MMA News

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.

Justin Golightly - November 9, 2017

Before all hell broke loose, Jimi Manuwa was seemingly the next guy in line for a UFC light heavyweight title shot. Of course, then we were hit with a Jon Jones controversy and Manuwa was hit by Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 214. That was at the end of July, now the hard-hitting Brit is ready to come back to the Octagon and get back on track for a title shot. In order to do this, he wants to take on scrappy veteran Glover Teixeira on his path to gold. I want glover in my next fight, after that I’m coming for Cormier or oezdemir, who ever wins. 1 fight then the title is what’s happening #lionseatfirst pic.twitter.com/W7fmfvLekK

Russell Ess - November 9, 2017

UFC 217 was one of the most thrilling cards in recent memory with three title fights each crowning new champions. The first title fight of the night was the UFC women’s strawweight championship fight between previously unbeaten champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and challenger Rose Namajunas. Namajunas shocked the world by finishing Jedrzejczyk with strikes in the very first round.

Russell Ess - November 9, 2017

When it comes to the debate over who the greatest of all time (GOAT) in terms of mixed martial arts, who do you have at the top of your list? Does the newly crowned UFC middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre get your vote? GSP returned to greatness after being away from competition for nearly four years and became the fourth fighter in UFC history to become a two-weight UFC champion by beating Michael Bisping at UFC 217 over the weekend. Speaking on a media conference call on Thursday, “Rush” was asked about the GOAT debate and St-Pierre gave his unique perspective on the topic.

Justin Golightly - November 9, 2017

It’s no secret that Cody Garbrandt hits hard. …Really hard. If anyone knows it, it’s TJ Dillashaw. Of course, Dillashaw ended up knocking out Garbrandt and screaming in his face like a primal warrior, but no one expected that after the end of the first round. That’s because Dillashaw was on baby legs after a heat-seeking missile of a right hand. There’s no way to tell where it happened or if it was a problem even before their fight at UFC 217, but it looks like Garbrandt’s power was too much for his own hand. According to Cody Garbrandt’s Instagram story, it appears he’s going in for hand surgery or multiple surgeries next week. pic.twitter.com/ng1FJUN4lw

Tom Taylor - November 9, 2017

This weekend, on the main card of the UFC’s anticipated stop in Norfolk, Virginia, welterweight fan favorite Matt Brown will partake in the final fight of his long career. His dance partner for this swan song will be Diego Sanchez, a fighter of a similar vintage. Given that Sanchez has also been fighting for many years, Brown believes it might be time for him to retire too.

Tom Taylor - November 9, 2017

This weekend, in the co-main event of the UFC’s anticipated stop in Norfolk, Virginia, UFC welterweight Matt Brown will partake in what’s likely to be the last fight of his career against a fellow fan favorite in Diego Sanchez. Pretty much every fight fan on earth expects this Brown vs. Sanchez fight to be an absolute war. While Brown understands this perception, however, his main priority is fighting the best fight possible in what will probably be his last ever.

Justin Golightly - November 9, 2017

Paulo Costa is a problem. Formerly ‘Borrachinha’, Costa now wants to be called ‘The Eraser’ and he’s earned it too. He’s undefeated and he’s finished all three of his UFC opponents. His latest victim was Johny Hendricks at UFC 214, who fell to strikes in the second round. Fans and media aren’t the only ones who are noticing, Derek Brunson called out the up-and-coming fighter on Twitter and threw out some steroid accusations, needless to say, Costa didn’t appreciate that one bit.    “I just saw on Twitter that he got data saying that USADA only tested me once and that, if I was tested more often, he could fight me in the middle of next year, I would tell him that he is a coward, a slacker. I don’t know where he got this false data from. Only this month I have been tested five times. And since being in the UFC, I’ve been tested 10 times. USADA and the UFC have this data. His bullsh-t argument makes no sense at all. I’m going to put my tests up on social media and I want to see what his excuse will be to continue running away.”

Russell Ess - November 9, 2017

After nearly four years out of competition, Georges St-Pierre is back and once again a UFC champion. At UFC 217, St-Pierre beat Michael Bisping to become the new UFC middleweight champion. In doing so, GSP became just the fourth fighter in UFC history to win two UFC titles in two different weight classes following Randy Couture, BJ Penn, and Conor McGregor.

Tom Taylor - November 9, 2017

With his sizzling UFC 217 grudge match with Cody Garbrandt soundly in the rear-view mirror, UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw is now hellbent on a flyweight showdown with iron-fisted division ruler Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. In his opinion, this champion versus champion showdown is simply too big not to happen. “I mean that’s the fight that needs to happen. It has to happen,” Dillashaw explained on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. “I mean, it’s got fireworks written all over it. I’ve always said I wanna be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and that’s where he’s at. I’m setting my goals high. I’m chasing him down, you know? As well as him already denying the fight, and proving to be afraid of the fight. He was making all these other excuses, and then one of his excuses was that I need to be a champion. Well guess what? That’s done. You know what I mean? You have no more excuses. It’s time to get this thing on, and prove who the best is. You know, I can make the weight class very, very well. And I think I’m gonna be very strong, and too much for him, and he knows it. And it’s gonna be very nice for me to be the new best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”

Tom Taylor - November 9, 2017

Matt Brown’s planned retirement fight, a UFC Norfolk Fight of the Night frontrunner with fellow fan favorite Diego Sanchez, is now just days away. While it goes without saying that Brown is hoping to end his career with a big win over a well-respected foe, his main hope is that, when all is said and done, people will be inspired by his career. From the throes of heroin addiction to near-championship heights, it has certainly been an incredible one.

Tom Taylor - November 9, 2017

Last weekend, on the undercard of the stacked UFC 217, streaking lightweight contender James Vick picked up a beautiful stoppage win over the highly regarded Joe Duffy. Yet while this was undeniably huge for his career, Vick expects his difficulty to track down a willing, top-10 foe to continue. At present, Vick has his eyes on the main event of the UFC’s Saturday stop in Norfolk, which will pit Dustin Poirier against former champ Anthony Pettis. Speaking on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, Vick made his pick for this anticipated UFC Norfolk main event, and also explained that he expects to be ducked by the winner of the fight.

Tom Taylor - November 9, 2017

Over the last year, bantamweight stars TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt have shared one of the most heated and public rivalries in MMA. The pair’s rivalry stems from Dillashaw’s departure from Team Alpha Male, the Sacramento gym where he began his fighting career, and the bitterness his former Team Alpha Male stablemates have felt ever since departure. Last weekend, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 217, Dillashaw and Garbrandt finally stepped into the cage to settle their score. Despite a real scare in the closing seconds of the first round, Dillashaw rallied back in the second, removing his opponent’s batteries with a savage salvo of strikes, and scoring a big win over his nemeses at Team Alpha Male.