Aljamain Sterling still has Sean O’Malley on his mind even after he picked up a win in a grappling match at Polaris 25 on Saturday.

The ex-UFC bantamweight champion earned a decision win over Mike Grundy in a 10-minute match that saw the wrestlers constantly jockeying for position without giving up too many bad positions. Sterling showed grit and determination with his takedowns and grappling acumen in the exchanges and scrambles on the mat.

In the end, Sterling was able to outlast Grundy to get the job done, which puts him back in the win column after he suffered a loss in his recent title fight against O’Malley at UFC 292.

While he was obviously happy with the win in his grappling match, Sterling wasted no time turning his attention back to O’Malley and sending the new UFC bantamweight champion a rather emphatic message.

“I got a message for Mr. Suga T*** because he’s still that to me,” Sterling shouted to the crowd in Wales. “Hey, give me my rematch or fight Merab [Dvalishvili]. It’s that simple.

“Stop ducking the top contenders and be a man and be a real champion. Fight the best of the best. That’s what I did and now you need to turn around and do the same exact s***. Let’s go.”

Since suffering a second-round TKO loss, Sterling has remained vocal calling for a rematch against O’Malley after he set the record for the most bantamweight title defenses in UFC history with three in a row.

If Sterling doesn’t get an immediate rematch, he wants his teammate and friend Merab Dvalishvili to get that opportunity instead. Dvalishvili currently sits with a nine-fight win streak in the division including recent wins over ex-UFC champion Petr Yan and Jose Aldo.

Following his win over Sterling in August, O’Malley began calling for a rematch of his own against Chito Vera, who stands as the only loss on his record after they previously clashed back in 2020. O’Malley pushed for a date in December but the year-end UFC 296 card already features two title fights so it’s likely the new bantamweight king will have to wait until 2024 to compete again.

Who O’Malley will face remains a mystery but Sterling wants to be involved in that conversation with hopes he’ll get a rematch or Dvailishvili will get his long awaited opportunity at becoming UFC champion.

Cedric Doumbe lived up to the hype in his PFL debut.

The former kickboxing champion from France needed just nine seconds to deliver a blistering knockout against Jordan Zebo in front of a raucous home crowd in Paris on Saturday.

The fight ended in rapid fire fashion after Zebo threw a kick to start the fight, which Doumbe caught and immediately countered. Doumbe blasted Zebo with a huge left hook followed by a right hand for good measure.

Zebo crashed to the canvas with referee Marc Goddard rushing in to stop the contest with Doumbe celebrating a stunning victory in the PFL Europe main event.

“That’s one of my best preparations that I ever did in combat sports,” Doumbe said after the win. “I feel in shape. Everything was settled to knock him out. I knew I would knock him out. That’s what I expected.

“This is my specialty, I’m a kickboxer. He just came into it and that was easy.”

Replays showed Doumbe’s fluid motion as he caught the head kick and then as Zebo attempted to spin away, the 31-year-old knockout artist unleashed the left hook that essentially ended the fight. Zebo barely had a chance to react much less attempt to block the punch as Doumbe cracked him with power and precision.

Doumbe’s signing has been heralded as one of the best prospect additions to the PFL roster and he wasted no time making a memorable first impression.

With the victory, Doumbe moves to 5-0 in his MMA career and he’s anxiously awaiting his next assignment from the PFL which could potentially come in the new season kicking off in 2024.

“I never decline a fight,” Doumbe shouted. “Anyone. I never have to call out anybody because I’m the best.”

Johnny Eblen isn’t a fan of the rumors of a PFL-Bellator merger.

Recently, it’s been an open secret in the MMA world that Bellator is on the auction block, and earlier this month, rumors began circulating that PFL was in process of acquiring the rival promotion. Whether the rumors will ultimately prove true remains to be seen, but Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen, who defended his title with a third round TKO win over Fabian Edwards at Bellator 299 this past weekend, says that the vibes were definitely a little off at this most recent event.

“I feel like the staff isn’t as hyped anymore,” Eblen said on The MMA Hour. “Not altogether, but it just kind of felt like when I went to check in, that it wasn’t the same this time. They’re still doing their thing and there’s a lot of uncertainty, so I can totally understand why, but other than that, other than the energy behind it, everything ran smoothly. Everything ran great. The Bellator staff is amazing. Everything ran how it should have ran.

“I guess it’s just like this big cloud of uncertainty is hanging over everybody’s head when it comes to Bellator and the future of Bellator and what’s going to happen. It’s going to change how people are feeling during events like this.”

As things stand now, Bellator has at least two more events planned out for the year — Bellator 300 and 301 — but after that, nothing has been announced, meaning that Eblen’s fight with Edwards on Saturday may have been his final one inside the Bellator cage.

And if that’s the case, that’s OK by the middleweight champ.

“I don’t know what the future holds, I just understand that I’m damn good at what I do, so I will always be employed, whether at Bellator, PFL, or the UFC, or freaking ONE,” Eblen said. “I can’t count ONE out. Quite possibly it could have been my last fight with Bellator, or not. They could have a few more events and drag this out a little bit longer. I’m not sure what the whole deal entails and what they’re going to do. Who knows? I’ll just be here waiting, ready to fight again, and take on whatever challenge they bring me next.”

With a deal not even confirmed, nearly anything could come next for Elben, be it in Bellator, PFL, or free agency. Whatever ends up happening though, Eblen doesn’t particularly like the big picture of everything should PFL actually end up acquiring Bellator.

“I think it’s bad, personally,” Eblen said. “It’s two major organizations, really, that are controlling a lot of fighters. I know PFL is meaning well though, and they’re trying to get guys paid more, so I can kind of see how it might be good, but you don’t know until it’s actually done. They could say that they’re going to pay fighters more and what-not but then absorb Bellator and do the same thing that the UFC is doing. Not to say that that’s what they’re going to do, but I like more competition than less competition.”

On top of the decrease in competition, Eblen in particular faces a different kind of problem: PFL does not currently have a middleweight division, meaning Eblen may not even have a home should the rumors prove true. The creates an entirely separate set of uncertainties for the middleweight champ, with some possible outcomes that he really doesn’t want.

“I think it’s a little odd and it’s kind of like, are you going to build [a division] for me?” Eblen said. “Are you not? We don’t know what’s going to happen. If they do and they get me to do a tournament structure, I’m not upset with that. I’m going to make a lot of money. And I’m also not upset with, ‘Hey, we’re not going to build a middleweight division,’ and they terminate my contract or sell it or whatever and I go to the UFC. I’m not upset with that either.

“It’s just weird. If they do buy it, they’re going to have to build a division around me or they’re going to have to do what they’re doing to Kayla Harrison, which is actually something I don’t want because I want to fight often. The worst possible thing that could happen to me is around my prime getting stuck fighting one time a year, against not the best guys in the world. Unless they can somehow get the best guys in the world by somehow paying them more. That’s what they did with Francis, but can you do that with some of the best ‘85ers in the world? I don’t know.”

And if they can’t? Eblen isn’t sure where that ultimately leaves him in his career, other than wishing things were different.

“If they get some new people to bring over, to sign, that are top-10 guys, that would make it interesting, but that’s a matter of if,” Eblen said. “That’s the only thing they could possibly do. Other than that, I’d just be kind of just fighting guys that aren’t the best in the world, and that’s where the problem lies, I think, with the whole PFL deal.

“You have one of the best talents in the middleweight division, but how are you going to make good fights with this guy? How do you make a good production with the best middleweight but you don’t have all the other middleweights? It’s just weird to me. I think fighting is such a weird sport. I wish it was more like boxing, where you could do cross-promotional and have the best guys fight each other, and boom, you know who the best guy in the world is.”

Even Shaquille O’Neal is no match for Zhang Weili.

Currently the pound-for-pound top female fighter in the world in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, Zhang has always been considered one of the most physically imposing forces at 115 pounds, and now basketball Hall of Famer Shaq knows why.

Recently, Zhang had a jovial run in with Shaq at a gym where the sports icon implored her to show him some of her stuff. Zhang obliged, nearly sitting Shaq down with a punch to the body and then lifting the 7-foot-1 sports icon up with a single-leg. Zhang documented the entire meet-up on her Instagram, where Shaq even complimented her on one the punch.

O’Neal is an avid MMA fan and has attended a number of UFC events before. “The Big Aristotle” even credited his own MMA training for his four NBA championships and at one pointed teased a possible MMA fight against Hong Man Choi.

Zhang recently defended her strawweight title with a dominant performance over Amanda Lemos at UFC 292.

The Canelo Alvarez vs. Jeremell Charlo live stream online features action from one of boxing’s biggest events of the year at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

The Canelo vs. Charlo prelims will kick off at 5:30 p.m. ET, and the portion of this card is as follows:

Frank Sanchez vs. Scott Alexander

Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs. Isaac Rodrigues

Terrell Gausha vs. KeAndrae Leatherwood

Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs. Isaac Rodrigues

Gabriel Valenzuela vs. Yeis Gabriel Solano

Curmel Morton vs. Ezequiel Flores

Justin Viloria vs. Angel Barrera

Bek Nurmaganbet vs. Abimbola Osundairo

Abilkhan Amankul vs. Joeshon James

In the main event, Canelo Alvarez will put his undisputed super middleweight title on the line against undisputed light middleweight Jermell Charlo in the first meeting between two undisputed champions in men’s boxing history. The Alvarez vs. Charlo pay-per-view card will begin at 8 p.m. ET on FITE TV.

That portion of the card is as follows:

Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo

Jesus Ramos vs. Erickson Lubin

Yordenis Ugas vs. Mario Barrios

Elijah Garcia vs. Armando Resendiz

Although Jim Lampley hasn’t been consistently active in the boxing commentary scene, he has certainly been paying attention to what undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford has been doing inside the squared circle.

Lampley serves as a co-host for PPV.com’s live viewer chat for Saturday’s Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo boxing event in Las Vegas. The legendary boxing voice was incredibly impressed with Crawford’s dominant performance, a ninth-round TKO stoppage victory, against Errol Spence Jr. in July. For Lampley, he considers Crawford the best fighter on the planet, and that he reminds him of another all-time great pugilist.

“We have a great new pound-for-pound king, who reminds me in a lot of ways of ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson,” Lampley said on The MMA Hour. “He’s not as balletic as Robinson, but he’s the first I’ve seen since Robinson who can consistently balance himself out and create position for a counter-punch that develops murderous power.

“There aren’t too many counter-punchers who can create the kind of power that Crawford creates, so he’s really good and he’s meaningful.”

Lampley, a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame for his contributions to the sport, has called some of the most memorable moments in the history of boxing, including Buster Douglas’ upset win over Mike Tyson, and George Foreman’s shocking championship victory over Michael Moorer in 1994 to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history at the age of 45.

As far as Alvarez’s pound-for-pound status heading into this marquee matchup with Charlo, Lampley believes the only undisputed super middleweight champion in history could get to the top of the list — but he’d have to beat Crawford in the future to claim that spot.

“Would you give Canelo a chance to beat him? I think most people would have to say, ‘Oh, yeah,’” Lampley said. “Canelo is naturally the larger guy and he has a lot more experience in big fights. Maybe Canelo could beat Terence Crawford, [and if he did], that would make him No. 1.”

Britain Hart remains the gold standard in bare-knuckle fighting.

Friday evening at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia, Hart successfully defended her strawweight title, taking a unanimous decision over Melanie Shah in the main event of BKFC 51. Shah, who only had two previous fights in BKFC before earning this title shot, proved game, hanging tough despite being brutally battered by the champion for most of the bout. Things reached their peak in the final round, when Hart poured on a barrage of punches against the already badly beaten Shah in pursuit of a finish, even sending one of Shah’s teeth flying. Shah was ultimately able to survive the onslaught but lost every round on the judges’ scorecards.

The win was Hart’s second title defense and the first of a busy fall, who was already booked to face Po Denman on Nov. 4 at BKFC Thailand 5.

Check out the gnarly highlight from BKFC 51 below.

Showtime boxing boss Stephen Espinoza first took a page from UFC CEO Dana White’s playbook before whacking him over the head with it.

Responding to White’s most recent tirade at him, Espinoza feigned “shock” at the UFC boss’ behavior before cautioning that it could eventually get him in trouble as the public face of a publicly traded company.

“I’m shocked by the comments,” Espinoza told FightHype.com after a press conference for the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo pay-per-view event. “We’ve always known Dana to be so articulate and intelligent and witty with his comments. It’s so strange of him to lash out in anger. Who would have guessed that he would lash out in anger at somebody. We’ve never seen that before, right?”

White on Tuesday was asked about a report of Showtime Boxing’s imminent demise, with the cable channel’s pugilistic operations set to go under by the end of this year. The UFC CEO cursed Espinoza and added “it’s about time that s***** product is off the air.”

Espinoza brushed off the report of Showtime Boxing’s close after a 37-year-run and pointed back to his contentious relationship with White as the source of the recent outburst. The executives butted heads publicly over pay-per-view figures from their co-promoted mega-fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, and White has since then taken every opportunity to attack Espinoza.

“I think some of it is I didn’t go along with the misrepresentations that he wanted to say on the events that we did together,” said Espinoza, referring to White’s contention that “The Money Fight” was the all-time leader in pay-per-view buys (he said the event was the No. 2 draw domestically behind Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao). “I think it’s kind of obvious. I don’t have to articulate. I think people can put two and two together and see why he tends to single me out among most other people for that kind of idiotic abuse.

“If that’s the only way he can engage in some sort of dialogue, then more power to him. I hope he can someday elevate his vocabulary and learn how to speak more eloquently and articulately. I think it’s something that might be necessarily helpful if you’re going to be a leader of a publicly traded company.”

Espinoza fired another shot at White during the press conference when he touted the $20 million gate expected for Canelo vs. Charlo. White responded with another fiery diatribe, calling the Showtime exec a “scumbag.”

Below is Espinoza’s full interview on Canelo vs. Charlo and his ongoing feud with White.

The Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo start time, TV schedule, and ring walks for the Canelo vs. Charlo fight card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

This post will help explain the Alvarez vs. Charlo fight card and at which time the headliners are expected to make their ring walks.

The event features a 13-bout card headlined by the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo blockbuster showdown on FITE TV pay-per-view. The Canelo vs. Charlo ring walks are expected to take place approximately around 11:15 p.m. ET.

The Canelo vs. Charlo prelims begin at 5:30 p.m. ET. The schedule for this portion of the card is below:

Frank Sanchez vs. Scott Alexander

Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs. Isaac Rodrigues

Terrell Gausha vs. KeAndrae Leatherwood

Gabriel Valenzuela vs. Yeis Gabriel Solano

Curmel Morton vs. Ezequiel Flores

Justin Viloria vs. Angel Barrera

Bek Nurmaganbet vs. Abimbola Osundairo

Abilkhan Amankul vs. Joeshon James

The card then heads over to FITE TV pay-per-view at 8 p.m. ET. Canelo Alvarez will defend his undisputed super middleweight title against undisputed light middlweight champion Jermell Charlo. The schedule for this portion of the card is as follows:

Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo

Jesus Ramos vs. Erickson Lubin

Yordenis Ugas vs. Mario Barrios

Elijah Garcia vs. Armando Resendiz

Canelo Alvarez is once again the hunted.

In his past three fights, the legendary Canelo has dealt with a wide range of expectations. Against Dmitry Bivol, he attempted to recapture gold in a division he hadn’t competed in in since 2019; against Gennadiy Golovkin, he aimed to close the door on his most famous rivalry; and against John Ryder, he was positioned to put on a showcase in an emotional Mexico homecoming.

Canelo stumbled against Bivol, but took care of business against “GGG” and Ryder, and now he has a fresh challenger looking to build their own legacy off him. Jermell Charlo moves up two weight classes to take on Canelo and add the super middleweight titles to his own collection of light middleweight straps.

Charlo is a sizeable underdog, and for good reason. Only Floyd Mayweather Jr., Golovkin, and Bivol have gone the distance with a prime Canelo and avoided a loss, so the pressure is on Charlo to plant his name among those luminaries. Is he catching a past-his-prime champion or will this version of Canelo still be too much on fight night?

What: Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo

Where: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas

When: Saturday, Sept. 30. The preliminary card begins at 5:30 p.m. ET and MMA Fighting will have a live stream of this portion of the show. The four-fight main card begins at 8 p.m. ET on FITE pay-per-view, with Canelo and Charlo expected to make the walk out for the main event around 11:15 p.m. ET.

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

The case for Charlo

Lee: For Charlo, everything starts with his jab.

He’ll throw it to control range, he’ll throw it to set up combos, he’ll even occasionally throw it to counter. It’s crisp, precise, and one of his best weapons. Despite giving up 10 pounds at the scale, Charlo actually enters this contest with a small reach advantage, and he’ll have to use every inch to keep Canelo off of him.

In the past, Charlo has shown he’s not afraid to brawl, but getting into fiery exchanges with the bigger Canelo is a terrible idea. If he recklessly stands and trades with Canelo for any period of time, he’s going to end up flat on the canvas. He’ll have to pick his spots if he wants to land with power, which isn’t difficult for him as he’s more than willing to throw his right hand with or without a proper setup.

Charlo’s footwear should see a lot of wear by the end of this fight as he will spend much of the bout working from outside. Canelo is dangerous with his counters, and one tact that Charlo could take is to frustrate the super middleweight champion with straight shots from distance in the hopes that he can goad Canelo into making a mistake. That’s much easier said than done because Canelo will have no issue wading through the occasional shot to crowd Charlo and punish him with punches inside.

Charlo has shown himself to be defensively irresponsible at times, which won’t fly against Canelo. That uppercut of Canelo’s remains a monstrous weapon, and though we’ve seen Charlo eat some hard shots in the past, a few of those from Canelo will end his night fast. Get in and get out. That has to be Team Charlo’s motto for this matchup.

One other potential pitfall that Charlo has to watch out for is that he has been criticized for being too robotic with his approach. He jabs, he jabs, he jabs some more, and when he sees an opening, he fires combinations down the pipe. Sometimes, he’ll continue with a combination even if he’s catching nothing but glove. He has the cardio to throw as much as he wants, but Canelo will easily pick up on his tendencies if he senses that Charlo is in flowchart mode.

Charlo isn’t actually the younger fighter here (he’s actually two months older than Canelo), but he certainly has less mileage on him: This is Charlo’s 38th fight, the 64th for Canelo. The time might just be right for Charlo to snag this upset. He’s precise, he has power in both hands, and he should have enough of a speed advantage to give Canelo problems.

It might not be the sexiest performance, but I think Charlo can use his movement and accuracy to steal enough rounds to surprise Canelo and take a decision.

Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images

The case for Canelo

Meshew: I respect AK for picking the Charlo side of this fight. Me? I believe that the low-hanging fruit is perfectly delicious, and it doesn’t get much more low-hanging than a -475 betting favorite.

“But why is Canelo such a big favorite given Mr. Lee’s compelling arguments?”

Well, simply put, because he’s going to win.

Let’s start with the most basic point to this entire fight: Charlo is jumping up two weight classes. Yes, Charlo is a naturally big junior middleweight, but now he’s coming up 14 pounds to super middleweight, and he’s fighting a man who has fought as high as light heavyweight. The thing about jumping weight classes is that it’s not just about the size, it’s about the power and the ability to absorb heavier shots coming back at you. We know for certain that Canelo’s power carries up to 175, and that he can take shots from true light heavyweights. Charlo has fought his entire career at 154. That’s a big difference.

Speaking of power and the ability to take a shot, Canelo’s chin is battle-tested against some exceptionally strong punchers, again, even up a weight class. As AK noted, Charlo isn’t exactly known for his defense, but he often gets away with it because he can thump. That seems unlikely to matter much again a man as durable as Canelo, and when Charlo inevitable opens up his offense, Canelo’s return fire will be deadly.

The last (and arguably most important) point in favor of Canelo is literally everything else. Per Compubox (via ESPN), Canelo throws more, lands more, and lands at a higher percentage than Charlo in both total strikes and power strikes. He’s a better jabber than Charlo and a better power puncher than Charlo. All that put in a package that is two weight classes heavier. Oh, and Canelo is the much better and more committed body puncher. Honestly, that doesn’t leave much room for Charlo to work.

The one thing people have pointed to that lines up in Charlo’s favor, and that AK noted, is the mileage on Canelo. He’s been fighting for 18 years, with 63 fights (that we can confirm, I would strongly suspect he’s got more than that given the start of his career), and he’s faced a ton of criticism for his recent performances, but I’m here to tell you that’s all explicable. Dmitriy Bivol was clearly too big for him, the Gennady Golovkin threematch was a fine performance against a guy he wasn’t all that invested in fighting a third time, and his inability to finish John Ryder in May is more a testament to the heart of Ryder, not to Canelo dropping off.

If Canelo comes in Saturday and looks gun shy, or a little slower, it won’t be entirely shocking given his mileage in the sport, but it’s not likely. And even if he is slowing down, having the benefit of fighting a man two weight classes smaller than you is a great way to mitigate the fade. I simply do not believe Charlo is good enough to bridge the gap, even if Canelo is possibly falling off. That’s not to diminish Charlo, mind you. He’s an exceptional boxer, one of the best in the world, but he’s simply giving up too much against another boxer who is knocking on the door of all-time great status. On Saturday, I expect Canelo to make a statement that will silence the few doubters who have cropped up in recent years.

Angela Lee is entering a new phase of her martial arts journey.

The longtime ONE Championship star announced her retirement from MMA and vacated her ONE 115-pound title on Friday night at ONE Fight Night 14 in Singapore. Lee’s decision comes shortly after she revealed in a Players Tribune essay that her 2017 car crash was a suicide attempt and that her 18-year-old sister Victoria Lee also took her own life in 2022.

The toll has been heavy on Lee, which ultimately led to her decision to lay down her gloves and put an end to her fighting career.

“This year has been the hardest year of my life,” an emotional Lee said. “I’m doing my best to pick up the pieces and move forward.”

“I’m here today to officially announce my retirement. It has been an incredible eight years. I just want to say thank you to the fans, to ONE Championship, to Chatri [Sityodtong], to my teams, and just everyone. There have been so many battles, in and out of the cage.

“The last thing I want to say is this: To the fighters and to everyone out there watching right now, is that the greatest battle we will ever face won’t be with an opponent standing in front of us. The greatest battle will be within ourselves. We all go through struggles, but we all fight. And each day, we are victorious when we choose to rise up in the face of adversity. So thank you guys so much, I love you. Thank you.”

Born into a martial arts family, Lee began competing in Pankration tournaments and learning Brazilian jiu-jitsu at a very young age. Lee eventually transitioned to MMA, where she signed with ONE Championship when she was just 18 years old. She made an immediate impact with the promotion.

Lee rattled off five straight wins to start her career then became the inaugural ONE 115-pound champion in 2016 at just age 19. She went on to defend her belt five times in her career and also tested herself in several contests at 125 pounds.

Lee last competed in October 2022, dropping a decision to reigning ONE 125-pound champion Xiong Jingnan in a rubber match after the pair split two previous meetings.

Following her sister’s tragic death, Lee took an extended break from the sport. ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong previously announced that she was considering retirement, however no decision had been made official until Friday. Lee said her goal now is to work with FightStory, a non-profit she created in honor of Victoria which supports people telling their own stories about mental health.

“FightStory was created because of my sister Victoria, and I’m choosing to honor her and her life by moving forward and helping others,” Lee said.

Lee’s career concludes with an 11-3 record overall. She remains undefeated at 115 pounds.

Following her retirement, Stamp Fairtex defeated UFC veteran Seo Hee Ham with a vicious body punch in the third round at ONE Fight Night 14 to claim the vacant 115-pound title.

MMA Fighting has Canelo vs. Charlo results live for the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo fight card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., on Saturday night.

When the main event begins around 11:30 p.m. ET, check out our Canelo vs. Charlo live round-by-round updates for our live blog of the main event.

Alvarez will put his undisputed super middleweight title on the line against undisputed junior middleweight champion Carlo in the the headliner.

Prelims (MMA Fighting at 5:30 p.m. ET):

Frank Sanchez vs. Scott Alexander

Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs. Isaac Rodrigues

Terrell Gausha vs. KeAndrae Leatherwood

Gabriel Valenzuela vs. Yeis Gabriel Solano

Curmel Morton vs. Ezequiel Flores

Justin Viloria vs. Angel Barrera

Bek Nurmaganbet vs. Abimbola Osundairo

Abilkhan Amankul vs. Joeshon James

Check out the Canelo vs. Charlo undercard live blog below:

Jesus Ramos vs. Erickson Lubin

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Yordenis Ugas vs. Mario Barrios

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Elijah Garcia vs. Armando Resendiz

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MMA Fighting has Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo live round-by-round updates for one of the most anticipated boxing fights of the year at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

The main event is expected to begin around 11:15 p.m. ET on FITE TV pay-per-view. Check out our Canelo vs. Charlo results page to find out what happened on the undercard.

Canelo Alvarez (59-2-2) has won his last two fights by unanimous decision since losing to Dmitry Bivol more than a year ago. Alvarez last defeated John Ryder by points this past May.

Jermell Charlo (35-1-1) is 4-0-1 in his past five fights. Charlo defeated Brian Castano via 10th-round knockout in his last outing in May 2022.

Canelo puts his undisputed super middleweight title on the line in the fight. Undisputed light middleweight champion Charlo jumps up two weight classes to face Canelo Alvarez.

Get the Canelo vs. Charlo round-by-round live blog below:

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Is Canelo Alvarez still the terror of the super middleweight division or is he primed for an upset?

MMA Fighting’s José Youngs, Eric Jackman, Jed K. Meshew, and E. Casey Leydon join forces to preview the super middleweight title fight between the undisputed kingpin Canelo Alvarez and the surging Jermell Charlo. At age 33, is the Mexican superstar really on the decline or are fans looking too much into his last performance? Not only that, but is Charlo moving up two weight classes going to play a factor against the hard-hitting Alvarez?

These are just some of the questions the three will answer for you ahead of the super middleweight fight inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Catch the Canelo vs. Charlo preview show above. An audio-only version of the show can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your pods.

Tobias Harila is going to be out of action for quite some time.

On Friday, Harila faced James Hendin in a featherweight fight in the main event of Cage Warriors 160 at the BEC Arena in Manchester, England. After being dominated for most of the fight, Harila added injury to insult when he snapped his arm getting slammed to the mat by Hendin during a takedown.

Despite a 4-2 record in the Cage Warriors cage heading into the bout, and all wins by way of knockout, Harila was unable to get much going against Hendin, who smothered him with takedowns and superior grappling, and nearly finished an arm-triangle choke in the second round. At the start of the third round, Hendin again got a takedown — and as he dumped Harila to the mat, “Bad Intentions” posted an arm out, resulting in a nasty break that had Harila immediately tapping out.

Check out the horrible injury video below, and to see the full event, you can watch a replay on UFC Fight Pass.

Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo are ready to go to war.

The two boxing headliners successfully hit their targeted weights at the Canelo vs. Charlo weigh-ins on Friday in Las Vegas. Alvarez and Charlo both tipped the scale at 167.4 pounds, coming in with 0.6 pounds to spare for their 168-pound championship bout.

Alvarez, 33, is boxing’s undisputed super middleweight champion. Internationally renown as one of the faces of boxing, Alvarez seeks to continue his undefeated 2023 campaign when he puts his WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring super middleweight belts on the line. Alavarez defended his titles with a unanimous decision over John Ryder this past May.

“I think it’s going to be a great fight. The size factor doesn’t matter here,” Alvarez said. “I did that before and I felt good, it’s going to be a great fight and I’m ready for everything.”

Charlo, 33, is boxing’s undisputed light middleweight champion. He last competed in May 2022 with a 10th-round knockout victory over Brian Castaño. In an ambitious move, Charlo now moves up two weight classes in order to challenge for Canelo’s crown.

“When it’s time to step in that ring, we know what time it is,” Charlo said. “It don’t matter how they hype him up. They got it popping in here. I love it, I enjoy it. I do this for us, baby. I do this for that culture that they talk about. I do this for the culture that they hate on. It’s time. I’m a bad motherf******.”

Canelo vs. Charlo takes place Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Check out complete Canelo vs. Charlo weigh-in results below.

Main Card (FITE TV at 8 p.m. ET)

Canelo Alvarez (167.4) vs. Jermell Charlo (167.4)

Jesus Ramos (153.4) vs. Erickson Lubin (153.4)

Yordenis Ugas (147) vs. Mario Barrios (146.8)

Elijah Garcia (159.6) vs. Armando Resendiz (159.6)

Prelims (MMA Fighting at 5:30 p.m. ET)

Frank Sanchez (241.6) vs. Scott Alexander (217.8)

Oleksandr Gvozdyk (174.3) vs. Isaac Rodrigues (183.2)

Terrell Gausha (162.4) vs. KeAndrae Leatherwood (162.4)

John Lineker returns to action Friday in Singapore for ONE Championship, where he looks to stop Stephen Loman’s 11-fight winning streak and earn another crack at the belt.

He’s also voiced interest in another type of challenge moving forward: The former ONE bantamweight champion wants to test his “Hands of Stone” in the squared circle.

With his most recent nemesis Fabricio Andrade set to face Muay Thai champion Jonathan Haggerty for the ONE kickboxing belt later this year, Lineker hopes the company allows him to give it a try in boxing as well.

“Since ONE gives us the opportunity [to compete in other sports], there’s no reason why I wouldn’t take advantage of that,” Lineker said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “I hope to be fighting in other sport in the future. If there’s a chance to fight in boxing, I would love that.”

Until that happens, Lineker’s sole focus is on collecting victories on his way to another shot at the title he once held. Lineker recently rebounded from his defeat to Andrade with a wild third-round knockout over Jae Woong Kim in August, and feels that his clash with Loman should be a No. 1 contender bout.

“I believe the winner absolutely will fight for the title, but I’m focused on putting on a good fight now,” Lineker said. “It gives me more motivation to go there and give my 100 percent knowing that there’s a chance I’m fighting for the title. The win [over Kim] put me back on track, and I plan on fighting for the belt again with a win over Loman.”

Loman, a former Brave CF champion with a record of 17-2 in the sport and so far a flawless three-fight run under the ONE banner, bested the company’s most successful champion Bibiano Fernandes in his most recent appearance, and Lineker knows what to expect from him. Lineker said his recent defeat to Andrade taught him an important lesson to not always assume his opponents will stand and trade with him.

“He’s very versatile and tough,” Lineker said of Loman. “He moves a lot on the feet and has great footwork and takedowns. I think I’ll need to be patient and alert to his movement and takedown attempts. Based on what I’ve studied from Loman’s game, he won’t come to trade with me on the feet, he will try to take me down and work with his ground-and-pound, but I’m focused and ready.”

“I’ll go there and search for the knockout at all times, like I always do,” he added. “That’s the type of fight I love, to give fans a show.”

Conor McGregor still intends to finish what he started with Michael Chandler.

The former two-division UFC champion confirmed Thursday that, despite the many false starts for their proposed matchup, Chandler remains McGregor’s targeted opponent for his octagon return.

“Yes, it has to be,” McGregor told All Out Fighting. “Has to be. Chandler, sit down and wait and shut your mouth, yeah? The Mac will be here soon.”

McGregor and Chandler coached opposite one another this year on The Ultimate Fighter 31, which saw Team Chandler’s Kurt Holobaugh and McGregor’s teammate Brad Katona emerge as winners of the show’s lightweight and bantamweight brackets, respectively. McGregor and Chandler were initially expected to compete in their own fight sometime in late 2023, however the matchup ultimately never came to fruition.

When asked about that 2023 targeted date, McGregor remained hopeful — even if it appears to be a longshot at this point.

“En route, I’m still hoping for December,” he said of the Chandler matchup.

The UFC recently finalized its year-end schedule with five championship bouts taking place over the final three pay-per-views of 2023, so it’s incredibly unlikely a lucrative bout like McGregor’s return would get burned on cards that are already stacked with big fights.

UFC CEO Dana White said as much this past week when asked about McGregor vs. Chandler and the possibility that a 2023 date is now out of the question.

“I got nothing on either one of those guys right now. I’ve been saying for awhile, next year is when Conor’s going to fight,” White told reporters in Las Vegas. “And then obviously, if Chandler gets antsy, then we’ll figure something out. I think Chandler’s got a bunch of money, he’s hanging out with family, and when the time is right for the Conor fight, I’m sure that’s the fight he wants. I’m not speaking for him, I’m just saying, I’m assuming.”

McGregor has been inactive since breaking his leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021, which marked the second of back-to-back stoppage losses for McGregor at Poirier’s hands. The 35-year-old Irishman has won just one bout since 2016 and is 1-3 over his past four fights. Nonetheless, he remains the biggest star in MMA, and he’s continued to promise that a UFC return is forthcoming.

McGregor also sounded off about the performance of his longtime rival Nate Diaz in Diaz’s recent professional boxing debut against Jake Paul.

“It was not great,” McGregor said of Diaz’s decision loss to Paul. “Not great. I’d like to see him back in MMA. I owe him a fight. I owe Nate a fight, so I’ve got to obligate that. He gave me my rematch and I got the better of him, and I owe him the trilogy for sure.”

Beware of the Pereira family when it comes to pranks.

Not long after Alex Pereira’s sons pulled a fast one on their old man (and barely survived to tell the tale), the former UFC middleweight champion paid it forward against his longtime friend and coach Glover Teixeira. In a video posted Friday to Instagram, Pereira is seen tricking Teixeira into believing a napkin at a sushi restaurant is a some sort of special dish.

“Look at the prank I’m going to do to Glover. It’s a napkin to clean hands, and I’ll tell him it’s to eat,” Pereira says in Portuguese, grinning.

“Good, huh?” Teixeira responds in Portuguese after getting handed the dish. “F***, man. Damn.”

“Come on, ‘Poatan!’” Teixeira adds after eating it. “F*** you, man!”

Watch video of Pereira’s hilarious prank against Teixeira below.

Pereira, 36, challenges Jiri Prochazka for the vacant UFC lightweight title on Nov. 11 at New York’s Madison Square Garden in the co-main event of UFC 295.

“Poatan” is 8-2 as a professional MMA fighter and is a former two-division kickboxing champion in GLORY. He last competed in July, when he defeated Jan Blachowicz via split decision in his light heavyweight debut. If victorious at UFC 295, Pereira will become a two-division UFC champion in just his seventh appearance under the promotion’s umbrella.

Deiveson Figueiredo and Aljamain Sterling disagree on how Figueiredo will fare as a bantamweight.

The former UFC flyweight champion moves up in weight on Dec. 2 when he makes his 135-pound debut against Rob Font following a four-fight rivalry with Brandon Moreno.

Sterling, who recently lost his bantamweight title to Sean O’Malley, predicts a rough night in the cage for the Brazilian.

“I think Rob Font is going to shut the lights off Figueiredo,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “I think Figueiredo’s going to be a little bit too small, man. Even standing next to him in person, I think Figueiredo’s going to have the speed advantage, but I think once Font closes the distance with his teeps, his long push kicks, and then uses that long jab, cuts off the cage where he’s kind of creeping towards you, long jab, and he creeps, stays in front of you, I think he’s going to be able to find those big hooks that he throws. Boom, uppercut, and I think that’s going to be the fight.

“But Figueiredo, obviously a former world champion, I think he’s going to make it interesting. But I still think the size is going to play a factor. Maybe he is big enough for 135, but the last time I saw him, he was cutting down to 125, so he looked a little bit smaller to me. So we’ll see how he looks physically when he’s making that jump up to 135. He ain’t muscular, but he cuts a lot of weight.”

Figueiredo reacted to Sterling’s comments on this week’s episode of MMA Fighting’s Trocação Franca podcast.

“No one is unbeatable in this division, right?” Figueiredo said. “Aljamain Sterling saw on his last fight, ‘Suga’ touched his head and he went down. There’s caution in every fight. Rob Font can put me to sleep as much as I can put him to sleep, you know? It’s two heavy trucks colliding. I have the heart of a lion, and rest assured that I’m going in there to give my best.”

The one thing Figueiredo and Sterling agree on is that speed is on the former flyweight’s side versus Font, who enters the cage looking to rebound from a loss to Cory Sandhagen.

Yet size might not be such a factor.

“I’ll have more speed, and I’m going to be healthier. I don’t think I’m too small for the division,” said Figueiredo, who stands at 5-foot-5, slightly shorter than the 5-foot-7 Sterling and Sterling’s 5-foot-6 teammate, Merab Dvalishvili. (Font is three inches taller than the Brazilian with similar reach advantage.)

“I stood next to Aljamain Sterling once, and he’s just a bit bigger than me,” Figueiredo continued. “I’ve been next to his friend, Merab, and he’s short next to me. Merab was shocked when he saw me. He even said I was fat, and I was that day. A guy that cuts that amount of weight to make 125 has to be very professional. He saw I’m not small for the division.”

Figueiredo respects Font as an opponent and anticipates an electric stand-up battle inside the Target Center in Minneapolis.

“There’s no doubt that I love to strike,” he said. “It’s going to be three rounds of non-stop action. The fight can end at any moment, because on one side you have someone strong, and I’m standing on the other side, a guy that likes danger. I’m not underestimating Rob Font, he’s tough and has taught the best, but so have I [at flyweight].”