Brundage (10-6) comes off a No Contest bout against Abdul Razal Alhassan which ended early due to illegal strikes landed to the back of Brundage’s head. The time away has given him plenty of rest.

“I fought six times in 14 months. From the time I made my debut to my last fight I think me and Kevin Holland were the most active guys in the UFC. I think sometimes the way to get out from a loss is just to push it and go find a win, and other times maybe you need to pull the reins a little bit,” Brundage told reporters on Wednesday.

“Take a little break. Get physically and mentally right, and decide is this what I want to keep doing. It was good. I have good people around me they’re like hey let’s chill six months to a year. I think it’s been 8 months since my last fight.”

Brundage got heavy into coaching during the time away cornering some of his guys, but now he’s ready to get back into a fight this time with Marquez. The two trained together in the past which makes the fight a little different than normal ones.

“I would say Julian’s a friend. We’re not best friends, but we’re friendly. I don’t wish anything bad upon Julian. We’re both in a spot where you can’t say no,” he said.

“I’m the last fight of my deal, he’s on a three-fight losing streak, so when UFC calls you got to say yes. I’ve never fought someone that I trained with. We’ll see how it plays out on fight night.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Cody Brundage above. He takes on Julian Marquez at UFC Vegas 103 on Saturday night.

The post Cody Brundage Details Long Layoff, Ready For Marquez appeared first on Cageside Press.

Violence.

“I knew it was going to be a good fight. We have similar styles. He likes to come forward as I do,” Ribovics told reporters on Wednesday.

“I hope he brings it on Saturday because I am truly ready to give 100%.”

Ribovics (14-1) comes off an incredible Fight Of The Night victory over Daniel Zellhuber at Noche UFC, UFC 306, last September. Zellhuber proved to be a very tough opponent to finish, but Ribovics will bring the same energy to this fight against Haqparast.

Haqparast has the clear experience advantage, but it’s not something Ribovics is hung up on as he’s just days away from facing off with him.

“He has a lot more fights than me, he has a lot more experience in the UFC, but I want the glory. I’m going for the glory, and besides the experience, I want it more than him,” he said.

“In my mind, knockout, I hope it happens that way. I’m looking for the knockout, I’m coming to kill or be killed, either way, but I’m giving my all.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Esteban Ribovics above. He takes on Nasrat Haqparast at UFC Vegas 103 on Saturday night.

The post Esteban Ribovics: “I’m coming to kill or be killed” appeared first on Cageside Press.

“I asked for a top 15 guy, then my manager sent me his name, and I got really excited,” Haqparast told reporters on Wednesday.

“He’s the same generation as me, and I think this is the future top 15. So many guys are above 36 in the top 15, and we are the next breed.”

Haqparast (17-5) may be part of the new generation of lightweights, but he’s not new to the UFC.

“I’m kind of a veteran. 14 UFC fights, this is my 8th year in the UFC, I signed when I was very young. Excites me a lot. This matchup is very violent. I look forward to Saturday and I can say the same about Esteban. I like him,” he said.

“He seems like a respectful person, he’s a hard worker, he’s talented, but Saturday we’re going to throw some bombs.”

The bout gives the feeling of two gentlemen who knows they’re about go to war, but still keep is proper.

“I like less talking and more performing. You see so many hype jobs. Look at my UFC career. It’s my eighth year. I fought so many good guys. It’s not my personality to speak trash talk,” he said.

“Yes they are maybe hyped for a year or two years. Then they disappear like popcorn. This sport it’s about consistency. Not about who creates the most hype in the first or second year. We don’t need to talk. We know how hard this sport is. Hype is good for the numbers, for the UFC, but I think you have to follow your personality and not change anything.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Nasrat Haqparast above. He takes on Esteban Ribovics at UFC Vegas 103 on Saturday night.

The post Nasrat Haqparast Is All About Peformance, Not Hype appeared first on Cageside Press.

“When we first got it I was sitting there like, ‘Woah we used to train together man,'” Marquez told reporters on Wednesday.

“What are we doing? We don’t fight teammates. Then it got there that he accepted the fight and I was like okay. That’s it. We’re here to battle.”

Marquez (9-5) clearly wasn’t thrilled about fighting a former training partner, but once Brundage accepted, it was all business.

“This is where we are. This is the business we’re in. Has nothing to do with the friendship that we have, has nothing to do there. We both have to fight for our job,” he said.

“So when I got that I was like hell yeah let’s go. Got another fight.”

Even though he’s fighting a friend Marquez isn’t taking the matchup personally. The unwritten rule of not fighting friends or teammates, even former ones, is seldom broken. It does happen however.

“I don’t feel any betrayal at all. The opportunity comes to his door, he has to make the judgement, and then our manager comes to talk to us. That’s it. It’s the business,” he said.

“He owes no explanation. I understand.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Julian Marquez above. He takes on Cody Brundage at UFC Vegas 103 on Saturday night.

The post Julian Marquez Not Taking Brundage Fight Personal, “It’s the business” appeared first on Cageside Press.

“You know, I woke up in the morning and I saw the news that (Brandon) Royval must have been injured, so he pulled out of the fight,” Almabayev told reporters through a translator on Wednesday.

“I immediately wrote to a What’s App group I have with my managers and I said that I’m ready to fight. That’s how it happened.”

Almabayev (21-2) steps into a main event slot against Kape who will also be getting his first headlining spot.

“Manel Kape is a dangerous striker. His record speaks for himself. This is going to be a puzzle that we’re going to try and solve on Saturday. We’re going to do our job. We’re going to go in there and solve that puzzle,” he said.

“We’re going to expect everything from him. We’re not out here to have a chess match. We’re going to come out there and we’re going to bang.”

A win over Kape in the main event would set Almabayev up for a contender spot.

“I don’t know about top 5, but I would love to, with a win, to be the next contender for the belt,” he said.

“We’ll see what the UFC decides.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Asu Almabayev above. He headlines UFC Vegas 103 on Saturday night against Manel Kape. 

The post Asu Almabayev: “Not out here to have a chess match, we’re going to bang.” appeared first on Cageside Press.

Kicking off this UFC Vegas 103 edition of TTP is our interview with UFC flyweight, Charles Johnson. Johnson discusses his monumental 2024, in which he took home four wins in a calendar year. Despite having that amazing run, he wanted more and talks about how he tried to get it. Now ready to put his sights on the top of the division in the new year, he discusses his training at Fusion X-Cel Performance and cross training with Mike Perry. Plus, he digs into his matchup this weekend against Ramazan Temirov.

Fights, Dogs, and Parlays: UFC Vegas 103 (22:50)

After a very wild and crazy UFC Seattle, we head back to the Apex for UFC Vegas 103. This fight night card is headlined by a pair of flyweights in Manel Kape and Asu Almabayev. Plus, the co-main event has a showdown between a pair of middleweights who are never in a boring fight – Cody Brundage and Julian Marquez. We’ll break down those fights 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.

John Castaneda Interview (31:45)

Closing out this edition of TTP is our interview with UFC featherweight, John Castaneda. Castaneda discusses dropping his last fight to tough prospect Daniel Marcos and losing his two fight losing streak. While some lose, others learn – and that’s the route that Castaneda took following the fight. He discusses some physical shortcomings in that fight, but also how he apporached the mental side of the game afterwards. Now feeling like a brand new fighter, he’s ready to take on Douglas Silva de Andrade at UFC Vegas 103 this Saturday.

The post TTP Ep. 469 with Charles Johnson, John Castaneda, and UFC Vegas 103 appeared first on Cageside Press.

“For a couple of years after I got out of the military, I was working at Lauzon MMA. And I was just teaching classes there,” Matthew explained. “My whole dream, my whole life is, you know, outside of being a UFC fighter, is I want to open my own gym”

Following the tough year of 2020, Matthews decided it was time to pull the trigger. He looked at nearby spaces for rent in Massachusetts and eventually found a location for his first gig. That, unfortunately, would be short lived.

“I took the chance after the pandemic. I actually was renting space from a CrossFit gym. I had running classes, kid classes, adult classes – but unfortunately, the CrossFit gym that I was renting from ended up closing their doors because they didn’t get the customers back like they did prior to the pandemic,” he said. “That being said, I had a mat. I had everything. But the gym closed. So, I was kind of screwed for a little while.”

Luckily for Matthews, he had the perfect support system. His parents jumped right in and gave him an avenue to continue what he was doing.

“My parents were like, ‘hey, you can just put your mats in the basement for a little while until you find a new space’. And that’s what I did,” Matthews said. “I put the mats down there, started running my kids’ classes, started training. In the meantime, I ended up getting this Contender Series fight, winning my fight, and that kind of took over.”

Once again, his other goal – the one of being a UFC fighter – has given him a slight detour from owning that gym. However, what he has right now is higher level than anyone truly realizes.

“Right now, I’m not really running the classes the way I was before. I’m just kind of focused on training myself, and I love it, man,” he explained. “You know, rent’s cheap, first of all. But I still have a lot of pro fighters come down. I just did my last rounds in my cage in my basement with Nick Fiore, who was a prior UFC fighter as well.”

But it’s not just Nick Fiore who pops in. There are plenty of pro and even former UFC fighters who make appearances. Althought those appearances are great, it’s a couple of regulars that have Matthews at his very best for his upcoming fight.

“I’m sure, at first, you go, oh, my God, this guy’s training out of his basement. Like, who knows? But, like I said, it doesn’t really matter,” he said. “We got good coaches down here and good training partners. I got my really consistent guys that are coming up in Andrew Valdina and Joe Poirier. They’re down there, like, every night with me.”

We’ll see the fruits of mom’s basement this Saturday as Connor Matthew takes on Jose Delgado. That fights takes place as part of the UFC Vegas 102 main card starting at 7pm EST on ESPN+.

You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 25:53.

The post UFC Vegas 102’s Connor Matthews Talks Training in Mom’s Basement appeared first on Cageside Press.

 

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“Unfortunately I’m going to have to pull out of my fight, I’m sorry to Manel Kape and my fans. I’m facing an injury that has me questioning when I’ll be able to train again. This is absolutely a fight I think needs to happen for the flyweight division but as of right now competing month has been ill advised. Love y’all and I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I’ll have more details on my YouTube this week.”

Royval (17-7) has been hoping for another shot at Alexandre Pantoja’s flyweight title since dropping a decision against him at UFC 296.

Since then he’s put together two straight victories in very tough fights coming into the Kape one. A win over former two-time flyweight champion Brandon Moreno was followed up by one against Tatsuro Taira.

A win over Kape could potentially put him on the very short list of challengers for the title. A potential bout between Pantoja and Kai Kara-France was reportedly in the works, but has not been officially announced.

No word from Royval as of yet as to the extent of the injury or how long he expects to be out of action.

The post Brandon Royval Out Of Manel Kape Fight At UFC Vegas 103 appeared first on Cageside Press.