MMA News

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

It’s 2018 and Darren Till still hasn’t been booked. You can chalk it up to scared opponents, intelligent strategy, or just the UFC’s booking department. Either way, he’s been wanting a fight ever since his dominant performance against veteran Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone. Pretty much every welterweight in the entire division has been in talks for a fight with the Scouser, but none have materialized. Till’s eyebrows  raised up for Kamaru Usman’s fight last weekend, thinking Usman was going to call him out, but alas it didn’t happen. He once again voiced his frustrations in a recent interview. “I thought if [Kamaru Usman] won, he would definitely say my name. I didn’t even watch the fight, but all I’ve heard is that he has terrible striking and all he did was force his opponent up against the fence. He might be able to do that to Emil Meek, but he wouldn’t be able to do it to me. I’m twice the size of him for f-ck’s sake. I’m twice as strong as him. Usman has been talking so much sh-t and his performance didn’t prove anything to anyone. He’s saying that he was at 30 percent, but once you’re in that cage your excuses go out the window. It doesn’t matter if you’re feeling ill or if you’ve got a broken bone, you’ve gone in there because you’ve decided that you’re in good enough condition to fight. I don’t believe in any of that bullsh-t.”

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)

Justin Golightly - January 17, 2018

The middleweight division was about to get rewound back to normal, that is until Robert Whittaker got injured. That’s not the only curve ball the division got thrown. Urijah Hall failed to weigh in and was taken out of his fight with Vitor Belfort. Many jumped to the conclusion that this opened the door for Belfort to fight former rival Michael Bisping in a double retirement fight at UFC London. It seemed like the fight was more than just talk, until Bisping said he wanted nothing to do with the ‘cheat’. Belfort isn’t taking no for an answer though, coming back with a social media low blow. “What a shame Michael Bisping. The UFC just informed me that you have declined the fight. I understand you are scared. The images above pretty much explain it all. So stop pretending that you are tough and just admit that you are afraid. And I thought you were man enough to step up in the octagon with me again, my mistake. Unfortunately, it looks like we will not be delivering to the fans the fight they want to see. Happy retirement, you must be feeling amazing leaving the sport through the back door. To be a legend is not for everyone.” — Vitor Belfort on his official Instagram.

Justin Golightly - January 17, 2018

Aaron Afflalo threw a nasty punch at Bjelica, who put him in a headlock to stop it right there pic.twitter.com/0zAKOb3r1v — CJ Fogler (@cjzero) January 17, 2018

Justin Golightly - January 17, 2018

Yesterday a ton of reports flooded the net like a tsunami. News broke that Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson wouldn’t just be fighting each other, but that it’d be for the undisputed title after Conor McGregor is stripped. We at BJ Penn followed up with sources close to Tony Ferguson and was able to confirm the news that it was a done deal. Some reports seem to counter the news, but it looks like we were on the right track. Dana White himself just made the news official today: It’s on! Dana White on our show confirmed that Khabib vs. Ferguson is indeed on for UFC 223 in Brooklyn. #UFC

Russell Sai - January 16, 2018

James Krause edges Alex White by unanimous decision to close out the #UFCSTL prelims! Right call by the judges? https://t.co/CS8dt2UiIL — FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) January 15, 2018

Drake Riggs - January 16, 2018

Oh, the Reebok deal. Everyone has an opinion on it, whether good or bad. It may not be the biggest step forward, but this year the deal is taking a step forward with the new guidelines and protocol. Fighters receive their Reebok sponsor money depending on what tier they’re in which goes by how many fights they’ve had in the UFC/Zuffa owned companies. UFC 220 marks the first event of 2018 which means the Reebok payouts have changed below. Here’s what all fighters are expected to earn on Saturday: https://twitter.com/jedigoodman/status/953436125443506176

Drake Riggs - January 16, 2018

After suffering a three-fight rough patch in 2016 to early 2017, Ovince Saint Preux has turned things around rather impressively and completely reversed that trend with three straight dominant wins. With all the momentum one could ask for, OSP was all well and ready to carry it over into the new year. OSP is set to take on Ilir Latifi at UFC on Fox 27 this month and…well…according to Saint Preux, Latifi has sustained an injury, therefore, putting him on the search for a new opponent. . @Latifimma is hurt & out of our scrap next Sat in Charlotte, NC #UFConFOX27 who wants to step up and scrap? I’m even open to going up in weight if NO guys in my division will step up? Looking for someone to do what I do: step up and fight… pic.twitter.com/lvznRvE22I

Justin Golightly - January 16, 2018

The combat world wept when Robert Whittaker had to back out of his fight with Luke Rockhold, especially since it was going to set the middleweight division right for the first time in roughly two years. However, the tears quickly dried when we learned we were going to get Yoel Romero fighting Rockhold at UFC 221 instead. It’s a fight that we’ve somehow never got, but now here it is right in front of us. Luke Rockhold is fine with the change in opponent as well, which he believes is an easier fight than he was in before hand. “It’s not an ideal situation, of course. I’m going across the world to fight a guy that I could fight down the street. I wanted to fight [Robert] Whittaker. It’s a fight I’ve been seeking for a long time and I thought it was a good time to make it happen, but obviously he’s got some health issues. I wish him the best and I know Whittaker’s not a man to run away from anything. I respect that kid and I wish him the best. I hope it’s not too serious. Yoel [Romero] was the option right off the bat, and I’m ready to fight as long as the money’s right, the belt’s on the line.”

Justin Golightly - January 16, 2018

The UFC lightweight division has been a mystery wrapped in an enigma basically ever since UFC 205. There’s no clue what multi-millionaire Conor McGregor will do, meanwhile Khabib Nurmagomedov came back with a vengeance and Tony Ferguson won the interim title, only to step on the sidelines for a bit for elbow surgery. Everything was up in the air, until today. Fresh off the heels of a report from Tass.ru that McGregor will supposedly be stripped and the UFC will move on with Nurmagomedov and Ferguson, we have just confirmed the news that is expected to be officially announced at UFC 220. Breaking! I have confirmed with sources that Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will fight for the undisputed UFC lightweight title at #UFC223 in Brooklyn. The bout will be made official later this week. McGregor will be stripped of his title. The bout was 1st reported by TASS

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2018

Over the last few weeks, we’ve all been wondering what is going to happen at the top of the UFC lightweight division. Will undisputed champion Conor McGregor return? If he does, will he defend his title against interim champion Tony Ferguson or streaking contender Khabib Nurmagomedov? If he doesn’t, will we get Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov? And when, pray tell, will the UFC strip McGregor for inactivity? Indeed, the questions go on and on… According a report from Tass.Ru, we’ll have answers to all our questions soon.

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2018

Back in June of 2017, PRIDE legend Wanderlei Silva came up short in his long-awaited Bellator debut, losing a decision to his nemesis Chael Sonnen. Since then, Silva fans have been wondering what – if anything – will come next for the aging legend. While nothing is certain just yet, it seems Silva himself is considering a rematch with the ostensibly retired Chuck Liddell, who he lost a close decision to back in the year 2007. Silva hinted at this possible rematch in a Tuesday post to Instagram.

Justin Golightly - January 16, 2018

Conor McGregor is doing all types of jiu jitsu on Instagram. Khabib Nurmagomedov is saying he won’t settle for an interim title and meanwhile a huge UFC card is in the works for Russia. Everyone is wondering is Conor McGregor really won’t come back until September and who he will fight whenever he does indeed return. No other name has been paired with his lately in the UFC other than Nurmagomedov’s. Just recently, acclaimed coach and ground game mastermind John Danaher gave his insight into the potential match-up. “What’s interesting about those two fights, is you have basically polar opposites. […] With regards to Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, the feeling one gets if they did fight — it would be a complete shutout in one of two directions. It’s either like a man beating up a child on the ground, or it’s just a flush knockout. The guy unable to cover distance properly and walking into a left hand and just being catastrophically KO’d. You feel like there’s potential for it to go on both directions. That’s a fight I don’t think goes the distance. It’s one way or the other. And Khabib has been hurt coming in, but he dealt with it well.”

Justin Golightly - January 16, 2018

LISTEN as @MalloryyMartin dishes out some devastating trash talk during her TKO stoppage! 😨 #noonecansaveyou #InvictaFC27 #UFCFIGHTPASS Video captured by @InvictaFights‘ @frumpycloud Invicta FC 27 Replay 📽️ https://t.co/9MId278IC7 pic.twitter.com/p8ahK8haIe

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2018

At present, there are two frontrunners in the welterweight contendership race. One is former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, who recently trounced Robbie Lawler. The other is streaking wrestling specialist Colby “Chaos” Covington, who recently thwarted Demian Maia. Both men have a pretty solid case for the next crack at divisional champion Tyron Woodley, but in the opinion of UFC President Dana White, one makes more sense than the other. White cleared up the welterweight contendership picture on Fs1 in the wake of last Saturday’s UFC St. Louis card.