MMA News

Christopher Taylor - August 11, 2021

Nate Diaz has responded after receiving a callout from fellow UFC superstar Dustin Poirier on Wednesday afternoon. Poirier (28-6 MMA) was originally challenged to a middleweight fight by Diaz (20-13 MMA) immediately after winning his rubber match with Conor McGregor at UFC 264.

Cole Shelton - August 11, 2021

Justin Gaethje is hoping to earn a rematch with Dustin Poirier after he beats Michael Chandler at UFC 268. Gaethje is set to return to the Octagon in November in a highly-anticipated fight against Chandler. The winner of the fight will likely be in line for a title shot. For “The Highlight” he believes Poirier will KO Charles Oliveira to become the new champ and after he beats “Iron” it will set up their rematch.

Cole Shelton - August 11, 2021

Dustin Poirier seemingly has his eyes on Nate Diaz. Although Poirier is likely to get the next title shot against Charles Oliveira, he has made it clear he is after big paydays and that’s exactly what Diaz is. Poirier and Diaz also have had a rivalry as they were supposed to fight at UFC 230 and both men accuse one another of pulling out of the contest.

Cole Shelton - August 11, 2021

Ciryl Gane never expected he would be fighting for UFC gold in just his 10th professional MMA fight. Gane signed to the UFC at 3-0 and quickly rose up the heavyweight ranks. In his 10th professional fight, he headlined UFC 265 against Derrick Lewis for the interim heavyweight title. For the Frenchman, he says he always knew he would fight for UFC gold but didn’t think it would happen this quickly.

Adam D Martin - August 11, 2021

UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture praised the “very impressive” Ciryl Gane following his third-round TKO win over Derrick Lewis at UFC 265. Couture is the former UFC heavyweight champion himself so he knows a thing or two about what it takes to be the best heavyweight in the world. Following Gane’s performance against Lewis at UFC 265, Couture spoke to MMA reporter James Lynch and heaped praise upon “Bon Gamin.” According to “The Natural,” what impressed him the most about Gane’s performance is that he stood toe-to-toe with Lewis and beat him at his own game. It’s why Couture is now so excited to see Gane fight UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.

Adam D Martin - August 11, 2021

A boxing matchup between former UFC champions Tito Ortiz and Anderson Silva is being targeted to take place on September 11 for Triller. MMAFighting.com’s Guilherme Cruz was the first to report that Ortiz vs. Silva is being targeted for September 11. We know that Silva had been looking for his next opponent in boxing after beating Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. back in June, and we knew that Ortiz was hoping to make a comeback to combat sports at some point, as well. So now we get the two legends of MMA putting on the boxing gloves and meeting in the ring this September. The bout will serve on the undercard of the Oscar de la Hoya vs. Vitor Belfort PPV event.

Harry Kettle - August 11, 2021

Bellator star Gegard Mousasi believes Tyron Woodley could be in for a rude awakening when he faces Jake Paul later this month. After months of build-up and anticipation we’re now just a few weeks and change away from Woodley battling Paul in a boxing match. It’ll serve as the second attempt from an MMA fighter to hand Paul his first professional loss, whereas Woodley seems to be in this for two reasons: pride and bragging rights.

Adam D Martin - August 11, 2021

The official UFC rankings have been updated following UFC 265, and new interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane is now a top-15 P4P fighter. Gane knocked out Derrick Lewis in the main event of UFC 265 to become the promotion’s new interim heavyweight champion. With the win, “Bon Gamin” improved to a perfect 10-0 in his MMA career, including an incredible 7-0 mark in the Octagon alone. Now that he’s a champ, the rankings panelists have decided to reward him as he entered the P4P top-15 rankings in the No. 14 spot. With Gane coming in at No. 14 P4P, Justin Gaethje moved down to No. 15, and UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling fell out of the rankings. At heavyweight, Gane moved into the No. 1 contender spot, which forced former champ Stipe Miocic into the No. 2 spot and Lewis into the No. 3 ranking at heavyweight.

Adam D Martin - August 11, 2021

UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman is more interested in fighting Vicente Luque than Leon Edwards, according to manager Ali Abdelaziz. Luque submitted Michael Chiesa with a first-round D’Arce choke to improve his win streak to five straight fights and make it into the top-five rankings at 170lbs. Unlike many of the other top contenders in the weight class, Luque has not yet fought Usman, which automatically makes him an intriguing option for the champ for an upcoming title defense. Usman has his hands full at the moment with Colby Covington, who he fights in a rematch at UFC 268, but according to Abdelaziz, the champ is already looking at Luque as a rival.

Adam D Martin - August 11, 2021

A potential Jose Aldo vs. TJ Dillashaw bantamweight “clash of former champions would be monumental,” says Aldo’s coach, Andre Pederneiras. Aldo defeated Pedro Munhoz via unanimous decision in the co-main event of UFC 265, while Dillashaw is coming off of a split decision win over Cory Sandhagen last month. As soon as Aldo defeated Munhoz, the one name that he had in mind was Dillashaw. Both Aldo and Dillashaw are former UFC champions and, with both men ranked in the top-five of the UFC bantamweight division in 2021, this could be a potential No. 1 contender matchup.

Adam D Martin - August 11, 2021

Women’s MMA great Amanda Nunes is hoping for her next UFC women’s bantamweight title defense to come against Julianna Pena before December. Nunes was supposed to fight Pena in the co-main event of last weekend’s UFC 265 pay-per-view card in Houston, Texas, but the champ was forced to withdraw the week before the fight after testing positive for COVID-19. Nunes’ wife Nina recently took to social media to confirm that their family is negative of the coronavirus, and that led to Pena publicly asking Dana White why the fight with Nunes can’t be rescheduled for an upcoming card.

Andrew Whitelaw - August 11, 2021

The notion that Islam Makhachev is a real problem for anyone in the UFC’s 155lb division has been floating around for a while. The Dagestani is currently riding an eight-fight winning streak including back-to-back submission victories in his last two encounters.

Christopher Taylor - August 10, 2021

Conor McGregor continued to target fellow former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier on social media today. Two weeks ago McGregor made headlines when he appeared to mock the death of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father with the tweet “Covid is good and father is evil?”. The Irishman later deleted the post, but not before it was seen by a ton of his followers.

Cole Shelton - August 10, 2021

Diego Sanchez is close to signing with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, David Feldman, the president of BKFC revealed. Sanchez was recently released from his UFC contract, in part due to his relationship with Joshua Fabia which he since ended. Since the release, however, he has been open to the fact he wanted to return and even hinted at a move to BKFC, which appears to be nearly official.

Cole Shelton - August 10, 2021

Jacare Souza has announced his retirement from MMA. Souza was released from the UFC following his submission loss to Andre Muniz at UFC 262. He also broke his arm in the fight. The setback marked his fourth straight loss as prior to the loss to Muniz, he suffered a KO loss to Kevin Holland, a split decision loss to Jan Blachowicz, and a decision loss to Jack Hermansson.

Adam D Martin - August 10, 2021

Ciryl Gane praised his coach Fernand Lopez after winning his UFC title, saying that “he knew that I could do something in the sport.” Gane knocked out Derrick Lewis in the third round of their main event battle at UFC 265 to become the new interim UFC heavyweight champion. It was another phenomenal performance by Gane, who improved to a perfect 10-0 in MMA, including an incredible 7-0 record in the UFC heavyweight division. Given that Gane only turned pro three years ago, what he has accomplished in such a short amount of time has been absolutely nothing short of remarkable, and the Frenchman knows Lopez has been a big part of his success.

Cole Shelton - August 10, 2021

Danny Sabatello doesn’t understand why he isn’t ranked in Bellator’s bantamweight division. Sabatello made good in his Bellator debut as he dominated Brett Johns for all three rounds to win a clear-cut decision. Johns was a high-profile signing for Bellator and after Sabatello dominated the scrap, he expected he would be ranked but that was not the case.

Adam D Martin - August 10, 2021

UFC middleweight contender Sean Strickland called Kelvin Gastelum a “lazy f*ck” ahead of the Jared Cannonier fight at UFC Vegas 34. Strickland is the No. 8 ranked middleweight in the UFC following his win over Uriah Hall at UFC Vegas 33, and Gastelum is ranked one spot behind him at No. 9. Next Saturday night, Gastelum takes on Cannonier in a high-profile middleweight fight between top-10 fighters. Ahead of the matchup, Strickland spoke to MMA journalist James Lynch and was asked about his thoughts on the Gastelum vs. Cannonier fight. Strickland did not hold back, ripping Gastelum for being “lazy” while admitting he does have a chance to beat Cannonier.