MMA News

Drake Riggs - January 11, 2018

Matchmaking has been a bit all over the place in regards to one matchup for UFC on Fox 28 in Orlando, Florida. First, news broke from each fighter that Sara McMann would be welcoming the Invicta FC bantamweight champion, Yana Kunitskaya to the organization at the Florida event. This was a great matchup and one that didn’t fall apart due to injuries…well…not their injuries. One week before Fox 28, UFC Fight Night 126 in Austin, Texas takes place on February 18 and shortly after McMann vs Kunitskaya was announced, a fight between Marion Reneau and former Invicta champ, Tonya Evinger was also announced. Unfortunately, Evinger was injured out of the fight thus creating the opportunity for McMann to fill in. So it will now be McMann vs Reneau at Fox 28 in Orlando. This had left Yana Kunitskaya without an opponent and put everything in question whether or not she would still be getting a fight or not. That was until she made it very clear that she indeed will still be making her debut at the Orlando event.

Drake Riggs - January 11, 2018

The back and forth between team Cyborg and team Nunes continues… Recently, one of UFC Bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes’ coaches at American Top Team, Conan Silveira commented his thoughts on the potential super fight that has fans buzzing. “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.

Drake Riggs - January 11, 2018

It was announced by Invicta FC on their official website today that the UFC’s Bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes would be re-joining their organization! But this time, not as a fighter but as part of the Athlete Development Team. Nunes’ primary responsibilities will be to assist in making matchmaking decisions, therefore leading to intriguing fight card layouts and helping identify future champions, specifically looking at talent from Brazil and the southeastern U.S. Nunes fought twice for Invicta, once in 2012 and once in 2013. She went 1-1, defeating Raquel Pa’aluhi and losing a decision to Sarah D’Alelio. She spoke a bit about Invicta and her new position in this interview:

Drake Riggs - January 11, 2018

It’s definitely not the type of news you would like to receive while preparing for the biggest fight of your career… UFC Flyweight, “Jessy Jess” Jessica-Rose Clark makes her sophomore appearance with the organization this Saturday in a big-time showdown with the returning star from the Strawweight division, Paige VanZant. Unfortunately…today, Jessy Jess received some troubling news. Someone just broke into my house, stole all my housemates stuff, trashed the whole place, stole clothes and shoes from me Wtf man.

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

Khabib Nurmagomedov hasn’t stopped campaigning for a huge fight ever since he dominated the dangerous Edson Barboza at UFC 219. Dana White has said that the next fight will be against Tony Ferguson, but that whether it’d be for the interim lightweight title or the undisputed title, would be up to Conor McGregor. However, things aren’t as clear as they appear. Whether it is a tease or just to stir up some the rumor mill by adding to the trash talk, coach John Kavanagh recorded himself studying Khabib Nurmagomedov fights on his Instagram live.

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

Josh Emmett has been wanting to capitalize off his fire built off of the startling knockout of top featherweight contender Ricardo Lamas. He classily offered a rematch to Lamas, but it looks like both parties are moving on. He put his sights on Brian Ortega, who had his own upset over Cub Swanson, but it looks like it all of that has fell through. While everyone wondered what was going to be the main event of UFC Orlando would be, at one point it was Emmett fighting Ortega. According to the man himself though, Ortega has refused the fight. I just got some bad news like just, thirty minutes ago. The UFC was actually putting this fight together [with Brian Ortega]. Ortega and I were supposed to fight. We were going to headline a fight on another huge card and he will not fight me. He turned it down. He flat out said he will not fight me. I have no idea [the reason]. He just will not fight me. We were going to headline the UFC Orlando card. Main event on FOX.”

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

Paulo ‘The Eraser’ Costa may be wishing he’d have erased this latest video. On his official Facebook, Costa goes off on transgendered athlete and MMA fighter Fallon Fox. It’s unclear what prompted Paulo Costa to bring up Fallon Fox, considering she hasn’t fought since 2014 and is basically retired from MMA, but he had some very heated and controversial comments to say about her. Refusing to call Fox by her preferred pronoun, he even claimed that he’d fight her for free to ‘protect women’. “[Fallon Fox] was born a man, and he is a man, even though he calls himself a transsexual. It’s absurd cowardice, not only by him, but also by the promoters of any event that has accepted this kind of absurdity. He has simply annihilated the girls who have fought against him.”

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

Potentially the biggest fight in Bellator history is just nine days away. Former UFC welterweight title challenger and infamous violence deity Rory MacDonald will challenge Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima next Saturday at Bellator 192. Always in the shadow of the UFC, Lima is looking to come out on the lighter side of an organizational eclipse by beating one of the absolute best in the world. Whether you believe in the rankings or not, the numbers don’t even need to be beside the names to understand that this is a fight to determine the elite of the elite in the division. “I’d love to think [the winner is No. 1 in the world] – I think Rory [MacDonald]’s been on the top for a long time. He beat the guy [Tyron Woodley] who is supposedly the No. 1 right now – he beat him before. So he can be considered the No. 1, and I’ll take that spot when I beat him next Saturday, for sure. I’m honestly not even thinking about that. I’m just focused on the fight. I don’t really care much about rankings. There’s always going to be someone saying something like, ‘He doesn’t deserve to be No. 1.’ So, I’m not really focusing on that.”

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

The man who was once reported to have ‘no known weaknesses,’ turned out to have one: Time. It’s hard to believe that The Phenom has been fighting since 1996 and is about to strap on the gloves to fight this Sunday at UFC Missouri. He’s beaten all your favorite fighters in every different era: Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Randy Couture, Luke Rockhold, Michael Bisping. After legendary victories, highlight reel knockouts and a UFC belt, Belfort is finally walking away at the age of 40. “This is my retirement fight. After that I’m going to put my body to rest. This is it. Breaking news. I think I did more than enough. Just to think back, sometimes I flashback just like Matt [Sera] said, and I’m like, ‘Wow, I’m still doing this, wow man, this is crazy.’ I’m very thankful, but I think my body need to rest. I have other things, I have a business of my own, I developed have a system, I developed a group class training system that we’re going to franchise. I just want to leave to help the sport in a way, work with the sport and help and do other things. We got to know the time to start and I think we need to know the time to end and it’s about time.”

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

Andrei Arlovski, Roy Nelson, Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Hunt. These are some of the names that Josh Barnett have taken out in his staggering 21 year stay in the world of combat sports. He even beat Randy Couture back at UFC 36 to become the UFC heavyweight champion. While he’s been out of MMA since 2016, he hasn’t been lazy. From television shows, inhabiting the body of a Viking, to pro wrestling inside and outside of the ring, Barnett isn’t lacking things to occupy his battle-sharpened mind. Although, he doesn’t rule out a return to the cage either. “I’m not finished with it. I still have a lot within MMA that I want to do. There’s still a desire in me to go out and fight. I know that it is going to be a much smaller window for me in that there’s so many other things in my life. At the moment, I know the desire is there to compete, but the desire to structure my life around training camps and all that at the moment just isn’t there.”

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

We’re just over a week away from two huge title fights in Boston for UFC 220. In a way, the main and co-main events are mirror images of each other. Two hyped newcomers in Volkan Oezdemir and Francis Ngannou with one-punch knockout power, against champions seemingly on a completely different level than their competition. Daniel Cormier keeps reminding Oezdemir of that fact in the lead-up to their big showdown. Against Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson and before that against the top heavyweights in the world, Cormier has felt that power and has never been taken out by it. “It’s crazy that this kid thinks he can knock me out with one punch. What happens when it doesn’t happen? You will all see next Saturday. I’ll stand with this kid and still beat him. There are levels to this game and this guy ain’t on the level. Volkan Oezdemir, you have done well but now you’re in over your head. Sharpening my tools with Javier Mendez. I am who I am because of who I am. Hard work and commitment is something I’ve always had in spades. I can’t wait to show you what we have been cooking up. We are AKA. Down goes Volkan.” — Daniel Cormier via his Instagram.

Drake Riggs - January 10, 2018

Every now and then, we get some fun little segments on the UFC’s weekly news program on FS1, UFC Tonight. The show is normally hosted by Karyn Bryant, Kenny Florian and UFC Light Heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier. Often times, Cormier will have to miss time due to his fight camps which then leads to a rotation of other fighters filling in for him, most commonly the likes of Welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley or former Middleweight champion, Michael Bisping. This week the crew discussed who they thought would return to the action first between Lightweight champion, Conor McGregor or his biggest rival, Nate Diaz. This led to a hilarious and pretty accurate impression from the three-time title challenger.

Drake Riggs - January 10, 2018

It appears there has been a change of plans! Initially, Sara McMann and Invicta FC Bantamweight champion, Yana Kunitskaya had both announced that they were fighting each other next at UFC on Fox 28 in Orlando, Florida on February 24. But since then, Marion Reneau vs former Invicta Bantamweight champ and recent UFC Featherweight title challenger, Tonya Evinger was announced for UFC Fight Night 126 in Austin, Texas on February 18. That was expected to remain the case…until Evinger was recently forced out of the fight with an injury. Now as first reported by MMAJunkie and confirmed by McMann herself on Instagram, she will indeed be filling in for Evinger against Reneau but the fight will be taking place at UFC on Fox 28 instead of Fight Night 126. This now leaves Invicta champ, Yana Kunitskaya without a dance partner.

Drake Riggs - January 10, 2018

Last night, one of the UFC’s all-time biggest stars was seen possibly advancing closer to her next career. Former UFC and Strikeforce Bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey has been rumored to be eventually making the leap on over to the wrestling entertainment world for a good while now. The top organization for professional wrestling is the WWE and one of Rousey’s close friends, Shayna Baszler has already made the full jump over as she’s now on their main roster. Rousey has already done a promo for the WWE…so the foundation has been laid out for her to really make the transition.

Justin Golightly - January 10, 2018

Things are finally looking up for former UFC featherweight title challenger Frankie Edgar. He was slated for a title shot against Max Holloway, but had to withdraw due to an injured orbital. Not only does he get another shot, but just a day after his fight with Holloway is re-booked for UFC 222, he got bumped up to first degree black belt. He wasn’t the only fighter getting the honors from Ricardo Almeida, his teammate Marlon Moraes got promoted from brown belt to black belt. “Such an honor to have these guys on our mats day in and day out. Congratulations gentleman. Marlon Moraes: Congratulations on your black belt, six years as a brown belt and I tried to promote him last year but he wouldn’t accept it. You won’t find a more humble guy. Frankie Edgar: Black belt first degree. Our team leader/captain always setting the pace we all try to follow.”

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

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.