MMA News

Tom Taylor - December 5, 2017

Having knocked Alistair Overeem’s head into orbit in the co-main event of last Saturday’s stacked UFC 218 card, French-Cameroonian slugger Francis Ngannou is now the number one contender in the perilous UFC heavyweight division. He is expected to battle the division’s apex predator, Stipe Miocic, sometime in the next few months – perhaps even as soon as UFC 220, which goes down on January 20 in Boston. Whenever Ngannou’s fight with Miocic occurs, he’s confident that he’ll come out on top – and that the judges won’t be needed.

Justin Golightly - December 5, 2017

When Max Holloway told us this was the ‘Blessed Era’, he wasn’t just talking, everything he’s done up until this point has been an effort to prove it. How can you not respect this guy? He stacked up a ridiculous winning streak before culminating his journey by beating Jose Aldo for the undisputed featherweight title. After all of that, he turned around and beat him once again and has shown nothing but incredible respect. He’s the only person ever to beat Jose Aldo back-to-back, but that’s just a tiny excerpt in a long list of career achievements  

Russell Ess - December 5, 2017

Max Holloway didn’t blink twice to give Jose Aldo an immediate rematch after his originally scheduled UFC 218 featherweight title fight matchup with Frankie Edgar fell through. Holloway repeated his success against Aldo in their rematch over the weekend in nearly the same fashion, finishing who he considers one of the greatest fighters of all time in the third round once again.

Tom Taylor - December 5, 2017

Though UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley was briefly linked to a UFC 219 super fight with Nate Diaz, this bout ultimately fell through. With this blockbuster battle off the table, Woodley shared his plan to undergo a long overdue shoulder surgery to repair a nagging injury. From the sounds of it, though, the champ is re-considering. Speaking to the media during last weekend’s UFC 218 festivities, the champ shared his belief that the UFC might need him in the coming months, and announced that he’s thinking about putting his shoulder surgery off.

Tom Taylor - December 5, 2017

In preparation for her UFC 219 title defense against former UFC bantamweight champ Holly Holm, UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg has been working on her hands with pro boxing legend Cecilia Braekhus.

Justin Golightly - December 5, 2017

The fallout from the UFC 218 chaos is still growing as the lightweight division is shaken up by former champion Eddie Alvarez, as featherweight settles in with its new king. While Max Holloway’s last win over Jose Aldo felt like an upset, this rematch felt like a complete passing of the torch. The Hawaiian champion has been all class speaking about his victory, but there was a long moment in the Octagon that night which was really special that many missed. “I heard his motivation for this fight with Jose Aldo, and his motivation was cause of his daughter and you know, I get it. I’m a parent just like him and I respect that. That guy’s a GOAT. He shouldn’t be feeling like he owes anybody anything. In Brazil — in the favelas — the whole Brazil should celebrate him and they should start making statues of the guy.”

Tom Taylor - December 5, 2017

After penning a tell-all piece for the publication Players Voice, in which he admitted to many of the symptoms of brain injury, UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt was plucked from a planned bout with Marcin Tybura, and shelved indefinitely by the UFC. The plan, the organization revealed, was to have Hunt undergo extensive testing before allowing him to return to the cage. According to a report from The Daily Telegraph, Hunt’s test results are in, and they’re good. This report, which sites a Tuesday conference call with specialists from the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, claims Hunt has been declared fit to continue competing. Hunt’s manager subsequently confirmed this news.

Tom Taylor - December 5, 2017

Though the fight itself is not confirmed just yet, the early odds for UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic’s fight with surging contender Francis Ngannou have been released – and they’re pretty surprising. Though Stipe Miocic has already established himself as one of the most impressive heavyweight champions in UFC history, he has actually opened as the underdog against the streaking Francis Ngannou.

Tom Taylor - December 5, 2017

Now that Georges St-Pierre is the UFC middleweight champion, the big question is, who does he fight next? Though interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker would seem to be the most logical choice, St-Pierre also has options outside the middleweight division, such as UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor. Whatever the case, all the confusion surrounding St-Pierre has got former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold pretty aggravated. In his opinion, St-Pierre needs to make his intentions clear, or get drop the title altogether.

Russell Ess - December 4, 2017

Although the future of Conor McGregor’s fighting career is uncertain, one thing for sure is that the current UFC lightweight champion is still making headlines in the media. Recently, “The Notorious” has had some interesting stories surrounding him. From a Bellator scuffle with a referee and Bellator staff member, rumored stories of a bar fight involving a cartel associate, to a recent courthouse appearance that had a judge livid with his tardiness, McGregor has been living up to his “Notorious” nickname.

Tom Taylor - December 4, 2017

Last Saturday night, in the co-main event of the action-packed UFC 218, surging French-Cameroonian heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou picked up the biggest win of his career thus far, punching Alistair Overeem’s head into stratosphere with a rocket-fuelled uppercut. With this absolutely destructive victory, the surging heavyweight juggernaut seems to have positioned himself for a fight with dominant UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. Miocic, who is reported to have squashed his contract issues with the UFC, was evidently watching Ngannou’s fight with Overeem. And while Ngannou might just be the most fearsome challenger of his title reign thus far, he doesn’t seem too worried about it. At least, that’s the impression one of his recent Twitter posts gave.

Russell Ess - December 4, 2017

Well if there was anything that could trigger a multi-million dollar rematch between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, this could certainly be it. While on vacation in China, the retired and undefeated boxing great took to social media to put a couple people on blast.

Tom Taylor - December 4, 2017

Last weekend, on the undercard of UFC 218, strawweight veteran Angela Magana came up short against rising contender Amanda Bobby Cooper. In the wake of this loss, Magana took to Twitter to trash any “haters” who criticize her, or any of UFC 218’s other defeated fighters. See Magana’s undeniably compelling points below:

Tom Taylor - December 4, 2017

Last month, in the lead-up to the UFC’s latest stop in Sydney, Australia, former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum had a run-in with surging welterweight contender Colby Covington, during which Werdum ultimately threw a boomerang at Covington. Shortly thereafter, news surfaced that Covington planned to press charges against Werdum. Unsurprisingly, Werdum – and many members of the testosterone soaked MMA community – felt that Covington had violated some kind of unspoken code by going to the police. In the opinion of Chael Sonnen, however, it was Werdum, not Covington, that violated a code.

Tom Taylor - December 4, 2017

Ever since Georges St-Pierre submitted Michael Bisping to win the UFC middleweight title, we’ve been speculating as to what might come next for him. While a title unifying showdown with Robert Whittaker is certainly the most logical option, his other options include bouts with welterweight champ Tyron Woodley and even lightweight champ Conor McGregor. In the ever-interesting opinion of Chael Sonnen, though, the Canadian champ is likely to land in the cage with Whittaker next. ‘I think that he’ll fight Robert Whitaker,” Sonnen said on the most recent episode of BJ Penn Radio. “I know that it’s done verbally on both sides with no agreement on date, but that was part of the contingency for George to take the Bisping fight. Should you win, you take Whitaker. He said yes. I know things change in this business but I expect George to be a man of his word and I expect him to be at all times and I know Whitaker would take the fight, and Dana White said it’s happening. I think for me to say anything different would be a little bit reckless, but let’s see what happens there.”

Tom Taylor - December 4, 2017

Last weekend, on the undercard of UFC 218, Amanda Cooper picked up a dominant stoppage win over polarizing strawweight star Angela Magana. While Cooper’s win was more than enough to put her heated rivalry with Magana to bed, she still had plenty to say about her at the UFC 218 press conference, evidently still put off my Magana’s history of trash talk and internet bullying. “I don’t think the sport needs her,” Cooper said at the UFC 218 post-fight presser (h/t MMAJunkie.com). “I don’t think the UFC needs her. Maybe she needs it. As soon as I called her out she was on Twitter freaking out. I think she gets something out of it. I don’t mean to be mean, but I think she probably needed that a little bit. I don’t think the sport needs her, but I think she needs it.”

Tom Taylor - December 4, 2017

On the heels of Dana White announcing TJ vs DJ next, TJ Dillashaw is bringing his body weight down over a 20 week period and trying to lose 6.4lbs of muscle to make Flyweight. pic.twitter.com/KT4NSTYXjx — Justin Golightly (@SecretMovesMMA) December 4, 2017

Tom Taylor - December 4, 2017

Long before Conor McGregor stepped through the ropes of the boxing ring to battle Floyd Mayweather, Anderson Silva strived to do the same to fight Roy Jones Jr. Regrettably, the fight never came to fruition. Today, however, Jones Jr. would still love to welcome Silva to the boxing ring. The boxing legend attempted to reignite discussions for this fight on The Ask Gary Vee Show.