UFC News

Tom Taylor - March 14, 2019

Today, Francis Ngannou is one of the most successful heavyweights in the UFC. Not all that long ago, however, he was struggling to get by in a remote corner of Cameroon. Fuelled by his unshakable ambition, Ngannou ultimately decided to leave Cameroon. After stopping for a time in Morocco, he ultimately wound up in France. But when he left his village, he had no idea where he was going to end up. He couldn’t even give his family a proper goodbye.

Tom Taylor - March 14, 2019

When Tyron Woodley fought Darren Till in September, he looked like an absolute juggernaut. When he fought Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 earlier this month, hit looked far less impressive, and ultimately surrendered his welterweight strap to Usman as a result. Darren Till, who fights Jorge Masvidal in the main event of UFC London this weekend, recently commented on Woodley’s varying performances in these two fights

Drake Riggs - March 13, 2019

The strawweight division is better than it’s ever been in the UFC right now. With plenty of new and talented faces making their presences felt, none have done so arguably quite as well as Tatiana Suarez has. After winning season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter, Suarez has done nothing but continue to impress with her unstoppable wrestling abilities.

Drake Riggs - March 13, 2019

The welterweight division is about as deep of an MMA division as one could ask for. Currently, there happen to be three top 15 UFC welterweights with winning streaks within the organization that consists of seven straight wins or more. One of those streaks belongs to Argentina’s own, Santiago Ponzinibbio. For the Argentinian, his last bout came in a home game when he put on a show for the Argentina faithful in his main event with Neil Magny. Notoriously hard to finish, Ponzinibbio would make things look easy as he dissected the perennial top 15er over the course of four rounds before landing the knockout blow.

Tom Taylor - March 13, 2019

Earlier this week, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor arrested and briefly jailed after breaking the cellphone of a man in Miami. Mahamad Abdirzak, the father of McGregor’s alleged victim, says this is precisely the kind of behaviour he expects from the Irish MMA superstar — which is why he supports McGregor’s rival Khabib Nurmagomedov. “What McGregor did is exactly in his character,” Mahamad Abdirzak told the Daily Mail. “He’s an angry man. I’m not a fan of his at all. I prefer Khabib (Nurmagomedov). He’s the fighter I like to watch, not McGregor.”

Tom Taylor - March 13, 2019

The official UFC rankings have been updated in the wake of last weekend’s UFC Wichita card, and as expected, there have been some big changes. Most notably, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos has surged up the list at heavyweight on the strength of his stoppage victory over Derrick Lewis. Elsewhere, fighters like Yana Kunitskaya and Blagoy Ivanov have made more minor climbs, while Anthony Rocco Martin has replaced Vicente Luque in the welterweight rankings.

Mike Pendleton - March 13, 2019

Now that the UFC is on ESPN, there will be increasing occurrences of the main ESPN personalities giving their opinion on big UFC headlines. The recent arrest of Conor McGregor is a prime example of this, as the main talking heads of ESPN had an opportunity to share their opinion about the controversial former two-weight UFC champion. On Tuesday’s edition of First Take, Stephen A. Smith offered his opinion on McGregor’s latest run-in with the law:

Tom Taylor - March 13, 2019

Derrick Lewis came up short in his UFC Wichita showdown with Junior dos Santos. That being said, the former heavyweight title challenger performed admirably — especially considering he was dealing with some pretty severe knee troubles heading into the fight. “He wasn’t gonna pull [from the fight] anyway,” Lewis’ coach Bob Perez told MMA Fighting, detailing Lewis’ pre-fight injuries. “That being said, training for this camp was really bad. He couldn’t do anything, honestly.

Tom Taylor - March 13, 2019

The oddsmakers expected Mickey Gall to defeat the veteran Diego Sanchez at UFC 235 earlier this month, but in the end, that’s not what happened. Instead, Gall was taken down and walloped to a TKO loss by his crafty foe. Speaking on The MMA Hour this week, Mickey Gall revealed that he entered this fight with a bevy of health issues — including some serious kidney troubles.

Drake Riggs - March 12, 2019

After weeks of speculation and expecting an official announcement, it was just a matter of when we would end up getting one. Monday would be that day. UFC 238 in Chicago, Illinois on June 8 will host the next flyweight title bout as the new champion, Valentina ‘Bullet’ Shevchenko will look to make a successful first defense against the 10-fight UFC veteran, Jessica Eye.

Chris Taylor - March 12, 2019

UFC Star Conor McGregor was attested in Miami after allegedly stealing then smashing Ahmed Abdirzak’s cell phone. The former two-division UFC champion, McGregor, was arrested for strong-armed robbery and criminal mischief.

Thomas Taylor - March 12, 2019

Kamaru Usman was the picture of dominance in his welterweight title-winning defeat of Tyron Woodley at UFC 235. That being said, he didn’t leave the Octagon unscathed. During the fight, he injured his knee, and on Tuesday, went under the knife to repair this injury. Moments after coming out of surgery, a still dazed Kamaru Usman took to his Instagram story, where he greeted his ever-expanding fan base and promised he’d be back in action soon.

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2019

On March 23, at UFC Nashville, dangerous heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes will look to distance himself from a tough loss to Francis Ngannou as he takes Justin Willis. Heading into this matchup, the wrestling specialist Blaydes expects Willis to be well-prepared, as he trains at American Kickboxing Academy alongside top heavyweight wrestlers like Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez.

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2019

Tony Ferguson is one of the most interesting and eccentric characters in MMA. So much so that, within the MMA community, fans have something of a running joke about him. The format is simple: “Tony Ferguson is the type of guy ______.” You simply finish the sentence yourself.

Mike Pendleton - March 12, 2019

As the UFC brand and MMA as a sport continue to grow, the sport of boxing finds itself still struggling to stay at the top of the combat sports world. There are several ongoing complaints in the world of boxing, and Teddy Atlas feels he has the answer to boxing’s issues. Talking on his podcast about how fans miss out on matchups due to the politics of boxing, Atlas said the biggest change that can happen to benefit the sport is to make it more like the UFC. Atlas said the best thing for boxing to do is to get a promoter — or “dictator” — like UFC President Dana White involved.

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2019

Two-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Johnson has recently expressed interest in a showdown with reigning champ Jon Jones — but not at light heavyweight. Instead, Johnson has been campaigning for a lucrative heavyweight showdown with the light heavyweight king.

Mike Pendleton - March 12, 2019

Two former UFC light heavyweight title challengers will go head-to-head in the main event at UFC Stockholm on June 1, when Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson will fight Anthony Smith. “The Mauler” spoke to Luke Thomas on The MMA Hour about his matchup against Smith and made it known that if he doesn’t come out with a victory then he will be re-considering his future in fighting.

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2019

For a period, middleweight destroyers Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa were expected to collide this spring. In a surprising twist, however, Romero was then matched up with Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, leaving Costa without an opponent. Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday, Romero stated that he heard Paulo Costa had been flagged for a potential United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) violation — the reason he’s apparently been pulled from this fight.