MMA News

Scott Hernandez - January 11, 2017

At UFC 205, the UFC’s inaugural event at the Madison Square Garden back in November, streaking welterweight contender Stephen Thompson stepped into the Octagon to fight recently-crowned welterweight champion Tyron ‘The Chosen One Woodley’ in a highly anticipated showdown for the welterweight strap.

Tom Taylor - January 11, 2017

Cody Garbrandt closed out 2016 in the biggest way possible, defeating Dominick Cruz by unanimous decision to claim the UFC bantamweight throne. With this title-grabbing win, Garbrandt now looks ahead to his first challenge as the bantamweight king. Logic suggests that challenge would be provided by his former training partner TJ Dillashaw, a former champion on a solid, two-fight win-streak. Recently, however, the new champion set his sights on featherweight battles that he deems to be more lucrative, mentioning Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor as possible opponents.

Tom Taylor - January 11, 2017

Late last month, in the main event of UFC 207, Ronda Rousey stepped into the Octagon for the first time since she was knocked out by Holly Holm in November of 2015. Unfortunately for her, this long-awaited comeback did not go as she planned, as she was mauled by reigning women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in just 48 seconds. In the wake of Rousey’s emphatic knockout loss, many members of the MMA community have wished her well and speculated on what the future holds for her. Now, boxing great Floyd Mayweather has done the same, and despite the animosity between him and Rousey in the past, he was actually quite kind.

Tom Taylor - January 11, 2017

In November of 2015, Holly Holm shocked the world by shutting off Ronda Rousey with a second round kick to the head. With this defeat of the seemingly unbeatable Rousey, Holm claimed the UFC women’s bantamweight belt, becoming just the second woman in promotional history to wear it. Unfortunately for Holm and her army of fans, she was not able to hang onto the belt for long. In her first defense, which occurred in March of 2016, she surrendered an early lead to be put to sleep by a fifth-round rear-naked choke dealt by the now retired Miesha Tate. Just like that, her reign as UFC women’s bantamweight queen had come to an end.

Scott Hernandez - January 10, 2017

At UFC 205, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and welterweight #1 contender Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson stepped into the Octagon for what turned out to be an epic welterweight showdown. The fight was an extremely close one, with some scoring the fight for the champ, and others scoring the fight for challenger. After 5 hard-fought rounds, which included Woodley nearly finishing Thompson in the 4th round, the judges scored the fight a majority draw, with Woodley retaining his welterweight championship.

Scott Hernandez - January 10, 2017

The ongoing saga between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov continues in early 2017! Following Conor McGregor’s dominant win over Eddie Alvarez to claim the UFC welterweight championship at UFC 205 in 2016, there was much talk of a potential fight between #1 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson for the interim UFC lightweight championship. While both men agreed to the bout on social media, Ferguson then put a hold on the plans as he revealed his intentions to hold out for more money.

Russell Ess - January 10, 2017

UFC Heavyweight Ben Rothwell isn’t holding anything back when speaking with the media now that he realizes how much of a factor it plays in the sport of mixed martial arts. Following Ronda Rousey’s much talked about loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207, Rothwell commented not just on Rousey on Sirius XM’s “Fight Club” podcast, but also her boyfriend Travis Browne where he ripped into his fellow UFC heavyweight.

Scott Hernandez - January 10, 2017

Rose Namajunas has been absent from the Octagon following her UFC 201 split decision loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz back at UFC 201 in July. The loss snapped a 3-fight win streak for Namajunas which saw her defeat Angela Hill, Paige VanZant, and Tecia Torres following her TUF 20 Finale loss to Carla Esparza in 2014. Following her loss to Kowalkiewicz, Namajunas headed to Indonesia where she spent quite a bit of time breaking the cycle of daily life in Denver, Colorado. During a brief return to Colorado this week, Namajunas spoke on The MMA Hour to discuss her training with top ranked women’s bantamweight Valentina Shevchenko, her next potential fight, and her growth as a fighter, saying:

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2017

Late last week, news broke that Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza would be returning to the Octagon against Tim Boetsch at UFC 208. Given Jacare’s status as a staple of the middleweight top-5, and Boetsch’s position on the outermost edge of the top-15, this was a bit of a strange booking. According to Jacare, however, it was the best available option. The Brazilian explained his reasons for taking the fight in an interview with MMAFighting.com.

Scott Hernandez - January 10, 2017

In the wake of UFC superstar Conor McGregor’s impact on the UFC over the course of the past two years, more and more fighters have continued to call for ‘money fights’. While the idea of a superfight in order to secure a massive payday is certainly an appealing one to many fighters, UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn has a different take on the idea of money fights. The former two-divison champion spoke recently to discuss the surge in fighters asking for a ‘money fight’ ahead of his highly anticipated return to the Octagon on Sunday against Yair Rodriguez in Phoenix.

Russell Ess - January 10, 2017

The late Kimbo Slice was a massive attraction with his rise from his viral street fighting videos on the Internet to headlining televised mixed martial arts bouts. MMA bad boy Nick Diaz recently appeared as a guest on an episode of GGN News with Snoop Dogg where the two talked about mixed martial arts and Diaz’s history.

Russell Ess - January 10, 2017

On Monday, Ronda Rousey posted on social media for the first time since losing to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207. Rousey’s social media post was a quote from J K Rowling that reflected her mindset saying, “And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2017

One of the biggest moments of UFC 207, the UFC’s final card of the year 2016, was Cody Garbrandt’s title-winning defeat of Dominick Cruz. Garbrandt earned this victory with a lopsided unanimous decision in a performance that would become a late entrant into the 2016 Upset of the Year debate.

Scott Hernandez - January 10, 2017

MMA veteran Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos officially retired from MMA. In 2016, the MMA veteran was on the wrong end of what will forever go down as one of the most disturbing losses in MMA history.

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2017

Long-time featherweight contender Ricardo Lamas knows who he wants to fight next. The talented fighter has his eyes on a bout with former UFC lightweight champ and two-time featherweight title challenger Frankie Edgar. Lamas explained his desire for a fight with Edgar in a recent interview with FloCombat.com.

Scott Hernandez - January 10, 2017

While the feud between Team Alpha Male (TAM) and former TAM member TJ Dillashaw has been a very public one, the Cody Garbrandt-TJ Dillashaw feud was reignited at the end of 2016 when undefeated TAM prospect Cody Garbrandt was gearing up for his UFC 207 showdown with Dominick Cruz, and Dillashaw was gearing up for his bantamweight #1 contender fight with John Lineker, which took place at the same event. While the possibility of both men emerging from their fights victorious and fighting one another for the bantamweight championship was certainly a possibility in the minds of fight fans, Dillashaw was one step ahead, already looking to potential set up a potential fight with his former teammate when just hours before the event was set to kick off, he revealed on social media that he had made ‘No Love’ cry during practices at TAM. Garbrandt fired back, hours before his title fight with Cruz, dropping a bombshell as he proclaimed that TAM coach Justin Buchholz had footage of himself knocking Dillashaw out in training. Dillashaw of course refuted the claims, which resulted in a back-and-forth war of words between the two men. Following Garbrandt’s masterful win over Cruz, and Dillashaw’s dominant win over Lineker, the two men have continued to trade shots on social media.

Scott Hernandez - January 10, 2017

For quite some time now, reports have periodically surfaced that UFC superstar Conor McGregor is concerned with brain trauma. Prior to being signed to the UFC in 2013, Conor McGregor was reportedly concerned over the possibility of long-term brain damage. Despite that, the Irish superstar was signed to the promotion and went on quite the tear as he rattled off 7 straight wins, including a 13 second KO of Jose Aldo at UFC 194 which saw him claim the UFC featherweight championship.

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2017

Here's footage of Edmond Tarverdyan during the closing moments of Ronda Rousey's loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 via reddit user DaveAP pic.twitter.com/UZuteMAe7z — Chamatkar Sandhu (@ChamatkarSandhu) January 10, 2017