MMA Knockout's Zain Bando has the first edition of his new weekly site series, "MMA Today," chronicling all the big news and headlines across the combat sports landscape.
Think of it as a newsletter received through email once a week or a quick run-through found in the "news" section of your browser of choice. Nevertheless, without further ado, here are the most significant stories in MMA this past week.
1. Dana White has no idea who's heading UFC 300
It's February 12, 61 days away from the long-awaited, highly-anticipated UFC 300 blockbuster pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
At press time, there is still no word on who, if anyone, will headline UFC 300.
A Super Bowl announcement? Nope. An appearance on the NELK Boys Full Send Podcast? There was a small hint of the craziness surrounding the event, but still nothing. A quick one-minute chat at a DAZN Boxing event? A walk away from the camera.
Not even a small street conversation with famed New York street reporter Adam Glyn could get White to budge on his top-secret plans.
According to AXS, the ticketing partner of the UFC, tickets are set to go on sale on February 21, meaning an announcement is inevitable sooner rather than later.
2. Jon Jones won't be fighting at UFC 300 after all
Just like UFC 200, the man many people consider the greatest MMA fighter of all time, Jon Jones, will not be fighting at UFC 300.
In an interview with Submission Radio, an Australian-based MMA outlet, Jones said over the weekend that despite getting a phone call from UFC brass, the heavyweight champion would be unable to compete on nine weeks' notice successfully.
"I'm getting up there in age, and I only have a few more events left," Jones said. "And I want to give those events my all and make sure that I come back 100 percent."
Jones said he prefers to fight Stipe Miocic first, considering he and the former UFC heavyweight champion have, as Jones calls it, "unfinished business."
As for Jones' future at heavyweight, he said it is "definitely on the table" to give England's Tom Aspinall, the UFC's interim heavyweight champion, a worthy shot at gold.
The promotion has yet to comment on Jones' remarks.
3. UFC 298 continues the promotion's 11-week stretch of events
The UFC's event schedule continues as the promotion shifts from its home base in Las Vegas, Nevada, to Anaheim, California, for UFC 298.
The card is headlined by a featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski, who has held down 145 since the end of 2019, and Ilia Topuria, a winner of his first 14 MMA bouts.
The event also features the returns of former champions Robert Whittaker and Henry Cejudo, along with Ian Machado Garry's second appearance on a UFC pay-per-view main card.
The festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, as the event will broadcast entirely on ESPN+, leading into the pay-per-view portion of the card at 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT.
4. UFC: Streaming, streaming, streaming
Every UFC event since April 2019 has been available to stream, regardless of whether it is a pay-per-view or a Fight Night event.
With the UFC's ESPN deal set to expire in 2025 and with ongoing negotiations at play, anyone with an active ESPN+, Hulu, or Disney+ account was alerted on February 7 with updates to the service subscriber agreement, which stated password-sharing would no longer be allowed beginning March 14.
With all that said, expect the promotion to stay persistent in protecting the streaming of its events moving forward.
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