MMA News

Russell Ess - September 25, 2017

Now that the UFC 219 Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz trilogy fight rumors have been squashed by UFC President Dana White, many are still wondering if and when that fight will ever take place. The two UFC stars have won a fight each with Diaz submitting McGregor in their first fight at UFC 196 and then McGregor earning a majority decision in the rematch at UFC 202.

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

Long-time UFC strawweight contender Paige VanZant was expected to make the jump up to the new UFC women’s flyweight division at UFC 216 this October 7. Her planned opponent was UFC bantamweight star Jessica Eye, who was dropping down a division. Unfortunately, this compelling scrap has been nixed According to a report from Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com, this scrap will soon be officially cancelled, as VanZant has sustained a back injury in training – specifically, “an intervertebral disc injury.” This injury occurred in a jiu-jitsu session.

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.

Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017

Back in December of 2016, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey returned from a lengthy hiatus and attempted to re-capture the title in a scrap with reigning champion Amanda Nunes. This attempt, as any fan will remember, went disastrously, as Rousey was brutally beaten down by Nunes in less than a minute. In advance of this fight, Rousey participated in almost no media appearances– an extremely unprecedented thing for a star of her caliber. On the latest episode of The MMA Hour, Rousey’s controversial head coach Edmond Tarverdyan explained the reasons for her total media blackout in the buildup to UFC 207.

Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017

Shortly after reclaiming the UFC light heavyweight title with a knockout of Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones failed a USADA-administered drug test and lost that same title. Since then, Jones and his team have maintained that he did not intentionally ingest any banned substances. In the opinion of former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, however, ignorance is no excuse. “You’re either clean or you’re not. There is no gray zone when it comes to full contact sports, period,” Miesha Tate said on MMA Tonight on Sirius XM (h/t Bloody Elbow). “I don’t care if USADA says, Miesha, don’t eat Cheerios the week of your fight. Guess what, I ain’t eating Cheerios. That’s the rules. They make it so the sport is safe and clean, and we need to follow them.”

Chris Taylor - September 24, 2017

Earlier today Team FA reported that a trilogy fight between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor was set for December’s UFC 219 pay-per-view event in Las Vegas. https://twitter.com/teamfa/status/911971393297928193

Chris Taylor - September 24, 2017

Joanna Jedrzejczyk is busy preparing to defend her strawweight title against Rose Namajunas at November’s UFC 217 event in New York. If Joanna can emerge victorious at UFC 217 she will tie Ronda Rousey for the most women’s title defenses with six.

Chris Taylor - September 24, 2017

Paul Daley says he made peace with Lorenz Larkin following their Bellator 183 co-main event scrap. “Semtex” scored a brutal second-round knockout victory over “da Monsoon” after scoring a beautiful left hook that had Larkin out on his feet.

Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

“Platinum” Mike Perry is one of the fastest rising contenders in the UFC welterweight division. Since joining the UFC fold in August of 2016, he has knocked out Hyun Gyu Lim, Danny Roberts, Jake Ellenberger, and most recently, Alex Reyes. Though these knockout wins were interspersed by a decision loss to Alan Jouban, they have still been enough to elevate Perry to the number-15 spot in the UFC welterweight rankings. And now that he’s in the top-15, he’s putting all of his peers on notice. One of the latest fighters to find himself in Perry’s crosshairs is two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, who battles Jorge Masvidal at UFC 217 on November 4.

Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

The UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings list is always changing. When Jon Jones was ejected from the list after his latest USADA-bust, the rankings endured another tectonic shift, and UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley isn’t impressed with the way they ended up. At present, the UFC’s pound-for-pound list has flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson at number one, lightweight champion Conor McGregor at second, heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic at third, featherweight champ Max Holloway at fourth, light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier at fifth, and bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt at sixth.

Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

“Platinum” Mike Perry and Colby “Chaos” Covington are two of the brightest young contenders in the UFC welterweight division – and they really don’t seem to like each other. Over the last few months, the pair have exchanged plenty of heat in interviews and on social media. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, the trend continued, as Perry spat some fire at Covington, assuring that if Covington gets by Demian Maia on October 28, he’d like to fight him as soon as possible thereafter.

Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

On November 4, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 217, UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt will attempt to defend his title against an estranged teammate in former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw. This is, by all accounts, one of the biggest and best title fights in UFC bantamweight history, which is why it would truly suck if we lost it to injury. The good news, however, is that if either Garbrandt or Dillashaw is injured, former UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz is ready and willing to step in. “I’m always training, I’ve been training this whole time,” Cruz said on a recent episode of UFC Unfiltered (h/t MMAMania). “For me, the title shot is important. I’ve earned that shot, I held the belt longer than anyone in this division and I help build the division.”

Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

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Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

Last night, Bellator MMA returned to San Jose, California with the stacked Bellator 183. The card was headlined by a compelling lightweight showdown between former UFC and WEC champ Benson Henderson and long-time Bellator lightweight contender Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. It’s arguable that the most anticipated feature of the card, however, was the co-main event, which pitted brick-fisted British puncher Paul Daley against former top-10 UFC welterweight Lorenz Larkin. As expected, this was a fun fight, during which both men landed plenty of the heavy artillery for which they’re known. In the end, however, the underdog Daley added yet another blistering knockout to his highlight reel, rattling Larkin with a spinning back-fist, and sending him careening to the canvas with a left hook.