MMA News

Chris Taylor - July 13, 2019

Former WEC champion Urijah Faber returned to the octagon at tonight’s UFC Sacramento event for a bantamweight bout with Ricky Simon. Faber had not competed in mixed martial arts since December of 2016, where he defeated Brad Pickett via unanimous decision.

Chris Taylor - July 13, 2019

Tonight’s UFC Sacramento event is co-headlined by a men’s bantamweight fight featuring hometown favorite Urijah Faber taking on Ricky Simon. ‘The California Kid’ returns to the octagon for the first time since December of 2016, where he defeated Brad Pickett via unanimous decision. Urijah Faber will enter tonight’s co-headliner sporting a professional record of 34-10.

Chris Taylor - July 13, 2019

Add current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov to the list of fighters Jorge Masvidal believes he could defeat. ‘Gamebred‘ is oozing confidence following his historic knockout victory over Ben Askren at last weekend’s UFC 239 event in Las Vegas.

Chris Taylor - July 13, 2019

The octagon returns to California tonight for UFC Sacramento, a 12-bout fight card that features the returns of both Urijah Faber and Germaine de Randamie. UFC Sacramento is headlined by a women’s bantamweight bout featuring surging undefeated contender Aspen Ladd taking on former women’s featherweight title holder Germaine de Randamie.

Cole Shelton - July 13, 2019

At UFC 239, Jorge Masvidal was taking on Ben Askren, where many thought the winner would be fighting Kamaru Usman next for the title. “Gambred” ultimately knocked “Funky” out cold with a flying knee just 5-seconds into the fight. It was a highlight reel knockout, and one Usman was glad to see. “It was great, it was incredible, man. Jorge has been putting in work for a long long time,” Usman said to TMZ Sports. “I’m happy to see him go out there and now start to get some recognition.”

Chris Taylor - July 13, 2019

Fans and analysts were left cringing after witnessing Aspen Ladd weigh in for her fight with Germaine de Randamie yesterday in Sacramento. The undefeated bantamweight, Ladd (8-0 MMA), was visibly shaken by her weight cut and even had trouble making it to the scale yesterday morning.

Chris Taylor - July 13, 2019

The bad blood between former UFC bantamweight champions Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw continued on Twitter yesterday evening. The former teammates turned bitter rivals, Garbrandt and Dillashaw, have competed twice over the past two years with TJ emerging victorious on both occasions by way of knockout.

Chris Taylor - July 13, 2019

Former welterweight kingpin Robbie Lawler will return to the octagon this August at UFC Newark for a fight with former interim title holder Colby Covington. ‘Ruthless’ was most recently seen in action at UFC 235 in March, where he suffered a controversial first round submission loss to Ben Askren.

Cole Shelton - July 12, 2019

After Vitor Belfort was knocked out by Lyoto Machida at UFC 224, the former champion announced his retirement from the sport. But, after a year away from MMA it was announced in late February that the 42-year-old had signed with ONE Championship. Since then, there has been little to no talk about when Belfort will make his debut. He did ask for a fight with Roy Jones Jr. However, the veteran still awaits a fight in the Asian-based promotion. When he does indeed fight, ‘The Phenom’ wants UFC commentator, Joe Rogan in his corner.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - July 12, 2019

Chael Sonnen is impressed with the way Ben Askren has faced the music. Askren entered the UFC with substantial hype. He was part of the UFC’s trade with ONE Championship. In exchange for Demetrious Johnson, Askren was sent over to the most recognized mixed martial arts promotion. “Funky” had a successful, albeit controversial, debut against Robbie Lawler back in March. He submitted Lawler in the first round. In his second UFC bout, Askren was flattened in a record-setting five seconds via flying knee courtesy of Jorge Masvidal.

Tom Taylor - July 12, 2019

Anthony Smith is eager to work his way to a second title fight with light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. He believes that in order to do so, he’ll first have to defeat one of the division’s other top fighters — namely Dominick Reyes, Jan Blachowicz and Corey Anderson. By his estimation, he’s most likely to be matched up with Corey Anderson, and from the sounds of it, he has no problem with that.

Tom Taylor - July 12, 2019

Thursday was the four-year anniversary of UFC 189, which was topped by a blockbuster interim featherweight title fight between Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes. McGregor had originally been expected to battle undisputed champion Jose Aldo on the card, but was matched up with Mendes on 10 days’ notice when Aldo sustained an injury in training.

Adam Martin - July 12, 2019

UFC middleweight legend Anderson Silva is 44-years old now and after losing via first-round TKO to Jared Cannonier at UFC 237 in May, the end may soon be near for “The Spider.” If Silva does retire, though, his son Gabriel may potentially carry on the family’s legacy. According to the elder Silva, his 20-year-old son may actually be a better fighter than he is.

Natasha Hooper - July 12, 2019

Holly Holm’s head coach Mike Winkeljohn is certain Holly Holm will bounce back from her head kick KO loss, unlike her former opponent Ronda Rousey. The former bantamweight champion looked to reclaim her belt last weekend, but couldn’t defeat the strong adversity that presented itself in Amanda Nunes. At UFC 239, Holm received a head kick and a flurry of punches that secured a first round KO victory for “The Lioness”.

Natasha Hooper - July 12, 2019

The most recent fighter to take the Joe Rogan hot seat is none other than bantamweight contender Aljamain Sterling. The 25-year-old sat down on the Joe Rogan podcast to discuss a range of topics including Diego Sanchez’s recent loss against Michael Chiesa. Rogan and the “Funk Master” criticized Diego Sanchez for picking a new ‘self-awareness coach’ named Josh Fabia to serve as his cornerman in the fight.

Mike Heck - July 12, 2019

Kayla Harrison and Jorge Masvidal came to an agreement prior to “Gamebred’s” UFC 239 knockout of Ben Askren. It was a deal that seemed to work out swimmingly for both fighters. Harrison improved to 5-0 with her first-round submission win over Morgan Frier at PFL 2019: 4. With the victory, which only took 1:25 to secure, Harrison earned her spot in the PFL playoffs and sets up an October matchup with Genah Fabian at PFL 2019: 7.

Tom Taylor - July 12, 2019

This weekend, in the main event of UFC Sacramento, former UFC women’s featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie will take on Aspen Ladd in a pivotal women’s bantamweight contender bout. If she’s victorious in this outing, she’ll be looking for a shot at redemption opposite reigning champ Amanda Nunes, who she lost to in 2013. While De Randamie respects Nunes, she sees the champion as a beatable fighter.

Tom Taylor - July 12, 2019

This Saturday, in the co-main event of UFC Sacramento, Urijah Faber returns to the cage opposite rising bantamweight contender Ricky Simon. If he wins, he’ll take a big step in the direction of a bantamweight title fight with new champion Henry Cejudo, who called him out after claiming the title with a TKO of Marlon Moraes at UFC 238. “Absolutely, I’ll never rule that out,” Faber said of Cejudo in an interview with MMA Fighting. “Henry just called me out, the current champ at two different weight classes and an Olympic gold medalist. So that’s an enticing fight for me because of the matchup, and you know, the reason I’m in the sport. And the fact he threw me in the mix and we talked about it 10 years ago prior, which is kind of cool how that all played out. So that’s always in the back of my head, for sure.”