MMA News

Adam D Martin - September 17, 2021

UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko defended the UFC ring card girls following the comments by Khabib Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov recently had some negative things to say about MMA ring card girls, essentially suggesting that they are pointless. That led to a number of the ring card girls, such as Arianny Celeste and Brittany Palmer, coming to their own defense, not to mention there have been other fighters who have disagreed with Nurmagomedov for his opinion. One of those fighters is Shevchenko, who did not agree at all with the recent comments that Nurmagomedov made. As far as Shevchenko goes, Nurmagomedov is wrong.

Cole Shelton - September 17, 2021

Chad Anheliger was confident he would be able to shock many and beat Muin Gafurov on the Contender Series. Anheliger entered the fight as a sizeable underdog and after dropping the first round, knocked down Gafurov in the second. The third round was close but when they went to the scorecards, the Canadian was confident he had done enough to win the fight.

Adam D Martin - September 17, 2021

Olympic gold medal wrestler Gable Steveson says that he wished Dana White tried harder to sign him to the UFC when he was shopping around. Following his impressive performance at the Tokyo Olympic games, Steveson was pursued by several companies including the UFC and the WWE, where he eventually signed. However, while speaking to The MMA Hour’s Ariel Helwani, Steveson admitted that he was hoping White would have tried harder to sign him. Although Steveson is happy to join the WWE, he still wanted to see White make a stronger pitch to bring him to the UFC.

Adam D Martin - September 17, 2021

A boxing match pitting Anderson Silva vs. Floyd Mayweather is the fight to make, suggested Silva’s longtime boxing coach Luiz Dorea. Silva is coming off of a first-round KO win over Tito Ortiz, this coming after a split decision win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. For his next fight, Silva has been connected to a number of potential opponents, including the Paul brothers. But as far as Silva’s coach Dorea goes, the fight to make isn’t Silva vs. Paul, but instead, the fight to make is Silva vs. Mayweather, as the coach told AG Fight in a new interview regarding his pupil Silva.

Adam D Martin - September 17, 2021

UFC president Dana White confirmed that the rematch between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker is being targeted for January. Adesanya defeated Marvin Vettori via unanimous decision back in June at UFC 263, and the hope was that the UFC would be able to get the middleweight champ back in the cage one more time before 2021 was up. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel and quarantine rules for fighters in Australia and New Zealand, it has become difficult for the UFC to get this fight booked. In fact, as White told The Daily Telegraph in a recent interview, he is now targeting the Adesanya vs. Whittaker 2 fight to take place next year.

Adam D Martin - September 17, 2021

UFC president Dana White explained why YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul should fight Anderson Silva next, and not Jorge Masvidal. White and Paul have not seen eye to eye, especially in regards to the topic of fighter pay, as Paul has said numerous negative comments to White regarding what he pays UFC fighters. After recently beating former UFC champion Tyron Woodley, Paul is now busy trying to figure out who his next opponent will be. He recently came out and called out Masvidal for a fight, but White blocked that opportunity since “Gamebred” is under contract with the UFC. Instead, White suggested that Paul take on the UFC legend Silva instead.

Harry Kettle - September 17, 2021

UFC fighter Sean O’Malley has voiced his criticism over transgender Alana McLaughlin competing in women’s MMA. This topic has been a source of great controversy over the course of the last few weeks ever since McLaughlin made her professional mixed martial arts debut for Combate Global. After a back and forth encounter McLaughlin managed to secure the win, beginning a conversation about whether or not she should have been permitted to compete in the first place.

Harry Kettle - September 17, 2021

Anthony Smith believes that the current crop of UFC light heavyweights have pretty much caught up to 205-pound great Jon Jones. While “Lionheart” may have failed in his attempt to capture the strap from Jones two years ago, he’s still managed to shine through ever since as a big fan favourite in the division. From his personality to his fight style, it’s hard not to enjoy what Anthony Smith does for the UFC.

Christopher Taylor - September 16, 2021

Former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler is set to make his return to the Octagon at next weekend’s UFC 266 event opposite Nick Diaz. Lawler and Diaz initially collided seventeen years ago at UFC 47, with the Stockton prospect emerging victorious by way of second round knockout. Since then both men have gone on to have extremely successful MMA careers.

Christopher Taylor - September 16, 2021

Jorge Masvidal was not at all happy with the recent criticism he received from fellow UFC welterweight contender Leon Edwards. Edwards (19-3 MMA) is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Nate Diaz in his most recent effort at UFC 263 this past June. The win extended the Birmingham natives current unbeaten streak to nine in a row.

Christopher Taylor - September 16, 2021

Dan Hooker is in jeopardy of having his UFC 266 fight canceled and has made a desperate plea to US Ambassador Kevin Covert for help. Hooker (20-10 MMA) is scheduled to fight Nasrat Haqparast (13-3 MMA) at UFC 266 in Las Vegas. However, ‘The Hangman’ recently discovered that his travel visa will not be ready until next week, a delay which would result in his upcoming fight being scratched.

Cole Shelton - September 16, 2021

Jose Aldo isn’t interested in fighting Dominick Cruz next. After Aldo beat Pedro Munhoz at UFC 265 many fans called for him to fight ‘The Dominator’. Both men were champions in WEC and the UFC and it easily could’ve been a ‘champ vs. champ’ super-fight, but it never happened. Now, as both fighters are competing at bantamweight the possibility remains, but for Aldo, he isn’t interested in the scrap.

Adam D Martin - September 16, 2021

UFC welterweight contender Gilbert Burns accused Leon Edwards of ducking Jorge Masvidal, telling him on social media that “you are scared!” Edwards took to his Twitter this week to announce that he will not fight Masvidal next, and instead, he confirmed that he will wait to fight the winner of UFC 268’s main event welterweight title fight rematch between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington. That is leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of one of the division’s top contenders in Burns. The Brazilian took to his social media following Edwards’ proclamation that he will not fight Masvidal to suggest that the Brit is scared of facing “Gamebred” inside the Octagon.

Cole Shelton - September 16, 2021

Triller Fight Club put on their second legends event but this time around, the pay-per-view buys were not good. In the main event of Triller Fight Club Legends 2, 58-year-old Evander Holyfield stepped up on short notice to take on Vitor Belfort. The co-main event saw Anderson Silva box Tito Ortiz while David Haye also took on Joe Fournier. Despite the fact, the event had a bunch of well-known fighters, the pay-per-view bombed as it only did around 150,000 buys, according to boxing journalist, Dan Rafael.

Adam D Martin - September 16, 2021

Former UFC bantamweight fighter Luke Sanders announced retirement from MMA after being recently released by the UFC. Sanders was in the UFC between 2016 and 2021, racking up a 3-5 record during that time with his wins coming against Renan Barao, Maximo Blanco, and Patrick Williams. However, after Sanders lost his last two fights in a row against Felipe Colares and Nate Maness, the UFC decided to release the 35-year-old veteran after his contract expired. Just a few months after the UFC decided to move on from Sanders, he has officially decided to hang up his gloves. “Cool Hand” took to his Instagram this week to officially confirm the news.

Cole Shelton - September 16, 2021

Yoel Romero was close to boxing Jake Paul but the YouTuber’s team didn’t want it. When Romero was released from the UFC, he was looking at options and one fight that was offered was to box Paul. At the time, Paul just knocked out Nate Robinson and was looking to fight a real fighter, yet when Romero showed interest in the bout, Paul and his team decided to cancel the fight and went with Ben Askren instead.

Adam D Martin - September 16, 2021

UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje blasted “quitter” Charles Oliveira ahead of the Dustin Poirier title fight at UFC 269. Oliveira knocked out Michael Chandler at UFC 262 to become the new UFC lightweight champion, and he will put his belt on the line against Poirier at UFC 269 in December. Gaethje has been critical of Oliveira since he won the belt, as he didn’t believe that Michael Chandler should have been the one fighting for the vacant belt. With Gaethje now fighting Chandler at UFC 268, a win there could very well earn him a title shot against the winner of the Oliveira vs. Poirier fight. And if you ask Gaethje, that will be Poirier getting the win.

Adam D Martin - September 16, 2021

Former UFC welterweight title challenger Demian Maia says “it’s absurd for you to put a person who was born a man to fight a woman.” Alana McLaughlin won her fight for Combate Global last weekend, which ignited a whole slew of controversy in the MMA space because she is a transgender fighter who was born a man. The MMA community dealt with this issue once in the past with Fallon Fox, but now that McLaughlin is competing as well, there are more fighters who say they don’t agree with it, including former UFC champion Michael Bisping, who had some choice words to say.