Titan Fighting Championship will host Titan FC 55 from Xtreme Action Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, June 28, headlined by a flyweight title fight between defending champion Juan Puerta and challenger, Claudio Ledesma. Puerta, on a four-fight win streak, recently served a suspension handed down by the Florida State Boxing Commission after the fighter admitted guilt and test results showed greater than 300 nanograms of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) prior to his scheduled Titan FC 53 title defense against Gustavo Balart in March. The fight never happened as it was canceled just minutes before it was scheduled to take place. Puerta’s suspension ended on June 15. He was also fined $500, plus costs, and is required to engage in community service which entails speaking with the Stoneman Douglas wrestling team about the mistakes he made and lessons learned. He will also volunteer as a wrestling coach this summer. Ledesma is coming into the title fight on a five-fight win streak. Irwin Rivera fights Matt Wagy for the promotion's interim bantamweight title.

The new 65,000+ seat Las Vegas Stadium will open in August 2020, and UFC chief operations officer Lawrence Epstein is determined to hold an event there; it would be the first stadium show in the USA: “We’ve done events in Australia and Brazil and Canada that if we would have had a facility here in Las Vegas, we would have done [here]. There have been events at [AT&T] Stadium [Arlington, Texas] – big boxing events there. There’s no reason why those events wouldn’t have come to Las Vegas. I think combat sports is going to have a home in this facility. The stadium events are going to be special events. They’re going to be that event that warrants this huge crowd and the ability to sell tickets associated with 65,000-seat stadiums. We’re still going to be the vast majority of our events at the T-Mobile Arena. We love the facility. The management team is incredible. We do events around the world, and I think it’s the best arena in the world.” h/t MMA Junkie • Watch LVSportsBiz interview

“There are many organizations that have already reached out that pretty much pay what the UFC pays in some capacity. And now with the avenue of having sponsors potentially involved, there are avenues I could make the same money as a UFC fighter elsewhere. ... I have no ill will toward the UFC. I don’t think being upset about it does anyone good. Especially myself. I don’t want to burn any bridges, but I also want to look at it in the positive aspects where I’m happy and healthy, and I’ve been successful in 20 of my professional times. The UFC does have 600 athletes. I think they just looked at what I was making now being 8-3 in the UFC, the five or seven Canadian fighters they recently added, they probably can pay every single one of their paychecks with my paycheck. ... I’m excited for the next step in my career and make myself undeniable, wherever that is.” Theodorou has been training at TriStar for an extended period, and plans to travel to other gyms to add tools to make him a more exciting fighter: “I’ve kind of looked at myself as a Pollack painting. Abstract with its own beauty. But it seems if you don’t look at MMA as a sport, but rather entertainment, I’ve gotta be more Van Gogh, and cut my ear – or someone else’s ear.” h/t MMA Junkie

“I knew he would try to wrestle with me because he’s a really good wrestler. He’s a world champion and I know it. His distance was shorter than me and maybe it was a good plan but everybody just thought I am good on striking but I am good on the ground. I was tutored for that. I knew that he would take me down but I was prepared for that. Maybe everybody was a little bit underrating me and I was a little bit upset. Because everybody was just talking about him and everybody was like ‘Pico will finish Adam like this and like this’ but it’s OK. We knew it. I’m going to finish him. He’s such a good guy, very talented, very technical. People forget but he was a wrestling world champion and not too many people can say that. I really respect that. He’s a boxing Golden Gloves [champion]. He looks like a very nice guy. He’s a hard worker, too. He’s so [motivated]. I think he just needs some rest and maybe the hype was too much for him because he was crazy hyped. Maybe he was too young for the pressure.” Borics next wants to get into the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix, which starts later this year. h/t MMA Fighting

“27 have tried, 27 have failed. A lot of people have been asking me where do I see weaknesses in Khabib’s game or where do I think he makes mistakes. ... I don’t really need him to be weak for me to be strong. I don’t need huge, glaring holes. I’m going to create them with my pressure, with my fight IQ and just my experience and the amount of rounds and years I’ve been doing this.You’ve got two guys on the pound-for-pound list, one of them’s undefeated, both of them are champions. Two champions are going on, one champion is coming out. This is going to be a huge fight. I’m excited about it. I’ll make those openings that we’re talking about. ... Experience, self-belief, my mindset. I’m focused on making history and that’s all I care about. That’s what the next 11 weeks are going to be to prepare for 25 minutes to do whatever I have to do to get my hand raised. I don’t need to find huge holes. The guy’s good. I can’t sit up here and say anything bad about the guy. He’s good. He’s the world champ. But I’m going to make things happen in there and bring him to places he’s never been in there. That’s just it." The two fight in the main event of UFC 242 on 9/7. h/t MMA Fighting • Watch UFC 242 pre-fight press conference

Israel's Haim Gozali, 46, who on Friday became the oldest fighter in promotion history to win via sub: “It’s too much To win in Madison Square Garden, for me, it’s too much. In my age, I’m old, so for me it’s great. ... Every [fight] I’m saying maybe this is the one. But no, I continue. I don’t feel old. I don’t feel [it in] the body. I’m feeling good. I did 12 surgeries in my body and I’m still feeling good. In Israel, it’s a big show. It’s like 9,000 people every show. It’s crazy over there. It’s becoming soccer or basketball. It’s become the top sport in Israel. It’s the only sport in Israel there’s been 9,000 people to an arena.” h/t MMA Junkie

Christian “The Warrior” Lee, 20, who became the ONE Lightweight World Champion, the youngest male world champion in MMA history when he defeated Japanese legend Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki with a swift knockout at ONE: ENTER THE DRAGON last May: “It was a surreal experience. The belt has been a dream of mine for a very long time. The moment they put that strap on my shoulder was just amazing. Shinya is a teammate and a friend, and even though we were stepping in there as competitors, I still wouldn’t want any serious damage done to him, so I’m glad the stoppage came. ... going back down to challenge for the belt at featherweight, or they find a top contender to challenge for my belt at lightweight, or whatever. It doesn’t matter. I want to stay active. I’m hungry and ready to fight whoever ONE Championship throws at me next. I am still the top contender in the featherweight division. There’s no one else but me, and if I choose to and if everything lines up, I would absolutely be ready for a fight for that featherweight belt.” h/t Low Kick MMA