1+ hour, 39+ min ago (514+ words) Jai Opetaia plans to begrudgingly fly to Los Angeles and bail up his next target in person after the Australian declared he wouldn't be rushed out of achieving his cruiserweight unification dream. The unbeaten IBF and The Ring champion will make a mandatory defence of his belts against Turkish challenger Huseyin Cinkara (23-0) on December 6 on the Gold Coast. It will be his eighth fight since first winning both belts more than three years ago and comes after thunderous knockouts in his only two appearances in 2025 improved him to 28-0. But the 30-year-old has been unable to unify his belts with those wins, with Opetaia's ruthless power and Australia's relatively small commercial market combining to scare off other belt holders. Gilberto 'Zurdo' Ramirez, owner of the WBO and WBA straps, is the biggest culprit having announced a defence for May next year…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago (165+ words) Islam Makhachev won his second career UFC title and Valentina Shevchenko defended hers against another all-time great. Islam Makhachev becomes the new UFC welterweight champion after putting on a wrestling clinic. (1:16) Pound-for-pound supremacy was on the line in men's and women's MMA at UFC 322 inside New York's Madison Square Garden. Former lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev is now the new welterweight champion after he thoroughly dominated the incumbent, Jack Della Maddalena, in the main event, cementing himself as the unquestioned best-of-the-best. And in the co-main event, former strawweight champ Zhang Weili moved up to the women's flyweight division to face Valentina Shevchenko for the belt. Zhang, ranked No. 1 in the women's P4P rankings, was controlled by No. 2 Shevchenko for five straight rounds on her way to her first UFC loss since 2021. Brett Okamoto, Andreas Hale, Jeff Wagenheim and Dre Waters broke down…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago (1960+ words) They were stuck way down in the prelims of nondescript UFC Fight Nights at the Apex in Las Vegas the past two weekends, but a pair of women's bantamweight bouts have reshuffled the latest ESPN divisional rankings. This past weekend, Jacqueline Cavalcanti defeated Mayra Bueno Silva by unanimous decision in a meeting of the only two ranked fighters on a card headlined by Gabriel Bonfim vs. Randy Brown. As a result, Silva drops in the 135-pound hierarchy to one spot below Cavalcanti, who remains at No. 9. Why does Cavalcanti not move up? Because the top 10 has a new entry above her, Norma Dumont, who won a split decision over Ketlen Vieira on Nov. 1. Dumont recently had fallen out of the rankings because of inactivity, as prior to the Vieira bout, Dumont had not fought since September 2024. Dumont is at No....