MMA News

Drake Riggs - March 14, 2018

The next big event for the UFC is UFC 223 on April 7th when they return to the state of New York for the seventh time. New York is the newest state to legalize MMA and we’ve gone through some definite growing pains since the first show after legalization in November of 2016. The most notable incidents would be at UFC 208, which also took place in Brooklyn, when Holly Holm took on Germaine de Randamie in the main event for the inaugural women’s featherweight title.

Drake Riggs - March 14, 2018

Daniel Cormier is back! (on @UFCTonight) @dc_mma gives details on season 27 of @ultimatefighter plus explains why he believes he'll be successful vs. @StipeMiocicufc at #UFC226! pic.twitter.com/sBeKziETqD — FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) March 15, 2018

Drake Riggs - March 14, 2018

One of the most inspirational and captivating fighters we’ve ever seen has to be “Notorious” Nick Newell. Newell is most well known for being the fighter with one arm. But this hasn’t affected the highly decorated college wrestler what so ever as he’s amassed a professional MMA record of 14-1 with eleven of those wins coming by way of finish(nine submissions, two knockouts).

Drake Riggs - March 14, 2018

The twenty-four-year-old undefeated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu phenom, Mackenzie Dern finally made her UFC debut earlier this month when she defeated Ashley Yoder at UFC 222 by split decision. With a UFC return to Brazil on the horizon, Dern made it very clear that she wanted to get on the card if possible. And that appears to be the case. MMABrasil reports that Dern’s sophomore appearance in the UFC will come against The Ultimate Fighter season 23 finalist, Amanda Cooper on May 12th.

Justin Golightly - March 14, 2018

There was a lot of history made at UFC 222 a couple of weeks ago. Frankie Edgar was not only finished for the first time in his epic career, but it was the first time he wasn’t able to stop a contender from getting past him at featherweight. Most of the time ‘gatekeeper’ is used as an insult regarding fighting, but Edgar literally held the key for years, only beaten by Jose Aldo himself in the division. With his second belt seemingly out of reach now, coach Mark Henry would love to see Edgar at bantamweight fighting for a title. “I’ll tell you one thing: I would love to see Frankie [Edgar] fight at 135. Every time Frankie has fought somebody his own size, he’s done very well. I re-watched the fight for the first time this weekend, and all these people had tweeted about how much bigger Brian [Ortega] looked. I watched it and said, ‘Holy cow, he was a lot bigger.’ It’s tough when you’re giving up size, height and range. Frankie got caught as he overstepped. He paid the price, but that’s what you have to do to compensate for that range. You have to come hard.”

Justin Golightly - March 14, 2018

We hope you’re tip-toeing into this article and holding your breath alongside of us. This is the fourth time we’ve been through a fight booked between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Every time, we get our hopes up on the best lightweight fight in the world and we end up screaming and crying that it never happens. That’s not stopping Ferguson from implementing his hard body training to prepare for his biggest test yet. Although, fans may be scared to watch the footage. Time For Some Body Conditioning. Ya’ll Don’t Know Shit About That, Except My Hardcore. Shoutout To My H.C. I Ain’t Changing One Bit. #Squad

Tom Taylor - March 14, 2018

Over the last few weeks, the MMA world has been abuzz about a potential trilogy fight between former UFC middleweight champions Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold. Yet while the beef between these two former champions is clearly still sizzling, Bisping isn’t sure it’s a fight he wants. In fact, he’s not even sure he’ll ever fight again. “Honestly, I don’t know if I’m going to fight again,” Bisping said on his Believe You Me podcast (via MMANytt). “I was going to fight in London, which is happening this weekend. I was supposed to fight but we couldn’t get the deal done and now it’s giving me more time to reflect. I don’t know, maybe I will, maybe I won’t [fight again].”

Justin Golightly - March 14, 2018

You may not know who John Phillips is, but chances are you will after UFC London this weekend. He’s been waiting for his shot at the UFC for over a year now. With his UFC debut mere days away, Phillips can finally say he’s made it to the big leagues after successful fights in Cage Warriors and BAMMA. So where is a guy who is about to fight for the biggest MMA organization in the world staying? In a caravan parked in his coach’s yard. “When I first came over [to Ireland] I stayed in an Airbnb. It cost me a lot of money and I couldn’t really afford it if I was going to be here full time. […] I came up with a plan that I would sell my jeep and buy a mobile home. […] It was actually okay for a day or two. I guess when most people use this kind of living space they’re on holidays. They’re out for the whole day with the missus and they only have to come home and sleep in it — they only spend a very short amount of time in it. I was in that f-ckin’ thing for three months solid. I could’ve done more research. I just got a van that I liked the look of.”

Tom Taylor - March 14, 2018

Former UFC middleweight champions Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold – who have fought twice previously – have had plenty to say to each other on social media of late. Rockhold fired the first shot in this latest skirmish, and Bisping was quick to respond.

Justin Golightly - March 14, 2018

When Andre Soukhamthath took a one-legged Sean O’Malley down in their UFC 222 fight, he probably didn’t even think about it. He was just going off of instinct. It cost him the fight, but the punches keep coming long after that bell rang. People have been trolling the UFC fighter relentlessly since then and haven’t let up yet. He’s got so much abuse that he’s decided to take a leave of absence from social media.

Tom Taylor - March 14, 2018

On January 20, in the main event of UFC 220, hulking French-Cameroonian knockout artist Francis Ngannou stepped into the Octagon to challenge Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title. Though Ngannou entered this contest with mountains of hype attached to his name, he was blown out of the water by the champion, losing a lopsided unanimous decision after five, lopsided rounds. In the wake of this loss, Ngannou promised to learn from the experience and come back stronger – after a brief hiatus, during which time he planned to reconnect with family.

Tom Taylor - March 14, 2018

Over the years, we’ve heard several Brazilian fighters express disinterest in fighting their fellow Brazilians. This is not to suggest Brazilian vs. Brazilian matchups don’t happen – they certainly do – but there seem to be a few fighters from the country who frown on fighting their countrymen. UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes doesn’t seem to be one of these fighters. Though Nunes is currently signed to take on Raquel Pennington at UFC 224 this May, there has recently been much discussion surrounding a potential fight between her and women’s featherweight champ Cris Cyborg – a fellow Brazilian.

Tom Taylor - March 14, 2018

On April 7, in the main event of UFC 223, UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson and undefeated contender Khabib Nurmagomedov will battle for the UFC lightweight title. The understanding is that Conor McGregor, who currently wears the UFC lightweight title, will be stripped somewhere in the immediate buildup to the UFC 223 event. According to Tony Ferguson, however, he and Nurmagomedov will not be battling for the vacant lightweight title. Instead, he claims that this fight will serve as his first title defense. If this is true, the implication is that, once McGregor is stripped, Ferguson will promptly be promoted to undisputed champion, and Nurmagomedov will challenge him for this title.

Tom Taylor - March 14, 2018

Back at UFC 219, which went down on December 30 of 2017, Team Alpha Male strawweight prospect Cynthia Calvillo lost a close decision to former champion Carla Esparza. Regrettably, things went from bad to worse for Calvillo from there, as we learned that she failed an in-competition drug test, testing positive for the dreaded marijuana metabolites. Earlier this month, Calvillo received her USADA administered suspension for this offense. The Agency hit her with a six-month suspension, which could have been reduced to three months had she completed a “drug awareness and management program.” This meant she could have returned to action as soon as March 30.

Drake Riggs - March 13, 2018

Former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold has made it pretty clear who he’s interested in fighting next and has plenty of confidence that he’ll get the job done if he gets it. That fight being the trilogy fight between him and fellow former UFC champion, Michael “the Count” Bisping. In all of Bisping’s career, he has only rematched two people and he’s won them both. One of those was against Rockhold, who defeated Bisping the first time they met at UFC Fight Night 55 in 2014 by second-round submission.

Drake Riggs - March 13, 2018

The UFC’s next event in Brazil is really shaping up to be quite the banger. Already stacked with Brazilian legends, the card is now getting a fight that will be guaranteed fireworks between bantamweight title hopefuls. Fresh off his huge win over former champion, Renan Barao is Brian “Boom” Kelleher who called out John Lineker after his win at UFC on Fox 28 in Orlando, Florida. And as reported by Combate and confirmed by several other sources as well as the fighters themselves, that it shall be.

Drake Riggs - March 13, 2018

The UFC crowned their first ever female flyweight champion last December when capping off season 26 of The Ultimate Fighter. Of the sixteen competitors, the #14 seeded underdog, Nicco Montano would come out the victor by defeating all of the top three seeds on her way to doing so. Since Montano defeated seasoned veteran and pioneer, Roxanne Modaferri to win the title, Montano has been battling a very bad case of arthritic turf toe on top of a fracture in her foot that almost prevented her from even fighting for the title.

Justin Golightly - March 13, 2018

So, @DanielPitPineda told me there was a pool for him to land the @MightyMouseUFC video game armbar at #LFA35. The pool had surpassed $2K, I even pitched in $100… check out the video; I kept my $100. @LFAfighting @AXSTVFights @patmiletich @microphonephoen #MMA #HoustonMMA pic.twitter.com/W7LXS4mntV — Mike Jackson, Esq. (@TheTruthJackson) March 13, 2018