MMA News

Justin Golightly - January 24, 2018

Once again, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov are booked in the single best lightweight fight that is available in MMA at this point. At UFC 223, whether it be for the interim or the undisputed title, this clash is going to be insane. It’s crushing, combat Sambo up against unorthodox striking and 10th Planet jiu jitsu. It’s a match-up that fascinated a lot of people, including Joe Rogan and Ben Askren. Former ONE FC and Bellator welterweight champion Askren recently weighed-in on the epic fight and one of MMA’s best wrestlers ended up backing the Russian smashing machine. “[Khabib Nurmagoemdov] was a like a frickin’ Terminator though [in the fight at UFC 219]. He was chasing [Edson Barboza]. It was insane. He’s fantastic. […] I think he beats up Tony [Ferguson]. That’s just my opinion. I’ve underestimated Tony before so I could be wrong again, I just think — again, trump card. I think Tony’s one of those guys who is pretty good everywhere: Pretty damn solid wrestling, high level jiu jitsu, but I see Khabib’s wrestling being better than Tony’s wrestling.”

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2018

Kelvin Gastelum has enjoyed a pretty solid run since rejoining the UFC middleweight division. His latest middleweight run began with a decisive defeat of Tim Kennedy. Next, he smashed Vitor Belfort to a first-round TKO – though this win was overturned when he tested positive for marijuana metabolites. From there, he had his momentum halted by a submission loss to Chris Weidman, yet he recently rebounded from that loss with perhaps the best win of his career: a first-round knockout of former UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping.

Justin Golightly - January 24, 2018

Being the champion of the UFC is more about just a gold strap, it’s about marketing power and promotional leverage. Max Holloway unified the titles and defended the undisputed featherweight title against Jose Aldo with back-to-back finishes. All the while, he was using the momentum gained from his win and being Rolling Stone’s Fighter of the Year for 2017 to get the UFC closer to finally putting on a Hawaii card. Thank to his efforts, it now looks closer than ever after what is reported by KHON to be a successful meeting between the Hawaiian Tourism Authority and the UFC just went down. “UFC Hawaii is not just about me. Hawaii is MMA. So many local martial artists that could be helped with a UFC event here. Instead of money leaving Hawaii for every event it’s time to bring it home. Thanks Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) and Aloha Stadium for fighting for Hawaii.” — Max Holloway yesterday via his Twitter.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2018

In the wake of his submission loss to UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson, Kevin Lee has been looking for ways to freshen up his game. He’s hoping renowned MMA coach Firas Zahabi can help him with that. Speaking on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, Lee explained that he’ll be doing some work with Zahabi over the coming weeks.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2018

Having lost the UFC middleweight title to Georges St-Pierre, and come up short in an abrupt and ill-advised comeback fight against Kelvin Gastelum, former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has been planning to retire when the UFC touches down in London this March 17. Apparently, Bisping has now received a bout offer for this card, and while he’s tempted to accept it, his family and friends would prefer he just calls it a career now, and forgets about partaking in one last fight.

Chris Taylor - January 23, 2018

Nate Diaz says he is ready to return and two top lightweights have already offered their services. Former UFC lightweight title challenger Nate Diaz took to social media earlier this evening where he announced that he is “sick of sitting around” and revealed that fight fans will see him back in action this May or June.

Drake Riggs - January 23, 2018

 “That’s the tough part (doing a rematch). You can’t paint the Mona Lisa twice. It has to be something different, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, either. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing but keep getting better obviously all the time. (I knew I was going to knock her out) because everyone is so desperate for the takedown. Everyone tries to take her down from what I see. I stand across from Valentina Shevchenko, and we go back-and-forth, and it’s not a thing to me. I’ve got Pat ‘HD’ Barry in my corner. I’ve got Trevor Wittman. I’ve done taekwondo striking my entire life. It’s not something I’ve never seen before.

Drake Riggs - January 23, 2018

There aren’t many fighters like the Diaz brothers.  After posting out a collection of fight-related pictures on his Instagram page, Nate Diaz capped them off with a clearer message. This is what he had to say:

Drake Riggs - January 23, 2018

UFC 223 will play host to the rematch of the most shocking upset of 2017. At UFC 217, the 25-year-old, “Thug” Rose Namajunas dispatched of the then reigning champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk effortlessly to earn a first-round knockout victory. The fight was in November and we’ve since learned from the former Strawweight queen, Joanna that this was one of if not the worst weight cut of her career. She has also been one of the bigger 115 lbers and had fought previously at 125 lbs in her career before coming to the UFC. But when it comes to her toughest time making her division’s limit, the fight with Rose took the cake as she described it as a “miracle” that she made weight.

Justin Golightly - January 23, 2018

After a dominant performance against Volkan Oezdemir, Daniel Cormier let everyone know that they wouldn’t see him too much longer. March 20th next year, Cormier will turn 40-years old and has decided to retire. Of course, as we all know, minds can always change especially when it comes to MMA retirements, but it seems like the current UFC light heavyweight champion is serious. He opened up more about his intentions today and would like to have three fights before he finally walks away from the sport. “I’ve got a little break in my thumb and also some ligament damage. I don’t like to do surgery, so I’m going to try and put off the surgery. […] If it’s starting to heal, I’m not going to do the surgery, I’m going to some PRP (Platelet-rich plasma). I prefer to not go under the knife. I would rather just always try to do the alternative so as not to have too much time off. There was a break in there and also a torn ligament in my wrist, so that’s why I was having so many issues after the fight. It just takes longer. I want to try to not have surgery. […] I don’t really have the time to waste.”

Justin Golightly - January 23, 2018

A lot has changed since Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo. He left the division and a path for Max Holloway, all the while who was leaving a path of destruction behind him. Holloway didn’t let another loss appear on his record after his loss to McGregor, eventually dethroning Aldo himself and successfully defending against him a short while later. He’s set to defend his title against Frankie Edgar next, but there has been one key player missing throughout the journey other than McGregor and that’s Chad Mendes. He recently updated his fans on his return and the message was simple but effective: Tick, tock. Tick tock……

Justin Golightly - January 23, 2018

This is not a drill #BlessedEra @moskova pic.twitter.com/X3EwaPDbt4 — Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) January 23, 2018

Tom Taylor - January 23, 2018

Last weekend, the UFC touched down in Boston, Massachusetts with UFC 220. In the main event, we saw UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic halt the momentum of the massively hyped Francis Ngannou, outperforming him from bell-to-bell en route to a lopsided unanimous decision.

Justin Golightly - January 23, 2018

If you thought that after Conor McGregor boxed Floyd Mayweather that the MMA versus boxing talks would end, you were wrong. If anything, they’ve stayed steady and from both places. For a long time, Anderson Silva has wanted to box one of his idols Roy Jones Jr., and it was always a long way away from happening. But if there was ever a time it could get done, it’s not. Roy Jones Jr. seems to know this as well, so he’s started up the talks again and wants Dana White to do what he needs to do so he can box the legend Anderson Silva. “[This will be my] last boxing match unless Anderson Silva decides he wants to make it happen. For him, for the money that we will generate, because we tried to do it first, I will still do that just for him because I know he wants to do it. It’s something I wanted to do, so for him I would come out and fight. […] All we need for Dana [White] to do is let him go, let him free of his contract and we can make it happen. [Dana White] that’s the only obstacle because Anderson wants it, I want it, so the only obstacle is Dana giving him the okay. I feel like if you give it to Conor McGregor why could you not give it to one of the greatest of all time at your sport, which is Anderson ‘Spider’ Silva?”

Tom Taylor - January 23, 2018

Last Saturday night, in the main event of UFC 220, Francis Ngannou’s hype train came to a skittering halt, as he was out-wrestled, out-paced, and altogether out-fought by UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic. In the pre-fight promotion for this bout, Ngannou was sold as an unparalleled force of destruction, an unstoppable behemoth, the second coming of Mike Tyson. And yet in the end, he looked about as human as a professional cage fighter can look: out of breath, bewildered, bruised, beaten. While UFC color commentator Joe Rogan was one of the biggest contributors to Francis Ngannou’s massive pre-fight hype, he is now saying that he’s heard Ngannou didn’t even train grappling ahead of UFC 220. Rogan made this claim on the Monday episode of The JRE MMA Show Podcast.

Justin Golightly - January 23, 2018

All eyes were on UFC 220’s main event between Stipe Moicic and Francis Ngannou. Miocic was up against a highly hyped and dangerous Ngannou, with his belt and a record on the line. He passed the test and proved he’s still the best in the world. One man who was watching would like to dispute that. Fabricio Werdum believes he’s the next to fight Stipe Miocic and will attempt to take back the title that he lost in unexpected and devastating fashion back at UFC 198. “The UFC said nothing yet, but I think I’m the next one. I deserve this. Not just because of my last fights, but [I’ve been fighting] for 20 years. I’ve [been fighting] for a long. I think I deserve it. My goal is to put one more belt on my wall. I have two. The third one coming, for sure. […] 100 percent, I will be a champion this year again. I know Stipe Miocic. I respect him. I like him.”

Justin Golightly - January 23, 2018

Rory MacDonald has a reputation that transcends organizations. He is known for being violent and absorbing punishment. His legendary fight with Robbie Lawler at UFC 189 cemented MacDonald and his opponent as warriors in a completely different dimension of pain management. MacDonald ended up with injuries in that war that would haunt him for years. Despite the damage scale being off the charts, a new level was reached in his fight with Douglas Lima at Bellator 192. Rory MacDonald admitted that it was probably the worst pain he’s ever felt in his life. “Yeah, [I thought about given up] a few times. It went through my head, but I just kept pushing through it. I had to dig deep a few times and just break down some mental barriers and keep pushing. Any fight that I’ve had to endure a lot of punishment and keep going forward, yeah. Your mind always plays tricks on you and wants you to give in and it’s just being disciplined and being able to push through those doubts and anxieties. […] I knew [Douglas Lima] was good at leg kicks. I didn’t expect the low leg kicks to be problem, but they were fast and powerful. I wasn’t able to block them very well. After the first one, I knew I didn’t want to get hit with another one. And in the first round I was already pretty hurt by them. By the third, I was struggling pretty badly with it.”

Tom Taylor - January 23, 2018

Back in November, in the first of three title fights on the UFC 217 bill, seemingly unstoppable UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk stepped into the Octagon with unheralded challenger Rose Namajunas. In a shocking upset, Namajunas put the champ Jedrzejczyk down with a first-round punch, taking the belt for herself in the process. Now, the pair have been pencilled in for a rematch at UFC 223, which goes down on April 7 in Brooklyn, New York. Despite the fact that Namajunas won the first encounter, she has once again been identified as the underdog in this fight.