MMA News

Justin Golightly - January 18, 2018

The entire week we’ve been tracking the news of what will decide the fate of the UFC lightweight title. Khabib Nurmagomedov is slated to fight Tony Ferguson at UFC 223 in Brooklyn, supposedly for the undisputed belt. This is news to Conor McGregor and his camp, but despite the possibility of it happening, they don’t seem to be too phased by the idea at all. In a recent Facebook Live session, Straight Blast Gym coach John Kavanagh said it doesn’t matter who wins or what belt is on the line, McGregor is still the Champ Champ. “I’m hearing this [fight news] at the same time as everyone else. I see there is a press conference that will happen tomorrow. I think Tony [Ferguson] and Khabib [Nurmagomedov], or else just Khabib, is being interviewed about the fight that Dana [White] announced in April, which was news to me as well. Maybe they’re going to say it at that. Is it an interim title fight or is it a belt fight? I don’t know.”

Jason Kindschy - January 18, 2018

BJPENN Radio is back tonight at 9PM ET/6PM PT two great guests! 9:15PM ET- First up, former title challenger and No. 7 ranked lightweight in the UFC, “The Motown Phenom” Kevin Lee. Months removed from a losing effort against Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight title, Kevin now looks to make the most out of 2018 and get back to shot at gold. We’ll recap the Ferguson bout, discuss potential match-ups moving forward, his reaction to the announcement of Ferguson vs Nurmagomedov for Brooklyn in April, and McGregor possibly being stripped of the title. Also, Kevin opens up about the loss of his longtime coach and friend, Robert Follis.

Justin Golightly - January 18, 2018

At UFC 216, Demetrious Johnson not only broke Anderson Silva’s title defense record, but did it with a German suplex-cancel into an armbar. He made history by breaking the record, but by possibly pulling off the most spectacular submission ever in the UFC. In classic humble fashion, Anderson Silva recently was asked about Johnson’s status as a potential greatest of all time candidate, a status that Silva also enjoys, and bowed out stating that Mighty Mouse is indeed the GOAT. “You know, Demetrious Johnson is the new champion. He’s the best one. I have my passion about my sport, and I love when I hear people talking about this. Demetrious, people need to respect [him] because he’s a great fighter. I think Demetrious [is the greatest of all time]. Absolutely, absolutely.” — Anderson Silva speaking to TMZ.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2018

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier endures a very tough cut down to his division’s 205-pound limit, and that’s no secret. If you’ve seen any footage of the champ in the immediate lead-up to his Saturday night showdown with Volkan Oezdemir, it’s clear that this present weight cut is no exception. While he probably has it well under control, he certainly looks a little rough. Apparently, Oezdemir hasn’t hesitated to let Cormier know that he looks a somewhat depleted. Cormier detailed a quick run-in with Oezdemir and his “minions” in a Thursday afternoon Instagram post.

Justin Golightly - January 18, 2018

On February 16th, MARVEL’s highly anticipated Black Panther film will release in theaters, but this weekend another African superhero will step into the spotlight. Francis Ngannou has carved a trail from Batié all the way to Boston; from the sand mines to a gold belt. His story is a movie waiting to be put on the silver screen in and of itself. There is no question that Saturday is the hypothetical film’s climax. He’ll be fighting Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title. Such a huge event deserves a promo worthy of the moment. R/MMA contributor MikeFightPromoEditor stepped up to the challenge and absolutely nailed it. Flags is up !!! #UFC220 pic.twitter.com/C5Lt3j1TKQ

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2018

This Saturday, in the co-main event of UFC 220, Daniel Cormier and Volkan Oezdemir will collide for the UFC light heavyweight title. All of the light heavyweight division’s top contenders will be watching on intently, eager to know which man they’ll be gunning for come Sunday morning. That includes British knockout artist Jimi Manuwa. Manuwa gave his take on this fight in a recent interview with MMA Fighting.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2018

On April 7, in what is likely to be the main event of UFC 223, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will battle for the lightweight title. Veteran MMA oddsmakers Joey Oddessa has now released the opening odds for this fight, identifying Nurmagomedov as a -200 favorite, and Ferguson as a +165 underdog. This means that a successful $100 bet on Ferguson would earn you $165, while it would take a successful $200 bet on Nurmagomedov to make $100.  pic.twitter.com/zmJGP7UfjS

Justin Golightly - January 18, 2018

There’s a huge fight card coming up this weekend, but don’t neither fighter involved in the main event at UFC 222 are going to let you forget that they’re a couple of months away. Max Holloway was quick to cleverly use Frankie Edgar’s ‘The Answer’ nickname in interviews and Edgar countered that he indeed had the answers to Holloway’s questions. Recently the UFC featherweight champion took their exchange to a whole new level with this amazing Jeopardy photoshop. “BJ Penn and I have history, but Max [Holloway] is just another opponent, man. He could be from Wyoming for all I care. It doesn’t matter to me. I know he’s a very tough competitor and he’s the champion. He’s been proving his worth as the champion, and that’s going to make it all the more better when I go and get that belt from him. If he has questions he’s coming to the right guy for the answers. I’m like ‘Jeopardy’ — ‘What is… I’m gonna whoop that ass.’ That’s the answer he’s coming to find.” — Frankie Edgar speaking to FloCombat.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2018

Uriah Hall was supposed to return to the cage in the co-main event of the UFC’s Saturday debut in St. Louis. Regrettably, a disastrous and harrowing weight cut nixed this plan and left him in a dire situation in the hospital. Hall recounted this terrifying experience in a recent statement on social media.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2018

If things had gone according to plan, middleweight staple Uriah Hall would have battled the retiring Vitor Belfort in the co-main event of last weekend’s UFC St. Louis card. Unfortunately, Hall was hospitalized as a result of a botched weight cut, and forced out of this contest thereafter. Shortly after Hall’s weight cut went awry, UFC President Dana White went off on him, suggesting he might be wise to migrate to the 205-pound light heavyweight division, where the cut would be less severe.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2018

Over the last few weeks, there has been ample discussion surrounding a potential superfight between UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg and UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. UFC President Dana White has assured this is the fight he wants next for both women.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2018

Last weekend, in the co-main event of the UFC’s debut in St. Louis, MO, Australian flyweight Jessica-Rose Clark picked up a huge win over fan favorite former strawweight Paige VanZant. While it was Clark who came out on top in this fight, however, VanZant showed remarkable tenacity, battling to the final bell despite a broken arm sustained mid-fight. Well… I broke my arm in the first! I was able to finish the fight but as you can see, had a hard time recovering and throwing my right. Thank you to the @ufc and to my opponent. Thank you to my coaches and most importantly my head coach’s @therealburkecamp and @fabianoscherner . I’ll be back better and stronger than ever! 💪🏼🦁 it’s all apart of the fight game. God had other plans for me. 🙏🏼 darn spinning back fist.

Drake Riggs - January 17, 2018

“I’m disappointed, what can I say? Every time you fight for a world championship fighters take pride…it’s a special moment to be a main event for a world title fight. It’s an unfortunate part of it, but I’m not going to let it take my focus away from what my job is and getting that title. It was totally out of the blue. I didn’t see it coming. I found out through an interview. I didn’t even find out from anyone from Bellator or anything like that so it was a total shocker,” said the challenger.

Drake Riggs - January 17, 2018

Daniel Cormier will get questions about Jon Jones for the rest of his life and if this isn’t your first day discovering MMA, you know exactly why. The two have had one the most heated rivalries in the sport’s entire history and despite coming out on the wrong end of each of their fights, reasons outside the octagon have turned Cormier into more of the winner than the loser. After their first fight in January of 2015, Jones beat Cormier fair and square through five rounds on route to a unanimous decision. After that, Jones was expected to end up defending his UFC light heavyweight title against one of if not the most dangerous strikers in the division’s history, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson at UFC 187. That was until Jones got into a hit and run incident while under the influence. This led to his stripping of the title and putting Cormier right back into the title picture where he would go on to defeat Johnson for the vacant belt.

Drake Riggs - January 17, 2018

The post-UFC 219 Cris Cyborg saga continues. The question remains, “what’s next?”. Everyone and their mothers have been searching for possible answers. The option that most have been looking at and everyone is seemingly wanting(except for Cyborg herself) is a super fight with the current UFC bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes. Nunes, as well as UFC President, Dana White, have both openly shared their openness to the huge bout but Cyborg is looking at taking a different step first. Cyborg has already stated recently that she is open to fighting Nunes…but after she defends against a real featherweight challenger first. She expanded on this recently when appearing on the MMA Hour.

Russell Sai - January 17, 2018

It’s becoming much more clear that Dana White is not going to let Conor McGregor remain the UFC lightweight champion if he does not have plans of fighting until the later part of 2018. Speaking on the Toucher and Rich radio show on Wednesday, White said that the fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov is going to take place. In addition, White sounds like he does have plans of stripping the belt from McGregor so the lightweight division can move along.

Justin Golightly - January 17, 2018

It seems like every couple of months, rumors start up again that MMA legend Chuck Liddell would end his retirement and return to fight at least one more time. The latest inkling was an Instagram post from Wanderlei Silva, but it looks like his previous feud with one Chael Sonnen is still very much alive and well. The two evidently got into some sort of altercation during the press tour for Bellator 192 which takes place this Saturday. Liddell may or may not be ready to come back to the cage, but Sonnen was ready to throw down right then and there. “I come into the dressing room and there was Chuck [Liddell], face-to-face, and it was awkward. I was doing [The Rich Eisen Show] and he told me, ‘You got a message for Chuck? He’ll be here tomorrow.’ So I gave him a message to Chuck, thinking he would be there tomorrow. Turned out Chuck was in the back, watching it on a monitor, with my mother.”

Tom Taylor - January 17, 2018

This Saturday, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 220, Switzerland’s Volkan Oezdemir will attempt to steal the light heavyweight title from champion Daniel Cormier. To prepare for this monumental challenge, Oezdemir has been preparing at the talent-rich Combat Club in Lantana, Florida – a space he shares with former middleweight champion and long-time Cormier training partner Luke Rockhold. In fact, he’s even gotten a few rounds in with Rockhold.