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Navajo Stirling recalls fighter having mental breakdown before DWCS bout

Published

2 months ago

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Navajo Stirling recalls fighter having mental breakdown before DWCS bout
Navajo
Stirling saw a fighter in shambles right before his
Dana White's Contender Series bout.

Stirling earned his
Ultimate Fighting Championship contract with a knockout win on
Contender Series in 2024. He was sharing the locker room with
Quemuel
Ottoni, who was set to face Kody
Steele. Ottoni eventually didn't make the walk to the Octagon
and Stirling has now detailed what happened behind the scenes.

Navajo Stirling recalls Quemuel Ottoni's dramatic Dana White's
Contender Series fight-week incident

Stirling (10-0) recently revealed that Ottoni (12-4) was aggressive
towards Steele, and even other fighters, throughout fight week
until the weigh-ins. However, the Brazilian's nerves got the better
of him right before stepping out for his bout and he allegedly
started crying backstage, even ripping off his hand wraps multiple
times.

Cutman Brad Tate, who was in charge of wrapping Ottoni, refused to
repeat it after a point. The bout was eventually called off and
Steele won his contract in a later Contender Series outing.

“The guy that was on Contenders [Series] was probably the worst
one,†Stirling told Full Send MMA. “He was fighting Kody Steele. He
choked out Alex
Pereira back in the day. I was in the locker room with him… At
the weigh-ins, he is puffing his chest, he is even looking at me,
like, ‘You wanna go?' I'm like, ‘Bro, save it for tomorrow.' He's
staunching Kody Steele out at the weigh-ins. And I was thinking,
‘This is going to be a banger.' We get to the fight night and he
just started crying. He took his gloves off three or four times.
They had to re-wrap his hands. I think he had cutman Tate. The
cutman said, ‘F*ck this guy, I'm not wrapping his hands
anymore.'â€

Both Tate and Steele have confirmed Stirling's story about Ottoni,
who had choked out UFC superstar Pereira in the latter's
professional MMA debut in 2015. Ottoni and Pereira's careers have
taken contrasting trajectories since. While Pereira went on to
become a two-division champion, Ottoni is yet to make it out of the
regional scene. He has fought only once since the Contender Series
fiasco, suffering a first-round technical knockout loss.

Meanwhile, the undefeated Stirling already has five UFC wins to his
name. The Kiwi is now scheduled to face Jan
Blachowicz (29-11) on less than three weeks' notice at
UFC Belgrade in Serbia on Aug. 1.

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MMA

UFC fighter calls rival a ‘clown’ after illegal knee ends ‘TUF 34’ final

Published

3 minutes ago

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September 28, 2026

By

UFC fighter calls rival a ‘clown’ after illegal knee ends ‘TUF 34’ final
Mehemmedali
Osmanli's feud with Ilimbek
Akylbek Uulu remains unresolved.

Osmanli and Akylbek Uulu clashed in the bantamweight final of “The
Ultimate Fighter 34†on Sept. 26 at Meta Apex in Las Vegas. Bad
blood developed from their time on Michael
Bisping's team at the “TUF†house, which came to a head at

UFC Vegas 121. Osmanli landed an illegal knee and Akylbek Uulu
was declared the winner via disqualification.

Mehemmedali Osmanli accuses Ilimbek Akylbek Uulu of
exaggerating the effects of his illegal knee

Osmanli landed a knee on a grounded Akylbek Uulu less than halfway
through the first round. Akylbek Uulu couldn't continue, resulting
in Osmanli's disqualification. However, Osmanli has now accused his
opponent of exaggerating the effects of the illegal strike.

Osmanli claims Akylbek Uulu initially grabbed his leg after getting
kneed and believes the Kyrgyz fighter only began exaggerating his
reaction as soon as the referee stepped in.

“He's fake,†Osmanli said on Instagram Live. “First, he take my
leg. When referee stopped, he [put on a] show, like a clown.â€

The loss was the second of Osmanli's professional career and
snapped a nine-fight unbeaten streak.


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MMA

Luke Riley predicts first-round KO of undefeated Tommy McMillen

Published

1 hour ago

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September 28, 2026

By

Luke Riley predicts first-round KO of undefeated Tommy McMillen
Two undefeated featherweight prospects could be on a collision
course.

Paddy
Pimblett's teammate, Luke Riley,
has revealed that he is likely to return to
Ultimate Fighting Championship action in December in Las Vegas.
However, the Liverpool native stopped short of issuing a callout.
When asked about a potential fight against Sean
O’Malley's teammate Tommy
McMillen, Riley admitted that he likes the matchup, predicting
a quick finish.

Luke Riley likes a potential UFC matchup with fellow unbeaten
featherweight Tommy McMillen

Riley praised McMillen for bringing more attention to the
featherweight division and said he'll gladly accept a fight against
the polarizing American. The Englishman believes that he'd knock
McMillen out in the first round if they squared off.

“Me and Tommy would have a great fight,†Riley told Ronins MMA.
“Look, I like Tommy. He's bringing the fire back to the division. I
like what he's doing. So, me and Tommy would have a great fight. I
would knock Tommy out in Round 1. 100%.â€

Riley (14-0) has finished two of his three UFC wins since making
his promotional debut last year. He is coming off a first-round
stoppage of Kai Kamaka
III from this past July. Meanwhile, McMillen (12-0) has also
finished two of his three UFC wins since making his Octagon debut
this past April and has earned a bonus for each win.

The
Dana White's Contender Series signee handed fellow prospect
Marwan
Rahiki his first professional loss in a three-round war in a
Fight of the Year contender at
Noche UFC 4.

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MMA

Sedriques Dumas points to late opponent switch following 57-second UFC loss

Published

2 hours ago

on

September 28, 2026

By

Sedriques Dumas points to late opponent switch following 57-second UFC loss
Sedriques
Dumas believes a short-notice opponent change worked against
him in his latest outing in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Dumas was originally scheduled to fight Mickey Gall
in a middleweight matchup at
UFC Vegas 121 on Sept. 26. However, Gall was pulled from the
fight due to an undisclosed medical issue less than three days
before the event.
Dana White's Contender Series graduate Luis
Hernandez stepped in on short notice and needed just 57 seconds
to force a tap via a standing guillotine choke in his Octagon
debut.

Hernandez earned a $100,000 performance bonus, while Dumas is now
winless in his last five bouts.

Sedriques Dumas addresses Luis Hernandez loss after Mickey Gall
withdrawal

Considering the late switch after Gall's withdrawal, the bout was
moved to light heavyweight and Dumas weighed in significantly below
Hernandez. Hernandez dominated from the outset and overpowered
Dumas in the grappling exchanges before locking in the finish in
just 57 seconds.

Addressing the loss, Dumas noted that he spent months preparing for
Gall. While he believes that the sudden change of opponent didn't
work out for him, he's unbothered about criticism and vows to focus
on bettering himself.

“To be real, I got nothing to say to people besides I just love
what I do and if you was in a predicament getting ready for
somebody for months, we gotta switch guess what something don’t
work out as favor,†Dumas wrote on his Instagram stories. “I give
two else about what people say how people feel I know I gotta fix
me and that’s just it. Thank you for my team and the ones I asked
you support me. Awesome hope Mickey gets well.â€

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