MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 9, 2018

On January 20, in the main event of the stacked UFC 220, surging French-Cameroonian heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou will step into the Octagon with UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. Over the course of his destructive run in the UFC’s Octagon, Ngannou has flaunted some truly terrifying punching power – something many fans and pundits believe could spell disaster for Miocic. That said, Ngannou has not yet been tested by a truly elite wrestler. As a former NCAA standout, Miocic could well be that wrestler.

Justin Golightly - January 9, 2018

The danger of Francis Ngannou has reached mythic proportions as UFC 220 draws closer and closer. In his short but meteoric rise, Ngannou has become almost a folk hero. His documentary is a crazy eye-opening rags to riches story and we all know by now that he has record-breaking punching power. However, his head coach Fernand Lopez says there are still a lot more that no one has seen yet, from his ground game to even more lethal striking techniques. Quite frankly, he’s afraid of what Ngannou can do to opponents. “I think there are a lot of fighters in the UFC who we’ve never seen the best of because they’ve never had the opportunity to showcase the skills they have. If you’re going to a decision every time you fight, you may have time to show everything, but this guy [Francis Ngannou], he’s spent like one hour in [the cage] his whole career. People really don’t know what this guy can do. Submissions, heel hooks, if you see this guy does a heel hook or guillotine someone, it’s crazy. He’s got a very quick, very nasty guillotine, very nasty heel hook. There are so many skills he can do.”

Tom Taylor - January 9, 2018

The lineup for UFC on Fox 28, which goes down on February 24 in Orlando, Florida, has grown by one interesting bantamweight scrap, as former champion Renan Barao is scheduled to return to action on the card. Barao’s opponent in this fight will be Brian Kelleher.  This bout was first reported by the Orlando Sentinel.

Justin Golightly - January 9, 2018

Out of nearly the entire top 15 of welterweights got booked at the tail end of 2017, one was missing. Darren Till wasn’t able to capitalize off the hype of finishing Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone. He was in talks and rumored to fight everyone and none of them seemed to finalize. Despite Mike Perry losing in his last fight, Till was still open to fight him to build off their UFC Gdansk hollering match, but he’s already got a fight. Which brings us back to Gunnar Nelson. The two verbally agreed to a fight on Twitter in early November and Nelson is wondering what’s up. “I had a little back and forth with Darren Till there online not too long ago and I thought that was going to happen. Well, they haven’t scheduled anything yet, but it looks like he’s calling everyone out. I said I’m here. Nothing’s happening, I don’t know. I’d love that fight. He’s saying he’s not getting any opponents, he’s a good fighter, he’s up there and he’s online saying nobody wants to fight him or whatever, and I said ‘I’m ready’ and that’s it. He’s ranked up there, and I’m willing to fight. He’s good, he’s very good.”

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.

Drake Riggs - January 8, 2018

Nothing is set in stone regarding the UFC’s current Featherweight division. Matter of fact, there has yet to be a UFC Featherweight fight between two fighters that haven’t fought below 140 lbs. There have been three Featherweight fights so far in the UFC. Starting things off with UFC 208, where the inaugural champion was crowned when Germaine De Randamie defeated Holly Holm via unanimous decision. Both fighters were previously Bantamweight contenders before that fight. The second fight was for the vacant title after De Randamie gave up the title making it Cris Cyborg vs Tonya Evinger. Evinger was coming over as the Invicta FC Bantamweight champion, filling in for Invicta’s Featherweight champion, Megan Anderson. And most recently, Cyborg defended her title against Holly Holm at UFC 219. In an effort to break this trend, the champion, Cyborg wants to fight a fighter with a recent win at 145 lbs for her next title defense. Then she will be open to a super fight with the Bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes who is clamoring for the fight as are the fans. Cyborg had this to say on Twitter in response to Nunes’ coach at American Top Team, Conan Silveira when he said he thinks Nunes vs Cyborg will “1000% happen”.

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.

Russell Sai - January 8, 2018

It looks like UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway will return to defend his featherweight title at UFC 222, which takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 3. According to a report by MMA Junkie’s Simon Samano, Holloway is set to take on former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. MMA Junkie reported that a “person with knowledge of the situation” asked to remain anonymous with the UFC having yet to announce the fight.

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

The people of Ireland I love you 🍀❤ A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on Jan 8, 2018 at 12:46am PST

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.”