MMA News

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.

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2017

Earlier this month, in the main event of UFC 216, Tony Ferguson defeated Kevin Lee to win the UFC interim lightweight title. Yet in the opinion of Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is one of Ferguson’s fiercest rivals, Ferguson should now be considered the undisputed champion. It’s for this reason that Nurmagomedov wants to fight Ferguson next – ideally at UFC 219 on December 30 in Detroit. While this fight goes down, Nurmagomedov believes the UFC should pit undisputed lightweight champion Conor McGregor against Nate Diaz in a tie-breaking rubber match.

Russell Ess - October 16, 2017

Current UFC undisputed lightweight champion Conor McGregor earned the biggest payday of his career in his last competition. McGregor made a crossover into the sport of boxing where he took on Floyd Mayweather for his professional boxing debut. McGregor earned a guaranteed $30 million purse for the fight that he lost in the 10th round by TKO and likely earned somewhere near $100 million with his earnings from the pay-per-view buys, sponsorships, and endorsements from the bout. Since his big money payday, McGregor has been living it up on vacation with no fight announced and the parties have not stopped.

Tom Taylor - October 16, 2017

The most recent UFC pay-per-view on the calendar was UFC 216, which went down on October 7 in Las Vegas, Nevada. While the card ultimately went down as a very fun one, it was unfortunately rattled by a last minute loss to its main card, as heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis was forced out of his planned scrap with former champion Fabricio Werdum. The catalyst for Lewis’ withdrawal was a back injury. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Lewis revealed that this injury was so painful that it left him in tears, and unfortunately, he didn’t even receive a payday to help him swallow this unfortunate blow. Though his back injury and resulting withdrawal from UFC 216 was certainly beyond his control, Lewis was not compensated at all by the UFC.

Russell Ess - October 16, 2017

It’s always interesting to see the evolution of fighters that are standouts in specific disciplines and transition to mixed martial arts. The latest grappling phenom to sign a contract and move on to a career in MMA is New Jersey’s Garry Tonon. Tonon signed a multi-fight exclusive contract with One Championship that was announced via the One Championship website on Monday.

Tom Taylor - October 16, 2017

Justin Gaethje is one of the most consistently exciting fighters in the sport of MMA. Time and time again, the former World Series of Fighting lightweight champion and current UFC lightweight contender has flaunted his willingness to engage pretty much anybody in a tooth-and-nail brawl, gambling with his very consciousness for our entertainment. Given Gaethje’s propensity for excitement, you might expect him to be the kind of fighter to happily accept short notice fights. Apparently, however, Gaethje is keen to steer clear of short notice fights – even though he admits the temptation to accept them will always be there.

Russell Ess - October 16, 2017

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley will be facing the winner of the exciting UFC on FOX 26 matchup between Robbie Lawler and Rafael dos Anjos. Either opponent will make for an exciting fight against Woodley. However, “The Chosen One” still wants to prove his skillset against former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre who is returning to the Octagon next month after stepping away from the sport for nearly four years.

Tom Taylor - October 16, 2017

Though nothing is official just yet, it sounds as though the next UFC light heavyweight title fight will pit reinstated champion Daniel Cormier against surging Swiss contender Volkan Oezdemir. If this fight does go down as expected, Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson will be watching it intently, as he’s likely to be the next man in line for the winner. Speaking on the Swedish show Viaplay Fighting, Gustafsson offered up a prediction on this fight. While he was careful not to discount Oezdemir, he appears to be quite confident in a Cormier win.

Tom Taylor - October 16, 2017

It has now been almost a year since Ronda Rousey‘s last fight: an abrupt, December 2016 knockout loss to reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. This last Rousey fight, meanwhile, was preceded by an even longer layoff, as her next most recent fight occurred all the way back in November of 2015, when she was knocked out by a Holly Holm head kick. Given Rousey’s recent inactivity, there is a common perception that she will never fight again. UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley shares this opinion, though he does believe there is one possible opponent who could lure Rousey back to the cage: fellow MMA trailblazer Gina Carano.

Tom Taylor - October 16, 2017

Earlier this month, we learned that long-time UFC flyweight contender Ian McCall had been granted a release from his UFC contract. It did not take long for him to find a new home. Just days removed from his UFC release, McCall has signed with Japan’s Rizin Fighting Federation, per Nick Strickland of FanSided. McCall will join Rizin’s bantamweight Grand Prix as a wildcard, where he will debut against Portugal’s Manel Kape.

Tom Taylor - October 16, 2017

Whenever a big fight looms on the horizon, MMA’s dedicated fans all chip in to add to the hype. We get fiery debates on social media. We get awesome, fan-made promotional videos. We get fantastic fan-made fight posters – the very best of which come from the artist known as BossLogic. BossLogic’s latest fight poster, which highlights a possible UFC 219 scrap between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson, is one of his best yet. The poster has a bit of everything: a stoic McGregor calmly clutching the belt, a shadowy “El Cucuy”, creeping up behind him…

Tom Taylor - October 15, 2017

@thenotoriousmma vs @natediaz209 !! Nate is fully healed apart from a few tiny spots and Conor is 80% fresh, @ufc #ufc Done using @inkjecta @intenzetattooink @inkeeze @killerinktattoo @electrumstencilproducts @dermalizepro @thelvxlightofficial @immortalprime @sullenclothing @inkedmag @cheyenne_tattooequipment #cheyenneoriginalcartridges #sullenclothing #inkedmag @joerogan A post shared by Steve Butcher (@stevebutchertattoos) on Oct 12, 2017 at 2:54pm PDT

Tom Taylor - October 15, 2017

This Saturday, the UFC will touch down in the Polish port city of Gdansk with the compelling, 12-fight UFC fight Night 118. While the main card will feature names like Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Darren Till, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, and Jan Blachowicz it’s arguable that one of the most intriguing fights on the entire bill occurs on the undercard, where Conor McGregor training partner Artem Lobov is scheduled to battle Team Alpha Male staple Andre Fili. Now a little less than a week out from fight night, Lobov is doing what he can to rattle his talented opponent’s cage. His latest jab at Fili occurred on Twitter, where he posted a picture of himself brandishing a firearm, and assured Fili is “fucked.”