MMA News

Justin Golightly - September 30, 2017

Say what you will, but Conor McGregor strutted out in a pair of boxing shorts and fought the greatest boxer of our generation. His head was wobbled, a little bit of his pride may have shrunk, but his wallet got nice and fat. Not only that, but everyone is wondering just what in the world McGregor will do next. He made his first major appearance last night, where he named at least seven potential opponents. When you’re the man who has it all, sometimes it’s hard to figure out what you want. However, after reaching the pinnacle of money fights, McGregor is setting his sights on going back to basics. He wants to correct the wrongs that fans blame him for causing: Making the title mean something again. “Look, I’ve got the UFC title to defend and that means something to me. I will defend that world title. Nathan [Diaz] is there. He’s trying to come in here and make all of these demands. If he starts pricing himself out of an event, I probably will defend against the person who wins this interim belt, or someone along that line to legitimize it again. I’ve already gone from the highest of the high in terms of a money fight. Now, the question I always get is about defending the belt and legitimizing the sport and the rankings. Maybe now it would be a good time for me to go and do that and shut that side up. We’ll see what happens in the fight next week [between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee]. I hope they make the walk. I’ve seen it so many times where they slip on the bleedin’ soap getting out of the bath.”

Justin Golightly - September 30, 2017

Logging onto Twitter usually ends up this way. You log on and everything is all cool, then before you know it, you’re locked in an argument with someone. Just like something we’ve all experienced, Justin Gaethje tweeting out to Tony Ferguson started out pretty tame. Gaethje responded to a tweet of Ferguson’s with a joke about ankle picks. That was a line used by Ferguson on Thursday, after he and UFC heavyweight Fabricio Werdum almost threw down at lunch. It didn’t stop there though, next thing you know is one fighter’s leg is going to get broke and the other is getting their career ended.

Justin Golightly - September 30, 2017

Earlier this month, UFC fighters got a curious survey sent to them about the future of USADA and how the organization and its employers would interact. The purpose of the questionnaire was to gauge interest in an app that would be installed on UFC fighter’s phones to track their whereabouts, making it easier and more efficient for the athletes and USADA. Well, at least that’s what they were going for. Sean Strickland did not support the idea, now Leslie Smith has released a comprehensive statement about the idea. “What’s your response if your job said they were going to track you 24/7 with your phone? Same as mine? In my journey to educate and advocate for the UFC fighter’s union I hear some arguments for keeping the independent contractor status. I would rather be an independent contractor with no boss except for myself if it was possible but right now it’s the pits of them both – we don’t get benefits or federal protection as employees because we are ICs but we’re treated as employees by being regulated in our uniforms, not allowed to seek out other contracts for our fighting skill set and under supervision at all times through the USADA program. And now they want to make the USADA program into the type of tracker app a parent gets for their 10 year old.”

Justin Golightly - September 29, 2017

In Conor McGregor’s first major public appearance since his gigantic money fight with Floyd Mayweather, he was set to have an hour Q&A session on pay-per-view with Dan Hardy. That event was canceled for still unreported reasons, but his event tonight in Glasgow went off without a hitch. Will he compete in another boxing match? Is he really coming back to the UFC to fight Nate Diaz on St. Patrick’s Day 2018? What about Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson’s interim UFC lightweight title fight? The UFC ‘champ champ’ sure had a lot of subjects to discuss, but maybe too much to think about. https://twitter.com/SecretMovesMMA/status/913863496785436674

Russell Ess - September 29, 2017

Millions of dollars were put on the line by those betting on the money fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor. Although the fight seems to have fallen short of the financials and pay-per-view buys of what is still the richest fight in combat sports in Mayweather vs Pacquiao, the “MayMac” fight did shatter one combat sports record in Las Vegas.

Justin Golightly - September 29, 2017

Wild things are a’brewing overseas. If you’re not familiar with RIZIN, it’s the phoenix that rose out of PRIDE Fighting Championship’s ashes. It reliably puts on exciting cards complete with pyro and lasters, Japanese MMA nostalgia, and new blood that could possibly be the future of combat sports. In addition to some wild action you may not see anywhere else, living legend and recent UFC Hall of Fame inductee Kazushi Sakuraba will grapple Frank Shamrock on their October 15th card. ダン・ヘンダーソン選手がケガにより欠場。代わりにフランク・シャムロック選手が参戦！Dan Henderson has been out due to an injury, but instead, Frank Shamrock will participate in. pic.twitter.com/CvnmMJZ4uM

Russell Ess - September 29, 2017

Former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre is set to make his return to the Octagon after being away from competition for nearly four years. “Rush” will be going up a weight class from the 170-pound welterweight limit up to the 185-pound middleweight division and take on current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping for his title.

Justin Golightly - September 29, 2017

With the interim UFC lightweight title fight moving forward with Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee, we at least further distanced ourselves from the heartbreak of Khabib Nurmagomedov. We’ve been robbed of seeing this Russian sambo destroyer in action for awhile now, but the UFC has been trying to make a fight with him and Ferguson happen since 2015. Only one of these instances could be attributed to Tony Ferguson. However, this recent news reopens all those old wounds. Sean Shelby recently revealed that it could have been Nurmagomedov fighting for the interim title at Madison Square Garden, but he turned it down. “Just to clear things up, a fight was offered to [Khabib] Nurmagomedov on November 4th [UFC 217] and at that point we were trying to put cards together towards the end of the year. I was informed that he could not make that date. He probably wouldn’t be able to fight until at least December. That left Tony [Ferguson] without a dance partner and it’s not just about one guy, it’s about two guys.”

Justin Golightly - September 29, 2017

After a dry spot in the land of MMA, suddenly there was a mirage of beautiful fight announcements. They didn’t just trickle, but were an all-out tidal wave. Four massive fights were slated for UFC 218, two were confirmed and there are two more to go. If we take Henry Cejudo’s word for it though, then his fight with Sergio Pettis on the card is a done deal. The former flyweight title challenger posted this message on social media, saying that the fight on December 2nd is on. It's going down like James Brown at UFC218 in Detroit, Michigan December 2nd. #vamos #teamcejudo #listo #ufc218 pic.twitter.com/C9WyrdXDs8

Justin Golightly - September 29, 2017

This fight game gets heated, ladies and gentlemen. Especially now with a cornucopia of social media overflowing at our fingertips. It’s easy to get heavily invested in an upcoming fight and get carried away talking to someone about it online. It happens to the best of us. It must be even harder to try and escape the urge to say something when you’re the significant other of one of those fighters. That happened yesterday after the announcement of Jimmie Rivera’s fight with Dominick Cruz. Aljamain Sterling responded to a random dude trash talking to him on the internet. At that point, Rivera’s wife chimed in and then it all snowballed.

Justin Golightly - September 29, 2017

Tony Ferguson are just a week away from going to war together for the interim UFC lightweight title. Usually, this would give the victor a one-way ticket to fight the champion of their division in order to unify the titles. However, this isn’t happening, at least not yet. Every mention of Conor McGregor’s return fight suggests he’ll be fighting Nate Diaz to defend his lightweight title, maybe as early as March 2018. This is something that Ferguson just doesn’t think is right. “The next fight for Conor [McGregor] should be whoever wins this interim lightweight title. Regardless of winning or losing this, myself or if it’s Kevin Lee, that b-tch needs to defend or vacate and he needs to unify that belt. Anything else, with as far as him trying to fight Nate [Diaz] and everything else, that’s the bullsh-t rankings and everything else that the UFC stands for just [going] out the window, man.”

Justin Golightly - September 28, 2017

At the beginning of the month, UFC lightweight contender Michael Johnson dropped a bombshell that he wanted to debut in the featherweight division against none other than Jose Aldo. What comes as a surprise to us, this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision for Johnson. Turns out he was thinking about the move down the whole time. Former champ Aldo has a fight with Ricardo Lamas in the works, but that isn’t dissuading Johnson to set his eye on a serious challenge at featherweight. Now, Johnson says he wants to scrap with Cub Swanson. “I think me and Cub [Swanson] would be a great fight. I wanted [Jose] Aldo first, but it looks like him and Ricardo [Lamas] are going to fight, and man, I mean, Cub would be the next great option. I’ve gotten into this business with one thing on my mind, and that’s to fight the best guys in the division, to fight whoever’s the champ, whoever’s beaten everybody. Those are the guys I want to fight, so a fight with Cub, you know, that’s right up my alley. 

Justin Golightly - September 28, 2017

There was a media lunch today for UFC 216. It was outside the fresh air. Warm, but pleasant. Birds chirped, fruit and tea were served, it was nice. However, a can of whoop ass was also on the verge of being served before the meal even got started. Tony Ferguson was sitting at the table with Fabricio Werdum when the former UFC heavyweight champion interrupted Ferguson, then things just devolved into chaos from there. A blitz of English, Spanish and Portuguese exploded in front of the camera. Whether you can understand any of it or not, you can tell it was all bad. https://twitter.com/MMAFighting/status/913503884425023489

Russell Ess - September 28, 2017

Kevin Lee has the biggest fight of his career coming in just over a week as he will fight Tony Ferguson for the UFC interim lightweight title at UFC 216. While the two lightweights will battle for the interim title, Lee believes that this is the real lightweight title fight with Conor McGregor more of a business champ rather than a lightweight Ultimate Fighting Champion.

Justin Golightly - September 28, 2017

In just one week, Tony Ferguson will fight Kevin Lee for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 216. It’s the biggest fight of both of their careers so far, but Ferguson was ready to throwdown with another lightweight earlier today. Eddie Alvarez made some comments about the interim title scrap, Tony Ferguson was quick to respond saying the former champion wouldn’t last a round with him.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2017

Over the last year, UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and his allies at Team Alpha Male have had plenty to say about former Team Alpha Male staple TJ Dillashaw and his coach Duane Ludwig. With Garbrandt and Dillashaw’s UFC 217 bantamweight title fight now just weeks away, we can expect Team Alpha Male’s trash talk to ramp up yet again. Yet according to Ludwig, who appeared on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, this trash talk doesn’t really affect him or TJ Dillashaw.

Russell Ess - September 28, 2017

Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson are set to headline UFC 216 as the two will fight for the UFC interim lightweight title. There is also another title fight on the card as Demetrious Johnson will look to set a UFC record and surpass Anderson Silva for the most consecutive UFC title defenses, taking on Ray Borg in the co-main event. Interestingly, Johnson and Borg were set to headline UFC 215 but the bout was canceled just days before the fight date with Borg being sick and deemed unfit to compete by doctors.

Russell Ess - September 28, 2017

Daniel Cormier is still continuing to take the high road with his biggest rival Jon Jones going through the due process with his potential anti-doping violation stemming from their UFC 214 fight. Cormier recently spoke with Fight Hype on where his mindset is at and why.