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Navajo Stirling recalls fighter having mental breakdown before DWCS bout

Published

3 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

Henry Cejudo: Alex Pereira has skipped lines long enough

Published

1 hour ago

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October 18, 2026

By

Henry Cejudo: Alex Pereira has 'skipped lines long enough'
Henry
Cejudo believes Alex
Pereira needs more heavyweight victories before challenging for
another
Ultimate Fighting Championship title.

Pereira is scheduled to face Sergei
Pavlovich at UFC
335 on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. However, he
believes he deserved a title rematch against Ciryl Gane, who will
instead defend his heavyweight championship against Josh Hokit
at UFC
334 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Henry Cejudo wants Alex Pereira to win two or three heavyweight
fights before another UFC title shot

Cejudo believes Pereira (13-4) received preferential treatment in
reaching title contention in two divisions. “Triple C†pointed to
Pereira's opportunity to fight Gane for the interim heavyweight
championship in his divisional debut at
UFC Freedom 250. He argues that Pereira must now build a
winning record at heavyweight before receiving another title
shot.

“It's a part of him being spoiled too,†Cejudo said on the “Pound 4
Pound†podcast. “Alex, I'm not picking on you… You’ve skipped
lines; you’ve skipped lines long enough. You’ve had enough
opportunities against Ciryl Gane and you lost. Yeah, there were
illegal blows; I do agree with you on that. But man, that jab from
Ciryl Gane wobbled you. We kind of saw where the fight was going.
It was your debut at heavyweight… I feel like you need to win at
least two–three more fights to fight for the title.â€

Cejudo is not the only former two-division champion to challenge
Pereira's comments about the heavyweight title picture. “Poatanâ€
previously alleged that former fighter and commentator Daniel
Cormier promoted Gane vs. Hokit at the UFC's direction. Cormier
denied the accusation.

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MMA

Henry Cejudo claims Brendan Allen’s wife dragged his wife into their feud

Published

19 hours ago

on

October 17, 2026

By

Henry Cejudo claims Brendan Allen’s wife dragged his wife into their feud
Henry
Cejudo doesn't want families to be involved in his ongoing feud
with Brendan
Allen.

Cejudo and Allen are both married to Brazilians. However, the
former
Ultimate Fighting Championship two-division titleholder has
previously criticized Allen for representing Brazil in the Octagon.
Cejudo also slammed Allen for playing it safe when asked about
fighter pay, leading the latter to label the former's podcast
“trash.†Their wives are now seemingly involved in the
back-and-forth.

Henry Cejudo says Brendan Allen's wife sent ‘nasty' messages to
his wife

After Sean
Strickland's latest outburst about UFC fighter pay, Allen was
asked about the same after his win over Christian
Leroy Duncan at
UFC Vegas 122. Allen opted against criticizing the promotion,
drawing a strong response from Cejudo, who now claims the UFC
middleweight's wife has gotten involved in the feud.

Cejudo claims his wife received a “nasty†message from Allen's
wife. The Olympic gold medalist doesn't want their families to be
involved.

“Brendan Allen's wife sent a nasty message to my wife,†Cejudo said
on the “Pound 4 Pound†podcast. “Me and him are both American,
married to Brazilians, and have American kids… She just went off; I
don't want to repeat it. What I will say is, don't bring my family
into this. Let men be men.â€

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MMA

Jaqueline Amorim receives 6-month suspension for violating UFC Anti-Doping Policy

Published

20 hours ago

on

October 17, 2026

By

Jaqueline Amorim receives 6-month suspension for violating UFC Anti-Doping Policy

Jaqueline Amorim has been suspended for six months for violating the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.

On Friday, Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) announced that Amorim had accepted a six-month suspension after testing positive for low levels of ostarine, a prohibited non-Specified Substance in the class of Anabolic Agents. Ostarine was detected in out-of-competition samples collected from Amorim on July 29, 2026, and August 17, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with both failed tests being combined into a single violation.

Per CSAD, Amorim fully cooperated with their investigation, and it was determined that Amorim's adverse test results were consistent with exposure to low-level ostarine contamination rather than intentional use. CSAD also noted that the exposure did not provide Amorim “with any significant performance advantage.â€

Amorim's suspension was backdated to Aug. 17, the date she was notified of her test failure and provisional suspension, and expires on Feb. 17, 2027.

Amorim most recently competed at UFC Macau on May 30, where she submitted Loma Lookboonme via first-round armbar.

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