MMA News

Chris Taylor - August 14, 2021

Former UFC lightweight kingpin Khabib Nurmagomedov is taking his talents to the football pitch after signing a contract with FC Legion Dynamo. After scoring a submission victory over Justin Gaethje in the main event of UFC 254, Khabib officially retired from mixed martial arts, citing the death of his father as his reason for hanging up the gloves.

Chris Taylor - August 14, 2021

The highly anticipated UFC middleweight title fight rematch between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker has reportedly been pushed back until 2022. Dana White and company were originally looking to book Adesanya vs. Whittaker 2 for the main event of UFC 268 on November 6 at Madision Square Garden in New York. However, the States new pandemic-related restrictions have forced the promotion to make a change of plans.

Chris Taylor - August 14, 2021

Sean O’Malley has gone 5-1 thus far in his budding UFC career but has yet to compete against any ranked fighters in the stacked bantamweight division. O’Malley (14-1 MMA) most recently competed at last months UFC 264 event, where he scored a third-round TKO victory over promotional newcomer Kris Moutinho.

Chris Taylor - August 14, 2021

Jake Paul has a big task ahead of him in the form of former UFC champion Tyron Woodley, but that hasn’t stopped the YouTuber from looking towards the future. Paul (3-0) and Woodley (0-0) are set to square off in a boxing match on August 29 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio.

Adam D Martin - August 13, 2021

Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos explained what makes Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev different fighters. Dos Anjos steps back into the Octagon on October 30 in Abu Dhabi when he faces off against Makhachev at UFC 267. This is a fight that the UFC tried to book twice in 2020 but was unable to do so due to COVID-19 and other injuries. Now that both fighters are fully healthy, dos Anjos and Makhachev will meet this fall in what is a potential No. 1 contender bout for the belt that Makhachev’s teammate Nurmagomedov held at this point a year ago.

Adam D Martin - August 13, 2021

One of the top contenders at 170lbs, Vicente Luque explained why he will be the one who will dethrone UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Luque submitted Michael Chiesa with a D’Arce choke to move into the top-five rankings at 170lbs. “The Silent Assassin” has now won his last four fights in a row — all by stoppage — and he is closing in on a title shot against Usman. The odds are that Leon Edwards will get the title shot before Luque since he has a head-to-head win over him, but Luque believes that his ability to put on exciting fights and be a fresh new contender for Usman puts him ahead of Edwards. In fact, he also believes that he has more weapons to challenge the champion. Speaking to Combate, Luque explained why he is the man to beat Usman.

Adam D Martin - August 13, 2021

Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo says he is focused on becoming a UFC champion again, not in fighting YouTubers in boxing. Aldo — one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time — has always openly embraced the idea of taking his skills to the boxing ring, but that hasn’t happened at this point. After a three-fight losing skid in 2019 to 2020 that left some feeling like Aldo was on the downside of his career, “Junior” has rebounded since then with back-to-back wins over Marlon Vera and Pedro Munhoz. After winning his last two fights over top contenders at 135lbs, Aldo believes that he still has what it takes to make a run for the UFC bantamweight title.

Adam D Martin - August 13, 2021

Paulo Costa explains why he got drunk the night before his UFC middleweight title fight against champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 253. Costa was knocked out by Adesanya at UFC 253 in what was an uncompetitive fight from the Brazilian. Although Costa was unbeaten heading into the Adesanya fight and looking every bit the part of a legitimate title contender, he had a lackluster outing against “Stylebender” and was put to sleep for his efforts. After the fight, Costa admitted that he was drunk on wine the night before and that it played a role in his poor performance that night. Speaking to ESPN in a recent interview, Costa elaborated on what happened to him.

Adam D Martin - August 13, 2021

Former UFC champion Chris Weidman shared his latest health update after undergoing a second surgery on the broken leg he suffered at UFC 261. Weidman suffered one of the most horrific injuries we have ever seen inside the Octagon back in April when his leg snapped on a checked kick against Uriah Hall. Weidman immediately went down in pain and was rushed to the hospital to undergo emergency surgery on the broken limb. The initial thought was that the surgery was successful, and Weidman even started getting back into the gym, but he suffered a setback in his recovery, and “The All-American” was forced to undergo a second surgery on the shattered limb.

Adam D Martin - August 13, 2021

Former UFC title challenge Yoel Romero is set to make Bellator MMA debut against former Bellator light heavyweight champ fighter Phil Davis. Ariel Helwani of Substack was the first to report the Romero vs. Davis fight. According to Helwani, the bout is expected to serve as the headliner of the Bellator MMA card set for September 18, which is tentatively slated to be called Bellator 266. The card is expected to take place in San Jose, California, and Romero vs. Davis will be the evening’s main event.

Adam D Martin - August 13, 2021

UFC superstar Conor McGregor encouraged Nate Diaz to continue his trolling of rival Dustin Poirier, telling him that “I am entertained.” McGregor has, of course, fought both Diaz and Poirier multiple times each. The Irishman had a pair of memorable fights with Diaz in 2016, where he went 1-1 in the pair of bouts, while “Notorious” ended up losing 2-1 overall to Poirier during their own trilogy. In the last fight against Poirier at UFCC 264, McGregor broke his leg, and he’s expected to be out for the next year while he heals up his wounds. During his time off, McGregor has spent much of it on social media trolling several other fighters including Poirier, Diaz, and Daniel Cormier. But according to McGregor, he’s having more fun watching Diaz troll Poirier.

Adam D Martin - August 13, 2021

YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul says that UFC superstar Conor McGregor’s ego won’t allow him to accept that “it’s over,” meaning his career. McGregor lost via first-round TKO when he broke his leg against Dustin Poirier back at UFC 264 in July. That was his second straight defeat following a TKO loss to Poirier earlier this year at UFC 257. When looking at McGregor’s MMA record, he is just 1-3 over his last four fights, plus he has a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in boxing during that stretch, as well. Other than a quick TKO win over Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 last year, McGregor has not looked like his old self, and the man who was a double UFC champ is now long gone.

Drake Riggs - August 12, 2021

Gable Steveson hasn’t even committed to an MMA career yet and he’s already having fight odds made in his favor. Bovada released odds for hypothetical UFC bouts featuring the recent Team USA Olympic gold medalist wrestler against some of the heavyweight division’s best. One of which sees him as the very slight favorite against “The Black Beast” Derrick Lewis.

Joe McDonagh - August 12, 2021

Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier continued to trade barbs on social media this evening, with ‘The Stockton Slugger’ accusing ‘The Diamond’ of ducking a potential fight. The two stars have exchanged some heated words as of late but both appear interested in a future matchup.

Cole Shelton - August 12, 2021

Yoel Romero can resume his fighting career. Romero was supposed to fight Anthony Johnson in the light heavyweight grand prix but he was removed after failing his physical. The hope for Bellator was he would get cleared in a few months and that ended up being the case.

Cole Shelton - August 12, 2021

Ciryl Gane just recently claimed the interim heavyweight title and will face Francis Ngannou next, yet for Daniel Cormier, he believes Jon Jones poses the biggest problem for him. Gane is a perfect 10-0 in MMA and has dominated everyone he has fought. Against Lewis, he didn’t let the hometown fighter get going and just picked him apart en route to a third-round stoppage. It was a dominant performance but for Cormier, he believes Jones has all the tools to pose problems for the Frenchman.

Cole Shelton - August 12, 2021

Stevie Ray announced his retirement from MMA in September 2020, which many thought was due to his knee injuries. However, there is much more to the story, which Ray has never spoken publicly about. Ray competed in the UFC from 2015 and had a 7-4 record where in his last fight, he picked up what he calls the biggest win of his career as he defeated Michael Johnson. He also fought the likes of Paul Felder, and Leonardo Santos as well as defeating Joe Lauzon and Ross Pearson among others. Yet, for quite some time, Ray had heard rumblings the UFC wanted him out of the organization, and that finally happened when they released him, but he covered it up with him announcing his retirement.

Adam D Martin - August 12, 2021

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski was pranked with a giant snake by Brian Ortega on TUF 29, and you can watch the video of it. Volkanovski and Ortega are the two head coaches on the latest installment on TUF, and they will meet inside the Octagon for Volkanovski’s 145lbs title in September at UFC 266. The current season of the show still has one more episode to still air, but in the penultimate episode of the show, Ortega decided to prank his rival in a hilarious fashion.