Cain
Velasquez has heaped praise on Islam
Makhachev.

Velasquez considers Makhachev an extraordinary athlete who has
reached the pinnacle of the sport. From conversations with his
coach, Javier Mendez, Velasquez knows that the
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight king is a hard
worker in the gym.

Cain Velasquez explains why Islam Makhachev continues to
dominate under Javier Mendez

Having been honed into a champion himself by Mendez, Velasquez
knows that Makhachev is in good hands with the
American Kickboxing Academy coach. The Hall of Famer and former
UFC heavyweight champion believes the Dagestani will continue his
dominant title run.

“[Islam] is a special type of athlete,†Velasquez told Red Corner
MMA. “He's one of the guys at the pinnacle of this sport. I talk
with Javier all the time, and Islam and those guys are always doing
great. They are in great hands. Javier is the one who builds
champions… I see Islam continuing to do what he's been doing, and
that's winning impressively. He's somebody who has mastered all
aspects of MMA.â€

Velasquez was the flagbearer for AKA before the likes of Daniel
Cormier, Luke
Rockhold and Khabib
Nurmagomedov won gold in the UFC. Makhachev is the latest to
bring a UFC championship to the gym.

Makhachev (28-1) is undefeated in 16 straight UFC outings since his
lone professional loss in 2015. He defended the UFC lightweight
title four times, the most in the division's history, before moving
up to welterweight and dominantly dethroning Jack
Della Maddalena to win the 170-pound title.

Makhachev is now set to defend his welterweight title for the first
time against Ian Garry
(17-1) at UFC
330 on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Center in Philadelphia. A
successful title defense will see the Russian break the record for
the longest win streak in the history of the Octagon.

Cain
Velasquez believes Islam
Makhachev will continue his dominant run at UFC 330, calling
him one of the sport's most complete fighters and saying he has
mastered every aspect of MMA.

“Islam is a special type of athlete. He's one of the guys at the
pinnacle of this sport,â€â€¦ pic.twitter.com/e22KOCtVCo

— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA)
July 19, 2026

Sean
Strickland recently listed sports in terms of what he considers
masculine.

According to Strickland (31-7), mixed martial arts is the manliest
sport in the world, followed by other combat sports. The two-time

Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion believes
the striking arts of kickboxing and boxing follow MMA on the list.
He considers wrestling less masculine than the striking arts but
manlier than all other sports.

Strickland went off on the world's most popular sport in the
aftermath of the FIFA World Cup final, shaming soccer players for
faking injuries and their dramatic reactions to contact.

“How are you a grown a** man faking being hit? Are there any soccer
players out there? Do you feel no shame when you fake being
injured?â€

Furthermore, he sees swimming as the least masculine sport.
Notably, he had hockey, American football, baseball, lacrosse and
tennis ahead of soccer.

Strickland dethroned Khamzat
Chimaev in a massive upset at
UFC 328 this past May to win the middleweight title for the
second time. Chimaev is targeting a rematch, but Nassourdine
Imavov and Dricus Du
Plessis, who has two wins over him, are also in the
running.

Most masculine sports in order from being a
man to being a lady boy

MMA
Kickboxing
boxing
Wrestling
Rugby
Hockey
Football
Baseball
Lacrosse
Tennis
Soccer
Golf
Swimming

Right or wrong?

— Sean
Strickland (@SStricklandMMA)
July 19, 2026

Dana White no longer considers his production crew the worst in
sports.

White recently slammed the
Ultimate Fighting Championship's production crew for confusing
Shakur Stevenson with NBA player Jalen Williams at
UFC 329. He labeled them the worst across sports in terms of
showing celebrities at events. However, members of the UFC
production team have now told White that soccer production crews
are even worse when it comes to celebrities.

UFC president Dana White reacts to FIFA World Cup final
celebrity identification mistakes

White believes the words of his production team after Saturday's
FIFA World Cup final, where Spain beat Argentina 1-0. He now
considers the FIFA production crew the worst in sports when it
comes to showing celebrities.

“The guys responsible for the production of the World Cup, for you
guys to hit a Grand Slam home run,†White said on his Instagram
Stories. “Even though everybody on my team was arguably saying that
you are the worst, I said, ‘No, we're the worst. They didn't f*ck
it up as bad as we did.' What do you guys do? You triple down today
and you just go, ‘F*ck you, Dana White. You're not beating us.
We're the worst production team in the history of sports to ever
show celebrities.' I bow down. Congratulations to the producers of
the World Cup. You guys win.' You guys f***ed up that flyover too…
You guys absolutely f*cking suck. We're the second worst.â€

White didn't point out which production error exactly caught his
attention during the FIFA World Cup final. Notably, a commentator
confused singer Pharrell Williams with rapper A$AP Rocky. The two
artists later posted a picture together in good humor.

Meanwhile, another commentator confused U.S. Secretary of State
Marco Rubio, who was sitting behind President Donald Trump, with
Cristiano Ronaldo.

It seems the FIFA World Cup final
broadcasters mixed up Marco Rubio
@marcorubio and
Cristiano Ronaldo @Cristiano,
saying:

“You see the President of the United States… you've got the
President of FIFA, and that looks like Ronaldo.â€

Great moment either way. pic.twitter.com/M4w4jkNzSH

— Loomer Unleashed (@LoomerUnleashed)
July 19, 2026

Pharrell posts a pic of him and A$AP Rocky
after being mistaken for him on the broadcast 😂 pic.twitter.com/P7RVREMS7z

— JustFreshKicks (@JustFreshKicks)
July 19, 2026

🚨😅 Dana White goes off on FIFA production
team over celebrity name mistake:

“I actually teed up the guys who were responsible for the
production of the World Cup for you guys to hit a home run.
Everyone on my team was saying you guys were the worst. I said,
‘No, we’re the… pic.twitter.com/gVu0PXOK9N

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight)
July 19, 2026