MMA News

Chris Taylor - August 18, 2017

Not even an hour ago the UFC announced that former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos had been pulled from his scheduled UFC 215 bout with Francis Ngannou. “JDS” was flagged for a potential anti-doping violation by USADA and was subsequently removed from the September 9 event.

Chris Taylor - August 18, 2017

Former UFC heavyweight champion is out of his scheduled UFC 215 bout with surging division contender Francis Ngannou. “JDS” was flagged by USADA for a potential anti-doping violation and thus removed from the September 9 fight card.

Russell Ess - August 18, 2017

Paulie Malignaggi said that Conor McGregor fights dirty and still has to learn about the difference between inside fighting used in boxing and in mixed martial arts. Floyd Mayweather even commented during his media conference call on Thursday regarding the short clips of McGregor and Malignaggi sparring and said that he saw some illegal shots being thrown by the UFC lightweight champion. However, come fight night, Mayweather said that he will do his job and worry about fighting while he will let the referee in the ring do his job and ref the fight.

Russell Ess - August 18, 2017

Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor is expected to be the richest fight in combat sports history. The hype of the mega-million dollar fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor equates to putting down a hefty amount of cash down to be in attendance for their boxing match at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ticket prices announced during the Mayweather vs. McGregor world tour press conference ranged from $500 up to $10,000.

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

It’s 2017 and there are no rocket packs or super powered tubes that shoot us to work like in Futurama, but there sure is weed everywhere. There’s a pot show about everything you can think of: Court cases, a cooking show that only makes edibles, even a show where people get high and watch professional wrestling. That’s when it hit me in the head like a Nick Diaz nunchaku strike, where is the weed MMA show at? That’s why I decided to toke up, put on a headset and created the (Not So) Secret Smoke Show. Oh sh-t, did I just speak in the first person? I sure did, reader. I’ll break the fourth wall too, because rules don’t really matter. We live in a world where Conor McGregor, a guy who has never boxed before in his life, can fight Floyd Mayweather and they’ll convince you it’s a proper athletic contest. Hell, even the Nevada State Athletic Commission threw out all of their long-standing traditions and rubric because f-ck it, this is the biggest fight ever in the history of all human existence. So big in fact, that I had to use the startling opening theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey in my latest episode in order to give it some gravitas, or balls, whichever you prefer.

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

The world has stopped so Conor McGregor can box Floyd Mayweather. It wouldn’t be surprising if the laws of physics themselves start to disintegrate. UFC events have been put on hold until after the boxing match, fighters are being asked to submit their prediction videos to be proliferated through social media, the Nevada State Athletic Commission even threw out their rules, what else does Mayweather/McGregor have in store for us? A big budget music video, that’s what. Las Vegas rock band The Killers will release a music video for their song for the historic event. .@thekillers are kickin’ it in the desert & cookin’ something up for #MayweatherMcGregor 🔥

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

After coming off the wrong side of a decision to UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 196, a decision she tried to correct at UFC 213. Unfortunately, Nunes had to withdraw due to a severe and chronic sinusitis. Shevchenko didn’t accept that excuse, wasting no time telling our own Chris Taylor about what she thought in their latest interview. Finally, they are going to get to fight again at UFC 215 and after all Shevchenko has been through, she’s not accepting a loss as an answer. “Everything is going good. I’m staying in Colorado together with my coach and my sister Antonina. I am training very hard and preparing to be the strongest that I can. This fight will be totally different because since that fight I have grown so much. I had very good training camps for my fight with Holly Holm and then Julianna Pena. So I feel like I am a totally different person and a different fighter than she fought last time. Most importantly for me is there is only one way. The one way is the victory. There is nothing else, nothing more. I will  do everything, it doesn’t matter what. If I have to fight the full distance I will do it. If I have to fight on the ground, I will do that. It doesn’t matter, whatever I have to do to win this fight I will do it!” – Valentina Shevchenko on her upcoming rematch with Amanda Nunes.

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

The hit list was impressive as it was quick: Ovince Saint Preux, Misha Cirkunov, then Jimi Manuwa at UFC 214. Volkan Oezdemir came out of absolutely nowhere and devastated the shallow light heavyweight division. Rocketing to top three, it’s hard to believe that Oezdemir has such a short list of opponents since he just debuted in the UFC in February, but that’s what happens when you just start knocking out dudes. It’s a no-brainer that he wants to fight Jon Jones for the belt, but Jones seems to have his eyes on Brock Lesnar. He wants to fight Alexander Gustafsson, but he that rematch with Jones. That only leaves one man: Daniel Cormier. “[Daniel] Cormier could be an option in the future because he’s going to have to come back in the scene. Even though he comes off a loss, he’s still going to be the number one contender. We tried to work something out [with Alexander Gustafsson] for UFC Poland in the main event, but like I told you, he’s concentrating on fighting [Jon] Jones. […] It could be a good opportunity also. He’s the second guy in the division. He was the title holder for awhile also, but I think maybe he needs some time off after the rebound.” – Volkan Oezdemir via The MMA Digest.

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

We live in a world where Conor McGregor is about to fight the very best boxer around right now, for no other reason than McGregor can pull in an absolute truckload of cold, hard cash. With that in mind, there shouldn’t be too much that could surprise any of us involved in the combat sports world. This latest news though, is a head-scratcher. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva is expected to fight GLORY heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven in a kickboxing match at GLORY 46 on Oct. 14 at Guangzhou Gymnasium. “Bigfoot” Silva, who is 1-8-1 in past 10 MMA fights, will face GLORY champ Rico Verhoeven in kickboxing in October https://t.co/bBgkR8JHIx

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

The former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is in a sort of limbo right now. He broke his losing streak by beating Kelvin Gastelum and you’d think he’d be on his way back towards that title, but his path isn’t that clear. He’s keeping his eye on a rematch with Luke Rockhold, but keeping a move to light heavyweight in his back pocket in case it’s a shorter line to the title. Meanwhile, on the outer fringes of the sport, Weidman thinks that Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather’s paths are much clearer. Not only that, but Weidman believes we’ve not seen the last of them by a long shot. “Yeah, I mean I think I have [McGregor] winning now. I think he’s gonna win. That’s my last prediction. Third-round knockout. It’s just a gut feeling, just I’m feeling it. I think it’s gonna happen and then they’re going to have a second fight, Mayweather’s gonna win that and then next thing you know they got a Conor verses Floyd trilogy, and everybody’s spent 300 bucks, which means 500 million for each of them.” — Chris Weidman via Submission Radio.

Justin Golightly - August 17, 2017

By now, you’ve probably watched Conor Mcgregor’s Schrödinger’s knockdown on Paul Malignaggi at least a hundred times. You’ve analyzed it, dissected it, maybe even seen it in slo-mo or frame-by-frame in GIF format. Ever since Dana White “leaked” the footage, the world has gone crazy. For some, it answered the questions they had, others weren’t so satisfied. Either way, people still want the full, unedited footage. That will never happen, but fans and media alike expected some new glimpses of the infamous sparring session to end up on Showtime’s All Access special on Mayweather vs. McGregor. According to Dana White, Showtime rejected the footage and didn’t want it to air, but that turns out to be fake news. Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports, says it was actually Conor McGregor who decided the footage would not be shown.

Justin Golightly - August 17, 2017

  It may not compare to last year’s UFC debut at Madison Square Garden, but UFC 217 is definitely stacked. According to Jorge Masvidal, after a little bit of social media trash talk, the huge event just got more violent. On his Twitter, Gamebred announced that he and “Wonderbread” Stephen Thompson will fight each other to see who can get back in the title contention. Holy crap, it’s going to be Miami backyard brawlin’ going toe-to-head with down South Karate.

Russell Ess - August 17, 2017

It comes as no surprise to former IBO and IBF welterweight boxing champion Chris van Heerden that Paulie Malignaggi and Conor McGregor’s relationship ended on a sour note. Van Heerden also helped McGregor out with some sparring for his rematch with Nate Diaz and was at the punching end of an edited video clip that made its way to the Internet. Van Heerden told MMAJunkie Radio that he spoke with Malignaggi before joining the training camp and Malignaggi went in with good intentions.

Russell Ess - August 17, 2017

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko are scheduled to fight once again at UFC 215. Nunes and Shevchenko first met in the Octagon in March of last year at UFC 196 where Nunes won a unanimous decision after Shevchenko turned things up in the third round. The two were set to fight in the main event of UFC 213 in July, however, Nunes pulled out of the bout the day of the scheduled fight after feeling ill.

Justin Golightly - August 17, 2017

Isn’t it annoying  when you’re the biggest Conor McGregor fan on the planet and you get a text from someone that you don’t even know? Now, you can send that guy an audio clip of your favorite fighter asking, ‘who the fook’ he is. Maybe you’re a kid and your mom is hassling you to do your chores, just say no, whip out your iPhone and have McGregor tell her that she’ll do “nootin.” Hell, ask your boss for a raise and if he refuses, let the Champ Champ scream that without you, this whole f-ckin’ ship sinks! There are many, many more uses for this glorified Yak Bak that McGregor has just came out with called MacTalk. They call it smack talk, I call it MacTalk! Download the official @MacTalkApp today! Available NOW!https://t.co/5alzUewac2. pic.twitter.com/6fuuEumoED

Tom Taylor - August 17, 2017

On August 26, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will step into the boxing ring with undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. In the buildup to this fight, many members of the combat sports community have offered insights, expectations and predictions for it. One of the latest to do so is Richard Perez, who serves as the boxing coach for Nick and Nate Diaz – the latter of whom stands out as McGregor’s fiercest rival. Perez discussed this upcoming boxing match on the latest edition of BJ Penn Radio. In his opinion, McGregor has a few dangerous weapons at his disposal, but they probably won’t be enough.

Justin Golightly - August 17, 2017

UFC on Fox analyst and color commentator Kenny Florian has been around the block a few times. He may have never won a title, but he spent six years fighting the best the UFC had to offer, including our own BJ Penn. Before that, he was grappling dangerous dudes all over the mats at the highest levels. In other words, the guy knows fighting. You’ve heard him talk in bits and pieces before about Conor McGregor and his upcoming boxing bout iwth Floyd Mayweather on UFC Tonight, but he recently got a chance to say a lot more to the guys at Submission Radio. “I give Conor about a 10 percent chance. I would love for him to knock out Floyd Mayweather. I think that it would be yet another milestone for our sport, I think it puts us on the map that much more, I think it gives us that much more respect, but it is an extremely, extremely tall task for Conor McGregor who has never competed in pro boxing to go against one of the best boxers of all time and beat him. Can he knock him out? Yes, absolutely, it is combat, anything can happen. But I still think Floyd is going to win that fight.[…] You know, there have been some amazing upsets in sports history, this could be another one of them. But when I look at the stats, when I look at the approaches, when I look at the way that Mayweather fights compared with the way Conor fights, yeah, Floyd should win every single time.”

Tom Taylor - August 17, 2017

In the buildup to his August 26 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr., many pundits have argued that Conor McGregor’s only chance at a victory is a puncher’s chance. In the opinion of Richard Perez, who serves as the boxing coach for McGregor’s arch-rival Nate Diaz, McGregor doesn’t even have that. Richard Perez also believes McGregor’s cardio issues – which plagued him in his fights with Diaz – will be a problem against Mayweather, and that the Irishman might resort to shady tactics to combat this problem. “No, he doesn’t have a punchers chance – and he gasses out,” Perez said on Wednesday’s edition of BJ Penn Radio. “I don’t care how hard he trains. They’ve got to watch out for him, because he’s probably going to take the substance that he did when he [fought] with Nathan, that woke him up. I know they’re taking tests, but they’ve got to be careful with that because he will do it. There’s no way he’s going to do this without taking any substances, and be strong in boxing, because boxing is a lot of stamina.”