Author: mmafighting
Kevin Lee believes his retirement wasn’t meant to be. Less than one year into his life post-combat, “The Mo-Town Phenom” got the itch to return to active competition. Taking to Twitter last week, Lee announced he’s getting in “the best shape of my life” ahead of the eventual 28th fight of his career (19-8). The one-time interim lightweight title challenger’s last appearance was supposed to be the launching pad for a successful second stint in the UFC. Unfortunately for Lee, he came up short in 55 seconds when submitted by a Rinat Fakhretdinov guillotine choke this past July. So who…
A couple of changes are coming to the UFC Vegas 86 card this weekend. On Tuesday, UFC announced that Melsik Baghdasaryan is out of his planned featherweight matchup with Hyder Amil, and that Albert Duraev is out of his scheduled middleweight bout against Robert Bryczek. In their stead, Fernie Garcia will be stepping for injured Baghdasaryan, while Ihor Potieria steps in for Duraev, who had visa issues. Garcia (10-4) joined the UFC in 2022 off of Contender Series, but has struggled to make much of an impression in the octagon, losing all three of his bouts. Amil is also a…
Francis Ngannou is deadly serious about his second chance to shock the boxing world. Ngannou faces former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in a 10-round bout on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Despite being MMA’s lineal heavyweight champion and nearly defeating Tyson Fury in his professional boxing debut, Ngannou once again finds himself poised as a heavy underdog in the contest, with Joshua set as high as a 5-to-1 favorite on some sportsbooks. But “The Predator,” as always, remains undeterred. Speaking recently on the High Performance podcast, Ngannou responded to a pre-fight promise of Joshua’s regarding a quote about…
Former MMA fighter Gina Carano has filed a lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm claiming discrimination and wrongful termination after she was fired from her role on Star Wars series The Mandalorian. Carano filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in California federal court, alleging that she was fired for voicing right-wing opinions on social media. Carano is seeking a court order that would force Lucasfilm to recast her in the role she played as Cara Dune in the first two seasons of the series. Carano’s lawsuit is backed by X owner Elon Musk, who previously promised to pay the legal bills for…
Renato Moicano has Paddy Pimblett right where he wants him. Coming off of a bloody decision win over Drew Dober this past Saturday at UFC Vegas 85, Moicano appeared on The MMA Hour, where he revealed his long-term plan to set up a fight with the popular Pimblett. The two have already traded words on social media, with Moicano initially suggesting that Dober fight Pimblett next and Pimblett responding in an Instagram comment that he and Moicano should fight instead. Moicano is definitely interested and he explained why he made a circuitous callout of Pimblett rather than just targeting him…
Dana White continues to praise Bud Light as the perfect brand partner for the UFC, and he’s going even further to prove that point by appearing in a new commercial that will air during the Super Bowl. As part of a new marketing campaign set to launch around the NFL’s biggest game of the year, the UFC CEO shows up alongside musician Post Malone and football legend Peyton Manning in a spot that will air during Sunday’s showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. The commercial serves as another watershed moment for the beer brand owned…
We have certainly seen upcoming UFC title challengers enter a championship fight with a lot of confidence, but Ilia Topuria might be taking things to a whole different level as he feels he will run through longtime champion Alexander Volkanovski with ease at UFC 298 next Saturday? While a victory certainly sets him up for superstardom, what if he doesn’t deliver under the bright lights in Anaheim? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck reacts to Topuria’s interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, discusses whether or not the challenger has put himself…
Bruce Buffer got Super Bowl week kicked off in a big way in Las Vegas. The longtime UFC cage announcer took center stage on Monday during Super Bowl Opening Night. Buffer, with his legendary catchphrases UFC fans are accustomed to as he prepares octagon main events, officially introduced NFC champions the San Francisco 49ers, and defending Super Bowl champs the Kansas City Chiefs. Check out Buffer’s team intros in the videos below. The 2023-2024 NFL champions will be crowned this Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders. The Chiefs punched their ticket with playoff victories over…
Matt Brown won’t begrudge anybody looking for more money, but he also doesn’t fully understand what Dustin Poirier meant when he said he “couldn’t come to terms” with the UFC on a fight contract. The whole ordeal played out over a matter of hours this past week once Poirier declared that his UFC 299 fight was off and stated that there was “no contractual agreement” for a fight against Benoit Saint Denis. Later that same day, Poirier put out a second statement calling everything just one big “misunderstanding,” and stating that the situation was cleared up with a call from…
Colby Covington wants to clean off the stench of his last performance against Leon Edwards at UFC 296 in December. It was a particularly rough and uncharacteristic performance for Covington inside the T-Mobile Arena when he competed in his third undisputed UFC title fight. Unable to utilize his patented high-volume pressure wrestling style, “Chaos” was outpointed by the champion Edwards comfortably throughout five rounds en route to a unanimous decision loss. One that he, unsurprisingly, still thinks he should have won. Covington, 35, stated in media appearances afterward that he suffered a broken foot early in the fight. How early?…