MMA News

Chris Taylor - February 22, 2020

The Octagon returns to Auckland for UFC Fight Night 168, a 12-bout fight card headlined by a lightweight scrap between Paul Felder and Dan Hooker. The New Zealand native, Hooker (19-8 MMA), will enter tonight’s main event on a two-fight winning streak. In his most recent Octagon appearance, ‘The Hangman’ picked up a unanimous decision victory over former title challenger Al Iaquinta.

Cole Shelton - February 21, 2020

Josh Barnett’s Bellator debut has been postponed again as he has reportedly failed a drug test. Barnett was expected to make his promotional debut against Ronny Markes at Bellator 241 on March 13 but that will no longer be the case. Fight Oracle on Twitter reported that the former UFC heavyweight has failed a drug test. The news has since been confirmed by several reporters.

Cole Shelton - February 21, 2020

Justin Gaethje believes Conor McGregor is ducking him. Gaethje has been calling out the Irishman for quite some time, and took shots at McGregor for making his return fight against Donald Cerrone given ‘The Highligt’ had just knocked out ‘Cowboy.’ After McGregor won, the trash-talk only increased as he called for the fight but he says the Irishman is ducking him.

Tom Taylor - February 21, 2020

ofDaniel Cormier came up short in his 2019 rematch with Stipe Miocic, surrendering the UFC heavyweight title in the process. According to his long-time coach Javier Mendez, however, he wasn’t fighting at full capacity. Mendez revealed that Cormier wasn’t at 100 percent in a recent interview with MMA Junkie.

Jason Kindschy - February 21, 2020

Valentina Shevchenko returns to recap her dominant over Kaitlyn Chookagian and discuss her future as the flyweight queen. While we did speak to Valentina prior to the announcement that she’ll face Joanne Calderwood at UFC 250, Shevchenko gave us her thoughts on several potential contenders to her championship going forward. “The Bullet” gives her reaction to Halle Berry’s support cage side on fight night, and sheds some light on her character in the film project they worked on together that should be released later this year. Valentina also addresses the ludicrous accusations of her being a Russian spy, but explains why she wouldn’t mind portraying a female version of James Bond on the big screen. She was incredibly generous with her time for this interview, and gave us some heartfelt insight as to what inspires her to achieve greatness. Johnny Walker joins us to preview his return to competition next month in Brasilia against Nikita Krylov. With his aim laser focused on earning a shot at UFC gold, Walker made the move to the famed Tristar Gym in Montreal to work with the legendary team there. Now under the guidance of Firas Zahabi and training with the likes of Georges St-Pierre, Johnny believes he’s made the right adjustments on his martial arts journey. We’ll hear his thoughts on the landscape at 205, and much more.

Tom Taylor - February 21, 2020

UFC 249, scheduled for April 18 in Brooklyn, New York, is arguably the most anticipated card on the promotion’s calendar. That’s thanks in large part to the main event: a lightweight title fight between undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and streaking challenger Tony Ferguson. Nurmagomedov and Ferguson have been scheduled to fight a whopping four times previously, but the bout has consistently failed to come to fruition.

Tom Taylor - February 21, 2020

The Nevada State Athletic Commission recently made the decision to ban Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury from squaring off after they weigh in for their Saturday night rematch, evidently wary after the pair got physical at a press conference earlier this week. Former two-division UFC champ Conor McGregor is not on board with this decision. McGregor reacted to this bizarre decision from the NSAC on Twitter. He began by praising the commission for the work it does, but then offered a solution that will allow Wilder and Fury to square off: just beef up security!

Mike Pendleton - February 21, 2020

With the vacant UFC flyweight title on the line in his next fight, contender Joseph Benavidez is not looking back. Benavidez is scheduled to take on Deiveson Figueiredo in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 27 which will take place in Norfolk, Virginia for the title that Cejudo was stripped off as he maintains his focus on the bantamweight division and his title there. During a recent interview with Jimmy Smith and Miesha Tate for MMA Tonight on Sirius XM, Benavidez was asked about the possibility of going up to bantamweight to chase a fight with the former flyweight champion, and there was little to no interest for him. Already holding a victory over Cejudo, Benavidez said he doesn’t feel a fight against Cejudo is one that he needs to go chase.

Tom Taylor - February 21, 2020

The Nevada State Athletic Commission isn’t taking any chances when it comes to the upcoming WBC heavyweight title rematch between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury. After the pair got physical at a press conference this week, the commission has banned them from partaking in a staredown after they weigh in on Friday evening.

Cole Shelton - February 21, 2020

Brent Primus doesn’t know anything about his Bellator 240 opponent, Chris Bungard. When Primus makes the walk to the cage on Saturday it will be the first time he does so since May of last year, which has been frustrating for him. But he has finally gotten a fight and is focused on Bungard and extending his win streak to two.

Tom Taylor - February 21, 2020

Conor McGregor wants a rematch with UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, but Nurmagomedov seems increasingly uninterested in this possibility. Contrary to Nurmagomedov’s disinterest in the rematch, it’s been widely speculated that McGregor will serve as the replacement opponent for the champ’s UFC 249 fight with Tony Ferguson, meaning he’d step in and fight if one of the two men fails to make it to the cage.

Adam Martin - February 21, 2020

The UFC Auckland weigh-ins took place Friday morning and 24 fighters made weight for the card, including headliners Dan Hooker and Paul Felder. In the non-title lightweight main event, Hooker stepped on the scale at 156lbs while Felder came in at 155.5lbs, making the headlining fight official. Hooker and Felder are both ranked in the top-10 of the stacked UFC lightweight division and the winner of this fight will be one step closer to jumping into title contention.

Natasha Hooper - February 21, 2020

The fight card for UFC Oklahoma City is coming together. The promotion recently added three bouts to the card, including the return of Andrei Arlovski. UFC Oklahoma City takes place Saturday, May 2 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. The event marks the third time the UFC has visited Oklahoma City, the last event taking place in 2017. The UFC has not officially announced the headling fight. However, former UFC champion Chris Weidman is expected to take on top contender Jack Hermansson in a middleweight battle in the main event.

Harry Kettle - February 21, 2020

Michael Chiesa has issued a response after claims from Diego Sanchez’s coach Joshua Fabia that they had plans for a ‘death choke’ at UFC 239. Chiesa and Sanchez went toe to toe during International Fight Week back in July 2019 with the former coming out on top in a fairly lopsided unanimous decision victory. Alas, even though Chiesa has gone on to also beat Rafael dos Anjos, there’s a whole lot more attention on Sanchez right now following his controversial DQ win at UFC Rio Rancho last weekend.

Natasha Hooper - February 21, 2020

Diego Sanchez has become a hot topic of conversation recently, but MMA analyst Chael Sonnen has the welterweight’s back. In 2019, “The Nightmare” announced he would be leaving his training home of JacksonWink MMA to try an unorthodox training approach with self-awareness coach Joshua Fabia. His new training strategy was once again put to the test when Sanchez faced Michel Pereira at UFC Rio Rancho this month. By all accounts, his opponent was leading the fight before delivering a clear illegal knee to Sanchez in the third round. Sanchez had the option to continue the fight, but he decided to refrain and ultimately claimed the disqualification victory.

Adam Martin - February 20, 2020

UFC president Dana White spoke on Thursday evening at a political rally in Colorado in support of United States President Donald Trump. White and Trump are good friends going back two decades now, with Trump being instrumental to the rise of MMA in the early days of the UFC. When White had the chance to speak at Thursday’s rally, he praised Trump and spoke glowingly about the president. Below is the video and a written transcript of what White said at the podium.

Cole Shelton - February 20, 2020

Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Derek Brunson will no longer be happening at UFC 248 as expected. Shahbazyan announced on social media that he was off the card, but added he’s ready to fight right now.

Adam Martin - February 20, 2020

The trilogy fight between light heavyweight legends Shogun Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been added to UFC 250. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reported that the UFC has added the third fight between the PRIDE veterans to UFC 250, which takes place on May 9 at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil. UFC president Dana White confirmed the bout is official. The main event of the card sees UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo taking on Jose Aldo.