The UFC (and several MMA-themed outlets) were recently compromised, but quickly recovered until Cat Zingano’s lawsuit against Halle Berry came to an end. Jake Paul does some MMA training as the ‘Lazy King’ makes a big comeback. These are your Sunday MMA Quick Hits!
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Several MMA-related publications, including the UFC, have been hacked
The UFC’s official Youtube channel was briefly taken over by crypto scammers on Wednesday. The hack — via unknown methods — saw live streams depicting Elon Musk (apparently recorded from old sources) promoting Bitcoin and related schemes.
The world of MMA remains a box of spiders pic.twitter.com/PvgO4Y5i9t
— Jose Youngs (@JoseYoungs) January 18, 2023
While the UFC was the most popular casualty, veteran MMA journalist James Lynch, who has provided coverage to multiple outlets (including this one), also lost access to his Youtube and other Google accounts, as well as his Twitter account. MMA Sucka’s Youtube channel has also reportedly been compromised.
Fortunately, it looks like this has been resolved, at least on the Youtube front.
Cat Zingano drops lawsuit against Halle Berry
Former UFC title challenger and current Bellator MMA contender Cat Zingano has dropped a lawsuit she filed against Helle Berry.
The lawsuit stems from Zingano’s appearance in the movie, which Berry directed and starred in Hurt. Zingano claims Berry approached her about being in the film and told her “not to make any plans” to ensure he would be available for filming. This led to Zingano turning down a fight in the UFC, which “Alpha” said cost her her roster spot.
After her release from the promotion, Berry claimed she staged the outrage of Zingano appearing in the film by saying that only UFC fighters could participate. In particular, Valentina Shevchenko starred in the film as an antagonist.
According to a report by My News LA, Zingano’s attorney filed a motion with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Douglas W. Stern on Tuesday asking that the case be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning the case cannot be refiled. No reason was given, although it’s possible the parties reached an agreement.
Zingano is expected to compete for the Bellator MMA Women’s Featherweight Championship later this year.
Bruised premiered on Netflix last year.
Jake Paul does some grappling
The PFL signing of Jake Paul might be the most underrated story of the year so far. Sure, it made headlines, but following Paul could be a real shot in the arm for the league. His stance on fighter pay and being an advocate for mixed martial arts could also attract some bigger names to the promotion as they try to do what no promotion outside of the UFC has successfully done in years: starting a winning streak of PPV events.
Francis Ngannou anyone?
The fact that Paul intends to compete in the sport is also noteworthy. His business model of boxing after their top class MMA fighters was only going to last so long. While a cynic might assume that he will simply switch sports but continue to beat the older guys, his road to victory will be much more difficult regardless. Let’s be honest, Anderson Silva, who gave Paul a real run for his money in boxing, trained him in MMA.
Ahead of his February 2023 boxing match with Tommy Fury, Paul chose to do some grappling. In a social media post titled ‘first day of jiu-jitsu’, Paul was seen on the mats – and this could signal that his move to MMA could be coming sooner rather than later.
Hail the lazy king
Abdoul “The Lazy King” Abdouraguimov is arguably one of the best fighters not signed to a major promotion. He featured our 10 welterweight prospects the UFC should sign in 2023 earlier this month, and honestly, he should have been signed to the big leagues last year.
Apparently unable to secure a deal with the UFC, just being a plain old dominant welterweight, “The Lazy King” moved up to middleweight at ARES 11 and…was fairly beaten for the better part of five rounds.
Abdouraguimov then turned up the power, grabbing a knee with less than a minute left in the fight. The much larger Rafal Haratyk, who was winning the bout, was forced to tap out. With that, Abdoul Abdouraguimov earned the win, the ARES middleweight title, and is now a two-time champion in the promotion.
The UFC better call after that. While he shouldn’t be fighting at middleweight, “The Lazy King” would be a huge addition to the UFC’s welterweight division. If not, Bellator MMA or PFL would be wise to grab him.
La folle victoire d’Abdoul dans les dernières secondes 😍
Nouveau double champion ARES des poids moyens et des poids mi-moyens 🔥#ARES11 | #MMA pic.twitter.com/CzxDWZydtd
— CANAL+ Sport (@CanalplusSport) January 20, 2023