MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 3, 2018

UFC President Dana White certainly catches his fair share of criticism. Whether it’s for his profanity-laced diatribes, his ruthless approach to business, or the way he treats his fighter, it seems he’s always under fire for something. Somewhere underneath White’s prickly exterior, however, is a heart of gold, and every now and then, that heart reveals itself. Perhaps the best example of this occured in 2010, when White opened his wallet and paid for the emergency liver-transplant of a seven-month-old baby girl in Thailand.

Justin Golightly - January 3, 2018

Rose Namajunas pulled off the biggest upset of 2017 and then went back to living her life. She walked in her home, put up her new UFC strawweight title, and admired a tomato she grew. Flashing back to the tense build-up to her fight with Joanna, it was a startling juxtaposition of how two very different warriors deal with their own personal pre-fight process. A fist in her face, she recited the Lord’s Prayer and refrained from escalating or even insulting the former champion. It’s something that she came back to comment on yesterday, stating that it doesn’t make sense for her to finally achieve everything she wanted to become an asshole. “Me saying that this belt don’t mean nothing, it’s not really that it doesn’t mean anything, it’s just it doesn’t mean as much if you’re just an asshole, you know what I mean? Me being the best in the world, it doesn’t mean that much to me if I’m not a good person at the end of the day, if I’m not setting a good example for other people to be better to each other. What’s the point of being the best in the world if you scratch and claw your way to the top and you push everybody down instead of lifting everybody else up with you? I think we’ve been sitting around trying to figure out what’s different [now that I’m champion] and I think that’s what’s different. There’s not really much that has changed.”

Tom Taylor - January 3, 2018

Just days removed from her exciting UFC 219 victory over Holly Holm, UFC women’s featherweight champ Cris Cyborg is already looking ahead to her next fight. The champ is now hoping to fight Invicta featherweight queen Megan Anderson, ideally when the UFC touches down in Anderson’s native Australia with UFC 221 on February 11. While Cyborg has heard the calls for a superfight between herself and UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, she feels that it’s important for her to fight a legitimate featherweight like Anderson in her next fight – and for a pretty noble reason.

Tom Taylor - January 3, 2018

Last Saturday, in the main event of UFC 219, UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg stepped into the Octagon to attempt her first title defense. Her opponent on this quest was former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm. While Cyborg ultimately came out on top in this fight, capturing a well-deserved unanimous decision, Holm certainly didn’t make it easy for her. The former bantamweight champ hung in there for the duration of the fight, landing meaningful offense of her own throughout.

Tom Taylor - January 3, 2018

Last weekend, the UFC touched down in Las Vegas, Nevada with UFC 219. In the card’s main event, we watched Cris Cyborg defend her women’s featherweight title by out-duelling Holly Holm to a unanimous decision win. In the co-main event, meanwhile, we saw lightweight star Khabib Nurmagomedov extend his record to an insane 25-0, bludgeoning Edson Barboza to a unanimous decision win. Elsewhere on the main card, we saw Dan Hooker tap Mark Diakiese, Neil Magny outwork Carlos Condit, and Carla Esparza sneak by rising prospect Cynthia Calvillo.

Tom Taylor - January 3, 2018

Last week, the MMA world was hit with the news that Bellator MMA had parted ways with long-time color commentator Jimmy Smith. Given that Smith is a bottomless pit of MMA knowledge with charisma to boot, this news came as a definite surprise. Apparently, however, the broadcaster’s departure from Bellator was quite amicable. Jimmy Smith broke down his Bellator exit on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show.

Drake Riggs - January 2, 2018

After UFC 219, Khabib Nurmagomedov has been all the rage when it comes to the hottest of MMA discussions. It doesn’t hurt that after such an impressive victory, he and the Lightweight champion, Conor McGregor have been going back and forth somewhat consistently on Twitter over the past few days. But today the top Lightweight announced the signing of his cousin, Abubakar Nurmagomedov on his Instagram profile. https://www.instagram.com/p/BddfaKXlg15/?taken-by=khabib_nurmagomedov

Drake Riggs - January 2, 2018

If you haven’t been following the women’s scene in Mixed Martial Arts consistently for the past two decades, then you probably aren’t likely to know who Tara LaRosa is. Perhaps you may have watched season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter which was the first season to ever feature female fighters. LaRosa attempted to get onto the show but fell short in the elimination round to current UFC Bantamweight, Sarah Moras. LaRosa is about as seasoned of a fighter as one can be. Especially when it comes to the women. She’s been fighting since 2002 and her next opponent…literally hasn’t been fighting for any time ever(unless you count his surely incredible street fighting record). A man by the name of Kristopher Zylinski has made claims on a public article that a trained female fighter would lose to an untrained man if they were to fight. Well…he’s not the first one to do so, that’s a guarantee. But, luckily(or unluckily), Zylinkski has been man enough to actually accept to prove this challenge as offered up by the McDojoLife.

Drake Riggs - January 2, 2018

We’ve seen it on a few occasions where NFL players have made the transition from the top American football league to the world of MMA, for better and for worse results. Most recently, former defensive end for the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys, Greg Hardy has made the leap over and quickly found success. Hardy is undefeated at 2-0 with both of his wins coming by way of knockout(both under a minute and thirty-six seconds). Hardy is only twenty-nine years old but played six seasons in the NFL(although one of those seasons he only played one game in due to getting suspended for his domestic violence case). Now, MMAFighting reports that he is set to for his biggest fight on his biggest stage so far when he takes on the 2-1, Ryan Chester at Legacy Fighting Alliance(LFA) 33 on February 16 in his third amateur Heavyweight bout.

Justin Golightly - January 2, 2018

He’s back and everyone is terrified. Khabib Nurmagomedov made weight with no problems and went in there to take on arguably his biggest challenge yet in Edson Barboza. His performance was as dominant as any other fight he’s had. Against Michael Johnson, against former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, it doesn’t matter, so far Nurmagomedov has done whatever he wanted to his opponents. On Joe Rogan’s MMA Show today, Rogan and new free broadcasting agent Jimmy Smith talked about how much of a beast Nurmagomedov is. “[Khabib] Nurmagomedov just mauled [Edson Barboza]. Mauled him. I mean, mauled him in a way that you go, ‘Oh God.’ He’s just on such another level that the odds of you beating him drop so substantially after the first minute and a half. After you get – you saw the look on Barboza’s face there’s like, two minutes plus into the first round and he’s trying to get up. You see the look on his face and he’s like, ‘F-ck, how am I going to deal with this?’ Like, this is so next level.” — Joe Rogan today on his MMA Show.

Justin Golightly - January 2, 2018

Even with a loss, Justin Gaethje has had an incredible year. He walked away from his five-time defended WSOF lightweight title to finally sign on with the UFC, much to the rallying cries of fans and the blessing of the violence gods. He put on MMA Fighting’s ‘Fight of the Year’ with Michael Johnson, then had another ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate with Eddie Alvarez at UFC 218. For now, he’s going to let the body and brain rest, but he’s already contemplating who he wants to fight next. Who better than Kevin Lee, the last fighter to lose to interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson? “First time I ever met [Kevin Lee], he was nice. Then he talked sh-t saying I was fan-boying over him. He doesn’t know what respect is. I’ll never show him respect again, that’s for sure. I just like punching loudmouths in the face. I’m sure I’ll get the itch [to fight again] sooner rather than later. I said I wanted to wait around until June, July, but I’m sure I’ll get the itch sooner. It’s too soon [right now], but we’ll see how things play out. I might want to beat up Kevin Lee, that kid over there I want to beat up.” — Justin Gaethje speaking today on The MMA Hour.

Justin Golightly - January 2, 2018

Throwback to 2015 when Conor McGregor predicted that Khabib Nurmagomedov would one day have the Lightweight title. pic.twitter.com/pzJT9U6WoR — UFC India (@UFCIndia) December 31, 2017

Tom Taylor - January 2, 2018

Now that UFC 219 is in the rear-view mirror, the UFC has updated its official rankings to reflect the results of the card. The most notable changes to the UFC rankings occured on the pound-for-pound list, where Khabib Nurmagomedov made his long-awaited debut, a distinction he earned by pounding Edson Barboza into applesauce in the UFC 219 co-main event. UFC 219 main event winner Cris Cyborg also moved up the list in the wake of her thrilling victory of Holly Holm, while Georges St-Pierre and Conor McGregor arbitrarily switched spots on the pound-for-pound list, despite the fact that neither has competed in recent weeks.

Justin Golightly - January 2, 2018

UFC flyweight champ @MightyMouseUFC addresses recent rumors of him fighting T.J. Dillashaw that came out of Twitch stream. Watch #TheMMAHour LIVE: https://t.co/7soW7KTArj pic.twitter.com/iG6T44Qqiy — MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) January 2, 2018

Russell Sai - January 2, 2018

You may have heard former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt talk about the incident, but the video of what went down with movie star Jean-Claude Van Damme has just recently surfaced. Van Damme was over at Team Alpha Male not long ago showing the guys in the gym some technique. Garbrandt explained on the Real Quick with Mike Swick podcast that he and Van Damme were going through some kicking techniques where the martial arts movie star turned things up a bit too much and hit Garbrandt with a kick “right in the teeth.”

Justin Golightly - January 2, 2018

If there is one guy that you don’t want mad at you, it’s Mirko Cro Cop or else you’ll find out firsthand the meaning behind his right leg, hospital; left leg, cemetery motto. He’s an absolute legend in the sport and has accomplished insane things in his storied career, but he’s still not done just yet. Fresh off his win on New Year’s Eve over Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, he moves on to an apparent beef with Joe Rogan over some comments on his podcast. While the video which is not in English was translated by translated by Darsus on Reddit, we have been provided with another translation by Roko Skender of the Perth Titans, a group of MMA enthusiasts who are involved at a community level helping youth and disadvantaged kids. “I’ll tell you when [I will go on Joe Rogan’s podcast], and sorry for this phrase but you’ll see me on Joe Rogan’s podcast when my dick grows legs because Joe Rogan upset me. You know what, he is rude. He’s really rude. He started on me so many times, you know. He starts talking and it always begins with something positive, which should be the case, something positive about my career, and then he starts gossiping. He first spreads stories that I carried millions of dollars in a suitcase, which is physically impossible.”

Justin Golightly - January 2, 2018

The accomplishments of Jose Aldo speak for themselves. For a decade, he reigned supreme over the featherweight division; through the WEC, the UFC, and the entire world. Much like the pioneers of BJ Penn and Jens Pulver before him did with lightweight, he put the 145-pound class on the map and made people tune in to see his dominance, frightening speed and crushing leg kicks. After such a long time at the top, and losing his title twice, Aldo is finally wanting to part ways with the UFC according to his coach Andres Pederneiras. “We’re still talking to see how much [Jose Aldo] wants to keep fighting or not. I think Aldo’s career is a career that nobody can talk badly about. He can do whatever he wants. To retire, to continue, to make a superfight. He is thinking. He is a guy who has managed to make a lot of money over the course of his career and he can retire today without depending on anyone. He will never go hungry in his life. He invested his money, he knew how to save it. I’ve never heard him talk about stopping. I think Aldo has been at it for a long time, in a very continuous time. I think Aldo could take a vacation and feel that motivation to return. I already talked to him, but he wants to end the UFC contract as soon as possible.”

Tom Taylor - January 2, 2018

Over the weekend, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 219, Dagestani lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov picked up yet another dominant win, violating the dangerous Edson Barboza for three, lopsided rounds, and ultimately capturing a clear unanimous decision. With this win, Nurmagomedov stands out as the clear-cut number one contender in the UFC lightweight division. The big question is whether his long-awaited title shot will come against undisputed champion Conor McGregor or interim champion Tony Ferguson.