UFC News

Drake Riggs - April 18, 2019

A new interim UFC middleweight champion was crowned this past Saturday night when Israel Adesanya would defeat Kelvin Gastelum via a thrilling unanimous decision. Prior to the bout, there were brief mentions from Adesanya and current light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones of one another in some interviews. Since then, the two have gone back and forth in a much deeper depth than we could have expected them to.

Cole Shelton - April 17, 2019

Anderson Silva has picked a side in the ongoing feud between Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya. The feud first started when Adesanya called out Jones. Since then the two have been trading shots at each other on frequent occasion. Silva, who fought Adesanya at UFC 234, believes ‘The Last Stylebender’ disrespected Jones with the way he handled the trash-talk.

Drake Riggs - April 17, 2019

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwUog-lDKco/ “Did anyone else have problems with ESPN+?” Brendan Schaub asked on the Below the Belt podcast. “So, I have all the family around. We got food and everything. Everyone ready? Here we go. Click. It goes, ‘This service does not work on this device.’ I’m like, ‘Ok, well, that’s not good.’ Try doing it again. Nothing. Try doing it from my phone. Nothing. “ESPN, UFC, I’m trying to give you $80. And then finally I went, ‘Yo, if I don’t figure this out in five minutes… I’m going to turn to the dark side and have to illegally stream this.’ I must’ve got 2,000 DMs with different links. When I clicked on that link, that thing was better quality than I had on my f*cking… Than ever!

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Frankie Edgar is adamant that he should be the next man in line to challenge champion Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title. The former lightweight champ and long-time featherweight contender explained why in a recent interview with ESPN. ”I think everybody knows it should go to me,” Edgar said. “Even the guys who want the shot, you [hear] them say ‘Well, I know Frankie should get it, but…’ You know? Alexander Volkanovski is fighting Jose Aldo in a few weeks [at UFC 237] and that may have an impact, but I think everybody knows it’s me. I’ve worked my entire career for it to be me.”

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Shortly after Israel Adesanya captured the UFC interim middleweight title by defeating Kelvin Gastelum in the UFC 236 co-main event, he found himself on the receiving end of a social media attack from one of his primary rivals, fellow undefeated middleweight Paulo Costa. https://www.instagram.com/p/BwOyRr_hROw/ “Really this is the interim (fake) champ? Hahah .No doubt this weight division has already been better than this shit. Enjoy this while you can man, I really hope that you take the real belt one day to meet me. Note: And I’m not the Gastelum.” – Paulo Costa on Instagram.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Israel Adesanya absorbed quite a bit of punishment in his UFC 236 interim middleweight title fight with Kelvin Gastelum, but he also landed plenty of meaningful offense in return. In fact, he landed a record-breaking amount. Shortly after this fight, which Adesanya won by unanimous decision, the UFC announced that the Nigerian-born Kiwi had landed the third most knockdowns ever in a single UFC fight. MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn then added that Adesanya’s four knockdowns landed on Gastelum actually set the record for the most knockdowns in a single title fight.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Speaking on Twitter, top UFC lightweight contender Tony Ferguson recently divulged that, after some worrying reports, he’s been cleared to compete in the Octagon again. My Team & I Are Ready. UFC Knows I Passed Evals. See You All On The Mat Soon Enough. -Champ 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽

Cole Shelton - April 17, 2019

Back at UFC Philadelphia, Sodiq Yusuff extended his winning streak to four and improved to 2-0 in the UFC. Following the fight, Yusuff called out Kron Gracie, who is coming off of a submission win over Alex Caceres and is from the legendary jiu-jitsu family.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

The UFC has been crowning a lot of interim champions of late. In fact, it crowned two new interim champions at UFC 236 last weekend, as Dustin Poirier defeated Max Holloway to win the interim lightweight title, and Israel Adesanya defeated Kelvin Gastelum to win the interim middleweight title. Unfortunately, these interim title belts often amount to little more than number one contender belts, guaranteeing the interim a champion a shot at the true, undisputed champion. Sometimes, they don’t even accomplish that — see the cases of Colby Covington and Tony Ferguson.

Tom Taylor - April 17, 2019

Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw recently tested positive for the injectable only performance-enhancing drug EPO, and was suspended for two years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) as a result. While this development has slowed his promising career, he’s using his time off to get some long-needed surgeries and do some physical healing. TJ Dillashaw updated his fans on his first surgery on Instagram:

Drake Riggs - April 16, 2019

In the UFC’s 155-pound lightweight division, it’s almost impossible to put together a bad or uninteresting match-up. The division homes several of the sport’s most exciting competitors. Perhaps the most exciting of them all regardless of division is ‘The Highlight,’ Justin Gaethje. With only five fights in the UFC to this point, the former World Series of Fighting champion has gone 3-2 and earned a performance bonus in each of those outings. Thus giving him six in total as his debut against Michael Johnson earned fight and performance of the night honors. His first three bouts were all nominated as a fight of the year candidate as well.

Cole Shelton - April 16, 2019

After Kamaru Usman beat Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 to become the new welterweight champion it was expected Colby Covington would be first in line to get the title shot. UFC President, Dana White even said so during the event. But now, Usman wants Covington to beg him for the fight. “Now you have to beg me for that fight,” Usman said backstage at UFC 236 (transcript via MMAJunkie).

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

UFC 236 was a card to remember. The card was topped by a pair of interim title fights — both of which registered as instant classics in the eyes of pretty much everybody who tuned in.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

Having won the UFC interim middleweight championship with a thrilling decision victory over Kelvin Gastelum in the co-main event of UFC 236 this past Saturday, Israel Adesanya can now look forward to a title-unifying collision with undisputed middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. This clash between New Zealand’s Adesanya and Australia’s Whittaker will likely go down in Australia late this year, per UFC President Dana White.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

Over the weekend, in the co-main event of UFC 236, undefeated UFC middleweight contender Israel Adesanya became the interim champion with a dazzling decision defeat of the dangerous Kelvin Gastelum. Adesanya’s thrilling victory over Gastelum caught the attention of pretty much every member of the MMA community. That includes former middleweight title challenger Yoel Romero, who sent the new interim champion a quick message post fight.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

Dustin Poirier is now the UFC interim lightweight champion. He won this title with a riveting decision defeat of reigning UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway in the UFC 236 main event. With a UFC belt now wrapped round his waist, Dustin Poirier can look forward to a title unifying showdown with undisputed champion Khabib Nurmagomedov — perhaps as soon as September.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

After a long career in the middleweight division — including title wins in the UFC and Strikeforce — Luke Rockhold is headed up to the light heavyweight division. In this new division, he’s hoping to advance through the ranks and ultimately collide with reigning UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones. Should Luke Rockhold earn this opportunity, he believes he’ll be the man to dethrone the seemingly unstoppable champion.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

UFC 236, which went down last Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia, featured a bevy of impressive finishes and back-and-forth wars. Unfortunately, that means it also produced some significant medical suspensions. Max Holloway, who lost a decision to Dustin Poirier in an interim lightweight title fight in the main event, has been sidelined indefinitely. So too has Kelvin Gastelum, who came up short to Israel Adesanya in an interim middleweight title fight in the UFC 236 co-main event.