MMA News

Justin Golightly - October 12, 2017

There has been no official word from the UFC, but Daniel Cormier is moving forward with the decision that Volkan Oezdemir is going to get the next title shot. He originally decided he’d give him the next shot based off of a Twitter poll. Of course, Oezdemir was quick and grateful to accept the challenge. It’s a fresh title defense that seems to be happening at exactly the right time, but Cormier says we’ll have to wait just a little bit longer. The UFC light heavyweight champion believes the fight will go down sometime early 2018. “You’ve got two minutes, because after that it all goes downhill.” — @dc_mma on @volkan_oezdemir https://t.co/pdaHVoVy6z

Justin Golightly - October 12, 2017

When Mark Hunt is unhappy with something, he definitely lets you know it. The UFC recently announced that Fabricio Werdum would be stepping in for Mark Hunt to fight Marcin Tybura at UFC Sydney. The news came to a surprise for Hunt, who took to social media to absolutely rake the UFC and Dana White over the coals as he’s been known to do from time to time. TMZ just caught up with White who broke his silence on the issue. “[Mark Hunt] went off on me. He’s always going off on me. Listen, sometimes you gotta’ protect these guys from themselves and that’s what we’re looking into right now. He made a statement that I’ve hated him forever. I don’t hate Mark Hunt at all. I’ve never hated Mark Hunt. He knows that. I was actually really good with Mark Hunt. I don’t expect an apology at all, no.” – Dana White to TMZ.

Justin Golightly - October 12, 2017

When it rains, it pours. the UFC just announced that a huge fight between Rafael dos Anjos and former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler. However, it didn’t seem big enough for dos Anjos. Just an hour later, he took to Twitter to plead his case that the fight should be made into an interim title bout. The request was due to the fact that champ Tyron Woodley would be out nursing a shoulder injury. It didn’t take long for Woodley to catch wind of what went down, and he shut it down real quick. Am I the only Champ that has fought 4X in 12months? Against REAL #1 contenders! Get past @Ruthless_RL then come holla at these hands! @ufc

Russell Ess - October 12, 2017

Mariusz Pudzianowski is a former five-time World’s Strongest Man and bodybuilder that has transitioned his training and focus towards mixed martial arts. The fighter still has a massive physique and has shown what he is capable of with defeating game opponents such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Rolles Gracie.

Justin Golightly - October 12, 2017

After all the animosity between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee in the lead-up to UFC 216, the end result couldn’t be more classy by both opponents. After Ferguson tapped out Lee in a triangle choke, both men embraced and exchanged words. It wasn’t an easy fight for either of them and both men earned each other’s respect. Kevin Lee continued this respect in his post-fight interviews. Lately, he’s opened up and has said Tony Ferguson deserves to fight Conor McGregor. “[Tony Ferguson versus Conor McGregor] should happen, It should. In any other sport or in any other circumstance or situation, that’s the fight to make happen. But, like really, speaking as a fan, as a fan of the sport, I don’t know man, I don’t know if Conor wants those problems. Tony [Ferguson] is a motherf-cker. I said it before the fight, Tony can fight and he can take a helluva shot. I hit him with some big shots that I thought would like faze him or cut him, but the man just wouldn’t quit. He’s got no quit in him.”

Russell Ess - October 12, 2017

UFC 216 took place over the weekend with the UFC interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee showcased as the main event. It was an exciting fight where Ferguson ultimately got the job done in the third round by submitting Lee with a triangle choke. Following the fight, Ferguson took to Twitter to interact with fellow Twitter users and had it out for Daniel Cormier, who commentated the UFC 216 broadcast.

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2017

Now that Tony Ferguson is the UFC interim lightweight champion, pretty much everybody wants to see him take on undisputed lightweight champion Conor McGregor. That, of course, includes long-time Tony Ferguson trainer Eddie Bravo. Speaking on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, 10th Planet jiu jitsu founder Eddie Bravo weighed in on a fight between Ferguson and McGregor. Apparently, he think it’s a near certainty that this massive lightweight title unification fight happens soon.

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2017

If things had gone according to the initial plan, the UFC 216 main card would have featured a heavyweight scrap between ranked contenders Derrick Lewis and Fabricio Werdum. The undercard, meanwhile, would have featured a collision of rising heavyweights Walt Harris and Mark Godbeer. Yet what we ended up with was a heavyweight scrap between Werdum and Harris, which Werdum won with a first-round armbar. It was all the result of an unfortunate back injury, which forced Derrick Lewis out of his fight with Fabricio Werdum. Though it briefly sounded as though the undercard bout between Mark Godbeer and Walt Harris would replace Werdum vs. Lewis on the UFC 216 main card, Harris was instead pulled from his bout with Godbeer, and plunked into the cage with Werdum with mere hours to prepare.

Russell Ess - October 12, 2017

The UFC has had some really entertaining fight cards recently with title fights taking place on the pay-per-view cards. However, it seems things have not gone so well with the pay-per-view buys over the last two UFC pay-per-view events. According to MMA insider @jedigoodman, the early estimated buy rates per Dave Meltzer have failed to go over 200,000.

Justin Golightly - October 12, 2017

More announcements are pouring in for those end of the year UFC cards. A huge one just dropped not even an hour ago, pitting former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, against former UFC welterweight champion, Robbie Lawler. It’s a fight that almost seems too good to be true. However, no sooner did we report on the fight with Rafael dos Anjos, he took to Twitter to try and up the stakes for their scrap on December 16th. Am’I the only one that thinks that this fight should be for a interim title? Since the champ is out until next year?

Justin Golightly - October 12, 2017

Michelle Waterson, better known as “Karate Hottie”, looked like she was headed for a good streak in the UFC. She submitted both Angela Magana and Paige Van Zant before falling to latest UFC strawweight title challenger, Rose Namajunas. That was back in April, but it looks like we won’t see Waterson back in the Octagon soon. Fortunately, it’s for a good cause. Michelle Waterson will compete on MTV’s The Challenge in order to raise money for the Merging Vets & Players charity. “MTV’s most iconic franchise “The Challenge” is back again with the debut of an eight-week special event “The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars.” Hosted by WWE superstar and former challenge competitor, Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, “Champs vs. Stars” will feature ten of the fiercest champions from past “Challenge” seasons. The alumni go head-to-head against ten celebrity athletes and entertainers in challenge-style competitions to determine who will reign supreme. Winners will compete for a chance to take a share of the $150,000 cash prize to donate to their beloved charities. “The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars” premieres November 21st at 10 p.m. ET/PT.”

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

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, UFC flyweight king Demetrious Johnson submitted Ray Borg, defending his title for a record-breaking 11th-consecutive time in the process. Given Johnson’s almost unfathomable dominance at flyweight, there have been widespread calls for him to move up to the 135-pound bantamweight division. Apparently, however, he plans to stay at 125 pounds, and further cement his legacy as MMA’s most dominant champion.

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

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.”