MMA News

Chris Taylor - May 22, 2021

The Octagon returns to Nevada for tonight’s UFC Vegas 27 event, a twelve-bout fight card headlined by bantamweights Rob Font and Cody Garbrandt. Font (18-4 MMA) will enter tonight’s main event on a three-fight win streak, his latest being a first round TKO victory over Marlon Moraes this past December. That win was preceded by unanimous decision victories over Ricky Simon and Sergio Pettis.

Chris Taylor - May 22, 2021

Tonight’s UFC Vegas 27 event is down to a total of twelve fights after a lightweight bout between Yancy Medeiros and Damir Hadzovic was called off. Medeiros and Hadzovic were expected to throw down on today’s preliminary fight card, but due to health complications the bout has now been postponed.

Chris Taylor - May 21, 2021

Austin Vanderford suffered a nasty gash during his unanimous decision win over Fabian Edwards this evening at Bellator 259. Vanderford (11-0 MMA) and Edwards (9-2 MMA) squared off in a pivotal middleweight matchup tonight in Uncasville.

Chris Taylor - May 21, 2021

Oscar De La Hoya has issued a challenge to UFC President Dana White in hopes of securing a future boxing match with Georges St-Pierre. Earlier this week Triller boss Ryan Kavanaugh accused White and company of blocking GSP from competing in a proposed boxing match with De La Hoya.

Adam D Martin - May 21, 2021

Veteran MMA judge Sal D’Amato explained why he scored a 10-8 scorecard for Michael Chandler in the Charles Oliveira title fight at UFC 262. Oliveira didn’t need the judges to come into the equation because he knocked Chandler out in the second round to win the vacant UFC lightweight belt. But the fact the first round was scored 10-8 for Chandler by Sal D’Amato and Chris Lee despite the fact Oliveira had back control on Chandler during the round is troubling. The correct scorecard according to most fans was a 10-9 Chandler card, but instead, we somehow got two 10-8 rounds instead. That led to UFC commentator Daniel Cormier taking the judges to town for their cards.

Cole Shelton - May 21, 2021

Christos Giagos wasn’t a fan of the UFC 262 commentary team. Opening up the card, Giagos fought short-notice replacement, Sean Soriano. Soriano is one of Michael Chandler’s main training partners. Throughout the fight, Giagos believes the commentary team was biased towards his opponent and they weren’t mentioning anything he was doing well.

Adam D Martin - May 21, 2021

The official weigh-ins for UFC Vegas 27 took place on Friday in Las Vegas and all but one fighter scheduled to compete has made weight. The main event of UFC Vegas 27 sees top-five ranked bantamweights battle it out as Rob Font takes on Cody Garbrandt. Font has won his last three fights in a row, including a KO win over Marlon Moraes in his last outing, while Garbrandt is coming off of a ridiculous highlight-reel KO over Raphael Assuncao. Both men hit very hard and this should be an exciting fight for as long as it lasts, with someone likely getting brutally knocked out here.

Adam D Martin - May 21, 2021

Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva praised his longtime rival Vitor Belfort as both MMA legends make the transition into boxing. Silva makes his return to boxing next month when he takes on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in his first boxing match since 2005. At age 46, Silva was released by the UFC last year after getting knocked out by Uriah Hall, but he has moved quickly to re-establish himself in the world of boxing. Like many older fighters, Silva is using his name to cash in on the current boxing craze that was started by older fighters such as Mike Tyson returning to the ring.

Adam D Martin - May 21, 2021

UFC Vegas 27 has lost one of its fights after flyweight Raulian Paiva fell ill during a tough weight cut and had to be hospitalized. MMAFighting.com’s Damon Martin first reported that Paiva got sick during his weight cut and was pulled from the card. His scheduled flyweight bout against fellow top-15 ranked contender David Dvorak will not go on as planned any longer. Right now, UFC Vegas 27 still has 12 fights scheduled, though it’s possible something else could happen during weigh-ins. Hopefully, this is the only fight that gets scratched and we go on with 12 fights.

Adam D Martin - May 21, 2021

UFC women’s strawweight contender Carla Esparza wants a rematch with champion Rose Namajunas with a win over Yan Xiaonan at UFC Vegas 27. Esparza meets Xiaonan in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 27 this Saturday night. Esparza is the No. 4 ranked women’s strawweight while Xiaonan is ranked No. 3, so the winner of this fight will put themselves in a tremendous position to challenge Namajunas, who recently beat No. 1 ranked contender Weili Zhang at UFC 262 to win the 115lbs belt.

Adam D Martin - May 21, 2021

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold says that no one in the current UFC middleweight top-15 wants to have a fight against him. Rockhold hasn’t fought since a KO loss to current UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239 in July 2019. He has been dealing with injuries ever since then, including a shoulder injury, that has resulted in him having had an extended layoff. However, he has been back in the gym recently and has made it clear that he is hoping to return to the Octagon later this summer or sometime in the fall. And when he does return to the cage, Rockhold has made it clear that he desires a top-15 opponent in his return.

Harry Kettle - May 21, 2021

The official list of UFC 262 medical suspensions have been released with Shane Burgos and Jacare Souza being suspended indefinitely. The pay-per-view last weekend was hailed by many as a success with the majority of fans watching at home feeling as if they were able to get a good night of fights under their belt. However, we also saw some pretty nasty finishes, which is why there’s always bound to be some notable medical suspensions after the fact.

Adam D Martin - May 21, 2021

UFC president Dana White claims that he has “absolutely moved on” from the idea of former 205lbs champion Jon Jones fighting at heavyweight. It was last summer that Jones vacated the UFC light heavyweight title and made his intentions known that he was moving up to heavyweight in 2021. He has spent the last year bulking up to get stronger, and he was widely expected to fight the winner of the UFC 260 main event between Francis Ngannou and Stipe Miocic, which Ngannou won via second-round knockout. However, after going through a very public contract negotiation with White for his move up to heavyweight, it appears that move is not on the table.

Christopher Taylor - May 20, 2021

It sounds like former TUF 1 winner Diego Sanchez did a lot of soul searching following his recent release from the UFC. Sanchez (30-13 MMA) was expected to have his final fight with the Ultimate Fighting Championship earlier this month at UFC Vegas 26 against fellow veteran Donald Cerrone. However, that fight was scrapped just ten days prior to the event after Diego’s coach and mentor Joshua Fabia had a confrontation with promotional officials. The incident also resulted in Diego Sanchez’s release from the organization.

Drake Riggs - May 20, 2021

Brendan Schaub almost saw a brawl of sorts break out on his Food Truck Diaries set between Jake Paul and Dillon Danis. Paul’s drive-by water balloon and toilet paper attack on Danis was speculated as staged by many. Now several months removed from the December episode of Below the Belt’s Food Truck Diaries, Schaub reveals he at the very least knew something was bound to go down.

Drake Riggs - May 20, 2021

Zhang Weili and Beneil Dariush had mixed results in their most recent outings. However, they both were on the receiving end of negative crowd reactions. Dariush now finds himself sitting at the No. 3 ranked contender spot at lightweight after a dominant win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 262 this past weekend. The event was the second for the UFC to host a full crowd since the global pandemic.

Cole Shelton - May 20, 2021

The pay-per-view buy rate for UFC 262 is reportedly in. According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, UFC 262 sold 300,000 PPV buys on ESPN+ in the United States. That number does not include international buys, as it is domestic buys only.

Chris Taylor - May 20, 2021

Luke Rockhold believes “feminine shins” are to blame for Chris Weidman’s horrific leg break against Uriah Hall at UFC 261. Rockhold (16-5 MMA) and Weidman (15-6 MMA) have had a long standing rivalry ever since ‘Rocky’ dethroned the ‘All American’ in brutal fashion back at UFC 194.