MMA News

Adam D Martin - October 15, 2021

UFC light heavyweight Jiri Prochazka was praised by former opponent Volkan Oezdemir, saying “he’s bringing something different to the game.” Prochazka has taken the UFC by storm in just a short period of time. The former RIZIN standout made his UFC debut last summer against Oezdemir on Fight Island and he picked up a brutal knockout victory. Then, in his second UFC appearance, he knocked out Dominick Reyes. The UFC liked the performance so much that it gave him the role as a backup fighter for the upcoming UFC light heavyweight title match at UFC 267 featuring champion Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira. Should either Blachowicz or Teixeira not be able to make it to that title fight, then Prochazka will be the one who fills in for them.

Cole Shelton - October 15, 2021

Casey O’Neill is currently the 14th-ranked flyweight, but she is in no rush to move up the ranks. O’Neill is 3-0 in the UFC and coming off a TKO win over Antonina Shevchenko, which was her third UFC win, with all of them coming by finish and happening this year. Although she has had a mediocre rise, she says it’s still surreal to think about.

Cole Shelton - October 15, 2021

Demetrious Johnson thinks Henry Cejudo would have success at featherweight if he were to move up to fight Alex Volkanovski. Cejudo has recently made it clear he wants to return and fight Volkanovski for the featherweight title. It would be an intriguing matchup and Volkanovski has said he wants to be active so the timing does work as Max Holloway is slated to fight Yair Rodriguez in November.

Adam D Martin - October 15, 2021

Women’s 145lbs fighter Norma Dumont called for an interim featherweight title fight against Holly Holm with a win at UFC Vegas 40. Dumont fights in the main event this weekend against Aspen Ladd in a rare women’s featherweight bout in the UFC. Originally, Dumont was set to take on the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holm, but after Holm pulled out with an injury, Ladd stepped up a weight class on short notice to take the fight. Given that the women’s featherweight division is by far the most shallow weight class in the UFC, the winner of Dumont vs. Ladd will surely be close to a title shot against the champion, Amanda Nunes.

Adam D Martin - October 15, 2021

UFC welterweight contender Leon Edwards clapped back after being accused of ducking other welterweight contenders. Fellow welterweight contender Gilbert Burns has accused Edwards of being “scared” and ducking fights at 170lbs, but as far as “Rocky” goes, that is simply not true. Speaking to MMAFighting.com’s The MMA Hour in a recent interview, Edwards clapped back at Burns for suggesting that he is ducking other 170lbs fighters. As far as Edwards goes, he has accepted all the fights the UFC has offered him and is the one who is taking all the risks.

Harry Kettle - October 15, 2021

Vicente Luque has upped the stakes after Nate Diaz questioned why he hasn’t received a contract for their proposed fight yet. For a few weeks now we’ve seen both Luque and Diaz hinting, and outright confirming, that they want to meet in what would be a huge welterweight showdown to end the year for the UFC.

Drake Riggs - October 15, 2021

PHOENIX — Ryan Bader is known as “Darth” when entering the cage. However, the current Bellator heavyweight champ has hoped to use another nickname. Bader is 13-2 (1 no contest) in his last 16 bouts overall putting him on the most dominant stretch of his career by capturing titles in two weight classes. Therefore utilizing the nickname of “The Master” seems fitting… until piecing it all together.

Christopher Taylor - October 14, 2021

The war of words between Sean Strickland and Belal Muhammad reached new heights today with the middleweight issuing a disturbing message. The pairs beef started shortly after news broke that Strickland’s slated UFC 268 opponent, former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, had to pullout of the November pay-per-view event due to injury.

Cole Shelton - October 14, 2021

Nate Diaz has blasted Conor McGregor for saying his boxing is piss. Ever since Diaz and McGregor had their legendary back-to-back fights, the two have taken shots at one another. Although the trilogy has not happened, it’s likely it will down the line, but for now, the two continue to take jabs at one another.

Cole Shelton - October 14, 2021

Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones have one of the best rivalries in UFC history, but “DC” is hoping “Bones” gets his act together. At the end of September, Jones was charged and arrested with domestic violence among other things, which was disappointing news to many. He has since opened up on the case, but for Cormier, he worries about what all this will do to his kids.

Drake Riggs - October 14, 2021

PHOENIX — Julia Budd is making the move to the PFL after a championship run with Bellator. The first and former women’s featherweight champion in Bellator history suffered a single defeat in her run with the promotion when facing Cris “Cyborg” Justino in January 2020. Budd (15-3) rebounded with two wins over Jessica Miele and Dayana Silva.

Cole Shelton - October 14, 2021

The 911 call from Luis Pena’s girlfriend has been released. On Thursday, TMZ Sports obtained the police audio from Pena’s girlfriend who called the police to report the domestic violence. She confirmed Pena hit him and she has marks to prove it and she wants him gone for good. MMAFighting then obtained a longer version of the call.

Adam D Martin - October 14, 2021

Khamzat Chimaev is reportedly “on good terms” with Khabib Nurmagomedov after apologizing for the previous comments which he made. Chimaev previously told Nurmagomedov that he would “smash” him in an Instagram Live video from earlier this year. Those remarks triggered a bit of a feud between Chimaev and Nurmagomedov, and not long after, Chimaev left Dominance MMA.

Adam D Martin - October 14, 2021

Corey Anderson praised Bellator fighter pay, confirming that he’s “made more money in two fights here than my whole career in the UFC.” Anderson takes on Ryan Bader this Saturday at Bellator 268 in a Light Heavyweight Grand Prix semifinal bout. For Anderson, this is his third fight in Bellator since leaving the UFC last year following a KO loss to Jan Blachowicz. After starting off his Bellator career with a TKO win over Melvin Manhoef, Anderson defeated Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov by TKO in his second fight with the promotion. He now takes on Bader, and the winner will be in line to fight for $1 million in the finals of the Light Heavyweight Grand Prix sometime in 2022.

Cole Shelton - October 14, 2021

Damon Jackson is happy with his win over Charles Rosa but is a tad disappointed he didn’t get the finish. Jackson dominated the majority of the fight as he controlled Rosa on the ground and had a few submission attempts. However, Rosa fought out of it and went 15 minutes with Jackson.

Cole Shelton - October 14, 2021

Bibiano Fernandes is excited to finally make the walk to the cage once again. Fernandes hasn’t fought since October of 2019 where he submitted Kevin Belingon to defend his bantamweight title. It was his third straight fight against Belingon, where Fernandes won the final two fights. Since the win, however, COVID-19 and a contract dispute kept Fernandes out of the cage.

Adam D Martin - October 14, 2021

UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane says that he is not scared of Francis Ngannou’s KO power ahead of their title fight at UFC 270. Gane won the interim heavyweight belt with a TKO win over Derrick Lewis back at UFC 265, and he will now look to unify the belt against the UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou at UFC 270, which takes place on January 22, likely at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. While Ngannou is the hardest puncher in the UFC heavyweight division and coming off of a brutal KO win over former champ Stipe Miocic, Gane isn’t afraid of his former training partner’s power. Speaking to Submission Radio in a recent interview, Gane said that while he appreciates Ngannou’s KO power, it is not something that he fears.

Adam D Martin - October 14, 2021

Carla Esparza says she plans on waiting for a UFC women’s strawweight title shot despite a warning from UFC president Dana White. Esparza is currently riding a five-fight win streak and, in her last appearance, absolutely smashed the face of Yan Xiaonan with ground-and-pound en route to a second-round TKO stoppage and a 50k POTN bonus. In addition, Esparza holds a notable win over Marina Rodriguez during her win streak, who looks to be a top contender following her recent victory over Mackenzie Dern. Overall, Esparza has done everything that she has had to in order to get a title shot at 115lbs. And yet, the UFC decided that they were going to book a rematch between Rose Namajunas and Weili Zhang that takes place at UFC 268.