MMA News

Tom Taylor - September 19, 2018

In the past, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has attempted to set up lucrative showdowns with UFC stars like Conor McGregor, Georges St-Pierre, Michael Bisping, and Nick and Nate Diaz. Unfortunately for Woodley, none of these stars have taken the bait, and he thinks he knows why. In terms of fighters such as St-Pierre, Tyron Woodley thinks he is simply too risky of an opponent.

Tom Taylor - September 19, 2018

Last Saturday, on the UFC Moscow card, middleweight veteran CB Dollaway stepped into the cage with Russia’s Khalid Murtazaliev. The fight got tremendously ugly for the American. Toward the end of round two, CB Dollaway found himself in bottom position, absorbing a meteor shower of ground strikes unleashed by Murtazaliev. Before long, it became clear that Dollaway was in danger, as he absorbed repeated blows to the head, and failed to adequately defend himself. Despite this grim scene, referee Herb Dean did not stop the fight. Instead, he let the round end, at which point an exhausted, barely-conscious CB Dollaway essentially had to peeled off the canvas.

Tom Taylor - September 19, 2018

On October 6, in the main event of UFC 229, former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor will attempt to steal the lightweight belt from reigning champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov, of course, is one of the best grapplers in mixed martial arts. He might be the sport’s best grappler period. So, if Conor McGregor is going to take his title, he’s going to need to be well prepared.

Tom Taylor - September 19, 2018

When fighters make their UFC debuts, they’re generally given opponents of similar experience levels. This will not be the case for featherweight prospect Bobby Moffett (13-3). Shortly after earning himself a UFC contract with an impressive D’arce choke win on an August episode of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, Moffett was matched up with Chas Skelly (17-3), who is already nine fights into his UFC career. The pair will meet when the UFC returns to Denver, Colorado on November 10. While this fight with Chas Skelly represents an uncharacteristically tough test for a debuting fighter, Bobby Moffett is looking forward to the challenge.

Tom Taylor - September 19, 2018

Ever since UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley defended his title with a second-round submission Darren Till on September 8, former interim champion Colby Covington has been calling him out for a title fight at UFC 230 on November 3. Apparently, Tyron Woodley is happy to accept Colby Covington’s challenge, so long as doctors give him the all-clear first.

Cole Shelton - September 19, 2018

Devin Clark’s path to the UFC involved getting noticed on the reality show ‘Dana White Looking for a Fight,’ where he won the RFA Light Heavyweight Championship. Since that moment where White announced he was going to sign the South Dakota native, Clark has had aspirations to capture the UFC light heavyweight title. Clark lost his first fight in the UFC, but then went on a roll and won back-to-back fights by unanimous decision before getting his toughest test in Jan Blachowicz. Unfortunately, Clark got submitted by Blachowicz in this fight, but he’s since rebounded with a decision win over Mike Rodriguez, which occurred at UFC 223 in April.

Tom Taylor - September 19, 2018

On December 29, in the main event of UFC 232, UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg will attempt to defend her title against UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. Ahead of this fight, Cyborg has had some choice words for her opponent. In her latest verbal volley, Cris Cyborg referred to Amanda Nunes as a “traitor” for failing to properly represent Brazil — and for training at American Top Team, alongside Colby Covington, who has repeatedly disrespected the country of Brazil.

Drake Riggs - September 18, 2018

There has been little to no promotion for the “biggest fight in UFC history” outside of the commercials or little hype videos here and there. But on Thursday we’ll be getting the first meeting between the men in the main event since the fight has been made official. The first UFC 229 promotional press conference will go down on Thursday and both the lightweight UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former champion Conor McGregor will be in attendance.

Drake Riggs - September 18, 2018

Bellator has officially won the race to Hawaii as their first event in the aloha state will take place on December 15 for Bellator 210. There was only one choice for a headliner when it came to the event and that was Bellator’s biggest Hawaiian star and just one of their biggest stars in general, their flyweight champion “The Ilimanator” Ilima-Lei Macfarlane.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

Shortly after winning the UFC flyweight title with a historic decision defeat of long-time champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, Henry Cejudo jumped on a plane to Russia to enjoy the festivities of the promotion’s UFC Moscow card. As most UFC champions would on such a trip, he toted along his UFC belt. Unfortunately, the airline lost his luggage, which meant that he lost his belt. Given that Henry Cejudo had already lost his Olympic gold medal in a house fire, this incident was particularly wild.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

Originally, British light heavyweight contender Jimi Manuwa was expected to battle former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Glover Teixeira in the main event of this Saturday’s UFC Sao Paulo card. Teixeira was then forced out of the fight with an injury, and replaced by middleweight contender Thiago Santos, who planned to move up a division to fight Manuwa. Unfortunately, that’s not where the trouble ended for the Jimi Manuwa. Days after he arrived in Brazil, he sustained a serious leg injury while sprinting and was ultimately forced out of the cursed card’s main event as a result. Thiago Santos will now battle last-minute replacement Eryk Anders in Manuwa’s stead.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is now a Bellator fighter. The Brazilian legend will make his promotional debut this December, when Bellator touches down in Hawaii, where he will take on former middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho. Having worked with both the UFC and Bellator, Lyoto Machida has some interesting insight into the differences between the two massive MMA promotions. The main thing he’s noticed so far is that Bellator’s top decision-makers are much more accessible than those of the UFC.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

Having dispatched Darren Till with a D’arce choke at UFC 228 earlier this month, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley can now look forward to a huge showdown with his arch rival Colby Covington. Although this Tyron Woodley vs. Colby Covington fight is not official yet, it is possible that the UFC schedules it for the main event of UFC 230, a massive card that goes down on November 3 inside New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

It’s sounding more and more likely that former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk will move up to the flyweight division to battle Valentina Shevchenko for the division’s vacant title. Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday, Joanna Jedrzejczyk divulged that there’s a strong chance the fight happens this year.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

The UFC’s return to Sao Paulo, which goes down on Saturday, September 22, has been absolutely decimated by fight cancellations. The latest blow to this UFC Sao Paulo card occurred when welterweight fighter Belal Muhammad was forced out of his fight with Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. This news comes was first reported by Combate. Per Combate’s report, Muhammad, who sustained an undisclosed injury, will be replaced by promotion newcomer Luigi Vendramini, who steps in on mere days’ notice. The 22 year-old-Brazilian is 7-0, and will have his hands full against the streaking finisher dos Santos, who is 19-5 overall.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2018

The mixed martial arts world took a major blow to the heart this evening when it was announced that legendary Japanese fighter Kid Yamamoto had passed away at the age of 41. Back on August 26, 2018, “Kid” announced on social media that he was battling cancer.

Cole Shelton - September 17, 2018

UFC Hall-of-Famer B.J. Penn will return to the Octagon for the first time since June of 2017 at December’s UFC 232 event in Las Vegas. Penn will be up against Ryan Hall, who won The Ultimate Fighter 22 and has not fought in the UFC since December 2016. The fight will take place at 155-pounds (lightweight), meaning both Penn and Hall will be moving up from their most recent home of featherweight for this fight.

Drake Riggs - September 17, 2018

After two very smartly fought title defending performances, a necessary shoulder surgery led to the brief break of about a year for the UFC’s welterweight champion. Once he returned, it was time to remind all the doubters how skilled that he truly is. And he did just that. Of course, the champion in reference is “The Chosen One” Tyron Woodley. Despite those two title defenses that followed his draw with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in their first encounter, fans and pundits alike still didn’t seem all too sold on the reigning champion. It just further showed going into his recent defense against Darren Till as Woodley was once again the betting underdog.