MMA News

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

Jimi Manuwa is really familiar with his opponent tonight at UFC London. He fought Jan Blachowicz back in 2015 to earn a decision win. Since then he’s only lost to Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson and the latest light heavyweight title challenger Volkan Oezdemir. He’d prefer to be fighting a higher ranked opponent, but it seems like none of them are accepting fights with him. “I wanted to fight a top five guy. I wanted the No. 3 guy Glover Teixeira. I said let me fight Glover, they said Glover doesn’t want to fight. I said let me fight Mauricio ‘Shogun’ [Rua], they said Shogun doesn’t want to fight. I said who else is available in the top 10? They said no one was available to fight in the whole top 10. I said who’s available to fight in the whole light heavyweight division? Only Jan Blachowicz said yes so I said give me Jan Blachowicz. That’s the reason we’re fighting.”

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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Drake Riggs - March 16, 2018

If you were to come across a bunch of lists of who people thought the top most exciting mixed martial artists in the world were, surely there would be few if any that did not have longtime featherweight contender, Cub Swanson as an entry or at the very least an honorable mention. Swanson has been one of the featherweight division’s most fun fighters to watch dating back all the way to 2006 when he debuted in the premier organization for lighter weight fighters, World Extreme Cagefighting.

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

Justin Golightly - March 16, 2018

It’s happening!! #UFCLiverpool is official for May 27! 🎟 https://t.co/shPzwVYT9L pic.twitter.com/rIIwOylJxo

Justin Golightly - March 16, 2018

As far as quality of competition goes, Dan Hooker is on the best streak of his career. Two finishes back-to-back over Ross Pearson and Marc Diakiese has led him to his biggest challenge yet. Jim Miller is not only Hooker’s next opponent, but a fighter that he respects. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to try to knock him out with a liver shot at UFC Atlantic City. “Jim Miller’s been a big name since I first started watching UFC. I think this fight will tie him with Michael Bisping for the most UFC fights of all time. I think he’s on 28, and then our fight will make him 29, so that will tie him for the most UFC fights ever. So there’s a lot of guys going around calling themselves ‘UFC veterans’ after a couple of fights, but Jim Miller is about as veteran as you come. So this is a fight, you know, I relish a name like that. I love it when you get that name and it’s someone you look up to, it’s someone you recognise their name and you think back to all the fights you’ve seen them have, all the wars. So yeah, I like seeing the posters up there with our names squared off against each other.”

Justin Golightly - March 16, 2018

You may have not heard of AKA Fights in Louisiana. That’s okay, most fight fans are on a strict UFC diet with a little bit of Bellator mixed in for seasoning. However, even the most hardcore viewers who stay up to watch RIZIN or hunt down obscure Russian fighting organizations probable haven’t heard of the regional promotion in the land of gumbo. Although, you may want to check them out tonight considering Nick Diaz will be there. Legend. @nickdiaz209 is onsite and ready to roll in Louisiana.

Drake Riggs - March 15, 2018

UFC 223 on April 7th showcases two of the highest level strawweight battles one could ask for. In the co-main event, we have the rematch of the epic upset from UFC 217 when Rose Namajunas knocked out the reigning champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the very first round. But before that, we get a battle of contenders looking to inch their way that much closer to a title shot. And for Karolina Kowalkiewicz, it would be her second crack at gold.

Drake Riggs - March 15, 2018

Let there be heavyweights in Chicago! UFC 225 plays host to the UFC’s return to Chicago, Illinois on June 9th and is headlined by a middleweight title rematch between the champion, Robert Whittaker and the challenger, Yoel Romero.

Drake Riggs - March 15, 2018

Former Strikeforce and UFC bantamweight queen, Ronda Rousey isn’t fighting in MMA and earning gold title belts anymore. But she is continuing to add different kinds of combat sports titles to her resume. First, she was an Olympic bronze medalist in Judo before transitioning to MMA. From there she has now recently gone into the world of professional wrestling as part of the WWE. Now, it seems she’s gotten herself into management as well as Golden Boy Promotions announced that welterweight prospect, Ferdinand Kerobyan has been signed as the first fighter under the management of Rousey.

Drake Riggs - March 15, 2018

A star from Liverpool, England emerged from the darkness on the fateful night of October 21, 2017. It was Darren Till’s very first UFC main event and he passed his test with flying colors when he absolutely dismantled the legendary, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in just one round. Till turned into an immediate name to keep an eye on and launched himself from the likes of the unranked to the top 10.

Justin Golightly - March 15, 2018

Unless you count the overturned win over Adam Milstead due to the Devil’s tobacco, Curtis Blaydes has quietly stacked up a five-fight win streak. His latest over Mark Hunt was the biggest of his career and he’s looking to use that as a springboard right into his huge Chicago fight with Alistair Overeem. Overeem will be battling to keep his spot, while Blaydes has a chance to finally reach the top of the heavyweight division for a shot at the title. “I feel like I’m getting a bit more of a push, but this isn’t a trap fight for [Alistair Overeem] or me, this is just good matchmaking. It’s really the only fight that made sense. Cause they weren’t gonna give him [Francis] Ngannou again, they weren’t gonna give him another title shot without beating someone else, they weren’t gonna give him Mark Hunt again. It was either me or Cain [Velasquez], and I’m guessing maybe Cain’s injured still, I don’t know what’s going on with that. But he didn’t really have too many options, so it only made sense that it would be me and him.”

Justin Golightly - March 15, 2018

MMA is a revolving door of talent. When one person leaves, hundreds more are waiting to take their place. Despite logging in nearly 80 fights in kickboxing and boxing, Israel Adesanya is just starting his UFC career as Ronda Rousey moves on in her new WWE career. Adesanya is familiar with the bandwagon jumpers, but also smart enough to know that fickle fans will abandom him just like they’ve done to so many other UFC fighters. If the young prospect could give any advice to Rousey, it’s to not care what anyone thinks and just do her own thing. “[I’m] 100 percent [behind Ronda Rousey], you see the work those guys put in and people are so quick to forget [about Rousey’s other accomplishments]. I don’t buy into the whole fandom, I just think with people who are with me. People are so quick to forget how great Ronda was, how much of a pioneer she was in the game.”