Welcome to Bloody Elbow’s daily round-up of combat sports news as another week of controversy draws to a close.
This is your one-stop shop for the top five stories from February 19, 2026. One of the main talking points of the day was the reaction to Sean Strickland‘s controversial comments at the UFC Houston media day.
Fortunately, though, Strickland’s antics on the microphone weren’t the only topic of conversation this Thursday, as UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira made headlines for teasing his next outing.
Alex Pereira defends Tom Aspinall from critics
UFC fans continue to hound the heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall.
The Brit recently shared news that he underwent double eye surgery following his eye poke saga against Ciryl Gane last October.
Despite attempting to update his fans and be open with his injuries, Aspinall was criticised by fans who continued to claim that he is faking the horrendous injury.
UFC light heavyweight champion, Pereira, jumped to the defense of his potential future rival, claiming that he’s ‘not gonna fake that’, attempting to silence the haters.
Islam Makhachev doubts Ilia Topuria would be the most dangerous puncher at welterweight
A wide majority of the fanbase continues to call for a UFC White House matchup between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria.
Despite that, the Russian champion recently offered an update on that potential clash, claiming that it won’t happen on the historic event as the promotion has different ideas.
The welterweight champion did, though, declare that he is still interested in the fight happening in the future, highlighting 2027 as the potential year for it.
And with the fight more than likely to happen at 170lbs if it does come to fruition, Makhachev has shut down the idea that Topuria would be the most dangerous puncher in the division.
Pereira reveals his current weight as he teases next fight is ‘very close’
Pereira defending Aspinall wasn’t the only time that the Brazilian made headlines this Thursday.
With Aspinall out of action and there being no return date in sight, rumors continue to whirl of a potential interim heavyweight title fight between Gane and Pereira.
‘Poatan’ recently revealed that his next fight is ‘very close’ to being announced, which instantly had fans excited.
And that excitement was raised this Thursday when the 38-year-old posted a video on his Instagram, showing off his current…
2026-02-20 04:00:00
