Johnny Bedford, a two-time BKFC bantamweight champion and a six-fight UFC veteran, has declared his farewell from professional fighting. After participating in the bare-knuckle promotion for the last four years, he announced his appearance on the BKFC podcast on Wednesday. In addition, Bedford's retirement will result in the loss of his bantamweight title, which he won back in August 2021 by defeating Reggie Barnett Jr. “I ultimately had to make that hard-ass decision that I know that I can’t be ready to fight at the highest level,” Bedford said during the BKFC Holiday Giveaway podcast. “I’m not waking up at 6 a.m. to go running and it’s 30 degrees and I’m miserable. When I was 30, that excited me. It doesn’t excite me anymore. I don’t want to blabber forever, but I’ve justified it to myself and the people closest to me.” Bedford entered the world of combat sports with a motive to earn some bucks so that he could pay his monthly rent. This was the only option left for the champion so that he could fulfill his duties. The tough combat sports worn-out Johnny Bedford both physically and mentally too. But upon announcing his retirement, he seemed pretty much confident of the fact he is now financially stable and living a quality life. He also voiced that he has no motivation left his any corner of his body to carry on now. “I don’t have to fight just buy diapers and pay rent and do whatever it took,” Bedford said. “I used to fight, sh*t, twice a month just to pay bills. Because of bareknuckle and because of smart decisions I’ve made with my money from bareknuckle, I’m finally in a position where, wow. I don’t have to do this anymore. It was probably the hardest decision I’ve made.” Johnny Bedford revealed that his family is expecting the delivery of a new baby in January 2023 and his 40th birthday is approaching so he has no intention of losing a such moment of his life for another training camp away from his loved ones. The retirement decision was coupled with the possibility that his still working for BKFC and carrying on coaching made it easy for him to call it a career. Bedford’s run in the UFC wasn’t a successful one. From 2011 to 2014, Bedford competed six times in the UFC. He maintained a record of 2 wins, 4 losses, and one no-contest which resulted in a release from the promotion. His chapter in the BKFC is opposite to UFC. He fully credits his transition to BKFC as his entrance into financial stability. He swept in his first five BKFC matches, including the bantamweight championship of the promotion. Despite losing the championship to Dat Nguyen in 2021, Bedford regained it the following year after it had been vacated. Bedford was then matched up for his title defense against Jarod Grant in March 2022, but it was called off as he decided to withdraw. A second go vs Nguyen was on the table which was rumored to be scheduled for January 2022, but Bedford found out he was not able to give his best in the training camp.

Colby Covington recognized the assailant immediately away. Covington was attacked outside of a restaurant in Miami Beach, Fla., on March 21 by a guy he identified to authorities as UFC competitor Jorge Masvidal. Masvidal was arrested shortly after the event and is now facing various offenses, including aggravated violence and criminal mischief. Following the publication of film of Masvidal's arrest and processing, the YouTube channel Real World Police released audio of Covington's interview with police on Friday. According to Covington, he was having a night out with a group of pals that included Bob Menery and Kyle Forgeard of the Nelk Boys when he was allegedly attacked by Masvidal while they were changing venues. “As soon as we walk out, like, a bunch of people kind of bombarded us,” Covington told police. “They wanted pictures, a couple of people were asking me to sign gloves, like I signed four or five different gloves from three or four different fans. We were there for probably three to five minutes right outside Papi steakhouse and then we’re like, ‘Let’s get out of here. It’s time to go.’ “As soon as we’re about to walk across the street, I get sideswiped from the side, like I get punched in the mouth real quick and kind of get dizzed up and I look up and I see who it is, I can see in his eyes, it’s Jorge Masvidal. I can see his hair coming out of his hoodie, but he has a face mask on. A surgical face mask. But he’s saying, ‘You shouldn’t have f****** talked about my kids, you shouldn’t have f****** talked about my kids.’ So I was easily able to identify, like, that’s his voice, that’s his eyes, that’s his hair. I know exactly who that is and he took two quick punches to me.” Covington recalls Masvidal not being alone. He claimed that after being struck, his initial instinct was to return to the steakhouse, where he eventually phoned the police. The alleged altercation took occurred two weeks after Covington defeated Masvidal in the main event of UFC 272 on March 5 in Las Vegas. Covington and Masvidal had been locked in a long and very personal battle of words, a dispute that arose from a previous acquaintance. “Yes, I do have a history of knowing this person because I lived with him for two years and we were training partners for eight years,” Covington said. “We were very close friends, we literally trained together every single day, we were best friends. Obviously, I just fought this individual two weeks ago in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the UFC on their pay-per-view and I beat him easily, so I know exactly what he looks like, his eyes, his hair.” Covington can be heard in the new recording indicating a tooth injury as well as Masvidal's punches being strong enough to knock him out. Covington later claimed that the attack caused him to suffer a brain injury, which Masvidal's legal team denies. “I definitely suffered an injury to my tooth,” Covington said on March 21. “He chipped my front tooth and knocked it out and the adrenaline’s still kind of going right now, but he definitely rocked me. I saw stars a little bit, but I stayed on my feet and I was just trying to get to safety. That’s all I was concerned about.” Covington then stated that he was unable to locate his assailant after being attacked because his initial instinct was to return to the restaurant. He was positive, however, that Masvidal was the culprit in issue. He went on to say that he believes Masvidal was driven to attack him because of personal insults he launched against Masvidal prior to their UFC 272 fight.

Marlon Vera and Cory Sandhagen are expected to make pyrotechnics in their main event clash. Iridium Sports Agency, Vera's agent, broke the news on Friday. The fight is scheduled for Feb. 18 and will take place inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Vera and Sandhagen, ranked fourth and fifth in the bantamweight division, are dangerous volume strikers with cardio and submission skills. Vera and Sanhagen have a collective finishing rate of 74%, not content with including the judges. Vera (20-7-1) is putting the puzzle together at a high level. Vera, who is on a four-fight winning streak, knocked out former UFC champions Dominick Cruz (a KO of the Year candidate) and Frankie Edgar. With retiring double-champion Henry Cejudo and Sean O'Malley on the roster of title candidates, a win over Sandhagen should put "Chito" on the shortlist. Merab Dvalishvili is also in the mix, although his August victory over Jose Aldo was deemed boring and uninspired by UFC president Dana White. Sandhagen (15-4) was predicted to be a future world champion by commentators and fans, but he has failed at the highest level. In September, he ended a two-fight losing streak by slicing apart Song Yadong for a fourth-round TKO. On one end of the spectrum, there are highlight-reel knockouts of Edgar and Marlon Moraes and losses to Petr Yan, T.J. Dillashaw, and Aljamain Sterling. If someone dethrones Sterling as champion, Sandhagen's path to the global title may be shortened.

The American-Russian lightweight phenom Arman Tsarukyan is not a fan of the UFC lightweight division leaders and criticized them for not creating a path for the future crop of luminaries. It looks like Tsarukyan has adopted the style of the Notorious Conor McGregor when was still a promising young fighter. UFC lightweight division is regarded as the best in all of MMA by many people. The division is full of talent, each one of them worthy of holding the title, known for their commitment and fascinating fighting flair. The top 5 rankings in the division are being held by former champion Charles Oliveira, the former title challengers Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, Beneil Dariush, and Michael Chandler with Islam Makhachev being the champion. Tsarukyan wants to face a well-known opponent after steadily and impressively moving up the rankings. Despite his ambitions for a person of the aforementioned class, Tsarukyan believes that the particular trio of Poirier Gaethje and Chandler should put an end to their conflict completely. “[Chandler] needs to retire already. All of them need to retire,” Tsarukyan told Hardcore MMA (h/t Red Corner MMA). “[Beneil] Dariush... no, not him. Chandler, Poirier, Gaethje. Just get rid of them. Eliminate from the top 15. All they do is fight each other and that’s it. They don’t want to fight anyone. Those three guys are my least favorite fighters.'' Tsarukyan is presently rated #9 at 155 pounds and has a record of 6-1 since making a promotion debut back in 2018 against the current champion Islam Makhachev. Tsarukyan has bounced back from his decision loss to Mateusz Gamrot by defeating Damir Ismagulov last weekend at UFC Vegas 66 at the APEX in Las Vegas. After the recent win, enthusiasts have been demanding a future clash against highly anticipated lightweight Michael Chandler. “Chandler is not a threat,” Tsarukyan continued. “He can’t do anything to Islam (Makhachev). He charges like a bull in rounds one and two. If you watch his fight with Gaethje, he fought like a dummy. You’re a wrestler. Why are you fighting in stand-up with him? You pick him up, set him down, and don’t even get the position. Why did you even pick him up? Even threw him over the shoulder. You call that a wrestler? If you pick him up, you have to get the position. No logic. He’s old and it’s time to retire.” Tsarukyan feels confident about beating the current UFC lightweight champion if the rematch happens in a near future. He expressed that Makhachev has geared up his game but that won’t stop him from having his hand on the gold strap. “That would be No. 9,” Tsarukyan said of the toughest challenge for Makhachev. “No. 9 will give him the most competitive fight out of all top 15 fighters. I’m sure of it. I showed in my UFC debut that I can compete with him. “He has since improved and so have I. Hopefully, we’ll fight again.”

The International Olympic Committee has suggested that boxing be removed from the 2024 Paris Games, claiming that its Russian-led governing body has "no true interest" in the sport or its players. The International Boxing Association (IBA) was barred from being involved in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and boxing is not on the proposed plan for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, pending improvements by IBA. The IOC is in charge of organising the qualifying for the boxing competition in Paris 2024, but it stated that it will make additional decisions that "may have to include cancelling boxing for the Olympic Games Paris 2024" due to problems with the IBA. IOC released a statement that read: "The recent IBA Congress has shown once more that IBA has no real interest in the sport of boxing and the boxers, but is only interested in its own power." "The decisions and discussions to keep boxers away from the Olympic qualifiers and the Olympic Games cannot be understood differently." The IOC stated in September that it was "very concerned" about boxing's Olympic future after an extraordinary session of the IBA decisively supported Russian Umar Kremlev's continuation as president rather than holding an election. Kremlev defended the IBA at a forum in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago, saying that the IBA had adopted the majority of the suggestions made by the IOC and that the IBA respected the IOC.

Wiz Khalifa is most well-known for his wild and unhealthy lifestyle. You'll thus be amazed to hear that he has time for some serious martial arts training in addition to his work as a musician and his public passion for marijuana. Wiz claims that he first began training consistently for a few months with BJJ. But when he started practising Muay Thai, he really got the bug and is now working out for up to three hours every day. That involves pad workouts with Muay Thai legend Saenchai. He said:“I’ve been training for like five years now. I don’t know, I f–k with it, it’s just fun,”. It’s cool to learn new sh-t. I think the older you get, you just get into different things like your body just tells you what’s cool and what’s not cool.” I’m kind of just open for whatever. Jiu-jitsu, wrestling, striking, it’s whatever, if you want to teach me some sh-t, I’m down to learn.” In addition to training, Khalifa is a huge fan of the fighting game. He is frequently spotted at various MMA and boxing events and is even a part owner of PFL. He has previously shown an interest in entering the ring or cage himself, though he was less excited about it. “I wouldn’t say no because anything could happen. I’m definitely ready for whatever,” he said when asked about a fight."

Chenchen Dictator Ramzan Kadyrov's teenage son is about to make his professional MMA debut after months of training with UFC fighters. Ali Kadyrov, 15, will meet Islam Akbarov in a three-round preliminary battle at the Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA) 150 event in Chechnya on Friday. The fight was originally revealed on Thursday by a Chechen local news source, and ACA later confirmed it online. In order to get ready for the battle, Kadyrov has been working out with pros like Cody Garbrandt, a former UFC champion, and the Swedish Allstar squad, which includes rising UFC star Khamzat Chimaev, who released a training video of the adolescent on Instagram immediately after the official fight announcement. Ramzan Kadyrov has received criticism for using his sons as propaganda for a very long time. The head of state of Chechnya made news in 2016 when he entered his sons, the oldest of whom was 11 at the time, in MMA matches without using headgear, padding, or rash guards. Kadyrov dispatched his sons to Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city under Russian control, more recently to demonstrate his involvement in the invasion of Ukraine.

The UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier has given his verdict on USADA taking some fighters under strict scrutiny while keeping a lighter hand on the others. Cormier has had a long history of disputes with the former light heavyweight champ, Jon Jones and it seems like he is still carrying that bitterness to this point. Cormier-Jones rivalry is well-known by the MMA fraternity as the duo met twice in the octagon. On both occasions, Jones got the better of DC, stamping his authority over his contemporary. Since calling off his MMA career, DC has been involved in analysing and commentating on the fights from the side cage. While Jones is still active as he believes he still has a lot to offer to the fans. Jones hasn’t fought since beating Dominick Reyes back in 2020. Jones is eyeing a bigger prize as he prepares himself for even a bigger prize, another title in a new division. While Jones makes arrangements for his much-anticipated debut at the heavyweight, his former foe DC feels like Jones isn’t being tested more by USADA than the rest of the fighters. He was letting his thoughts known to his audience on his Youtube channel. “I’m saying test him more – not more than 65 times, that’s excessive. But test him more when he’s not the champ and when he’s not competing,” Cormier said. “Because guys are more inclined to cheat when they’re away from the spotlight. So I don’t get how USADA can test a guy so much as the champion, but the moment he walks away, they don’t test him at all.” DC said. Jones is tested just four times in 2022 as per official records displayed on the USADA website.

Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia are already into the war of words before the actual duel as the Tank once again has criticised the KingRy ahead of their potential bout. Davis and Garcia are reportedly scheduled to meet each other in the ring on April 15 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Both undefeated lightweights have seemed to be compliant with the prospect of fighting one another. But before that, Davis will meet Hector Luis Garcia in their 12-round fight for Davis’ WBA world lightweight title on January 7 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. The result of that fight will determine the fate of whether the pair will meet on April 5 or not. Garcia was also in for a tune-up fight against the Filipino lightweight Mercito Gesta on January 28. But decided to take some free time and get straight into Tank to settle the debate. "Been thinking about it during the time they were figuring out this fight and I feel the fans and everyone who supports boxing have seen tune-ups already. Davis requested the tune-up, not me, so let him handle business." Garcia Tweeted But Davis hasn’t taken his time off very kindly as he believes that Garcia is being too lazy and that he will show KingRy his place when the pair meet at T-Mobile Arena. “I think Ryan’s being lazy not taking a fight before our fight,” Davis said. “I don’t know. When he was coming up, he was in the gym and everything, and now he’s got some money and a little bit of fame, and he’s partying and stuff like that. It happens to a majority of us, but it’s for him to tighten up before it’s too late.” Things are already heating up. The only thing that needs to be done is the official paperwork now.

Doug Crosby has been widely questioned by MMA fans and officials regarding his legitimacy since the divisive judgment he gave at Bellator 289 main event and UFC 282 co-main event. He urges all to grant him the benefit of the controversy even if he was unable to defend his latest evaluations. For the first time in the history of the scoring record, a losing fighter received perfect scores from Crosby's 50-45 scorecard for Sabatello. Crosby’s 50-45 verdict in favor of Sabatello was the first time in the history of the scoring record that a losing candidate got a perfect score from a judge. As a consequence of the judgment, Crosby was stormed with criticism. Crosby contends he is unable to explicitly comment on scorecards issued for any specific fight. He was the opposing judge in the split decision between Raufeon Stots and Danny Sabatello at Bellator 289. The other two judges gave their verdict 48-47 for Stots. To justify or explain any scorecard, including the 50-45 judgment he gave Sabatello, Crosby claims that sports commissions have procedures in place regarding judges. He asserts that he won't go against these guidelines. Similar remarks can be made about Crosby's scorecard for the fractious Paddy Pimblett vs. Jared Gordon judgment at UFC 282, even though he was joined by two additional judges that evening, Ron McCarthy, and Chris Lee, who also rendered the same 29-28 verdict despite differing in the number of rounds each fighter received from the three judges. “You’d have to ask yourself, before you accept that as valid criticism, I would qualify the source of that criticism and say is this a working-class person making that critique or is it a fabulously wealthy person making that critique?” Crosby told Chael Sonnen on the “You’re Welcome” podcast. “You’ve got to assign a numerical value to what you just saw, and on average you get about 15 seconds to turn that score in. And if you write off about five of those seconds for the time it takes to write it, that leaves you about 10 seconds to make a decision about who won a round and who lost a round.” Crosby when appeared on the podcast of Chael Sonnen, he didn’t comment on any of the two controversial decisions he gave otherwise it would have created another headline. Though he addressed the most recent rule revisions that occurred in 2017 and how scoring measures have progressed over these years. “Over the last 15 years when you talk the fighters, the overarching comment — and I’m not going to call it a complaint, I’ll call it a comment or a concern — is that effective grappling is not given enough weight in the scoring criteria,” Crosby stated. “Recently, I don’t know how recently, but the scoring criteria has been modified and updated so that effective striking and effective grappling are considered equal." “If effective grappling is considered the equal of effective striking, and then you look at any of my scores through that newly ground mental lens, the scores may become easier to understand. But that has to do with reaching and understanding the criteria and I don’t know who does that and who doesn’t.”

It looks like Paulo Costa is looking for a quick escape from one of the best MMA promotions, UFC. The news came out that the most anticipated bout between the top middleweights Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa is off the main card of UFC 284 in Australia due to a failure to reach an agreement with the Brazilian. The bout was scheduled for February 13th almost exactly two months ago when the promotion made the announcement. The fight, however, will not go on as it was never confirmed. Costa had been openly stating for a while that he hadn't agreed to the opponent or the fight's date since he was still in renegotiations with the UFC. According to reports, the former title contender is nearing the end of his existing agreement and is searching for a fresh one before agreeing to compete again. The contract issue for Costa has been in the headlines for a long time. Costa’s demands are not the special ones the other. The higher pay cut has been an issue for the fighters in the UFC. Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou and Sean O’Malley have been very vocal regarding the matter and are in the same boat as the Brazilian. After ESPN first broke the news of the fight's cancellation, Costa made a statement. “Great fights is going down due to lack of negotiation skills,” Costa wrote on Twitter. “They should stop being petty. “I think they’re taking it the wrong way, making fighters unhappy with deals isn’t very smart. It’s not only ME, I remember: [Francis Ngannou], [Sean] O’Malley, Mark Hunt, etc.” In his last outing, Costa stepped in with the UFC veteran Luke Rockhold at UFC 278. He earned a total of 130,000$ which includes the 65,000$ for making it to the ring and 65,000$ for winning a bloodbath bout. It is still uncertain how much did UFC offer Costa in the new contract. But it pretty much clears the doubt that UFC and Paulo Costa are not on the same page and as a result, the fight is not going to happen on Whittaker’s home soil. Whittaker must be disappointed by the twist of fate because UFC 284 was supposed to be his first bout back in his homeland since he was defeated by Israel Adesanya for the UFC middleweight championship in 2019. While a backup opponent has not yet been announced, it looks for the time being that Whittaker will no longer participate in Australia. Whittaker also had his say regarding the cancellation of the co-main event at UFC 284 on his social media. “It’s very upsetting to say [the rumors] are true,” Whittaker said. “The fight with Costa has fallen apart. UFC did everything in their power to get him to the fight. They gave him the new contract, from what I understand, to take the fight, and he still didn’t take the fight. The Perth fight is not happening. They’re looking to reschedule me March/April.”

Errol Spence Jr. has killed all the speculations of him fighting Manny Pacquiao once and for all as he feels the Pacman can’t weather him at this stage of his career. Spence, 32, was heavily linked to fighting Terence Crawford at the end of this year for a unification bout at 147. But the fight fell through as both parties weren’t able to come on the same page. Now Spence is again being named with one of the greats to ever grace this sport, Pacquiao. The Pacman bid adieu to boxing last year after dropping a unanimous decision loss to Yordenis Ugas. Initially, it was Spence who was to face Pacquaio but a late eye injury sidelined the Desoto, Texas native, with Ugas stepping up as a late replacement. Now, the 44-year-old Filipino legend hinted that he is ready to come out of retirement to face either Spence or Crawford in early 2023. But Spence isn’t fascinated with this matchup citing it as a mismatch. He gave an example of the Ali-Holmes heavyweight clash where the young Holmes battered the debilitated Ali inside the 10 rounds. “I wouldn’t fight him, I probably wouldn’t fight him,” Spence said of Pacquiao in an interview with ESNews. “I wouldn’t fight him.” “Like you can see the stigma that—Larry Holmes is one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. One of the greatest fighters of all time. I feel like he don’t get the respect that he deserves. Or like people just don’t regard him. People really don’t just talk about him.” Spence wants to stamp his legacy and beating a legend like Pacquiao at this stage will surely put a dent in it.