Latest news with #ContenderSeries
Daily Mirror
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Jake Paul banned from UFC events after dispute with Dana White
The 'Problem Child' and the UFC president have been involved in a bitter feud of the last few years - with White recently reigniting their war of words following a stunning claim Jake Paul is adamant he remains banned from attending UFC events following an ongoing disputed with Dana White. The ban may not come as a surprise to many fans as the YouTuber-turned-boxer has been involved in a bitter feud with the UFC president for nearly four years - which began after the 'Problem Child' brutally slammed fighters' pay in the promotion. The last UFC event Paul was able to attend was UFC 261 in April 2021, watching on as former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman brutally knocked out Jorge Masvidal in their rematch. The 28-year-old was booed by the Florida crowd on that night as they chanted "F*** Jake Paul" and he even had to be separated from UFC legend turned broadcaster Daniel Cormier after getting into an altercation with him at cageside. After trying to buy tickets to attend another UFC event after that night in Florida, Paul later found out he was banned from attending any future events. "Dana banned me after they were yelling f*** Jake Paul in the stadium, then I tried to go to a different fight and all of our tickets were declined. His assistant was like 'get the f*** out of here', and then escorted me out of the event," Paul said on his podcast. Last October, White rubbished claims that Paul was forbidden from attending any UFC events. He declared that he was barred from the promotion's fights ahead of sneaking into their landmark card at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The youngster, who has been critical of the UFC over the years, asserted he was banned from all events back in 2022 before posting a video of himself wearing a fake beard, wig, flannel shirt, and sunglasses in an attempt to 'sneak into the Sphere' last year. The American managed to sneak in and claim a spot near some of the big names in the organisation. White later revealed Paul's antics had been pointless. "Oscar De La Hoya was there. OK, let's put it that way," he said at the Dana White's Contender Series. "Nobody's banned from the UFC. Listen, that kid knows how to market and do his thing and all that good s***. Jake Paul's welcome to come to UFC." Paul is set to return to the ring tonight against former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Coincidentally, his showdown with the Mexican takes place on the same night as UFC 317 - headlined by a lightweight title fight between Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira. Ahead of fight night, White renewed his war of words with Paul when he claimed he did not know the YouTuber-turned-boxer would be back in action this weekend. Paul has recently responded to White in some fashion, saying: "[The] UFC is dying. They don't have any current stars, they have skilful fighters, but it's all boring wrestling. Where the Dagestani fighters are winning everything by taking everyone to the ground." He added: 'He can say whatever he wants, but you told him about the fight, right?. So now he knows. That's what press and media is. We're selling the pay-per-views. So maybe people don't know about it today or tomorrow, but on Saturday they're all going to know.'
USA Today
20 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Christopher Ewert botched weight cut scraps Jackson McVey fight at UFC 317, gets him cut
Ewert took fight on just a few days' notice when ankle monitor-wearing Sedriques Dumas was court-ordered to stay home. Certain curtain jerkers just aren't meant to be sometimes. The middleweight fight between Christopher Ewert and Jackson McVey that was set to open up UFC 317 on Saturday has been canceled. Ewert, who took the fight on just a few days' notice, was unable to get close enough to the weight and the bout was scrapped. Weigh-ins emcee Jon Anik announced the news at the start of the UFC 317 official weigh-ins session in Las Vegas – and also took the unusual additional step of announcing Ewert had been immediately cut from the UFC. Announcements of fight cancellations at weigh-ins don't typically come with news of the fighter at fault being released. Ewert (7-0), from Chile, had been on the UFC's radar for a while. He was supposed to fight on Dana White's Contender Series on Aug. 2 vs. Yuri Panferov, but took the UFC 317 spot instead when Dumas (10-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) pulled out earlier this week because he can't go 100 miles from his house while wearing a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor. In retrospect, that looks like a bad call for Ewert – who apparently may have lost his DWCS opportunity for now, too. McVey (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was set to make his promotional debut. He never has seen the second round with six first-round finishes training under Mike Rogers at St. Charles MMA in Missouri.
USA Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
'El Tanke' mentality: Christopher Ewert doesn't give a damn UFC debut on four days' notice
A post shared by Javier Torres (@javiertorresofficialmma) What a 24 hours it was for Christopher Ewert. On Monday, he wasn't on the UFC roster and was instead preparing for a Dana White's Contender Series bout vs. Yuri Panferov set for August. At 1:30 p.m. local time in Arizona, Ewert's manager and coach Javier Torres' phone rang. On Tuesday, he's on a plane to Las Vegas. He'll circumvent the tryout fight and enter the promotion directly on one of the biggest cards of the year, UFC 317. "I was a little surprised because it was four days' notice," Ewert told MMA Junkie through a Spanish-language interpreter. "Like I've told all my coaches, I'm always prepared to fight – today, tomorrow, any time. It doesn't matter for me. I'm calm, even when there's a big storm. ... I've been prepared all my life for this moment. I will take this victory." Chile's Ewert (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has been on the UFC radar for some time, but travel issues nixed two short-notice UFC offers. With his paperwork obtained, the third time was the charm. Ewert will face fellow promotional newcomer Jackson McVey (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in a middleweight bout that kicks off the card Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. "I've been ready to represent my country in the UFC for a long time," Ewert said. "I've been waiting for this, to show why Chile is one of the best." Ewert, 31, is a main training partner of rising heavyweight contender Waldo Cortes-Acosta. He has five finishes (all knockouts) in seven pro bouts and has won back-to-back fights for Fury FC. The who, the what, the where, and the when has never mattered to Ewert. He even recently took a boxing match for Team Combat League in the midst of his DWCS training camp. It's always been about the process. With the right coaching, and the experience of cross-training with Alex Pereira among others, Ewert is confident he'll make himself a household name in short order. "Dana White will love it. Everybody will love it. When I get in the cage, I'm going to exchange. I want to do that. That's what Dana White loves, and I'm going to do that. I'm going to be the Tank, 'El Tanke,' and leave everything in the cage. Stand and bang. ... I don't care. I can go three rounds or one round or 10 seconds. I come to win the fight no matter what. I'm a very exciting fighter and I have different styles. I can show I can also grapple. I can do everything. I've prepared with coach Javier Torres and my team from Chile, too. I'll come to win."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
If you don't know UFC 317's Jacobe Smith, now's the time to pay attention
The first big knockout of the 2025 came from Jacobe Smith, a fighter fresh off the Contender Series, who blasted a left hand through the head of Preston Parsons at a UFC Fight Night on Jan. 11. We say 'through' because the shot was so clean that, well, it was like the proverbial hot knife through butter. In fact, that left hand just kind of kept going, as if Parsons' head wasn't even its final destination. Six long months later, Smith is finally making his return to action at UFC 317, where he'll face Niko Price on Saturday night's preliminary card. That punch to kick off the year, it turns out, was money. Smith finds himself as much as an 25-to-1 favorite on BetMGM over a foe with nine times as many fights in the UFC. Advertisement And if you talk to 'Cobe,' as he's known, you get the idea that he's one of the best-kept secrets in the welterweight division. 'I understand what [Price] is and I understand my capabilities,' Smith says, 'and if you know me — if you've followed me through my wrestling career — I could wrestle a trash-ass opponent or the number one guy in the country, and either one of those matches could be close. It's more so focusing on me and what I want to do — and once I figure that out, it ain't no stopping me.' Confident? Maybe, but bursting at the seams might be more like it. Smith is anxious for fans to see what Vegas already knows — which is that he's a dark horse to make some serious noise in a division already teeming with contenders. To understand that dark horse status, you have to work backward. Advertisement Smith lives in Crandall, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. He trains at Fortis MMA, which is half an hour from his house, and near enough to his combat roots, as he was a standout collegiate wrestler at Oklahoma State University. It was his wrestling buddy (and former Bellator fighter) Kyle Crutchmer who introduced Smith to Daniel Cormier, a fellow OSU Cowboy. The two became fast friends. Smith has trained with Cormier and the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov up in California whenever he can. At one point he was even signed to fight in Nurmagomedov's Eagle FC, but the pandemic prevented him from ever debuting. Still, he has raced out to a 10-0 professional MMA record, including two wins thus far under the UFC umbrella, one of which came on the aforementioned Contender Series. The wrestling pedigree is in his back pocket. Advertisement But the hands might be the difference-makers. Those hands, he says, came from trading with his older brother, Lonnie Wilson, who was a Golden Gloves boxing champion. It was hang or be hung. 'He was three or four years older than me, too' he says. 'And my daddy was so hype, he was always, 'Get your ass up, let's train.' I'm like, dude, I don't train.' This is where we work backward some more to understand where Smith is now. Smith's father was a football player who was drafted by the Oakland Raiders, and his mother was a volleyball player in the Junior Olympics. Athletes all around him, but Smith didn't train because he couldn't. At least not until he was around 12 or so. He was born with asthma. It was so severe that the doctors told him he wouldn't be able to compete. Advertisement 'I couldn't walk up the stairs to go to my room as a kid a lot because it would f*** me up,' he says. 'My parents didn't know what to do. I was in the hospital pretty much my whole life, couldn't breathe. I remember being a kid and times were so hard that I would — I knew how to make myself go unconscious because I couldn't breathe in my normal state. So I knew how to basically put myself to sleep. And once I grew out of that, my body was just so conditioned to the hard life that this regular fighting was easy.' It was a gradual escalation from losing his breath just walking up the steps to getting to the point where he could run. Then he could hang with other kids in sports. Then he could box with his brother. Then he could find the wind to begin distinguishing himself as an athlete. Jacobe Smith strolls away after a knockout victory over Preston Parsons in his UFC debut. (Chris Unger via Getty Images) 'I started with football, and I did track, and then wrestling was the Christmas season and that was pretty much the last one of that year,' he says. 'But I did everything. As soon as the doctors released me, I tried football track, soccer, basketball and wrestling. And wrestling was what I fell in love with.' Advertisement These days Smith sees his early struggles with asthma as a silver lining to his supreme conditioning. He says it 'calloused' him up to where he's 'five or 10 steps ahead' of the field. It's been a wild ride going from not being able to breathe as a kid to outlasting opponents on wrestling mats. His path was hard enough that he sees professional MMA as almost a reprieve. 'Wrestling is way harder,' he says. 'It is just way more high-maintenance due to every weekend I'm making weight, every weekend I'm cutting that weight and cutting my body, depleting it. 'But outside of that, I feel like I've mastered fighting to a sense, where I can put that pressure on people without them being able to put it back on me. My biggest obstacle is dodging the strikes before I get into where I want to get. My instincts are f***ing fire.' Advertisement Confident? Maybe, but carrying a chip on his shoulder might be more like it. That knockout that he scored on Parsons — a thing of pure and violent beauty — didn't come with a bonus, after all. 'No sir, it didn't,' he says. 'I feel like that, I mean, first knockout of the year, 2025, I was the first knockout on the card, and they gave it to the other person (Cesar Almeida). I watched the card back and everything — it should have been me, but nobody looked as skilled as me. Everybody else was sloppy.' This weekend is another chance. Price has shown a propensity to stand in the pocket and trade. For a long stretch he was a feast or famine fighter. The opportunity will be there for Smith, who is close to showing up on the welterweight radar. Should he do to Price what he did to Parsons, people might be talking about the dark horse, Jacobe Smith. Advertisement 'I'm so used to being looked over and not given what I deserve, that I don't care what it is,' Smith says. 'I could take the hardest route. Nobody ain't going to be able to do nothing with me. I say you throw me one of them Russians and see if their wrestling can stick up with mine or if I got to rely on that. 'But I don't think any of these regular strikers are going to have anything for me. These regular jiu-jitsu guys aren't going to have nothing for me because I manage my energy so well. You ain't going to catch me gassed or f***ing struggling for something that I need, because I'm ahead of the curve.'
USA Today
4 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Sedriques Dumas out of UFC 317, as surging Chilean newcomer Christopher Ewert steps in
Sedriques Dumas won't compete at UFC 317. While the exact circumstances of his absence from Saturday's event remain unclear, his previously scheduled opponent Jackson McVey will now battle surging Chilean newcomer Christopher Ewert at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Two people with knowledge of the change informed MMA Junkie of the new booking Tuesday but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Ewert (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was long on the UFC radar. Initially booked for Dana White's Contender Series on Aug. 2 vs. Yuri Panferov, he'll instead debut on four days' notice against a fellow newcomer. Born in Chile, Ewert has five knockouts in seven pro bouts. He trains under Javier Torres at Ultimate Kombat Training Center in Mesa, Ariz. McVey (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has never seen the second round with six first-round finishes in as many pro appearances. He trains under Mike Rogers at St. Charles MMA in St. Charles, Mo., and competed for LFA and Shamrock FC during his pro build. Dumas (10-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) looked to bounce back from an April loss to Michal Oleksiejczuk. Less than three weeks after the fight, Dumas was arrested for home invasion and battery, among other charges. Escambia County (Fla.) court records show Dumas' attorney filed a motion Monday to modify Dumas' bond agreement. It's unclear what those requested changes are, but the initial terms limited him to a 100-mile radius of his residence while he partook in GPS monitoring. Updated UFC 317 lineup MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET) PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+, 8 p.m. ET) PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+/Disney+, 6:30 p.m. ET)
