Author: mmafighting
Eddie Alvarez thinks he made one mistake against Mike Perry. This past month, Alvarez squared off against Perry in the main event of BKFC 56, losing by corner stoppage after suffering a broken orbital bone. In the aftermath, Alvarez praised Perry’s durability, saying he was surprised by how well “Platinum” held up to his power shots, and after a few days of reflection on the bout, “The Underground King” thinks he may know what the problem for him was against the face of bare-knuckle boxing. “If I could change a couple things, maybe I gave up a little bit too…
Justin Gaethje hopes 2024 will finally bring him a long-awaited title shot at reigning UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. Following wins over Rafael Fiziev and Dustin Poirier this past year, Gaethje became the No. 1 contender in the division but it appeared he would still have to wait for his opportunity after Charles Oliveira got booked against Makhachev in October. Oliviera ultimately fell out of the fight after he suffered a gruesome cut during training that prevented him from competing and UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski replaced him on short notice. Now Gaethje wants his chance to face Makhachev in…
The MMA world will never forget the insanity of 2023. Join the MMA Fighting staff as we look back at the biggest highs, breakout stars, and most unbelievable moments of 2023 in a special year-end retrospective. We’re honoring all the nights that defined one of the craziest 12-month stretches this sport has ever seen — and handing out plenty of hardware in celebration of the knockouts, submissions, fights, fighters, and rookies who made sure 2023 was a year that will go down as one of the wildest ever. Check out MMA Fighting’s 2023 year-end award show above, hosted by our…
The UFC lender presentation that paved the way for the promotion’s 2016 buyout by WME was a top-to-bottom look at its business operations and plan for the future. Among financials and promises of steady profits for the new owners, the presentation emphasized the UFC’s work with athlete health and safety, boasting its partnership with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, work with the Cleveland Clinic on a head trauma study, and investment in what eventually would become the UFC Performance Institute. The presentation also advertised the continued involvement of then-UFC President Dana White, who would roll over “a significant portion of equity”…
MMA fans are no strangers to seeing champion vs. champion fights dangled in front of them for years before watching them cruelly fizzle out. Georges St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva. Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg. Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou (there’s still a chance!). So there was much rejoicing when the UFC pulled the trigger on a superfight between arguably the two most skilled athletes in all of combat sports: Newly crowned lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and indomitable featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. The timing was perfect. Makhachev had just demolished Charles Oliveira, and Volkanovski—conveniently cageside at UFC 280 for said demolishing…
The MMA world is still waiting on the return of both Michael Chandler and Conor McGregor. The Ultimate Fighter 31 (TUF) already feels like a lifetime ago despite happening earlier this year. That’s just the effect that the coaches not fighting each other will have on a season. Well, along with the long-running series being somewhat of a rinse-and-repeat model of middling prospects or veterans at this point, of course. In the end, McGregor and Chandler broke even with winners as Team McGregor’s Brad Katona won the bantamweight bracket while Team Chandler’s Kurt Holobaugh got the job done at lightweight…
RIZIN has co-promoted several times with Bellator in the past, making room for Kyoji Horiguchi to make history as two-promotion champion, but those days could be in the past. Bellator was acquired by the Professional Fighters League in 2023 and will reportedly become an eight-event international series going forward. PFL founder Donn Davis has previously mentioned an interest in working with the Japanese organization, but RIZIN president Nobuyuki Sakakibara told MMA Fighting that that’s a relationship that needs to be built. “[Co-promoting] was all possible because of the relationship that we’ve had with Scott Coker,” Sakakibara said, referring to the…
Cody Garbrandt isn’t interested in running things back with Dominick Cruz. Earlier this month, Garbrandt returned to form with a first-round knockout of Brian Kelleher at UFC 296. The win was Garbrandt’s first knockout since 2020 and leads to questions about what comes next for the seemingly rejuvenated former bantamweight champion. But if Garbrandt has his druthers, it won’t be a rematch with the man he took the belt from all those years ago. “Honestly, that fight doesn’t interest me,” Garbrandt told ESPN when asked about a rematch with Dominick Cruz. “What else am I supposed to do with the…
For several years, a potential showdown between then UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and welterweight king Georges St-Pierre was the biggest super fight imaginable. Both fighters had run roughshod over their respective divisions and it seemed like the kind of epic matchup that would only happen once in a lifetime. While that fight never came together, the champ vs. champ fight has taken on new life in recent years, especially after Conor McGregor moved up to lightweight — without a single title defense at featherweight — and crowned himself “champ-champ” after demolishing Eddie Alvarez inside two rounds. Prior to McGregor’s…
Aljamain Sterling says that Sean O’Malley isn’t quite the star he would have you believe. In August, Sterling faced O’Malley in the main event of UFC 292. O’Malley won the fight by second-round knockout, claiming the UFC bantamweight title, and potentially creating MMA’s next big superstar. But Sterling is a little skeptical of that. As the then-bantamweight champion, Sterling received a cut of PPV revenue and given how big the fight was supposed to be — billed as the biggest in bantamweight history — “The Funk Master” admits to being disappointed with the actual numbers. “I was just watching something…