UFC News

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Frankie Edgar is adamant that he should be the next man in line to challenge champion Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title. The former lightweight champ and long-time featherweight contender explained why in a recent interview with ESPN. ”I think everybody knows it should go to me,” Edgar said. “Even the guys who want the shot, you [hear] them say ‘Well, I know Frankie should get it, but…’ You know? Alexander Volkanovski is fighting Jose Aldo in a few weeks [at UFC 237] and that may have an impact, but I think everybody knows it’s me. I’ve worked my entire career for it to be me.”

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Last Saturday night, in the main event of UFC 236, Dustin Poirier defeated UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway to earn the UFC interim lightweight title. Having earned this title, he can now look forward to a title-unifier with undisputed lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov — most likely in September, per UFC President Dana White. “Yes, that’s the fight,” White said at the UFC 236 post-fight press conference (via MMA Fighting). “Poirier will fight Khabib next. Probably in September.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Shortly after Israel Adesanya captured the UFC interim middleweight title by defeating Kelvin Gastelum in the UFC 236 co-main event, he found himself on the receiving end of a social media attack from one of his primary rivals, fellow undefeated middleweight Paulo Costa. https://www.instagram.com/p/BwOyRr_hROw/ “Really this is the interim (fake) champ? Hahah .No doubt this weight division has already been better than this shit. Enjoy this while you can man, I really hope that you take the real belt one day to meet me. Note: And I’m not the Gastelum.” – Paulo Costa on Instagram.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Israel Adesanya absorbed quite a bit of punishment in his UFC 236 interim middleweight title fight with Kelvin Gastelum, but he also landed plenty of meaningful offense in return. In fact, he landed a record-breaking amount. Shortly after this fight, which Adesanya won by unanimous decision, the UFC announced that the Nigerian-born Kiwi had landed the third most knockdowns ever in a single UFC fight. MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn then added that Adesanya’s four knockdowns landed on Gastelum actually set the record for the most knockdowns in a single title fight.

Cole Shelton - April 17, 2019

Back at UFC Philadelphia, Sodiq Yusuff extended his winning streak to four and improved to 2-0 in the UFC. Following the fight, Yusuff called out Kron Gracie, who is coming off of a submission win over Alex Caceres and is from the legendary jiu-jitsu family.

James Lynch - April 17, 2019

Terrible news regarding former UFC strawweight Angela Magana: According to her coach Gabriel Lamastus (via MMAJunkie) Magana went into a coma early Wednesday morning following complications from emergency surgery. The 35-year-old currently lives in Puerto Rico and is staying at University Hospital. According to Lamastus, Magana was experiencing back pain in preparation for her Combate Americas matchup against Kyra Batara on Apr. 26. After a MRI revealed a herniated disc, Magana continued to train until the pain became too much and she was admitted again.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

The UFC has been crowning a lot of interim champions of late. In fact, it crowned two new interim champions at UFC 236 last weekend, as Dustin Poirier defeated Max Holloway to win the interim lightweight title, and Israel Adesanya defeated Kelvin Gastelum to win the interim middleweight title. Unfortunately, these interim title belts often amount to little more than number one contender belts, guaranteeing the interim a champion a shot at the true, undisputed champion. Sometimes, they don’t even accomplish that — see the cases of Colby Covington and Tony Ferguson.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw recently tested positive for the injectable only performance-enhancing drug EPO, and was suspended for two years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) as a result. While this development has slowed his promising career, he’s using his time off to get some long-needed surgeries and do some physical healing. TJ Dillashaw updated his fans on his first surgery on Instagram:

Cole Shelton - April 16, 2019

After Kamaru Usman beat Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 to become the new welterweight champion it was expected Colby Covington would be first in line to get the title shot. UFC President, Dana White even said so during the event. But now, Usman wants Covington to beg him for the fight. “Now you have to beg me for that fight,” Usman said backstage at UFC 236 (transcript via MMAJunkie).

Drake Riggs - April 16, 2019

The recent string of UFC main events dating back to March 9 have all been incredibly memorable. The second in that row of fights took place in London, England as two top welterweights went to battle. In one corner, it was a homecoming for the Brit, Darren Till who was looking to rebound off of his first career loss. Standing across from him was an also rebounding Jorge Masvidal. In the end, the returning ‘Gamebred’ would score a devastating two-fight losing streak-snapping knockout in round two.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

UFC 236 was a card to remember. The card was topped by a pair of interim title fights — both of which registered as instant classics in the eyes of pretty much everybody who tuned in.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

Having won the UFC interim middleweight championship with a thrilling decision victory over Kelvin Gastelum in the co-main event of UFC 236 this past Saturday, Israel Adesanya can now look forward to a title-unifying collision with undisputed middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. This clash between New Zealand’s Adesanya and Australia’s Whittaker will likely go down in Australia late this year, per UFC President Dana White.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

Dustin Poirier is now the UFC interim lightweight champion. He won this title with a riveting decision defeat of reigning UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway in the UFC 236 main event. With a UFC belt now wrapped round his waist, Dustin Poirier can look forward to a title unifying showdown with undisputed champion Khabib Nurmagomedov — perhaps as soon as September.

James Lynch - April 16, 2019

Kevin Lee wanted to make history with Rafael Dos Anjos. The 26-year-old asked the UFC if his matchup with Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC Rochester could be the first fight in the promotion’s history at 165-pounds. Instead the “Motown Phenom” has to settle for a welterweight contest instead, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t make a statement about the weight class on May 18. Lee thought about the idea of showing up five pounds less for the welterweight contest to make a statement.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

After a long career in the middleweight division — including title wins in the UFC and Strikeforce — Luke Rockhold is headed up to the light heavyweight division. In this new division, he’s hoping to advance through the ranks and ultimately collide with reigning UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones. Should Luke Rockhold earn this opportunity, he believes he’ll be the man to dethrone the seemingly unstoppable champion.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

UFC 236, which went down last Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia, featured a bevy of impressive finishes and back-and-forth wars. Unfortunately, that means it also produced some significant medical suspensions. Max Holloway, who lost a decision to Dustin Poirier in an interim lightweight title fight in the main event, has been sidelined indefinitely. So too has Kelvin Gastelum, who came up short to Israel Adesanya in an interim middleweight title fight in the UFC 236 co-main event.

Drake Riggs - April 15, 2019

When it comes to the two greatest bantamweight fighters of all time, the two that will come to mind first will surely be former two-time UFC champions, Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw. The former WEC kingpin, Cruz was, of course, the division’s inaugural UFC champion. Since his Octagon debut in 2011, he would go on to defend the title a total of three times across two reigns. For his second reign, he would earn back the belt that he originally lost due to injury by defeating Dillashaw.

Drake Riggs - April 15, 2019

The undefeated Nigerian kickboxing sensation, Israel Adesanya had a star like quality to him that was evident as soon as he made his Octagon debut in February 2018. Five fights later and he’s now the interim champion of the middleweight division. To earn that label, ‘The Last Stylebender’ defeated Kelvin Gastelum in a thrilling fight of the year candidate in UFC 236’s co-main event this past Saturday.