Keri Anne Taylor-Melendez set for MMA debut at Bellator 165 in San Jose vs. Sheila Padilla
(mmajunkie.com)The main card for Bellator’s November return to San Jose, Calif., has a pair of new fights – and one features a highly anticipated MMA debut.
Keri Anne Taylor-Melendez (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) will step into an MMA cage for the first time as a professional in a women’s flyweight bout against Sheila Padilla (2-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA). A Bellator official today confirmed the booking to MMAjunkie. An official announcement is expected today, as well.
In addition, Bellator 165 has added a lightweight fight between a pair of unbeaten prospects to the preliminary card. Carrington Banks (5-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) will take on Jake Roberts (7-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) to close out the prelims.
Bellator 165 takes place Nov. 19 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The main card airs on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie.
Johny Hendricks vs Neil Magny set for UFC 207 in Las Vegas
(mmamania.com)Hendricks (17-5) is in dire need of a win, which sounds surprising considering he was welterweight champion roughly two years back. Since then, “Bigg Rigg” has struggled to make weight and dropped three of his last four.
Time to get something going ... fast.
Magny (18-5) was slowly but surely climbing his way up the 170-pound ladder -- right up until Lorenz Larkin stopped him at UFC 202 back in August. No doubt a win over a tough out like Hendricks will get him right back into the title hunt.
Chael Sonnen vs. Tito Ortiz to headline Bellator show in January
(mmafighting.com)A pair of legends are coming to Hollywood.
Chael Sonnen will make his Bellator debut against Tito Ortiz in the main event of a Jan. 21 card in Los Angeles, promotion president confirmed Tuesday on Twitter. The bout was first reported by Brett Okamoto on ESPN's SportsCenter. The event will take place at The Forum in Inglewood.
‘The Korean Zombie' Chan Sung Jung announces UFC return, challenges BJ Penn
(mmafighting.com)One of the most exciting fighters in the featherweight division is ready to make his return.
Chan Sung Jung, a WEC veteran and one-time UFC title challenger affectionately nicknamed "The Korean Zombie," announced Tuesday on Facebook that after more than three years away from mixed martial arts, he is officially gearing up for his reintroduction to the Octagon. He also already has a big-name opponent in mind for his comeback.
Tim Means vs. Alex 'Cowboy' Oliveira added to UFC 207 in Las Vegas
(mmajunkie.com)A potential welterweight slugfest has been added to the UFC’s year-end card in Las Vegas.
Tim Means (26-7-1 MMA, 8-4 UFC) is set to take on Alex Oliveira (16-3-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC) at UFC 207. A UFC official confirmed the booking to MMAjunkie following an initial report from The Albuquerque (N.M.) Journal.
UFC 207 takes place Dec. 30, a Friday, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass. In the main event, former champion Ronda Rousey will make her long-awaited return to take on new women’s bantamweight titleholder Amanda Nunes.
UFC vet Niklas Backstrom meets Brian Moore under BAMMA banner at Bellator 169 in Dublin
(mmajunkie.com)Bellator’s December debut in Ireland, a co-promotion, has a pair of new BAMMA bouts set for the lineup.
UFC veteran Niklas Backstrom (10-2) will take on Ireland’s own Brian Moore (9-4) in a featherweight fight, and Ireland’s Kiefer Crosbie (1-0) will meet England’s Conor Riordan (0-0) at welterweight. Both fights will be part of BAMMA 27, which is happening on the same bill as Bellator 169.
Bellator 169, the joint venture with BAMMA 27, takes place Dec. 16 at 3Arena in Dublin. The main card airs on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie. In the main event, Muhammed Lawal meets Satoshi Ishii in a heavyweight fight.
UFC says Georges St-Pierre is still under Zuffa contract
(mmafighting.com)It doesn't seem like this will be a clean break.
In a statement sent out Monday, the UFC said the former welterweight champion remains under contract and implied there could be a legal battle in the near future.
"Georges St-Pierre remains under an existing agreement with Zuffa, LLC as his MMA promoter," the statement read. "Zuffa intends to honor its agreement with St-Pierre and reserves its rights under the law to have St-Pierre do the same."
Despite reports, Vitor Belfort says he's not retiring: 'The Phenom' is back
(mmajunkie.com)Former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort isn’t hanging up the gloves just yet, despite what you may have read.
MMAjunkie today confirmed with “The Phenom” what an Instagram post some took to serve as a retirement announcement was nothing of the sort.
“I’m not retired,” Belfort said emphatically. “I want to fight again soon.
“I am driven to get back on my feet and honor the nickname I so proudly carry. ‘The Phenom’ is back.”
Tony Ferguson suggests UFC champion Conor McGregor stole his lines, says he started predicting fights first
(mmamania.com)it shouldn't come as a surprise that one of the more outspoken lightweights in UFC today, No. 3 ranked contender Tony Ferguson, set his crosshairs on McGregor in recent talks. As a matter of fact, "El Cucuy" believes McGregor owes much of his trashtalking ways to him.
"That dude stole all my quotes, bro!" said Ferguson during a recent episode of Chael Sonnen's You're Welcome podcast (h/t BJPenn.com). "My direct quote that I said when I fought Abel Trujillo, before McNuggets even stepped into the picture, was ‘I don't look past my opponents, I look through them.' Look at the timeline, check that shit out, and get back to me."
"I said that I was gonna call my shots, even via D'Arce against Mike Rio," added Ferguson, who has the same management team as McGregor. "My management went and told Conor, ‘hey, in the next interview, I'll tell you what, why don't you predict your fights, and that way it'll come back towards you and it'll be great.'"
Conor McGregor warns Nate Diaz to avoid trilogy fight, says 'cash your money and bounce'
(mmamania.com)While McGregor is drawn to fights that offer the biggest payouts and most notoriety, he doesn't believe a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz is in his immediate future. In fact, "Notorious" is warning the Stockton native to stay away, having this to say in a recent interview with The LAD Bible:
"I think potentially so. The more I think about it Nate is going to be... There was a lot of damage done to Nathan in that last fight. You know looking at his face it just didn't look the same. I know those close to him will understand what I am talking about. So there could be a potential fight maybe down the line for the lightweight belt after I win this one. To see him have to make the weight. And then to see the damage that he took in the last fight and then come in at a much lower weight.. It wouldn't end good for him. So I'd imagine and I would probably hope that his people close to him would stop him from doing it. It's done now. Cash your money and bounce."
Following UFC Manila cancellation, Horiguchi vs. Bagautinov moves to UFC Belfast
(bloodyelbow.com)Today would've been UFC Fight Night: Lamas vs. Penn in The Philippines, but BJ Penn suffered an injury and withdrew from the card, and the event was scrapped just days later. One of the key matchups on the card was a flyweight matchup between Ali Bagautinov and Kyoji Horiguchi, and it's not taken long for it to be rescheduled for another card. SportsJoe.ie reports that Horiguchi/Bagautinov is now set for UFC Fight Night 99 on Saturday, November 19th.
Brazil's Francimar Barroso meets England's Darren Stewart at UFC Fight Night 100 in Sao Paulo
(mmajunkie.com)Another fight has been made official for next month’s UFC return to Brazil, and the card likely is complete with a dozen fights.
Brazil’s Francimar Barroso (18-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) is official for a light heavyweight bout against the debuting Darren Stewart (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), the promotion recently confirmed. That gives the UFC Fight Night 100 lineup 12 fights with a main card expected to feature five bouts following seven on the prelims.
UFC Fight Night 100 takes place Nov. 19 at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo. It airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.
UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi says Conor McGregor threatened him with a 'knife'
(mmamania.com)News is out, per a Flo Combat report, that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight Gegard Mousasi was threatened with a knife by featherweight champion Conor McGregor. According to Mousasi, he and McGregor went back-and-forth in private messages after Mousasi's post-fight press conference rant at UFC 204, including a bashing of McGregor, which quickly escalated to a serious level.
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