Michael Chiesa News

Chris Taylor - July 7, 2018

A lightweight fight featuring former division title holder Anthony Pettis taking on Michael Chiesa found a home on tonight’s UFC 226 main card. Michael Chiesa missed weight for the fight coming in at 157.5 lbs. As a result, Chiesa will forfeit 30% of his fight purse to “Showtime”.

Drake Riggs - June 28, 2018

The fallout from a non-fighting related incident was unlike anything we’d ever seen before in the UFC during UFC 223’s fight week. As everyone knows by now, it was the infamous fighter bus attack by Conor McGregor and his dolly throwing ways.

Tom Taylor - June 1, 2018

Michael Chiesa, who battles Anthony Pettis at UFC 226 this July 7 in Las Vegas, considers Tony Ferguson — not Khabib Nurmagomedov — the true UFC lightweight champion of the UFC. Chiesa explained why he feels this way on a recent episode of Submission Radio.

Tom Taylor - May 22, 2018

Following in the footsteps of fighters like Michael Bisping, Rashad Evans and Tyron Woodley, Michael Chiesa is the latest fighter to take on side-gig as a UFC analyst. The ninth-ranked UFC lightweight will make his analyst debut this weekend, as he will join the Fox Sports desk during the UFC’s Saturday night debut in Liverpool. Chiesa will be accompanied at the analyst’s desk by former middleweight champ Michael Bisping, UFC color commentator Jimmy Smith, and anchor Karyn Bryant. This news was announced by Fox Sports on Monday.

Russell Sai - April 5, 2018

Many are still in disbelief by the actions of Conor McGregor and his crew who attacked a bus full of UFC 223 fighters in New York on Thursday. McGregor and his team can be seen throwing various large objects at a bus that was transporting the card’s red corner fighters. Windows on the bus were shattered and people including Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg were taken to the hospital to get checked on for injuries from broken glass.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2018

9th-ranked UFC lightweight contender Michael Chiesa will be watching very closely when Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov battle for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 223 this April 7. With another few impressive wins, after all, he could very easily find himself locked in the cage with the winner. So who does Chiesa expect that winner to be? He’s leaning in the direction of Nurmagomedov on the basis of Nurmagomedov’s world class grappling ability.

Drake Riggs - March 8, 2018

Season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter was the first and only season that has been done live. The season gave us some of today’s best 155-pound fighters as eight are still in the UFC to this day. Most notably, the winner, Michael “Maverick” Chiesa. Chiesa defeated Al Iaquinta in the finals to earn the crown of TUF champion but along the way, he defeated one of the UFC’s current hottest rising contenders, James Vick.

Justin Golightly - March 8, 2018

Michael Chiesa was riding a nice little three-fight win streak until he ran into Kevin Lee, but now he’s back on the journey to restore his standing in the division and get back in that win column. He’ll be fighting former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis at the stacked UFC 223 card. Not only is he eager to get back in the cage, but he’s also relieved that Conor McGregor will be stripped to leave room for other fighters like himself to eventually get a title shot. “The biggest thing we need, is we need movement. The 155-pound division has been log-jammed so many times. When Anthony was champion he had some injuries that held him out for a while, you know, so the division got jammed up. And then we had some movement, and then Conor [McGregor] won the title and we’re jammed up again, and you know, you just gotta keep the wheels in motion. It’s just good to see. Conor’s a two-time champion, but he can’t just sit and hold the belt and keep us all waiting. You know, there’s a lot of tough guys jockeying for their position to be number one, and you only have so much time in this sport, so you can’t let one guy rob a bunch of us of our opportunities to fight for the belt.”

Drake Riggs - January 30, 2018

UFC 223 continues to grow! Already off to a hot start with two title fights and three Lightweight fights in total…it looks like another might be getting added! ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reports that a showdown between season 15 winner of The Ultimate Fighter, Michael Chiesa and former WEC and UFC Lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis could be in the cards for the night of action in Brooklyn, New York. Per sources, UFC is targeting a lightweight bout between Anthony Pettis and Michael Chiesa for UFC 223 on April 7 in Brooklyn.

Tom Taylor - July 25, 2017

On June 25, the UFC touched down in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with UFC Fight Night 112. In the main event, Kevin Lee and Michael Chiesa went to war in a compelling clash of lightweight contenders. Unfortunately this main event was shrouded in controversy, as Lee locked up a first-round rear-naked choke, but referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the action before Chiesa actually tapped. Since then, Yamasaki has defended his stoppage, while the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission (OSAC) has denied Chiesa’s appeal. Despite this, Chiesa still feels he was shorted, and is harboring quite a bit of resentment against Yamasaki. On Monday’s edition of the MMA Hour, the lightweight even challenged the referee to a September 30 grappling match.

Tom Taylor - June 26, 2017

Last night, in the main event of the UFC’s anticipated trip to Oklahoma City, Michael Chiesa lost by submission to “The MoTown Phenom” Kevin Lee. The unfortunate thing is that, while Lee’s rear-naked choke was deep, Chiesa never actually tapped out or lost consciousness. Instead, referee Mario Yamasaki misread the situation, and stopped the fight early. Unsurprisngly, this is not the result Chiesa was hoping for. As such, the top-10 UFC lightweight is keen on a rematch with Lee as soon as possible. He made his case on the Fox Sports 1 post-fight show.

Tom Taylor - June 14, 2017

Last month, the UFC flew the headliners and co-headliners of its upcoming summer events out to Dallas for a stacked press conference. As is so often the case when too many fired-up fighters are shoehorned into a small space together, a number of heated confrontations occurred.  Of all the blowouts to occur at this press conference, none held a candle to the one involving ranked lightweights Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee, whose scrap will headline the UFC’s June 25 visit to Oklahoma City. This scuffle began when Lee reminded Chiesa that his mother would be present when they fought. Lee’s mention of Chiesa’s mother caused Chiesa’s blood to boil, at which point he threatened to slap Lee, and stormed across the cage in his foe’s direction. The two lightweights then collided in the middle of the stage, where Lee cracked Chiesa with a punch.

Russell Ess - May 16, 2017

Do not talk about Michael Chiesa’s mother. With Kevin Lee just mentioning Chiesa’s mother at the UFC Summer Kickoff Press Conference, it hit an immediate nerve in Chiesa, who instructed to Lee to never talk about his mother. Things turned physical when Chiesa rushed over to Lee and was held back by security while Lee slipped under the security’s radar and hit him with a punch.

bjpenndotcom - May 13, 2017

Friday afternoon at the UFC Summer Kickoff press conference, UFC lightweights Kevin Lee and Michael Chiesa were involved in a rather heated argument that led to a scuffle taking place between the two men. While security guards were quick to restrain Chiesa, Lee managed to land a clean right hand before security guards restrained him. Ultimately, both man left the Q&A portion of the press conference before returning to the stage at the commencement to have their staredown. Following the incident, which may or may not see the two men punished, Michael Chiesa took to social media to release a statement on the matter, saying:

bjpenndotcom - May 12, 2017

@dc_mma said this Real Nigga shit 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/sHnp4DApaN — Kevin Lee (@MoTownPhenom) May 12, 2017

bjpenndotcom - March 31, 2017

On June 25th, streaking lightweights Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee will step into the Octagon for a pivotal showdown for these two top ranked lightweights. The UFC announced the matchup on Twitter, where they also revealed that the fight would serve as the main event scrap to an already stacked card which features the likes of BJ Penn vs. Dennis Siver, Tim Boetsch vs. Johny Hendricks, and Felice Herrig vs. Justin Kish to name just a few of the high-profile fights on the card.

bjpenndotcom - March 15, 2017

‘The Ultimate Fighter: Live’ winner Michael Chiesa has proven to be one of the most consistent lightweights in the UFC today. With a UFC record of 7-2, with one of his losses coming by way of doctor stoppage due to a cut on his eyebrow, Chiesa has found himself at #7 on the UFC’s official lightweight rankings. With only a handful of fighters above him, Chiesa is looking to leverage his impressive 3-fight win streak into an interim lightweight title fight with Tony Ferguson, who recently found himself without an opponent when Khabib Nurmagomedov was forced out of their UFC 209 scrap the morning of weigh-ins.

Tom Taylor - March 10, 2017

Earlier this year, The Ultimate Fighter 8 winner and current lightweight contender Michael Chiesa made headlines by claiming that he could defeat UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor. “Conor is good, but I really don’t think he’s a true lightweight,” Chiesa told ESPN back in January. “That’s what I’m saying. With the landscape of this division, I don’t see Conor ending his year as champion. And you put me in there, I’m going to drag him to the ground and beat him too. I’m a huge lightweight. I’m as big as Nate (Diaz) or bigger, and we saw how many problems Nate gave him.