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3 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |Deepali Verma
MMA is an individual sport. But what if it wasn’t? What if MMA had a city-based franchise model like the NFL and the NBA? Well, that was the question MMA promotion, the Global Fight League, aimed to answer. Announced in 2024, the Darren Owen-led promotion promised a six-city-based format (Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, Sao Paulo, Dubai, and London) with fighters getting drafted to each city.
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3 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |Gokul Pillai
It seems the boxing world has yet to emerge from the controversy surrounding Imane Khelif. The path-breaking Algerian boxer who became the first female Olympic gold medalist from her country found herself in the center of a massive storm when she was accused of being a biological male during the 2024 Paris Olympics last year. It began when Khelif’s Italian opponent, Angela Carini, quit their round-of-sixteen clash 46 seconds into the fight after taking a few punches from Khelif.
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3 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |Jyotsna Rai
There are some rivalries that define a sport. The Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics in the NBA, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the MLB, and the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears in the NFL are some of the rivalries that make these sports much more entertaining and intriguing to watch. But in an individual fast-moving sport like MMA, such long-standing and storied rivalries are hard to come by. But Daniel Cormier vs.
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4 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |Deepali Verma
Well, Tom Aspinall got us all with his heavyweight news. On May 26, the UFC interim heavyweight champion promised fans “heavyweight news incoming” on May 28. And with the fate of the Jon Jones-Tom Aspinall heavyweight unification bout giving fans sleepless nights, you can imagine people were expecting an update on that fight. So when the Englishman revealed that the big news was him launching a new ‘heavyweight’ line with apparel company Champion, fans were incensed.
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4 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |Deepali Verma
Belal Muhammad cannot catch a break. At long last, after a ten-fight unbeaten streak, and with all the other contenders having had their turn, ‘Bully B’ finally got his title fight last year. And the Chicago-born grappler absolutely wiped the floor with then-champion Leon Edwards at UFC 304 to become the UFC’s welterweight champ. Alas, Muhammad couldn’t even defend the title once and dropped it to the brilliant Jack Della Maddalena at their UFC 315 clash, and has once again been written off.
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4 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |Deepali Verma
The stage was set for Sean O’Malley to take another step up and become a mega-star at UFC 306. Coming off a dominant title defense over Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera at UFC 299, the rainbow-haired striker was set to face Merab Dvalishvili on the UFC’s most memorable card at ‘The Sphere’ in Las Vegas. Alas, ‘The Machine’ lived up to his moniker and poured cold water on O’Malley’s hype. The Georgian dominated ‘Suga,’ taking him down at will, and playing with him there.
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4 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |Jyotsna Rai
The UFC is the toughest MMA promotion in the world. The MMA world has no shortage of young and promising prospects who dominate in the regional scenes but don’t look quite as good once they come to the UFC, where they face the highest level of competition in he sport. A few, like, say, Khamzat Chimaev do live up to the hype and become superstars in no time.
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4 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |Jyotsna Rai
Stephen Thompson is one of those guys you can’t help but love. The uncrowned yet undisputed NMF (Nicest Motherf—er) in the MMA world, possibly the entire fight world, ‘Wonderboy’ unfortunately seems to be coming to the end of his rope. Already 42, the Karate black belt has lost four out of his last five. Which is a far cry from the nigh untouchable striker who almost won the title against Tyron Woodley in 2016.
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1 month ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |Shreyas Pai
When Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson calls someone ‘wild’, you better believe it. After all, the former MMA superstar is something of an authority on the topic, having been an absolute menace in his youth. With his zany sense of humor and willingness to say anything, no matter how politically incorrect, combined with his wild antics, Jackson was untameable. But after being on a podcast episode with the legendary Nate Diaz, ‘Rampage’ couldn’t help but commend the Stockton native.
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1 month ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |Jyotsna Rai
Ilia Topuria may be the biggest active star in the sport of MMA at the moment. Alex Pereira doesn’t have quite the same sheen he once had after losing his title to Magomed Ankalaev. Israel Adesanya is 0-3 in his last three, and fans are starting to question whether or not he is over the hill. In the meantime, the bombastic, confident-to-the-point-of-cocky, knockout-artist Topuria has emerged as a legend killer and the most exciting guy to watch in the sport.
