Joanna Jedrzejczyk carries Olympic torch in 2018 Games relay
(https:)Former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk recently received an honor worthy of her world-class athletic accomplishments.
Jedrzejczyk, a native of Olsztyn, Poland, was selected to carry the Olympic torch for a segment of the torch’s journey to Pyeongchang County, South Korea, for the 2018 Winter Games, which begin on Feb. 9.
Anderson Silva plans to continue fighting: ‘It’s not over yet’
(https:)It’s been 11 months since Anderson Silva stepped foot inside the Octagon, but he’s looking forward to coming back as soon as possible.
“The Spider” has not fought since February 2017, a unanimous decision victory over Derek Brunson at UFC 208 that snapped a four-year winless drought. Silva, 42, was supposed to fight Kelvin Gastelum in Shanghai, China, this past November, but he was removed from the bout after failing an out-of-competition drug test.
Matt Brown willing to come out of retirement to ‘lock horns’ with Carlos Condit
(https:)There is still hope out there for one of the most anticipated welterweight matches that never quite came to fruition.
Four years ago at UFC on FOX 9, Matt Brown and Carlos Condit were set to face each other in what looked to be a surefire Fight of the Night, if not a Fight of the Year contender. Unfortunately, the injury bug intervened when Brown sustained a back injury that forced him out of the fight. The bout never got re-booked and with Brown’s recent statements about potentially retiring from MMA after fight at UFC Norfolk last November, along with Condit’s own waning interest in the sport, it looked like it may never come to pass.
But not so fast! Speaking recently with the Fight Society podcast, Brown suggested that he would postpone his “semi-retirement” if a fight with Condit was on the table.
Former UFC champ Miesha Tate expecting baby girl this year with new boyfriend
(https:)Miesha Tate has been quite active since her November, 2016 retirement from fighting. In the 13+ months since her last contest, a unanimous decision loss to Raquel Pennington, Tate has become an analyst for FOX Sports, an avid podcaster, started an online fitness service, and is still cornering fighters (Cindy Dandois fight at this past weekend’s RIZIN card). And that’s just in her professional endeavors.
In the much more private sector of her personal life, the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion has ushered in a new era of happiness and personal contentment, and it doesn’t include ex-boyfriend Bryan Caraway whom she dated and trained with for several years. On New Year’s Eve, “Cupcake” released a photo collage on Instagram that showed off her new boyfriend, identified by MMA Fighting as TUF Season 22 contestant Johnny Nunez, and more importantly, the proverbial bun in the oven the two have cooked up together.
That’s right, one of the sport’s most eligible bachelorettes appears to be off the market and will be having a baby girl in the coming months.
Khabib Nurmagomedov hints at future move to featherweight
(https:)Khabib Nurmagomedov has a history of weight mishaps at 155 pounds. But he’s thinking of someday competing at 145.
The undefeated Russian looked trim and healthy in Las Vegas on Thursday, one day before he’s scheduled to step on the scales and weigh-in for his UFC 219 co-main event bout against Edson Barboza.
And while he still has plenty of unfinished business ahead of him in the division, Nurmagomedov found himself thinking of a move to featherweight somewhere down the road.
Nate Marquardt announces retirement
(https:)Former Strikeforce champion Nate Marquardt is done with professional fighting.
The 56-fight veteran announced on his website Thursday that he is hanging up the gloves after 18 years of MMA competition. Marquardt, 38, made a name for himself as a top-ranked fighter during his time with the UFC, Strikeforce, and Japan’s Pancrase promotion.
MMA’s Naughty or Nice List: 2017 Edition
(https:)I believe it was the late great John Lennon who turned an ordinary statement into an accusatory question — “So this is Christmas, and what have you done?” John didn’t waste time getting to his point, especially when harvesting suspicions that other people wasted time in general. What does Lennon’s song have to do with an MMA column on Christmas? Everything!
Or nothing.
The truth is it’s just a cheap way to set up a premise for this year’s MMA list of who’s been naughty, and who’s been nice.
Some people did good things in MMA. Some didn’t. Some were decent people. Some were not. And some, like UFC president Dana White, just fanned their faces with cash while mouthing the words over and over again, “it is what it is.”
Let’s get right into it.
Mackenzie Dern believes she’s ready to fight in the UFC
(https:)Undefeated prospect Mackenzie Dern discusses her recent win over Kaline Medeiros at Invicta FC 26 and successfully making weight for a strawweight bout, the improvements as an athlete a little over a year since her first fight, balancing her careers in MMA and jiu-jitsu, when she hopes to fight in the UFC, and much more.
UFC champ Max Holloway impressed with new contenders Brian Ortega, Josh Emmett
(mmajunkie.com)December was a good month for the UFC’s featherweight division. Champion Max Holloway made his first successful title defense, Brian Ortega scored a slick submission in a televised main event, and Josh Emmettconnected with a massive knockout in the co-headliner of a network-televised fight card.
Holloway, who defended his title with a third-round TKO of Jose Aldo at UFC 218, said he liked what he saw out of the latter two, who are making a surge up the 145-pound rankings toward a crack at the gold.
After last three fights on UFC contract, Mark Hunt plans to leave organization
(https:)It’s been a tumultuous couple of years for Mark Hunt fighting for (and with) the UFC, and he’s ready to move on to the next stage of his career.
The 43-year-old MMA and kickboxing veteran recently appeared on Submission Radio to talk about where he stands with the world’s largest fight promotion. Hunt had a disagreement with the UFC recently after he was pulled from a Nov. 19 show due to comments he made to “Players Voice”. In that article, Hunt admitted to having issues with his memory and that he sometimes slurred his words, which prompted officials to seek further testing before allowing Hunt to compete again.
Hunt was not happy with the decision and suggested that it was tied to his ongoing lawsuit against the UFC, company president Dana White, and Brock Lesnar over the promotion allegedly knowing that Lesnar was taking performance enhancing drugs ahead of a fight with Hunt at UFC 200 in July 2016.
Regardless, the UFC has since deemed Hunt fit to fight and he meets Curtis Blaydes at UFC 221 on Feb. 11 in Perth, Australia. According to Hunt, that’s one of the last three fights on his current contract, and he was asked if his run in the Octagon will soon be over.
Floyd Mayweather squashes fighting in the UFC talk: ‘I’m not doing it’
(https:)Floyd Mayweather in the UFC? Think again.
Hours after UFC president Dana White said the promotion was having “real” talks with Floyd Mayweather about competing in the Octagon, Mayweather himself shot down the rumblings.
In an interview with FightHype (h/t MMA Weekly), Mayweather said people misconstrued what he said last week about the UFC. He didn’t say he was going to compete in MMA — he said he could make a billion dollars in the UFC if he chose to. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s something he will be doing.
Longtime MMA head coach Robert Follis dies
(https:)One of the most accomplished coaches in mixed martial arts has died.
Robert Follis, who most recently was the head coach at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, died Friday, his girlfriend Myra Fukuno confirmed Sunday on Facebook.
UFC's Joseph Benavidez on initial pain, isolation, helplessness of injury recovery
(mmajunkie.com)Scrolling through Joseph Benavidez’s Instagram account, you’ll see a few things: pictures of him with wife Megan Olivi, snapshots of movies, and cute selfies with their dog, Benny.
What you won’t see are too many pictures of his recovering knee.
That doesn’t mean that the two-time UFC flyweight title challenger isn’t going to the UFC Performance Institute every day. Or that he isn’t training. Or that he isn’t powering through every rough stage of rehabilitation after surgically repairing a torn ACL.
In the more than six months that have passed since Benavidez announced that an injury had forced him out of a scheduled bout with Ben Nguyen, he’s done all those things.
We just haven’t since much of it.
|
|
