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Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg headlines UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images At the UFC 301 official weigh-ins, all 28 fighters on Saturday’s fight card will step on the scale early Friday morning in Rio de Janeiro. Watch a live stream of the official weigh-ins above. In the main event, UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja and puts his belt on the line against Steve Erceg. Both fighters will have to hit 125 pounds for their title showdown. In the co-main event, legendary former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and Jonathan Martinez have to step on the scale at 136 pounds or lower for their non-title bantamweight showdown. The UFC 301 official weigh-ins will start at 8 a.m. ET, and the video is below. Main Card (ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET) Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg Jonathan Martinez vs. Jose Aldo Anthony Smith vs. Vitor Petrino Michel Pereira vs. Ihor Potieria Paul Craig vs. Caio Borralho Preliminary card (ESPN2/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET) Jack Shore vs. Joanderson Brito Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Iasmin Lucindo Elves Brener vs. Myktybek Orolbai Jean Silva vs. William Gomis Early Preliminary Card (ESPN2/ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET) Joaquim Silva vs. Drakkar Klose Mauricio Ruffy vs. Jamie Mullarkey Dione Barbosa vs. Ernesta Kareckaite Ismael Bonfim vs. Vinc Pichel Alessandro Costa vs. Kevin Borjas

Losene Keita after becoming a two-division champion It’s not often a regional fighter declines multiple UFC offers, but that’s exactly what top prospect Losene Keita did before signing a new deal to stay with Europe-based promotion Oktagon MMA. The 26-year-old fighter, who moved to Belgium from Guinea when he was just a boy, always dreamed of shining under the brightest lights in the UFC. It’s a fantasy he still hopes to fulfill one day, but Keita just didn’t feel the time was right when the UFC came calling. “Oktagon is like a home for me,” Keita told MMA Fighting. “Oktagon gave me a lot of chances and the fans love me and I’m very popular there. For me, the UFC was my first option, but I’m like, why should I leave my home to go somewhere else? “I’m 26 years old, I have a good record, I’m still learning everyday. I can still have a lot of experience before going to the UFC. I never say the UFC dream is done, but for me, Oktagon is now my home and I’m happy there.” Keita admits it’s impossible for money not to play some part in where he fights, but it’s not the only factor in his decision to stick with Oktagon over the UFC. While he certainly appreciates that the UFC sees him as an asset worth multiple offers, Keita felt like Oktagon really understood his value to the organization. Keita is currently the featherweight and lightweight champion of Oktagon. “[UFC tried to sign me] three times already,” Keita revealed. “It doesn’t happen, but I don’t think a lot of fighters are in my shoes. That’s why it doesn’t happen [very often]. I’m getting paid and I’m getting paid well in Oktagon. I am one of the biggest stars there. “Going to the UFC, fighting for $12,000 [to show] and $12,000 [to win] or $15,000 and $15,000 is crazy. I know the UFC is the biggest organization and I know my worth. In Oktagon, they know my worth, they respect my worth. That’s it.” Perhaps the closest example of another athlete opting for a route similar to the one Keita travels now is current UFC star Paddy Pimblett, who also turned down multiple offers from the promotion before finally signing there as a free agent in 2021. Pimblett openly stated that he wanted more time to develop his game and feel truly ready for the competition he’d face in the UFC. The decision seemed to work out well for him; Pimblett is undefeated in five UFC appearances and has become one of the promotion’s biggest names over the past couple of years. Keita understands the comparisons he’ll get to Pimblett because they both passed on UFC offers, but he promises they couldn’t be further apart outside of that lone similarity. “I know if I go to the UFC, I don’t want to be a contender. I want to be the champ,” Keita said. “I want to be a double champion in the UFC. It’s not the time yet to go to the UFC. I’m learning everyday. I’ve been six or seven years in MMA, I’m still young, so now is not the time. Also, financially, it’s not the time. “I’m not arrogant but I’m confident. I can be in the UFC right now and be in the top 10. Paddy, I could beat him in the first round right now actually. I’m ready [for the UFC]. The first time [UFC reached out], they gave me an opponent, I already had the date, everything, but financially I feel great in Oktagon, it’s my home. I walk on the street and everybody knows me. I go to the UFC, I’m nobody there yet. I know that can change quick, but I’m attached to the fans of Oktagon so I don’t want to change that yet.” Keita says he also passed on an offer from PFL to join the company’s featherweight season, where eight fighters compete for the chance to win a $1 million grand prize. As much as he appreciates the interest, Keita commends Oktagon for putting up that same amount of money for their own lightweight tournament, which goes down Saturday in Germany. Keita is, of course, a part of that tournament. “The most interesting one was actually PFL, because PFL wanted me in the $1 million featherweight tournament,” Keita explained. “It’s a great deal actually. But I said I can win a million there or I can win a million here, but one place I’m home and one other place I’m not home.” Keita knows there’s risk attached to staying in Oktagon rather than just taking the offer to join the UFC. He already faced that kind of adversity in his only professional loss after Keita broke his leg in a fight back in July 2023, which serves as the only defeat on his record. He bounced back rather quickly with a knockout win this past December, and now Keita is laser focused on the lightweight tournament starting for him on Saturday. Keita expects the UFC will eventually seek him out again, and if the time is right, he’ll obviously listen to the offer. But for now, he’s happy hearing his name being chanted by 20,000 rabid fans closer to home. “Imagine a kid from the street, walking into an arena with 20,000 people screaming your name. It’s crazy,” Keita said. “So imagine going to PFL now and I need to walk out and nobody knows me. I know I can change that around quickly, but I don’t want to do that to the fans. “Every time I see the fans chanting my name, there’s just a feeling walking into the arena with 20,000 people screaming your name, it’s just crazy.”

Dustin Poirier | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Will “The Diamond” finally capture gold in what will likely be his final opportunity? Less than a month away from UFC 302, Dustin Poirier graces the event’s poster, alongside heavily favored opponent and UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. On Thursday, the UFC released the official poster for the June 1 event, which takes place at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. In the main event, Makhachev, the No. 1 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings, puts his 155-pound title on the line against Poirier. Check out the poster below. Number 1 P4P and The Diamond go at it for the lightweight strap in Newark #UFC302 | @Visit_NJ | #VisitNJ pic.twitter.com/sxufCDJl5W— UFC (@ufc) May 2, 2024 The poster also features the co-main event for the first of two June pay-per-view fight cards. In a pivotal battle in the UFC middleweight division, former champion Sean Strickland competes for the first time since dropping the belt to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297, as he faces one-time title challenger Paulo Costa in a five-round contest. The UFC 302 main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view and marks the second straight year UFC has held a numbered event in Newark. See the updated UFC 302 card below (bout order still to be finalized). Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa Jailton Almeida vs. Alexandr Romanov Niko Price vs. Alex Morono Grant Dawson vs. Joe Solecki Randy Brown vs. Elizeu Zaleski Phil Rowe vs. Jake Matthews Mickey Gall vs. Bassil Hafez Cesar Almeida vs. Roman Kopylov Ailin Perez vs. Joselyne Edwards Tatsuro Taira vs. Joshua Van

Photo By David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images Dillon Danis just picked another fight he can’t win. The grappler and ex-Bellator athlete, who last competed in MMA in 2019, got rather upset after Paige VanZant proclaimed “Dillon Danis is not a fighter” when asked about MMA fighters attempting to make the crossover into boxing as she prepares to make her own debut at a Misfits card in May. In response, Danis fired back on social media, stating that VanZant was just upset he didn’t “wife” her, and added, “don’t make me bring up our two trips to Vegas and ruin your marriage.” How fast they forget! Haha, relax, Paigey baby, just because I didn’t wife you doesn’t mean you have to be petty. Don’t make me bring up our two trips to Vegas and ruin your marriage. https://t.co/yisMPZl4YO pic.twitter.com/4OQTgE1cDc— Dillon Danis (@dillondanis) May 1, 2024 VanZant, who is married to one-time Bellator title challenger Austin Vanderford, took to Instagram to offer her side of the story, which obviously didn’t match what Danis claimed. Instead, she unloaded with both barrels on Danis as she recounted her one and only memory of running into him in Las Vegas. “It has come to my attention that there is a certain clown on Instagram by the name of Dillon Danis trying to talk some shit and stir up some drama,” VanZant said. “So let’s f*cking go, right? Dillon, obviously I said you’re not a real fighter. My bad, I triggered you. I understand that hurt your feelings. But instead of coming back and talking shit about me and saying I’m not a real fighter, what did you do? You kind of f*cked yourself, right? You backed yourself into a corner because now you have to come with proof of this alleged affair, right? “Because the only time I remember ever seeing you in Vegas was at the UFC athlete retreat. You walked up to me in a bar and asked me to peg you in front of multiple other UFC fighters, and I laughed in your face. That’s not the definition of a relationship, is it?” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Paige VanZant (@paigevanzant) VanZant didn’t stop there, especially when it came to Danis attempting to damage her marriage with his claims about some past relationship between them. “Stirring up drama on the internet to try to fight my husband, there’s definitely better ways you could handle that,” VanZant said. “He’s got three things you absolutely will never have. One, a wife. Two, friends. And three, a real MMA résumé. “So Dillon, I’m sorry I hurt your feelings, but when you’re a piece of shit like you are, it’s pretty f*cking easy. Have a good one.” For his part, Vanderford also weighed in, throwing down a challenge if Danis really wanted to fight him in MMA, or even in boxing. “I’m sure there will be some corny excuse ‘who is he?’, ‘he doesn’t have a following’, ‘he lost his last fight’, ‘not the same weight class’…. Blah blah blah,” Vanderford wrote on Instagram. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Austin Vanderford (@austinvanderford) Since securing his Bellator release following the PFL merger, Vanderford has been seeking out his next opportunity, and it seems as if Danis has piqued his interest as an opponent. Outside of his two fights in Bellator nearly five years ago, Danis has only competed once since then, and that ended in a disqualification loss in a boxing match against Logan Paul following an embarrassing performance across six rounds this past October. Danis also faces a lawsuit from Paul’s fiancée Nina Agdal due to repeated online harassment and claims that he may have hacked into one of her social media accounts.

Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images Ronda Rousey can soon add screenwriter to a résumé that already includes Olympic bronze medalist, UFC champion, and WWE superstar. On the heels of the release of her second autobiography, Our Fight, the 37-year-old retired fighter now has plans to adapt her life story into a screenplay for a biopic currently in the works at Netflix. Rousey had originally signed on at Paramount for the film rights to her story, but changes in management at the studio eventually allowed the deal to lapse. Now Rousey takes her story to Netflix after Michelle Evans, a manager for original studio films at Netflix, championed the project, having become a fan of Rousey’s in the UFC. The original deal was inked after Rousey released her first autobiography, but since then she penned a second book alongside her sister Maria Burns Ortiz, which documents her UFC downfall and exit following a pair of brutal knockout losses, her history with concussions, and her tumultuous time she spent as a professional wrestler in WWE. Deadline first reported the news, with Chernin Entertainment — a company responsible for films such as Ford vs. Ferrari and the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes — expected to produce the project. Rousey reportedly fought for the opportunity to write the script for her own biopic after Mark Bomback was initially retained to adapt the story into a screenplay. Through her agents at William Morris Endeavor — the same company that now serves as majority owners of the UFC — Rousey began working with an executive to help her learn how to become a screenwriter. Over time, Rousey apparently started picking up the technique as well as the structure required for a proper screenplay. Once she impressed the agents at WME with her newfound skills, Rousey allegedly penned the script about her own life in just seven days. Insiders told Deadline that Rousey’s agents tore the front page off her script before presenting it to executives at Netflix so they would have no idea who wrote it. Netflix apparently loved the script and reached out to find out about the writer. After discovering it was Rousey who wrote the story, a deal was inked almost immediately to land the rights to the biopic. While Rousey now serves as writer and producer on her own biopic, she’s no longer expected to star in the lead role, which was initially the plan when she sold the rights to her story to Paramount. Rousey and other producers behind the film are now expected to meet with potential candidates to play her in the coming months as the film gets closer to production.