MMA News

Tom Taylor - April 21, 2017

Tomorrow night, the UFC will take over “Music City,” Nashville, Tennessee, with an action packed night of fights. One of the most exciting of these fights will occur in the co-main event, when The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 winner Diego Sanchez takes on Al Iaquinta, who will be returning to the Octagon after a contract dispute with the UFC. Though Iaquinta has not been seen in the cage for some time, he remains one of the top lightweights in the UFC, and as such, a tough test for the veteran Sanchez. Speaking to MMAJunkie.com in advance of this fight, Sanchez has assured that he plans to pass this test, and catapult himself up the lightweight rankings.

Tom Taylor - April 21, 2017

Tomorrow night, the UFC will touch down in the music mecca of Nashville, Tennessee to compose some rather percussive tunes of its own. It will do so with UFC Fight Night 108, a fun looking 13-fight card. Nashville’s main event will pit the UFC’s fourth-ranked featherweight Cub Swanson against Conor McGregor training partner Artem Lobov. Given Swanson’s station in the division, and the fact that Lobov sits outside the top-15 with a 13-12-1 overall record, many fans have suggested that this is an opportunity the McGregor stablemate doesn’t deserve. Sensible matchmaking or not, however, this fight looks like it should be a fun one. 

Tom Taylor - April 21, 2017

https://twitter.com/Jolassanda/status/855430387006361601 There is just something about One Championship.

Tom Taylor - April 21, 2017

https://youtu.be/BZqW6q-kmrI Brazilian middleweight Maiquel Falcao, who you’ll remember as a member of the UFC and Bellator rosters – and for his infamous gas station brawl – recently had a very bad night in Russia. He was visiting the port city of Vladivostok for a Fight Nights Global scrap with Vladimir Mineev. To say it didn’t go his way would be an understatement.

Tom Taylor - April 21, 2017

During a recent visit to beautiful Moscow, Russia, former UFC welterweight champion and upcoming middleweight title challenger Georges St-Pierre spoke to RT Sport on a number of MMA-related topics. Perhaps the most interesting comment this interview produced occurred when St-Pierre was asked about Russian fighters. This question prompted him to praise undefeated UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on earth – if not the best outright. “I think actually one of the best pound-for-pound in the world, maybe the best pound-for-pound in the world, is Khabib Nurmagomedov,” St-Pierre said. “I always said it. For me, he’s probably the best pound-for-pound. Unfortunately, I believe people don’t give him enough credit. Maybe because he’s not American, he’s not someone who talks a lot of trash like Conor McGregor, he’s someone who’s very respectful, he doesn’t make a lot of noise by talking. But the same thing, like I said before about me, is that the resume speaks by itself. You know, the guy’s undefeated, he beat everybody. I’m just sad that the fight with [Tony] Ferguson didn’t happen, because it would have been an amazing fight.

Tom Taylor - April 21, 2017

Tomorrow night, Artem Lobov will face the biggest test of his career in the UFC’s fourth-ranked featherweight, Cub Swanson. He’ll enter this fight on a two-fight win-streak, and if he scores the upset, he’s likely to burst into the featherweight top-10, where more high-stakes challenges await. Things haven’t always been so good for Lobov. Speaking to Peter Carroll of NewsTalk.com, Lobov explained that, after losing his first two fights with the organization – decisions to Ryan Hall and Alex White – he actually contacted the UFC and asked to be released from his contract. Apparently, he was offered a fight with a champion in another promotion.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

This weekend, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Nashville, Tennessee, Conor McGregor training partner Artem Lobov will take a massive step up in competition as he throws down with the UFC’s fourth-ranked featherweight, Cub Swanson. Given that Lobov owns an admittedly unimpressive record of 13-2-1, and is not even ranked in the featherweight top-15, there is a widespread feeling that he doesn’t deserve this opportunity. According to Swanson himself, however, the ever-improving Russian should not be taken lightly. “The reality of it is, [Lobov] is still getting better,” Swanson told MMAJunkie. “Every fight that he’s had in the UFC, he’s made strides. He’s an awkward guy, but he’s getting better. He’s training with a good camp, he’s got good people around him, he’s motivated, he’s hungry.”

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

Last night, the first episode of season 25 of The Ultimate Fighter hit our screens, and as expected, the majority of the drama hinged on the beef between coaches Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw – the bantamweight champ and number-one-contender respectively. Garbrandt and Dillashaw, who used to train together at Team Alpha Male, share one of the most visible rivalries in MMA today. Today, when they are serving as rival coaches on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter, and are scheduled for a bantamweight title fight at UFC 213 this July 8, their beef is reaching new heights. It seems we can’t go a day without one side trashing the other in the media, or on social media.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

Having defended the welterweight title twice – albeit in two close fights with the same man – UFC welterweight titleholder Tyron Woodley is looking like he could emerge as a pretty dominant champion. We do, however, know that he can be beaten. Rory MacDonald was the most recent fighter to prove this. MacDonald beat Woodley in June of 2014, outworking him to a unanimous decision win. In the years since then, the two fighters have diverged on very different paths, with Woodley claiming UFC welterweight gold, and MacDonald departing from the UFC to set up shop under the Bellator MMA banner.

Russell Ess - April 20, 2017

It sounds like UFC President Dana White and Conor McGregor have agreed on some numbers for the boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. White spoke on The Herd on Wednesday and said that if the boxing match between Mayweather and McGregor sells as well as he thinks it is going to, Mayweather will make a bit over $100 million and McGregor will make around $75 million.

Russell Ess - April 20, 2017

Former Team Alpha Male teammates are now on clashing as UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and former champion TJ Dillashaw star as opposing coaches on the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter. The two will meet in a five-round title fight at UFC 213 on July 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada to settle their differences.

Russell Ess - April 20, 2017

Ronda Rousey and Travis Browne revealed some big news to the world on Thursday when they officially announced their engagement. TMZ obtained video from Splash News as they caught Rousey and Browne out on the street. Rousey looked down at her ring and the interviewer noticed it and asked about it.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

There is no bigger story in combat sports today than that of a potential boxing mega fight between undefeated great Floyd Mayweather Jr. and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Whether it’s a cause for cautious optimism that the fight will actually happen, a reason to believe it probably won’t, a combat sports personality offering their take on who will win, or a bit of trash talk between their two camps, this ongoing narrative generates dozens of new headlines every week.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 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 20, 2017

For a time, former WEC champ Urijah Faber and former UFC champ TJ Dillashaw trained happily together, as mentor and protege, under the roof of Sacramento, California’s Team Alpha Male. Today, however, the two fighters could not be more distant. Not long after Team Alpha Male brought striking veteran Duane Ludwig in to serve as a coach, Ludwig departed the camp, and relocated to Colorado. Having formed a close relationship with the striking coach, Dillashaw then followed him to Colarado, where he now splits his training between Team Elevation and Ludwig’s gym.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

Though the UFC is the biggest and most popular mixed martial arts promotion in the world, it is often criticized for the way it treats its fighters. The promotion frequently catches flack for underpaying it’s athletes, and for its controversial outfitting deal with Reebok, which seems to pay fighters much less than they’d make if they pursued their own sponsorship. Lately, however, their seems to be cause for optimism on these fronts, as Bellator MMA is enjoying such a surge that it’s starting to look like legitimate competition for the UFC, and a legitimate alternative for unhappy UFC fighters.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

Conor McGregor is the biggest star in MMA, and arguably the biggest star in combat sports outright. It’s for this reason that he’s become the highest paid fighter in MMA history. This is also why he might just be allowed to break from his current UFC contract and battle boxing great Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring. The latest indicator of McGregor’s incredible stardom is his inclusion in TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people on earth. McGregor, who currently holds the UFC lightweight title, made the list under the Pioneers branch, alongside names like Chance the Rapper, Jordan Peele, Yuriko Koike, Glenda Gray and Riz Ahmed. McGregor was nominated for a spot on this list by bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

When 26-year-old Kiwi Robert Whittaker took out long-time middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza on the main card of the UFC’s recent trip to Kansas City, he caught the attention of every other middleweight on the UFC. No middleweights, however, seem to be quite as interested in the young New Zealander as former champ Luke Rockhold, who has been vocal in his desire to fight him this summer. Rockhold re-upped on his desire for a fight with the man affectionately called “Bobby Knuckles” on the latest episode of Submission Radio (via MMAFighting.com).