MMA News

Tom Taylor - November 23, 2020

Coach Eugene Bareman claims Jon Jones has followed in the footsteps of his star pupil Israel Adesanya — and not the other way around. While Jones has been in the UFC far longer than Adesanya has, Bareman notes that Jones only decided to move from light heavyweight to heavyweight when Adesanya began considering a move from middleweight to light heavyweight.

Adam Martin - November 23, 2020

Women’s MMA star Kayla Harrison trashed weight cutting and said it sets a bad example for kids, but her only option was fighting at 145lbs. Harrison is a former Olympic judoka who made the move to MMA in 2018. She began her mixed martial arts career in the PFL, where she won the promotion’s season two lightweight tournament and several non-tournament bouts along the way. But with PFL not holding any events in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the promotion allowed Harrison to take a fight in Invicta FC, with the only difference being fighting at 145lbs.

Tom Taylor - November 23, 2020

UFC President Dana White has responded to rumors that Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak is considering shutting down combat sports events in the state amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. Nevada is currently enduring a spike of COVID-19 cases, and amid widespread fears of overflowing hospitals and overworked medical staff, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported that Governor Sisolak is considering implementing new restrictions—restrictions that could affect the operations of the UFC and Top Rank Boxing in the state.

Cole Shelton - November 23, 2020

In the main event of UFC 255, Deiveson Figueiredo was looking for his first title defense when he took on Alex Perez. The co-main event saw Valentina Shevchenko defending her belt against Jennifer Maia. In the end, both champions defended their belts as Figueiredo submitted Perez in the first while Shevchenko won a clear-cut decision.

Tom Taylor - November 23, 2020

UFC flyweight prospect Ariane Lipski has released a lengthy statement following her UFC 255 defeat at the hands of Antonina Shevchenko. Lipski took on Shevchenko on the UFC 255 undercard, and was soundly out-grappled en route to a second-round TKO loss.

Harry Kettle - November 23, 2020

UFC bantamweight contender Aljamain Sterling has reacted to the news that his title fight with Petr Yan is off the upcoming UFC 256 event. The bout between the two rivals for the Bantamweight Championship was set to go down next month after endless spats over social media. Now, however, due to undisclosed reasons, the fight will be pushed back to early 2021 with February being touted as a possibility.

Harry Kettle - November 23, 2020

UFC flyweight Katlyn Chookagian has issued a response to a critic who suggested she is just a point fighter. Chookagian fought for the fourth time in 2020 this past weekend and managed to comprehensively defeat Cynthia Calvillo via unanimous decision. The win took her record this year to 2-2 and 2-1 since her Flyweight Championship defeat to Valentina Shevchenko back in February. Unfortunately, her performance was not particularly popular among fans.

Adam Martin - November 22, 2020

UFC legend Anderson Silva criticized UFC president Dana White and the world’s top MMA promotion “after an attempt to force my retirement.” Silva suffered a knockout loss to Uriah Hall at UFC Vegas 12 on Halloween and after the fight, White said that the UFC would not be offering him another fight. Indeed, Silva has since then been formally released by the promotion. White has gone on record saying that he believes that the 45-year-old Silva should hang up his gloves and retire. However, “The Spider” has not made up his mind either way and ultimately it’s his choice to make.

Adam Martin - November 22, 2020

Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt revealed his symptoms following a tough recent battle with COVID-19 and other injuries. Garbrandt was supposed to make his flyweight debut this weekend against Deiveson Figueiredo in the main event of UFC 255. However, the fan-favorite was forced to pull out of the fight due to tearing his bicep. Since then, we haven’t heard much from Garbrandt in regards to how he’s feeling and when he’s ready to return to the Octagon. But this weekend he finally broke his silence and explained what he’s still dealing with.

Adam Martin - November 22, 2020

UFC women’s flyweight contender Lauren Murphy made her case for getting the next UFC title shot against 125lbs champion Valentina Shevchenko. On Saturday night at UFC 255, Shevchenko once again defended the UFC women’s flyweight title when she defeated challenger Jennifer Maia by unanimous decision. Now we await what is next for the champion and there are several fighters who have a legitimate claim to getting the next title shot at 125lbs against her, including Murphy. The long-time veteran of the women’s divisions believes that she has the strongest resume of the bunch.

Adam Martin - November 22, 2020

UFC women’s flyweight contender Cynthia Calvillo released a statement following her unanimous decision loss to Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 255. Calvillo was a heavy favorite to defeat Chookagian according to the oddsmakers, but the fight proven to be a tough matchup for her. Calvillo was not able to get the fight to the floor and instead she was picked apart at range by Chookagian en route to a decision loss. Although Calvillo is still one of the top-ranked flyweights in the UFC, the loss to Chookagian was a big setback, especially coming off such a big win over Jessica Eye.

Adam Martin - November 22, 2020

A heavyweight bout between Greg Hardy and Marcin Tybura has been added to the upcoming UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Chimaev undercard. The UFC revealed the complete 13-fight bout order for UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Chimaev, which is scheduled to take place on December 19 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Many of the fights announced were previously revealed, but one surprise was the Hardy vs. Tybura fight. The two heavyweights will clash on the main card of this event.

Adam Martin - November 22, 2020

UFC legend Shogun Rua released a statement following his TKO loss to Paul Craig at UFC 255, admitting he is considering retirement from MMA. In the opening fight on the UFC 255 pay-per-view main card, Rua suffered the sixth loss of his career by TKO in a devastating fashion. After a somewhat competitive first round, Craig took Rua down and rained down punches in the second round, forcing the legend to tap to strikes. It was a vicious finish and it’s the kind of violent stoppage that made UFC president Dana White comment that he hopes Rua considers finally retiring from MMA.

Adam Martin - November 22, 2020

UFC flyweight contender Alex Perez has released a statement in the wake of his first-round submission loss to Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 256. After a destructive TKO over Jussier Formiga in his last outing, Perez was supposed to be a live dog according to many fans and bettors heading into the fight, but he made a mistake early on. After getting caught up with Figueiredo in a grappling exchange on the mat, Perez left his neck free for half a second and that was all that the champ needed. A second later and Figueiredo was cranking tight on the neck of Perez and forcing him to tap out, handing Perez his first loss in nearly two years.

Adam D Martin - November 22, 2020

UFC welterweight Mike Perry reacted following his unanimous decision loss to Tim Means on the main card on Saturday’s UFC 255 pay-per-view. Perry took on Means, who filled in on short notice for the injured Robbie Lawler, in a high-profile bout at UFC 255. Heading into the fight, the story was mostly about Perry and his corner, which featured his pregnant girlfriend Latory Gonzalez and an old friend, this coming after Perry took to social media to try and sell his corner spot. As well, the story heading into the fight concerned Perry’s brutal weight cut, which saw him miss weight.

Adam Martin - November 22, 2020

The upcoming main event at UFC 256 between UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling has reportedly been postponed until 2021. Yan vs. Sterling was set to headline UFC 256 on December 12 in Las Vegas in the wake of an injury to UFC women’s featherweight champion Amanda Nunes, whose title defense against Megan Anderson fell apart. However, it looks like Yan and Sterling won’t get a chance to fight before the year is up. According to Russian news outlet TASS, Yan vs. Sterling is reportedly off of UFC 256 and the fight has been postponed until 2021.

Adam D Martin - November 22, 2020

UFC women’s flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko released a statement after her victory over Jennifer Maia in the co-main event of UFC 255. Though it was far from her best performance inside the Octagon, Shevchenko was able to get the job done and earn a unanimous decision over Maia at UFC 255. Aside from a tough second round where the champ was taken down and controlled on the ground, it was mostly smooth sailing for Shevchenko. She improved to a perfect 6-0 in the women’s flyweight division following the decision victory over Maia on Saturday night’s card.

Adam D Martin - November 22, 2020

UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo will make a quick turnaround when he takes on Brandon Moreno in the co-main event of UFC 256. On Saturday night at UFC 255, Figueiredo defended the flyweight belt for the first time with a quick, first-round finish over top contender Alex Perez. On the preliminary card, Brandon Moreno finished Brandon Royval in the first round by injury stoppage, setting himself up as the No. 1 contender. Indeed, following the event, UFC president Dana White confirmed that Figueiredo vs. Moreno would be the next fight for the UFC flyweight title.