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UFC on ABC 8 video: Nazim Sadykhov elates Baku crowd with bloody KO of Nikolas Motta

UFC on ABC 8 video: Nazim Sadykhov elates Baku crowd with bloody KO of Nikolas Motta

USA Today7 hours ago

Nazim Sadykhov brought a 13-fight decision streak in the UFC cage to a brutal end at UFC on ABC 8 when he knocked out Nikolas Motta.
Azerbaijan's Sadykhov (11-1-1 MMA, 4-0-1 UFC) sent the Baku crowd into a frenzy when, after a back-and-forth war for nearly two rounds, he blasted and dropped a bloodied Motta (15-6 MMA, 3-3 UFC) for the TKO finish at the 4:17 mark of Round 2 at Baku Crystal Hall.
Check out the replay of the final sequence below (via X):
After the fight, an elated Sadykhov, who remained unbeaten in his UFC career, sent a passionate message to his fans.
"You're going to have to kill me if you want to put me away in Baku, Azerbaijan," Sadykhov said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping.
Between UFC on ESPN 69 in Atlanta a week ago and Saturday's event in Baku, the UFC saw 13 straight decision results until Sadykhov brought that dubious streak to an end.
Up-to-the-minute UFC Baku results:

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Jon Jones facing new criminal charge over fleeing scene of car crash as he announces retirement
Jon Jones facing new criminal charge over fleeing scene of car crash as he announces retirement

Yahoo

time14 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Jon Jones facing new criminal charge over fleeing scene of car crash as he announces retirement

Jon Jones will retire the way he spent much of his legendary UFC career: With a legal matter hanging over him. The now-former UFC heavyweight champion announced his retirement on Saturday hours after UFC CEO Dana White told reporters in Baku that Jones was hanging up his gloves. Around the same time, Geoff Grammer of the Albuquerque Journal reported that Jones is facing a criminal summons filed Tuesday over a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident. Uncrowned subsequently confirmed the Journal's report. Advertisement Jones has been ordered to appear in court for a bond arraignment on July 24. None of that came up in his retirement statement, in which he promised "the best is yet to come" and said he wants to "continue to contribute to the sport and inspire others in new ways." The allegations against Jon Jones According to the Journal, an Albuquerque police officer was reportedly investigating a traffic crash on Feb. 21 in which a woman was found in the passenger seat of a car "exhibiting signs of significant intoxication and lacking clothing from the waste down." The woman reportedly told police that Jones was the driver of the car and fled the scene on foot. She then called Jones and a police service aide spoke to the man on the other line, believed to be Jones. That man allegedly "appeared to be heavily intoxicated and made statements implying his capacity to employ lethal force through third parties" against the aide. Advertisement In response to the perceived threat, the aide reportedly called for a backup and a police officer spoke to the man on the phone, who allegedly made similar "allusions to violence." The man never answered direct questions about whether he was actually Jones. Jon Jones is going out the most Jon Jones way possible. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) (Chris Unger via Getty Images) When police interviewed him in person, Jones reportedly claimed the woman left his house intoxicated earlier in the day and called him after getting in the crash. He claimed the person she handed the phone to "immediately opened the conversations with unprofessional language, which led him to doubt the legitimacy of the individual's claim." The woman reportedly told police she drank alcohol and consumed mushrooms at Jones' house and recalled needing to change her clothes there. Her next recollection was being at the scene of the traffic accident and the last person she remembered driving the car was Jones. Jones also reportedly called the woman's phone 13 times from after the crash to the following morning. Advertisement Jon Jones' retirement ended a bizarre saga That legal situation can't be definitively tied to Jones' decision to retire, but it certainly feels relevant after Jones opted to end his bizarre standoff over his potential next fight against UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. Jones last defended his belt against the 42-year-old Stipe Miocic last November. Since then, he has avoided the UFC's attempts to set a unification fight date against Aspinall, who looms as a potential superstar for the promotion. Seemingly with the UFC's blessing, Jones laughed off Aspinall's expectation of a long-awaited title shot. Advertisement Aspinall was finally promoted to the undisputed heavyweight champion on Saturday in light of Jones' retirement. He figures to get his first title defense soon, while Jones faces a different challenge. Jon Jones is no stranger to controversy Incredibly, this isn't even the first time a Jon Jones title reign has ended in the wake of a car crash. His first reign as UFC light heavyweight champion ended due to a hit-and-run accident that injured a pregnant woman. In that situation, Jones fled the scene on foot following the crash, only to return, grab cash from inside the vehicle, then flee again. Going only off the results of the Octagon, Jones is one of the few best answers out there for MMA's GOAT, but he has been routinely prone to allegations and controversy, with failed drug tests and contract standoffs making him an intermittent presence for the UFC in the later stages of his career.

Dana White's Huge Jon Jones Announcement Makes 3 Things Very Clear
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Forbes

time27 minutes ago

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Dana White's Huge Jon Jones Announcement Makes 3 Things Very Clear

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Moving forward, I hope the UFC incorporates a rule that makes champions defend their title at least once a year. If they don't defend the title in a year, an interim title fight should be held. The champion in recess would then have six months to fight the newly crowned interim champion before the latter is elevated to full Aspinall Vs. Alex Pereira is the Fight to Make LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JUNE 29: Alex Pereira of Brazil reacts prior to the UFC light heavyweight ... More championship fight during the UFC 303 event at T-Mobile Arena on June 29, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) According to White, Aspinall will be in Las Vegas for International Fight Week in the next few days. The two sides are said to be set to figure out who Aspinall will fight in his first title defense. Currently, Ciryl Gane is the No. 2 contender, and Alexander Volkov is No. 3. Aspinall submitted Volkov in 2022. 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Some would argue he should still be champion, as the fight was close; I thought Pereira eked it out in a fight that presented a tough matchup stylistically. In a recent video, Pereira weighed in at 243 pounds, and many fans thought he was teasing a heavyweight move. It all makes sense. It's what's best for business, and Aspinall-Pereira is the fight most fans will want to see. Name a bigger fight in all of combat sports. I'd wait, but I already know there isn't a bigger one to make. By the way, there was a whole UFC event on Saturday. There were only two finishes, hence my opening statement. Here are the results. UFC Baku Results

Jon Jones says 'reflection' led to UFC retirement –\u00a0as news breaks of more legal trouble
Jon Jones says 'reflection' led to UFC retirement –\u00a0as news breaks of more legal trouble

USA Today

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  • USA Today

Jon Jones says 'reflection' led to UFC retirement –\u00a0as news breaks of more legal trouble

In his social media history, Jon Jones has earned a reputation for tweeting, then deleting. But it seems like this one will stick. Saturday, not long after UFC CEO Dana White announced Jones had called him to announce his retirement the night before, Jones posted on social media to confirm he has decided to walk away from the sport. Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) had been playing a cat-and-mouse game with interim champion Tom Aspinall, who has been elevated to undisputed champion. After White's announcement at the UFC on ABC 8 post-fight news conference, Jones posted a message saying he was leaving "after a lot of reflection." But not long after that post, news broke online from the Albuquerque Journal, the largest news outlet in the city Jones has lived and trained in for years, that Jones once again is in legal trouble. According to the report, there is a criminal summons accusing Jones of leaving the scene of an accident. He is scheduled for a bond arraignment July 24, the Journal reported. The details of the criminal complaint reported by the Journal include accusations that Jones left the scene of a crash with a half-naked and intoxicated woman in the car, and when reached by phone, a man thought to be Jones made "allusions to violence" to multiple police officials. After the crash, according to the police complaint, Jones called the woman's phone more than a dozen times and also sent text messages. The woman said she drank at Jones' house and took mushrooms there, then next recalled being in a car crash after Jones allegedly was driving. In 2015, Jones was arrested for a felony hit-and-run involving a pregnant woman. He pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. He had a DWI conviction in 2012. He had another in 2020 that came with gun charges, later dropped in a plea deal, in the early days of the COVID pandemic. Jones is the first fighter in UFC history to twice be stripped of titles, and he threw in a third for good measure. The first was for his hit-and-run while he was light heavyweight champion. The second was for his first doping violation the following year. In a rematch win over Daniel Cormier in 2017, he failed a drug test for steroids in California and was suspended again – and stripped of a title again. In 2021, after a domestic violence arrest in Las Vegas the night after he went into the UFC Hall of Fame, his longtime team at JacksonWink MMA in Albuquerque gave him the boot and no longer wanted to be associated with him. He was sentenced to anger management classes in 2024 after an alleged altercation with a drug sample collection agent. In 2019, he pled no contest to charges of battery against a strip club waitress. His supporters, of course, say that he also won fights – which is true. He was the youngest champion in UFC history at 23 and holds a host of promotional records. His retirement statement, below, said he had gratitude for his "journey."

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