Skip to main content
The Feed

Topuria's Next Move, Makhachev Fires Back, and Our Moicano Lean

Makhachev claps back at Shavkat Rakhmonov's title complaints, Dana White clears Ilia Topuria for his next fight, and Jean Silva is talking big before Noche UFC.

Topuria's Next Move, Makhachev Fires Back, and Our Moicano Lean

🎧 Listen to this episode

Listen: Open Scoring MMA on Spotify or in any podcast app via our RSS feed.

This is an Open Scoring MMA News Alert. Saturday's Noche UFC card is closing in fast, but the bigger headlines today are coming from outside the cage, from a title feud reignited to a former champ getting cleared for his next run. Here's everything worth knowing before the weekend.

Makhachev Claps Back At Rakhmonov

Islam Makhachev didn't sit quietly after Shavkat Rakhmonov's recent comments about getting passed over for a title shot. Makhachev pointed out that Rakhmonov gave that interview wearing a large brace on his knee while still insisting he wants the fight. He said, "He says I should have chosen him. Choose him and wait for 1.5 years? Let him recover and he will become one of the contenders. I never said that I will not fight him." That's about as direct a denial of ducking anyone as you'll get.

Topuria Cleared, Pantoja Breaks Down What Went Wrong

Dana White says Ilia Topuria is ready to get back in the cage following his first UFC loss. The defeat came against Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250, and it's still generating plenty of film study around the sport. Alexandre Pantoja shared his own read on the biggest mistake Topuria made in that fight, adding another voice to the ongoing breakdown of how the unbeaten run finally ended.

Jean Silva's Bold Predictions Before Noche UFC

Silva reportedly predicted his main event will end early. He also used the interview to look ahead at the featherweight division, picking Movsar Evloev to pull off an upset over champion Alexander Volkanovski in their scheduled title fight at UFC 333.

Garcia And Benn's Face-Off Gets Cut Short

Ryan Garcia had a plan heading into his face-off with Conor Benn, reportedly wanting to recreate one of Benn's own memorable staredowns as a bit of homage. UFC security stepped in before he could pull it off, and Dana White ended up cutting the whole exchange short given how packed his Saturday schedule already was. Results and scorecards from Garcia vs. Benn are now up on UFC's official site for anyone who missed the live action.

Gaethje Hits The Trail, White Takes A Shot At Ngannou

Justin Gaethje spent some time away from the gym campaigning for the Republican Party, stumping for Trump at a GOP midterm convention. Meanwhile, Dana White didn't hold back when Francis Ngannou's name came up, calling him "a bad guy." Ngannou left the UFC back in 2023 and has since fought for PFL, MVP MMA, and in professional boxing, and at 40 he's still considered a dangerous knockout threat whenever he steps in with anyone.

From the community

Over on r/MMA, fans are talking about this: Islam Makhachev on Ilia Topuria: "He’s still young bro, he has time. I hope he will come back. Ilia’s a good fighter bro. If he focuses, maybe he’ll be champion again. But this [Gaethje] fight changed his life. But we don’t know which way.” (via @MightyMouse).

Sources

Every source behind today's roundup (14)

We summarize the day's news in our own words. Full credit to the outlets below for the original reporting, click through to read their work:

Open Scoring MMA is a daily AI-produced MMA and UFC news podcast. Listen to today's episode, read the full Feed, or get every episode by email.

Episode transcript

Read the full episode transcript

Welcome to Open Scoring MMA. This is episode 85 for September 11th, 2026, your daily look at what's happening now and next across the world of MMA and UFC. DUKE: Big one right out of the gate, Nora. Dana White says Ilia Topuria is ready to go again after that first UFC loss.
NORA: To Justin Gaethje, no less. And White's basically saying there's no long layoff coming, Topuria wants back in the cage.
DUKE: That's wild to me. Most guys take a beat after their first real loss, especially one that shook up the pound for pound conversation this hard.
NORA: Not this guy, apparently. And it matters because the featherweight and lightweight landscape both kind of freeze until we know where he lands next.
DUKE: Right, is he staying up at one fifty five chasing Gaethje again, or does he drop back down?
NORA: That's the question nobody's answered yet.
DUKE: Meanwhile Alexandre Pantoja's already dissecting the tape, giving his own read on what Topuria's biggest mistake was in that fight.
NORA: Pantoja didn't spell out every detail, but the fact that a former champion is publicly breaking down the loss tells you how seismic this result was.
DUKE: When guys outside the fight are doing film study on it unprompted, that's not a normal loss.
NORA: That's a career inflection point. The r or MMA crowd is all over it.
DUKE: That's actually a pretty respectful take from a guy who usually doesn't hand out compliments for free.
NORA: It is. But Makhachev's got his own fire to deal with right now.
DUKE: Oh, the Rakhmonov stuff.
NORA: Shavkat Rakhmonov's been out there saying Makhachev should've picked him for a title fight instead of waiting, and Makhachev is not having it.
DUKE: He clapped back hard. Quote, Rakhmonov gave an interview recently with a huge brace on his knee and he says he wants to fight, I want to respond to his interview, end quote.
NORA: And then he really let it fly.
DUKE: So Makhachev's basically saying, you're hurt, I'm not waiting a year and a half on the shelf for you.
NORA: Which is fair from a champion's standpoint. You can't freeze a division around one injured contender, no matter how scary he looks healthy.
DUKE: Rakhmonov's still probably the number one threat at welterweight or wherever he lands next, but this knee changes his timeline completely.
NORA: And it opens the door for other names in that mix while he's rehabbing.
DUKE: Speaking of guys getting torched by management, Dana White had words for Francis Ngannou too.
NORA: White called him, quote, a bad guy, end quote, straight up.
DUKE: Ngannou's been gone since 2023, bouncing through PFL, MVP MMA, and boxing, and at forty he's still got that scary punching power.
NORA: But this isn't really about his skills anymore, it's about the relationship, and that bridge looks fully burned.
DUKE: Doesn't sound like a UFC return is happening under this regime, put it that way.
NORA: Not a chance, based on that language.
DUKE: Alright, let's talk status updates. Terence Crawford, Dana White says he'd fight again under one condition.
NORA: White didn't rule it out, he just said there's a specific scenario that would bring Crawford back to the squared circle.
DUKE: Crawford's obviously one of the best boxers alive, so any hint of him lacing up again is worth tracking, even outside our usual MMA lane.
NORA: Especially with all this UFC and boxing crossover energy happening lately.
DUKE: And on that note, Justin Gaethje's been busy outside the cage too, stumping for Trump at the GOP midterm convention.
NORA: He's actively campaigning ahead of the midterms. Doesn't affect his fight status, but it does show you where his head's at during this Topuria afterglow.
DUKE: Gaethje just knocked off the number one guy in the sport and he's out there doing politics. That's a hell of a flex, honestly.
NORA: He's earned the freedom to do whatever he wants right now.
DUKE: Now, speaking of crossover chaos, Nora, we gotta talk about this Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn face off situation.
NORA: Okay, this is a good one. Garcia apparently wanted to recreate one of Benn's old face off poses, and UFC security stepped in before Dana White cut the whole thing short.
DUKE: Wait, UFC security was even involved in that? On a boxing card?
NORA: White had a stacked Saturday between Noche UFC and this Garcia versus Benn card, so he wasn't exactly in the mood for a whole staged bit.
DUKE: Classic Ryan Garcia though, always got some kind of theater planned.
NORA: Always. And it didn't even land the way he wanted.
DUKE: Security just walks in and kills the whole moment.
NORA: Dana White's basically like, we don't have time for this today, gentlemen.
DUKE: Honestly that's kind of funny that White is the one enforcing decorum at a boxing presser.
NORA: The man wears a lot of hats these days.
DUKE: Alright, let's get into roster moves.
NORA: Two rising South American strawweights colliding, that's a real gatekeeper style test for both of them heading into twenty twenty seven.
DUKE: Whoever wins that one is putting themselves right into the rankings conversation at fifty two kilos.
NORA: And over on the regional scene, Freddie Haggerty's chasing a finish over Rungruanglek specifically to punch his ticket to a ONE Championship contract.
DUKE: That's the grind, right there. A knockout in that fight isn't just a win, it's a career changing opportunity to get signed.
NORA: Exactly why he's not just trying to win rounds, he needs the highlight reel finish. And Silva's not exactly playing it safe with his prediction. He's saying he expects this main event to end early.
DUKE: A featherweight main eventer calling his own fast finish, I respect the confidence.
NORA: It backs up everything we know about his finishing instincts. He's not a guy who wants to go the distance and grind out a decision.
DUKE: And Silva's also got opinions on the actual featherweight title picture. He's betting on Movsar Evloev to upset Alexander Volkanovski.
NORA: That matchup is expected to headline that title fight, and hearing a fellow featherweight publicly back the challenger over the champion says a lot about how the locker room views Evloev's chances.
DUKE: Volkanovski's the champ, but Evloev's undefeated run has people spooked.
NORA: It's a legitimately live pick, not just a hot take.
DUKE: Real quick, one more from the archives before we move on, this Phil Baroni story resurfacing. Guy went from a certified UFC knockout artist in the sport's early days to reportedly sitting in a Mexican jail.
NORA: It's a rough one. Baroni was must watch television back in the day, and this is just a stark reminder of how differently these careers can end.
DUKE: Not every fight story has a clean ending.
NORA: No, it doesn't.
DUKE: Okay, let's look ahead. Two big cards coming up.
NORA: Contender Series is always a proving ground, somebody on that card is fighting for a UFC contract by the end of the night. That's a legit flyweight title fight, Van's undefeated run against a champion who's been running through the division.
DUKE: And the card is stacked with other compelling matchups. There are a lot of fighters looking to make a name for themselves.
NORA: If he wins that, he's knocking on the door.
DUKE: Alright, before we get to our pick, quick reminder, y'all can check out our free Fight Tracker at tracker dot open scoring m m a dot com, every upcoming UFC and PFL card, live odds, and where to watch, all in one place.
NORA: And find us on YouTube too, just search Open Scoring MMA, we've got breaking news alerts and fight breakdowns you won't get here on the feed.
DUKE: Now, our OSM Pick. Talk me into this one.
NORA: We've got Moicano, seventy one percent.
DUKE: Seventy one.
NORA: And the betting line only implies about sixty four.
DUKE: So we're well ahead of the market on this.
NORA: We are. It's a lean, not our highest confidence, but it's real value.
DUKE: Okay, why though? Ortega's got that elite jiu jitsu everybody fears. Huh, that's a real size gap then.
NORA: It is. And style wise, Moicano's a strong grappler with legitimately good striking on top of that.
DUKE: So he's not just bigger, he can actually match Ortega on the mat too.
NORA: That's the combination that scares us for Ortega. Size plus a guy who won't just stand there and trade with him.
DUKE: Ortega's BJJ is elite, everybody knows that.
NORA: It is, but elite jiu jitsu matters less when you can't get the smaller guy off his feet or control the distance.
DUKE: Alright, I'm not gonna fight you on this one, I actually like Moicano here too. So no bragging rights this week.
NORA: None.
DUKE: Thirteen and two, that's the number that matters to me.
NORA: Same.
DUKE: Alright, that's the show for today. Big stuff brewing with Topuria's future, Makhachev's still got a beef simmering with Rakhmonov, and we're rolling right into fight week for UFC 331.
NORA: Get some rest, we'll be right back at it tomorrow.
DUKE: See y'all then.
We're on Renato Moicano here. Who are you taking? Before you go, two quick things. Check out our free Fight Tracker at tracker dot open scoring m m a dot com, with every upcoming UFC and PFL card, live odds, and where to watch, all in one place. And follow us on YouTube, just search Open Scoring MMA, for breaking news alerts, fight breakdowns, and videos you won't get here on the feed. That's it for today's Open Scoring MMA. Keep your hands up, and we'll see you next time.