MMA News

Justin Golightly - November 25, 2017

While most of us slept off our second helping of Thanksgiving, Kelvin Gastelum was in Shanghai, China earning the biggest win of his entire career. It only took him a single round to take out Michael Bisping, who was coming off a super quick turnaround from UFC 217’s loss to Georges St-Pierre. Gastelum wasted no time at all declaring exactly what he wanted this win to propel him towards: The UFC middleweight title. With St-Pierre’s next fight up in the air, Gastelum set his sights on a fight with Robert Whittaker in Perth. Flush.#UFCShanghai pic.twitter.com/10gMesZuwB

Justin Golightly - November 25, 2017

We all knew Francis Ngannou hits hard, just ask the four opponents he’s stopped in the UFC with his thundering strikes. As if this needed anymore testing, the folks at UFC took Ngannou to undergo some sophisticated testing that looks like the kind of stuff Ivan Drago was doing in that Rocky IV movie. Remember when he punched those electronically-rigged pads and the numbers skyrocketed? Yeah, that happened in real life and it turns out that Ngannou supposedly the hardest-punching dude in the world, or at least the hardest so far to punch on this machine. I currently hold the world records of punching power #thepredator #UFC218 pic.twitter.com/eZ1WLGaylU

Justin Golightly - November 25, 2017

What if @UrijahFaber – and not @NateDiaz209 – fought @TheNotoriousMMA at UFC 196? More: https://t.co/yWjDVvv6qY pic.twitter.com/e5sct3tgLo — MMAjunkie (@MMAjunkie) November 24, 2017

Justin Golightly - November 25, 2017

Brutal. pic.twitter.com/BORuBEyjdw — FloCombat (@FloCombat) November 25, 2017

Adam Conklin - November 24, 2017

The UFC makes its debut in mainland China in the early hours of the first Saturday after Thanksgiving. The Mercedes Benz Arena will play host to tomorrow’s UFC Fight Night. The four-fight main card is headlined by a middleweight bout between Kelvin Gastelum and late-replacement opponent and former middleweight champion, Michael Bisping. Gastelum, ranked ninth in the UFC’s official rankings, wants to erase the feeling of two straight fights that didn’t end the way he would have wanted. A March fight against Vitor Belfort was changed to a No Contest after Gastelum tested positive for marijuana. Gastelum then lost a via submission to yet another former champion in Chris Weidman.

Justin Golightly - November 24, 2017

Back when Holly Holm was pitted against Ronda Rousey at UFC 193, Rousey seemed like an unstoppable juggernaut and was heavily favored against the former boxing champion. At UFC 219, the odds will be no different. No one can deny the dominance of Cris Cyborg, especially now that she’s in her proper weight class. With a lack of contenders, it looks like Cyborg could be UFC women’s featherweight champion for a long time. That is, unless Holm has something to say about it. Miesha Tate recently weighed-in on the match-up and thinks Holm has all the righ tools to get the job done. “Of anybody that I can think to fight Cyborg to right now, that has the best chance, I honestly, truly believe that it’s Holly [Holm]. The reason I say that is, if Cyborg cannot get ahold of Holly, if she recklessly chases her down — similar to how Ronda [Rousey] did, not using the correct angles — if she follows her like a missile, which she does in every fight I’ve ever seen before. That’s how she hunts girls down because she can. With Holly, that’s not a good idea. She can cut through those angles. She’s an amazing counter striker and if she lands that head kick, I think she can put anybody away. So stylistically, this makes for a really, really interesting fight.”

Justin Golightly - November 24, 2017

Today at the weigh-ins for UFC Shanghai, Kelvin Gastelum missed weight on his first attempt. Don’t worry, he was able to weigh at 186lbs for his middleweight fight with Michael Bisping tomorrow on his second trip to the scale. However, it’s ironically not the weight that everyone is focused on. We aren’t passing any judgments, but unless it’s some sort of optical illusion, Kelvin Gastelum seems to have grabbed onto the towel on his initial attempt and tugged at it. He still missed weight by a pound so it doesn’t even matter, but still, it looked like he was taking a page out of Daniel Cormier’s book.

Justin Golightly - November 24, 2017

Fans have wanted Fedor Emelianenko in the UFC for many, many years and it just never happened. Despite him being one of the greatest of all time, we never got to see him against arguably the best competition in the world’s biggest fighting organization. While we can’t turn back time and do it in Fedor’s prime, Scott Coker and Bellator’s heavyweight grand prix will give us a chance to see such a match-up. Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir is taking on the legend in one of the opening rounds and that’s just the type of big game Mir is hunting in his return to MMA. First round match ups announced for @BellatorMMA heavyweight Grand Prix. I’m honored to be fighting #Fedor …A living legend that I’ve wanted to compete against for many years. #Bellator is going to finally make it happen 👊🏻💥#mma pic.twitter.com/2cfs2DxhS5

Justin Golightly - November 24, 2017

Today at an historic ONE Championship event, Ben Askren leaves MMA for good. His retirement match was against a legend in his own right, grappling wizard and multiple-time former champion, Shinya Aoki. Askren slammed the former ONE lightweight champion Aoki down after he pulled guard, then it was basically all over from there. After some thundering ground and pound, the referee stepped in and stopped the fight, awarding Askren a technical knockout for his final victory in MMA. “Listen, I told someone this the other day, and this is something I ca0n be totally proud about, I hope I don’t eff this up while I’m telling it live: I have never turned down a fight, I have never pulled out of a fight, I have never missed weight, I have never failed a drug test, and I have never lost. And I don’t know that anyone else can say that, ever.” —Ben Askren on a previous episode of The MMA Hour.

Justin Golightly - November 24, 2017

It’s long been rumored that Chuck Liddell was thinking about coming back to the sport. He’s beat around the bush and never given a straight answer over the years, but nevertheless the talk keeps coming. More recently, Chael Sonnen and the legend has developed a sort of feud, but Liddell promises there is nothing to that. He did say however, that he would come out of retirement as early as tomorrow if the price was good. Could Liddell be put on UFC 219? I wouldn’t hold your breath, but sooner or later he’ll get an offer good enough to come back. UFC Hall of Famer @ChuckLiddell tells @realOCsports & @RJcliffordMMA that those wondering if he’ll fight again will have to keep wondering, he was never offered a fight w/ @ChaelSonnen, & that for $15m he’d throw down with @NateDiaz209 & @TWooodley … at the same time! pic.twitter.com/OI7LayP57Y

Justin Golightly - November 24, 2017

It’s been a couple of weeks since Conor McGregor stormed inside of a Bellator cage and caused absolute chaos. Everyone is still talking about it besides the UFC, who have no released any statement about the incident. Aside from the lead regulator from the Dublin Bellator card saying that allegedy the UFC pulled McGregor off of UFC 219, it looks like the Irish double champ will get off scot-free. Khabib Nurmagomedov surprisingly relates to McGregor’s actions, but ultimately thinks the organization needs to teach him some discipline. “My very good friend fought for a big organization in Europe at 57 kgs, 125 [pounds]. When he win, I do same sh-t. I come inside and I hold him because I’m very happy. I’m jumping on the cage, I come inside. A lot of people come inside, my friends, my teammates, because we’re very happy but when referee tells me, ‘Hey, you guys have to go out,’ I don’t try to fight with him because I know referee is not professional fighter, he’s referee. I have to respect rules. But I go crazy a little bit after I understand, ‘Hey, this is not good. I have to stop this,’ and I try to tell my friends, my teammates that we have to go out. Yes, it’s okay, but not all the time.”

Tom Taylor - November 23, 2017

Earlier this month, in the lead-up to the UFC’s recent show in Sydney, Australia, surging UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington had a run-in with former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum. Evidently angered by Covington’s controversial anti-Brazil comments, Werdum got physical with the welterweight, and ultimately threw a novelty boomerang at him. Speaking on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, Mike Perry, who is one of Covington’s arch rivals at welterweight, sounded off on this whole ordeal. He assured that, had he been the one tangling with Werdum and his boomerang, things would have gone very differently.

Justin Golightly - November 23, 2017

The potential fight between Tyron Woodley and Nate Diaz came and went nearly as fast as the UFC welterweight champ punches. The deal was halfway done until the talk stalled, which prompted Woodley to put Diaz on blast every chance he got. With the Cris Cyborg and Holly Holm fight announced, that looked to be the final nail in the coffin. We’ve since learned that the UFC is still not happy with how UFC 219 is turning out, so it looks like negotiations are still on-going. Tyron Woodley has come up with an idea of how to get Diaz into the Octagon with a compromise that rests in-between his large $15 million demands to fight. Give @NateDiaz209 5, give me 5 and winner gets another 5. Deal done! @danawhite @ufc https://t.co/sGCemc67g5

Justin Golightly - November 23, 2017

Earlier this month, Scott Coker and the team at Bellator dropped a bombshell: That they’d be putting on a heavyweight grand prix to finally crown a new heavyweight champion. They added UFC veterans, legends, light heavyweights and even the light heavyweight champion, Ryan Bader. The tournament has always been one of the most exciting things in combat sports, and this should be no different. Rory MacDonald and Shane Carwin have offered to be alternates in the tournament, but barring any injuries, here is the complete opening bracket below. After the news dropped, Chael Sonnen joined Brett Okamoto at ESPN to weigh-in on the match-ups. Just announced on @SportsCenter: The Heavyweight World Grand Prix bracket is set and kicks off Jan 20th in LA with @ChaelSonnen vs @Rampage4real!! pic.twitter.com/jEB9pPg4wD

Justin Golightly - November 22, 2017

UFC 218 goes down in just two weeks and the co-headliner is a monster mash between Alistair Overeen and Francis Ngannou. For the longest time, Derrick Lewis looked to be on a collision course with Ngannou, but an injury forced him to pull out of his latest fight with Fabricio Werdum. For now the match-up has left Lewis behind, but the ‘Black Beast’ announced he’s all clear and ready to get back to the Octagon and Curtis Blaydes stepped up to welcome him back. The fans have spoken. I’ve been cleared by the doctor. I would like the winner of tonight or a fight with anyone that’s ready #ufc

Justin Golightly - November 22, 2017

Khabib Nurmagomedov wants to fight Tony Ferguson. He wants a chance to ‘smash his face’ so bad, he doesn’t even want a fight with Conor McGregor yet. It’s easy to see why he feels the need to take care of unfinished business — they’ve been slated to fight each other as far back as 2015 — but now he may have even more reason to hold a grudge. Allegedly, Nurmagomedov and Ferguson were offered a contract to fight at UFC 219. Nurmagomedov says he signed, but Ferguson never did. Shortly after the news, Daniel Cormier had some choice words for the UFC lightweight champ in support of his AKA teammate.  So I walk into the gym today and @khabib_nurmagomedov walks up and says the @Ufc is wanting to make me vs @tonyfergusonxt for dec 30. They wanna make the card bigger for end of the year. Then he tells me that tony is saying no to the fight. Come on Tony, that ain’t gangsta bruh. Take the fight man!!!! And by the way Ufc says tony won’t ever fight Conor so that’s not an option. The fans really want it. Come on My friend, hit him with that low single u always talk about. #khabibchamp #weareaka

Tom Taylor - November 22, 2017

This December 30, on the main card of UFC 219, undefeated Dagestani lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov is scheduled to step into the cage with venomous Brazilian striker Edson Barboza. From the sounds of it, however, Nurmagomedov has also been offered a UFC 219 bout with interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson. In a Wednesday afternoon Tweet, Nurmagomedov announced that he’d been offered this fight with Ferguson, and that he has accepted it.

Justin Golightly - November 22, 2017

Bellator has tapped into our primal sources of nostalgia over huge MMA tournaments and are going to put on a heavyweight grand prix. Featuring legends and UFC veterans including heavyweights and light heavyweights, the tournament is going down early next year and right now, Matt Mitrione is the favorite to win it all. He’ll go into it on a three-fight win streak with his most recent victory being over Fedor Emelianenko. If it was up to him though, he’d rather have just got a title shot he felt he earned already. “I’m not good at giving political answers, so I’ll give you an honest answer: I wasn’t really excited, to be honest. I think it would have been a true heavyweight grand prix to fill it with heavyweights. I think it would have been even better to do it in the same night. I think that would have been a lot of fun. But that’s not how it went. I think they chose the most athletic, most exciting guys they have, and I think that’s what the draw of the tournament is. I would have originally wanted just a title fight, and then have the winner of the tournament fight me for the title – and I would defend it hopefully once during the middle of the year.”