MMA News

Tom Taylor - August 1, 2017

Last Saturday, in the co-main event of UFC 214, UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley successfully defended his title for the third time, shutting down 21 Demian Maia takedown attempts to a clear unanimous decision win. Unfortunately, the insipid nature of Woodley’s win drew the ire of many members of the MMA community, including UFC President Dana White, who berated the champ with an unsavory verbal onslaught at the UFC 214 post-fight presser. Woodley responded to White’s criticism on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, explaining that his tepid performance was due to a shoulder injury he sustained early in the fight. He then demanded a public apology from the UFC boss, and threatened to leak negative information if he didn’t get one.

Tom Taylor - August 1, 2017

In preparation for his August 26 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr., UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor recently sought the help of former boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi. McGregor also enlisted the aid of boxing referee Joe Cortez, who was put in charge of overseeing his sparring sessions with Malignaggi. Speaking to SiriusXM Boxing, Cortez recently shed some light on Malignaggi’s sparring sessions with McGregor. Apparently, McGregor actually held his own, and the two fighters got quite heated.

bjpenndotcom - August 1, 2017

In 2014, prior to Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones’ first meeting inside the Octagon, the pair both appeared onstage together at a press conference for the ‘tickets on sale’ event prior to the fight. During the course of the press conference, Jones declared that he had been able to pick out some rather glaring tendencies in the game of Daniel Cormier. He stated:

Tom Taylor - August 1, 2017

Over the weekend, in the main event of UFC 214, light heavyweight legend Jon Jones reclaimed the divisional title with a third-round knockout of his arch rival, Daniel Cormier. In the buildup to and fallout of this fight, the new champ generated dozens of headlines by calling for a fight with former UFC heavyweight champ and long-time WWE star Brock Lesnar. As outlandish as that callout initially sounded, it seems like the fight might actually happen.

Tom Taylor - August 1, 2017

What does Conor McGregor have to do to defeat Floyd Mayweather? @UFCONFOX@DominickCruz breaks down next month’s anticipated mega-fight. pic.twitter.com/jok3YKOG9q — Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) July 30, 2017

Tom Taylor - August 1, 2017

On July 8, on the undercard of the anticipated UFC 213, Russian-Ukrainian heavyweight Alexey Oleynik built on the momentum of his dazzling, Ezekiel choke defeat of Viktor Pesta with a slick rear-naked choke defeat of former contender Travis Browne. With this impressive win, Oleynik set himself up for more big opportunities inside the heavyweight top-10, and from the sounds of it, he’s already got an opponent in mind. His desired opponent is legendary knockout artist Mark Hunt. Oleynik made his callout of Hunt on Instagram, explaining that he’d been waiting for Hunt to agree to fight him for two weeks.

Chris Taylor - July 31, 2017

Current UFC middleweight champion of the world Michael Bisping is known for being brash. “The Count” was exactly that during his recent appearance on FS1 where he took shots at both current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and former 170-pound kingpin Georges St-Pierre.

Chris Taylor - July 31, 2017

Jon Jones (23-1 MMA) was able to reclaim his UFC light heavyweight championship this past weekend in Anaheim, scoring a third-round knockout victory over Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 214. In his post-fight interview, “Bones” would proceed to callout former UFC heavyweight champion and current WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar by issuing the following challenge to “The Beast”.

Russell Ess - July 31, 2017

UFC President Dana White was not exactly thrilled with the UFC welterweight title fight between champion Tyron Woodley and challenger Demian Maia that took place over the weekend at UFC 214. It’s a tough thing to deal with as styles make fights and Woodley executed exactly what he wanted to do in avoiding all of Maia’s takedowns and keep the fight on their feet. However, White did state that the title fight between the two set a record for the least amount of punches thrown in a five-round title fight. White added that he believes Woodley could have turned it up and got the finish over Maia but was unwilling to take the risk.

Russell Ess - July 31, 2017

Paulie Malignaggi has a new found respect for UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor after getting some time in the gym with the Irish superstar. Malignaggi was brought into McGregor’s camp for sparring and the former boxing champion also got to see “The Notorious” and his work ethic in the gym, which Malignaggi says changed his outlook on him.

Russell Ess - July 31, 2017

Volkan Oezdemir has made a very clear statement to the UFC light heavyweight division with his last two impressive performances in the Octagon. Oezdemir holds a 15-1 professional MMA record and has only had three fights in the UFC, making his UFC debut against Ovince St. Preux at UFC Fight Night 104 back in February. Oezdemir took a split decision win over St. Preux and then went on to face Misha Cirkunov in his next fight in the Octagon. Oezdemir needed just 28 seconds to KO Cirkunov in his second UFC fight. It was quick work again over the weekend for Oezdemir who went into the fight ranked #5 by the UFC against #3 ranked Jimi Manuwa. The fight lasted just 42 seconds as “No Time” scored another highlight reel KO finish over Manuwa.

Russell Ess - July 31, 2017

Do you think we will see Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar fight in the UFC Octagon sometime soon? Want to bet on it? Well, for all of those that are willing to put money down and have the capability to place legal bets, odds have opened up by Bovada for a Jon Jones vs. Brock Lesnar fight as well as a bet on if the two will actually fight before July 15, 2018.

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

Shortly after his UFC 210 loss to then light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, brick fisted contender Anthony Johnson announced his plan to retire from MMA. While the fighter nicknamed “Rumble” assured his retirement was probably for good, he did suggest he’d be willing to come back for a future bout with light heavyweight great Jon Jones. After Jones’ UFC 214 destruction of Daniel Cormier, which he witnessed live, Rumble’s interest in a comeback seems to be inflating. He discussed the possibility on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

Former UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, who has not fought since late 2013, is widely regarded as the greatest welterweight of all time. Current UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley, who has now defended the title three times, is keen to usurp St-Pierre’s rep as the welterweight GOAT. If Woodley could beat St-Pierre, of course, he’d have a much easier time claiming to be the best. Unfortunately, St-Pierre doesn’t seem interested in accepting a fight with Woodley, and is instead keen on fighting UFC middleweight Michael Bisping. Woodley thinks this is because St-Pierre is avoiding him – which should make him the welterweight GOAT by default.

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

Last Saturday, Daniel Cormier’s reign as UFC light heavyweight champion came to a crashing halt, as he was put down by a third-round head-kick dealt by his rival Jon Jones. Some 24 hours later, Cormier released a statement on his Instagram account, during which he congratulated Jones, and apologized to referee John McCarthy for initially protesting the stoppage. First off, thank you all for the kind words. I have felt the support. Congratulations to Jon Jones and his team. They did a phenomenal job and got the victory. Also, to Big John McCarthy, I would like to apologize for acting up with you. I am thankful for the time you gave me to try and defend myself and stay in the fight. You are the best in the business for a reason. I also wanna thank my team and my coaches. I love you all from the bottom of my heart. Your time and energy is greatly appreciated. You guys did a wonderful job, I was ready. It’s a fist fight and things happen. Dana White and the @ufc, thank you for being the premiere organization in all of MMA. Again, congrats to Team Jones and JacksonWink. Love you all. I’ll see you soon. DC 📷@layziethesavage

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

Duke Roufus serves as the coach of several of the UFC’s top fighters, from UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley, who defeated Demian Maia over the weekend, to UFC flyweight contender Sergio Pettis, who takes on Brandon Moreno in the main event of UFC Fight Night 114 this weekend. Roufus also serves as the head MMA coach of former WWE star CM Punk. Punk, of course, lost his lone MMA bout, which occured at UFC 203 last September, quite decisively. Though he showed off plenty of heart, he was tapped very quickly by his foe Mickey Gall.

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

Corner audio of both teams during Jon Jones’ knockout over Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 pic.twitter.com/ILqIQulqIx — UFC Insiders (@UFCInsiders) July 31, 2017

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

Wow. Daniel Cormier eerily predicted the result of last night’s main event three years ago pic.twitter.com/FfFG6Vp1W3 — UFC Insiders (@UFCInsiders) July 31, 2017