MMA News

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2018

Dominick Cruz has not fought since December of 2016, when he lost a decision to Cody Garbrandt and surrendered the UFC bantamweight title in the process. He’s hoping that will change soon. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Cruz explained that he’ll see a doctor on Thursday, and that, with a little luck, he will be cleared to get back to work soon.

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2018

Curtis Blaydes impressed a lot of people with his UFC 225 TKO win over former Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 champion Alistair Overeem. One of the most notable people to jump on the Blaydes hype-train after UFC 225 was UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov showered Blaydes with praise in a conversation with documentary producer Will Harris of Anatomy of a Fighter.

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2018

Last weekend, on the undercard of the stacked UFC 225, former strawweight champion Carla Esparza gave up a close decision to perennial strawweight contender Claudia Gadelha. Shortly thereafter, she accused Gadelha of cheating, sharing her belief that the Brazilian was greasing on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.  “She cheated in the fight; she greased before the fight,” Esparza said. “I was considering saying something to the referee in between [rounds]. I was going to say, ‘She’s greasing! She’s greasing,’ but I didn’t really know how to go about it. … Even when I was trying to grab armbars during the fight my arms kept slipping down. She’s a cheater, but it doesn’t really surprise me. In my opinion, she’s been a pretty dirty fighter throughout, so it is what it is.”

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2018

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman believes he should be the next man in line for reigning UFC middleweight champ Robert Whitaker. Weidman made his case for the next middleweight title shot on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “Obviously for me that would be the best case is to fight for the title,” he said (transcribed by Adam Guillen Jr. for MMAMania). “Fighting Whittaker, that’s a guy I match up well with and that’s a guy I feel I can go out there and finish.”

Drake Riggs - June 12, 2018

Continuing to shine but going unnoticed has been the young dominant heavyweight wrestler, Curtis Blaydes. Blaydes just recently picked up the biggest win of his young career this past Saturday at UFC 225 when he finished perennial top contender, Alistair Overeem in devastating fashion.

Drake Riggs - June 12, 2018

It’s been six months since we last saw Paige VanZant compete in the Octagon. And when she did so it was when she broke her arm on Jessica-Rose Clark‘s forehead with a spinning back fist. VanZant hasn’t won an MMA bout since August 2016 when she TKO’d Bec Rawlings with a wild jumping switch kick. Since then she’s dropped an L to Michelle Waterson and moved up to the new UFC flyweight division.

Drake Riggs - June 12, 2018

At UFC 225 this past Saturday, we saw the CM Punk experiment’s likely end. The former WWE star fought Mike Jackson in a losing effort. Of course, now that we’ve seen the ridiculousness of it all, it will prompt future questions for current WWE stars like Daniel Bryan…who was recently asked on an Instagram live video if he thinks he could beat CM Punk’s most recent opponent in a fight.

Thomas Taylor - June 12, 2018

This video was taken in Africa seconds after an alpha gorilla charged me. I had to take a submissive posture and get out of his way. One of the most frightening and incredible experiences of my life – even with all the fight training in the world I wouldn’t have been a match! pic.twitter.com/pn5N8X2J1t — Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre) June 12, 2018

Tom Taylor - June 12, 2018

After his close and controversial decision loss to surging welterweight contender Darren Till, two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson is keen to get back on track. He thinks former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler is just the kind of opponent that would allow him to do so. Thompson weighed the options for his next fight on the Slip n’ Dip podcast this week.

Tom Taylor - June 12, 2018

Tonight marks the beginning of the second season of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, the UFC’s newest talent-scouting program. In the main event of this season two premiere, undefeated light heavyweight prospect Alonzo Menifield (6-0) will battle Dashawn Boatwright.

Tom Taylor - June 12, 2018

Last Saturday night, in the opening bout of the UFC 225 main card, Mike Jackson authored a decisive decision defeat of former pro wrestler CM Punk. Despite the lopsided nature of his win, however, Jackson found himself on the receiving end of some serious backlash from UFC President Dana White, who seemed to be angry that Jackson didn’t take more risks in attempt to finish his foe. Speaking on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Mike Jackson acknowledged that he was perhaps not as aggressive as he could have been. He also divulged that he was worried what a loss to CM Punk might do to his reputation, and that he didn’t want to give the outmatched pro wrestler any long-term damage.

Tom Taylor - June 12, 2018

In his latest engagement with his fans on Twitter, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones answered a host of interesting questions. For one, he says he’s still confident he can beat his arch rival, reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier.

Tom Taylor - June 12, 2018

Tonight, in the first episode of the second season of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, former NFL defensive end Greg Hardy will fight for a UFC contract. The very fact that Hardy is being given a shot at earning a UFC contract, however, has been met with widespread backlash, as he was essentially bounced from the NFL for some truly troubling domestic violence charges. NFL and MMA analyst Jay Glazer even called for the entire MMA community to blackball the former football player. In the lead-up to Hardy’s DWTNCS debut, White himself has been adamant that everybody deserves a second chance — despite assuring in 2014 that “putting your hands on a woman” is “one thing that you never bounce back from.” Hardy is also asking for a second chance. He explained why he deserves that chance in a Monday media scrum.

Drake Riggs - June 12, 2018

After what appeared to be yet another 2018 main or co-main scrapped by injury, that is now looking to no longer be the case. Just last week, UFC President, Dana White announced that Brad Tavares was out of his main event fight with Israel Adesanya at The Ultimate Fighter 27 Finale on July 6th.

Drake Riggs - June 11, 2018

Rather than being granted the spotlight, some fighters have to force their ways into it. And often times they’ll have to break a few hearts along the way.

Drake Riggs - June 11, 2018

It would seem that new UFC interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington isn’t the only one claiming that their UFC 225 opponent used some illegal tactics mid-fight this past Saturday night. Having fought in the second bout of the televised portion of the UFC 225 prelims, former UFC strawweight champion, Carla Esparza, like Covington also believes that she fell victim to her opponent greasing during their fight.

Drake Riggs - June 11, 2018

The original plan for UFC 225 was to have two title fights atop the stacked night of fights. Unfortunately, one ended up not being over a championship but the other went along as planned. In UFC 225’s co-main event this past Saturday, former UFC lightweight champion, Rafael Dos Anjos took on Colby Covington in search of his fourth straight win at 170 pounds and an interim title to boot.

Thomas Taylor - June 11, 2018

Mike Jackson battered CM Punk from bell to bell at UFC 225. Unfortunately, he also drew the ire of UFC President Dana White, who felt that Jackson should have worked harder to finish his grossly outmatched foe. Speaking at the UFC post-fight press conference, White shared his distaste for Jackson’s performance, and assured Jackson’s days in the UFC are over.