MMA News

Tom Taylor - November 6, 2020

On Saturday night, the UFC will return to our screens with the under-the-radar UFC Vegas 13 card out of the Apex facility. The card, which will air on ESPN+, will be headlined by a light heavyweight scrap between former title challengers Glover Teixeira and Thiago Santos. While the next crack at UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz is expected to go to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, Teixeira and Santos are both optimistic they can jump the line with impressive victories on Saturday night.

Adam Martin - November 6, 2020

UFC women’s strawweight contender Claudia Gadelha explained why a trilogy fight with Joanna Jedrzejczyk would go differently this time around. Gadelha and Jedrzejczyk have fought twice previously. In December 2014, the two met in a title eliminator while both were relatively new to the UFC. Jedrzejczyk won a narrow split decision and would go on to win the title from Carla Esparza in her next fight. The UFC then paired up Gadelha and Jedrzejczyk to be the coaches on TUF 23, and once again Jedrzeczkyk got her hand raised when she won a unanimous decision at the finale.

Adam Martin - November 6, 2020

Bellator middleweight contender Austin Vanderford explained why he and his wife Paige VanZant leave politics out of their MMA careers. Vanderford picked up his 10th pro victory on Thursday night at Bellator 251 when he won a unanimous decision over short-notice opponent Vinicius De Jesus. The 30-year-old American signed with Bellator in 2019 following a stint on Dana White’s Contender Series that saw the UFC pass on signing him. Since joining Bellator, Vanderford is 4-0 and looking every bit like a future title contender in the promotion’s middleweight division.

Tom Taylor - November 6, 2020

On Friday, ONE Championship returned to screens worldwide with ONE: Inside the Matrix 2 from the Singapore Indoor Arena. The ONE Championship: Inside the Matrix 2 card was topped by a welterweight title fight between Kyrgyz champion Kiamrian Abbasov, making his first title defense, and unbeaten American challenger James Nakashima.

Tom Taylor - November 6, 2020

Former UFC light heavyweight champion and vocal Donald Trump supporter Tito Ortiz wants a vote recount in the state of California. Ortiz, who won a city council seat in his hometown of Huntington Beach in this week, recently shared a link to a petition demanding a vote recount in the state. While it’s very possible recounts will be necessary in some states during the ongoing election, that is not the case in California, where former Vice President Joe Biden won decisively.

Adam Martin - November 5, 2020

Light heavyweight Corey Anderson is hoping to fight Vadim Nemkov or Phil Davis next after a victorious Bellator debut over Melvin Manhoef. Anderson was a big free-agent signing after mutually parting with ways with the UFC this past summer. A former top-five light heavyweight in the UFC, Anderson was matched up against Manhoef for his debut in the Bellator cage. On paper, it looked like a squash match between a young, elite 205lber and an aging 44-year-old fighter in Manhoef, and it played out just like that in the cage as Anderson won via vicious second-round TKO.

Cole Shelton - November 5, 2020

Corey Anderson is set to make his Bellator debut against knockout artist, Melvin Manhoef in the main event of Bellator 251. Melvin Manhoef (32-14-1) has been a pro since 1995 and at 44-years-old is still going strong. The former Bellator middleweight title challenger is on a two-fight winning streak but has not fought since October of 2019 when he beat Yannick Bahati by TKO at Bellator 230. In his career, Manhoef has fought the likes of Gegard Mousasi, Robbie Lawler, Tim Kennedy, and Mark Hunt.

Cole Shelton - November 5, 2020

Israel Adesanya is open to fighting Jon Jones at light heavyweight and heavyweight. Adesanya and Jones have had a feud for quite some time and many figured Adesanya would move up to challenge “Bones” for his light heavyweight title. However, that is not the case as Jones vacated and now “The Last Stylebender” will face Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title in 2021.

Cole Shelton - November 5, 2020

Ramiz Brahimaj didn’t know if he would fight again. Back in June of 2019, Brahimaj was supposed to fight on the Contender Series against Miguel Baeza. However, during the medical screening, the UFC noticed Brahimaj had an eye tumor that pulled him from the fight and left him uncertain of his future in MMA.

Cole Shelton - November 5, 2020

Dustin Jacoby knows the win over Justin Ledet was big for his future. Jacoby, who had a two-fight stint in the UFC in 2011 and 2012 went 0-2 and was released. He then went to Bellator and where he went 0-2 there and decided to pursue kickboxing.

Adam Martin - November 5, 2020

UFC light heavyweight Thiago Santos believes he can steal back the next title shot from Israel Adesanya with a finish over Glover Teixeira. Santos takes on Teixeira in a five-round main event of this weekend’s UFC on ESPN+ 40 event. Santos is the No. 1 ranked contender at 205lbs and Teixeira is ranked No. 3, so the general consensus among fans and media is that this is a title eliminator. However, that looks like it’s not the case anymore after UFC president Dana White recently said that Adesanya is getting the next title shot at the 205lbs belt that Blachowicz wears.

Tom Taylor - November 5, 2020

Glover Teixeira has shared his thoughts on how Israel Adesanya, the UFC middleweight champion, will perform at light heavyweight. Adesanya is expected to move up to light heavyweight sometime in early 2021 to challenge the division’s champion, Jan Blachowicz, for his title.

Tom Taylor - November 5, 2020

Long-time UFC color commentator Joe Rogan has weighed in on the Greatest of All Time debate in mixed martial arts. Rogan discussed this topic on the latest episode of the JRE MMA Show with guest Luke Thomas. From the sounds of it, he still considers former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones the greatest fighter ever.

Adam Martin - November 5, 2020

The UFC has signed a contract extension with EA Sports to continue producing video games for its popular video game franchise, EA Sports UFC. On Wednesday, EA Sports announced it has signed a multi-year deal with the UFC to continue producing the next generation of fighting and hockey video games. EA made the official announcement in a press release (via Business Wire).

Tom Taylor - November 5, 2020

UFC President Dana White has shared a quick, initial reaction to Tito Ortiz winning a city council seat in his hometown of Huntington Beach, California. Ortiz, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, had been in the running for this position for several months, and ultimately achieved his political goal this by winning 34,901 votes—14.26 percent of the votes cast overall.

Tom Taylor - November 5, 2020

Former UFC star Paige VanZant is slated to make her debut in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship ring on Super Bowl weekend. VanZant signed with BKFC earlier this year after a lengthy stint with the UFC, throughout which she was one of the promotion’s biggest stars. She was originally expected to make her debut with the bare knuckle promotion in November, but that debut was ultimately delayed.

Tom Taylor - November 5, 2020

UFC commentator Joe Rogan seemed pretty excited when Donald Trump won Texas in this year’s United States presidential election. Rogan spent many years living in Los Angeles, but recently relocated to Texas, citing several gripes with LA living.

Tom Taylor - November 5, 2020

UFC boss Dana White has shared his thoughts on Joe Biden potentially winning the US presidency, and what that might mean for the UFC. White is a long-time friend and vocal supporter of current US President Donald Trump. The UFC boss has invited Trump and his family to several UFC events, brought fighters to the White House and to Trump rallies, and even spoke in Trump’s favor at the 2016 and 2020 Republican National Conventions.