MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

Last night, in the main event of the UFC’s anticipated debut in St. Louis, long-time featherweight contender Jeremy Stephens authored yet another impressive win, this time at the expense of fan favorite South Korean prospect Doo Ho Choi. Here’s how the MMA community reacted to Jeremy Stephen’s crushing TKO victory:

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

In the UFC St. Louis main event, two featherweight knockout artists collided. In one corner, we had the stone-fisted veteran Jeremy Stephens. In the other, we had the unassuming South Korean prospect Doo Ho Choi. Here we go!#UFCSTL pic.twitter.com/nfhVfIPnfT

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

In the UFC St. Louis co-main event, former strawweight star Paige VanZant made her flyweight debut opposite Australia’s Jessica-Rose Clark. Round one began with a brief feeling-out process. VanZant looked for kicks, while Clark favored a boxing-based approach. From there, Clark landed a big takedown, taking the fight to the ground. After briefly chasing an arm-triangle choke, the Australian rode out the round from side control, and put a stamp on things with a few forearms to the face in the closing seconds.

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

Shortly after Darren Elkins’s epic comeback win over Michael Johnson and the UFC’s touching tribute to the recovering Matt Hughes, welterweight contenders Kamaru Usman and Emil Meek stepped into the cage to do battle. Round one of this fight was decisively Usman’s. Though he very nearly dove into a Meek guillotine with his first takedown, he survived this scare to control the rest of the round, softening his viking foe up with ground-and-pound in the process.

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

Originally, featherweights Michael Johnson and Darren Elkins were expected to battle on the UFC St. Louis undercard. When the card’s co-main event was scrapped at the last minute, however, Johnson and Elkins were bumped up to the main card. Round one of this fight was all Michael Johnson’s, who pelted his foe with crackling combinations, wobbling him on more than one occasion. By the time the first frame ended, Elkins seemed to be oozing blood from every orifice north of the neck, and yet he managed to get off his stool for the second all the same.

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

If things had gone according to plan, MMA legend Vitor Belfort would have fought the last fight of his career opposite Uriah Hall in the co-main event of tonight’s UFC St. Louis card. Regrettably, Hall was hospitalized as the result of his weight cut, which nixed Belfort’s retirement plans. Though Belfort has made it clear that he doesn’t fault Hall for the last-minute cancellation of this fight, he still expects to be paid by the UFC, as he showed up in St. Louis, and made weight for his fight. Belfort shared his grievances in an Instagram post in his native Portuguese.

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

Back in January of 2016, TJ Dillashaw lost a split decision to Dominick Cruz, surrendering the UFC bantamweight title in the process. Almost two years later, after lopsided thrashings of Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker, Dillashaw reclaimed the title with a second-round knockout of Cody Garbrandt at UFC 217. Speaking on the latest stacked episode of BJ Penn Radio, the bantamweight champ explained that he expects Garbrandt to endure a similarly long road back to the UFC bantamweight title.

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

When he defeated Robbie Lawler by unanimous decision back in December, Rafael dos Anjos established himself as one of the top contenders in the stacked UFC welterweight division – perhaps the top contender outright. Since then, the Brazilian star has been angling for a title shot opposite reigning welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Woodley, meanwhile, has expressed interest in a number of other high-profile fighters, such as Georges St-Pierre and Conor McGregor, and simultaneously dismissed dos Anjos. Yet this doesn’t seem to have discouraged dos Anjos.

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

 After some six years away from the UFC’s Octagon, former welterweight contender Chris Lytle made a triumphant return to fighting over the weekend, stepping into the ring for a bareknuckle boxing match in England. In this fight, Lytle defeated his opponent Lewis Gallant by third-round TKO, per Daily Star. Lytle’s last mixed martial arts bout occurred in 2011, when he submitted Dan Hardy in the final minute of a three-round war. His penultimate bout was an upset loss to Brian Ebersole, which was preceded by four-straight wins over Matt Serra, Matt Brown, Brian Foster, and Kevin Burns.

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

Sacramento’s Team Alpha Male has long been regarded as one of the top mixed martial arts gyms in the world. That remains true today, when the gym is home to former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt, and two of the top featherweights on earth in Josh Emmett and Darren Elkins. Emmett last fought in December, when he clubbed long-time contender Ricardo Lamas to a massive, first-round upset KO. Elkins, meanwhile, returns to the cage tonight, when he will take on former lightweight contender Michael Johnson on the main card of the UFC’s anticipated debut in St. Louis, Missouri.

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

Ever since he knocked out Cody Garbrandt to recapture the UFC bantamweight title, TJ Dillashaw has been angling for a flyweight title shot opposite dominant divisional kingpin Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. In order to earn this opportunity, of course, Dillashaw will have to cut down to 125 pounds – something Garbrandt doesn’t believe he can do. I’d make 125 in a month! This fool can’t make 125, he knows what it is. I’ll be here cleaning the division out again, waiting for him🏃🏼🏃🏼 https://t.co/XzybIfRWNv

Tom Taylor - January 14, 2018

The vast majority of the MMA community is currently waiting eagerly for Conor McGregor news. There are dozens of questions currently attached to the Irish superstar’s name. Will he return to the Octagon, or the boxing ring? Will he even fight again at all? After so many months on the sidelines, will the UFC strip him of his lightweight title? What would this mean for Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov? The list goes on and on and on. In the opinion of UFC featherweight Cub Swanson, however, fan attention would be better focused on fighters who are actually staying busy. On Saturday afternoon, Swanson took to Twitter to express his confusion with the widespread interest in fighters who fail to stay active.

Justin Golightly - January 13, 2018

As chaotic as the MMA world is right now, the UFC’s lightweight division is still ridiculous. Eddie Alvarez jsut got off an extremely violent win over Justin Gaethje and is waiting for a huge fight. Khabib Nurmagomedov is back and on warpath. Tony Ferguson is the interim lightweight belt holder and still recovering from elbow surgery. Meanwhile, the undisputed champion Conor McGregor is still counting his money and waiting on the right time to show back up. With his future up in the air, Joe Rogan thinks the UFC will strip him make big fights in his absence. “Here’s my prediction: My prediction is Conor [McGregor] doesn’t fight for a while. They strip Conor. Tony [Ferguson] and Khabib [Nurmagomedov] fight for the [undisputed UFC lightweight] world title. […] What I believe is gonna happen is, Conor’s gonna vacate. I think they’re going to strip him.”

Chris Taylor - January 13, 2018

Vitor Belfort reacts to losing fight with Uriah Hall at the last minute! Earlier today news broke that dangerous knockout artist Uriah Hall had failed to show up for the UFC Fight Night 124 weigh ins, which forced the promotion to cancel his co-main event scrap with Vitor Belfort.

Justin Golightly - January 13, 2018

Damn…. @aliabdelaziz000 @ufc @mickmaynard2 @danawhite I wish Yoel and Lucas the best, speedy recovery champ. 😔 A post shared by David Branch (@davidbranch32) on Jan 13, 2018 at 4:33am PST

Justin Golightly - January 13, 2018

The main and the co-main event of UFC 220 in Boston have a lot in common. Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier are both champions who have passed the tests of many incredible threats. The names in their win columns are intimidating to say the least. They’ll be up against young talent that boast terrifying knockout power that fans love. Daniel Cormier is here to remind you that there is more to this game than just punching someone very hard. Anthony Johnson was one of the most feared hitters in the UFC light heavyweight division, but in the end it didn’t allow him to beat Cormier. “I think people fall in love with power punchers. I believe it’s just because they finish the fights. They finish fights in no time. The fight is going and all of a sudden it’s over. You got guys like [Anthony] ‘Rumble’ [Johnson] who was knocking everybody out. Then you have guys like Volkan [Oezdemir], they can knock everybody out and people fall in love with them.”

Justin Golightly - January 13, 2018

This year is off to a crazy start. We just lost Robert Whittaker’s fight with Luke Rockhold due to an injury. Before that, Zak Cummings had to pull out of his fight with Thiago Alves. Now another big scrap has just been struck down. As we all know, the UFC scales remain undefeated. Uriah Hall failed to weigh in early this morning for his fight with legend Vitor Belfort. As a result, the UFC has pulled the co-main event from the card this Sunday and as of right now there are no news as to what will be bumped up into that slot. UFC has made it official. Uriah Hall vs. Vitor Belfort is officially off #UFCSTL. Belfort’s retirement fight will have to wait.

Justin Golightly - January 13, 2018

No doubt Max Holloway is game for anything. When Frankie Edgar was forced to pull out of their fight at UFC 218, he was willing to step up to lightweight to stay on the card to fight Tony Ferguson or anyone else who was up for a scrap. If there was still some question about Holloway’s warrior mentality, he just came out and said he’d be willing to fight the scariest man in the next division up. If the chance ever comes, regardless of the weight class, Holloway would love to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov. “Oh yeah, for sure [I could see a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov down the road]. I think Khabib is a beast and that’s the kind of guys you want to fight to cement your legacy. He’s over here making all the greats, all the top guys look average and I want to fight him. People keep telling me, ‘he’s gonna smash you and this and that,’ I’ve heard this before. I have nothing but respect for the guy but at the end of the day if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”