MMA News

Justin Golightly - October 24, 2017

Rafael dos Anjos has gone from losing his UFC lightweight title, to being a fight away a shot at the welterweight strap in a little over a year. He’ll fight Robbie Lawler in Winnipeg to determine who’s the next number one contender to challenge Tyron Woodley. It has Fight of the Night potential all over it and definitely could go down as a classic scrap, but they’ll be no heated build-up or public insults. The way Rafael dos Anjos thinks, we shouldn’t really need that. They’ll say all they need to each other inside the Octagon. “I have to fight and get the best fight for me. The best guys are ahead of me and this new generation, they try to talk crap and attack others on social media. I’m glad to have this fight with Robbie [Lawler] because there’s no trash talk. It’s a man’s fight and that’s how I like to do it. We show our talk in the Octagon when we get locked in the cage, we talk with our fists.” 

Justin Golightly - October 24, 2017

While we’ve got a couple of things splattered here and there for UFC 219, we’ve had nothing announced that screams “huge end of the year” card. If Jon Jones hadn’t of had his gut-punch anti-doping violation, we could have gotten a superfight to end all superfights with Jones challenging Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title potentially at UFC 218. But, just like the Rolling Stones song goes, you can’t always get what you want. The news here instead is that Jon Jones is still being tested. He just successfully passed a test earlier this month. USADA still testing Jon Jones, as case pends. Records show he was tested 4th quarter of 2017. I’m told it was 10/11, results were clean.

Justin Golightly - October 24, 2017

Andre Fili put on a great performance against Artem Lobov at UFC Gdansk, but unfortunately it was overshadowed by Conor McGregor twice. In the midst of the fight before his right hand man Lobov would square off against Team Alpha Male’s Fili, the crowd erupted as McGregor entered the arena. This fever pitch was only amplified in the featherweight clash as McGregor ran around cageside, screaming to his teammate during the fight. However, it was his choice words after the fight that found him in hot water. Andre Fili expressed his criticism of McGregor’s behavior and detailed his interactions with him post-fight. “There’s no need to use words like that. You don’t need to demean other people to make yourself seem bigger. Whenever you hear someone use that word or call someone a ‘bitch,’ that makes you look so insecure. Don’t be fake with me. I’m as real a person as you’re going to meet. You’re always going to know where you stand with me. For him to say what he said and then turn right around and act like we’re cool, that’s so fake.”

Russell Ess - October 24, 2017

Two former teammates will meet in the Octagon for the UFC bantamweight championship title at UFC 217 on November 4. Champion Cody Garbrandt will look to defend his title against former teammate and former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw. As the two have had a long history training with each other at Team Alpha Male, Garbrandt started his professional MMA career when Dillashaw was on his way to winning the UFC title. With being able to train against the top fighter in the UFC bantamweight division, Garbrandt said he knew it was only a matter of time before he would be holding the belt.

Russell Ess - October 24, 2017

Michael Page is coming off his professional boxing debut, making quick work of his opponent Jonathan Castano. Bellator President Scott Coker said earlier this year that he worked in a deal with boxing promoter Lou DiBella to let “MVP” have a go in the boxing ring and Page did not disappoint in his Friday debut with a flashy third-round TKO.

Justin Golightly - October 24, 2017

We shouldn’t have been surprised. All through the build-up UFC Gdansk, Darren Till told us what he’d do. He made no mistake showing off his confidence. Now we know that he was fibbing, he showed up in Poland and took out Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. He didn’t just take the win, but he did it with ease. Cerrone isn’t the only thing that Darren Till made short work of, he went from being nowhere near the Ufc welterweight rankings to breaking through into to the top 10. Darren Till rockets from unranked to #8 after #UFCGdansk, consequently pushing #15 Mike Perry out and causing all sort of mix-ups. pic.twitter.com/YFpFTpPWJR

Tom Taylor - October 24, 2017

Over the weekend, in the main event of the UFC’s return to Poland, rising British welterweight Darren Till picked up the finest win of his impressive career thus far, putting down long-time contender Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone with a volley of punches in the first frame. In the wake of this impressive win, Till made a clever callout of another rising welterweight in “Platinum” Mike Perry, who was sitting cage-side during the event in Poland. Unsurprisingly, this callout resulted in a heated, through-the-chainlink confrontation between Till and Perry, which gave immediate merit to a potential fight between them down the road (Perry is currently booked for a fight with Santiago Ponzinibbio).

Russell Ess - October 24, 2017

Georges St-Pierre is returning to compete in the Octagon after taking a nearly four-year hiatus from the sport. GSP will go up to the middleweight division for the first time in his career to take on Michael Bisping at UFC 217 on November 4 for Bisping’s UFC middleweight title. Given that “Rush” said he is returning to compete in MMA because he wanted fights that would excite him and get him motivated, it is hard to imagine a matchup against the trash-talking Irish UFC lightweight champion would not get him excited. St-Pierre spoke with Sports Illustrated recently and was asked if he has plans of fighting Conor McGregor in the future.

Tom Taylor - October 24, 2017

On November 4, in the co-main event of UFC 217, bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and challenger TJ Dillashaw will finally step into the Octagon to settle their score. In advance of this anticipated showdown, the former teammates have exchanged near ceaseless trash talk – particularly the Garbrandt side of the equation. One of Garbrandt’s latest barbs, however, appears to have been a misfire. The bantamweight champion and his team recently attempted to insult Dillashaw by suggesting he is more athlete than fighter. Unfortunately for them, however, Dillashaw takes this as a compliment. The upcoming bantamweight title challenger explained his feeling on Garbrandt’s recent comments on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - October 24, 2017

On November 4, in the main event of the stacked UFC 217, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will return from a lengthy hiatus to battle Michael “The Count” Bisping for the UFC middleweight belt. Though St-Pierre is widely considered one of the greatest fighters ever, he’ll have plenty of disadvantages when he steps into the cage with Bisping – namely being the smaller man in the cage, and being a fighter riding such a long layoff. That said, St-Pierre believes he’s got some advantages too, particularly in the grappling department. In fact, he believes Bisping is “terrified” of a prolonged grappling match on November 4.

Tom Taylor - October 24, 2017

At this stage, the circumstances of Conor McGregor’s next fight are quite nebulous. The Irish MMA superstar has a seemingly endless list of options available, spanning both MMA and boxing. That said, there are two options that seem to stand out from the rest: a fight with UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson, and a trilogy fight with his arch rival Nate Diaz.

Tom Taylor - October 24, 2017

Back in July of 2015, in the co-main event of UFC 189, Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald engaged in perhaps the greatest fight of all time. While MacDonald very nearly won this fight with a fourth-round salvo, a ferocious Lawler surged back in the fifth to capture a TKO victory. While this fight will never be forgotten on the basis of its absolutely thrilling nature, it has recently been re-entering the headlines thanks to some serious accusations from MacDonald, who has repeatedly shared his belief that Lawler might have been abusing performance enhancing drugs at the time of the fight. The most recent of these accusations from MacDonald occured during an AMA on Reddit.

Tom Taylor - October 24, 2017

Shortly after Jon Jones knocked out Daniel Cormier to reclaim the UFC light heavyweight title, it was announced that he had failed a pre-fight drug test. As a result, his knockout win was overturned and the light heavyweight strap was returned to Cormier. While Cormier is once again the champ, and Jones is facing a potentially career-ending suspension, Cormier’s training partner Cain Velasquez is still pretty displeased with the way things shook out. The former heavyweight champ went off on Jon Jones during a recent media appearance in Seoul, South Korea.

Russell Ess - October 23, 2017

Artem Lobov was edged out by Andre Fili during their UFC FIght Night 118 contest that took place in Gdansk, Poland over the weekend. Fili was given the judge’s unanimous decision after their three-round fight came to an end. Lobov now holds a professional MMA record of 13-14 with one draw and one no-contest. After the loss, Lobov tweeted that he is unsure of what his future holds as he does not want to retire and come back to fighting numerous times. Interestingly, the SBG Ireland teammate and close friend to UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor said after his fight with Fili that he may even consider going to try a new combat sport and have a go at boxing like “The Notorious” just did if the UFC will allow him to do so.

Russell Ess - October 23, 2017

Rising star Darren Till rose to the occasion in the main event of UFC Fight Night 118 over the weekend. Till had the biggest fight of his life for his first UFC main event against fan favorite Donald Cerrone and made a statement by stopping “Cowboy” in the first round by TKO. UFC commentator Joe Rogan, former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub, and Eddie Bravo got together to watch the UFC Fight Night 118 event and streamed it for the Joe Rogan Experience – Fight Companion episode. You can watch the crew’s live reactions to watching the fight between Cerrone and Till unfold and the guys give some interesting insight on the matchup.

Tom Taylor - October 23, 2017

We’re now less than two weeks away from the long-awaited comeback fight of former UFC welterweight champion and bona fide MMA legend Georges St-Pierre. The Canadian star will make his return against reigning, defending UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 217, this November 4 inside New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Given that St-Pierre is a former welterweight, and that Bisping has fought as heavy as light heavyweight, there has been much discussion about their potential size and weight difference.

Tom Taylor - October 23, 2017

Mairbek Taisumov has been angling for a ranked foe for some time. Despite his best efforts to coax stars like Anthony Pettis and Edson Barboza in the cage, however, he has not yet earned the opportunity he’s seeking. On Monday morning, the rising Russian lightweight took another crack at goading an elite lightweight into a fight, this time taking a dig at the entire top-1o with one hilarious cartoon. This cartoon, which is in the style of your typical political cartoon, also jabs at US President Donald Trump and his infamous wall.

Tom Taylor - October 23, 2017

Viral videos of martial artists grappling with bodybuilders are nothing new. Every time it seems as though the internet has had i’s fill of this bizarre brand of spectacle, a new video surfaces, showing an ill-trained behemoth attempting to bulldoze a calm, collected grappling specialist, and usually getting tapped out. The latest instalment in the ceaseless procession of fighter vs. bodybuilder grappling videos features UFC lightweight Sage Northcutt and Irish bodybuilder Blessing Awodibu. The video begins with some extremely light sparring and rolling, as Northcutt appears to give his hulking adversary some tips. Toward the end of the video, the pair turn up the heat. From there, the showdown quickly hits the canvas, at which point Northcutt grabs a dominant position, and helps Awodibu to his feet for a typically chipper handshake.