UFC News

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2019

On Saturday, the UFC will return to the Sunshine State with the compelling UFC Fort Lauderdale card, scheduled to air on ESPN+, ESPN, and ESPN 2. In the main event of this exciting card, top middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza will battle short-notice replacement opponent Jack Hermansson in a bout loaded with very different implications for both men.

James Lynch - April 26, 2019

Darren Till is keeping a low profile. Following his recent arrest in Spain for allegedly trashing a hotel room and stealing a taxi, the former UFC welterweight title challenger has deactivated both his personal Twitter and Instagram accounts. The 26-year-old didn’t serve any time or face any serious legal issues for the incident. However he did receive a heavy fine which included €10,000 ($11,150 USD) to the Costa Adeje hotel, €480 ($525 USD) for hotel damages and €360 ($401 USD) for theft of the taxi cab.

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2019

This weekend, in the main event of UFC Fort Lauderdale, long-time UFC middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza will take part in a high risk, low-reward fight with rising contender Jack Hermansson. If he wins, well, he simply reminds the world that he already deserves a title shot. If he loses, meanwhile, his UFC title dreams will be dashed for perhaps a final time. “It was hard negotiating for Jack,” the Brazilian contender told MMA Junkie recently in his native Portuguese. “That was hard. That was tough. I didn’t want to accept the fight at all. It’s a risk that I’m taking. I’m putting my career at risk; that’s the truth. It made me very upset, this fight. But we talked, and this and that. Then (UFC matchmaker) Mick Maynard came in, Hunter (Campbell), (UFC president) Dana White, all those people, and I said, ‘Either you promise me the belt and put that to paper and send it to me, or there’s no deal.’”

Cole Shelton - April 25, 2019

Greg Hardy will be in familiar territory on Saturday night. The former pro bowler will enter the Octagon for the second time in his career and will be the co-main event once again. Although some disagree with Hardy getting the spot, the 30-year-old is quite happy with co-headliner status.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2019

UFC St. Petersburg was an action-packed card, from the undercard to the Alistair Overeem vs. Alexey Oleynik main event. As is so often the case with cards of this kind, several of the fighters on the bill are facing lengthy medical suspensions, including Oleynik, who is dealing with a fractured rib after his first-round TKO loss to Overeem.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2019

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson is now firmly embedded as a member of the Bellator roster. In fact, he’s set to return to the cage at Bellator 220 this weekend, where he’ll take on Adam Piccolotti in a lightweight contender bout. As he prepares for this imminent challenge, Benson Henderson is happy to have put some distance between himself and the drama that is currently plaguing the UFC lightweight division. He’s witnessed the heat between reigning champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former champion Conor McGregor, and the difficulty top contenders like Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson have had getting title shots, and he’s thanking the Lord that he’s no longer in the thick of it.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2019

According to a report from the Irish Times, Proper No. Twelve, the Irish whiskey recently launched by former UFC lightweight and featherweight champ Conor McGregor, has already become a massive fiscal success. According to this report, Proper No. Twelve “sold out a six-month allocation in its first 10 days and has now shipped about 200,000 nine-litre cases since its launch.”

James Lynch - April 25, 2019

Tony Ferguson and Conor McGregor are no longer represented by the same management group. According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Ferguson has left Paradigm Sports Management to sign with Ballangee Group. The 35-year-old had been with Paradigm for the last seven years and joins a group that represents former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, Vitor Belfort and Aljamain Sterling.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2019

Last week, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champ Conor McGregor once again laced up the boxing gloves. This time, however, he was not taking on a legend for millions of dollars under a Jumbotron in Las Vegas. Instead, he took part in an exhibition bout with amateur boxer Michael McGrane, which went down in his former haunts, the Crumlin Boxing Club in Dublin. Speaking to TMZ, McGrane opened up on this exhibition bout with Conor McGregor and claimed the UFC star zapped him with a cheap shot — a left hand thrown seconds after the opening bell.

Mike Straus - April 25, 2019

The UFC is right back at it again. Next up is UFC Fort Lauderdale. While the main event of UFC Fort Lauderdale has seen a revolving door of fighters coming and go, the rest of the card has largely stayed intact. On paper, the card looks to have something for every type of fight fan.

Drake Riggs - April 24, 2019

After taking one of the longer paths to the top, ‘The Diamond,’ Dustin Poirier has stamped his ticket to an undisputed UFC lightweight title fight. At UFC 236 earlier this month, Poirier did so by claiming the interim lightweight title by picking up his second career win over the current featherweight champion, Max Holloway. The two went to war for a full 25 minutes and Poirier would be the one to walk away with the unanimous decision victory.

Drake Riggs - April 24, 2019

UFC Nashville was headlined by a pretty unique match-up, to say the least. The main event of the promotion’s return to the state of Tennessee saw former WEC and UFC lightweight champion, as well as former featherweight hopeful, Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis make his 170-pound welterweight debut. His opponent would be none other than the perennial top five contender, two-time welterweight title challenger, ‘Wonderboy,’ Stephen Thompson. Shockingly, after a pretty dominant showing from Thompson, Pettis would be the one to connect late in the second round to score the massive knockout win. It was the Karate specialist’s first time losing via knockout and Pettis’ first time winning via strikes since January 2013 when he TKO’d Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone with a body kick.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2019

The official UFC rankings have been updated in the wake of Saturday’s UFC St. Petersburg card, and as expected there have been some notable changes. The biggest change, however, seems to be unrelated to the card, as long absent lightweight star Nate Diaz has finally been ejected from the UFC rankings. In terms of UFC St. Petersburg related changes, Alistair Overeem made a slight climb at heavyweight on the strength of his rousing TKO defeat of Alexey Oleynik.

James Lynch - April 24, 2019

“The Eagle” will be landing in the UK this June. Khabib Nurmagomedov posted on his Instagram account that UFC fans will have the opportunity to meet him from June 11-16. The 30-year-old will be stopping in London, Manchester, and Midlands. This is an independent tour and not one run by the UFC. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv4qw3Cg0Hm/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=z91vvc5fzdpd “I am really excited to be coming to the UK and meeting my fans,” Nurmagomedov said in a press release. “I appreciate the support I have received from this country and I want to give something back.”

Jordy McElroy - April 24, 2019

There is nothing flashy about Justin Gaethje’s style of fighting—no fancy footwork or slick striking techniques. The former World Series of Fighting lightweight champion is more of a bite down on a mouthpiece, march forward relentlessly and shove his fists in your face kind of fighter. Couple that with a criminally underrated ground game, and you have the recipe for big problems for reigning UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. During an appearance on The MMA Hour, Gaethje implied that he would be the “toughest out” for Nurmagomedov out of all the other title contenders, including Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2019

Back at UFC 236, UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway made his debut in the UFC lightweight division, taking on Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight strap. Unfortunately for the Hawaiian and his ever-growing fanbase, this move to lightweight didn’t go as planned, as he lost a unanimous decision to Poirier and saw his 13-fight win-streak disintegrate in the process. Speaking to MMA Junkie recently, Yancy Medeiros, one of Holloway’s chief training partners, gave his take on Holloway’s lightweight debut.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2019

Last month, Cristina Ferguson, the wife of streaking UFC lightweight contender Tony Ferguson, filed a temporary restraining order against the fighter. According to Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting, who spoke with Cristina Ferguson’s attorney Jeffery L. Heath, this restraining order has now expired. A hearing in the case was scheduled for April 5, but that hearing did not occur.

Drake Riggs - April 24, 2019

Yesterday, USADA announced that four fighters had recently accepted sixth-month suspensions for their positive testings due to ostarine usage. All of which were the result of tainted supplements. One of those fighters happened to be the inaugural UFC flyweight champion, Nicco Montano. Montano has been out of action since she won the title in December 2017 dealing with a severe foot injury. Once she was finally ready to return in September 2018 to defend her title, things still didn’t go as planned as The Ultimate Fighter 26 winner would end up hospitalized during her weight cut. Thus, obviously, canceling her fight and then leading to her being stripped of her title.