MMA News

Chris Taylor - July 11, 2021

Former women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey applauded Conor McGregor for his post-fight antics following his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. McGregor (22-6 MMA) and Poirier (28-6 MMA) collided for a third time yesterday evening in Las Vegas, this after splitting their first two encounters.

Adam Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC superstar Conor McGregor underwent successful surgery to repair his broken leg following UFC 264 and he’ll be on crutches for six weeks. McGregor lost his trilogy fight against his rival Dustin Poirier on Saturday night at UFC 264 when he appeared to break his ankle and was unable to continue. We now know that it was actually a broken leg that the Irishman had suffered in the fight and McGregor took to his Twitter late Sunday night to let fans know that his surgery went well on his injured limb.

Adam Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC superstar Conor McGregor injured his ankle during his training camp for his trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier, says his coach. Coach John Kavanagh spoke to UFC reporter Laura Sanko on Sunday, the day after McGregor lost via first-round TKO (doctor stoppage) to Poirier in the main event of UFC 264. According to McGregor’s longtime coach, the Irishman suffered an ankle injury during his training camp and even recently had a scan on it, but ultimately he was cleared to fight.

Adam Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC lightweight contender Dustin Poirier accepted Jake Paul’s offer for his “Sleepy Conor McGregor” necklace, telling him to “send it over.” Paul had a $100,000 necklace custom-made for him with a little figurine of McGregor taking a nap after Poirier knocked him out back at UFC 257. Following the fight, which saw Poirier finish McGregor via first-round TKO (doctor stoppage), Paul said that he would be willing to give Poirier his necklace, saying that he feels “The Diamond” has earned it. In reply to Paul, Poirier took to his social media and accepted Paul’s generous offer for it.

Adam Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC welterweight title contender Gilbert Burns issued a statement following his unanimous decision win over Stephen Thompson at UFC 264. Burns entered the fight against Thompson as the slight underdog, but he picked up the upset victory as he was able to take down and control Thompson on the ground to win a unanimous decision on all three of the judges’ scorecards. Following a TKO loss to UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman earlier this year at UFC 258, Burns needed to bounce back with a win over Thompson to keep his No. 2 ranking and he did just that.

Adam D Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC welterweight contender Stephen Thompson issued a statement following his unanimous decision loss at UFC 264 to Gilbert Burns. Thompson was expected to be in contention to get a title shot against UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman with a win over Burns at UFC 264, but the fight did not go his way at all. Despite Thompson having statistically some of the best takedown defense in the UFC welterweight division, Burns was still able to get him down to the ground in all three rounds and control him as he was able to pull off a small upset with a decision victory.

Adam Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC welterweights Max Griffin and Carlos Condit traded autographed jerseys following their fight at Saturday night’s UFC 264 pay-per-view. Griffin won a unanimous decision over Condit in a great welterweight fight that served as the main event of the UFC 264 preliminary card. Griffin won the first round with his striking, then Condit took back the second with his own standup, and then “Pain” won the third by outstriking Condit and then taking him down in the final minute of the fight to seal the deal. It was an outstanding effort by both fighters, who have lots of mutual respect.

Adam Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC president Dana White told the UFC fighters not to expect $75,000 bonuses on the regular, saying it would “seriously f*ck up our budget.” White and the UFC increased the bonuses from $50,000 to $75,000 for UFC 264 and with the athletes having even more motivation, fans were rewarded with some amazing performances. At the end of the night, the promotion gave $75,000 each to bantamweight Sean O’Malley and Kris Moutimnho for “Fight of the Night,” and $75,000 to heavyweight Tai Tuivasa and also to middleweight Dricus Du Plessis for “Performance of the Night.”

Adam Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Thiago Santos reacted after his fiancée Yana Kunitskaya got knocked out by Irene Aldana at UFC 264. Santos and Kunitskaya have been dating for several years and have been engaged since last Christmas. They both train together at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, and both are top-10 ranked fighters in the UFC. On Saturday night at UFC 264, Santos was in Kunitskaya’s corner as he always is when she suffered a tough first-round knockout loss to Aldana. Although Kunitskaya closed as the slight favorite to win the fight, she got caught with a giant left hook in the first round and then got stopped with ground and pound. It was a tough loss for “Foxy” and it must not have been easy for Santos to watch it go down.

Adam Martin - July 11, 2021

MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz pitched a future bantamweight bout between Sean O’Malley and Frankie Edgar for an event at Madison Square Garden. O’Malley defeated Kris Moutinho via third-round TKO in the opening main card fight on the UFC 264 pay-per-view card. It was another impressive showing by “Suga,” who is now 6-1 overall in the UFC with four wins by knockout. O’Malley is one of the UFC’s brightest young stars and the promotion has booked him exclusively for pay-per-view events over his last six outings. Following a fantastic win over Moutinho at UFC 264, it stands to figure that O’Malley will fight on a pay-per-view card his next time out, and one PPV card that the UFC plans on holding is an event at Madison Square Garden in New York in November.

Adam Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley reacted following his “Fight of the Night” TKO win over the ultra-durable Kris Moutinho at UFC 264. O’Malley landed 230 significant strikes in the fight — eight short of the UFC record for a three-round bout set by Nate Diaz vs. Donald Cerrone at UFC 141 — before referee Herb Dean called a stop to the fight with just seconds to go in the third and final round. It was an incredible performance by O’Malley, who broke bantamweight records for strikes landed in a fight, and for Moutinho, it was an amazing show for a fighter who very few fans knew a week ago. For Moutinho, even though O’Malley won, his stock also went up with the fight.

Adam Martin - July 11, 2021

YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul offered Dustin Poirier his 100k Conor McGregor chain as a reward for his TKO win over his rival at UFC 264. Paul was a guest at UFC 264 and before the fight, he trolled McGregor with a $100,000 “sleepy” necklace that he had custom made for himself, with the figurine hanging from it mimicking what McGregor looked like when he Poirier slept him at UFC 257. After Poirier defeated McGregor via first-round TKO when the doctor stopped the fight due to an ankle break, Paul took to his social media to offer Poirier the necklace as a reward for his finish.

Adam D Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC superstar Conor McGregor responded after his TKO loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, saying that “you need people like me.” McGregor broke his ankle and lost via first-round TKO (doctor stoppage) to his rival Poirier in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 264 pay-per-view card. It was a tough loss for the Irishman, who was also stopped by Poirier’s punches back in January at UFC 257. Now that Poirier has won the trilogy by a score of 2-1, it’s hard to say what is next for McGregor, but he is still holding out hope that the UFC will give him the chance to fight Poirier again given how the fight ended. Either way, it’s clear McGregor’s spirit was not broken by the loss.

Adam D Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC president Dana White issued a hilarious response when he was asked about sharing a shoey with UFC 264 winner Tai Tuivasa. Tuivasa knocked out Greg Hardy in the first round of their UFC 264 heavyweight bout for his third straight win inside the Octagon. Following the fight, Tuivasa scaled up the Octagon wall and took part in a shoey celebration as he poured a full can of beer in his shoe and then drank it. Tuivasa then walked to the back and as he was going past the fans in the crowd, more of them were giving him their beer and shoes so he could continue doing shoeys. The shoey is Tuivasa’s signature move at this point of his career and is most commonly associated with him as he was the one who brought it into the mainstream.

Adam D Martin - July 11, 2021

UFC president Dana White reacted to Gilbert Burns defeating Stephen Thompson at UFC 264, saying that “it wasn’t a good fight, but he won.” Burns and Thompson were the co-headliners underneath the main event trilogy fight between lightweight stars Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. Although he entered the fight as the betting favorite, Thompson lost the match as Burns was able to take him down and control him on the mat to win a unanimous decision win. It wasn’t the most exciting fight to watch by any means, but Burns did what he had to do to go out there and get the win.

Adam D Martin - July 11, 2021

Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos was happy to see Conor McGregor get a taste of his own medicine with his injury at UFC 264. McGregor broke his ankle and lost via TKO (doctor stoppage) at the end of the first round against rival Dustin Poirier in the main event of Saturday’s big pay-per-view card in Las Vegas. For dos Anjos, seeing the Irishman break his ankle was karma for the way that McGregor talked about RDA when he broke his foot five years ago. Remember, RDA and McGregor were supposed to fight at UFC 196 in March 2016, but the fight never ended up materializing due to RDA’s injury. Instead of dos Anjos vs. McGregor, Nate Diaz stepped up on short notice, submitted McGregor with a rear-naked choke, and the rest is history.

Adam D Martin - July 11, 2021

Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt responded to the callout from UFC 264 winner Sean O’Malley following last night’s PPV event. Following his “Fight of the Night” knockout win over Kris Moutinho in the opening pay-per-view bout at Saturday’s UFC 264 card, O’Malley used his post-fight interview as an opportunity to call out several other fighters in the UFC bantamweight division, including the former champ Garbrandt, who most recently lost to Rob Font by decision back in May. Taking to his social media following the event, “No Love” responded to O’Malley’s request to fight him, and it appears as though Garbrandt isn’t interesting in fighting “Suga.”

Christopher Taylor - July 11, 2021

The bad blood between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor spilled over following the conclusion of Saturday’s UFC 264 event in Las Vegas. McGregor (22-6 MMA) and Poirier (27-7 MMA) collided in their rubber match this evening in Las Vegas. The pair had split their first two encounters, with the Irishman winning their featherweight fight at UFC 178, and ‘The Diamond’ emerging victorious in their lightweight rematch at UFC 257.