MMA News

Scott Hernandez - December 20, 2016

While UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and top ranked bantamweight Cody Garbrandt aren’t scheduled to share the Octagon until December 30th, the pair nearly had their fight for Cruz’s bantamweight title backstage at UFC 202 back in August. According to UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, Cruz and Garbrandt came face-to-face backstage, and got in each others faces as tensions continued to rise before they were officially scheduled to fight at UFC 207. When no one stepped between the two men to break things up before they got out of hand, DC leapt into action and prevented tensions from reaching a boiling point.

Russell Ess - December 20, 2016

Northen California natives Urijah Faber, Nick and Nate Diaz were a part of the mixed martial arts scene in the early days helping to open the eyes of many to the sport we love today.

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2016

When the UFC was purchased by WME-IMG earlier this year, there followed a wave of controversial layoffs, as everyone from Tom Wright to social media specialist Shanda Maloney lost their jobs. The latest high-profile UFC employees on the chopping block were UFC Hall of Famers Matt Hughes and Chuck Liddell, who were given desk jobs with the company when they hung up their gloves. Interestingly, however, fellow Hall of Famer Forrest Griffin, who was given a similar position when he retired from fighting, was not canned by the company.

Scott Hernandez - December 20, 2016

Just last month, UFC superstar Conor McGregor made the move to lightweight to fight Eddie Alvarez in the main event of the UFC’s historic inaugural event at the Madison Square Garden. McGregor made quick work of Alvarez, securing himself a dominant second round TKO win after dropping the MMA veteran just moments into the fight. The win not only marked a successful UFC lightweight debut for McGregor, but saw him crowned as the first ever simultaneous two-division UFC champion. Following the fight, McGregor revealed that he would be taking some time off from fighting, due to the upcoming birth of his firstborn child. UFC President Dana White followed up McGregor’s announcement by revealing several weeks later that the Irish superstar would be on the sidelines for 10 months.

Scott Hernandez - December 20, 2016

With less than two weeks to go until UFC 207, unfortunate news has surfaced that UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes has been forced to miss her scheduled UFC 207 media lunch due to a minor illness. While the illness forced the champ to miss the scheduled lunch, MMAFighting’s Marc Raimondi has revealed that she should be 100% for her fight with Ronda Rousey on December 30th. Raimondi broke the news on Twitter:

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2016

Earlier this month, the UFC touched down in Albany New York with UFC Fight Night 102. In the main event, rising heavyweight Derrick Lewis took on Dagestani prospect Shamil Abdurakhimov. Though Lewis didn’t exactly dazzle in this fight, he was ultimately able to put Abdurakhimov away with a fourth-round TKO. In the wake of this win, Lewis was incredibly critical of his own performance, telling Octagon-side commentator Jon Anik that it was one of the “terriblest” fights of his career. When asked by Anik who he would like to fight next, Lewis explained that he had plans to call out Travis Browne or Mark Hunt, but wasn’t sure if this was the right move given his less-than-stellar performance.

Scott Hernandez - December 20, 2016

In just under two weeks, UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will step into the Octagon against undefeated Team Alpha Male prospect Cody Garbrandt for a highly anticipated fight for Cruz’ bantamweight title. With less than two weeks to go until fight night, the trash talk between the pair has certainly continued to increase, however the pair have been going back and forth in the media for quite some time. During the UFC on FOX 22 broadcast this past weekend, the pair were both in attendance, however they were separated for a video interview, which resulted in quite a bit of trash talk, most of which ended up being censored by the FOX broadcasting team.

Scott Hernandez - December 20, 2016

This past weekend, in the co-main event of ‘UFC Fight Night: Sacramento’, UFC prospects Sage Northcutt & Mickey Gall stepped into the Octagon for a highly anticipated showdown. Although Northcutt went into the fight with quite a bit more experience, it was the grappling of Gall that proved to be the difference maker.

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2016

Earlier this month, in the main event of Chael Sonnen’s Submission Underground 2, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones submitted former two-division Pride champion Dan Henderson with an arm-triangle choke. With this win in Sonnen’s grappling promotion, Jones is now fielding callouts from BJJ blackbelts of all descriptions and origins, all of whom are eager for the chance to take him on in a grappling match.

Scott Hernandez - December 20, 2016

Shortly following the news of the UFC being sold to WME-IMG, it was revealed that the promotion was looking to replace the ‘hype master’ style of commentating provided by Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan in order to potentially strike a new TV deal. This was followed by Eddie Bravo potentially slipping up on an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience when he asked who would be replacing Mike Goldberg in the commentary booth. Bravo’s question was met by a period of awkward silence from Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub, before the duo attempted to pretend the comment was a misunderstanding.

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2016

Over the last few years, the UFC has tapped into a veritable gold mine of talent in Russia. The most notable Russian fighter on the UFC roster, of course, is Dagestan’s Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is currently banging on the door of lightweight champ Conor McGregor with both hands. In addition to Nurmagomedov, the UFC is now home to Russian talents like Rustam Khabilov, Ruslan Magomedov, Ali Bagautinov, Albert Tumenov, Oleksiy Oliynyk, Omari Akhmedov, Alexander Volkov, Rashid Magomedov, Alexander Yakovlev, Shamil Abdurakhimov, and others. The list is always growing.

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2016

https://twitter.com/foxsportslive/status/811053291945664512 The next UFC event on the calendar–and also the last of the year–will be UFC 207, which will emanate from Las Vegas, Nevada on December 30. The main event of this card will see Ronda Rousey make her long-awaited comeback against reigning women’s bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes. The co-main event, meanwhile, will occur in the men’s bantamweight division, as champion Dominick Cruz attempts to defend his title against undefeated challenger Cody Garbrandt.

Russell Ess - December 19, 2016

Current UFC interim featherweight champion Max Holloway has been wanting his rematch against UFC superstar Conor McGregor for quite some time. The two met in the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 26 back in August of 2013 where McGregor ended up taking a unanimous decision over Holloway. Since then, McGregor was been able to win the UFC featherweight title and most recently won the UFC lightweight title, becoming the first fighter in history to be a concurrent two-weight UFC champion. Holloway also picked up a world title as well, winning the UFC interim featherweight belt after the UFC announced that “The Notorious” relinquished the featherweight title shortly after winning the lightweight belt.

Russell Ess - December 19, 2016

Renown kickboxing and Muay Thai fighter Tiffany van Soest made history recently by becoming the first-ever female champion in the Glory kickboxing promotion. Van Soest fought twice on December 10 in the Women’s Super-Bantamweight Grand Prix to claim the title. Van Soest first met Jessica Gladstone in the semifinal, taking a unanimous decision win and then picked up another unanimous decision win over Amel Dehby in the tournament final to become the division’s champion.

Russell Ess - December 19, 2016

Straight Blast Gym head coach John Kavanagh, who has led UFC superstar Conor McGregor to the top of the fight game is putting the safety of his fighters ahead of anything else for 2017. Kavanagh, who runs SBG Ireland where Conor McGregor has trained from a young age before making his way into the UFC, has gained a lot of attention with the massive success of the current UFC lightweight champion.

Russell Ess - December 19, 2016

UFC interim featherweight champion Max Holloway is already building up the expected fight with the undisputed featherweight champion Jose Aldo. With his humorous #WheresJoseWaldo campaign launched upon winning the interim title in the five-round fight against Anthony Pettis, the young and active Hawaiian is making his case for what is behind his UFC title.

Tom Taylor - December 19, 2016

One of the highlights of last weekend’s UFC on Fox 22 broadcast was an interview facilitated by Jon Anik, featuring bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and his UFC 207 challenger Cody Garbrandt. Yet while the two fighters delivered a fairly memorable exchange, they were not actually side by side. Though they were both on site at the arena, they participated in this interview from different locations. During an appearance on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Garbrandt explained to host Ariel Helwani that this was not supposed to be the way things unfolded. Instead, he was told that he and the champion would be face to face. He believes the plans were changed because Cruz got scared.

Tom Taylor - December 19, 2016

Earlier this month, on the main card of UFC 206, Cub Swanson and Doo Ho Choi collided in a fight that had long been considered a frontrunner for Fight of the Night. In the end, the two featherweights surpassed all expectation, delivering a scrap that was not only a shoo in for Fight of the Night honors, but a clear-cut contender for Fight of the Year. The fight, which was contested almost entirely on the feet, saw the two stone-fisted fighters pummel each other to the brink of consciousness, with Swanson ultimately emerging the victor with a unanimous decision.