MMA News

Tom Taylor - May 18, 2018

Earlier this week, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell announced that he’s going to be returning to the cage, and that he’s hoping his comeback will ultimately lead him to Jon Jones. Given that Liddell, now 48, has not fought in eight years, and that Jones is perhaps the greatest fighter of all time, Liddell’s ambition was met with immediate and widespread criticism. Much of that criticism came from Jones himself, who quickly assured he’d be happy to whoop Liddell anywhere, any time.

Tom Taylor - May 18, 2018

Back in January, Ultimate Fighter 17 semifinalist Uriah Hall was supposed to battle the recently-retired Vitor Belfort. Regrettably, this fighter never happened, as Hall was hospitalized as the result of a brutal weight cut. In the wake of Hall’s botched weight cut, UFC flyweight Paige VanZant called it one of the scariest things she’d ever seen. In a recent interview with ESPN, Hall recounted this grisly cut, and his rendition of the story certainly seems to confirm VanZant’s comments. It sounds absolutely harrowing.

Tom Taylor - May 18, 2018

On Saturday night, the UFC will make its anticipated debut in the South American nation of Chile with an exciting card out of the capital city of Santiago. This UFC Chile card was originally expected to be headlined by a welterweight contender bout between Argentine striker Santiago Ponzinibbio and Kamaru Usman. When Ponzinibbio was forced out of the fight with an injury, however, Usman directed his focus to late-notice replacement opponent, Demian Maia. 

Tom Taylor - May 18, 2018

The Bellator roster has been getting better and better over the last few years, as the promotion has signed a host of high profile stars, such as Rory MacDonald, Gegard Mousasi, Fedor Emelianenko, Chael Sonnen, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Wanderlei Silva, Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, Matt Mitrione, Benson Henderson and Roy Nelson. While these are the names that have been headlining Bellator’s biggest cards of late, Bellator president Scott Coker expects the promotion’s ever-deepening pool of prospects — which includes names like Aaron Pico, AJ McKee, James Gallagher, and Tyrell and Tyree Fortune — to begin carrying the torch in the near future.

Tom Taylor - May 18, 2018

Dagestani featherweight Zabit Magomedsharipov is one of the most hyped fighters in the UFC at present, and Team Alpha Male talent Andre Fili is hoping to fight him. Fili made his ballsy callout of the ferocious Magomedsharipov on Twitter, suggesting the fight occur at UFC 227 in Los Angeles, California this August 4.

Tom Taylor - May 18, 2018

Yesterday afternoon, formerly ranked UFC strawweight contender Angela Hill took to Twitter to share her concern that her spot in the rankings had been usurped by Mackenzie Dern, who has not yet defeated a top-15 strawweight, and whose last fight was not even in the division. Well this is a big fat slap in the face. I’ve fought top competition, beat #14 and the rankings finally grace me with #15 ranking, just to get bumped by a fucking Flyweight. pic.twitter.com/ZYlP5Ogs6w

Drake Riggs - May 17, 2018

We’ve only seen the ‘Axe Murderer’, Wanderlei Silva step foot in the cage once in the last five years. That time being for when he headlined Bellator’s big Madison Square Garden show, Bellator 180 opposite his longtime rival, Chael Sonnen. ‘The American Gangster’ would go on to earn the unanimous decision victory by grinding out Silva in his usual fashion and then enter into Bellator’s heavyweight Grand Prix title tournament where he would defeat Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson in the opening round.

Drake Riggs - May 17, 2018

Kevin Lee vs Khabib Nurmagomedov

Tom Taylor - May 17, 2018

In the wake of the UFC 224, which went down last Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the UFC has updated its official rankings. Given the way the UFC rankings seem to morph entirely arbitrarily from one week to the next, they are usually pretty controversial. The latest update to the rankings, however, was particularly controversial, as Mackenzie Dern usurped the number-15 spot in the strawweight rankings after her UFC 224 submission win over Amanda Bobby Cooper.

Tom Taylor - May 17, 2018

Earlier this week, former UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell confirmed what we’ve all suspected for so long: he’s coming back. Liddell dropped this bomb on The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - May 17, 2018

Mid-way through 2017, former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight Brian Stann announced that he would be leaving his post as a UFC commentator and analyst. As it turns out, however, that would not be where Stann’s involvement in the sport ended. In a Thursday release, the Professional Fighters League (PFL) announced that Stann will be joining its “fighter and competition/rules committee.”

Tom Taylor - May 17, 2018

Last weekend, Bellator MMA touched down in San Jose, California with the stacked Bellator 199 card. In the main event of this anticipated card, reigning Bellator light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader knocked out former Rizin Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in just 15 seconds. With this win, Bader advanced to the second round of Bellator’s Heavyweight Grand Prix, which sets him up for a showdown with fellow first-round winner Matt Mitrione.

Tom Taylor - May 17, 2018

Now that his much discussed superfight with bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw is off the table, Demetrious Johnson’s next fight is expected to be a rematch with former opponent Henry Cejudo, who defeated by first-round TKO in 2016. That said, this rematch is far from set in stone. On Wednesday afternoon, Cejudo took to Twitter in an effort to expedite negotiations for his second crack at the flyweight champ “Mighty Mouse.” He did so by criticizing the champ for his failure to draw significant audiences in previous outings, and for his well-known interest in video games.

Tom Taylor - May 17, 2018

Francis Ngannou entered his UFC 220 title fight with UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic with mountains of hype connected his name. Unfortunately, his showdown with Miocic did not go the way his hype suggested it would. Instead, he was dominated to a five-round unanimous decision loss, and had some fairly serious deficits in the wrestling and cardio departments exposed along the way. In the wake of Ngannou’s failed title bid, people were so disappointed with his performance that they apparently went after his head coach Dewey Cooper on social media, even issuing death threats.

Drake Riggs - May 16, 2018

One man who is never short on words is the former UFC middleweight champion, “The Count” Michael Bisping. With former opponent of Bisping’s, Vitor Belfort’s career coming to an end this past Saturday at UFC 224 with a violent knockout loss to Lyoto Machida, Bisping shared his thoughts on the legendary Brazilians departure from the sport on his podcast, Believe You Me.

Drake Riggs - May 16, 2018

Top UFC flyweight contender, Henry Cejudo doesn’t seem so happy. After roasting the champion, Demetrious Johnson earlier today on Twitter, Cejudo continued to detail the recent situation involving him and the champion and even dropped some news of potential future plans for the flyweight division.

Tom Taylor - May 16, 2018

If things had gone according to the original plan, surging UFC welterweight contender Kamaru Usman would have battled Argentine striker Santiago Ponzinibbio in the main of the UFC’s debut in Chile, which goes down this Saturday in the capital of Santiago. When Ponzinibbio was forced out of the fight with an injury, however, Usman was left without a dance partner — which opened the door for former welterweight title challenger Demian Maia to step in. As it turns out, this will not actually be Maia’s first trip to Chile. The Brazilian visited the South American country two years ago, on a PR mission with the UFC, educating local journalists and decision makers on the sport of MMA. Given that he did this outreach work in Chile previously, it seemed logical to him to accept the short-notice bout with Usman in the country.

Tom Taylor - May 16, 2018

For a time, it looked as though dominant UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and dangerous bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw would collide in a flyweight title super fight this summer. When the negotiations for this fight fizzled out, however, the two champions reset their crosshairs on challenges in their respective divisions. For TJ Dillashaw, that means a UFC 227 rematch with Cody Garbrandt, who he knocked out in November. For Demetrious Johnson, that’s likely to mean a rematch Henry Cejudo, who he knocked out in 2016 — though the date for this rematch has not yet been set. On Wednesday afternoon, Cejudo took to Twitter in an effort to expedite negotiations for his second crack at the flyweight champ “Mighty Mouse.” He did so by criticizing the champ for his failure to draw significant audiences in previous outings, and promised to “kill the mouse.”