Free Fight! Andrade KO’s Namajunas To Win Title

Photo by Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade, will defend her title for the first time against Weili Zhang this Saturday night (Aug. 31, 2019) inside Universi…

UFC 237: Namajunas v Andrade

Photo by Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade, will defend her title for the first time against Weili Zhang this Saturday night (Aug. 31, 2019) inside Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen, China.

Before then, let’s take a look back at the night Andrade realized her dream of becoming UFC champion.

On May 11 of this year, Jessica found herself going up against Rose Namajunas — who was fresh off back-to-back wins over Joanna Jedrzejczyk — at UFC 237. Early on, “Thug Rose” made it known that her striking was a level above Jessica’s as she peppered her time and again with precise shots to the face, opening up “Bate Estaca.”

And that was pretty much the story in the opening frame, as Rose even dropped Andrade in the final minute. It was a clear-cut and dominate round one for Rose. Round two started off the same way, with Namajunas having her jab work overtime for her.

Midway through the second frame, however, Andrade went in for takedown against the cage, setting her up for one of her powerful slams. Rose, though, did her best to stall it for a few moments. But in the blink of an eye, Jessica mustered up the power she needed to elevate Namajunas up high before dropping her on her head, knocking her clean out.

And just like that, Jessica was the new 115-pound champion. Now, she has a tough task ahead of her in her first-ever defense, as she looks to end Zhang’s amazing 19 fight win streak in “Magnum’s” own backyard.

To see the entire UFC Fight Night 157: “Andrade vs Zhang” fight card click here.

Dana White’s Contender Series: Week 10 – Preview and weigh-in video

That’s all, folks! Welp. This is it, huh?
A long and odd summer has finally lead to the grand finale of the well-received prospect vehicle and recruiting spectacle that is Contender Series. The show goes out with what is perhaps not the mos…

That’s all, folks!

Welp. This is it, huh?

A long and odd summer has finally lead to the grand finale of the well-received prospect vehicle and recruiting spectacle that is Contender Series. The show goes out with what is perhaps not the most stunning set of matchups, but still interesting nonetheless.

You’d be excused for having some fatigue with the show if you’ve been following week to week. The efforts made to continue to scour the country for up and coming talent have been strong, and have led to some interesting call ups (even with some massively disappointing exclusions for some winners in the cases of fighters like Brendan Loughnane and Mallory Martin).

But hey, it’s not all bad. Aside from fun fights, this format has made for far better viewing without the tedium of reality show shenanigans from The Ultimate Fighter, saddled with padding and the usual production antics. While it will probably be more difficult to find more and more fighters to feed into this machine, it works much better and maintains the interest of viewers and fans.

So let’s go for the final dive of 2019.

While some U.S. fans may not be familiar with Teddy Ash (14-4), he’s quietly racked up quite a record in his native Canada. His most notable wins have been against former UFC fighter Seth Baczynski and going 1-1 against former UFC talent Dominique Steele. A heavy hitter with a handful of finishes via strikes, he can take a shot and is tougher than Macedonian shoe leather. His opponent is Serbian slugger Duško Todorovi? (8-0), who has gone on a nice little run as of late. Todorovi? took on the very experienced journeyman Kazuo Takahashi in RINGS/Outsider, and even finished the human highlight reel and serious threat known as Michel Pereira. Now, he’s still pretty green, but has shown accuracy in his striking and a preference for working guys inside and having a really good side control/half guard game. He’s also only 25 years old, so he’ll have time to work on it. A veteran like Ash won’t be bullied around easily and could capitalize on his defensive gaps, but Todorovi? is also good at adapting as the fight goes on, making some smart decisions along the way.

But the heaviest expectations will be on the shoulders of one Kailan Hill (5-0). Training out of Black House, he’s been very impressive in LFA, where he’s given some of the most bonkers finishes they’ve seen in recent years. At 24 years of age, he’s got a ton of potential, is harder to take down and can put a lot of power behind his flashier strikes. He’s facing Impa Kasanganay, who also stands undefeated at 5-0 and has a more conventional boxing stance with serviceable defense. He uses a very active guard, is a bit of a slow starter and is absolutely relentless from top control.

Training out of Korea’s Team MAD in Busan, Sang Hoon Yoo is an absolute firecracker. This is another fighter that the UFC probably could have just signed off some savage performances already, but here he is and here we are. Yoo has good ground defense, which he’s going to need, because his takedown defense isn’t great. This is the kind of fighter that outlasts opponents, and his striking is somewhat clunky. He makes up for it with output and strength, along with a knack for drawing opponents into brawls.

His opponent has just the kind of toughness to make it a problem. Peter Barrett (10-3) has trained out of Sityodtong Boston and Lauzon MMA, and has some violent finishes on his record. There is a caveat, though. Not to disparage the man, but there are some opponents with records that could most charitably be described as “not good“. Facing someone that is 6-12 in your pro debut is fine, but from there to have people that at the time were 7-17, 10-12, and then against 15-75 Jay Ellis? That’s a major red flag. That’s also not an indictment of him as a fighter overall – I’ve said plenty of times that some fighters can build legitimate skillsets and move on to fight and defeat better fighters off of that foundation. But that’s dicey. But the odd thing is that Barrett doesn’t really need padding. He’s resilient, hits hard, creates opportunities for landing hard shots and uses his length along with some wide hooks. Neither guy is going to make it easy.

Heavyweights also get a chance at bolstering their rep as Australia’s Ben Sosoli (7-2) faces Canda’s Dustin Joynson (5-0). Sosoli trains out of Judo Dan Kelly’s gym in Melbourne, mostly making his bones in Diamondback and Hex Fight Series. His Judo and big punches landed him a spot on The Ultimate Fighter last year, losing in the first frame of the series against eventual winner Juan Espino. Ben’s got a good boxing game, setting up hand traps and parries, working head movement, and landing shots like this.

But he’s not getting a walk in the park, either. Joynson has some notoriety of his own, and should be able to hold his own in the face of a possible strength disadvantage. Despite Sosoli’s Judo background, Joynson has competed in various BJJ competitions, and has no problem with engaging on the ground.

Finally, a featherweight showdown between Dylan Lockard (6-1) faces TJ Brown (13-6) opens the show. Brown had some rough losses in LFA against Joey Miolla and Bobby Moffett, but with time has been able to improve and use his athleticism to rack up wins. Much like with Barrett above, there are serious concerns regarding some of his wins, with opponents having records of 0-8 and 1-7 in his first few fights and recent opponents being 4-5 and 8-18 just this year. Again, that’s not to say he’s not good or that he can’t put on impressive performances. Much like Barrett, it’s difficult to get a read on what a fighter’s potential is when things like this happen. In fact, Brown defeated Barrett in 2017 with a beautiful arm triangle choke. He’s got good reflexes and can still do stuff like this.

And yet his opponent is tough as nails. Dylan Lockard cut his teeth in Combat Zone and CES, some of the least forgiving orgs in the northeast. A patient striker, Lockard has a knack for counters and flurries off swings where his opponents miss. With smothering top control, he’s got a very crafty submission game as well.

Everyone made weight for this one, and video is available here:

And the staredowns that took place here:

Both videos courtesy of the crew at Cageside Press.

Full card is as follows:

Dusko Todorovic (185.5) vs. Teddy Ash (185.5) – Middleweight

Kailan Hill (185.5) vs. Impa Kasan (185) – Middleweight

Sang Hoon Yoo (156) vs. Peter Barrett (154.5) – Lightweight

Ben Sosoli (265.5) vs. Dustin Joynson (241.5) – Heavyweight

T.J. Brown (146) vs. Dylan Lockard (145.5) – Featherweight

Dana White’s Contender Series reaches its 2019 finale this Tuesday, streaming live as of 8:00pm EST and exclusively on ESPN+.

Joe Rogan Says He Misspoke About Conor McGregor Bar Incident

UFC commentator Joe Rogan claims he misspoke when reacting to the recent Conor McGregor bar incident. Footage from April showed McGregor assaulting an old man at an Irish pub for not drinking his Proper 12 whiskey. When Rogan first saw the clip, he laughed off the incident: “I love Irish people man, I’m f*****g fascinated […]

The post Joe Rogan Says He Misspoke About Conor McGregor Bar Incident appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

UFC commentator Joe Rogan claims he misspoke when reacting to the recent Conor McGregor bar incident.

Footage from April showed McGregor assaulting an old man at an Irish pub for not drinking his Proper 12 whiskey. When Rogan first saw the clip, he laughed off the incident:

“I love Irish people man, I’m f*****g fascinated by the wildness of that culture,” Rogan said. “When you see a guy like Conor McGregor, part of what is him is Irish. He’s like a pure, brilliant Irish. A boastful, bad motherf****r. (He) knows how to take a loss like a man, (but) still talks s**t.

“He’s got like $100 million in the bank and he still wants to fight people. Still smacking people at bars. What’s he doing? Don’t do that. Who knows what the guy said to him. He’s Conor McGregor. He’s living like you’re supposed to live if your Conor McGregor. The dance is, don’t go to jail dude. Don’t get locked up.”

Many were not pleased with how Rogan reacted to the incident as he was essentially condoning the Irishman’s behavior. In a recent episode of his podcast, however, Rogan clarified things by stating the video he initially saw wasn’t clear:

“Not good to smack that guy at the bar though,” he said (via BJ Penn). “I watched that again. I thought it was a touch, last time I talked about it but it looked like almost like a punch.

I mean, he hit him. I misspoke. I basically just thought he touched him in the face because I watched it on my phone and it wasn’t that clear. Then I watched it on a computer and was like ‘oh’.”

Meanwhile, McGregor has since apologized for the incident.

What do you think of Rogan reacting to the backlash?

The post Joe Rogan Says He Misspoke About Conor McGregor Bar Incident appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Floyd Mayweather Sr. Says He’d ‘Beat The Sh*t’ Out Of Conor McGregor

The news surrounding Conor McGregor recently was about his assault of an old man in an Irish pub. But things would go differently if he tried that on Floyd Mayweather Sr. Footage from April emerged of McGregor assaulting an old man for not drinking his Proper 12 whiskey. The Irishman has since apologized for the […]

The post Floyd Mayweather Sr. Says He’d ‘Beat The Sh*t’ Out Of Conor McGregor appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The news surrounding Conor McGregor recently was about his assault of an old man in an Irish pub. But things would go differently if he tried that on Floyd Mayweather Sr.

Footage from April emerged of McGregor assaulting an old man for not drinking his Proper 12 whiskey. The Irishman has since apologized for the incident in a wide-ranging interview with ESPN — however, many believe it’s damage control as many fans have been turned off by McGregor’s actions outside the Octagon.

But what would happen if he attempted that on Mayweather Sr.? The father of “Money” started shadowboxing when asked by TMZ before claiming he would whip McGregor’s a*s even if he was double his age:

“I’d beat the s**t out of Conor,” Mayweather Sr. said. “I would beat the s**t out of Conor right now. I’m double his age and I’d whoop his ass.”

It’s not the first time Mayweather Sr. has made that claim. In fact, he said the very same thing before his son collided with McGregor in their lucrative boxing match two years ago.

Do you think Mayweather Sr. could handle McGregor in a fight?

The post Floyd Mayweather Sr. Says He’d ‘Beat The Sh*t’ Out Of Conor McGregor appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Former UFC Champ Blasts Joe Rogan’s Response To Conor McGregor Pub Incident

Joe Rogan recently weighed in on Conor McGregor hitting an elderly man in a Dublin bar. A certain former UFC champ isn’t too happy with the longtime MMA personality. Rogan was heard on his podcast effusing a statement that made it seem like he wa…

Joe Rogan recently weighed in on Conor McGregor hitting an elderly man in a Dublin bar. A certain former UFC champ isn’t too happy with the longtime MMA personality. Rogan was heard on his podcast effusing a statement that made it seem like he was impressed by what McGregor had done: “He’s got like $100 […]

The post Former UFC Champ Blasts Joe Rogan’s Response To Conor McGregor Pub Incident appeared first on MMA News.

Ostarine Claims Yet Another UFC Fighter

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has lost yet another fighter to the banned substance Ostarine, thanks to a recent suspension handed down by United States Anti-Doping Agency (U…

UFC Fight Night: Northcutt v Gouti

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has lost yet another fighter to the banned substance Ostarine, thanks to a recent suspension handed down by United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to lightweight veteran Thibault Gouti.

Gouti, 32, flunked an out-of-competition drug test last March, blaming a tainted supplement used as part of his training regimen. USADA was able to independently verify the product in question was indeed contaminated, leading to a reduced suspension.

“Following notification of his positive test, Gouti provided USADA with information about a dietary supplement product he used for two days before returning it to the store when he realized that ostarine was listed on the label,” the USADA statement read. “Subsequent analysis conducted on both the open and independently sourced, unopened containers of the product by the WADA-accredited laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, indicated that the product also contained LGD-4033 and GW1516, which were not listed on the label.”

It’s been a rough couple of years for Gouti (12-5), who has just one victory in six trips to the Octagon. That’s a far cry from his undefeated run on the International circuit, where he racked up 11 straight wins before coming up short on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 22.

Ostarine was also responsible for the recent downfall of bantamweight sensation Sean O’ Malley, as well as former UFC women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano, Augusto Mendes, and Marvin Vettori, who were all sat for six months.

Heavyweight bruiser Josh Barnett, however, was able to escape the “big, unwieldy animal.”