MMA News

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2019

Earlier this week, the MMA world was rocked by the tragic news that a body found in Macon County, Alabama was believed to be that of missing 19-year-old Aniah Blanchard — the daughter of UFC heavyweight Walt Harris. On Wednesday, UFC President Dana White took to social media to inform fight fans that the remains discovered do in fact belong to Blanchard. The UFC boss also shared his condolences with Harris, the rest of Blanchard’s family, and every member of the combat sports community who was praying for Blanchard’s safe return home.

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.

Adam Martin - November 27, 2019

An exciting five-round lightweight bout between Dan Hooker and Paul Felder is set as the main event for UFC Auckland. The card is set to take place February 23, 2020, at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. Hooker himself announced the news via his Twitter.

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.

Adam Martin - November 27, 2019

United States President Donald Trump shared a photoshopped picture of himself topless and donning boxing gloves in his latest social media post. Trump is no stranger to sharing photos and other messages on his official Twitter account, which has over 67 million followers. On Wednesday, out of nowhere, Trump shared a photoshopped photo of himself topless and with boxing gloves on for all of his followers to see.

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. 

Cole Shelton - November 27, 2019

Dustin Poirier and Nate Diaz were expected to fight at UFC 230 in late 2018. It was a fight many fans were excited about, but it ended up not happening. Diaz accused Poirier of pulling out due to a hip injury, yet Poirier said when he pulled out of the fight the Stockton, California native already withdraw.

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.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2019

Pound-for-pound boxing star Canelo Alvarez admits a potential fight with surging UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal is alluring from a business standpoint, but not from a competitive standpoint. For that reason, the boxer is not especially interested in a cross-over fight with the UFC star — be in the boxing ring or the cage.

Adam Martin - November 26, 2019

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father Abdulmanap says that the upcoming UFC lightweight title fight against Tony Ferguson is a “dream fight” for MMA fans. UFC president Dana White told ESPN on Monday that the fight between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson is getting closer to becoming a reality and it is expected to headline a pay-per-view on April 18 in Brooklyn, New York.

Adam Martin - November 26, 2019

Former UFC women’s bantamweight Cindy Dandois was allegedly the victim of a vicious beating by her ex-boyfriend outside her home in Belgium. Dandois told HLN that she had recently broken up with her ex-boyfriend, called by the initials M.B. in the news article. The initials stand for Musti Brika, who is also an MMA fighter and who was named as the attacker on the SCEPTR news website. According to Dandois, she told Brika that she wanted break up and remain friends, but he was not happy and had been threatening her for a while. She was shocked when he showed up at her front door and beat her last Friday afternoon, cutting her face and breaking her nose.