MMA News

Drake Riggs - May 28, 2018

“You know, you can’t do it forever. Done it for a long time. Of course I’ve got issues with my eye. After the [Kelvin] Gastelum fight then I started having issues with my good eye, which I’ve never spoken about before… After the Gastelum fight, I went to a party with all my team, my friends that had flown in to watch. We went to a club, and because it’s dark I just kept seeing this flash out the corner of my good eye. I’m like, ‘what the hell?’ I kept looking. I kept seeing a flash so I kept looking, and doing that constantly.

Drake Riggs - May 28, 2018

It’s always good to have a backup plan. Especially for one of the biggest fights of all time. UFC light heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier will be moving up in weight to challenge for the heavyweight title against the division’s champion, Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 on July 7th.

Tom Taylor - May 28, 2018

Shortly after his first-round TKO win over late-notice replacement opponent Craig White, long-time welterweight contender Neil Magny issued a clever callout of surging star Kamaru Usman. “Kamaru Usman, you’ve been calling me out for two years; it’s time for me to beat that ass, baby,” Magny said in his Octagon interview with UFC color commentator Dan Hardy.

Tom Taylor - May 28, 2018

After eight years away from the cage, Chuck Liddell is making a comeback. The former UFC light heavyweight champion and UFC Hall-of-Famer is expected to rematch his former arch rival Tito Ortiz in Oscar De La Hoya’s new MMA promotion sometime later this year. Of course, not everyone is excited about this news.

Tom Taylor - May 28, 2018

The UFC 225 bout order has been the subject of much controversy among fans. The controversy stems from the fact that former pro wrestler CM Punk and his opponent Mike Jackson, both of whom own 0-1 MMA records, are on the pay-per-view main card, while former Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem and his opponent Curtis Blaydes have been relegated to the undercard. Overeem and Blaydes were originally expected to be on the UFC 225 main card, but were bumped from their spot to make room for a women’s featherweight contender bout between Holly Holm and Megan Anderson. While nobody is complaining that this featherweight bout has been added to the main card, the widespread opinion is that if any bout should have been bumped from the pay-per-view to make room for it, it should have been Punk’s. Not Overeem’s.

Tom Taylor - May 28, 2018

Last Friday night, in the main event of the landmark Bellator 200 card, Gegard Mousasi smashed Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho to a first-round TKO, thereby capturing the middleweight title for himself. The Bellator middleweight belt, of course, is not Mousasi’s first piece of MMA gold. The Dutch veteran has previously won the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship, the Dream light heavyweight and middleweight championships, and the Cage Warriors middleweight championship.

Tom Taylor - May 28, 2018

Dana White was supposed to meet with former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor in Liverpool this weekend. Unfortunately, however, this plan fell through. Having failed to link up with McGregor in the UK, White now hopes to meet with the MMA star stateside sometime in the near future.

Tom Taylor - May 28, 2018

Last night, in the main event of the UFC’s debut in Liverpool, England, two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson gave up a razor close decision to hometown hero Darren Till. Though Till landed more overall strikes and significant strikes, and scored the only knockdown of the fight, many onlookers felt Thompson did enough to earn the judges’ favor in this welterweight chess match. Thompson himself shares this opinion, but as always, has been pure class in defeat, and is determined not to take anything away from Till’s big win.

Tom Taylor - May 27, 2018

A key welterweight scrap featuring two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson (14-2-1) and undefeated contender Darren Till (16-0-1) headlined Sunday’s action-packed UFC Liverpool card. Darren Till missed weight for this main event battle, but “Wonderboy” agreed to continue on with the contest with the stipulations that he received 30% of Till’s purse, and that Till weighed in at 188 pounds or less at 1:00pm local time on fight day. After all of this pre-fight chaos, the fight went down as an absolute chess match, as the two world class strikers spent five incredibly close rounds attempting to figure one another out.

Chris Taylor - May 27, 2018

A key welterweight fight between former two-time title challenger Stephen Thompson (14-2-1 MMA) and undefeated contender Darren Till (16-0-1 MMA) headlined today’s UFC Fight Night 130 event in Liverpool, England. Darren Till missed weight for the contest (174.5 pounds) and was forced to forfeit 30% of his fight purse to “Wonderboy”.

Chris Taylor - May 27, 2018

A welterweight fight between Neil Magny and Craig White served as the co-main event of tonight’s UFC Fight Night 130 card in Liverpool, England. Neil Magny was initially slated to fight Gunnar Nelson at today’s event, however “Gunni” suffered a knee injury and was forced off the card.

Tom Taylor - May 27, 2018

Shortly after Makwan Amirkhani and Jason Knight’s fantastic UFC Liverpool featherweight scrap, we got another wild fight in the featherweight division, as England’s Arnold Allen collided with Denmark’s Mads Burnell. The first round began with Burnell leading the dance on the feet, landing a surprising amount of volume, including a few nice body kicks. Then, when Allen began to find his range on the feet, Denmark’s Burnell completed the first takedown of the fight. Allen then muscled his way back to the feet, was taken down again, returned to the feet again, and completed a trip of his own as the first frame drew to a close.

Tom Taylor - May 27, 2018

One of the most anticipated features of the UFC Liverpool main card was a featherweight scrap between “Mr. Finland” Makwan Amirkhani and Jason “The Kid” Knight. This fight lived up to all expectations, as the two featherweights gave as an absolutely thrilling scrap. Amirkhani started the first round very strong, cracking his foe repeatedly with a strong lead left, and trash-talking all the way through. As the round wore down, however, Knight dropped his foe not once, but twice, and closed out the round threatening with his vaunted submissions from the bottom.

Tom Taylor - May 27, 2018

The second bout of the UFC Liverpool main card occurred at welterweight, where Brazil’s Claudio Silva took on Canada’s Nordine Taleb. It was a dominant win for the Brazilian, who applied a face-crushing rear-naked choke in the first round, coaxing out the tap as a result.

Tom Taylor - May 27, 2018

The UFC Liverpool undercard was wrapped up by a middleweight bout between the long-absent Tom Breese, and Australian judoka Dan Kelly. It was a rough night for the 40-year-old Kelly. Midway through the first round, Breese connected with a rocket-fuelled uppercut that put Kelly on the retreat, clutching his face in pain. A few followup strikes later, and it was all over.

Tom Taylor - May 27, 2018

Elias Theodorou, who picked up a nice decision win over Trevor Smith during the prelims of Sunday’s UFC Liverpool card, has recently been moonlighting as a “ring boy” for women’s MMA promotion Invicta Fighting Championship. Essentially, Theodorou’s gig with Invicta sees him fulfill the same role as the “ring girls” of Bellator or the UFC. Shortly after his big win in Liverpool, Theodorou announced that he’ll soon be giving other male fighters a chance to try their hands as ring boys — in a sense.

Tom Taylor - May 27, 2018

There was a bevy of mainstream stars in the crowd for Friday night’s Bellator 200 card, including 50 Cent, Conor McGregor, and Hollywood superstar Chris Pratt. Shortly after the event, Pratt, who has recently starred in films like Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Jurassic World, took to Instagram with a post that praised Bellator 200 main card fighter Michael Page.

Tom Taylor - May 27, 2018

Yesterday afternoon, Darren Till missed weight for his UFC Liverpool headlining showdown with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, tipping the scales 3.5 pounds above the welterweight limit of 171 pounds. After a period of much confusion and speculation, we learned that the fight would go ahead as planned, so long as Till weighed in at less than 188 pounds at 1:00pm BST on Sunday. This, of course, meant that he would have to heavily control his rehydration process.