MMA News

Justin Golightly - January 10, 2018

At UFC 219, Edson Barboza had his impressive three-fight win streak stopped on the wrong end of a dominating performance by Khabib Nurmagomedov. It was Barboza’s biggest fight of his life and he came up short. Even though it was admittedly one of the most painful losses in his career, Barboza is ready to get back in the cage as soon as possible. Replaying the fight in his latest interview, he candidly reveals he played into Nurmagoemdov’s game and some of his tactics caught him off guard. ”I really didn’t expect that to happen, man. I was very upset the week after the fight because I was well prepared, had a wonderful camp. It was a tough loss, no doubt about it. It was pretty much how we imagined it. I knew he wouldn’t take me down in the middle of the Octagon. I knew that his only chance to take me down was close to the fence, so I obviously worked that a lot, but he was able to impose his game, and I couldn’t get out of there. That was the problem. I fell in his game, I spent 15 minutes doing his game.”

Justin Golightly - January 10, 2018

You probably know UFC featherweight fighter Dennis Bermudez. You’ve watched him fight there since 2011, go on a ridiculous seven-fight win streak, even beating Max Holloway early in the champion’s career. You may even know that his next fight will be against Andre Fili at UFC Charlotte. What you may not know, is that he holds the world record for drinking one liter of lemon juice faster than any person ever. He’s not stopping there though, he has even more planned. “I was at the right place at the right time [to break the lemon juice drinking world record]. I was working with one of my sponsors [G FUEL] and they had all their athletes — gamers and models — doing this event. One of their sponsors is Furious Pete and he has multiple Guinness Book of World Records. So, when he reached out to Guinness Book of World Records and told them that he’s going to attempt to break the world record for the fastest time to drink lemon juice, Guinness Book of World Records was all about it.”

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2018

Amanda Ribas’ UFC career has been dealt a serious blow before it even started. The strawweight fighter was scheduled to make her promotional debut opposite Julianna Lima last summer. Unfortunately, she was pulled from this contest when she tested positive for the banned substance ostarine in an out-of-competition test facilitated on June 7. She was subsequently handed a provisional suspension, while USADA, the UFC’s anti-doping partner, examined her case.

Justin Golightly - January 10, 2018

Every time Demetrious Johnson’s name has come up since his record-breaking performance, it has been paired with TJ Dillashaw. It seemed like negotiations were getting close, but he has recently dismissed the talk. We’ve known that the main speed bump was money, but it looks like there is another thing standing in the way. While things get figured out, Demetrious Johnson is going to be pulling a Tyron Woodley and repair himself from his demanding fight schedule. He goes in to have shoulder surgery today, which makes a return and the potential superfight between him and Dillashaw completely up in the air. UFC flyweight champ @MightyMouseUFC is undergoing shoulder surgery today. Timetable for return is TBD at this time.

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2018

British light heavyweight Jimi Manuwa was hoping he’d be paired with Brazilian contender Glover Teixeira for the UFC’s March 18 return to London, England. Unfortunately for him, this option didn’t seem to interest Teixeira, which left him with no choice but to accept a London rematch with Jan Blachowicz, who defeated by decision several years ago. Speaking to Peter Carroll of MMAFighting.com, Manuwa shared his thoughts on Teixeira. Needless to say, he’s not particularly pleased that the Brazilian talent didn’t accept his offer.

Justin Golightly - January 10, 2018

No question the UFC’s new Performance Institute is incredible. Francis Ngannou has practically moved in since transplanting to Las Vegas. It’s an enormous facility complete with the most up-to-date and cutting edge ways for any professional fighter to train and recover, provided at absolutely no cost to current UFC athletes. They even have comped meals. Which brings us to Nick Diaz: Was his visit prompted by a bout of the munchies, or is he serious about coming back again? Diaz recently took a tour with UFC’s Vice President of Health and Performance, Jeff Novitzky. “I think [Nick Diaz] does [want to fight], I think he does. I’ve sat down with him over the past couple months trying to resolve this whereabouts issues. The unfortunate thing there is, look, the whereabouts failures are there to catch people that are cheating and trying to avoid testing. I just think Nick’s lifestyle led to those three whereabouts, not that he was trying to avoid testing. We’re trying to work through that. [Nick] trusted certain individuals to do his whereabouts for him. What I think happened was, over time, those individuals were in and out of his life, and it was unbeknownst to him that he was missing all these things. But again, there’s strict liability here. He’s currently under sanction, but we’re hoping to resolve that pretty quick.” — Jeff Novitzky talking to Joe Rogan on his MMA show.

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2018

Back in November, we learned that top light heavyweight contender Volkan Oezdemir was being charged with felony battery as the result of an unfortunate incident in a Florida bar. According to a report from MMAFighting.com, who spoken with Oezdemir’s lawyer Bruce A. Zimet, the Swiss fighter pleaded not guilty to this charge, and demanded a trial by jury at a Tuesday arraignment.  Oezdemir’s next hearing will occur on February 22, and the good news is that he’s been given no travel restrictions in the meantime. This means that he’ll be able to fly to Boston to battle UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 220 on January 20 without a hitch.

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2018

Ever since UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg thwarted challenger Holly Holm at UFC 219, UFC women’s bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes has been eager to fight her. UFC President Dana White also seems to be on board with this plan. And while there are still some major hurdles to clear before this fight is made, Nunes’ head coach at American Top Team, Conan Silveira, is very confident it’ll happen. “People want to see it,” Silveira told MMAjunkie. “I think they have the best opportunity to leave their marks on history.”

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2018

Yesterday afternoon, we learned that veteran MMA referee “Big” John McCarthy had joined the Bellator MMA family as a member of the promotion’s broadcast team. Initially, it sounded as though McCarthy’s broadcast duties signalled the end of his career as a referee, but apparently that’s not the case. He still plans to work as an officiator in smaller shows. “Can I go and referee? Yes, I can go and referee,” McCarthy told MMA Fighting. “If I want to go and referee something internationally, I can do it. I can do small shows here if I want. I’ll do charity events and things like that. I’m not gonna say, ‘Oh, I’m retired.’ I’m not retired. At this moment, I’m just taking on something else, so that’s gonna go on the back burner. All of my attention is gonna go toward being the best color commentator I can be for Bellator.”

Drake Riggs - January 9, 2018

Stevie Ray’s quest for a new UFC contract continues. Last time we heard from Ray, he was contemplating retirement. That appears to not exactly be the case anymore as he’s still trying to get in touch with Sean Shelby for fights. Ray last fought Paul Felder in July in his home of Scotland. It was the last fight on Ray’s contract and the time since then has been a bit frustrating for Ray. He discussed the situation on the Obviously Fight Talk podcast.

Drake Riggs - January 9, 2018

UFC on Fox 27 in Charlotte, North Carolina will be the UFC’s first event in the state since 2010 and their fourth ever. Headlining will be the hometown top Middleweight contender, Derek Brunson when he takes on the perennial top five 185er, Jacare Souza in a rematch from their 2012 Strikeforce meeting. Jacare won the fight in just forty-one seconds as he had the very clear experience advantage. Now things are a bit more evened out and Brunson knows it. Brunson discussed the rematch and what he wants to happen after in an interview with Clture. “When I fought him before, I was fresh out of college, right when I first started fighting. So I came in as a straight wrestler and it takes a long time to develop your boxing skills, your muay thai skills, to not over-extend yourself when you punch, but actually being able to throw a punch and not leave yourself in danger is a key point. I’m a different fighter now. I’ve been able to knock guys out clean here recently because I’ve been able to find that mix, to find that happy medium.

Drake Riggs - January 9, 2018

The last time we saw former WEC and UFC Lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis in action he was covered in blood and looking for submissions off his back against Dustin Poirier at UFC Fight Night 120 on November 11. Pettis lost that fight via TKO from a rib injury he sustained when Poirier transitioned off his back into mount on Pettis. This loss made the former champ 2-5 in his last seven outings, which also meant he has yet to put together a winning streak since he was the UFC champion back in 2014. Pettis appears to be healing up though and has a date targeted according to Ariel Helwani who confirms that Pettis wants to fight on the UFC’s next London card which is on March 17. No potential opponents were named by Helwani… But Nolan King reports that there has been at least some discussion that the UFC is looking at the rising star, Mairbek Taisumov for Pettis’ next opponent.

Justin Golightly - January 9, 2018

We’ve all been waiting to see who Darren Till will fight next after his impressive performance against Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone. Talks of opponent after opponent came and went and so did 2017, but this new year promises to be the Scouser’s year. According to this latest interview, he’s got some big plans and envisions himself becoming UFC welterweight champion before 2019. It seems like the big first step to that is fight with Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson which was rumored earlier last year. “It’s a great honour to be honest [to be named UFC’s Breakthrough Fighter of the Year]. My name is all over the world now – it’s great recognition and this is extra special since it’s the fans that voted for it. It’s really taken off in the past few months. I was off for the whole of 2016 [with injury], but obviously I came back last year and I had two good wins before I took [Donald] Cerrone out in the first round. People are starting to think I’m the next big thing in MMA and they’re not wrong.”

Justin Golightly - January 9, 2018

Promote. Perform. Become The 🐐 in Career Mode. #EAUFC3 Champions Edition 👉 https://t.co/EOAhzJQISd pic.twitter.com/2ZSfNP6Qux — EA SPORTS UFC (@EASPORTSUFC) January 9, 2018

Justin Golightly - January 9, 2018

The wait is finally over. Bellator is going to kick off their big heavyweight grand prix before this month ends and Chael Sonnen will face off with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. They’ll be throwing down for the chance to advance in the tournament, which will finally crown a Bellator heavyweight champion by the end of this year. MMA is prizefighting, so it makes sense to have a reward. The two are adding the stakes to their upcoming fight with a side-bet using their own cash. “Let’s do it right here, right now. Let’s do it right here.  I will give you $10K for every takedown you get on me. It’s 10 grand per takedown, $500 per jab. […] You won’t take me down not one time. Hey, I’m giving up $10K per takedown, don’t be a wuss. $500 per jab.” — Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson on the ESPN LA radio show.

Tom Taylor - January 9, 2018

On January 20, in the co-main event of UFC 220, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier will put his strap on the line opposite surging Swiss knockout artist Volkan Oezdemir. Ahead of this fight, pretty much everyone has an opinion on it. One of the more interesting opinions on the fight comes from Chael Sonnen, who is wondering just how much of a role Cormier’s longtime training partner Luke Rockhold is playing Volkan Oezdemir’s training camp. Rockhold and Oezdemir, of course, both train at Combat Club in Lantana, Florida, and have even apparently done a few rounds of sparring together. “Why is nobody talking about the elephant in the room on this one?” Sonnen queried in a recent episode of Beyond the Fight. “There is some insider baseball here. Luke Rockhold, Daniel Cormier’s longest standing teammate, is now a new teammate of Volkan. They’re training together, every day. I saw a sparring video myself on the internet. What’s Rockhold saying? He’s not just saying ‘oh I’ll stay out of this one.’ You can’t just stay out of this one. Your buddy calls you and says ‘what are you going to do? Are you this guy’s teammate, or aren’t you? Do you belong to this gym or do you belong to that one?’ So what’s the insider baseball there. What’s the insider guy saying. What’s the guy that’s done a hundred rounds with DC saying to the guy he’s done thirty rounds with in Volkan. I find that interesting. I find both of these guys to be very confident, and makes me wonder who’s giving them that confidence?”

Tom Taylor - January 9, 2018

2017 was a crazy year for MMA. We witnessed perhaps the greatest submission ever, courtesy of flyweight champ Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. We were dazzled by some truly ridiculous knockouts, many of which happened to be dealt with knees. We enjoyed some thrilling, back-and-forth fights. We watched the meteoric rises of fighters like Max Holloway, Francis Ngannou and Volkan Oezdemir. No matter how you swing it, 2017 was a wild one for our sport. The crazy nature of the year 2017 is perfectly exemplified in the video at the top of this post (via Reddit user mikehutch) which shows the procession of insane shakeups and adjustments the UFC welterweight division experienced over the course of the year. Contenders rose and fell. Long-time staples of the top-10 like Carlos Condit and Dong Hyun Kim made their inevitable exits from the rankings, while a handful of talented young fighters like Colby Covington, Darren Till and Kamaru Usman shoehorned themselves into the division’s uppermost echelon… Relive it all by watching the video above.

Russell Sai - January 9, 2018

Nate Diaz has helped mold the fight game with his brutal honesty and never shying away from how he feels. In fact, the younger Diaz brother was the catalyst to make some changes to the UFC and the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) regulations, according to UFC Vice President of Athletic Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky.