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Sean Strickland gives "a lot of motivation" to reinspired Johnny Eblen before PFL Austin title bout

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Sean Strickland gives "a lot of motivation" to reinspired Johnny Eblen before PFL Austin title bout

Sean Strickland helms the UFC's middleweight division and steadily gets in work with someone vying for gold in another promotion this weekend. The combatant in question is Johnny Eblen, who runs it back with Impa Kasanganay for a rematch with the interim middleweight belt on the line at PFL Austin on July 18th. The winner will battle lineal PFL middleweight champion Costello Van Steenis at a later juncture when the 185-pound titleholder gets off the shelf from his injury.

Speaking to the motivational component, getting to work with the UFC champion and potential future UFC Hall of Famer in Sean Strickland, who really touts Johnny Eblen's skills in quite a high regard, Eblen said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“Yeah, absolutely. A lot of motivation. Especially when you lose to a guy that you know you can beat [Costello Van Steenis]. It definitely gave me motivation to stay with the PFL and right that wrong. Cuz around that time, I was kind of like running through everybody, beating everybody, and I wanted to find new competition outside of the PFL cuz I fought everybody in the PFL.â€

“But having that loss, and then having Bryan Battle come over, and now I get to run it back with Impa [Kasanganay]. Some people thought I might have lost that fight with Impa because it was a split decision and now I have a road back to redemption with Costello [Van Steenis]. It truly spiced up the division and it truly motivated me, I think.â€

Sean Strickland foresees a UFC title fight with Johnny Eblen someday

Sean Strickland and Johnny Eblen have often got in work inside the gym together, whether in Florida or Nevada, with the former envisioning a fight with the latter transpiring someday. Touching upon that during a recent training excursion taken at American Top Team, Strickland stated [via Bloody Elbow],

“First session done with Johnny [Eblen], this guy is a savage… This guy is going to win the [PFL] belt. Then he's going to come to the UFC, he's going to win a fight and then we're going to fight for the belt. And I don't know who's going to f***ing win but I know we're going to fight.â€

To that, Eblen responded,

“It's going to be fun.â€

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MMA

UFC adds four more Meta Apex events to 2026 schedule

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UFC adds four more Meta Apex events to 2026 schedule
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship has added four more Meta Apex
events to its 2026 schedule.

The Nevada Athletic Commission has approved permits for UFC events
on Sept. 29, Oct. 10, Oct. 31 and Nov. 7 at its venue. The Sept. 29
and Nov. 7 cards already have main events, with the headliners for
the two October cards yet to be announced.

Rosas Jr.-Barcelos and Brady-Bonfim are set to headline two
upcoming UFC Fight Nights

Raoni
Barcelos is set to face Raul Rosas
Jr. at
UFC Fight Night 289 on Sept. 29. The matchup pits an MMA
veteran against one of the brightest up-and-coming prospects in the
sport.

The main events for the UFC
Fight Night on Oct. 10 and the UFC
Fight Night on Oct. 31 haven't been announced as yet, but
multiple undercard fights on the cards have been revealed.

Some of the fights scheduled for the Oct. 10 card include Andre Fili
vs. Kai Kamaka
III, Lupita
Godinez vs. Ketlen
Souza, Malcolm
Wellmaker vs. Otari
Tanzilovi and Matheus
Camilo vs. Jai
Herbert, among others. Bouts slated for the undercard of the
Oct. 31 event include Julian
Erosa vs. Jeong Yeong
Lee, Francis
Marshall vs. Gaston
Bolanos, Yana Santos
vs. Luana
Santos and Andre
Petroski vs. Azamat
Bekoev, among others.

The
Nov. 7 UFC Fight Night will be headlined by Gabriel
Bonfim vs. Sean Brady,
a pivotal welterweight clash.

Should these events complete the UFC’s Meta Apex schedule for the
year, the promotion will have staged 12 events at the venue in
2026, just as they did last year.

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MMA

Claressa Shields: Cris Cyborg turned down $2 million to fight me at 154 pounds

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Claressa Shields: Cris Cyborg turned down $2 million to fight me at 154 pounds
Claressa
Shields has revealed why a boxing bout against Cris
Cyborg fell through.

During a recent interview, Shields discussed a previous offer for
the proposed Cyborg fight, which the Brazilian allegedly turned
down.

Shields says a sparring session changed her relationship with
Cris Cyborg

Shields claims Cyborg turned down a $2 million offer to box her,
despite them being on good terms.

“But as far as Cris, she turned $2 million already back when a guy
from Saudi had $3 million for her,†Shields told TMZ Sports. “Well,
$3 million for me and $2 million for her and we could [do that at]
154 [pounds]. She turned it down and that’s back when we were
cool.â€

The American now claims that they aren't on good terms, speculating
that the bad blood stems from a previous training session, which
Shields claims to have dominated.

“Right now, she got all this, ‘Oh, she don’t like me,'†Shields
added. “I think she don’t like me because I whooped her a*s in
sparring. That’s what happened. She got like this edited clip that
she begged me to let her and her team put together. But I had every
round when we sparred and I know for a fact she was a deer in
headlights. I beat her. Yeah. Yes. It was easy work.â€

Shields recently finished Kay Scott to win the WBA and WBC female
middleweight titles, while Cyborg beat Ketlen
Vieira in his last mixed martial arts bout in the
Professional Fighters League.

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MMA

UFC’s newest fighter had a 7:30 a.m. work call following historic upset

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UFC’s newest fighter had a 7:30 a.m. work call following historic upset
Alex
Apodaca has little time to celebrate the biggest win of her
career.

Apodaca pulled off the biggest upset in
Dana White's Contender Series history on Aug. 25, earning an

Ultimate Fighting Championship contract after defeating heavily
favored Bella Mir
over three rounds. When asked how she plans to celebrate the major
victory, Apodaca said that she has a day job obligation scheduled
for the next morning.

Alex Apodaca plans to keep accounting job after upsetting Bella
Mir on DWCS

Despite beating Mir and pulling off the biggest upset in DWCS
history, the 32-year-old bantamweight won’t be stepping away from
her day job just yet. Apodaca revealed after the fight that she had
an early morning commitment at her accounting firm.

“I am gonna party my *ss off, but I have work in the morning. I
have a call at like 7:30 a.m.,†Apodaca said at the post-fight
presser following
Week 3 of DWCS Season 10.

Apodaca works full-time as a consultant at an accounting firm, a
career she plans to maintain despite signing with the UFC.

“I actually don't think I'm just gonna quit,†she added. “I think
I'm gonna keep doing it. I like using my brain, so I'm gonna keep
doing it.â€

Balancing the two careers has not always been easy, particularly
around fight camps and weight cuts, but Apodaca credited her
co-workers and bosses for supporting her MMA career.

“They've been very supportive. I have so much gratitude towards
them for that,†Apodaca said. “I'll be on video calls with a black
eye and they are totally just used to it now. It's the coolest
thing ever to have that amount of support from all the people in my
life, especially the folks I work for.â€

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