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Josh Emmett punches Shane Burgos in their featherweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on June 20, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesJosh Emmett’s long awaited return will be this December. At long last, UFC featherweight contender Josh Emmett is ready to compete again. The hard-hitting Emmett is set to take on Dan Ige at UFC 269 on December 11th in Las Vegas. BJPenn.com was first to report the news. Emmett (16-2) is on a three-fight winning streak but has been out of action since his Fight of the Night war with Shane Burgos in June of 2020. While Emmett prevailed on the scorecards, he fought through an ACL tear (among other injuries to his left leg) and obviously had to be sidelined for awhile. Setbacks had Emmett doubting if he’d return in 2021, but it looks like he will. Emmett holds notable KOs over Ricardo Lamas, Mirsad Bektic, and Michael Johnson. Ige (15-4) is coming off a five-round main event decision loss to Chan Sung Jung aka The Korean Zombie in June. After losing his UFC debut to Julio Arce, the Hawaiian racked up an impressive six straight wins, including one over Edson Barboza by split decision. He dropped a main event decision to Calvin Kattar last year, but got off to a bright start in 2021 with a brutal KO of Gavin Tucker in just 22 seconds. UFC 269 is headlined by a lightweight title bout between Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier, with two-division champion Amanda Nunes scheduled to defend her women’s bantamweight title against Julianna Pena in the co-main event.

Paulo Costa poses on the scale at the UFC Vegas 41 weigh-in ahead of his light heavyweight bout with Marvin Vettori at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLCAli Abdelaziz believes Paulo Costa is trying to get cut by the UFC. Paulo Costa not even attempting to make weight ahead of Saturday’s UFC Vegas 41 headliner against Marvin Vettori is a last-ditch effort to get cut by the UFC. That’s according to Vettori’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, who believes Costa is doing everything in his power to cancel the fight. Abdelaziz, who predicts a violent stoppage victory for Vettori, posted a series of Tweets about Costa and his team on Friday. First costa asked 195 lbs @MarvinVettori said yes. After that he asked light heavyweight Marvin said yes.Marvin is the real fighter. But i was not cool that costa making a joke about weight. Sat night Marvin goes to jail hurting this man. This is not a game— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) October 22, 2021 “First costa asked 195 lbs @MarvinVettori said yes. After that he asked light heavyweight Marvin said yes.Marvin is the real fighter. But i was not cool that costa making a joke about weight. Sat night Marvin goes to jail hurting this man. This is not a game”. I wasn’t gonna say nothing but he is making fun of weight cut. He is doing everything to make ufc to cut him and cancel the fight. But this is not gonna happen https://t.co/jKiKuuVPDx— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) October 22, 2021 “I wasn’t gonna say nothing but he is making fun of weight cut. He is doing everything to make ufc to cut him and cancel the fight. But this is not gonna happen”. I was being told he will never be allowed to fight in middleweight again. I will do my best to make his opponent last name Magomedov. This is disrespectful to the sports, the coaches, training partners, even worst his team laughing with him and think it is funny— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) October 22, 2021 “I was being told he will never be allowed to fight in middleweight again. I will do my best to make his opponent last name Magomedov. This is disrespectful to the sports, the coaches, training partners, even worst his team laughing with him and think it is funny”. I thought the man was going through something personally. And I was going through and he was making a joke . It pissed me off. Marvin will finish him in 4 RD tomorrow @MarvinVettori— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) October 22, 2021 “I thought the man was going through something personally. And I was going through and he was making a joke . It pissed me off. Marvin will finish him in 4 RD tomorrow @MarvinVettori.” Costa was originally expected to fight Vettori at middleweight before the fight got bumped up to 195-pounds and then bumped up again to 205-pounds. This marks the first time Costa has missed weight in the UFC. He will submit 20 percent of his purse to Vettori. UFC Fight Night: Costa vs. Vettori takes place this Saturday, Oct. 23, at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Always a presence. | Photo by Masashi Hara/Getty ImagesIs this really the last we’ll see of an all-time great? ‘The Last Emperor’ has already returned from one retirement, but this week, he may make it final. The man considered an all-time great in MMA will be taking on a new challenge in an oversized surging contender that swings heavy leather, which is a risky proposition for any aging vet that’s taken a lot of punishment. But that’s one thing about this sport, you gotta love the ones that bet big on themselves. Fedor Emelianenko (39-6) has faced a who’s-who in this game, and has opted to face Timothy Johnson (15-7), a tough big man that does horrible things to people. Fedor is a tad slower, more vulnerable than ever and well... just older. Not to disrespect the man, it’s just that guys get figured out and Fedor is no exception. Johnson is a veritable threat here, given his power and handspeed, as well as his knack for closing distance at just the right moment. But Fedor is still Fedor. His grappling is still fun to watch with his Sambo background. He’s still giving up just over thirty pounds to a taller guy that can put it on his chin. But he can still crack, and he can still fight smart as well as dig deep. Vitaly Minakov (22-1) will also be in action in this Russia vs The World event, as he meets Florida’s Said Sowma (7-2). Sowma is a bit slower on his movement but has quality farm strength, as exhibited by his melting of Ronny Markes back in July. Minakov was Bellator champ for a reason, though. He makes opponents carry his weight and makes them eat punches while keeping them at range and drawing them in for impressive counters. But there’s more! Usman Nurmagomedov (13-0) faces Finland’s Patrik Pietilä, because... reasons. Patrik has some submission chops, but it’s an odd choice of opponent for Usman at this stage in his development and career. Anatoly Tokov (29-3) remains undefeated in Bellator with five straight wins, and remains one of the smartest and most fun middleweights in the division. A win here might put him closer to title contention against Gegard Mousasi, but he’ll have to get past Sharaf Davlatmurodov (18-3, 1 draw). Sharaf is an impressively violent fighter, but may get dragged into deep waters by a wilier veteran with some tricks up his sleeve. Kirill Sidelnikov (a.k.a. Baby Fedor 12-6) is still plugging along out here, and he faces Scotland’s Rab Truesdale (10-7, 1 draw). Oh by the way, remember the lady that beat up that big dude? The one that got signed shortly thereafter by Bellator? Well, she’s gonna be on the card as well, but not against someone that weighs about four times as much as she does. Darina Mazdyuk (3-1) meets Poland’s Katarzyna Sadura (4-4) at flyweight. Finally, Ireland’s Brian Moore (14-7) takes on dangerous Nikita Mikhailov (7-1), who looks like someone put Dan Hooker in a dryer. This should be a very fun styles clash. You can check out the weigh-ins here: And as a bonus, here’s the press conference for the event: Main card: Fedor Emelianenko (233.5) vs. Tim Johnson (264) - Heavyweight Vitaly Minakov (265) vs. Said Sowma (243) - Heavyweight Usman Nurmagomedov (160) vs. Patrik Pietila (158.5) – 160lb catchweight Sharaf Davlatmurodov (186) vs. Anatoly Tokov (185) - Middleweight Preliminary card: Kirill Sidelnikov (264) vs. Rab Truesdale (247) - Heavyweight Darina Mazdyuk (125) vs. Katarzyna Sadura (125.5) - Flyweight Irina Alekseeva (129.9) vs. Stephanie Page (124.5) – 130lb catchweight Nikita Mikhailov (135.5) vs. Brian Moore (136) - Bantamweight Grachik Bozinyan (170) vs. Alexey Shurkevich (171) - Welterweight Aiden Lee (147.5)* vs. Alexander Osetrov (145.5) - Featherweight Alexander Belikh (146) vs. Gadzhi Rabadanov (148.8)* - Featherweight It’s early action for this Bellator event as Bellator 269: Fedor vs Johnson kicks off at 12:30 PM ET EDT with prelims on YouTube. Main card starts at 3:00 PM EDT.

Paulo Costa is set to face Marvin Vettori on October 23. | Jason da Silva-USA TODAY SportsPaulo Costa trusts his skills to take care of Marvin Vettori at UFC Vegas 41’s main event. After the whole weight fiasco, Paulo Costa is not done talking about his fight against Marvin Vettori. This time around, though, the Brazilian revealed what were his preparations during training for the UFC Vegas 41 main event, as opposed to the weight-cutting process. In an interview with Ag Fight, ‘Borrachinha’ said he did not watch tape on Vettori in order to prepare for the bout, but is confident enough to get the job done anyway. Despite not knowing much about Marvin’s fighting style, Paulo does not think the Italian is a dangerous fighter because he does not see many finishes on his opponent’s record. “To be honest, I don’t even know what his style is,” Costa said. “I don’t study him. I haven’t watched his fights. I might now. What I do know is that he doesn’t finish fights. He doesn’t knock people out or submit them. That’s his record. I’m ready for everything. I’ve fought wrestlers, southpaws, strikers. It’s just another fight.” “You can expect the same aggressive fighter as always,” Costa continued. “In my last title fight, I had to deal with many problems. Now we’re being careful so we don’t have problems outside the Octagon and you can see the that aggressive Borrachinha, the one who tries to rip someone’s head off. If the fight happens as I think it will, I don’t think (it takes too long to end). He’s a little dumb as a fighter. If he puts his head in front of me, he’s going down. Since I’m heavier, I think my shots to the head and the ribs will be a little harder to take.” In his last outing, Costa (13-1) got TKO’d by champion Israel Adesanya, back in September 2020. Before that, the 30-year-old was on a five-fight winning streak in the Octagon, which included notable victories over Yoel Romero, Johny Hendricks and Uriah Hall, among other athletes. Now, Costa is expected to take on Vettori at UFC Vegas 41’s main event, on October 23. The card is scheduled to take place at the UFC Apex, in Las Vegas, Nevada.