MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2018

Earlier this month, we learned that long-time Bellator color commentator Jimmy Smith had signed with the UFC. Smith made his debut with the promotion during UFC 220 last weekend, working the broadcast desk on Fs1. Now, he’s announced that he’ll return to his bread and butter – commentating on live fights – at UFC 221 on February 4 in Perth, Australia.

Justin Golightly - January 25, 2018

You’ve heard him on @UFCFightPass and #SnoopCast now @SnoopDogg brings his talents to @EASPORTSUFC 3 Knockout Mode! pic.twitter.com/GDq6pzAoKR — UFC (@ufc) January 25, 2018

Justin Golightly - January 25, 2018

The neverending pain of being a fight fan is watching all your favorite fighters fade and eventually walk away from the sport you love. Daniel Cormier has gone on record saying he only has three fights left before he hangs up his gloves due to his 40th birthday. Now MMA legend and PRIDE vet Mark Hunt is saying basically the exact same thing. After his fight at UFC 221, Hunt wants two more chances to walk-off KO opponents before he leaves the UFC. Not retire, but leave the UFC. “I’ve got this one in Perth [at UFC 221 against Curtis Blaydes], then hopefully I can push out two more before the end of the year and my contract will be up. I’d like to fight another three times globally and then probably hang them up. I’ve already been offered three boxing fights. I’m still chasing the UFC dream. I want to be the best mixed martial artist in the world. Maybe I will chase a boxing title after that. Conor [McGregor] fought [Floyd Mayweather] the best boxer in the world, so who knows?”

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2018

Douglas Lima is no longer the Bellator welterweight champion. That distinction now belongs to Rory MacDonald, who beat him with a competitive decision in the co-main event of last Saturday’s Bellator 192 card. Now several days removed from his loss to MacDonald, Douglas Lima has some significant regrets about how it all went down. Most notably, he feels he didn’t fight with enough desperation in the crucial fifth round of a very close fight.

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2018

Paul Daley has not been happy with Bellator MMA of late. Over the last few weeks, the British knockout artist has repeatedly shared his gripes with Bellator on Facebook. Scott Coker talking about Page at the Bellator presser, Bellator are Sooooooo on ass it’s sickening 🤢 He hasn’t fought MMA in how long, his last performance in boxing and MMA were terrible,” Daley said in a recent Facebook post. 

Justin Golightly - January 25, 2018

It was back in October of last year that Colby Covington beat Demian Maia to become the third ranked welterweight in the world. Since then, he hasn’t been booked in a single fight. It’s clear from his multiple tirades in the media that he’s holding out for his title shot against Tyron Woodley. The UFC welterweight champion is currently rehabbing his shoulder, but looks to return to fight Georges St-Pierre in July. Covington claims Woodley should focus on the money fight with him, instead of fighters who he says are out of the picture. “[Tyron Woodley] tries to racebait. The people that don’t like him and don’t wanna watch him for or think he’s boring, ‘Oh, they’re racist’. That’s his only claim now. So, he’s just trapped, he’s in a corner and he’s defeated before anything. The fans have completely gotten in his head and everybody’s under his skin. He doesn’t know how to handle the position he’s in now, but it’s okay, I’m gonna take over his position as welterweight champ and you will see the division be made great again. Tyron Woodley, all these fans hate him. He wants to be a hero, he wants to be the good guy, all the fans are telling you – I’ve literally had thousands of replies from Twitter that say, ’Tyron, if you knock out Colby I’ll be your biggest fan, I promise I’ll support you for the rest of your career’.”

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2018

We’re now almost a week removed from Francis Ngannou’s tough loss to UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. This loss was as lopsided as they come, as Ngannou emptied his gas tank early, and spent the rest of the five-round affair clinging to life opposite the patient and powerful Miocic. While Ngannou’s first crack at the UFC heavyweight title was more or less a disaster, his coach Fernand Lopez feels there are a few positives that can be taken away from the bout: namely, Ngannou showed he’s got heart.

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2018

Back in October, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida returned to the Octagon after a layoff of more than two years, only to be knocked senseless by middleweight contender Derek Brunson in the very first-round. With this loss, Machida fell onto a tough, three-fight skid, having been knocked out by Yoel Romero and submitted by Luke Rockhold in his next most recent bouts.

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2018

Earlier this month, in the co-main event of the UFC’s anticipated stop in St. Louis, Australian flyweight Jessica-Rose Clark picked up a key win over Paige VanZant. Given the way she performed in the cage, one would never guess how terrible her fight week was. But it was terrible. “Horrific,” in fact. In the days leading up to her fight with VanZant, Clark’s Las Vegas home was robbed. During the robbery, many of her belongings were stolen or destroyed, and her cat was also killed. She recounted the grisly debacle on the latest episode of The MMA Hour.

Drake Riggs - January 24, 2018

Daniel Cormier addresses the final 420 days of his career on @UFCTonight… …is he interesting in a heavyweight title fight? …is he still pushing for a Jon Jones fight?…is he going to lose his dressing room to @Twooodley?@DC_MMA has the answers! https://t.co/bXqp8uwYTS

Drake Riggs - January 24, 2018

Last week, top-ranked UFC Bantamweight contender and The Ultimate Fighter season 18 winner, Julianna Pena gave birth to baby girl, Issa Cruz. https://twitter.com/ufc/status/955986379724509184

Drake Riggs - January 24, 2018

It’s not the most common of situations to have to seek help to get your cornermen to your fight. But unfortunately, that was the case for the #15 ranked UFC Heavyweight, Tim Johnson ahead of his bout with Marcelo Golm next week at UFC Fight Night 125 in Belem, Brazil. Johnson’s GoFundMe page description reads as follows: As many know the UFC has me traveling around the world for fights.  What most people don’t know is they only pay for 2 tickets.  Sponsorship money is tight and had a few not contribute to this trip.  So I’m asking for your help in the last minute ditch effort to help get my other two coaches to Brazil for my fight, as this will be going towards their flights.  Any extra will be donated to wounded warriors or a similar donation.   Thanks for your time and support.

Drake Riggs - January 24, 2018

Only one woman has gone the distance with both the UFC Strawweight champion, Rose Namajunas and the former champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk…and that’s Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Kowalkiewicz earned her first and only UFC title shot by defeating Namajunas by split decision at UFC 201 in July of 2016. This led to her taking on the then champion, Joanna at the big, inaugural UFC New York card, UFC 205. Unfortunately for Kowalkiewicz she would drop a unanimous decision to the champion then go on to lose to Claudia Gadelha before regaining another win this past October. Being so familiar with both, Kowalkiewicz obviously has an opinion. When asked by MMARocks her thoughts on the upcoming Rose vs Joanna rematch at UFC 223 and who she thought would win, this is what she had to say:

Justin Golightly - January 24, 2018

The UFC’s next big thing took on Stipe Miocic and it was hyped as if Francis Ngannou could obliterate the heavyweight champion over the course of a couple of rounds. Some others put their money on Miocic, the more experienced and well-rounded fighter to take out Ngannou. What no one expected was that it was going to last all five rounds in a battle of attrition. An exhausted Ngannou lost to a decision to what could be the best heavyweight in history, then immediately got hit with criticisms about his ground game and gas tank. His coach recently spoke out defending his fighter. “I was surprised that someone like Joe Rogan said that Francis [Ngannou] didn’t know what to do on the ground. I think people should go check the fight again. Francis spent three minutes throwing heavy punches without hitting the target and he wasted a lot of energy. After that, he got taken to the ground and he was in the cross mount. At that position, when you have a heavy wrestler on your back and you really have a very little small amount of moves you can make from there. […] What I’m trying to say is that if Francis didn’t know what he was doing on the ground, how come Stipe [Miocic], who has way more experience in professional MMA and who has vicious ground and pound, how come Stipe didn’t finish Francis on the ground if Francis didn’t know what he was doing?”

Justin Golightly - January 24, 2018

The UFC has been teasing that this 25th anniversary year is going to be huge. Going into 2018, it’s hard to imagine a big fight year without the superfight between Demetrious Johnson and TJ Dillashaw happening. It’s been teased even before Johnson broke Anderson Silva’s title defense record with a spectacular submission finish never before seen in the UFC. Dillashaw has already been training, the fight was falsely teased, both parties want it and the UFC needs it. So, why hasn’t it been finalized yet? Aside from recovering from shoulder surgery, it’s because Johnson wants the best possible scenario for him and his opponent. “It’s the superfight everyone wants. I think TJ [Dillashaw] and I are both on board. We just want to make sure it’s on a stacked card. We want to make sure we can benefit from a good pay-per-view buy. I think I deserve it and I think he deserves it. I’d rather have somebody else [be the] main event, who is going to bring in way more PPVs. In my opinion, that’s held up the fight on my end. I’ve seen guys jump on [stacked] PPV cards and make $1.5 million, fighting an inferior opponent than who I’m about to fight. Me and TJ could fight on a smaller card and pull 275,000 buys, get an extra check for $75,000. My management told me, ‘You know what, we’ll hold out for a big event.’ A lot of media and fans think that’s a way of turning down fights or ducking someone, but that’s a way of being a smart businessman and getting the most money you can get.”

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2018

This weekend, in the main event of the UFC’s anticipated trip to Charlotte, former Strikeforce middleweight champ and long-time UFC contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza will step into the cage for the first time since an April 2017 loss to Robert Whittaker. Speaking to MMAJunkie.com, Souza shared the details on the injury – and subsequent health problems – that have kept him out of the cage for so long. Apparently, it all began with a torn pectoral muscle. As he recovered from the surgery for this injury, he was hit with an “appendix issue.” It’s called appendicitis. You’ve probably heard of it.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2018

For weeks, there’s been mystery surrounding the main event of the UFC’s April 17 stop in London, England. Originally, the idea seemed to be that the retiring Michael Bisping would fight the last fight of his career in the main event. With Bisping now hesitating on fighting again at all, however, it appears the UFC is going a different direction. According to SBG head coach John Kavanagh, Icelandic welterweight Gunnar Nelson has been offered a scrap with surging British contender Darren Till, in a bout that has been targeted as the UFC London headliner. Per Kavanagh’s Tweet, he and Nelson are just waiting on Till and his team to accept the deal.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2018

Originally, Matt Brown was expected to retire after his last fight – a brutal, elbow-induced knockout of the veteran Diego Sanchez. Instead, however, Brown has put his retirement plans on hold. The fan favorite welterweight is now scheduled for a scrap with the similarly entertaining Carlos Condit on April 14 at UFC on Fox 29. Matt Brown explained his decision to hold off on his retirement on a recent episode of MMA Junkie Radio.