MMA News

Tom Taylor - June 25, 2018

The Professional Fighter’s League has produced some pretty incredible knockouts over the course of brief time on our screens, and it’s done so entirely without elbow strikes. No, elbows are not allowed in the PFL cage.

Tom Taylor - June 25, 2018

UFC lightweight contender Kevin Lee has long been adamant that the UFC needs a 165-pound division, citing the fact that many fighters are too big to easily make the lightweight division’s 155-pound limit, but are also undersized for the 170-pound welterweight division. The key would be to abolish the 170-pound welterweight division, and in it’s place add 165 and 175 pound divisions. “The 155 pound and 170 pound [divisions] are so messed up right now,” Lee said in a recent interview with The Straits Times. “You’ve got three titles between the two divisions already, so they’ve got to add another weight class.

Tom Taylor - June 25, 2018

Veteran referee “Big” John McCarthy, who now works as a commentator for Bellator MMA, is adamant that there are plenty of world-class fighters outside of the UFC roster. McCarthy got into it with fans on Twitter, praising the depth of the Bellator roster, and assuring that the UFC was not the only home for top talent in MMA. It began when McCarthy applauded the Bellator team for signing former UFC champ Lyoto Machida.

Tom Taylor - June 25, 2018

John Kavanagh, Conor McGregor’s head coach at SBG Ireland, is very confident the Irish superstar will return to the UFC’s Octagon this year — and most likely to a battle with new UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Kavanagh shared his confidence in a possible Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor fight during a conversation with Robin Black in Dublin.

Tom Taylor - June 25, 2018

New UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is almost ready to start focusing on his first title defense. The undefeated champion will soon fly to California, where he will begin a training camp that could well culminate with a fight with Conor McGregor. “Very soon I’m going to come to USA, to California and begin my training camp,” Nurmagomedov said on the social media platform Live Raise (transcribed by Jim Edwards for MMANytt).

Thomas Taylor - June 24, 2018

If you ask former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier has no place in MMA’s Greatest of all Time debate. Jones made his opinions on the matter abundantly clear earlier this week, replying to a Tweet from the official UFC Twitter account, and arguing that Cormier’s name should not be mentioned when attempting to identify the GOAT in MMA. what have you done for me lately? Let’s just be real and stop asking this question https://t.co/Tw3FcpH3bK

Chris Taylor - June 24, 2018

The octagon will once again take center stage at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 7 for the promotions UFC 226 fight card. The blockbuster event is headlined by a heavyweight title fight featuring current champion Stipe Miocic taking on reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier.

Tom Taylor - June 24, 2018

As we already knew, former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett is leaving the UFC. Citing a distrust with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and a difference vision for the remainder of his career than the one the UFC has, he’s ready to take his show back on the road. Josh Barnett explained his choice to cut ties with the UFC in a lengthy and insightful Facebook post.

Tom Taylor - June 24, 2018

Rising UFC light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes, who currently holds the number-11 spot in the divisional rankings, is hoping for a UFC 228 showdown with former interim title challenger Ovince Saint Preux. Reyes made his first mention of a bout with Saint Preux on Twitter, shortly after Saint Preux delivered a rousing submission defeat of Tyson Pedro at UFC Singapore.

Tom Taylor - June 24, 2018

Fan favorite welterweight contender Donald Cerrone has fallen into a bit of a rough patch, having lost 4 of his last five fights. That said, it sounds like there’s still plenty more “Cowboy” to come. Shortly after his latest loss, a Saturday decision defeat courtesy of Leon Edwards, Cerrone updated on his retirement plans, explaining that he’ll fight until the UFC sits him down for “the talk.”

Tom Taylor - June 24, 2018

Mickey Gall, who holds wins over both Mike Jackson and CM Punk, was not impressed by the pair’s fight on the UFC 225 main card. Though he was quite excited to watch them go at it, he was ultimately disappointed with their bout. “I was psyched for that fight,” Gall said in a recent interview with MMA Fighting (via MMAMania). “I thought they were going to lay it all on the line, really go for it and try and take each other out. I was disappointed in Michael Jackson. I didn’t think he had the urgency that he should’ve. I think he was a little lackadaisical. I think that fight went like 15 minutes too long. I was really disappointed in it to be honest.”

Tom Taylor - June 24, 2018

After 11-straight years as a member of the UFC roster, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is headed to Bellator. News of Machida’s relocation was first reported by ESPN earlier this week. Shortly after this news surfaced, Machida took to Instagram to speak on the move.

Tom Taylor - June 23, 2018

Leon Edwards had quite a bit to say about Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone before their fight — particularly about the veteran’s age and attitude toward fighting. Yet in the wake of the fight, which Edwards won by decision, there’s nothing but respect remaining between them. In fact, Edwards considers Cowboy a legend. “The buildup to the fight, I wasn’t talking shit, I was just saying he’s an older guy and that’s all I was saying,” Edwards said at the post-fight press conference (via MMA Fighting). “He took it personal and said he’s going to be angry and blah, blah, blah, but it is what it is. To go out there and face him in the fifth round, I was just talking to him and said, ‘You said I would slow down in the fifth round and you were gonna pick the pace up in the fifth round. Well, now what you doin’?’ So I was just having fun in the fifth round talking to him.

Chris Taylor - June 23, 2018

Former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson suffered a unanimous decision loss to Darren Till last month in Liverpool, England. The scorecards for the fight were marred in controversy after two of the judges in attendance scored the fight 49-46 for the hometown favorite Darren Till, this while the majority of the mixed martial arts community appeared to have scored the bout 48-47 in favor of Thompson.

Chris Taylor - June 23, 2018

UFC lightweight standout Kevin Lee (17-3 MMA) is looking to score a fight with mixed martial arts legend Georges St-Pierre this November. “The Motown Phenom” took to Instagram earlier today where he issued the following challenge to the former two division UFC champion.

Chris Taylor - June 23, 2018

Donald Cerrone almost called off today’s UFC Singapore main event. The veteran UFC fighter, who will likely be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame at the end of his storied career, said he was very close to cancelling his scheduled fight with Leon Edwards just hours prior to today’s event in Singapore.

Chris Taylor - June 23, 2018

Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will likely be the next man to square off with surging welterweight contender Kamaru Usman. BJPENN.com’s Chris Taylor reported that news earlier today.

Chris Taylor - June 23, 2018

A light heavyweight scrap between Ovince Saint Preux and Tyson Pedro served as the co-headliner for today’s UFC Fight Night event in Singapore. Saint Preux entered the contest on the heels of a submission loss to Ilir Latifi. Prior to that, “OSP” had strung together three straight stoppage victories over opponents Corey Anderson, Yushin Okami and Marcos Rogerio de Lima respectively.