MMA News

Justin Golightly - October 18, 2017

No surprises that another season of The Ultimate Fighter has created drama. This time, it’s more behind the scenes than in front of our faces and the two can’t even fight it out. Lauren Murphy has spoken out before about how she didn’t appreciate Eddie Alvarez’s coaching methods, stemming from how she felt she was treated after her first loss. Evidently this only continued throughout the filming of the show. She had even taken to her blog to talk more in detail about it. Alvarez recently was asked about their beef with each other and explained why she’s not exactly his favorite on his team either. “I understand you’re there for yourself, but you didn’t even fight anybody on the other team yet. You didn’t even get past your first fight against Team Gaethje and you conspired two or three times already against the girls on our team that you’re gonna be in the gym with every day. So I’m like, man this [Lauren Murphy] is a little bit of a head case and she’s kind of looking at everyone as her enemy. It just didn’t make for a good attitude in the room or a good person to even have around. She was conspiring from the very beginning.”

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2017

In combat sports, press conference and weigh in staredowns are typically an opportunity for two fighters to squeeze in some last-minute bravado, trash talk, and maybe even a little shoving. But hey, that’s just what typically happens. This is decidedly not how things went down during a press conference for a boxing match between Norwegian unified welterweight world champ Cecilia Braekhus and Swedish challenger Mikaela Lauren earlier this week. When the pair engaged in their press conference staredown, Sweden’s Lauren moved in and stole a quick kiss.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2017

Earlier this month, in the main event of UFC 216, Tony Ferguson defeated Kevin Lee with a third-round choke to capture the UFC interim lightweight title. While Ferguson ultimately came out on top, Lee put up a valiant fight, and very nearly finished Ferguson with ground-and-pound in the first frame. In the eyes of Khabib Nurmagomedov, however, Lee fought like a “chicken.” The undefeated Nurmagomedov trashed Lee’s UFC 216 performance on the latest edition of The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2017

This Saturday, the UFC will touch down in Gdansk, Poland, with an interesting night of fights. In the main event, we’ll see rising British star Darren Till take a big step up in competition opposite long-time lightweight and welterweight contender Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Heading into this fight, the striking specialist Till fully expects Cowboy to force a grappling match. In fact, he issued a grim warning to Cerrone in a recent interview with MMAFighting, promising serious consequences if the bout remains on the feet.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2017

If you’re a Conor McGregor fan in the United States, and you’re hoping to catch the Irishman’s anticipated Conor McGregor: Notorious documentary in theatres, you’re going to need to clear your calendar on Wednesday, November 8. According to The Hollywood Reporter, that’s the only day the film will be showing in US theatres. The reasons for this ‘special’ one-day-only screening have not been shared by Trafalgar Releasing, the UK film distribution company in charge of the film’s release.  The Conor McGregor: Notorious documentary has been assembled with more than four years of footage, which should give fans a very interesting and complete look into the Irishman’s UFC career, which began back in 2013. The film also highlights McGregor’s recent boxing match with undefeated pugilist Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2017

This December 9, the UFC will debut in Fresno, California, with UFC Fight Night 123. Though this UFC Fresno card is still some distance away, it’s already begun to take shape with a bevy of exciting fights. Last week, we learned that long-time bantamweight contender Bryan Caraway will be returning on the card, taking on rising talent Luke Sanders. Now, the card has been bolstered by another bantamweight contender bout, as UFC officials have announced New York’s Aljamain Sterling is set to return opposite Brazil’s Rani Yahya.

Justin Golightly - October 17, 2017

Tony Ferguson has finally moved on from unsuccessfully fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov, to winning an interim UFC lightweight title. The Russian menace he was supposed to fight against had to sit back and watch it all unfold. Now, it seems like the UFC is trying to move on as well. With fans wondering if Khabib would sit out until the end of the year, they’re trying to book him into a fight with Edson Barboza. The lightweight contender has said he was not only offered, but accepted a fight with Khabib, now he’s just waiting on him to sign on the dotted line as well. “I want to fight as soon as possible, man. I told my manager I’m good to go, and now I’m waiting. I had a complicated moment with the shoulder injury, but now I’m 100 percent ready, just waiting for someone to accept to fight me. They offered me this fight [with Khabib Nurmagomedov] and I accepted it. I said I’ll be ready for December 30, and it’s on him now. We’ll see what he does. I saw an interview with him yesterday and he said he’ll fight me if Conor [McGregor] fights [Tony] Ferguson, and Dana [White] already said that fight will happen, so I believe my next fight will be against Khabib. I definitely want to fight him. He’s definitely one of the best and I respect him, I respect his team. He’s definitely one of the best 155 in the world. He’s the No. 2 and I’m the No. 3, and that’s the fight that makes sense for us.”

Justin Golightly - October 17, 2017

After waiting for far too long to see Jon Jones back in action, he waltzed back into our lives, finished Daniel Cormier in dramatic fashion, now he’s right back out. We’ve been dealing with the ramifications from Jon Jones positive test the entire summer. Instead of most likely defending his title or fighting Brock Lesnar, he’ll be at a hearing in December to prove his innocence. Recently Dana White was asked about one of the greatest fighters ever having to sit out of competition once again. CSAC’s Andy Foster told me this weekend that the hearing for Jon Jones’ banned substance failure at UFC 214 is set for Dec. in Sacramento.

Justin Golightly - October 17, 2017

If you thought the UFC were done announcing fights, think again. And if you think MTV is going to stop Michelle Waterson from fighting, you’re wrong. It was just revealed that Waterson would be competing on The Challenge raising money for charity. Naturally we thought this meant she’d be taking a break from fighting, but that isn’t the case. The UFC just announced that Karate Hottie will be fighting Tecia Torres at a ridiculously stacked UFC 218 card in Detriot. DETROIT! You got #AnotherOne@TeciaTorres takes on @KarateHottieMMA at #UFC218!!

Justin Golightly - October 17, 2017

Rory MacDonald has moved on from the UFC and has set his sites on Bellator gold. In January, he’ll take on their welterweight champion Douglas Lima in January. Both fighters sat down and were asked questions ahead of their encounter about a wide variety of subjects. Asking fighters about what they’d do during a zombie apocalypse is a welcome change from the same questions they get every week. One MMA subject they talked about were which strikes they would make legal blows in the cage. “I think I would allow every elbow. Like, every type the way you throw. I think that would be a good thing. Because if you’re throwing like this or like this I don’t think it changes anything. So, elbows should be legal however you throw it — from up, down — I don’t think it changes anything.” — Douglas Lima to MMA Fighting. 

Russell Ess - October 17, 2017

Donald Cerrone is known for his active fighting schedule as the fan favorite simply loves doing work and getting paid. “Cowboy” is set to headline the UFC Fight Night 118 card against Darren Till at the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland on October 21.

Russell Ess - October 17, 2017

With Georges St-Pierre coming back to compete in the UFC after being away from the sport for nearly four years, the former UFC welterweight kingpin in moving up to the middleweight division for his first fight back to challenge UFC middleweight champion, Michael Bisping. St-Pierre has stated that he wanted to come back for the biggest fights that would get him motivated to compete once again and he felt Bisping was the biggest fight for him in the UFC. Meanwhile, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has been consistently been bringing in big pay-per-view numbers whenever he enters the Octagon.

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2017

UFC 218, which is scheduled for December 2 in Detroit, Michigan, looks like it could be one of the best fight cards of the year. The card will be headlined by a featherweight title fight between new champ Max “Blessed” Holloway, and former UFC lightweight king Frankie Edgar. This bout will mark Holloway’s first attempted defense of the UFC featherweight strap, and Edgar’s third attempt to capture it (having twice failed to claim the title from former champ Jose Aldo).

Justin Golightly - October 17, 2017

This morning, USADA paid a visit to Cris Cyborg today for her third test in a month. There was no problem, except for Cyborg wants the same testing frequency for her potential opponent Holly Holm, or any opponent for that matter. Does this mean they’re still in negotiations? Either way, Cyborg took to Twitter to make her request known and eventually drew out a shade-filled response from Holly Holm herself. I’ve actually just wasted a minute of my life on this video.

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2017

Gegard Mousasi is arguably the best fighter Bellator MMA has snagged from the UFC to date, and this weekend, in the main event of Bellator185, the former Strikeforce and Dream light heavyweight champ will make his promotional debut. Though he probably could have been rushed into an immediate title shot opposite champ Rafael Carvalho, he’ll instead battle former champion Alexander Shlemenko, while the next Bellator middleweight title shot goes to fellow UFC veteran Alessio Sakara.

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2017

10th-ranked UFC light heavyweight contender Patrick Cummins was expected to return to the cage against 7th-ranked light heavyweight contender and fellow wrestling specialist Corey Anderson on the undercard of the stacked UFC 217 this November 4th. Regrettably, Cummins has been forced off the card with a “mutant staph infection” that he claims not even IV antibiotics are combatting. Cummins shared this unfortunate update on his social media channels, along with a pair of photos that show him hooked up to an IV bag with a brutally swollen leg.

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2017

Earlier this month, while visiting Santa Rosa, California for a celebrity golf tournament, UFC flyweight contender Henry Cejudo found himself trapped in a hotel in the midst of a raging fire. Ultimately, after jumping multiple fences and surviving burns and other injuries, Cejudo was able to escape the blaze – but he doesn’t think other people would have been so lucky. “I’m talking about fire coming out the windows — like flame,” Cejudo said of the fire on the latest episode of The MMA Hour. “The whole thing is on fire.”

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2017

Back in June, featherweight great Jose Aldo stepped into the cage to defend the UFC featherweight title against the streaking Max Holloway. Despite a strong start, Aldo was ultimately TKO’d by his young foe, surrendering the belt in the process. While nothing can be taken away from Holloway, UFC analyst Kenny Florian believes Aldo’s loss can be widely attributed to his own lack of motivation. Florian shared this though on the latest episode of the The Anik & Florian Podcast.