MMA News

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2020

The official UFC rankings have been updated after last Saturday’s UFC 248 card, and in a fairly surprising twist, not much has changed. That’s probably because UFC 248 featured precisely zero ranked fighters outside the main and co-main events. That being said, the updated UFC rankings do feature some interesting changes. Most notably, Weili Zhang has surpassed Valentina Shevchenko on the women’s pound-for-pound list on the strength of her UFC 248 defeat of Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Daniel Cormier has also finally been removed from the UFC light heavyweight rankings, clearing the path for a host of other light heavyweights to move up.

Natasha Hooper - March 11, 2020

It appears Tyron Woodley won’t be joining The Joe Rogan Experience podcast anytime soon, as he slammed the UFC commentator for his hypocrisy on the UFC 248 broadcast. In an Instagram post, Ariel Helwani shared a quote from Israel Adesanya regarding his hopes of finishing Yoel Romero at UFC 248 last weekend.

Natasha Hooper - March 11, 2020

Former UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo believes Joseph Benavidez deserves another shot against Deiveson Figueiredo for the vacant flyweight title. In the main event of UFC Norfolk on February 29, the flyweights battled it out in a non title-fight. They were initially scheduled to fight for the 125 belt that was up for grabs after Cejudo was stripped. However the Brazilian “Daico” missed weight and was penalized by having his title eligibility removed. Despite missing weight, Figueiredo used a huge right hand (and potentially an inadvertent head butt) to secure the KO victory in the second round. He sits at the top of the division’s ranking, but the title Cejudo once held still remains empty.

Harry Kettle - March 11, 2020

UFC star Weili Zhang’s win over Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248 is believed to have made a Chinese broadcasting company over $57.5 million. The battle between Zhang and Jedrzejczyk for the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship will likely go down in history as the greatest women’s mixed martial arts fight of all time. Zhang managed to come out on top in the contest, retaining the belt that she won last year against Jessica Andrade.

Cole Shelton - March 10, 2020

Yoel Romero is looking for a quick turnaround after his UFC 248 fight against Israel Adesanya. Although Romero was on a two-fight losing streak, he got the title shot due to Paulo Costa being injured. Yet, after the lackluster scrap, UFC president Dana White said he wishes he never booked the fight and waited for Costa to be healthy.

Cole Shelton - March 10, 2020

Alexander Volkanovski believes Henry Cejudo is just trying to stay relevant by calling him out. Cejudo, who is the current bantamweight champion, has said he wants to fight Volkanovski to try and become the first three-weight champion in the UFC. It would no doubt be a phenomenal feat. Yet, Volkanovski doesn’t believe it will happen, as he says “Triple C” will regret calling him out if they were to scrap down the line.

Cole Shelton - March 10, 2020

Gilbert Burns is getting the biggest fight of his career in the co-main event of UFC Brasilia this weekend when he takes on Demian Maia. It was a fight Burns had wanted but he didn’t expect Maia to accept. When he found out the scrap was happening, he was ecstatic.

Mike Pendleton - March 10, 2020

This past weekend’s UFC 248 main event was lackluster for most, but middleweight champion Israel Adesanya still retained his title with an unanimous decision victory over Yoel Romero. While the fight was a letdown for most fans, the reigning champion was not going to let the crowd effect him during the fight. Making an appearance on The Luke Thomas Show on Monday, Adesanya discussed why he wouldn’t let the crowd effect him during his fight against Romero.

Christopher Taylor - March 10, 2020

The ongoing feud between The Korean Zombie and Brian Ortega continues and today ‘Gracie Jiu Jitsu’ legend Rener Gracie was put under the gun. In case you missed it, this past weekend at UFC 248 Chang Sung Jung and T-City were involved in an altercation in the crowd. According to eye witness reports, and statements from both featherweight combatants, Ortega had slapped The Korean Zombie’s friend and manager Jay Park while Jung was taking a bathroom break.

Tom Taylor - March 10, 2020

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) promised some new signings for the upcoming 2020 season, and so far, the organization is delivering. On Tuesday, the league officially confirmed 10 new free agent signings, including several UFC veterans and the brother of UFC welterweight champ Kamaru Usman.

Tom Taylor - March 10, 2020

Darren Till was as disappointed by the UFC 248 main event as the rest of us. The UFC 248 card, which went down last Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada, was topped by a middleweight title fight between champ Israel Adesanya and challenger Yoel Romero.

Adam Martin - March 10, 2020

The online sportsbooks first released the odds for Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa last year, and now we have an update on them. After defeating Yoel Romero at UFC 241, Costa was expected to be next in line to fight Adesanya after he unified the middleweight titles against Robert Whittaker at UFC 243. At the time of the original fight announcement, the sportbooks released the odds for the bout, with Adesanya opening as a -140 betting favorite and Costa being a +100 underdog.

Tom Taylor - March 10, 2020

Joanna Jedrzejczyk sustained a serious hematoma in her UFC 248 split decision loss to Weili Zhang. By the time the pair’s war concluded, the former strawweight champ was nearly unrecognizable. Unfortunately, instead of praising Jedrzejczyk’s gutsy performance, some fight fans have tormented her with memes and negative comments. Jedrzejczyk’s training partner, Valerie Loureda, has not been impressed by this display. Speaking on her official Twitter account on Monday, Loureda scolded UFC fans for “making fun” of Jedrzejczyk, and demanded more respect for MMA’s talented female competitors.

Tom Taylor - March 10, 2020

It’s no secret that boxing promoter Bob Arum is not an MMA fan. Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday, Arum once again disparaged the entire sport.

Tom Taylor - March 10, 2020

Joanna Jedrzejczyk failed to reclaim the UFC strawweight title at UFC 248, losing a razor-close split decision to Chinese champion Weili Zhang. Despite this tough setback, the Polish star seems to be in good spirits. Speaking on her official Instagram page on Monday night, the former UFC strawweight queen issued a quick and positive statement to update her fans. See it below.

Tom Taylor - March 10, 2020

Eire Born Spirits, the company behind Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey and the founding team of Conor McGregor, McGregor’s manager Audie Attar and entrepreneur Ken Austin have announced that Proper No. Twelve will be donating $1.3 million dollars to first responder organizations around the world. The company announced this news in a Tuesday press release. Here are the details, per the release:

Natasha Hooper - March 10, 2020

Leon Edwards has often felt overlooked in the welterweight division. However, his life-story is something to take notice of, and it takes centre stage in an amazing promo video released by BT Sport for UFC London. A new start, a new home 🇯🇲🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Out of the streets and into the cage 👊

Natasha Hooper - March 10, 2020

UFC strawweight champion Weili Zhang recently explained how the Coronavirus crisis negatively impacted her performance at UFC 248. Zhang made the first defense of her strawweight title in the co-main event of the UFC 248 card, taking on former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.