MMA News

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2017

UFC on Fox 26, which goes down on December 16 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, now has a headliner – and it is absolute dynamite. In one corner, we’ll have former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler. In the other, we’ll have former lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos. This news was announced by the UFC on Thursday morning.

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2017

Earlier this week, news broke that Mark Hunt had been removed from his UFC Sydney headlining showdown with Marcin Tybura (and he’s not happy about that). Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum will serve at Hunt’s replacement against Tybura in the card’s main event. As it turns out, this is not the only recent change to the UFC Sydney lineup. The card has experienced another handful of adjustments over the last few days.

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2017

On October 21, in the main event of the UFC’s anticipated return to Poland, rising British welterweight Darren Till will face the biggest test of his career in Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Should Till defeat Cerrone, he plans to make an immediate callout of another ranked welterweight: “Platinum” Mike Perry. “I think that’s a good fight to make right now because Mike comes to fight and he comes to talk sh*t,” Till told MMAFighting’s Peter Carroll. 

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2017

Now that Conor McGregor‘s boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr in in the rear-view mirror, the whole world is waiting to see what the Irishman does next. He certainly has plenty of options. He could stick to boxing, where fights with opponents like Paulie Malignaggi, Manny Pacquiao and others could await. He could return to MMA for a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz. He could unify his undisputed UFC lightweight title with the interim lightweight title now owned by Tony Ferguson. Again, he has options abound.

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 216, Kevin Lee came up short in a bid to capture the UFC interim lightweight title in a fight with Tony Ferguson. For Lee, however, the real fight began in the days before he stepped into the cage, when he had to shed a monstrous 21 pounds to reach the lightweight division’s 155-pound limit. Initially, Lee actually failed to make 155, tipping the scales about a pound over. Luckily, he was given an extra hour by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and ultimately managed to make championship weight.

Justin Golightly - October 11, 2017

Next month, fight fans will be awarded with an embarrassment of riches when UFC 217 goes down in the Big Apple. Leading into — three count’em, three — title fights, Jorge Masvidal is going to fight Stephen Thompson. It’s the new breed going to war with each other in a wild clash of styles. You take an aggressive street fighter turned complete MMA athlete and pit them against a Karate an kickboxing champion, that’s just a win every time. Masvidal recently talked about how he’s going to prepare for the “Wonderboy”, and it’s clear he’s studying some film. “I’m watching Bruce Lee movies everyday. I’ve seen the Karate Kid like three times this week at least.  I’m just keeping myself in the Karate mindset as much as I can right now so I can see everything coming. […] I feel like I could do a lot of things with [Stephen Thompson]. There’s certain ranges you just shouldn’t give to him because that’s where he’s best at. There’s a lot of ranges he just cant fight. That’s why he can’t put pressure on because he doesn’t know how to fight there. He was just taught one thing. His dad forced him into one martial art and he doesn’t really do well in a lot of other ranges. He’s going to have to fight-fight with me I’m not just a strike, or a guy who can shoot takedowns and stuff. I can fight at all ranges, I’ve been doing it my whole career. He hasn’t. He’s only got one range.”

Justin Golightly - October 11, 2017

Johny Hendricks hasn’t had the best luck lately. He’s only been able to win four of his last 10 fights. Although considering that three of them were Georges St-Pierre, Robbie Lawler and Stephen Thompson, it’s understandable. A bad run coupled with difficulty cutting weight led Hendricks to jump up to middleweight, where he’s one-and-one. Johny Hendricks thinks he may have found what he needed to get out of his slump with a move to one of the best camps in all of MMA with Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn. “It started about a year and a half ago it just turned hard to get partners to come in and train. I could find boxers, but MMA is a little bit different than boxing, the distance and where to move your head and where you’re safe and where you’re not because you can throw kicks. And after that last fight, that was sort of the last straw that I was like, you know what, I got to get people, I got to get more than just one look. And my coach was telling me to go try a couple of camps out, and we talked to Winkeljohn and he said, “sure, come on out, try it out,” and I did, and after the first day I knew that from here on out that’s where I’ll be training, let’s just say that. Now, I’m gonna still train here in Texas cause I can’t leave my family for that long, right? But I plan on doing majority of my camp out in New Mexico.”

Justin Golightly - October 11, 2017

The hype train is no longer locked at the UFC station. Francis Ngannou has finally been booked to fight Alistair Overeem after pacing on the sidelines. Ngannou was supposed to fight Junior dos Santos at UFC 215, but after JDS got pulled Ngannou had to search for other options. He had his eye on both the UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and Alistair Overeem, but it looks like he’ll have to wait a little while longer for the title shot. Ngannou is confident though that he’ll get his shot, after he knocks out Overeem that is. “I was very frustrated because my last fight was in January. I hoped to fight in September, but they pulled my opponent out. It’s a good match-up, definitely. I knew that I would fight Alistair Overeem one day, so I’ve been ready for this fight since a long time ago. I think after this fight, there is no way to not give me [the] title shot. Overeem now is a bigger challenge than Junior dos Santos because he is on a good [run]. He’s doing a good job right now and he keeps winning.”

Justin Golightly - October 11, 2017

Mike Perry is a madman. The only thing more reliable than his controversy, is his strong and violent performances in the UFC. He’s quickly become a fan favorite and looks to keep wreaking havoc in the welterweight division. It may surprise you after some of the threats he’s made against his opponents that the dude has a soft side. However, it’s one weakness that a lot of men have: Their girl and their dog. Mike Perry recently showed how him and his girlfriend Danielle Nickerson keep in shape together. I challenge all my home boys to grab their girls , pick them up and spin em around. Build strength and Love 🙏🏼 https://t.co/JI4hTLPyMF

Russell Ess - October 11, 2017

Jon Jones is still going through the process of his potential anti-doping violation stemming from his UFC 214 weigh-in sample. Jones’ UFC 214 weigh-in samples tested positive for the steroid Turinabol just after coming back from his one-year suspension with admitting to taking a tainted sexual enhancement pill.

Justin Golightly - October 11, 2017

After an incredible Fight of the Night at UFC 216 between Lando Vannata and Bobby Green, the judges awarded it a draw. At the time, it didn’t matter to those two warriors. It may still not. They both lifted their hands and embraced, knowing that they just put on the fight of their lives. Bobby Green may not have an issue with the result, but he does have a few words to say about the current state of judging in the UFC. “I don’t feel like we have good judges. I can’t even care what the judges think. Sometimes, they’re totally on, and sometimes, they’re totally off. That’s the way it is in our sport. We don’t get enough credit for who’s pressing the action. A lot of times, one guy chases the other guy around, and he ticks and tacks and runs, but he doesn’t get the credit for being the aggressor. Even though we say we judge upon aggression and cage control, they don’t give enough credit to those things. Because if I don’t push the fight, there is no fight. We’ll just be standing there looking at each other. But nobody understands that. Until you’ve fought, you wouldn’t understand that.”

Russell Ess - October 11, 2017

Over the weekend at UFC 216, Tony Ferguson won the UFC interim lightweight championship title by submitting Kevin Lee. Now, “El Cucuy” is ready to unify the belts with the undisputed UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and according to Ferguson, the time is ticking for “The Notorious”

Justin Golightly - October 11, 2017

Ronda Rousey is out enjoying married life and a new co-owner position at a supplement company. However, the fans still want to know what the future holds for the former UFC champion. Even if MMA is out of the question, the idea that she may transition to pro wrestling has been teased for a long time. It all started back when she appeared at Wrestlemania at the height of her career to Judo throw Triple H. Now that her friend and Four Horsewomen member Shayna Baszler had entered the fold, it’s been more and more likely that she’ll sign on as well. She’s still mum on the subject, but hinted she doesn’t want to ruin anything. “If you were a real [wrestling] fan, would you really want to know [if I was making my debut]? No, you wouldn’t. My best friends that are out there wrestling, like Shayna [Baszler], I don’t ever even want her to tell me anything that will ever happen [in the WWE] because I enjoy it more that way and I don’t want to ruin anything. We are at a crossroads and we have the luxury of time.” – Ronda Rousey to TMZ.

Tom Taylor - October 11, 2017

Invicta Fighting Championship, an established North American MMA promotion that specializes exclusively in women’s MMA, has announced a new, exclusive talent-sharing partnership with long-standing Japanese promotion Pancrase. This means that, going forward, the two exciting organizations will swap fighters on a regular basis, affording the members of their rosters more opportunities to compete. “It’s an honor to be able to partner with Pancrase, one of MMA’s most storied promotions,” said Invicta FC President Shannon Knapp in an official statement (via Sherdog.com). “In addition to all past and present ‘Kings and Queens of Pancrase,’ pioneers and contemporary stars alike have passed through the Pancrase organization at one time or another.”

Justin Golightly - October 11, 2017

Conor McGregor has now taken the role of Shao Kahn from Mortal Kombat. He just sits back and watches the battles play out until he finally decides one is worthy enough to fight him. Of course, the only name that has seemed close according to rumors, reports and wallets was Nate Diaz. That was, until Tony Ferguson became the interim lightweight champion. Dana White said he and McGregor would be the next fight. Both Ferguson and Diaz are rangy, durable fighters, but Michael Bisping thinks Ferguson is the tougher fight for the Irish ‘champ champ’. “Here’s the thing, [Nate] Diaz is saying he wants $20 million to fight Conor [McGregor] for the third time, which sounds insane. It is insane but realistically, if that was boxing, for an event that size, a fight that big for the PPV numbers, I feel like the boxer would get that money or close to it. […] But $20 million, I think what he’s doing there is pricing himself out of the market, simple as that. That’s why Dana is pushing the [Tony] Ferguson fight. Dana, by going out there at the press conference and saying publicly that Ferguson has to fight Conor, that takes the momentum away from Diaz so that’s gonna soften his stance on the 20 million. Maybe he’s just using that as a negotiation tactic but I think if he doesn’t get what he wants he’ll say, ‘F-ck it, I’m not fighting then,’ and unfortunately, there is another good fight there with Ferguson vs. McGregor.”

Tom Taylor - October 11, 2017

Last weekend, the UFC returned to Las Vegas, Nevada with the action-packed UFC 216. In the card’s main event, we saw Tony Ferguson weather an early storm to capture the UFC interim lightweight title with a third-round submission win over Kevin Lee. In the co-main event of the evening, meanwhile, we saw UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson defend his title for a record-shattering 11th consecutive time, using a suplex to set up a fifth-round armbar for a highlight-reel finish that will never be forgotten.

Tom Taylor - October 11, 2017

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley’s last two title defenses, a pair of tepid decision wins over Stephen Thompson and Demian Maia, have generated quite a bit of criticism, as many fans feel he could have done more to pursue a finish over his foes. UFC welterweight contender Carlos Condit, who will return from a long hiatus to battle Neil Magny at UFC 219 this December 30, understands these criticisms against Woodley. “I can definitely see where the critics are coming from,” Condit explained on the latest edition of The MMA Hour. “We’re athletes but we’re also entertainers, people buy the pay-per-view to be entertained. That’s part of this. This is show business. I know that winning is super important and a gameplan is super important, but at some point you have to, this is the hurt business and you gotta try to put your opponent out.”

Tom Taylor - October 11, 2017

Now that the action-packed UFC 216 is in the rear-view, the UFC has updated its official rankings. As expected, main event interim lightweight title winner Tony Ferguson has entered the UFC pound-for-pound list, and has also usurped the number-one spot at lightweight. The UFC flyweight rankings also experienced a major shakeup thanks to long-time contender Ian McCall’s exit from the UFC roster. Here’s the UFC rankings as they stand: