The hits just keep on coming for UFC 184.
Yancy Medeiros is injured and had to pull out of his fight with Tony Ferguson on Feb. 28 in Los Angeles, the UFC announced Tuesday. Filling in will be veteran Gleison Tibau.
Just last week, the UFC 1…
Yancy Medeiros is injured and had to pull out of his fight with Tony Ferguson on Feb. 28 in Los Angeles, the UFC announced Tuesday. Filling in will be veteran Gleison Tibau.
Just last week, the UFC 184 main event of Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort for the middleweight title was scrapped when Weidman got hurt and previously a big middleweight fight between Ronaldo Souza and Yoel Romero was canceled after Souza came down with pneumonia.
Medeiros (11-2, 1 NC) is coming off two straight submission finishes and seemed to be the perfect stylistic matchup for a fun fight with Ferguson (17-3), who has won four straight, including a third-round submission over Abel Trujillo at UFC 181 on Dec. 6.
Tibau (33-10) is one of the most solid and consistent lightweights in UFC history. The Brazilian just beat Norman Parke by split decision at UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs. Siver last month. Tibau has the most wins in UFC lightweight history (16), a total that is tied for third most in the organization all time.
UFC 184 at Staples Center will be headlined by a women’s bantamweight title fight between Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano. The co-main event pits debuting star Holly Holm against Raquel Pennington in a women’s bantamweight contender bout.
The post-fight drug test continues to be Nick Diaz’s toughest opponent.
Following a unanimous decision loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 183 on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites, Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) executive director Bob Bennett confirmed with MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani on Tuesday.
Diaz had more than the allowed maximum of 150 nanograms of the metabolites in his system. He’ll be temporarily suspended and will have to appear before the NAC in order to be relicensed to fight.
This is Diaz’s third time testing positive for weed in his career. He popped for marijuana after a loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 143 and was also suspended in Nevada then. Diaz’s 2007 win over Takanori Gomi was overturned into a no contest and he was suspended again for failing a test for pot.
Silva also failed a drug test, a Jan. 9 out-of-competition screening for drostanolone, an anabolic steroid, and androsterone, a steroid hormone. He, too, is temporarily suspended.
NAC chairman Francisco Aguilar told Helwani that no decision has been made with regards to whether this fight will be overturned into a no contest. That will not get decided until a disciplinary hearing in March or April, the same hearing in which penalties (length of suspension, fines, etc.) will be handed out to Silva and Diaz. The next NAC meeting is Feb. 17, but Diaz and Silva will only be given their temporary suspensions then.
The reason the NAC got back Diaz’s test so quickly is because it was a urinalysis, Aguilar said. The commission still has not received Diaz’s second out-of-competition test. The two men were tested on or around Jan. 9, Jan. 19 and Jan. 31, after the fight. Diaz’s first test came back clean.
All tests were done by the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory in Utah, Bennett said.
The post-fight drug test continues to be Nick Diaz’s toughest opponent.
Following a unanimous decision loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 183 on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites, Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) executive director Bob Bennett confirmed with MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani on Tuesday.
Diaz had more than the allowed maximum of 150 nanograms of the metabolites in his system. He’ll be temporarily suspended and will have to appear before the NAC in order to be relicensed to fight.
This is Diaz’s third time testing positive for weed in his career. He popped for marijuana after a loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 143 and was also suspended in Nevada then. Diaz’s 2007 win over Takanori Gomi was overturned into a no contest and he was suspended again for failing a test for pot.
Silva also failed a drug test, a Jan. 9 out-of-competition screening for drostanolone, an anabolic steroid, and androsterone, a steroid hormone. He, too, is temporarily suspended.
NAC chairman Francisco Aguilar told Helwani that no decision has been made with regards to whether this fight will be overturned into a no contest. That will not get decided until a disciplinary hearing in March or April, the same hearing in which penalties (length of suspension, fines, etc.) will be handed out to Silva and Diaz. The next NAC meeting is Feb. 17, but Diaz and Silva will only be given their temporary suspensions then.
The reason the NAC got back Diaz’s test so quickly is because it was a urinalysis, Aguilar said. The commission still has not received Diaz’s second out-of-competition test. The two men were tested on or around Jan. 9, Jan. 19 and Jan. 31, after the fight. Diaz’s first test came back clean.
All tests were done by the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory in Utah, Bennett said.
Nick Diaz attempted to explain why he missed his flight last week and no-showed UFC 183 open workouts. Though he spoke to the media for more than 30 minutes at media day, the reason was still mostly unclear.
Until now.
Diaz got to the airpor…
Nick Diaz attempted to explain why he missed his flight last week and no-showed UFC 183 open workouts. Though he spoke to the media for more than 30 minutes at media day, the reason was still mostly unclear.
Until now.
Diaz got to the airport in Sacramento on Jan. 27 with the intention of flying to Las Vegas. The following day was a mandatory workout in the MGM Grand casino for fans and media. But as soon as he saw the cameras for UFC Embedded, Diaz bolted, his coach Cesar Gracie told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.
“He didn’t know about the camera crew there,” Gracie said. “They totally caught him off guard. He wasn’t ready for it. He was uncomfortable and he wouldn’t be able to rest. So he said, ‘Hey, I’m catching a different plane’ and then he left.”
Diaz ended up not taking another flight Jan. 28 morning, finally showing up in Vegas later that afternoon, hours after the workouts had ended. Anderson Silva, Diaz’s opponent, promoted the fight himself that day. UFC president Dana White joked about it on Twitter, posting a picture of Diaz’s face on a milk carton.
This is not uncharted territory for the Stockton, Calif., bad boy, either. In 2011, Diaz no-showed a pre-fight press conference for what was supposed to be a fight with Georges St-Pierre. White was angry and pulled him from the lucrative, high-profile main event. It’s still unclear if Diaz would face any penalty for this infraction.
Gracie said Diaz simply didn’t want to deal with cameras in his face. UFC Embedded is an online series that follows the headlining fighters around before big events. The popular vlogs are then posted later that night on YouTube and UFC.com.
“Nick wasn’t prepared for that,” Gracie said. “He was just trying to get into fight mode and rest and everything. He didn’t want to answer a bunch of questions. He didn’t want the spectacle of it at that point. He was trying to mentally get himself geared in.”
Ironically, Diaz being absent for workouts actually created more buzz for the fight. Many of the headlines leading up to the bout surrounded Diaz’s enigmatic behavior, nearly overshadowing Silva’s miraculous comeback from a broken leg just 13 months before.
Of course, Diaz wasn’t just pulling off a publicity stunt. That’s never been his style. Diaz is just Diaz — one of the most unique individuals in MMA. Gracie called Diaz’s no-show “unintentionally brilliant” because of the stir it caused.
“That is not the reason Nick did it,” Gracie said. “He does things for his own safety and well-being. At the time for his well-being, he didn’t want to get on that flight.”
Diaz did apologize for it at media day and, of course, went on to an entertaining fight, albeit a unanimous decision loss, to Silva.
“I had to go back home for some things, so I didn’t make it here as soon as I would have liked to,” Diaz said. “So I apologize to all the fans, especially the ones that were here to see the open workout. I didn’t really put too much thought into it. I was just more focused on the fight. I’ve pulled the same card a couple of times. It’s pretty inconsiderate of me. Again, I apologize to all the fans who were anticipating a show on Wednesday.”
Michael Jordan is known as the basketball player that kept many other greats from winning an NBA championship. Men such as Karl Malone, John Stockton and Charles Barkley never lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy over their heads because Jordan always had t…
Michael Jordan is known as the basketball player that kept many other greats from winning an NBA championship. Men such as Karl Malone, John Stockton and Charles Barkley never lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy over their heads because Jordan always had the final laugh.
Miesha Tate has a similar situation in the form of Ronda Rousey. Even though Miesha may never hold UFC gold, she deserves to be recognized as one of the best in women’s MMA.
Miesha Tate is a special individual within the women’s bantamweight division. She overcame being badly hurt by Sara McMann in the opening round of their fight at UFC 183 to earn a majority-decision victory. This gave Tate her third straight win and more importantly, a win over the then-ranked No. 3 competitor within the women’s division. Even though McMann has been moved down to No. 4, that win is perhaps Tate’s biggest to date.
Tate is a former champion, winning the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title back in 2011. That title was snatched away by Rousey, and Tate has yet to be able to give her any payback. She’s 0-2 against the “Rowdy” one and that fact may keep many from recognizing Tate as one of the best female fighters to ever compete.
Tate knows she’s far off from earning another shot at the champion.
“I’ve already told everyone I’m willing to do what it takes to get back to that. I’m not asking for it right now. I’m not asking for any handouts. I’m willing to put my nose to the grindstone,” Tate said during the post-fight press conference for UFC 183 (video provided by MMA Fighting). “I’m willing to beat all of the other top contenders until I am the only option left if that’s what I have to do.”
That may be the path Miesha has to take in order to get back into the Octagon with Ronda. Earning a win over her rival would help solidify the argument she is among the best in women’s mixed martial arts.
Yet those who know Tate and the true history behind women’s MMA know Tate already deserves recognition that may not immediately come when describing her legacy.
“I have mixed feelings as far as recognition goes,” Tate said in a FightLand piece by Sascha Matuszak. “I know I that had a big part to do with women’s mixed martial arts, and I was paving the road when no one was paying attention to that road; fighting for free my first six fights, scrounging to find opponents, fighting girls 20 lbs bigger than me, no regulations, no medical, no insurance…we were just trying to make a way, trying to get women’s mixed martial arts noticed.”
The time has come for that recognition. Tate doesn’t currently have a UFC title reign to her resume, and she may never reach that point. Whether that happens or not should not impact the credit she deserves for being one of the top women in the sport.
The New Year may have brought forth a rash of injuries and failed drug tests, but by the time January said goodbye it left fight fans wanting more.
January featured memorable returns, budding superstars and exciting title fights.
UFC light heavyw…
The New Year may have brought forth a rash of injuries and failed drug tests, but by the time January said goodbye it left fight fans wanting more.
January featured memorable returns, budding superstars and exciting title fights.
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones and former middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva withstood battles against gritty foes. No. 1 contenders emerged as vocal Irishman ConorMcGregor and knockout artist Anthony “Rumble” Johnson continued their assault on the featherweight and light heavyweight divisions, respectively.
January’s mixed martial arts action wasn’t just confined to an Octagon. Former UFC and Strikeforce fighter Jake Shields faced Brian Foster in a welterweight title eliminator at World Series of Fighting 17, while Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Freire defended his title against Daniel Straus.
For a look back at the month of MMA that was, stroll through the following pages. But before we do that, let’s reveal the honorable mentions.
One of the best welterweights to call the UFC home is chomping at the bit to get back in the cage, and we’re not talking about a certain Canadian.
Former welterweight title challenger Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit took in the action last Satu…
One of the best welterweights to call the UFC home is chomping at the bit to get back in the cage, and we’re not talking about a certain Canadian.
Former welterweight title challenger Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit took in the action last Saturday night at UFC 183. Condit, who has been on the shelf for nine months nursing torn ligaments in his right knee, revealed to reporters in a post-show scrum what kind of timetable has been placed on his return, per SB Nation’s Anton Tabuena.
“I don’t have a fight booked, but I already have a target date. I want to get into the card in May here in Vegas. I don’t think the headliner has been announced, but that’s my timeline,” said Condit.
The 30-year-old suffered tears of the ACL and MCL in his right knee against former Strikeforce star Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley in March at UFC 171. The Natural Born Killer has gone 1-3 in his last four fights, all losses coming against top competition, including his second-round TKO loss to The Chosen One.
This wouldn’t be Condit‘s first brush with injury. He did pull out of bouts against Paul Daley and Chris Lytle earlier in his Octagon career.
However, neither of those injuries was as serious as the one suffered against Woodley, which is why Condit focused on the matter at hand during recovery.
“If I looked at the mountain I had to climb, it was overwhelming. Just focusing on the day-to-day things is what I really had to keep my mind on,” said Condit.
Since his injury, the Jackson-Winkeljohn fighter hasn’t seen his stock in the 170-pound ladder plummet, but he has seen the championship he covets change hands once already.
“It’s exciting. I think that the belt might change hands quite a bit in a year or so,” said Condit.
Condit doesn’t have a particular matchup in mind for his return fight, though he did mention a rematch with Woodley and a particular Canadian.
“Rory [MacDonald] looks really good. His last few fights have been pretty much flawless,” remarked Condit. “He’s super polished. His strategy and poise have improved.”
