MMA News

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2018

On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson explained that he’s still interested in defending his title against slimmed down version of UFC bantamweight TJ Dillashaw. “That’s the fight that I want,” he said. “That’s the fight that I believe… it should go down. Obviously, the UFC knows what I want.”

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2018

Earlier this year, rumors of a possible Demetrious Johnson vs. TJ Dillashaw superfight were rampant. More recently, however, the buzz surrounding this potential fight has quieted down. Luckily, it sounds like the fight is still very possible in the near future. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, the flyweight champ Johnson reaffirmed that this is still the fight he wants.

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2018

After an unsuccessful, two-fight run in the UFC middleweight division, former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans will return to the light heavyweight division. Though the former champ was briefly linked to a showdown with former UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping, he will instead welcome former middleweight Anthony Smith to the light heavyweight division at UFC 225, on June 9 in Chicago. This bout was first reported by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. In his two fights in the UFC middleweight division, Evans lost controversial split decisions to Sam Alvey and Dan Kelly. His two next most recent bouts, which occurred at light heavyweight, also resulted in losses, as he was knocked out by Glover Teixeira and decisioned by current Bellator champ Ryan Bader. Evans’s last win occurred in November of 2013, when he defeated current Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix competitor Chael Sonnen by first-round TKO. Evans is 19-7-1 overall.

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2018

Paul Daley vs. Michael “Venom” Page is just one of those fights. The fans want it, Bellator MMA wants it, and both fighters claim to want it, yet the relevant parties just can’t seem to come to an agreement to make it happen. When it comes to this fight’s failure to come to fruition, we’ve seen the blame tossed around like a hot potato. The latest recipient of this blame was Daley, who was recently named as the reason the fight hasn’t been booked yet by Bellator president Scott Coker.

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2018

On April 7, in the main event of UFC 223, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will battle for the UFC lightweight title. Not an interim title, but the undisputed title, which is expected to be stripped from Conor McGregor in the coming weeks. Ahead of this fight, Nurmagomedov has referred to it as the “most important fight in UFC today.”

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2018

Over the last few years of his career, UFC superstar Conor McGregor has given us several reasons to believe he might one day get involved in Irish politics. ”As I get older at 29 years of age, I find that I am becoming more and more interested in where much of the money in my home state has gone,” McGregor said in an Instagram post earlier this year. “And where it actually goes when it comes in. There are more and more things I see daily that don’t add up. I see many things I do not like and I see many things that I feel can be easily amended under correct instruction. We shall see.”

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2018

On May 25, at Bellator 200, heavyweight MMA legend Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic will make his debut in the Bellator cage opposite Roy Nelson. Interestingly, however, Cro Cop should still technically be banned by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after failing a drug test in his latest UFC run. Cro Cop’s USADA two-year suspension was retroactive to November 9, 2015, which meant he should have been eligible to compete again by November of last year. Yet in July of 2016, his contract with the UFC was terminated, at which point he moved to the ring of Japan’s Rizin Fighting Federation, which meant that a portion of his USADA suspension went unserved.

Chris Taylor - March 11, 2018

Demetrious Johnson expected to make “huge announcement” on Monday According to Front Row Management’s Abrahim Kawa, who represents some of the biggest fighters in mixed martial arts today, current UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson will be making a “huge announcement” on tomorrow’s edition of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.

Chris Taylor - March 11, 2018

Luke Rockhold responds to Yoel Romero’s post-fight antics at UFC 221 Yoel Romero scored a brutal second-round knockout victory over former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold in the headliner of last month’s UFC 221 event in Perth, Australia.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2018

In the co-main event of UFC 223, which goes down on April 7 in Brooklyn, New York, former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk will get a shot at redemption against the woman who ended her reign: Rose Namajunas. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the winner of this fight is then likely to take on fearsome contender Jessica Andrade. Speaking to Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com this week, Andrade made her prediction for this anticipated strawweight title rematch.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2018

Earlier this week, it was announced that former UFC heavyweights Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Roy Nelson will collide at Bellator 200 this May 25. The bout will be a rematch of a 2011 fight, which Nelson won via third-round TKO. Ahead of this fight, Nelson has mentioned Cro Cop’s previous brush with the United States Anti-Doping Agency, and wonders if the MMA legend might still be using “special supplements” – though he doesn’t really care one way or the other.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2018

If things had gone according to the original plan, Frankie Edgar would have battled UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 222. Regrettably, Holloway was forced out of this fight with an injury, which left Edgar in a short-notice, non-title fight with Brian Ortega – a fight he would lose by first-round knockout. In the opinion of former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, who has defeated Edgar twice, Edgar made the wrong choice by accepting a short-notice fight with Ortega.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2018

Earlier this year, middleweight striker Uriah Hall was expected to take on MMA legend Vitor Belfort in what was supposed to be Belfort’s retirement fight. Regrettably, Hall was hospitalized as the result of a disastrous weight cut, and forced out of the fight. While we’ve known for some time how grim things got for Hall as the result of this weight cut, his coach Eric Nicksick recently provided some additional information, and it all sounds terrifying.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2018

On May 19, the UFC will touch down in Santiago, Chile. This trip to Chile will mark the promotion’s first trip to a South American country other than Brazil, and Argentine welterweight contender Santiago Ponzinibbio is hoping to headline the occasion. If Ponzinibbio does receive headlining honors for the UFC’s debut in Chile, he’s got two names in mind as far as opponents go. The first is two-time UFC title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, who he has called out previously. The second is Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, who he also called out recently.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2018

Having established himself as the most dominant champion in UFC history, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is now being linked to a showdown with current UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw. Unsurprisingly, this clash of incredibly talented fighters has got the fight world divided, as some people believe the ultra-dominant Johnson will win, while others favor Dillashaw, who is likely to be the bigger, stronger man in the cage.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2018

Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo currently only has four fights left on his UFC contract. In the past, the former champ has said that he will move to boxing when this current UFC contract expires. “He’s training boxing because he has this dream of competing in professional boxing,” Aldo’s coach Andre Pederneiras told MMAFighting last year. “If it was up to him, he’d fight all of his UFC fights (left on the contract) in three months and go box. He wants to box professionally.”

Chris Taylor - March 10, 2018

UFC 223 Fight Card and Start Time The octagon will return to Brooklyn, New York on April 7 for UFC 223.

Chris Taylor - March 10, 2018

The octagon will return to Chicago on June 9 for UFC 225. The pay-per-view event will be headlined by a middleweight title fight rematch featuring current title holder Robert Whittaker taking on top division contender Yoel Romero.