MMA News

Cole Shelton - September 24, 2021

Dan Hooker, a captain of City Kickboxing, says the gym will likely move from New Zealand. Due to New Zealand’s strict lockdown rules, the gym was shut down, and Hooker and other fighters couldn’t train. To make matters worse, the country has closed the quarantine booking system, meaning if you leave the country now, it may be a year or before you are allowed to return. With that, Hooker says the team at CKB has discussed moving the gym elsewhere to get away from New Zealand.

Cole Shelton - September 24, 2021

Jalin Turner knows he’s being overlooked ahead of his UFC 266 fight. Turner is set to return to the Octagon for the first time in over a year as he faces the undefeated, Uros Medic at UFC 266. It’s an intriguing matchup but for Turner, he says he’s just glad to be able to fight again after everything he has gone through in the past year.

Adam D Martin - September 24, 2021

YouTuber-turned-boxer Logan Paul says he knows who his next opponent is for his next boxing match, but he shot down an Anderson Silva fight. Paul most recently stepped into the ring back in June when he fought legendary boxer, Floyd Mayweather, to a draw in an exhibition bout. Paul has made it clear that he intends to step back into the boxing ring for another fight, but so far, we haven’t heard who his opponent will be. There were some rumblings that it may have been Silva, but after “The Spider” knocked out Tito Ortiz, it appears that Paul is now pursuing other opponents.

Adam D Martin - September 24, 2021

Dustin Poirier disagrees with divisional rival Justin Gaethje calling UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira a “quitter.” There were times in the past when Oliveira would close up shop if things weren’t going his way in his fights, but those days are long ago. Oliveira is now the UFC lightweight champion and he showed in his title fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 262 that he can take a punch and still keep on coming. After losing a 10-8 first round on the judges’ scorecards to Chandler at UFC 266, Oliveira came back in the second round and knocked his rival out. While in the past, Oliveira may have given up after getting hurt and facing adversity, he showed Chandler that he has a lot more heart in it now than he did before.

Harry Kettle - September 24, 2021

Din Thomas has called out Nick Diaz for requesting a swap from welterweight to middleweight just days before his fight against Robbie Lawler. It was reported earlier in the week that Diaz, who has been known to make waves during fight week before, had asked the UFC to change his fight versus Lawler from 170 pounds to 185 pounds. It appears as if Lawler obliged, meaning the change was confirmed for UFC 266.

Harry Kettle - September 24, 2021

UFC middleweight Kelvin Gastelum has revealed that he’s considering hiring a dietitian to help him move back down to welterweight. Just a few years ago Gastelum was on the verge of winning the strap at 185 pounds but now, he’s lost five of his last six with many being left to question whether or not he’s really at that elite level anymore.

Cole Shelton - September 23, 2021

Alexander Volkanovski truly doesn’t like Brian Ortega. Volkanovski was supposed to fight Ortega in March but he tested positive for COVID-19 and the fight was delayed. Once the fight was delayed, the two ended up coaching The Ultimate Fighter and throughout the season, Volkanovski began to dislike Ortega. At the press conference ahead of their main event fight at UFC 266, the two took shots at one another. Yet, during their faceoff, it was Volkanovski who brought up Ortega’s past as the American tested positive for steroids in his UFC debut.

Cole Shelton - September 23, 2021

Israel Adesanya has given up on his dream of headlining a UFC card in New Zealand. Adesanya called for his next title defense to happen in Auckland as he wanted to fight at home. Yet, as the country continues to lock down to the pandemic, which includes shutting down gyms like City Kickboxing and making it hard for fighters like Dan Hooker to fight, “The Last Stylebender” has no interest in fighting at home. Instead, he says the ‘bureaucrats’ can make their money elsewhere.

Adam D Martin - September 23, 2021

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski ripped “unprofessional” opponent Brian Ortega ahead of their title fight at UFC 266. Volkanovski puts his 145lbs belt on the line this Saturday night when he faces his TUF 29 coaching rival Ortega for featherweight supremacy. Volkanovski enters this fight on a 19-fight win streak, which includes a perfect 9-0 mark in the UFC alone, while Ortega enters this fight with a 7-1, 1 NC record in the Octagon. Fans are very much looking forward to this fight, one that pits two of the best featherweights on the planet against one another, not to mention two men that do not necessarily like each other.

Adam D Martin - September 23, 2021

Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley says that he is going to honor his word and get the “I Love Jake Paul” tattoo this weekend. Woodley and Paul met last month in a boxing match in Cleveland, Ohio, and Paul ended up winning the fight via split decision. Because Paul won the fight, Woodley was supposed to get the tattoo, but instead, he used it as a bargaining chip to secure a rematch. Woodley told Paul that if he agreed to the rematch, that he would get the tattoo. But at this point, Paul has not accepted the rematch with Woodley as he’s currently pursuing a fight against Tommy Fury in boxing instead. However, it appears that Woodley wants to be a man of his word and honor his bet with Paul to get the tattoo saying that he loves his opponent.

Cole Shelton - September 23, 2021

Martin Sano Jr. is eager to finally make the walk to the Octagon. Sano Jr., a protégé of Nick Diaz, has not fought since 2017 and is 0-2-1 in his last three fights. However, he still is 4-2-1 as a pro and has fought for promotions likes Bellator and WSOF, but when Diaz was announced to make his return, he got his pupil in Sano Jr. signed to the UFC and to fight Matthew Semeslberger at UFC 266.

Adam D Martin - September 23, 2021

Former UFC featherweight champion and current bantamweight title contender Jose Aldo welcomed new challengers, saying to them “Let’s fight!” Aldo last fought at UFC 265 in August when he won a unanimous decision over fellow Brazilian Pedro Munhoz. It was Aldo’s second straight win at 135lbs following a decision nod over Marlon Vera last year. Following the win over Munhoz, Aldo used his post-fight interview as an opportunity to call out former bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw. However, it appears as if Dillashaw is banged up and likely won’t be able to fight before the end of the year. If it’s Aldo’s goal to step back into the cage before 2021 is up, then he will likely have to fight someone else instead, and that’s why he is now welcoming new challengers.

Adam D Martin - September 23, 2021

YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul shared the DMs he sent to Bellator fighter Dillon Danis while issuing a final warning to rival Tommy Fury. Paul took to his social media on Wednesday to release a two-minute clip of him talking about both Danis and Fury. Check out what “The Problem Child” said in the video below.

Adam D Martin - September 23, 2021

UFC president Dana White reacted to Conor McGregor’s botched first pitch at the recent Chicago Cubs Game, saying “I’ll never do it. Never.” McGregor was a special guest earlier this week at Wrigley Field in Chicago and he threw out the first pitch ahead of the Cubs’ game, which turned out to be a terrible throw that saw the ball completely miss the plate. It was an awful throw by McGregor and he has been getting flak on the internet from fans about how bad his arm is, but as far as White goes, McGregor’s terrible throw just shows you that throwing a pitch is a lot hard than it looks.

Adam D Martin - September 23, 2021

The Bellator 266 fighter salaries have been officially released to the public, and light heavyweight Yoel Romero banked the largest payday. MMAjunkie.com was the first to report the salaries for Bellator 266 after obtaining the information from the California State Athletic Commission. The highest-paid fighter on the card was Romero, who took home $150,000 flat for his split decision loss to Phil Davis in the main event of Bellator 266. Despite the fact that Davis was the one who won the fight, he received only $100,000 for the victory. That’s because Bellator has a flat pay system for many of its top fighters and not the traditional show and win bonuses for them. So in the case of Romero and Davis, they would have been guaranteed those purses win or lose.

Harry Kettle - September 23, 2021

UFC featherweight Brian Ortega has explained how TJ Dillashaw’s big comeback win over Cory Sandhagen has helped him heading into UFC 266. This Saturday night, Ortega will return to the Octagon for the first time in almost a year to take on Alexander Volkanovski for the UFC featherweight championship. It’ll serve as his second bite at the cherry to win the strap, almost three years on from when he fell short against Max Holloway.

Christopher Taylor - September 22, 2021

Nick Diaz says he “took harder punches watching” his little brother fight Leon Edwards at UFC 263 than he ever has in sparring or any fights. Diaz will make his highly anticipated return to the Octagon on Saturday when he squares off in a rematch with Robbie Lawler at UFC 266. The pair 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 22, 2021

Former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate has been forced to withdraw from her slated UFC main event with Ketlen Vieira. Tate (19-7 MMA) and Vieira (11-2 MMA) were scheduled to clash in the headliner of UFC Fight Night 195 on October 16. However, according to a recent report from Sherdog, ‘Cupcake’ has been forced out of the contest after contracting Covid-19.