MMA News

Chris Taylor - August 12, 2017

UFC President Dana White shook up the combat sports world yesterday evening when he released video footage of Conor McGregor knocking down former two-weight boxing champion Paul Malignaggi in sparring. Here is the video everyone wanted to see of Conor vs Paulie Malignaggi former IBF and WBA World Champion @TheNotoriousMMA pic.twitter.com/GfFP3SKsye

Chris Taylor - August 12, 2017

What could be the biggest fight in combat sports history will take place in exactly two weeks as current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will take his talents to the boxing ring where he will square off with undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather. The super fight, which takes place August 26 live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, has had no shortage of hype since being announced.

Justin Golightly - August 12, 2017

When a nuclear explosion goes off on planet MMA, ground zero is Twitter. Everyone scrambles to the crater of impact to lob their sarcasm, GIFs, or the rare well-thought out analysis. All colors and creeds of society are brought together, at least as many exist within the UFC’s key male demographics of 18 to 49. Perhaps the best thing about it though, is that it isn’t just Joe Schmoe and the girl next door talking about it, it’s other fighters as well. That’s right, the very barbarian gladiators and gladiatresses (?) we hoist onto pedestals, descend briefly to our level to react as fans. As soon as daddy Dana White plastered the footage of his poster child Conor McGregor sparring Paul Malignaggi, you could practically smell the animated reaction popcorn. The footage was better than expected and so were other MMA fighter’s reactions. If it was up to us, they’d all get a bonus.

Justin Golightly - August 12, 2017

Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather aren’t the only people who are going to cash in on their gigantic freak show boxing extravaganza. Sports gamblers everywhere are looking to get a piece of the action either by placing big money on Mayweather, or sliding into a nice underdog bet for McGregor. However, one anonymous and brave person just blew up everything. That’s only a slight hyperbole, considering the computer literally couldn’t process it. Who the hell put in this bet, Donald Trump? Floyd Mayweather in disguise? Whoa! The money is starting to come in on @FloydMayweather at the @southpointlv. Biggest bet in Vegas yet? @VSiNLive pic.twitter.com/Kw4VGDOQPe

Justin Golightly - August 12, 2017

The way that the UFC’s middleweight division has been booked has caused a lot of fighters to get pissed off. Michael Bisping and his forever-upcoming fight with Georges St-Pierre created a log jam that had domino effects far beyond what people could have imagined. At one point, fighters like Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero were on strike. Jacare Souza used the situation to leverage a better contract, while Gegard Mousasi left for Bellator. The new interim middleweight  champion Robert Whittaker doesn’t seem to care though. “It’s worked in my favor with that fight being scheduled. I have to fight Michael — there’s no one I also can fight — so with that, the earliest I can realistically fight is early next year anyway. They [the UFC] knew I couldn’t fight until early next year and Michael wanted that fight with Georges really badly. So, to me it’s perfect and there’s no guarantees what’s going to happen. I’m happy to fight Georges as much as I am to fight Bisping.” — Robert Whittaker speaking to FOX Sports Australia.

Justin Golightly - August 12, 2017

Kevin Randleman was a special human being. Not only can he take credit for one of the most amazing slams in MMA history on Fedor Emelianenko, but he’s a former UFC Heavyweight champion. When he passed away in February of 2016, the MMA world has been mourned his loss, but then celebrated his life in an outpouring of love and stories from outside of combat. Just yesterday, a fan with the username colossuskid came forward on R/MMA telling an amazing story of how Randleman actually talked him out of suicide. Included below is his personal account in its entirety. I’ve pondered for a long time on how to tell this story; many people have seen it passing in the comment threads but I wanted to make a post about it because this might help people with depressing thoughts or suicide contemplating.

Justin Golightly - August 12, 2017

If the chaos caused by Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather wasn’t enough, there is this whole other entity gestating and growing with Paul Malignaggi. After Malignaggi launched some criticism at McGregor during his analyst duties, he was invited into McGregor’s camp. Of course, everyone knows what went down next, or at least in part. After that infamous knockdown photo leaked, weeks of conversation followed. Just last night, it reached a fever pitch as Dana White dropped the bomb by posting the footage that everyone wanted. …Which just caused more talk. Talk that has Conor McGregor worried about Malignaggi. “The spars were not good for him. He took a lot of head trauma. We were actually worried about him.” – McGregor on Malignaggi. #MayMac pic.twitter.com/oOwNCsyHsX

Justin Golightly - August 12, 2017

What a wonderful day in the gym today, what a wonderful day for a sparring partner, won’t you be mine? Won’t you be mine? The sun is shining and it’s not just the birds that are tweeting. If you didn’t catch it last night, Dana White waited until right after Conor McGregor’s open workout to release the much-talked about videos of the Paul Malignaggi sparring sessions. If Malignaggi thought those pics were unflattering, then it was guaranteed this knockdown footage was going to send him in a rage. He rushed to Twitter moments after the release to say what he always has: This was a push. Pushing my head down with right hand as he’s draggin me in that direction by it then throwin the left, the push down is with right hand. https://t.co/txdK1ZQsIi

Chris Taylor - August 11, 2017

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor took center stage at today’s UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. “Mystic Mac” headlined the second consecutive media day for his upcoming super fight with boxing legend Floyd Mayweather – who had been featured yesterday evening from his own gym in Sin City.

Chris Taylor - August 11, 2017

We are just over two weeks away from what could be the biggest fight in combat sports history, as current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will square off with undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather inside the boxing ring on August 26. The second of two consecutive media days took place this evening live from the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas.

Chris Taylor - August 11, 2017

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor hosted his media workout earlier this evening in Las Vegas, Nevada. The brash Irish star showed up to the UFC Performance Institute in style rocking a Versace Robe that would have even wrestling legend Rick Flair glowing with envy.

Russell Ess - August 11, 2017

Floyd Mayweather’s last opponent, Andre Berto, and Conor McGregor have a friendly relationship. So, you would think it would make perfect sense for Berto to be helping out “The Notorious” in his training camp, right? According to McGregor’s former sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi, Berto had plans to join McGregor’s camp to help prepare the UFC champ for his mega-million dollar boxing match against Mayweather. However, after seeing and hearing how McGregor went about treating Malignaggi and Chris Van Heerden in the past, Berto’s plans changed.

Russell Ess - August 11, 2017

We are nearly two weeks away from what could set the record for the richest fight in combat sports history as superstars Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor are set to meet in the boxing ring on August 26. On Thursday, Mayweather put on an open workout for the media where he showed some of his “hard work” and “dedication” in the gym.

Justin Golightly - August 11, 2017

Maybe things aren’t going your way in life right now. You’ve been pacing back and forth, knowing you’ll never pay the hefty pay-per-view price to watch Conor McGregor box Floyd Mayweather. The hard truth is that, if you’re not a celebrity or extremely lucky, there’s no way in hell you’d be able to go to the fight itself. You might as well save for a house than try and buy tickets. The good news is, you don’t have to worry. Any average Joe now has a chance to fly in style to the biggest fight in the history of our tiny world thanks to this contest. Fly Notorious. ✈️🎫🇺🇸

Justin Golightly - August 11, 2017

It is no secret that “The Super Samoan” Mark Hunt is not a fan of current WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. The former heavyweight title challenger has ripped “The Beast” for pretty months following their fight in July of 2016. Hunt was defeated by the former UFC heavyweight champion at UFC 200 via unanimous decision. However, that bout was later overturned to a no-contest after it was revealed that Brock had tested positive for Clomiphene. Lesnar, who returned to the WWE following his scrap with Hunt, recently found his way back into mixed martial arts headlines. Or, should we say forced back into the MMA media world? All it took was a single answer on Jon Jones’ Facebook live to spark talk of a super fight between Jones and Lesnar. The fight has garnered some mixed reactions, but overall there seems to be a lot of excitement surrounding the potential scrap. Not from Mark Hunt though, who flamethrowed both of their names on Mike Swick’s “Quick Swick” podcast.

Justin Golightly - August 11, 2017

Stephen Thompson is all healed up and ready to spin kick the top five in the UFC welterweight division, all on a journey to get back to a title shot. Tyron Woodley (18-3-1 MMA) successfully defended his welterweight title at last month’s UFC 214 event in Anaheim, defeating top division contender Demian Maia via unanimous decision. Woodley put on absolute defensive clinic to stuff all 21 of the Brazilian submission specialist’s takedown attempts, leaving Maia with a pair of badly swollen eyes to take home with him after five rounds. When you stuff 24 takedown attempts and make your third successful defense … @TWooodley pic.twitter.com/uC8iHizOGR

Justin Golightly - August 11, 2017

The UFC is about to get a lot more Karate Kid again. Former UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson is ready to make his octagon return. Thompson was put on the sidelines following his majority decision loss to Tyron Woodley at March’s UFC 209 due to a knee injury which required surgery. Despite Jorge Masvidal saying Thompson’s injury was fake, “Wonderboy” spoke to BJPENN.com’s Chris Taylor yesterday evening where he revealed that he has been cleared by doctors and is now eyeing a November return to action at super stacked UFC 217. “Yea, so I got cleared. You know the doctors said I was good on Wednesday. So now I am getting back into the swing of things. I am training again, so I think I should be ready to go in November. That is the plan. I know that me and (Jorge) Masvidal verbally said that we would fight. I haven’t heard nothing from the UFC yet. So hopefully they will jump on board and want to make that fight happen. You know I’ve been out for 5 or 6 months now. It seems like I’ve been out forever man. I am just itching to get back out there and do it again. So hopefully the UFC will jump on board and want to get us on the [UFC 217] card. That is the plan anyway.”

Justin Golightly - August 11, 2017

As much as Conor McGregor’s boxing camp in preparation for Floyd Mayweather has been about war and sharpening his skills, it’s also been a straight up gossip factory. He has his tight knit crew with him behind those closed doors, only the pictures he wants out, gets out. Of course, each one is going to make McGregor look better than the last. The controversy of short-lived sparring partner Paul Malignaggi and that infamous “knockdown photo” has made the rounds and back again. Tiernan Bradley, Irish boxing prospect and one who has stuck around for camp, claims Malignaggi is not speaking the truth in his weekly May/Mac column for The Irish News. https://t.co/BYLsV40K6Y