“No. I always believed this is where I was and who I was am. I just had to reorganize and get some things correct,” Kasanganay told Cageside Press in advance of the PFL Championship on November 24, 2023 at The Anthem in Washington, D.C.

“I never lost my faith, or God lost his faith in me. It was more so, I kind of just got lost on my path for a little while, or maybe I was still on the right path and that’s just where God had to bring me.”

That path took Kasanganay (14-3) through the Contender Series, where he won back-to-back fights, and the UFC, where he was shown the door after four fights.

“For me the opposite of faith is not doubt,” added Kasangany, who instead suggested that “I think you can have faith and then people still have some doubt. You can have doubt and still have something to look forward to. They’re not opposites, if anything, they compliment one another. For me, it was just, what do I need to do with my life in that time to be organized, and what sacrifices do I need to make that I’m not seeing here, that are going to allow me to realize what I see within myself?”

“It was more so a reflection of what was going on with my life, where I didn’t put things together the way I needed to, and it became a blueprint for how I moved forward in the future. Like, I won that Eagle fight even though they said I lost, and that was an overall consensus, not from myself only.”

Impa Kasanganay’s lone Eagle FC appearance was a split decision loss to Raimond Magomedaliev, and while it will stand as a loss on his official record, there was an argument for the fight going the other way. As for his UFC run, “being released from the UFC at that time, the challenging thing about it was just saying like ‘man I put a lot of work in to get there,’ but wondering why I still wasn’t [there],” admitted Kasanganay.

“Overall under the banner, 4-2 including the Contender Series wins, but 2-2 in the UFC itself. That was one of those things where I knew that I was better, I knew there was so much more I could show and do, and I was going to make that happen no matter what. That’s when it became an eye-opening experience. If anything, it actually became one of those things I look back on, I’m like, ‘thank you that happened.’ Even at that time, because it really made me make the challenging decisions to say ‘hey, no matter what, I’m going to be a champion some day soon.”

Taking the long road to success, and this year’s PFL championship, where not just a world title but a million dollars hangs in the balance, wasn’t the worst journey, however. In fact, Impa Kasanganay sees a silver lining.

“Taking the narrow path is definitely much more rewarding for me. I won’t say I’m an old school guy, it’s more like, I do like that fact that I get to earn something, and it’s not based on my popularity,” he stated. “Or I get to earn my popularity or whatever God has for me, and I get to earn my success and all that’s come with it.”

One thing Impa Kasanganay doesn’t like seeing in MMA is the word “performance” applied to what fighters do. As much as it’s instilled in the vernacular of the sport (think the UFC’s Performance of the Night bonuses), Impa doesn’t see himself as performing when he fights.

“It’s entertainment for those who watch it, and I respect it. As a fighter it’s not entertainment, I’m going in there to do my job. Nobody’s cheering on the accountant, ‘oh you performed today and got the books in order!'” he pointed out. “Yeah somebody’s going to congratulate you, that you maybe fixed something in the company, saved the company some money. Performing to me, it’s say, for the entertainers who choose to be entertainers. Who choose to be musicians, artists, public speakers. No matter how they do it.”

“That to me is a performance.”

Kasanganay knows what he’s talking about — through high school and all the way to the end of college, he studied music. And he believes that if you focus on your performance in fighting, “we take away the purity of it. It’s like ‘I’m going out there to perform’ so you change the way you are, the reflection of your spirit, of who you are, to go perform and see what people like. And then your validation comes from what the crowd says— if the crowd says ‘boo’ or the crowd says ‘yay.’ And that’s not cool to me, because that’s not what it’s about.”

“When you go to battle, you go to war, you go there to take over, dominate, claim, and move forward. And fighting to me is not a sport or some kind of performance, because you’re taking away somebody’s life points; you’re also sacrificing your life points as well. When I do accounting nobody’s hitting me in the head with a computer. When I’m fighting, somebody’s trying to kick me in the head, elbow my face, I’ve been unconscious before. That stuff’s not healthy. That’s not a performance.”

A performance will inspire people and evoke emotion, Kasanganay allowed. But fighting leaves lasting scars, in essence. “With fighting, you take those things with you. The broken rib, the broken finger, the torn knee, the hurt, the pain. There’s a lot of difference. Maybe people who do acting and stuff like that do too, but they’re performing and they get to go into another character. Fighting, you’re not going into another character even though they say it’s an alter ego, you’re fighting in who you are, whatever— it’s actually the truth of who you are. And that’s not a performance to me. That’s going into battle.”

Impa Kasanganay next goes into battle with American Top Team’s Josh Silveira. There’s an old rivalry there in terms of gyms, between ATT and Kill Cliff FC, Kasanganay’s own team, though for him, the rivalry doesn’t matter. Instead, he simply sees that Silveira has been making improvements, and is on a good path.

That having been said, “I believe we were destined to meet, and I’m going to take him out, obtain this victory and move forward,” he added.

Watch our full interview with 2023 light heavyweight finalist Impa Kasanganay above.

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Donn Davis’ highly anticipated appearance on Ariel Helwani’s show came on the heels of the Professional Fighters League purchase of rival Bellator MMA being officially announced. Starting in 2024, the PFL will run both brands, Bellator in eight standalone events mainly focusing on international markets.

Davis revealed that they reached out to Viacom/Paramount, under which Bellator fell, in January of 2023, with no idea that the company would beginning divesting assets in the Spring. It was a slow process, in terms of talks. “Mergers take time,” as Davis pointed out.

Viacom becomes a minority owner in the company. Davis, who built his reputation as an entrepreneur and businessman with America Online, the Chicago Cubs, and his own venture capital firm, revealed the deal was done entirely in stock. “I think what they saw with PFL was an opportunity become part of a big company moving forward. So this was a stock deal, not a cash deal.”

With Paramount a “small” owner and no cash changing hands, it was a “great deal for us,” said Davis, adding he was “very happy” with how things played out.

Asked how close he thought the PFL was to the UFC, Donn Davis took note of UFC President and CEO Dana White being more vocal about the rival promotion recently. The company made waves in 2023 by signing the likes of Francis Ngannou, Jake Paul, Cedric Doumbe, and others.

“Everybody knows Dana well enough that he only dismisses things that worry him, or else he just doesn’t comment. He didn’t comment on the PFL for four years, because he wasn’t worried,” suggested Davis. “He’s commented on the PFL a lot the last six months. He’s worried.”

“What specifically worried him about Bellator is the metrics we put out in the press release. 30% of that roster ranked in the top 25 per Fight Matrix rankings. So this isn’t, Dana gets to rank his own guys, Donn’s ranking his own guys. As you know there’s only one group that ranks all fighters, Fight Matrix, independently. 30% of the UFC roster is top 25-ranked, and now our combined company of PFL and Bellator, 30%.”

“The same. Now, to UFC’s credit, if you look at top five in the world, they still own the top five, one through five. So call it PPV cards, we couldn’t compete with them right now, which is why we’re only going to have two, and they have twelve.”

Davis, however, thinks the TV product from the PFL this year will be better. “Our cards are going to be better. Better. Because what they put on this year was ranked 70 and what we’re going to put on next year is ranked 40.” Davis believes that has White talking, questioning why the PFL would buy Bellator, “because he’s smart.”

“UFC ain’t the NFL. We’re not the XFL. But he wants you to think that. And it’s just a matter of time before that starts to get more well-known, and we’re not the number two, we’re a co-leader. He doesn’t want that. That’s what’s going on.”

Later, Davis would make it clear that there’s no axe to grind with the UFC, nor an attempt to take over the MMA market and displace the leading promotion in the sport.

“UFC is a great company and they invented this industry. This is not about taking share or shifting share. MMA is growing. MMA is growing 10% a year, every other sport 2-3%. They’re going to do well. We’re just going to do really, really well,” said Davis. “And I’m excited to have my new teammates at Bellator, I’m excited to have all our new fighters propelling us forward, and we’re going to win. The next time we’re on here, when people laughed that we’re going to be a co-leader, we’re going to be a co-leader. Just like they laughed when we said we’re going to be #2, and we’re #2. And so to me, if you’re on the new Bellator team, if you’re on the new combined team, declare victory.”

In five years, Donn Davis expects to be able to reach that co-leader goal. “We’re the co-leader in MMA, flat out. But we do things different, we think different, we innovate different. We don’t have dogma. We co-promote. We give fighters opportunity, we let them box, we give 50% PPV share, we think different. And we’re the co-leader. They do what they do, fantastic. We do what we do, market’s big enough for two very, very big companies.”

The 2023 PFL Championship takes place this Friday in Washington, D.C. A Bellator vs. PFL champion versus champion card is expected for Q1 2024, said Davis, with TV deals in the U.S. and Canada ready to be announced for the PFL, while Bellator TV deals are in the works. As for Bellator’s Lightweight Grand Prix, Davis couldn’t answer whether it will complete as scheduled or not.

The post Donn Davis Reveals PFL Plans for Bellator MMA, Believes Dana White “Worried” appeared first on Cageside Press.

Ahead of his fight with Impa Kasanganay this Friday in Washington, D.C., the American Top Team standout spoke with Cageside Press about landing in the biggest fight of his life.

“It feels good, man. It feels good, it feels great. Still hard to wrap my head around it sometimes, because I think the feeling is always unexplainable,” explained Silveira (12-1). “But at the same time, man, I feel like this is what I worked for and I’m right where I need to be. So no surprises, no surprises here.”

The pairing with Kasanganay is a promising one, but not one expected to be fueled by any sort of bad blood. Both fighters are soft-spoken, professional martial artists who have plenty of respect for each other.

“You’re right I’m not much of a trash talker. I don’t know, it’s just kind of funny to me,” acknowledged Silveira. “I know how to talk and defend myself if somebody came at me, but I think it’s just kind of funny sometimes. I like to be the good guy a little bit, but if I’ve got to be the bad guy, I’ll be the bad guy if I have to.”

“I think in this particular fight you’re right. We’ve got respect for each other. Just two good, old fashioned kids that want to go win a million and win a world title. That might be one of the best fights of the night to be honest. We’ve got two young, hungry guys, he wants to do better for himself and so do I. Who knows, man. Fireworks might happen.”

Hockey fans know this story well. The 1982-83 Edmonton Oilers fielded one of the strongest teams possible that season, with names like Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Paul Coffey, and Jari Kurri. They would cruise through the regular season and playoffs, only to be thrashed by the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Oilers learned the hard way what it would take to win a championship, and came back to win it all the following year, taking revenge on the Islanders in the process. Josh Silveira has held gold on the regional scene, but Friday marks his first championship bout for a major promotion. So how can he steel himself, and not suffer a similar fate?

“I think the best way to answer that question, I don’t know if I speak for every fighter— but I think what goes through our minds, there’s thousands of things that go through our minds, but I think the most realistic thing is, ‘am I ready to push this pace 25 minutes?'” replied Silveira. “Five rounds. 25 minutes. And do whatever it takes, no matter what situation I put myself in.”

Aside from being ready for 25 minutes “of constant motion,” Silveira believes he’s filled a critical hole in his game: he’s no longer scared of getting tired. “I think that’s the hole I’ve been filling out this whole season, is not being scared to get tired, not being fearful to put myself out there and lay it on the line and do what I’ve got to do.”

Come Friday, we’ll know if that will be enough.

Watch our full interview with PFL light heavyweight finalist Josh Silveira above. The 2023 PFL Championship takes place at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. on November 24, 2023.

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“It feels like that, as a kid going to a new school,” the now-former UFC middleweight contender told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview recently. “I’m excited. It’s a new journey, new adventure. I was with the UFC so long, things started to become repetitive. And now i have a new goal, new venture, new promotion, fresh start, and I’m ready to go out there and get it started.”

What led to Brunson’s rather sudden exit from the UFC and signing with the PFL? The veteran actually had a fight booked when news broke that he was making the jump. Brunson (23-9) touched on that without going too far into the details.

“I was with the promotion [UFC] for a long time, and I fought all the tough fights. So it was like ‘okay what are we doing here, where am I going?’ I was in a position to get title shots a couple times, and I’m not blaming anybody that I didn’t, per se, but I feel like some of my streaks deserved it. I was one two five-fight win streaks.”

With the move to the PFL comes a new weight class for Derek Brunson. The league does not have middleweight, so he’ll be heading up 20 pounds to light heavyweight.

It’s a move Brunson had considered previously, he revealed.

“I was thinking about it. The weight cuts got pretty tough, I go out there and put in tough camps, long camps, I’m in great shape and then I go out there and fade. And it’s like ‘why are we fading?’ It’s just one of those things, moving up to 205 will be better, won’t have to worry about cutting a lot of weight and I can just focus on the fight.”

Derek Brunson will make his debut against a former two-time PFL welterweight champ in Ray Cooper III, in a 185lb contest. It will likely be his last stop at 185lbs for some time; as for Cooper, Brunson is focused more on himself.

“I’m not really worried about what he brings to the table,” stated Brunson. “I feel like what I bring to the table is a lot greater. I just got to go out there and do me, have fun, and get my hand raised.”

One other fight Brunson will have his eye on come November 24 is the light heavyweight finale, given he’ll join the division next year. That’s set to be contested between Josh Silveira and Impa Kasanganay.

“Impa is one of my teammates, we’ve trained together several times, he’s fighting in the final. So yeah I’m always watching, seeing what’s going on, seeing how the division shapes up. There’s a lot, not a lot but there’s a couple steps to get to the finals next year. You gotta win your first two fights and then you gotta win your third fight and you go into the final. Just one fight at a time, get my hand raised and just keep doing it.”

Watch our full interview with new PFL athlete Derek Brunson above.

The post Derek Brunson Feels Like “A Kid Going to a New School” Ahead of PFL Debut appeared first on Cageside Press.

Ladd (11-4) spoke to Cageside Press in the days following the switch, explaining that she was “very excited” to face Harrison, seen for years as the face of the PFL. “Basically on edge last Friday, we got the call late Friday night, it got confirmed whenever the news broke, a day, day and a half ago,” stated Ladd.

When it comes to the situation — the PFL issued a statement saying Budd had not fulfilled her contractual obligations and later released the featherweight, while Budd herself told Cageside Press she was ready to fight — “we weren’t told anything. Just that her manager, I think her manager and her husband are the same person, I could be wrong but I’m not sure— just that according to him, communicating with PFL, that they were 50/50 that they were pulling out of the fight,” Ladd explained. “That’s when they contacted us on Friday night. So that’s all we were told, I just assumed injury. You usually do — ‘oh, something happened, she got hurt.'”

There’s no doubt more to the story (PFL officials declined to elaborate on the situation beyond their original statement when reached for comment by Cageside Press), but none of that is likely to matter much to Aspen Ladd, who now has a big opportunity in front of her. As it turns out, she had been training as a back-up for the fight, but come the end of October, had believed her services would not be required.

“It was actually til the end of October, they basically told me to stay ready for this particular fight in case something was to happen.” After a certain point, Ladd had the option to take another fight in another discipline.

Then came the call to fight Harrison at a 150lb catchweight. Which was not a request on Ladd’s part, she added. “So when they called on Friday, PFL offered it at that [weight] immediately, and I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. We were preparing to make 145 on that date just in case but if you don’t have to, why not? Not something we asked for but it was a gift that was given.”

Aspen Ladd’s struggles to make weight in the UFC were well-documented; comparatively speaking, she has breezed through her PFL contests thus far.

“It’s been less than a year and I’ve made 45 four times and I’m healthy. I’m healthy and I’m able to do it again,” she pointed out. “Not having to recover from horrendous weight cuts every time is huge on just being able to fight more often and enjoying life more.”

Come November 24 in Washington, D.C. at the PFL Championship, Aspen Ladd is expecting to see a motivated Kayla Harrison. Especially coming off a loss a year ago to Larissa Pacheco.

“I would expect her to come out with more urgency honestly. You’re trying to get that back, get rid of the bad taste in your mouth kind of thing. I would expect her to come out wanting to do that, wanting to right her last wrong basically. I could be wrong, that could just be me, but that’s what I would expect to be a little different with her.”

Regardless, Ladd is ready to take on the face of the company. “She’s been the golden girl, the queen of this promotion forever. It’s different because of the way it works here with belts, tournaments but she’s still the face of it. She’s a very accomplished, great record. So yeah, it’s a big fight.”

Watch our full interview with PFL featherweight Aspen Ladd above.

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The former two-time PFL women’s lightweight champion had been scheduled for a featherweight fight opposite Julia Budd on November 25 in Washington, D.C. However, in a press release issued Wednesday, league officials announced that Harrison (15-1) would instead face UFC veteran Aspen Ladd (11-4).

According to league officials, “the change was made after Budd refused to fulfill her contractual obligation,” though exactly what obligation Budd failed to meet wasn’t specified.

Budd, a former Bellator MMA featherweight champ, gave a her response to the change. “I got pulled from the fight. No injury. Healthy and ready to fight,” she told Cageside Press’ Dylan Rush in a brief statement.

Kayla Harrison vs. Aspen Ladd will be held at a 150lb catchweight.

Harrison has not fought since her 2022 shock upset loss at the hands of Larissa Pacheco, the odds-on favorite to win it all in this year’s women’s featherweight division. The two-time PFL champ and two-time Olympic gold medalist had previously been undefeated in MMA.

Ladd is 2-1 under the PFL banner with wins over Budd and most recently, Karolina Sobek. That arm-bar finish wasn’t enough for Ladd to make the PFL 2023 post-season, however, as she went 1-1 in 2023 and came up just short in points.

The 2023 PFL Championship takes place on November 25, 2023 at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. with all six weight classes closing out their season. The following match-ups have been announced for the card:

• Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Clay Collard — lightweight title fight
• Denis Goltsov vs. Renan Ferreira — heavyweight title fight
• Larissa Pacheco vs. Marina Mokhnatkina — women’s featherweight title fight
• Kayla Harrison vs. Aspen Ladd
• Sadibou Sy vs. Magomed Magomedkerimov — welterweight title fight
• Gabriel Braga vs. Jesus Pinedo — featherweight title fight
• Joshua Silveira vs. #3 Impa Kasanganay — light heavyweight title fight
• Ray Cooper III vs. Derek Brunson
• Biaggio Ali Walsh vs. Joel Lopez — amateur bout
• Bubba Jenkins vs. Chris Wade
• Khai Wu vs. Phil Caracappa
• Jesse Stirn vs. Josh Blyden

The post Aspen Ladd in Against Kayla Harrison at PFL Championship, Julia Budd Responds appeared first on Cageside Press.

Regardless of the result — boxing might have worse judging than MMA, which is saying something — it’s clear that Ngannou has a future in the sweet science, if he wants it. Already, there is talk of “The Predator” being ranked among the heavyweight division, and a fight with Anthony Joshua has been floated. There’s another option on the table as well: a much-talked about crossover fight with Deontay Wilder. That’s one that PFL Founder Donn Davis would like to see, and he’s open to a mixed rules bout.

Wilder is one of the few boxing heavyweights to train in MMA, and has been open about trying his hand in the cage in the past. He even suggested a two-fight series with Ngannou at one point; a mixed rules fight, however, might be a little more competitive.

“I think the opponents in pure MMA are not that interesting right now. We’re just like the fans, we’re just like the fighters. We’re not like the other companies. ‘Let’s just do it because they’re our guys!’ There’s only one guy in MMA who is interesting right now for Francis Ngannou: Jon Jones. One guy,” Davis told The MMA Hour on Monday (h/t MMA Fighting). “Everybody says, what about Stipe? Maybe. Give him a half a point — 1.5 guys, who are compelling. I don’t want to say who could put on a good fight for him. There are three or four other guys who could put on a competitive fight for Francis. I’m not talking about a competitive fight, I’m saying compelling — 1.5 guys in MMA, in the world! And one is hurt for the next nine months, and the other one is under contract.

“We’re realists. So what is the best fight for our fighter, Francis Ngannou, his career, and fighting fans? That’s the fight we should make, and that’s the fight we’re going to be partners to make. So will he fight in MMA in 2024? Yes, he will. Will that be his next fight? I don’t know.”

When it comes to Wilder in particular, that’s when Donn Davis suggested a mixed rules contest.

“…what would I think would be fascinating? Deontay Wilder in a mixed rules fight. I always say, what do I want to see? I know a lot about boxing and a lot about MMA, but I’m not a savant. I’m not a deep, deep, deep insider. So I like to test, what do I think millions of people would love to see? I think that’s the most interesting thing we could all see.”

Ngannou is under contract with the PFL on the MMA side, after exiting the UFC earlier this year.

The post PFL Founder Donn Davis Wants Ngannou-Wilder Mixed Rules Fight appeared first on Cageside Press.

That would be Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder and head of Meta, who have also brought Instagram and What’s App into the family over the years. Zuckerberg has been seen competing in jiu-jitsu of late, and clearly has taken a liking to mixed martial arts, even getting a private showing of a UFC Fight Night at the UFC Apex last year.

Through much of 2023, a proposed fight between Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, current owner of Twitter (or X, or whatever he’s calling it these days) has been talked about. Though never a likely possibility due to Musk’s age and the difference in weight between the two, even Dana White jumped on the bandwagon.

That fight probably isn’t happening. Wu, however, suggested that there is a chance Zuckerberg does compete, against someone else, in a recent interview with Cageside Press.

“I want to defer back to what he said, because he did say he wanted to move on to someone a little bit more professional,” Wu (7-4) stated when asked about what happened with the Musk fight. “I think it was really serious. No joke. It was very, very serious at a certain point. We were getting ready for him.”

“We were bringing in big guys to emulate all this and that. You can even see, [Israel] Adesanya posted a video recently on his Youtube channel of him training with Mark and Volk [Alexander Volkanovski], and I’m in the video training with all of them, hanging out. So it’s really interesting because we were bringing in the big guns to make it happen.”

Where things took a turn, believes Wu, is on the Musk end of things. “Elon probably got with someone like GSP, [John] Danaher. Those guys are smart, those guys are super smart. They’re not— you can’t be GSP and be a bad coach. I think they realistically told him, your cardio’s horrible, you’re 53, this is just not a good fight especially with someone like Mark. Don’t take it. You are so valuable and you have so much more knowledge to give in life, it just makes no sense.”

With Musk waffling, Wu added that “that fight’s not happening anymore because I think Mark really wanted to move on, regardless of what Elon said. Mark is really looking at— I don’t know. He likes competing. Maybe he wants to compete in jiu-jitsu again, maybe he wants to fight, I have no idea. But just whatever Mark kind of wants, that’s that I’m there for. To just help him get ready for that, give him that look. That’s what we’re going towards.”

Wu went on to hint that there could be something coming up, based on Zuckerberg’s own words. “Last I checked he posted on Threads, he was actually interested in still competing. So we might get him ready for something soon, just not Elon. I don’t want to put anymore fuel to that fire, if that makes sense.”

The questions about Zuckerberg, however, are something Wu has grown accustomed to from the sounds of things. “I completely understand. It’s like, what random MMA fighter? Especially without a big name.” As Wu pointed out, he didn’t come from a big promotion, and prior to the PFL date, hadn’t landed with one since a couple of early-career Bellator fights. “I do understand how that’s very interesting. Even myself, I ask myself the same question: ‘How did I get here?'”

What landed him the gig as Zuckerberg’s coach, Wu believes, is his personality. “I think my dad jokes, my personality, those got to him the most. He probably liked the personality, and that’s kind of how we connected. And although my fighting shows that I do have some losses on the record, I don’t think my coaching— I don’t present myself as a coach, however I have been coaching and teaching alongside while I was fighting professional. I definitely think that goes a little under the radar.”

Khai Wu now has his own fight to prepare for, the biggest of his career — the next fight, after all, is always the biggest. But it’s a chance to make a statement in a major promotion, airing under the ESPN umbrella. He’s set to take on Phil Caracappa, who has competed as a featherweight and won titles in the regional circuit.

“He’s bounced around. He’s a bigger 35’er, if that makes sense. He’s a little bit taller than me. So he has a lot of advantages on me,” noted Wu. “Now where I think I level the playing field is fight IQ. I’m not saying he’s not a smart fighter, but my specialty is dealing with someone that has that [much] more experience.”

Wu also knows the kind of preparation that will be needed to come out successful on November 24. “Not saying I’m the underdog, but it’s not like it’s a guaranteed win. It’s not like he’s 0-5 and I’m going in there with a full breakfast and still like ‘aww I’ll knock him out.’ No, he’s very, very tough. He’s won belts, multiple belts. So my job, I need to— I’m grateful that I have an opponent this tough. So now every day I go to the gym not just with a sense of purpose, but I’ve got to make sure everything’s perfect. Everything’s tightened.”

The includes strength and conditioning, power, speed, timing, focus. “Everything got to be sharp, because it doesn’t matter how good I do right now, it doesn’t matter what I say. Because come fight night I’ve got to be ready for all the problems he’s going to try to cause me.”

Watch our full interview with PFL bantamweight Khai Wu above!

The post Bantamweight Khai Wu On Possibility of Mark Zuckerberg Fighting, His Own PFL Debut This November appeared first on Cageside Press.

Brunson’s signing with the league was announced just yesterday, and it is believed he’ll be entering the season format in 2024. However, Brunson (23-9) will face Cooper (25-8-1) at this year’s PFL Championship in Washington, D.C. on November 24, 2023 in a middleweight bout.

League officials announced the news in a press release distributed on Friday. The fight will be part of the night’s preliminary card on ESPN+.

Hawaii’s Cooper won the 2019 and 2021 PFL welterweight championship (the 2020 season was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic), making him a back-to-back champ. In 2022, his season ended early, having gone 1-1 and missed weight for his first bout of the year.

He has not fought since. Cooper holds notable wins over Jake Shields, Rory MacDonald, and Magomed Magomedkerimov, and will be making his middleweight debut this November.

Brunson recently exited the UFC, where he was a longtime staple of the middleweight division. The 39-year old is coming off back-to-back losses against fellow contenders Dricus Du Plessis and Jared Cannonier.

The 2023 PFL Championship card is set for The Anthem in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. The following fights have been announced for the card as of now:

Main Card

Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Clay Collard — for the PFL Lightweight Championship
Denis Goltsov vs. Renan Ferreira — for the PFL Heavyweight Championship
Larissa Pacheco vs. Marina Mokhnatkina — for the PFL Women’s Featherweight Championship
Kayla Harrison vs. Julia Budd
Sadibou Sy vs. Magomed Magomedkerimov — for the PFL Welterweight Championship
Gabriel Braga vs. Jesus Pinedo — for the PFL Featherweight Championship
Joshua Silveira vs. Impa Kasanganay — for the PFL Light Heavyweight Championship

Preliminary Card

Ray Cooper III vs. Derek Brunson
Biaggio Ali Walsh vs. Joel Lopez — Amateur bout
Bubba Jenkins vs. Chris Wade
Khai Wu vs. Phil Caracappa
Jesse Stirn vs. Josh Blyden

The post Ray Cooper III Returns, Will Welcome Derek Brunson to PFL on Nov. 24 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Brunson (23-9) was released by the UFC rather suddenly after pulling out of a fight with Roman Dolidze in mid-September. That left the 39-year old a free agent, and it hasn’t taken him long to find a new home.

In a new interview with MMA personality The Schmo, Brunson’s manager revealed he had inked a contract with the Professional Fighters League.

PFL officials did not respond to a request for comment from Cageside Press regarding the signing. However Brunson later confirmed the deal on social media, including an image of himself wearing PFL fight shorts.

“Million dollar tournament incoming,” Brunson wrote in the post, adding “I started focusing more on my road work for the first time in my career.”

Brunson will enter the league’s 2024 season coming off back-to-back losses against Jared Cannonier and Dricus Du Plessis. While not the most comfortable spot to be career-wise, he had been on a four-fight win streak prior to those setbacks. Cannonier, meanwhile, is a former title challenger and top contender; Du Plessis appears to be in line for a UFC title shot.

As for the PFL, it does not have a middleweight division currently. As a result, Brunson is expected to compete at 205lbs. This November, Josh Silveira will face ex-UFC talent Impa Kasanganay to determine the 2023 PFL light heavyweight champ.

The post Derek Brunson Signs with PFL, Will Compete in 2024 Season Per Manager, Fighter appeared first on Cageside Press.