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Tom Pagliarulo overcomes fear, earns UFC contract at DWCS 2026 Week 1

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Tom Pagliarulo overcomes fear, earns UFC contract at DWCS 2026 Week 1
Tom
Pagliarulo's career aspirations are finally coming to
fruition.

Pagliarulo (11-2) took on Ananias
Mulumba in a featherweight clash on Week 1 of
Dana White's Contender Series 2026. “The Phenom†left it all in
the cage, finishing Mulumba with ground-and-pound in the final
seconds of the fight, earning an
Ultimate Fighting Championship contract for his efforts.

‘Most afraid I've ever been': Tom Pagliarulo details how his
team helped him stay focused ahead of DWCS Week 1

Pagliarulo admits that he was very nervous throughout fight week.
However, his coaches and teammate, UFC bantamweight Cory
Sandhagen, helped him stay dialed in. The 29-year-old is glad
to have finally made it to the biggest stage in MMA, even if it
came a little later than he expected.

“This is the most afraid I've ever been in my life, all week,â€
Pagliarulo said in his post-fight interview. “My coaches and Cory
Sandhagen back home kept me locked in. Just reminded me to go be
me, and that will always be enough. I'm like a cockroach; you got
to kill me if you want to put me away… I was never the most
talented or naturally gifted kid. Growing up, doing all these
sports, I fell short of all my goals. I was never the starter in
all of those team sports. But I was always the hardest worker in
the room; I kept showing up. My coaches back home told me, ‘You've
always had that fire.'â€

UFC CEO Dana
White later commended Pagliarulo's performance before awarding
him a contract.

“Thomas, you were in a dog fight, turned it on in the third round,
and finished a really tough kid,†White said. “Congratulations,
you're in.â€


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MMA

Yadong Songs team predicted exact uppercut KO of Umar Nurmagomedov

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Yadong Song's team predicted exact uppercut KO of Umar Nurmagomedov
Yadong
Song's team planned for an uppercut finish throughout training
camp.

Song firmly put himself in title contention in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship with the biggest victory of his
career, finishing Umar
Nurmagomedov in the second round of the
UFC Shanghai headliner. The Chinese bantamweight's coaches
identified the route to victory long before fight night.

Yadong Song explains the preparation behind his UFC Shanghai
knockout of Umar Nurmagomedov

After his knockout victory, Song revealed he had specifically
prepared the uppercut as a counter to Nurmagomedov’s takedown
attempts. “The Kung Fu Kid†claimed that his boxing coach
identified where the Dagestani was vulnerable and they repeatedly
worked on the finishing sequence he pulled off at UFC Shanghai.

Song explained that his team anticipated Nurmagomedov shooting with
his head dipping towards the left side and worked on counters to
that movement.

“My boxing coach, Rudy Hernandez, he already told me, ‘You gonna
get the knockout tonight with uppercut,'†Song said in a post-fight
interview. “We've been working on that. We know he gonna shoot from
the left side and we find the uppercut.â€

In the same interview, Song claimed that he'd finish current champ
Petr
Yan and former champ Sean
O'Malley in rematches after they previously outpointed him. He
also fancies himself against Merab
Dvalishvili.

“I feel like I can finish everyone,†Song added. “You know, I can,
I can finish Petr. I can finish Merab, you know. So even Sean’s
fight is very close. You know, if a rematch, I can finish him
too.â€

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MMA

Ex-UFC fighter Sedriques Dumas takes down costumed fan in arena brawl

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Ex-UFC fighter Sedriques Dumas takes down costumed fan in arena brawl
Sedriques
Dumas had an eventful night at Duel Arena 1.

Dumas (10-5) attended Duel Arena 1 on Aug. 29 at Kia Center in
Orlando, Florida. The former
Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter is no stranger to
controversy and got into a brawl at the event, requiring
intervention from security.

Sedriques Dumas gets involved in crowd brawl at Duel Arena
1

Mike
Perry suffered a huge upset loss against Brandon
Jenkins in the main event, while Paul Miller earned a split
decision win over Ben Azoulay. A brawl broke out in the stands
after the fight between Miller and Azoulay. Dumas was seen taking
down a fan dressed in a joker costume before security separated
them.

Dumas was arrested last year in Escambia County, Florida, on
charges of home invasion, battery and possession of a weapon by a
convicted felon. Dumas fought three more times in the UFC before
being released in July shortly after he was sentenced on those
charges.

Three of the charges against Dumas were reportedly dropped while he
pleaded no contest to the accusations of possession of a weapon or
ammo by a convicted Florida felon and possession of marijuana over
20 grams.


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MMA

Usman Nurmagomedov fires back over Yadong Song incident at UFC Shanghai

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Usman Nurmagomedov fires back over Yadong Song incident at UFC Shanghai
Usman
Nurmagomedov has addressed his brother Umar
Nurmagomedov’s knockout loss to Yadong Song
and the discourse surrounding his immediate actions after seeing
his brother hit the canvas.

Song flatlined Umar with an uppercut in the second round of their
bantamweight clash in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship. Just as Song ended the
UFC Shanghai headliner with some follow-up hammer-fists, Usman
stormed the cage to check on his brother.

Song began celebrating and briefly crossed paths with a concerned
Usman, who seemingly loaded up an instinctive elbow strike in the
heat of the moment, but didn't follow through.

Usman denies trying to hit Yadong Song after rushing toward the
cage following Umar Nurmagomedov's knockout

Usman took to social media in the aftermath of UFC Shanghai to
address his brother's first-ever professional loss via a finish and
also touched on fans accusing him of trying to hit a celebrating
Song. The
Professional Fighters League star first downplayed the
magnitude of Umar's loss by putting things into perspective.

“People are making such a huge tragedy out of this, they should
just calm down,†Usman wrote on Instagram in Russian. “There are
things far worse. You don't have to think for long, just look at
what is happening in the world.â€

He then denied that he intended to hit Song and slammed those
criticizing him.

“And regarding the claims that I supposedly wanted to hit his
opponent, if I had wanted to, I would have hit him,†Usman added.
“You angry, petty, and jealous people. Your problem is that you
have never had and never will never have an understanding of family
love.â€

Usman is currently a free agent, having exhausted his PFL contract.
He is rumored to be signing with the UFC once his exclusive 90-day
negotiation window with the PFL concludes.

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