While the world awaits the much-anticipated return of Conor McGregor, his management has found themselves the signature of another star in the making instead. But who is this mystery MMA fighter who has signed with Paradigm Sports? Stay tuned as we have returned with yet another episode of your favorite MMA Roundup! The space where we provide you with all the latest news and rumors in bite-sized pieces.

From the news about the Irishman’s management, we will talk about the shocking top 5 MMA fighters list that none other than Alexander Volkanovski has chosen. In the end, we have some bad news for Dana White, as he has now been snubbed by a former UFC fighter for a comeback fight. So, without any further ado, let’s get started with our news roundup.

Paradigm Sports signs a new fighter

Razhabli Shaydullaev is one of the most exciting prospects in the realm of mixed martial arts right now. Shaydullaev is already 12-0 & coming off a major win against Yuta Kubo, where the Tajikistan fighter knocked out his Japanese opponent just 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the second round. Aged just 24, the featherweight is the fighter that many promotions, such as the UFC, would soon want in their ranks.

As a result, Paradigm Sports took the opportunity to get Razhabli Shaydullaev as one talent under their management. Taking to their Instagram account, they announced the major news. Sharing a poster of the fighter, Conor McGregor‘s management wrote in the caption, “Paradigm Sports welcomes Razhabali Shaydullaev for full-service representation. Razhabali fights out of Kyrgyzstan and holds an undefeated record of 13-0-0 and a 100% finish rate.”

Alexander Volkanovski’s UFC top 5 greatest list

The debate about who is the greatest fighter of all time is ever-present in MMA, and in recent years, Alexander Volkanovski has entered the conversation by stringing together one of the best featherweight titles in history. However, losses in three of his previous four fights (although two of them came at lightweight against champion Islam Makhachev) have made some fans rethink it. And whether it’s because of his recent losses or because the former champion is simply too humble to include himself, ‘The Great’ doesn’t think he’s in the top five of all time.

Revealing it all on his YouTube channel during a Q&A session, Alexander Volkanovski’s list included fighters such as Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, and Demetrious Johnson in his top five instead. He said, “So Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre. Georges St-Pierre has definitely got to be there. … I’m going to have to throw Anderson Silva in there, and I’ll throw my boy Israel Adesanya as well. A lot of championships [and] when it comes to striking, I honestly think he’s the greatest striker the UFC has ever seen. So I’m going to go with Israel Adesanya as well.”

Adesanya and Volkanovski are teammates in City Kickboxing, so it’s no surprise that the former featherweight champion showed him his affection. However, it’s a bit surprising that he left himself off the list. Some consider Alexander Volkanovski to be the greatest featherweight champion of all time, and his five successful title defenses rank second behind UFC Hall of Famer Jose Aldo. Nevertheless, it looks like he will retain that second spot for a while longer as reigning champion Ilia Topuria said a few weeks ago that he would not fight in the 145-pound division again.

Paige VanZant snubs Dana White

Since leaving the UFC in 2020, Paige VanZant has dabbled in other disciplines outside of MMA, including professional wrestling, boxing, boxing without gloves, and her last experience being in Dana White’s Power Slap league. Always in the spotlight, the athlete takes advantage of her reach as a fighter to also promote her content as a model, consolidating her ‘own brand.’ However, she wishes to continue to compete in combat sports and has now announced her return to MMA.

However, unlike what Dana White would’ve wanted, the 8-5-0 fighter has decided to become a part of the Global Fight League roster instead. Speaking about her signing, she said, “They are picking up anybody and everybody who has a name in this sport, who is a free agent…so, they offered me a contract, and I said yes. Going back to MMA, I think this is the perfect opportunity because I didn’t necessarily leave MMA.”

She further praised the promotion by stating that Global Fight League made her excited to fight for them. Especially with the way they are paying their fighters a fair amount. “Like, the way they’re doing it, they’re legit paying their athletes. Everybody I’ve heard that’s negotiated their contract so far is extremely excited and happy.” Well, what do you think? Will Paige VanZant find success in her massive MMA return? Let us know in the comments.