MMA News

Tom Taylor - April 18, 2019

On Wednesday, news surfaced that UFC veteran Angela Magana had been left in a coma after complications resulting from a surgery. “She’s in a coma, and we’re waiting to hear some positive news,” her coach Gabriel Lamastus told MMA Junkie. “The surgery went fine. The problem was anesthesia. It’s very rare that patients react bad to anesthesia, but it does happen, and I guess this is one of those rare cases. But I’m being positive. She’ll be fine, and she’ll wake up. She’s a hard worker. Angela is a very, very hard worker. A lot of people only know the Angela from social media. They don’t really know the real Angela. That woman busts her tail to provide for her family.”

Drake Riggs - April 18, 2019

A new interim UFC middleweight champion was crowned this past Saturday night when Israel Adesanya would defeat Kelvin Gastelum via a thrilling unanimous decision. Prior to the bout, there were brief mentions from Adesanya and current light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones of one another in some interviews. Since then, the two have gone back and forth in a much deeper depth than we could have expected them to.

Cole Shelton - April 17, 2019

Anderson Silva has picked a side in the ongoing feud between Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya. The feud first started when Adesanya called out Jones. Since then the two have been trading shots at each other on frequent occasion. Silva, who fought Adesanya at UFC 234, believes ‘The Last Stylebender’ disrespected Jones with the way he handled the trash-talk.

Drake Riggs - April 17, 2019

If we take a quick glance at the upcoming MMA schedule, there is always an event or collection of fights that will stand out above the rest. And as we head into the mid-way point of 2019, that remains true. Crazy to think that the year is already half-way over, isn’t it? Even if you’re the most hardcore of hardcore fan, it’s still hard to deny that the best upcoming event is probably always going to be a UFC event. And that’s no matter what time of year it is. Right now, that is still an accurate statement to make. Especially as International Fight Week’s big UFC 239 event quickly approaches. And wildly enough, that card isn’t even completed yet.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Frankie Edgar is adamant that he should be the next man in line to challenge champion Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title. The former lightweight champ and long-time featherweight contender explained why in a recent interview with ESPN. ”I think everybody knows it should go to me,” Edgar said. “Even the guys who want the shot, you [hear] them say ‘Well, I know Frankie should get it, but…’ You know? Alexander Volkanovski is fighting Jose Aldo in a few weeks [at UFC 237] and that may have an impact, but I think everybody knows it’s me. I’ve worked my entire career for it to be me.”

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Last Saturday night, in the main event of UFC 236, Dustin Poirier defeated UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway to earn the UFC interim lightweight title. Having earned this title, he can now look forward to a title-unifier with undisputed lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov — most likely in September, per UFC President Dana White. “Yes, that’s the fight,” White said at the UFC 236 post-fight press conference (via MMA Fighting). “Poirier will fight Khabib next. Probably in September.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Shortly after Israel Adesanya captured the UFC interim middleweight title by defeating Kelvin Gastelum in the UFC 236 co-main event, he found himself on the receiving end of a social media attack from one of his primary rivals, fellow undefeated middleweight Paulo Costa.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Israel Adesanya absorbed quite a bit of punishment in his UFC 236 interim middleweight title fight with Kelvin Gastelum, but he also landed plenty of meaningful offense in return. In fact, he landed a record-breaking amount. Shortly after this fight, which Adesanya won by unanimous decision, the UFC announced that the Nigerian-born Kiwi had landed the third most knockdowns ever in a single UFC fight. MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn then added that Adesanya’s four knockdowns landed on Gastelum actually set the record for the most knockdowns in a single title fight.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Speaking on Twitter, top UFC lightweight contender Tony Ferguson recently divulged that, after some worrying reports, he’s been cleared to compete in the Octagon again. My Team & I Are Ready. UFC Knows I Passed Evals. See You All On The Mat Soon Enough. -Champ 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽

Cole Shelton - April 17, 2019

Back at UFC Philadelphia, Sodiq Yusuff extended his winning streak to four and improved to 2-0 in the UFC. Following the fight, Yusuff called out Kron Gracie, who is coming off of a submission win over Alex Caceres and is from the legendary jiu-jitsu family.

James Lynch - April 17, 2019

Terrible news regarding former UFC strawweight Angela Magana: According to her coach Gabriel Lamastus (via MMAJunkie) Magana went into a coma early Wednesday morning following complications from emergency surgery. The 35-year-old currently lives in Puerto Rico and is staying at University Hospital. According to Lamastus, Magana was experiencing back pain in preparation for her Combate Americas matchup against Kyra Batara on Apr. 26. After a MRI revealed a herniated disc, Magana continued to train until the pain became too much and she was admitted again.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

The UFC has been crowning a lot of interim champions of late. In fact, it crowned two new interim champions at UFC 236 last weekend, as Dustin Poirier defeated Max Holloway to win the interim lightweight title, and Israel Adesanya defeated Kelvin Gastelum to win the interim middleweight title. Unfortunately, these interim title belts often amount to little more than number one contender belts, guaranteeing the interim a champion a shot at the true, undisputed champion. Sometimes, they don’t even accomplish that — see the cases of Colby Covington and Tony Ferguson.

Drake Riggs - April 16, 2019

In the UFC’s 155-pound lightweight division, it’s almost impossible to put together a bad or uninteresting match-up. The division homes several of the sport’s most exciting competitors. Perhaps the most exciting of them all regardless of division is ‘The Highlight,’ Justin Gaethje. With only five fights in the UFC to this point, the former World Series of Fighting champion has gone 3-2 and earned a performance bonus in each of those outings. Thus giving him six in total as his debut against Michael Johnson earned fight and performance of the night honors. His first three bouts were all nominated as a fight of the year candidate as well.

Drake Riggs - April 16, 2019

Wrestlers are rarely made as great as Jordan Burroughs. And in terms of competitors, he’s the purest of the pure. MMA has seen several of the world’s best wrestlers enter into the cage at one point or another. Whether it be from one time occasions with someone like Aleksandr Karelin or to current UFC champions such as Daniel Cormier and Henry Cejudo. All of which found themselves competing in the Olympics prior to their fighting careers and they all had incredible amounts of success. Karelin and Cejudo in particular with gold medals.

Cole Shelton - April 16, 2019

After Kamaru Usman beat Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 to become the new welterweight champion it was expected Colby Covington would be first in line to get the title shot. UFC President, Dana White even said so during the event. But now, Usman wants Covington to beg him for the fight. “Now you have to beg me for that fight,” Usman said backstage at UFC 236 (transcript via MMAJunkie).

Drake Riggs - April 16, 2019

The recent string of UFC main events dating back to March 9 have all been incredibly memorable. The second in that row of fights took place in London, England as two top welterweights went to battle. In one corner, it was a homecoming for the Brit, Darren Till who was looking to rebound off of his first career loss. Standing across from him was an also rebounding Jorge Masvidal. In the end, the returning ‘Gamebred’ would score a devastating two-fight losing streak-snapping knockout in round two.

Drake Riggs - April 16, 2019

The last time we saw Leslie Smith compete in MMA was in July 2017. She would pick up a second-round TKO over Amanda Lemos to extend her 135-pound winning streak to three straight. Following the Lemos bout, Smith was lined up to face the undefeated top prospect, Aspen Ladd at UFC Atlantic City in April 2018. The fight was the last on Smith’s contract and unfortunately, Ladd would end up missing weight which led to some negotiating to work things out.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

Shortly after Aung La N Sang defended his ONE Championship Middleweight World Title with a knockout of Ken Hasegawa at ONE: A New Era in March, he was joined in the cage by ONE Heavyweight Champion Brandon Vera and ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong. It was announced right then and there, in front of throngs of Japanese fans, that Aung La would defend his other World Title — the ONE light heavyweight belt — against the heavyweight champ Vera.