MMA News

Justin Golightly - October 15, 2017

Two legends of MMA. We’re talking about literal combat sports architects here. Before Frank Shamrock was the first ever UFC light heavyweight champion and went on to hold belts in WEC and Strikeforce, he was fighting in Pancrase. Kazushi Sakuraba wiped out the Gracie family one-by-one long before they were demystified. Back when Sakuraba was kicking Royler Grace over and over again in the legs, if your name ended in ‘Gracie’ then you were pretty much invincible. These two deities of MMA never crossed paths in their lengthy careers, but in RIZIN we got to see them have a grappling match. Legend grapple fest 2017.#RIZIN #RIZIN2017 #RIZINFF pic.twitter.com/j75djz2GHO

Justin Golightly - October 15, 2017

Since before Conor McGregor stepped into the ring to box Floyd Mayweather, the question on millions of minds was when he was coming back to the UFC and who would he fight. It was looking like finishing the trilogy with Nate Diaz was a high priority, but now it seems like a fight with newly crowned interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson could be in the plans. As of right now, all we have to go off of is a single image that McGregor posted and a weird slideshow in response by Ferguson. Other than that, Dana White has been saying it’s a fight that has to happen. Regardless of how close are far the match-up is, early odds have been released and right now it’s a close fight with Tony Ferguson trailing behind as a slight underdog. The sports book @unibet has listed odds on @TheNotoriousMMA and @TonyFergusonXT

Justin Golightly - October 14, 2017

Crowds were deafening last night at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. It’s the same arena that Georges St-Pierre defended the UFC welterweight title against Josh Koscheck, Carlos Condit, and Nick Diaz. As soon as he walked out, it was clear he’s still a Canadian mega star. The audience welcomed its UFC prizefighter as he arrived to drop down the puck for the Toronto Maple Leafs/Montreal Canadiens game. His opponent Michael Bisping, predictably did not get the same treatment.  Bisping booed, GSP cheered in Montreal. Shocking, I know #UFC217 pic.twitter.com/j5itgJ75WT

Justin Golightly - October 14, 2017

It wasn’t too long ago that the internet weighed in with criticisms that Artem Lobov didn’t belong in the UFC, or in a fight with Cub Swanson. That all quieted down when Conor McGregor’s right hand man took the fourth best featherweight in the world to a decision. He didn’t win the fight, but it was a moral victory. Now, Lobov will set his sights on Andre Fili for a showdown in Poland on October 21st. Needless to say Lobov is eager to get back to hurtling fists at the jaws of an opponent, especially Fili. “On The Ultimate Fighter [Andre Fili and I] had a bit of a back and forth. Afterwards, I still wanted to fight him but he was like, ‘If he doesn’t win The Ultimate Fighter I don’t want to fight him. I was like, ‘Whatever’. I don’t chase them, I replace them. I left it but I got an opportunity to step in on short notice in July but obviously I was in the middle of the Mayweather camp with Conor [McGregor], so it was an obvious choice. I wasn’t going to sacrifice that just to fight Fili. Let’s be honest, it’s not that big of a fight — it’s a fight I could have gotten any weekend.”

Justin Golightly - October 14, 2017

Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee put on a great fight at UFC 216 but it almost never happened. Media watched the early weigh-ins on that Friday morning on the edge of our seat. Watching Lee come out and stand on the scale at the very last second was stressful, both in the danger of the fight falling through and for the fighter’s health itself. Luckily, nothing happened, Lee made weight on the second attempt and we’ll forget out it. But that’s the problem, sometimes it doesn’t happen like that. The commission approved new weight classes, but even if the UFC implements them, Frankie Edgar thinks it won’t do any good. “Wrestling has seen it happen back in ‘96, ‘97, or something like that, where a few wrestlers died at the college level and they upped the weight classes. If you add more weight classes, it could encourage people to cut less weight, but it also might encourage someone to cut more weight. They’ll say, ‘Oh, I couldn’t make ‘55, but I can make ‘65,’ and they were going ‘70. So, I don’t know, I think people are always going to look for a way to get an advantage and cutting weight is going to be really tough to get people to stop doing that. Maybe hydration tests. In college, the best way we did it, we did hour weigh-ins, you weigh in an hour before you compete. But that’s just not feasible, I think, in MMA.”

Justin Golightly - October 14, 2017

It’s hard to keep track of all the fights we miss out on nowadays. It seems to happen more than ever before. Back at UFC 214, Sage Northcutt was originally supposed to fight Claudio Puelles, but he had to be replaced by John Makdessi due to an injury. Of course, when it rains it pours. Northcutt and Makdessi never made it to the Octagon either because both men got injured as well. This was no fault of Makdessi’s own though, in a recent interview he revealed it was none other than Mickey Gall who injured his shoulder as a result of a suplex while ‘sparring light’.    “Mickey Gall is a f-cking punk. He’s a deceiving, fake ass b-tch. I heard a crunch and the pain was immediate. I really didn’t want to cause a commotion but I looked in his eyes and thought ‘Are you a f-cking idiot?’ I don’t feel like [TriStar]’s my home. I never felt like it was my home. I was never really happy there, but I do appreciate what they did for me. I’m not saying it’s a bad gym. It’s just about what works for me and doesn’t work for me. I’m not disrespecting anybody, I want that to be very clear. I’m not bitter. In the end, I disrespected myself by letting other people dictate my way. When I met Duke we talked a long time. I was emotionally drained. I think he understands where I am coming from.” — John Makdessi speaking to FanSided’s Amy Kaplan.

Justin Golightly - October 14, 2017

Before the main event of UFC 216, as Kevin Lee walked to the Octagon, Joe Rogan immediately blurted out that Lee may have a staph infection. There were mixed reactions to Rogan identifying the medical condition based off of a glance, but people forget Joe Rogan is a lifelong martial artist and the owner of two BJJ black belts in addition to working with the UFC since 1997. Turns out, he was right as Kevin Lee admitted it was indeed staph in his post-fight interview. Daniel Cormier recently talked about the incident on his podcast and revealed the UFC didn’t want the broadcast team to talk about it. “So, we’re on air, right, and [Joe] Rogan goes, ‘Is that staph?’ And somebody in my ear, I don’t know who it is goes, ‘Don’t say nothing.’ And I was like ‘What the hell? Do I address this, or do I not say anything?’ So, I was like ‘it is.’ I couldn’t help myself, I go ‘it is staph.’ Because it’s big and red, and raised up. From the moment he took his shirt off and we saw that I go, ‘This dude’s in a lot of trouble’. That sh-t’s advanced. The issue is, you can take antibiotics to get better. But again, antibiotics, it’s the devil when you’re getting ready for a fight because it f-cks with your cardio.”

Justin Golightly - October 14, 2017

Slowly but surely, Bellator has been gathering huge talent from the UFC. It started as just a couple here and there, but Roy Nelson marks the 16th former UFC fighter that Bellator has gathered for its roster. One of the most unexpected fighters to jump ship was Gegard Mousasi. He was on a five-fight win streak, with his most recent victory being against Chris Weidman. Controversy or not, that was a huge win. Yet, here he is about to make his Bellator debut on October 20th. Recently, he opened up about some criticisms that led to his decision. “I was a small fish in the UFC. I’m a big fish in Bellator. That’s why I want to do my part to grow with Bellator. There’s a connection that I don’t have with UFC. It’s a company, like a factory. With Bellator, it’s more that I’m part of the family, and I’m doing the best I can to grow with the family. If I was to criticize [the UFC], I think the fairness of payment or the fairness of getting a title shot, it’s too much about the name of the fighter and who they feel they can build as a star as opposed to who is the best fighter.”

Justin Golightly - October 14, 2017

Only Conor McGregor could post a single word on social media with a five minute Grand Theft Auto art edit and have it blow up. Yesterday, McGregor sent out an image of his head and tattoos plastered on the popular video game’s art. It featured him speedboating away with tons of cash and his title belts in the background. He captioned the image ‘Tony’ and the internet did the rest. Of course, Tony Ferguson couldn’t let that stand. So, he posted a video of him in all sorts of GTA-inspired situations along with… well, just watch. “Zero 😎Fucks” 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽#DefendorVacate MF’er 😎🖕🏽#TonyFergusonMMA SnapJitsu™ #SnapDownCity This Is My Mat. pic.twitter.com/9aMmzAB3z5

Chris Taylor - October 13, 2017

UFC 217 headliners Georges St-Pierre and Michael Bisping almost came to blows backstage at Friday’s press conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. After an intense stare down, which “involved some serious trash talk from “The Count”, St-Pierre and the brash Brit would nearly came to blows backstage at The Hockey Hall of Fame.

Chris Taylor - October 13, 2017

Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson plans to sit out and wait for the winner of Daniel Cormier vs. Volkan Oezdemir. Volkan Oezdemir is expected to challenge Daniel Cormier for his UFC light heavyweight title in early 2018.

Chris Taylor - October 13, 2017

Mackenzie Dern improved her mixed martial arts record to a perfect 4-0 at Friday night’s LFA 24 event, scoring a first-round submission victory over Mandy Polk. After unfortunately missing weight in her last two bouts, a 2016 Submission of the Year contender over TUF 26 competitor Montana Stewart at Legacy FC 61, and a decision defeat of Katherine Roy at LFA 6, Dern seems to have found the perfect home at flyweight. Check out Mackenzie Dern’s impressive finish below:

Russell Ess - October 13, 2017

GSP vs Bisping Nov 4th at MSG!!!!!!! @georgesstpierre @mikebisping #ufc217 A post shared by Dana White (@danawhite) on Oct 13, 2017 at 8:37am PDT

Justin Golightly - October 13, 2017

There’s no UFC this weekend, but that won’t stop the fight game from barreling into the weekend in devastating fashion. There is a RIZIN event for the hardcore fight fan insomniac, GLORY has some kickboxing going on, and Fight Nights Global is happening at the time of this article. Former UFC fighter Nikita Kyrlov just had his second fight a tFNG 77 and it didn’t last long at all. It took Krylov less than a minute to knock out former Bellator light heavyweight champion Emanuel Newton. Nikita Krylov KOs Emanuel Newton cold in 42 seconds (FNG) pic.twitter.com/qgJbABkUbu

Russell Ess - October 13, 2017

There has been some buzz recently about UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor being in talks with the WWE for a big money offer, perhaps for a match at WrestleMania 34 in April of next year. While the UFC, WWE, and McGregor did not make any official statement on if that was the case, UFC President Dana White shut down those rumors during a recent interview with FOX 5 News. The news anchors brought up to White that there was talk of McGregor going to the WWE to wrestle next year.

Russell Ess - October 13, 2017

An exciting UFC women’s flyweight matchup will be coming in January as Justine Kish will move up from the strawweight division to the new UFC women’s flyweight division. Kish will meet Ji Yeon Kim, who will be dropping down to the flyweight division from the women’s bantamweight division at a yet to be announced January 20 fight card in the USA.

Russell Ess - October 13, 2017

UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre are set to meet in the Octagon at UFC 217, which takes place at the Madison Square Garden in New York on November 4. St-Pierre’s November 4th return to the Octagon will be just shy of four years since he last fought. St-Pierre last competed in mixed martial arts on November 16, 2013, where he defeated Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 in a close welterweight title fight that ended with a judge’s split decision going in favor of St-Pierre who was champion at the time. For the return of “Rush,” the former welterweight kingpin will be stepping up a weight class to challenge Bisping for his 185-pound title, which the Englishman won by knocking out Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 in June of last year.

Justin Golightly - October 13, 2017

If he’s not training like an animal, chances are that Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone is skydiving, taking wakeboards off of sweet jumps, or some other wild activity. I mean, you’re talking about a guy who didn’t even know who Darren Till was when he accepted the fight. Donald Cerrone stares into the face of the unknown, takes a swig of ice cold beer, and dives right in. So, what happens when he finds a venomous rattlesnake in his boat while fishing on the lake? He kills it and brandishes it for the ‘gram.