MMA News

Drake Riggs - June 28, 2018

The fight fallouts continue, unfortunately. The day after we lost out on Justin Gaethje vs Al Iaquinta, we’ve lost another fun fight. A highly anticipated welterweight scrap was set to take place at UFC 226 on July 7th between Mike Perry and Yancy Medeiros. MMAJunkie has now reported that Medeiros is out of the fight due to a rib injury and the UFC is now in search of a replacement.

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2018

UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker felt that Yoel Romero changed quite significantly between their first and second fights. According to Whittaker, Romero felt more or less normal when they first fought, and more like “metal” or “concrete” when they met for a second time at UFC 225 earlier this month. “When I was punching and kicking him [at UFC 225] he felt like metal — like a dude made out of concrete, it was a ridiculous,” Whittaker said on Grange TV.  “I fought him a year ago, and he didn’t feel like concrete. Not like that.”

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2018

If you look at Stephen Thompson’s recent record, you will see he’s recently fought Tyron Woodley to a draw, given up a decision in a rematch with Woodley, and given up a decision to Darren Till. In the eyes of some fans — and of course Thompson’s team — he should have won all of those fights. In order to avoid disappointing judges’ decisions going forward, Thompson says he plans to adjust his fighting style in an effort to improve his chances of scoring a stoppage.

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2018

The year 2018 has not been particularly kind to UFC lightweight contender Paul Felder. After a strong 2017 campaign, Felder looked to kickstart the new year with an April showdown with ranked lightweight contender Al Iaquinta. The bout was supposed to occur at UFC 223. Unfortunately for Felder, Iaquinta got the call to step in against Khabib Nurmagomedov in the card’s last-minute minute main event. And just like that, he was without a fight. His first bout of 2018 had been deferred indefinitely.

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2018

From the sounds of it, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell will in fact fight for a third time. Speaking on Submission Radio this week, Ortiz divulged that he’s in shape, and that he’s just waiting for Liddell to sign his contract. “I’ve bounced back faster than I expected, which is great,” Ortiz said (transcribed by Jim Edwards for MMANytt). “But I feel good, man, I’m anxious. I’m just waiting on Chuck Liddell’s side to kind of sign the contract, get this done. So, it’s just a matter of time.”

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2018

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, who retired in the cage after a November, 2016 decision loss to future title challenger Raquel Pennington, says the door on her fighting career is not 100% closed. That said, the former champ and new Mom doesn’t expect to ever compete again. She explained why on MMA Tonight on SiriusXM Rush. “I’m open ended in every part of my life,” Tate said (transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting). “There’s never a time where I really think that a door is 100% closed because there was a time where if somebody would have asked me if I want kids, I would have said ‘I don’t think so. I don’t think I want kids.’

Drake Riggs - June 27, 2018

Well, the search for Justin Gaethje’s new UFC Lincoln opponent didn’t last long. Late Wednesday night it was reported that Al Iaquinta had pulled out of his upcoming main event bout with the former WSOF champion, Gaethje that was set to take place on August 25th.

Drake Riggs - June 27, 2018

Off then on and now off again apparently for good, UFC Lincoln is in need of a new main event and opponent for ‘The Highlight’ Justin Gaethje. The former WSOF lightweight king, Gaethje and The Ultimate Fighter 15 finalist, Al Iaquinta were scheduled to square off in UFC Lincoln’s headliner on August 25th. The uber fan-friendly will now have to be put on hold as ESPN is reporting that Iaquinta has pulled out of the fight for undisclosed reasons.

Thomas Taylor - June 27, 2018

https://youtu.be/wJQXthr_4F8 Over the course of her Hall-of-Fame worthy UFC career, Ronda Rousey appeared in dozens of commercials for a range of brands and products. Now that she’s making her living as a WWE superstar, she’s bound to get a whole new procession of commercial gigs — like the one at the top of this post.

Thomas Taylor - June 27, 2018

Earlier this week, on the debut episode of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans announced his retirement from the sport of MMA. On Wednesday afternoon, the former champ and UFC legend issued a lengthy and thoughtful statement to Instagram, detailing his decision-making process, and looking back on his time in the sport.

Drake Riggs - June 27, 2018

The MMA world was hit with a big retirement from a legend and former UFC champion earlier this week. Now we’ve been hit with another. Unfortunately, the story of Johny Hendricks’ wild career may be more remembered for his rapid decline after losing his title via a controversial decision. However, what he did before that can’t be forgotten.

Tom Taylor - June 27, 2018

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is now a Bellator fighter. Bellator middleweight champ Gegard Mousasi, who lost to Machida in 2014, thinks he knows why. Mousasi believes Machida has abandoned the UFC in hopes that the drug-testing will be less stringent in Bellator.

Tom Taylor - June 27, 2018

If Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager Ali Abdelaziz is to be believed, Conor McGregor is running low on dough. Speaking to TMZ Sports this week, Abdelaziz claimed that the Irish star is running out of money, which is why he’s “agreed” to fight Nurmagomedov.

Tom Taylor - June 27, 2018

We already know that former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida’s Bellator career will unfurl in both the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions. Apparently, however, Machida’s multi-divisional ambition might carry him all the way to the Bellator heavyweight division, where he could even battle MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko. According to Bellator boss Scott Coker, this is a fight Lyoto Machida has actually asked or. And depending on how Emelianenko’s involvement in the Bellator heavyweight Grand Prix shakes out, it’s a fight that could actually happen. Machida might also find himself in the cage with the winner of Gegard Mousasi and Rory MacDonald’s September 29 middleweight title fight.

Tom Taylor - June 27, 2018

https://youtu.be/cnqoc1xlkDY UFC 226 is, without any exaggeration, the biggest card of the year so far.

Tom Taylor - June 27, 2018

Alexander Gustafsson’s claim to the next UFC light heavyweight title shot is pretty much undeniable. Unfortunately for the towering Swede, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is in the midst of a sojourn up to the heavyweight division, where he will challenge Stipe Miocic for gold at UFC 226. In other words, there’s currently no light heavyweight champion available for Gustafsson to fight. From the sounds of it, the UFC is now hoping Gustafsson will take another fight before he contends for the light heavyweight title. Though the Swedish contender has stated he plans to be ready to step in and replace Cormier or Miocic in the event of an injury, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto is reporting that the UFC hopes to have Gustafsson fight at UFC 227 on August 4 in Los Angeles.

Drake Riggs - June 26, 2018

Wanderlei on Chael’s chances in the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix. pic.twitter.com/sodJqI4au0 — Bad Guy MMA (@BadGuyMMA) June 26, 2018

Drake Riggs - June 26, 2018

Now that the Rose Namajunas vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk saga is over, for now anyway, the division must move on! And it appears to be making its first steps. A fight between top strawweight contenders, Jessica Andrade and Karolina Kowalkiewicz that was originally slated to be taking place at UFC on Fox 28 in February…clearly did not happen.