MMA Articles - Page 23

At UFC 290 last night, Israel Adesanya’s next title challenger was determined in Dricus du Plessis — and it’s exactly what the MMA scriptwriters ordered for. In fact, it should have been the fight right from the start, but the UFC decided to book Du Plessis against former champion Robert Whittaker with the winner set […]

Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman wants Khamzat Chimaev to take things seriously. The pair have been rumored to fight for months, but nothing has come to fruition as of yet. That’s despite the expectation being that Chimaev will return to action at UFC 294 which takes place October in Abu Dhabi. Recently, Usman claimed […]

Going into Alexander Volkanovski’s title unification fight with Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290, the debate over who the featherweight GOAT was reignited once again. The choices ultimately come down to Volkanovski, Jose Aldo and Max Holloway, and there is certainly a case to be made for all of them. However, Alexander Volkanovski’s claim as the […]

Alexander Volkanovski’s win over Yair Rodriguez was made all the more impressive considering he needs surgery on his arm. Volkanovski earned the fifth defense of his featherweight crown following a dominant third-round TKO victory over Rodriguez at UFC 290 last night. Although he took Rodriguez to the ground the first two rounds as expected, Volkanovski […]

Alexander Volkanovski could find himself facing Islam Makhachev again this year. Volkanovski earned another defense of his featherweight title following a dominant victory over Yair Rodriguez in the UFC 290 headliner last night in Las Vegas. After taking Rodriguez down the first two rounds — and notably opening cuts on with some elbows in the […]

The next super fight in combat sports may soon be getting an announcement, as a boxing match between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou is “expected to be announced very soon,” according to Ariel Helwani. Details of the fight have yet to be released, but it will likely be an exhibition boxing match that could turn […]

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones is supposed to take on Stipe Miocic in his next title defense. If and when the fight does happen, Jon Jones is far from guaranteed to retain the championship, according to Francis Ngannou. Ngannou knocked out Miocic at UFC 260 to become the UFC heavyweight champion on March 27, 2021. […]

Brandon Moreno looks for the first defense of his title as flyweight champion when he takes on Alexandre Pantoja in a rematch in the UFC 290 co-headliner Saturday night. Moreno will be looking for revenge as he not only lost to Pantoja in their only professional meeting back in 2018, but was also submitted by […]

Alexander Volkanovski returns to the featherweight division when he battles the always-exciting Yair Rodriguez in a title unification clash in the UFC 290 headliner on Saturday night. Will the Aussie put on another masterclass like he did against the likes of Max Holloway and The Korean Zombie? Or will Rodriguez shock the world and inflict […]

UFC 290 takes place Saturday night in Las Vegas for International Fight Week with a number of intriguing matchups on the main card. In the headliner, we have Alexander Volkanovski battling Yair Rodriguez in a featherweight title unification fight. The co-main event, meanwhile, features a flyweight title fight as Brandon Moreno defends his crown and […]

It’s fair to say there’s some fatigue from the MMA community when it comes to Conor McGregor and his UFC return. McGregor is expected to return to action later this year, but there’s plenty of doubts and uncertainty as things stand. For one, he’s still yet to enter the USADA drug testing pool. Given that […]

It looks like Elon Musk actually took up UFC legend Georges St-Pierre’s offer. With rumors of a Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg fight heating up, St-Pierre offered to train with the Twitter owner to help him in preparation. Musk accepted the offer on Twitter and it didn’t take long for them to collaborate. On Monday, St-Pierre […]

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping doesn’t expect Alexa Grasso to lose her title to Valentina Shevchenko. Grasso defends her women’s flyweight crown against Shevchenko in a rematch set to headline the UFC’s upcoming Fight Night event taking place Sept. 16 in Las Vegas. Their first meeting took place in March at UFC 285 and […]

Grant Dawson believes there’s no tougher weight class than the UFC lightweight division. Dawson earned arguably the biggest win of his career after outpointing Damir Ismagulov in their lightweight bout at UFC Vegas 76 this past weekend. In the process, he became just the third fighter to defeat Ismagulov — who now holds a 24-3 […]

Brandon Moreno has one big goal in combat sports before he hangs up his gloves. Moreno is set for his first title defense in his second reign as flyweight champion when he defends his 125-pound crown against Alexandre Pantoja in the co-main event of UFC 290 on July 8. While he’s focused on the present, […]

It looks like we could be getting Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou after all — but with a twist. Fury was expected to fight Oleksandr Usyk not only earlier this year, but in a proposed Saudi Arabia mega card set to take place in December. That no longer seems to be the plan as things […]

There have been some great fights in the UFC in 2023 and some great ones still to come. After all, just some of the fights coming up include Alexander Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez, Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje II, Jan Blachowicz vs. Alex Pereira and Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley to name a few. However, […]

Glover Teixeira is a fan of Alex Pereira competing a light heavyweight. Pereira will make his debut at 205 pounds when he faces former champion Jan Blachowicz in the co-main event of UFC 291 taking place July 29 in Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s a move that follows Pereira’s first defeat in the UFC — […]

Conor McGregor was expected to fight Michael Chandler later this year and that still seems to be the plan on paper. However, things are extremely uncertain right now. McGregor is required to have two negative drug tests in a period of at least six months in the USADA testing pool in order to compete again. […]

Teddy Atlas had high praise for UFC featherweight contender Ilia Topuria. Topuria is coming off the biggest win of his career after enjoying a lopsided decision victory over former title challenger Josh Emmett at UFC Jacksonville this past weekend. The Georgian-Spanish fighter dropped and hurt Emmett as he put on a striking masterclass that put […]

Middleweight contender Marvin Vettori suffered a lopsided defeat against Jared Cannonier earlier this month at UFC Vegas 75 despite being a pre-fight betting favorite. It made it three defeats in his last five outings for “The Italian Dream” whose hopes of becoming a UFC champion — at least at 185 pounds — look pretty bleak […]

The UFC officially booked Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Kelvin Gastelum — and MMA Twitter reacted just about as expected. Gastelum’s return to 170 pounds won’t be an easy one by any means as per UFC president Dana White, he will face the undefeated Rakhmonov at the promotion’s Fight Night event taking place Sept. 16 in Las […]

Michael Bisping believes Jake Paul was very strategic in picking Nate Diaz as his next opponent. Diaz is the latest former UFC star to face Paul as he will make his boxing debut against the YouTuber-turned-boxer in a 185-pound, 10-round fight that takes place Aug. 5 in Dallas, Texas. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn recently […]

Michael Chandler has still not given up hope on fighting Conor McGregor. Chandler is expected to face the Irishman in 2023 and although McGregor claimed a fight date — — likely to be December — would be announced towards the end of The Ultimate Fighter 31, there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding the contest. McGregor […]

UFC middleweight Dricus du Plessis acknowledges he trained with Israel Adesanya in the past — but says they never did any striking whatsoever. Adesanya recently revealed he trained with Du Plessis in Thailand back in 2014 when he had virtually zero MMA experience. The UFC middleweight champion revealed that while he was beaten in the […]

UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling doesn’t believe Sean O’Malley deserves to fight for the title. Sterling defends his 135-pound strap against O’Malley in the UFC 292 headliner taking place Aug. 19 at the TD Garden in Boston. It will be a first-ever title shot for O’Malley who, while on a five-fight winning streak and being […]

Israel Adesanya returns to action at UFC 293 on Sept. 9 in Sydney, Australia. Although he has no confirmed opponent, he is expected to defend his middleweight title in the pay-per-view headliner. What we do know is that his opponent will be the winner of the upcoming UFC 290 middleweight encounter between Robert Whittaker and […]

Arman Tsarukyan believes he’s the only one who can defeat UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. Tsarukyan is coming off a third-round TKO win over Joaquim Silva earlier this month. It made it two wins in a row for the Armenian-Russian and seven wins in his last eight overall. A win or two more — particularly […]

Bellator fighter Dillon Danis was roasted by Twitter once again. With Errol Spence Jr. taking on Terence Crawford in a long-awaited welterweight title unification clash next month on July 29, it’s fair to say a good portion of the combat sports world is tuning in for their boxing showdown. There is competition, however. UFC 291 […]

Shane Burgos had a pretty good day in the office at PFL 6 last week. The former UFC featherweight enjoyed a unanimous decision win over Yamato Nishikawa in their lightweight bout to earn his first victory under the PFL banner. And according to the disclosed payouts from the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission acquired by […]

Contrary to former UFC star Chael Sonnen’s claims, Mark Zuckerberg isn’t fighting Elon Musk — for now. Social media has been abuzz ever since the two tech billionaires agreed to a fight with UFC president Dana White all but ready to promote it under his banner promotion’s banner. Sonnen took things further while recently appearing […]

Robert Whittaker will not be underestimating Dricus du Plessis by any means. The former middleweight champion takes on Du Plessis on the UFC 290 card taking place July 8 in Las Vegas. It is essentially a title eliminator with the winner expected to challenge Israel Adesanya in the UFC 293 main event in September. For […]

UFC president Dana White defended his interest in making Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg — a fight he believes isn’t a gimmick. Ever since Musk and Zuckerberg seemingly agreed to having a billionaire showdown on social media, White has been aggressively hyping it up and seems all but ready to promote it under the UFC […]

Eddie Hearn has seemingly changed his tune when it comes to predicting Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz. Former UFC lightweight and welterweight Diaz will make his professional boxing debut when he takes on Paul in a 185-pound matchup taking place Aug. 5 in Dallas, Texas. When predicting the fight last month, Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn […]

PFL lightweight Shane Burgos is baffled as to why more UFC fighters don’t test the market. Burgos is among a few notable names — including Francis Ngannou — to depart the UFC and test free agency before eventually signing with the PFL. The former UFC featherweight is now not only is making a “stupid amount […]

Whether the Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg fight actually happens remains to be seen, but it has certainly caught the attention of the MMA world and certain UFC fighters in particular. A proposed fight between the two tech billionaires has caused a stir on social media with just about everyone chiming in on who they […]

The PFL playoffs are still just under two months away from taking place, but massive changes to the four fighters partaking in the action have been announced by the league. On Saturday morning, Natan Schulte was shockingly suspended and removed from the PFL playoffs bracket, with Shane Burgos taking his spot as the four seed, […]

The public social media exchange between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg that escalated to the suggestion of an Octagon cage fight has been widely covered, and UFC president Dana White has weighed in and claims that the two tech billionaires are “dead serious” about this fight. Appearing on TMZ Live, White revealed that he has […]

PFL 6: Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Anthony Romero keeps it moving with the main card on ESPN+ in the main event with a fight in the lightweight division between Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Anthony Romero. Aubin-Mercier is coming off a dominant performance against fan favorite Shane Burgos meanwhile, Anthony Romero is making his long-awaited PFL debut. With […]