MMA News

Tom Taylor - July 18, 2018

According to an Instagram post from Russian MMA powerhouse M-1 Global, the promotion has signed a deal with The Ultimate Fighting Championship. Apparently, this deal will give M-1 Challenge champions the opportunity to sign with the UFC. From the sounds of it, this deal will also see M-1 scout talent for the UFC.

Tom Taylor - July 18, 2018

“Platinum” Mike Perry and “Super” Sage Northcutt are two of the most interesting characters in MMA. They’re also two of the most exciting fighters in the game. Based on those reasons alone, it’s easy to understand why people want to see them fight. The buildup to the fight would be massively entertaining, and the fight itself would probably be even better. Furthermore, the fight actually makes quite a bit of sense right now. After a few fights at lightweight, Northcutt has settled in the welterweight division — the division Perry calls home — where he recently delivered a big knockout win over Zak Ottow. Perry, meanwhile, is riding high on a bloody decision win over Paul Felder.

Tom Taylor - July 18, 2018

Yesterday evening, we learned that former UFC middleweight star Chris Leben will return to action this fall when he battles fellow UFC veteran Phil Baroni in a bareknuckle boxing bout. The fight will be promoted by the upstart World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation (WBKFF) in Casper, Wyoming. This is not Leben’s first attempt at a comeback. Several years ago, the UFC vet was expected to start competing under the Bellator banner. Unfortunately for him, these plans were derailed when it was learned that he had a severe heart condition.

Tom Taylor - July 18, 2018

Yesterday afternoon, at a press conference in New York City, Bellator President Scott Coker announced the names of the fighters competing in Bellator’s anticipated welterweight Grand Prix. Yet there was one name that seemed to be missing: Paul Daley. Though Coker assured that he was working on getting Daley involved in the tournament — perhaps even as alternate — he could not confirm the British knockout artist’s involvement at the time.

Drake Riggs - July 17, 2018

May the MMA Gods answer our prayer! With Bellator featherweight champion Julia Budd’s continued success and solidification as the second best 145 to ever do it, the question that comes with such always becomes, ‘what’s next?’.

Drake Riggs - July 17, 2018

Bellator 204 is just a month away and the full card is starting to shape up. BJPenn.com’s own Drake Riggs confirmed today that a showdown between featherweight prospects Tywan Claxton and Cris “Sunshine” Williams has been added to the main card which takes place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Drake Riggs - July 17, 2018

Last month we were treated to several big-name retirements ranging from the likes of Rashad Evans, Johny Hendricks, and Josh Koscheck. Mid-way through this month…we’re getting an unretirement.

Drake Riggs - July 17, 2018

One of the most discussed decisions of the year took place at the UFC’s first visit to Liverpool, England and many believe that the wrong man won. The fight in reference is the main event which pitted top welterweight strikers Darren Till against the two-time title challenger Stephen Thompson.

Tom Taylor - July 17, 2018

UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg was hoping to defend her title opposite Amanda Nunes at UFC 228 this September 8. Unfortunately for Cyborg, Nunes is hoping the fight will occur at UFC 232 on December 29. Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show this week, Nunes explained why she’d prefer that this fight occur later on in the year.

Tom Taylor - July 17, 2018

Earlier this summer, Bellator MMA announced plans for an eight-man welterweight tournament, much like the heavyweight Grand Prix the organization is currently promoting. At the time, the details of his eight-man tournament were scarce. While Bellator Scott Coker suggested many of Bellator’s big-name welterweights would be involved, it was not clear who exactly.

Tom Taylor - July 17, 2018

The official UFC rankings have been updated in the wake of last Saturday’s exciting UFC Boise card. The biggest changes in these latest UFC rankings occurred at featherweight, where the long-absent Chad Mendes re-entered the top-15 after his UFC Boise win over Myles Jury, and Alexander Volkanovski made his long-awaited debut in the rankings after his domination of Darren Elkins.

Tom Taylor - July 17, 2018

UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw believes that another win over Cody “No Love” Garbrandt, who he knocked out at UFC 217 in November, will solidify his status the best bantamweight ever. “It puts me at the top [of the list as the all-time greatest bantamweight],” Dillashaw said on the latest episode of The MMA Hour (transcribed by Peter Carroll for MMA Fighting). “I know I’m the best bantamweight ever. I’ve got a split decision loss to Dominick Cruz and that changed everything — a fight that I thought I won. That changed everything, but I am the best bantamweight in the world.”

Tom Taylor - July 17, 2018

Daniel Cormier, who now owns the UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight titles, recently stated that he’d like to squeeze in a light heavyweight title defense before he defends his heavyweight title against Brock Lesnar in the new year. Specifically, Cormier is interested in defending his light heavyweight belt against former champion and MMA legend Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Shogun, of course, is scheduled for a fight with the extremely dangerous Anthony Smith this weekend, yet Cormier didn’t mention Smith’s name. Initially, Smith was pretty disappointed with the way Cormier ignored him, but now, he feels as though Cormier has added to the stakes of his fight with Shogun

Tom Taylor - July 17, 2018

UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is a sought-after man. After being called out by Stipe Miocic, Yoel Romero, Anthony Smith, and more, he’s now been called out by surging light heavyweight talent Ilir Latifi. The Swedish behemoth made his callout of Cormier on Instagram over the weekend. He’s hoping to battle the champ when the UFC returns to New York City’s Madison Square Garden this November.

Tom Taylor - July 17, 2018

Both UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former champ Conor McGregor were in attendance at Sunday’s FIFA World Cup Final in Russia. Given that the pair have repeatedly been linked to a blockbuster title fight, and that there is a long history of heated confrontations between them, many fans were hoping they’d cross paths. After all, what better way to expedite fight negotiations than a little skirmish? In the end, however, Nurmagomedov and McGregor did not meet in Russia. And according to Khabib Nurmagomedov, that was probably for the best. Though the Russian star expected to see the Irishman in the stadium, he doesn’t feel a meeting under those circumstances would be fruitful.

Drake Riggs - July 17, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s52H5IHxZUY “There’s a reason [that] after I launched that tweet, that Instagram comment… There’s a reason why I had…I mean tons of fighters reach out to me. Tons of UFC employees reach out to me. Tons of employees from Reebok reach out to me, former fighters, media members. Why do you think that is? Cause everyone’s thinkin’ this: [Dana White] motivates by fear. That’s not a way to run a business. That’s not the way to do things, it’s 2018. You just can’t do that.

Drake Riggs - July 16, 2018

If you love something, let it go…or wait for its contract to expire. The seemingly never-ending civil war between UFC featherweight champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino and the UFC rages on.

Drake Riggs - July 16, 2018

UFC 226 was full of great fights. With the exception of one of the most anticipated ones not panning out at all how we expected. That fight being, of course, the heavyweight clash between usual knockout artists, Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou.