MMA News

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2019

UFC St. Petersburg was an action-packed card, from the undercard to the Alistair Overeem vs. Alexey Oleynik main event. As is so often the case with cards of this kind, several of the fighters on the bill are facing lengthy medical suspensions, including Oleynik, who is dealing with a fractured rib after his first-round TKO loss to Overeem.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2019

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson is now firmly embedded as a member of the Bellator roster. In fact, he’s set to return to the cage at Bellator 220 this weekend, where he’ll take on Adam Piccolotti in a lightweight contender bout. As he prepares for this imminent challenge, Benson Henderson is happy to have put some distance between himself and the drama that is currently plaguing the UFC lightweight division. He’s witnessed the heat between reigning champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former champion Conor McGregor, and the difficulty top contenders like Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson have had getting title shots, and he’s thanking the Lord that he’s no longer in the thick of it.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2019

According to a report from the Irish Times, Proper No. Twelve, the Irish whiskey recently launched by former UFC lightweight and featherweight champ Conor McGregor, has already become a massive fiscal success. According to this report, Proper No. Twelve “sold out a six-month allocation in its first 10 days and has now shipped about 200,000 nine-litre cases since its launch.”

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2019

Former UFC standout “Super” Sage Northcutt will make his debut in the ONE Championship welterweight division on May 17, as he is set to battle kickboxing specialist Cosmo Alexandre at ONE: Enter the Dragon in Singapore. While this matchup is currently consuming all of Northcutt’s focus, he has previously expressed interest in competing in both Muay Thai and kickboxing bouts as part of ONE Super Series. In fact, he’s hoping to capture titles in MMA, Muay Thai and kickboxing.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2019

Johnny Walker is arguably the most compelling young contender in the UFC light heavyweight division at present. In fact, he seems to be on a collision course with dominating light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. In a recent interview with The Body Lock, Johnny Walker discussed a potential matchup with Jones, expressing his long-time admiration for the champion, and his confidence that he would beat him in a fight.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2019

Last week, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champ Conor McGregor once again laced up the boxing gloves. This time, however, he was not taking on a legend for millions of dollars under a Jumbotron in Las Vegas. Instead, he took part in an exhibition bout with amateur boxer Michael McGrane, which went down in his former haunts, the Crumlin Boxing Club in Dublin. Speaking to TMZ, McGrane opened up on this exhibition bout with Conor McGregor and claimed the UFC star zapped him with a cheap shot — a left hand thrown seconds after the opening bell.

Mike Straus - April 25, 2019

The UFC is right back at it again. Next up is UFC Fort Lauderdale. While the main event of UFC Fort Lauderdale has seen a revolving door of fighters coming and go, the rest of the card has largely stayed intact. On paper, the card looks to have something for every type of fight fan.

J Kindschy - April 25, 2019

Perseverance is undoubtedly a key component to success and arguably the most important. No matter your walk of life or your profession, we all must overcome the odds in some capacity. In seldom few professions is this fact more prevalent than combat sports. Grueling training, weight cutting, competing at the highest level, the painful sting of a loss, and of course injuries. The journey for combat athletes is typically a long and arduous road, which is why, statistically speaking, such a minority of these warriors reach the pinnacle. However, in several cases we have been fortunate enough to witness greatness manifest itself, and in the world of kickboxing, Gokhan Saki epitomizes the moxie of such greatness. Saki amassed an incredible record of 81-16-1 in the realm of striking and has competed against virtually every distinguished kickboxer of our generation. His illustrious career has already afforded him riches and notoriety, but as his aptly named monicker suggests, Gokhan is a rebel, and has always gone against the grain. Many argued that the Turkish-born Dutchmen was undersized to compete at heavyweight with the giants in K-1 and Glory. Yet his ferocious tenacity proved to be unrivaled, silencing his doubters time and time again.

Drake Riggs - April 24, 2019

UFC Nashville was headlined by a pretty unique match-up, to say the least. The main event of the promotion’s return to the state of Tennessee saw former WEC and UFC lightweight champion, as well as former featherweight hopeful, Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis make his 170-pound welterweight debut. His opponent would be none other than the perennial top five contender, two-time welterweight title challenger, ‘Wonderboy,’ Stephen Thompson. Shockingly, after a pretty dominant showing from Thompson, Pettis would be the one to connect late in the second round to score the massive knockout win. It was the Karate specialist’s first time losing via knockout and Pettis’ first time winning via strikes since January 2013 when he TKO’d Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone with a body kick.

Cole Shelton - April 24, 2019

Marlon Moraes is getting a shot at the vacant UFC bantamweight title, this after T.J. Dillashaw relinquished his belt due to a two-year suspension from USADA. Dillashaw had tested positive for the banned substance EPO in the lead up to his fight with Flyweight champ Henry Cejudo. Although some fighters claim that they always knew TJ Dillashaw was using drugs, Marlon Moraes was still still shocked and disappointed by the news.

Mike Straus - April 24, 2019

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) isn’t the only show streaming live Saturday night as Bellator 220 will go head to head with the MMA juggernaut. While Bellator has a habit of filling up the undercard with local fighters to help move ticket sales, that often times affects the quality of fights the fans get. There’s no denying the strength of the five-fight main card that will stream live via DAZN. However, the prelims fall a bit short of what one would expect from a card of this magnitude.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2019

Speaking on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan shared his appreciation for ONE Championship and the way the Asian organization promotes mixed martial arts. “I appreciate the way ONE FC handles things,” Rogan said. “They just concentrate on fighters being honorable and fighting their best, and fighting the best fighters they can fight. They don’t emphasize that s**t talking at all. They emphasize the martial arts aspects of it.”

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2019

Last week, it was announced that Singapore based martial arts powerhouse ONE Championship had signed a partnership with Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts (GAMMA), an independent governing body for the sport of mixed martial arts. The goals of this partnership are multifaceted, but the most notable mission of the two organizations is to bring the sport of MMA to the Olympics.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2019

UFC veterans Chael Sonnen and Lyoto Machida are scheduled to collide in a light heavyweight showdown at Bellator NYC on July 14. Yet on Wednesday afternoon, Sonnen took to Twitter and cast doubt on the status of this matchup. Machida:

James Lynch - April 24, 2019

“The Eagle” will be landing in the UK this June. Khabib Nurmagomedov posted on his Instagram account that UFC fans will have the opportunity to meet him from June 11-16. The 30-year-old will be stopping in London, Manchester, and Midlands. This is an independent tour and not one run by the UFC. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv4qw3Cg0Hm/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=z91vvc5fzdpd “I am really excited to be coming to the UK and meeting my fans,” Nurmagomedov said in a press release. “I appreciate the support I have received from this country and I want to give something back.”

Jordy McElroy - April 24, 2019

There is nothing flashy about Justin Gaethje’s style of fighting—no fancy footwork or slick striking techniques. The former World Series of Fighting lightweight champion is more of a bite down on a mouthpiece, march forward relentlessly and shove his fists in your face kind of fighter. Couple that with a criminally underrated ground game, and you have the recipe for big problems for reigning UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. During an appearance on The MMA Hour, Gaethje implied that he would be the “toughest out” for Nurmagomedov out of all the other title contenders, including Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2019

If you were hoping to see undefeated middleweight knockout artist Paulo Costa back in the cage soon, well, you might have some waiting to do. According to UFC vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky, Paulo Costa is still being investigated by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after being fined $9,333.33 by the New York State Athletic Commission for an unknown violation.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2019

New ONE Championship star Sage Northcutt has seemingly caught the acting bug. The fan favorite welterweight can be seen in the newly released trailer for Street Fighter: Genesis, an unauthorized project based on the popular Capcom game. Northcutt plays the fiery-fisted character, Ken. See him in action below: