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‘What are people even fighting for?’: Fans react to ranked fighter not being re-signed, biggest MMA stories of the week

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Martin Buday | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

#JusticeForBuday.

OK, the hashtag hasn’t exactly swept over social media (yet), but many fans were left confused, bewildered, and angry (fine, that last one was probably just me) at the news that UFC heavyweight Martin Buday wasn’t re-signed despite beating the highly touted Marcus Buchecha last weekend, putting together a three-fight win streak, and owning an overall UFC record of 7-1. He was even ranked, coming in at No. 12 on the official charts!

It’s unlikely that Buday’s absence makes the slightest dent in the UFC’s bottom line—especially with a slew of Contender Series contracts about to be handed out over the next few months—but it still stinks that a 33-year-old in a division in desperate need of competent athletes can be let go just like that. The UFC is supposed to be where the best fight, right? And Buday is pretty good.

Check out the best reader comments to Buday’s departure below (and let’s get this hashtag trending!) plus more reactions to the week’s biggest stories.

LEAmaryllis
I’m not gonna argue that Buday was an interesting fighter. He was boring. But it’s crazy that even being ranked means nothing nowadays. What are people even fighting for?
Tomato Can
Yea I have no fucking clue what they are doing, it feels like there are barely more than a dozen guys in the entire division now. Buday isn’t particularly good, but at 33 he’s fairly young for the division and coming off 3 straight wins.
It seems like their entire matchmaking strategy for the HW division is to take inexperienced fighters of dubious quality and keep throwing them in with top 10 guys until one of them wins and becomes a contender. Gaziev, Parkin, Diniz, Teixeira, Kuniev, etc.
Oscar Meyer
They aren’t even pretending to try and have a competitive division.
Romowasntbuiltinoneday
Crazy. Only loss to the guy that fought for the interim title, ranked, on a 3-fight win streak, and ranked 12th (might have been higher was he not cut).
He must have declined the $10k to show, $10k to win contract that Dana offered him. We know what Dana will say, “he’s crazy for not accepting that offer! We gave him a lot of money!”
semantic5
Martin was never Dana’s Buday!
pk76
I can’t understand the UFC. You have fighters with losing records that go on 3 or even 5 fight losing streaks yet the UFC doesn’t cut them. Yet other fighters just get cut after a loss or a bad performance. For example, Johnny Walker is 7-6 with 1 nc. How is he still signed? Is it just because he’s a goofball? If you’re an average fighter but a “character” then you last longer?
UFC_CFU_FUC
Must have peed in Dana’s Cheerios.
Hammerxc
He ain’t heavy…he’s my Buday.
Abstractions
“Best we can offer is 50k/50k”

Luke Rockhold: Bare-knuckle boxing ‘a dumbass sport’ all about who’s ‘willing to lose their face first for f*cking nothing’

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold took a few shots at bare-knuckle boxing, drawing a response from BKFC and combat sports fans quick to ridicule his take.

King_Leonidas4
He sounds just as delusional as connor.
Must be taking the same illegal substances.
Mynameisjeff
That’s not fair.. people also lose teeth doing bare knuckle not just their face
SB40
People are soft Rockhold??? Well, what about him not liking Bare Knuckle after Perry knocked his teeth out for him? Perry was the much smaller guy and completely embarrassed Rockhold. Beat Rockhold so senseless that he quit. In fact, Rockhold was probably Mike Perry’s easiest Bare Knuckle fight.
Rotary Fireballs
He’s mad because he got his ass kicked by a much smaller savage of a human being.
JMPMMAFan
Been a while since we heard from Luke Excusehold
bukbuk42
‘Bareknuckle boxing is not a fight.’ Lol…
That’s EXACTLY what it is.
DiazLevelTough
I love Luke. He was one of my favorites & he’s a good sport, but a sore loser at the same time.
Unintentionally one of the funniest fighter ever.
All his beefs & squabbles fizzle out.
His confidence, irrational.
He success, behind him.
Bodywonderful
Rockhold was unaware of what bare knuckle would be like?
Rockhold is a like diamond in the rough, dull and not too bright.

Tom Aspinall slams Michael Chandler for ‘bad fight IQ,’ Chandler responds

Maybe Michael Chandler should have left Tom Aspinall’s comments alone, because he tried to compare Aspinall chasing Jon Jones to himself chasing Conor McGregor… and it did not go well.

Chucs
Poor Chandler, context amigo
khanpunk125
Tom said Chandler has bad fight IQ. Chandler wants to prove he has a bad IQ in general.
7thLayerOfHair
Didnt seem like Aspinall was voluntarily waiting. thats the difference.
Igl00Man
The biggest issue with Michael Chandler is that while he might have had the tools to do well in the UFC, he decides not to properly use them to his benefit. He has the power, he’s explosive, he has grappling chops, but not the knowhow to use it all together properly, paired with being older.
“Didn’t that big goober say this, like, three years ago?” “And then he waited as long for Jon as I did for Conor McGregor after he criticized me waiting for Conor? Cool.”
The biggest differences, that bear repeating, is that nobody forced Michael Chandler to sit on the sidelines to wait for a Conor McGregor fight (that’s never going to happen, let’s be honest), and he could have fought a few times in that same time that he took off.
And the difference is that Tom Aspinall was the interim champion at that point. He was the interim champion from UFC 295 (November 11th, 2023) all the way until he was promoted to undisputed champion at UFC Baku’s post fight press conference (June 21st of this year). There was only one fight that he deserved: a unification bout with Jon “Duck” Jones, that Jones ducked, and ended up getting stripped/vacating his belt.
Like what 7thLayerOfHair said, Aspinall’s wait for a unification bout was not voluntary. Chandler’s wait for McGregor was voluntary.
iamthekeyboardwarrior
Beach Muscles Mike gassed out sending that tweet. The truth hurts, he has a negative fight IQ.
LaRusso
Win or lose, Chandler fights are awesome. But Aspinall is 100% correct. What Chandler lacks in fight IQ, he makes up for with entertainment. But it is irksome to see him lose and know that he can do so much better.
Jesterscupcake
Notice that Chandler didn’t deny it though. His fight IQ is among the worst in the game. I don’t mind because I enjoy fun fights, but he pigeonholed himself into an action fighter when he could have been a champ.
And waiting for Conor was far sillier. Jon was holding up the heavyweight belt. It’s clearly different.
Nicolas Caged
I think Chandler made a decision that for his time in the UFC, his primary goal wasn’t to win fights but to entertain. He’s definitely done that. But it would be nice to see him win a fight every once in a while. And the win over the ghost of Tony Ferguson doesn’t count. Tony was a shell of his former shell of his former self on the shelf.
nuts!!!
Chandler wrote: “And then he waited as long for Jon as I did for Conor [McGregor] after he criticized me waiting for Conor?
One guy waited for a championship fight.
Another guy waited for a payday.
Chandler = low IQ, and not just fight IQ.
UK Watching
Mike has a thin skin & his points are child like.
Tom was the interim champ , his next fight was for the title after sitting out one round to let Stipe take a nap.
Mike was not the interim champ, he was not the champ, he has a losing UFC record & he was Conor’s plaything for ~2 years.
The key point about his low (fight) IQ he did not answer.
MoodCrusher
Aspinall didn’t slam no one, his criticism was actually a very good piece of advice for Chandler to optimize his next performances. And feeling the need to counter, Chandler made a comparison that never been put up there by Aspinall.

Khalil Rountree reveals real reason UFC abandoned new glove design

The UFC’s attempt to change up the glove game went horribly awry and according to Khalil Rountree, it was for a mundane reason.

Shock Wave
For a Billion dollar company, they sure are cheap when it comes to necessary materials.
Test the gloves in gyms, for real world dynamics.
Or is this type of thinking too far outside the box for Dana?
Saku’sMissingEar
This actually makes a lot of sense, as boring as it is. Business is like that.
Reminds me, i heard from people who own original pride fc gloves and modern reproductions. They say they are absolutely identical, but the leather of the originals feels and reacts completely different. I’ve noticed a similar thing with my old leather jackets vs new ones from same companies.
Staglioni
Khalil Rountree waxes philosophically on leather was not in my MMA Bingo this summer.

In other news…

Max Holloway doesn’t expect to be back before the end of the year.
Speaking of Holloway, an amateur fighter attempted his signature point-down and it did NOT go well.

Dan Hooker isn’t feeling the love from the UFC right now.

Amanda Nunes wants to fight Kayla Harrison and get back what’s hers.
Jon Anik suggests a rules tweak after referee Jason Herzog’s befuddling work at UFC Abu Dhabi.
Jolie Poirier salutes her husband Dustin for his extraordinary career.
All hail Thad Jean and Movlid Khaybulaev, the first two tournament winners of the 2025 PFL season

Sean Brady wants to be the undisputed No. 1 contender and he’s willing to go through Shavkat Rakhmonov to do it.
Conor McGregor is officially back in the UFC’s drug-testing pool.

O.G. Vitor Belfort went in on influencer boxing.

Michelle Waterson-Gomez isn’t making a comeback—but that doesn’t mean she’s stopped thinking about it.
A Brazilian MMA fighter got his paycheck… but didn’t actually show up for the fight.

This week’s Missed Fists was headlined by a fantastic knockout followed by a less-than-fantastic celebration.

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