MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 11, 2021

UFC lightweight contenders Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier both look very different than they did ahead of their first fight. McGregor and Poirier, the No. 4 and 2-ranked lightweights respectively, are slated to collide in the main event of UFC 257 on January 23. The bout will be a rematch of a 2014 featherweight fight, which McGregor won by first-round knockout.

Tom Taylor - January 11, 2021

Tito Ortiz currently has his hands full with his duties as the Mayor Pro Tem of Huntington Beach, California, but he still intends to fight again. Ortiz, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, last fought in December, 2019, when he submitted former pro wrestler Alberto Del Rio under the Combate Americas banner.

Tom Taylor - January 11, 2021

UFC lightweight contender Dustin Poirier plans to compete at least eight more times before giving retirement too much thought. Poirier, who currently holds the No. 2 spot in the UFC lightweight rankings, is gearing up for a fight with former two-division champion Conor McGregor, which will headline the UFC 257 card on January 23.

Tom Taylor - January 11, 2021

UFC legend Georges St-Pierre believes Royce Gracie is greatest fighter in MMA history, but admits it’s “a subjective thing.” St-Pierre, who previously held the UFC welterweight and middleweight titles, but is now enjoying retirement, recently partook in a interesting interview with UFC.com. One of the topics of the chat was his place among the GOATs of MMA.

Harry Kettle - January 11, 2021

UFC star Conor McGregor has made an incredibly brave prediction ahead of his rematch with Dustin Poirier at UFC 257. McGregor is set to return to the Octagon for the first time in twelve months, hoping to build off of his dominant welterweight win over Donald Cerrone last January. Dustin Poirier, on the other hand, is coming off the back of an electric decision victory against divisional rival Dan Hooker.

Adam Martin - January 10, 2021

UFC legend Diego Sanchez announced on social media that his next fight inside the Octagon will be the final fight of his career. Sanchez has been criticized in recent years by fans and media for fighting too long considering the amount of head trauma he’s endured over his 15 years in the Octagon. A member of the UFC roster since 2005, Sanchez is by far the longest-tenured fighter the promotion has under contract. But at age 39 and coming off of several lackluster performances, including a lopsided decision defeat to Jake Matthews at UFC 253, it appears as though Sanchez is finally ready to hang ’em up.

Adam Martin - January 10, 2021

UFC bantamweight contender Marlon Moraes is set to undergo shoulder surgery, vowing to “start over” after losing back-to-back fights. It wasn’t long ago that Moraes was the No. 1 contender in the UFC bantamweight division. But after losing back-to-back fights by knockout to Cory Sandhagen and Rob Font to end 2020, he’s now fallen all the way down to No. 7 in the UFC. Remember, Moraes was set to fight UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan at one point in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. So the fact that Moraes has now dropped all the way out of the title conversation at 135lbs is downright shocking.

Adam Martin - January 10, 2021

Former UFC champion Henry Cejudo says he would KO current flyweight kingpin Deiveson Figueiredo if they meet inside the Octagon. Cejudo was, of course, both the UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion before deciding to give up both titles and walking away from the sport. Cejudo retired last May following a TKO win over Dominick Cruz at UFC 249, though he has teased a return to the Octagon in the months since. Not long after Cejudo retired, Figueiredo won the vacant flyweight title over Joseph Benavidez. Since then, Figueiredo has become a bigger name in the sport and he’s tried to coax Cejudo out of retirement.

Adam Martin - January 10, 2021

Marcelo Ribas, the father of UFC women’s strawweight contender Amanda Ribas, got a tattoo of his daughter celebrating her first UFC win. In June 2019, Ribas made her UFC debut when she submitted Emily Whitmire for her first win inside the Octagon. Her father, Marcelo Ribas, was so moved by the moment that he decided to get a tattoo to commemorate the moment. MMAFighting.com’s Guilherme Cruz spoke to the elder Ribas, who explained his decision to get the tattoo while providing a photo of his ink. It’s also worth pointing out that in addition to being Amanda’s father, he is also her coach.

Adam Martin - January 10, 2021

An intriguing bantamweight bout between Merab Dvalishvili and Cody Stamann has been added to a UFC Fight Night card on February 6. Dvalishvili and Stamann were originally scheduled to lock horns back on the December 5 card in Las Vegas, but Stamann was forced out of the fight and he was replaced by Raoni Barcelos, who also had to withdraw from the card. However, now that Stamann is able to compete again, the UFC matchmakers decided to go ahead and re-book Dvalishvili vs. Stamann. The two bantamweights will now collide on February 6 on the undercard of the Alistair Overeem vs. Alexander Volkov event.

Adam Martin - January 10, 2021

Next Saturday’s UFC on ABC 1 card has lost a fight as Mike Grundy is out and Nik Lentz has been re-booked for UFC 257 instead. According to Marcel Dorff of MMA DNA, Lentz’s original opponent Grundy had to withdraw from his bout against Lentz that was set for January 16 on Fight Island. That fight was supposed to take place on the undercard of the Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar event, but now that Grundy is out of the fight, the UFC matchmakers had to work fast and re-book Lentz for another fight. Fortunately for Lentz, the matchmakers were able to get Movsar Evolev to fight Lentz on short notice.

Adam D Martin - January 10, 2021

Francis Ngannou sized up probable GOAT Jon Jones, saying: “He has some good skills that he can match my power. It’s going to be different.” Jones, the longtime UFC light heavyweight champion, announced last summer that he will be moving up to the heavyweight division in 2021. When Jones made the original announcement that he was moving down, Ngannou expressed interest in fighting him. However, he has since then focused on getting a trilogy fight with UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. That fight hasn’t been officially booked yet, but UFC president Dana White recently suggested that April could be a potential date.

Adam D Martin - January 10, 2021

UFC legend Georges St-Pierre says that he misses the feeling of winning, but he admits that he doesn’t miss the actual fighting part of it. GSP is one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time and was one of the UFC’s greatest champions for the better part of a decade. GSP was both the UFC welterweight champion and the UFC middleweight champion before finally calling it quits a few years ago. Due to COVID-19, his UFC Hall of Fame enshrinement was delayed, but he will be inducted into the promotion’s HOF in the coming weeks.

Adam D Martin - January 10, 2021

Newly-signed PFL lightweight Anthony Pettis explained how the UFC’s “rat race” resulted in him leaving the UFC and signing with PFL instead. Pettis shocked the MMA world when he announced he was taking his talents away from the world’s top mixed martial arts organization in the UFC and signing with PFL, which most consider as the No. 3 promotion in North America. However, the lure of winning one million dollars for running the table in the PFL lightweight tournament was too much for Pettis to turn down, and he decided to sign with the PFL. There were also some other reasons behind Pettis making that decision.

Adam D Martin - January 10, 2021

Former UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen hinted at a move to politics and smeared Oregon representative Kurt Schrader in the process. Sonnen is one of the most outspoken mixed martial arts fighters the sport has ever seen as he was born with the gift of gab. Sonnen was one of the best trash talkers in MMA when he was an active fighter for the UFC and Bellator, and now he’s looking to talk his trash-talking skills to politics. On Saturday, Sonnen warned Schrader that he’s coming for him while taking some humorous shots at Schrader at the same time. Check out the Tweets that Sonnen sent to his political rival Schrader.

Adam D Martin - January 10, 2021

MMA manager Malki Kawa revealed on his social media that he has COVID-19 and he suggested a home remedy to help beat it quicker. Kawa has been one of the top managers in mixed martial arts for a decade, serving as the agent for superstars like Jon Jones, Yoel Romero, and Anthony Pettis, and he’s been representing more NFL athletes over the last few years, as well. Like many MMA fighters and football players, Kawa, unfortunately, came down with COVID-19 as well. However, he appears to be beating it, especially with a home-made remedy. Check out what he wrote on his Twitter.

Adam D Martin - January 10, 2021

UFC middleweight Kevin Holland detailed a scenario in which he could score an unprecedented knockout against divisional rival Derek Brunson. After weeks of back-and-forth trash talk on social media, Holland vs. Brunson has been confirmed to take place as the main event of a UFC Fight Night card on March 20. For Holland, the fight marks the opportunity to take out a top-10 opponent and move himself up the 185lbs rankings, while for Brunson he has the chance to take out a rising star and move towards a title shot. It’s an important fight at 185 and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Chris Taylor - January 9, 2021

Former UFC standout Stephan Bonnar was not happy to read the news that Google had removed Parler from its app store. Parler is advertised to be a non-biased, free speech social media platform focused on protecting user’s rights. The app has been described as an alternative to Twitter, but currently pales in comparison due to its moderate number of active users.