UFC mourns death of team members, Demetrious Johnson's record gets broken, inside scoop on Derrick Lewis' pullout: MMA News Roundup
The UFC team mourned the passing of two beloved crew members during the live Fight Night event broadcast on Saturday, Nov. 2 from Edmonton, Canada. The event saw Brandon Moreno break a record held by Demetrious Johnson until now.
Catch up with today's top combat sports updates with Sportskeeda MMA's News Roundup.
Crew members mourned during UFC Edmonton broadcast
The UFC mourned the demise of two team members during the live broadcast from Edmonton on Saturday night. Derek Thompson and Matt Kelly, who were part of the broadcasting team behind the scenes, both passed away last week.
Daniel Cormier got emotional talking about Thompson during the event, while Helwani penned a heartfelt post about him on X.
Megan Olivi also paid tribute to both individuals on her social media account.
Read the comments here.
Brandon Moreno breaks Demetrious Johnson's record
After two back-to-back losses against Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval, Brandon Moreno made an impressive comeback at UFC Edmonton with a decision win over Amir Albazi.
Before the fight even ended, Moreno had broken Demetrious Johnson's record for most significant strikes landed (1059) in the flyweight division. According to a tweet by Shakiel Mahjouri, Moreno was at 1,100 and counting in the fifth round of the fight.
Moreno also inched closer to Johnson's record of most flyweight wins in the promotion's history. He currently has 10. Above him are Alexandre Pantoja with 12 wins, and Joseph Benavidez and 'Mighty Mouse' with 13 victories each.
Read more on the event's statistics and records here.
Backstage update on Derrick Lewis' condition
Derrick Lewis pulled out of his UFC Edmonton fight against Jhonata Dinis a day before the event due to non-weight cut-related medical issues. The main card bout was canceled and there is no update on rescheduling yet.
Speaking on the matter during the event's post-fight press conference, UFC executive Dave Shaw explained what exactly went on behind the scenes that led to Lewis' withdrawal:
"It was not a fight-related medical issue or not a weight-cut-related medical issue. The situation yesterday was all happening in real-time. So we didn't actually have enough answers at the point of the ceremonial weigh-ins yesterday. He weighed in yesterday morning."
"He had to cut a little bit but it's not uncommon for him. And then, over the course of the afternoon, he started to get the medical treatment and we just didn't have any answers. So at that point, it made more sense for us to proceed with the weigh-ins with Diniz and try to figure out what was going on before making any decisions."
Listen to Dave Shaw's comments below (3:55):