MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 9, 2018

In an era of combat sports where terms like “super fight” and “money fight” are such popular buzzwords, the UFC has been catching some flack for its matchmaking strategy. The widespread worry is that the promotion is focused on booking the most lucrative fights, rather than fights between the best competitors available. In the opinion of UFC Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Epstein, however, these worries are a little unfounded. Epstein defended the UFC’s matchmaking strategy in a recent chat with ESPN, assuring that it’s still based on competition, not profit.

Tom Taylor - January 9, 2018

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is always in the news – and not always for the best reasons. Despite the controversy that so often surrounds him, however, McGregor continues to do good work in his community, using his platform to help wherever he can. In fact, McGregor recently visited the Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in his native Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland, and had a pretty touching experience as a result. He shared this story on his official Instagram account.

Tom Taylor - January 9, 2018

Back in the summer of 2016, the UFC was sold to WME-IMG for a whopping 4.2 billion dollars. While this initially looked like a great investment, with fighters like Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey still actively competing, 2017 was a much slower year for the UFC. Conor McGregor didn’t fight at all. Neither did Ronda Rousey. Neither did Brock Lesnar. Jon Jones fought once, but then failed a drug test. Georges St-Pierre fought once, but seems to have re-retired post-fight. You get the picture… According to UFC President Dana White, however, there’s no cause for alarm. In fact, the UFC is still doing great business – such that WME-IMG is probably pretty pleased with their investment.

Drake Riggs - January 8, 2018

To say the least, it’s been an unfortunate way to end a year if you’re Jimmie Rivera. When everything was all announced, he was supposed to take on the former Bantamweight king, Dominick Cruz at UFC 219. That is until Cruz was forced out with a broken arm, continuing his own bad luck. After that, Rivera found a replacement in a fellow top contender, John Lineker. But…of course, Lineker was forced out of a chance at fighting as well when he had to get an emergency surgery done on a tooth infection. This left Rivera with about a week left to find an opponent for the final UFC event of UFC 219. After the UFC looked through many options in and out of the UFC, Marlon Moraes appeared as the front-runner asking for the fight…but on his terms. This led to both men going back and forth on social media trying to settle on a weight to fight at. They couldn’t come to an agreement as Moraes says he was at around 165 lbs during that week making it impossible for him to get to 145 lbs which was the highest weight discussed for the potential fight.

Russell Sai - January 8, 2018

On Monday, MMA Junkie reported that UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway was set to defend his title against former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 222 in March. The official announcement from the UFC came later in the day confirming MMA Junkie’s report. From the UFC:

Chris Taylor - January 8, 2018

Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn believes that while USADA has definitely helped clean up the sport of mixed martial arts, there is still a ton of room for improvement.   Speaking with BJPENN.com’s Chris Taylor, “The Prodigy” revealed that he believes many fighters have jumped off of testosterone in favor of Human Growth Hormone.   “I think that USADA made the cheaters jump from taking Testosterone to Human Growth Hormone. You know, exactly how Lance Armstrong cheated for all of those years… That is what is happening now.”   Cyclist Lance Armstrong was infamously stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs which included EPO, HGH and other banned substances.   In October of 2012 USADA formally charged Lance Armstrong of running a massive doping ring which they labelled “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sports had ever seen.”   According to Penn, the symptoms of HGH, which include having a bloated stomach, are quite visible in the sport of mixed martial arts today.   “USADA told me that they have a test to catch HGH users but I haven’t seen anyone getting busted and everyone’s stomachs are getting bigger. I see it all the time. Fighters shoulders are getting smaller and their stomachs are getting bigger because they are jumping off testosterone and taking HGH.”   Taylor brought up the fact that USADA claims to have a test that would could prove fighters have taken HGH within the past two weeks. Still, Penn questions the lack of results stemming from the test.   “Yea, (Jeff) Novitzky told me they have a test for Human Growth Hormone that  lasts for two weeks. But then why is no one ever getting busted and their stomachs are growing?”   Penn continued:   “It’s kind of like IV’s. I have never seen one fighter get busted for taking an IV twenty-four hours out of their fight. The only fighter who ever got busted for an IV was me, this after I disclosed that I had taken a glutathione IV following a visit with a concussion and brain injury specialist. They (USADA) tried to show that they had teeth by reprimanding a fighter who always speaks out about PED’s. Since that day, I have never seen anyone else get ‘caught’ for taking an IV. From my understanding, the only test that USADA uses for IV’s is looking for puncture holes on a fighter. Maybe they don’t realize that a massive weight gain after a weigh in is performance enhancing. When in reality, IV’s can be a huge advantage in the fight game. We aren’t talking about 150-pound men riding a bike.”   Penn brought up a previous fight where his opponent had put on 26-pounds in just twenty-four hours following the official event weigh-ins. “The Prodigy” recalled a conversation with Jeff Novitzky,  the Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance for UFC, about his opponents rather substantial overnight weight gain.   “My coach had seen my opponent weigh-in just hours before the fight and he had put on 26-pounds. I had eaten everything I could in those twenty-four hours and yet I only managed to put on 8-pounds myself. I told Novitzky about the situation after the fight suggesting that maybe my opponent had taken an IV. Jeff told me that they could not find any puncture holes on his arm and added that maybe my opponent just rehydrated better.”   In the end, BJ Penn simply wants to see a level playing field for fighters in mixed martial arts. At the moment, “The Prodigy” believes that there is still a lot of room for improvement in regards to USADA.   In a previous interview with SportsJoe, Tri-Star head coach Firas Zahabi explained why Human Growth Hormone (HGH) could be the most effective PED for improving a fighters performance.   “One time I was training a doctor and we were talking about that, what would be the most dangerous thing? What should we be aware of that our opponents might be taking. I remember him telling me that the best thing out there is HGH. Why? Because it helps you recover so much.” Zahabi continued:

Drake Riggs - January 8, 2018

Cleveland Ohio’s Stipe Miocic is the UFC Heavyweight champion and along with that comes with the title of “baddest man on the planet”. Hard to argue…Miocic has been pretty bad throughout his career(and by bad I mean very good. Words.). Since losing an all-out war in a competitive fight with Junior Dos Santos in 2014, Miocic has absolutely laid waste to everyone who’s been put in front of him since. But when it comes to his next opponent, Francis Ngannou…he’s been doing that as well, most commonly with incredible one-punch knockouts. Because of Ngannou’s impressive tear, he has garnered plenty of attention and hype. So much so that maybe the champion’s own organization could be overlooking him. He happens to think so as he said today on the MMA Hour:

Drake Riggs - January 8, 2018

UFC 219 left us with two big questions. Those being, “who’s next for Cris Cyborg?” and “who’s next for Khabib Nurmagomedov?”. These are both questions we have yet to get answers too. But…we appear to be getting closer to the answer for Cyborg more than we are for Khabib. The reigning UFC Featherweight champion, Cyborg has called for a fight with top 3 Featherweight, Megan Anderson since her win over Holly Holm at UFC 219. That fight, however, isn’t possible just yet as Anderson has yet to be cleared to compete. The second name that was brought up was current Bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes who is all for the fight. She isn’t the only one though, UFC president, Dana White also voiced that that’s the fight he would like to make next and today, American Top Team head coach and coach of Nunes gave his take on the fight when he spoke with MMAJunkie: “People want to see it, I think they have the best opportunity to leave their marks on history. I believe for the weight division, Amanda is going to be extremely well-prepared,” he said. “She’s not going to have to make the weight. She’s probably going to be strong in that division. I do believe the compensation (for) the strength that comes from Cyborg definitely will be the tools that Amanda has on her side. I think it’s the perfect fight. It’s a perfect match. It’s a champions fight – it’s something we don’t see happen often.

Tom Taylor - January 8, 2018

On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, fan favorite UFC welterweight “Platinum” Mike Perry announced that he’ll return to the cage when the UFC touches down in Orlando on February 4. That said, he would not divulge the name of his opponent, admitting only that it’s somebody Colby Covington has fought. From there, we all began frantically examining Covington’s record, trying to narrow down the possible options. While most fans and pundits suspected former Covington opponents Max Griffin and Mike Pyle, it was hard to say for sure.

Tom Taylor - January 8, 2018

Earlier this month, we learned that respected MMA commentator Jimmy Smith had left his long-time home of Bellator. From there, buzz immediately began to surface about his possible move to the UFC. UFC commentator Joe Rogan even sang Smith’s praises, encouraging the promotion to pick him up. “You f**ked up, Bellator,” Rogan said on his MMA Show. “You f**cked up. I’ve been telling everybody that Jimmy Smith’s the best out there and you let him go. That’s a huge error on their part. I would be thrilled if somehow or another they were able to work it out where Jimmy Smith was at the UFC. That would be what I would like to see.”

Tom Taylor - January 8, 2018

Late last week, former World Series of Fighting bantamweight champion and surging UFC bantamweight contender Marlon Moraes Tweeted out a signed contract for a bout agreement with fellow contender Jimmie Rivera. Here you go @JimmieRivera135 I signed my bout agreement. @ufc on fox. I also agreed to fight you on march 3rd choose what day you want me to beat your ass B-I-T-C-H @seanshelby @danawhite @AliAbdelaziz00 pic.twitter.com/nrU8WTjacF

Tom Taylor - January 8, 2018

It’s now been well over a year since Nate Diaz’s last fight, an August 2016 decision loss to current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. If you’re willing to read into his latest Instagram post, however, there seems to be some reason to believe he’ll be back in the cage someday soon. Good work wit my boy @luke_1er Back in action #beast 👊🏼

Tom Taylor - January 8, 2018

Arguably the biggest fight on the horizon at present will occur in the main event of UFC 220 on January 20, when Stipe Miocic attempts a record-breaking third-straight defense of the UFC heavyweight title opposite Francis Ngannou, a true force of destruction widely regarded as the next big thing in MMA. While Miocic stands to become the most dominant heavyweight champion in UFC history on this card, he’s actually been pegged as the underdog against the ferocious Ngannou. In the opinion of MMA analyst and Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix contestant Chael Sonnen, however, this is a mistake.

Tom Taylor - January 8, 2018

For POLAND🇵🇱 For the @ufc Family☝🏼 For all of YOU🌎 🔥#OlympicTorchRelay 🇰🇷 @pyeongchang2018 👸🏻#joannajedrzejczyk #JJ #Korea #OlympicTorch #OlympicFlame A post shared by Joanna Jedrzejczyk (@joannajedrzejczyk) on Jan 7, 2018 at 6:19pm PST

Tom Taylor - January 8, 2018

Ever since UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor came up short against Floyd Mayweather Jr.in the boxing ring earlier this year, we’ve been wondering what his next move will be. While that next move is still very much up in the air, his coach John Kavanagh is hoping it’s a return to the UFC’s Octagon – not the boxing ring. “I’m just happy to see him back, just regular training,” Kavanagh said in an interview with BBC Sport (h/t MMAFighting.com), referencing Conor McGregor’s return to MMA training “He had a lot going on in his life. A lot of stuff outside of fighting was going on in his life and he seems to be getting the hang of all that. Now he’s back training almost every day now and I think 2018 will be another big year for us. Exactly what that is, I don’t know yet, but the plan is forming. Stay tuned.”

Chris Taylor - January 7, 2018

After being knocked down by Wanderlei Silva, Chael Sonnen details game plan for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Former three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen will return to the cage on January 20 where he will square off with Quinton Jackson in the first-round of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.

Chris Taylor - January 7, 2018

Francis Ngannou: Knockouts To Inspire – UFC 220 Documentary In the above video, MMANytt‘s Jim Edwards takes a trip to France for an in-depth interview with surging UFC heavyweight contender Francis “The Predator” Ngannou.

Chris Taylor - January 7, 2018

Despite being on a three-fight losing skid, former UFC title challenger Donald Cerrone will headline February’s UFC Fight Night 126 event in Austin opposite surging welterweight contender Yancy Medeiros. After falling short in his bid for the UFC lightweight title against Rafael dos Anjos in December of 2015, Donald Cerrone opted to move up to the promotions welterweight division (170-pounds).