MMA News

Justin Golightly - December 8, 2017

There have been mixed reactions to the recent news of Georges St-Pierre leaving middleweight and vacating the title he just won a month ago. It was his battle with his stomach in the arduous rode to weight gain that resulted in ulcerative colitis, prompting St-Pierre to abandon the division. Ignoring the negativity, we’ll focus directly on the positive. Eighth-ranked Derek Brunson has his eyes set on a springboard right at the top of the middleweight rankings with a win over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. GSP vacates. That’s a real martial artist. Way to not stall the division. Best of luck bro! A win over #3 Jacare puts me next in line for the title shot 👊

Justin Golightly - December 8, 2017

In a world where submission only grappling has finally rose to prominence over the last couple of years, there are no shortage of tournaments for players of all ground games to showcase their skills. The Eddie Bravo Invitational, Polaris, and Metamoris are just three organizations that are aiming a spotlight on grapplers, complete with production values and belts to raise above their heads. MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba is partnering with former UFC heavyweight champion and Josh Barnett to bring a new storm to the atmosphere with their innovative new promotion called Quintet. “Honestly, I enjoy competing. And if I’m having a great time, it’ll be fun for the audience too. In a regular bout, you’ve got one match and it’s over. But we’ve got attrition-style bouts, called ‘kachi-nuki’. If you win, you keep on fighting, maybe winning two or three times. That right there is what will make it fun to watch. It’ll be a heck of a challenge, but that much more exciting.” — Kazushi Sakuraba

Justin Golightly - December 8, 2017

Georges St-Pierre just left the middleweight division in just a month after becoming champion. TJ Dillashaw is training right now to change weight classes and challenge Demetrious Johnson. Meanwhile, John Lineker is about to fight Jimmie Rivera and he’s not happy. He recently expressed his dislike over fighters jumping around and thinks they should stay where they are at. …Especially guys he wants to fight against. “This business of challenging people in other divisions, I don’t like this. Every fighter has to stay quietly in his division and stay in his corner. But the UFC is now giving these opportunities to fight in other weight categories. Stagnation will not happen, because [TJ Dillashaw] still has the bantamweight belt. Either way, he’ll have to defend the title. But in my opinion, everyone should stay in their division instead of challenging people elsewhere to fight.”

Justin Golightly - December 8, 2017

Joanna Jędrzejczyk w @przeglad pierwszy raz tak otwarcie o katorżniczym zbijaniu wagi, które jej zdaniem spowodowało przegraną z Rose Namajunas. Cały wywiad na stronie Przeglądu Sportowego, wieczorem na Youtube https://t.co/3xTHDGzJTK pic.twitter.com/XxR3HPT5iy — Przemysław Osiak (@PrzemyslawOsiak) December 8, 2017

Justin Golightly - December 8, 2017

Mark Hunt’s career came into jeopardy when he wrote an article detailing symptoms of CTE. He was consequently pulled from his fight at UFC Sydney and on leave from the UFC indefinitely. This resulted in Hunt seeking out a myriad of tests from the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, to try and prove that he is still fit to fight. After an exclusive statement was given to MMA Fighting, the UFC has cleared Mark Hunt for competition after his succesful medical analysis. “We’ve just had a conference call with the doctors in the States, who gave us the good news, so it’s all looking positive. The doctor said Mark scored well above average and that he’s good to compete. So they’ll ring the UFC now and let them know. We’re just waiting on the UFC to clear him. Now Mark’s been cleared twice. He’s done testing with two experts in Australia — and been cleared — before going and proving himself again in the US. Obviously our concern was always Mark’s health and we’re pleased to know everything is fine.”

Russell Ess - December 8, 2017

Big news for the UFC middleweight division was dropped late Thursday as the UFC announced that Georges St-Pierre vacated his newly captured middleweight title. With St-Pierre vacating the title, UFC interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was deemed the undisputed champion and former champ Luke Rockhold is now challenging Whittaker for the belt at UFC 221 in February. While Dana White may not be so happy about GSP’s decision to leave the middleweight division, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos praised “Rush” for his quick decision to drop his new title.

Drake Riggs - December 7, 2017

Mackenzie Dern is one of the brightest prospects in all of MMA. The world championship BJJ black belt has gotten her career off to a hot start, going 4-0 with two spectacular submission victories and two dominant unanimous decisions. The only issue is that in two of Dern’s three fights at the 115 lb Strawweight division she has missed weight, and not by close margins. Invicta FC 26 is tomorrow and that means that the weigh-ins were today! And fortunately for Dern, all went according to plan and she weighed in right at 115.

Drake Riggs - December 7, 2017

Well, the speculation has ended, Georges St-Pierre’s Middleweight title reign has come to an end before it could even really begin. After it was announced that Robert Whittaker would fight Luke Rockhold at UFC 221, it was assumed that Whittaker would be defending a title… It was just unclear whether or not it would be his Interim title or if St-Pierre would be vacating his Middleweight title making Whittaker the new undisputed champion. The latter has been announced as the case. https://twitter.com/ufc/status/938951789835177984

Drake Riggs - December 7, 2017

Angela Magana has had quite a unique journey with the Ultimate Fighting Championship as well as just her career in MMA. Ranging from events such as verbally submitting to Jessica Aguilar in a 2008 fight after getting blood in her eye to getting into an altercation with UFC Featherweight champion, Cris Cyborg at the UFC Performance Institue during the 2017 Athlete Retreat…it’s been quite a crazy ride for the former The Ultimate Fighter season 2o contestant. Magana last fought at UFC 218 this past weekend against Amanda Cooper. Magana lost via second-round TKO thus extending her UFC losing streak to three straight(five overall and six including TUF 20) which was just too much for the organization to keep the twenty fight Strawweight veteran.

Drake Riggs - December 7, 2017

There were rumblings and rumors floating around about this fight potentially coming to fruition. Especially after current UFC Middleweight champion, Georges St-Pierre’s recent news regarding whether or not he’ll come back to the division where he said, “I don’t think so”.  GSP is battling ulcerative colitis anyway so prior to his recent interview it was expected that the Interim champion, Robert Whittaker would indeed defend his title before challenging for GSP’s anyway. But now everything is set. Ariel Helwani broke the news that former UFC and Strikeforce Middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold would be the next man to challenge for a UFC Middleweight title.

Justin Golightly - December 7, 2017

After Georges St-Pierre finished Michael Bisping, the former middleweight champion was eager for a quick turnarond against Kelvin Gastelum. It didn’t end up the way Bisping wanted it, also putting the UFC under fire for letting it happen. Bisping himself has recently opened up and admitted it might not have been a good move, but that he has no regrets. Georges St-Pierre spoke about the fight and displayed a lot of respect to his last opponent, but wasn’t happy with the UFC either. “Medically, [Michael Bisping fighting Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Shanghai] was not the right thing to do. However, if he would have succeeded – you know, he took a big risk and me, I can accept that because he took a big risk – if he would have succeeded he would have been like a hero. It’s like, ‘Oh my God, he just lose the title and then he come back with no preparation, boom, wins a fight.’ I think he tried to do something that was very, very risky, but at the same time if he would have achieved it, it would have been a big reward for him. So I can respect that. For him, I can respect the idea that he had, the goal that he had doing it.”

Justin Golightly - December 7, 2017

When Max Holloway needed a new sparring partner at UFC 218 after Frankie Edgar received an injury, Cub Swanson was the first to put himself in the queue. Unfortunately for the featherweight contender, he never got the call. It’s hard to believe that in a career that dates back all the way to 2004, he’s never gotten a title shot. It’s one of those facts where you don’t believe until you look back through the records and see for yourself. Approaching the last fight on his UFC contract against Brian Ortega at UFC Frenso, it’s something that is on Swanson’s mind. According to him, hard work isn’t enough as the UFC pampers certain individuals over others. “No, I haven’t been [compensated what I deserve], and I feel all the fighters should be paid more. I feel I was putting in my dues for a long time out of an ignorance of thinking, ‘I’m going to put in the work and I’ll be taken care of.’ I feel I’ve been paid good, but when you see guys like Conor [McGregor], guys like Nate Diaz, who are hardly fighting and make a couple of [million] each fight, man. […] For everything I’ve already done and what I bring to the table, and what a lot of us do, we should be taken care of more long-term, that’s all.”

Tom Taylor - December 7, 2017

Last weekend, Nicco Montano and Roxanne Modafferi stepped into the Octagon to compete in the first ever UFC women’s flyweight title fight. After five, fun, back and forth rounds, Montano came out on top, making history as the first female flyweight champ in UFC history. Unsurprisingly, long-time women’s bantamweight contender Valentina Shevchenko, who could well be the next flyweight title challenger, was watching closely. “I was watching the fight,” Shevchenko said on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. “It was a very good fight, a very entertaining fight. It was five rounds, no talk, not one girl wanted to quit and both girls put all the heart that they had [out there]. My number one goal, like it was before, and it still right now, is to be the champion of UFC, and I’m very glad that now we have one more weight class, 125. It’s my natural weight class, and I feel like fighting in this 125 [division], I will have more opportunity to show more skills, more technique, because it’s different when you have to fight with bigger sized opponent and it’s different when you have to fight with the same sized opponent. It doesn’t matter for me because in 135 I was feeling the same good. I was feeling very strong there and everything was great. But I feel for 125, it’s more natural weight class for me.”

Justin Golightly - December 7, 2017

The kind of hype train that Francis Ngannou and the UFC has created hasn’t been seen in quite some time. It’s not even just a train anymore, we’ve got hype planes, trains and automobiles here. Whether proven or not, it doesn’t even matter, the only thing that can slow all this momentum now is Stipe Miocic in January. With their fight in almost a month to the day, Ngannou has now been elevated to the very top of the heavyweight heap. Less than 2 years in the UFC!@Francis_Ngannou is now your number one ranked heavyweight! 🇨🇲🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/90uyL74xgH

Tom Taylor - December 7, 2017

Last weekend, Nicco Montano and Roxanne Modafferi stepped into the Octagon to compete in the first ever UFC women’s flyweight title fight. After five, fun, back and forth rounds, Montano came out on top, making history as the first female flyweight champ in UFC history. Now a little under a week removed from this history-making fight, the UFC has released the official, top-15 rankings for it’s new women’s flyweight division. As expected, Montano sits atop these rankings, while the top five is populated by Sijara Eubanks, Lauren Murphy, Roxanne Modafferi, Barb Honchak, and Montana De La Rosa. The rest of these new rankings are populated by a slew of Ultimate Fighter veterans, as well as strawweight veteran Bec Rawlings and her recent foil Jessica Rose Clark.

Russell Ess - December 7, 2017

Many fans enjoy hearing Joe Rogan’s opinion on topics that go far beyond fighting and mixed martial arts. This is why the UFC commentator and comedian’s podcast is so popular. Speaking with Bellator heavyweight Justin Wren on his recent JRE MMA Show podcast episode, Rogan touched on UFC 218, which took place over the weekend in Detroit, Michigan. Rogan was extremely impressed with the wars put on with Yancy Medeiros vs. Alex Oliveira and Eddie Alvarez vs. Justin Gaethje. Rogan was also blown away by Francis Ngannou’s ferocious KO win over Alistair Overeem. Rogan then went over Max Holloway’s impressive performance against Jose Aldo in his first UFC featherweight title defense.

Justin Golightly - December 7, 2017

While some insane fights have happened and are still slated for UFC’s shark tank lightweight division, Tony Ferguson has been hanging back after beating Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight championship. With threats looming in the distance, all of our fingers crossed that we’d see Ferguson back in action soon, maybe against Khabib Nurmagomedov if not Conor McGregor. However, it looks like we’ll have to wait. First reported by Amy Kaplan over at Fansided, Tony Ferguson underwent elbow surgery and a date for his return is delayed indefinitely. “In good spirits even after elbow surgery. Praying for a speedy recovery, baby. We love you daddy.” — Tony Ferguson’s wife, Cristina Ferguson, on her private Instagram account.  

Justin Golightly - December 7, 2017

At the end of the month, one of the biggest women’s MMA fights of all-time will go down at UFC 219. Holly Holm will step into the Octagon to challenge Cris Cyborg for her women’s UFC featherweight title. A huge fight like this with such high stakes hearkens back to when Holm fought Ronda Rousey and finished her to become the women’s bantamweight champion in Australia. That feeling can’t help but conjure up images for Tito Ortiz of the fight that never was — Cris Cyborg versus Ronda Rousey —  and he thinks the fans deserve to have that happen. “I think the fans deserve [the fight between Cris Cyborg and Ronda Rousey]. Cris deserves it, and for sure I think Ronda deserves it after everything she’s said about Cris. If you’re ever gonna’ talk about somebody, at least step in the cage and try to prove yourself. But she’s afraid to do it, I understand. There’s many women who are afraid to fight Cris, and I’d just say the proof is in the pudding of how dangerous Cris truly is. If that fight’s in front of her it shows that UFC are able to once again put a great, huge fight together.”