MMA News

Tom Taylor - March 18, 2018

Last night, on the undercard of the UFC’s return to London, England, Scottish light heavyweight Paul Craig return to the Octagon opposite Russia’s Magomed Ankalaev. To say Craig had his back against the wall in this fight would be an understatement. After debuting in the Octagon with a first-round armbar of Henrique da Silva, Craig suffered back-to-back, first-round stoppage losses at the hands of Tyson Pedro and Khalil Rountree. In a matter of months, he’d tumbled from the ranks of the UFC’s most promising light heavyweight prospects to the undesirable company of fighters at risk of losing their jobs. As if the stakes weren’t already high enough, Craig’s London bout with Ankalaev also marked the final fight on his UFC contract, meaning a loss would almost certainly result in his being dropped by the promotion.

Tom Taylor - March 18, 2018

Last night, in the co-main event the UFC’s surprisingly thrilling return to London, England, the city’s own Jimi Manuwa returned to the cage opposite Jan Blachowicz, who he defeated by decision several years ago. It was an absolutely electrifying showdown that saw Manuwa weather a huge, first-round knockdown to surge back in the second – during which he landed a kick that probably would have snuffed many other light heavyweights – and then lose a close third round.

Christine Allen - March 18, 2018

Watching footage of lightweight mixed martial artist, Nick Newell, and his first-round submission win against Bellator veteran Eric Reynolds for the XFC lightweight title, a conversation with my Father springs to mind. “You don’t play pool competitively with a bad limp unless you’re good – never underestimate someone just because they have a disability,” He confided, as we watched my opponent hobble into the pool hall, balancing awkwardly on an artificial leg.

Tom Taylor - March 18, 2018

Former featherweight champion Jose Aldo and long-time featherweight contender Jeremy Stephens have recently expressed mutual interest in fighting one another. From the sounds of it, the’ll get their wish. According to Sport TV and CanalCombat reporter Ana Hissa, Aldo has officially been offered a bout with Stephens. The bout is being targeted for the UFC’s June 17 return to the MMA hotbed of Singapore.

Chris Taylor - March 17, 2018

MMA Community reacts to today’s slugfest between Jan Blachowicz and Jimi Manuwa! UFC light heavyweight contenders Jan Blachowicz and Jimi Manuwa put on a thrilling performance in today’s UFC Fight Night 127 co-main event in London, England.

Chris Taylor - March 17, 2018

UFC London Results: Alexander Volkov KO’s Fabricio Werdum A key heavyweight tilt between former champion Fabricio Werdum and surging contender Alexander Volkov headlined today’s UFC Fight Night 127 event in London, England.

Chris Taylor - March 17, 2018

UFC London Results: Jan Blachowicz defeats Jimi Manuwa A light heavyweight scrap between perennial division contenders Jan Blachowicz and Jimi Manuwa served as the co-main event of tonight’s UFC Fight Night 127 event in London, England.

Chris Taylor - March 17, 2018

UFC London Results: Leon Edwards TKO’s Peter Sobotta A welterweight scrap featuring Leon Edwards taking on Peter Sobotta took place on the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 127 event in London, England.

Justin Golightly - March 17, 2018

The main event this evening will pit Fabricio Werdum against Alexander Volkov, who has quietly stacked up a five-fight win streak. It’s a big test for Volkov and the next logical step in his climb to the top, meanwhile Werdum has been battling back since losing his title and will earn his third straight win if he gets passed the contender. Werdum is one of the most dangerous guys at heavyweight, but Volkov doesn’t seem too impressed. “We have a really big team of jiu-jitsu players in Russia, it’s a very well-known team in the grappling world, it’s called Team Strela. The guys on this team are the best jiu-jitsu players and the best grapplers in the country. The team is made up of elite competitors. […] Jiu-jitsu has a really long and rich history in MMA, but compared to the past, jiu-jitsu is not as important as it used to be. Less and less people who are only good at jiu-jitsu become UFC champions.”

Justin Golightly - March 17, 2018

Nothing in this fight game is ever certain. Just an hour or two ago, Nasrat Haqparast was supposed to kick off UFC London against Nad Narimani. Now, the fight card is pushed back 15 minutes and Haqparast is out of his fight for what may be the first time anyone has had a fight canceled in the UFC due to an infectious eye. “Based on advice from the UFC medical team on Saturday morning, Nasrat Haqparast was deemed unfit to fight due to an infectious eye condition and his bout against Nad Narimani has been cancelled. UFC FIGHT NIGHT: WERDUM vs. VOLKOV will proceed with 10 fights, beginning at 6pm GMT / 2pm ET / 11am PT.” — Statement provided per UFC’s official website.

Justin Golightly - March 17, 2018

The UFC’s big announcement yesterday was that Darren Till would finally be fighting again. Not only would they make up for the downtime between his devastating finish of Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC Gdansk, but they’d put him as the main event for the UFC’s first trip to his hometown. Against who though? Well, that’s the problem. Till called out Stephen ‘Wonderboy” Thompson once again, but his hand may or may not be healed by then. Till then moved on to Jorge Masvidal today, but Masvidal can’t make it as early as May 27th. I just spoke to former UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson who informed me that the UFC has NOT reached out to him about fighting Darren Till at UFC Liverpool in May. #UFCLiverpool https://t.co/2VWAy4gxoR

Justin Golightly - March 17, 2018

MMA fighters are always looking to pull a Conor McGregor, now boxers are trying to pull a reverse McGregor. Floyd Mayweather keeps teasing a move to MMA with Tyron Woodley taking over his training, now Gervonta Davis is saying he wants inside the Octagon too. He says he can do it in-between boxing matches and his ground game is on point because he comes from Baltimore.

Justin Golightly - March 17, 2018

As we draw closer to UFC 223’s fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, we wonder when Conor McGregor will be stripped and if he’ll be there to watch the lightweight fight and cheer on his friend and teammate Artem Lobov. He has the power of choice. He can choose the winner of that fight and prove he’s still the very best lightweight in the world, or he can not care at all about the title and go for bigger and better things. Whatever is the biggest, Owen Roddy believes he’ll go for that. “That would be a big pay-per-view without a doubt. I still say that Conor brings most [of the PPV buys]. Like, I think I saw something about Firas [Zahabi] putting up like ‘let’s see who takes the biggest pay-per-view draw’. I’d be confident in saying that Conor is the biggest pay-per-view draw between him and GSP, but it would be an insane fight, it would be a crazy fight, it would be huge. It would be probably the biggest fight that the UFC has thrown, and yeah, it would be great.”

Drake Riggs - March 16, 2018

Ahhh, MMA fans! Some of the most unique fans in all of the world. That can both be a complimentary or offensive statement…that’s for you to decide. Either way, with the many different social media platforms we have nowadays, it provides fans around the world with the ability to send messages and comments directly to the athletes they watch on TV. Some of these comments aren’t always nice or positive as seen in the video with former Invicta FC champion turned UFC featherweight, Megan Anderson and former fighter turned UFC and Invicta commentator/interviewer, Laura Sanko.

Drake Riggs - March 16, 2018

Whether you love him or you hate him, The Ultimate Fighter season 22 winner, BJJ master, Ryan Hall knows how to win fights and take little damage while doing so. Which has led to the discontent of fans on occasion. Hall is known for being one of the most dangerous opponents one could possibly face on the ground and if you’ve seen him fight before, you can tell that his opponents know it too.

Drake Riggs - March 16, 2018

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Justin Golightly - March 16, 2018

After Brian Ortega did what no man has done before to Frankie Edgar, the hype surrounding a big title fight against UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is growing to epic proportions. In many ways, it almost mirrors the UFC 223 fight against Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Holloway is on a 12-fight win streak and Ortega is on a 13-fight win streak. A fight like this hasn’t gone down in the division since Conor McGregor’s scrap against Jose Aldo. It’s reasons like this why Holloway believes this fight is huge. “My interest in fighting [Brian Ortega]: I’m very intrigued. I can’t wait to fight. I love fighting and I love competition. You want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. The best is ‘Blessed,’ and right now he’s saying and people are saying he’s the one. I can’t wait. We’ll find out. […] He proved to the world why he’s the No. 1 contender. Looks like I’ve got a new cupcake flavor, so I’m excited. I like horchata, so I can get that horchata flavor – it’s delicious.”

Justin Golightly - March 16, 2018

It looks like Fabricio Werdum is really taking this whole pro wrestling thing to heart. He had a recent meeting with the WWE and is interested in doing some sort of lucha libre, but he started getting in on the action early today. Werdum inexplicably carried a chair to the weigh-ins today to stare Alexander Volkov face-to-face but instead he used it to tower above him after a heel-move scare. Werdum comes out with a chair and fakes that he’s going to hit Volkov with it, then just puts it down so he can tower over Volkov during their faceoff #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/Sm1Q1rSkUQ