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Jake Paul remains one of the biggest names in the professional boxing world. After his brother Logan Paul came to WWE, fans started wondering when Jake would make his appearance. In fact, Jake Paul finally appeared during the WWE Crown Jewel press conference, and it was pure chaos. The Problem Child was set to appear at WWE Crown Jewel, but he decided to appear just before that. During the press conference, Logan Paul came out on a camel and proceeded to tick off Roman Reigns. Afterwards, Logan Paul brought out his brother, Jake Paul, and things got even worse afterwards. This included Jake Paul taking a shot at Paul Heyman for doubting him about defeating Anderson Silva. Jake Paul was pure entrainment, and the Saudi Arabian fans loved it when the Problem Child spoke to them in Arabic to really get on their good side. It was truly a chaotic moment made by the Paul brothers ahead of Logan’s match against Roman Reigns.

Yair Rodriguez does not want an interim shot; he wants a direct shot at the UFC featherweight gold. Numerous top 145-pounders have been competing for a championship chance as champion Alexander Volkanovski looks to climb up the weight division and battle newly minted lightweight champ Islam Makhachev. One of them is Rodriguez, who in July defeated Brian Ortega through TKO as a result of an injury. Volkanovski was reminded by "El Pantera" of their talk from UFC 277 in July, and he is prepared to take him on at UFC 284 on February 11 in Perth, Australia. He also then inquired as to "The Great's" character as a "man of his word." The argument on Twitter escalated as a result of the post made by the current UFC featherweight champion to Makhachev to implore him to "make it happen" and if he was a "man of his word," prompting Makhachev to respond with the callout. Rodriguez's defeat of Ortega was not a decisive one, just as Arnold Allen's victory over Calvin Kattar at UFC Fight Night 213 this past Saturday wasn't either. After Kattar hurt his knee and was unable to continue, Allen also prevailed via technical knockout. Although Josh Emmett is also a contender, the division is at a loss because of his contentious victory over Kattar in a split decision. Despite the competitive rivals in the division, Volkanovski, the four-time defending champion, is still interested in Makhachev. After Makhachev defeated Charles Oliveira by submission at UFC 280, he challenged Volkanovski to a fight at UFC 284 in February. The 34-year-old, who was watching UFC 280, entered the octagon after Makhachev called him out and agreed to compete against the Dagestani for the lightweight title and the P4P number one place. Dana White appeared to support the idea of Volkanovski moving up a division to compete for the lightweight title during the UFC 280 post-fight news conference. The UFC president offered his thoughts on Makhachev's potential following opponent, saying: "Obviously, looks like Volkanovski's next... He never ceases to amaze me" The timing of Rodriguez's call-out is noteworthy because everything points to "The Great" taking up Makhachev next. It is uncertain whether the UFC will soon schedule a matchup between Rodriguez and the current featherweight champion.

The UFC returns on Saturday with another Fight Night event at the APEX in preparation for UFC 281. The top-10 strawweight match between Marina Rodriguez and Amanda Lemos is the main event of the 12-fight UFC Vegas 64, and as always, the No Bets Barred boys are here to cover all the betting options. Conner Burks and Jed Meshew, the co-hosts, first mourn Jake Paul's victory over Anderson Silva and their own subpar showings at UFC Vegas 63. Then they start dissecting Saturday's event, which while being underwhelming still manages to produce about a dozen wagers from Conner and Jed apiece, including numerous Flyweight Unders! The No Bets Barred podcast releases new episodes every Wednesday and is accessible on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and other podcast listening platforms. Listen to the most recent episode down below.

The Apex event last weekend was primarily a one-fight event, as is customary for the UFC's Vegas cards, especially after a crowded PPV. Arnold Allen defeated Calvin Kattar in the main event to earn his tenth consecutive victory in the Octagon and maintain his perfect record in the UFC. And what else? When Askar Askarov requested his release, it was granted, and the rankings for flyweight were slightly altered. Here are the changes from this last week: Men’s P4P - Kamaru Usman moves up into a tie for three with Islam Makhachev. Heavyweight - No changes. Light Heavyweight - Jimmy Crute is up one to 13. Dustin Jacoby drops two to 15 after dropping a split decision to Khalil Rountree. Middleweight - No changes. Welterweight - No changes. Lightweight - No changes. Featherweight - Allen is up two spots to four. Josh Emmett is up one to five. The Korean Zombie rises a spot to six. Kattar falls two to seven. Bantamweight - Petr Yan falls out of a tie for two to take over the third spot on his own. Flyweight - Askarov was at four, so virtually everyone moved up one spot except Amir Albazi and Sumudaerji. They stayed put at nine and 12 respectively, and were leap-frogged by David Dvorak (up two to six) and Manel Kape (up two to 11). Women’s P4P - No changes. Women’s Bantamweight - No changes. Women’s Flyweight - No changes. Women’s Strawweight - No changes.

With his UFC contract shortly coming to an end, Paulo Costa has made suggestions that he would transition to boxing. Costa referred to his current deal with the Dana White-led UFC as "miserable," but he predicted that it would "expire in time." Due in part to his shenanigans on social media, "Borrachinha" is currently one of the most well-liked fighters on the roster. The Brazilian was regarded as a bland boxer before his defeat to Israel Adesanya. Costa's attempt to win the world title was unsuccessful, but the MMA community has taken a renewed interest in his career. At UFC 278 versus Luke Rockhold, Costa last competed in one of the year's most exciting bouts. When the battle was over, both men had been wounded and bloodied. Costa won by unanimous decision to claim the Fight of the Night prize in this match. Although following the utilization of media week by both Paulo Costa and Luke Rockhold to draw attention to various problems with the UFC's pay structure, UFC 278 was marked by discussions concerning athlete salary. ‘The Eraser' revealed he has one bout left on his contract at his post-fight news conference. On the largest stage in MMA, he nevertheless stated that he is dissatisfied with his contract and is "looking forward" to being unsigned. He recently tweeted: Because boxing offers larger compensation than MMA, Costa has expressed interest in the sport on numerous occasions. Costa should have more negotiating power with the UFC if he can enter talks with a second consecutive major victory as compared to entering the Rockhold bout on a two-fight losing streak. Costa, 31, has been a lethal finisher throughout his 16-fight run while still at the peak of his career. After winning 11 of his first 12 fights via knockout, the Brazilian didn't see the judges' scores until his 13th professional contest against Yoel Romero. One can understand why "Borrachinha" is considering endeavors elsewhere, even though many admirers wish the Brazilian agrees to a new contract. Costa received a pitiful $65,000 to take against Rockhold and an additional $65,000 for victory. The American, in contrast, earned a flat $200,000 despite the defeat. At UFC 284, Paulo Costa will make his final outing under his current contract. The Brazilian will compete against Robert Whittaker, a former middleweight champion.

There appear to be no plans for Khamzat Chimaev to join Team Khabib despite the recent peace talks in the wake of UFC 280. According to UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, the rising UFC star is not expected to join his team. “We train in different clubs,” Makhachev told Russian state-run news agency TASS.ru when asked whether it was a possibility. “So far there have been no plans or negotiations on joint training.” Following UFC 280, which saw Makhachev claim the UFC lightweight title following a submission victory against Charles Oliveira, a cageside scuffle ensued between Chimaev and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s cousin, Abubakar. The following day, Khabib appeared in a video alongside the two fighters involved in the scuffle and revealed that all parties involved had apologized and put the “nonsense” disagreement behind them. “What happened yesterday does not show us well,” Khabib said in the video that has since been deleted from Abubakar’s Instagram. “Neither me, nor Khamzat nor Abubakar. To tell you the truth, we are tired of this nonsense. Here we are gathered together as brothers, we hugged and Inshallah I hope that in the future we will only gather and fight for good reasons.” While Nurmagomedov publicly settled the conflict between his teammates and Khamzat Chimaev, it was Ramzan Kadyrov—the tyrant accused of well-documented human rights abuses, including forced disappearances, torture, summary executions, and war crimes—who seemingly mediated the dispute. The Chechen dictator posted a screenshot on his official Instagram account that showed him on a video call with UFC star Khamzat Chimaev and Abubakar Nurmagomedov, the two fighters involved in a physical altercation following UFC 280. In the caption, Kadyrov proclaimed that the scuffle was a mere “misunderstanding” and that he resolved the dispute between the two fighters.

The weekend saw Jake Paul defeat (and knock down) former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, shocking many MMA and boxing purists. With the victory over the legendary fighter, Paul's professional record now stands at 6-0 and he is expected to face another well-known MMA competitor. Nate Diaz will be Paul's next challenger, it seems quite obvious. Diaz has talked about a fight with Paul and even began some promotion after receiving his release from the UFC (causing a fracas at the Paul vs. Silva event). Diaz may earn the most money of his combat sports career if he fights Paul. But according to one expert, the payout can also teach you a hard lesson. Former UFC champion Michael Bisping dispelled Diaz's chances of defeating "The Problem Child" on his YouTube channel. “While the majority of Nate Diaz’s fights happened at 155, he was a lightweight then he went up to welterweight, 170-pounds, and he went 5-5,” Bisping said “The only knockout that he got was against Rory Markham in 2010. “Listen, with boxing gloves on, I don’t think it will be a good idea for Nate Diaz. Nate Diaz was a tremendous mixed martial artist. He beat some phenomenal people, had a tremendous career. He lost some fights and he won a lot of fights. The jiu-jitsu would be gone, the kicking game is gone, the general craftsmanship and the gameplans and the adversity of attacks, punches, kicks, knees, elbows, strangles, chokeholds, triangles, takedowns, you name it. That’s what Diaz could do. Those are the advantages he’d have over a Jake Paul.” “If he was to fight Jake Paul and at that weight, 200 pounds or 196 pounds, whatever weight they want to come in at, I don’t think it would go very well for Nate Diaz,” Bisping continued. “However, I will say this, I think they would both make a lot of money.” Bisping added that he thought there was a chance Diaz eventually returned to the UFC. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the UFC come back and offer Diaz a mega deal to get that third fight with [Conor] McGregor because come on, everyone wants to see that.” What do you guys think? How does a match up between Jake Paul and Nate Diaz fare?

Deiveson Figueiredo, the current UFC flyweight champion, and Brandon Moreno, the current interim 125-pound titleholder, will square off for the fourth time during the upcoming UFC 283 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which was recently confirmed for Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Earlier this year, when the Brazilian was recovering from an injury, the Mexican prodigy defeated Kai Kara-France to win the interim belt. To finally settle who holds the title of flyweight king, they will meet in January. In the octagon, Figueiredo and Moreno are currently 1-1-1. Figueiredo acknowledges that having to face Moreno for the fourth time in a row irritates both him and MMA fans. The No. 2 ranked flyweight contender Alexandre Pantoja will have an open path if Figueiredo manages to get a tremendous knockout, which may be the only option for him to eventually defeat "The Assassin Baby." “[Alexandre] Pantoja didn’t deserve to be in stand-by [at UFC 283], Pantoja deserved to be fighting for the belt already,” Figueiredo said on this week’s podcast, Trocação Franca. “In my opinion, Pantoja was the guy to fight Brandon Moreno [for the interim] but they didn’t make it. It’s the UFC rules, let it happen. “Even though I notice the UFC wants to make Brandon Moreno flyweight champion, I won’t give them that satisfaction. I’m here to defend what’s mine and show it to them in this fight.” When asked why the UFC would prefer Moreno to be the champion, he responded: “because he’s there all the time, in the media, and I come back to my [small town] and stay focused on my fights.” The top-ranked flyweights will square off on a pay-per-view card for the fourth time, this time as the main event of a Brazilian event. Figueiredo makes sure that the brawl will perform well in ticket sales and draw strong pay-per-view numbers because there are many people interested in attending this fight. Together with Charles Oliveira, Figueiredo had planned to conduct his subsequent camp at Chute Boxe Diego Lima in Sao Paulo, but after failing to acclimate to the chilly climate, he chose to return to Belem. Even though he cited training in Belem as one of the factors in his defeat by Moreno, the fact that he already has a gym means fewer distractions. “We can’t underestimate the opponent,” Figueiredo said. “Every fight is different, we’re anxious to get to fight night and put everything we did in training in action. I want to fight him, I want to make weight — which is the first war every athlete has — and defend the belt here in Brazil with almost 100 percent of the fans cheering for me, and leave as champion. It’s going to be the biggest joy of my life.”

Arnold Allen and Calvin Kattar squared off in the main event of UFC Vegas 63 in a matchup of top-10 featherweights as Allen sought to maintain his UFC perfect record. Allen enters the battle fresh off of his biggest career victory, a first-round TKO victory over Dan Hooker back in March at UFC London. Before that, he achieved important victories over opponents like Sadiq Yusuff, Nik Lentz, Gilbert Melendez, and Mads Burnell. While this was going on, Kattar had just defeated Giga Chikadze after losing to Max Holloway and was coming off a contentious split decision loss to Josh Emmett. As a result of a knee injury, Allen ultimately prevailed by second-round TKO against Kattar, who appeared to have blown out his knee at the end of the first round. Here is what we believe the English fighter in the UFC Vegas 63 main event should do after the fight. Due in large part to the fact that Arnold Allen hasn't been fighting regularly because of injuries, he has been lurking under the radar for years. He was finally ready to compete in his first UFC main event, but sadly, it was cut short due to an injury that left him in an awkward position. Early on, Allen was succeeding, but there was no clear victory for him. He demanded a shot at the temporary title after his win. He, Josh Emmett, and Yair Rodriguez will face off in the final matchup for the interim belt. All three have valid arguments, but we anticipate a match between Allen and Emmett for the temporary belt sometime in the first quarter of 2023. Speaking to former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping following his victory, Allen stated: "Volkanovski asked the guys to make a statement and it's another injury, TKO by injury. I can't really ask for a title shot off this, maybe give me the interim job... If Volkanovski's gonna be out for a while going up in weight, give me the interim shot. I feel like I deserve it." Former champion Daniel Cormier thinks the featherweight class should be discontinued since UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is vying for a second title. At UFC 284 on February 11 in Perth, Australia, Volkanovski has his sights set on Islam Makhachev, a colleague of Cormier's and the recently crowned lightweight champion. Since the champion appears to be tied, Cormier wants Arnold Allen, the victor of UFC Fight Night 213, and Josh Emmett, who is on a roll, to square off on the same card. "Arnold Allen deserves to fight for some portion of the championship. I believe his humility in that moment is what actually turned me about. And honestly, Josh Emmett does deserve an interim title fight also. Those guys should not have to wait for the champion as he tries to chase down greatness." Cormier added: "Give the champion an opportunity to do something truly special, but allow for the weight class to continue to move and see if something shows itself... I don't like when a guy has to win double digit fights in the UFC in order to earn a championship opportunity. It seems like way too long and I would like to see Allen fighting for some portion of the championship."

When Israel Adesanya switched to MMA in 2017, he wasn't thinking about getting even. With consecutive first-round knockout victories that secured him a UFC deal, Adesanya played up to his reputation by defeating Rob Wilkinson in the second round in his UFC debut. Except for a failed attempt to become a double champion against Jan Blachowicz, Adesanya hasn't lost a fight since. Adesanya asserts that he has advanced significantly after his KO loss to Pereira because he has carved out a place for himself in MMA history. The only knockout loss of Adesanya's career, in his opinion, actually strengthened him in a variety of ways. But whether he asked for it or not, he understands that he now has the chance to change the course of history. The Last Stylebender claimed in an interview with The Allstar that: “There’s a little extra motivation, definitely. Now that it’s here, I didn’t ask for it, the universe bestowed this upon me, and it’s a great opportunity to rewrite history." Israel Adesanya, the middleweight champion of the UFC, is eager to take on Alex Pereira. On Nov. 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York, Adesanya will face Pereira in the main event of UFC 281, hoping to record his sixth successful championship defense. Adesanya is eager to avenge his two kickboxing defeats against Pereira, one of which was by knockout. The 33-year-old said in a fight camp video uploaded to his YouTube channel: "Beating him, that's what matters. Like, the belt, f**k the belt. Just beating him, a killer like him, that's what matters." In 2016, Adesanya and Pereira had their debut fight under the Glory Kickboxing brand. Adesanya was defeated by "Poatan," who won by unanimous decision. A year later, the two faced off again, with Pereira delivering a more convincing victory. Adesanya was initially outworking Pereira, but in the third round, "Poatan" knocked him out with his trademark left hook. Pereira is considered the most likely candidate to end Adesanya's dominant middleweight title reign based on their prior performance. “We’ve dusted that off, we’ve cut it off, and I can see what I did wrong,” Adesanya said. “So, it’s not gonna be like last time. This is a different fighter you’re facing, and now I’ve become another fighter. I’ve re-birthed myself. I’ve re-birthed it, and I just feel like I want to have fun. That’s the goal. But this fight, I’m gonna have fun. That’s the ultimate goal. And when I have fun, I’m the best in the world.”

According to UFC Roster Watch, eight competitors were dropped from the UFC's official roster last night. Misha Cirkunov, Louis Cosce, Charlie Onitveros, Nick Maximov, Magomed Mustafaev, Jesse Ronson, Cameron VanCamp, and Darian Weeks are the competitors who have had their ranks erased. These fighters haven't necessarily been cut from the UFC just because they were taken off the roster. Some may not have signed new contracts after their old ones expired. However, this is frequently a hint that a fighter's time in the Octagon may be coming to an end. One of these competitors, Cirkunov, is the most well-known; he competed in a co-main event match last year. In that bout, Ryan Spann used a TKO to defeat the Canadian. Cirkunov's four-fight losing streak began with the defeat to Spann and included losses to Krzysztof Jotko (who was also recently released), Wellington Turman, and Alonzo Menifield. The Menifield defeat—a TKO—took place at UFC Vegas 62 last month. After joining the UFC in 2015, Cirkunov began his career in the Octagon with a four-fight winning streak, stopping Alex Nicholson, Nikita Krylov, and Ion Cutelaba. He was inconsistent after those victories, losing to Volkan Oezdemir, Glover Teixeira, and Johnny Walker while also defeating Jim Crute and Patrick Cummins. Following a victory on the Contender Series, Cosce advanced to the UFC. He failed to win the promotion twice, most recently falling to Trevin Giles. To face Kevin Holland in 2020, Onitveros joined the UFC as an extremely last-minute substitute. He fell short by giving in. He then dropped his following three UFC matches. Maximov, who is coached by the Diaz brothers, recently suffered a defeat against Jacob Malkoun despite having a winning record in the UFC (3-2). Since 2015, Mustafaev has competed five times for the UFC. The Dagestani defeated Rafael Fiziev in 2019 with a stunning spinning backfist KO victory. Ronson had an 0-2 (1 NC) record with the UFC since joining in 2020. VanCamp went 0-2 after debuting with the promotion this year. Weeks, who fought pro in boxing and MMA before joining the UFC went 0-3 in the Octagon.

Sean Brady had a lot to deal with during the UFC 280 fight week, and he still does when it comes to bad fans abusing social media for malicious purposes. Brady said that those fans threatened him in a direct message to his wife on Monday's episode of The MMA Hour. Brady suffered his first professional defeat at UFC 280 when Belal Muhammad stopped him. On Instagram, he and his wife started receiving remarks regarding his performance. His wife got a troubling message from a fan before the fight. VanCamp's record after making his promotion debut this year was 0–2. “Someone messaged her and said that if I won the fight against Belal that they would kill me and bury me in the desert – it was pretty bad,” Brady said. “She was right there front row sitting with [Joe Pyfer], and she busted through the security and got to me when I was walking out of the [octagon], but she was right there [in Abu Dhabi] with me, [and] she got messages.” In an Instagram post following the bout, Brady discussed the need to make changes and get out of his comfort zone, but he also mentioned how fans were “mocking my wife” after the result. Whether it’s because they lost a bet on the fight or are just insecure, Brady doesn’t understand why fans of the sport act like this, especially since there are so many who have respect for the sport and its athletes. Brady is now 15-1 as a pro and 5-1 inside the octagon, and he believes the loss will end up being a good thing for him, even saying it was a giant weight lifted off of his shoulders. As far as those fans giving him and his family grief, Brady knows that social media isn’t the real world. “I know for a fact you wouldn’t say that s*** if we were in real life,” he explained. “That’s the problem: Those people get to hide behind these screens and say these things. I lost a fight, but my life isn’t over. I still live my dream every day. These people hate their lives, and that’s why they do what they do. “I almost kind of feel bad for them, but I’d like to slap the s*** out of them at the same time.”