MMA News

Justin Golightly - October 11, 2017

After an incredible Fight of the Night at UFC 216 between Lando Vannata and Bobby Green, the judges awarded it a draw. At the time, it didn’t matter to those two warriors. It may still not. They both lifted their hands and embraced, knowing that they just put on the fight of their lives. Bobby Green may not have an issue with the result, but he does have a few words to say about the current state of judging in the UFC. “I don’t feel like we have good judges. I can’t even care what the judges think. Sometimes, they’re totally on, and sometimes, they’re totally off. That’s the way it is in our sport. We don’t get enough credit for who’s pressing the action. A lot of times, one guy chases the other guy around, and he ticks and tacks and runs, but he doesn’t get the credit for being the aggressor. Even though we say we judge upon aggression and cage control, they don’t give enough credit to those things. Because if I don’t push the fight, there is no fight. We’ll just be standing there looking at each other. But nobody understands that. Until you’ve fought, you wouldn’t understand that.”

Russell Ess - October 11, 2017

Over the weekend at UFC 216, Tony Ferguson won the UFC interim lightweight championship title by submitting Kevin Lee. Now, “El Cucuy” is ready to unify the belts with the undisputed UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and according to Ferguson, the time is ticking for “The Notorious”

Russell Ess - October 11, 2017

How many 56-year-olds and 60-year olds do you see at the gym that are looking in better physical shape than many half their age? 56-year-old martial arts movie star Jean Claude Van Damme and 60-year-old UFC Octagon announcer Bruce Buffer would be those guys.

Justin Golightly - October 11, 2017

Ronda Rousey is out enjoying married life and a new co-owner position at a supplement company. However, the fans still want to know what the future holds for the former UFC champion. Even if MMA is out of the question, the idea that she may transition to pro wrestling has been teased for a long time. It all started back when she appeared at Wrestlemania at the height of her career to Judo throw Triple H. Now that her friend and Four Horsewomen member Shayna Baszler had entered the fold, it’s been more and more likely that she’ll sign on as well. She’s still mum on the subject, but hinted she doesn’t want to ruin anything. “If you were a real [wrestling] fan, would you really want to know [if I was making my debut]? No, you wouldn’t. My best friends that are out there wrestling, like Shayna [Baszler], I don’t ever even want her to tell me anything that will ever happen [in the WWE] because I enjoy it more that way and I don’t want to ruin anything. We are at a crossroads and we have the luxury of time.” – Ronda Rousey to TMZ.

Justin Golightly - October 11, 2017

Conor McGregor has now taken the role of Shao Kahn from Mortal Kombat. He just sits back and watches the battles play out until he finally decides one is worthy enough to fight him. Of course, the only name that has seemed close according to rumors, reports and wallets was Nate Diaz. That was, until Tony Ferguson became the interim lightweight champion. Dana White said he and McGregor would be the next fight. Both Ferguson and Diaz are rangy, durable fighters, but Michael Bisping thinks Ferguson is the tougher fight for the Irish ‘champ champ’. “Here’s the thing, [Nate] Diaz is saying he wants $20 million to fight Conor [McGregor] for the third time, which sounds insane. It is insane but realistically, if that was boxing, for an event that size, a fight that big for the PPV numbers, I feel like the boxer would get that money or close to it. […] But $20 million, I think what he’s doing there is pricing himself out of the market, simple as that. That’s why Dana is pushing the [Tony] Ferguson fight. Dana, by going out there at the press conference and saying publicly that Ferguson has to fight Conor, that takes the momentum away from Diaz so that’s gonna soften his stance on the 20 million. Maybe he’s just using that as a negotiation tactic but I think if he doesn’t get what he wants he’ll say, ‘F-ck it, I’m not fighting then,’ and unfortunately, there is another good fight there with Ferguson vs. McGregor.”

Tom Taylor - October 11, 2017

Last weekend, the UFC returned to Las Vegas, Nevada with the action-packed UFC 216. In the card’s main event, we saw Tony Ferguson weather an early storm to capture the UFC interim lightweight title with a third-round submission win over Kevin Lee. In the co-main event of the evening, meanwhile, we saw UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson defend his title for a record-shattering 11th consecutive time, using a suplex to set up a fifth-round armbar for a highlight-reel finish that will never be forgotten.

Tom Taylor - October 11, 2017

After struggling to make the welterweight division’s 171-pound limit on several occasions, former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks elected to head north to the UFC middleweight division, where his weight cut would be less severe. Though he successfully made weight in his first fight in this new division, he failed to do so in his second, coming in two pounds over for a recent bout with Tim Boetsch. Heading into his next fight, a UFC 217 scrap with the undefeated Paulo Borrachinha, Hendricks will once again have to prove he’s capable of undertaking a successful weight cut. While he’s currently still over 200 pounds, and “eating a lot,” he has a plan in place to successfully make weight for this fight. He broke it down in a chat with Submission Radio (h/t MMAMania).

Tom Taylor - October 11, 2017

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley’s last two title defenses, a pair of tepid decision wins over Stephen Thompson and Demian Maia, have generated quite a bit of criticism, as many fans feel he could have done more to pursue a finish over his foes. UFC welterweight contender Carlos Condit, who will return from a long hiatus to battle Neil Magny at UFC 219 this December 30, understands these criticisms against Woodley. “I can definitely see where the critics are coming from,” Condit explained on the latest edition of The MMA Hour. “We’re athletes but we’re also entertainers, people buy the pay-per-view to be entertained. That’s part of this. This is show business. I know that winning is super important and a gameplan is super important, but at some point you have to, this is the hurt business and you gotta try to put your opponent out.”

Tom Taylor - October 11, 2017

Earlier this week, we learned that UFC heavyweight contender Mark Hunt had been pulled from his UFC Sydney headlining bout with Marcin Tybura, and replaced my Fabricio Werdum. Initially, the reason for Hunt’s withdrawal from this fight wasn’t evident. Eventually, however, it became clear that the UFC had removed him from the bout over “medical concerns” stemming from an article he wrote, during which he talked about slurring his words and his willingness to die fighting. “Following a recent first-person article published by UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt, UFC has taken the precautionary steps of removing Hunt from a previously announced bout in Sydney, Australia,” a statement issued to News.com.au said. “The health-related statements made by Hunt in the article represent the first time UFC was made aware of these claims. Athlete health and safety is of the utmost importance to the organization and it would never knowingly schedule an athlete complaining of health issues for a fight. The organization will require that Hunt undergo further testing and evaluations prior to competing in any future UFC bout.”

Tom Taylor - October 11, 2017

After more than a year and a half on the shelf, bantamweight contender Bryan Caraway is finally slated for a return. Caraway will be taking on “Cool Hand” Luke Sanders when the UFC debuts in Fresno, California with UFC Fight Night 123 this December 9. This report comes from Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com. This bout will be Caraway’s first since he defeated Aljamain Sterling by split decision all the way back in May of 2016. This win was preceded by another impressive decision win over Eddie Wineland, a loss to Raphael Assuncao, and wins over Erik Perez and Johnny Bedford. Caraway is 21-7 overall.

Justin Golightly - October 10, 2017

It was last Friday when probably the most intimidating women’s fighter on the planet stomped across the stage to stare into Rose Namajunas’ eyes. She’s basically dominated every UFC strawweight title hopeful in violent fashion. She’s known for her staredowns. Sometimes she’ll crouch down in some sort of animalistic way, making sure her face is glaring right into her mostly shorter opponents. However, things weren’t exactly the same at the UFC 217 press conference. Joanna Jedrzejczyk tried to shoot her laser glance at Namajunas but she just stood there, staring right through her. She didn’t seem intimidated, she seemed focused and cold. Rose Namajunas recently spoke about not being beat before the fight even starts. “I think that they almost lose the fight [with Joanna Jedrzejczyk] before it even starts. You see that with all the greatest in the world or all the greatest of all time. They all have this intimidation factor and it’s for a reason. It’s not just, ‘Oh, they play mind games.’ They can smell it off of them. They’re not joking around. I think that a lot of the opponents she’s faced, not all of them, but they’re afraid of her and it shows.”

Justin Golightly - October 10, 2017

We’ve had a while week of fight cancellations and curve balls. For UFC 216, Kevin Lee nearly missed weight, Derrick Lewis pulled out of his fight with Fabricio Werdum, Walt Harris was removed from his fight with Mark Godbeer, then finally put in to replace Lewis against Werdum. It was no issue for the Brazilian heavyweight, who dispatched Harris with an armbar in just over a minute. Now, he uses that quick finish to turn around super quick to step in for… Mark Hunt at UFC Sydney? What is happening? Mark Hunt out, @FabricioWerdum steps in to take on @MarcinTybura at #UFCSydney Main Event (November 19th) #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/Oki0EqV2IJ

Russell Ess - October 10, 2017

There are coaches for all aspects of mixed tiatial arts. You have head coaches that bring everything together and others that help on a specific discipline such as wrestling, striking, or jiu-jitsu. Then, for some athletes, they also hire a mental coach to help them through their mental blocks or issues that can hold back an athlete from their full potential. Georges St-Pierre and Vitor Belfort are examples of some of the biggest stars in mixed martial arts that have worked with a mental coach during their careers. Now, with the sport being highlighted by promotional beasts such as Conor McGregor, could fighters use a promotional coach to hype themselves up and build more fan interest?

Justin Golightly - October 10, 2017

Years before Conor McGregor skirted his flame-shooting Lambo into the UFC to capture double gold and jump around for big fights, there was BJ Penn. When the first UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver left the organization, the UFC put on a lightweight tournament to crown a new king of the world at 155-pounds. But after BJ Penn and Caol Uno fought to a draw in the finals, the UFC dissolved the entire division. This is what prompted Penn to search out new challenges, resulting in fighting future PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi in K-1 back in 2003. Oct10.2003

Russell Ess - October 10, 2017

I couldn’t even believe this as I was watching it. #Repost @lovatojrbjj ・・・ This is getting posted everywhere, but it’s too beautiful for me not to share as well! Congrats @mightymouse125 for making history & thank you for displaying so much incredible technique in all of your fights! #demetriousjohnson #UFC #JiuJitsu #MMA A post shared by Joe Rogan (@joerogan) on Oct 8, 2017 at 10:21am PDT

Justin Golightly - October 10, 2017

Okay, we have to talk about what Demetrious Johnson did at UFC 216. By now, even your parents and friends who have never watched the UFC had to have sent you the video on Facebook screaming, ‘Did you see this?!’. Of course you did. Mighty Mouse catapulted Ray Borg up into the air and then slapped on an armbar, submitting him and breaking Anderson Silva’s defense record. I was amazing. We’re still freaking out about it and so is UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway, who geeked out about it to Ariel Helwani and partly to Johnson himself was on the line. “Congrats on the amazing ninja sh-t you did. Congrats [Demetrious Johnson]. You’re a beast, man, I couldn’t believe my eyes what I saw on Saturday night [at UFC 216]. I had to watch it like a thousand times. I think he’s the best, I think he’s the GOAT. He’s going out there and he’s doing phenomenal things. He’s making everyone look like they’re not even in a league of his own. It reminds you of the Ronda Rousey era, everyone’s befuddled about what’s going on and he’s doing it against these other guys who are great. The 125 [division] is brand new, you don’t know who the ex-champs is so you can’t say he fought ex-champs. Bla bla, that’s what everyone is arguing about. This guy is the best in the world to keep competing in the UFC and keep doing what he’s doing.”

Tom Taylor - October 10, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 216, Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee stepped into the Octagon to battle for the UFC interim lightweight title. Despite a rough first round, Ferguson surged back in the second, and ultimately locked up a choke in the third. In the days leading up to this fight, much was made of Kevin Lee’s massive cut down to the fight’s 156-pound limit. When Lee barely made weight for this title fight, discussions about his massive cut down to lightweight became even more rampant.

Russell Ess - October 10, 2017

Being a fighter and commentator in the UFC can sometimes put you in an odd position as calling the fights might strain the relationship you have with some of your fellow fighters. This seems to be the case with Daniel Cormier, who commentated the UFC 216 broadcast and apparently Tony Ferguson who fought Kevin Lee in the main event did not like what Cormier had to say during the broadcast. Ferguson won the UFC interim lightweight title by submitting Lee with a triangle choke in the third round and then fired some tweets at D.C. while interacting with a bunch of  fellow Twitter users on Monday