MMA News

Adam Martin - September 30, 2021

MMA legend Wanderlei Silva called out fellow Brazilian mixed martial artist Vitor Belfort for a rematch in the boxing ring. Silva and Belfort have never seen eye-to-eye. The pair first met way back at UFC Brazil in October 1998, with Belfort finishing Silva with a first-round knockout. The two then coached TUF Brazil in 2012 and were supposed to fight in a rematch, but the fight was canceled due to injuries. But even a decade later, these two do still not like each other and they continue to take shots at each other whenever they are able to get the chance to.

Adam Martin - September 30, 2021

Deiveson Figueiredo revealed that he will train with Henry Cejudo ahead of his trilogy fight against UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno. Figueiredo takes on Moreno for the third time at UFC 269 in December with the 125lbs title on the line. Following a majority draw at UFC 256 last December, Figueiredo lost his belt when Moreno submitted him at UFC 263 back in June. Following the rematch, it was expected that Moreno was going to fight someone else, but the UFC eventually decided on the trilogy with Figueiredo after Alexandre Pantoja was not cleared to fight Moreno.

Adam Martin - September 30, 2021

Lauren Murphy explained why she nearly pulled out of her UFC 266 title fight with UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko. Murphy fought Shevchenko in the co-main event of this past Saturday’s UFC 266 PPV card, and she ended up losing the fight via fourth-round TKO. It was not a good performance by Murphy, but she says one of the reasons for that is because she didn’t have her head coach, Alex Cisne, in her corner for the fight. Her coach tested positive for COVID-19 just days before the fight and Murphy was forced to fight Shevchenko without her coach.

Adam D Martin - September 30, 2021

UFC analyst Daniel Cormier came to the defense of his broadcasting partner Joe Rogan following recent criticism directed towards him. Rogan has been one of the UFC’s stalwarts for over 20 years during its pay-per-view broadcasts, but he was absent from UFC 266 this past weekend as he already had a hunting trip planned for the same date. With Rogan off the card, Cormier worked inside the commentary booth with Paul Felder and Jon Anik, and it turned out to be a very good broadcast team as fans and media praised all three for their work inside the booth.

Cole Shelton - September 30, 2021

Petr Yan wasn’t surprised when he heard Aljamain Sterling pulled out of their rematch at UFC 267. Yan and Sterling were supposed to have their highly-anticipated rematch in Abu Dhabi at UFC 267 in an intriguing matchup. They first fought back at UFC 259 in March where Sterling became the new champion due to Yan throwing an illegal knee and being DQ’d.

Adam D Martin - September 30, 2021

UFC middleweight contender Kevin Holland revealed that he “almost didn’t make it” to this weekend’s UFC Vegas 38 card due to visa issues. Holland returns to the Octagon this Saturday night when he takes on Kyle Daukaus in a middleweight bout. Holland is coming off of back-to-back losses to Marvin Vettori and Derek Brunson where his lack of wrestling got him beat. Following those losses, Holland took several months off to improve his game. As part of his time off, Holland traveled to California to train with Daniel Cormier. But the Dallas native felt that the trip was too far, so he wanted to train his wrestling closer to home. That’s when his management group enlisted the help of former UFC welterweight champion Johnny Hendricks to train Holland in his wrestling, and the two have spent the last several months working on his grappling.

Adam D Martin - September 30, 2021

UFC lightweight Dan Hooker opened up on a potential scrap with Nate Diaz, saying “it’s definitely not a difficult fight for him to get.” Hooker is coming off of a unanimous decision win over Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 266 this past Saturday night in Las Vegas, a win that snapped a two-fight losing skid for “The Hangman.” Now that Hooker is back in the win column, he knows that he can start calling out higher-ranked fighters and bigger-name fighters, and it doesn’t get much bigger than Diaz. Following his big win over Haqparast last weekend, Hooker said that he’s open to fighting Diaz and that all the Stockton native has to do is simply request the fight.

Adam D Martin - September 30, 2021

BKFC President Dave Feldman confirmed that the future of women’s fighter Paige VanZant is “up in the air” following two straight losses. VanZant signed a lucrative free-agent contract with BKFC last year after her UFC contract expired, but so far, things have not gone to plan for her. VanZant began her BKFC career with a decision loss to Britain Hart earlier this year, before losing to Rachael Ostovich in her second BKFC fight. It now looks like with those two losses that VanZant believes that her heart might not be in the BKFC game and she is considering going back to MMA.

Harry Kettle - September 30, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Johnny Walker is gearing up to try and make a run at becoming the UFC’s latest two-division champion. While he may have been through his fair share of ups and downs throughout his time in the UFC, there’s no denying just how exciting Johnny Walker is. From his fight style to his personality to his look and beyond, there’s a lot of star potential there – so long as he can begin to piece it all together.

Christopher Taylor - September 30, 2021

Former UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt sent a antagonizing message to Dana White following his recent lawsuit revival against the promotion. Hunt filed a lawsuit against the UFC shortly following his unanimous decision loss to Brock Lesnar at UFC 200. That ruling was later changed to a no-contest, this after ‘The Beast’ tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.

Christopher Taylor - September 29, 2021

Former middleweight champion Michael Bisping is perplexed by the trend of fight fans knocking Joe Rogan over his UFC commentating. Rogan has been criticized for is fight commentating, or lack their of, during his recent stints behind the booth. While some fight fans believe the longtime UFC commentator is no longer a valuable asset on the broadcast, Michael Bisping believes otherwise.

Cole Shelton - September 29, 2021

Dominick Cruz will be returning to the Octagon in December but not against Sean O’Malley. O’Malley has been hinting that he will be fighting in December and called out Cruz but according to MMAFighting, the former bantamweight champion will return on December 11 at UFC 269 against Pedro Munhoz. The event is expected to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Cole Shelton - September 29, 2021

Aljamain Sterling wants it known that the bantamweight division is in this mess because of Petr Yan. At UFC 259 in March, Yan was looking to defend the belt for the first time when he took on Sterling. Early on, Sterling had success but after that, the Russian began to take over and was on his way to winning the fight. Yet, in the fourth round, he threw an illegal knee and Sterling couldn’t continue so the fight was ruled a DQ and Sterling became the champ.

Adam Martin - September 29, 2021

UFC president Dana White explained his thought process behind the UFC 267 interim bantamweight belt, saying “we had to do the interim title.” Sterling defeated Yan via fourth-round DQ back at UFC 259 in May to become the new UFC bantamweight champion. The UFC booked the rematch to take place at UFC 267 in October, but the fight was canceled when Sterling pulled out due to injuries. With Sterling out of the fight, the UFC called upon top contender Cory Sandhagen to take on Yan at UFC 267. And despite the bantamweight title being fought for six months ago, the promotion decided that the best course of action was to make a new interim title fight at UFC 267.

Adam Martin - September 29, 2021

UFC analyst Daniel Cormier reacted to Jon Jones’ recent arrest, saying that it “reminds me why I felt so strong about disliking him.” Cormier and Jones were bitter rivals for many years and the two fought in a pair of memorable fights in 2015 and 2017, which Jones won both times. However, the second fight was overturned to a No Contest after Jones tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, and Cormier has held a grudge against Jones ever since. But since retiring from active competition, Cormier has slowly become more accepting and understanding of his longtime rival. Following his latest arrest, though, Cormier is just at a loss for words.

Cole Shelton - September 29, 2021

Jared Gordon wanted to make a run at featherweight but will be moving back up to lightweight at UFC Vegas 38. Gordon dropped down on Fight Island last summer and beat Chris Fishgold by decision. He then beat Danny Chavez by decision in a fight he missed weight so the UFC told him he had to move back up to lightweight.

Adam Martin - September 29, 2021

UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling shared his prediction for the upcoming interim title fight between Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen. Sterling defeated Yan via fourth-round DQ at UFC 259 earlier this year to become the undisputed 135lbs champion, but with the stoppage being so controversial, the UFC had no choice but to book an immediate rematch. Sterling and Yan were supposed to fight at UFC 267 in October, but the rematch was scrapped last week when Sterling was forced to withdraw due to lingering injuries. The UFC was adamant that Yan stays on the card and the promotion booked him against one of the division’s other top contenders in Sandhagen for an interim title fight. The two will now meet at UFC 267 for the interim 135lbs belt.

Adam Martin - September 29, 2021

Giga Chikadze met with UFC president Dana White and he called for the next featherweight title shot against Alexander Volkanovski. Chikadze has won seven straight fights in the Octagon and most recently defeated Edson Barboza via knockout to emerge as a serious title threat at 145lbs. This past Saturday night, Volkanovski defended his 145lbs title once again with a unanimous decision win over Brian Ortega in the “Fight of the Night” at UFC 266. While Volkanovski is fully expected to face the winner of November’s Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez for the belt sometime next year, Chikadze is doing his best to complicate things by calling for the title shot himself.