MMA News

Justin Golightly - March 10, 2018

Hey Natalie. Want a Rematch? I'll see you in "The 312” ChiTown. Unless you're scared. Oh, and don't forget to bring your Painkilling Weed Pen. You're gonna need it… Homey!!! #dontbescared @natediaz209 @danawhite @seanshelby @ufc #mma #ufc225 #chicago #natediaz #ufc #rematch A post shared by Clay Guida (@clayguida) on Mar 9, 2018 at 12:17pm PST

Justin Golightly - March 10, 2018

Ever since Luke Rockhold teased that he was going to be moving up to the light heavyweight division, there has been one man waiting to welcome him to the division. Alexander Gustafsson was quick to stand in the doorway to Rockhold’s entrance into the new weight class. The former UFC middleweight champion is happy to oblige Gustafsson whenever they can step into the Octagon, but it looks like he already landed a pretty big blow. @LukeRockhold . Heard u coming for me.. Can’t ask for more .chinny as middle weight. KO’d as a LHW. Fool yourself to believe its the weight cut.

Justin Golightly - March 10, 2018

If you don’t know Nick Newell, right now is a great time to find out. He’s one of the top prospects outside of the UFC with or without both of their hands. Since 2009, the fighter has racked up 14 wins, a regional title, and 2013 Submission of the Year in Word Series of Fighting. Last night he came out of retirement like a man possessed and neck cranked Sonny Luque at Legacy Fighting Alliance in the first round and put his foot down with a declaration to Dana White: ‘I belong in the UFC.’ “Life is a cold hard place. It will chew you up and spit you out, but if you make it your b-tch, you can do anything. You can either become a victim of circumstances or you can create your own. I’m out here, I’m creating my own circumstances. I’m one of the best fighters in the world and I belong in the UFC. That’s it. That’s final. I gave you 14 reasons why I belong in the UFC. I’m one of the best fighters in the world and I proved it 14 times.” — Nick Newell in his post-fight speech at LFA 35 via MMA Fighting.

Justin Golightly - March 10, 2018

Until this recent injury preventing his title defense against Frankie Edgar, Max Holloway has held steadfast in the featherweight division. He told us the Blessed Era was coming, he stacked up a 10-fight win streak, then dethroned the previous Jose Aldo king twice. If he can successfully prevent Brian Ortega from taking his belt, then it’s hard to make a case for another contender right now. As dominant as Holloway has been, it’s got him looking higher up for future challenges. He calls out none other than Khabib Nurmagomedov, but quickly warns the division that no one is safe at lightweight. “You know, everybody keep talking about me and a guy too. That Irish man [Conor McGregor]. Everybody want to see us run that back, everybody seems to not be talking about Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. I want Khabib. You know, to be the best you got to beat the best and one of those guys is Khabib. A lot of guys draw Tony [Ferguson]’s name. I remember Tony saying that he wanted to come down to 145-pounds, but they all can stay up there. Stay at 155-pounds, no excuses, let me come up and let me fight. I’m a big boy and we can go up. And 170-pounds ain’t so far after that.”

Drake Riggs - March 9, 2018

“Daniel Cormier – Jon Jones fight… A good fight. Cormier got knocked out pretty good. And they interviewed him afterwards.

Drake Riggs - March 9, 2018

It truly is the super fight season! And Bellator champs are starting to get that itch as well. First things first, the most notable super fight on the horizon is the light heavyweight and heavyweight clash of UFC champions, Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic. Then we have the super fight with some serious history on the line… March 24th, ONE: Iron Will is headlined by their longtime reigning bantamweight champion, Bibiano Fernandes as he tries to defend against the man looking to become a three-division champion… Yeah…that’s right, THREE. Fernandes defends against ONE’s first dual weight champion(recently they crowned a second) of the featherweight and lightweight divisions, Martin Nguyen.

Drake Riggs - March 9, 2018

One of the UFC lightweight division’s brightest prospects will have to keep waiting for his next big step up the 155 ladder. Mairbek Taisumov has been dealing with visa issues for a while now but the UFC felt comfortable enough to book him for a fight in America regardless. Well…they should have waited. Taisumov’s opponent for the big April 7th, UFC 223 card in Brooklyn, New York, Evan Dunham announced today on Twitter that Taisumov couldn’t get everything squared away and that the fight will not be happening.

Justin Golightly - March 9, 2018

Dillon Danis has an MMA debut on the horizon that has long been teased since his signing with Bellator in March of last year. Dates were set and broke, set then broke again, but now it looks like everything is good to go. First reported by MMA Fighting, Danis is going to a get a big, main card slot on the big April 28th Bellator 198 card headlined by legend Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. biggest debut in MMA History. coming to a TV near you… 💰

Justin Golightly - March 9, 2018

It hasn’t been that long since Valentina Shevchenko’s absolute domination of Priscila Cachoeira at UFC Belem. It was her flyweight debut and she used that as an alarm siren to every 125-pound woman on the planet. She wasted no time at all calling out the champion Nicco Montano, but there has been nothing but crickets. She had since spoken to us about her impatience with Montano and now it seems it has reached a boiling point. Shevchenko scolds her in this recent interview and says it’s not becoming of a champion. “I heard that [Nicco Montano] already started to train, so I was thinking like, from now it’s about, like, how many months? Three, four months? It’s enough time to be in good shape and good preparation, so let’s see. Still, like, I haven’t heard too much from her, but I hope she will talk soon and hopefully she will accept because I don’t see another [option for an opponent], I just see my next fight for the title with Nicco. She won it a few months ago, but she has to move forward and she has to defend it. And like I said, there is no way to be so quiet and don’t say nothing.”

Justin Golightly - March 9, 2018

Dealing with a knee injury since Summer of last year, Joseph Benavidez has been out on the sidelines watching the flyweight division move on without him. Only, it hasn’t really moved on. The unstoppable Demetrious Johnson is still at the top and all the major players have also been beat by Benavidez. That’s why when he makes his triumphant return against Sergio Pettis at UFC 225, he wants to prove he’s still number one and get another crack at Mighty Mouse. “For anyone who says I shouldn’t [get a shot] or that I’ve fought him twice or whatever — I realize when there is money to be made, maybe you’ll pick the No. 8 guy in the division because it will sell more. But with our division, there’s not a star. Demetrious [Johnson]is the best fighter ever, and he’s not a star. So what do we really have? All we have is our talent. That’s what’s great about the division, you can see things that 125-pound guys can do that some other guys can’t. All we have is our skill. So if we don’t have a big fight, why wouldn’t you have the best fighters fight?”

Justin Golightly - March 9, 2018

What are the odds? Turns out pretty good. Floyd Mayweather has been teasing a transition into MMA like a politician, flipping and flopping on whether it will really happy or not. Dana White revealed the talks were true, until Mayweather called him a liar and then proceeded to continue to post social media winks on his account. However, this recent news is the biggest confirmation yet. UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley had linked up with Moeny Mayweather to help prepare him for his UFC debut. “Floyd Mayweather is interested in taking a mixed martial art bout, maybe a few of them, so who better than The Chose One to teach him the ropes on how we get off the ropes and get in the cage. I saw him at the Jordan party during the All-Star weekend, we started chatting about training MMA and we decided let’s connect, let’s hook up in Vegas and do some training. Get him ready for MMA. Y’all think it’s a joke but think about this: Floyd Mayweather’s one of the best strikers of all times. How many guys in the UFC that can’t wrestle, and can’t grapple and they consider themselves a stand-up fighter? If they have to stand across from one of the greatest strikers ever, they’re gonna be in a world of smoke.”

Justin Golightly - March 9, 2018

You know the Yoel Romero story by now: He missed weight, the fight went on, and he finished Luke Rockhold in spectacular fashion at UFC 221. it was a moment of glory that was only slightly blemished due to the percentage of his purse being taken and the fact that he wasn’t awarded an interim title. However, as Romero would say himself, ‘God is good all the time.’ While no official UFC announcements have dropped, our sources have confirmed Romero gets his title shot against Robert Whittaker at UFC 225 in Chicago on June 9th. Breaking! Per sources Yoel Romero vs Robert Whittaker 2 is a done deal for #UFC225. The title fight rematch is expected to serve as the main event in Chicago!

Drake Riggs - March 8, 2018

The anticipation was real for Mackenzie Dern’s UFC debut and it showed in the 1,076,000 viewers during her fight. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu wizard, Mackenzie Dern has been on many MMA experts’ radars since her transition to MMA in 2016. Dern is an undefeated 6-0 in MMA with that most recent victory coming in that UFC 222 debut last Saturday when she defeated Ashley Yoder by split decision. UFC jitters? No such thing says Dern when speaking on the MMA Hour:

Drake Riggs - March 8, 2018

Believe it or not, Sijara Eubanks was supposed to be one half of MMA history. After competing and winning her way through season 26 of The Ultimate Fighter, ‘Sarge’ was all set to fight for the inaugural UFC women’s flyweight title against Nicco Montano. Eubanks, essentially a career bantamweight with only one fight at 125-pounds prior to the season, had felt that this was her perfect opportunity to shine. And for the most part, it was.

Drake Riggs - March 8, 2018

It felt like we would never see the days that the longtime featherweight ruler, Jose Aldo wouldn’t be in the title mix. But here we are. After suffering two consecutive losses for the first time in his career, both by TKO(also a first) to current champion, Max Holloway, the consensus greatest featherweight of all time now finds himself having to climb his way back into title contention. Something he hasn’t had to do in over ten years.

Drake Riggs - March 8, 2018

Season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter was the first and only season that has been done live. The season gave us some of today’s best 155-pound fighters as eight are still in the UFC to this day. Most notably, the winner, Michael “Maverick” Chiesa. Chiesa defeated Al Iaquinta in the finals to earn the crown of TUF champion but along the way, he defeated one of the UFC’s current hottest rising contenders, James Vick.

Justin Golightly - March 8, 2018

While this fight has been penciled in for awhile now, the UFC has been wishy-washy about etching it in stone. As of today though, the UFC officially confirmed that Amanda Nunes will put her women’s bantamweight title on the line against Raquel Pennington. Nunes is currently rising a six-fight win streak against absurd competition, beating Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, and Valentina Shevchenko twice. While she’s been out for two years, Pennington is still rising a four-win run of her own. Amanda Nunes vs. Raquel Pennington finally official for UFC 224 in Brazil. Long time coming, UFC originally targeted this as far back as December. Latest date first reported by @DamonMartin. Interesting title fight.

Justin Golightly - March 8, 2018

If you weren’t already one singing The Last Style Bender Israel Adesanya’s praises, after just one fight in the UFC he’s already got everyone talking about him. Between the way he talks and the way he wants, but more importantly the way he fights, he’s another young prospect that is hyped to potentially be the next big thing. However, while being controversial can get a lot of eyes on you, it can also turn them away. The UFC isn’t too happy with his pre and post-fight peeing potentially ritual deterring sponsors. “[The UFC] told my manager that, ‘We handle a lot of sponsors, millions of dollars in sponsors. So for him to pretend to be with his dick out and shaking it after he pees as well or whatever, it’s not really a good look.’ For me, how I see it is, f-ck, what are the sponsors worried about: Me pretending to whip an imaginary dick out and pee everywhere to mark my territory or just watching me just beat the f-ck out of a dude? I don’t know what kind of game these sponsors are playing or whatever, but for me, I just have to make a statement and that statement is pretty clear: This is my cage. Any top dog would do it. My stench is still there. Whenever I get back into the cage, I’m sure I’ll smell it.” – Israel Adesanya speaking to FloCombat’s Top Turtle podcast.