UFC News

Tom Taylor - November 20, 2018

UFC President Dana White has not been shy about his disdain for former ONE Championship and Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren in the past. Yet Chael Sonnen believes the UFC President will come to love the American wrestler, who has finally joined the UFC roster. In fact, he thinks Askren is likely to become White’s favorite fighter.

Tom Taylor - November 20, 2018

Last Saturday night, on the undercard of UFC Argentina, American lightweight Devin Powell stepped into the cage with Peru’s Jesus Pinedo. In the end, Powell lost this fight by unanimous decision. Apparently, however, this defeat was the least of his worries. Mid-way through the second round, Powell says he sustained a hematoma inside his eye. This caused his eye to fill up with blood, rendering him temporarily blind in that eye.

Tom Taylor - November 20, 2018

Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz’s trilogy fight is just around the corner. The fight, which is being promoted by Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions, goes down this Saturday, November 24. As this trilogy fight between the two MMA legends looms on the horizon, many members of the MMA community are quite excited. Others, however, would prefer to see Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz sticking to their retirement plans.

Cole Shelton - November 20, 2018

The UFC is continuing its push into the Chinese market in a big way. The promotion will be opening a brand new UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai, China. It will reportedly be more than 93,000 square feet and will cost the promotion a whopping $13 million. However, this PI will be quite different from the one that’s been established in Las Vegas. In Las Vegas, the PI is for UFC athletes to recover, train and help with their weight cutting and nutrition. However, the one in Shanghai will primarily be about developing Asian MMA fighters, with the hope that the fighters will then sign with promotion. The promotion will reportedly offer these fighters ‘scholarships’ which will allow them to train at the PI.

Tom Taylor - November 20, 2018

Last Saturday night, on the main card of UFC Argentina, long-time strawweight contender Cynthia Calvillo rebounded from her first pro loss and an unfortunate marijuana-related suspension with a first-round submission defeat of Poliana Botelho. At a glance, it was the perfect way to rebound from an undeniably tough year. Unfortunately, Calvillo missed weight for the fight, which has caused significant outrage among the sport’s often unforgiving fans. Speaking on The MMA Hour on Monday, Cynthia Calvillo responded to this backlash from fans. She says she feels the weigh-in miss has diminished her performances, and that she’s eager to move on with her next fight.

Tom Taylor - November 20, 2018

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has a lot of options on the table for his next fight. There’s a rematch with Conor McGregor. There’s a long awaited fight with top-contender Tony Ferguson, and matchups with other top contenders like Dustin Poirier or Kevin Lee.  Of all the options available to Khabib Nurmagomedov, however, there is one that his father Abdulmanap likes best of all: a fight with former UFC welterweight and middleweight champ Georges St-Pierre.

Cole Shelton - November 19, 2018

Colby Covington vs. Tyron Woodley is a fight MMA fans are looking forward to. Ever since Covington defeated Rafael Dos Anjos in June to win the promotions interim belt, fans and analysts have been debating if “Chaos” is the man to dethrone “The Chosen One”. Fans initially expected to get that answer in the fall of 2018. However, after an injury to Covington, Woodley ended up fighting Darren Till in September. “T-Wood” would cruise to a second-round submission win over Till at UFC 228, once again proving himself as the best welterweight fighter in the world.

Drake Riggs - November 19, 2018

Professional combat sports athlete, former Australian army officer in training, now reality TV star? UFC featherweight and former Invicta FC champion, Megan Anderson is just continuing to add to her resume.

Tom Taylor - November 19, 2018

The UFC had a very, very difficult time locking down a main event for UFC 230, which went down earlier this month in New York City’s famous Madison Square Garden. While the card’s headlining spot was ultimately filled by a heavyweight title fight between champ Daniel Cormier and challenger Derrick Lewis, there were reportedly also discussions of a welterweight main event between interim champ Colby Covington and Nick Diaz. While Colby Covington says he would have been willing to fight Nick Diaz in the UFC 230 main event, the fight never came together. And now he says Diaz has missed his chance.

Tom Taylor - November 19, 2018

Back in August, streaking UFC lightweight contender James Vick stepped into the cage with former World Series of Fighting lightweight champ Justin Gaethje. For Vick, this bout represented an opportunity to vault into UFC lightweight title contention. Unfortunately, however, he was caught by a thunderous punch in the first round, and instead left the Octagon with his win-streak derailed. Looking back on this loss to Gaethje, James Vick admits it’s been a tough one to swallow.

James Lynch - November 19, 2018

You can scratch Israel Adesanya off the list of potential backup fighters for the Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum middleweight title fight at UFC 234. That’s according to Adesanya himself who told the New Zealand Herald that following a meeting with UFC President Dana White last week he’s not interested in taking that spot.

Tom Taylor - November 19, 2018

Speaking to the Russian newspaper Izvestia this week, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, the father of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, gave his take on three of the most likely opponents for his son’s next fight: Tony Ferguson, Dustin Poirier and Kevin Lee. Interestingly, he seems to want both Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee to fight Islam Makhachev rather than Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Tom Taylor - November 19, 2018

Cynthia Calvillo has not had a particularly easy year. After experiencing her first professional loss, a decision defeat to Carla Esparza, in late 2017, she tested positive for marijuana metabolites and was suspended for 9 months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Last weekend, however, on the main card of UFC Argentina, the rising prospect finally got back in the cage, where she rebounded from her loss to Esparza with a first-round submission defeat of Brazil’s Poliana Botelho.

Tom Taylor - November 19, 2018

Daniel Cormier, who currently owns the UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight titles, has been planning to retire in March of 2019 for some time. UFC President Dana White, however, isn’t sure that’s the way things will shake out.

Drake Riggs - November 18, 2018

Horrible news has come out of Hawaii that UFC flyweight and season 26 of The Ultimate Fighter contestant, Rachael Ostovich was attacked and hospitalized recently. TMZ was first to report the news out of Honolulu and does not say specifically when the attack was to have happened but does say that Ostovich is believed to have suffered a broken orbital bone. Even more unfortunate, the report states that the attacker is “someone close to her”.

Jason Kindschy - November 18, 2018

Following the announcement that former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight king, Ben Askren had finally joined the UFC roster, speculation began as to who ‘Funky’ would debut against. After immediately taking to social media and calling out the elite of the division, the dust settled and Askren was booked against former UFC champ Robbie Lawler at UFC 233.

Cole Shelton - November 18, 2018

MMA is a constantly growing sport, there is no doubt about it. Take the UFC for a prime example, they just celebrated their 25th anniversary of existence this year, while sports leagues like the MLB and the NHL have been around for over a hundred years. With MMA so young, promotions are learning on the fly. For welterweight legend, Jake Shields, he understands this better than most. He began his professional career in 1999, and since then the whole MMA world has changed before his eyes.

Tom Taylor - November 18, 2018

On Saturday night, in the UFC’s debut show in Argentina, perennial welterweight contender Neil Magny stepped into the Octagon with hometown hero Santiago Ponzinibbio. Early in the fight, Magny was able to bust up Ponzinibbio’s eye, which looked like a positive sign for him. Unfortunately, however, the American was then thumped decisively through the rest of the encounter, as Ponzinibbio battered his lead leg and ultimately removed his batteries with a right cross in the fourth round.