Tag Archives: Michael Chandler

Patricio Freire Outlasts AJ McKee to Reclaim Bellator Featherweight Title

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Patricio Freire has his title back…

The 34-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist, Bellator‘s franchise fighter, gutted out a unanimous decision win (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) over previously undefeated prodigy AJ McKee to win back the featherweight title in the main event of Bellator 277 on Friday night in San Jose, California.

Patricio FreireMcKee beat Freire, known as “Pitbull,” for the title via submission in just 1:57 of the first round last July.

Freire is now a three-time Bellator featherweight champion.

“That day, I came in peace,” Freire said, referring to his loss to McKee last summer. “Today, I came for war. And I’m bringing the belt home.”

It was a hard-fought, close battle between two of the best fighters in the world outside the UFC. ESPN had McKee ranked No. 3 and “Pitbull” ranked No. 5 in the world at featherweight coming in.

There was plenty of talk leading into this fight about how McKee, a 27-year-old whom many believe is a future superstar, would fare in a fight with UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

But “Pitbull” silenced those discussions Friday night. He did solid work in the early rounds, peppering McKee with leg kicks and punching combinations. In the third, he dropped McKee briefly with an overhand right and grabbed a tight guillotine.

McKee was able to escape that submission and do some of his best work in the late rounds. McKee landed solid combinations in the fourth round and several takedowns in the fifth, nearly getting Freire’s back at one point. In the closing minutes, McKee did his most damage, landing combos with his hands, a takedown and a hard elbow against the cage.

“He’s a tough guy,” Freire said. “He’s a great opponent. It was a hard fight to me.”

Freire (33-5) has won eight of his past nine bouts, including a 61-second knockout of current UFC lightweight contender Michael Chandler at lightweight back in 2019.

The Brazil native held both the Bellator featherweight and lightweight titles from 2019 to 2021. He lost the featherweight belt to McKee and relinquished the lightweight gold last November to focus on featherweight.

Freire has the most wins (21), the most featherweight wins (20) and the most title fight wins (11) in Bellator history.

Charles Oliveira to Defend UFC Lightweight Title Against Justin Gaethje 

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Charles Oliveira is going back on the defense…

The 32-year-old Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner, the reigning UFC lightweight champion, will seek his second title defense against Justin Gaethje at UFC 274 on May 7, UFC president Dana White has told ESPN.

Charles Oliveira The UFC is working on finalizing the 155-pound title fight shortly. The pay-per-view event now includes two title fights.

Brazilian light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira will face Jiri Prochazka on the same date.

The UFC has not announced an official venue. It had considered holding it in Brazil, but the card is now expected to take place in the U.S.

Oliveira (32-8) is coming off a spectacular year in 2021. He won the vacant title by knocking out Michael Chandler in the second round of an exhilarating title fight in May, and finished off the calendar year with a comeback submission victory over Dustin Poirier for his first title defense.

Gaethje (23-3) has been waiting for another crack at UFC gold since former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov retired in October 2020. Gaethje, of Arizona, challenged Nurmagomedov for the title in the final fight of Nurmagomedov’s career. His record made him worthy of fighting for the vacant title right away, but he was forced to pick up one more win before earning the shot.

That win came against Chandler in November at UFC 268 at Madison Square Garden, where Gaethje won the bout via decision.

Charles Oliveira Defeats Dustin Poirier via Submission to Retain UFC Lightweight Title

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Charles Oliveira won’t be underestimated anymore…

The 32-year-old Brazilian professional mixed martial artist weathered an early storm and then finished Dustin Poirier via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1 minute, 2 seconds of the third round Saturday night in the main event of UFC 269 at T-Mobile Arena.

Charles Oliveira

With the victory, Oliveira retained the UFC lightweight title.

“I’m the world champion,” Oliveira said in his postfight interview through an interpreter. “I’m the man. They talk. I do it.”

After back-to-back stoppage wins over Conor McGregor, many thought Poirier becoming UFC lightweight champion was a foregone conclusion.

Instead, Oliveira, the greatest submission artist in UFC history, cashed as a +115 underdog, according to Caesars Sportsbook.

He won the belt with a second-round TKO win over Michael Chandler at UFC 262 in May. That was Oliveira’s 28th UFC fight, the longest journey for any fighter to a UFC title in history. Yet, he remained unheralded with more popular names like Poirier near the top of the division. It’ll be hard to doubt “Do Bronx” any longer.

Coming in, ESPN had Poirier ranked No. 5 and Oliveira ranked No. 6 in the world on its pound-for-pound MMA list. At lightweight, ESPN had Poirier at No. 1 and Oliveira at No. 2.

On Saturday, Poirier rocked Oliveira several times in the first round, dropping him once with a wicked left hook. But Oliveira survived the barrage and gained momentum late in the round with a big left hook.

“They can hit me a lot,” Oliveira said. “I’m gonna walk forward.”

Oliveira took Poirier down early in the second round and remained in top position, landing hard elbows, for most of the round. In the third, Oliveira swooped into a clinch against the cage and immediately took Poirier’s back with Poirier standing up. Oliveira, who has one of the most dangerous back games in MMA, looked for the choke and found it despite Poirier trying to fight his hands.

“I don’t let opportunities get away,” Oliveira said in the postfight news conference. “I always say I have opportunistic jiu-jitsu. When I saw it, I couldn’t pass it up and I had to do it.”

Oliveira (32-8, 1 NC), 32, has won 10 in a row, tied for the second-longest active streak in the UFC behind Kamaru Usman‘s 15 straight. He took home the vacant title with the victory over Chandler following former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s retirement and vacating of the title last year.

A native of Brazil, Oliveira has the most finishes (18) and most submission wins (15) in UFC history. He has a 20-8 (1 NC) record in the UFC going back to his debut in 2010 and is one of only nine fighters in history to win 20 UFC fights.

Poirier (28-7, 1 NC), a former UFC interim lightweight champ, beat McGregor twice this year, the latter a doctor’s stoppage TKO of McGregor at UFC 264 in July when McGregor broke his leg. Poirier, a Louisiana native fighting out of Florida, had won three straight coming in and had just one loss in his past 10 fights, to Nurmagomedov in a title fight at UFC 242 in September 2019. Poirier, 32, has the most KO/TKO victories in UFC lightweight history (8).

“I landed some good, clean shots on him,” Poirier said. “I thought I was gonna get him away in the first round. He’s a champ, man. The game plan was to take my time. I brawled again.”

Poirier said in the postfight news conference that he knows he can work his way back to another title fight, but he’s not sure if that’s what he wants to do yet.

UFC president Dana White said former interim champion Justin Gaethje “makes sense” as Oliveira’s next challenger. Gaethje beat Chandler last month at UFC 268.

Gaethje has made some disparaging remarks about Oliveira, questioning his heart. Oliveira brushed that off Saturday night.

“Look at what they’ve been saying about me,” Oliveira said. “They’re saying I can’t take hits — look at what I’ve been doing. They say I quit — look at what I’ve been doing. I’m just going to keep doing what I do.”

Oliveira also took aim at Nurmagomedov, the legendary former champ who said he was rooting for Poirier in this fight but tweeted his congratulations to Oliveira late Saturday.

Oliveira said this was his era of the lightweight division.

“History and legacy have a new name,” he said, “and that’s Charles Oliveira.”

Charles Oliveira to Face Off Against Dustin Poirier for Lightweight Championship at UFC 269

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Charles Oliveira has a new opponent…

The 31-year-old Brazilian professional mixed martial artist (31-8) will face off against Dustin Poirier for the lightweight championship at UFC 269 on Dec. 11.

Charles Oliveira

The matchup had been in talks for weeks, and Poirier told ESPN late last month there was “a good chance” it would happen. The 32-year-old lightweight mixed martial artist wrote on social media that the bout is now official.

“Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” Poirier wrote on Twitter.

Representatives for Poirier confirmed to ESPN he has officially agreed to the December title fight.

A win against Oliveira would cap off an amazing year for Poirier, who has been fighting professionally since 2009. The Louisiana native kicked off 2021 by knocking out Conor McGregor in January at UFC 257. He followed that up with another TKO win against McGregor at UFC 264 in July, a fight that ended when McGregor suffered a serious leg injury at the end of the opening round.

UFC 269 will mark Poirier’s second attempt at an undisputed UFC championship. He challenged former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in September 2019, and lost via submission. Poirier is a former interim UFC champion, but has never held the undisputed title.

Oliveira, 31, captured the vacant UFC title by knocking out Michael Chandler in May. Fighting out of Brazil, Oliveira is riding a nine-fight win streak that includes eight finishes.

Charles Oliveira Defeats Michael Chandler via TKO to Become UFC Champion

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Charles Oliveira is finally a UFC champion.

The 31-year-old Brazilian professional mixed martial artist finished Michael Chandler via TKO at 19 seconds of the second round on Saturday night in the main event of UFC 262 at Toyota Center. With the victory, Oliveira captured the vacant UFC lightweight title.

Charles Oliveira

“I told you I was going to knock him out, and I came and knocked him out,” Oliveira said in his postfight interview through an interpreter. “I proved to everybody I’m the lion of lions.”

In the opening seconds of the second round, Oliveira dropped Chandler with a left hook and then poured it on with strikes on the ground. Chandler tried his best to get away, but he could not. Oliveira landed until referee Dan Miragliotta pulled him off, ruling it a TKO.

Oliveira quickly climbed out of the cage to celebrate after the finish and came right up to UFC president Dana White.

At the postfight news conference, White said Oliveira told him, “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. Tonight was the biggest opportunity for my life.”

“That was an incredible main event,” White said. “Both guys had an unbelievable performance in that fight. Oliveira pulled it out.”

Nate Diaz to Fight Leon Edwards at UFC 262 in May

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Nate Diaz is returning to The Octagon…

Diaz, one of the most popular fighters in MMA, will fight Leon Edwards at UFC 262 on May 15 in Houston, according to ESPN.

Nate Diaz

Both fighters have verbally agreed to the fight, though the contract isn’t signed yet.

The fight will serve as a five-round co-main event for the card headlined by Charles Oliveira versus Michael Chandler for the vacant UFC lightweight title, sources said.

This will mark the first five-round, non-title co-main event in UFC history.

Diaz (20-12) hasn’t fought since his November 2019 loss to Jorge Masvidal at Madison Square Garden.

Edwards (18-3, 1 NC) is unbeaten in his past nine fights. He had won eight fights in a row; however, earlier this month, his bout against Belal Muhammad ended in a no contest after he hit Muhammad with an accidental eye poke in the second round, which resulted in Muhammad no longer being able to continue.

Edwards’ last loss was to Kamaru Usman, before Usman became UFC welterweight champion, in December 2015.

The promotion had hoped to book Edwards to face Colby Covington next, but couldn’t get Covington to agree to the fight for undisclosed reasons, sources said. The UFC pivoted to an Edwards-Diaz fight late last week.

UFC 262 will take place at the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets.

Alvarez Officially Joins the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

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Eddie Alvarez is making a big switch…

The 30-year-old half-Puerto Rican mixed martial artist is joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Eddie Alvarez

Bellator MMA president Scott Coker has confirmed to ESPN.com the promotion has granted the two-time and former Bellator Lightweight Champion his unconditional release.

Later UFC president Dana White announced via Twitter that Alvarez had signed with the UFC and will fight Donald Cerrone in the co-main event of UFC 178 on September 27 in Las Vegas.

Cerrone (24-6) was previously scheduled to fight Bobby Green on the same date, but switches to Alvarez instead.

Alvarez (25-3) vacates Bellator’s 155-pound title, which he won in a split decision victory against Michael Chandler at Bellator 106 in November. The company has no future matching rights on Alvarez, according to Coker.

“We granted Eddie his unconditional release this morning,” Coker told ESPN.com. “Eddie is free to explore the free-agent market. We wish him the best in the future.”

Alvarez, who appeared in the inaugural Bellator event in April 2009 and won the title later that year, provided the following statement to ESPN.com via text message.

“This was a long process but it’s a decision that everyone seems happy with,” Alvarez said. “I think it’s important to say that I am genuinely thankful for the time at Bellator. I know that sounds a little crazy given everything I went through, but I’ve fought there since 2009 and have been involved in some really amazing fights.

“The staff there always treated me great and I’m going to miss seeing a lot of those familiar faces around for sure. Myself and my team had some really good discussions with Scott, but in my heart I knew I was ready to move on and start the next chapter of my career.”