MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

Back in July of 2016, in the last-minute main event of UFC 200, Brazilian talent Amanda Nunes swiped the women’s bantamweight title from Miesha Tate with a dominant, first-round submission win. Later in the year, in the main event of December’s UFC 207, Nunes defended that title with an even more dominant win, brutalizing returning former champion Ronda Rousey in just 48 seconds. Speaking to FloCombat.com in the weeks after her win, Nunes said that she didn’t think anything could stop her from defeating Rousey at UFC 207 – she was simply too focused.

Scott Hernandez - January 18, 2017

Nate Diaz could be making quite a groundbreaking move in bridging the gap between the MMA community and the boxing community. In the closing weeks of 2016, news had surfaced that Conor McGregor had been granted a boxing license in California. While there was no word on whether McGregor would take a boxing match, this threw fuel on the fire in regards to talks of a potential McGregor-Mayweather boxing match.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

Earlier this week, UFC middleweight contender Tim Kennedy announced his retirement from mixed martial arts with a heartfelt post to his Facebook page. This retirement announcement followed a lopsided knockout loss to Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 206. Shortly thereafter, Kennedy spoke with MMAFighting.com to elaborate on his decision to retire, and give updates on his involvement with the new Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association, and his future in the martial arts.

Scott Hernandez - January 18, 2017

This week, MMA veteran Tim Kennedy announced his retirement from MMA several weeks after dropping a 3rd round TKO to Kelvin Gastelum on the main card of UFC 206. The loss marked Kennedy’s second in a row, and his first fight in over two years. At UFC 178 in 2014, Kennedy and streaking middleweight Yoel Romero stepped into the Octagon for what remains to this day, one of the most controversial fights in MMA history. At the end of the second round, Kennedy had Romero rocked and nearly finished. ‘Soldier of God’ survived the end of the round, and was in the process of recovering between rounds. When the horn sounded to signal the start of the third round, Romero remained on his stool while referee Big John McCarthy called for Romero’s corner to wipe excess vaseline from him, and retrieve the stool from the cage. Kennedy complained as Romero continued to sit on the stool, ultimately buying himself nearly an extra minute between rounds to recover. When the third round started, Romero went out and TKOd Kennedy. Of course this caused quite a bit of controversy as many criticized Romero for stalling between rounds. Despite that, Romero explained the reason he was rocked at the end of the second was because Kennedy had allegedly stuck his fingers in Romero’s gloves in order to land the shots.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

In late 2016, former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was forced out of a highly anticipated rematch with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza with an injury. This fight would have been Rockhold’s first back since he surrendered the UFC middleweight title to Michael Bisping in June, succumbing to a shocking, first-round knockout. Early last week, Jacare made headlines by suggesting that Rockhold wasn’t actually injured, and that he pulled out of their planned rematch because he was scared.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

Last month, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 207, Cody Garbrandt dished out a substantial upset, defeating Dominick Cruz by unanimous decision to win the UFC bantamweight title. Though Garbrandt has issued several callouts in the weeks since this win – including an attempt to goad Cruz into an immediate rematch – we now know that his next challenge will be provided by former champion TJ Dillashaw. Dillashaw, who he used to train with at Team Alpha Male, will serve as his opposing coach on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. From there, the two talented bantamweights will throw down with the divisional crown on the line – though a date and location for this scrap has not yet been confirmed.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

Chael Sonnen has become one of the most interesting commentators in MMA. If there’s a major headline cooking up, the three-time UFC title challenger and current Bellator star will have something thought-provoking to say about it. The latest issue that Chael Sonnen sounded off on revolves around the derailed career of the once dominant Ronda Rousey, who was first levelled by a Holly Holm head kick in 2015, and more recently, mauled by reigning bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes in her long-awaited Octagon return.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

Nate Diaz is well on his way to acquiring a boxing license in the state of Nevada. According to ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto, who spoke with Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) executive director Bob Bennett, Diaz has been working toward this end for several months. Having paid the $50,000 fine he was handed by the NSAC last month, which stemmed from a bottle-throwing skirmish with Conor McGregor at a UFC 202 press conference, he is now filing the required paperwork to obtain this license. He has also submitted submitted footage of his gym’s boxing training for the commission to look over.

Scott Hernandez - January 17, 2017

To close out 2016, undefeated bantamweight Cody Garbrandt stepped into the Octagon with UFC bantamweight kingpin Dominick Cruz for a highly anticipated grudge match in the co-main event of UFC 207. Garbrandt of course entered the Octagon and put on a phenomenal display as he bloodied and battered the champ over the course of 5 rounds, utilizing his phenomenal head movement and power to remain one step ahead of Cruz en route to capturing the bantamweight title.

Scott Hernandez - January 17, 2017

While Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will meet in the Octagon at UFC 209 to fight for the interim UFC lightweight championship, it took quite a bit of time for the fight to be made official. After Conor McGregor captured the lightweight championship by knocking out Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in New York in November, the UFC superstar revealed that he would be taking some time away from the Octagon in order to be with his girlfriend leading up to the birth of their firstborn child in May. This led to talks of an interim lightweight title, with undefeated Dagestani fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov and streaking 10th Planet JiuJitsu lightweight Tony Ferguson being mentioned as the two combatants.

Russell Ess - January 17, 2017

If you’re a fan of Vince Vaughn, you’re going to enjoy this Gracie Breakdown that much more.

Scott Hernandez - January 17, 2017

To close out 2016, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes picked up arguably the biggest win of her career as she destroyed former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey in just 48 seconds in the main event of their highly anticipated UFC 207 scrap. While Ronda Rousey was the focus of the promotional videos leading up to the fight, it took just 48 seconds for Amanda Nunes to steal the spotlight as she cemented her place in the minds of fight fans with her impressive win.

Russell Ess - January 17, 2017

One of the biggest names in boxing today is Gennady Golovkin, who is known for his knockout power and exciting fights. With all the talk and buzz surrounding a Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather bout, the active boxing superstar who holds WBC, WBA, IBO & IBF titles spoke with TMZ recently on if he would take a fight against the UFC lightweight champion and what his thoughts are on McGregor in the boxing ring.

Scott Hernandez - January 17, 2017

To kick off 2017, talks of a potential Conor McGregor Floyd Mayweather boxing match quickly picked up steam as Mayweather offered the UFC superstar $15 million for a boxing match:

Tom Taylor - January 17, 2017

Undefeated Blackzilians staple Kamaru Usman is one of the fastest rising prospects in the welterweight division. He also understands the value of a good, old fashioned call-out, which is why he’s recently campaigned so hard for a fight with Demian Maia. Unfortunately for Usman, Maia politely turned down his offer for a fight. Having accepted Maia’s rejection, Usman has now set his sights on another top welterweight grappler: Dong Hyun Kim.

Russell Ess - January 17, 2017

UFC Hall of Fame legend Chuck Liddell is still getting in the ring here and there, showing glimpses of his past as the king of the UFC’s light heavyweight division.

Tom Taylor - January 17, 2017

On Sunday night, the UFC returned to Phoenix, Arizona with an exciting night of fights. The second fight on the main card occurred at welterweight, where gritty veteran Ben Saunders took on The Ultimate Fighter 11 winner Court McGee. After three rounds of action, the judges would give this fight to Saunders, though many fans seemed to think the decision should have been the other way around. From the sounds of, Saunders is very lucky the judges saw the fight the way they did, as he entered the fight in dire financial straights.

Russell Ess - January 17, 2017

UFC middleweight Derek Brunson will return to the Octagon at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, New York on February 11. Coming off a TKO loss against Robert Whittaker at UFC Fight Night 101 in November of last year, Brunson will be looking to get back to his winning ways against one of the greatest mixed martial arts fighters of all time. Brunson has been tasked with fighting former UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva.