MMA News

Adam D Martin - September 20, 2021

UFC welterweight superstar Nate Diaz is “training like he has a fight” coming up, according to his teammate Nick Maximov. Maximov is a training partner of the Diaz brothers and he makes his UFC debut this Saturday night at UFC 266 when he takes on Karl Roberson in a middleweight bout. Nick Diaz, of course, also fights this weekend when he takes on Robbie Lawler, so the whole team has been training hard ahead of the big event. Ahead of his UFC debut, Maximov spoke to MMA reporter James Lynch and was asked about how his training camp is going.

Adam D Martin - September 20, 2021

Mixed martial arts legend Fedor Emelianenko shared his take on MMA ring card girls, suggesting that they should “dress them more decent.” Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmaogomedov recently had some negative comments to make about MMA ring card girls, essentially saying they don’t add anything to the sport. Since “The Eagle” made those comments, a number of other fighters have reacted to what he said, with some agreeing with what Nurmagomedov said but with many others disagreeing. If you ask Emelianenko, who has been around his fair share of MMA events, he has no problem with the ring card girls. The only thing that Emelianenko hopes is that they could be dressed more decently, as he said in a recent interview about it.

Cole Shelton - September 20, 2021

In the main event of UFC Vegas 37, top-15 middleweights collided as Anthony Smith looked to extend his winning streak against surging contender, Ryan Spann. Smith entered the fight coming off back-to-back stoppage wins over Jimmy Crute and Devin Clark. Prior to that, “Lionheart” had some setbacks as he lost to Aleksandar Rakic and Glover Teixeira. Ryan Spann, meanwhile, was coming off a first-round KO over Misha Cirkunov after a loss to Johnny Walker which had some controversy to it.

Adam D Martin - September 20, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith says he has squashed his beef with Ryan Spann following their recent fight at UFC Vegas 37. Smith finished Spann in the first round of their main event fight by submission after knocking his opponent down twice prior to choking him out. It was an incredible performance by Smith, who was fighting with a lot of emotion in the cage on Saturday night. Heading into this fight, Spann had some negative things to say about Smith, and “Lionheart” was not thrilled with that. At the end of the day, however, Smith got the last laugh when he entered the Octagon and took care of business with his rival Spann.

Adam D Martin - September 20, 2021

Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos believes that he is still on Conor McGregor’s radar for when the Irishman returns to action. Dos Anjos is set to fight Islam Makhachev at UFC 267 next month in what could potentially be a title eliminator at 155lbs. As for McGregor, he is currently on the sidelines injured after breaking his leg at UFC 264 against Dustin Poirier. While McGregor will be out for up to one year with his injury, he has promised that he will do everything in his power to return to the Octagon, and dos Anjos believes that he will indeed make a comeback.

Harry Kettle - September 20, 2021

Glover Teixeira has given his thoughts on Alex Pereira finally signing with the UFC – and why Israel Adesanya should be afraid. The Brazilian kickboxer, who holds a 3-1 professional mixed martial arts record, is set to debut for the UFC at Madison Square Garden later this year in one of the most anticipated middleweight introductions in recent memory.

Harry Kettle - September 20, 2021

YouTuber turned pro boxer Jake Paul has criticized Vitor Belfort for “disrespecting boxing” in his win over Evander Holyfield. It’s been over a week since Vitor Belfort dispatched of Evander Holyfield in their boxing exhibition and yet despite the time that’s passed, many fans and critics can’t quite get over the disappointment of seeing the fight actually take place.

Cole Shelton - September 19, 2021

Dan Hooker vs. Nasrat Haqparast is a go for UFC 266. Hooker was campaigning to fight on this card for weeks before and about five weeks out, BJPENN.com reported he would be facing Haqparast. The fight was then confirmed but there have been major hurdles in making it happen due to New Zealand being locked down and Hooker being unable to train.

Adam Martin - September 19, 2021

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski promises he will be “a whole different beast” in his trilogy fight against Max Holloway. Volkanovski defeated Holloway at UFC 245 via a lopsided unanimous decision to become the new 145lbs champion in the UFC. The promotion gave Holloway an immediate rematch, but he lost a controversial split decision at UFC 251 last summer to Volkanovski. Since then, Holloway has had another big win over Calvin Kattar in one of the most impressive performances we have ever seen in the Octagon. Holloway is set to take on Yair Rodriguez in November, but if he wins that fight, it’s fully expected that he will get another title shot.

Adam Martin - September 19, 2021

UFC welterweight fighter Impa Kasanganay issued a statement following his first-round knockout loss to Carlston Harris at UFC Vegas 37. Kasanganay and Harris exchanged big shots during a wild first round of action between the two welterweights, but it was the Guyana native Harris who ended up getting the better of his opponent with the first-round TKO win. For Kasanganay, this loss dropped his UFC record to just 2-2. Coming off of a crazy spinning back kick KO to Joaquin Buckley last year, Kasanganay dropped down to welterweight earlier this year and looked good in his divisional debut as he defeated Sasha Palatnikov by submission. But Harris brought him back to reality with the first-round finish that left his opponent unable to defend himself.

Adam Martin - September 19, 2021

The ongoing Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix got a shakeup with Anthony Johnson out and Julius Anglickas stepping into his place. On Saturday, Johnson took to his social media to reveal that he has been forced to withdraw from the Bellator 205lbs tournament, though he did not disclose the reason for his withdrawal. Johnson was actually set to fight Bellator light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov next month as part of the tournament semifinals, but that won’t be happening anymore. Instead of Johnson fighting Nemkov, he is out of the tournament, and Bellator has called upon the tournament alternate Anglickas to fill Johnson’s spot in the tournament. In fact, Anglickas will now fight Nemkov for the Bellator belt next month. Bellator officially announced the change this weekend and Anglickas confirmed it, too.

Adam Martin - September 19, 2021

UFC women’s flyweight Cheyanne Buys reacted after her husband JP Buys lost a lopsided fight to Montel Jackson at UFC Vegas 37. The Buys made their UFC debuts earlier this year on the same card, and it did not go well for either of them. To start off the night, JP was knocked out by Bruno Silva, and then Cheyanne was outgrappled by Montserrat Ruiz for 15 minutes. It was a disappointing debut for both of the Buys, but they were able to put it behind them and move on. Cheyanne was able to return to the Octagon in July and she knocked out Gloria de Paula with a brutal head kick to bounce back following the loss to Ruiz. As for JP, he decided to move up to bantamweight and fight Jackson at UFC Vegas 37, but he suffered another loss as he was dropped four times by his opponent en route to a unanimous decision defeat in the loss.

Adam D Martin - September 19, 2021

Former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler has no plans of retiring win-or-lose against Nick Diaz next Saturday night at UFC 266. Lawler takes on Diaz in a five-round, non-title fight at UFC 266 next weekend at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. For Lawler, he is currently riding a four-fight losing skid and he has lost five of his last six fights overall. At age 39 and turning 40 years old in 2022, there have been some suggestions that this could be the final time we see Lawler step into the Octagon, particularly if he loses to Diaz. But as far as Lawler goes, he has no plans on retiring anytime soon, and in fact, he is incredibly excited about fighting Diaz once again. Speaking to TMZ Sports, Lawler said it’s “not possible” that he will retire after this fight.

Adam D Martin - September 19, 2021

UFC featherweight Brian Ortega says the Max Holloway rematch “would be ideal” should he beat Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 266. Ortega steps back into the Octagon next Saturday night at UFC 266 when he battles Volkanovski for the 145lbs title. For Ortega, he is coming off of a dominant decision win over The Korean Zombie last year that showed he is still one of the best featherweights in the world. The fight with TKZ was the first for Ortega since December 2018 when he stopped by Holloway at UFC 231 in what was his only professional MMA loss. For Ortega, he is still hoping that he gets the chance to one day fight Holloway and avenge the loss.

Adam D Martin - September 19, 2021

Former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen reacted to the recent Conor McGregor vs. Machine Gun Kelly incident at the MTV VMAs last week in New York. McGregor and MGK got into a highly publicized altercation on the red carpet last week. Following that incident, UFC analyst Daniel Cormier suggested that McGregor’s gimmick has overtaken who is he as a person. It was an interesting comment from DC, but Sonnen isn’t totally sure he agrees with it. As far as Sonnen is concerned, you have to live the gimmick, which is what McGregor does. But where Sonnen agrees with DC is that there needs to be a clearer separation between who McGregor the fighter is and who McGregor the person is.

Adam D Martin - September 19, 2021

UFC legend Jon Jones praised his longtime training partner Carlos Condit following his retirement from MMA earlier this week. Jones and Condit have trained alongside each other at Team Jackson – Wink for over a decade. Earlier this week, “The Natural Born Killer” announced that he is stepping away from mixed martial arts at age 37 following a decision loss to Max Griffin in his last fight. While Condit was coming off of back-to-back wins over Matt Brown and Court McGee before that defeat, he stills believes that it is the right time to walk away from the sport now.

Adam D Martin - September 19, 2021

UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko says she is open to a trilogy fight with her rival, UFC double champion Amanda Nunes. Shevchenko is currently getting ready to defend the women’s 125lbs belt against top contender Lauren Murphy at UFC 266 next Saturday night. Should Shevchenko win that fight, it would be her eighth win in a row in the flyweight division, and the calls for her to move back up to bantamweight and fight Nunes again will be high. After all, Shevchenko was one of the only UFC fighters who has ever given problems to Nunes. Although Nunes holds two wins over Shevchenko, the second fight was a split decision that some people that Shevchenko won, and so a trilogy fight seems like something that could happen.

Adam D Martin - September 19, 2021

Bellator president Scott Coker hinted at potential five-round, non-title main events taking place in his promotion in the near future. For the past 10 years, the UFC has had all of its non-title main events set as five-round fights. While fans have gotten used to this change over the past decade and have even embraced it, Bellator has continued to hold three-round non-title main events. Case in point, Saturday’s headliner at Bellator 266 between Phil Davis and Yoel Romero. The fight was only scheduled for three rounds because it was a non-title fight in the Bellator light heavyweight division. Davis dominated all three rounds of the fight and, following the event, Romero indicated that he was upset the fight was not scheduled for five rounds.