Kicking off this UFC Saudi Arabia edition of TTP is our interview with UFC lightweight, Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady. This interview was recorded just before his fight for this weekend was cancelled with Bolaji Oki, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some great stuff here. Our guy talks about what he loves about the grilling and smoking world and what he’s cooking up in the near future. Plus, he also digs into what he’s been upto in this time off and why we can expect to see the best version of him when he does get back in there.

Fights, Dogs, and Parlays: UFC Saudi Arabia (10:53)

With UFC 311 well in the rear view, we finally get live UFC yet again this weekend. UFC Saudi Arabia takes place on Saturday morning with an absolute banger for a main event. Israel Adesanya fights Nassourdine Imavov in attempt to get himself back in the title picture. We break down that fight as well as some of our other favorite fights on the main card. Plus, as always, we’re hitting you with an underdog and a plus-money parlay that we think will make your wallet fat this weekend. For this segment, all odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

Deniz Ilbay Interview (22:05)

Closing out this UFC Saudi Arabia edition of TTP is our interview with Oktagon featherweight, Deniz Ilbay. Ilbay talks about his last fight at Oktagon: Bigger than Ever and shares what he thought of the crowd. Plus, he discusses his preference for where he likes to fight. Then he talks about his son’s discovery of how much people enjoy watching him fight, and what a fun realization that was. Plus, we dig into his fight this weekend at Oktagon 66 and get the technical breakdown. He fights Vladimir Lengal as part of the main card.

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Promotion officials announced next year’s UFC Saudi Arabia card via social media on Saturday. The show will mark the second event from the UFC in the Middle Eastern nation, following UFC on ABC 6 this past June.

That card was headlined by Robert Whittaker and Ikram Aliskerov, with the latter filling in for Khamzat Chimaev, who was forced out of the event. February’s return date does not have any fights officially announced for it, though several bouts have been rumored and/or reported, including unconfirmed reports of Shara Bullet facing Michael “Venom” Page.

Ikram Aliskerov vs. André Muniz, Sergei Pavlovich vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik, and Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Jamal Pogues have also been reported for the card at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia’s Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority Turki Al-Sheikh has been a key player in bringing the UFC, and combat sports, to the Kingdom. Under his leadership, Riyadh Season, a series of cultural and sporting events, became the first entity to “sponsor” a UFC Pay-Per-View, with UFC 306 rebranded “Riyadh Season Noche UFC.”

Al-Sheikh has also vowed to “fix” boxing, which appears to be desperately in need of it after Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson, a sham of an event that produced a tepid sparring match, became the biggest card of the year just yesterday.

At least 58-year old Tyson emerged unscathed.

Critics have cited the Saudi foray into boxing, MMA, golf and other sports as an attempt to “reshape” their image, or to put in another way, sportswashing. The Saudi regime has been accused of numerous atrocities and outright murder, as in the case of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered inside a Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018.

Either way, there’s money to be had, and the UFC, WWE, PFL and other sporting bodies have recently cashed in.

The post UFC Return to Saudi Arabia Officially Announced for Feb. 1, 2025 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Alex Behunin was the first to break the news.

Pavlovich (18-3) is currently on a two-fight losing streak with losses against Tom Aspinall at UFC 295, and Alexander Volkov in June. The #4 ranked heavyweight will defend his ranking in Saudi Arabia.

The fight against Aspinall was a short-notice interim title bout as the co-main event of UFC 295. After current heavyweight champion Jon Jones suffered an injury taking him out of his main event fight with Stipe Miocic the top of the card was reworked. Aspinall came out victorious and is the current interim heavyweight champion.

Prior to that loss Pavlovich had been on a 6-fight win streak.

Rozenstruik (15-5) has seen a resurgence as of late with two consecutive victories over Tai Tuivasa and Shamil Gaziev respectively. The #9 ranked heavyweight holds victories over Chris Daukaus, Augusto Sakai, Junior Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem to name a few.

‘Bigi Boy’ entered the UFC in 2019 putting together four straight knockout finishes over Junior Albini, Allen Crowder, Andrei Arlovski and Overeem before running into Franci Ngannou in May 2020. That fight lasted 20-seconds and saw Rozenstruik suffer his first professional MMA loss.

UFC Saudi Arabia is set for Feb 1 and the card is currently as follows:

• Sergei Pavlovich vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
• Ikram Aliskerov vs. Andre Muniz

The post Pavlovich vs. Rozenstruik Set For UFC Saudi Arabia appeared first on Cageside Press.

“Rob had a really bad abscess that flared up a week before flying out,” Whittaker’s manager Titus Day told Fox Sports Australia.

“He had headaches, tooth pain, it was like he’d been kicked in the side of the head. He couldn’t train, couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. It was f*cking painful.”

Whittaker made quick work of Ikram Aliskerov in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia, but he had to battle through the painful abscess just to make it to the fight.

“The whole side of his head was in pain so we had to rush him in for emergency surgery,” said Day.

According to Day ‘The Reaper’ had already wrapped up training camp in Australia and was preparing to fly out to Saudi Arabia for the fight when the abscess flared up. Emergency surgery was conducted and he flew out for the fight, but nobody was sure what kind of shape he’d show up in.

“Rob had already stopped training a few days prior to the surgery in Sydney, and then flew out with his face still numb. We had no idea if it was going to be alright,” Day said.

“Everyone was just praying the swelling would go down and everything would be OK, and thankfully it was.”

In his post-fight interview Whittaker expressed interest in being the backup fighter for the middleweight title fight at UFC 305 in Perth. Israel Adesanya will challenge Dricus du Plessis for the 185 belt, and ‘Bobby Knuckles’ hopes to be there in case someone falls out.

He’s still got some work on the abscess to go.

“Rob’s still got pain there. Still needs more surgery to be done in the next couple of weeks,” said Day.

“Right now, regarding Perth, it’s just too early to say. There was a lot of talk on the night about Rob being the backup for that UFC 305 main event. There was also talk about him fighting somebody else, too. And potentially, he could still do either of those. He’ll have to meet with the team and talk it through.”

The post Robert Whittaker Had Emergency Surgery Prior To UFC Saudi Arabia appeared first on Cageside Press.

“You know it’s nothing strange or nothing new for me,” Bullet told reporters on Thursday through a translator.

“Back when I was an amateur I would fight a new opponent everyday. They were switching so quickly that I didn’t even have a chance to learn anything about my next opponent so I would just fight. Nothing changes for me. I come out to do my work I come out to win.”

Bullet (12-0) gets Trocoli who has a very large reach advantage and presents some real problems at UFC Saudi Arabia.

“He’s a very tall guy. He’s taller than Alex Pereira and I think he’s larger than him. I don’t know. We’ll figure out a way to deal with it in the fight. I really don’t think that anything changes for me. I’m going to come out there, I’m going to try and do an A+ job,” he said.

“He is going to become a wrestler like all my other opponents.”

With Saudi Arabia checked off his list Bullet says he’d like to fight all over the world while he’s still an active fighter.

“There’s lots of places that I’d love to travel for, I’d love to fight at, lots of countries to fight for the fans. Abu Dhabi in October, Abu Dhabi in August, but other places such as Australia, and yeah United States” he said.

“I am a pirate. I travel all shores and all seas and I’m going to conquer all of them.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Shara “Bullet” Magomedov above. He takes on Antonio Trocoli on Saturday.

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“I think it’s just the misinformation that people have had. Everybody’s talking about how friendly we are, but we are acquaintances,” Pavlovich told reporters through a translator on Thursday.

“We’re people that worked together, we’ve helped each other prepare for fights, but I can’t call us friends.”

Pavlovich (18-2) may have said that he doesn’t consider Volkov a friend, but that may be because the fight came to fruition.

“The question is not even about how friendly we are. The fact is their side signed the contract first. Everything changed then,” he said.

The Russian comes into UFC Saudi Arabia off a loss to Tom Aspinall at UFC 295 on Saturday. Aspinall walked away with the interim heavyweight title, and Pavlovich was sent back to the drawing board.

“To be honest I’ve moved on. This is something that I’ve moved past at this point. I have a hard fight in front of me on Saturday. I have a new opponent. This is what I’m thinking about this is what I’m concentrated on,” he said.

Friends or not there is plenty at stake for both Pavlovich and Volkov in Saudi Arabia.

“You know I’m ready for all three rounds of a brawl. Whether it’s going to be a stand up, whether it’s going to be on the ground,” said Pavlovich.

“I’m ready for war and then we’ll see what happens.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Sergei Pavlovich above. He takes on Alexander Volkov on Saturday night.

The post Sergei Pavlovich Downplays Being Friends With Volkov appeared first on Cageside Press.

“Not really worried about it too much in who I’m fighting. I’m here to fight,” Whittaker told reporters on Thursday.

“I was fit, I was ready, and this is how I provide for my family. Everyone knew I wanted to fight, I’m here, so I’m going to fight.”

Whittaker (25-7) chose to remain on the card taking the fight against Aliskerov instead of choosing to pull out and wait for another fight.

“Honestly by this stage in the camp all the work’s been done. I’m fit, I’m strong, I’m sharp. All the skills that I worked for Chimaev…no skill is wasted. No skill is useless. A lot of it can be used in this fight. I’m ready,” he said.

Chimaev and Aliskerov aren’t too similar in styles, but both bring tough challenges for Whittaker.

“They’re very different opponents. I think working the wrestling I did for Chimaev will definitely come into play into this fight. A big thing has been about us pushing the game plan onto our opponents, and that’s been kind of a constant throughout my career,” said Whittaker.

The stakes are still high in Saudi Arabia for Whittaker with a possible title on the line for the former champion, but it’s not his focus this weekend.

“The only sure thing in the UFC is that winning opens doors. My focus is solely on this Saturday night, getting my hand raised, and I’ll worry about the rest afterwards,” he said.

Watch the entire media day scrum with Robert Whittaker above. He headlines UFC Saudi Arabia against Ikram Aliskerov on Saturday night.

The post Robert Whittaker Fully Focused On Aliskerov Amid Chimaev Pull Out appeared first on Cageside Press.

“To be honest this has been a pretty hard training camp,” Gastelum told reporters on Thursday.

“There’s a lot of things that went on behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t know, don’t get to see, but it’s been pretty hard to get my weight down this time around. Harder than last time.”

Gastelum (18-9) made his return to the welterweight division at UFC Austin last December hitting 170 on the dot. It likely won’t be the case this time around as Gastelum said himself.

“I am pretty worried this week, but we’re going to talk with the manager and come up with the best game plan, but I think we’re in for a rough weight cut,” he said.

Fighters rarely, if ever, admit to having a tough weight cut after the fact. Never mind doing it before the cut even starts.

On Saturday he faced Rodriguez who is known for taking it to his opponents and ending up in brawls more often than not.

“Daniel Rodriguez is a very formidable boxer. He has really good striking and I think pretty good defensive wrestling,” said Gastelum.

“We’ve been working a lot on wrestling, but once we get in there and we lock that door, a lot of the times emotions get the better of us and sometimes that game plan goes out the window. Who knows we might be in for a nice treat on Saturday.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Kelvin Gastelum above.

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“He’s tough opponent. A little bit scary to fight him honestly. He was here you saw how big he is, saw big arms,” Volkov told reporters on Thursday.

“Better don’t ask about him. I get nervous.”

Volkov (37-10) was joking, but he’s right about the fact that his opponent on Saturday is tough, big, and skilled. The two have even trained and sparred together, but for Volkov the details are a bit hazy.

“I’m trying to (remember) something, but I can’t. I didn’t remember any sparring. I just remember how it starts and then, like a black hole, I didn’t remember anything. I didn’t have any video,” he said.

Pavlovich is coming off losing his first interim title opportunity to Tom Aspinall at UFC 295 last November. Volkov knows he’s got a tough task up ahead.

“I will be real lucky to have some chance for lucky punch of for something,” he said.

“I believe in myself. Sometimes you don’t know how you can do something, but you believe in yourself. The same feeling. I believe I can do (it).”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Alexander Volkov above. He takes on Sergei Pavlovich at UFC Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

The post Alexander Volkov Doesn’t Recall Much From Sparring Pavlovich appeared first on Cageside Press.

Kicking off this edition of TTP is our interview with Contender Series flyweight and LFA champion, Shannon Clark. Clark talks about the moment she took home the title and how long it took to set in that she is the champ. Then she chats about getting the call for Contender Series and how she wasn’t quite sure it was even real to begin with. Clark also answers Gumby’s favorite question for “MMA Barbie” – does she know she’s good at MMA? She gives her always honest answer to that question and then gets into a breakdown of her upcoming fight against Yuneisy Duben, which takes place a few weeks after UFC Saudi Arabia.

Fights, Dogs, and Parlays: UFC Saudi Arabia (13:59)

After UFC Vegas 93, we look ahead to a big card. The UFC heads to the middle east for UFC Saudi Arabia for a battle between middleweight contenders. Not only do we discuss whether or not Aliskerov has a chance here, but we discuss if he’s actually a worse style matchup for Robert Whittaker than his original opponent, Khamzat Chimaev. Plus, we break down some of the action featuring fan favorites like Johnny Walker and Shara Bullet. You aren’t going to want to miss this card or this breakdown. Come check it out! For this segment, all odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

Steven Asplund Interview (21:15)

Closing out this edition of TTP is our interview with LFA heavyweight, Steven Asplund. After UFC Saudi Arabia ends, LFA 168 takes place in Denver, Colorado and Steven Asplund looks to stake his place in the heavyweight division on the heels of a new contract. He talks about how he got in shape to get him MMA career going and how his dad is his greatest inspiration. Plus he talks about getting into MMA for all of the wrong reasons.

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