MMA News

Chris Taylor - August 18, 2017

Former UFC heavyweight champion is out of his scheduled UFC 215 bout with surging division contender Francis Ngannou. “JDS” was flagged by USADA for a potential anti-doping violation and thus removed from the September 9 fight card.

Russell Ess - August 18, 2017

Paulie Malignaggi said that Conor McGregor fights dirty and still has to learn about the difference between inside fighting used in boxing and in mixed martial arts. Floyd Mayweather even commented during his media conference call on Thursday regarding the short clips of McGregor and Malignaggi sparring and said that he saw some illegal shots being thrown by the UFC lightweight champion. However, come fight night, Mayweather said that he will do his job and worry about fighting while he will let the referee in the ring do his job and ref the fight.

Russell Ess - August 18, 2017

Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor is expected to be the richest fight in combat sports history. The hype of the mega-million dollar fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor equates to putting down a hefty amount of cash down to be in attendance for their boxing match at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ticket prices announced during the Mayweather vs. McGregor world tour press conference ranged from $500 up to $10,000.

Russell Ess - August 18, 2017

With the announcement that Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee will be fighting at UFC 216 for the UFC lightweight interim title, Khabib Nurmagomedov will be on the sideline preparing for his return to the Octagon.

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

The world has stopped so Conor McGregor can box Floyd Mayweather. It wouldn’t be surprising if the laws of physics themselves start to disintegrate. UFC events have been put on hold until after the boxing match, fighters are being asked to submit their prediction videos to be proliferated through social media, the Nevada State Athletic Commission even threw out their rules, what else does Mayweather/McGregor have in store for us? A big budget music video, that’s what. Las Vegas rock band The Killers will release a music video for their song for the historic event. .@thekillers are kickin’ it in the desert & cookin’ something up for #MayweatherMcGregor 🔥

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

After coming off the wrong side of a decision to UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 196, a decision she tried to correct at UFC 213. Unfortunately, Nunes had to withdraw due to a severe and chronic sinusitis. Shevchenko didn’t accept that excuse, wasting no time telling our own Chris Taylor about what she thought in their latest interview. Finally, they are going to get to fight again at UFC 215 and after all Shevchenko has been through, she’s not accepting a loss as an answer. “Everything is going good. I’m staying in Colorado together with my coach and my sister Antonina. I am training very hard and preparing to be the strongest that I can. This fight will be totally different because since that fight I have grown so much. I had very good training camps for my fight with Holly Holm and then Julianna Pena. So I feel like I am a totally different person and a different fighter than she fought last time. Most importantly for me is there is only one way. The one way is the victory. There is nothing else, nothing more. I will  do everything, it doesn’t matter what. If I have to fight the full distance I will do it. If I have to fight on the ground, I will do that. It doesn’t matter, whatever I have to do to win this fight I will do it!” – Valentina Shevchenko on her upcoming rematch with Amanda Nunes.

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

The hit list was impressive as it was quick: Ovince Saint Preux, Misha Cirkunov, then Jimi Manuwa at UFC 214. Volkan Oezdemir came out of absolutely nowhere and devastated the shallow light heavyweight division. Rocketing to top three, it’s hard to believe that Oezdemir has such a short list of opponents since he just debuted in the UFC in February, but that’s what happens when you just start knocking out dudes. It’s a no-brainer that he wants to fight Jon Jones for the belt, but Jones seems to have his eyes on Brock Lesnar. He wants to fight Alexander Gustafsson, but he that rematch with Jones. That only leaves one man: Daniel Cormier. “[Daniel] Cormier could be an option in the future because he’s going to have to come back in the scene. Even though he comes off a loss, he’s still going to be the number one contender. We tried to work something out [with Alexander Gustafsson] for UFC Poland in the main event, but like I told you, he’s concentrating on fighting [Jon] Jones. […] It could be a good opportunity also. He’s the second guy in the division. He was the title holder for awhile also, but I think maybe he needs some time off after the rebound.” – Volkan Oezdemir via The MMA Digest.

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

It wasn’t too long ago that Artem “The Russian Hammer” Lobov fought Cub Swanson in a Fight of the Night. While the hammer couldn’t drive the nail to one of the top featherweights on the planet, he did put on a scrappy and entertaining fight. While a ton of fans and even media tried to say that Lobov did not deserve his spot in the UFC, he proved it with that performance. If you’re still not convinced, the UFC sure is. Lobov will make his return to the Octagon in October against Team Alpha Male’s Andre Fili at UFC Gdansk. Now that’s a fun fight! @RusHammerMMA vs. @TouchyFili on deck for #UFCGdansk!

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

The former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is in a sort of limbo right now. He broke his losing streak by beating Kelvin Gastelum and you’d think he’d be on his way back towards that title, but his path isn’t that clear. He’s keeping his eye on a rematch with Luke Rockhold, but keeping a move to light heavyweight in his back pocket in case it’s a shorter line to the title. Meanwhile, on the outer fringes of the sport, Weidman thinks that Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather’s paths are much clearer. Not only that, but Weidman believes we’ve not seen the last of them by a long shot. “Yeah, I mean I think I have [McGregor] winning now. I think he’s gonna win. That’s my last prediction. Third-round knockout. It’s just a gut feeling, just I’m feeling it. I think it’s gonna happen and then they’re going to have a second fight, Mayweather’s gonna win that and then next thing you know they got a Conor verses Floyd trilogy, and everybody’s spent 300 bucks, which means 500 million for each of them.” — Chris Weidman via Submission Radio.

Justin Golightly - August 17, 2017

By now, you’ve probably watched Conor Mcgregor’s Schrödinger’s knockdown on Paul Malignaggi at least a hundred times. You’ve analyzed it, dissected it, maybe even seen it in slo-mo or frame-by-frame in GIF format. Ever since Dana White “leaked” the footage, the world has gone crazy. For some, it answered the questions they had, others weren’t so satisfied. Either way, people still want the full, unedited footage. That will never happen, but fans and media alike expected some new glimpses of the infamous sparring session to end up on Showtime’s All Access special on Mayweather vs. McGregor. According to Dana White, Showtime rejected the footage and didn’t want it to air, but that turns out to be fake news. Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports, says it was actually Conor McGregor who decided the footage would not be shown.

Justin Golightly - August 17, 2017

  It may not compare to last year’s UFC debut at Madison Square Garden, but UFC 217 is definitely stacked. According to Jorge Masvidal, after a little bit of social media trash talk, the huge event just got more violent. On his Twitter, Gamebred announced that he and “Wonderbread” Stephen Thompson will fight each other to see who can get back in the title contention. Holy crap, it’s going to be Miami backyard brawlin’ going toe-to-head with down South Karate.

Russell Ess - August 17, 2017

Former two-weight boxing world champion Paulie Malignaggi has been a common name seen in the media headlines recently. The reasons being Malignaggi’s boxing career tethered to his controversial experience in Conor McGregor’s training camp for his mega-million dollar fight against Floyd Mayweather. Malignaggi is no longer helping with McGregor’s training camp as he removed himself after they had a fallout when less than flattering photos of Malignaggi were released from their sparring session. However, Malignaggi’s insight of what he experienced during the training camp is something the media and fans can’t get enough of.

Russell Ess - August 17, 2017

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko are scheduled to fight once again at UFC 215. Nunes and Shevchenko first met in the Octagon in March of last year at UFC 196 where Nunes won a unanimous decision after Shevchenko turned things up in the third round. The two were set to fight in the main event of UFC 213 in July, however, Nunes pulled out of the bout the day of the scheduled fight after feeling ill.

Justin Golightly - August 17, 2017

Isn’t it annoying  when you’re the biggest Conor McGregor fan on the planet and you get a text from someone that you don’t even know? Now, you can send that guy an audio clip of your favorite fighter asking, ‘who the fook’ he is. Maybe you’re a kid and your mom is hassling you to do your chores, just say no, whip out your iPhone and have McGregor tell her that she’ll do “nootin.” Hell, ask your boss for a raise and if he refuses, let the Champ Champ scream that without you, this whole f-ckin’ ship sinks! There are many, many more uses for this glorified Yak Bak that McGregor has just came out with called MacTalk. They call it smack talk, I call it MacTalk! Download the official @MacTalkApp today! Available NOW!https://t.co/5alzUewac2. pic.twitter.com/6fuuEumoED

Tom Taylor - August 17, 2017

On August 26, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will step into the boxing ring with undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. In the buildup to this fight, many members of the combat sports community have offered insights, expectations and predictions for it. One of the latest to do so is Richard Perez, who serves as the boxing coach for Nick and Nate Diaz – the latter of whom stands out as McGregor’s fiercest rival. Perez discussed this upcoming boxing match on the latest edition of BJ Penn Radio. In his opinion, McGregor has a few dangerous weapons at his disposal, but they probably won’t be enough.

Russell Ess - August 17, 2017

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum is reportedly making an October return to the Octagon at UFC 216. MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani tweeted on Thursday that the UFC was targeting Werdum, the current #2 UFC ranked heavyweight, to take on #7 ranked heavyweight Derrick Lewis on October 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tom Taylor - August 17, 2017

In the buildup to his August 26 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr., many pundits have argued that Conor McGregor’s only chance at a victory is a puncher’s chance. In the opinion of Richard Perez, who serves as the boxing coach for McGregor’s arch-rival Nate Diaz, McGregor doesn’t even have that. Richard Perez also believes McGregor’s cardio issues – which plagued him in his fights with Diaz – will be a problem against Mayweather, and that the Irishman might resort to shady tactics to combat this problem. “No, he doesn’t have a punchers chance – and he gasses out,” Perez said on Wednesday’s edition of BJ Penn Radio. “I don’t care how hard he trains. They’ve got to watch out for him, because he’s probably going to take the substance that he did when he [fought] with Nathan, that woke him up. I know they’re taking tests, but they’ve got to be careful with that because he will do it. There’s no way he’s going to do this without taking any substances, and be strong in boxing, because boxing is a lot of stamina.”

Justin Golightly - August 17, 2017

After suffering three straight losses to the top of the division’s heap, Chris Weidman finally secured a win over Kelvin Gastelum. The luck of the All-American may be looking up, but the outlook of the UFC’s middlweight division he calls home is still murky. Georges St-Pierre swooped down like some MMA super hero and cut everybody in line to fight Michael Bisping. With an already arduous path back to title contention, Weidman is getting together a contingency plan and thinks he found a short cut to another UFC belt by moving up. That’s right, Weidman could move up to light heavyweight. “Yeah, definitely there has to be a clear picture. Like I said, my goal is to be the champ and there’s no way of me getting to have the belt for two years or more just based on other people taking their time with taking fights. It’s a weird place to be, it’s not interesting. I mean, if 185 doesn’t like, things don’t change, I want to maybe think about possibly going to 205. So we’ll see.”