Author: admin

Bouncing Back From A Knockout Loss, Sean Strickland Hopes To Get Back To The Winner’s Circle At UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs Strickland

Read the Full Article Here

Make Sure You Know Which Athletes Have Momentum Heading Into UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs Strickland

Read the Full Article Here

Ilia Topuria is convinced that a fight against Paddy Pimblett would be one of the biggest fights the UFC could make. Here’s why he thinks that’s not going to happen.

Ilia Topuria continues to stalk Paddy Pimblett in hopes of an eventual fight, even if he believes the UFC will never allow the two to step into the cage together.

Topuria fought Bryce Mitchell in the opening fight of the UFC 282 pay-per-view, mauling the previously undefeated featherweight before submitting him in the third round (watch the finish here). Pimblett competed later in the night, earning a questionable decision win over Jared Gordon in a low-action affair. It certainly made the two fighters seem pretty far apart in terms of talent.

“I feel like the UFC’s protecting him from me,” Topuria said during an interview on The MMA Hour. “I don’t know why. In reality, that’s the fight to make right now, because it’s one of the biggest fights in the UFC. We can perfectly sell a pay-per-view. That fight makes more excitement for people than championship fights.”

Topuria and Pimblett have been involved in a growing beef since Pimblett made light of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, saying Georgians were so ‘stupid’ ‘no wonder the Russians terrorize their lives.’ That led to an in-person confrontation at the UFC London hotel where Pimblett threw a bottle of hand sanitizer at Topuria.

During the UFC 282 press conference, Topuria once again called Pimblett out, who responded by calling him a ‘mongrel’ and telling him to speak English. All just fuel for Topuria’s fire.

“I know that I’m going to knock him out,” Topuria said. “I’m way better than him everywhere. So right now, you have a fight against Paddy against who cares, I don’t think people are very excited about watching him fight. Because he talks well, he’s a great promoter, but as a fighter he sucks. Right now, I’m the guy. Everyone wants to watch me fight. You put me against anyone, they’re going to watch.”

Ilia did admit, though, that he felt it was the UFC avoiding the fight, not Paddy Pimblett specifically. Pimblett says he just accepts whoever the UFC offers, and Topuria knows the UFC isn’t offering him to Paddy.

“In reality, they never made an official offer to Paddy to fight against me,” he said. “I don’t think he’s going to turn down the fight, maybe yes. I don’t know, but the UFC didn’t want the fight, yet.”

Ilia Topuria sits in the No. 14 position at featherweight, while Paddy Pimblett remains unranked at lightweight.

Gordon Ryan Challenges Vinny Magalhaes, The Last Man To Beat Him, At UFC FIGHT PASS INVITATIONAL 3 on Thursday, December 15

Read the Full Article Here

’Thug Nasty’ wasn’t feeling too good heading into his fight with Ilia Topuria. 

Bryce Mitchell fought two opponents at UFC 282 on Saturday.

The first was Ilia Topuria, who dominated Mitchell from start to finish in their much-anticipated fight that set the tone for the pay-per-view. On the feet, ‘El Matador’ connected with heavy punches that blooded ‘Thug Nasty’. On the ground, he was in complete control and secured the arm-triangle choke that forced Mitchell to tap, a first in his UFC career.

The second was the flu, which Mitchell recently revealed he fought with before his loss to Topuria.

“I definitely got to let you know that really wasn’t me out there,” said Mitchell in a brief video on Twitter. “I had the flu the week before, and I thought I’d just tough it out. I didn’t feel good at all in there. That wasn’t myself. I trained a lot harder and could’ve performed a lot better, but I went in there with stuff hurting, not up to 100 percent. Like I said, I had the flu.

“I wish I wouldn’t even took the fight, but I didn’t know it would mess me up that bad,” continued Mitchell. “I thought I would be able to hang in there for all three rounds, because that’s what I trained for. I trained for my cardio to be there the whole time. It wasn’t even there one bit of the time. I’ll come back stronger. I just hate going out on that one like that. But I will be better.”

Mitchell was undefeated in the UFC, winning all six of his appearances since joining the roster over four years ago. The former Ultimate Fighter competitor entered the Topuria fight fresh off a unanimous decision win over Edson Barboza at UFC 272 this past March.

As for Topuria, he improved to 13-0 as a professional.