MMA News

Adam Martin - March 3, 2020

A featherweight bout between Ryan Hall and Ricardo Lamas has been added to the upcoming UFC Fight Night 174 card in Oklahoma City. The card takes place May 2 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The main event of the card is a five-round middleweight bout between Chris Weidman and Jack Hermansson. Hall vs. Lamas will likely slot in as one of the main card bouts.

Adam Martin - March 3, 2020

UFC president Dana White has confirmed the promotion is looking at booking a flyweight title rematch between Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo. Figueiredo knocked out Benavidez in the main event of UFC Norfolk, but because Figueiredo missed weight, he was not eligible to win the vacant UFC flyweight championship. The title remains officially vacated with no current champion.

Adam Martin - March 3, 2020

UFC flyweight contender Jussier Formiga blasted Deiveson Figueiredo for missing weight at UFC Norfolk and leaving the 125lbs division without a champion. Figueiredo came in at 127.5lbs for his vacant flyweight title fight against Joseph Benavidez, making him ineligible to win the belt. Despite scoring a vicious KO victory in the second round, because Figueiredo missed weight he wasn’t awarded the belt despite his outstanding performance. Ultimately, missing weight cost Figueiredo the title, and other flyweight contenders like Formiga weren’t happy about it.

Cole Shelton - March 3, 2020

Beneil Dariush is full of confidence again and expects to continue his winning streak when he battles Drakkar Klose on the main card of UFC 248. For Dariush, he says this is the biggest card he has been on. And, to be the fight right before the two title fights should give him a boost in viewership. Although the added fans will be nice, he is just looking to get his hand raised.

Adam Martin - March 3, 2020

UFC middleweight contender Yoel Romero, who is 42 years old and turning 43 in April, says he plans on fighting into his 50s. Romero, who takes on Israel Adesanya this Saturday for the UFC middleweight championship, is one of the oldest fighters on the UFC roster, but still one of the most dangerous by far. He is in incredible physical and mental shape and is one of the top-five fighters in the world right now at 185lbs despite being the elder of the division.

Tom Taylor - March 3, 2020

Joseph Benavidez got his third crack at flyweight gold this past Saturday at UFC Norfolk, but came up short, succumbing to a second-round punch from Deiveson Figueiredo. The pair were originally expected to fight for the vacant flyweight title, but Figueiredo became ineligible when he missed weight for the contest, tipping the scales at 127.5 pounds — two and a half pounds above the 125-pound limit for flyweight title fights.

Harry Kettle - March 3, 2020

Rafael dos Anjos has confirmed that he is interested in a potential rematch with Anthony Pettis following their fight back at UFC 185. Dos Anjos is coming off the back of consecutive losses at the hands of Leon Edwards and Michael Chiesa, with his last win being a submission triumph over Kevin Lee back at UFC Rochester in May 2019. Pettis, on the other hand, has also lost two in a row against Nate Diaz and Carlos Diego Ferreira.

Tom Taylor - March 3, 2020

Former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas says she was offered a title shot opposite reigning champ Weili Zhang, but decided to turn down the opportunity. Namajunas opened up on this would-be title fight, and explained why she turned it down, on a recent episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast. She says she simply wasn’t sure that she wanted to continue fighting at the time — which is a pretty good reason not to fight the division’s top fighter.

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

UFC President Dana White has heard your criticisms of the recently announced bantamweight title fight between champ Henry Cejudo and challenger Jose Aldo and, well, he thinks you’re “full of s**t.” Cejudo and Aldo will meet at UFC 250 this May and Brazil. The controversy stems from the fact that Aldo, while widely regarded as the best featherweight of all time, is on a two-fight skid, including a close decision loss to Marlon Moraes in his lone bantamweight fight.

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

Paul Felder is walking back on his retirement talk. In the main event of UFC Auckland, Felder was taking on Dan Hooker and when the fight went to the scorecards it was close. Yet, Hooker edged out a split-decision and following the loss, Felder said it may have been his final fight.

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.