MMA News

Drake Riggs - July 20, 2018

“I’m in, man [to fill in at UFC 227 for Volkan Oezdemir]. I got a pretty tall task ahead of me, ya know, with [Mauricio] ‘Shogun’ [Rua]. But if it goes well and I get out of there uninjured, I have no problem leaving here and going straight to LA. I’m in.

Tom Taylor - July 20, 2018

Speaking on a recent episode of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, former World Series of Fighting champ Justin Gaethje said that he will consider retiring from MMA if he’s outclassed by James Vick in the main event of UFC Lincoln on August 25. “I’m so much better than James Vick,” Gaethje said. “It sucks to say it, but if I was to go out there and get outclassed by James Vick, I’d have to hang them up.”

Tom Taylor - July 20, 2018

Earlier this week, the welterweight division was thrust into chaos. Reports surfaced that the UFC was contemplating a title fight between champion Tyron Woodley and undefeated contender Darren Till, and simultaneously stripping Colby Covington of the UFC interim welterweight title. The cause of all this, it was said, was Covington’s inability to fight Woodley at UFC 228 in September.  Well, from the sounds of it, things have gotten even more complicated since then.

Tom Taylor - July 20, 2018

Israel Adesanya has an opponent in mind for his next fight. And no, it’s not Paulo Costa. Instead, Adesanya is eyeing a fight with former UFC middleweight champion and MMA GOAT contender Anderson Silva.

Tom Taylor - July 20, 2018

UFC President Dana White threw one hell of a 16th birthday party for his son Aidan. This party, which went down at Drai’s in Las Vegas, was populated by throngs of Aidan’s friends, and featured performances from A$AP Rocky, Migos, DJ Carnage, and of course, Dana White’s buddy in Everlast — surely a huge favorite among today’s teens.

Tom Taylor - July 20, 2018

Last night, The Professional Fighters League (PFL) took over the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York with PFL 4. This action-packed event featured the final regular season bouts for PFL’s heavyweight and featherweight divisions, meaning that seven fighters in both of these weight classes have now clinched playoffs spots. These fighters will meet in the playoffs later this year, with the winner capturing the divisional championship and a $1 million dollar payday.

Tom Taylor - July 20, 2018

Curtis Blaydes is arguably the top contender in the UFC heavyweight division. Unfortunately for him, it looks like the next shot at reigning heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier will go to former champion Brock Lesnar. Blaydes has previously shared his disappointment with Lesnar’s cutting the contendership line. That being said, he’s starting to get used to this sort of treatment.

Drake Riggs - July 20, 2018

After struggling to find an agreeable date to fight on, it appears that Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and David Branch have found their common ground. ESPN has reported that the two top 10 middleweight contenders have now agreed to fight at UFC 230 in Madison Square Garden on November 3rd.

Drake Riggs - July 19, 2018

At UFC 226, Daniel Cormier’s longtime American Kickboxing Academy teammate Luke Rockhold was about as close to the post-fight aftermath that one could be without actually being in it. The aftermatch following Cormier’s big title win over Stipe Miocic was, of course, that of his encounter with former UFC champion and WWE star Brock Lesnar.

Tom Taylor - July 19, 2018

Long absent former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has been training at the WWE Performance Center. Velasquez shared some shots from his efforts at the WWE facility on Instagram.

Tom Taylor - July 19, 2018

The UFC welterweight division has suddenly been consumed by chaos. According to a report from ESPN, the UFC is considering stripping interim welterweight champion Colby Covington of his title, and promoting an undisputed title fight between champ Tyron Woodley and challenger Darren Till. This report from ESPN follows some strange Tweets from Till last night, in which he told Woodley to “accept the fight,” and claimed Covington was “out.”

Tom Taylor - July 19, 2018

UFC 227 has taken a major hit. Swiss light heavyweight contender Volkan Oezdemir has been forced out of his main card collision with Swedish star Alexander Gustafsson with an injury. This per ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.

Tom Taylor - July 19, 2018

Last weekend, on the undercard of UFC Boise, Australian featherweight contender Alexander Volkanovski picked up the biggest win of his career thus far, dominating the durable Darren Elkins to a lopsided unanimous decision win. In the moments after this win, Volkanovski said that he’d like to fight Chad Mendes next, so long as Mendes defeated Myles Jury on the UFC Boise main card.

Tom Taylor - July 19, 2018

UFC Moscow officially has a main event. The September 15 card, which marks the UFC’s long-awaited debut in Russia, will be headlined by a heavyweight contender bout between legendary knockout artist Mark Hunt and submission savant Alexey Oleynik. This bout was first reported by MMA Team Dagestan many weeks ago, and has now been made official by the UFC.

Tom Taylor - July 19, 2018

Earlier this month, we learned that the first semifinal bout of Bellator’s action-packed Heavyweight Grand Prix will go down on October 12, when reigning light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader battles Matt Mitrione at Bellator 205 in Uncasville, Conn. As it turns out, the second semifinal bout will occur the very next night, as Fedor Emelianenko and Chael Sonnen are set to battle on October 13 inside Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum. This news was first reported by Newsday.

Tom Taylor - July 19, 2018

Yesterday, we learned that the United States Anti-Doping Agency had determined that Anderson Silva’s recent failed drug test had been due to a tainted supplement, and that he’d been handed a one-year suspension for his ingesting this supplement. This suspension is retroactive to October, 2017, which means Silva will be able to fight again this October. As always, Silva will have plenty of interesting options in terms of opponents for his anticipated return to the cage. Perhaps the most compelling option of all, of course, would be his long-time rival Georges St-Pierre.

Drake Riggs - July 19, 2018

Just when we think that the welterweight division has a clear path to move forward on atop the title scene, a wrench potentially could have been thrown in the mix. At UFC 225 early last month, Colby Covington captured interim UFC welterweight gold when he defeated the former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos by unanimous decision.

Drake Riggs - July 18, 2018

With the UFC’s upcoming pay-per-view events beyond UFC 227 lacking headliners, we’re bound to be getting some big announcements any day now. A sign for which champions these announcements could include includes the likes of new lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov who recently told Tass that he has begun his next training camp.