MONTREAL (AP) — The verbal gloves are off when it comes to the buildup to UFC 315, with the tension between the U.S. and Canada spilling into the card.
Even the style of trash talk came up for debate in the headline event between welterweight champion Belal Muhammad and challenger Jack Della Maddalena.
After Maddalena said it was time for Muhammad to retire, the champ countered that his Australian opponent isn't “really good at trash talk.”
“I just can’t wait for him to eat his words and eat these fists,” Muhammad said.
Muhammad (24-3-0 with one no-contest) will put his championship on the line for the first time and is one of two title fights. Kyrgyz-Peruvian champion Valentina Shevchenko defends her flyweight crown against Manon Fiorot of France in the co-main event.
Muhammad walked into the news conference room with his championship belt, wearing shades and a black basketball jersey with “Bully” written across the chest — a nod to his “Bully B” nickname.
“I do see myself as a bully,” he said. “I bully all these guys in the cage.”
The 36-year-old from Chicago is aiming for his 12th straight win after snatching the welterweight crown off England’s Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in July.
Doing so in front of Canadian and mixed martial arts legend Georges St-Pierre — a three-time welterweight champion — would be a cherry on top.
“He’s on everybody’s Mount Rushmore, a guy that I looked up to,” Muhammad said. “That’s what I’m trying to chase, right?
“My first goal was the gold. Now my next goal is the GOAT. So I’m chasing him, and to be chasing him starting here in Montreal and in front of him is going to be great.”
Della Maddalena (17-2-0), meanwhile, is on a 17-fight win streak — including seven straight in the UFC — since dropping his first two bouts as a pro.
A +145 underdog at BetMGM Sportsbook, he faces his stiffest test yet in Muhammad, but the calm-as-can-be 28-year-old doesn’t expect the winning to stop in Montreal.
“You learn a lot from losses. I learned a lot from both those ones, skill-wise and then mentally as well, and just been on a tear ever since,” he said. “I’m glad to have got the losses behind me and all wins going forward.”
Shevchenko (24-4-1) is facing a new opponent for the first time in two years after three consecutive title bouts against Mexico’s Alexa Grasso, having reclaimed the flyweight crown in September.
Fiorot (12-1-0) is undefeated in seven UFC fights and trending as the slight -135 favorite to dethrone Shevchenko.
“It’s because my past three fights have been total domination compared to her, who’s had closer and tougher fights,” Fiorot said.
Shevchenko, 37, said she’s never felt better.
“If compared myself to like (a) few years ago, I’m a better version of myself — faster, stronger, more confident,” she said. “I feel the best shape that I’ve been in my entire career.”
It’s the UFC’s eighth event in Montreal and first since 2015. It’s also the 35th overall in Canada.
Saturday’s card is the first in Canada since Donald Trump was re-elected American president in November. It comes amid growing political tensions between Canada and the United States, as Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.
“I don’t even think about that at all,” UFC President and CEO Dana White said. “That doesn’t have an impact on what we do.”
Much like the 4 Nations Face-Off, however, political tensions between Canada and the U.S. could spill over into the arena. Bell Centre also was the site of three hockey fights in nine seconds when nations met at February’s 4 Nations Face-Off.
At least, that’s how American welterweight Charles Radtke views his bout with Ontario's Mike Malott — especially amid the widespread booing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Canadian sports events.
“I don’t (care) about hockey. That’s not my gig,” Radtke said. “But what I do hold dear is I grew up on a bison ranch with my grandfather, who was a sergeant major in the Marine Corps, and when you all boo the national anthem, somebody’s gonna have to pay for that.”
Radtke has in recent months promoted Trump’s “51st State” rhetoric — the source of many boos during performances of the American national anthem north of the border — and spent much of his news conference trash-talking Canada.
When asked about his message to the more than 20,000 Canadian fans likely to fill the building with jeers when he steps into the arena, he responded with an expletive.
Mallott said he doesn’t need to draw extra motivation from Radtke’s “noise.”
“If that’s where you want to put your energy, go for it,” he said ahead of their preliminary card bout. “That’s not where I’m putting my energy. I’m putting my energy into the octagon.
“It seems like we’re both really focused on me. That’s what I think about that. I don’t care what this guy’s doing.”
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
FILE - Belal Muhammad, left, kicks Brazil's Gilbert Burns during the first round of a welterweight bout at the UFC 288 mixed martial arts event, May 6, 2023, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Fighting raged Saturday morning along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, even after U.S. President Donald Trump, acting as a mediator, declared that he had won agreement from both countries for a new ceasefire.
Thai officials said they did not agree to a ceasefire. Cambodia has not commented directly on Trump’s claim, but its defense ministry said Thai jets carried out airstrikes Saturday morning.
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Saturday that some of Trump's remarks didn't “reflect an accurate understanding of the situation.”
He said Trump’s characterization of a land mine explosion that wounded Thai soldiers as a “roadside accident” was inaccurate, and did not reflect Thailand's position that it was a deliberate act of aggression.
Sihasak said that Trump’s willingness to credit what may be “information from sources that deliberately distorted the facts” instead of believing Thailand hurt the feelings of the Thai people “because we consider ourselves — we are proud, in fact — to be the oldest treaty ally of the United States in the region.”
The latest large-scale fighting was set off by a skirmish on Dec. 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire promoted by Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July over longstanding territorial disputes.
The July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.
More than two dozen people on both sides of the border have officially been reported killed in this past week’s fighting, while more than half a million have been displaced.
The Thai military acknowledged 15 of its troops died during the fighting, and estimated earlier this week that there have been 165 fatalities among Cambodian soldiers. Cambodia has not announced military casualties, but has said at least 11 civilians have been killed and more than six dozen wounded.
Trump, after speaking to Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, announced on Friday an agreement to restart the ceasefire.
“They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
Trump’s claim came after midnight in Bangkok. Thai Prime Minister Anutin had, after his call with Trump, said he had explained Thailand’s reasons for fighting and said peace would depend on Cambodia ceasing its attacks first.
The Thai foreign ministry later explicitly disputed Trump’s claim that a ceasefire had been reached. Anutin's busy day on Friday included dissolving Parliament, so new elections could be held early next year.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, in comments posted early Saturday morning, also made no mention of a ceasefire.
Hun Manet said he held phone conversations on Friday night with Trump, and a night earlier with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and thanked both “for their continuous efforts to achieve a long-lasting peace between Cambodia and Thailand.”
“Cambodia is ready to cooperate in any way that is needed," Hun Manet wrote.
Anwar later posted on social media that he was urging the two sides to implement a ceasefire on Saturday night. Cambodia's prime minister, also posting online, endorsed the initiative, which included having Malaysia and the United States help monitor it. However, Thai Prime Minister Anutin denied that his country was even in negotiations over the proposal.
Thailand has been carrying out airstrikes on what it says are strictly military targets, while Cambodia has been firing thousands of medium-range BM-21 rockets that have caused havoc but relatively few casualties.
BM-21 rocket launchers can fire up to 40 rockets at a time with a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles). These rockets cannot be precisely targeted and have landed largely in areas from where most people have already been evacuated.
However, the Thai army announced Saturday that BM-21 rockets had hit a civilian area in Sisaket province, seriously injuring two civilians who had heard warning sirens and had been running toward a bunker for safety.
Thailand's navy was also reported by both sides' militaries to have joined the fighting on Saturday morning, with a warship in the Gulf of Thailand shelling Cambodia's southwestern province of Koh Kong. Each side said the other opened fire first.
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Peck reported from Bangkok. Sopheng Cheang in Serei Saophoan, Cambodia, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
A man sits in a tent as he takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
An evacuee cooks soup as she takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
An evacuee tastes soup as she takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing from home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Evacuees cook food as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Children raise their hands while receiving donation from charity as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Evacuees wait to receive donation from local charity as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Village security volunteers and resident run into shelter while the blasts sounded too close in Buriram province, Thailand, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, following renewed border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
