MMA News

Natasha Hooper - March 3, 2020

Anderson Silva has proved that fighting runs in the family after his son Gabriel has claimed two Kickboxing titles. Gabriel Silva followed in his father’s footsteps and made his Kickboxing debut in June 2019. The 22-year old won via TKO and has since extended his record to an undefeated 5-0.

Tom Taylor - March 3, 2020

The medical suspensions for last Saturday’s UFC Norfolk card are in and, as expected, Joseph Benavidez has been benched after his second-round TKO loss to Deiveson Figueiredo in the card’s main event. Benavidez has been suspended 90 days, due in large part to the gash he sustained moments before his fight with Figueiredo was stopped.

Adam Martin - March 3, 2020

UFC legend Chuck Liddell says he is interested in wrestling for WWE and says his dream matchup would be against The Rock. Liddell, the former UFC light heavyweight champion and one of the most popular MMA fighters of all time, came out of an eight-year retirement only to get knocked out by rival Tito Ortiz at a Golden Boy MMA event in November 2018. He has not competed in MMA since, and at age 50 it seems unlikely he will return to cage fighting anytime soon.

Tom Taylor - March 3, 2020

The upstart grappling promotion SubStars is reportedly unable to pay the fighters it employed at its debut event, which went down on February 21. This news was first reported by GrapplingInsider.com. The grappling news website spoke to a representative from SubStars, who confirmed that the event was a financial failure, and that fighters will likely only be paid 10% of the purses — but not until April.

Tom Taylor - March 3, 2020

Yoel Romero is on a two-fight losing streak, having given up competitive decisions to Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker in his last two fights. Nonetheless, the Cuban Olympian has been granted the next shot at UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya. The pair will collide in the main event of UFC 248 this Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Given that Romero is on a losing streak, many fans have been critical of his receiving a title shot. Romero himself, however, isn’t sweating this criticism.

Natasha Hooper - March 3, 2020

Petr Yan has fired back against Henry Cejudo’s insults in a humorous way on Twitter. The former two-division champion mocked Yan and fellow bantamweight, Aljamain Sterling in a recent Twitter rant. He called the Russian fighter an “ugly communist potato” and urged him to improve his English.

Harry Kettle - March 3, 2020

Yoel Romero has provided an update as to how much weight he still has left to cut ahead of his UFC 248 title fight against Israel Adesanya this weekend. Romero is set for the opportunity of a lifetime on Saturday night as he attempts to take the UFC Middleweight Championship away from “The Last Stylebender”. Alas, while many fans are focused on the fight itself, many are wondering whether or not the “Soldier of God” will even be able to get to that point.

Cole Shelton - March 2, 2020

Paulo Costa will have a front row seat for Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero at UFC 248. In the main event of UFC 248, Adesanya will look to defend his middleweight title when he battles Romero. Originally, the fight was supposed to be Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa, but the Brazilain suffered a bicep injury forcing him to be out a couple of months leaving Romero to get the title shot.

Cole Shelton - March 2, 2020

Israel Adesanya says he is not dealing with a staph infection on his arm. On Sunday, a video of Adesanya doing a video interview circulated around and appeared to show a mark on the middleweight champion’s arm. Many on social media immediately said it was staph infection but “The Last Stylebender” says it is just a scrape.

Adam Martin - March 2, 2020

UFC flyweight Deiveson Figueiredo says he will give Joseph Benavidez a rematch after missing weight for their main event at UFC Norfolk. Figueiredo knocked Benavidez out in devastating fashion in the headliner of UFC Norfolk, but the win came with an asterisk after Figueiredo missed weight and became ineligible to win the title. The result was a worst-case scenario for the UFC, who didn’t expect to not have a new flyweight champion after setting up this match for the vacant flyweight belt.

Adam Martin - March 2, 2020

Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson says he wouldn’t be sad if the UFC shut down the promotion’s 125lbs weight class. Johnson was the first-ever UFC flyweight champion and was the kingpin of the division from its beginning in 2012 until he lost his belt to Henry Cejudo in the summer of 2018. Just a few months after losing his belt to Cejudo, the UFC decided to trade Johnson to ONE Championship for Ben Askren, and Johnson has been a star for ONE ever since.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - March 2, 2020

Chael Sonnen isn’t sure he shares in Dustin Poirier’s belief that Justin Gaethje can give Khabib Nurmagomedov his toughest test to date. Speaking to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani last month, Poirier expressed his belief that Gaethje could give Nurmagomedov problems. Poirier has shared the Octagon with both Gaethje and Nurmagomedov. “The Diamond” doesn’t believe Tony Ferguson will be the man to stop “The Eagle” when they collide on April 18.

Tom Taylor - March 2, 2020

Ion Cutelaba feels he was done an injustice in his UFC Norfolk main card fight with Magomed Ankalaev. Less than a minute into the first round of his fight with Ankalaev, Cutelaba seemed to be hurt by his foe’s striking. While he looked slightly wobbly, however, he was still standing, still defending, and still firing back. Despite these factors, the referee elected to stop the fight — and received immediate protest from Cutelaba.

Adam Martin - March 2, 2020

The manager for Yoel Romero says the top contender will grant UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya a rematch if he upsets him at UFC 248. Romero challenges Adesanya for the 185-pound strap this weekend at UFC 248 in Las Vegas. Romero is coming off of two straight losses but is still among the most feared middleweights on the UFC roster. Adesanya told UFC president Dana White he wanted the toughest opponent possible, and when Paulo Costa got injured Romero slid into that No. 1 contender role for the middleweight strap.

Tom Taylor - March 2, 2020

For a brief period several years ago, it seemed as though Michael Bisping and Yoel Romero were on a collision course. At the time, Bisping held the UFC middleweight title, while Romero was the division’s top contender. During that phase, the pair exchanged quite a bit of trash talk. The most notable soundbite to emerge from their would-be rivalry, however, was a line from Romero that can’t really be called trash talk.

Tom Taylor - March 2, 2020

Henry Cejudo is no longer the UFC flyweight champ, but that doesn’t mean the UFC’s top flyweights are safe from his trash talk. On Saturday night, in the main event of UFC Norfolk, Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo collided in a bout that was supposed to crown the new UFC flyweight champ — unfortunately, Figueiredo missed weight for the fight, which made him ineligible to win the title. Figueiredo ended up winning the fight by second-round TKO, which means the flyweight throne is now vacant.

Cole Shelton - March 2, 2020

Joanna Jedrzejczyk is looking to reclaim her strawweight crown when she battles the current champion Weili Zhang in the co-main event of UFC 248 this Saturday. Jedrzejczyk held the title from March 2015 to November 2017 and then lost it to Rose Namajunas. Since then, she had another chance at the belt and fought for the vacant flyweight belt but came up short.

Natasha Hooper - March 2, 2020

Referee Big John McCarthy has re-launched his COMMAND Course in hopes of improving MMA refereeing and nurturing the next generation of talent. Though he is now retired from officiating, John McCarthy is widely regarded as one of the best referees in MMA. Industry experts including Joe Rogan have praised his aptitude as a ref and his dedication to the sport.