MMA News

Drake Riggs - December 20, 2018

The UFC’s women’s flyweight division is finally able to get moving forward again as a new champion has been crowned. So that means the rest of the division must vie for their positions. Unfortunately for the top 15 contenders in Andrea Lee (9-2) and Ashlee Evans-Smith (6-3), they just recently lost out on their fights due to opponents dropping out.

Drake Riggs - December 20, 2018

The Bellator heavyweight title Grand Prix will finally declare its winner as the legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko will take on current light heavyweight champ Ryan Bader in Bellator 214’s main event. Unfortunately, the middleweight title fight that was slated for the evening’s co-main event has lost its champion.

Mike Straus - December 20, 2018

Jason Parillo is one of the most accomplished boxing coaches in the sport of mixed martial arts. He will be in Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino‘s corner at UFC 232 for the biggest fight of her career. Parillo has worked with some of the best MMA fighters of this generation. Cyborg, BJ Penn, Tito Ortiz, and Michael Bisping just to name a few. Still, Parillo doesn’t seek out athletes to work with, that just doesn’t jive with his sensibility.

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2018

UFC President Dana White and former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor have made a lot of money together. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have their issues. Speaking recently on the Barstool Sports podcast, the UFC boss opened up on his biggest issue with Conor McGregor. As you might have guessed if you’ve ever watched a Conor McGregor press conference, White’s biggest gripe has to do with the Irishman’s frequent tardiness.

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2018

In 2017, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor released a feature-length documentary called Conor McGregor: Notorious, which traced his rise from a poor kid in Dublin, Ireland to a UFC Megastar. This documentary was very well received among fans, and from the sounds of it, it won’t be the last documentary the Irish MMA star puts out. Replying to a fan on Twitter, McGregor recently hinted that there is a sequel to this film in the works.

Cole Shelton - December 20, 2018

UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg will battle arguably her toughest opponent to date when UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes moves up in weight to challenge her in the co-main event of UFC 232 on December 29. Cyborg has been the UFC’s featherweight champion since 2017 and hasn’t lost since her very first pro fight in 2005. She has been a seemingly unstoppable force for more than a decade, but many fans believe Nunes could be the woman to finally defeat her.

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2018

Former Strikeforce and UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is heading to light heavyweight. After teasing the move for months, Rockhold committed to it on a recent episode of Submission Radio.

James Lynch - December 20, 2018

It’s been a tough year for UFC middleweight Derek Brunson, who went winless following losses to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Israel Adesanya. One thing you can’t deny is his willingness to take on tough opposition in the middleweight division, but now he’s looking to take a step back. Derek Brunson spoke to MMANytt and explained why a matchup against Canadian Elias Theodorou makes sense for him at this juncture.

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2018

On December 29, in the co-main event of UFC 232, UFC women’s bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes will move up to the featherweight division to battle seeming unstoppable featherweight champion Cris Cyborg. In the eyes of Valentina Shevchenko, who recently captured the UFC women’s flyweight belt, Nunes is probably in for a tough night in this UFC 232 fight. Valentina Shevchenko made her prediction for this fight on a recent episode of MMAjunkie Radio.

Christopher Taylor - December 19, 2018

Former UFC light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones will rematch Alexander Gustafsson in the headliner of next weekend’s highly anticipated UFC 232 event in Las Vegas. Jon Jones and “The Mauler” first met at UFC 165 in September of 2013 and produced arguably the greatest fight in the history of the light heavyweight division.

Christopher Taylor - December 19, 2018

Former UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva will return to the octagon at February’s UFC 234 event against surging division contender Israel Adesanya. “The Spider” recently completed a suspension from USADA, which stemmed from a failed drug test in the lead up to his scheduled fight with Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Shanghai.

Drake Riggs - December 19, 2018

The long-awaited promotional debuts of ONE Championship’s biggest acquisitions to date in former UFC champions Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Eddie Alvarez have been set. On March 31, ONE will host their inaugural event in Japan as they head to Tokyo for a huge show.

Tom Taylor - December 19, 2018

On New Years Even, inside the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan, undefeated kickboxing sensation Tenshin Nasukawa will step into the ring with undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. for a bizarre exhibition match. The bout will headline the stacked RIZIN 14 card. In this bout, Nasukawa will not be allowed to throw kicks. He will, however, be able to punch with full enthusiasm, as a knockout victory for either party is apparently allowable under the bout’s ruleset.

Tom Taylor - December 19, 2018

At a hearing earlier this month, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC), advised former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones to enroll in VADA drug testing in addition to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug testing that he’s subject to as a UFC fighter. This extra testing was not mandatory, merely encouraged. “I, for one, would like to put the doubts to sleep and to put them away once and for all,” commissioner Martha Shen-Urquidez told Jones at the hearing. “And for people to believe you, that you are that talented and that you are the greatest, and that you can win a fight just clean, and that this is Jon Jones, and to put those doubts away once and for all.”

Tom Taylor - December 19, 2018

It took the UFC a long time to find a main event for UFC 230, which went down on November 3 in New York City. One of the options that was on the table before the promotion landed on the card’s eventual Daniel Cormier vs. Derrick Lewis headliner was a welterweight scrap between Colby Covington and Nick Diaz. Unfortunately for the fans, however, this fight never came to fruition.

Tom Taylor - December 19, 2018

The official UFC rankings have been updated in the wake of last weekend’s UFC Milwaukee card, and as expected, Al Iaquinta has surged up the list at lightweight after springing the upset on Kevin Lee in the card’s main event. With his decision defeat of Kevin Lee, Al Iaquinta has usurped the number five spot in the lightweight rankings. Interestingly, this move actually forced Edson Barboza out of the top-5, despite his destruction of Dan Hooker in the UFC Milwaukee co-main event.

Cole Shelton - December 19, 2018

Matt Brown has been in the UFC since 2008. He has also fought at least once a year every year since 2005. However, in 2018 that streak ended when Brown, unfortunately, was dealing with some injuries that kept him from competing inside the Octagon. He tore his ACL earlier this year when he was preparing for a fight against Carlos Condit.

James Lynch - December 19, 2018

If Bellator star James Gallagher had it his way, he’d be looking to avenge his only career loss against Ricky Bandejas on Feb. 23 instead of fighting Steven Graham. But according to the Bellator 218 headliner, Bandejas declined the rematch and instead took a fight against Juan Archuleta at Bellator 214. Gallagher explained the situation in an interview with Jim Edwards of MMANytt.