MMA News

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.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2017

After weeks of trying to find a willing opponent, rising UFC lightweight James Vick has been booked for a scrap with Ireland’s Joe Duffy at UFC 217 this November 4. While Vick is satisfied with this fight, he would have preferred a ranked opponent. Unfortunately, he is finding it nearly impossible to enter the top-10. In his opinion, top-10 fighters are given a little too much slack when it comes to losses, while rising contenders essentially have to move mountains to enter the top-10. Vick broke it down on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio:

Justin Golightly - September 28, 2017

Last Friday, Daniel Cormier took to Twitter not to cause a beef or talk trash to a potential opponent, he did something different. The UFC light heavyweight champ put it to a vote, to let the fans decide who he should defend the belt against. At the time, it seemed nothing more than a fun gauge of interest, but Cormier is taking this to the next level. The fans decided that Volkan Oezdemir has earned the next title shot and so Cormier agrees. He tweeted at Oezdemir personally today to begin negotiations on a potential date for their fight.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2017

Cub Swanson, one of the UFC featherweight division’s most dangerous contenders, is reportedly looking at a return to the cage this December 9th in Fresno, California. Swanson’s opponent at this Fight Night card is expected to be red-hot prospect Brian Ortega. This report comes from Farah Hannoun on Twitter.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2017

11th-ranked UFC welterweight contender Kamaru Usman has been looking for a fight, and from the sounds of it, he’s found one. On Wednesday afternoon, the grappling specialist announced on Twitter that his fans want to see him fight Neil Magny, and that he intends on heeding their calls. In his Tweet, he suggested UFC 218 on December 2 and UFC 219 on December 30 as possible dates for this potential scrap.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2017

Over the last few years, Bellator MMA has signed a procession of high-profile free agents. One of the finest free agents they’ve picked up to date is Michael McDonald, a former UFC bantamweight who once fought Renan Barao for the interim bantamweight crown. McDonald’s Bellator debut is now set, per MMAJunkie.com. He’ll make that debut when Bellator takes over the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England on December 15. His opponent has not yet been made official, but should be announced soon. 

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2017

Over the last few months, the potential comeback of MMA legend Chuck Liddell has been repeatedly been discussed. Were this potential comeback to occur, it would likely go down in the Bellator cage, rather than the UFC’s Octagon, where Liddell became a legend. Chael Sonnen, who has recently battled other aging legends in Tito Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva, has repeatedly tried to goad Liddell into a fight, and Liddell seems to be interested. Bellator boss Scott Coker has also seemed to have an open mind about promoting a Chuck Liddell comeback.

Justin Golightly - September 27, 2017

When it rains, it totally pours. Four giant fights are slated for UFC 218, including Alistair Overeem and Francis Ngannou being official. Now, we have our first three fights announced for the UFC’s year-end  card on December 3oth. Former UFC champions, Carla Esparza and Dominick Cruz will return to action in high-profile fights for their divisions. HOLD UP!

Justin Golightly - September 27, 2017

There has been tumbleweeds rustling down these MMA news streets lately. We’ve been holding our breaths waiting on fights to be announced and confirmed for UFC 218, but not just the fans and media have been pacing back and forth. Francis Ngannou has been searching for a fight ever since Junior dos Santos had to pull out of their UFC 215 battle. He called out everyone he could think of until he got to Alistair Overem and UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. Now, it seems like he may be getting an opponent for UFC 218 and we’ll have some fight announcements. Max Holloway vs Frankie Edgar being discussed for #UFC218 in Detroit!