MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 7, 2018

Former UFC middleweight champion and bona fide MMA legend Anderson Silva is currently under the USADA microscope for a failed October drug test, and could well end up on the bench with a lengthy suspension as a result. Despite this unfortunate twist, the 42-year-old assures his passion for fighting is still strong, and that his career is “not over yet.” Silva made these claims in a Sunday morning post to Instagram. See it below.

Tom Taylor - January 7, 2018

Ever since he won the UFC interim lightweight title with a submission of Kevin Lee, Tony Ferguson has been vocal in his belief that undisputed lightweight champ Conor McGregor should either defend his title, or vacate it. Really, the interim champ rarely goes more than a few hours without using his patented #DefendOrVacate hashtag on Twitter “All Clear & Ready To Rock” Doc Cleared Me To Start Training & Sparring 💎💎💎 Fuck Yeah 2018 #DefefdorVacate #AndTheNew #TonyFergusonMMA SnapJitsu™ My Mat. #Back2Work – Thee Champ 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/Rbz7mRkgWS

Tom Taylor - January 7, 2018

Be ready! Forget WuTang…#CyborgNation is nothing to mess with! @parilloboxing heeeeey! ========================== Antes da guerra!!!!! Já faz um tempo que é assim.. mas só dessa vez filmaram! Heyy só pra checar se o espírito não fugiu kkkk! A post shared by CRIS CYBORG 🇧🇷★ #ufc219 (@criscyborg) on Jan 6, 2018 at 7:46pm PST

Tom Taylor - January 7, 2018

On Saturday, surging UFC bantamweight contender and former World Series of Fighting champion Marlon Moraes took to Twitter to share a signed bout agreement for a fight 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 7, 2018

Last month, in the main event of UFC on Fox 26, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos picked up one of the best wins of his already impressive career, defeating Robbie Lawler by unanimous decision. In the eyes of many fans, this win was enough to earn dos Anjos a fight with UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Woodley himself, however, doesn’t share this opinion. “Was it a good performance?” Woodley recently told MMAFighting. “If I had Robbie Lawler against the Octagon like [dos Anjos did], would he have been alive or would he have been knocked the f*ck out? He’d have been knocked out.”

Chris Taylor - January 6, 2018

Conor McGregor’s coach responds to Tony Ferguson’s “defend or vacate” request! Since claiming the promotions interim lightweight title by submitting Kevin Lee at UFC 216, Tony Ferguson has been busy campaigning for Conor McGregor to defend or vacate his lightweight strap.

Chris Taylor - January 6, 2018

Marlon Moraes posts signed bout agreement, puts Jimmie Rivera on blast! Marlon Moraes has signed a bout agreement to fight Jimmie Rivera at UFC Orlando on February 24. The former WSOF bantamweight champ posted the contract on Twitter while taking a jab at Rivera.

Chris Taylor - January 6, 2018

Tonight’s Tara LaRosa vs. Internet troll event has been cancelled! Women’s mixed martial arts pioneer Tara LaRosa was slated to participate in a intergender sparring bout with sexist internet troll Kristopher Zylinski this evening in Florida.

Justin Golightly - January 6, 2018

Michael Bisping’s 2017 was a roller coaster ride. He got a well-deserved huge money fight with Georges St-Pierre, but ended up on the wrong end of a choke. After losing his title, he jumped into a fight with Kelvin Gastelum with a super quick turnaround and was finished in the first round. He’ll look to come into 2018 to turn that all around with one last fight before he walks away from the sport. He’s had offers from a handful of fighters looking to build off his name in the big moment, Brad Tavares being the latest to challenge the former UFC middleweight champion. What’s up @bisping I know you’re looking for a fight in England. Respectfully, I would like to share the octagon with you, and show the English fans how Hawaiians get down!!! @danawhite @Mickmaynard2 @ufc

Justin Golightly - January 6, 2018

#OnThisDay in 2012: @TheNotoriousMMA became double @CageWarriors champ! 📽 https://t.co/TMZIENdJ5x pic.twitter.com/Su3KfnZK9p

Justin Golightly - January 6, 2018

Glossy video packages, crisp suits, $50K bonuses. This is a world still brand new to Francis Ngannou. Just five years ago, the man was homeless and didn’t even know that mixed martial arts existed. The only thing he knew, is that he saw something bigger for the life which contained him. Ngannou didn’t just see the vision behind closed eyes and admire it, he went out to seek it by any means necessary. For himself, for his family, for his village. “Even during my pregnancy, [Francis Ngannou] was always moving so much I couldn’t sleep. But no, he wasn’t fighting. Never fighting. And he would never let someone hit another kid.” — Francis Ngannou’s mother

Justin Golightly - January 6, 2018

Dana White wants to launch ZUFFA Boxing and suddenly he’s at war with SHOWTIME and other promoters. He went on a tirade the other day on what he beleived were false SHOWTIME numbers regarding the historic Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather boxing bout. Since then, SHOWTIME executive Stephen Espinoza, who he worked together with to promote the fight, clapped back at his claims. Now Bob Arum has add fuel to the flames in his own, level-headed and precise way. Dana White wanted to talk numbers, so he’s talking numbers. “A lot of what [Dana White] says is inconsistencies but I don’t want to take it apart piece by piece. What’s really happening is the UFC is cratering. You look at the ratings they’re getting and you look at their pay-per-view business, which is way down. Why? Because they don’t have the marquee stars that they had before. Because the UFC model is to keep the money for itself and not pay the fighters the way people in boxing pay the fighters, which is a major part of the revenue. So really, he has a real problem getting a deal that will justify the $4.5 billion price that they sold UFC for and neither FOX or anyone else will come close to that price.”

Justin Golightly - January 6, 2018

Whether or not he’s your favorite fighter or not, Khabib Nurmagomedov is the shining, smashing example of a fighter’s fighter. The type of man that other UFC fighters pick as their favorite fighter, that is unless they have to face him in the Octagon. He came back, answered the single doubt he’s left in anyone’s mind, and absolutely dominated a top five lightweight in Edson Barboza in devastating fashion. From one champion to another, Tyron Woodley is mad hype on Khabib Nurmagomedov. “Let’s get some respect for this dude, because I don’t want [Khabib Nurmagomedov] storming in here trying to double leg my ass. I’m gonna say something outlandish. ‘F’ Tony Ferguson right now. I think he jumps Tony Ferguson and he goes straight to Conor McGregor. Man, it was completely savage how he was whooping up on the homie Michael Johnson — which is a tough cookie — and was saying stop. When a man telling you to quit and give up in a fight, he’s on a whole ‘nother level.”

Justin Golightly - January 6, 2018

The biggest heavyweight fight potentially of all-time is a couple of weeks away and it is curiously absent of trash talk. Although, when you’re two guys like Francis Ngannou and Stipe Miocic, the need to say threatening things has never really been something that comes up a lot. Both men are equally humble as they are frightening. Both men have made it a habit of dispatching other scary dudes. Which is why Miocic shrugs at the notion of Ngannou’s horror story mythos being built around him and his record-breaking punching power. To Stipe Miocic, Ngannou is just one more guy like he’s fought over and over. “[Franics Ngannou]’s tough, he’s big, strong, hits hard but he’s just another dude. That’s what it is. You’re telling me Mark Hunt doesn’t hit that hard? Or Roy Nelson? Or Junior dos Santos? Come on. He hits hard and definitely if you get hit square like that [it’s bad news], but I’m definitely going to keep my head up, keep my head on a swivel, and make sure I’m doing everything right.”

Drake Riggs - January 5, 2018

If you have Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal as one of your training partners…it will be hard for you to not find at least some success in MMA or wrestling. Mo is one of Bellator’s staple big name fighters and is next taking on their Light Heavyweight champion, Ryan Bader as part of the Heavyweight title Grand Prix. Recently, the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion, King Mo caught up with the In This Corner Podcast and shed some light on how much potential that the NFL football star turned MMA fighter, Greg Hardy really has: “I sparred with him five or six times and the last time we sparred, it was a battle. It was a battle and he gave me work and took me down. He’s a 285-pound guy and he just picked me up and just threw me. I remember the first day that he came last year, I saw him and gave him a pair of my gloves,” Lawal said. “I said, ‘Alright man let’s work on this.’ He was on the bag and he went from hitting the bag with his right hand and hook to uppercuts, learning kicks, to learning takedown defense and jiu jitsu. He’s a fast learner and he loves it.

Drake Riggs - January 5, 2018

Ever since UFC 219 came to a close when we heard Bruce Buffer make the announcement that Cris Cyborg had retained her UFC Featherweight title, everyone has been wondering who will be next.  That includes fans as well as fighters themselves. As well as former fighters and former UFC and Strikeforce Bantamweight champion, Miesha Tate in particular. Miesha spoke about the situation in UFC’s Featherweight division recently on Sirius XM’s MMA Tonight. The current UFC 145 lb division is currently occupied by Cyborg and the 8-2 former Invicta FC champion. Megan Anderson. Anderson has been talked about as a strong candidate for getting the next crack at Cyborg. .@MieshaTate tells @realOCsports that her problem with a potential @criscyborg vs. @MeganA_mma fight is Megan's inexperience plus the quality of opponents in which Megan has beat. pic.twitter.com/5NbqBkC9Nl

Drake Riggs - January 5, 2018

When it comes to managers, few are quite as vocal as many of MMA’s biggest stars manager, Ali Abdelaziz. One of his fighters happens to be the hot commodity that is Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov. Khabib last fought at UFC 219 where he put on an epic beating on top five Lightweight, Edson Barboza over the span of three rounds on route to a clear-cut unanimous decision that included multiple 10-8 round scores. Abdelaziz tweeted out today that they are looking at the interim champion, Tony Ferguson for their next move.  

Justin Golightly - January 5, 2018

In just two weeks, one of the biggest fights in Bellator history will go down to determine if Douglas Lima keeps his welterweight title, or if UFC transplant Rory MacDonald fulfills capturing the hold that alluded him in his previous organization. As the bell time draws closer and closer, MacDonald revealed some of the violent plans he has in mind for not just Lima, but for Bellator itself. Douglas Limas, who thinks MacDonald is a little too overconfident, has his own plans of proving he’s one of the very best in the world whether he’s in the UFC or not. “It’s the fight I wanted. [Rory MacDonald]’s a tough guy but no big deal. To me, he’s an opponent like any other. He’s got his strengths. He’s been in many wars, but after the first hand lands, he’ll change his plan, for sure. He’s very sure of himself. He’s saying he’s one step ahead of everyone in the division, right? But let him be. He’s very confident, and that will change as soon as the first hand connects.”