Johnny Eblen (above) says a Sean Strickland fight would be
different outside the gym. | 📷: PFL MMA

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Johnny
Eblen and Sean
Strickland never go easy on each other.

Eblen and Strickland have developed a strong friendship despite
training at different gyms. Moreover, Strickland frequently
campaigns for Eblen to get a
Ultimate Fighting Championship contract in the future. The
reigning UFC titleholder recently said that he wouldn't mind
putting his middleweight belt on the line against Eblen and the
latter would happily oblige.

Johnny Eblen explains why friendship would not stop a fight
with Sean Strickland

Eblen recently explained why he doesn't mind fighting Strickland
even though they are friends. He says he'd rather fight Strickland
for money since they anyway do it for free in the gym. Eblen
revealed that they go hard against each other in sparring sessions
and often use big gloves as they are both looking to land
damage.

However, Eblen clarifies that neither one is looking for a finish
if they see that the other is rocked. Having grown up wrestling
since the age of four, the interim
Professional Fighters League middleweight king is also no
stranger to competing against his teammates.

“I’d be happy to fight him,†Eblen told Ariel Helwani. “We fight
each other for free. It's not that we're trying to take away from
each other. We’re just competitors. Even when we spar, we spar
hard. It’s not easy rounds, man. We spar with big gloves because
we’re trying to crack each other. Obviously, if someone gets dazed
a little bit, we’re not trying to go in for the kill because we’re
training. But it’s just competition, man. I grew up competing
against my friends my whole life. I started wrestling from the age
of four and you wrestle your teammates all the time.â€

A welterweight
title fight headlines PFL Washington DC: Tune on Saturday, July 25
at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Eblen (18-1) knocked out Impa
Kasanganay en route to a third-round finish to win the interim
PFL middleweight title in Austin, Texas. Strickland (31-7) had
flown to Florida to help Eblen in camp at the
American Top Team.

Johnny
Eblen explains why he’d have no issue fighting Sean
Strickland despite their friendship:

“I’d be happy to fight him. We fight each other for free.

We’re just competitors. Even when we spar, we spar hard. It’s not
easy rounds, man. We spar with big gloves because we’re… pic.twitter.com/WTt9stC7ho

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani)
July 22, 2026

Jay
Alderete doesn't regret his celebration following his win over
former
Ultimate Fighting Championship athlete Cameron
Smotherman.

Alderete took on Smotherman in a bantamweight matchup at
Fury FC 121 in Houston. Alderete dropped Smotherman with a head
kick before putting him to sleep with a brabo choke in the second
round. He followed up with a crotch grab celebration and chirped
away at his counterpart, who had to be held back by security.

The undefeated Fury FC prospect says Smotherman’s corner
provoked his post-fight taunt

Alderete recently revealed the details of their verbal exchange
after the fight. Smotherman had claimed to have never heard of
Alderete before their bout. The latter made sure to remind the
former UFC fighter that he would never forget the name.

“He said he doesn't know nothing about me,†Alderete told MMA
Fighting. “He doesn't understand the hype… I ran up, and I told
him, ‘I told you you were going to remember the name today,' and I
mean he just crashed out. They dragged him out of the cage. He runs
back in, tries to sneak attack me, the funniest sh*t of all
time.â€

Alderete also defends his crotch grab celebration following the
win. The 19-year-old claims that Smotherman's family and friends
were flipping him off during the fight. He doesn't regret returning
the favor after his win.

“These dudes, all his family and friends were standing up on the
chair flicking me off,†Alderete added. “One dude's raising his
stuff at me, right? He's doing a crotch grab at me… and I'm like,
you know what? F*ck ya'll. So, I give a lot of birds, and then I
crotch grab them and oh now I'm the bad guy… I have no regrets on
that sh*t.â€

Alderete (6-0) is undefeated in six outings, with five finishes
since making his debut last year. Meanwhile, Smotherman (12-8) was
released from the UFC last month on a three-fight skid. “The
Baby-Faced Killer” went viral for passing out after making weight
for his scheduled
UFC 324 bout against Ricky
Turcios, which was subsequently cancelled.

19-year-old prospect @jayalderete135
explains his side of his viral Fury FC finish against Cameron
Smotherman:

“I ran up, and I told [Smotherman], ‘I told you [you were] going to
remember the name today,’ and I mean he just crashed out. They
dragged him out of the cage. He runs… pic.twitter.com/2VIwde2UNJ

— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting)
July 22, 2026

Former UFC fighter Cameron
Smotherman gets knocked down by a headkick and put to sleep in
a choke by Jay
Alderete #FuryFC121
pic.twitter.com/zryAWFuRib

— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist)
July 20, 2026

Magomed
Ankalaev ignored his team’s calls for him to pull out of the
Alex
Pereira rematch.

Ankalaev won the
Ultimate Fighting Championship 205-pound title against Pereira
in their first matchup at
UFC 313 in March 2025 in dominant fashion. The Russian then put
his title on the line against Pereira in their immediate rematch at

UFC 320 in October. “Poatan” knocked out Ankalaev in just 80
seconds to reclaim his strap.

The Russian has now divulged the obstacles he overcame ahead of the
rematch.

Magomed Ankalaev says health issues led his team to urge him to
withdraw from UFC 320 against Alex Pereira

Ankalaev's team and his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, claimed that he was
not fully fit going into the rematch against Pereira. Abdelaziz
said that Ankalaev had decided to go ahead with the fight despite
being advised otherwise by his team.

Ankalaev recently admitted that he was dealing with health issues
going into UFC 320. The former light heavyweight champion also
reveals that he ignored his advisors when they told him that the
fight could be postponed if he pulled out. Ankalaev paid the price
for his mistake and doesn't want to relive the memory.

“I had some specific health issues at the time, and I was advised
by many not to even go out, to pull out of the fight, that they
were gonna move it to a later date,†Ankalaev told MMA Junkie. “I
decided that I was well enough to go on; I decided not to listen to
anybody. I made a mistake, and sometimes you have to pay for your
mistake. This has been a long time… I would rather not revisit it
if we can.â€

Ankalaev (20-2) was scheduled to return to action against Khalil
Rountree at
UFC Abu Dhabi on July 25. However, Rountree pulled out due to
an injury and has been replaced by Bogdan
Guskov (18-3) on 14 days' notice.

Magomed
Ankalaev admits he “made a mistake” rematching Alex
Pereira with compromised health at UFC 320 and sees
#UFCAbuDhabi as his road back to gold.

“If we have to clean out the division once again, then we’ll do
that.”

(via @MikeBohn)
pic.twitter.com/mLyalGl4aK

— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie)
July 22, 2026