Weidman said on a clip from his show that he had MRI’s run on both his legs to find the source of the damage, and the results came in.

Dropping a quick excerpt from Monday’s @MMAOnSiriusXM podcast to give everyone an update on my 🦵.

If you want the full story (and all the 🫖), hit that link below and check out the full episode on @SiriusXM!
🎧 https://t.co/OuEwonYM3z pic.twitter.com/TsBqm3tEfK

— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) August 30, 2023

“I got MRI’s done on by tibula and fibula on both legs. Got MRI’s on both my knees and x-rays. And I’ve been waiting for results and I got the results back.

There was no ligament tears at all. So ACL, LCL, MCL, PCL, all those L’s that you do not want to tear because that’s like 6 months to a year of recovery. The ligaments are good.

What did happen to me though is I have a fracture on my left leg. He broke my leg with one those leg kicks and I ended up switching south paw, figuring it out, but I’m pretty sure that’s when my leg broke. Fractured it.

It’s on the tibula head. Right below my knee is where it broke. Upper tibia bone is what’s fractured. 

Recovery-wise it’s not bad at all. Four weeks. Four-week recovery. That’s it.”

With Weidman saying he won’t retire following his loss at UFC 292 a four-week recovery is welcome news for the former champion.

The post Chris Weidman Reveals He Broke His Leg Again At UFC 292 appeared first on Cageside Press.

O’Malley is arguably the biggest star in the bantamweight division, perhaps ever — consider that the lineage of the title started with Dominick Cruz, moved to Renan Barao, then T.J. Dillashaw, went back Cruz, then Cody Garbrandt, Dillashaw, Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, and finally Sterling. None of those names were truly embraced by the casual fanbase the way O’Malley has been — but what will his title reign look like? Let’s play a little matchmaker.

Sean O’Malley

‘The Suga Show,’ as O’Malley calls himself in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner, rolled right through Boston and bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling on Saturday at UFC 292. O’Malley fought an expert fight, looking like a seasoned veteran in his first five-round fight as he used range to avoid Sterling’s takedowns and used good defensive wrestling to stuff the takedowns when Aljo was able to grab ahold of him. In the second round he did what he said he would all along and stopped ‘Funkmaster’ with ground strikes after a dropping him with a perfect straight right while sliding back.

Despite calling for a rematch with his rival Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera, the only man to ever beat him, the next contender is pretty clear if the UFC goes with the most deserving challenger. Merab Dvalishvili dominated former champion Petr Yan in one of the most impressive performances in recent memory, while Aljo and Sean could only scrape by split decision wins. Merab is the number one contender currently and only Cory Sandhagen, who is injured right now, has a competing argument.

Further, there are two interesting storylines which provide a dramatic backdrop to this fight. Obviously Dvalishvili is the friend and primary training partner of Aljamain Sterling, meaning he will be wanting to get revenge for his pal. There is also the jacket incident, where Sean handed Merab his jacket by accident when facing off with Sterling in May. Merab took it, wore it, and paraded around with it, spawning social media interest and memes. Bad blood always makes a title fight more interesting.

O’Malley’s Next Fight: Merab Dvalishvili

Zhang Weili

Despite only having one title defense in her current run, and one more in her first stint as champ, Zhang Weili is looking dominant at 115-lbs. This is helped by the only woman to beat her in the UFC, ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas, moving up to 125-lbs at the moment. Weili has ran through her three opponents since her last loss, dispatching champions Joanna Jędrzejczyk and Carla Esparza by finish and setting a strike differential record for women in the UFC against Amanda Lemos, who somehow survived to a decision.

Fourth-ranked Tatiana Suarez is an option of course, but she has only had two fights since her return from a multi-year injury layoff and her one ranked win recently is against Jessica Andrade, who was already beaten by Yan Xiaonan one fight previously. Suarez should fight one more time before a title shot. Xiaonan is the #3 contender at strawweight and hails from China, just like Weili. There have been rumblings about the possibility of an all-Chinese title fight in their home country for a while and now is the perfect time.

The two are both expert strikers, which could make for a fun stand-up war. However the champion has displayed dominant wresting capabilities recently and could test Xiaonan in that area, the same realm she lost to Carla Esparza in back in 2021.

Weili’s Next Fight: Yan Xiaonan

Ian Garry

Ian Garry’s confidence proved well-founded as he dominated Neil Magny, won multiple 10-8 rounds, and cruised to a decision at UFC 292. The Irish striker called for Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in his post-fight interview and to be honest, that fight makes complete sense. ‘Wonderboy’ was supposed to fight Michel Pereira at UFC 291 before the Brazilian missed weight, so he needs a new dance partner on the come-up.

Thompson is ranked seventh at welterweight while Garry is thirteenth, though Ian will rise come Tuesday’s rankings update. As one of the hottest prospects and the owner of a shiny, undefeated record it makes sense for the UFC to keep pushing Garry upwards, and ‘Wonderboy’ is a big fight that would propel the Irishman into the top tier of the division with a win. It would be interesting to see if Garry could compete with the division’s best striker, but its possible he resorts to his underrated grappling skillset which he used in his Cage Warriors title run.

Garry’s Next Fight: Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson

Mario Bautista

A teammate of Sean O’Malley and Kyler Phillips at the MMA Lab in Arizona, Mario Bautista had trouble against Da’Mon Blackshear but ultimately his resolve, pressure, and cardio carried him to a decision win. Now on a five-fight win streak, Bautista is one of the brightest talents in the unranked pool at 135-lbs. He absolutely deserves a shot at the rankings in his next fight.

The last three fighters in the rankings at bantamweight are all currently booked, but above that there is Dominick Cruz, Pedro Munhoz, and Ricky Simon who are all coming off losses and needing to fight down. Munhoz in particular is 1-3 (1 NC) since 2021 and has some bad blood with Bautista’s teammate Sean O’Malley. Pedro lost to Chito Vera one fight before Bautista’s bout, likely putting them on a similar timeline for their next bouts. Still, even at thirty-six years old the Brazilian finisher is a challenge for any fighter at the weight. If Bautista can get past him he will be cemented as a true contender.

Bautista’s Next Fight: Pedro Munhoz

Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera

Chito fought the same type of fight he always does: he had trouble getting going in the first two rounds but then poured the volume on in the third, and the judges thought he did enough to win the fight. It was good to see Marlon bounce back from his dominant loss to Cory Sandhagen, but he did not look quite in title form against a post-prime Pedro Munhoz, meaning calls for a title fight between him and Sean O’Malley are premature despite the bad blood between them.

Vera is ranked sixth at bantamweight and needs one more win to truly earn a title shot. Options at bantamweight are always bountiful, he could fight Aljamain Sterling, Petr Yan, or Henry Cejudo next. It remains to be seen whether or not Aljamain will stay at bantamweight, as he had talked a lot about moving up to featherweight. The Yan and Cejudo fights both make good sense, but perhaps the Cejudo one makes more sense. After all, that was the fight the UFC booked for UFC 292 originally, before ‘Triple C’ pulled out and Munhoz replaced him. It would give Chito a chance to prove that he can stop a wrestling attack, something that has plagued him at times in his career.

Vera’s Next Fight: Henry Cejudo

The post What’s Next: UFC 292 Winners appeared first on Cageside Press.

“Sugar” Sean O’Malley did what many didn’t think he could, knocking out Sterling in just the second round, catapulting himself into superstardom.

Let’s take a look what could be next for Aljamain Sterling and the rest of the losers from the main card.

Aljamain Sterling

Despite “The Funkmaster” losing on Saturday night, there is no doubt he is still one of the best bantamweights ever and currently. Coming into his fight with O’Malley, the 34-year-old openly talked about how he was ‘99% sure’ he would move up to featherweight after this fight, no matter what.

However, in his Octagon interview he admitted that if Sean O’Malley could do that to him, what would the featherweight King, Alexander Volkanovski do to him? Those words could’ve surfaced due to the heightened emotions after just losing the gold belt. But maybe ‘Aljo’ has a point.

The Serra-Longo product has always been big for the 135lb weight class although he has never missed weight before. In my opinion, if he was already thinking about moving up to featherweight, why change your mind now? Either way after Saturday night he would be without the belt. It was always very unlikely that the UFC would allow him to move up whilst keeping his bantamweight strap, and that never actually came up as something he’d do. The notion was always that he would relinquish his title so that his friend/training partner, Merab Dvalishvili could try and win it.

I think Sterling will take a few months to process the loss and to figure out what he truly wants to do next, and I believe he will come to the decision to move up regardless. Unfortunately for him he will have to fight a top ranked opponent before he steps in there with the champion, whoever that may be at the time.

Max Holloway fights this coming weekend and he is someone who is running out of options at 145lbs himself. Why not pair the two up?

Sterling’s Next Fight: Max Holloway

Amanda Lemos

The Brazilian, Lemos, came up short in the biggest fight in her career. Prior to this fight, fans questioned whether she had done enough to have justified getting a title shot, as her last win came against ninth ranked, Marina Rodriguez.

Despite losing a very comprehensive decision, Lemos showed moments of promise in this fight as she looked for sneaky submissions. The most concerning part was that she was utterly dominated in almost every area, for 25 minutes.

Not only that but “Amandinha” is 36-years-old now and another title shot is extremely unlikely for her. A fight that could make sense for the Para native is Virna Jandiroba.

Jandiroba was victorious in her last fight against Marina Rodriguez and is trying to put a title run together of her own. A victory over Lemos could put her very close to competing for gold, and unfortunately for Lemos, seems a very likely option.

Lemos’ Next Fight: Virna Jandiroba 

Neil Magny

After becoming a gatekeeper for the divisions rankings, losing to another prospect isn’t something new to the veteran, Neil Magny.

Ian Garry had previously called out Magny after his win over Daniel Rodriguez, but at that time, Magny was already booked to face Phillip Rowe. “The Haitian Sensation” went on to win that fight and then took the short notice opportunity to fight Garry after Neal pulled out.

During that time, it seemed as though there was a mutual respect from each other, up until Magny said something extremely controversial at the UFC Media Day on Wednesday of fight week. From then Garry’s energy towards Magny changed and it was clear that he wanted Magny to pay for the things he said.

Unfortunately for Magny, Garry exhibited the hunger and drive as the younger fighter and utterly battered him over three rounds. Judge, David Ginsberg, saw that much of a battering that he scored Ian Garry three 10-8 rounds.

Neil Magny is undoubtedly going to remain as a gatekeeper, so the question is, which young hungry contender is next? Michael Morales would be my choice, although that is a very big step-up for the 24-year-old.

Magny’s Next Fight: Michael Morales

Da’Mon Blackshear

Despite losing to Mario Bautista this past weekend, Blackshear loses absolutely no stock. The game bantamweight stepped in on just five days notice after picking up a win last weekend, after Cody Garbrandt pulled out of his fight with Bautista.

The official decision is one that has since been questioned online as a lot of fans believe Blackshear did enough to pick up the win.

After cutting to 135lbs twice in a week, it is likely that Blackshear will take some time off now and recuperate. The UFC may decide to try and re-book him and Hiestand after their scheduled fight was cancelled. I would like to see Blackshear vs Zahabi though.

Blackshear’s Next Fight: Aiemann Zahabi 

Pedro Munhoz

Pedro Munhoz came up short against “Chito” Vera in a fight that was relatively closely contested.

Munhoz, like Magny, has turned into a fighter who is seen as a gatekeeper for his divisions rankings and in Munhoz’s case, the bantamweight top 10. It is unlikely that the Brazilian will compete for a title at this stage, but he definitely still has some fun matchups to be made in the 135lb division.

The fight I’d like to see next for “The Young Punisher” is him against Ricky Simon.

Munhoz’s Next Fight: Ricky Simon

The post What’s Next: UFC 292 Losers appeared first on Cageside Press.

Unfortunately for Suarez the communication from the UFC on that end has been scarce.

“I haven’t spoken to them so you know I guess we’ll find out after tonight what their plans are,” Suarez told reporters including Cageside Press on Saturday night.

“I’m hoping to get a title shot.”

Not too many other fighters are as deserving as Suarez. Undefeated record with 7 consecutive victories in the UFC, the only real reason to hold her from a title shot seems to be that she was inactive for 3 years due to injuries she suffered.

“I just hope that I’m next. I have 7-fight win streak right now in the UFC. I know I had a layoff, but still. 7 fights in a row,” she said.

With Weili emerging victorious following UFC 292 popular thought is that the UFC will look to have her defend her belt against Yan Xiaonan in China leaving Suarez on the outside looking in.

“I don’t mind fighting again. I always like to fight. I like to fight anybody, but I definitely want to fight the bigger names. People that are either fought for titles or been title holders,” she said.

“That’s the only reason why I kept asking for Rose (Namajunas). She was a champion. I just want to fight the best of the best. It just shows that you’re the best when you beat them.”

Watch the entire guest fighter scrum with Tatiana Suarez above.

The post UFC 292: Tatiana Suarez Hoping to Get Title Shot Next appeared first on Cageside Press.

“I signed up for The Ultimate fighter for the fight at the end of the tunnel. The fight at the end of the tunnel was Team Chandler vs. Team McGregor on The Ultimate Fighter, and then Conor vs. Chandler,” Chandler told reporters including Cageside Press at his UFC 292 guest fighter scrum.

“That’s the fight that I’ve known is going to happen the entire time. I’ve never wavered. Even when Conor is wavering, is he really wavering? Or is he just trying to realize that every single one of you guys is watching every single one of his movements, every single one of his thumb strokes on Twitter?”

Recently McGregor has questioned whether or not he’ll fight Chandler tweeting out about other potential matchups.

At the end of the day the question that keeps coming up to both men is, when? When will we actually see the two TUF coaches, and top lightweights in the world, step into the octagon?

“You tell me. We heard Conor last weekend talking about toward the end of the year. I’m ready for that tomorrow. I’m ready for the end of the year whenever it is,” he said.

“Ultimately whenever it happens it’s going to happen at the exact right time, and I want the biggest, baddest, best Conor we’ve seen in a very long time. 170, 155, 185, whatever weight class we want to do it. I’ll fight him whenever, wherever, however.”

Watch the entire guest fighter scrum with Michael Chandler above.

The post Michael Chandler On McGregor Fight Date, “You tell me.” appeared first on Cageside Press.

“All gas no brakes. I’m not getting any younger, but you know, I’m not satisfied just being back here in the UFC,” Holobaugh told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

“I want to be here. I want to make a legit run. I think I can do that. I want to get a number beside my name, and I want to keep on going. I want to keep on fighting some of the best guys in the world.”

Holobaugh (20-7) is aiming high for his call out back in the UFC. In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan he called out rising star Paddy Pimblett for a fight.

“Yeah man he’s got a name. He’s a rising star, but reality is I was in the UFC long before that guy. I feel like the UFC kind of butters him a little bit. Kind of gives him some easy fights, but he’s never fought somebody with the experience that I have. He’s never fought somebody that’s just did what I did on The Ultimate Fighter,” said Holobaugh.

Now back in the UFC, back to fighting, and at 36-years-old he continues to strive for the gold.

“I want to keep testing myself,” he said.

“And always the ultimate goal is to be UFC world champion.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Kurt Holobaugh above.

The post “All gas, no brakes” For UFC Lightweight Kurt Holobaugh, Wants Pimblett Fight appeared first on Cageside Press.

Not out of excitement, mind you. However backstage at the TD Garden, his leg a little worse for the wear after the fight, Vera (21-8-1) bounced from one foot to the other. “Kicking and checking is not f*cking cool,” he admitted.

Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press, Vera (properly Marlon, but better known as “Chito” at this point) gave plenty of credit to his coaches, including Jason Parillo. “Coaches taught me the proper way, we got better, and I won another fight. I’m happy with the performance.”

Next up, a rematch with Sean O’Malley is something Vera has his sights set on. “If he wins, we f*cking go. I beat his ass again,” Vera exclaimed. Later, Vera would say (via translator, after answering a question about his last fight with O’Malley) that “about Sean O’Malley, my career keeps going forward, keeps going and whatever happened in the past, stays in the past.”

Vera, who hails from and represents Ecuador, also touched on the message he wanted to send home after his win. Elections in the country are currently underway, against a backdrop of violence and civil unrest.

“I really was trying to get on that mic and just, don’t get in any political terms or talk about any politician. I really want to get on the mic and just tell my people, everything’s going to be alright,” said Vera. “United will bring us back together, just stay safe, stay good. Because hard times won’t last forever. The good is coming to Ecuador soon.”

Vera said that on social media coming out of the country, on Twitter and Instagram, “you see somebody get his head blown [off] on the street for no reason. Shooting here, shooting there. It’s a f*cked up moment right now. It’s not like— I’m safe in California, it’s all good for me, but my father, my mother, my grandmother, everybody lives there. So it’s not like I’m just cool here, that things follow you. You don’t know, one day somebody’s going to call you like ‘hey, we’ve got your family. Pay or they’re gone.’ That’s hard to live with.”

Watch the full UFC 292 post-fight press conference with Chito Vera above.

The post UFC 292’s Chito Vera Sends Message to Ecuador: “Stay Safe, Stay Good” appeared first on Cageside Press.

“Freaking UFC, they put on right before I walked out, they showed the promo to this shirt (The UFC Loves Hawaii shirt), and they showed the fires. That was a little emotional for me, but had to keep it together,” Tavares told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

“Unless you guys know people back home in Hawaii, and are hearing it from ground zero, what the media is reporting is not even close to how bad it is. It’s bad.”

Maui was hit with a massive wildfire that took the lives of over 100 people from the latest reports. The town of Lahaina was hit the hardest with it being nearly destroyed. People on the ground, residents there, and others have repeatedly tried to shed more light on the actual damage and loss that they believe the media is getting wrong.

“I understand confirmed means body they can match with identities, it’s at 100-something, but when this is all said and done it’s going to be in between 700 and 1000 people,” he said.

Some of the stories coming out of Maui have been unimaginable and Tavares had a specific one in mind.

“The things they’re finding…I just seen one this morning. He was either in 8th grade or 8-years-old, something like that, he must have been in 8th grade. He was still on last day of summer break or something, and he was home. His mom had to find his body burnt next to their family dog. I couldn’t imagine,” Tavares said.

“I was hoping that we’d get to get interviewed after just to keep passing the message that the people of Lahaina and Maui are still in need. They’re dealing with some crazy things.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Brad Tavares above.

The post Brad Tavares Shines Light On What’s Going On With The Maui Wildfire appeared first on Cageside Press.

Replay of the finish showed that Rodrigues may have landed illegal shots to the back of the head that the referee missed, but did not stop the action or take a point from Robocop.

“I didn’t hit that. I knew what I was doing there. (It) was right behind the ear,” Rodrigues told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.

Rodrigues (14-5) disputed what the commentary team and some fans online labeled as shots to the back of the head during the finish.

“If you guys saw the video I landed one, and he turned, and then I stopped it. Then I (felt he went) weak, and dizzy. Then I landed the other one, but it was right on the side (of the head) and then the ref came and stopped the fight,” he said.

“I hit him like two or three times, and that was (all that) was necessary for him to stop the fight, but I didn’t at all hit in the back of the head.”

Now with the victory under his belt he looks ahead to a bigger matchup. One name he brought up actually also got a win at UFC 292.

“Oh yeah. Brad Tavares just (won). If he wants to fight man I’m ready for December,” he said.

“Let’s go. December I want go go back and Brad Tavares is a great name for me.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Gregory Rodrigues above.

The post Gregory Rodrigues Says He Didn’t Hit Tiuliulin On Back Of Head, Wants Tavares Next appeared first on Cageside Press.

Bautista opened up about that, and fighting Blackshear, a large 135’er who had competed and won just a week ago, following their fight at the TD Garden on Saturday.

“If I were to fight Blackshear [again], I would definitely take my strength and conditioning a lot differently. But I went in there with a game plan to fight Cody, and I just used it the best I could to fight Blackshear,” Bautista (13-2) said of his approach to the fight, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press.

As for how the fight played out, “it just took time to wear him down and then get going in the later half of the second and the third,” Bautista noted.

Ultimately, it was Mario Bautista coming away with the decision win on Saturday. He’s now looking at a December return, preferably against a ranked opponent.

“We’re going to be looking in December. Hopefully we keep the same opponent this time,” Bautista stated. “If not, I don’t know if I’ll take that risk again since we’re getting closer to the top 15 and top 10.”

It’s a rarely heard line from UFC fighters, who are somewhat accustomed to facing replacements on short notice. But like Stephen Thompson, who declined a fight with an overweight Michel Pereira recently, it appears to be about what’s best for Bautista’s career.

“When I have the number next to me, it’s going to be strategic getting to the top. If I have a number next to me and this happens, I probably won’t do it,” he stated.

As for the match-up with Garbrandt, a former UFC bantamweight champion, Bautista is ready to move on.

“I’m past Cody. Not unless he had a number next to his name, which he doesn’t. I’m moving past that.”

Watch the full UFC 292 post-fight press conference with Mario Bautista above.

The post UFC 292: Mario Bautista Not Sure He’d Opt to Face Short-Notice Opponent Moving Forward appeared first on Cageside Press.