Author: mmafighting
The window for the UFC to ink a new broadcast rights deal officially opens in January 2025, but talks about the next contract start even sooner. ESPN currently owns the rights to all UFC content, including pay-per-view broadcasts, after signing a seven-year deal with the promotion following a stint on FOX. The partnership between the UFC and ESPN has been lucrative for both sides, especially for the growth of ESPN+ as the streaming service has grown exponentially since becoming the primary home for the MMA organization. That said, TKO Group Holdings president Mark Shapiro recently revealed that multiple bidders have…
The Professional Fighters League announced Monday the full cards for the first three events of its 2024 season, and the events include several talents absorbed from the Bellator roster. Eight athletes who’ve held Bellator belts – both undisputed and interim – are set to debut inside the PFL cage in April: Valentin Moldavsky, Liz Carmouche, Juliana Velasquez, Phil Davis, Brent Primus, Patricky Pitbull, Andrey Koreshkov and Logan Storley. The first card takes place in San Antonio, Texas, and it’s headlined by former Bellator interim light heavyweight titleholder Valentin Moldavsky taking on 2022 PFL heavyweight champion Ante Delija. The card also…
Michael “Venom” Page had even grander plans for his UFC debut. On Saturday, Page made his long-awaited UFC debut, winning a unanimous decision over Kevin Holland in the featured main card bout at UFC 299. And true to form, Page got the show started before he even began fight with a walkout straight from the WWE’s Undertaker. But apparently he had even bigger plans that the UFC ultimately shot down. “I had a big plan [laughs],” Page told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “I’m such a creative mind and I just can’t turn that side of me off. So…
If you weren’t in Dustin Poirier’s inner circle, you’d never know his triumphant knockout victory at UFC 299 was the culmination of something much bigger than just a fight camp. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Poirier said his knockout loss eight months earlier to Justin Gaethje sent him to a place of “darkness” that had him worried for his own well-being. “I started actually doing therapy after the [Gaethe] fight,” Poirier said. Poirier said he related strongly to the struggles of former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who teared up describing the restlessness and mental strain that prompted…
WHEW! Heading into it, this past weekend looked like one of the best combat sports weekends in a long time – and it somehow delivered. Anthony Joshua delivered one of the single most brutal KO punches I’ve ever seen, and then basically everyone at UFC 299 did their part to exceed expectations. There’s so much to talk about, let’s jump right in. Sean O’Malley tougher fight for O’Malley: merab or topuria? also, was 299 one of the best cards ever?— Irieravelord (@Irieravelord710) March 10, 2024 ICYMI, Sean O’Malley bludgeoned Marlon Vera for 25 minutes in the main event of UFC…
Almost as long as modern MMA has been around, fans around the world have wondered how their legs would fare getting kicked by a professional fighter. The answer is almost always the same – not well – with the main variable being how badly one gets hurt when they allow someone who kicks legs for a living to kick them. For one very brave fan, the end result was a pair of crutches, courtesy of UFC heavyweight champ Jon Jones. This guy didn’t quit at just one leg kick, but decided to grit his teeth through two – and he…
Paulie Malignaggi says Anthony Joshua showed there are levels to boxing. On Friday night, Joshua faced Francis Ngannou in a 10-round heavyweight boxing match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It only lasted for two, though, as Joshua trounced the former UFC heavyweight champion, dropping him twice before knocking him out cold in just the second round. Heading into the bout, many gave Ngannou a real chance to upset Joshua. Malignaggi was not one, and now that’s it’s over, he said the fight played out much like he thought it would. “Going into this fight, there were some people thinking that the…
Marlon Vera is taking his loss on the chin. On Saturday, “Chito” fell short in his bid for UFC gold, losing a lopsided decision to Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 299. In the aftermath, Vera was too busted up to speak to reporters and instead had to be transported to the hospital, so fans did not get much of his reaction to the loss. Now they have. On Sunday night, Vera went on his social media, giving his perspective on the loss and thanking his fans and particularly the country of Ecuador for their support, promising to…
Welcome to the latest update to the MMA Fighting pound-for-pound rankings, where every month our esteemed panel sort through the noise to answer one question: Who are the best overall male and female MMA fighters in the world? Following a wild night at UFC 299, how have the rankings shaken up? Let’s take a look. Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images MMA Fighting Is Sean O’Malley a top-10 fighter in the world? That’s the question our team faced after the UFC bantamweight champion notched his first defense of the belt by racking up historic striking stats in a…
Alexander Volkanovski has dibs on Ilia Topuria. On Saturday, Sean O’Malley successfully defended his bantamweight title with a lopsided decision victory over Marlon Vera at UFC 299. After the win, O’Malley immediately called for a fight against newly-crowned featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, telling UFC CEO Dana White to “get me a jet to Spain.” But the former featherweight champion wasn’t entirely on board with that plan. “He called out Ilia,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. “Look, unless you’re fighting Ilia anytime soon, if you can do a turnaround anytime soon, I guess you can have it because I’m having…