MMA News

Justin Golightly - February 14, 2018

Joe Rogan comments on beating CM Punk and losing to USADA pic.twitter.com/orNS00Go8B — Bestrafer7 (@Bestrafer7) February 14, 2018

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2018

If things had gone according to plan, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar would be challenging Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title in the main event of UFC 222 on March 3. Regrettably, an injury forced Holloway out of this planned fight, which briefly left Edgar without an opponent. After several frantic days of searching, the UFC was able to book Edgar a new opponent in fellow featherweight contender Brian Ortega. The pair will fight in the UFC 222 co-main event, with women’s featherweight Cris Cyborg and challenger Yana Kunitskaya now fighting i the headlining spot.

Justin Golightly - February 14, 2018

What can be said about Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson’s upcoming fight that already hasn’t? This will be the fourth time these two have tried to meet inside the Octagon, so we’ve broke down this fight over and over again. The same can be said for the fighters. If the style match-up wasn’t already compelling, they’ve been preparing each other for years. His coach recently spoke up about Ferguson’s secluded training and used to think he’d submit Nurmagomedov, now he believes it will be a knockout. “[Conor] McGregor made about $60 million his last fight. He doesn’t favor fighting anyone for $5, $6, or $7 million. He never favored fighting Tony [Ferguson] because he’s too dangerous and now [that] Tony’s name finally blew up, he’s rich and lazy while Tony’s super hungry, so no way he was ever fighting Tony. Tony’s jab and his feet will keep McGregor at bay. When we choose to, we will close the gap with strong counters from different angles. Tony hits like a truck. It won’t last long. McGregor has no chance at all in that fight.”

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2018

Last weekend, in the main event of the stacked UFC 221, Yoel Romero knocked out Luke Rockhold with a brutal bombardment of third-round punches. In the subsequent moments, Romero pinned a bewildered Rockhold against the cage, and planted a kiss on his cheek. Though Romero’s intention was clearly an act of sportsmanship, the gesture didn’t go over well with former middleweight champion Michael Bisping. Yoel Romero comforts Luke Rockhold with a kiss after #UFC221 pic.twitter.com/mv6IXxqQP7

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2018

Floyd Mayweather’s potential move to MMA is a seriously hot topic these days. Of course, it’s unlikely the legendary boxer would have much of a chance in the UFC’s Octagon – particularly against his arch rival Conor McGregor. Speaking on Tuesday’s edition of The Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show UFC commentator Joe Rogan broke down Mayweather’s chances of success in a potential MMA bout with McGregor. Unsurprisingly, he thinks they’re incredibly slim.

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2018

Conor McGregor training partner Artem Lobov will get another opportunity in the UFC’s Octagon at UFC 223 this April 7. The Russian-born Irishman is set to battle Alex Caceres in an intriguing featherweight bout on the card. The earliest reports of this bout came from The Mac Life. It has now been confirmed by MMAFighting.com.

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2018

At UFC 223, which goes down April 7 in Brooklyn, New York, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will battle for the UFC lightweight title. What exactly this means for Conor McGregor, who is hanging on to his own lightweight belt with both hands, remains to be seen. Whatever the case, Nurmagomedov and Ferguson’s massive title clash is already dominating fan attention. Everybody and their mother has opinion on the fight, and that includes the pair’s fellow fighters.

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2018

After blasting through the 2017 Rizin bantamweight Grand Prix to capture bantamweight gold, former UFC flyweight title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi now has another momentous challenge to look forward to: a battle with fellow UFC veteran Ian McCall. The pair will collide in Fukuoka, Japan on May 6. McCall announced this awesome booking on his official Instagram account.

Drake Riggs - February 13, 2018

At Bellator 185 back in October, the undefeated boxing champion and undefeated MMA rookie, Heather ‘the Heat’ Hardy suffered her first career loss in either sport. After a successful debut at Bellator 180 in Madison Square Garden, it was Hardy who fell victim to Kristina Williams’ successful debut at Bellator 185. Williams utilized her crisp kickboxing to violently pick Hardy apart for a round and a half before the doctors had seen enough. As rough of a loss as it may have looked to the viewers, Hardy had a much different perspective when looking at the outcome as she told MMASucka in an interview:

Drake Riggs - February 13, 2018

This Friday, Bellator will be finding out who the second fighter to advance to the next round of their heavyweight Grand Prix will be. It will either be Matt Mitrione or Roy Nelson walking away to face either ‘King Mo’ Muhammad Lawal or current Bellator light heavyweight champion, Ryan Bader in the semi finals. This fight will be a rematch of for Mitrione and Nelson of their 2012 clash. Both men competed on season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter, but it wasn’t until the TUF 16 finale that they would finally meet after Nelson coached against former interim heavyweight champion, Shane Carwin. Carwin would suffer an injury and be forced out of the bout which gave Mitrione the opportunity to fill in. Unfortunately for Mitrione, things wouldn’t go his way as Nelson would defeat him by first-round TKO.

Drake Riggs - February 13, 2018

The year is 2016, the UFC has been sold to WME-IMG from Zuffa in a four billion dollar deal. Fighters unions are being formed and trying to stay intact. Primarily there was the MMA Athletes Association(MMAAA) and the Professional Fighters Association(PFA). Both of which weren’t helped by being associated with former Bellator promoter Bjorn Rebney. So much so that they disbanded pretty quickly. The oldest of all has been the MMA Fighters Association(MMAFA) which is roughly ten years old. The MMAFA has never had unionization as their goal though, its focus has been on the Ali Act extension bill in Congress and an antitrust lawsuit against the UFC.

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

In the lead up to UFC 221, we tried to educate you on Israel Adesanya and why his debut — despite barely any promotion — was one the most hyped UFC debuts since Conor McGregor. He didn’t let any “kickboxing hipsters” who were singing his praises to friends on social media down, as he dominated his fight with surgical precision then proceeded to cut a fun promo in the Octagon. After a nearly 80 fight journey has finally culminated in being in the premier MMA league on the planet, he recently sent a message to those that closed the doors on him. “Sponsors. Shout out to the ones that turned me down. The ones that said, “You’re not what were looking for at the moment.’ The ones that “helped” me only to help themselves, then keep reminding you they “helped” you four years ago. I f-ck with Ash James [from ENGAGE Fight Wear] because he saw the potential of what I could do beyond just fighting. He bought in early and helped me along some highs and lows of this game, because he’s a good c-nt. The rest of you corporations  trying to buy in now because I’m hot in these streets, my stock is rising, it’s gonna keep rising and the buy-in rate just tripled. Also, you have to be a GC.”—Israel Adesanya via his official Instagram.

bjpenndotcom - February 13, 2018

Way back in 2001 a young Hawaiian prize fighter by the name of BJ Penn decided to change the game of mixed martial arts by creating his own news website. A lot has happened over the last seventeen years, but one thing that hasn’t changed is BJ Penn’s passion to keep fans up to date with the latest news from the mixed martial arts world. At last month’s UFC 220 event in Boston, BJ Penn revolutionized the game once again by introducing “Play By Play Radio” on BJPENN.com.

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

The plot continually thickens on the mystery of Nate Diaz potentially fighting Tyron Woodley. It was talking about, debated about, then put to rest. However, all of the sudden it looked like an option once again, until it was squashed by Dana White, which resulted in Woodley himself calling the man a liar. The most recent development is this curious post of Nor-Cal Fighting Alliance’s Jordan Williams. He was specifically chosen by Nate Diaz to prep him for his next fight. “I am not going to lie, it feels pretty damn good when someone as good as caliber as Nate Diaz makes a special request for you to train with them to make sure they get a good look for a future fight that’s most likely going to happen. When you are preparing for war, it is best to practice your fight strategies against the highest level lieutenants in the army that you have. Thank you Nate Diaz for rolling up to Petaluma and getting that work put in with the squad.” – Jordan Williams via his official Instagram.

Tom Taylor - February 13, 2018

Argentina’s Santiago Ponzinibbio is riding one of the best win-streaks in the stacked UFC welterweight division, having bested his last six foes – men like Nordine Taleb, Gunnar Nelson, and most recently, “Platinum” Mike Perry. With all of this momentum behind him, Ponzinibbio is hoping to be rewarded with a fight with two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

Back in September of last year at UFC Rotterdam, a New Jersey featherweight by way of Dagestan made his debut and immediately had everyone talking about him. Zabit Magomedsharipov was fighting like it was a video game and he had all the cheat codes. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, he did the same thing in November and cemented his place as a problem to the new division. Evidently, too much of a problem. Magomedsharipov has been itching to get back into the Octagon — eyeing the UFC 225 Brooklyn card — but has had a total of five opponents turn him down. Two of them are Arnold Allen and Artem Lobov. Zabit Mamogedsharipov has had 5 opponents turn down the fight against him according to Ali. Artem Lobov said yes, but his team said no. They want an opponent for #UFC225. #TheMMAHour

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

With everyone looking forward to the three superfights that the UFC has in mind for this year, everyone was slightly disappointed to hear that Cris Cyborg was going to be defending her UFC women’s featherweight title against former Invicta FC bantamweight champon Yana Kunitskaya. It turns out it is still just a speed bump in the way of her anticipated fight with Amanda Nunes. That is, if they both win. Either way, the decision to step in and help prop up UFC 222 was strategic. Cyborg is hoping that if she scratches the UFC’s back, they’ll scratch hers. “[Stepping in to fight Yana Kunitskaya] was a great opportunity to keep the momentum from the win against Holly [Holm] and get me back into the octagon quickly so ‘Cyborg Nation’ can keep growing. I’m going to have to start putting a mouth guard in my purse if this fight pace continues the rest of 2018, though. […] When [the UFC] called saying they needed a new main event, we saw this as an opportunity to prove to everyone that Cris Cyborg can be a company girl and that I’m willing to step up when the promotion needs it. I am hoping this will continue to build my relationship within the promotion and lead to the type of marketing and exposure I have been asking for.”

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

In a couple of months, Rose Namajunas will march into the Octagon again to see if she can beat former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk back-to-back at UFC 223. Teammate and friend Justin Gaethje thinks it’s as good as wrapped up already. Citing difficulties with her weight cut, Jedrzejczyk says things will be different this time in the rematch. Gaethje thinks that the way Namajunas won, didn’t have anything to do with the weight cut, which shouldn’t be an excuse anyway. “I think [Joanna Jedrzejczyk]’s weak-minded for [talking about her drastic weight cut complications], even if it is true. It’s her own business. And no matter what, it could be true to the core and you could have proof, who’s going to [care]? Like, I’m not going to support you. Okay, whose fault was it? At the end of the day, whose fault was it? It was your fault. Do you have a scale at your house? Then you get to step on the scale every single morning, just like every single one of us do. We worry about our weight the whole camp, and I’ve never had a nutritionist help me in my entire life. […] I made weight in college eating McDonald’s every day. It’s willpower. You either f-cking do it or you don’t do it.”