MMA News

Natasha Hooper - November 28, 2019

MMA veteran Vitor Belfort appears to be in top form as he prepares to make his ONE Championship debut in the new year. In an Instagram video posted by Evolve MMA, Belfort looked every bit the killer he was in his heyday.

Adam Martin - November 28, 2019

UFC heavyweight Walt Harris has released a statement about Aniah Blanchard’s death, sharing a eulogy for his deceased daughter. The 19-year-old Blanchard was confirmed dead this week after an investigation into her shocking disappearance. Harris up until this point has remained out of the media spotlight as the police investigated the incident, but has now broken his silence about his daughter’s passing after it was confirmed by law enforcement officials in Alabama.

Natasha Hooper - November 28, 2019

Three Australian fighters have been added to the card for UFC Auckland which will take place in New Zealand on February 22, 2020. It was recently announced that Kiwi native and number 7 ranked lightweight Dan Hooker will face off against Paul Felder in the main event. Hooker has won six of his seven last bouts and solidified his credentials when he defeated Al Iaquinta in his last bout.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2019

UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal says US President Donald Trump has invited him to the White House. Trump, a known fight fan, was in attendance for Masvidal’s stoppage victory over Nate Diaz, which topped the UFC 244 card in New York City earlier this month.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2019

Earlier this month, former ONE and Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren announced his retirement from MMA. This week, Jorge Masvidal — easily Askren’s most high-profile rival in the UFC —gave his take on that retirement. Despite the war of words that raged between Askren and Masvidal, and the violent way with which their fight ended, Masvidal surprisingly tipped his hat to Askren and shared his belief that the wrestler shouldn’t have retired so soon.

Mike Heck - November 27, 2019

Johnny Walker is looking to bounce back from his first round TKO loss to Corey Anderson at UFC 244 by taking on a former world champion in Chris Weidman. The always-entertaining Walker took to Twitter on Thanksgiving Eve and called for an opportunity to face “The All-American” in early 2020. In the Tweet, Walker referenced Weidman’s appearance on Monday’s edition of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show when he said he would like to return to action in February or March of the new year.

Cole Shelton - November 27, 2019

TJ Dillashaw was fine with the doctor stopping the UFC 244 headliner between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz due to a cut. The bout was stopped after the third round due to cuts above and below Diaz’s eye. Many fans and fighters were mad the scrap was stopped.

Cole Shelton - November 27, 2019

Darren Till says he is not scared to fight Yoel Romero after all. Till had recently said he would not fight the Cuban because he is too scary, yet called him out on social media when he was blind drunk. But, now the Liverpool native claims he would fight Romero and that he was just joking around with his original comments.

Mike Heck - November 27, 2019

There are many people who believe that TJ Dillashaw has handled his recent USADA suspension as well as anybody could. Cody Garbrandt is not one of those people. Dillashaw recently appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show to address his failed drug test for recombinant human erythropoietin, which he used to get down to 125 pounds for his fight with Henry Cejudo at UFC on ESPN+ 1 in January.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2019

Weeks after he relinquished the Rizin bantamweight title, Kyoji Horiguchi has let go of the Bellator bantamweight belt as well. Bellator MMA announced this unfortunate news in a Wednesday afternoon press release.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2019

Jorge Masvidal recently expressed interest in a fight with boxing star Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately for the red-hot UFC welterweight, Alvarez doesn’t seem very interested in this cross-over matchup — though he admits it would be a good business opportunity. “I say this with all respect: If I go into his sport, I have nothing to do there. And I think the same about boxing: If (MMA fighters) come into boxing, they have nothing to do here,” Canelo told Little Giant Boxing of a fight with Masvidal (via MMA Junkie). “But looking at it from a business standpoint, it is attractive, but it’s not a challenge for me, so it’s not my priority.

Mike Pendleton - November 27, 2019

Dominick Reyes has risen through the light heavyweight division rather quickly and in doing so, he’s earned himself a title fight opportunity against defending champion Jon Jones. That fight has been scheduled to take place on February 8, 2020 in Houston, Texas and will be the first UFC title fight opportunity for Reyes. While it won’t be the first main event for Reyes, the opportunity to defeat Jon Jones and become the new light heavyweight champion is something he and many other young contenders have put in the work for, and now Reyes has his time.

Adam Martin - November 27, 2019

Women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano didn’t deserve the abuse she received from UFC president Dana White, says veteran MMA official Big John McCarthy. Carano was a guest on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show this week and explained why a fight in the UFC against Ronda Rousey never happened. According to Carano, she was in negotiations with the UFC about a potential comeback before receiving an accidental text message from White in which he called her a “b*tch.” Carano broke off negotiations after that and she never ended up fighting in mixed martial arts ever again.

Cole Shelton - November 27, 2019

Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya have been going back-and-forth at one another on social media and a fight between the two seems likely. Yet, “The Last Stylebender” has said it won’t happen until 2021 once he clears out the middleweight division.

Cole Shelton - November 27, 2019

UFC 239 was expected to be a big card for JacksonWink. They had Jon Jones defending his light heavyweight title in the main event, Holly Holm challenging for the bantamweight strap in the co-main. Also on the main card was Diego Sanchez battling Michael Chiesa. Yet, just days before the fight, Sanchez left JacksonWink and was cornered by one person: a self-awareness coach with no martial arts experience. 

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2019

Former Strikeforce and UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has been knocked out in several of his most recent fights, and Michael Bisping — the man behind one of those knockouts — believes the American would be wise to hang up the gloves.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2019

It’s no secret that former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is not a fan of the media obligations that coincide with being a top fighter. Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday, Whittaker admitted those obligations, along with other forms of pressure, made his time as a UFC titleholder a little unenjoyable.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2019

After coming up short against UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in September, Dustin Poirier is now targeting a return to the cage in April.  When he makes that return, he’s hoping for a big-name opponent, such as Conor McGregor or Nate Diaz.