MMA News
Luke Rockhold updates on possible move to light heavyweight
Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017
Earlier this month, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Pittsburgh, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold made a triumphant return to the cage, emerging from a hiatus of more than a year to clobber former World Series of Fighting champ David Branch to a second-round stoppage. With this win, Rockhold reiterated his status as one of the world’s premier middleweights. That said, he generated quite a bit of excitement post-fight by suggesting that his future might just be in the light heavyweight division. The main thing that is currently stopping him from moving up, he explained, is that his friend and training partner Daniel Cormier currently sits atop the division.
Report | Paige VanZant's UFC 216 fight is off
Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017
Long-time UFC strawweight contender Paige VanZant was expected to make the jump up to the new UFC women’s flyweight division at UFC 216 this October 7. Her planned opponent was UFC bantamweight star Jessica Eye, who was dropping down a division. Unfortunately, this compelling scrap has been nixed According to a report from Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com, this scrap will soon be officially cancelled, as VanZant has sustained a back injury in training – specifically, “an intervertebral disc injury.” This injury occurred in a jiu-jitsu session.
VIDEO | Anderson Silva and Kelvin Gastelum have their first face-offs in Shanghai
Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017
A exatos dois meses do #UFCXangai , as estrelas da luta principal do evento @spiderandersonsilva e @kgastelum estão na China promovendo o evento e protagonizaram a primeira encarada em frente a um dos cartões postais da região, a Torre Pérola Oriental! 🕷️🇨🇳 A post shared by UFC (@ufc_brasil) on Sep 25, 2017 at 5:49am PDT
Joe Duffy gets top-notch foe at UFC 217
Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017
Two of the UFC’s fastest rising lightweight contenders are set to clash at UFC 217, which goes down this November 4 inside New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden. In one corner, we’ll have Irish Tristar student Joe Duffy. In the other, we’ll have”The Texecutioner” James Vick. This bout was announced by UFC officials on Monday morning.
Brent Primus and Patricky Pitbull agree to fight on Twitter – and Michael Chandler is not happy
Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017
On Saturday night, in the main event of Bellator 183, long-time Bellator lightweight contender Patricky “Pitbull” Freire picked up a close decision win over former UFC and WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. In the moments after this win, Freire called for a fight with reigning Bellator lightweight champion Brent Primus, who captured the title from Michael Chandler back in June. “I want the champion,” Pitbull said. “I want Brent Primus. Tonight I took down another former champion and I want my shot at that belt. He keeps running from me but now it’s time. I want that belt and after tonight I earned my shot at it. Benson Henderson is a good, tough fighter, but I’ve got my mind on the division title now. You can’t keep running Primus.”
Miesha Tate to Jon Jones: You can’t use ignorance as an excuse
Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017
Shortly after reclaiming the UFC light heavyweight title with a knockout of Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones failed a USADA-administered drug test and lost that same title. Since then, Jones and his team have maintained that he did not intentionally ingest any banned substances. In the opinion of former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, however, ignorance is no excuse. “You’re either clean or you’re not. There is no gray zone when it comes to full contact sports, period,” Miesha Tate said on MMA Tonight on Sirius XM (h/t Bloody Elbow). “I don’t care if USADA says, Miesha, don’t eat Cheerios the week of your fight. Guess what, I ain’t eating Cheerios. That’s the rules. They make it so the sport is safe and clean, and we need to follow them.”
Dana White refutes rumor of Diaz vs McGregor trilogy fight at UFC 219
Chris Taylor - September 24, 2017
Earlier today Team FA reported that a trilogy fight between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor was set for December’s UFC 219 pay-per-view event in Las Vegas. https://twitter.com/teamfa/status/911971393297928193
Joanna Jedrzejczyk has goals to accomplish before moving up to flyweight
Chris Taylor - September 24, 2017
Joanna Jedrzejczyk is busy preparing to defend her strawweight title against Rose Namajunas at November’s UFC 217 event in New York. If Joanna can emerge victorious at UFC 217 she will tie Ronda Rousey for the most women’s title defenses with six.
Lorenz Larkin issues statement following KO loss to Paul Daley
Chris Taylor - September 24, 2017
The highly anticipated welterweight scrap between knockout artists Lorenz Larkin and Paul Daley took place last night at Bellator 183. Unfortunately for fans of “Da Monsoon”, after a strong opening round Daley was able to catch Larkin with a brutal left hook that had Lorenz out on his feet. The fight was stopped moments later by the referee.
You can add 'Wonderboy' to the long list of fighters in Mike Perry's crosshairs
Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017
“Platinum” Mike Perry is one of the fastest rising contenders in the UFC welterweight division. Since joining the UFC fold in August of 2016, he has knocked out Hyun Gyu Lim, Danny Roberts, Jake Ellenberger, and most recently, Alex Reyes. Though these knockout wins were interspersed by a decision loss to Alan Jouban, they have still been enough to elevate Perry to the number-15 spot in the UFC welterweight rankings. And now that he’s in the top-15, he’s putting all of his peers on notice. One of the latest fighters to find himself in Perry’s crosshairs is two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, who battles Jorge Masvidal at UFC 217 on November 4.
Tyron Woodley is not a fan of the UFC's pound-for-pound list
Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017
The UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings list is always changing. When Jon Jones was ejected from the list after his latest USADA-bust, the rankings endured another tectonic shift, and UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley isn’t impressed with the way they ended up. At present, the UFC’s pound-for-pound list has flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson at number one, lightweight champion Conor McGregor at second, heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic at third, featherweight champ Max Holloway at fourth, light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier at fifth, and bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt at sixth.
Mike Perry goes off on Colby Covington, has plans to fight him soon
Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017
“Platinum” Mike Perry and Colby “Chaos” Covington are two of the brightest young contenders in the UFC welterweight division – and they really don’t seem to like each other. Over the last few months, the pair have exchanged plenty of heat in interviews and on social media. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, the trend continued, as Perry spat some fire at Covington, assuring that if Covington gets by Demian Maia on October 28, he’d like to fight him as soon as possible thereafter.
After Bellator 183, Benson Henderson vows to 'stop having close fights'
Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017
Last night, in the main event of Bellator 183, Benson Henderson fought to yet another split decision, this time opposite long-time Bellator contender Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. Though Henderson has won his fare share of split decisions in the past, he lost this one. Whether the judges got it right or not (the MMA community didn’t seem sure), he is now a tough 1-3 in the Bellator cage, and as such, he believes it’s time for a change in his fighting style. “I think that either way, win or lose, I need to stop having close fights,” Henderson told MMAJunkie.com post-fight. “(People say), ‘Oh, it was kind of close, maybe you could have won, you could have lost.’ Like, those close fights are killing me. It’s always nice to win a close fight, win a close split decision, but just being in close decision, close split decision, split decision (all in a row) – those are just too close to have. You can’t have those. You have to have a better performance win or lose. You got to be in more decisive battles. It sucks.”
VIDEO | Rory MacDonald and champ Douglas Lima have first staredown at Bellator 183
Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017
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MMA community reacts to Paul Daley's thunderous KO of Lorenz Larkin
Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017
Last night, Bellator MMA returned to San Jose, California with the stacked Bellator 183. The card was headlined by a compelling lightweight showdown between former UFC and WEC champ Benson Henderson and long-time Bellator lightweight contender Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. It’s arguable that the most anticipated feature of the card, however, was the co-main event, which pitted brick-fisted British puncher Paul Daley against former top-10 UFC welterweight Lorenz Larkin. As expected, this was a fun fight, during which both men landed plenty of the heavy artillery for which they’re known. In the end, however, the underdog Daley added yet another blistering knockout to his highlight reel, rattling Larkin with a spinning back-fist, and sending him careening to the canvas with a left hook.
MMA community reacts to Patricky Freire's controversial decision defeat of Benson Henderson
Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017
Last night, Bellator MMA returned to San Jose, California with the stacked Bellator 183. In the card’s main event, we watched former UFC and WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson collide with long-time Bellator lightweight contender Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. As is so often the case when it comes to Benson Henderson fights, this one was incredibly close. For three rounds, we watched Henderson relentlessly pursue the takedown, effectively shutting down Pitbull’s offense as he did, while Pitbull denied all of those takedown attempts, depriving Henderson of the opportunity to rack up points in the judges’ eyes.
Bellator 183 Results: Roy Nelson defeats Javy Ayala via decision
Chris Taylor - September 23, 2017
Former UFC heavyweight standout Roy Nelson made his Bellator debut tonight against Javy Ayala on the main card of Bellator 183. Round one begins and Ayala lands a high kick early. Nelson is staying patient and looking for an opening to land his big overhand right. Ayala is very active early on here. Nelson shoots in and scores a big takedown against the fence. Roy is working from half guard now. Nelson transitions to full mount and begins landing some shots. Ayala scrambles and is able to get back to his feet. Ayala lands some big knees and punches to close out an entertaining opening round.
Bellator 183 Results: Aaron Pico brutally KO's Justin Linn (VIDEO)
Chris Taylor - September 23, 2017
Highly touted prospect Aaron Pico returned to the cage tonight where he squared off with Justin Linn on the main card of Bellator 183. Round one begins and Pico is able to secure the early takedown just twenty seconds into the fight. Pico with some solid punches from the top. He is staying active here. Linn scrambles up to his feet. Justin begins sneaking in some bombs of his own now. The fighters exchange shots and then Aaron shoots in and secures another takedown. Pico with some shots from the top. He postures up and motions Linn to stand back up. Justin does and we are back to standing. Pico lands an absolute bomb of a left hand and this one is all over as Linn crashed to the floor. WOW!