Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov didn’t make it onto Jose Aldo’s Christmas list after “The Eagle” commented on the state of the former Fe…
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov didn’t make it onto Jose Aldo’s Christmas list after “The Eagle” commented on the state of the former Featherweight champion’s combat career.
“Junior” has turned things around after three straight losses by earning back-to-back victories over Pedro Munhoz and Marlon Vera. In Khabib’s eyes, however, his current run isn’t anything to brag about due to the level of competition.
Now, the ex 145-pound kingpin is firing back at “The Eagle,” suggesting that now that he is retired he is looking to get some attention by doing a lot of talking.
“He’s saying you can’t peak again, but we just saw an example with Glover [Teixeira], who got there, lost, and got there again at age 42 and won [the UFC title], completely dominated the champion, took him down and submitted him,” Aldo said in a recent interview with MMA Fighting’s Portuguese-language podcast Trocação Franca (via MMA Fighting).
“[Israel] Adesanya himself fought [Jan Blachowicz] for five rounds, a pretty boring fight, two high-level athletes, and Glover, who’s older than me [won]. Sometimes Khabib talks too much. He’s not doing much these days, he’s retired, so he’s looking for [attention] that way.”
Aldo went on to confirm that Khabib turned down the chance to face him in 2016 for the interim Lightweight title, a statement he wouldn’t exactly confirm five years ago.
“I was traveling when [my coach] ‘Dede’ [Pederneiras] called me,” Aldo said. “The [UFC] had offered me this fight and we took it. I said, ‘What? I want that, I’m in.’ I respect everybody, but that opportunity … I was the featherweight champion, and [Nurmagomedov] didn’t think it was a good [idea]. I don’t know if he was expecting to fight somebody else, I don’t know what he was thinking at the time. I think it could have been a great fight,” he concluded.
While Khabib never confirmed or denied that he was offered an interim title fight against Aldo, he did respond to Aldo when news of the alleged offer surfaced five years ago by saying he doesn’t “bully the little” and was more interested in facing Tony Ferguson for the belt instead of him.
In an interview with Tass.ru, the Last Emperor appeared to accept Roy Jones. Jr.’s proposal for a boxing match. Fedor Emelianenko is the latest mixed martial artist to express interest in ente…
Photo by Jun Sato/WireImage
In an interview with Tass.ru, the Last Emperor appeared to accept Roy Jones. Jr.’s proposal for a boxing match.
Fedor Emelianenko is the latest mixed martial artist to express interest in entering the boxing ring.
In an interview with Russia’s state-run media outlet Tass.ru, Emelianenko revealed that he was open to facing former world champion Roy Jones Jr. in a boxing match in the near future.
“I have great respect for him as an athlete, a person, like a legend,” Emelianenko said. “He is one of the most outstanding boxers in the world of all time. Of course, it would be a great honor for me to perform in such a fight. I am interested in such fights. There are a few things we need to do—we need a promotion that is ready to organize such a fight. We also need to discuss the terms.”
Emelianenko, 45, holds a 40-6 (1) record in MMA, including a recent KO victory against Timothy Johnson at Bellator 269. Though still under contract with Bellator, the legendary heavyweight noted that he can still compete elsewhere as long as he remains in Russia. He also hinted that the potential fight might be best suited as an exhibition.
“We probably will not fully commit to strikes. But even without committing to punches, Roy can show everything he is capable of. Hopefully, I won’t pale in comparison.”
Seven years Emelianenko’s senior, Jones Jr. most recently took part in a boxing exhibition bout against Mike Tyson in November 2020, which ended in a split draw following eight rounds. He has not competed professionally since 2018, when he defeated Scott Sigmon by unanimous decision and retired on a win streak.
While Emelianenko is aware that both fighters are past their prime, he seemed to believe that combat sports fans would be interested in the match-up. He revealed plans to train with Denis Lebedev, a former unified cruiserweight world champion, in preparation for the bout, and expressed a desire to test his skills against one of his favorite fighters.
“We now have the wind blowing in different directions,” Emelianenko noted. “I think that this fight will be interesting for many. But there are many pitfalls, including many people who will take it negatively.”
“The Demolition Man” was always paid by the UFC, but that wasn’t true of every promotion he fought for.
One of the biggest gripes from both fans and fighters is UFC’s pay rate. With fighters setting up GoFundMes and the current heavyweight champ c…
“The Demolition Man” was always paid by the UFC, but that wasn’t true of every promotion he fought for.
One of the biggest gripes from both fans and fighters is UFC’s pay rate. With fighters setting up GoFundMes and the current heavyweight champ claiming he has to “borrow money” to get by, critics of fighter pay have had plenty of ammo in recent months.
Former UFC contender Alistair Overeem sympathizes with the athletes but says that at least the promotion pays its athletes what they are contracted for. He went into more detail on a recent episode of Chris Weidman’s Won’t Back Down podcast.
“… Some promotions don’t pay… so, in that regard, UFC always pay their bills. There’s an argument going about fighter pay. You know, I understand it. But they are paying. Other promotions are not paying.”
Alistair Overeem poses with a check after winning the K-1 Grand Prix Photo via FEG Inc
In 2010, Overeem returned to his roots in kickboxing and won the K-1 Grand Prix. According to “The Reem,” even though he beat some of the best in the world on a huge stage, more than decade later, he still hasn’t been paid for his run through the tournament.
“Well, they [UFC] are absolutely huge, right? – The biggest MMA promotion. But, you know, if I look at the other promotions, okay, K-1 didn’t pay me my prize money. That’s a lot of money. That $400k check, they never wired that.”
After nearly a decade with the UFC, Overeem was released after losing to Alexander Volkov earlier this year. Over the summer it was announced that the Dutch striker had returned to kickboxing, this time, under the Glory banner. He was scheduled to meet Rico Verhoeven last week, but an injury force him from the bout.
Dana White made an appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast this weekend in the run-up to UFC 268, following on from the success of UFC 267 the previous weekend. Fighter pay is a very hot topic within the MMA world, and many argue that those who step into the cage deserve more for what […]
Dana White made an appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast this weekend in the run-up to UFC 268, following on from the success of UFC 267 the previous weekend.
Fighter pay is a very hot topic within the MMA world, and many argue that those who step into the cage deserve more for what they do. However, the UFC president was quick to highlight a big pay disparity between two competitors both fighting in different organizations this past weekend.
“BoJack, he’s a former world champion, has fighting this weekend in the middle east making 75 thousand. A guy on the prelims who has never been a world champion, I won’t mention his name but he’s making 750 thousand.”
“A prelim fighter never been a world champion is making 750 thousand.”
This led to much speculation across the MMA world with fans trying to decipher who the UFC boss could be referring to.
Many fans and experienced journalists such as Ariel Helwani speculated that the UFC boss was speaking about Michael Chandler. However, Chandler competed on the pay-per-view section of the card, it could possibly not be him. If so then who?
Dana White also spoke on the obsession with fighter pay and how fighters are free to tell you exactly what they earn.
“The problem is we don’t tell anybody what we pay everybody and that’s what drives people crazy. They want to know so bad.” “The fighters can tell you what they make, notice that they don’t.”
Many fans are speculating that the former kickboxing champion Alex Pereira could be the person Dana is referring to given the credentials that he brought across with him and how sought-after he was as a free agent before signing with the UFC. If this is true, then the Brazilian certainly delivered within his spectacular flying knee KO over Andreas Michailidis.
It is unlikely we will find out just exactly which fighter Dana was speaking about Who do you think it is that took home the huge payday from UFC 268?
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has updated its rankings following the massive UFC 268 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which went down this past weekend (Sat., Nov. 6, 2021) inside Madison…
Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has updated its rankings following the massive UFC 268 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which went down this past weekend (Sat., Nov. 6, 2021) inside Madison Square Garden in New York City.
There wasn’t a ton of movement because both champions remained on top after Welterweight kingpin, Kamaru Usman, retained his title after defeating Colby Covington a second time in the main event. And in the co-headlining act, Rosa Namajunas narrowly defeated Zhang Weili to hold on to her women’s Strawweight strap.
At Lightweight, Justin Gaethje held on to his No. 2 spot after he defeated Michael Chandler in a wildly-entertaining affair, which likely earned “Highlight” a shot at the division title, which will be contested at UFC 269 on Dec. 11, 2021.
Rankings were generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.
Take a look at what the latest rankings field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, T = tie, *NR = Not previously ranked).
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Kamaru Usman 2. Alexander Volkanovski 3. Israel Adesanya 4. Francis Ngannou 5. Dustin Poirier 6. Jon Jones 7. Max Holloway 8. Charles Oliveira -1 9. Stipe Miocic 10. Brandon Moreno 11. Petr Yan 12. Glover Teixeira 13. Robert Whittaker 14. Jan Blachowicz 15. Cyril Gane
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Brandon Moreno
1. Deiveson Figueiredo 2. Askar Askarov 3. Alexandre Pantoja 4. Alex Perez 5. Brandon Royval 6. Kai Kara France 7. Rogerio Bontorin 8. Matheus Nicolau 9. Matt Schnell 10. David Dvorak 11. Tim Elliott 12. Su Mudaerji 13. Amir Albazi 14. Tagir Ulanbekov 15. Tyson Nam
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Aljamain Sterling
1. Petr Yan (Interim champion) 2. T.J. Dillashaw 3. Cory Sandhagen 4. Rob Font 5. Jose Aldo 6. Merab Dvalishvili 7. Cody Garbrandt 8. Pedro Munhoz +1 9. Marlon Moraes +1 10. Dominick Cruz +1 11. Marlon Vera +1 12. Frankie Edgar -4 13. Raphael Assuncao 14. Cody Stamann 15. Song Yadong
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway 2. Brian Ortega 3. Yair Rodriguez 4. Chan Sung Jung 5. Calvin Kattar 6. Arnold Allen 7. Josh Emmett 8. Giga Chikadze 9. Dan Ige 10. Edson Barboza 11. Bryce Mitchell 12. Sodiq Yusuff 13. Movsar Evloev 14. Shane Burgos 15. Alex Caceres
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Charles Oliveira
1. Dustin Poirier 2. Justin Gaethje 3. Beneil Dariush 4. Islam Makhachev +1 5. Michael Chandler 6. Rafael dos Anjos 7. Tony Ferguson 8. Dan Hooker 9. Conor McGregor 10. Gregor Gillespie 11. Diego Ferreira 12. Brad Riddell 13. Arman Tsarukyan 14. Rafael Fiziev 15. Thiago Moises
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Colby Covington 2. Gilbert Burns 3. Leon Edwards 4. Vicente Luque 5. Stephen Thompson 6. Michael Chiesa 7. Jorge Masvidal 8. Neil Magny 9. Belal Muhammed 10. Khamzat Chimaev 11. Geoff Neal 12. Li Jingliang 13. Santiago Ponzinibbio 14. Sean Brady 15. Muslim Salikhov
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker 2. Marvin Vettori 3. Jared Cannonier 4. Derek Brunson 5. Paulo Costa 6. Jack Hermansson 7. Sean Strickland 8. Darren Till 9. Uriah Hall +1 10. Kelvin Gastelum -1 11. Brad Tavares +1 12. Nassourdine Imavov *NR 12. Kevin Holland +2 14. Chris Weidman -1 15. Edmen Shahbazyan -4
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Glover Teixeira
1. Jan Blachowicz 2. Jiri Prochazka 3. Aleksandar Rakic 4. Anthony Smith 5. Thiago Santos 6. Magomed Ankalaev 7. Dominick Reyes 8. Volkan Oezdemir 9. Nikita Krylov 10. Johnny Walker 11. Paul Craig 12. Ryan Spann 13. Jim Crute 14. Jamall Hill 15. Ion Cutelaba
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Francis Ngannou
1. Ciryl Gane (Interim Champion) 2. Stipe Miocic 3. Derrick Lewis 4. Curtis Blaydes 5. Alexander Volkov 6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik 7. Chris Daukaus 8. Shamil Abdurakhimov 9. Marcin Tybura 10. Tom Aspinall 10. Augusto Sakai 12. Blagoy Ivanov 13. Walt Harris 14. Sergei Pavlovich 15. Serghei Spivac
1. Germaine de Randamie 2. Holly Holm 3. Irene Aldana 4. Julianna Pena 5. Aspen Ladd 6. Yana Kunitskaya 7. Ketlen Vieira 8. Miesha Tate 9. Raquel Pennington 10. Sara McMann 11. Macy Chiasson 12. Lina Lansberg 13. Pannie Kianzad 14. Karol Rosa 15. Julia Avila
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the Featherweight division as former champion Max Holloway will face off against Yair Rodriguez in the main event of UFC Vegas 42 on Saturday (Nov. 13, 2021) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.
For complete UFC 268 results and coverage click here.
Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya pose for a photo after UFC 236 in 2019. | Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Retired double-champ Henry Cejudo says a second UFC title only makes sense for Kamaru U…
Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya pose for a photo after UFC 236 in 2019. | Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Retired double-champ Henry Cejudo says a second UFC title only makes sense for Kamaru Usman.
UFC 268 was another statement win for Kamaru Usman. Now with five successful title defenses and 15 straight UFC wins, “The Nigerian Nightmare” had pretty much wiped out the competition at 170 pounds.
For observers like UFC president Dana White, Usman already did enough to earn an all-time great status after Saturday night against Colby Covington. But for those who’d been at the top like retired former double-champ Henry Cejudo, there could be one thing lacking.
“Two (titles are) better than one. I’d put myself ahead of Usman as of right now,” Cejudo said on the Triple C & Schmo Show. “As a matter of fact, this is how I have it: Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, and I’mma put Triple C at number five in GOAT mountain. Just for the sake of I have two belts. And the people that I’ve beaten are the best of my generation.
“There’s something to be said whenever it is that you do have a second belt. ‘Cause, that’s really pound-for-pound when you’re able to go up the next ten to fifteen pounds and defeat your opponent. That’s something to be said.”
Cejudo is now making a case for a possible 185-pound super fight between Usman and Israel Adesanya.
“You’ve already lapped the division, Kamaru Usman. You already beat Colby twice. You’ve already beat Masvidal a couple of times, too. The winner of Masvidal and Edwards, you’re gonna beat Edwards again,” he said.
“There’s only one take in my side, and that’s saying go up and fight your African brother. Because you know what? This is about legacy.
“If it’s African pride, I kinda get that, but I don’t get that. Actually, as a matter of fact, I really don’t get that, because, to me, it’s all about legacy. Somebody else in the near future is gonna be able to go through the same run as Kamaru Usman did.
“But the difference is can you win a second belt? And can you defend that second belt? And that’s what I want for ‘The Nigerian Nightmare.’ I want him to go up, I want him to fight Izzy, and I just believe he has the perfect style to beat somebody like Izzy because he has wrestling.”
Usman already spoke about the possibility of fighting his “guy” Adesanya, saying he would only do it to the tune of $100 million.
Dana White made an appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast this weekend in the run-up to UFC 268, following on from the success of UFC 267 the previous weekend. Fighter pay is a very hot topic within the MMA world, and many argue that those who step into the cage deserve more for what […]
