MMA News

Tom Taylor - May 22, 2018

For a time, Joanna Jedrzejczyk looked truly unstoppable as the UFC strawweight champion. Then, in November of 2017, her reign came to a shocking and violent end, as she was put down by a salvo of first-round Rose Namajunas punches. Given her previous dominance, Jedrzejczyk was given the chance to reclaim her title from Namajunas in an immediate rematch in April. In the end, however, she fell to 0-2 against the new champion, giving up a close but fair unanimous decision.

Drake Riggs - May 21, 2018

When news broke earlier this month that young featherweight prospect, Yair Rodriguez had been cut from the UFC, the MMA world was surprised, to say the least. The 10-2 Ultimate Fighter: Latin America winner, Rodriguez last fought in May of last year when he suffered his first UFC loss to former lightweight champion and perennial top featherweight, Frankie Edger.

Drake Riggs - May 21, 2018

One of the MMA world’s most entertaining and fan-friendly fighters to watch has always been “the Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit. Unfortunately for Condit, he’s visibly been on a downward trend in terms of his success recently. Since 2012, the former interim UFC welterweight champion and former WEC welterweight champion, Condit has gone 2-7 in his last 9 and currently rides the worst skid of his career with 4 straight losses, 2 of those that saw him being finished(both by submission).

Tom Taylor - May 21, 2018

After 15 years as a professional fighter, Ian McCall has announced his retirement from MMA. McCall made this announcement on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I’m retiring finally, I think people have been waiting for this for a long time,” McCall said (transcribed by Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting). “I’m done. This sport has taken so much from me — I shouldn’t say it’s taken, I’ve given this sport so much. And sure, I was the best in the world years ago and sure, people keep bringing up my ‘Al Bundy’ moment about beating Demetrious [Johnson], ‘Oh, you’re the guy, blah blah blah.’

Tom Taylor - May 21, 2018

Earlier this month, MMA legend Vitor Belfort stepped into the UFC’s Octagon for a final time, taking on fellow Brazilian legend Lyoto Machida. He did so on the main card of UFC 224, which went down in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the end, this fight with Machida went disastrously for Belfort, as he was knocked out by a brutal kick to the face — the same kick Anderson Silva famously used to put him down years ago. Shortly after this loss, news surfaced that Vitor Belfort had entered the cage at UFC 224 with a fairly significant injury. On Friday, Belfort took to Instagram to explain why he fought through this injury, rather than withdrawing from the fight and attempting to reschedule.

Tom Taylor - May 21, 2018

On Sunday evening, Russian heavyweight Alexey Oleynik posted a photo to Instagram that showed a bout agreement for the UFC’s September 15 debut in Moscow, Russia.

Tom Taylor - May 21, 2018

Bellator 200, which is now just days away, has reportedly lost its originally planned main event. According to Gareth A Davis of The Telegraph,  Mirko Cro Cop has been forced out his headlining showdown with Roy Nelson with a leg injury. Per The Telegraph’s report, a replacement opponent is being sought for Nelson. Given that Bellator has just days to find a suitable understudy, however, it’s hard to say how this will shake out.

Tom Taylor - May 21, 2018

Stephen Thompson, who battles surging British contender Darren Till in the main event of the UFC’s Saturday night debut in Liverpool, England, is not a fan of the UFC’s choice to crown an interim welterweight champion. It’s his belief that by crowning the winner of Rafael dos Anjos and Colby Covington’s UFC 225 battle the interim welterweight champ, the promotion diminishes the value of the actual welterweight belt, which is currently owned by Tyron Woodley. “I don’t think so at all,” Thompson told BloodyElbow last week, when asked if he believed an interim title needed to be created. “If [Woodley]’s out for another year or two, then probably yeah, I think you should. But if he’s saying he’s gonna be back in July or August, there’s no reason why you should be fighting for an interim title.”

Tom Taylor - May 21, 2018

Earlier this month, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell announced his intention to emerge from an eight-year-retirement to make a comeback. While nothing is set in stone just yet, it sounds as though Liddell’s comeback fight will pit him against his former arch rival Tito Ortiz, probably in Oscar De La Hoya’s new MMA promotion. Liddell and Ortiz have fought twice before, with Liddell winning both contests by stoppage. That being said, Ortiz feels he never got the opportunity to show the best version of himself against Liddell in the UFC.

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2018

Last night, in the co-main event of the UFC’s debut in Santiago, Chile, strawweight wrestling specialist Tatiana Suarez picked up a dominant, first-round submission victory over the highly-regarded Alexa Grasso. Suarez’s grappling dominance was so impressive in this fight that she was quickly compared to undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, and absolute grappling juggernaut, post-fight.

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2018

Last night, news surfaced that the UFC had made an adjustment to the UFC 225 lineup, adding a featherweight contender bout between Holly Holm and Megan Anderson to the main card, at the expense of a heavyweight contender bout between Alistair Overeem and Curtis Blaydes. This Overeem vs. Blaydes fight, which was first reported by BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor, will now occur in the final bout of the UFC 225 undercard, per Damon Martin. UFC 225 moved Holly Holm vs Megan Anderson to the main card with Alistair Overeem vs Curtis Blaydes now on the FS1 prelims pic.twitter.com/LTJEg2xVBL

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2018

UFC 226, which already stands out as the most stacked card of the year thus far, keeps getting better. The latest dynamite booking to be added to the lineup is a lightweight scrap pitting New Zealand’s Dan Hooker against Brazil’s Gilbert Burns. This bout was first reported by Stuff.

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2018

Last night, news surfaced that the UFC had made an adjustment to the UFC 225 main card, adding a featherweight contender bout between Holly Holm and Megan Anderson to the main card, at the expense of a heavyweight contender bout between Alistair Overeem and Curtis Blaydes. This Overeem vs. Blaydes fight, which was first reported by BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor, will now occur in the final bout of the UFC 225 undercard, per Damon Martin. UFC 225 moved Holly Holm vs Megan Anderson to the main card with Alistair Overeem vs Curtis Blaydes now on the FS1 prelims pic.twitter.com/LTJEg2xVBL

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2018

Fresh off a dominant decision victory over former UFC middleweight and welterweight title challenger Demian Maia, surging welterweight Kamaru Usman wants a crack at divisional kingpin Tyron Woodley. He feels it’s a fight he’s earned, and interestingly, an easier fight than the one he just had with Maia. “I think I should fight for the belt next,” Usman said at the post-fight press conference for the UFC’s debut in Santiago, Chile, where he defeated Maia (via MMA Fighting). “I just dominated [Maia] better than [UFC champion] Tyron Woodley. Tyron ran from him the whole fight. Tyron threw, what, the fewest strikes in a championship fight ever? And I just went out and I dominated the guy from start to finish.”

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2018

When Demian Maia agreed to step in for the injured Santiago Ponzinibbio against Kamaru Usman in the UFC Chile main event, his hope was that it would allow him to correct a tough, two-fight losing streak. Instead, Maia was soundly beaten by Usman, surrendering a lopsided unanimous decision to the Nigerian-American wrestler. Now on a tough, three-fight skid, Maia’s future looks nebulous. Though his world-class jiu-jitsu gives him a fighting chance against any of the world’s best fighters, he is now 40 years old, and appears to be nearing the end of the road.

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2018

Last night, the UFC made its debut in the beautiful South American country of Chile with an exciting, 13-fight card out of the capital of Santiago. The card was topped by a clash of welterweight contenders as surging up-and-comer Kamaru Usman took on dangerous veteran Demian Maia, who replaced the injured Santiago Ponzinibbio on just three weeks notice. Though Maia was able to give Usman some interesting looks in the first round, Usman surged back in the second, denying all of his foe’s takedown attempts, and battering him on the feet — apparently with two broken hands. By the end of the fifth round, there could be no other option than a lopsided unanimous decision win for Usman. 

Tom Taylor - May 20, 2018

Last night, in the main event of the UFC’s debut in Santiago, Chile, surging UFC welterweight contender Kamaru Usman picked up his biggest win yet, authoring a dominant unanimous decision victory over Brazilian jiu jitsu ace Demian Maia. Usman, who was originally expected to battle Argentine striker Santiago Ponzinibbio in the UFC Chile main event, faced a spot of adversity in the first round, succumbing to Maia’s first takedown attempt, and nearly giving up his back to the vaunted grappler. From there, however, Usman thwarted every one of Maia’s takedowns. This allowed him to bludgeon the Brazilian on the feet for the remainder of the fight.

Chris Taylor - May 19, 2018

A key welterweight fight between former title challenger Demian Maia and surging division contender Kamaru Usman served as the headliner of tonight’s UFC Fight Night 129 event in Chile. Round one begins and Kamaru Usman starts off quickly. He throws a jab and then another. Maia is circling looking for a way inside. Demian shoots in and secures a takedown. Usman immediately scrambles and is lucky to get back to his feet. Maia stays on him and ends up securing Usman in what looks like a standing twister position. Maia begins to throw some punches and suddenly the referee steps in and breaks up the fighters. That was an odd break up. Regardless we continue and Usman takes the center of the octagon. Kamaru with a jab. Maia answers with a left hand over the top. Maia circles along the cage. He fires off a left that misses. Usman lands a right and the horn sounds to end round one.