MMA News

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

In response to President @realDonaldTrump’s recent alleged controversial comments on immigration, UFC heavyweight contender @Francis_Ngannou called Trump “a shame for America.” He said more, too. Hear his impassioned response below. #UFC220 pic.twitter.com/qM6hJSqWYa — MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) January 18, 2018

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.

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.

Justin Golightly - January 18, 2018

UFC light heavyweight champion @dc_mma: “He may be a good fighter, but I know one thing that Vol-can’t do… and that’s beat Daniel Cormier!” #UFC220 pic.twitter.com/6HNjp24FMN — MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) January 18, 2018

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

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.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2018

Last month, Team Alpha Male strawweight contender Cynthia Calvillo experienced her first career loss, losing a close decision to former champion Carla Esparza. Unfortunately, that’s not where the trouble ends for her. Calvillo has now been notified of a potential UFC anti-doping policy violation after failing an in-competition USADA drug test for the banned substance Carboxy-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

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.

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.

Drake Riggs - January 17, 2018

There is one word that will always follow Justin Gaethje for the rest of his career. You already know what it is…yup, violence. Pretty much every single one of Gaethje’s nineteen professional bouts has been violence personified and that’s just how the former World Series of Fighting champion likes it. In his last fight, he suffered his first ever career loss to former Bellator and UFC lightweight champion, Eddie Alvarez in what was crowned by the UFC as the best fight of 2017. Reports have surfaced today from MMAJunkie’s Steven Marocco that Gaethje may have his next fight and it’s a matchup that will most certainly deliver the action. His opponent is expected to be Dustin “the Diamond” Poirier and it’s expected to happen at either UFC 222 on March 3 in Las Vegas or UFC 223 in Brooklyn, New York.

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.

Justin Golightly - January 17, 2018

From the sand mines and homelessness in France, Francis Ngannou has overcome everything and entered a world of crisp suits and headlining UFC 220. Ngannou’s journey has been nothing short of incredible, but it’s not just about him, it’s about where he came from. His rise to success leads hopeful footsteps that people back home can follow. Whether that dream be fighting for a UFC championship, or simply finishing school, Ngannou wants to show generations of people that anything is possible. “This is going to close the chapter of my childhood and teenage years. All that time I have been frustrated with my whole life, with a feeling that I was always the last one who never had a chance. So I want to close that. I want to leave that behind me. This journey now is not only mine, it’s for all Cameroonians and for the whole of Africa and all of France, too. In Africa, when I started the journey, I was by myself. No one believed me at that time, and today all of them believe in me and they almost rely on me. It’s very important, because I can bring hope to someone or help someone to be ambitious and tell them that everything is possible.”

Justin Golightly - January 17, 2018

The UFC isn’t playing around this year. Fresh off the heels of an undisputed title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson being made official for UFC 223, there is another huge fight being slated to join them. Rose Namajunas is expected to defend her UFC strawweight championship against former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk after shockingly taking it from her back at UFC 217 in one of the organization’s biggest upsets in their history. First reported by TalkMMA, the information has now been confirmed by Ariel Helwani as being discussed, but not finalized yet. Rose Namajunas to defend her title against Joanna Jedrzejczyk April 7th at #UFC223 (No location/venue announced yet)