Wiz Khalifa has legitimate striking skills, per a reputed MMA
coach.

Khalifa's enthusiasm for combat sports is no secret. The rapper
recently had a training session at
Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas with coach John Wood, who trains
former
Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight king Merab
Dvalishvili, among other big names. Wood recently detailed just
how good the 10-time Grammy-nominated artist really is.

John Wood praises Wiz Khalifa's striking after Syndicate MMA
training session

Wood has some serious praise for Khalifa's standup game. The
veteran coach claims Khalifa is a serious striker with an athletic
build and solid training experience. He also praised the rapper's
ability to learn, claiming their training session was in a flow
state towards the end. Wood believes he could be a serious threat
on the amateur kickboxing circuit.

“He brought his whole squad in, and we did a session, and it went
great,†Wood told Home of Fight. “That dude is legit. He could
whoop some ass, man… I don't know if he's got some ground base. But
in an amateur stand-up fight, absolutely. It's legit; he is real.
He's like 6'4â€, lanky, long, hits pretty good, flexible. He's been
training for a long time… He's athletic. He picked up everything
that we're doing, and we were just flying at the end.â€

Former
Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters Darren Till
and Yoel
Romero are set to collide in bare-knuckle boxing.

Till (18-5-1) and Romero (17-7) are set to meet in a light
heavyweight matchup at BKFC 94 on Sept. 26 in Manchester,
England.

Darren Till and Yoel Romero will meet in a light heavyweight
bare-knuckle bout on Sept. 26 in Manchester

Till parted ways with the UFC in 2022 on a three-fight slump,
promising to return to the promotion someday. “The Gorilla†then
won three boxing bouts under the Misfits banner, even winning the
title against Luke
Rockhold last year. The Brit then parted ways with Misfits
earlier this year to sign with BKFC, where he knocked out Aaron
Chalmers in his debut this past May.

Meanwhile, Romero has competed in various boxing, bare-knuckle
boxing and wrestling promotions since retiring from MMA in 2024.
“Soldier of God†earned a knockout win in his BKFC debut last year,
but dropped a decision at IBA Bare Knuckle this past March. The
49-year-old has since rebounded with a knockout win at Gamebred
Bareknuckle MMA in May.

Professional Fighters League CEO John Martin saw several
fighters make a statement at
PFL Washington D.C.

The PFL put on a show at CareFirst Arena in the American capital,
where Thad Jean
(12-0) and Ernesto
Rodriguez (11-2) fought for the vacant welterweight title in
the main event. Rodriguez accepted the matchup on 48 hours' notice
after Jean's original opponent, Shamil
Musaev, pulled out due to weight cut issues.

The PFL CEO believes Shamil Musaev deserves the next title
shot

Jean survived a knockdown scare in the second round and pounded out
an exhausted Rodriguez to earn a stoppage win in the third period.
Martin appreciates Rodriguez for stepping up to save the main
event, although the Cuban was originally supposed to fight Aaron
McKenzie on the same card. Martin also praised Jean for
accepting a sudden change of opponent and would like to see him
defend his title against Musaev next.

“Let's start with Ernesto… 48 hours ago, he was preparing for a
different fight,†Martin said in an interview. “We approached him,
we gave him a huge opportunity and right on the spot he recognized
it and he wanted to do it. And he fought a pretty courageous fight.
He wasn't training to fight someone who is 6-foot-2 and he also
wasn't training to fight five rounds. Which is a different level of
preparation. You could also say the same about Thad Jean.
Obviously, he came out on top and fought a great fight. But he was
training for Shamil, who is a completely different fighter… I would
like to see him do that fight with Shamil.â€

Martin notes that the event was a great night for African talent as
Nkosi
Ndebele defeated Brandon
Davis via a dominant decision and Eliezer
Kubanza made Chris Mixan
tap to a Brabo choke. He was also impressed with Rasul
Magomedov’s hard-fought decision win over Sullivan
Cauley and Rafael
Xavier's first-round buzzer-beater knockout of Tyson
Pedro.

“Tonight was a good night for PFL Africa,†Martin added. “We had
two African fighters represent, and both of them came out with
really, really stellar victories… And then Magomedov — that was a
close fight, and Cauley fought very valiantly… And Xavier, that was
impressive — also can fight standing up, fight on the ground.
These weight classes are still evolving, but you see nights like
tonight, the winners are really putting themselves in positions for
title contention.â€

What a night in DC!

CEO John Martin
breaks it down 🙌#PFLDC
pic.twitter.com/eIqHfT1rCL

— PFL (@PFLMMA)
July 26, 2026