UFC News

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2019

This weekend, in the main event of UFC Vancouver, Justin Gaethje will step into the Octagon with a fellow fan-favorite in Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. If Gaethje is able to defeat Cerrone, who he considers a friend, he believes he’ll be right near the summit of the lightweight mountain, and will only accept a few fights thereafter. One, he says, is a fight against the winner of an expected but yet unscheduled title fight between divisional champ Khabib Nurmagomedov and top contender Tony Ferguson. The other is a fight with a man he’s become increasingly hostile toward; former two-division champion Conor McGregor.

Natasha Hooper - September 11, 2019

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father is hinting that, after 30 fights, his son will retire from mixed martial arts competition. Nurmagomedov maintained his incredible undefeated record at UFC 242 against Dustin Poirier. He beat “The Diamond” in the third round via submission and brought his record up to 28-0.

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2019

UFC light heavyweight contender Johnny Walker is freakishly athletic. He’s already proven that in his fights, and now, he’s reaffirming it in training. In a video that’s been circulating on Twitter, Walker can be seen landing a flying knee on a focus mitt held higher than the top of his own head. It really has to be seen to be believed. Check it out below (via @DovySimuMMA on Twitter):

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2019

Paul Felder and Edson Barboza are now tied 1-1 across two previous fights. The two lightweight contenders first met in July of 2015, in Felder’s second UFC bout. On that night, Barboza walked away with a unanimous decision win, handing Felder his first pro loss. Both fighters pocketed Fight of the Night bonus checks.

Adam Martin - September 11, 2019

A Reddit user has dug deep into the UFC rankings, and has exposed a flawed system that features a number of panelists who do not actually even cover MMA. Reddit user u/kneeco28 posted an in-depth rundown of all 14 panelists on the UFC rankings panel. What he found was that a third of the panelists are not even active MMA media members. Remember, these are the same people who contribute to the rankings, which have an inexorable impact on fighter promotion, matchmaking, salaries and Reebok pay.

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2019

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 242, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov authored another dominant title defense, this time at the expense of the dangerous Dustin Poirier. This victory impressed the vast majority of the MMA community — but not UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington. Covington gave his assessment of Nurmagomedov’s UFC 242 victory on a recent episode of Chael Sonnen’s podcast.

Mike Heck - September 11, 2019

Leon Edwards, for a moment, had a world title opportunity presented to him during the craziness of booking the main event for UFC 244. First, it was Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington that was discussed, then Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal, and ultimately onto Masvidal vs. Edwards for the vacant title before landing on the signed headliner, Masvidal taking on Nate Diaz. “Rocky” has won eight fights in a row including his most recent victory over former world champion Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC San Antonio. With Edwards’ recent surge, and Covington’s internal battle with the UFC going on, the 28-year-old is staking his claim at the title shot over the brash Covington.

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2019

Colby Covington is a proud member of American Top Team. Unfortunately, Covington has become increasingly at odds with many of his American Top Team stablemates — particularly his long-time friend and fellow welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal, and recent lightweight title challenger Dustin Poirier. Over the last few weeks, Covington has taken very public shots at both Masvidal and Poirier, and the pair have not hesitated to fire back. In fact, both Masvidal and Poirier have hinted things could get tense if they encounter Covington at American Top Team.

Natasha Hooper - September 11, 2019

Jorge Masvidal is scheduled to get a serious payday for his upcoming fight against Nate Diaz at UFC 244. The welterweight stars will collide on Saturday, November 2 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The highly anticipated matchup has been in the works since Nate Diaz called out ‘Gamebred’ following his unanimous win against Anthony Pettis at UFC 241. They will be fighting for the self-devised ‘Baddest Motherf**ker Title,’ which will get chins wagging and paychecks flying.

Natasha Hooper - September 11, 2019

According to Ariel Helwani, Jon Jones will not be fighting this year. The light heavyweight champion teased a big fight announcement for this year, but Ariel Helwani squashed any speculation on Twitter.

Adam Martin - September 10, 2019

The UFC’s year-end pay-per-view card this December in Las Vegas, UFC 245, could potentially feature three title fights on it for a true blockbuster end to 2019. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani speculated that the UFC could consider stacking UFC 245 with three title fights. Here’s what the scribe tweeted.

Cole Shelton - September 10, 2019

Ben Askren doesn’t believe that Conor McGregor will ever be a UFC champion again. McGregor, who is the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion was also the first-ever simultaneous two-division champion in the UFC. Yet, according to Ben Askren, he believes the Irishman made too much money to have the desire to train at a world champ level.