MMA News

Justin Golightly - November 11, 2017

Last night there were some great fights at Bellator 187, but it was a UFC fighter who stole the show. Conor McGregor stormed the cage as his Straight Blast Gym teammate Charlie Ward finished John Redmond at the Dublin card and started a pandemonium not seen since the infamous Strikeforce brawl. He shoved referee Marc Goddard and even slapped an official in the face. President of the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC) Mike Mazzulli was regulating the event and has released an official statement about the incident.  “While the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation (MTDAR) was regulating Bellator 187 in Dublin, Ireland, on November 10th, 2017, the following events took place during the Ward vs Redmond bout. Mr. Conor McGregor who was a spectator at the time, disrupted the event by scaling the cage prior to the conclusion of the bout. Mr. McGregor’s conduct jeopardized the health and safety of the bout participants by delaying necessary medical attention to the fighters that were injured during the round.”

Justin Golightly - November 11, 2017

Amidst all the chaos happening in the MMA world right now, Bellator dropped a huge bombshell yesterday that they’ll be putting on a heavyweight grand prix to crown their first heavyweight champion in four years. With all the names participating in the bracket, nearly every match-up is an opportunity to see bouts that we were never able to see due to the fighters not being in the UFC. After two long and storied careers, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir will meet the legend Fedor Emelianenko in the first round. “I’ll be a part of the eight man tournament that’s been announced by Bellator. I got the word just last night or the night before. I got the call to say, ‘Hey, we need a headshot. We’re putting you in this.’ I obviously agreed. They told me the names that were in there and it looks like I’ll probably be lining up with Fedor [Emelianenko], hopefully in April [2018]. It’s a huge moment. I didn’t even sleep that night thinking about it, running it through my mind, watching videos, already starting to try to pick apart his different traits and gameplans.”

Justin Golightly - November 11, 2017

News broke yesterday that Anderson Silva has been pulled from his fight with Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Shanghai due to a possible anti-doping violation. Gastelum said he is staying on the card, but the fight is just two weeks away and that makes it difficult to find a replacement. That is, unless Mike Perry hears the news. The surging welterweight contender is willing to jump up to middleweight and step in to fight Gastelum. Chin check @KelvinGastelum before Pinocchio @Abraham_kawa ? https://t.co/QEDGFnIC5y

Justin Golightly - November 11, 2017

Darren Till’s hype is like a meteor after finishing Cowboy Cerrone at UFC Gdansk, but what good is momentum if the guy can’t get a fight? Mike Perry and Till had their screaming match after the fight, but he’s booked for the time being. Our hearts skipped a beat when Dana White announced Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson and Till were going to scrap, but Thompson quickly squashed the news. It was frustrating enough for Darren Till to post that the welterweight division is all running scared, which led none other than Gunnar Nelson to chime in. They’re all running scared, fuck… I would run from me!! https://t.co/XYJnc1V79n

Chris Taylor - November 10, 2017

Conor McGregor has not been arrested despite reports. Earlier this evening rumors surfaced that the UFC’s lightweight champion had been placed under arrest following being involved in a fight at his Hotel.

Justin Golightly - November 10, 2017

As if we didn’t have enough chaos going on right now in the MMA world, Anderson Silva has been notified of a potential anti-doping violation. This is Anderson Silva’s second time being flagged by USADA, the first time was back in 2015 after his fight with Nick Diaz at UFC 183. He was suspended for a whole year, fined his $200K win bonus and 30-percent of his $600K was taken. He still has his day in court, but if the tests prove to be accurate then he’ll face an even stiffer punishment this second time around.  Breath……..inhale ……….exhale 😭 https://t.co/BTemZm5xeT

Russell Ess - November 10, 2017

There has been a lot of talk with the return of Georges St-Pierre. With his historic win over Michael Bisping at UFC 217, GSP became the fourth fighter in history to become a two-weight UFC world champion. St-Pierre says that he is contractually obligated to fight interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker next, if he decides to continue competing. However, many fans and pundits are all clamoring over a matchup between GSP and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.

Russell Ess - November 10, 2017

Terrible news was released on Friday as former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was flagged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation. The UFC released the following statement via their website on Friday:

Russell Ess - November 10, 2017

UFC President Dana White is insistent that Conor McGregor’s next opponent is the interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson. While the matchup seems to be made, negotiations are in place with McGregor’s team and the UFC. After coming off a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather where White said “The Notorious” made $80 million, things seem a bit harder to negotiate with McGregor at the moment as he stated he wants to be a co-promoter with the UFC for his next fight.

Russell Ess - November 10, 2017

Georges St-Pierre’s return to the Octagon over the weekend at UFC 217 was a success even after being away from competition for nearly four years. “Rush” stepped up a weight class to compete at 185 pounds for the first time in his professional MMA career and became the fourth fighter in history to become a UFC champion in two different weight classes by putting Michael Bisping to sleep with a rear-naked choke in the third round. Following the fight, St-Pierre said on social media that winning at UFC 217 was the best night of his career. Despite all the glory, in speaking on a special edition of The MMA Hour on Thursday, GSP opened up on fighting professionally and revealed that there are times where he truly hates his job.

Justin Golightly - November 10, 2017

@TheNotoriousMMA jumps the cage for his teammate Charlie Ward and its all chaos. #MMA #ConorMcGregor #Bellator187 pic.twitter.com/gu9LZL8ORf — Dutch Fight Network (@DutchFightNet) November 10, 2017

Russell Ess - November 10, 2017

UFC 217 was a stacked pay-per-view card with three UFC title fights. For those that didn’t tune in to the action, it was a thrilling card where new champions were crowned in each title fight. The main event of the evening saw the return of former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre. With previously last competing in 2013, GSP returned to the Octagon up a weight class and challenged Michael Bisping for his middleweight title. “Rush” ended up securing the win in the third round by choking Bisping unconscious after dropping him with a punch and some ground and pound. With the win, St-Pierre became the fourth fighter in history to become a two-weight UFC world champion.

Justin Golightly - November 10, 2017

Martin Nguyen KTFO’s Eduard Folayang. When spinning ish goes wrong. Now LW and FW champ. #ONEFightNight pic.twitter.com/HKhisHEXS6 — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) November 10, 2017

Justin Golightly - November 10, 2017

The grand prix is the pinnacle of combat sport. It is the most difficult tournament format and has the potential to produce absolutely chaotic results. That chaos is why that, for the most part other than Japan’s RIZIN, the creation of an MMA grand prix is few and far between. However, there is a man who has never strayed from that chaos, but welcomes it to put on exciting fights throughout the years. That man is Scott Coker and he is at it again. Bellator will put on a heavyweight grand prix to crown its first heavyweight champion in four years. “This is going to be something that’s iconic for us. Tournaments, traditionally, are kind of the way martial arts contests happen. Now we get to put eight iconic brand names in our sport together over a year, and then whoever wins will be crowned the heavyweight champion. I think there are certain fights that people want to see. Believe me, we’re going to have some amazing match-ups in this tournament. These fights that we’re going to put together are something that the fans want to see. These are iconic names, big brands.” — Scott Coker speaking to MMA Junkie. 

Justin Golightly - November 10, 2017

After four long years, Georges St-Pierre decided to come back to the UFC and challenge himself once again. He didn’t step back into the security blanket of his old division, now overrun with a new breed of challengers, instead he decided to move up to middleweight. It was a shift that was talked about his entire career, but St-Pierre always said such a big jump would take time, something GSP didn’t have with a revolving door of challengers. The experiment was a success. St-Pierre choked out Michael Bisping to become the new UFC middleweight champion, but the fight was just half of the battle according to coach John Danaher. “Experiment with mixed results: The victory by welterweight Georges St-Pierre at middleweight to gain a new world title was a bold experiment with a truly great result, but was not without its problems. The fundamental problem was always going to be size. Mr. St-Pierre always walked into the Octagon around 189 pounds on fight night throughout his career. This made him a very averaged sized Welterweight. In order to move up to middleweight, Mr. St-Pierre took on a nutritional program designed to facilitate weight gain and hold weight during the rigors of a full fight camp. The result was a disaster. Two weeks into camp he developed severe stomach pains and vomiting. Initially it was suspected that he had an illness, but all tests came back negative.”

Chris Taylor - November 9, 2017

Former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Valentina Shevchenko has issued a challenge to Paige Vanzant! “The Bullet” recently announced her intentions to drop down to the UFC’s new women’s flyweight division, this following her controversial split-decision loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 215 in September.

Justin Golightly - November 9, 2017

Colby Covington is not letting up on Tyron Woodley. Whether it is in the Octagon, on social media, in the grocery store, or at Impact Wrestling, Covington has been challenging Woodley left and right. It’s exactly what a guy coming off the biggest win of his career against Demian Maia should be doing. All of these words aren’t just for promotion purposes though, Colby Covington vows that his beef with Woodley is as real as it gets. “There’s not going to be any friendly terms [between me an Tyron Woodley]. This is not talk, this is not something that we’re promoting, this is real legitimate beef. We have an actual feud. If I see that dude in the streets, we’re going to be throwing blows and he’s going to be face down unconscious on the concrete. So, I have no respect for Tyron Woodley. The guy’s a piece of sh-t. He tries to claim all this sh-t. The guy, I mean, this is the type of dude he is, that he brings out these coaches for training camp, like four or five different coaches, and then he doesn’t pay them when he makes agreements that he’s going to pay them a percentage of his fight purse. So that tells you what kind of person Tyron Woodley is. So, I don’t respect that person.”

Justin Golightly - November 9, 2017

There’s only one MMA fighter that comes to mind when you think of powerbombs and chains. Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson has been fighting for 18 years and has fought the very best in the UFC and Pride. Amid the busy week of post-UFC 217 reactions, card changes, and injuries, we get hit with another big announcement. Jackson will make his return to Bellator early next year, adding to an ever-growing roster of big names that the promotion has added to their fold. “I am excited for this new beginning and looking forward to an action packed 2018. I can’t wait to get back in the cage and put on exciting fights for both the ‘Rampage’ and Bellator fans.” – Quinton Jackson via official Bellator press release.