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Anderson Silva fought Michael Bisping in enemy territory Saturday, and his team wants a rematch on his home turf.
The former UFC middleweight kingpin lost to Bisping via unanimous decision at the O2 Arena in London, suffering his first decision loss since 2000. After the decision was read, Silva called it "total corruption", and his manager suggests an immediate rematch in Brazil.
If you put on a frantic main event filled with twists and turns, stops and starts, and dramatic action, you're probably going to walk away with some extra money at the end of the night.
Such was the case for Michael Bisping and Anderson Silva on Saturday night. While there was much dispute over whether Bisping deserved the 48-47, across-the-board decision at UFC Fight Night 84 in London's O2 Arena, there was little dispute it was the night's best fight.
Bisping and Silva will each take home an extra $50,000 U.S. for their efforts.
Submitted Feb 27, 2016 10:52PM by JLS - 1 comment Filed under: UFC
All three judges scored the UFC Fight Night 84 main event for Michael Bisping. UFC President Dana White, however, said he saw the middleweight headliner differently.
Bisping (28-7 MMA, 18-7 UFC) topped former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (33-7 MMA, 16-3 UFC) by unanimous decision in Saturday’s main event at The O2 in London for what will go down as one of the most significant victories of his career.
Submitted Feb 27, 2016 10:49PM by JLS - 53 comments Filed under: UFC
LONDON – Today’s UFC Fight Night 84 event drew an announced attendance of 16,734 and a live gate of $2 million.
James Elliott, the UFC’s vice president and general manager for the Europe, Asia and Middle East regions, announced the figures at the post-event news conference, which MMAjunkie attended.
UFC Fight Night 84 took place at The O2 in London. The entire card streamed on UFC Fight Pass. In the main event, Michael Bisping topped Anderson Silva by unanimous decision in what should go down as a classic middleweight battle.
To date, the UFC has hosted five events at The O2. The all-time attendance figures include:
“UFC 120: Bisping vs. Akiyama” – 17,133 ($2,560,000 gate)
“UFC Fight Night 84: Silva vs. Bisping” – 16,734 ($2,000,000 gate)
“UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion” – 16,235 ($2,700,000 gate)
“UFC Fight Night 37: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa” – 14,604 ($2,000,056 gate)
“UFC 95: Sanchez vs. Stevenson” – 13,268 ($1,000,000 gate)
Submitted Feb 27, 2016 10:46PM by JLS - 0 comments Filed under: UFC
Rafael Carvalho looks to defend his Bellator middleweight title against Melvin Manhoef May 20 at Bellator 155 in Boise, Idaho.
The 29-year-old Brazilian is 12-1 in professional action, most recently snatching the Bellator title from Brandon Halsey at Bellator 144 with a devastating body kick knockout. His lone loss came in his professional debut, a submission defeat to Julio Cesar Araujo Fernandes in December 2011.
Sergio Pettis will once again share a card with his brother when he faces Chris Kelades at UFC 197 on April 23.
The UFC confirmed the flyweight pairing following an initial report from the Halifax Metro News. UFC 197 takes place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a light heavyweight title rematch between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones. Former lightweight champ Anthony Pettis is slated to meet Edson Barboza in a featured lightweight tilt on the pay-per-view draw.
Submitted Feb 26, 2016 6:47PM by JLS - 7 comments Filed under: UFC
Kendall Grove has been on the open market before. Except that time, he didn't expect it.
In 2011, Grove dropped a unanimous decision to Tim Boetsch at UFC 130 and he was released by the promotion. Yes, the Ultimate Fighter 3 winner had lost two in a row, but the first defeat came against Demian Maia and Boetsch is a perennial top-15 fighter at middleweight.
"The UFC didn't want me and I only lost two decisions to two tough guys and they let me go for some reason," Grove said. "But that's the business. I'm not mad over it. I'm a little disappointed, but it's their company."
Joe Schilling doesn't think he'll have many friends at the Sears Centre Arena this weekend.
It's not often that a fighter will compete for an organization when he is already set to bolt after his contract is up and everyone knows it. But that's exactly the case for Schilling when he meets Michael Lemaire at GLORY 27 on Friday night.
Schilling, the most well-known American kickboxer and fan favorite, has already inked a deal with Bellator Kickboxing and was introduced at the new promotion's introductory press conference last Friday in Houston. That contract just won't begin until he fulfills two more fights with GLORY. This particular one will come on the Superfight Series in Chicago and will air on UFC Fight Pass.
A lightweight bout pitting Rashid Magomedov against Chris Wade has been added to the UFC Fight Night Rotterdam lineup.
The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the matchup on Friday. Additionally, Dominic Waters will face Peter Sobotta in a welterweight duel, while Garreth McLellan will meet Magnus Cedenblad in a middleweight tilt at the May 8 event.
Submitted Feb 26, 2016 3:01PM by JLS - 1 comment Filed under: UFC
Anderson Silva has said before he intends to fight four times in 2016. So far, it looks like he intends to actually do it. During a interview with ESPN in London, Silva replied he would rather fight at UFC 198, in his hometown of Curitiba, when asked if he would like to fight at UFC 200.
"I would rather fight in Brazil, in Curitiba. I hope I can fight in Brazil. If everything goes my way and it will. If everyone thinks I should fight in Brazil, I will. Let's see how this Bisping fight plays out and then we move on to the next stage."
Submitted Feb 26, 2016 2:54PM by JLS - 3 comments Filed under: UFC
New Mexico-based heavyweight Cody East recently signed with the UFC after winning a Legacy FC bout in front of Dana White, but there has been plenty of controversy surrounding East's numerous violent criminal charges over the past 11 years.
The UFC recently added another heavyweight to its roster in Legacy FC's Cody East. He's reportedly scheduled to fight Walt Harris on the preliminary card of UFC 197: Cormier vs. Jones 2 on April 23rd. "The Freight Train" has been in the pros since May 2008, compiling a 12-1 record, with 11 of his victories by either knockout or submission, and his 40 second TKO of Kevin Asplund on February 5th will soon be featured on Dana White's "Lookin' For a Fight" series.
Submitted Feb 26, 2016 8:56AM by JLS - 7 comments Filed under: UFC
Ben Askren returns to the cage next month to face Nikolay Aleksakhin in the main event of ONE: Global Rivals. The American will be looking to make the first successful defense of his welterweight title after two scheduled match-ups with Luis Santos last year failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
Askren (14-0-0-1) is a former Bellator champion, a two-time NCAA Division One wrestling champion, and a U.S. Olympian. He won the ONE belt in 2014, but saw his first defense against Santos end in a controversial no contest after the Brazilian was unable to continue due to an eye poke.
Here’s some bad news for those of you looking forward to Friday’s Bellator 150 championship headliner.
Officials today announced bantamweight champion Marcos Galvao (17-6-1 MMA, 7-3 BMMA) has been sidelined with an illness, and his headlining title fight and rematch against Eduardo Dantas (17-4 MMA, 7-2 BMMA) has been pulled from the card.
The full Bellator 150 card now includes:
MAIN CARD (Spike, 9 p.m. ET)
Cheick Kongo vs. Vinicius Queiroz
Bobby Cooper vs. David Rickels
Gaston Reyno vs. Chuka Willis
Francisco France vs. Kendall Grove
Lena Ovchynnikova vs. Rebecca Ruth
PRELIMINARY CARD (MMAjunkie, 7 p.m. ET)
Gregory Babene vs. Brandon Farran
David Hammons vs. Kyle Noblitt
Chris Harris vs. Julian Marquez
Henry Lindsay vs. Marcio Navarro
Thai Clark vs. Deron Carlis
Andre Fialho vs. Manuel Meraz
Jonathan Gary vs. Jason Witt
Following Tuesday’s major change in the UFC 196 main event, there’s been a major shift in the odds on Conor McGregor.
McGregor (19-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) opened as an underdog in January when he was booked to fight lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos (25-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC). But when dos Anjos dropped out of their fight next week with a broken foot, McGregor got a new opponent: Nate Diaz (18-10 MMA, 13-8 UFC).
And against Diaz, McGregor has opened as more than a 3-1 favorite at most online sports books, according to Best Fight Odds. The price on McGregor can be found as high as -370, with the comeback on Diaz as much as +310.
That means a $100 bet on Diaz could give you a return of $410, including your original wager. A $100 bet on featherweight champ McGregor at -370 would pay out a profit of just $27.03, plus your original bet back.
The UFC’s debut in The Netherlands continues to build with the addition of a pair of fights.
Francimar Barroso (18-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) is set to meet Nikita Krylov (19-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) in a light heavyweight bout in May at UFC Fight Night 87, while Yan Cabral (12-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) will fight Reza Madadi (13-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) at lightweight. The bouts were first reported by Globo and Combate.
UFC Fight Night 87 takes place May 8 at Ahoy Rotterdam in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The card is expected to air on FOX Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.
The latest UFC Fight Night 87 card now includes:
Andrei Arlovski vs. Alistair Overeem
Antonio Silva vs. Stefan Struve
Francimar Barroso vs. Nikita Krylov
Yan Cabral vs. Reza Madadi
Tickets go on sale today for the UFC’s first trip to Tampa, Fla., in more than seven years.
UFC on FOX 19 takes place April 16 at Amalie Arena in Tampa. The main card will air on FOX following prelims expected for FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass. The promotion’s first visit to Tampa came in 2009 for UFC Fight Night 17, headlined by Joe Lauzon vs. Jeremy Stephens.
Tickets are available at Ticketmaster and Amalie Arena box office and range in price from $40 plus fees to get in the door to $225 plus fees for cageside seats.
Tickets go on sale to UFC Fight Club members today at 10 a.m. ET. UFC e-newsletter subscribers can purchase tickets Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. And the general public can pick up tickets Friday at 10 a.m. ET.
The latest UFC on FOX 19 card now includes:
Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Rashad Evans vs. Mauricio Rua
Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida
Rose Namajunas vs. Tecia Torres
Michael Chiesa vs. Beneil Dariush
Bethe Correia vs. Raquel Pennington
Hacran Dias vs. Cub Swanson
Court McGee vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
Cezar Ferreira vs. Caio Magalhaes
Drew Dober vs. Islam Makhachev
UFC President Dana White on Tuesday announced that McGregor will square off against Nate Diaz in the main event of the March 5 card. The announcement comes less than 24 hours after news emerged that McGregor’s original opponent, lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, pulled out of their title fight due to a broken foot.
Due to the short-notice nature of the bout, McGregor and Diaz will compete at 170 pounds. White explained during an appearance on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” that the UFC believes this was the fight fans wanted.
UH-OH.....BJPenn.com has confirmed with sources close to the fighters that McGregor vs. Diaz will happen on March 5th in Las Vegas.
The weight class for the McGregor vs. Diaz bout is still yet to be confirmed...
Two-time UFC flyweight title challenger John Dodson has his first opponent in his return to bantamweight. Dodson will fight Manny Gamburyan at UFC on FOX 19 on April 16th at Tampa, Florida's Amelie Arena. The Albuquerque Journal reported the booking on Tuesday.
Legacy FC returns to Oklahoma this spring, and the middleweight title will be on the line.
In the main event of Legacy FC 54, Marcelo Nunes (5-0) meets Rafael Lovato Jr. (2-0) for the promotion’s 185-pound belt. Promotion President Mick Maynard recently confirmed the headliner to MMAjunkie.
Legacy 54 will take place April 22 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Catoosa, Okla., near Tulsa. The main card will air on AXS TV.
In the co-main event, Andrew Todhunter (7-0) puts his unbeaten record on the line against Evan Thompson (5-2) in a middleweight bout. In addition, Charles Byrd (7-4) takes on Trey Houston (12-3) at welterweight; Bilal Williams (4-2) meets Ed Cline Jr. (8-5-1) in a 170-pound bout; Derrick Adkins (5-2) takes on Darryl Wilson (2-0) at lightweight; and Aaron Robinson (0-1) meets Justin Rader (3-2) in a featherweight bout.
