MMA News

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2018

Last month, in the main event of UFC 220, the hype train of Francis Ngannou came to an abrupt halt at the hands of UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. For five rounds, the champ out-fought the challenger, exposing major deficits in his wrestling and his cardio in the process. Speaking on a recent episode of his podcast, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan (one of the biggest drivers of Ngannou’s hype train before UFC 220) discussed the outcome of the UFC 220 main event.

Justin Golightly - February 8, 2018

Matt Brown comes back soon against Carlos Condit at UFC Glendale in April, which is a fight we’ll all praising the MMA gods for bestowing upon us. However, it’s not his opponent that he’s trashing publicly like some other fighters, he’s continuing a beef he has with Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series commentator Snoop Dogg. Matt Brown is still heated for the wild Instagram video Snoop posted insulting Conor McGregor after his boxing loss to Floyd Mayweather. Brown went as far to say if he caught him on the street, he’d catch these hands fashizzle. “Snoop Dogg, that piece of sh-t. I’ll call him out. He called out Conor [McGregor]. Remember, he called him a b-tch? That’s not cool, man. I don’t care [if he was f-cked up]. He put it out in public. He could have apologized, deleted it, whatever. If I go to the UFC PI [Performance Institute] I might just punch him. If I see him there. I’m cool with that. I’m just saying. That really offends me, man.”

Justin Golightly - February 8, 2018

Mark Hunt is making his return to the Octagon after going through a series of tests to make sure it was safe for him to be fighting, but Hunt thinks this is all just hypocritical based on his former opponents and what Dana White has just said about Brock Lesnar. Last night, White seemed all about Lesnar returning to the UFC and as you can imagine, that didn’t sit well with Super Samoan. “[Brock Lesnar] shouldn’t be fighting. He’s just a cheater. There should be a show for steroid users like him and you can’t tell me any different. He didn’t deserve to be there. He took the short cuts. It just goes to show [the UFC’s] credibility when they say a guy like Brock Lesnar is coming back. So, it’s all about money and you don’t really care about the fighters at all? Some of you said to me, “Oh Mark, you gotta go and do your tests because we’re worried about you.’ You’re lying? Yeah, I thought so.” 

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2018

In the wake of last weekend’s UFC Belem card, the UFC has updated its official rankings. The biggest shakeups in this latest iteration of the rankings can all be attributed to Valentina Shevchenko. Having left the UFC women’s bantamweight division (where she was formerly ranked number one), and officially announced herself in the UFC’s new women’s flyweight division, Shevchenko has caused tectonic shifts in both divisions.

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2018

Last weekend, in the co-main event of the UFC’s return to Belem, Brazil’s Priscila Cachoeira was brutalized by the far more experienced Valentina Shevchenko en route to a second-round submission loss. In the wake of this brutal fight, there has been widespread criticism of referee Mario Yamasaki. In the eyes of many fans and pundits, the referee should have stopped the fight much earlier. UFC President Dana White was particularly critical of Yamasaki post-fight. Priscilla Cachoeira, you showed so much heart and toughness in that fight. I’m honored to have you fight in the UFC. Unfortunately the ref is there to protect you and Mario DID NOT do that. This isn’t his first disgusting performance in the octagon. Another unfortunate thing is that i can’t do anything about I️t only the Brazilian commission can and i am hoping after this scary, incompetent showing he hopefully will never set foot in that Octagon again. Strikes landed was 230-3.

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2018

It’s now been almost two years since Brock Lesnar’s last mixed martial arts bout, a July 2016 defeat of Mark Hunt, which was ultimately ruled a no-contest when he tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene. From the sounds of it, however, Lesnar could make another walk to the Octagon before all is said and done.  UFC President Dana White addressed the possibility of another Brock Lesnar UFC fight on the latest episode of UFC Tonight.

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2018

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is hoping his next fight will be with long-time lightweight contender Nate Diaz. And while there have been some positive signs that this fight could actually happen, it certainly doesn’t seem like it’s close to being made official.

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2018

Over the last few months, there has been significant buzz about undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. stepping int the Octagon to compete in MMA. It all began when Mayweather suggested he’d been in talks with the UFC.

Drake Riggs - February 7, 2018

UPDATE: Dana White says Tyron Woodley vs. Nate Diaz isn't happening, but a Woodley vs Rafael Dos Anjos is the fight the UFC is trying to make. https://t.co/yAIKjR1ZHs — FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) February 8, 2018

Drake Riggs - February 7, 2018

This isn’t the first we’ve heard of the possible bantamweight title fight matchup between Raquel Pennington and the champion, Amanda Nunes. In fact, the fight was apparently on it’s way to getting finalized for UFC 219 at the end of 2017 but before the bout agreements could be signed, Pennington got into a nasty car crash that obviously put her first career title shot on hold. Pennington has since stated that a May return would be most likely for her. Damon Martin reports that the discussions have fired back up to get this 135-pound title fight back in place.

Drake Riggs - February 7, 2018

“I think that should be my next fight [TJ Dillashaw]. But…they(the UFC) play weird games where, they want to give TJ Dillashaw a little bit of an easier fight because he doesn’t want to fight somebody hard right after he won the title, he wants the easy fight. He wants to fight someone that he knows he can keep the belt a little longer before he gets a really hard fight. Whereas I go TJ Dillashaw, Urijah Faber, Cody Garbrandt and then I lose the belt.

Justin Golightly - February 7, 2018

A lot of talk gets thrown around about the trilogies in MMA. There have been plenty of them, with more sure to come. But what about quadrilogies? That’s right, four fights with the same rival. If Quinton Jackson had his way, he’d get another fight with legend Wanderlei Silva. The Axe Murderer took out Rampage twice with knees, before Jackson got his payback. Evidently it wasn’t enough though, because Jackson claims he still owes him an ass whooping. “I owe Wanderlei [Silva] another ass whooping, I’ll tell you that. I know he’s not a heavyweight. The last time I fought him I knocked him out of the weight class. But he beat me twice. I only beat him once. I think I owe him another ass whooping. I probably could get down to 205, but I don’t know. I’m walking around at 250, 260. That’s a big one. If I had my way [it’d be at heavyweight] but like I said, Wanderlei is not a heavyweight. I probably could get down to 205 now that I’ve got my nutritionist. My motivation is still the heavyweight belt. Even if I’m out of the tournament, whoever wins that belt I’m gonna challenge him right away.” — Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson speaking on The MMA Hour.

Justin Golightly - February 7, 2018

After UFC 222 was put in major jeopardy with Max Holloway’s leg injury, the UFC was scrambling 100mph in order to save the card. They were trying to get TJ Dillashaw to defend his title against Cody Garbrandt, while keeping Frankie Edgar on the card as the co-main in a non-title fight. Even Nate Diaz was in the running to jump on. It looks like now the UFC are trying to throw Cris Cyborg on the card to defend her women’s UFC featherweight title against former Invicta FC bantamweight champ Yana Kunitskaya. There are deals in place to have Cris Cyborg vs. Yana Kunitskaya for the women’s 145 belt headline UFC 222 on 3/3 w/ Frankie Edgar vs. Brian Ortega as the co-main, per multiple sources. Not 100% finalized but that’s the current direction and it’s looking promising at the moment.

Tom Taylor - February 7, 2018

Last night, UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley divulged to ESPN‘s Brett Okamoto that he believes his next fight will be against Nate Diaz. “I think that fight will happen,” he said. “I think it will happen this year. I think it’s way more likely than people realize. There are conversations about Nate and I fighting in July. The UFC has offered Nate that fight. They just have to make it worth his while.”

Justin Golightly - February 7, 2018

It’s fight night. You’re sitting at home watching all the violence and drama, scrolling through Twitter. A crack echoes through the arena and after your fire emoji reactions to the knockout eventually disappear down your feed, the photos roll in and you relive it all over again. It all goes down in a blur of flesh and blood for the fighters in the cage, but the camera freezes the blip in time. They are both extremely different and unique experiences. In the Venn diagram of fighting and combat photography, UFC’s Mike Jackson exists right in the overlap. “I loved taking pictures as a kid. After some time in fighting, I knew I couldn’t compete forever and needed something to fall back on. I knew I wanted to work in combat sports but my degree is in a different field. Thinking more like an artist — I do feel fighting is an art — I picked up my camera and started shooting.” — Mike Jackson speaking to BJ PENN’s own Justin Golightly.

Tom Taylor - February 7, 2018

Last night, long-time UFC lightweight contender Nate Diaz spoke with ESPN‘s Brett Okamoto, confirming that he is interested in a showdown with UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Apparently, however, Diaz discussed far more than just a fight with Woodley.

Tom Taylor - February 7, 2018

Earlier this month, the UFC announced its plans for an April 21 return to Atlantic City, New Jersey. Though the card is still some distance away, it’s already starting to come together. The latest bout that’s reportedly in the works for this Atlantic City date is a middleweight scrap between knockout artists Uriah Hall and Paulo Costa. This bout was first reported by Raphael Marinho of Combate.

Justin Golightly - February 7, 2018

The status of UFC great Georges St-Pierre is still up in the air after the grueling process of moving up to middleweight contributed to contacting ulcerative colitis. This weekend, Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero will be fighting for the interim version of the undisputed title St-Pierre handed over to Robert Whittaker. We knew that if GSP came back, it’d probably be at his old welterweight home. …But that’s if he came back. That question may have been partly answered today from the leader of the Danaher Death Squad, John Danaher. He posted a statement after a training session between St-Pierre and former foe Jake Shields. “How would you do if you had to fight yourself? This is always an interesting hypothetical question — in the case of Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields it is actually a practical question. I have never seen two athletes so closely matched in skill level, tactics, technique etc. in ground grappling. When they spar each other the only difference I see is their appearance and accent — other than that — identical. It’s great to see Mr. St-Pierre back in the gym despite his battle with ulcerative colitis.”