MMA News

Tom Taylor - May 31, 2018

Bantamweight contenders Jimmie Rivera and Marlon Moraes, who will fight on Friday night in the main event of UFC Utica, have had plenty to say about each other in the past. That being said, it sounds like their encounters have been quite friendly in the lead-up to their fight.

Tom Taylor - May 31, 2018

Jon Jones’s legendary reign as light heavyweight champion was not derailed by a well-placed punch or a deftly applied submission, but by a long string of troubles outside the cage. It’s because of Jones’s indiscretions outside the cage — namely a hit-and-run, and his purported abuse of both recreational and performance-enhancing drugs — that he has not been able to call himself the undisputed champion for more than a few moments since early 2015. All the same, Jones resides amongst the best fighters in the history of mixed martial arts, and his resume is almost unrivalled. For these reasons, he still considers himself the true light heavyweight champion of the UFC.

Tom Taylor - May 31, 2018

Earlier this month, former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum was notified of a potential USADA violation. Werdum is now undergoing his due process, and is vehemently maintaining his innocence. Yet in the opinion of one of the heavyweight’s chief nemeses, UFC welterweight Colby Covington, there is no doubt about Werdum’s guilt.

Jordy McElroy - May 30, 2018

A perfect showman in the fight business toes the line between entertainment and reality. For the last 14 years, Michael Bisping, a former UFC champion and future Hall of Famer, has been as infallible as the world’s greatest trapezist, and yet, respect will be equally as hard to come by in retirement as it was when he was the top middleweight fighter in the world. This is the end for Bisping.

Drake Riggs - May 30, 2018

“Jessica [Andrade] is very, very strong. I was very surprised with her strength. I compare her to a 125 [pound] guy when it comes to strength and power. And I never felt that before so I was very surprised.

Drake Riggs - May 30, 2018

Next Saturday’s UFC 225 pay-per-view card in Chicago, Illinois is one of the most stacked cards of the year. The event will host a whopping 16 ranked UFC fighters competing against one another. With so much talent, some fighters were bound to be positioned in spots they wouldn’t be fond of. One of those being one of the two fighters who are ranked as #1 contenders in their divisions, Joseph Benavidez.

Drake Riggs - May 30, 2018

The return of Phil “CM Punk” Brooks is practically upon us. It’s been two years since we saw the ex-professional wrestler make his ‘intriguing’ debut at UFC 203 in Cleveland, Ohio. Unfortunately for CM Punk, it went about as poorly as it possibly could have. Charging straightforward at his opponent, Mickey Gall, CM Punk would get taken down almost immediately and lose the fight via first-round submission by way of rear naked choke without ever landing a single punch.

Tom Taylor - May 30, 2018

Over the last few weeks, rapper 50 Cent has been tied tightly to Bellator MMA — though nobody is really sure why. Perhaps it’s just a bit of celebrity endorsement. Perhaps 50 is thinking about getting into the promoting game. Or maybe, just maybe, he’s thinking about strapping on some four-ounce gloves and fighting. The rapper has certainly dropped some hints to this end, calling out both Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Chael Sonnen. If 50 cent does end up stepping into the cage, Conor McGregor training partner and UFC veteran Charlie Ward is hoping to welcome him. Shortly after he defeated Martin Hudson at Bellator 200 last weekend, Ward issued a fiery callout of the rapper, who was among the many mainstream stars in attendance.

Tom Taylor - May 30, 2018

Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald and new Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi want to fight each other. That could not be any clearer.  “Obviously, me and Gegard want it and I think the fans want it,” MacDonald said on The MMA Hour this week. “I think it would be the biggest fight that Bellator, that they could put on right now. In my opinion, if they pass this opportunity by, it would be a mistake because how often can you get this kind of timing and one fight could change the direction of any one of our careers, so I think the opportunity is now and we should take it.”

Tom Taylor - May 30, 2018

Last weekend, in the main event of the UFC’s debut in Liverpool, hometown hero Darren Till picked up the biggest win of his career, defeating two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson by decision. Not everybody, however, agreed with this result. Shortly after the judges’ verdict was read, there was an outpouring of criticism suggesting that Thompson, not Till, should have been awarded the victory.

Tom Taylor - May 30, 2018

Michael Page could not have been more impressive in his second-round stoppage win over David Rickels, which co-headlined Bellator 200 on Friday. It was a truly dominant display, during which Page unleashed plenty of his patented taunts and trash talk, and took almost nothing in the way of damage himself. In the wake of this fight, the MMA community is once again calling for a fight between Page and his fellow British knockout artist Paul Daley. It’s a fight that the fans have wanted to see for years, but one that has not yet come to fruition.

Tom Taylor - May 30, 2018

Last weekend, during the UFC’s first show in Liverpool, England, Brazil’s Claudio Silva returned from a four-year hiatus to defeat Canada’s Nordine Taleb by first-round submission. Apparently, however, the pair very nearly went at it after the fight too. According to Silva, who spoke to BloodyElbow post-fight, Taleb approached him in the UFC fighter hotel, where he verbally attacked him and challenged him to another fight.

Tom Taylor - May 30, 2018

Shortly after winning the Bellator middleweight title with a first-round mauling of Rafael Carvalho, Gegard Mousasi called for a fight with Bellator welterweight champ Rory MacDonald. Not long thereafter, MacDonald answered this call, assuring it’s a fight he wants as well. Days later, both Bellator champions appeared onThe MMA Hour, where they each explained the appeal of the matchup.

Drake Riggs - May 29, 2018

It’s not always ‘rainbows and unicorns’ on one’s path to the UFC. Often times, it’s the farthest thing from it. The battle to get to the UFC can sometimes be harder than the battles inside the UFC themselves.

Tom Taylor - May 29, 2018

https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1001561501570826241 Last night, on the latest episode of his podcast Believe You Me, former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping announced that he’d be forgoing his much-discussed retirement fight, and hanging up the gloves.

Drake Riggs - May 29, 2018

https://twitter.com/MMATeamDagestan/status/1001548006469062656 “A lot of people ask me about my next fight, to be honest, I don’t know. But we talk about this with UFC it’s gonna be maybe [September 9th] or [October 6th]. I don’t know about opponent. Conor [McGregor], [Georges St-Pierre], whoever. Doesn’t matter. We’ll see.

Tom Taylor - May 29, 2018

Siyar Bahadurzada wants to fight Nate Diaz. The streaking UFC welterweight-turned-middleweight has made that quite clear with several recent social media posts, throughout which he’s called the Stockton, California native out. Bahadurzada issued his latest call out of Nate Diaz on Tuesday, and accused him of being “terrified to get knocked out.”

Tom Taylor - May 29, 2018

Hollywood superstar Chris Pratt, who has recently starred in blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World, and Avengers: Infinity War, is big on MMA. He even attended Bellator 200 in London last Friday. During his visit to the UK, Pratt spoke with entertainment.ie. In this interview, the Hollywood star discussed his love for MMA and Conor McGregor, and said that he’d love to do some training at SBG Ireland, McGregor’s home base.