MMA News

Justin Golightly - September 21, 2017

There was a lot of talk when Ronda Rousey’s coach voiced his opinion that he still wants the long-awaited fight with Cris Cyborg. It’s a fight that Cyborg herself is no longer interested in, and one her coach scolded Edmond Tarverdyan for suggesting. The latest to speak out on this is Rousey’s greatest rival, Miesha Tate. Not only does she think it’s ‘asinine’ for Tarverdyan to put the idea out there, but gives credit to Cyborg for shooting the fight down before the idea even gets legs. “I’m gonna give Cyborg a round of applause, because she wouldn’t look more like a bully than if she took that fight with Ronda. That would be ridiculous. It’s just nonsense to even think about that. I cannot believe that Edmond [Tarverdyan] would suggest something so asinine. I think Edmond just wants another payday so he can try to pay off his bankruptcy issues, because Jiminy Christmas. Poor Ronda. I’m not her biggest fan, but I wouldn’t even want to see that fight. I’m not her biggest fan, but I wouldn’t want to see her get slaughtered by Cyborg at this point in her career, either. It’s not appealing.”

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

UFC 217, which goes down on November 4 inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, is one hell of a fight card. Topped by a trio of title fights, it could even be the biggest fight card of the year outright.  Given the scale of the card, it should come as no surprise that a great many fighters were eager to shoehorn themselves onto the bill. Fourth-ranked UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal, who battles Stephen Thompson on the main card, is one of the fighters that was lucky enough to succeed in his effort to do so. He couldn’t be happier about this fact.

Justin Golightly - September 21, 2017

Right after Conor McGregor hoisted two UFC titles above his head at UFC 205, he put on one of his signature suits and strolled to the post-fight press conference. It was there, celebration whiskey probably still on his breath, that he vowed he was coming back for a piece of the whole company. In the meantime, he ventured outside of the Octagon (while still under contract with the UFC) to have a multi-million dollar boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. A fight that reportedly put $30 million in McGregor’s pocket. This was 10 times the amount McGregor made in the UFC, which was still the highest for a single bout. However, his next fight could be with congress itself, using his powers of influence to change the sport for the better.   

Russell Ess - September 21, 2017

All fighters but one made weight for the UFC Fight Night 117 event taking place in Saitama, Japan on Friday, September 22 (Saturday in Japan).

Justin Golightly - September 21, 2017

After the last two fights, it seemed like Ronda Rousey was done with the sport of MMA, at least for the time being. If anything, it seemed like she was inching closer to a wrestling in the WWE. However, her longtime coach Edmond Tarverdyan, recently just put it out in the news that he would still like for her to finally have the fight with Cris Cyborg. Jason Parillo, Cyborg’s coach, doesn’t think that’s a good idea at all. “As far as putting Cris Cyborg’s name in [Edmond Tarverdyan’s] mouth, that’s not a good idea. And god bless him, who else are you gonna call out? You should call out probably the girl, one of the last two girls [Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes] that he fought. That would probably be a better call-out. It would be more of an even match-up because the girl that he keeps calling out in Cris Cyborg, I believe would be – in an old school, back when Mark Coleman was doing it back in the day, I see Cris Cybrog beating all three of those girls in the same night, and I’m being serious when I say that. I believe that, and it’s the type of heart that Cris Cyborg has.”

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

On November 4, on the main card of the stacked UFC 217, fourth-ranked welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal will take on the division’s number-two fighter, Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson. This bout will serve as Thompson’s opportunity to rebound from back-to-back failed title bids opposite reigning champion Tyron Woodley – the first being a majority draw, the second being a majority decision. Though Thompson performed admirably in these undeniably competitive fights, he failed to pull the trigger in either battle, opting instead to hang back and wait for opportunities to counter.

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

Last weekend, in the co-main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Pittsburgh, brick-fisted welterweight “Platinum” Mike Perry picked up a thunderous knee-induced KO win over Alex Reyes, who stepped in to replace Thiago Alves on short notice. Shortly after this win, Perry made an exciting callout of former UFC welterweight king and fellow knockout artist Robbie Lawler. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio Mike Perry explained the reason for this callout of Lawler.

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

Ragin’ Al Iaquinta is one of the best lightweights in the world. Unfortunately, his gripes with the UFC have caused him to question his continued fighting career, and he’s been quite inactive over the last few years. Earlier this year, of course, Iaquinta did step back into the Octagon, dazzling with a thunderous first-round knockout of the notoriously durable Diego Sanchez. Since then, however, he has once again been noncommittal on his fighting future.

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

This Friday (Saturday morning in Japan), the UFC will return to the Saitama Super Arena, a combat sports stronghold just outside Tokyo, with UFC Fight Night 117. The card will be headlined by a bizarre light heavyweight scrap between established contender Ovince Saint Preux and Yushin Okami, a former UFC middleweight title challenger, and more recently, World Series of Fighting welterweight. As you might have guessed, this was not the originally planned main event for the card, as Okami stepped in on short notice to replace an injured Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who is nursing a knee injury.

Justin Golightly - September 20, 2017

The latest news about Paige VanZant isn’t just that the strawweight will be moving up into the new flyweight division at UFC 216. Back in January, VanZant announced she had a new book deal in development and it looks like it has all came together. Rise: Surviving the Fight of My Life, is the title of the UFC fighter’s new book she wrote for ‘all those who got knocked down and came up swinging’. It’s an autobiography that will document her struggles long before she was signed to the UFC.

Justin Golightly - September 20, 2017

The champion is back. Joanna Jedrzejczyk will be one of three title fights on the super stacked UFC 217 card at Madison Sqaure Garden. She’s been undefeated, not just in the UFC, but for her entire MMA career. That’s a ridiculous 16-fight win steak, if you throw in her two amateur fights before making her professional debut. Shes’ well on her way to becoming the most dominant female MMA fighter in the world, and she just added another highlight to her stardom. Glamour Magazine Poland has added Jedrzejczyk to their Women of the Year 2017 list.

Justin Golightly - September 20, 2017

Everyone knows Georges St-Pierre touched down back into the UFC to challenge for the middleweight title against Michael Bisping. He’s gone on record saying that if he wins, he’s contractually obligated to defend against interim champ Robert Whittaker. If he loses, St-Pierre has said he will retire. Win or lose, his teammate Olivier Aubin-Mercier thinks that GSP should call out none-other than Conor McGregor for the biggest UFC fight of all time. “To tell you the truth, I would not [keep fighting], but Georges [St-Pierre] is truly a real fighter, a real warrior, a real inspiration. He may fight again, I’m not sure. I think what would be plausible is to call out Conor [McGregor] after [the fight with Michael Bisping]. That’s what I would do. Call out Conor. I think for the UFC, it’s a really smart fight to do too, since it’s a win-win of them. A win-win kind of, for the short time. If Georges wins, well, he’s the greatest fighter of all time. If Conor wins, he is too. And if GSP wins, I don’t think people would hold it against Conor.”

Russell Ess - September 20, 2017

On Wednesday, Bellator announced that former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald will have his first chance to fight for a Bellator title on January 20 at The Forum in California. MacDonald will challenge Bellator MMA welterweight champion Douglas Lima. The two fighters didn’t take long to interact on Twitter following the announcement of their fight.

Justin Golightly - September 20, 2017

When you’re Conor McGregor, the world is your oyster. But sometimes, diving for oysters is dangerous. Sometimes, there are monsters in the deep. All this is just a convoluted analogy for the WWE’s monster-among-monsters, Braun Strowman. He was recently asked about McGregor in an interview ahead of his beastly battle this Sunday with Brock Lesnar, and doesn’t think the UFC lightweight champion wants anything to do with him. https://twitter.com/BraunStrowman/status/882087532539781120

Tom Taylor - September 20, 2017

Last weekend, in the co-main event of the UFC’s anticipated stop in Pittsburgh, PA, rapidly rising welterweight “Platinum” Mike Perry returned to the Octagon. Originally, the welterweight star was expected to battle former UFC welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves. Unfortunately, however, Alves was forced out of the competition thanks to Hurricane Irma’s effects on Florida. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Alex Reyes.

Justin Golightly - September 20, 2017

You may have not heard much from Charles “Felony” Bennett, better known as the now-dead nickname, Krazy Horse. A cult favorite of early 2000’s MMA and his few PRIDE appearances, Bennett blasted back into fight fan’s lives with a lightning quick, seven-second finish of Minoru Kimura in RIZIN in September of last year. He was supposed to return to the promotion, but was not able to. What followed is a long string of fights in regional promotions, leading to a plea on social media saying he needed a fight to pay his rent.

Russell Ess - September 20, 2017

Just when the dust started to settle between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi, bookies have brought up the two former sparring partners names up again for a fight. Malignaggi had previously called McGregor out to a boxing match when there was just talk of the UFC lightweight champion fighting the undefeated Mayweather. Interestingly, McGregor called upon Malignaggi to join his camp as a sparring partner to help him train for Mayweather when the fight was made official. Although it seems there may have been some ill intentions on McGregor’s side from the start, Malignaggi obliged and made his way to Las Vegas for McGregor’s U.S. leg of his training camp.

Justin Golightly - September 20, 2017

When Darren Till got word that Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone had no idea who he was, Till didn’t bat an eyelash. He didn’t feel any disrespect and promises he’ll know him after their fight at UFC Gdansk. However, when former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub said that Cerrone should be more selective of who he picks to fight, that caught Till’s attention. He recently went on the air to weigh-in on Schaub’s comments. “You’ve got people like Brendan Schaub saying he doesn’t know me, he’s disrespecting me and whatever, saying ‘Cowboy’ [Donald Cerrone] shouldn’t be taking this fight, but why shouldn’t I be taking the fight? Let’s get it straight, I’m unbeaten here. I’m unbeaten. Nobody’s been able to beat me. So, what do I do? Do I just stay on the prelims, do I? Fighting no one. Can’t I move up? Is this what the world’s come to? I can’t move up? I can’t fight these big guys? Is this what it is? A big gap? I’ll f-ckin’ show them what’s going to be a big gap on fight night when I crack him on the chin.”