UFC News

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2019

With two title fights and a host of other marquee matchups, UFC 239 is absolutely stacked. From the sounds of things, however, the July 6 card soon become a little less stacked. According to a report from Kevin Iole, the UFC is considering moving a light heavyweight bout between Luke Rockhold and Jan Blachowicz from UFC 239 to UFC San Antonio on July 20, two weeks later. The UFC is trying to move Jan Blachowicz versus Luke Rockhhold off of UFC 239 on July 6 and put it on UFC on ESPN 4 on July 20 in San Antonio. Not done, but in the works. UFC not looking at a Shevchenko-Carmouche bout for that date at this time.

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2019

Under the leadership of Scott Coker, Bellator MMA has co-promoted with a number of other promotions, most notably Japan’s RIZIN Fighting Federation, but also with England’s BAMMA and Italy’s Oktagon. In fact, RIZIN bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi will take to the Bellator cage to battle Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell at Bellator 222 on Friday Night in New York City — the latest evidence of Coker’s willingness to work with other organizations.

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2019

UFC President Dana White has talking about getting into the boxing business for years. Yet so far, he’s made no headway on that mission. At least not publicly. That could soon change. According to The Athletic’s Mike Coppinger, UFC parent company Endeavor and its CEO Ari Emanuel could soon be buying Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), a boxing organization owned by Al Haymon.

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2019

Late last week, pop star Justin Bieber took to Twitter to call for a fight with Hollywood actor Tom Cruise. Normally, this kind of stuff would not make it onto MMA news sites. But when Bieber asked Dana White and the UFC to promote the fight, and UFC star Conor McGregor promptly chimed in and offered to promote the celebrity showdown himself, this weird storyline seeped into the collective consciousness of the MMA community. I wanna challenge Tom Cruise to fight in the octagon. Tom if you dont take this fight your scared and you will never live it down. Who is willing to put on the fight? @danawhite ?

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2019

Not long ago, Darren Till stood out as the top contender in the UFC welterweight division. After a submission loss to former champion Tyron Woodley and a knockout loss at the hands of Jorge Masvidal, however, the British striker has fallen on hard times. Speaking to BT Sport while in London for Thursday’s UFC 242 press conference, UFC President Dana White update on Till, explaining that the Brit’s next fight is on the agenda for an imminent matchmaking meeting.

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2019

Speaking to BT Sport while in the United Kingdom for Thursday’s UFC 242 press conference, UFC President Dana White provided an update on the sport’s biggest star, Conor McGregor. White says McGregor is simply waiting on the sidelines until the lightweight contendership picture becomes a little bit clearer.

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2019

There are always plenty of of exciting matchups to be made in the stacked UFC lightweight division. Of all the matchups available in this weight class, however, its arguable that none can rival a potential showdown between streaking contender Tony Ferguson and former World Series of Fighting champ Justin Gaethje in terms of pure excitement. Neither man is ever in a boring fight, and it’s hard to imagine their potential pairing resulting in anything other than Fight of the Year.

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2019

Former UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg recently stated that she plans to test her value as a free agent once her current UFC contract expires. That contract will conclude after her featherweight showdown with Felicia Spencer a UFC 240 in Edmonton in July. If Cyborg does indeed become a free agent, it sounds like she can expect a meeting with Bellator boss Scott Coker. “Listen, if you are a free agent, give us a call. This is a Viacom-backed company and we will take care of the fighters that move the needle for us,” Coker explained during a recent media scrum (transcript via MMA Mania). “So, if she is free one day, please give us a call.”

Tom Taylor - June 12, 2019

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will reportedly have a school built in his honor in his native Dagestan. This school will be built using 600 million rubles (9.3M USD) allocated by Russian President Vladimir Putin (h/t Bloody Elbow). This news was announced by Khabib’s father Abdulmanap during an interview with the Teacher’s Newspaper. Abdulmanap claims this project came about after the UFC champion asked Putin to invest in education inside Dagestan during a recent phone call.

Adam Martin - June 12, 2019

Just a few days ago, former UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta said he was interested in potentially owning an NFL team down the road once an opportunity arises. Now, it appears his former business partner Dana White wants to join him in that venture. The UFC President recently spoke to TMZ Sports and said that if Lorenzo and his brother Frank purchase an NFL team that he would be interested in partnering with them.

Adam Martin - June 12, 2019

Khabib Nurmagomedov has been a dominant force at lightweight and many want him to move up to welterweight at some point, but the UFC lightweight champion has shot down any idea of him moving up a weight class anytime soon. Speaking at the UFC 242 press conference on Wednesday in London, Nurmagomedov told the media that he has no interest in moving up to 170lbs to fight that division’s champion Kamaru Usman.

Mike Pendleton - June 12, 2019

After suffering the first knockout loss of his career, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson will miss out on an opportunity to fight at UFC Greenville, a location he’s always wanted the UFC to visit, but now he’s got new goals set for his comeback. Speaking to media in Chicago during last weekend’s UFC 238 festivities, Thompson spoke about how he’d like to return in the fall of this year at Madison Square Garden and why he’d love to fight a “legend” in Nate Diaz.

Tom Taylor - June 12, 2019

Undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is already one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. To cement himself as the pound-for-pound best fighter alive, however, he believes he needs to defeat three specific opponents. Those opponents are Dustin Poirier, who he’ll meet at UFC 242 on September 7 in Abu Dhabi, his long-time rival Tony Ferguson, and former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

Tom Taylor - June 12, 2019

Disaster has struck in the life of UFC bantamweight contender Macy Chiasson. On Sunday, during a severe windstorm in the Dallas area, a construction crane collapsed and fell on her apartment building, destroying her home and all of her possessions. She was lucky to escape with her life and her dog.

Mike Pendleton - June 11, 2019

Former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas hopes to get a rematch with current champion Jessica Andrade, but she’s first looking to take some time off to recover from a neck injury. Following the news that Andrade will face Weili Zhang at UFC China in late August, Namajunas’ manager Brian Butler released a statement to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. Reached out to Rose Namajunas’ (@rosenamajunas) manager Brian Butler (@BrianButler_Au) for their reaction to the Andrade/Zhang title fight. Here’s what Brian told me. pic.twitter.com/cNFjNInAgd

Thomas Taylor - June 11, 2019

Over the weekend, in the middle bout of the UFC 238 main card, Donald Cerrone stepped into the Octagon with streaking lightweight contender Tony Ferguson. This bout was widely expected to capture the card’s Fight of the Night honors, and in the end it did just that. Unfortunately, it did end with a degree of controversy, as Cerrone was deemed unfit to continue fighting between the second and third rounds.

Mike Pendleton - June 11, 2019

After winning the UFC women’s strawweight title in her home country of Brazil, new champion Jessica Andrade is reportedly heading into enemy territory for her first title defense. According to Brett Okamoto of ESPN, while contracts haven’t been signed, a strawweight title fight between Andrade and Weili Zhang is close to being finalized for UFC China which will take place on August 31, in Shenzhen, China and will be broadcasted on ESPN+.

Tom Taylor - June 11, 2019

Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor has once again earned a spot on Forbes’ list of highest paid athletes in the world. The Irish MMA star didn’t place in the top-10 this year, instead coming at No.21 with $47M in earnings. McGregor’s former opponent and long-time rival Floyd Mayweather, who held the No.1 spot last year, has vanished from the list all together. The top spot is now occupied by Lionel Messi, while other names in the top-10 include Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Canelo Alvarez, Roger Federer, Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Lebron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry. No other UFC fighters appear on the list, though boxers like Gennady Golovkin, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder do.