UFC 328 is rapidly approaching as UFC Middleweight Champion Khamzat Chimaev will look to make his first defense of this crown against the former champion Sean Strickland. The two men have already been trading words on social media and in recent interviews, with Strickland even claiming that he came all the way to the area where Chimaev’s gym was just to see if he would do anything.

Strickland has always been a controversial figure in the UFC, and his hyper-patriotism has caused some backlash over the years. So much so that another former UFC Middleweight Champion, Luke Rockhold, stated in a recent vlog that despite being an American, he will actually be rooting for Chimaev over Strickland at UFC 328.

“Sean is effective and he’s scrappy and he hangs in there. Khamzat is so much more talented, it’s about who can relax and implement their game plan the best and Khamzat’s doing everything he needs to and I think he can really have a masterclass. I think last time out there was a little bit of tension, he wanted to win the world title. Now he can go out there and be his best and I expect the best from Khamzat and I would love to see him put this f****** American away. I’m American, but I like good people. Khamzat is a great person, through and through. Sean Strickland, he’s a piece of s***.”

With the fight just over two weeks away, it’s safe to say that the two men will trade some words back-and-forth between now and the fight, and given Strickland’s history of always saying something to get people talking, UFC 328 could be one of the biggest fight cards of the year.

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While promoting her upcoming fight with Gina Carano at MVP MMA on May 16, UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey took the time to fire some shots back at current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Kayla Harrison, who had some choice words for Rousey lying about past stories to do with training together, and the fact that Rousey is simply irrelevant in today’s fight game. Rousey called Harrison irrelevant, told her to “eat her groceries,” and claimed that the only reason Harrison is even in MMA is because of her. 

Harrison was able to respond to these comments on the UFC Fight Night 274 pre-show when she was asked about Rousey, and while she admitted that she could be meaner, she didn’t hold back. “I can’t imagine what it would be like for someone to come in and beat everything I’ve ever done. That would be hard. I get it.” Harrison said, who stated that it would be rough for Rousey to imagine that when she is relaxing at her home feeding her chickens. With that said, the current UFC star explained that her biggest issue, despite everything Rousey has done in MMA, is that she’s just chasing the money, especially in her upcoming fight with Carano.

“At one point, she was a real athlete. She was training for the Olympics, she’s an Olympic bronze medalist, she became UFC Champion, she was really trying to chase greatness, and I will never take away that Ronda is probably the most important female fighter. If it weren’t for her, for sure, I wouldn’t be where I’m at and I wouldn’t have a job, but this fight is not the greatest fight of all time. It’s between someone who hasn’t fought in ten years and is coming off two knockout losses, and another woman who is, again, another legend, another pioneer, but hasn’t fought in 17 years and is in her forties. Don’t call it the greatest fight of all time, like I’m chasing greatness, you’re chasing money, we’re different.”

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Fighter pay has always been a hot topic when it comes to the UFC. While some fighters can earn millions for being a main event star, those starting out on the prelims don’t earn enough for them to make being a professional mixed martial artist a full-time profession.

Ronda Rousey was someone who earned the big bucks in the UFC, but she took a swipe at the company when revealing the minimum pay for those fighting on the MVP MMA card on May 16, which turned out to be significantly higher than the UFC to the point where someone could make in the region of $120,000 if they fought three times per year.

With that said, money isn’t always the main thing some people fight for, like current UFC Middleweight Champion Khamzat Chimaev, who criticized Rousey’s comments in a recent vlog documenting his current training camp. “There never would have been Ronda Rousey without UFC,” Chimaev said. “I hate this, like you’re ungrateful. If they pay good or they don’t pay good, who cares? When she was Olympic champ, what did she make then?”

Pay in the UFC has changed somewhat for main eventers since Rousey last fought for the company in 2016. She made approximately $3 million in her loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207, which amounted to nearly two-thirds of the entire fighter pay out for the card. For Chimaev, his UFC 319 victory over Dricus Du Plessis where he became the UFC Middleweight Champion saw him make an estimated amount of just over $2.5 million, with “DDP” making just under $4 million. However, the pay scale is still extremely low for the overall company compared to other sports, with fighters only earning between 15-20% of the company’s revenue, as opposed to the NFL, boxing, or even the Premier League where all three of those franchises share over half its revenue with its athletes.

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Amongst the list of many stars who have parted ways with WWE following WrestleMania 42, the two who fans have been the most shocked about have been Aleister Black and Zelina Vega. Especially in light of Black, who was released nearly a year to the day after his return to WWE, while Vega had a Women’s United States Championship reign just last year.

Taking to Twitch after the news broke, Vega revealed that the call to be cut came from TKO and not WWE, and because the call came from the parent company and not Stamford, she knew it was dire before she even answered the call. 

“5:09 PM is when I found out,” she claimed. Vega also confirmed that she is under a non-compete clause and won’t be able to return to pro wrestling for 90 days following her release yesterday.

“Not even like, okay, I was off TV necessarily all the time. I was off TV for a bit, if you would’ve let ‘Zelina’ like be ‘Zelina’ in the way I had envisioned, or we had envisioned, for this new character, y’all would’ve f**king loved it,” she said, claiming there were many plans she had for her character.

At the same time, Vega isn’t happy about how the news of her release broke, and expressed her anger about outlets like “Fightful” for getting ahead of her with the news. 

“I would’ve appreciated it if Sean Ross Sapp or whoever the f**k announced it could’ve at least given me the decency to do it myself first,” she exclaimed, but thanked all the fans who have stood by her since 2020.

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