UFC News

Christopher Taylor - March 4, 2019

Jon Jones successfully defended his UFC light heavyweight title in the headliner of UFC 235 defeating Anthony Smith by unanimous decision. Jon Jones earned a disclosed $500,000 on Saturday night, while Anthony Smith took home $350,000 for his efforts.

Thomas Taylor - March 4, 2019

Last Saturday night, in the opening bout of the stacked UFC 235 main card, former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt stepped into the cage with Brazilian contender Pedro Munhoz. The objective for the man they call “No Love” was to rebound from a pair of knockout losses to TJ Dillashaw. Unfortunately for the former champ and his throngs of fans, things did not go as he planned. Mid-way through the first round, Garbrandt found himself rattled by an inadvertent head butt, and in a dazed frenzy, threw caution to the wind. What followed was a veritable strafing, as the two bantamweights bombed each other with massive punches — many of which landed.

Cole Shelton - March 4, 2019

Ben Askren made his highly anticipated UFC debut on Saturday night against Robbie Lawler. He beat Lawler by submission — although in controversial fashion. Following his fight, Askren planned to walk out and corner his teammate Tyron Woodley in his title fight with Kamaru Usman. The UFC initially approved of Askren serving as a cornerman. However, after his fight, the UFC wouldn’t allow it.

Drake Riggs - March 4, 2019

There were several big winners at UFC 235, but physically as well as figuratively, there may have been no bigger than Brazil’s Johnny Walker. Three UFC fights, three first round knockouts, and three performance of the night bonuses. Walker has not come to play around in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. Well… That’s until after his fights are over, of course.

Drake Riggs - March 4, 2019

When it comes to the best divisions in the UFC right now, there are several that one could name and argue as the very best. And when having that discussion, it would be wrong to not at the very least mention the 145-pound featherweight class. For many years, the division was locked down by a single Brazilian king. That being none other than the once nicknamed “Scarface” Jose Aldo.

Mike Straus - March 4, 2019

With two title fights and some high profile names to boot, UFC 235 was preceded by some lofty expectations. But thanks to efforts from fighters like Diego Sanchez, Johnny Walker, and Kamaru Usman, it absolutely delivered. Let’s take a look at the biggest winners from the event:

Tom Taylor - March 4, 2019

Trying to knock Bryan Barberena out is kind of like trying to chop down a tree with a golf club — it’s possible, but it’s absurdly difficult. Vicente Luque learned this the hard way when he met Barberena at UFC on ESPN 1 last month. Over the course of two and half rounds, Luque bombarded his sturdy foe with the kind of skull-rattling strikes that would have left many other fighters snoozing. But Barberena just kept coming — and firing back.

Tom Taylor - March 4, 2019

Shortly after UFC 235, Colby Covington had a heated run-in with new UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and his manager Ali Abdelaziz. This run-in actually ended up getting violent, as Abdelaziz could be seen throwing a punch at Covington in video of the event (see it here). Apparently, however, that’s not where the craziness ended.

Tom Taylor - March 4, 2019

Toward the end of his UFC 235 title fight with Anthony Smith, UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones clobbered his grounded foe with an illegal knee. The referee paused the action, the cage-side physician entered the cage to examine Smith, and Jon Jones had a “nerve-wracking” flashback to his infamous disqualification loss to Matt Hamill. ”It was nerve wracking. It was nerve wracking, really,” Jones said at the UFC 235 post-fight press conference (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I just started to pray. I was just hoping that it wouldn’t go down like that. I had flashbacks of the Matt Hamill fight and I was just thinking, oh my goodness, please, tell me this isn’t going down like this. I was just looking at Anthony and I felt like we locked eyes at one moment and I kind of gave him one of these, like, ‘you’re alright, get your a** up’ [laughs]. Sure enough, he showed the heart of a lion.

Tom Taylor - March 4, 2019

Shortly after Kamaru Usman defeated Tyron Woodley to capture the UFC welterweight belt at UFC 235, he and his manager Ali Abdelaziz got into a heated altercation with former interim welterweight champion Colby Covington (see the video here). While UFC President Dana White has been adamant that the first shot at the new UFC welterweight champ Usman will go to Covington, Abdelaziz is now calling for a fight between Usman and Ben Askren, who defeated Robbie Lawler on the UFC 235 main card.

Cole Shelton - March 4, 2019

Montana De La Rosa is one of the more promising flyweight prospects in the UFC. The 24-year-old is undefeated in the Octagon, not counting exhibition bouts on The Ultimate Fighter. De La Rosa is coming off of an impressive submission win over the formerly undefeated Nadia Kassem at UFC 234. For De La Rosa, that fight went as good as it could have.

Tom Taylor - March 4, 2019

On Saturday night, on the undercard of UFC 235, Mickey Gall returned to the Octagon to battle one of the most experienced fighters in UFC history, The Ultimate Fighter Season One winner Diego Sanchez. Despite being labelled as the betting favorite heading into this fight, Mickey Gall was soundly walloped by his exponentially more experienced foe, and ultimately wilted under a storm of second-round ground strikes. It was Sanchez’s first stoppage victory since 2008.

Tom Taylor - March 4, 2019

On Saturday night, in the co-main event of UFC 235, Kamaru Usman authored a dominant decision victory over long-time UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley. During the fight referee Marc Goddard continually stood Usman and Woodley up, oftentimes when some onlookers felt it wasn’t necessary. UFC commentator Jon Anik, who was on duty for the card, shares that opinion. Yes! Wildly inconsistent. And Usman was working his ass off.

Christopher Taylor - March 3, 2019

A welterweight bout between former UFC title challenger Diego Sanchez and Mickey Gall took place on the prelims of last night’s UFC 235 event. Gall and Sanchez were engaged in some heated exchanges in the lead up to their scrap, making the fight one of the most highly anticipated contests on the card.

Thomas Taylor - March 3, 2019

New UFC welterweight champ Kamaru Usman and former interim champion Colby Covington have an extremely heated rivalry. So heated in fact, that they nearly came to blows inside a casino in Las Vegas on Sunday. In fact, punches were actually thrown in this heated encounter — though not by either fighter. Instead, it was Usman’s manager Ali Abdelaziz who let loose a strike. Usman even seemed to be holding his manager back.

Thomas Taylor - March 3, 2019

Kamaru Usman and Tyron Woodley’s UFC 235 welterweight title fight has now come and gone, with Usman unseating the long-time champion Woodley with a beautifully executed unanimous decision victory. While the two welterweight talents exchanged quite a bit of trash talk before their fight, particularly at the first UFC 235 pre-fight press conference, it’s clear that there’s now plenty of respect between them.

Tom Taylor - March 3, 2019

Tyron Woodley is no longer the UFC welterweight champion. The Roufusport representative’s reign came to a shocking end in the co-main event of UFC 235 on Saturday night, when he was walloped to a lopsided decision loss by streaking challenger Kamaru Usman. While this Tyron Woodley vs. Kamaru Usman fight was not particularly competitive, Woodley hopes that his previous accomplishments might earn him the opportunity. Many other former champions — Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Cody Garbrandt being recent examples — have been granted this kind of opportunity, and Woodley feels he deserves the same chance.

Cole Shelton - March 3, 2019

Daniel Cormier was supposed to partake in the final fight of his career before his 40th birthday this March. Well, that is no longer going to happen. Both Cormier and his head coach Javier Mendez have said his retirement will be delayed. Now, the question is, how many fights does Cormier have left, and who will his next opponent be? He definitely has options, whether it’s a fight with Brock Lesnar, a rematch against Stipe Miocic, or a trilogy fight with Jon Jones. But if Mendez has any say in the matter, it probably won’t be a Miocic rematch.