MMA News

Tom Taylor - September 10, 2017

Last night, the UFC touched down in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with UFC 215. In the co-main event of this anticipated card, former UFC lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos took his second fight at welterweight, this time battling long-time contender Neil Magny. Though Magny towered over Dos Anjos, the former lightweight champ made this one look easy. The Brazilian wasted no time grounding the fight, at which point he climbed into position to lock up an arm-triangle choke, and ultimately, the tap. Just like that, the former lightweight king is a legitimate contender in the shark-infested waters of the welterweight division.

Tom Taylor - September 10, 2017

Last night, in the main event of UFC 215 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes put her belt on the line opposite perhaps her fiercest rival: Kyrgyzstani striker Valentina Shevchenko. The fight registered as an incredibly competitive one, and after five close rounds, pretty much every onlooker was happy not to be a judge. In the end, though, the victory went to Nunes via split decision, which means the belt will remain around her waist.

Justin Golightly - September 9, 2017

It’s finally here. Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko finally meet for the second time. We were supposed to get this fight at UFC 213, but unfortunately Amanda Nunes’ severe sinusitis flared up and she pulled out. After going through the build-up three times, Nunes and Shevchenko wasted no time getting after each other tonight at UFC 215. Arguably two of the best women fighters on the planet threw down to see who improved since UFC 196. @BulletValentina just dislocated her finger… Then had it popped back into place in her corner. She didn't even flinch. #savage

Justin Golightly - September 9, 2017

Just on their names alone, the fight between Neil Magny and Rafael dos Anjos could have been a main event if this was a UFC on FOX card and not a pay-per-view event. With an intimidating record, Magny was at number six in the welterweight division as he welcomed dos Anjos into the weight class for his second fight. A win over Magny would be a huge statement for dos Anjos to make after moving up in weight, so that’s exactly what he went out there and did. https://twitter.com/Jonnyboy_6969/status/906729105982464001

Justin Golightly - September 9, 2017

Former UFC lightweight title challenger Gilbert Meledez makes his featherweight debut against “Hardest Hitting 145er” Jeremy Stephens. As soon as this fight was announced, fight fans probably bought fireworks to shoot off in celebration. It’s two scrappers who aren’t going to back down. It’s like they fight on treadmills that are facing each other. Mostly known as the recipient of Conor McGregor’s  “Who The Fook is Dat Guy” line, Stephens entered into this fight for his 26th battle in the UFC and made every moment count. Attacking the leg early@LilHeathenMMA #UFC215 pic.twitter.com/SYqH8rr77e

Justin Golightly - September 9, 2017

There’s not much to talk about during this fight. Not because Sarah Moras or Ashlee Evans-Smith put on a boring fight, but because the fight didn’t even last half of a full round. Moras hasn’t fought since July 2015 and leaped into this fight like she wanted to make up all that time. She locked up Evans-Smith’s arm and torques the hell out of it. Unfortunately, it looks like it was dislocated and it’s hard to watch if the submission wasn’t so sweet. https://twitter.com/Jonnyboy_6969/status/906688790076555265

Justin Golightly - September 9, 2017

Rick Glenn got an overwhelming chorus of boos at UFC 215 and it must have charged him up. He ran at Gavin Tucker like a man possessed in the very beginning of the first round and nearly got the low-percentage standing choke. Tucker caught on to Glenn’s wild moveset of spinning backfists and jerky movements, resulting in him tying him up with clinch and staying close peppering with shots. https://twitter.com/Jonnyboy_6969/status/906678130504499200

Justin Golightly - September 9, 2017

It started off normal enough. Mitch Clarke and Alex White exchanged kicks almost like a turn-based role playing game. There was a clinch battle and some knees, then back to more front kicks by Clarke and leg kicks by White. The fight was a rinse and repeat of violence chess. For mostly two whole rounds, both fighters kept doing exactly the same thing. It was almost gentlemanly, if it wasn’t two guys beating each other for money in the Octagon. Alex White delivers a beatdown in a big win over Mitch Clarke to get UFC 215 prelims started! https://t.co/usjTrVeG4e

Justin Golightly - September 9, 2017

When Kajan Johnson and Adriano Martins opened up the UFC 215 card, there were a lot of people not happy. The fight wasn’t that eventful, but it was two guys really evenly matched being cautious to not make a mistake. Until, that is, one did. https://twitter.com/davedoylemma/status/906659539797397504

Justin Golightly - September 8, 2017

Although Demetrious Johnson’s quest for MMA history will be postponed, Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko are good to go this time. It’s a rematch between two of the top women in the sport right now, with the UFC bantamweight title on the line. Another former UFC champ, Holly Holm, knows exactly what it’s like to be in Nunes’ position. In July of last year, Holm tested Shevchenko’s toughness and lost a decision to the Polish striker. It’s one of the reasons she is picking Shevchenko over Nunes tomorrow at UFC 215. “I think Amanda Nunes is a very tough girl; Valentina [Shevchenko] is far more technical. I think everyone knows Amanda likes power shots, and Shevchenko is a lot more technical. I think Shevchenko can take the belt away. Anything can happen in a fight. Don’t get me wrong, but I think Shevchenko can do it.” — Holly Holm speaking to MMA Junkie.

Russell Ess - September 8, 2017

Both Kevin Lee and Georges St-Pierre have big fights coming up in the UFC. Lee will be fighting for the UFC interim lightweight title against Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 216 in October. St-Pierre will be making his return to the Octagon after stepping away from competition nearly four years ago and will jump up a weight class to take on Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title at UFC 217 in November.

Russell Ess - September 8, 2017

Another UFC main event has been canceled just days away from the scheduled date. This time it was for the UFC 215 flyweight title fight featuring Demetrious Johnson and Ray Borg. Borg, the challenger was forced to withdraw from the title fight due to being ill and was deemed unfit to compete by medical doctors. Members of the MMA community reacted to the disappointing news as the UFC released a statement on Borg’s illness and the process of UFC 215 ticket refunds.

Russell Ess - September 8, 2017

The MMA community was struck with appalling news late Thursday. With less than 24 hours away from the UFC 215 weigh-ins, the main event UFC flyweight title fight between Demetrious Johnson and Ray Borg was canceled. The cancellation, first reported by Ariel Helwani for MMA Fighting, was due to Borg being ill and deemed unfit to compete by medical doctors.

Justin Golightly - September 8, 2017

The MMA gods are about to bless us with violence again. Last year, Doo Ho Choi earned a UFC ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus, as well as ESPN’s ‘Fight of the Year’ award, for his war with Cub Swanson. He lost to the top featherweight contender, but it was his first loss since 2010 and it was to a seriously elite fighter. Choi isn’t slowing down anytime soon, after nursing some injuries he’s ready to return to action and wants Jose Aldo. “I have almost recovered from my injuries and I’m back training. I got a shoulder injury as a result of excessive strength training and I want to apologize firstly to my fans and secondly my opponent, Andre Fili. I think Andre Fili is a great fighter, but I see he has a fight now with another opponent so I’m open to fighting someone else.There are no fighters who I really want to fight, but I want a ranked fighter next. I’m interested in a fight with Jose Aldo and I want to fight him.”

Justin Golightly - September 8, 2017

Once again, a UFC card this year has been disrupted at the last minute. Ray Borg had to pull out of his fight with Demetrious Johnson, the original main event is gone and Amanda Nunes gets bumped up to headline. The world is a strange place, readers. There is a pattern that emerges when you go back and look at Canada and Amanda Nunes. Stick with us, we know it sounds weird, but not as weird as these stats. The folks at MMA Junkie looked back at UFC events in Canada and found nine instances where the main event had to be changed: UFC 215 in Edmonton, UFC Fight Night 105 in Halifax, UFC 206 in Toronto, UFC 186 in Montreal, UFC 161 in Winnipeg, UFC 152 in Toronto, UFC 149 in Calgary, UFC 131 in Vancouver, and UFC 115 in Vancouver. That’s all just a little eerie, but another thing that is interesting is that Georges St-Pierre never had a problem in all his trips to Canada.

Justin Golightly - September 8, 2017

Ovince Saint Preux is about to gear up and fight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua  in Japan, but there is another fight still in the back of his mind. Back at UFC 197, Saint Preux jumped in to replace Daniel Cormier and fought Jon Jones for an interim UFC light heavyweight title. Losing the bout and suffering a broken arm in the process, OSP took the loss hard but moved on. However, the recent controversy over Jon Jones’ drug test has all of the feelings rushing back. Was Jones’ allegedly on performance enhancing drugs during their fight as well? Saint Preux wants to know the answers. “I mean, I did an article a while back saying, I just wanted [Jon Jones] to tell the truth. But at the end of the day, with me, I just wanted to know. But at the end of the day, what can I do about it? It’s a situation where I’ve learned, especially like my fight when I fought Volkan. You know, I walked in the locker room and I caught myself screaming, and I was like, why am I mad for? I mean, I did everything I did, I poured my heart out in the fight, you know, I trained hard, I felt like I won the fight.”

Justin Golightly - September 8, 2017

Back before 2008, Angel Heredia was supplying performance enhancing drugs to make sure that the athletes who were on top of their sports, stay on top. We’re talking even Olympic-level athletes. He was eventually forced to cooperate in court by becoming a chief witness for the U.S. Justice Department. All this to say, Heredia knows this enhancement game in-and-out. Now, he has joined Jon Jones’ defense team as a legal adviser and spoke to Submission Radio on why he thinks his testing procedure doesn’t add up from an expert’s perspective. “If somebody takes a designer [steroid] and they pretty much identify any of it’s metabolites, they would pretty much know what steps to follow next, and eventually they will break it down and they will come out with the name of the structure that was not identifiable at the time. So, at this point there’s nothing like that. Pretty much, they’re accusing [Jon Jones] of one particular metabolite. They’re not accusing him of six different metabolites. One single metabolite. And that metabolite is the one that stays up to seven weeks. So frankly, to me, it’s backwards. It doesn’t make any sense.” 

Russell Ess - September 7, 2017

The UFC 215 main event featuring Demetrious Johnson and Ray Borg has been canceled just days before the event is set to take place in Edmonton, Canada. Late Thursday, Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting reported that Borg was forced out of the UFC flyweight title fight against Johnson due to illness. According to the report, Borg was fighting the illness this week and doctors deemed the UFC title challenger unfit to compete.