DUBLIN, Ireland Conor McGregor’s return to his native Dublin, Ireland went just as he anticipated. Four months ahead of a July 11 UFC 189 featherweight title clash with seven-time defending champion Jose Aldo Jr. in Las Vegas, the fiery Irishman …
DUBLIN, Ireland Conor McGregor’s return to his native Dublin, Ireland went just as he anticipated. Four months ahead of a July 11 UFC 189 featherweight title clash with seven-time defending champion Jose Aldo Jr. in Las Vegas, the fiery Irishman finally got his hands on the coveted belt.
> READ: London recap | Toronto recap | Boston recap | Los Angeles recap | Las Vegas recap | Rio de Janeiro recap Make that his left hand. With a crowd of over 4,000 raucous fans screaming and egging him on, McGregor took his teasing and taunting … Read the Full Article Here
Another fun bout has been added to the UFC’s big International Fight Week event.
Dennis Bermudez will meet Jeremy Stephens in an important featherweight matchup at UFC 189 on July 11 in Las Vegas, the UFC announced Monday. International Figh…
Another fun bout has been added to the UFC’s big International Fight Week event.
Dennis Bermudez will meet Jeremy Stephens in an important featherweight matchup at UFC 189 on July 11 in Las Vegas, the UFC announced Monday. International Fight Week goes from July 7-12 and UFC 189 is the crown jewel of the annual extravaganza.
Bermudez (14-3) was on a seven-fight winning streak and closing in on a title shot before being upended by Ricardo Lamas via first-round submission at UFC 180 last November. The Ultimate Fighter 14 alum owns notable wins over Max Holloway and Clay Guida. Bermudez, 28, is a dominant wrestler and trains out of Bellmore Kickboxing in Long Island, N.Y.
Stephens (23-11) is one of the hardest hitting fighters in the division, but he’s coming off two straight losses. Stephens fell to Charles Oliveira by unanimous decision in December and, before that, Cub Swanson via the same fate in the main event of UFC Fight Night 44 last June. The 28-year-old slugger out of Alliance MMA will look to get back on track against Bermudez.
UFC 189 will be headlined by a featherweight title fight between champion Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor. The co-main event features welterweight champion Robbie Lawler defending his belt against Rory MacDonald. UFC 189 is expected to be the promotion’s biggest card of the year, with president Dana White predicting a $7 million gate at MGM Grand.
There were no positive tests for illegal substances from UFC 185.
MMAFighting.com obtained copies of the results from drug tests administered after UFC 185 on March 14 in Dallas and none of the 24 fighters on the card tested positive. The Te…
There were no positive tests for illegal substances from UFC 185.
MMAFighting.com obtained copies of the results from drug tests administered after UFC 185 on March 14 in Dallas and none of the 24 fighters on the card tested positive. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) responded to MMAFighting.com’s open records request Monday morning.
All of the tests done after UFC 185 were of the urine variety. No blood samples were taken. The TDLR also did not do any random, out-of-competition drug testing before the event.
UFC 185 was headlined by a stunning victory by Rafael dos Anjos over Anthony Pettis for the UFC lightweight title. Dos Anjos dominated Pettis for a five-round unanimous decision win. In the co-main event, a new champion was also crowned with Joanna Jedrzejczyk beating Carla Esparza by second-round TKO.
Big UFC names like Anderson Silva and Hector Lombard have tested positive for anabolic steroid metabolites already this year. Nick Diaz popped for marijuana and Jon Jones tested positive for cocaine metabolites in an out-of-competition test.
The UFC announced last month that it will be instituting a new drug policy that will include year-round, random testing for all of the nearly 600 fighters on the roster. The promotion also will urge athletic commissions to increase disciplinary measures for users, suspending those caught for up to four years.
Conor McGregor continued with his attempts to get under Jose Aldo’s skin during the London UFC 189 World Tour event ahead of their highly anticipated fight on July 11, but the defending champion returned to his stoic ways after numerous incidents in th…
Conor McGregor continued with his attempts to get under Jose Aldo‘s skin during the London UFC 189 World Tour event ahead of their highly anticipated fight on July 11, but the defending champion returned to his stoic ways after numerous incidents in the past week.
The featherweight world champion momentarily lost his cool during the staredown, engaging the flamboyant Irishman in a war of words, per UFC United Kingdom, but he remained relatively distant throughout the press conference:
Compared to what happened in Boston, where Dana White had to step in to break up the two during the staredown, or Toronto, where the pair nearly came to blows during an interview, the London stop of the tour must have been a nice change of pace for the UFC boss.
The latest episode of the UFC 189 World Championship Tour Embedded showed the full animosity between both fighters during their stop in Toronto:
McGregor did his very best to bait Aldo in London, and he was visibly excited to be speaking in front of his own fans.
The 26-year-old insisted the title fight would be a short one:
He also took a little shot at his past opponents, daring Aldo to trade blows with him when the fight finally gets underway:
But no matter how hard he tried, Aldo wouldn’t take the bait. The 28-year-old Brazilian fell for McGregor’s antics in Boston and Toronto, but he went back to his usual calm demeanor on the other side of the pond.
He had a very simple explanation for how he’s able to take the constant abuse from McGregor throughout this world tour:
Reporters kept pressing the Brazilian for quotes on his opponent’s taunting, but Aldo wouldn’t budge:
Aldo has been enjoying himself during this part of the tour, and he made an appearance on the Wembley pitch for the international match between Brazil and Chile. If the champion, who has made 10 title defences going back to his days with WEC, is in any way worried about his latest challenger, he’s not showing it.
There’s no denying McGregor’s rise through the UFC ranks has been impressive, and you get the sense this world tour is exactly the kind of stage he wanted. He’s brash, confident and rude, and he’s a master of finding his opponent’s weak points before the fight has even started.
He appeared to be doing just that during the North American part of the tour, drawing Aldo out of his cage, and he won’t mind one bit it didn’t work in London. After all, he still has to promote himself as one of the most explosive fighters the UFC has on its roster:
Aldo is a fantastic stand-up fighter himself, and while he may not be the most explosive guy in the UFC—five of his last seven wins have come through decision—his record speaks for itself.
McGregor, meanwhile, is undefeated since joining the UFC and hasn’t lost a fight since 2010. Four of his last five bouts ended with TKOs, highlighting his tendency to overwhelm opponents with speed and power.
On July 11, we’ll finally find out whether the Irishman is the one to knock off the long-standing featherweight champion. The world tour will conclude in Dublin on Tuesday.
Conor McGregor continued with his attempts to get under Jose Aldo’s skin during the London UFC 189 World Tour event ahead of their highly anticipated fight on July 11, but the defending champion returned to his stoic ways after numerous incidents in th…
Conor McGregor continued with his attempts to get under Jose Aldo‘s skin during the London UFC 189 World Tour event ahead of their highly anticipated fight on July 11, but the defending champion returned to his stoic ways after numerous incidents in the past week.
The featherweight world champion momentarily lost his cool during the staredown, engaging the flamboyant Irishman in a war of words, per UFC United Kingdom, but he remained relatively distant throughout the press conference:
Compared to what happened in Boston, where Dana White had to step in to break up the two during the staredown, or Toronto, where the pair nearly came to blows during an interview, the London stop of the tour must have been a nice change of pace for the UFC boss.
The latest episode of the UFC 189 World Championship Tour Embedded showed the full animosity between both fighters during their stop in Toronto:
McGregor did his very best to bait Aldo in London, and he was visibly excited to be speaking in front of his own fans.
The 26-year-old insisted the title fight would be a short one:
He also took a little shot at his past opponents, daring Aldo to trade blows with him when the fight finally gets underway:
But no matter how hard he tried, Aldo wouldn’t take the bait. The 28-year-old Brazilian fell for McGregor’s antics in Boston and Toronto, but he went back to his usual calm demeanor on the other side of the pond.
He had a very simple explanation for how he’s able to take the constant abuse from McGregor throughout this world tour:
Reporters kept pressing the Brazilian for quotes on his opponent’s taunting, but Aldo wouldn’t budge:
Aldo has been enjoying himself during this part of the tour, and he made an appearance on the Wembley pitch for the international match between Brazil and Chile. If the champion, who has made 10 title defences going back to his days with WEC, is in any way worried about his latest challenger, he’s not showing it.
There’s no denying McGregor’s rise through the UFC ranks has been impressive, and you get the sense this world tour is exactly the kind of stage he wanted. He’s brash, confident and rude, and he’s a master of finding his opponent’s weak points before the fight has even started.
He appeared to be doing just that during the North American part of the tour, drawing Aldo out of his cage, and he won’t mind one bit it didn’t work in London. After all, he still has to promote himself as one of the most explosive fighters the UFC has on its roster:
Aldo is a fantastic stand-up fighter himself, and while he may not be the most explosive guy in the UFC—five of his last seven wins have come through decision—his record speaks for itself.
McGregor, meanwhile, is undefeated since joining the UFC and hasn’t lost a fight since 2010. Four of his last five bouts ended with TKOs, highlighting his tendency to overwhelm opponents with speed and power.
On July 11, we’ll finally find out whether the Irishman is the one to knock off the long-standing featherweight champion. The world tour will conclude in Dublin on Tuesday.
For the first time in history, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) administered an entire card post fight with blood and urine tests at UFC 184. And all the fighters have come back clean.
CSAC executive officer Andy Foster told M…
For the first time in history, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) administered an entire card post fight with blood and urine tests at UFC 184. And all the fighters have come back clean.
CSAC executive officer Andy Foster told MMAFighting.com that the blood test results returned Monday morning and all of them were negative. The urine test results were back Friday and those, too, were clean of all performance-enhancing and recreational drugs.
UFC 184 took place Feb. 28 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey successfully defended her title with a 14-second submission win over Cat Zingano in the main event. In the co-headliner, Holly Holm beat Raquel Pennington by split decision.
The CSAC did send out one urine sample for a carbon-isotope ratio (CIR) test after it came back abnormal. But the CIR test absolved the fighter of any wrongdoing.
Rousey and Zingano were also each tested randomly tested out of competition before the fight and came back clean.
UFC 184 was the first UFC pay-per-view held in 2015 that did not have someone pop for illegal substances. Hector Lombard tested positive for steroids after UFC 182 on Jan. 3 and Anderson Silva also tested positive for anabolic steroid metabolites before and after UFC 183 on Jan. 31.
Conor McGregor continued with his attempts to get under 