MMA News

Tom Taylor - March 6, 2018

Back in October, former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ and UFC middleweight contender Gegard Mousasi made his anticipated Bellator debut opposite the dangerous Alexander Shlemenko. Though many fans expected Mousasi to walk through Shlemenko, it was ultimately a very close fight, as the UFC vet braved a brutally swollen eye to capture a controversial unanimous decision win. In a recent interview with MMAJunkie, Mousasi divulged that the eye injury he sustained in this competitive fight was far more serious than anyone new.

Justin Golightly - March 6, 2018

Max Holloway has been passionately campaigning to bring UFC to Hawaii even before his second win over Jose Aldo. It looks like his rise to the top combined with his charismatic persuasion started winning the brass at the UFC over. Initially, the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) stalled due to worries about spreading violence in the presence of a UFC card, however a meeting was scheduled with the UFC to make the event finally happen. The plan is to have UFC 227 in Hawaii’s Aloha Stadium with Max Holloway defending his belt against Brian Ortega, but once again the HTA countered the UFC’s offer, leaving the two sides ‘millions’ of dollars apart and negotiations stalled once again. “I heard 227 in August was supposed to be UFC Hawaii, but I Tweeted 226 because you know, I gotta move on. You can’t hold this stuff forever, I can’t hold my breath. I got a life, I got a family to take care of, I got a little kid, I got fans. If I can’t get UFC Hawaii I said, the Ninth Island is the next best thing. It’s tough pill to swallow but at the end of the day, it is what it is. We can’t control nothing. All we can do is create buzz. I’d like to thank all the fans who are creating buzz.”

Tom Taylor - March 6, 2018

Mixed martial arts can be a brutal sport, and UFC 222 was an excellent reminder of that fact. The Saturday night card, which went down in Las Vegas, Nevada, featured a number of the beatdowns and injuries characteristic of this racket, and several fighters on the bill received lengthy injury suspensions as a result. One of the longer suspensions to result from the card was levied against Sean O’Malley, who defeated Andre Soukhamthath on the main card – but not before badly injuring his leg. Frankie Edgar and Yana Kunitskaya, who lost by first-round stoppage in the UFC 222 co-main and main events respectively, are also facing long sits.

Tom Taylor - March 6, 2018

When Brian Ortega knocked out Frankie Edgar in the co-main event of last weekend’s UFC 222, he earned himself a shot at increasingly dominant UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway. From the moment Ortega earned this bout with Holloway, it’s been talked about as one of the best fights in the history of the featherweight division; a collision of two tremendous, young talents and well-rounded arsenals and killer instinct to boot.

Tom Taylor - March 6, 2018

With respect to potential opponents for the yet-unscheduled retirement fight of former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, a number of names have been mentioned, from Rashad Evans, to Vitor Belfort, to Lyoto Machida. Now, though, it’s looking like Bisping’s last – and probably final – challenge will come in the form of Luke Rockhold. Bisping has previously expressed interest in a tie-breaking trilogy fight with Rockhold, and on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Rockhold revealed his mutual interest in the bout.

Drake Riggs - March 5, 2018

No time was wasted by Volkan Oezdemir as he raced his way to an early title shot in 2017. The relative unknown Swissman, Oezdemir took out three top ten contenders in the short span of just a year’s time and did so in less than twenty minutes. After earning his title shot at UFC 220, Oezdemir put up a very valiant effort early on against the light heavyweight champion and future UFC heavyweight title challenger, Daniel Cormier but ultimately came up short.

Drake Riggs - March 5, 2018

“Ben Askren, I don’t understand why he’s not in the UFC. He’s one of the best in the world and I think it has to do with maybe a problem he has with Dana White, you know but he’s one of the best fighters in the world. If there is a guy that in my career, for my legacy that would have been good to fight, it’d be Ben Askren because he beat everybody. All the guys at Bellator, he beat all the champions outside the UFC but unfortunately, I think he has a fallout with Dana and he never had a chance to fight in the UFC and therefore is stuck. Never went to the value that he’s supposed to be at.

Drake Riggs - March 5, 2018

The social media war continues between former enemies turned UFC champions, Max Holloway and Conor McGregor. There have been slight back and forths between the two since Holloway first won the featherweight title at UFC 212 by defeating Jose Aldo via third round TKO. But it has begun to heat up and get dare I say…a little spicy…

Tom Taylor - March 5, 2018

On Sunday, heavyweight legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic dropped a serious hint that he’d signed with Bellator MMA. On Monday morning, the promotion made it official with a press release. Cro Cop is set to make his Bellator debut opposite fellow UFC veteran and knockout artist Roy Nelson. The pair will collide at the landmark Bellator 200, which goes down on May 25, in London, England.

Tom Taylor - March 5, 2018

If things had gone according to the original plan, Frankie Edgar would have challenged Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title in the main event of last Saturday’s UFC 222 card. When Holloway was forced out of this fight with an injury, however, Edgar accepted a late-notice battle with surging contender Brian Ortega, putting his well-deserved title shot on the line in an incredibly high-risk move. Unfortunately for Edgar and his fans, his featherweight title dreams were dashed yet again, as he was put down by an Ortega uppercut in the first round, which marked his very first stoppage loss.

Tom Taylor - March 5, 2018

After watching UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg maul Yana Kunitskaya at UFC 222 last weekend, Chael Sonnen believes he’s identified some glaring holes in her game. Sonnen broke it down in the latest episode of Beyond the Fight, and implored Cyborg’s potential future opponents to listen.

Tom Taylor - March 5, 2018

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor – who is expected to be stripped of his title when the cage door closes on Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 – has been uncharacteristically active on Twitter lately, engaging with many of his UFC rivals. One of his latest targets was reigning UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway, who he defeated by decision back in 2013. McGregor’s jab at Holloway occurred after the featherweight champ attempted to console Frankie Edgar on Twitter.

Tom Taylor - March 5, 2018

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor – who is expected to be stripped of his title any day now – has been very active on social media lately, engaging UFC stars like Max Holloway and Sage Northcutt over the last few days. The latest fighter to be targeted by McGregor on Twitter is interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson, who will battle Khabib Nurmagomedov for McGregor’s vacated belt at UFC 223 on April 7.

Tom Taylor - March 5, 2018

Though he’s floated retirement plans several times over the last few years, heavyweight legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic still hasn’t hung up the gloves. And from the looks of it, that won’t be changing any time soon. After several bouts in the Rizin cage, the Croatian knockout artist recently dropped a pretty serious hint that he could be moving to Bellator MMA.

Chris Taylor - March 4, 2018

Conor McGregor continues to take aim at “kid” Max Holloway Current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, who will be stripped of his title as soon as Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov throw their first punch at UFC 223, paid Frankie Edgar some serious respect following “The Answer’s” first career knockout loss to Brian Ortega at last night’s UFC 222 event.

Chris Taylor - March 4, 2018

Miesha Tate sounds off on the poor judging at UFC 222! Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate was not at all happy with the judging at last night’s UFC 222 event in Las Vegas.

Chris Taylor - March 4, 2018

Frankie Edgar’s coach issues emotional statement following KO loss to Brian Ortega Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar (22-6-1 MMA) suffered the first stoppage loss of his legendary mixed martial arts career to Brian Ortega at last night’s UFC 222 event in Las Vegas.

Chris Taylor - March 4, 2018

UFC 222 Athlete Outfitting Payouts Fighters from last night’s UFC 222 event in Las Vegas were introduced to the promotions new “UFC Athlete Outfitting Pay”, a program that launched following the conclusion of the UFC’s deal with Reebok.