MMA News

Justin Golightly - January 10, 2018

All the talk of last year was the showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor. Today, another billionaire shared the stage with a millionaire at the Pendulum Summit as it took over the Convention Centre Dublin. English business magnate Sir Richard Branson met with the UFC’s self-proclaimed ‘Champ Champ’ and presented him Pendulum’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement award. Of course, with two entrepreneurial icons of that caliber on stage, it couldn’t be just any normal presentation. 🏟 #PendulumSummit

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

As soon as Max Holloway beat Jose Aldo once again, he jumped right back on the fight to bring the UFC to Hawaii. Just like the pressure fighter he is in the Octagon, he isn’t letting up at all. It looks like he’s finally chipping away at both sides because it looks like things are getting closer. As reported by Rob DeMello of KHON, the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) President George Szigeti will be meeting soon with the UFC in Las Vegas for a potential card at Aloha Stadium. Hawaii Tourism Authority President and CEO George Szigeti told me today that the HTA is planning to meet face to face with #UFC in Las Vegas “within the next month or two” to discuss possible UFC event at Aloha Stadium. #UFCHawaii @blessedMMA

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

After his UFC 219 destruction of the always dangerous Edson Barboza, Dagestan’s Khabib Nurmagomedov is once again one of the most talked about fighters in the UFC. Undefeated at 25-0, the destructive grappling specialist is now the undeniable, irrefutable number one contender at lightweight. The big question simply seems to be whether he battles undisputed UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor, or interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson. Logic, of course, would suggest that if Nurmagomedov gets the next lightweight title shot, it’ll come against Ferguson. If McGregor returns to defend his title, after all, he’d likely have to do it against the interim champion Ferguson. Shortly after his fight with Barboza, Nurmagomedov’s manager assured a fight with Ferguson is indeed the focus.

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 plan for UFC 218 wasn’t always for it to be headlined by a Max Holloway vs Jose Aldo rematch. Initially, it was Holloway set to defend for the first time against former UFC Lightweight champion and two time Featherweight title challenger, Frankie Edgar. Unfortunately, Edgar ended up breaking his orbital bone in training and had to be pulled from the fight just weeks prior. But now he’s ready to go and the pieces have fallen back together. UFC 222 on March 3 from Las Vegas will be the time and place, Edgar spoke with FloCombat today about the rebooking and how it felt when things fell apart.

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.

Justin Golightly - January 9, 2018

Demetrious Johnson fighting TJ Dillashaw could be the biggest fight in 2018 and while Johnson has been quiet about the match-up, UFC bantamweight champ Dillashaw will not let it the idea of it fade away. He’s been training for it already for months now and is determined to take everything the ‘Mighty’ flyweight belt holder has earned throughout his record-breaking career. Now he’s gone on record saying if he beats Johnson, he’ll defend both the titles, throwing a little shade at ‘Champ Champ’ Conor McGregor. “This is a way to put a stamp on my legacy. I was a little hurt losing that split decision [to Dominick Cruz] and not being on a 13-fight win streak and being called the pound-for-pound best in the world. In my mind, I should be No. 1. So it comes down to beating Demetrious Johnson to prove I’m the best, and it’s a huge thing for my legacy to be the double champ in two weight classes. I’m not a Conor McGregor. I’m going to be active defending my belts. I’m not afraid to fight.”

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.