MMA News

Tom Taylor - August 15, 2017

Former two-division boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi joined Conor McGregor‘s training camp with the intention of helping the Irish MMA star prepare for his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Unfortunately, he left the camp after just a few sparring sessions, feeling that he’d been unfairly represented by the Irishman and his team. Not long thereafter, UFC President Dana White released footage that appeared to show McGregor dropping Malignaggi, confirming what McGregor and his camp had claimed, and poking holes in Malignaggi’s telling of the story.

Tom Taylor - August 15, 2017

Back in 2010, former two-division UFC champion Randy Couture was charged with welcoming boxing star James Toney to mixed martial arts. As many expected, the 47-year-old Couture made quick work of his foe, dragging him into unfamiliar territory on the mat, where he locked up an arm-triangle choke for the win. On August 26, we’ll witness a similar spectacle, as UFC megastar Conor McGregor steps into the boxing ring to battle Floyd Mayweather Jr. Speaking on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Couture weighed in on this style-clash. Though he once successfully represented MMA against boxing in the Octagon, he gives McGregor very little chance of doing the same in the boxing ring.

Chris Taylor - August 14, 2017

Jon Jones picked up arguably the greatest win of his professional mixed martial arts career last month in Anaheim when he scored a third-round TKO victory over Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 214. Immediately following his victory over “DC”, which earned Jones the UFC’s coveted light heavyweight championship, “Bones” decided to issue a challenge to former UFC heavyweight kingpin Brock Lesnar.

Chris Taylor - August 14, 2017

Back in November of 2015, Tae Hyun Bang stepped onto the canvas with Leo Kuntz. He did so on the undercard of a UFC Fight Night in Seoul, in his native South Korea. In the end, Bang and Kuntz’s fight went down as a fairly forgettable one, with Bang earning a close, split decision win. The final hours before this fight, however, stand out in the memory as some seriously suspect ones.

Chris Taylor - August 14, 2017

Former two-weight boxing champion Paul Malignaggi was recently involved in two hard sparring sessions with current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, this to help prepare the Irish star for his upcoming showdown with Floyd Mayweather. This much we know.

Russell Ess - August 14, 2017

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has gone on the record to state that he feels that former champion Georges St-Pierre does not want to fight him in the Octagon. Woodley believes that St-Pierre does not want to risk getting a concussion against him and would rather take on opponents less likely to do such a thing to him in competition. Speaking on The MMA Hour on Monday, St-Pierre commented on what the current UFC welterweight champion has been saying and also gave him praise for his last performance.

Russell Ess - August 14, 2017

There was a big buzz late Friday when UFC President Dana White released video footage of the debated knock down/push down of Paulie Malignaggi. Malignaggi took to Twitter to defend his case that it was, in fact, a push down while many fans, fighters, and pundits called it a knock down while some deemed it a slip.

Russell Ess - August 14, 2017

Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has signed his contract to fight UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping at UFC 217 on November 4 in New York. By the time of UFC 217, it will be just shy of four years since St-Pierre last fought in the UFC as his last competition was on November 16, 2013, where he successfully defended his title against Johny Hendricks winning a close split decision.

Tom Taylor - August 14, 2017

Having relinquished the UFC light heavyweight title to his arch rival Jon Jones, former champion Daniel Cormier now finds himself at a crossroads. Really, if he doesn’t retire, he would seem to have two options. The first is to keep slogging away at light heavyweight in hopes of earning a third fight with Jones. The second would be to return to heavyweight, where his career began, and attempt to compete with apex predators like Stipe Miocic, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez. Speaking on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Cormier discussed a possible move back to heavyweight. Apparently, the move back up would not be an easy one, but it’s one he’d certainly consider.

Russell Ess - August 14, 2017

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has not been heard from much since losing the belt to Jon Jones at UFC 214. Cormier was controversially interviewed in the Octagon by Joe Rogan and released a short statement on social media after the loss. However, on Monday, Cormier joined Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and gave his first interview since UFC 214 and opened up on how he was feeling.

Tom Taylor - August 14, 2017

Late last month, in the main event of UFC 214, then UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier attempted to defend his title against his fiercest rival, former champion Jon Jones. Unfortunately for Cormier, Jones won this fight via third-round knockout, moving to 2-0 in their rivalry as he did. Post-fight, Cormier suggested that, having lost twice to Jones, theirs wasn’t actually much of a rivalry. Despite this post-fight claim, however, Cormier announced on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he actually believes he and Jones will fight for a third time.

Tom Taylor - August 14, 2017

Bryan Caraway hasn’t stepped into the cage since May of 2016. From the sounds of it, he’s eager to change that very soon. On Monday morning, the long-time bantamweight contender, who currently holds the number-6 spot in the official UFC bantamweight rankings, made a call out of brick-fisted Brazilian John Lineker.

Tom Taylor - August 14, 2017

Over the last few weeks, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has expressed interest in a big-ticket money fight with former UFC heavyweight champ and WWE megastar Brock Lesnar. At the same time, Jones explained that a fight with Stipe Miocic, the actual heavyweight champ, doesn’t interest him quite as much: “I feel like if I was to take a fight at heavyweight, it would be against a person who I felt, and my coaches felt would be a perfect matchup for me,” Jon Jones said at the UFC 214 post-fight presser. “Right now Stipe (Miocic) is looking extremely impressive and I believe when you get an extremely talented big guy versus and extremely talented little guy, the cards are working in his favor. At the same time, I fear no man. But, I strike for a reason when I strike and I feel like right now Stipe is relatively unknown to the general public. So it wouldn’t be a real super-fight in my opinion. I feel like the MMA fans would be really excited about it. But the general public wouldn’t care about that fight. Most people really don’t know who he (Miocic) is, with all due respect to him. So if I am going to sacrifice being the smaller guy, I think that stylistically Brock Lesnar would be a fight that makes way more sense. And the payday would be tremendous! Plus what it would do for our sport would be tremendous. It would have a much greater effect (than a fight with Miocic). So for those reasons, a Brock Lesnar fight just makes way more sense for me.”

Tom Taylor - August 14, 2017

On July 29, in the main event of the stacked UFC 214, then UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier attempted to defend his title against his fiercest rival in former champion Jon Jones. Though Cormier put forth a valiant effort, he was ultimately flattened by a Jones head-kick in the third, and polished off by a hellacious strafing of ground strikes in the subsequent moments. Given the stakes of this fight, it came as no surprise when Cormier broke down in tears post-fight. And though he gave a positive update on Instagram the following evening, it was clear that his road to recovery would probably be a long one. There was even some doubt as to whether he’d fight again.

Tom Taylor - August 14, 2017

On Sunday, reigning UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and rising bantamweight contender Aljamain Sterling got into it on Twitter. While this back-and-forth began as fairly innocent Twitter beef, it unfortunately wasn’t long before accusations of racism began to fly. See the pair’s fiery exchange below:

Tom Taylor - August 14, 2017

Over the last week, it seems that all anybody has been able to talk about is the knockdown Conor McGregor allegedly scored on former two-division boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi during a sparring session. This controversy erupted after UFC President Dana White shared footage – albeit a mere seconds of footage – that shows McGregor pelting Malignaggi with punches, and Malignaggi hitting the canvas. The footage has divided the combat sports world. There are those who believe that McGregor indeed did drop his accomplished foe, which would of course reflect well on his chances against Mayweather. There are those who believe the knockdown was really more of a push, and that the footage was too short to make any real deduction with.

Chris Taylor - August 13, 2017

One person was killed and nineteen were injured when James Alex Fields Jr. slammed his vehicle into a group of counter-protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia. Fields Jr. was arrested shortly after the incident and on Saturday he was charged with second-degree murder.

Chris Taylor - August 13, 2017

The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced their Half-Year awards over the weekend. The most hotly debated category is always “The Best Knockouts”, so let’s jump right in to those selections.