MMA News

Russell Ess - November 3, 2017

Conor McGregor is without a doubt now the highest paid UFC fighter and with his demands of what he wants in his next fight, that will only further be solidified. The former owner of the UFC, Lorenzo Fertitta stated back in 2015 that “The Notorious” would be the UFC’s first fighter to earn $100 million. McGregor likely earned close to that amount just with his last fight in the boxing ring against Floyd Mayweather and is looking to add a few more figures to his income as a career goal.

Russell Ess - November 3, 2017

We are just a day away from UFC 217, which is surely one of the biggest cards of the year. With the UFC’s return to Madison Square Garden in New York, the stacked card will feature three title fights. The main event of the evening will feature UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping defending his title against former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. This is a huge matchup as it is St-Pierre’s first fight in the UFC since November of 2013 where he won a close and controversial split decision title fight against Johny Hendricks. This also marks the first time “Rush” will be fighting at middleweight in his professional MMA career.

Justin Golightly - November 3, 2017

Georges St-Pierre coming back to fight Michael Bisping is a huge fight. Rankings, St-Pierre’s hiatus, and Robert Whittaker’s interim belt aside, a fight like this conjures old superfight discussions of a bygone era. During St-Pierre’s welterweight prime, the Moby Dick of fights was a showdown between him and middleweight king Anderson Silva. We never were able to see that spectacle, but now we get the next best thing. It’s a fighters, fighter. That’s why it’s so interesting to hear UFC fighter’s picks on who they think will come out on top. “Yeah, come on, come on, I gotta’ go with [Georges St-Pierre]. Look, I just wrestled with the man too. He’s big too. He’s bigger than I thought he was. He done got big over the years, boy. He’s big, he’s strong, and he’s just going to outwork [Michael Bisping]. He’s got the right mindset going into this. He’s preparing right. I mean yeah, Bisping will be able to scramble off the bottom a couple of times. Who knows, maybe Georges will get more tired now that he’s been out for so long, But, when you look at the skills, I’m saying that Georges blows him out of the water.” — Kevin Lee

Russell Ess - November 3, 2017

If you saw UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal and their exchanges backstage leading up to UFC 217, you would think that the two were meeting in the Octagon on Saturday night. However, this isn’t the case as Bisping is set to take on former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre in the main event of the evening while Masvidal will look to establish himself as one of the next welterweight title contenders as he meets Stephen Thompson in the Octagon.

Justin Golightly - November 3, 2017

Love him or hate him, there are simply no arguments against Conor McGregor being the biggest MMA fighter in recent years. What he has accomplished in four short years is nothing short of astonishing. With the new EA Sports UFC 3 dropping, everyone wondered who would be on the cover and it’s not really a surprise. EA Sports awards Conor McGregor the honor of gracing back-to-back covers of their UFC franchise. This time he doesn’t share the case with Ronda Rousey, but stands alone with two UFC titles perched on his shoulders. BREAKING: Here is the official cover for EA #UFC 3 Champions Edition featuring @TheNotoriousMMA pic.twitter.com/OXnBaNkXpa

Justin Golightly - November 3, 2017

Sprinting through UFC 217’s last promotional leg, Joanna Jedrzejczyk has been everywhere. There has been three or four press conferences total and countless media duties. Even though we’re a single day away from the fights at Madison Square Garden, the gears are still spinning. The UFC strawweight champion will be on a show with rapper Action Bronson later today, and this morning she appeared on Live with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. .@joannamma vs Ryan Seacrest pic.twitter.com/8d6PY9hv5u

Justin Golightly - November 3, 2017

Cutting weight has become a huge problem in MMA, a problem that a lot of people have yet to be able to find a solution for. Luckily, there were no edge-of-your-seat suspenseful situations for the UFC 217 weigh-ins. The closest we got was Johny Hendrick’s pre-scale speech about why he’s probably going to miss weight. This references back to his long storied rivalry with making weight at both welterweight and even at middleweight. Don’t worry though, Big Rig. This is an article about celebration because the man made weight anyway. Johny HENDRICKS! Boom! 😂😂@JacksonWinkMMA #UFC217 #MMA pic.twitter.com/B8ll9orD2Y

Justin Golightly - November 3, 2017

We don’t have any answers, but the Conor McGregor fight wheels have been turning for the last couple of weeks. The opponent seems like it is nearing closer to becoming Tony Ferguson, but that’s only half the battle. The UFC champ champ has addressed the media and made his behind-the-curtain UFC demands public. He wants to be both a fighter and promoter for the UFC as it pertains to his own fights. He wants to be a ‘true partner’ like the organization was for his boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather. Yesterday at the last UFC 217 press conference, it seemed like Dana White is ready to give him whatever he wishes. “There’s always been, as we go into negotiations with Conor [McGregor]. There’s always all kinds of crazy stuff out there. We always get deals done with Conor. Conor, he’s been easy to deal with and we’ll get it done.” — Dana White at the UFC 217 pre-fight presser. 

Justin Golightly - November 2, 2017

The UFC had one last press conference today to promote the year’s biggest card so far. With the cast of characters contained in the triple-title fights at UFC 217 gathered together three days from bell time, it was bound to get heated even before the staredowns. Cody Garbrandt has not been shy about saying all sorts of wild things about his opponent TJ Dillashaw throughout the build up, but something he said today at the presser made a lot of people pause. Did Cody say TJ showed everybody how to do it (PEDs) on Alpha Male? Isnt he basically saying TAM uses PEDs then? pic.twitter.com/oAoJkLK1I6

Justin Golightly - November 2, 2017

Back in the beginning of October, the UFC announced a partnership with a drink company co-founded by Kobe Bryant named BODYARMOR. The press release revealed just how involved they would be, especially inside the new UFC Performance Institute. Before the ink dried on the contract, we all knew this would eventually lead to sponsorships of UFC fighters. After the final UFC 217 presser today, BODYARMOR had their own time to officially present the new fighters signed on to team BODYARMOR. We’re at the launch of the first ever official UFC drinks partner @DrinkBODYARMOR. Recognize anyone up there on the stage? pic.twitter.com/BQ4B5AbLKo

Justin Golightly - November 2, 2017

Throughout the recent build-up for UFC 217, Cody Garbrandt has had two fighters on his mind: TJ Dillashaw and Demetrious Johnson. He’s not looking past his bantamweight title defense, but he’s been vocal about a ‘business move’ to challenge the dominant flyweight champ for awhile now. The lure of a huge fight and the chance to become a two-division champion is easy to understand, but Garbrandt went even further in a recent interview. Belt or not, Johnson is still the fight. “My eyes are set on becoming a name that’s going to live on forever from the UFC and MMA. I’d like to go down and fight Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ [Johnson] after this fight. I’m not looking past [TJ Dillashaw]. I’m so happy for ‘Mighty Mouse’, him and his wife and family are amazing, he’s a great champion for kids to look up to, he’s the pound-for-pound best. No animosity but I can make [125 pounds], if he wants to come up to [135 pounds], it doesn’t matter. That’s a fight that I would like. That’s a fight that makes sense. There’s a lot of things for me to gain going down to 125. I’d be a two-weight world champion just like Conor McGregor. I can simultaneously defend both belts.”

Russell Ess - November 2, 2017

Prior to UFC 196, the last man to defeat Conor McGregor was Joe Duffy. McGregor and Duffy met back in 2010 at Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 39 in Ireland where Duffy submitted “The Notorious” with an arm-triangle choke in just 38 seconds of the very first round. McGregor and Duffy went on with their careers with McGregor shooting to superstardom and Duffy also making his way to the UFC. Now, with both fighters competing in the UFC lightweight division, Duffy is still climbing the ranks while McGregor holds the UFC lightweight title.

Russell Ess - November 2, 2017

UFC 217 takes place this weekend on November 4 as the UFC returns to the historic Madison Square Garden in New York. The main event of the night will feature the UFC middleweight title fight with champion Michael Bisping taking on former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. St-Pierre will be returning to competition after stepping away from the sport nearly four years ago.

Justin Golightly - November 2, 2017

It’s the final presser for the UFC’s big return to Madison Square Garden, promoting the stacked card that boasts three incredible title fights. Despite all of the huge names and important divisional clashes, Conor McGregor received a special presentation before any of them sat down at the dais. A photo of him raising the two UFC titles over his head after he was victorious at UFC 205 will be entered into an exhibit at Madison Square Garden. Conor McGregor becoming a dual two weight champion at UFC 205 on November 12th 2016 has been added as a MSG ‘Garden 366 Moment’. pic.twitter.com/swlvqNjvuK

Tom Taylor - November 2, 2017

This weekend, on the main card of the stacked UFC 217, Jorge Masvidal will step into the cage with two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. While Wonderboy is an incredibly dangerous opponent, Masvidal plans to devastate him when the cage door closes. “I got respect for his skillset and his heart,” Masvidal said on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. “He definitely took some shots against [Tyron] Woodley in both fights, that a lesser man would’ve gave into. He fought through that. Through the guillotine, through the right hands, the abuse that he took, you know? I don’t think he’s a walk in the park or northing like that. He has a skillset, but come Saturday, I’m gonna devastate him.”

Justin Golightly - November 2, 2017

At UFC 129, Georges St-Pierre successfully defended his UFC welterweight title for the sixth time against one of the best grapplers in MMA, Jake Shields. The former Strikeforce middleweight champion has wins over Robbie Lawler, Demian Maia, and even Tyron Woodley, but he wasn’t able to beat St-Pierre that night. Six years later, Shields helped St-Pierre prepare for his huge comeback fight against Michael Bisping. He recently talked in-depth about the match-up from an insider perspective and gave his prediction for the fight. “[Georges St-Pierre]’s a martial artist, so he’s always trying to grow. He didn’t take four years to just party, film movies and cruise around, he was still training pretty much every day, he was coming to New York, you know, I think he was going out and working boxing as well – actually, I know he had a guy from Toronto who was a boxer, Jorge, was working with him as well. So, he was constantly learning and expanding new skills, so definitely. Plus, he’s bigger now, he’s probably put on 10 pounds of muscle. He’s still going to be smaller than Bisping, but he has that extra weight which should help.”

Tom Taylor - November 2, 2017

After dominating Demian Maia to a unanimous decision, and setting the MMA community on fire with a heated post-fight speech, Colby Covington believes he’s ready for a title fight with welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. And while Woodley has been dismissive of this possibility, Covington believes the champ needs him far more than he knows. “It only makes sense,” Covington said of his possible title shot on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. “Me and Tyron Woodley for the world championship, first quarter next year in St. Louis, Missouri. Tyron Woodley needs me. Tyron Woodley is not a likeable guy, he fights like shit, he’s boring, no one wants to see him fight unless he’s fighting a guy like me who a lot of people hate. All of Brazil hates me. You know, so he needs me. He needs a bad guy where people are going to team up on his side and actually believe in him and want to root for him because no one wants to root for Tyron Woodley, that guy’s not a draw, he’s a joke. He needs Colby “Chaos” Covington versus Tyron Woodley in St. Louis, first quarter of next year.”

Justin Golightly - November 2, 2017

Just a couple of more sleepless nights until UFC 217 is finally upon us. Michael Bisping will defend his UFC middleweight title against the returning Georges St-Pierre, which is a huge fight for any card. However, even the biggest of fights always have us all asking what will come next. St-Pierre has said he’s contractually bound to fight Robert Whittaker next if he becomes champion again on Saturday. Dan Hardy has another idea as to what St-Pierre might decided to do. “[Georges St-Pierre] said himself in his contract for the title fight against [Michael] Bisping that it’s in there that he defends against [Robert] Whittaker immediately afterwards. I think that he would, I think that he would take a fight against Whittaker. Against someone like Rockhold, I don’t think he would. I think he would rather relinquish the belt and maybe go for [Tyron] Woodley. But I think alternatively, I think he may fight Bisping and if he wins and takes the belt I think he’ll challenge Tyron Woodley straight away. You know, he comes back, he fights twice, he wins two belts and then he retires. That’s a good gamble in my eyes.”