MMA News

Tom Taylor - July 3, 2018

Last week, former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks joined Michal Bisping, Rashad Evans, Ian McCall and Josh Koscheck in the pool of big-name fighters to recently announce their retirement from MMA.  Speaking on Monday’s edition of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Hendricks explained why he opted to hang up the gloves. From the sounds of it, the former champ, who will now serve as a wrestling coach at Episcopal School in Fort Worth, Texas, simply fell out of love with fighting.

Tom Taylor - July 3, 2018

UFC 226, which goes down this Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada, will be headlined by a bona fide super fight, as UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier moves up to heavyweight to battle divisional champion Stipe Miocic for gold. Yet according to UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway, who battles Brian Ortega in the co-main event, that’s not the only superfight on the bill. Speaking to Yahoo Sports  this week, Holloway explained what it means to him to fight on such a big card, and assured this his fight with Ortega is every bit a super fight too.

Drake Riggs - July 2, 2018

Earlier today, it was announced that Volkan Oezdemir would be backing out of his UFC Hamburg headliner with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Why did he back out? To take a higher profile bout with Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 227 on August 4th in Los Angeles.

Drake Riggs - July 2, 2018

To say that last month’s No. 1 spot lived up to the hype would be an understatement. Here’s to hoping July gives us those same amazing moments. Few months in recent memory have been as jam-packed with as many world-class competitors as July 2018 and it will be a complete shock if we aren’t treated to great action week in and week out.

Drake Riggs - July 2, 2018

Alexander ‘The Mauler’ Gustafsson’s search for an opponent at UFC 227 on August 4th appears to have come to a surprising end. The perennial top-ranked UFC light heavyweight contender was initially expected to possibly be getting a fight with the former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold at the Los Angeles event. But all possibilities of that fell through after Rockhold injured his leg and needed to get surgery to repair it.

Thomas Taylor - July 2, 2018

Over the weekend, 100-fight MMA veteran Jonathan Ivey stepped into the cage with 300-fight veteran Travis Fulton — a man he considers a personal hero. In the midst of the first round, Ivey sent Fulton crashing to the mat with a punch, then followed to the canvas, where he unleashed a storm of ground-and-pound. But then, in an inexplicable twist, Ivey stood up, and tapped out, essentially throwing away the win. 

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

Bellator’s exciting Heavyweight Grand Prix is expected to continue in October, when Fedor Emelianenko and Chael Sonnen, and Matt Mitrione and Ryan Bader are expected to meet in a pair of semifinal bouts. No official dates have been locked down for these fights just yet, but they will occur close together on the calendar. This news was first reported by MMAjunkie, who spoke to Bellator President Scott Coker after Bellator 201 in Temecula, California last weekend.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

Initially, Al Iaquinta was expected to battle former World Series of Fighting champ Justin Gaethje in the main event of UFC Lincoln on August 25. But then, Iaquinta was removed from the matchup without explanation, and replaced by James Vick. After Iaquinta was pulled from the fight, there was quite a bit of speculation as to why it happened. Given Iaquinta’s long history of butting heads with the UFC, some wondered if perhaps he’d found himself in another disagreement with the promotion — or perhaps even been given the Leslie Smith treatment and sent packing.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

It’s happening. Former UFC light heavyweight champions and irrefutable MMA legends Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz are going to fight for a third time later this year, in the first offering from Oscar De La Hoya’s new Golden Boy MMA promotion. A date for the fight, which will air on pay-per-view, has not been set, but both parties have agreed to the fight. News of this fight’s fruition comes from ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

Riding high on impressive defeats of former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and former Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Kelvin Gastelum feels he’s earned the next shot at reigning UFC middleweight champ Robert Whittaker. Unfortunately, he feels that Whittaker is attempting to steer clear of the matchup. “I know that he’s been offered the fight against me twice and he has not been wanting to fight me,” Gastelum said on a recent episode of The MMA Hour (transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting). “And I think that’s for good reason. I think I give him the most difficult time if we step in the cage and I think he knows that. In my opinion, I match up horribly for him.”

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

Former UFC welterweight title challenger Dan Hardy, who has not fought since September of 2012, is still eyeing a return to the Octagon. And having slimmed down significantly in his time away, he feels he’d perform much better than the Dan Hardy of old. The fighter turned color commentator discussed his potential comeback on a recent episode of The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

At UFC 226, hulking Cameroonian-French heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou will step into the cage with titan of a similar stature: American behemoth Derrick Lewis. This bout will mark Ngannou’s opportunity to rebound from a tough loss to UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic — an experience he assures he learned from.

Jordan Colbert - July 1, 2018

Curtis Blaydes cemented himself as one of the top contenders in the UFC heavyweight division at UFC 225 with a dominant and brutal TKO win over Alistair Overeem. Post-win, Blaydes set the record straight. It’s title shot or bust for the No. 2 ranked fighter in the division. In an exclusive interview with BJPenn.com, Blaydes dished on this and much more. Check it out below!  

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2018

On July 5, at PFL 3 in Washington, DC, UFC veteran Eddie Gordon will debut in the PFL cage against Shamil Gamzatov. The pair will be looking to advance in the PFL’s inaugural middleweight season, and take one step closer to each division’s million-dollar prize.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2018

Mike Perry was originally expected to fight Yancy Medeiros at UFC 226, but unfortunately, this plan hit a snag when Medeiros sustained an injury in training.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2018

When Conor McGregor returns to the cage — if Conor McGregor returns to the cage — two of his best options in terms of opponents are current UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, and former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre. Nurmagomedov and St-Pierre are two of the most dominant fighters in MMA history. St-Pierre has lost just twice in 28 fights, and avenged both of those losses in decisive fashion. Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, has never lost a fight, and currently sits at a flawless 26-0 overall.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2018

Back in January, in the main event of UFC 220, hulking French-Cameroonian heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou stepped into the cage with divisional champ Stipe Miocic, and promptly attempted to take his head off. Ngannou swung like he wanted to send Miocic’s head to settle amongst the mess of dead satellites in earth’s orbit, and when that failed do so, he swung some more. Then, he got tired — which gave the champ Miocic to opportunity to get to work with his boxing and wrestling, and ultimately, capture a lopsided unanimous decision victory from his exhausted foe.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2018

At present, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway has his crosshairs locked on undefeated challenger Brian Ortega, who he will fight at UFC 226 on July 7. While this featherweight title fight is at the forefront of Holloway’s mind, however, the featherweight division is not his permanent home.