Despite the lack of a big card on Saturday, CBS will air UFC 332 on Saturday night. The main event features Natalia Silva fighting Wang Cong for the vacant women’s flyweight title.

In the co-main event Deiveson Figueiredo fights Payton Talbott in a Bantamweight matchup.

It will be the first time that CBS will air a full UFC card since it took over as the domestic broadcast partner for the promotion.

The event will get a good lead-in with college football on the network prior to the main card starting at 7pm ET/4pm PT.

While the quality of card is not “PPV worthy” the fact it will be on network television should assuage advertisers and sponsors since it should be broadcast to a wider audience.

Lawyers for Jai Opetaia filed an opposition to the International Boxing Federation’s Motion to Dismiss. The boxer, who has two fights under his belt with Zuffa Boxing, protests the IBF for stripping him of his title.

Opetaia filed the lawsuit in July claiming that the IBF unfairly stripped him of his title this past March upon his debut fighting for Zuffa Boxing. The IBF responded to the lawsuit by filing a Motion to Dismiss.

Specifically, the IBF noted that Opetaia did not follow the IBF’s Appeal Procedure. The IBF argues that the dispute by Opetaia is not grounded in law but in the interpretation of IBF rules. As a result, the issue lies within the rules of the IBF and should be addressed as such.

In its opposition brief, Opetaia argues that the “Exhaustion Doctrine” does not bar its claims related to misrepresentations and promises that are not a part of the rules.

Notably, Opetaia discusses the two cases the IBF brought up in its motion. Notably, the Mahmoud Charr case against Don King was highlighted. The IBF noted that Charr’s claims were dismissed. Opetaia’s lawyers argue that the Charr case differs from Opetaia. “Unlike Jai’s case, Charr did not involve any claims unrelated to the sanctioning body’s rules. The boxer in Charr conceded his claims were rules-based but he failed to exhaust internal remedies under the rules.”

The distinction made by Opetaia’s lawyers is that the legal wrongdoing claimed by Opetaia does not relate to the IBF rules.

It also addresses the Wladimir Klitschko-IBF lawsuit from 2005 in which Klitschko sued to install himself as the mandatory challenger for the title. Opetaia argues that Klitscko’s claims arose out of IBF rules. “Each claim was predicated on allegations that IBF disregarded or misapplied the rules criteria for determining the next challenger.”

The court dismissed Kilitschko’s challenge.

Opetaia’s lawyers attempt to make the distinction that his legal claims are unrelated to IBF rules:

“Rather, Jai’s claims are based on IBF’s earlier and independent initial representations and promises that IBF would sanction the bout even with the Zuffa Belt on the line. IBF’s rules are not the source of the legal duties that Jai alleges IBF breached. To resolve Jai’s claims, neither the Court nor the jury will need to determine whether the Zuffa Belt was actually a violation of IBF’s rules. It is enough that IBF represented that it would sanction the bout despite the Zuffa Belt
without disclosing that IBF never intended to sanction it and, later, broke its promise to sanction it.”

Instead, Opetaia points to another boxing case, Roccogiani v. World Boxing Council .

“Jai’s claims are more like the boxer’s claims in Rocchigiani v. World Boxing Council, Inc., 131 F. Supp. 2d 527 (S.D.N.Y. 2001) that were not subject to a sanctioning body’s internal review mechanism. After Roy Jones Jr. vacated the WBC’s title, Rocchigiani won it. Id. at 528. WBC declared Rocchigiani’s title as merely an “interim” title and then revoked it. Id. at 528-29. Rocchigiani sued. Id. at 529-30. WBC contended that Rocchigiani’s failure to exhaust his private administrative remedies was fatal to his claims. Id. at 531. The court disagreed. It held internal exhaustion was inapplicable because Rocchigiani “ma[de] no claims, in cause of action number one, with respect to his rights under the WBC Constitution or
rules” containing the exhaustion requirements. Id. at 532.”

In addition, Opetaia asserts that even if the IBF rules apply, Opetaia appealed and/or was excused from going through the process noting an exception.

Payout Perspective:

Opetaia’s lawyers appear to concede its claim against the IBF for violation of the Muhammad Ali Act with respect to not making disclosures to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. However, it maintains that the rest of the lawsuit do not relate to specific items in the IBF rules. Boxing does have case law on this particular subject which will make it interesting to see how the Court will interpret previous rulings. Broken down, Opetaia’s claim is based on alleged misrepresentations made by the IBF. The big question is how can he prove his case, and does he have one.

Aside from the Ali Act clam, the rest of his allegations Fraud, Breach of Contract, Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing, Promissory Estoppel, Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage, Intentional Interference with Contract Relations, Aiding and Abetting and Conspiracy hinge on evidence that there is evidence that the IBF meant to withdraw its sanctioning of the fight at the last minute as a way to punish Jai for signing with Zuffa Boxing. This will be a hard threshold to show. MPO will continue to follow.

The Tyson Fury Anthony Joshua fight in Cardiff is in question after several tweets on Friday from Mike Coppinger. Then, on Saturday at a post-Zuffa Boxing event press conference Dana White said he had “no idea” whether Wednesday’s press conference with Fury-Joshua would be going forward.

Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua could be called off due to issues, according to sources, and a replacement fight between Terence Crawford and Ryan Garcia is being considered.

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) September 25, 2026

The crux of the situation seems to be White. Eddie Hearn, the promoter for Anthony Joshua was irate that the press release for the fight mentioned White. He told IFL.tv that White cannot be involved in the fight. He added, “Netflix clearly did not get the memo.” Hearn stated that the fight would not be in the U.S.

When pressed by U.K. boxing journalists, White was coy about his involvement. He admitted that he did not negotiate the deal for the Wales fight. It seemed in exchanges with the press that he did not want to tell journalists what happened.

Warren rebuild Fury

Hearn is AJ's career-long promoter

Nick Khan did the Netflix deal

Dana White booked New York's Madison Square Garden

Can anyone, anywhere, tell me what this UFC fella has to do with the fight – apart from being Turki's latest pet?

Top work @TakeAymz pic.twitter.com/FFFe46AxZT

— Wally Downes Jr (@WallyDownes_Jr) September 27, 2026

The issue is what is Dana White’s involvement in the fight if Tyson Fury’s promoter is Frank Warren and Anthony Joshua’s promoter is Eddie Hearn with the fight taking place in the U.K. Hearn took offense to the fact that the fight has meaning for British boxing fans and to attempt to move the fight out of the country would be a disservice.

Jack Figg skewered Dana White with pertinent questions as to why and how he is involved with the AJ-Fury fight. Moreover, White could not provide an answer as to who is in charge. Welcome to the sport of boxing, Mr. White

UFC Fight Night 284 took place at The Apex last night in Las Vegas. The promotion gave out 4 $100K bonuses.

The main event featuring Paul Rojas, Jr. and Raoni Barcelos drew the Fight of the Night with each earning $100K. Rojas earned the stoppage victory in the 5th round in a somewhat scary situation in which Barcelos appeared unresponsive and had to be stretchered out of the Octagon. The good news is that reports indicate that Barcelos is in the hospital recovering.

Luis Hernandez earned a $100K performance bonus for his first round submission RNC of Sedriques Dumas. Hernandez, a police officer, earned his first bonus of his UFC career. A fight that was inappropriately hailed as cop versus criminal (as Dumas has a lengthy criminal record), Hernandez downplayed the promotion of it

Yazmin Jauregui earned her $100K performance bonus with her first round stoppage of Vanessa Demopoulos.

The $25K stoppage winners included Valesca Machado, Brady Hiestand, Christian Edwards, Elves Brener and Montel Jackson.

Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This time we take a look at UFC 331 at the Crypto.com in Los Angeles.

Van wins rematch

Joshua Van retained his UFC flyweight title by defeating former champion Alexandre Pantoja via unanimous decision. While their first fight ended early due to injury, this fight went the distance. While Pantoja had some early moments, most of the fight including takedowns, it was Van showing his impressive cardio and the power in his hands. In Round 5, Van left no doubt using his overwhelming punching power to dominate the round.

This was the second title defense for Van and it looks like Manel Kape is the next in line for a title shot.

Tsarukyan makes claim for title shot

Even though he seems to be a streamer more than a fighter, Arman Tsarukyan showed UFC fans why he should be fighting for the lightweight title. A devastating elbow to Ruffy’s head during an exchange next to the cage stopped the Brazilian and sent him to the mat with the ref stepping in to stop the fight with just 4 seconds left in round 1.

Tsarukyan made a case to fight Justin Gaethje for the lightweight title despite Ilia Topuria still being the number 1 contender.

Attendance, gate and bonuses

The Fight of the Night went to Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja in an action-packed 5-round fight for the Flyweight title. Van earned a unanimous decision victory but both received a $100K bonus.

Arman Tsarukyan earned the $100K Performance Bonus for his finish of Mauricio Ruffy in the first round.

Also earning a $100K bonus was Casey O’Neil received a Performance Bonus for a stunning elevator sweep into a belly down armbar on Eduardo Moura.

In conjunction with Paramount’s Mobland, the UFC bestowed a $100K bonus to Sean Sharaf. The series gave $50K and White matched it for the $100K. Sharaf had the upset of the night by sleeping Gable Steveson in just 12 seconds.

The $25K finish bonuses went to Joanderson Brito, Ryan Gandra, Marlon Vera and Patricio Pitbull. Notably Brito took off his pants right after stopping Giga Chikadze.

The attendance was 19,357 (sell out) at the Crypto.com Arena for $8.3M gate per Dana White at the post-fight press conference.

CSAC Disclosed Payoutsb

Per the California State Athletic Commission, the disclosed payouts are as follows:

Joshua Van: $500K

Alexander Pantoja: $650K

Arman Tsarukyan: $350K

Mauricio Ruffy $110K

Patricio Pitbull Freire: $200K/$200K

Doo Ho Choi: $85K

Sean Sharaf: $30K/$30K

Gable Steveson: $160K

Alonzo Menifield: $155K/$155K

Iwo Baraniewski $50K

Marlon Vera: $200k/$200K

Chalres Jourdain: $108K

Robelis Despaigne: $100K/$100K

Tai Tuivasa: $350K

Michael Aswell: $30K/$30K

Joo Sang Yoo: $12K

Ryan Gandra: $14K/$14K

Ozzy Diaz:$25K

Edmen Shahbazyan: $125K/$125K

Brunno Ferreira: $95K

Casey O’Neill: $66K/$66K

Eduarda Mour: $33K

Joanderson Brito: $79K/$79K

Giga Chikadze: $93K

Sponsors

The UFC has a new sponsor in Brio Water, as it was the Official Partner of UFC 331. Also, Crypto.com had a big presence during the event as a sponsor. Also, the event was being held at Crypto.com Arena.

The Octagon signage included Crypto.com, Stake, Toyo Tires, bet 365, FRE, Black Rifle Coffee Company, Polymarket, Ram Truck, Total Wireless, Ninjatrader, Aviator, Budweiser, Morgan & Morgan, Budweiser, Exodus, New Amsterdam Vodka, Monaco, Paramount+, Doordash, Jose Cuervo, Superfile, Monster Energy was joined by Maverick in the center of the Octagon.

In addition, Meta AI was a part of the ad reads during the event.

In conjunction with the second season of Mobland starting the day before UFC 331, it offered a $50K bonus for a fighter on the show. Dana White later matched the $50K to give a fighter (which was Sharaf) $100K bonus similar to the other two Performance bonuses.

Odds and ends

The biggest upset of the night went to Sean Sharaf who knocked out Gable Steveson within seconds of the first round starting. Sharaf was a huge underdog and noted that Jon Jones was one of his inspirations to get into MMA. Jones was in Steveson’s corner for the fight. Sharaf received rave reviews at the pre-fight press conference for calling out Steveson as a sex offender. Something that seemingly shook Steveson not for saying it but the overwhelming support Sharaf received for saying it. The KO brings into question Steveson’s commitment to the support. He was one of the highest paid fighters on the card and was on a steep ascension if he had KO’d Sharaf. Now, we will see what the former Olympian decides next.

Nina Drama and Arman Tsarukyan on Sneaker Shopping with Joe LaPuma.

Alonzo Menifield won his fight against Iwo Baraniewski but his left thumb looked like it almost fell off.

Another loss for Tai Tuivasa makes it 8 in a row.The heavyweight has not won since 2002.

Conclusion

This had to be one of the best numbered events in some time. Van-Pantoja was an excellent, enjoyable main event while Tsarukyan showed that he’s more than just a stream. Top to bottom, the card came through with some entertaining fights.

Earlier this week, WWE announced that its YouTube original programming, Main Event, would be moving to streaming service Rumble.

According to Variety, WWE Main Event will move to Rumble beginning Oct. 14, airing every Wednesday at 8pm ET/5 pm PT.

Main Event is the “D” show out of Raw on Netflix, Smackdown on the USA Network and NXT on the CW Network. The common matches feature enhancement talent and lesser known WWE superstars that do not have primary roles on the other three shows.

Rumble is commonly known as the streaming service catering to right-wing conservatives also aired Dana White’s Power Slap for some time. The move to Rumble is another sign how much TKO does not care about the optics of operating with conservative and radical companies that cater to right wing ideologies.

WWE responded to a social media backlash that it should have identified before they were made. A new shirt for WWE superstar Trick Williams included images of chicken wings in homage to Williams’ “Lemon Pepper Stepper” gimmick.

However, the tone deaf nature of the depictions have undertones of racism.

The shirt depicted fried chicken surrounded by a shoe in reference to Trick Williams’ slang referencing wearing nice shoes.

However, fried chicken has been used as a racist stereotype for some time. The backlash from the shirt caused WWE to pull it from the shelves.

You might recall that former WWE professional wrestler, ACH, fka Jordyn Myles, protested the making of a shirt for him with huge lips which was claimed to be an homage to the Rolling Stones logo. However, Myles believed the shirt was more of a slight toward the stereotype that black people have big lips.

One may naively think that these criticism are small, oversensitive and burdening free expression. Yet, the issue is that the designs were not thought out well or considering of possible issues with it. In the end, the WWE wants to sell merchandise. But, if someone points out the issue with it immediately there has to be a level of culpability on the maker in how much thought and detail did they have in the product.

After months of speculation on a location and date, the Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua fight will take place December 11th at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

The fight will air on Netflix.

The heavyweight tilt was going back and forth between a U.S. and U.K. location with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing, Turki Alashikh’s Ring Magazine and Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sport sparring over the key details. According to the formal press announcement, White is the official co-promoter of the fight. Turki Alashikh is the other promoter on this.

Hearn and Fury’s longtime promoter Frank Warren have had issues with Zuffa Boxing promoting the event. Previously, Warren has threatened litigation against Zuffa Boxing for attempting to usurp his fighters from his contracts. Specifically, Hearn on this fight stated that White “cannot be involved.”

WE DID IT Forever indebted to the U.K. public for their support of @anthonyjoshua we couldn’t have got this over the line without you pic.twitter.com/eQShbN4gNI

— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) September 24, 2026

We will see what will happen. This is very dramatic and also enlightening that the announcement would be made with so many of the stakeholders at odds on who is steering the ship on this event. MPO will continue to follow.

On Monday, TKO President Mark Shapiro addressed the lack of sponsorship sales this year. Shapiro told CNBC that the second half of the year will see “many mulityear, all high margin, all recurring” sponsors.”

Shapiro appeared with TKO CEO Ari Emanuel who was promoting his new memoir.

The talk about TKO starts around the 5:05 minute mark. Shapiro’s appearance was in response to a “Wall Street narrative” that “sponsorship momentum is decelerating.” There has been slow in increases in 2% in Q1 and 8% in Q2 in the sponsorship segment.

In speaking with CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” he cited “so many international events” in the first half of the year which prevented the sale of global partnerships.

Shapiro stated that WWE will “finish over 20% year-over-year increase on WWE partnership revenue for the year.”

Through the first 6 months of 2025, WWE had $89.4 million in its partnerships and marketing segment. In comparison, the UFC had $211 million in partnerships and marketing through June 30, 2026.

In 2025, WWE generated $159.6 million in sponsorships, partnerships and marketing revenue. Assuming the near $160M figure is correct, the WWE would be generating approximately $192 million by the end of 2026.

Based on the $89.4 million number, the WWE sponsorship department has a lot of work ahead of it to make Shapiro’s projection.

Notwithstanding the benchmark, Shapiro likely has secured the deals which is why he is making the announcement to investors in order to temper any concerns.

John Martin announced his resignation from the Professional Fighters League less than a year into his tenure. It also comes less than two months after merging with Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions.

In his farewell on social media, he lauded Nakisa Bidarian stating that “he is the natural person to lead this next chapter.”

Martin took over for Peter Murray in July 2025. The PFL’s merger with MVP will rebrand the companies as MVP MMA in January.

The PFL held monthly events this year in American cities which was a positive for the company which seemed to have disappeared in 2024. Under Bidarian, one hopes that it returns to more eyes and promises something more than its May Netflix event.