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Rankings Shakeup: Navajo Stirling rises, Jan Blachowicz at crossroads

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Rankings Shakeup: Navajo Stirling rises, Jan Blachowicz at crossroads

Jan Blachowicz has been to the mountaintop and now he's in the middle of a precipitous fall.

May 2022. That's the last time Blachowicz left the octagon with his hand raised. And that bout ended in opponent Aleksandar Rakic being felled by an injury in the third round. For the last time Blachowicz had a truly definitive victory, you have to go further back to March 2021, when he put on an incredible performance to defend his light heavyweight title against Israel Adesanya and hand “The Last Stylebender†his first-ever loss in MMA.

Now 43, Blachowicz is in a career-worst slump, with two losses and two draws heading into his co-main event bout with Navajo Stirling at UFC Belgrade this past Saturday. The undefeated Stirling was facing a huge step up in competition, but he made it look easy as he decimated Blachowicz to score a knockout in less than three minutes.

During Blachowicz's walkout, commentator Jon Anik revealed that the Polish veteran is no longer able to lift weights due to it causing excessive discomfort. Perhaps that should have been a sign.

First and foremost, we need to give Stirling his flowers. The win looks like easy pickings now, but Stirling was taking a chance by accepting this fight on less than three weeks' notice (Blachowicz's originally scheduled opponent Bogdan Guskov had to replace an injured Khalil Rountree, resulting in a disastrous loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC Abu Dhabi last week) and against a Blachowicz who, even in defeat, had given tough fights to Carlos Ulberg, Alex Pereira, and Magomed Ankalaev, all three of which would go on to claim the 205-pound title.

Stirling finally cracks our rankings, debuting at No. 6 in a tie with PFL light heavyweight champion Corey Anderson. Just 28, Stirling is still developing towards his prime, and already sits just outside the top 5. Though his ascendancy is complicated by his friend and teammate Ulberg currently holding the UFC belt, Stirling seems destined to get his own shot to rule the division sooner rather than later.

As for Blachowicz, he falls four spots to No. 10, far closer to exiting the rankings—and possibly retiring—than the No. 1 spot that he once owned.

On a more positive note, we welcome former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker to the rankings after he made a successful light heavyweight debut against Nikita Krylov at UFC 329.

Check out the latest MMA Fighting light heavyweight rankings below.

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 3 Magomed Ankalaev def. No. 12 Bogdan Guskov, Navajo Stirling def. No. 6 Jan Blachowicz, No. 12 MW Robert Whittaker def. No. 14 Nikita Krylov

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Nikita Krylov (1), Muhammad Saidov (1), Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev (1)

Falling out of the rankings: No. 14 Nikita Krylov, No. 15 Aleksandar Rakic (moved to heavyweight)

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Brian Ortega out of UFC 331; Renato Moicano gets new opponent

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Brian Ortega out of UFC 331; Renato Moicano gets new opponent
Renato
“Money†Moicano vs. Brian
Ortega is no longer part of the upcoming
Ultimate Fighting Championship numbered event.

Ortega has suffered an injury, forcing the cancellation of the bout
scheduled for UFC
331 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sept. 19. While
“T-City†nurses his injury, Moicano has a new matchup and will now
headline a Fight Night in Las Vegas in October.

Brian Ortega's injury cancels Moicano fight before UFC 331

After his bout with Ortega was pulled from UFC 331, Moicano's next
opponent was announced. The Brazilian is now set to face Tom Nolan in
the main event of the
UFC Fight Night card on Oct. 31 at Meta Apex in Las Vegas.

Ortega took to social media to reveal details of his injury. A deep
cut has forced him out of his UFC lightweight debut and he had to
get stitches above his left eye.

“I have to pull out of the fight because of the stitches in my
eye,†Ortega wrote on Instagram. “I'm on weight, I've been training
my *ss off, and this has honestly been one of the best camps I've
ever had.â€

UFC 331 now has 12 fights on deck, with Gable
Steveson vs. Sean Sharaf
now opening the main card. Joshua Van
vs. Alexandre
Pantoja 2 headlines UFC 331, with Van defending the UFC
flyweight championship against the former champ in a rematch after
an anticlimactic ending to their first meeting, in which Pantoja
suffered an early arm injury.


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Jonathan Haggerty sets sights on Hiroki Akimoto after watching brother win

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Jonathan Haggerty sets sights on Hiroki Akimoto after watching brother win

Jonathan Haggerty spent last Friday watching someone else fight. Next month marks his own turn again, and the stakes are considerably higher for the reigning bantamweight kickboxing king.

Jonathan Haggerty defends his ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Championship against former divisional king Hiroki Akimoto in the main event of ONE SAMURAI 4 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, October 17.

The assignment comes after Haggerty watched his brother, Freddie Haggerty, grind out a unanimous decision over Rungruanglek TN Muaythai at The Inner Circle 30 in Bangkok's Lumpinee Stadium, a result that pushed Freddie's record to 25-5 and snapped Rungruanglek's five-fight winning streak. Freddie dropped Rungruanglek twice across the opening two rounds before closing the fight out on the back foot with sharp counters.

“It was a great performance. It was pushing for the stoppage, but we didn't get it,†Jonathan said. “It's all love; it's a learning curve. In this sport, you can never stop learning, so we'll go back to the drawing board.â€

Jonathan Haggerty predicts fireworks against Akimoto

Watching his brother's disciplined performance seemed to sharpen Jonathan's own approach heading into his title defense. He has never been one to shy away from bold declarations before a fight, and this time is no different.

The 29-year-old Englishman has spent a run spanning multiple weight classes and two disciplines building toward this kind of stage, defending gold on home soil in Japan against a fighter who once held the very title he now carries.

“I'm more than ready. Fans can expect fireworks, explosiveness, and a knockout.

“Thank you so much for always supporting me for years now. You guys are a big part of ONE Championship. Fans pick you up when you're down. They make you positive. That extra bit of motivation just spurs you on.â€

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


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Scott Coker reveals new name for MMA organization, launch plans and details for Grand Prix in 2027

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Scott Coker reveals new name for MMA organization, launch plans and details for Grand Prix in 2027

Scott Coker is officially back in MMA with a new promotion launching in 2027.

On Tuesday, the veteran promoter behind Strikeforce and Bellator MMA announced plans for his new organization — Ki MMA (pronounced Key MMA) — with plans to officially launch early next year. He'll be joined on the new venture by veteran matchmaker Rich Chou, who previously worked with Coker at Strikeforce and Bellator.

As part of Ki MMA, the first major announcement was plans for a Grand Prix tournament featuring 32 fighters from across the globe with events expected to take place on four different continents.

The plan is for the tournament to take place in one weight class for the 32 fighters participating. The first weight class to be featured is 145 pounds/featherweights.

The fights are also expected to take place in a ring rather than a cage, which is a departure from most other major MMA promotions.

More details to come from the press conference announcing Coker's new Ki MMA promotion.

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