MMA News

Tom Taylor - August 22, 2019

At UFC Shenzhen, China’s Weili Zhang will attempt to wrest the UFC strawweight title from the waist of champion Jessica Andrade — and she’ll do so with women’s MMA trailblazer Ronda Rousey looking on proudly. Speaking on her official Instagram account, the former UFC bantamweight champ Rousey discussed the pride she feels seeing how far women’s MMA has come, and sent a special shoutout to Zhang.

Adam Martin - August 22, 2019

The head trainer at Tristar Gym, Firas Zahabi, ripped into Conor McGregor for punching an old man at an Irish bar, calling him “an embarrassment to MMA.” A fan asked Zahabi what he thought about the recent McGregor incident, and the long-time trainer of Georges St-Pierre didn’t hold back.

Tom Taylor - August 22, 2019

So far, nobody has been able to solve the Khabib Nurmagomedov puzzle. 27 fighters have tried — including monsters like Conor McGregor, Al Iaquinta, Edson Barboza, Rafael dos Anjos and Michael Johnson — but none have been able to beat the Dagestani juggernaut.

Tom Taylor - August 22, 2019

Nate Diaz doesn’t know who Colby Covington is. At least, that’s the impression Diaz gave when he was asked about Covington after defeating Anthony Pettis at UFC 241.

Mike Pendleton - August 22, 2019

Mike Kimbel is days away from another fight with Bellator MMA, and another fight in his home state of Connecticut, as he’s set to battle Chris Disonell at Bellator 225 this Saturday. Kimbel is currently 3-1 as a professional, with all of his fights occurring in the Bellator cage. His most recent fight was a split decision victory over Sebastian Ruiz inside New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Getting the opportunity to fight inside this world famous arena was a bucket list item for Kimbel. He’s glad to have checked it off his list, but he wasn’t happy with the split decision ruling.

Tom Taylor - August 22, 2019

Conor McGregor recently made headlines for all the wrong reasons after video surfaced of him sucker-punching an older man inside a pub in Ireland. Apparently, McGregor offered the man some of his Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey. The man declined — and according to some accounts, called the whiskey “s**t” — and was rewarded with a fist to the noggin. The man in question has now commented on the incident.

Tom Taylor - August 22, 2019

Shortly after Nate Diaz defeated Anthony Pettis by unanimous decision at UFC 241, he set his sights on a scrap with fellow welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal. “The reason I was off is cause everybody sucked,” Diaz said in the cage. “There was nobody to fight. But with this belt I wanna defend it against, Jorge Masvidal had a good last fight. All respect to the man, but there ain’t no gangstas in this game anymore. There ain’t nobody who done it right but me and him. So I know my man’s a gangsta, but he ain’t no west coast gangsta.”

Tom Taylor - August 22, 2019

UFC President Dana White will soon launch Zuffa Boxing, a boxing promotion that he hopes will revolutionize The Sweet Science. As the official launch of Zuffa Boxing draws nearer — it’s targeted for this fall — several UFC fighters have already hinted that they’d like to step through the ropes and test their mettle in the Zuffa boxing ring.

Cole Shelton - August 22, 2019

Javy Ayala is coming off of the biggest win of his career, as he TKO’d Frank Mir back in December. Now, in the co-main event of Bellator 225 this weekend, he’s set to take on the former champion in Vitaly Minakov. Although Javy Ayala hasn’t fought since December, he isn’t worried about his layoff. Instead, he says he used that time to better his game and was excited when he finally got a fight offer — especially when he saw Minakov’s name on the contract.

Natasha Hooper - August 22, 2019

Joe Rogan is laughing off Conor McGregor’s attack on an older man in a pub in Ireland. Earlier this month, footage emerged of McGregor hitting a pub-goer in the face after the man allegedly refused to drink McGregor’s Proper No. Twelve whiskey. The incident reportedly occurred in April.

Cole Shelton - August 21, 2019

Artem Lobov and Jason Knight want to run it back. The two first fought at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 5. There, the two traded shots and put on an amazing scrap that captured the eyes of the combat sports world.

Jordy McElroy - August 21, 2019

Six years after legendary MMA star Georges St-Pierre bid farewell to the welterweight division, the antithesis of his championship reign fell out of the sky and crashed into the cage in the form of Nate Diaz. At UFC 241, after a three-year hiatus, there was no post-fight bowing, no pristine use of vernacular and no acknowledgment of a UFC-based hierarchy. No, Diaz walks to the beat of his own drum—a common description for the most uncommon athlete in combat sports.

Tom Taylor - August 21, 2019

Georges St-Pierre has often found himself in the crosshairs of Nick Diaz, which has led to an ongoing rivalry between the two welterweight legends. When it comes to Nick’s brother Nate Diaz, however, St-Pierre has plenty of nice things to say. Speaking on Chael Sonnen’s podcast after watching Nate Diaz defeat Anthony Pettis at UFC 241, St-Pierre offered some praise of the resurgent Stockton-based star.

Cole Shelton - August 21, 2019

Anthony Smith and Luke Rockhold have had a heated rivalry for quite some time. Ever since “Lionheart” moved up from the middleweight division and began having success at light heavyweight, the former middleweight champion Rockhold has been critical of him. Yet when Rockhold made his own debut at 205-pounds, he was knocked out in the second round by Jan Blachowicz. For Anthony Smith, this was good to see as it forced Rockhold eat his words. But, even after Rockhold’s failed light heavyweight debut, Smith isn’t done trash-talking his rival.

Tom Taylor - August 21, 2019

Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo recently expressed his interest in dropping down to the bantamweight division to challenge the reigning champion Henry Cejudo for his title. At first, UFC President Dana White seemed open to this idea.

Tom Taylor - August 21, 2019

At UFC 241, Paulo Costa picked up the biggest win of his career, defeating Yoel Romero by unanimous decision — but it didn’t come easy. Romero gave Costa everything he had, and according to Costa, the Cuban also relied on a few “dirty” tactics. “He’s a nice guy, but he’s dirty,” Costa said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (h/t MMA Junkie). “In the first round, when I make a hook in his face, he went down then got up very quickly. I say man I will knock him out in the first round because he feel my punch, my first punch, and I started hunting him in the Octagon. And when I close to knock him out, he point on something, anywhere, I don’t know. Like look there Paulo, and I lose concentration, because he point something, maybe his mouthpiece fall.

Tom Taylor - August 21, 2019

Until Saturday, Daniel Cormier was the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC, according to the official UFC rankings. After losing to Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 241 on Saturday night, however, Cormier’s has plummeted six spots in those same rankings — despite picking up a first-round knockout over Miocic a little over a year go. UFC President Dana White thinks that’s “f**king insane,” and is very unhappy with the members of the MMA media who vote on the official UFC rankings.

Tom Taylor - August 21, 2019

After a stacked card like UFC 241, it should come as no surprise that there have been some big changes to the official UFC rankings. The most notable change in this latest iteration of the UFC rankings occured on the pound-for-pound list, where the former heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier took a major tumble after losing to Stipe Miocic in the card’s main event. Elsewhere in the new UFC rankings, main card winners Nate Diaz and Paulo Costa made big climbs in the welterweight and middleweight rankings respectively on the strength of their decision defeats of Anthony Pettis and Yoel Romero.