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Kurt Angle Reveals UFC Debut Opponent Dana White Had In Mind For Him

AngleUFC president Dana White had a very familiar face in mind for Kurt Angle’s potential mixed martial arts debut. Although now retired from professional wrestling, Angle has gone on record multiple times stating how close he was to having a career in MMA. Given his amateur wrestling pedigree — not to mention a gold medal […]

Angle

UFC president Dana White had a very familiar face in mind for Kurt Angle’s potential mixed martial arts debut.

Although now retired from professional wrestling, Angle has gone on record multiple times stating how close he was to having a career in MMA.

Given his amateur wrestling pedigree — not to mention a gold medal in wrestling at the 1996 Olympics — Angle would have done extremely well in the young sport during his prime.

In the end, it wasn’t to be. However, once he departed the WWE in 2006 before eventually ending up at TNA, Angle had talks with White over competing in the UFC.

And the idea in mind was for him to face Daniel Puder.

“He [White] wasn’t very specific on saying we’re going to protect you, but the opponent that he gave me at the beginning was a good opponent,” Angle said on his podcast (via WhatCulture). “Very intriguing from a public interest standpoint, especially from a pro wrestling fan standpoint. Very intriguing because he didn’t have a lot of experience in MMA, he only fought a couple times, but I had a little episode with him in the WWE. That was Daniel Puder.

“When Dana said that to me, I said, ‘Are you serious? Daniel Puder, that’s all?’ Not that I thought Daniel Puder was easy, because he actually had my arm trapped and he would have broken my arm when we did our little episode on SmackDown. I just knew that I could beat Daniel Puder.”

Puder notably put Angle in a kimura lock and almost broke his arm during a live episode of SmackDown which went against what was in the script. It led to tension between the pair and plenty of heat on Puder who was never able to kickstart his pro wrestling career since.

You can watch the incident below:

It certainly would have been an intriguing fight and one Angle would have loved to have had.

Bethe Correia Retires From MMA Following UFC Vegas 38 Defeat

CorreiaBethe Correia has called time on her mixed martial arts career. The former women’s bantamweight title challenger revealed she would be competing for the last time when she faced Karol Rosa on the prelims of UFC Vegas 38 last night. Correia was emotional heading into the Octagon and although it was her last bow, she […]

Correia

Bethe Correia has called time on her mixed martial arts career.

The former women’s bantamweight title challenger revealed she would be competing for the last time when she faced Karol Rosa on the prelims of UFC Vegas 38 last night.

Correia was emotional heading into the Octagon and although it was her last bow, she was unable to go out with a victory as she suffered a unanimous decision defeat (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).

“(It’s a) Very emotional moment for me,” Correia said in her post-fight interview (via MMA Junkie). “It’s been very emotional for me, a lot of deja vu moments for me. I can only thank the UFC for all the opportunities they gave me.”

Correia leaves the sport with a 11-6-1 record and holds notable wins over Shayna Baszler, Jessica Eye and Sijara Eubanks.

The Brazilian most notably came to notoriety in the buildup to her women’s bantamweight title fight with then champion Ronda Rousey back in 2015.

With plenty of animosity between the pair, it was Rousey who came out on top with a first-round knockout victory. Correia — who was undefeated prior to the setback — would win just two of her next eight outings since.

How will you remember Correia best?

Tate Savages Ladd For Weigh-In Debacle: ‘Everybody Saw You Cheat’

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Did Aspen Ladd just blow another weigh-in or was there something more nefarious going on? Miesha Tate thinks shenanigans were afoot. The UFC Vegas 38 weigh-ins ended on a pretty bad note F…


UFC Fight Night: Santos v Walker Weigh-in
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Did Aspen Ladd just blow another weigh-in or was there something more nefarious going on? Miesha Tate thinks shenanigans were afoot.

The UFC Vegas 38 weigh-ins ended on a pretty bad note Friday afternoon when women’s bantamweight fighter Aspen Ladd spent several minutes shaking and trembling on the scale as the Nevada commission employee struggled to get an accurate weight reading for her.

Ladd had weighed in fully clothed at 141 pounds, and then had the black modesty box brought out so she could strip nude. Rules say that you have to raise your hands above the curtains to prove you’re not pulling any shenanigans, but Ladd simply couldn’t seem to do it. Eventually she was read in at 137 pounds but fight was called off after Ladd’s opponent Macey Chiasson refused to go forward with things.

What it looked like to us: Ladd having another really bad cut that had her on the verge of collapse, again. But to fellow UFC women’s bantamweight Miesha Tate, it was a clear case of someone trying to cheat on the scales.

Whether or not Ladd looked ‘just fine’ or not at first, we’ll let you decide — watch the video of the whole 11 minute affair below. But it was certainly curious that she somehow managed to go from 141 pounds in her Venum kit to 137 pounds without. And hey, add in the fact that we didn’t see her hands (or her feet, lifting a foot off the scale is another scam game) and you’re just asking for people to suspect something rotten going on.

It didn’t take long for Ladd’s coach to fire back at Tate with just as much vitriol.

Whatever the case, Ladd’s going to have a hard time finding opponents at 135 pounds in the future considering her history of missing weight and/or showing up half dead for weigh-ins. Ladd first missed the 135 pound mark in Invicta back in 2016. In 2018 Leslie Smith was cut from the UFC after refusing to accept a catchweight fight with Ladd. And then July of 2019 saw Ladd looking so bad on the scales her fight against Germaine de Randamie was almost called off. It went ahead and Ladd was knocked out in 16 seconds.

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong Explains Why Vitor Belfort Never Fought For Them

Vitor Belfort signed with ONE Championship in 2019 but he never made an appearance for the promotion and now their CEO, Chatri Sityodtong explained why. Belfort announced his retirement in December of 2018, yet in March of 2019, he signed a deal with ONE. He was then supposed to make his debut against Alan Ngalani […]

Continue Reading ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong Explains Why Vitor Belfort Never Fought For Them at MMA News.

Vitor Belfort signed with ONE Championship in 2019 but he never made an appearance for the promotion and now their CEO, Chatri Sityodtong explained why.

Belfort announced his retirement in December of 2018, yet in March of 2019, he signed a deal with ONE. He was then supposed to make his debut against Alan Ngalani in April of 2020 but after COVID-19 canceled events, the promotion and Belfort parted ways. Why they decided to part ways was simple, according to Sityodtong, Belfort only wanted legend fights.

“In a nutshell, Vitor joined ONE and we had this big vision that he was going to still be fighting in his prime. And I think he realized that he wanted these special fights. We wanted to put kind of a young lion – old lion storylines, but we just could never see eye-to-eye,” Sityodtong said on MMA Fighting’s MMA Hour about Belfort (via Sportskeeda). “There was just a mismatch in terms of what he wanted and what we wanted, and we tried. Both sides tried really hard. He offered a lot of different opponents. We offered a lot of different opponents and we just never came together.”

Vitor Belfort

After parting ways, Vitor Belfort made his return to combat sports in September as he boxed Evander Holyfield. It was an exhibition bout that was promoted by Triller Fight Club and Belfort won by first-round TKO. He is now linked to box Oscar De La Hoya on Thanksgiving weekend, who he was supposed to fight back in September before De La Hoya got COVID.

As for his MMA career, Belfort last competed back at UFC 224 in May of 2018 where he was knocked out by Lyoto Machida. The Brazilian is the former UFC light heavyweight champion and competed for UFC middleweight gold as well.

Are you surprised ONE Championship and Vitor Belfort parted ways?

Continue Reading ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong Explains Why Vitor Belfort Never Fought For Them at MMA News.

Dan Hooker: Islam Makhachev Is Closest Thing To Fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov

Dan HookerDan Hooker is getting the next best thing in Islam Makhachev. Hooker made headlines recently when he decided to step in for Rafael dos Anjos and fight Islam Makhachev at UFC 267 later this month — all despite only competing last weekend. There were many reasons why the fight appealed to Hooker and being able […]

Dan Hooker

Dan Hooker is getting the next best thing in Islam Makhachev.

Hooker made headlines recently when he decided to step in for Rafael dos Anjos and fight Islam Makhachev at UFC 267 later this month — all despite only competing last weekend.

There were many reasons why the fight appealed to Hooker and being able test himself against the closest thing to former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was one of them.

“If I could fight any lightweight on the face of the planet, it would be Khabib,” Hooker told MMA Fighting. “I want to see how I measure up with him. It’s no lie that Islam’s the next best thing.

“Beating Islam is the only opportunity you’re going to get to show what would have happened if you got in there with Khabib when he was champion. There’s a lot of exciting aspects about this fight. It’s just another one. I feel like it’s a perfect time for this fight to come together.”

There’s also the fact that Hooker is expecting a title shot with a potential win over Makhachev.

“Everyone’s putting him on a pedestal,” Hooker added. “Every guy is showing a lot of respect for his abilities and making a lot of comparisons with Khabib. It will be a great opportunity.

“I feel like this is a massive fight. A win here puts you in title contention. That’s another thing that’s obviously exciting.”

But despite all the praise Hooker is receiving for stepping in and being a fighter’s fighter, he is not simply doing it just to get credit — he very much plans on winning.

“You’re the man if you win,” Hooker said. “I don’t fight for the sake of fighting. I fight to win. That’s my main concentration right now. I don’t want to live off the credit of taking fights. I want to life off the credit of beating the best guys in the world.”

UFC 267 takes place October 30 in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira.

Kevin Holland Reacts To Kyle Daukaus No Contest, Takes Pride In Not Being Taken Down

HollandKevin Holland continued his antics last night, but also showed class to Kyle Daukaus. Holland was momentarily knocked out by Daukaus after an accidental head collision in their middleweight bout at UFC Vegas 38 last night. Holland woke right back up as soon as he hit the ground but was unable to survive as Daukaus […]

Holland

Kevin Holland continued his antics last night, but also showed class to Kyle Daukaus.

Holland was momentarily knocked out by Daukaus after an accidental head collision in their middleweight bout at UFC Vegas 38 last night.

Holland woke right back up as soon as he hit the ground but was unable to survive as Daukaus proceeded to sink in the rear naked choke for the win.

However, it wasn’t a win in the end as the fight went to a review and was later deemed a no contest. It was certainly a rare instance of a fight having a fight-ending sequence but later being deemed a no contest.

And as far as Holland is concerned, he just wants to run things back.

He also took pride in not being taken down, having notably asked commentator Daniel Cormier for his opinion during the fight. Holland was taken down repeatedly in his last two fights prior to last night.

“I didn’t know what happened. I also don’t know how the rules are defined in that situation.I do know he didn’t take me down. ? yeeeehaw Run. It. Back. Bucko.”

In the post-fight press conference, Holland also revealed he was never thinking about getting the no contest and even believes Daukaus should get the victory.

“I never thought about a no contest,” Holland said. “I’m not that type of person. As far as I’m concerned, he knocked me out and choked me out in one fight. If it was a street fight, he would have got the job done.

“I mean kung-fu first, defend yourself at all times. I didn’t defend myself from the headbutt, that’s my fault.”