#ufc

#ufc

France has delayed this year's Group of 7 summit by one day to avoid a scheduling conflict with an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight card planned at the White House on 14 June, according to two officials with direct knowledge of the G7's preparations. The summit, hosted by France in the Alpine resort town of Evian-les-Bains, was originally scheduled for 14 to 16 June, a date that coincides with US Flag Day and US president Donald Trump's 80th birthday.

That was Steven Asplund versus Sean Sharaf, which saw Asplund making his UFC debut after winning on the Contender Series earlier this year. While it wasn't always pretty in a technical sense, it was violent, bloody, and all action. A jab from Asplund in the opening round opened up a nasty cut on Sharaf, but a well-placed one in a sense: right between the eyes, bloody but not completely obscuring his vision, and not bad enough for the cageside physician to stop the bout.

First reported by David Van Auken. The last-minute cancellation is a tough blow for Robertson, who stood to gain significantly from a win over Lemos, a former title challenger. Robertson, typically one of the division's most active competitors, with three fights and a grappling match in 2024, will now finish 2025 having competed only once. She'll have to wait until 2026 to rebuild momentum and continue her push toward a title opportunity.

At the Kennedy Center Honors this month, Trump told reporters that eight or nine championship fights would be held outside the White House in June of next year. The biggest fights they've ever had, he said. Every one is a championship fight. And every one's a legendary type of fight. He claimed an arena that can hold 5,000 to 6,000 people will be built outside the White House, and UFC head Dana White is holding back on certain events to have them be part of the celebration.

I'm like this guy got this, this guy got that and this is why. The conversation's over, and I'm starting to leave, and he grabs me by my shirt and pushes me back in my office and I said 'dude, get your f*cking hands off me.' I could see in this guy's face and in his eyes and the way he's acting who this guy really f*cking is.

"It makes all the sense in the world, right? We live together, we train together, we work together. Everything is there. There's also an inspiration to one being here at the same time as the other, one feeds off of the other and it helps a lot," he said.

"[IC360] reached out and told us there was some unusual action going on with that fight and [asked] did we know anything," White told TMZ. "We didn't. We called the fighter and his lawyer and said, 'what's going on? Are you injured? Do you owe anybody money, has anybody approached you?' The kid said, 'absolutely not, I'm going to kill this guy.' "The fight plays out, first-round finish -- literally, the first thing we did was call the FBI. I met the FBI twice [Tuesday]."

"Like many professional sports organizations, UFC works with an independent betting integrity service to monitor wagering activity on our events," a UFC spokesperson told ESPN in a statement. "Our betting integrity partner, IC360, monitors wagering on every UFC event and is conducting a thorough review of the facts surrounding the Dulgarian vs. del Valle bout on Saturday, November 1. We take these allegations very seriously, and along with the health and safety of our fighters, nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport."

One of four Performance of the Night bonus-winners fell in that category. Ante Delija seemed to have Waldo Cortes-Acosta finished in the night's heavyweight co-main event, lighting him up alongside the fence. However as replay showed and the ref caught real time, Cortes-Acosta had been poked in the eye right at the start of the deluge. Despite Delija thinking he had won, Cortes-Acosta was given recovery time, opted to continue, and immediately knocked Delija out.

Early on. Delija backed Cortes-Acosta up to the fence, but the larger heavyweight, by over twenty pounds, reversed, changing levels and looking for a double-leg takedown. Ref Mark Smith threatened to take the position for lack of action, only for Delija to peel away soon after. They'd wind up back in a similar spot, Delija taking the fight to the fence, Cortes-Acosta reversing. Less time spent in it, however.

Women's bantamweight Melissa Croden, who recently won her promotional debut at UFC Vancouver, is stepping in to face Luana Santos at UFC Vegas 112, set for the Apex on December 13, 2025. Santos was originally booked to take on Darya Zheleznyakova next month, with Croden initially penciled in to replace Darya in the fight on November 8. However, per a report by Eurosport, the fight will shift to UFC Vegas 112, the final event of the year for the UFC, and of the ESPN era.

"I got a lot of ideas of how I can be in the future. To develop a little more in the Octagon, to be better and to prepare myself better to be ready to counter strike and always strike back when something happens," Cortes-Acosta told reporters on Wednesday. Cortes-Acosta (14-2) has spent most of his UFC career competing inside the APEX, and "Salsa Boy" says the familiar setting feels like home.