MMA News

Tom Taylor - October 31, 2017

Earlier this week, long-time Team Alpha Male coach Justin Buchholz announced that he’d been dealt something of a demotion by team founder Urijah Faber. Speaking on the Stud Show podcast, a frustrated sounding Buchholz explained that he’ll no longer be serving as the team’s head coach, but as a striking coach. According to Faber himself, however, Buchholz’s frustration might be a bit unfounded.

Tom Taylor - October 31, 2017

The issues between UFC President Dana White and UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt are both longstanding and well known. The latest chapter in the pair’s ongoing beef occurred when Hunt admitted to having symptoms of brain injury in an op-ed for Players Voice, and was subsequently pulled from a UFC Sydney headlining scrap with Marcin Tybura as a result. Since his removal from the card, Hunt has repeatedly criticized the UFC, while White was moved to pen an open letter for The Daily Telegraph in an attempt to clear the air about the situation.

Tom Taylor - October 31, 2017

A little pumpkin practice 🎃 for Halloween ! 👻 happy holidays everyone. Enjoy the candy. Tune in too @ufconfox December 16th to watch the fight of the year between me and the #10 ranked welterweight in the world ! #PumpkinsAreHarderThanIThought #BestFightOfTheYear #AndItsBeenAGreatYearForFighting #StylesMakeFights #PlatinumPandaStyle 🐼 #HardWork #Dedication #Follow @platinumprincessofficial A post shared by Platinum Mike Perry (@platinummikeperry) on Oct 30, 2017 at 5:50pm PDT

Tom Taylor - October 31, 2017

The province of Western Australia has finally lifted its cage ban, which means that the UFC now has a wide open road to the city of Perth. On Tuesday, the promotion announced that it will debut in the city on February 11. It will make this debut not with a Fight Night card, but with a full-on pay-per-view card in UFC 221. More exciting still is the news that the promotion’s tentative plan is to to top the UFC 221 bill with a middleweight title unifying showdown between interim champion Robert Whittaker, and the winner of Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre’s UFC 217 middleweight title fight.

Russell Ess - October 30, 2017

Colby Covington made sure to get people to pay attention to him following his win over Demian Maia at UFC Fight Night 119. Following a unanimous decision win in Sao Paulo over the former UFC middleweight and welterweight title challenger, Covington degraded Brazil and Brazilian fans in his post-fight Octagon interview. Covington referred to the fans in Brazil as “filthy animals” and called Brazil “a dump,” in which he later gave his reasoning for.

Russell Ess - October 30, 2017

Could you imagine watching Conor McGregor Jr. fighting in a main event in a couple of decades? It is certainly a possibility as the current UFC lightweight champion says he is already putting his son through training at the age of five months.

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2017

Last weekend, in the co-main event of the UFC’s action-packed return to Sao Paulo, Brazil, surging UFC welterweight Colby Covington picked up the biggest win of his career thus far, defeating Demian Maia with a dominant unanimous decision. As impressive as Covington’s win was, however, it has been somewhat overshadowed by his headline-dominating his post-fight speech. In this speech, Covington referred to Brazil as “a dump,” and its residents as “filthy animals.” What followed was a wave of controversy. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Covington’s friend and training partner Jorge Masvidal jumped to his defense, assuring that there’s no reason to be upset about this post-fight speech.

Russell Ess - October 30, 2017

UFC Fight Night 119 took place over the weekend in Sao Paulo, Brazil with some great performances displayed in the Octagon. The event was headlined by Derek Brunson and Lyoto Machida where Brunson earned a first-round KO over the former UFC light heavyweight champion. In the co-main event, Colby Covington took a unanimous decision win over Demian Maia.

Russell Ess - October 30, 2017

TJ Dillashaw is switching things up ahead of his UFC 217 bout where he will challenge former teammate Cody Garbrandt for the UFC bantamweight title. Dillashaw used to train with Garbrandt at Team Alpha Male and took his training to Colorado after his striking coach Duane Ludwig left the team and took his coaching to the Elevation Fight Team. Now, Dillashaw will be training out of California as he recently announced on a UFC 217 media conference call that he is starting his own team in Burbank.

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2017

Last week, UFC and World Series of Fighting veteran Gerald Harris picked up a gruesome, slam-induced stoppage win, badly breaking his foe’s arm to force the end of the fight. In the subsequent moments, Harris seemed elated – even pleased about his opponent’s injury – but apparently, this wasn’t the case. Despite the tidal wave of trash talk Harris received in the buildup to this fight, he harbored no ill-will toward his opponent, and didn’t even know he’d broken his arm until later. “A lot of people, they watched the video, and you can’t judge a book by it’s cover,” Harris said on episode 55 of BJ Penn Radio. “It looked like I was celebrating the injury, and I was overreacting, but man, everything that happened before that… This guy cursed me out at weigh ins, he was three pounds overweight, he tried to fight me at weigh ins, and then before the fight he was yelling at me, and then in the fight he was yelling at me, and right before I slammed him, literally, the round before that, he was giving me the ‘suck-it’ sign, he was like ‘F-you, you ain’t no slam king, you can’t even slam me b*tch.’ Then a minute later, that same hand he was flipping me off with was crooked as hell behind his head. There was so much karma in that moment. I don’t have anything against the dude, he’s a fighter and he does what works best for him, but he just disrespected me a little bit too much.” 

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2017

Over the last year or so, there has been a significant trend of fighters calling out competitors in other weight classes in an effort to procure the biggest and most lucrative fights possible. UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor has flirted with a bout with welterweight king Tyron Woodley. Woodley has eyed fights with McGregor and UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping. Bisping is fighting a former welterweight in Georges St-Pierre. Former UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones briefly eyed a heavyweight fight with Brock Lesnar. The list goes on. And while this trend seems to aggravate many members of the MMA community, current Bellator light heavyweight star Chael Sonnen, who foresees a heavyweight scrap with Fedor Emelianenko down the road, is all for it. “Just before you and I got on the phone today I was reading something about a St-Pierre versus McGregor matchup, and I love that,” Sonnen said on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. “I have a little bit of resentment because of the fights that we missed because of where the sport was at, and [the UFC] specifically, they weren’t willing to change guys’ weight classes. What comes to mind is Matt Hughes versus Anderson Silva, also Anderson Silva versus Jon Jones. Those were matchups that the athletes were willing to do, the fighters wanted to see, the media wanted to see, but the promotion was pretty locked in on the policy of everybody stays in their own division.”

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2017

Earlier this month, we learned that streaking welterweight contender Kamaru Usman had been paired with Norwegian knockout artist Emil Meek for a fight at UFC 219. Now, however, Usman is claiming this bout is in jeopardy, as Meek might not be able to make it to the event. Usman also claims the UFC has reached out to Colby Covington to replace Meek. My opponent might not be able to make it Dec30th so @ColbyCovMMA let me hear your excuses now why you can’t make it either

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2017

There’s been yet another shakeup at Team Alpha Male, the Sacramento, California home of UFC stars like Cody Garbrandt, Andre Fili and Chad Mendes. Justin Buchholz. who has been serving as the team’s MMA coach since the role was held by UFC veterans Martin Kampmann and Duane Ludwig, has apparently been demoted. “I am no longer the head coach of Team Alpha Male,” said Buchholz on a recent edition of Stud Radio (via MMAFighting).

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2017

On Saturday night, in the co-main event of the UFC’s return to Sao Paulo, Brazil, long-time welterweight contender Demian Maia stepped into the cage for a fight with the rising Colby Covington. Though Maia showed off plenty of heart in this fight, he was soundly beaten, ultimately giving up a unanimous decision after three bloody rounds. Having also lost his last fight, a unanimous decision defeat to UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, Maia is now on a two-fight skid. Given that he’s also 39 years old, many fans seem to think it might be time for his retirement.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2017

Perhaps the biggest story to emerge from the UFC’s Saturday-night stop in Sao Paulo, Brazil followed Colby Covington’s controversial post-fight speech. In this speech, which occurred moments after he was awarded a unanimous decision win over Demian Maia, Covington referred to Brazil as a “dump,” and the crowd in attendance as “filthy animals.” In an unsurprising twist, it turns out that Covington’s comments pissed a lot of people off. Many of his fellow fighters have outwardly criticized him. The UFC is apparently “not very happy” with him and plans to review his actions and consider punishment. Even some of his teammates are upset with him.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2017

Last night, in the co-main event of the UFC’s exciting stop in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Colby Covington stepped into the ring with recent welterweight title challenger Demian Maia. Shortly after winning this fight via unanimous decision, Covington unleashed a fiery verbal onslaught at Tyron Woodley, referring to Brazil as a “dump” and its residents as “filthy animals” in the process. Unsurprisingly, Covington’s remarks generated a wave of controversy – including some negative reactions from his teammates at American Top Team. And as it turns out, he could also find himself in some hot water with the UFC.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2017

Last night, in the co-main event of the UFC’s action-packed stop in Sao Paulo, Brazil, red-hot welterweight contender Colby Covington stepped into the Octagon for a battle with Demian Maia. The fight stood out as the biggest test of Covington’s career thus far, and he passed it with flying colors, denying Maia’s repeated takedown attempts and beating him up on the feet. Shortly after Covington’s unanimous decision win was announced, he was given a moment on the microphone by UFC light heavyweight champion and Octagon-side color commentator Daniel Cormier. What followed was a fiery callout of UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, and a heated anti-Brazil tirade, during which he referred to Sao Paulo as a “dump”, and its residents as “filthy animals.”

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2017

Though his widely discussed matchup with Chuck Liddell is apparently off the table, Chael Sonnen still has plenty of exciting options in the Bellator cage. Two of the most compelling of his options are heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko, and former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald. And apparently, he expects both fights to happen. “I think it’s hard to imagine that that doesn’t happen,” Sonnen said of a potential fight with Fedor Emelianenko on the most recent episode of BJ Penn Radio. “We’re only about 20 pounds apart. I get up to about 216 pounds – maybe that’s a little heavy – but right in there, [around] 216. [Fedor has] weighed in pretty consistently at 236 for the last number of years. So, you’re only talking about 20 pounds. I know some people say ‘don’t do that fight, he’s too big,’ but we’re only talking about 20 pounds. When I started this thing, we didn’t have weigh-ins. I’ve never cared what a guy weighed. I will acknowledge that there’s an advantage at a certain point to a certain size, but 20 pounds man, that’s not very much.”