MMA News Roundup: Dana White Makes Massive UFC-PFL Deal, Jon Jones-Francis Ngannou’s Record, Islam Makhachev Dismissed

Dana White has been making quite some moves and dealing with the PFL while thrashing his opposition at the same time. Wait, so you’re telling me that you haven’t been able to catch up on the recent stories from the MMA realm? Well, don’t you worry, because EssentiallySports has come forth with a brand new episode of MMA News Roundup.
Today, We’ll see what exactly And then we’d follow Paddy Pimblett as he takes shots at Islam Makhachev. And finally, we’ll take a dive into the rivalry between Jones and Ngannou.
Dana White strikes a deal with the PFL
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Ariel Helwani recently took to The Ariel Helwani Show and revealed that Dana White might just be facilitating a trade with the PFL boss, Donn Davis. It’s supposedly a trade to being Dakota Ditcheva to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Her last victory over Talia Santos indeed impressed the fighting community. But the UFC head honcho actually stepping in to recruit her in says quite a lot about her.
The Canadian MMA reporter took to X and gave his bold prediction for the upcoming year. He said, “There is no insider info here. Let me just preface this, okay?…The UFC will acquire, in a transaction with the PFL, the rights to Dakota Ditcheva…[UFC and PFL] will make a deal and by the end of the year, she’ll be in the UFC.”
Now, let’s move on to the second stop where Jon Jones can’t control his joy. After all, he has added one more achievement over Francis Ngannou.
Jon Jones beats Francis Ngannou’s record
Jon Jones has surpassed his longtime rival Francis Ngannou in yet another aspect. On the 22nd of December 2024, the reigning UFC heavyweight champion matched Ngannou with the days as UFC HW champ. Coming to 24th December, he has already surpassed ‘The Predator’s record of 659 days as UFC heavyweight champion. On top of that, both Ngannou and Jones secured victory over Ciryl Gane and Stipe Miocic while defending their championship titles from them. Well, in his joy, ‘Bones’ took to his Instagram Stories and shared the news with everyone in his following list.
It’s time for the final stop for today, as we’ll uncover the heat between Paddy Pimblett and Islam Makhachev. Let’s see what the British fighter had to say about the lightweight champion’s last fight.
Paddy Pimblett dismisses Islam Makhachev’s last victory over Dustin Poirier
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Islam Makhachev defended his lightweight championship belt and continued his reign by defeating Dustin Poirier in his last bout at UFC 302. Needless to say, the entire world was at the edge of their seats as ‘The Diamond’ was forced to tap out because of Makhachev’s D’Arce choke. However, ‘The Baddy’ seemed to think that it was a pretty easy feat.
The Britisher, during his recent appearance on Submission Radio, said, “Islam’s choke was good, but it’s just a Darce choke. I like, transitioned from the guillotine to a triangle to an armbar on the feet. I think Khamzat [Chimaev] against Robert Whittaker was a better submission. No one’s done that to Robert Whittaker. Poirier’s been submitted multiple times before. I’d submit Dustin Poirier.”
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Well, that’s it for today! Come back tomorrow for more such exciting news and before you got, we’d like to get your opinion on a couple of things. Do you think White did the right thing by trading in Ditchena from the PFL? How much longer do you think can Jones remain as the champion? Can Pimblett execute a similar dominance against Poirier like Makhachev did? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.