MMA News

Adam D Martin - September 27, 2021

UFC women’s flyweight contender Jessica Andrade called for a trilogy fight with Rose Namajunas or a rematch with Weili Zhang. Andrade knocked out Cynthia Calvillo in the first round of their fight at UFC 266. For Andrade, this was her third fight at 125lbs and her second win by knockout, with a previous TKO victory over top-ranked contender Katlyn Chookagian. However, that one loss that Andrade has in the weight class came against UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko earlier this year. Knowing that a rematch with Shevchenko is going to be hard to attain, it appears as though Andrade is now interested in returning down to 115lbs, where she was the UFC women’s strawweight champion two years ago.

Cole Shelton - September 27, 2021

The UFC was back in front of a full capacity crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for a stacked UFC 266 card. The card saw Alexander Volkanovski defending his belt against Brian Ortega, Valentina Shevchenko defending her belt against Lauren Murphy, and Nick Diaz returning against Robbie Lawler. The event ended up delivering as Volkanovski edged out Ortega in one of the best fights of the year. Shevchenko, meanwhile, continued her dominance with a fourth-round TKO win over Lauren Murphy and Robbie Lawler exacted his revenge as he TKO’d Nick Diaz. Now, following the event, here’s what I think should be next for the stars of UFC 266.

Adam D Martin - September 27, 2021

Former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan trashed the “sneaky coward” Aljamain Sterling for pulling out of their UFC 267 rematch. Yan was expected to meet Sterling in a rematch in the co-main event of UFC 267 next month, but the fight was scratched when Sterling was forced to pull out of the bout with an injury. With Sterling out, the UFC is hoping to book an interim title fight for Fight Island, with Yan in one corner of the fight and another top contender in the other corner. As far as Yan goes, while he wanted to fight Sterling badly and get his revenge, at this point he is telling the UFC matchmakers to get anyone in the top-10 who is available to fight him.

Adam D Martin - September 27, 2021

UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping reacted to Jon Jones’ latest arrest, saying “he’s a good person, but he’s just making some bad choices.” Jones was in Las Vegas this past week for his own induction into the UFC Hall of Fame for his epic war against Alexander Gustafsson in 2013, but the week ended on a bad note for Jones as he was reportedly arrested on several charges Friday morning. Speaking on his podcast, Bisping shared his thoughts on Jones just days after he was arrested again.

Harry Kettle - September 27, 2021

UFC lightweight Dan Hooker has explained why he called out Beneil Dariush after his win at UFC 266 on Saturday. Hooker managed to get back on the winning trail last weekend with a nice win over Nasrat Haqparast in Las Vegas. He had to rely on his wrestling to do it but after going through such a gruelling process just to get to fight night, it made sense that “Hangman” wanted to do everything in his power to ensure he walked away with the win.

Christopher Taylor - September 26, 2021

Ben Askren has responded to the suggestion that he serve as the next opponent for UFC star Nick Diaz. Diaz (26-10 MMA) returned to action from a six year hiatus Saturday night at UFC 266 in hopes of defeating Robbie Lawler for a second time. The pair had originally collided seventeen years ago in a welterweight bout at UFC 47, with the Stockton native emerging victorious by way of second round knockout.

Christopher Taylor - September 26, 2021

Former two-division champion Henry Cejudo was clearly not impressed by Alex Volkanovski’s win over Brian Ortega at UFC 266. Volkanovski (23-1 MMA) squared off with Ortega (15-2 MMA) in the headliner of last night’s pay-per-view event in Las Vegas. The fight proved to be a thrilling five-round affair. Alex Volkanovski was able to get the better of Brian Ortega in rounds one and two. Then, in round three, ‘T-City’ stormed back and nearly finished the fight with a pair of submission attempts. However, ‘Alexander The Great’ would ultimately escape both of Ortega’s chokehold threats and went on to score a dominant decision victory.

Christopher Taylor - September 26, 2021

Nate Diaz has responded after Conor McGregor suggested that his “boxing is piss” when compared to that of his brother Nick. Nick Diaz (26-10 MMA) returned to the Octagon yesterday evening following a six year hiatus from the sport. Standing in the way of the former Strikeforce champion was former opponent Robbie Lawler.

Adam Martin - September 26, 2021

UFC superstar Conor McGregor took a shot at Nate Diaz’s “piss” boxing skills, saying that his brother Nick Diaz is on “another level.” McGregor evidently watched UFC 266 as Nick Diaz took on Robbie Lawler in a grudge match rematch 17 years in the making. Although Diaz ended up losing via third-round TKO, he did display his trademark boxing skills during the contest, as he landed 150 significant strikes on Lawler during the two-plus that the fight went. It seems as though McGregor noticed the work that Diaz did with his hands in the loss. Taking to his social media the day after UFC 266, McGregor praised Nick Diaz for his boxing skills while criticizing Nate Diaz for his. As far as McGregor goes, the older Diaz brother has far better boxing skills. The Irishman also used his tweet as an opportunity to tell the younger Diaz he “made” him.

Adam Martin - September 26, 2021

Lauren Murphy issued a statement following her fourth-round TKO loss to UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 266. Murphy earned her first UFC title shot off of a five-fight win streak, but as Shevchenko showed on Saturday night, there are levels to this game. The champion was able to have her way with Murphy on the feet and on the ground all night long as she dominated her foe until getting the fourth-round finish. Now that the fight is over, Murphy can reflect on the experience, and she took to social media to open up on her “rough night at the office.”

Adam Martin - September 26, 2021

UFC lightweight prospect Nasrat Haqparast released a statement following his unanimous decision loss to Dan Hooker at UFC 266. Haqparast took the fight with Hooker on short notice after the New Zealander was having problems finding an opponent for the UFC 266 card. Haqparast stepped up on short notice and took the fight, but the week before the event was set to take place, his mother passed away. Haqparast flew back home to Germany for the funeral and then he ran into visa issues on his way back home, an issue that Hooker also ran into. Fortunately, Haqparast was able to get his visa and so was Hooker, and the two put on a great fight for the fans. However, Haqparast came out on the wrong end of the decision as he lost on the cards.

Adam D Martin - September 26, 2021

Brian Ortega reacted following his UFC 266 loss to UFC featherweight champ Alex Volkanovksi, saying “that little bastard is tough as hell.” Ortega and Volkanovski went five hard rounds in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 266 pay-per-view card, but at the end of 25 minutes, it was Volkanovski getting his hand raised by unanimous decision. Although Ortega had several extremely tight submission attempts during the fight, Volkanovski was impossible to put away as he showed off incredible durability in his victory. Overall, it was just another phenomenal performance by Volkanovski, who is certainly one of the very best pound-for-pound MMA fighters right now.

Adam Martin - September 26, 2021

UFC lightweight contender Dan Hooker dedicated his victory over Narsat Haqparast at UFC 266 to his fallen teammate, Fau Vake. Hooker defeated Haqparast via unanimous decision at UFC 266 in a lightweight battle between two fighters who barely even made it to their fight. For Hooker, he had visa issues he was facing in New Zealand, not to mention the lack of opponents available to him. Then for Haqparast, his mother passed away last week and he almost had visa issues, as well. Thankfully, the fight went on as planned, with Hooker showing off a dominant, complete MMA game for the win. “The Hangman” not only outstruck his opponent Haqparast, but he also out-grappled him as well in what was one of his most complete performances ever.

Adam Martin - September 26, 2021

UFC women’s flyweight contender Cynthia Calvillo issued a statement following her first-round TKO loss to Jessica Andrade at UFC 266. Calvillo was stopped with strikes in the first round by Andrade, who swarmed her opponent and finished her with punches up against the fence to force the TKO victory. Following the fight, Calvillo took to her social media to issue a statement following her knockout defeat.

Adam D Martin - September 26, 2021

UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko fired back at Khabib Nurmagomedov for suggesting that rings girls are useless in MMA. Nurmagomedov recently had some choice comments to make regarding the ring card girls in mixed martial arts, essentially arguing that they are useless to the sport. Shevchenko, however, disagrees with what “The Eagle” has suggested. Speaking to reporters following UFC 266, Shevchenko was asked why she made a detour and stopped to talk to the ring card girls following her win over Lauren Murphy. According to Shevchenko, she wanted to show her respect to them, as Shevchenko believes ring card girls are important to MMA.

Adam D Martin - September 26, 2021

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski reacted to “weird tweets” made by former 145lbs champ Conor McGregor during UFC 266. Volkanovski defeated Brian Ortega via unanimous decision to defend the UFC featherweight title in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 266 pay-per-view card. During the fight, McGregor made several tweets about Volkanovski, and they weren’t exactly flattering, though he did congratulate the Aussie on the victory. Either way, McGregor was going after Volkanovski and the champ wasn’t exactly thrilled with what the Irishman said, although the champ believes the reason McGregor tweeted out what he did is that he was drunk.

Adam D Martin - September 26, 2021

UFC middleweight Marvin Vettori and commentator Paul Felder got into a heated social media exchange during the UFC 266 broadcast. Felder was filling in for Joe Rogan in the UFC 266 commentary booth, and Vettori was clearly not thrilled with the job that he did behind the desk. The UFC middleweight contender took to his social media during the broadcast to tweet out that he is not a fan of Felder and that he had pressed mute on his television because he couldn’t stand to listen to him anymore. Following what Vettori wrote, Felder also saw the comments from the Italian and he fired back at the middleweight for taking to social media to publicly blast his call.

Adam D Martin - September 26, 2021

UFC president Dana White unloaded on boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya for messaging UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski about his fighter pay. Volkanovski defeated Brian Ortega in an absolute war that won “Fight of the Night” in the UFC 266 main event. For Volkanovski, it was another tremendous performance as he improved to 10-0 in the UFC and a 20-fight wins streak overall. It’s getting to the point where he is becoming one of the best MMA fighters in the world, and he should be compensated like he is. That’s why De La Hoya took to social media on Saturday night after Volkanovski beat Ortega, to tell him that he should be getting paid more for his wars.