MMA News

Chris Taylor - October 20, 2017

Kristina Williams handed Heather Hardy the first loss of her professional career at tonight’s Bellator 185 event. Williams caught Hardy with a huge head kick that smashed Heather’s nose.

Justin Golightly - October 20, 2017

It’s not Conor McGregor boxing Floyd Mayweather, but it is an MMA fighter stepping into the ring to box. Bellator’s prospect Michael Page made his professional boxing debut today against Jonathan Castano. It was only scheduled for four rounds, but Page got the job done in three. In between drunken Kung Fu, clowning his opponent, and dancing, Page rocketed long straights into Castano’s face at will.  #Boxing #JoyceLewison #MVP pic.twitter.com/n5tZ0EiZ9J

Russell Ess - October 20, 2017

Have you ever been banned for being too good at something? You have probably heard that “the rich just keep getting richer” and UFC President Dana White seems to fit that saying to a tee.

Russell Ess - October 20, 2017

Donald Cerrone returns to the Octagon for his third fight this year as he is set to take on rising star Darren Till in the main event of UFC Fight Night 118 in Gdansk, Poland. “Cowboy” is riding the first two-fight winning streak of his professional MMA career after fighting two world-class opponents. In January, Cerrone lost for the first time since moving up to the welterweight division to current number 4 ranked UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal. Cerrone’s next matchup in July would not get any easier with falling short in a unanimous decision loss to former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler, who is currently the number 1 ranked 170-pound contender.

Russell Ess - October 20, 2017

.@MMAjunkieJohn: Do you still size up your opponents? And then @Cowboycerrone started talking about a bad massage he got LOL. #UFCGdansk pic.twitter.com/loyGFMNmzP

Justin Golightly - October 20, 2017

With seven welterweight match-ups booked from now until the end of the year, it was curious that Kamaru Usman became the odd man out. He didn’t find it that confusing though, he actually thought he knew the answer. The fact of the matter is, Usman thinks he hasn’t got a big name opponent because those would-be challengers knew they didn’t have a shot. It’s only fitting that the only guy who rose to the occasion is a viking. That’s right, Usman has been booked to fight Emil Meek at UFC 219. BREAKING: Kamaru Usman (@USMAN84kg) vs. Emil Meek (@emilvalhalla) added to #UFC219 in Vegas (December 30th) #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/OBtKgPXA91

Russell Ess - October 20, 2017

Fighters took to the scales in Gdansk, Poland early on Friday to weigh in for their UFC Fight Night 118 competitions. All fighters came in under the allowed limit of their contracted weight with the exception of one fighter. Veteran Sam Alvey stepped on the scales with an official weight of 189, which was three pounds over for his non-title middleweight bout. Alvey stepped in as a late replacement to fight Ramazan Emeev on 10 days notice repacing Emeev’s originally scheduled opponent, Trevor Smith.

Justin Golightly - October 20, 2017

It’s basically a waiting game now to see what Conor McGregor decides to do, or who he’s going to fight next. Meanwhile, Tony Ferguson just earned a black belt to go with his interim UFC lightweight title. Unless your carrying a belt, most fighters at the top have a hard time getting an opponent, but McGregor could literally pick anyone he wanted. Eddie Bravo has gone on record with us that he thinks Ferguson is the match-up to book, he recently talked more about it in a new interview. “It has to be Conor [McGregor]. It has to be. I mean, it’s either Conor or vacate. You need to defend or vacate, that’s what it’s all about. […] Think about where [Tony Ferguson]’s at right now. He’s got the belt. It’s the interim belt but he’s got the belt. It doesn’t look like Conor wants any part of Tony. It doesn’t sound like he’s interested in him at all. He’s never been interested in Tony because he knows Tony’s mind. He knows that Tony can’t be broken mentally. Who better to coach Tony than himself? That’s the way I look at it. It seems like he doesn’t because he’s not calling him out. He’s not responding. So, I can only assume that that means he’s not that interested.”

Justin Golightly - October 20, 2017

If you’re not familiar, Donald Cerrone isn’t a hotel man. He usually just fires up the ol’ RV and sets up a camp for the fights. It’s even not unusual to see him with at least one dog in tow. It’s his way of bringing a little bit of that ranch life with him whether he’s in New York or sunny Los Angeles. For his trip to Poland for UFC Gdansk, the recreational vehicle wasn’t an option. It’s a part of him he had to leave behind, but he’s more than made up for that already. “It’s crazy sleeping in a hotel room for a fight, I usually have the RV with me. Other than the sleep apnea, coming over here to Poland has been great. My weight is fine, I’m eating anything I want right now. In fact, I met a local family here and they took us and cooked us dinner last night. She put out a Thanksgiving spread and I said sorry ma’am, I can’t eat this much food but then I did. I enjoy this whole process, being in Poland, walking around, checking everything out and being able to fight and doing what I love. I was even trying to get a fight sooner than now but of course it’s timing and other things.”

Justin Golightly - October 20, 2017

Say what you will about Tyron Woodley, but you can’t deny the man his due. He took the welterweight title away from Robbie Lawler in just over two minutes. Since then, he’s defended it three times against the very best in the division. He eyed a superfight with Georges St-Pierre, but was overlooked for Michael Bisping. In his own division, former opponent Lawler and Rafael dos Anjos will duke it out to see who gets to challenge him next. As for now, Woodley is nursing his shoulder back to health so he’s content to ‘watch the throne’ to see how everything unfolds. Great reference by the way, Woodley. “I think it’s a great match-up. If they’re on and they fight hard and they fight the way that they we know they can, it could be an amazing fight. But one person steps forward and decides to not be the vicious fighter they’re known to be — they’ve had nights off, so. My thoughts is, I don’t have a lot of thoughts about it. The division is crazy right now.I’m going to watch ti from the throne. I’m going to watch all the guys compete against each other. There are seven very, very meaningful match-ups in the welterweight division. It’s the toughest division in the world, so it’s an exiting moment for me to watch to see who emerges. I know Dana White said that RDA versus Robbie Lawler dictates who I fight next, I don’t have an issue with that. Obviously we’re in the sport of mixed martial arts where crazy things happen, big fights arrive and they may take precedence over that.”

Justin Golightly - October 20, 2017

Are you having trouble getting out of bed today? Does the idea of facing work for one last day just seem too insurmountable of a challenge? Has your daily intake of coffee failed to properly motivate you? No problemo, Artem Lobov is here to make sure you start the day right and proper. He walked onto the scales early this morning in Gdansk, Poland weighing right at 145lbs for his fight with Andre Fili and proceeded to give most likely the best post-weigh-in speech in UFC history. Artem Lobov (@RusHammerMMA) welcomes you aboard The Siberian Express. Choo, choo, motherf*ckers. #UFCGdansk

Justin Golightly - October 19, 2017

Heather Hardy is an MMA promoters dream. She’s an undefeated champion boxer who wanted to jump ship and she’s down to scrap with anybody. Not only can she talk trash, but she also gives an insightful interview and has an incredible backstory. She won her Bellator debut and will look to continue her successful MMA journey tomorrow night at Bellator 185 against Kristina Williams, but she never expected to be outnumbered at the weigh-ins. Out of nowhere, a women ran up shouting at Hardy who just happened to be one of her former opponents. An altercation between Heather Hardy and an ex-boxing opponent was by far the highlight of #Bellator185 weigh-ins https://t.co/Mows1zAQyq pic.twitter.com/6nLuyIjiZv

Justin Golightly - October 19, 2017

UFC 217 is a card that you don’t have to sell, stacked with incredible fights that you don’t need to promote. That’s not going to stop UFC middleweight champion from talking trash to hype up his giant fight with Georges St-Pierre. Not only will it put more eyes on the event, but he’s looking to rent space into St-Pierre’s head. It wasn’t long ago that he brought up Georges St-Pierre’s comments from 2013 talking about aliens. Now, Bisping dug into the vault to bring up drama from UFC 94. Hey @georgesstpierre no cheating this time please 😂😂😂

Justin Golightly - October 19, 2017

We haven’t got any big announcements for UFC 219 to close out 2017, but we are just now getting some previews of what early 2018 is going to look like. Earlier today, Vitor Belfort announced a fight with Uriah Hall for UFC Fight Night 124 for Januaray 14th. Today Combate.com reported that the UFC will also schedule UFC 220 for January 20th, UFC 221 is slated for February 10th in Brooklyn, and UFC 222 takes place on March 3rd.

Russell Ess - October 19, 2017

Another big name from mixed martial arts has been flagged for a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is the latest fighter in the UFC to be flagged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for a potential violation. “Minotouro” was scheduled to fight Jared Cannonier at UFC on FOX 26 in Winnipeg, Canada on December 16 and has since been pulled from the fight.

Justin Golightly - October 19, 2017

The speculation and suspense of waiting for Conor McGregor to decide just what he wants to and who he wants to fight is almost as exciting as the fight itself. Disagree or not, it’s definitely become at least intertwined in what we’ve expected in a post-Aldo knockout world. MMA, boxing or just gallivanting around in yachts, McGregor can just do whatever he wants. Wrestling legend Jim Ross thinks that sooner or later, he’ll end up in the pro-wrestling business, courtesy of a huge WWE deal by Vince McMahon. .@JRsBBQ on Conor McGregor and WWE pic.twitter.com/V4Ki2xU0rQ

Tom Taylor - October 19, 2017

On November 18, when the UFC touches down in Sydney, Australia, rising UFC featherweight Alexander Volkanovski will take on Humberto Bandenay, who replaces his originally planned opponent, Jeremy Kennedy. If Volkanovski wins this fight, he’ll take another big step up the UFC featherweight rankings, toward the divisional top-10, and perhaps, an eventual featherweight title shot. As one of the featherweight division’s brightest young contenders, Volkanovski will be watching UFC 218’s Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar featherweight title fight very closely. While Holloway is a slight favorite heading into this fight, Volkanovski sees a bit of himself in Frankie Edgar, and as such, believes Edgar has what it takes to pull off the upset.

Justin Golightly - October 19, 2017

Just a couple of days after his UFC release, flyweight Ian McCall signed on with Japanese fighting organization RIZIN. He recently spoke in-depth to us about him jumping ship to the promotion, which is enjoying a meteoric rise from the ashes of Pride. He’ll be competing in the electric bantamweight grand prix and has his eyes on former UFC fighter Kyoji Horiguchi. Before McCall can get to him though, he’ll have to get through Manel Kape though. His potential remains somewhat of a mystery besides his first round finish of Erson Yamamoto last weekend, but right now it’s his mouth that’s running amok. “Well, I was finally healthy and I just felt like leaving the UFC and where else would I go besides here? There’s no where else I’d rather be. That’s why I’m here. I’m excited to hear about this grand prix and excited to fight these sort of fighters. It’s a good, talented group of people so I’m excited to be here. But specifically you [Kyoji Horiguchi]. I’m coming for you. Everybody else wants you, I want you too. We should have fought in the UFC and he’s very accomplished. He’s very good and I think that he’s got the most steam behind everybody because he’s the best.” — Ian McCall at the RIZIN press conference.