attention to his diet paid off. Not only did it become much easier for him to make it down to the lightweight limit, where he had been envisioning his next fight, but he soon realized, he may even be able to do more.

“When I wasn’t able to train hard, I was eating almost nothing. I was fasting 24 hours a day – eating one meal,” he said. “I think I could make 145lbs, but I don’t think I could do it in a camp. When I’m training three times a day, that actually gets harder because it’s harder to eat less when you’re training more.”

Now ready to make 145lbs for the first time in half a decade, Connelly reports feeling great. However, despite the fact that he sees this cut going well, he doesn’t know if this is a sustainable weight for him – which is largely due to the circumstances that allowed him to make it.

“I can’t do that in two months. It took me six months to get there,” Connelly said. “I don’t know that it’ll be a long term thing realistically, but this is kind of an attempt. I know I can make it, but it’s going to be after the fight. Can I maintain this? I would like to, but again, this is kind of a test. I’m going to fight this one at featherweight and see what happens after that.”

This featherweight foray will take place this weekend at UFC 261 in Jacksonville this Saturday. Connelly will face Pat Sabatini on the prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 2:44.

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