The Hall at Live Casino

Matheus Nicolau | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images At the UFC Vegas 91 weigh-ins, all 26 fighters on Saturday’s card in Las Vegas will step on the scale Friday. MMA Fighting will have live video of the proceedings, courtesy of Ag. Fight. In the main event, Matheus Nicolau and Alex Perez can weigh no more than 126 pounds, the maximum allowed for their non-title flyweight fight. The UFC Vegas 91 official weigh-ins are at 12 p.m. ET. Watch highlights of the weigh-ins below. Looking to move up the flyweight rankings @AlexPerezMMA hits the scale at 126lbs![ #UFCVegas91 | TOMORROW on @ESPNPlus | 7pmET/4pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/lzusJ1dldS— UFC (@ufc) April 26, 2024 Ready for action in the co-main event @Superman_Spann hits the scale at 205.5 lbs![ #UFCVegas91 | TOMORROW on @ESPNPlus | 7pmET/4pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/QUOu9fkTS6— UFC (@ufc) April 26, 2024 The #UFCVegas91 co-main event is official Bogdan Guskov is on weight at 204.5 lbs![ TOMORROW on @ESPNPlus | 7pmET/4pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/sfJs9zORCI— UFC (@ufc) April 26, 2024 57,1 kg ⚖️ para @Ariane_Lipski na pesagem oficial do #UFCVegas91. [ Sábado (27) | 17h | Ao vivo no @UFCFightPassBR ➡️ https://t.co/OD62F561g5 ] pic.twitter.com/YRIyWd2UjT— UFC Brasil (@UFCBrasil) April 26, 2024 52,3 kg ⚖️ para @KetlenSouzaUFC na pesagem oficial do #UFCVegas91. [ Sábado (27) | 17h | Ao vivo no @UFCFightPassBR ➡️ https://t.co/OD62F561g5 ] pic.twitter.com/l0WkTlKbTQ— UFC Brasil (@UFCBrasil) April 26, 2024 See official UFC Vegas 91 weigh-in results below. Main Card (ESPN, ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET) Matheus Nicolau vs. Alex Perez (126) Ryan Spann (205.5) vs. Bogdan Guskov (204.5) Ariane da Silva (126) vs. Karine Silva (125.5) Austen Lane (254.5) vs. Jhonata Diniz (255) Tim Means (171) vs. Uros Medic Jonathan Pearce vs. David Onama Preliminary Card (ESPN2, ESPN+ at 4 p.m. ET) Rani Yahya (136) vs. Victor Henry (135.5) Austin Hubbard vs. Michal Figlak (155) Don’Tale Mayes vs. Caio Machado Marnic Mann (115.5) vs. Ketlen Souza (115.5) James Llontop vs. Chris Padilla (154.5) Ivana Petrovic (126) vs. Liang Na (126) Gabriel Benitez (155) vs. Maheshate (155.5)

Photo by Alex Menendez/Getty Images By all accounts, Thiago Alves thought his fighting career was done. After knocking out Uly Diaz to become BKFC middleweight champion in 2021, the now 40-year-old Brazilian veteran didn’t get an offer that enticed him enough to fight again. With his focus shifting towards coaching, as he’s now one of the primary instructors at American Top Team in Florida, Alves never retired but also didn’t expect to compete again. That all changed when BKFC came calling with a huge payday and a chance to face Mike Perry at KnuckleMania IV on Saturday. “I’m always active,” Alves told MMA Fighting. “I’m six days out of the week at American Top Team working with top-level athletes. It’s important to stay in shape so you can show what you’re trying to tell them really works. When you can actually apply what you’re talking about, it’s always easier. So I’m always in shape, always training. “I wasn’t training with the fighting mind at all. I was done with this part of my career, but BKFC literally called me on Monday coming back from Saudi Arabia [after the PFL vs Bellator card] and they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. It’s like, alright, I guess it’s time to get back in there! Here we are.” Alves quietly walked away from active competition because he didn’t think another offer would come his way to make it worth his time to fight again. He was completely resolved in his new life helping fighters like Dustin Poirier and working alongside other coaches such as former WEC champion Mike Brown. He never made some headline-worthy announcement about retirement because Alves was always open for business under the right circumstances. “I had great things going on outside of fighting,” Alves said. “Coaching. I’m a MMA director for an online training platform called Life Training, where you can learn anything you want from high-level professionals in the field, so I had that. My family life as well was great. So I wasn’t planning on [fighting anymore], but again, I never really closed that door. “I always felt I had one more in me. At least one more in me.” While returning to face Perry was never in Alves’ long-term planning, he’s not saying this fight will be his last. Saturday could be the final time he competes, but Alves promises he’s always open to potential offers, which is how the BKFC deal was brokered in the first place. “Money talks,” Alves said. “You can always use some extra money in your bank account, especially today. It’s important to stay active. It’s important to stay open to opportunities. I wasn’t planning on it, I wasn’t waiting for anything. It just happened to fall in my lap, so I’m ready, I’m excited. I’m going to go out there and show what the ‘King of Violence’ looks like.” Despite nearly three years off between fights, Alves has one major advantage to help him get ready for Perry in a way some of Perry’s past opposition never did. With two bare-knuckle fights already on his résumé, Alves knows what it’s like to hit and get hit in that BKFC ring, which was new to fighters like Michael Page and Luke Rockhold when they accepted a similar challenge with Perry. “I’m battle tested,” Alves said. “I know what it takes to win inside of that squared circle. I’m excited. I’m really excited. It’s been a long journey to get back in there. I always felt there was something missing, the extra motivation in my daily life, and it’s the perfect time. I wish I had a little bit more prior notice so I could prepare more, but eight weeks is enough. “I already have the experience. I know what it takes. He’s not going to be fighting somebody that’s just looking for a big payday. He’s going to fight a guy who’s been there, done it, and I’m going to go out there and do it again.” Long before they were scheduled to trade punches in bare-knuckle, Alves was actually matched up against Perry in the UFC. Back in 2017, Alves was supposed to face Perry at a UFC Fight Night card in Pittsburgh, but a hurricane hit Florida and it prevented the one-time welterweight title challenger from making the trip. The storm forced Alves and his family to move into the gym at American Top Team, and they lost their beloved pet dog during the tragic incident. There were also repercussions in his professional life, as Alves claims UFC matchmaker Joe Silva never forgot about him dropping out of the Perry fight despite the extreme circumstances that prevented him from traveling to that event. “I kind got blacklisted from the UFC after that, not being able to make it,” Alves said. “Joe Silva at the time, kind of had a little [grudge] against me because he thought I didn’t want to fight. I tried. I tried to leave Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. [Flight didn’t happen.] I’ve got to do what’s best for my family. “You know how it is sometimes when companies want you to be all about them and not about what’s important for you. I just made a decision. I paid for that decision. Joe Silva wasn’t happy with me at that time, but it is what it is. Here we are and I’m glad that I made that decision.” Now, seven years later, Alves hopes to settle some unfinished business with Perry. Obviously this time it’s in a much different combat sport, but Alves expects the results will still be the same as he planned back then. “I think I’m just a better striker overall,” Alves said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re going to use kicks or not. I think I’m more polished. I think I’ve been in there with better fighters as well. The fight against Julian Lane, I thought he lost. The fight against Michael Page, besides the knockdown, I thought he got pieced up in that fight as well. Luke [Rockhold] is not about that life. Eddie Alvarez was piecing him up in the beginning of the fight. If it wasn’t [for] that punch that broke his orbital bone, it would be a completely different result. “We’re excited. We’re confident. We know he’s tough. We know he’s supposedly the A-side because they’re trying to build him. He’s younger, he has the following behind him, but we’re going to crash the party. I think I’m going to finish him in the fourth round. I’m going to put him away in the fourth round.”

Cameron Smotherman at a Fury FC show in Houston on April 21, 2024 | @AlexBehunin, Twitter Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where we shine a light on fights from across the globe that may have been overlooked in these hectic times where it seems like there’s an MMA show every other day. We all know the UFC touts a policy of free speech absolutism (eye roll), but one thing you rarely see is fighters call out individual judges after a win. Normally, a fighter is relieved enough to have earned a decision, and don’t speak in detail about the judging until they’re chatting with the media later. But sometimes, you’ve got to just let it rip right out of the gate. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s Cameron Smotherman. (Big thanks as always to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs and submissions, and to @Grabaka_Hitman for uploading many of the clips you see here. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.) Cameron Smotherman vs. Ryan KuseMichael Aswell vs. Nate RichardsonKody Steele vs. Alejandro MartinezLester Batres Jr. vs. Garrett FosterCameron Cash vs. Mario Suazo pic.twitter.com/40aqiPj5Sh https://t.co/JyzJsTYNT1— Alex Behunin (@AlexBehunin) April 22, 2024 “Damage wins fights,” Smotherman said after scoring a split nod over Ryan Kuse. “To that judge, 30-27, you f*cking suck. I hope you quit. Damage wins fights, and if that’s the criteria, I’m going to win every f*cking time.” The judge in question is Chance Williams, who gave all three rounds to Kuse in a classic grappler vs. striker battle. Smotherman was the striker in this instance, and though his takedown and ground defense were put to the test, at the very least the damage he did in the standup should have given him a clear third round. However, Williams didn’t see it that way, resulting in Smotherman’s post-fight interview tirade. I don’t know if this will endear Smotherman to promotions like the UFC (he’s already had one crack on the Contender Series), or if they’ll view this as a red flag, but he’s a character, that’s for sure. MMA needs characters. Also from Fury FC 89 (available on UFC Fight Pass), Michael Aswell battered Nate Richardson in the main event to capture a vacant featherweight title. Wave it off.Good night.Goodbye.Michael Aswell, hope you're not busy this fall#FuryFC89 pic.twitter.com/sMCHj5ARQO— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) April 22, 2024 Aswell, 23, improved to 9-1 with the win. Let’s hope he gets a little more seasoning before a larger promotion calls him up. Less experienced, but possibly more prepared for a call to the big show, is undefeated welterweight Kody Steele. Kody Steele just might get a very, VERY important call#FuryFC89 pic.twitter.com/Vpfju0B4m8— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) April 21, 2024 We’ve featured Steele a couple of times in Missed Fists already, rarely for his highly vaunted grappling. Instead, Steele has taken full advantage of being able to crack people in the face under MMA rules to the tune of a 6-0 record with three KOs/TKOs. The 29-year-old has flirted with a drop to 155 pounds and he would be a welcome addition to any roster’s lightweight or welterweight divisions. If you’re looking for submissions, how about Lester Batres Jr.’s 14-second armbar of Garrett Foster? Lester Batres Jr. only needed 14 seconds to submit Garrett Foster #FuryFC89 pic.twitter.com/FsaRvGHPtx— Fury FC (@FuryFightingTX) April 21, 2024 Add this to the “flying attacks gone wrong” pile. Slick jiu-jitsu from Batres and questionable decision making from Foster. Perhaps there’s a reason Foster is now 0-4 as a pro (all by knockout or submission). Cameron Cash might have done Batres one better, turning a sloppy takedown attempt from Mario Suazo into a fight-ending D’Arce choke. Cameron Cash puts Mario Suazo to sleep!#FuryFC89 pic.twitter.com/YsUtIgaM6c— Fury FC (@FuryFightingTX) April 21, 2024 Zhang Qinghe vs. Sundet AytkulMario Sousa vs. Tyago MoreiraKrikor Balkian vs. Jason JonesIlya Varvarskiy vs. Maksim Dyupin There’s no polite way to put this: fighters were catching BODIES across the globe. Let’s start this trip at Octagon 57 (free replay available on YouTube) in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where Zhang Qinghe brushed off a jumping knee from Sundet Aytkul before landing a right hand KO shot. Brutal faceplant KO by Qinghe Zhang over Sundet Aytkul in the OCTAGON main event #Octagon57 pic.twitter.com/mnD5cUKMce— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) April 19, 2024 That was so clean, Zhang had time to step forward, check on Aytkul’s condition, and stop himself from following up. A classy finish. Over at a Fight Music Show in Curitiba, Brazil, Mario Souza finished off a retreating Tyago Moreira with a knee up the middle. Mário Sousa KO1 Tyago Moreira (Knee) - #FMS pic.twitter.com/8RlIZqsb7g— Neo Vale Tudo (@NeoValeTudo) April 22, 2024 There’s your Humpty Dumpty Fall of the Week winner, folks. If you want to more from this event, Fight Music Show is available for replay with a subscription to TrillerTV. In amateur action, Krikor Balkian was spinning and winning at an Up Next Fighting event in San Bernardino, Calif. “Sir Gregor” Balkian with the highlight of the night at #UNF18! ️ pic.twitter.com/zx3oHZ6DUc— Up Next Fighting (@UpNextFighting) April 21, 2024 Watch how Balkian defended against that first attack from Jason Jones. He saw something there. When Jones stepped forward again, that backhand was fully loaded. Then he planted his lead leg just past Jones’ and obliterated him. At MMA Series 79 in Russia, Ilya Varvarskiy clipped Maksim Dyupin with a sharp elbow, forcing him to back off. Then this happened: Nice head kick from Ilya Varvarskiy at MMA Series 79 pic.twitter.com/pCrhHRDhqo— Fedor’s nephew (@FdrNphw) April 20, 2024 Get sliced up inside or booted outside. There are no good options in fighting. Monika Kucinic vs. Sofiia Bagishvili We interrupt this KO parade for a brief submission interlude, courtesy of Monika Kucinic. At Brave CF 81 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Kucinic pulled off a thrilling comeback in her home country. After somehow surviving an armbar and a triangle choke early in the fight, the strawweight prospect turned the tables on Sofiia Bagishvili in the third with a sweet armbar of her own. Bagishvili has been a magnet for Missed Fists weirdness in the past, once submitting an opponent on a rain-soaked mat that may as well have been a Slip ‘N Slide and another time having to point out an opponent’s injury to the referee in her KSW debut. For better or worse, I don’t think this is the last time we’ll hear from Bagishvili or Kucinic. Lu Kai vs. Asyljan Tasket Everyone is BMF’ing these days and the boys at Jue Cheng King are no exception. In this past Tuesday’s JCK Fight Night 83 main event, Lu Kai and Asyljan Tasket threw down until Lu broke through with a left on the button that sent Tasket spiraling. Lü Kai’s finish over Asyljan Tasket at JCK today: pic.twitter.com/2jRGj0gg3n— Chris Presnell (@mmaecosystem) April 23, 2024 If this is what Max Holloway and Justin Gaethje have wrought, then we have one more reason to be thankful for their existence. Walber dos Anjos vs. Paulo Henrique Now to close out with some more body-dropping goodness. At Centurion FC 19 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Walber dos Anjos hulked his way out of a bad position on the ground and then wallopped recent PFL competitor Paulo Henrique. Walber dos Anjos KO1 Paulo Henrique - CFC 19 pic.twitter.com/jFy0UVrwRd— Neo Vale Tudo (@NeoValeTudo) April 26, 2024 It’s difficult to tell what Henrique - a veteran of 23 pro fights to dos Anjos’ five - was thinking here. He showed little respect for dos Anjos’ power and just tried to grab at him rather than actively defend himself. And down he went. If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked, or a promotion that could use some attention, please let us know on X — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.

Photo by Matt Davies/PxImages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images In just eight UFC fights, Alex Pereira has won titles across two divisions and defeated five former champions along the way. He’s done it all primarily as a devastating striker, displaying incredible knockout power but still showing some deficiencies expected of a lifelong kickboxer with only 12 total MMA fights on his resume. Pereira is fresh off of headlining one of the biggest cards in history at UFC 300, and he capped off the night with a brutal knockout of Jamahal Hill. Assessing that performance, analyst and fighter Anthony Smith gives Pereira credit for getting the job done in impressive fashion, but stands by the criticism he’s levied against Pereira from the first day he arrived in the UFC. Criticism that might rub the Brazilian star the wrong way. “I stand by everything I’ve said,” Smith told MMA Fighting. “[Daniel Cormier] says it all the time. How is this guy still winning fights? Yeah, I ask the same thing. Because it doesn’t make any sense! He has a very limited skill set. He’s very, very, very dangerous at one thing and he’s mediocre at the rest. “Instead of making it seem like I’m talking shit about him, I’m building him up. That’s amazing! That’s absolutely amazing that he’s able to do what he’s been able to do at this level for this amount of time. It’s impressive. I’m not talking shit about it. It’s impressive.” Smith won’t walk back any comments he’s made about Pereira just because he keeps pulling off wins with the best weapon at his disposal. From the first day he arrived in the UFC, Pereira was already one of the most lethal strikers to ever compete inside the octagon, but the other areas of his game are still developing. Pereira’s first fight at light heavyweight is a perfect example of those shortcomings, according to Smith. At UF 291, ex-champion Jan Blachowicz wrestled him to the ground and essentially mauled him for five consecutive minutes. “Here’s the deal, I’m doing my breakdowns and analysis, very true,” Smith said. “Whether he and I have this thing back and forth or not, I’m very honest about my analysis of him. Everything that I’ve said, I stand by. That’s just the fight game. He has caught lightning in a bottle, and I don’t mean as that he’s getting lucky. Because he’s not. “He’s a legitimate threat, and he’s a legitimate danger. But because of the matchups and some of the circumstances — like Jan Blachowicz is a much better mixed martial artist. He proved that in the first round. I don’t think he adjusted to the altitude of Salt Lake City, because then he was gassed and was kind of reserved to standing in front of Alex after that. He couldn’t get a takedown, because he was tired. Let’s just call it what it is.” Blachowicz gassing out after one round isn’t Pereira’s fault, which is why Smith doesn’t want to diminish that victory, but he can’t ignore the facts of the situation either. Smith believes in that same position, on Pereira’s back with nearly a full five minutes to work, he would have finished the fight and there wouldn’t have been a second round. “I’m not knocking Alex for that. I think he did a great job staying safe,” Smith said. “I thought that he showed a little bit of improvement in his grappling. He had a top 5 light heavyweight on his back for almost five minutes. Does Magomed Ankalaev get out of that first round in that same position? Probably unlikely. If I’m on your back for that amount of time, do you get out of the first round? Probably not. Let’s just stop all the f*cking bullshit and let’s be honest. I’m Jan Blachowicz, do I finish in that position? 100 percent of the time. Hooks in against the fence and you’re belly down? I’m taking home $50,000 extra. That is happening. “If Magomed Ankalaev gets in that same position, that’s happening. I could give you five other light heavyweights that would get to that position [and finish]. Jan Blachowicz isn’t necessarily known as a submission finisher. He’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu, he does very well on the ground, but he’s not a prolific finisher on the ground and that’s fine. I think Alex Pereira did a great job in that position and I think he did what he had to do in the second and third round, very, very tired at altitude to get the win. I have no knocks against that. He beat a really tough dude.” When it comes to Pereira’s next two fights against Jiri Prochazka and Hill, Smith recognizes that those particular matchups didn’t present the same level of threat when it came to wrestling and grappling. Hill is best known as a boxer with heavy hands and Prochazka typically engages in wild, non-stop action fights where he’ll take a punch to return one of his own. That’s a dangerous game to play with a knockout artist like Pereira. “Jamahal Hill, there is no wrestling threat,” Smith said. “I’m not talking shit about Jamahal. That’s just not his game. That’s a favorable matchup. That’s a 50/50 at best for both of them. Without the threat of a takedown, you strike very differently in a fight when you’re not worried about somebody shooting a takedown. Jiri Prochazka — and that might be the only fight I picked Alex Pereira — because Jiri Prochazka is a defensive irresponsibility. He’s too free, he’s too open. He takes a lot of leg kicks. “We just saw it in the Aleksandar Rakic fight. Credit to Jiri, I think he did a great job, he was able to stay safe, he was able to land some big shots. He hurt Rakic. I thought he did great. But there was a lot of problems there. He got hit a lot. He got banged up with the leg kicks and the same thing happened with Pereira. He pushed Pereira really hard but then he’s not responsible in those tight spots and he took a hard shot. Glover Teixeira banged up Jiri Prochazka pretty bad on his feet, too.” Regardless of opponents or stylistic matchups, Pereira keeps finding a way to win and Smith believes that has to be commended. Pereira may not like Smith pointing out his shortcomings or perceived weaknesses, but he’s not going to apologize for doing his job. “He’s had some, I don’t want to say favorable matchups because that makes it sound like he’s ducking people — he’s not,” Smith said. “He’s just had some matchups that really worked in his favor and he’s had some things fall his way. That’s f*cking MMA. That’s the game. Sometimes things just fall your way. “Jake Ellenberger was in a lot of really tough fights and tough situations and sometimes the f*cking chips just fell his way, and then later on down the road, they didn’t. That’s how it goes. At some point that will not continue and that’s just the game. That’s going to happen to all of us.”

Photo by Richie Banks/Zuffa LLC Rose Namajunas wasn’t the only person Amanda Ribas had to worry about ahead of her last fight. It's tough to be a professional athlete. Put all the surface-level factors that come with it aside and being a public figure is practically its own job. After five years and counting on the UFC roster under MMA's brightest lights, Brazilian flyweight and strawweight contender Ribas is no stranger to the attention. However, things went a little too far ahead of her last time out at UFC Vegas 89 this past month. Ribas, 30, was welcomed to Las Vegas the week of her fight by meeting attempts from an alleged Ukrainian man. According to the man, he and Ribas met during UFC 251 fight week when Ribas was booked to fight Paige VanZant, whom she went on to defeat via a first-round armbar. He'd apparently been mesmerized ever since. “I don’t remember his name, but he was a bit of a crazy guy,” Ribas told Ag. Fight. “On the first day, I arrived at the hotel — usually the fans are there for us to sign something, take a picture — but this citizen was a little crazy. He kept screaming, ‘Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.’ That same day, the guy at the front desk called my room and said, ‘Amanda, Alex is here wanting to go upstairs.’ Except that Alex is the name of my manager. I said, ‘Hey, the sensei is here now’. He went and said a crazy last name, I said, ‘I don’t know.’ I thought that was kind of weird. “The next day, when we arrived again at the reception, the young man was waiting. But he said he wanted to talk to me, and I said I couldn’t at the moment. He spoke to my father, handed him a letter, a bracelet and a teddy bear. So far, so normal, because it’s something that happens. I even like it, I love to get gifts. Then I read in the letter that he was in love with me as a man since 2020, that he met me in Abu Dhabi. We went to do some research. This young man, on his social network, it was written that I was his wife, that he lived in such and such a country and was going to move to [my hometown] Varginha [Minas Gerais, Brazil]. There was a picture of a teddy bear, everyone in my family, saying, ‘This is Marcelo, this is Arthur, this is Mirelly, this is Amanda, my wife’. I had some crazy business.” If the gifts weren't enough, the stalker continued his pursuit of Ribas throughout the week. Miraculously, the man snuck his way past UFC security in the UFC Performance Institute (P.I.) across the street from the UFC APEX. One way or another, he was determined to keep getting the attention of his "wife." Allegedly also a fighter once identified, the UFC kept watch of one-half of the UFC Vegas 89 main event from the man to ensure this was the end of the saga. “The other day, this citizen managed to get into the P.I., I don’t know how, and he was telling people that I was his wife,” Ribas laughed. “[My manager] Alex [Davis] found out about it first, then he told me. Then he notified the UFC and they left a security guard with me 24 hours a day to be even more protected. It seems that they found out that he is a fighter, and he couldn’t fight in an event because he had taken a sword (laughs).” Unfortunately for Ribas, there wasn't a happy ending to her UFC Vegas 89 story. The big main event battle against the former strawweight champion Namajunas saw Ribas come up short via a unanimous decision. The Brazilian has now alternated wins and losses in her last seven fights (13-5 overall) since her first career loss to Marina Rodriguez in January 2021. Coincidentally, the Rodriguez loss came right after Ribas defeated VanZant and met the stalker. This guy doesn’t sound like very good luck. Ribas is unsurprisingly a good sport about the whole incident in hindsight. As one of the more happy and positive personalities in the entire sport, it certainly makes for quite the memory and was thankfully nothing overly worrisome or dangerous. “To finish this week that I started single, I went ‘dating,’ I got ‘engaged’ and ‘married,’ I ‘separated,’ too,” Ribas joked. “Because they researched and saw that he had posted on his social networks that he is traveling to another city, that we were separated, but that he wished me all the luck in the world (laughs). It was the most unexpected ‘relationship’ I’ve ever had.” TOP STORIES Roundtable. Is BKFC Mike Perry one of the 10 biggest draws in combat sports? Critique. Ronda Rousey blasts Joe Rogan, MMA media for turning on her: ‘They’re a bunch of assh*les’ Phenom. Shaq: Vitor Belfort knocked out person ‘talking crazy’ at bar Recovery. Coach Rafael Cordeiro: Beneil Dariush took time off after repeated head trauma in 2023 Fatherhood. UFC lightweight Paddy Pimblett announces arrival of twin baby girls Rematch. Curtis Blaydes: Tom Aspinall fight at UFC 304 makes sense, but I learned ‘don’t get my hopes up’ VIDEO STEW Between the Links. Knucklemania IV Pre-Fight Presser. UFC Mic’d Up. Truly an instant classic. Top First Half PFL 2024 Regular Season KOs. Pereira vs. Drama. Gaethje Behind the Curtain. Tom’s New York nightmare. Cooking with Volk. Fancy inverted triangle. Outlaw on Canelo. MORNING MUSIC Concert night for me. Much excite. Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or find one of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re currently really into. I’ll pick the best one alongside my daily choice and give you a shoutout! You can also share in the comments below — those are just harder to sift through sometimes! SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE Punch it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Backyard Violence (@backyardviolence) Beauty. I watched this back about 5 times to find where that omoplata came from pic.twitter.com/6H0SYFPSIs— BJJotter (@JiujitsuOtter) April 25, 2024 Creative finance. James Krause reappeared on Instagram with post but then quickly deleted it pic.twitter.com/Ots9xmLfWJ— Alex Behunin (@AlexBehunin) April 25, 2024 Mexico! For Mexico @MerabDvalishvil let’s go #WRESTLEMAGIC pic.twitter.com/o7dUm8ZVL7— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) April 25, 2024 Lol. fighters after missing weight (they just cashed a +1200) https://t.co/N3t0gY4RIz pic.twitter.com/LzRx8W4SLV— Conner Burks (@connerburks) April 25, 2024 Beef. Let’s be honest, if we had fought earlier, you would never have made it to the title fight. Everything has its time, and the time for your whooping is coming soon @chitoveraUFC https://t.co/j7saMO2Cs2— Petr “No Mercy” Yan (@PetrYanUFC) April 25, 2024 Vintage Penne. Let’s talk about how beautiful this was from @JessicaPenne Didn’t force or rush anything. Just keeps control, rolls with her, doesn’t force anything, stays a step ahead, lets the opening create itself. This is textbook https://t.co/ZWVyVKZvJL— Jillian DeCoursey (@lionheartjill) April 25, 2024 FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS Tatsuro Taira (15-0) vs. Joshua Van (10-1); UFC 302, June 1 Dominick Reyes (12-4) vs. Dustin Jacoby (19-8-1); UFC Louisville, June 8 Puja Tomar (8-4) vs. Rayanne dos Santos (14-7); UFC Louisville, June 8 Jared Cannonier (17-6) vs. Nassourdine Imavov (13-4); UFC Lousiville, June 8 FINAL THOUGHTS Guys, don’t be weird, guys. Please, guys. Don’t be weird. Just please don’t. Thanks for reading! Happy Friday and have a great weekend, gang. EXIT POLL If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.