MMA News

Tom Taylor - July 5, 2018

Last night, UFC 226 was dealt a crippling blow as featherweight champ Max Holloway was forced out of his co-main event featherweight title fight with challenger Brian Ortega. Holloway was pulled from the card, which goes down Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, with “concussion-like symptoms.” “Max’s team and UFC staff noticed Max was not normal since late last week,” Holloway’s management told MMAjunkie shortly after this unfortunate news was broken by ESPN. “This became obvious to many watching his interviews and public appearances the past few days.

Tom Taylor - July 5, 2018

Tomorrow night, the winners of The Ultimate Fighter 27 will be crowned, as Joe Giannetti battles Mike Trizano in the lightweight division, and Jay Cucciniello takes on Brad Katona at featherweight. This TUF 27 Finale card will be headlined by a middleweight bout between surging prospect Israel Adesanya, and established Hawaiian contender Brad Tavares. On Thursday afternoon, Tavares, Adesanya, Gianneti, Trizano, Cucciniello, Katona and the 18 other fighters on the TUF 27 Finale bill took to the scales to weigh in for the respective battles.

Tom Taylor - July 5, 2018

Earlier this year, former NFL star Greg Hardy appeared on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, where he knocked out Austen Lane to earn a ‘developmental deal’ with the UFC. Hardy’s involvement with the UFC, of course, is deeply controversial, given his ugly history of domestic violence. In the face of continued criticisms, UFC President Dana White wants to remind the world that Greg Hardy isn’t yet in the UFC, and that he’ll have to win at least one more Contender Series bout before he gets an official UFC contract.

Tom Taylor - July 5, 2018

Tonight @MattSerraUFC gets inducted into the UFC HOF. Last night he was handling drunk idiots at Red Rock. @lorenzofertitta here is the new head of security @stationcasinos pic.twitter.com/7iFh8wYdgS — danawhite (@danawhite) July 5, 2018

Tom Taylor - July 5, 2018

This weekend, in the main event of UFC 226, UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic will attempt to defend his title against UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier. It’s an irrefutable superfight, and one that the UFC apparently mentioned to Miocic before his last fight, a unanimous decision defeat of Francis Ngannou at UFC 220. Speaking at a UFC 226 media lunch this week, Miocic divulged that the UFC called him two days before his high-stakes battle with Ngannou to discuss a potential fight Cormier, who defended his title against Volkan Oezdemir on the same card. They also mentioned his coaching The Ultimate Fighter against Cormier.

Tom Taylor - July 5, 2018

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has typically been very complimentary of his UFC 226 opponent, UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic. That, of course, doesn’t mean Cormier doesn’t have any criticisms of his UFC 226 foe. Speaking at the UFC 226 open workouts this week, Cormier offered a critique of Miocic’s last win: a unanimous decision defeat of fearsome puncher Francis Ngannou at UFC 220. Cormier feels that, if he had spent 20-plus minutes on top of Ngannou, as Miocic did, he would have found multiple opportunities to finish him.

Tom Taylor - July 5, 2018

UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway’s title fight with undefeated challenger Brian Ortega isn’t happening. Not at UFC 226 this Saturday, at least. Last night, the MMA community was rocked by the terrible news that Holloway had been pulled from the fight with concussion-like symptoms — certainly not the kind of thing to take lightly.

Tom Taylor - July 5, 2018

Last night, UFC 226 was dealt a crushing blow as featherweight champion Max Holloway was forced out of his co-main event featherweight title fight with undefeated challenger Brian Ortega. Holloway was removed from the card, which goes down this Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada, with concussion-like symptoms — truly not the kind of thing to take lightly. “Max’s team and UFC staff noticed Max was not normal since late last week,” Holloway’s management told MMAjunkie shortly after this unfortunate news broke. “This became obvious to many watching his interviews and public appearances the past few days.

Chris Taylor - July 4, 2018

Earlier this evening terrible news rocked the mixed martial arts world as ESPN announced that current UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway was forced out of his scheduled title fight with undefeated contender Brian Ortega. “Blessed” was hospitalized due to concussion-like symptoms and has thus been removed from his scheduled UFC 226 co-main event fight with “T-City”.

Chris Taylor - July 4, 2018

UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway will no longer be defending his title against undefeated contender Brian Ortega at UFC 226. ESPN first reported the news that Max Holloway (19-3 MMA) has been hospitalized due to concussion-like symptoms and has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled UFC 226 co-headliner against “T-City”.

Drake Riggs - July 4, 2018

Preparing for his biggest fight to date, The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 winner, Antonio Carlos Junior may now have to prepare for even longer. Riding an impressive five-fight winning streak that consists of four rear-naked-choke victories (three consecutive), Carlos Junior is poised for a step up in competition and he was set to get it against Derek Brunson at UFC 227 on August 4th in Los Angeles, California.

Drake Riggs - July 4, 2018

When a fighter personifies the definition of a gritty warrior, one might think that they would be given their proper due and respect. This is not that case. Inequity is a disease in MMA that will always be spreading to those it shouldn’t. But that doesn’t make it right or okay. Somebody has to point out everything wrong with these instances.

Tom Taylor - July 4, 2018

UFC middleweight star Uriah Hall was supposed to battle Vitor Belfort back in January. Unfortunately, this plan was derailed when Hall experienced severe health complications due to his extreme weight-cut down to the middleweight division’s 186-pound limit. In the wake of this harrowing twist, Hall even admitted to having seizures and a small heart attack. Now many months removed from this ordeal, Hall is in the midst of another weight cut down to 185 pounds, as he’s scheduled to battle Paulo Costa on the UFC 226 undercard this Saturday. While he admits his January health troubles were scary, he seems to be quite relaxed with respect to this current cut, as he’s gotten a handle on his diet, and expects that to make things much easier.

Tom Taylor - July 4, 2018

Former World Series of Fighting lightweight champ Justin Gaethje is not impressed by his UFC Lincoln opponent James Vick. In fact, he finds Vick so unimpressive that he says he’d be hard-pressed not to retire from MMA if he loses to Vick in Lincoln. “I’m so much better than James Vick,” Gaethje said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA show (transcribed by Adam Guillen Jr. for MMA Mania). “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 4, 2018

UFC middleweight prospect Israel Adesanya and welterweight contender Darren Till are two of the fastest rising stars in the UFC today. And while they currently operate in different weight classes, Adesanya expects that to change in the future. Speaking to MMA Fighting‘s Peter Carroll, Adesanya shared his belief that Till’s struggles with the scale, which recently manifested themselves when he missed weight for a welterweight fight with Stephen Thompson, will eventually force him up to the middleweight division.

Tom Taylor - July 4, 2018

Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz’s trilogy fight is now allegedly official — though certain key details like the date and venue of the fight are still unknown. No matter the setting of this fight, which will be promoted by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, it’s likely to be the subject of much controversy. Ortiz, after all, is 43, while Liddell is 48 years old. Liddell also hasn’t fought since 2010, when he retired on the heels of three-straight knockout losses.

Tom Taylor - July 4, 2018

Yoel Romero has dazzled fans in his first two bouts of 2018, first clubbing former champ Luke Rockhold into unconsciousness in February, then engaging current champ Robert Whittaker in one of the year’s best fights in June. Unfortunately, both of Romero’s 2018 bouts have been served with a side of controversy, as he failed to make weight on both occasions. It’s for this reason that surging middleweight contender Israel Adesanya has found it hard to root for him. In Adesanya’s eyes, Romero’s repeated failure to make weight is encroaching on cheating.

Drake Riggs - July 3, 2018

We might not hear him speak up often, but when he does Gegard Mousasi doesn’t hold back. And he didn’t yesterday when speaking of one of his old foes. Recently signed to Bellator was the MMA legend and former UFC light heavyweight champion, Lyoto Machida.