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2017 is not starting off well for Ronda Rousey.
10 days after suffering a 48-second knockout loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in Las Vegas, Nevada, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Bantamweight champion had her home in Venice Beach, California vandalized.
This isn’t the first time Tito Ortiz has announced his retirement. The former UFC light heavyweight champion called it a career after a 2012 loss to Forrest Griffin and was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Then came an improbable run with Bellator, one in which he drew a game-changing television rating for a fight with Stephan Bonnar on Nov. 2014 which helped usher in the current era of MMA free agency.
But while the inevitable can be postponed, time catches up with everyone eventually. Ortiz’s Bellator 170 main event against Chael Sonnen comes two days before his 42nd birthday, and “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” affirmed that win, lose, or draw, he intends for the bout to be the last of his MMA career.
Marlon Moraes successfully defended his World Series of Fighting bantamweight title on Dec. 31, and he’s once again a free agent.
The Brazilian talent, who signed a one-fight deal with WSOF earlier this year, knows what he wants after scoring a first-round stoppage victory over Josenaldo Silva in New York.
Less than 24 hours before Moraes’ 11th victory under the WSOF banner, the bantamweight title was on the line in the UFC Octagon. Dominick Cruz, who dominated the division for years, suffered his first defeat in almost a decade against Cody Garbrandt.
Moraes enjoyed Garbrandt’s performance, but thinks he has what it takes to beat any bantamweight in the world.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager is apparently growing impatient with Tony Ferguson’s impasse with the UFC.
Former WSOF matchmaker and Dominance MMA chief Ali Abdelaziz gave an ultimatum to Ferguson today on Twitter.
“You have 6 days to make a deal with the UFC (and) if you don’t make a deal I’m going to find someone else to fight” read the message, since deleted.
Brock Lesnar’s MMA future remains uncertain, but the results of his doping case no longer are.
The former UFC heavyweight champion was suspended one year by USADA for failing two drug tests in relation to UFC 200 in July, the UFC’s anti-doping partner announced Wednesday in a press release. Lesnar is eligible to return to the Octagon on July 15, 2017, one year after his provisional USADA suspension began.
I know, I know, we’ve heard this before... and even before that. But this time he really means it.
We think.
Mirko Filipovic, 42, who rose to power under the PRIDE FC banner over a decade ago, recaptured some of that former glory by winning the RIZIN FF open-weight grand prix last weekend in Saitama, Japan.
That’s what we call leaving on a high note.
“That was definitely my last tournament. I have health problems and this is definitely the end of my career,” Cro Cop told Nova TV (via Croatia Week). “I know I have announced my retirement before, but this is definitely it.”
Filipovic (35-11-2) retires on the strength of a seven-fight winning streak.
Ryan Bader has yet to ink a new contract with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) after he opted to fight out his existing deal rather than sign an extension last year.
A move that proved to be the right one for "Darth," knocking out Antonio Rogerio Nogueira last November to secure his second straight win, seven of eight overall. Whether or not that equates to big bucks for Bader, remains to be seen. One thing is certain, though, if his longtime employers don't pay him, he'll gladly go to a company that will.
Bellator MMA included, as he recent told Flo Combat.
A former UFC heavyweight is being accused of kneeing his girlfriend in the head, dragging her by the hair, and threatening to kill her 10-year-old son, per a police report obtained Tuesday by MMA Fighting.
Johny Hendricks' days of fighting at welterweight are about to come to an end.
Hendricks, who failed to make the 171-pound limit on Thursday, prior to tonight's UFC 207 fight against Neil Magny, told MMAFighting.com that he's not going to cut to welterweight anymore.
"I'm done fighting at welterweight," he said, just hours before the fight. "Unless they open up a 175-pound division, I'm moving up to middleweight."
Johny Hendricks’ struggles on the scale continue.
The former UFC welterweight champion missed weight once again on Thursday at UFC 207’s early morning weigh-ins. Hendricks weighed in at 173.5 pounds for his 170-pound contest against Neil Magny — 2.5 pounds over the division’s limit.
The UFC’s final event of 2016 will reportedly double as the final broadcast for Mike Goldberg. Following a report from EntImports, MMA Fighting’s Luke Thomas confirmed on Wednesday that Goldberg will depart the company following this Friday’s UFC 207: Nunes vs. Rousey pay-per-view in Las Vegas, Nevada. There has been no official comment made by the UFC.
Josh Barnett’s issues with banned substances continue.
The former UFC heavyweight champion failed an out-of-competition drug test stemming from a Dec. 9 screening, the UFC announced Tuesday. Barnett has been flagged by USADA and is facing a UFC anti-doping violation.
Cain Velasquez will not be licensed to fight at UFC 207.
The Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) has pulled Velasquez from his bout with Fabricio Werdum on the Dec. 30 card in Las Vegas, commission executive director Bob Bennett confirmed Saturday with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani. The situation follows Velasquez telling ESPN.com last week that pain from a back and leg injury, which requires surgery, is so bad that he has been using cannabidiol oil to remedy it during training camp.
"Based on the medical records, interviews with Mr. Velasquez and best judgment of our chairman, chief representatives, executive director and physicians, and to protect the health and safety of the fighter, we've determined Mr. Velasquez is unfit to fight,” Bennett told Helwani.
ESPN was the first to report Velasquez’s inability to get licensed to compete.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion Conor McGregor, who also held gold at 145 pounds before relinquishing that title to Jose Aldo, is no stranger to the welterweight division.
“Notorious” made two trips north to fight Nate Diaz.
The power-punching Irishman was subbed by Diaz at UFC 196 — because the savage Stocktonite was clearly three times his size — but was able to battle back and capture a unanimous decision win in their UFC 202 rematch.
That makes them tied at one apiece.
So, when can mixed martial arts (MMA) fans expect their highly-anticipated rubber match? Never, according to promotion president Dana White, because fighting a MASSIVE guy like Diaz could be a career killer.
The UFC’s decision to leave Invicta FC champ Cristiane Justino out of the promotion’s first title fight at the newly-created women’s 145-pound division raised some eyebrows.
Now, in light of Justino’s possible U.S. Anti-Doping Agency violation, it just looks like they dodged a bullet. At least that seems to be the sentiment for UFC president Dana White, who spoke to TMZ approximately 30 minutes after hearing the news.
Cris Cyborg did not test positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
The top UFC female fighter said in a statement Thursday on Facebook that her failed USADA drug test was due to a diuretic called spironolactone. USADA spokesperson Ryan Madden confirmed that Cyborg did indeed test positive for that drug, which is banned in- and out-of-competition under the UFC’s anti-doping policy and the WADA Code.
A diuretic is considered a specified substance in the UFC’s anti-doping policy, which means Cyborg is facing at least a one-year suspension from USADA.
The UFC announced on Thursday that the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) notified Cris Cyborg of a potential violation stemming from an out-of-competition drug test administered on Dec. 5.
Cyborg, who is one of the most tested UFC fighters in the USADA era, talked briefly to MMA Fighting after the promotion made the announcement.
The Brazilian fighter declined to reveal which substance she popped up for, but said that it was something to recover from her recent brutal weight cut for UFC Fight Night 95 on Sept. 24, when she defeated Lina Lansberg.
Velasquez recently told ESPN that he will be undergo surgery five days after the fight to correct a lingering health issue.
It’s a pain that also forced him out of his previous scheduled fight with "Vai Cavalo" at UFC 196 earlier this year.
Pulling out this time around was not an option for Velasquez. That’s the reason Velasquez turned to Cannabidiol (CBD) — one of the compounds that makes up cannabis — to help ease the pain. As of now, CBD is not prohibited by United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), so he can take it with a clear mind ... though he intends to ease up come fight week.
