MMA News

Tom Taylor - September 5, 2018

On October 6, in the main event of UFC 229, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor will return to the Octagon for a blockbuster showdown with undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. What the future holds for McGregor after this fight, however, is quite difficult to say. Speaking on the latest episode of the Eurobash podcast, Conor McGregor’s coach Owen Roddy discussed the Irish star’s fighting future, and whether he might retire after battling Nurmagomedov.

Tom Taylor - September 5, 2018

Sage Northcutt is a free agent. That means that the long-time UFC fighter can now field offers from other promotions, and if he receives an offer he likes, he can sign on the dotted line. While Northcutt is hopeful he’ll re-sign with the UFC, he’s not opposed to moving to Bellator MMA if the promotion makes him the right offer. He’s seen fighters like Rory MacDonald and Lyoto Machida move their recently, so he knows things are obviously quite good for those employed by the Viacom-owned MMA promotion.

Tom Taylor - September 5, 2018

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz have worked together for several years, serving as MMA analysts on Fox Sports. Apparently, their work nights occasionally end with trips to the bar, and one of these nights out nearly ended with them coming to blows. Spoiler: their was tequila involved. The pair discussed this near-skirmish on an episode of Bisping’s podcast Believe You Me.

Drake Riggs - September 5, 2018

With plenty of stellar matchups on the horizon, another one in the lightweight division has been made for the UFC’s final show on primetime Fox. After finding himself on the receiving end of two incredibly one-sided beatdowns, perennial top 10 contender Edson Barboza (19-6) is ready to try and rebound. But he’ll have to do so against one of the hungriest rising contenders in the division who has more than enough momentum to ride at the moment.

Tom Taylor - September 4, 2018

Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier’s latest social media beef continues to pick up steam. This latest skirmish began when Jon Jones divulged that he hopes to fight Daniel Cormier twice more before all is said and done: once to reclaim the light heavyweight title, and once to swipe Cormier’s new heavyweight belt.

Tom Taylor - September 4, 2018

A tidal wave of drama has hit the famous JacksonWink MMA gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This drama began when Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, a long-time JacksonWink fighter, cut ties with the gym amid beef with its coaches and disappointment with their choice to train his upcoming opponent Mike Perry. The beef reached new heights when Diego Sanchez, another JacksonWink staple, jumped to the gym’s defense, challenging Cerrone’s claims and even expressing interest in a fight with him.

Tom Taylor - September 4, 2018

Curtis Blaydes has earned a shot at UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier. His recent dominations of Mark Hunt and Alistair Overeem make that pretty much undeniable. Unfortunately for Blaydes, the UFC has opted to give the next heavyweight title shot to Brock Lesnar, who has not legitimately won a fight since he choked out Shane Carwin in 2010. When it was first announced that Lesnar would get the next heavyweight title shot, Curtis Blaydes was not happy. He did not hide his disappointment either, venting frequently on social media. 

Tom Taylor - September 4, 2018

UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker’s last two fights — both of which pitted him against Yoel Romero — have been absolute wars. In these fights, both he and Romero sustained incredible amounts of punishment, yet they both somehow managed to survive to the final bell each time. In the opinion of Kelvin Gastelum, who served as a coach opposite Robert Whittaker on the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter, and will battle the champion sometime in the new year, Whittaker might not be the same after these wars with Romero. Gastelum opined on this topic at a July media scrum.

Tom Taylor - September 4, 2018

If former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has his way, his current USADA situation will soon be squared away, and he’ll fight his arch rival Daniel Cormier two more times: once to reclaim the light heavyweight belt, and once to capture the heavyweight title. “My vision is fighting him at light heavyweight first,” Jones said of Daniel Cormier in a recent interview with RT Sport (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I think that beating him a third time would really do something to his confidence. In his head, I feel like he thinks he can still beat me, especially because the fight was going fairly well until I knocked him out. I want to crush his confidence…

Tom Taylor - September 4, 2018

Over the last year or so, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has attempted to set up fights with major MMA stars, calling out Georges St-Pierre, Nate Diaz, and Michael Bisping. Unfortunately for him, none of these lucrative contests have come together. Having tried and failed to set up these big opportunities, Tyron Woodley now says he’s done with callouts. His priority instead is on dominating whoever is put in front of him.

Drake Riggs - September 4, 2018

When fighters find themselves embroiled in heated rivalries, they forever end up intertwined with one another. Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier are no exceptions to that. The history between the two is clear yet ugly all at the same time. Jones was the once ruler of the 205-pound division but due to his own doing, he no longer is able to compete as actively as we expected him to be doing so from 2015 to now.

Drake Riggs - September 3, 2018

September is kicking off a fantastic stretch of MMA action to close out the year. With Summer about to leave us…winter is coming! And with that comes just about too much action to keep track of. So let’s see what’s lined up.

Tom Taylor - September 3, 2018

For many years, Luke Rockhold was one of the most visible and successful fighters training out of American Kickboxing Academy, and a crucial training partner to both Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez. Over the last year or so, however, Rockhold has done much of his training elsewhere. The former middleweight champion even did some training at Combat Club in Florida at a time when Volkan Oezdemir was using the gym to prepare for a fight with Cormier. All the same, you will not be hearing of any drama between Luke Rockhold and American Kickboxing Academy.

Tom Taylor - September 3, 2018

Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Jon Jones recently stated that Chael Sonnen, one of the most infamous trash talkers in MMA, really isn’t actually all that good at trash talking. “I think Chael Sonnen is the worst trash talker,” Jones told Russia’s Разрешите вас перебить recently, comparing Sonnen’s trash talk to that of Conor McGregor (via MMAjunkie). “Just because a lot of the stuff he says is gibberish. Conor McGregor, when he talks trash, there’s a lot of truth behind what he’s saying.”

Tom Taylor - September 3, 2018

On the main card of UFC 229, which goes down on October 6 in Las Vegas, Nevada, surging UFC light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes will take on the biggest test of his impressive career thus far as he battles former interim title challenger Ovince Saint Preux. Later on the same card, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor will make his long-awaited return to the cage as he attempts to reclaim the lightweight belt from reigning champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. If there is one thing Conor McGregor is known for, it’s his thunderous left hand. The Irish MMA star has put countless men down with this punch, and will seek to do the same against Nurmagomedov.

Tom Taylor - September 3, 2018

This weekend, in the main event of UFC 228, undefeated Brit Darren Till will attempt to swipe the UFC welterweight title from the waist of reigning champion Tyron Woodley. From the sounds of it, this could be one of Till’s final fights in the welterweight division. Though Till assures he will defend the title if he wins it at UFC 228, he also admits that a move to the 185-pound middleweight division is probably inevitable.

Tom Taylor - September 3, 2018

Bevon Lewis, who recently earned a UFC contract with a first-round drubbing of Alton Cunningham on Dana Whites’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, could be getting a huge test for his UFC debut. BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor is reporting that a bout between Bevon Lewis and long-time middleweight contender Uriah Hall is in the works for UFC 232, which goes down on December 29 in Las Vegas. I'm told that a matchup between Uriah Hall and Bevon Lewis is in the works for #UFC232.

Tom Taylor - September 3, 2018

Over the last few weeks, Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor’s beef has heated back up, as the undefeated boxer and Irish MMA superstar have exchanged a bit of trash talk on Twitter. These recent skirmishes have Floyd Mayweather’s father believing that Mayweather and McGregor will fight again. In his eyes, Conor McGregor is probably eager for the opportunity to try to avenge his 2017 loss to Mayweather.