It seemed as though ‘The Nightmare’ would have to wait a while until he was rescheduled again as there aren’t many UFC welterweights putting their name in the hat to fight him.

Despite that, Ian Machado Garry jumped at the opportunity to take him on when he was offered the fight as the main event to the promotion’s upcoming UFC Kansas City card.

Machado Garry sends Prates a scary warning ahead of fight

‘The Future’ felt hard done by to miss out on the welterweight title shot after finding out that Shavkat Rakhmonov had withdrawn from his scheduled fight against champion, Belal Muhammad, despite having lost to Rakhmonov at UFC 310.

Despite that, he will now take on the Brazilian Fighting Nerd in what is undoubtedly a title eliminator fight, potentially getting him back into contention.

And with that, the Irishman has sent Prates a scary warning for their fight, after claiming earlier this week that Prates isn’t a ‘real fighter’.

“I’m going to go out there on April 26 against Carlos Prates and prove that there are levels to this,” Machado Garry said in an interview with Sky Sports.

“There’s gonna be nobody, nobody that’s gonna expect what I’m gonna do to him. I’m going to absolutely manhandle and outclass him. There’s gonna be nothing that he’s gonna be able to do (to stop it).

“I’m gonna put this guy to sleep, I’m gonna leave him unconscious, and then I’m gonna go and I’m gonna fight for the belt, that’s my plan,” he continued.

Carlos Prates looking to continue Fighting Nerds unbelievable streak

‘The Nightmare’, though, is one of the several extremely impressive Fighting Nerds, currently taking the UFC by storm, and he has built up a big fanbase in a short space of time.

The 31-year-old not only has an incredibly exciting fight style, but he also has an eccentric personality, admitting to smoking at least 10 cigarettes a day.

Despite his smoking habits, Prates is undefeated in his four previous UFC outings with his teammates, Caio Borralho, Jean Silva, and Mauricio Ruffy also undefeated in the premier promotion.

With a win over ‘The Future’, Prates will undoubtedly find himself fast-tracked to a 170lb title shot.

There was a lot of mutual respect between Pimblett and Chandler but that didn’t hide how important this matchup was for both men who are at very different points in their careers.

‘The Baddy’ will now move on to what will likely be a title eliminator as he continues to climb up the rankings in search of a title shot.

As for ‘Iron’ Mike, this defeat sends him back to the drawing board in a big way with Chandler referencing the support of his loved ones in a post-fight statement.

Michael Chandler uses his UFC 314 loss to teach his son a valuable life lesson

Michael Chandler immediately exited the Octagon and headed to the back after he was stopped in the third round at the Kaseya Center in Miami.

A massive night in his career was made all that more emotional for him due to the fact that his oldest son was in attendance on April 12.

Chandler and his wife Brie have two sons and they’re both clearly huge sources of motivation for the 38-year-old veteran every time that he makes the walk to the Octagon.

The result may not have his gone his way this past weekend but the Missouri native was able to turn a negative experience into a positive one for his eldest son, Hap.

Chandler posted a video on Instagram where he consoled his son backstage, telling him to repeat his words back to him in order to learn a vital lesson about adversity.

“Okay, listen. We’re going to work extremely hard, we’re going to try and do the best that we can. Sometimes, we’re going to fall short. Gonna come up short but we’re always going to keep our head up. Even if you get some cuts on your face. I love you, cheers.”

Chandler reflected on this conversation in the caption of the post where he wrote about what his son experienced and what he hoped to accomplish in sending him this message.

“MOMENTS. A Nutella cheers. This was the first time Hap saw me lose a fight in person. He was full of emotions back stage, and rightfully so. He was thrown into the pit of a valley he didn’t see coming.

“The blood and swelling only exacerbated the fears of how daddy was doing as he held my hand as I got stitched up. But in the midst of the chaos and pain was a perfect time to show him how a man responds. Don’t tell them, show them. Bested but never beaten.”

Michael Chandler should retire unless he gets offered something special

It’s clear from Michael Chandler’s reaction to his loss at UFC 314 that being there for his family is his number one priority in life.

With that in mind, ‘Iron’ Mike should ride off into the sunset and whilst his career inside of the Octagon hasn’t gone to plan, it certainly produced some incredible moments.

We’ve now seen what it looks like when he takes on the younger rising contenders in the division and it’s not something that fans will be clamouring to see again.

Unless the UFC is able to put something together where he faces a fellow veteran or established name in a big marquee matchup for one last dance, now might be the right time for Chandler to bow out.

Although ‘The Last Emperor’ never fought in the premier promotion, he and his team had several talks with Dana White over the years regarding a potential signing.

However, UFC icon Joe Rogan revealed the reason Fedor never signed with the UFC is that his team priced him out of negotiations by stating that they wanted co-ownership of the UFC, which White wasn’t willing to give up.

Fedor Emelianenko destroyed Chael Sonnen in huge clash

Despite having never fought under the UFC banner, the Russian heavyweight has shared the cage with several UFC legends over the years, including Rampage Jackson, whom he face-plant KO’d in the penultimate win of his career.

However, before sharing the cage with the former UFC light heavyweight champion, Emelianenko squared off against arguably the UFC’s greatest ever trash talker, Chael Sonnen.

After fighting here, there, and everywhere, the Russian signed a deal to fight in Bellator, where he lost his debut against Matt Mitrione.

He then rebounded from that disappointing outing by knocking out former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir in the first round.

42 years old at the time, Emelianenko was matched up with fellow veteran, Sonnen, who was on a two-fight win streak in Bellator.

After huge anticipation for the fight, Fedor showcased exactly why he is widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time when he knocked down Sonnen within the first four seconds of round one.

‘The Last Emperor’ scored a few more knockdowns before Sonnen slowly worked his way back into the fight by utilising his wrestling.

Despite that, with just less than a minute left of the fight, Sonnen attempted another takedown, but it was reversed by the Russian, who unleashed hellacious ground-and-pound on the trash talker, leading to the referee stepping in to stop the fight.

Sonnen claimed Fedor hit him ‘like a missile’

Not only was Emelianenko regarded as a great because of his incredible well roundedness, but he was also regarded as one of the hardest hitters in MMA history.

A few months removed from their fight, Sonnen explained Fedor’s punches as missile-like, backing up claims of his power.

“Guys, he hit me so hard it was like a missile, I keep calling it a missile, I got hit with a missile,” Sonnen said.

There are talks that the 48-year-old could return to combat sports, as Conor McGregor recently hinted that he is in talks to sign for BKFC.

On May 3, Deiveson Figueiredo looks to bounce back from his loss to Petr Yan last November when he faces Cory Sandhagen in Des Moines, Iowa.

Sandhagen has recently taken extra measures to try and get closer to a title shot with both men being in the mix at 135-pounds as two of the top contenders who are yet to face either Merab Dvalishvili or Sean O’Malley.

Figueiredo gave his supporters a glimpse into his training camp in the build up to his second consecutive main event spotlight where he’s been putting in work to keep his head movement sharp.

Fans laugh at Deiveson Figueiredo getting hit by cones as he tests his head movement and reaction time

Deiveson Figueiredo has always had one of the most fan-friendly styles amongst the top fighters in the smaller weight classes.

The former UFC flyweight champion has got remarkable power in his hands and he often stalks his opponent’s down to try and land single strikes with huge consequences.

This unique style can also leave him open to counter strikes if he’s unable to slip the offense that is coming back at him because Figueiredo likes to hold his hands low to bank on his reactions keeping him safe.

In a video posted on his Instagram, ‘Deus Da Guerra’ was seen moving side-to-side whilst he uses his head movement to dodge cones that are being thrown at him from off-screen with impressive accuracy.

This drill is certainly unique but it does make sense for a fighter that counts on his vision and split-second decision making to get the better of striking exchanges.

The only problem is that in the first few seconds of the video that Figueiredo posted, he gets immediately caught on the top of the head, slips two of them and then is hit square in the face by the fourth cone.

“10-9 Yellow disk,” wrote one fan after the post was shared on X.

“What is my goat doing,” remarked another whilst multiple replies referenced the 2004 movie ‘Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story’ where to learn the sport, Vince Vaughn’s are forced to dodge wrenches and traffic.

“If he can dodge a wrench he can dodge a ball.”

Fans express the same concern about Deiveson Figueiredo’s training

Whilst Deiveson Figueiredo might be working on improving his movement and reactions, several fans expressed the same concern ahead of his return on May 3.

Cory Sandhagen is another one of the bantamweight division’s most talented strikers but he has also been known to mix in his grappling from time-to-time.

There isn’t a track record for Figueiredo being completely outmatched in the grappling exchanges but it seems that fans are more worried about this element of the fight over anything else.

Several responses stated that the former flyweight champion might be focusing on the wrong things before he makes the trip to Iowa.

“All this to get held down for 5 rounds. Go back down to 125 bro.”

Paddy Pimblett is now ranked #8 in the lightweight division reigned over by Islam Makhachev.

Ilia Topuria recently reqlishied his featherweight belt and announced a move up to 155lbs, which could see him take on the pound-for-pound number one before potentially defending his second UFC belt against the Englishman.

Ilia Topuria predicts Paddy Pimblett vs Justin Gaethje

It’s widely believed that Pimblett is just one more big win away from a lightweight title shot.

The 30-year-old named Charles Oliveira as his ideal next opponent during a post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, during which he expressed his willingness to fight anyone in the top five, besides Arman Tsarukyan.

Topuria shares a long and bitter history with Pimblet, whom he had a hotel scuffle with in March 2022.

Still, he hopes to see him progress to championship level so they can settle their rivalry inside the Octagon.

Topuria believes Pimblett’s easiest route to the title is through former interim champion Justin Gaethje.

“I would put Justin Gaethje against Paddy Pimblett [and] me against Islam,” he said during a recent appearance on Rogan’s podcast. “Once I pass him, I get the title, and you put me against Paddy.

“I think he’s gonna [beat Gaethje] easy… He doesn’t know how to grapple, and Paddy knows how.

“Did you ever see him submitting someone? What everyone likes is to dominate people and win as soon as possible. If you had the ability to submit someone you would do it.”

Ilia Topuria wants Paddy Pimblett title fight

Conor McGregor is an opponent Topuria would be willing to face if he doesn’t get Makhachev next.

However, he says the potential grudge match with Pimblett at Real Mardrid’s 80,000-capcity stadium is much more appealing to him.

Topuria added: “What excites me more is the fight with Paddy.

“If they could put that fight in Spain, in the Bernabeu Stadium.

“I know that Dana doesn’t like to the put the events in stadiums, but that is the only stadium in the world that they can close the roof.”

Despite that, ahead of UFC 314 this past Saturday, the former UFC double champion declared his interest in fighting the winner of the co-main event between Paddy Pimblett and Michael Chandler.

Subsequently, the 36-year-old placed a huge $50,000 bet on Chandler to win by KO, losing money after Pimblett dominated Chandler on the way to a third-round finish.

Joe Rogan doubts McGregor will ever return to the UFC

During a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, UFC icon Joe Rogan had Ilia Topuria in the studio to discuss all things MMA and the UFC.

During their discussion, Topuria revealed that he was once in talks with the UFC for a super-fight against McGregor, but things never came to fruition.

And with that, the UFC superstar asked Rogan his opinion on Conor McGregor and whether the UFC mainstay thinks ‘The Notorious’ will return to the Octagon.

“If I had to bet, no,” Rogan replied bluntly.

“No, I don’t think he comes back, because he hasn’t come back yet, and he could’ve. If he really wanted to, he would’ve been back in the gym, had a fight scheduled, drug tested, clean, and training, gone through a camp, and had a fight.

“He had a broken toe before his (scheduled) fight against Chandler, I understand that, ok, why should you fight with a broken toe? Especially a guy who moves a lot like Conor, he relies on movement a lot.

“Heal that toe up and then what’s what? Two months? And so then you’re back in camp, and then you reschedule a fight and then fight again, but he didn’t,” Rogan continued.

Joe Rogan also questions McGregor’s party lifestyle

For several years now, UFC fans have questioned whether the Irishman still has the motivation to step into the Octagon, especially with his eccentric lifestyle outside of the fight game.

McGregor is constantly seen at BKFC events, drinking and partying after watching the fights, which has concerned many of his fans.

“Also, partying, constant partying, all these legal problems that he has, you know, scooting around on yachts and driving around in a Lamborghini, he’s wealthy. Maybe (he’s done).

“What’s really sad is if he comes back when he’s 39 or 40 (years old) and his body just doesn’t have it anymore,” Rogan continued.

Whether or not McGregor is considering a comeback to the sport, he has yet to register a test session this year with the UFC’s Anti-Doping agency. And with that, he must be in the testing pool for at least six months before he returns.

The consensus greatest of all time has known for a while that if he is to fight again in the UFC, his next fight will be against the current interim champion, Tom Aspinall.

Despite that, talks have continued to stall between the UFC and Jones, as Aspinall waits on the sidelines to find out whether he will be fighting for the undisputed title or not.

Fans attempt to decipher Jones’ deleted post about UFC rival

With it still relatively unclear whether ‘Bones’ will fight Aspinall, he has continued to be mocked by a large portion of the fanbase, who are continuing to label him a ‘duck’.

The 37-year-old champion used to be extremely active on social media, where he would continuously bite at fans who would tell him he was scared of fighting Aspinall.

However, he seemingly then took a break from social media, which resulted in fans wondering whether the fight will happen.

This past Wednesday, though, Jones made a bizarre post on social media, which he went on to delete shortly after, sending the fans wild as they attempt to decipher who he was talking about.

“The guy who was known for calling out Jon Jones, and didn’t end up being great at all,” Jones stated in the deleted post.

There are several fighters the heavyweight champion could be talking about, as throughout his career, he has been involved in brief feuds with many fighters.

It is unclear whether the UFC heavyweight champion is speaking in future tense, taking a dig at Aspinall, who he has previously claimed would just be another young name on his record who thought they could beat him.

Fans offer their opinions on who Jones could be talking about

Despite that, UFC fans have lost their minds attempting to figure out who Jones was talking about.

“Who is he talking about?” one fan commented.

“Israel Adesanya, in my opinion,” another fan responded.

Jones and Adesanya had a brief feud dating back to as early as 2020, and the two even agreed to fight each other on several occasions. Although Adesanya went on to win UFC middleweight gold and defend the title several times, some fans think Jones could be talking about him, referencing his three-fight losing skid.

“Is this about Dominick Reyes?” another fan questioned.

When Jones fought Dominick Reyes in 2020, many fans believed Reyes did enough to pick up the win, despite Jones retaining the title. Since then, Reyes has commented on the fight several times, and it has drawn a reaction from Jones.

However, the majority of fans believe Jones is once again referencing Aspinall, further leading to questions on whether they will fight.

“What a weirdo, just fight Tom or retire,” a fourth fan said.

“Can you believe a bunch of people call this man the GOAT of the sport? Crazy,” a fifth fan commented.

Post-fight, he was celebrating in the cage with his team, which included Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz, and Gilbert Melendez.

However, his interview was interrupted by ex-opponent, Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller, who called for a rematch.

Dana White reacts to Nashville brawl

Miller’s attempt to hijack Sheilds’ post-fight interview sparked a mass brawl involving the Diaz Brothers.

Punches, elbows, and kicks were thrown in wild scenes that the commentator called ‘ridiculous’.

Nick and Nate took the brunt of the backlash for the brawl, but UFC boss Dana White pointed the blame at Strikeforce for allowing Miller to charge into the cage to confront Shields after he’d pulled off a monumental upset.

“What do you think is going to happen? I saw people talking, ‘Well, the UFC does the same thing’. No we don’t,” White said at the time.

“First of all, we are very controlled over who goes in and out of that Octagon after a fight. If there’s another fight that we are gonna set up, you wait until the guy gets done with his interview, then you bring the other guy in there and you let them say whatever they wanna say to each other.

“You don’t just let fighters run in and do whatever they wanna do. I honestly believe the Diaz Brothers are taking a lot of slack for this thing. Number one, Jake Shields pushed him first and Gilbert Melendez was in the middle of that too.

“Ask 1000 people this question: ‘If a fight breaks next to the Diaz Brothers, what do you think is gonna happen?’ Is that a shock to anybody? Really! A fight broke out with the Diaz Brothers friends and they got involved. That’s weird!

“Come on! Give me a f—— break.”

Dana White signed Jake Shields

The post-fight brawl didn’t put White off bringing Shields into MMA’s premier promotion.

A split decision win over Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut was enough to earn a title shot.

Georges St-Pierre outpointed Shields over five rounds to defend his welterweight belt April 2011.

Shields ultimately finished his UFC run with a 4-3 record, which included big-name wins over Tyron Woodley and Demian Maia.

In 2018, he retired after suffering a first-round knockout loss against Ray Cooper III at PFL 10.

Volkanovski silenced those doubters after beating Diego Lopes on April 12 to win the vacant featherweight title following a great battle in Miami.

Israel Adesanya also reclaimed his title in the “Sunshine State” when he knocked out Alex Pereira in their rematch two years ago to become a two-time middleweight champion.

With Adesanya now without a win in his last three outings, it looks like ‘The Last Stylebender’ could be gearing up for another roll of the dice at 35-years-old.

Eugene Bareman says Alexander Volkanovski laid out the blueprint for Israel Adesanya to follow

Even Alexander Volkanovski admitted that his doubters had a point heading into UFC 314 because the task in front of him was an uphill one.

Whilst Israel Adesanya won’t be going straight back into a title fight if he does return, he’s still going to be involved in a matchup where fans question whether he has what it takes to compete with the best fighters at 185-pounds.

Adesanya’s head coach Eugene Bareman recently gave an update on ‘The Last Stylebender’ in an interview with Submission Radio where he said that whilst it is very early days, the former two-time champion does want to step back inside the Octagon.

“That is so far from my mind. To me, Israel’s taking a break mate, he’s in America. The one brief conversation that he had with me in the changing room at Volk’s, he said, ‘Look man, I think I’m going to fight again.’ Those are the conversations we’re having.”

For Bareman, he believes that if Adesanya is serious about making a return to try and bounce back with a win, Volkanovski just set the standard that they have to match.

The City Kickboxing head coach has spoken a lot in the past about how the striking specialist needs to be prepared to give everything he has for his training camps in order to compete at the highest level.

Stating that Volkanovski is the hardest and most dedicated worker that he has ever seen, Bareman said that ‘The Great’ just laid out the blueprint for Adesanya if he is serious about getting things back on track.

“Izzy knows the kind of commitment and dedication that he needs to be in this sport and we just had one of our best friends, a guy whose the same age as Izzy, might even be older, win the championship of the world. We both know from first-hand experience how hard that man works. Age is not gonna matter to a guy when you work like that… so we have a very close friend of ours and we look at his work ethic and that’s the example.

“That’s the bar, that’s where we’ve got to go and Izzy knows that’s where he’s got to go and that’s a heavy, heavy commitment. Dedicate yourself as much as Volk does is a heavy, heavy commitment for any fighter in their prime let alone one that’s in the twilight of their career so these are the kinds of things that Izzy is contemplating.”

Who could Israel Adesanya fight next?

Having lost in February to Nassourdine Imavov who is one of the newer faces at the top of the middleweight division, it might not be the best idea for Israel Adesanya to jump back in against a rising contender.

That being said, the UFC does have a track record of putting together this style of matchup where either Adesanya proves that he still deserves to be in the mix or his opponent records the biggest win of his career.

Names like Caio Borralho and Anthony Hernandez would fit that bill but a rematch with Sean Strickland could be another option.

You can guarantee that Adesanya will want that win back and after his disappointing performance against Dricus du Plessis in their rematch, a second victory over ‘The Last Stylebender’ would help Strickland regain some momentum.

Things remained extremely respectful between the two lightweights when Pimblett ran into Chandler backstage, thanking him for affording him the opportunity to fight him.

‘The Baddy’ did, though, get involved in a run-in with UFC welterweight star Colby Covington as the two bizarrely clashed backstage.

Ilia Topuria explains why he wasn’t very impressed with Pimblett’s win

Following the biggest win of his career, the Brit called out several UFC lightweight contenders, including Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje, and Arman Tsarukyan, but someone he did leave out was Ilia Topuria.

Pimblett and Topuria have had an ongoing feud since 2022 when they clashed at the UFC fighter hotel in London.

Reacting to the 30-year-old’s win over ‘Iron’ Mike, Ilia Topuria explained why he wasn’t entirely impressed with Pimblett’s performance.

“He did a great job, he did what he had to do but for me, I’m gonna be completely honest, for me, Chandler was never an extraordinary fighter,” Topuria began to explain during his recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience.

“He was an average fighter, like, who did he beat in the UFC? Dan Hooker, yeah,” Topuria laughed as he threw shade on Hooker.

“So he beat Dan Hooker and Tony Ferguson, when he was almost 40 years old. At the end of the day, you see wars, it’s a very competitive fight, you see almost a bar fight, two guys exchanging punches, but you don’t see technique or skills. I would never recommend to someone, watch (Michael Chandler) and learn something,” Topuria continued.

Of course, Pimblett could only beat who was put in front of him and his performance is still regarded as an impressive one by the majority of the fanbase, despite Chandler being 1-5 in his last six fights.

Topuria more excited by potential fight against Pimblett than McGregor

Topuria and Pimblett are seemingly on a collision course headed for each other, with ‘La Layenda’ now part of the 155lb division.

The 28-year-old revealed during his interview with Joe Rogan that he has previously been in talks with the UFC and Conor McGregor for a huge super-fight, but things never came to fruition.

However, the Spaniard explained that he is more excited by a potential clash against ‘The Baddy’ and would like for the fight to take place at the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.

“What excites me more is a fight against Paddy. That fight excites me even more, and if they could put that fight in Spain in the Bernabeu Stadium (it would be amazing),” Topuria said.