MMA News

Tom Taylor - May 21, 2019

The upcoming UFC Minneapolis card, scheduled for June 29, will now be topped by an Octagon-shaking heavyweight showdown between former title challenger Francis Ngannou and former champion Junior dos Santos. The card was originally expected to be headlined by a rematch between former welterweight champions Robbie Lawler and Tyron Woodley, but this plan was nixed when the former sustained a hand injury and was forced out of the matchup.

Cole Shelton - May 21, 2019

All signs point to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov taking on the interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier next. The fight is expected to take place at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi. Although that is the tentative plan, there is one person who can potentially change all that, and that is Conor McGregor. The Irishman fought Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 where he lost by fourth-round submission. But, according to Ali Abdelaziz, Nurmagomedov’s manager, if the former two-division champ were to get a win he could very well jump the line and get the next title shot.

Tom Taylor - May 21, 2019

The next crack at UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway will go to Frankie Edgar, not Alex Volkanovski as many expected. The pair will meet at UFC 240 in July. Edgar has won just a single fight in the last two-years, while Volkanovski is on an massive tear, so this decision was not an overwhelmingly popular one.

Tom Taylor - May 21, 2019

It has not been an easy few years for UFC flyweight turned bantamweight Ray Borg. In fact, he’s had a terribly difficult run. The biggest struggles Borg has had to deal with have been the seemingly unending health problems of his young son. As if that weren’t enough to deal with, he’s also been forced to withdraw from fights, has had opponents do the same, and has endured controversial losses when he’s actually made it to the cage.

Drake Riggs - May 20, 2019

Last week, the UFC’s return to Texas, UFC San Antonio, had a whopping six whole fights announced. Well, there’s more where that came from. ESPN confirmed on Monday that the July 20 event will be getting a rematch of a fight from 11 years ago that took place in the short-lived promotion that was Affliction. It will be the former UFC heavyweight champion, “The Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski (27-18) squaring off once again with Ben Rothwell (36-11).

Drake Riggs - May 20, 2019

UFC 240 has its headliner and it will be a featherweight title match-up that we’ve anticipated on two prior occasions. Former UFC lightweight champion, Frankie “The Answer” Edgar will look to finally claim his second divisional title in what will be his third crack at featherweight gold (including interim) when he faces the champion in Max Holloway.

Drake Riggs - May 20, 2019

The sport of bare-knuckle boxing (BKB) has been revitalized in 2019 thanks to the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC). However, their next event, BKFC 6, might not get to live up to its name. According to Cageside Press’ Adam LeBarr, the Florida State Athletic Commission isn’t 100 percent on board with the idea of no glove boxing. BKFC 6 happens to be scheduled to take place in Tampa, Florida on June 22 after being relocated from the upper New England area.

Drake Riggs - May 20, 2019

At UFC 237, Jessica Andrade slammed her way into the MMA history books when she defeated Rose Namajunas by second-round TKO in her native country of Brazil. By doing so, Andrade has become only the second current Brazilian champion in the promotion behind the dual-division bantamweight and featherweight queen, Amanda Nunes. She is also now the fourth fighter to hold the UFC strawweight title.

Mike Pendleton - May 20, 2019

One fighting star has taken notice of another, although they compete in two different sports. During an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on ESPN, boxing superstar Tyson Fury was asked about his thoughts on former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor and the “Gypsy King” had plenty of praise for “The Notorious”. Helwani asked Fury what his thoughts were on McGregor and included some of the recent trouble McGregor has found himself in, and Fury not only called McGregor a game-changer, but said it’s more about what lessons Conor McGregor learns from his mistakes.

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2019

It’s no secret that Darren Till endures a brutal cut down to the 171-pound welterweight limit. While he’s hit that mark on many occasions, he’s also missed weight several times. Given the difficulty Till has had cutting down to welterweight in the recent past, many fight fans have encouraged him to move up to the middleweight. Till has been fairly receptive of this idea, but he’s also seemed a bit reluctant to leave the welterweight division behind.

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2019

On Monday afternoon, Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov took the stage in New York to promote their upcoming bare knuckle grudge match, scheduled for June 22 in Tampa, Florida. This press conference streamed on FITE.tv. It should come as no surprise that the trash talk was immediate and ceaseless.

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2019

Last November, long-time boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya promoted his first MMA event. The card, which was topped by a trilogy fight between aging UFC Hall of Famers Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, received plenty of backlash — most notably from UFC President Dana White. “The guy wants to act like he’s my competitor [promoting MMA],” White told Yahoo! Sports of De La Hoya’s MMA venture. “I have a real business that I’ve built over the last 18 years. A real business, and I can hit you with numbers for days about [how successful it is]. How much has Oscar De La Hoya reinvested into the sport of boxing? We’ve reinvested millions and millions of dollars and we continue to do it every day. The list goes on and on.

Adam Martin - May 20, 2019

The UFC is headed back to China. Officials announced on Monday that the promotion will hold UFC Fight Night 157 at Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen, China on August 31. The card will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2019

“Sugar” Sean O’Malley already has some of the slickest striking in the UFC bantamweight division, but his grappling skill is coming along nicely too. Earlier this month, the red hot bantamweight prospect was awarded his Brazilian jiu jitsu purple belt after years of grinding away on the mats. O’Malley’s belt promotion was documented in a video posted to his official YouTube channel. The video concludes with the undefeated bantamweight, a known lover of the devil’s lettuce, celebrating in just the way you’d expect — with a joint in his hand and his purple belt wrapped around his head like Rambo.

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2019

Alex Volkanovski spent the last week in a Chilean hospital after a blood infection took hold on his trip home from Brazil to Australia. The good news is that the top featherweight contender has finally made it home. He updated on his health in a video posted to his official Instagram account over the weekend.

Natasha Hooper - May 20, 2019

The alleged baby mother of Conor McGregor takes aim at the UFC fighter on Instagram. Terri Murray, a 26-year-old mom from Liverpool claims she slept with McGregor during a night out after the Grand National event in 2017.

Thomas Taylor - May 19, 2019

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov looks more and more like an unbeatable fighter every time he steps into the cage. The Dagestani champion is 27-0 overall — the mark of a puzzle that has not yet been solved. While it’s getting more and more difficult to imagine anybody beating Nurmagomedov, his head coach Javier Mendez believes there are fighters out there with the skills to test the champ — four lightweight fighters in particular.

Thomas Taylor - May 19, 2019

Dustin Poirier and Israel Adesanya both captured interim titles at UFC 236, defeating Max Holloway and Kelvin Gastelum respectively. Now proud owners of some flashy new UFC belts, the UFC 236 winners Poirier and Adesanya both recently returned to home to hero’s welcomes. The UFC documented Israel Adesanya and Dustin Poirier’s homecomings on Instagram.