UFC News

Adam D Martin - April 5, 2021

New UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou says he is open to meeting boxing superstar Tyson Fury in the ring at some point. Ngannou is coming off of a massive knockout win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 to become the new heavyweight champion of the world in mixed martial arts. “The Predator” is currently in talks to fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones or potentially even Derrick Lewis if that fight doesn’t work out. He knows that his calling right now is in the Octagon and Ngannou is fully prepared and ready to take on all comers in MMA. However, he came up as a boxer and he still has aspirations to competing in boxing again.

Cole Shelton - April 5, 2021

Vicente Luque was pleased with his win over Tyron Woodley at UFC 260. In the co-main event of the pay-per-view card, Luque knew he had to beat Woodley in order to prove he’s a future title challenger. Although the former champ was on a three-fight losing streak and wasn’t throwing many punches, Luque expected a very aggressive Woodley and that is exactly what he got.

Adam D Martin - April 5, 2021

The UFC has offered heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou a rematch with Derrick Lewis for June 12, but ‘The Predator’ has declined it. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported on Monday that the UFC would like to add Ngannou vs. Lewis 2 to the UFC 263 pay-per-view card in June. This makes sense considering that card is a bit light on star power right now as the main event is a rematch between UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno. That’s a great fight but the promotion would be wise to add another big title fight to the card to beef it up, and it doesn’t get any beefier than Ngannou vs. Lewis. However, according to Helwani’s report, Ngannou is not interested in taking the fight at this time as the timing doesn’t necessarily work for him.

Adam D Martin - April 5, 2021

UFC lightweight contender Dan Hooker is targeting a matchup against former champion Rafael dos Anjos the next time he steps into the Octagon. Hooker hasn’t fought since January when he suffered a first-round KO loss to Michael Chandler at UFC 257. It was a tough loss for Hooker, who prior to that had lost a unanimous decision to Dustin Poirier in a 2020 “Fight of the Year” candidate. Prior to those two defeats, Hooker had won three straight fights including wins over Paul Felder, Al Iaquinta, and James Vick. Despite dropping his last two bouts, the Kiwi has proven time and time again that he’s one of the best lightweights in the world, and even though he hasn’t got his hand raised in over a year, he’s still a top-10 ranked lightweight in the UFC.

Christopher Taylor - April 4, 2021

Thiago Santos was not happy to learn that his most recent opponent Aleksandar Rakic had referred to him as being an “easy win”. The former light heavyweight title challenger, Santos (21-9 MMA), squared off with Rakic (14-2 MMA) in the opening bout of the UFC 259 main card last month in Las Vegas.

Adam Martin - April 4, 2021

PFL welterweight Rory MacDonald praised former opponent BJ Penn, saying that he was someone who he looked up to coming up in the sport. MacDonald returns to the cage later this month when he takes on David Michaud in a welterweight bout as part of PFL’s season three. MacDonald is a former UFC title challenger and a former Bellator welterweight champion, but he took his talents to PFL in search of a new challenge and the lure of the $1 million grand prize. For someone who has been fighting the best welterweights in the world for the past decade, the chance for MacDonald to go to the PFL and try to win another world title was something he couldn’t pass up.

Adam Martin - April 4, 2021

Women’s MMA pioneer and Hollywood actress Gina Carano has received a ‘shadow ban’ from Twitter which limits the reach of her tweets. Carano has come under fire lately for some tweets which landed her in hot water with Disney and resulted in her being fired from “The Mandalorian.” Her tweets have apparently now drawn the ire of Twitter, which has limited her ability to reach others on its platform. This weekend, fans noticed that Carano’s profile has become limited. There is a warning if you go to her profile in a logged-out account that says “Caution: This profile may include potentially sensitive content.” In addition, it is now more difficult to find Carano’s Twitter handle as it is being excluded in searches unless you directly know her profile handle. Carano’s fans are not happy about what is going on as they pointed out the changes.

Adam Martin - April 4, 2021

UFC superstar Jon Jones said that he weighs 255lbs in his latest heavyweight weight update ahead of the potential Francis Ngannou superfight. Jones has been bulking up for the better part of the past year in preparation for a planned move up to the UFC heavyweight division. Though he fought his entire MMA career up to this point at 205lbs, Jones has apparently had no trouble putting on the weight as he steps up to the UFC’s heaviest weight division. In February, Jones posted a video of himself hitting pads with striking coach Mike Winkeljohn when he weighed in at 252lbs. Some fans felt that Jones looked slow at that weight, but he fired back saying he was still getting into shape. Then in March, Jones posted an update saying he was weighed in around 245lbs.

Adam D Martin - April 4, 2021

Former UFC middleweight champion and current analyst Michael Bisping is hoping to commentate a future event with “The Godfather” Joe Rogan. Bisping has become one of the UFC’s top commentators but he generally only does the Fight Night cards alongside the likes of Brendan Fitzgerald and Paul Felder, and not the pay-per-view events which Rogan handles alongside Daniel Cormier and Jon Anik. However, Bisping is always trying to challenge himself, and one of his goals is to commentate a PPV event with Rogan. Speaking to MMAjunkie.com, Bisping said that his dream is to commentate a UFC card and sit alongside Rogan in the commentary booth.

Adam D Martin - April 4, 2021

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski reacted after he was named the coach of TUF opposite his divisional rival Brian Ortega. It was recently revealed that Volkanovski and Ortega will be the coaches of the 29th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” after their fight was postponed due to Volkanovski testing positive for COVID-19. The two were supposed to meet at UFC 260 last weekend but after the champ tested positive for the coronavirus, the fight was scratched. Rather than just re-book the fight, the UFC decided to go a different route. Volkanovski and Ortega will still fight each other this year, but only after they step into their coaching shoes on TUF 29.

Adam D Martin - April 4, 2021

Coach Mike Winkeljohn suggested that the UFC should pay superstar Jon Jones $50 million for a Francis Ngannou superfight. Jones is currently involved in a financial dispute with the UFC related to a potential superfight against UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Jones recently took to his social media to reveal that he told the UFC that $8 to $10 million would be “way too low” for a fight against Ngannou. “Bones” is looking for the biggest payday of his career and for a fight against Ngannou that seems destined to do huge numbers, he wants more money.

Adam D Martin - April 4, 2021

UFC welterweight contender Belal Muhammad reacted after his upcoming fight against Demian Maia was recently announced for UFC 263. Muhammad vs. Maia was announced this weekend to take place on UFC 263, which is set for June 12. For Muhammad, it’s the next best thing after he wasn’t given a rematch with Leon Edwards after their fight ended in a No Contest due to an eye poke at a recent UFC Vegas event. Muhammad was stumping for the rematch given that the fight ended in a controversial fashion, but the promotion instead decided to book Edwards against Nate Diaz. That left Muhammad temporarily without an opponent, but Maia answered the call.

Adam D Martin - April 4, 2021

UFC welterweight contender Leon Edwards reacted after the promotion booked his five-round, co-main event fight against Nate Diaz at UFC 262. The UFC announced this week that Edwards vs. Diaz will take place on May 15 in Houston, Texas. In a UFC first, the fight will be a five-round co-main event, with the winner surely being in the mix to fight the winner of the UFC 261 main event between Jorge Masvidal and Kamaru Usman. With Edwards vs. Diaz now official, “Rocky” took to his social media over the last couple of days to share his initial reactions to what is arguably the biggest fight of his career to date. Take a look at what Edwards has been sharing lately on his Instagram.

Chris Taylor - April 3, 2021

Former two-division title challenger Demian Maia will make his return to the Octagon at UFC 263 for a welterweight bout with Belal Muhammad. That news comes courtesy of ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, who shared the following information on Twitter.

Chris Taylor - April 3, 2021

Tito Ortiz shared an interesting answer when asked how a fight with Jon Jones would have played out with both men in their primes. During a recent interview with Jerry Coughlan, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ touched on a number of different topics, including some advice that he shared with Conor McGregor.

Chris Taylor - April 3, 2021

Henry Cejudo did not hold back on Aljamain Sterling after the current UFC bantamweight champion took a shot at him on social media. Sterling had recently commented on a photo shared by Cejudo, where he insinuated that the “ex-champ” had something in his teeth.

Chris Taylor - April 3, 2021

Perennial middleweight contender Marvin Vettori is looking absolutely shredded ahead of his UFC on ABC 2 fight with Kevin Holland. Vettori (16-4-1 MMA) and Holland (21-6 MMA) are set to square off in the headliner of next weekend’s UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas.

Chris Taylor - April 3, 2021

Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos had made it clear that he is interested in fighting Justin Gaethje his next time out. Dos Anjos (30-13 MMA) returned to the promotions lightweight division back in November, where he picked up a thrilling ‘fight of the night’ split-decision victory over Paul Felder.