MMA News

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold returned to the win column in the main event of last night’s UFC Fight Night 116 event in Pittsburgh by scoring a second-round stoppage victory over David Branch. Branch had an excellent opening round against Rockhold, but Luke turned the tide in round two where he would eventually force the former World Series of Fighting champion to tap-out due to strikes.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2017

Current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor tuned in to watch last night’s highly anticipated Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin boxing match. The action packed scrap lived up to the hype as ‘Canelo’ and ‘GGG’ went to war for twelve rounds.

Chris Taylor - September 16, 2017

A key middleweight scrap between former title holder Luke Rockhold and perennial contender David Branch headlined tonight’s UFC Fight Night 116 card in Pittsburgh. Round one begins and Branch starts off quickly with a combination. Rockhold fires off a kick to the body followed by a low kick. Branch presses forward and pushes Luke against the cage. The fighters engage in the clinch and then break. Branch storms after Rockhold with a flurry of punches. He is connecting. Rockhold is in trouble but manages to clinch up. Branch with a takedown but Luke is able to stand back up. The fighters clinch again and Rockhold lands a knee. Branch fires off a knee of his own. They break and Rockhold lands an inside leg kick. Branch charges forward and lands a right hand. He presses Luke back against the cage and works some shots to the body. Rockhold switches the position and unloads a knee. The fighters break and Branch goes to the body with a jab. Rockhold with a low kick. Rockhold appears to poke Branch in the eye. David charges forward and lands a right. Luke grabs a hold of the former World Series of Fighting champion and drags him to the floor. Ten seconds remain. Round one comes to an end with Rockhold on top.

Chris Taylor - September 16, 2017

A welterweight scrap between Mike Perry and Alex Reyes served as the co-main event of tonight’s UFC Fight Night 116 fight card in Pittsburgh. Round one begins and Perry is pressing the pace. He is clearly looking for another big knockout. Perry is being very aggressive but Reyes is doing a good job of avoiding and countering. Perry settles down a bit and begins to find his range. Mike lands a nice knee and then follows that up with a big right hand. Reyes decides to clinch up. Perry throws an elbow. He lands a brutal knee that sends Alex crashing to the floor. This one is all over. Mike Perry ladies and gentlemen!

Chris Taylor - September 16, 2017

A welterweight scrap between Sergio Moraes and Kamaru Usman took place on tonight’s UFC Fight Night 116 main card in Pittsburgh. Usman was able to land multiple heavy shots early and often in round one before he eventually face-planted Moraes with this massive overhand right.

Chris Taylor - September 16, 2017

Earlier tonight news broke that former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio Shogun Rua was forced out of his scheduled rematch with Ovince Saint Preux due to an undisclosed injury. With that said, “OSP” will remain in the UFC Fight Night 117 main event as the UFC has brought back former middleweight title challenger Yushin Okami to fight on short notice.

Chris Taylor - September 16, 2017

A lightweight tilt between Tony Martin and Olivier Aubin-Mercier took place during tonight’s UFC Fight Night 116 prelims in Pittsburgh. Round one begins and Martin quickly takes the center of the cage. He throws a nice inside low kick that lands. Aubin-Mercier misses with an attempted right hook. Both men fire off hard low kicks. Olivier goes to the body with a kick. Martin presses forward but can’t find an opening. Olivier lands a left hand and then follows that up with a kick to the body. Martin circles and then connects with a jab. Aubin-Mercier just misses with a high kick. He lands a left. Martin quickly responds with a right hand. Tony with another straight right. He lands an uppercut. Olivier drops down and shoots in for a takedown. He presses Martin against the cage but Tony switches the position. He lands two nice knees to the body of Olivier. Aubin-Mercier gets a body lock and is able to drag Martin to the floor. Olivier with a couple of nice shots before Martin scrambles and gets back to his feet. Olivier with a nice left hand before the horn sounds to end round one.

Chris Taylor - September 16, 2017

A heavyweight bout between Daniel Spitz and Anthony Hamilton took place during tonight’s UFC Fight Night 116 prelims in Pittsburgh. Round one begins and Spitz fires off a front kick to the body. Hamilton leads in with a right hand but Spitz counters him with one of his own. Anthony falls to the mat and Spitz quickly begins dropping down some heavy ground and pound. This one is all over folks. WOW!

Chris Taylor - September 16, 2017

A lightweight bout between Gilbert Burns and Jason Saggo kicked off tonight’s UFC Fight Night 116 event in Pittsburgh. After a competitive opening nine minutes, Burns was able to land a huge overhand right that absolutely flattened Jason Saggo.

Chris Taylor - September 16, 2017

The octagon returns to Pittsburgh tonight for UFC Fight Night 116. The event is headlined by a key middleweight scrap featuring former division champion Luke Rockhold squaring off with perennial contender David Branch.

Justin Golightly - September 16, 2017

When Thiago Alves had to pull out of his fight with Mike Perry at UFC Pittsburgh, Perry didn’t bat an eye at the change of an opponent. Even though it was only three-days notice, Alex Reyes didn’t either. The former King of the Cage lightweight champion jumped at his chance to get into the UFC just like anyone would, but he wasn’t always this lucky. Last October, Reyes was supposed to step in to face Josh Burkman at UFC Fight Night 96 but had to turn the fight down because of an injury himself. Not only is tonight a redemption for Alex Reyes, but a chance to make a serious statement.  “It was heartbreaking at that time. You hope and pray that you get called up someday, you work your whole career, you work hard and you get that call, but you can’t [accept it] because of injury. It was tough, man. It was a tough injury. And I came back from it and I knew that if I ever got that call again, there was going to be no hesitation. Sh-t man, when I got that first call, I wanted to accept it anyway. That’s why it was so heartbreaking, because I wanted to say yes but my body couldn’t. It wasn’t even saying no, it just couldn’t. So as soon as I got that call [this week[, man, I was like, ‘Let’s go. I’m ready. No hesitation. I belong here.’”

Justin Golightly - September 16, 2017

It wasn’t Mike Jackson’s lucky night back at UFC 196. For his professional MMA debut, he was under those infamous bright lights and was submitted by Mickey Gall in the Octagon, missing out on his chance to fight CM Punk. We all know how Gall’s bout with Punk went at UFC 203, but we haven’t seen Jackson back in the UFC again. …Yet. Instead, the place to find Mike ‘The Truth’ Jackson is inside the boxing ring. He’s undefeated so far with three straight knockouts. As of last night, he just raised that number to four by straight sleeping his opponent in a dominating performance. Here's something to wet your whistle while you wait for #CaneloGGG… I call this shot the, "Pudding Pop". #Boxing #Pugilist #Fisticuffs pic.twitter.com/mjxwAPUE5l

Justin Golightly - September 16, 2017

After losing his title to Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier was unfortunately dragged through another situation involving his opponent being flagged for an anti-doping violation. The title was removed from his waist, placed on Jones’, now it’s been taken away and given right back. When he became champion by beating Anthony Johnson, some fans didn’t accept Cormier as the true champion. Now, Cormier finds himself back in the same predicament. On the record books, it’s like the fight never happened. However, that doesn’t change the fact that it happened for Daniel Cormier. “The people around me, my friends, they tell me that nothing has changed because if [Jon Jones] was not fighting completely clean, then there was no fight. But I was there. I fought. In my mind, I lost a competition, but if it was an unfair competition — I shouldn’t have been in it. It’s a hard question. I guess I do feel like the champion, because I know I was the champion before all this happened. I don’t know. It’s a difficult question to ask someone like me. My manager, my wife, my coaches — it’s easy for them to answer. For me, it’s a tough question.”

Justin Golightly - September 16, 2017

For all of you who thought Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather was just a one-off thing, you may be wrong. As with many other things, McGregor seemingly has opened up the floodgates when it comes to MMA fighters crossing over to MMA. Jimi Manuwa has been talking about a possible match-up with heavyweight boxer and multiple-time champ David Haye for awhile, but it looks like it is finally happening. Just last night at a BAMMA fight card, the two fighters got together for a talk and photo-op to announce they could fight as early as next year. “The fight is on. He wants it and I want it and all that. He says he has to fight a couple more fights before we’re going to fight. We’re going to do it beginning of next year.” — Jimi Manuwa speaking to MMA Uno. 

Justin Golightly - September 16, 2017

After multiple failed attempts to make an interim title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee are going to fight for the interim UFC lightweight belt on October 4th. Meanwhile, Conor McGregor gallavants on yachts reaping the spoils from his multi-multi-million dollar fight with Floyd Mayweather. Not bad for a guy who lost the fight, huh? Kevin Lee didn’t seem impressed with McGregor’s performance, but holds Ferguson in a high regard for the scraps that he’s put down inside the Octagon. “I knew [Floyd] Mayweather was going to beat Conor [McGregor] because Conor’s a quitter. Conor quit during that fight. That’s the thing about fighting, you can’t hide who you really are. If you a b-tch it’s gonna’ show and this is not the first time. It showed in his first Nate Diaz fight. It showed again in the second Nate Diaz fight and it showed versus Mayweather. When you’re slapping around and kind of signaling to the refs that you tired. That’s him wanting to quit. That’s him wanting out. You’ll never see Tony Ferguson like that. Tony Ferguson went to war with [Rafael] dos Anjos for five rounds in Mexico City at altitude. Of course he’s tired, but he’s not going to show it like that.”

Justin Golightly - September 16, 2017

The UFC’s middleweight division has been in a weird, chaotic state ever since Luke Rockhold was knocked out by the hands of Michael Bisping. Some fighters like Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza went on strike, Yoel Romero vowed to not go back his home in Cuba until he got a title shot, and Gegard Mousasi left the UFC altogether. Luke Rockhold has expressed his frustrations in the past about how things were going, which is why he wants to keep the wheels of the division going. No matter who wins at UFC 217 between Bisping and Georges St-Pierre, the champ is supposed to fight Robert Whittaker. If that doesn’t happen, then Rockhold will. “Robert Whittaker has proved himself top dog and I believe he and I are the two best guys in the middleweight division. So, [the winner of Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre] should definitely fight him. But if not, I will. I’ll fight any man at the top and Whittaker is seemingly that guy. I was impressed. First time up in the division, it was a strong, composed showing. I’ve been watching him come along since and he’s growing nicely. Whittaker’s a really tough kid.”

Russell Ess - September 15, 2017

Daniel Cormier stated earlier this week on UFC Tonight that Dana White told him that he would be reinstated as the UFC light heavyweight champion. The news comes following the result of Jon Jones’ positive B sample and the California Athletic Commission overturning Jones’ initial UFC 214 KO win over Cormier to a no-contest result. Cormier has mostly steered clear of laying judgement on jones but did have some words for his rival while announcing the news of being reinstated as the champion. However, on Friday, the UFC star released a very classy statement regarding Jones and his situation on social media.

Justin Golightly - September 15, 2017

Even though the numbers from Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather’s boxing match didn’t reach as high as Dana White predicted, everyone walked away with a ridiculous amount of money. The tattooed Irishman is Vince McMahon-strutting around Ibiza, meanwhile Mayweather is building a strip club empire. The event even broke its first record earlier this month, but it looks like it may be on track for another big one. According to Dave Meltzer, it could be the biggest of its kind in all of sports history. “When we look at total revenue the show produced, it should be about $445 million from PPV (Cable providers and satellite providers would get 30 percent of the PPV money but the iPPV money would go to the promotion at a much higher percentage), the live gate was $55 million, the U.K. and Ireland PPV is probably about $28 million, international TV rights were estimated at $35 million, $28 million were estimated in sponsorships, $2.6 million in U.S. movie theaters and $15 million from bars and Restaurant airings. There is also a Las Vegas area closed circuit number that is not yet available but should be in about a week, but going in the estimate for that would have been $7 million.”