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Michael ‘Venom’ Page | This One’s For The Fans

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„If it’s entertaining enough, it’s big enough, it’s good for myself, good for the UFC, good for the fans, I’ll do it. But yeah, like I said, I haven’t lost sight of what I want to do or I want to achieve.“

That goal remains the undisputed UFC welterweight title and, as someone who meticulously studies the landscape in the 170-pound division, Page knows that there’s an opportunity for him to make a run at the title when he returns to the division later this year.

„The exciting part of the welterweight division is it seems like nobody’s really got their grasp on the welterweight belt,“ he said.

„People that are normally the ones that are always winning are not necessarily winning at the moment, you know? So there’s a lot of moving parts. All the high ranks are dropping, which means there’s movement, there’s space for me to wiggle my way through.

„So yeah, I think it depends on what happens. Who loses, whatnot, but me having these kind of big fights, big knockouts, hopefully keeps pushing me towards the belt. So, we shall see soon.“

Terrance McKinney Wants To Put It All Together

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Hadžović has only been knocked out once in his career and only submitted once, as well. His other losses have gone to the judges’ scorecards. Meanwhile, McKinney has never been the full distance in his professional career. He has only seen the third round once in his career and it was back in 2018. 

McKinney is eager to show off all the skills that he has been working on, and show off his wrestling, a skill he has had most of his life as someone who competed in high school. He believes that could be a path to victory against Hadžović. The game plan is simple. 

UFC SAUDI ARABIA FREE FIGHTS: Adesanya vs Whittaker 2 | Imavov vs Allen | Page vs Holland | Magomedov vs Petrosyan

“Just make sure I’m in his face, put the hands on him, hurt him early, just be a mixed martial artist,” McKinney said. “We saw he had a weakness wrestling, so just making sure I’m mixing it all.”

Stepping in the Octagon for the first time in eight months on Saturday night, McKinney has big expectations for himself in 2025, as he wants to fight three times and go 3-0, and remind everyone he’s still the one who holds the record for the fastest knockout in lightweight history. 

Weigh-In Results | UFC Saudi Arabia

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Weigh-In Highlights | UFC Saudi Arabia

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Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there’s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world’s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!

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Weigh-In Highlights | UFC Saudi Arabia

Jairzinho Rozenstruik | The Calm Before The Storm

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“I changed a lot of things — training habits — to get the results we wanted, that we got in 2024,” he said when asked to pinpoint what changed last year to help him return to his winning ways. “There were a couple of things: one of my coaches, one of my team, one of my staff. As I mentioned, training habits, getting back some old stuff I used to do.”

While he wasn’t overly keen on diving into the details of the changes that have taken place behind the closed gym doors, the 36-year-old finisher had a much greater willingness to share his thoughts when the subject shifted to the man he’ll share the Octagon with this weekend.

MORE: Top Finishes From Fighters Competing At UFC Saudi Arabia

“‘Yes, let’s do it!’” he said with a smile, recalling his reaction to being offered this weekend’s bout with Pavlovich, who enters the contest stationed at No. 4 in the rankings. „That’s where we wanna go. I want to get myself back up there in the Top 5, put myself back in the conversation for the title, be a champion, of course, so getting this matchup was a huge chance, a huge step up, so I said ‘yes’ right away.”

Pavlovich heads into Saturday’s matchup on a two-fight skid, having fallen to Tom Aspinall when the two faced off for the interim heavyweight title at UFC 295 in New York City before dropping a unanimous decision to Alexander Volkov last summer when the UFC made its initial foray to Riyadh. The setbacks snapped a six-fight run of first-round finishes for the burly Russian powerhouse, leaving many to wonder if he’s in the midst of a tailspin.

But Rozenstruik isn’t one of those people.

Farès Ziam | Repeat The Feat

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French Lightweight Is On A High After His First UFC Finish, And „Smile Killer“ Is Looking To Deliver More Of The Same In Riyadh

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Shara Magomedov Is Right Where He Needs To Be

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“It’s great when two fighters of this high caliber, of this level, when they meet together, all you see is sparks in the Octagon,” Magomedov said. “It’s going to be a very interesting bout.”

Although Page is known for his unique, karate-adjacent striking style, Magomedov isn’t all too concerned about adjusting to it in the Octagon. Rather, he believes Page is the one that will need to adjust once he feels the power in Magomedov’s strikes. 

MORE: Last Time in Saudi Arabia

As far as how he imagines the fight going, Magomedov isn’t really one to make predictions. Watching his fights is evidence of that enough — you don’t get that kind of spontaneous creativity if you have each move calculated and planned — but he does have a finish in mind even if he isn’t sure how it’ll come.  

“I don’t think it’s going to be something that we prepared,” he said. “I expect it’s going to be something we find during the fight because when I’m inside there, I don’t even know what to expect from myself. Potentially, maybe it’s something we worked on, but really, I think it’s going to be unexpected, unpredictable.”

Mike Davis Is Better Than The Setbacks

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“It definitely downplays my position in the sport,” Davis said. “I feel like I’m a lot better than where I am, only because my injuries have set me back.”

Davis got back in the Octagon last March, competing for the first time since October 2022, and it was like he had missed no time at all, picking up a second-round submission over Natan Levy. Just a few months later he was set to face Drew Dober in Denver, but a torn bicep forced him to withdraw from the bout. 

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The injury bug had struck again for Davis. Having to deal with all these injuries and go through the recovery process time and time again has taught Davis significant lessons. 

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned through the years is definitely to keep track of my health,” Davis said. “This year and last year, I was focused so much on making sure I’m eating the right things, doing the right things, stretching, keeping my body ready for anything. It was a freak accident with the bicep tear, but before that, I was in the best shape of my life.”

Israel Adesanya: ‘I’m Still Here’

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Imavov, the 28-year-old contender, has headlined three of the last five events he’s competed in and has shown constant evolution fight to fight. But having shared the Octagon with the likes of Du Plessis, Silva, Pereira, Strickland, and Robert Whittaker, Adesanya believes Imavov doesn’t bring anything unique that would set him apart from the challenges he’s already faced.

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“From what I see so far, there’s nothing that he brings that I haven’t seen before,” Adesanya said. “I think his best attribute is his speed—his speed, his counters. But I’ve seen that before, and it’s up to him to show me something I haven’t seen before.”

“I like his style; his standup looks cool, it’s very efficient. He mixes it up well with the grappling, as well. He’s fast, he’s young, he’s slick. I’m excited to best a guy like that. He’s definitely not fought anyone like me. No one has until you fight me.

“I feel like the old dog, and then there’s the young guys coming up that’s trying to prove themselves, so it’s my job to send them back down to let them know I’m still here.”

Jasmine Jasudavicius | The Canadian Bulldog Returns

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“I think it’s been a forever thing,” she said laughing when asked about her trademark tenacity and grit, which comes out more and more the deeper she progresses into fights. “I’m sure MMA has definitely harnessed it, but I remember my dad telling me a story where when I was a little baby, there was a radio with a nob on it, and I kept crawling to it, trying to turn it. My dad would pull me away, and I would crawl back to it, and he would pull me away.

“He said it was to the point where he had to move me to the other side of the room and I would still come at it.”

Her opponents must feel like that radio dial, especially Cachoeira and da Silva, who were both ultimately swept under by the tidal wave of pressure and non-stop aggressiveness Jasudavicius brought to them more and more as those fights progressed. It’s a feeling the Canadian truly cherishes, and an ability she’s deeply proud of, knowing that it stems from the hours of hard work she’s putting forth in the gym each and every day.

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“I love it,” she said when asked about feeling her opponents melt under her relentless forward pursuit and offensive output. “It’s one of those things where it’s hard to do, and I have to do that in the room to be able to do that when the lights are on, when the eyes are on me. So it’s a very fulfilling thing where it’s like ‘all my hard work, this is why I do it’ — so that I’m able to get that finish in the later rounds, so I still have that steam in the later rounds, I have that squeeze.

“It feels like more of a job well done,” she continued, laughing, before adding, “You definitely feel a surge of energy because of it.”

Nassourdine Imavov Sees All His Risks Paying Off

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After Picking Up Three Wins In 2024, Nassourdine Imavov Hopes To Earn A Title Shot With A Win Over Israel Adesanya In Riyadh

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