MMA News

Justin Golightly - September 26, 2017

Conor McGregor‘s ties to the biggest money-making industries in the world just keep growing. He’s already a mogul, but througout his career has caught the eyes of a surprising number of people in the industry. He infamously got an embrace from Kanye West after his win over Nate Diaz, but it goes beyond that. Drake introduced him at the Toronto Mayweather/McGregor press conference, The Killers made a music video promoting his last fight, he was at Jennifer Lopez’s freakin’ birthday, and now he’s earned a new fan from a prominent English rock band. “I was first aware of [Conor McGregor] when we were on tour in Ireland.We had a night off, and we went to a pub one night in Cork. The pub was mobbed. If [McGregor]’s on, I’ll watch it the next day on repeat. He’s a dude. He’s an absolute dude. He makes me cry laughing when he’s [trash talking]. I was at Russell Brand’s wedding that day [during Mayweather/McGregor]. Russell kicked us all out at midnight. We came back to London and then as it was going on, I’m thinking, ‘It’s taking him 10 rounds! It’s unbelievable.’”

Russell Ess - September 26, 2017

CFC: Silmar Sombra vencia o Paturi por Finalização, quando o octógono foi invadido por um membro da equipe do Paturi e agrediu Sombra pic.twitter.com/QuZBvKOcJw — PANCADANTE (@pancadante) September 25, 2017

Tom Taylor - September 26, 2017

On November 4, in the main event of the absurdly stacked UFC 217, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will defend his title against returning former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. The expectation is that the winner of this fight will then battle interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker to unify the titles. In the opinion of Luke Rockhold, however, that’s just not going to happen. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Rockhold shared his worry that, no matter the outcome of UFC 217’s main event, the winner won’t fight Whittaker – or any other top middleweight contenders for that matter.

Russell Ess - September 26, 2017

A fighter’s UFC career has been put on hold after the promotion was notified of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation. Undefeated Russian MMA fighter Azamat Murzakanov was flagged for a potential violation and will now have to go through the due process.

Russell Ess - September 26, 2017

There will be a quite a few new experiences for Georges St-Pierre when he makes his return to the Octagon after being away from mixed martial arts competition for nearly four years. It will be the first time the former UFC welterweight champion will compete at 185 pounds as he challenges UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping for his title. “Rush” will likely also have a new coach added to his corner for the fight taking place at UFC 217 in November as famed boxing coach Freddie Roach explained recently to Fight Hub.

Justin Golightly - September 26, 2017

The fight triangle between the elite heavyweight beasts is still ongoing. Francis Ngannou was robbed of a giant clash with Junior dos Santos that assuredly would have propelled his career to the top if he managed to come out with a win against the former UFC heavyweight champ. Ever since then, he’s been very vocal about fights with both Alistair Overeem and belt holder Stipe Miocic. He’s up for either one still, but of course he’d rather fight the man with the strap. Not only does he like his chances to win, but Francis Ngannou thinks he could knock out Miocic. “I already know everything [Stipe Miocic and Alistair Overeem] are able to do. Everyone knows all of their skills. They don’t know mine. They’re still discovering mine. I’m bringing a surprise in every fight. I’ve never had the opportunity to show my whole game yet. I knock Stipe out when we fight. I think under three rounds, I knock him out.”

Tom Taylor - September 26, 2017

Last Friday, the UFC made a triumphant return to Japan with an exciting night of fights. Now that the card is in the rear-view, the promotion’s official rankings have been updated. The biggest changes to the UFC rankings occured in the strawweight division, where Jessica Andrade rocketed up the list after a thrilling win over Claudia Gadelha. There was also a change at flyweight, where Dustin Ortiz overtook Tim Elliot and Jon Moraga on the list. The only other division to experience change with the latest rankings update was welterweight, where Kamaru Usman pulled ahead of Gunnar Nelson to steal the number 11 spot.

Tom Taylor - September 26, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of the stacked Bellator 183, long-time lightweight contender Patricky Freire picked up an impressive – albeit controversial – win over former UFC and WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. Shortly after this win, which registers as one of the best of his career, Freire called for a shot at reigning lightweight champ Brent Primus. “I want the champion,” he said. “I want Brent Primus. Tonight I took down another former champion and I want my shot at that belt. He keeps running from me but now it’s time. I want that belt and after tonight I earned my shot at it. Benson Henderson is a good, tough fighter, but I’ve got my mind on the division title now. You can’t keep running Primus.”

Tom Taylor - September 26, 2017

Floyd Mayweather’s blockbuster battle with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is now soundly in the rear-view. That said, the boxer is still surrounding himself with mementos of his showdown with the Irishman. On Monday night, the undefeated boxing star shared a photo to Twitter, which shows side-by-side paintings of himself and McGregor, hanging in his Beverly Hills mansion. See it below.

Tom Taylor - September 26, 2017

Last weekend, on the main card of the UFC’s latest trip to Japan, kickboxing legend Gokhan Saki made his anticipated UFC debut. His opponent was Brazilian light heavyweight Henrique da Silva. Though Saki ultimately managed to put da Silva down with a crashing left hook in the first round, his win was not without flaws. The most glaring issue with his performance was that his cardio seemed to fade just minutes into the fight, at which point da Silva actually managed to start landing significant shots on him.

Tom Taylor - September 26, 2017

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is the biggest star in MMA today. Former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who is returning to action for a middleweight title fight with Michael Bisping at UFC 217, was previously regarded as the sport’s biggest star himself. Given that McGregor and St-Pierre are now both actively competing, and that they’ve both competed as welterweights in the past, a possible scrap between them is frequently discussed. This fight would register as one of the biggest fights in UFC history, if not the biggest fight in UFC history period.

Russell Ess - September 25, 2017

The prestigious Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) tournament took place over the weekend at the Espoo Metro Arena in Espoo, Finland. Stars from the grappling and brazilian jiu-jitsu world including Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida and Rubens Charles along with a few names from mixed martial arts competed in the tournament. Gabi Garcia, Chael Sonnen, and Jake Shields competed in the tournament along with Dillon Danis, who is signed with Bellator but has yet to make his pro MMA debut.

Russell Ess - September 25, 2017

The days of PRIDE are long gone but the fights from the Japanese fight promotion are some of the most memorable in mixed martial arts. With a different ruleset than the UFC, we saw brutal soccer kicks and vicious knees delivered to the heads of downed opponents, which made the MMA promotion set itself apart from the rest. In the matchup between Alistair Overeem and Hiromitsu Kanehara that took place at Pride 28 – High Octane on October 31, 2004, we saw a ton of that classic PRIDE action. Overeem delivered a devastating offensive attack and the fight was eventually called to an end in the second round after the ringside doctor called off the fight with Kanehara suffering a big cut on under his eye.

Russell Ess - September 25, 2017

There are surely some guys that will be heartbroken when they hear that UFC Octagon girl Arianny Celeste was seen recently putting on some public displays of affection while out on a date. According to TMZ, Celeste was seen at Universal Studios Saturday night for Halloween Horror Nights with famous rapper Tyga. Tyga used to be in a relationship with Kylie Jenner, who recently has been buzzing in headlines with news of her being pregnant with rapper Travis Scott.

Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017

Over the last few days, several rumors have surfaced suggesting that rising UFC welterweight contenders Kamaru Usman and Mike Perry might soon collide in the cage. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, however, Usman assured that there’s nothing in the works with Perry, and that he’s instead keen on a fight with former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. Kamaru Usman’s issues with Anjos stem from the Brazilian’s rapid rise through the welterweight rankings – something he does not feel is justified.

Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017

Earlier this month, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Pittsburgh, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold made a triumphant return to the cage, emerging from a hiatus of more than a year to clobber former World Series of Fighting champ David Branch to a second-round stoppage. With this win, Rockhold reiterated his status as one of the world’s premier middleweights. That said, he generated quite a bit of excitement post-fight by suggesting that his future might just be in the light heavyweight division. The main thing that is currently stopping him from moving up, he explained, is that his friend and training partner Daniel Cormier currently sits atop the division.

Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017

A exatos dois meses do #UFCXangai , as estrelas da luta principal do evento @spiderandersonsilva e @kgastelum estão na China promovendo o evento e protagonizaram a primeira encarada em frente a um dos cartões postais da região, a Torre Pérola Oriental! 🕷️🇨🇳 A post shared by UFC (@ufc_brasil) on Sep 25, 2017 at 5:49am PDT

Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017

Two of the UFC’s fastest rising lightweight contenders are set to clash at UFC 217, which goes down this November 4 inside New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden. In one corner, we’ll have Irish Tristar student  Joe Duffy. In the other, we’ll have”The Texecutioner” James Vick. This bout was announced by UFC officials on Monday morning.