MMA News

Chris Taylor - February 24, 2018

UFC Orlando Results: Brian Kelleher defeats Renan Barao A bantamweight scrap between former division champion Renan Barao and Brian Kelleher served as the featured bout of tonight’s UFC on FOX 28 prelims in Orlando.

Chris Taylor - February 24, 2018

UFC Orlando Results: Marion Reneau submits Sara McMann A key women’s bantamweight scrap between perennial contenders Sara McMann and Marion Reneau took place during tonight’s UFC on FOX 28 prelims in Orlando, Florida.

Chris Taylor - February 24, 2018

UFC Orlando Results: Angela Hill defeats Maryna Moroz A women’s strawweight tilt between Angela Hill and Maryna Moroz took place during tonight’s UFC on FOX 28 prelims in Orlando, Florida.

Chris Taylor - February 24, 2018

UFC Orlando Results: Alan Jouban KO’s Ben Saunders A welterweight scrap between Ben Saunders and Alan Jouban kicked off tonight’s UFC on FOX televised prelims in Orlando.

Justin Golightly - February 24, 2018

TJ Dillashaw lands two late shots against Takeru during their sparring session pic.twitter.com/RgAuIxRhiM — Bestrafer7 (@Bestrafer7) February 22, 2018

Justin Golightly - February 24, 2018

It seems like every year there is a tease that Chuck Liddell may come out of retirement for one or two more fights. This year, it seems to be a fight with former rival and UFC light heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz. However, Bellator president Scott Coker is on the fence about the idea. It’s not that he wouldn’t put on the trilogy between Liddell and Ortiz, he’s just that he literally doesn’t know if he can. “My understanding is that Chuck [Liddell] is still under contract with the UFC. I’m not sure. I just thought that to be true. I don’t know the details, but when he retired, I think the contract freezes and they maintain some rights. Listen, is it a fight that would be fun to watch [between Liddell and Tito Ortiz]? I think if they both pass a physical and Tito was healthy and his neck was healthy and he was able to perform at a high level, and they were fighting, to me is it interesting? I would definitely watch it.”

Justin Golightly - February 24, 2018

The UFC has been playing the hot and cold game with Nate Diaz for as long as grizzled veteran MMA fans can remember. It wasn’t until he took out Conor McGregor and then fought him again, earning the first and second place of most pay-per-view buys of all-time, that Diaz was able to play the game back. He had leverage and still does. Despite a back-and-forth about a possible Tyron Woodley fight, White doesn’t believe he’ll return unless it’s to finish the trilogy with McGregor. Older brother Nick Diaz though, may be a different story. “The thing is for Nate Diaz, We’ve been offering Nate Diaz fights, Nate doesn’t want to fight and right now Nate isn’t in line for a title shot. [Rafael] dos Anjos just beat Robbie Lawler, which is a big deal, and was very impressive in how he did it. He deserves the fight [with Tyron Woodley]. […] We’ve been offering [Diaz] fights. Guys don’t just come out and say, ‘Yeah, I want fights’ and then we don’t react on it. We’ve been hitting him up since the last time he fought, offering him fights and he’s not interested in fighting.”

Justin Golightly - February 24, 2018

After Yoel Romero took out Luke Rockhold at UFC 221, there was no doubt that he deserved a title shot. Although, some did criticize the decision by the UFC to still award Romero with a chance at the belt after he missed weight. Former UFC fighter Jay Hieron was recently asked about the scenario and says Romero was already punished and no one else is as deserving. “[Yoel Romero] got penalized. He’s not all happy right now. He got 30-percent of his purse taken, which is a lot. He has the belt – on his own stomach, in his own house right now, he could be interim belt champion, which he’s not. He’s penalized. But you go out and put a performance on like that, you can’t argue that. He should definitely get the shot. I get it. You’re in a different country. You’re in a totally different time frame. You’ve retained water, so it’s already not going as planned. I get it. He probably thought he could make weight.”

Justin Golightly - February 24, 2018

Wooing in the face of his opponent after stepping on the scale, primal screams, hitting himself in the face, accosting fighters Octagon-side post-fight, Mike Perry knows how to make a scene. Yesterday wasn’t any different at the UFC Orlando ceremonial weigh-ins. Perry is going into his fight today against Max Griffin with time invested in the mental game, well, if you could call it that. He attempted to pants Griffin after the flexing and the photographs yesterday. So close .. @PlatinumPerry @MaxPainMMA #UFCOrlando pic.twitter.com/nmR6RnCzmj

Drake Riggs - February 23, 2018

One of the UFC lightweight division’s biggest dark horses continued his winning ways last Saturday after earning yet another impressive victory over Francisco Trinaldo thus extending his current winning streak to four. “The Texicutioner” James Vick is ready for 2018 which he thinks will be his year as he told BJ Penn Radio this week. “I’m about to be 31 years old this week, on Friday’s my birthday, I’m gonna be 31 years old. I don’t feel old at all I started in this game late. I feel young as shit, I feel like I’m in my athletic prime. But at the same time the older you get, the UFC is hardly promoting me now, the older you get it’s even harder to get promoted. I’m not gonna fight someone for the same damn pay unless they’re ranked above me.

Drake Riggs - February 23, 2018

View this post on Instagram

Drake Riggs - February 23, 2018

After multiple back and forths on social media and attempts to set up a fight between each other, it looks like there’s a much more solid chance for it to happen now. MMAFighting has reported that UFC Fight Night 131 in Utica, New York will be headlined by a top 5 bantamweight showdown between Jimmie Rivera and Marlon Moraes. The event takes place on June 1st. The talk of these two world class 135-pound competitors really heated up after former champion, Dominick Cruz was injured out of his bout with Rivera for UFC 219. Rivera found himself with several suitors to step in. The UFC decided to go with John Lineker who ended up having to pull out as well due to a tooth infection just about a week before fight night.

Justin Golightly - February 23, 2018

For those who were in the know, Israel Adesanya’s debut at UFC 221 was highly anticipated. After he dissected his opponent and gave his fire emoji post-fight speech though, everyone was leaping onto the bandwagon. Since then, he’s followed up with social media posts and more media appearances, proving to everyone that he’s ready for the spotlight. Some are worried that his performance and personality will cause the UFC to fast track the prospect, but Adesanya isn’t worried about that one bit. In fact, he welcomes it. “That’s why we took so long to get to the UFC. We took our time coming to the UFC because we wanted to make sure that if they gave us a top-15 or top-10 or even top-5 straight away, that I would be ready. We wanted to make sure that I could take on anyone in the world. All these other people coming from ‘Looking for a Fight’ and they jump in the UFC after 3 or 4 fights, some of them do well, some of them don’t. Before you swim in the depths of the ocean you got to make sure you can swim with sharks. The difference is I don’t just swim with the sharks, I eat them and that’s what I’m about to do.”

Justin Golightly - February 23, 2018

Aung La N Sang made quick work of game contender Alexandre Machado to walk away as your new ONE Light Heavyweight World Champion, and now historic two-division world champion! #QuestForGold #Yangon #MartialArts pic.twitter.com/CFt9Ju2JyG — ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) February 23, 2018

Justin Golightly - February 23, 2018

Nothing like a Conor McGregor post to wreak havoc on a fight week. He said he was going to step in and fight Frankie Edgar at UFC 222, then the dominoes fell and continue to fall. In the midst of this wild back-and-forth between Conor McGregor and Frankie Edgar’s camp, information is coming out from many different places and the truth probably rests somewhere in the middle of this chaos. In between the rants of Edgar’s manager in the media, he said something very interesting in a reply to Ariel Helwani. That McGregor requested a 165-pound title. When conor called the ufc he asked them create a 165lb belt. He thinks @danawhite was born yesterday. This is fact. Waiting for response Mr. Helwani. #BeefIsReal

Justin Golightly - February 23, 2018

Before Sage Northcutt even hit the showers after his hard-fought win at UFC Austin, Marc Diakiese was on Twitter calling him out. He has since followed up with a more polite presentation, clearly winking at the gentlemanly Northcutt, but he hasn’t stopped there. Diakiese is showing he’s serious about the fight by going in depth explaining his proposition. After hearing him explain it, it makes us want the match-up even more. We just hope ‘Mr.’ Urijah Faber agrees to it. “I think it would be a good fight. [Sage Northcutt]’s on a two-fight win streak, and I’m on a two-fight losing streak. To be honest, I watched his fight in Austin, and I thought he lost. I feel the fight makes sense. He’s 10-2 and I’m 12-2. If he beats me, it will really put him out there. I bring a lot of attention to fights and so does he. He likes to stand up and so do I, so I think the UFC will like the idea and I know the fans will really like it too. I think right now he’s probably asking Mr. Faber if he should take the fight. To be honest, I don’t know he feels about it, but I want to take what’s mine. I know I can gain a lot from fighting him, and I think he can gain a lot from fighting me too.”

Justin Golightly - February 23, 2018

As long as the beast Brock Lesnar is roaming around God’s green Earth, we’re probably going to talk about a possible comeback to the UFC. Just 21 pay-per-views ago, Lesnar came back out of nowhere and beat top 10 heavyweight Mark Hunt. He left as soon as he came back off of an anti-doping violation, then headed back to reign supreme in the WWE. Now, his contract is approaching an end in April and the speculation is boiling over that he’ll bring Suplex City back into the Octagon. Paul Heyman was asked about the rumored moved and said simply: He does what he wants. “I think Brock Lesnar does whatever Brock Lesnar wants to do. If Brock Lesnar wants to fight in UFC, Brock Lesnar will fight in UFC. If Brock Lesnar wants to fight in WWE, he will fight in WWE. Ask Braun Strowman, ask Randy Orton, ask the Undertaker, Brock Lesnar does what Brock Lesnar wants to do.”

Drake Riggs - February 22, 2018

The strawweight division’s oldest matchup is finally set to take place again. Former UFC and Invicta FC champion, Carla Esparza and former title challenger, Claudia Gadelha will get another chance at getting to hurt each other. The two are set to due battle at UFC 225 in Chicago, Illinois. But as history shows…this isn’t the first time we were supposed to see these former top 2 115-pounders clash. Going back to the early days of Invicta, Esparza and Gadelha were the clear two very best strawweights on the planet so it only made sense for them to square off for the world title. Which was Invicta’s plan. So they booked the two for Invicta FC 4 to crown their inaugural strawweight champion. Gadelha suffered a broken nose prior to the fight and was unable to compete thus bumping Bec Rawling into her place to fill in.