MMA News

Tom Taylor - November 15, 2018

Ronda Rousey’s UFC career is soundly in the rear-view, as she’s now firmly embedded as a member of the WWE roster. Even in this new role, however, she can not escape the toughest setback of her sporting career: the 2015 knockout loss to Holly Holm that ended her reign as UFC women’s bantamweight champ. Ronda Rousey, who is currently the Raw Women’s Champion, was supposed to meet current SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Becky Lynch in the ring at WWE’s Survivor Series pay-per-view is this Sunday. Unfortunately, Lynch was forced out of the match with a nose injury, and replaced by Charlotte Flair.

Tom Taylor - November 15, 2018

Last month, in the main event of the UFC’s blockbuster UFC 229 pay-per-view, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Conor McGregor with what looked like a neck crank or face choke. Because this choke wasn’t under the chin — which would have made it a rear-naked choke — many fans have accused McGregor of giving up prematurely. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan wants to put an end to that talk. “He did not tap prematurely,” Joe Rogan said on his podcast recently (transcript via Pundit Arena). “He did not defend it though. He was done, he was beaten down. Khabib f**ked him up.

Tom Taylor - November 15, 2018

On November 24, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will meet for a third time. Ahead of this trilogy fight, we’ve seen several snippets of Liddell’s training, and many members of the MMA community are quite concerned about it, worrying that the 48-year-old Liddell looks alarmingly slow. Jason Parillo, one of the key coaches of Tito Ortiz, has seen this footage and had similar thoughts, wondering if Liddell might be attempting to give false impressions of himself ahead of the fight. He called the footage “hoax-y.”

Drake Riggs - November 14, 2018

UFC 233 takes place on January 26 and it is already looking like it will end up being a fantastic card to start off the new year. With one title fight already lined up, we could be getting a second at 170-pounds. It’s no secret that UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and interim champion Colby Covington do not like each other and are on a crash course to meet one another inside the Octagon at some point. It’s just a matter of when.

Drake Riggs - November 14, 2018

2019 looks to be the biggest year yet for the UFC, and historically, for good reason. It will be the start of a new era as the ESPN deal begins. Looking back on things, it’s easy to forget how big and different the transition from Spike TV to Fox felt, but it was, in fact, a hell of difference comparatively. It will interesting to see how different things are with this upcoming transition as the UFC goes from their $120 million per year deal with Fox, to their five year $1.5 billion deal with ESPN.

Drake Riggs - November 14, 2018

UFC lightweight champion Khabib ‘The Eagles’ Nurmagomedov’s popularity has reached new heights since his big win at UFC 229, and now he’s ready to share an in-depth side of his journey. Yesterday, the champion announced that his new autobiography titled ‘Khabib Time’ will be releasing soon. It will come out in Moscow, Russia later this month. (Translation by RT)

Drake Riggs - November 14, 2018

View this post on Instagram

Tom Taylor - November 14, 2018

The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has handed UFC veteran Cody McKenzie a hefty, four-year suspension for refusing to take a drug test, and then submitting fraudulent urine in said test. McKenzie did not appear at the commission’s hearing, which likely didn’t help his case.

Tom Taylor - November 14, 2018

Conor McGregor has shared glasses of his new Proper No. Twelve with a number of celebrities over the last few weeks, but he won’t be offering any to his recent opponents Floyd Mayweather or Khabib Nurmagomedov. During a recent interview with Entrepreneur.com, the Irish star was asked which of these two former opponents he’d prefer to share a glass of whiskey with, and his answer was a decisive ‘neither.’

Tom Taylor - November 14, 2018

Rising UFC bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley has been handed a 6-month suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) for failing a United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug test administered ahead of his cancelled UFC 229 fight, per MMAjunkie. O’Malley received a reduced suspension on the basis of his cooperation with the commission, and because he accepted responsibility for his failed test. In addition to his suspension, he will reportedly have to pay $472.42 in costs and fees.

Tom Taylor - November 14, 2018

Israel Adesanya looks more and more like a future UFC middleweight title challenger with every passing fight. In fact, after his UFC 230 execution of long-time contender Derek Brunson, his fighting for the title in the near future looks less like a likelihood and more like a downright certainty. The UFC middleweight title is currently held by Australia’s Robert Whittaker. Provided Whittaker defeats his next challenger Kelvin Gastelum, who he’ll meet at UFC 234 in late January, he could easily find himself locked in the cage with the Nigerian Kiwi Israel Adesanya soon thereafter.

James Lynch - November 14, 2018

Less than a year after he was released from the UFC, Louis Smolka is back with the Las Vegas based promotion on a short-notice opportunity. The Hawaiian returns to action on Nov. 24 against newcomer Sumudaerji Sumudaerji at UFC Fight Night 141 in Beijing, China. MMAJunkie confirmed the matchup on Tuesday.

Tom Taylor - November 14, 2018

On November 24, former UFC light heavyweight champs Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will step into the cage together for a third time. In the buildup to this fight, we’ve seen snippets of both men’s preparations. Unfortunately, the footage we’ve seen of the 48-year-old Liddell’s training has generated quite a bit of controversy.

Tom Taylor - November 14, 2018

On Tuesday afternoon in West Hollywood, California, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell partook in an open workout ahead of his polarizing trilogy fight with Tito Ortiz. Unfortunately for him, the ever outspoken Ortiz was in the building for this media event, and he did not keep quiet.

Tom Taylor - November 14, 2018

If you ask UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is probably the best heavyweight in MMA history. Rogan got talking about Velasquez, and what makes him so special, after a discussion about the ideal weight for a heavyweight mixed martial artist on The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast. “There’s a thought with the 265-pound weight class and the consensus thought seems to be that somewhere around 240 pounds is the magic number,” Joe Rogan said of Cain Velasquez (transcript via MMA Fighting). “That’s what they think. They think that 240 pounds is the amount of weight that you have where you’re strong enough that you can knock out any man but you have more endurance than a man that maybe weighs 265 or heavier and cuts down to 265. Now this has not been substantiated. The problem is, there hasn’t been a super powerful world championship athlete that weighed 265 pounds…

Christopher Taylor - November 14, 2018

Joe Rogan believes that there is only one man who deserves the next shot at current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. According to the longtime UFC commentator, Tony Ferguson is the obvious choice to be the next man to challenge “The Eagle”.

Drake Riggs - November 13, 2018

Better late than never. Fights taking place in the state of Nevada will now be contested under the new unified rules of MMA. According to MMAFighting, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) approved the adoption of the new rules this past month.

Drake Riggs - November 13, 2018

Fedor was the strongest, Jon Jones was the most dynamic, and Anderson Silva was the… pic.twitter.com/CpDcVVI2NG — Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) November 13, 2018