MMA News

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Though Al Iaquinta made a successful return to the Octagon last weekend, clobbering a durable Diego Sanchez to a first-round KO, the issues that kept him out of the cage for the previous two years are still festering in his mind. Chief among these issues is the way he is treated, and paid by the UFC. On Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, a fired up Iaquinta explained that he has a particularly difficult time swallowing the UFC’s modest pay of fighters, while the promotion is so hesitant to cover its fighter’s costs when they get hurt. “The UFC has done nothing for me,” he told host Ariel Helwani. “They left me high and dry [when I was injured]. I had to beg them for freakin’ knee surgery. Their doctor said I would never fight again if I had the knee surgery I wanted. Two nights ago I got in the cage.” “They told me I would never fight again if I had the surgery I wanted to have,” he elaborated. “I did all the research. I did. All day, I would wake up in the morning and I was on the computer all day doing research about knees. I could freakin’ do a knee surgery myself at this point. And they told me I would never fight. They wanted to send me out and get stem cell injections, take six weeks out of my life – six months really – and they wanted to try stem cell. I said ‘it’s proven it doesn’t work. Why are we doing this. You’re wasting my time.’ They said ‘well, we want to give it a shot before we pay $60,000 for a surgery.’ $60,000 for a surgery is nothing to you, and you’re going to cry? They only wanted to pay $15,000. A normal surgery at a normal hospital would have cost $15,000, but because I wanted to go to a good hospital, a hospital with a special surgery and the best doctor in the world – I wanted that – they said ‘oh it’s $60,000. We’re gonna pay for the regular [$15,000], you’ve gotta make up the rest.’ I said ‘I can’t make up the rest, are you fucking kidding me? How? How am I going to do that? I was going to say, ‘listen, pay for the surgery and take it out of my next purse when I fight again.’ I couldn’t freakin’ shell out money for a surgery. Go fuck yourself.”

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Back in November of 2013, Team Alpha Male‘s Chris Holdsworth won season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter with a second-round rear-naked choke win over Davey Grant. In May of 2014, he scored a decision win over Chico Camus, moving to 2-0 in the Octagon and 6-0 overall, and establishing himself as one of the brightest young prospects in the UFC bantamweight division. He has not been seen in the cage since.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Bellator MMA’s run of signing high-profile free agents continues. According to the ever-reliable Ariel Helwani, the rising MMA promotion has officially picked up former UFC strawweight title challenger Valérie Létourneau . The Canadian is expected to debut with the promotion sometime in the late summer. She will compete in the organization’s women’s flyweight division. Former UFC title challenger @ValTroubleMMA has officially signed with @BellatorMMA, I'm told. Late summer debut planned in 125 division.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Last weekend, on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 108 in Nashville, Tennessee, 23-year-old flyweight prospect Brandon Moreno dropped the far more experienced Dustin Ortiz with a head kick, then tapped him out with a rear-naked choke. With this win, the young flyweight star moved to 3-0 as a member of the UFC flyweight roster. In his first bout in the division, he shocked the world with a first-round submission over the ever-dangerous Louis Smolka. In his next outing, he built on his momentum with a split win over the tough Ryan Benoit. Now, with this latest win over Ortiz, he stands out as one of the fastest rising stars in the talent starved flyweight division.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Over the weekend, UFC veteran and The Ultimate Fighter season 1 competitor Kenny Florian took to the mats to compete at the Abu Dhabi World Pro Championship 2017. Unfortunately, his latest trip into the grappling realm did not go as planned.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Though the UFC’s trip to Nashville dominated most of the MMA community’s focus over the weekend, Bellator MMA also made a Friday night return to our screens with a very exciting card in Bellator 178. In the Bellator 178 main event, former featherweight champ Patricio “Pitbull” Freire battled champ Daniel Straus for a whopping fourth time, this time winning with a second round guillotine to reclaim Bellator featherweight gold.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Over the weekend, when the UFC touched down in Nashville, Tennessee, two-time flyweight title challenger John Dodson picked up a nice, decision win over former bantamweight title challenger Eddie Wineland. With this win, he reestablished himself as one of the bantamweight division’s elite players, and set himself up for some more big fights in the division. Apparently, however, Dodson has had a very difficult time finding willing dance partners of late. “When I put people to sleep, no one wants to fight me,” Dodson said post-fight (via MMAFighting.com). “When I fight intelligently, no one still wants to fight me. I don’t know what they want me to do.”

Chris Taylor - April 23, 2017

Pros react to Al Iaquinta’s knockout win over Diego Sanchez UFC lightweight contender Al Iaquinta returned to action at tonight’s UFC Fight Night 108 event in Nashville where he took on seasoned veteran Diego Sanchez.

Tom Taylor - April 23, 2017

Last night, UFC, World Series of Fighting, and Bellator veteran Melvin Guillard made a bold jump into the world of bareknuckle boxing, and actually did very well, knocking his opponent Dan Breeze out with a violent volley of punches. See Guillard’s finish, which occurred in the United Kingdom, below:

Chris Taylor - April 23, 2017

Last night’s UFC Fight Night 108 event in Nashville delivered with some very exciting scraps and memorable finishes. In the evening’s main event, featherweight fighters Cub Swanson and Artem Lobov went to war, exchanging bombs for the better part of twenty five minutes.

Chris Taylor - April 23, 2017

Pros react to Mike Perry’s brutal KO victory over Jake Ellenberger UFC welterweight Mike Perry scored a devastating second-round knockout victory over veteran Jake Ellenberger on the main card of last night’s UFC Fight Night 108 event in Nashville.

Chris Taylor - April 23, 2017

Conor McGregor sends Artem Lobov a message following loss to Cub Swanson at UFC Nashville Featherweight fighters Artem Lobov and Cub Swanson went to war in the main event of UFC Fight Night 108 yesterday evening in Nashville.

Tom Taylor - April 23, 2017

Shortly after his submission loss to light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 210, Anthony Johnson surprised the combat sports world by announcing his retirement from MMA. “This was my last fight,” a teary eyed Johnson said post fight. “I didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t even tell Dana White. My coaches knew, my family knew and my friends knew. I didn’t want any distractions. But I have to thank you all for being there for me.”

Tom Taylor - April 23, 2017

Last night, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Nashville, Tennessee, featherweight veteran Cub Swanson defeated Artem Lobov with a hard-fought, unanimous decision. With this win, Swanson established himself as one of the top contenders in the division, and perhaps the most deserving man of a featherweight title shot. The next featherweight title fight will occur at UFC 212 this June, when undisputed champ Jose Aldo attempts to unify his title with the interim title owned by Max Holloway. Swanson could well meet the winner.

Tom Taylor - April 23, 2017

Al Iaquinta looked as good as ever when he knocked out Diego Sanchez in the co-main event of UFC Nashville. Unfortunately, the New York based fighter is still at odds with the UFC, and as such, isn’t sure what the future holds as far as his fighting career goes. Iaquinta addressed this issue post-fight (via MMAFighting.com).

Tom Taylor - April 23, 2017

Last night, the UFC touched down in “Music City,” Nashville, Tennessee, with a 13-fight card. This card featured plenty of action, as Brandon Moreno scored an epic submission win over Dustin Ortiz on the undercard, Mike Perry picked up an elbow-induced KO of the year contender over Jake Ellenberger, and Al Iaquinta crushed Diego Sanchez in the co-main event. Though the main event, which pitted the UFC’s fourth-ranked featherweight Cub Swanson against Conor McGregor training parter Artem Lobov, did not produce a stoppage, it was no exception to the exciting tone of the card. As a massive betting underdog, Lobov was given little chance against his well-established foe. That said, the Russian-born Irishman hung in there remarkably well, even arguably winning the first round. In the second, however, Swanson began to find his groove, punishing his foe with a dizzying array of strikes – from jumping switch kicks to spinning elbows. Amazingly, Lobov was able to eat everything the powerful Swanson threw at him, which meant that fans got to enjoy five wild rounds of action.

Tom Taylor - April 23, 2017

Over the last few months, New York based lightweight Al Iaquinta has been involved in a very public contract dispute with the UFC. This dispute was severe enough to drive the lightweight into a temporary retirement, during which time he focused solely on his burgeoning real estate career. Despite this quarrel with the UFC, Iaquinta ultimately agreed to fight again – though his relationship with the UFC has not improved much. His opponent in his comeback fight was The Ultimate Fighter season 1 winner Diego Sanchez. The pair met in the co-main event of the UFC’s Saturday night trip to Nashville, Tennessee.

Tom Taylor - April 23, 2017

Over the last few weeks, UFC featherweight star Cris “Cyborg” Justino has been angling hard for at shot at reigning featherweight champion Germaine De Randamie. The Brazilian destroyer is keen to make this fight happen at UFC 214, which goes down on July 29 in Anaheim, California. Unfortunately, Cyborg hasn’t had much luck getting the UFC 214 title shot she seeks. This has caused her to grow increasingly frustrated, even conceding that she’d be willing to fight Invicta champ Megan Anderson in a non-title fight to participate on the card, and asking the UFC to release her if they can’t find her a fight.