Former UFC combatant Paige VanZant will be out of action for a few months after suffering a broken foot. VanZant gained immense popularity after making her debut back in 2014. The ‘12 Guage’ enjoyed a three-fight winning streak in the UFC before she was finally halted by Rose Namajunas. It was an equally contested match but Namajunas had the last laugh as she submitted VanZant in the final round via rear Naked Choke. In late 2020, VanZant parted ways with the UFC and decided to join a new venture at BKFC. The 28-year-old has been winless in the company so far but has never left the ring without putting on a show for her fans. The ‘12 Guage’ was due to return at a KnuckleMania event for BKFC in February. But it seems like she won’t be able to make it there on time as she announced on her Instagram that she has suffered a broken foot. VanZant will be going under rehab and will only return to action after getting her foot fixed. VanZant has remained the apple of the eye of the MMA community all over the world ever since she stepped into the fighting scene. His popularity skyrocketed after she recently made an OnlyFans site.

The former four-division champ Adrien Broner gets another opportunity to get his career back on the right track as he signs a huge eight-figure deal with BKL Prime. After early success in his career, Broner somewhat got carried away with the fame and success that came his way. As a result, he lost his concentration and focus and is now left with no title. But now the ‘Problem’ has another chance to make a man and shoot for the glory that he once craved. The Cincinnati, Ohio native has reportedly penned a huge deal with the emerging promotion, BKL Prime. Earlier, Broner announced that he will be making his return to the ring against Ivan Redkach in Atlanta, Georgia in February next year. Broner further added that he has signed a three-fight, eight-figure deal with BLK Prime. Broner was scheduled to face Omar Figueroa Jr but had to pull out after claiming that he was not in a position to compete due to his mental health issues. Broner has had ups and downs in his career but another setback here will surely not do him any good. Broner has a perfect chance to revive his so far, dismal career under the banner of BKL Prime. The promotion hosted a successful event earlier this month hosting their new entree, Terence Crawford at the CHI Health Center, in Omaha, Nebraska.

According to information released by the Broward County Sheriff's Office, American boxer Gervonta Davis was arrested and jailed for several hours on Tuesday afternoon following a domestic disturbance in which he allegedly punched a woman in the head. According to the report, the woman does not live with Davis and was injured on the inside of her upper lip on the right side of her mouth. Davis was arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence after the events occurred at 2:50 p.m. ET Tuesday in Parkland, Florida. He was released on $1,000 bail on Wednesday afternoon. Some media outlets released the call the plaintiff made to 911, in which she is heard saying, "Please help me; I need help, please. I'm trying to get home, I have a baby in the car and he attacked me.... He's going to kill me." Gervonta Davis, according to authorities, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the alleged incident. This came just days before his Jan. 7 fight in Washington, D.C., against Hector Luis Garcia, and will serve as a warm-up for his big fight against Ryan Garcia on April 25 in Las Vegas. Gervonta defended himself against the accusations and gave his version of events on Instagram, with an image of a screen and a scene from the movie Frozen, which he was watching with his daughter. "I never put my hands on the mother or my daughter. I'm not a monster, I've been quiet too long. I don't have a media team, public relations, a good lawyer... that's the only reason I'm doing this now! Just to clear my name," he wrote. "They're doing this for money and also to destroy me. I'm not a monster, I have two beautiful daughters who have to grow up someday and see this shit! They even publish a snippet of the call to the police that my daughter's mother made! They don't care if it's true or a lie...she did it or not...they just want to put it out there because it's beneficial for their business!" he claimed.

Jared Anderson has been the most impressive heavyweight prospect in America this year, but 2023 will be even bigger for him, as his promoter Bob Arum plans to take him to the top of the division and showcase him in the United Kingdom. This year, Anderson has been America's most promising heavyweight prospect. He's expected to break through into the world-class arena in 2023. He fought Forrest earlier this month, a gatekeeper who had gone ten rounds with Carlos Takam and Kubrat Pulev, as well as drawing with Michael Hunter and Zhile Zhang. Anderson of Toledo destroyed him in two rounds, unleashing an unrelenting torrent of punches after Forrest clipped him early on. Anderson, who is only 23 years old, is eager to advance. Looking ahead to 2023, his promoter Arum said: "This is going to be a big year for Jared. He's come along. He's gone from a prospect to a contender, or the fringe of being a contender. I look at '23 as the year Jared Anderson will become a real top contender for the heavyweight title. "I think the kid is massively, massively talented. I think that he will really shine next year." With Anderson's current form, it may be difficult to find opponents to match him as he seeks to become a world champion. "Money always solves the problem," Arum said. "I think a lot of guys are going to test Jared and let's see. "So far I've been so pleased with his development and his career that I think he's done extraordinarily well." Arum also feels that there is a big market for the young emerging contender in the UK and he should grab that opportunity by both hands. He'd like to have fighters like Anderson compete in Britain. "You've got to bring them over to the UK. It's such a big market that we want to showcase these guys in the UK, just the way UK fighters have always wanted to come to the United States to be showcased," Arum said. "The UK is becoming a major, major market for boxing. It was always big but now it's huge so of course we're going to bring them over there."

Tracy Cortez has stated that she needs to work on her mental health after experiencing some difficulties outside of the octagon. She is hoping to spend some time off well before continuing her UFC stint. Because of a medical reason, the rapidly rising and talented Cortez was unfortunately forced to withdraw from her UFC Orlando women's flyweight bout against Amanda Ribas. Cortez weighed in smoothly and without incident, but she eventually disclosed that the Florida Athletic Commission and her doctors had not given her the go-ahead to participate. Neither UFC nor she did not reveal the cause since she thought it was a personal concern. Cortez may have already been dealing with other concerns, as evidenced by the Instagram stories she shared along with a post to inform her followers. She stated that she intends to compete soon, though she is uncertain about the date. In an Instagram story shared on social media, Cortez spoke about the struggles: “I want to be very vulnerable but I also — to a certain extent because social media knows how to tear people down,” said Cortez on Instagram Stories. “I don’t know if you guys have noticed much, but I haven’t really been too active here on socials. And that’s because I am in a stage, a season in my life where I am healing. I’m healing and I’ve been going through it on a personal level. I’ve been healing and accountability is a hard pill to swallow, and a lot of people aren’t able to take accountability of their actions. You know, it’s always easy to find the easy way out, excuses, you know? And I’m changing everything that I thought I was once. I’m trying to become a better person. I’m trying. Not that I was bad, but I’m trying to move intentionally, I’m trying to move purely. “I’ve been going through it since August,” continued Cortez. “I went through my camp extremely depressed. I went through my camp, and despite how my mental state was, I still gave it 110 percent. I showed up and it was hard. Everyone around me in my circle saw and getting pulled out the way that I did, hurt me. It broke me because we give everything. We leave it all. We give everything that we possibly can and we leave it all, every ounce of us in every session. I feel like training camp really takes a toll on me, and I think every fighter to a certain level can relate, spiritually, physically, and obviously, mentally, it takes a toll on us. And I gave it all. I gave it all I had and not fighting has kind of left me a little lost. But I’m okay. I’m keeping myself healthy. I’m making my mental state, my state of mind, my mental health, I’m making it a priority.” In 2022, Cortez made one UFC appearance, winning by unanimous decision against Melissa Gatto in May to keep her perfect UFC record intact and earn her 10th consecutive victory overall.

The most anticipated co-main event between Vadim Nemkov and Yoel Romero for the light heavyweight title is off the Bellator 290 card which takes place on February 4th, 2023 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, just outside Los Angeles. The announcement regarding the change in the main card was made official on Tuesday and to fill the gap a showdown between Fedor Emelianenko’s teammate, Anatoly Tokov, and the champion Johnny Eblen has been finalized for the middleweight championship. The Bellator 290 main card is headlined by a heavyweight title fight between the champion Ryan Bader and Fedor Emelianenko. Emelianenko's spectacular career is reportedly coming to an end with this bout. After defeating Corey Anderson by unanimous decision in November of last year, which concluded a two-fight run that was necessary because their first encounter ended with a no contest, this was Nemkov's fifth planned title defense. Nemkov left Bellator 290, although the reason why hasn't been made public. At Bellator 282 in June, Eblen defeated Gegard Mousasi by unanimous decision, winning the middleweight division by a score of 50-45. The rising star with excellent wrestling capabilities defeated John Salter in March to make himself eligible for a title opportunity. Since starting his professional MMA journey in 2017, "The Human Cheat Code" is 12-0, with eight victories coming inside the Bellator cage. In his last outing at Bellator 282, Tokov (31-3) defeated Muhammad Abdullah via first-round TKO for his seventh consecutive victory, all wins came under the Bellator name. After a two-year absence, Tokov made a comeback in October 2021 and accepted a split verdict win against Sharaf Davlatmurodov. With the change, the Bellator 290 main card lineup now includes: Champ Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko – for the heavyweight title Champ Johnny Eblen vs. Anatoly Tokov – for the middleweight title Sabah Homasi vs. Brennan Ward

Teofimo Lopez hasn’t been at his absolute best recently but his trainer, Stephen Edwards wants him to improve drastically if he wants to be named among the modern greats. Earlier this month, Lopez got away with a controversial split-decision win over Sandor Martin at Madison Square Garden, New York. Many onlookers thought Martin had done enough to win the fight but the judges went the other way, awarding Lopez the win. After the fight, the boxing junkies raised questions about whether Lopez had what it takes to be successful at 140 or not. Lopez clearly wasn’t comfortable facing Martin as he struggled to connect with anything significant. Now the former lightweight champ has another tough opponent waiting as Regis Prograis has been announced as his possible next opponent. Trainer Stephen Edwards believes Lopez needs to turn things quickly before it gets out of his hands. Edwards admitted Lopez’s performance against Martin wasn’t up to mark and that he will have to be at his absolute best if he wants to get past Prograis. “I would favor Regis right now because based on current form, but I can’t say Teofimo can’t beat him. Regis is an excellent fighter, but anybody can lose. It’s going to be a tough fight right now, but this is what boxing is.” said Stephen ‘Breadman’ Edwards to Fighthype. “Let’s see what he’s made of. Boxing is more than just talent. It’s willpower, it’s the ability to overcome obstacles, and the ability to block out what everyone is saying”.

Despite his retirement from the sport, the former UFC welterweight, Donald Cerrone is not giving up the idea of hitting the gym. Cerrone is one of the most loved athletes to ever step in the ring. The Cowboy’s last dance came this past July at UFC 276, where he was submitted by Jim Miller via guillotine choke. Instead of spending this leisure time with his family, the 39-year-old has once again started gloving up. The Cowboy recently share a picture of himself on social media where he appeared to gain muscle. The fans speculated that Cerrone is preparing to run the clock back. But the Cowboy negated all the rumours, reciprocating that his jacked physique post-retirement isn’t entirely natural. Cerrone admitted to using steroids. He was talking to the Calabasas Fight Companion podcast where he opened up about what it feels like to take these pills at this stage of his career. “I feel like I’m f*cking 20 again. The training would never stop. You could just literally train as hard as you wanted to, (then) wake up the next day recovered and fresh. Recovery would be the biggest (improvement). It’s the fountain of youth.” Cerrone spent more than a decade in the UFC and during this time he fought the likes of Conor McGregor, Tony Ferguson, Anthony Pettis, and Alex Morono. The Cowboy is no stranger to the MMA world. His resume speaks for itself.

According to reports, former UFC champion José Aldo is set to make his boxing debut in 2023 with Hardcore FC. José Aldo, a former longtime UFC champion, had always had boxing on his radar even before he ended his MMA career in September. Now that he is no longer under contract, it appears that these plans are proceeding. The 36-year-old Aldo will make his boxing debut under Hardcore FC sometime in March 2023 in Dubai, according to Telecom Asia. Anatoliy Sulyanov, the organization's founder, confirmed the information and stated that the Brazilian will probably be on the same card as multiple-time light heavyweight boxing champion Sergey Kovalev. Sulyanov said that a major Hardcore Boxing event would take place in Dubai on March 18. "José Aldo and probably even Sergey "Crusher" Kovalev will be on the event, but I won't give you the names just yet. With 99.9% certainty, Aldo will fight; currently, we are in talks with Sergey.” Aldo's (31-8) MMA career came to an end after a decision loss against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278.

After almost ten years with the UFC, the former UFC title challenger and Olympic silver medalist has signed a multi-fight contract with Bellator. McMann (13-6) is expected to compete as a featherweight after moving up a division. It is unknown when she will make her Bellator debut. Following an initial report from Ariel Helwani on Tuesday, McMann explained her decision in a social media statement shortly after the news surfaced (via Instagram). She wrote: "After a lot of consideration and negotiation, I’ve decided to fight for Bellator in the featherweight division." McMann last appeared in a fight in March, when she decisively defeated Karol Rosa at UFC on ESPN 33. That was her only match in 2022.

TBS will premiere Dana White's slap fighting league on January 11. Competitors will slap each other across the jaw as hard as they can in an attempt to knock each other out. This type of spectacle is not new; slap fighting has been around for a few years. However, the UFC President is giving the sport  unprecedented exposure and legitimacy. White is obviously attempting to entice an MMA audience to his new venture. This is made clearer by the news that former UFC middleweight champion Forest Griffin has been cast in a role on the show. Griffin told TMZ in an interview that he was in charge of ensuring that competitors did not sustain more than an acceptable amount of brain damage. Griffin said, explaining what he was hoping to prevent. “You’ve taken the first trauma and when your head hits the ground, bang bang, both sides of your brain actually bounce against your skull. We want to prevent that and make it just the initial impact and have that be what causes you or not causes you to win or lose the competition.” Brains bouncing off the inside of the skull pose a significant risk. This motion is what causes brain bleeds, which have claimed the lives of several MMA fighters and boxers, including Tim Hague, Joao Carvalho, and Dwight Ritchie. However, movement is not the only risk combat athletes take with their brains. When the brain is forced to rotate, within the skull, it can cause a number of symptoms which, we often refer to as a 'concussion'. A mild traumatic brain injury, or mTBI, is the technical term for this. MTBIs cause the release of a protein called tau in the brain. This protein causes brain decay throughout the body. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is caused by this process (CTE). CTE can cause dementia, depression, and a higher risk of suicide.

With no opponents on the horizon, Allstars Training Center head coach Andreas Michael suggests Khamzat Chimaev fight at middleweight next. Michael proposed a title fight against Alex Pereira, who won the middleweight title by TKOing Israel Adesanya in the fifth round at UFC 281. The Swedish trainer believes it will be a "amazing fight" and that Khamzat, who has previously struggled to make welterweight, will have no trouble making weight. “We’re having a good camp here and we’re gonna do it again. We’re going to go to heavyweight,” Michael joked during a recent vlog in Dubai. “Middleweight [is where I really want to see him next]. For the belt. I would like that. That’s an amazing fight [with Alex Pereira]. We can fight at [welterweight] no problem. It’s no problem at all. It’s just good preparation and good warning for if we’re gonna go drop down in weight then we need time and it’s done. Not this five weeks or four weeks preparation thing because it’s not doable in that time.” “Right now he’s like [196 pounds]. He can make weight like tomorrow. [Middleweight], it’s no problem. Even if everyone thinks that he’s [300 pounds now],” he added. Chimaev is expected to return to welterweight in the near future, as Pereira is expected to rematch Israel Adesanya before taking on any other challengers. Chimaev's most recent fight was at UFC 279, where he submitted Kevin Holland in the first round. With a professional record of 12-0, he is currently ranked third in the UFC welterweight rankings (6-0 UFC).