MMA News

Justin Golightly - December 16, 2017

Congratulations to the new @TitanFighting featherweight champ! Luis Gomez stops Sodiq Yusuff with a powerful and perfectly-timed arm throw! #TitanFC47 #UFCFIGHTPASS Event Replay ▶️ https://t.co/b0KGr4dlHr pic.twitter.com/T93u3xhOxn

Justin Golightly - December 16, 2017

We’re hours away from Mike Perry’s fight with Santiago Ponzinibbio. It’s a classic fight that we’ve seen time and time again. With all of his victories being finishes, the UFC is banking on Perry to go into this fight at UFC Winnipeg and increase his star power. If he wins, not only doesn’t it increase the value of the Platinum product, but opens up more options as he breaks into the welterweight rankings. One of those being a potential showdown with another surging contender, that was hyped back in Poland: Darren Till. “As I said before, I don’t really care about rankings, and if [Mike] Perry wins — even if Santiago [Ponzinibbio] wins — I think they’re both good match-ups for me. If Perry wins, it’s a great showdown for the Liverpool event because I know he’s definitely game to come and fight me in my hometown, and I know he’s going to come in talking some sh-t and I’m going to be talking sh-t. I think it would make for an explosive buildup to a fight and I know that for a fact. It’s going to make for a good fight, so I’m pulling for Perry to win this weekend. If you asked me who’s going to win, I’d probably say Santiago is going to pull the win off, but I would like Perry to win. People might think I’ve gone past him, but I think that fight is up in the air now. I’ll take any fight.”

Justin Golightly - December 16, 2017

When Eddie Alvarez knocked out Justin Gaethje with a brutal knee after their UFC 218 war, in his mind, he won the unofficial Most Violent UFC title. It was something that he created due to limbo at lightweight and the nature of the fight he had before him. However, there is a real belt in the division, or at least an interim, held by Tony Ferguson. The interim lightweight champ Ferguson wasn’t impressed, by the fight are the ‘title’ Alvarez boasts about. He took to Twitter to tell Alvarez what he thought and didn’t hold back one bit. …Eddie Alvarez was quick to respond though. I would rip your skinny body apart if I cared to fight you , but I don’t care to fight You soo … Merry Christmas “Champ” 😂😂😂

Justin Golightly - December 16, 2017

The UFC heavyweight division is still populated with monsters. Stipe Miocic, Alistair Overeem, Junior dos Santos —these men are all beasts, but they’re not stars. Brock Lesnar was a star. He rampaged through the division unlike any other. He even was a huge draw after returning from years of being out to earn a win against top-10 heavyweight Mark Hunt. No matter what, the UFC’s door is always going to be open to a guy like that, but would he ever come back? Jim Ross doesn’t think so. “I were advising him – I’m not by the way – I would say, you’re going to leave to do what? Are you going to leave to retire and not do anything but hunt and raise your sons and be a good husband to your wife? I don’t know, are you going to launch another career? Some guys like to do that, sometimes they need new challenges. I read that he might be the son of the, in the Rocky movie, (Apollo) Creed’s opponent that got beat by the Russian guy and he may play that Russian guy’s son. I read that. I had no idea if that was even true, but I don’t know why you’d even want to leave. He’s got a beautiful schedule, he’s making well north of seven figures a year, and he works part-time and he has fun. I don’t know why you would… I would say this, it might answer your question with a question, leave to do what that’s better? Plus, he can still be contracted to WWE and make movies or things like that. I don’t see him getting back into MMA. Now, I might be wrong on that one, but I don’t see that being a fit for him going forward.”

Drake Riggs - December 15, 2017

In Bellator’s last event of 2017 and last event on Spike TV, two ex-UFC title challengers made their Bellator debuts on the same night at Bellator 191, each in the main and co-main events. Starting things off in the co-main event was Valerie Letourneau who took on fellow former UFC competitor, Kate Jackson(who was also on season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter). Letourneau was one of the UFC fighters in the Strawweight division who was suffering the most from the lack of a Flyweight division. Which led to her release which brings us to now. The fight started off with each looking and moving pretty loose and relaxed. Each tried to set up varied strike combos, leading with lots of low kicks and jabs. Each traded cage control through the first half of the opening round and for each fighter, they were having there best success when leading. We saw some clinch work late in the first round from Letourneau where she was able to land some good shots in tight but the time clinching didn’t last long.

Drake Riggs - December 15, 2017

Two former UFC stars, Chael Sonnen and Rampage Jackson are now with Bellator and booked to compete against one another at Bellator 192 on January 20. This fight will be the very first fight to kick things off for the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix where the winner will be crowned Bellator’s new Heavyweight champion. This will be Sonnen’s first fight at Heavyweight and Rampage’s third. Each fighter has one loss in the promotion but Rampage has four times as many wins as Sonnen. It’s well known what type of fighter that Sonnen is. He’s one of the best and strongest pressure wrestlers that the Middleweight division has ever seen. Rampage, however, is known for his tremendous punch knockouts and ability to entertain on the feet. So it’s clear what each will want to do in this matchup and they have even admitted it after now appearing to place a rather interesting bet on their fight.

Drake Riggs - December 15, 2017

Everybody loves a good prank. Even the UFC Light Heavyweight champion of the world, Daniel Cormier. Cormier is set to defend his title at UFC 220 next month on January 20 against the streaking Swissman, Volkan Oezdemir. The event also features another title fight, that being in Cormier’s former weight class of Heavyweight. UFC 220 fighters are currently doing a media tour so Cormier found himself some time with the next Heavyweight title challenger and decided to show him that no one was safe from a good DC prank…including the current scariest man in all of MMA.

Drake Riggs - December 15, 2017

The undefeated 24-0, Dagestani destroyer, Khabib Nurmagomedov is one of the Lightweight division’s very best fighters and has been for the past several years. Khabib’s last scheduled fight was a huge and highly anticipated Interim title fight against the man who ended up becoming champ despite not fighting Khabib, Tony Ferguson. The fight was supposed to take place at UFC 209 but unfortunately, Khabib had enough trouble cutting weight that it prevented him from even weighing in. On one of the UFC Embedded episodes for UFC 209, there was a shot caught on camera of Khabib and his team having the popular coffee-flavored Italian dessert, tiramisu. UFC Embedded is filmed during the week of the PPV event which means the week of weigh-ins… And although Khabib wasn’t seen actually eating the dessert on camera, the internet has accused this of being a big reason for Khabib’s missed weight and many, many jokes have been said since the event took place, both from fighters and MMA fans alike.

Justin Golightly - December 15, 2017

What can you say about Tim Elliott? He just has not had the best string of luck recently. It wasn’t long ago that Elliott was booked against Justin Scoggin’s for UFC Winnipeg. That fight got called off due to an injury. Fortunately, Pietro Menga stepped up in his place so Elliott was able to have another fight. Of course, no fight is official until the weigh-ins are through. Menga could not end up making weight and was taken to the hospital. Tim Elliott, as you can imagine, is not happy. “My opponent has missed weight by five pounds. There will be no fight for me. I am lobbying for my show and win money. I had a very expensive two-month training camp in Las Vegas and should not be punished because some twit couldn’t make weight and my first opponent was injured. I did everything I was supposed to. I should not get half my pay because other fighters can’t do their jobs, first opponent got injured, second missed weight.” — Tim Elliott via his official social media accounts.

Justin Golightly - December 15, 2017

It wouldn’t be a fight card without some sort of weigh-in drama. UFC Winnipeg is just a day away but not everyone is going to be making it to the event. Don’t worry, Robbie Lawler and Rafael dos Anjos both made their weight, so the main event is still intact. However, both Tim Elliot’s opponent Pietro Menga and Ricardo Lamas’ opponent Josh Emmett didn’t make their weight. Menga could not weigh-in due to his cut already being at an unhealthy level, while Emmett just came in heavy. The fight with Lamas is still on at catchweight, but Menga will not fight Tim Elliott at Winnipeg. Breaking news per @allelbows: Pietro Menga will not be weighing in and his fight with Tim Elliott at #UFCWinnipeg is off.

Justin Golightly - December 15, 2017

A lot of words come to mind when you hear the name Conor McGregor. We’ll let you fill in your own blanks on that one, but whether it be praise or hate, you have to admit one of those words has to be options. Basically any fight in the UFC inside three divisions is open for the the taking. On top of that, he has at least huge boxing bouts he can explore. If all of that wasn’t enough distractions for him to be lured away from the UFC, he also could Vince McMahon strut into the WWE universe at any time. Legendary Jim Ross said in a recent interview that he’s pretty sure they’ve already discussed business. “Vince [McMahon] knows who Conor McGregor is. You know, Vince doesn’t live on Uranus. He’s pretty well read, he pays attention, he pays attention. And Paul Levesque [Triple H] certainly knows who Conor McGregor is. Look, I don’t have this concrete information or source telling me all that good stuff, I would be very surprised if the two parties on some level haven’t had some kind of communication. It may be lawyer to lawyer, probably that more than anything, but just to feel out interest. Conor is another global star and Conor will sell wrestling tickets, because for a one-off, for a one-time deal he’ll sell tickets to see how he’s going to do. And he strikes me as the kind of guy that has such a competitive ego that he will do anything to not fail, to not look bad.”

Justin Golightly - December 15, 2017

Ladies & Gentlemen we give you Mr Mike Perry at his finest… This clip of his Facebook Q & A in a portable sauna suit is the only video you need to watch today! 😂😂😂👏 👏👏 Perry vs Ponzinibbio goes down this Saturday at #UFCWinnipeg 🇨🇦 ! 🔥🔥🔥#UFConFOX26 pic.twitter.com/4ZAEwXeZmO

Justin Golightly - December 15, 2017

It’s a huge fight. A career-defining bout with big stakes. The title is on the line and Holly Holm is the underdog against one of, if not the best women fighter on the planet. Does this all sound familiar? Back at UFC 193, Holm hit the ‘kick heard ’round the world’ on Rousey and earned the biggest MMA victory of her life in front of a stunned audience. Those comparisons aren’t lost on Coach Mike Winkeljohn either. He recently broke down his thoughts on the fight and predicts Holm stops Cyborg to shock the world once again. “Oh, absolutely [there are comparisons to the fight with Ronda Rousey]. You know what, behind the scenes when we fought Ronda we were pretty confident that we had the proper game plan to beat Ronda. Everybody thought we were crazy, everyone thought Holly was crazy when she first fought Christy Martin back in the early days in boxing cause Christy Martin knocked everyone out, and Holly made that look easy, and she had what I call that ‘Christy Martin’ moment where Christy tried to throw a punch at her, Holly slipped under and then Christy almost went through the ropes. Guess what? Ronda did the same thing, and it’s gonna happen in the Cris Cyborg fight, she’s gonna have that same moment.”

Drake Riggs - December 14, 2017

The UFC had been reportedly searching for a big fight to headline their first event in the city after Jeremy Stephens vs Doo Ho Choi was initially announced and assumed to be the main event but it was yet to be officially confirmed. Until today when Nolan King reported that it is, in fact, going to be the main event and the UFC’s official site has the fight in the main event slot as well so all signs point to this being the case. It appears that the UFC could NOT find an additional fight to add to UFC Fight Night: St. Louis next month. Stephens vs. Choi set to headline. #UFC pic.twitter.com/qJ4sCl1JJR

Drake Riggs - December 14, 2017

UFC 219 was supposed to feature a huge Bantamweight showdown between former champion, Dominick Cruz and rising contender, Jimmie “El Terror” Rivera. Rivera has won twenty straight fights(five in the UFC) and his most recent came over Thomas Almeida at UFC on Fox 25. Prior to that, he handed Urijah Faber the last loss of his legendary career and has been clamoring for a title shot ever since. With Cruz forced out of the bout with a broken arm, Rivera is now set to take on John Lineker.

Drake Riggs - December 14, 2017

We’ve already learned by now that Mike Perry is a pretty unique guy… The heavy-handed Welterweight striker known as “Platinum” is set to take on his toughest opponent to date this Saturday in Santiago Ponzinibbio. But leading up to this bout, Perry did some rather interesting training preparation. Gunnar Nelson last fought Ponzinibbio and lost via first-round knockout after several claims were made of him being eye poked prior to the knockout. When asked about the pokes and training for them, Perry had this to say in his UFC on Fox 26 media day:

Justin Golightly - December 14, 2017

Conor McGregor can now boast about another record to his already ridiculous list. He already shattered his pay scale with his historical boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather. There were numerous conflicting reports about how well the blockbuster superfight performed, but not we have the true numbers and they’re still nothing to turn your nose up at. The SHOWTIME pay-per-view ended up doing 4.3 million in PPV buys, just 3ooK short of breaking the record that still holds solid for Mayweather’s fight with Manny Pacquiao. SHOWTIME Sports confirmed today that the SHOWTIME PPV presentation of Mayweather vs. McGregor on August 26, 2017 generated 4.3 million pay-per-view buys in North America. This includes traditional television distribution and online portals such as the new SHOWTIME PPV app and SHOWTIMEPPV.com as well as UFC.TV in U.S. and Canada.

Justin Golightly - December 14, 2017

After the shake-up at middleweight, everything seems to have returned to normal. Not only is there movement, not only does Robert Whittaker get a fight, it’s with Luke Rockhold for the undisputed title thanks to Georges St-Pierre vacating the belt. While everything seems to be coming up Whittaker, he still lost out on a huge fight with the former welterweight king. It would have been a giant chance for the fighter just now reaching his prime, especially since Whittaker grew up watching him, to potentially put that win on his record. Belt or not, Whittaker wanted the fight out of respect. “I don’t think there was a doubt in any one’s mind who the real [UFC middleweight] champ was. I fought my way up through some hard dudes to get to where I am, and yeah, I am the champ, I was the champ. Yeah, it was [disappointing I couldn’t fight Georges St-Pierre for the belt], because I wanted to fight Georges out of respect more than anything. I idolized him as a child coming up and as a young man coming up in my career he was always like one of my biggest idols. To be able to fight him would’ve been great, to put him on my resume and say I fought Georges St-Pierre, that was great. But I don’t think I ever really convinced myself that he would fight me. I think it was a dangerous fight for him, a hard fight for him and it is what it is.” Perth make sure your ready 👊🏽 #ufc221 @ufc @lukerockhold pic.twitter.com/uEOtMOTh1k