Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Cole Shelton - December 26, 2018

Kay Hansen did what many believed was impossible. At Invicta 33, Hansen, who is just 19-years-old, took a short-notice fight against Sharon Jacobson, a very tough opponent. When Hansen took the fight on short notice, she believed Jacobson would fight aggressively. However, that is not what happened. Jacobson switched her gameplan which threw Hansen for a loop.

Cole Shelton - December 26, 2018

This Saturday night, in the co-main event of UFC 232 in Inglewood, California, UFC featherweight champ Cris Cyborg will look to defend her belt when bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes moves up in weight to challenge her. There is no question that this will be one of Cyborg’s toughest tests to date, and because of that, fans are undecided on who will come out on top. Cyborg and Nunes’ fellow fighters, however, seem to be leaning toward the featherweight champ.

Tom Taylor - December 23, 2018

Nestled among the winding streets of Baguio City, which sits 5000 feet above sea level in the Philippines, Team Lakay is about the closest thing you’ll find to a gym in the clouds. Yet this MMA training facility only recently began to achieve the lofty successes you’d expect from a place at its altitude. In 2018, almost fifteen years after its inception, Team Lakay produced a whopping four ONE Championship titleholders. Geje Eustaquio captured the promotion’s flyweight title, Kevin Belingon assumed the throne at bantamweight, Joshua Pacio became the strawweight champion, and Eduard Folayang, the most notable fighter to emerge from the gym, capped off the year by reclaiming the ONE lightweight title.

Cole Shelton - December 23, 2018

Canadian Kyle Nelson will indeed be a UFC fighter for the foreseeable future. Nelson stepped in on short notice to fight Diego Ferreira at UFC 231. However, he lost the fight in the second round by TKO. Even though he lost the fight, Nelson was satisfied with his performance.

Drake Riggs - December 21, 2018

Becoming a champion is never an easy thing to achieve no matter the sport. In MMA however, it may be even harder than most as the fighters are simply relying on themselves to get their jobs done.

Mike Straus - December 21, 2018

Fresh off his UFC Milwaukee victory, “Slow” Mike Rodriguez is taking some time to enjoy the holidays before it’s right back to work in 2019. Rodriguez first burst onto the scene last summer when he earned his UFC contract on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. Since then Rodriguez’s life has changed a bit.

Mike Straus - December 20, 2018

Jason Parillo is one of the most accomplished boxing coaches in the sport of mixed martial arts. He will be in Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino‘s corner at UFC 232 for the biggest fight of her career. Parillo has worked with some of the best MMA fighters of this generation. Cyborg, BJ Penn, Tito Ortiz, and Michael Bisping just to name a few. Still, Parillo doesn’t seek out athletes to work with, that just doesn’t jive with his sensibility.

Cole Shelton - December 20, 2018

UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg will battle arguably her toughest opponent to date when UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes moves up in weight to challenge her in the co-main event of UFC 232 on December 29. Cyborg has been the UFC’s featherweight champion since 2017 and hasn’t lost since her very first pro fight in 2005. She has been a seemingly unstoppable force for more than a decade, but many fans believe Nunes could be the woman to finally defeat her.

Cole Shelton - December 19, 2018

Matt Brown has been in the UFC since 2008. He has also fought at least once a year every year since 2005. However, in 2018 that streak ended when Brown, unfortunately, was dealing with some injuries that kept him from competing inside the Octagon. He tore his ACL earlier this year when he was preparing for a fight against Carlos Condit.

Cole Shelton - December 18, 2018

Diego Ferreira had a crazy fight week in Toronto preparing for UFC 231. The Brazilian was originally set to take on John Makdessi, but Makdessi got hurt and had to pull out of the fight. Then former UFC fighter Jesse Ronson stepped in to fight Ferreira on short notice, but was quickly pulled from the bout for being too heavy. That was just days before the fight and it left Ferreira wondering if he was going to fight after all.

Tom Taylor - December 18, 2018

At long last, Valentina Shevchenko has captured the thing she’s been chasing: The UFC flyweight belt. Shevchenko earned this title with a dominant decision victory over former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231 earlier this month. Looking back on the fight, Valentina Shevchenko says she’s pleased not only with her own performance, but with Jedrzejczyk’s. She believes that, together, they showcased the true art of fighting.

Cole Shelton - December 17, 2018

Geoff Neal may very well have earned the 2018 Knockout of the Year honors with his UFC 228 head-kick knockout of Frank Camacho, but he’s not resting on his laurels. On January 19, when the UFC debuts on ESPN+ in Brooklyn, New York, Neal will take a big step up in competition as he battles Belal Muhammad. Muhammad is currently 14-2 as a professional, and there is no question that this will be Neal’s toughest fight to date.

Tom Taylor - December 17, 2018

Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley are the two halves of arguably the most heated rivalry in MMA today. The two top welterweights, who used to share a training space at American Top Team, are now sworn enemies. Yet there is one thing they can agree on: they want to fight each other next. Covington and Woodley’s mutual desire to be locked in the cage together is particularly pertinent lately, given that the UFC has recently moved to give Kamaru Usman the next shot at Woodley’s title. Usman has even received a bout agreement for the fight.

Chris Taylor - December 15, 2018

Former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson was expected to square off with former division champion Robbie Lawler in early 2019. Unfortunately, that fight was scrapped in favor of booking “Ruthless” against undefeated promotional newcomer Ben Askren at UFC 235.

Thomas Taylor - December 14, 2018

On November 9, UFC veteran Isaac Vallie-Flagg stepped into the ring to battle Cory Simpson on the undercard of the debut event from World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation (WBKFF). Vallie-Flagg won this fight by second-round TKO, and absolutely loved the experienced of fighting sans gloves.  Unfortunately, he still hasn’t been paid for his work.

Cole Shelton - December 14, 2018

When UFC veteran Damien Brown steps into the RIZIN ring with Daron Cruickshank at RIZIN 14 in Tokyo, Japan, on New Years Eve, he’ll be crossing an item off his bucket list. The Australian lightweight has long been interested in fighting for RIZIN in Japan, and on this card that also features massive names like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Tenshin Nasukawa, Kyoji Horiguchi, and Darrion Caldwell, the timing couldn’t be better.

Cole Shelton - December 13, 2018

Sodiq Yusuff’s UFC debut was supposed to be an enjoyable time for him. He worked his entire life to get the pinnacle of the sport and was being flown out to Australia to fight at UFC Adelaide. However, Yusuff found out his brother had passed away a week before his UFC debut. Yet even in the midst of this heartbreaking news, Yusuff never thought about dropping out of the fight and going back home. Instead, he was focused on the fight and making his childhood dreams come true.

Tom Taylor - December 13, 2018

Eduard Folayang is once again the ONE lightweight champion. The Team Lakay representative recaptured the title with a thrilling decision defeat of Amir Khan, which went down in front of his legions of Filipino faithful in Manila in late November. With the belt once again slung over his shoulder, Folayang is looking ahead to his first challenge as champion. That being said, it’s a little difficult to say who will provide that first challenge.