UFC News

Tom Taylor - January 29, 2020

Dominick Reyes is still a few weeks out from his title fight with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, but he’s already worried about the illegal — if inadvertent — eye pokes that the champ is infamous for. Speaking to MMA Fighting, Reyes admitted the threat of eye pokes is something he’s thinking about, and that he intends to remind the referee ahead of time to be vigilant for this potential foul.

Adam Martin - January 29, 2020

UFC women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang has responded to a joke that Joanna Jedrzejczyk made about the coronavirus outbreak in China. Jedrzejczyk posted an Instagram story earlier this week in which she shared a picture of herself and Zhang as the two are set to collide in March at UFC 248 for the women’s strawweight belt. But she included one extra thing in the picture, and that’s a gas mask. It’s clearly poking fun at Zhang for being Chinese, which is where the coronavirus is affecting thousands of people, and where numerous people have died from it.

Tom Taylor - January 29, 2020

The official UFC rankings have been updated in the wake of Saturday’s UFC Raleigh card, and as expected, there have been some interesting changes. The biggest changes, however, do not relate to the card. Instead, the biggest difference you’ll notice in the new UFC rankings is the addition of new men’s and women’s pound-for-pound rankings. To remind, men and women used to be ranked together on the same pound-for-pound list, but now, they’ve been separated.

Cole Shelton - January 29, 2020

Ilir Latifi expects Alexander Gustafsson to fight again soon. Shortly after Gustafsson was submitted by Anthony Smith in the main event of UFC Stockholm he announced his retirement. Yet many thought the Swede would come back and a few months later he revealed he is considering a return.

Harry Kettle - January 29, 2020

UFC welterweight contender & UFC London headliner Leon Edwards has detailed his potential “fairy tale” run that’ll lead him to a title shot. Edwards, 28, is in the midst of a sensational eight-fight win streak in the Ultimate Fighting Championship which has taken him to the doorstep of a title shot. His next bout will come in the main event of UFC London in March, where he will take on former Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley.

Natasha Hooper - January 29, 2020

Conor McGregor’s return to the Octagon garnered priceless reactions from the MMA community. That included fellow MMA superstar, Israel Adesanya, who reacted to ‘The Notorious” 40-second victory against Donald Cerrone at UFC 246. The current middleweight champion tuned into the blockbuster event with friends in New Zealand. In the main event, the Irishman returned to action for the first time since his 2018 loss to lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov. He delivered unusual shoulder strikes and a head-kick to set up a show-stopping TKO victory against “Cowboy” in the first round.

Harry Kettle - January 29, 2020

Boxing promoter Bob Arum has said that he believes Terence Crawford could “pin” Conor McGregor in a mixed martial arts bout. Arum has always been a thorn in the side of MMA fans, many of whom believe he doesn’t really understand the sport in any way, shape or form.

Tom Taylor - January 29, 2020

Mackenzie Dern will look to rebound from the first loss of her MMA career at UFC Lincoln on April 25, when she takes on Ariane Carnelossi. This bout was first reported by Combate and confirmed thereafter by MMA Fighting.  When Dern last fought, at UFC Tampa in October, she experienced her first taste of defeat, giving up a decision to Amanda Ribas. Prior to that setback, she rattled off seven straight victories to begin her pro MMA career. Her main claim to fame, of course, his her massive success on the professional grappling circuit.

Cole Shelton - January 28, 2020

Kamaru Usman is not interested in moving up in weight to fight Israel Adesanya or taking on Khabib Nurmagomedov. Usman, who is the current UFC welterweight champion made it very clear he does not want to fight the champions in the weight classes below and above him. He and Nurmagomedov share the same manager and are often seen hanging out with another at events so that is why he doesn’t want to fight the Dagestani native.

Cole Shelton - January 28, 2020

Valentina Shevchenko expects to fight Amanda Nunes again. The two first met at UFC 196 where it was Nunes who won by unanimous decision and would go on to win the bantamweight title in her next fight. The rematch then came a year and a half later where Nunes edged out a split-decision to defend her title and beat the Krygyzstan native again.

Cole Shelton - January 28, 2020

Daniel Cormier is confident that no light heavyweight will be able to beat Jon Jones. Jones has been reluctant to move up to heavyweight so far in his career, as he has continued to reign over the light heavyweight division. Still, fans have made it clear they want to see ‘Bones’ at heavyweight. But, there still are fights for him at 205 pounds, as evident by his upcoming title defense against undefeated contender Dominick Reyes.

Thomas Taylor - January 28, 2020

The official Twitter and Instagram accounts of the UFC have been hacked. A hacking organization identifying itself as OurMine is taking credit for this incident. The original Tweet from the hackers has already been deleted — though it’s not clear if it was deleted by the hackers, the UFC, or by Twitter. Whatever the case, the Internet is forever. See a screenshot below.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - January 28, 2020

Brendan Schaub is taking ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith to task. Like many within the MMA community, Schaub is none too pleased with Smith’s assessment of the UFC 246 main event. Conor McGregor stopped Donald Cerrone via TKO in 40 seconds. On SportsCenter right after the event, Smith expressed his belief that Cerrone’s performance was “atrocious.” He even said it appeared as if Cerrone “gave up.”

Tom Taylor - January 28, 2020

Former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub recently claimed that all the best fighters are on the UFC roster. Unsurprisingly, this comment generated a torrent of backlash — including a retort from MMA referee turned Bellator commentator John McCarthy. Hear what McCarthy had to say about Schaub’s claim below (via Twitter):

Tom Taylor - January 28, 2020

Conor McGregor recently returned to the UFC’s Octagon with a 40-second drubbing of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Ever since, the MMA community has been debating who he should fight next. While all signs point to McGregor competing in another MMA bout soon, however, his manager Audie Attar recently divulged that the Irish star also has his sights set on a world title in boxing.

Cole Shelton - January 28, 2020

Sodiq Yusuff is now a perfect 4-0 inside the Octagon, and ranked in the featherweight top-15. At UFC 246, Yusuff competed in the biggest fight of his career when he took on Andre Fili. The Nigerian-American knew it was going to be a tough fight but was confident he would get his hand raised. That is exactly what happened as he edged out a decision victory.

Tom Taylor - January 28, 2020

Dustin Poirier has some history with Nate Diaz, and he wants to settle it in the cage — or the boxing ring. Poirier and Diaz were briefly scheduled to fight in late 2018, but the fight fell through due to reasons the two fighters can’t seem to agree on.

Cole Shelton - January 27, 2020

Cris Cyborg is very happy to be fighting for Bellator. Cyborg had a public falling out with the UFC after her knockout loss to Amanda Nunes at The Forum. UFC president, Dana White said Cyborg didn’t want the Nunes rematch while the Brazilian claimed she did.