Author: Anton Tabuena

Firas Zahabi thinks former UFC champ Georges St-Pierre could return in 2016.

Dan Hardy loves his commentary job, but still wants to step back in the UFC Octagon.

Former welterweight title contender Dan Hardy has been in the UFC’s commentary booth for a couple of years now, doing an excellent job breaking down fights and calling the action. While he admits he has true passion on this current venture, a part of him still wants to compete in the UFC.

“I’d like the opportunity to fight those three fights out,” Hardy, now 33, told MMA Fighting. “I need to get cleared with the cardiologists. I’m a lifelong martial artist and to have an arena to test my skills is essential for me.”

In 2013, he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, and while he hasn’t had negative symptoms from it, it has led to him not being licensed to fight.

“I know I can push myself to my limit and my heart won’t fail me,” he said. “I feel confident in getting cleared. I need a few weeks of training camp to get my heart back to 42 beats (per minute)”

“I felt I was caught in the American health care system and the structure of the business of health care,” Hardy said. “Doctors in the U.K. gave me the same tests. They told me, `I understand you’re in a slightly higher risk, but you’ve never had a side effect and we don’t think its an issue.'”

If he does eventually move back from the booth to the cage, he seems to already have an opponent in mind. Hardy once again had another exchange with fellow vet Diego Sanchez.

@AllScream4Stevn @danhardymma @TheNotoriousMMA I’d whoop his tail for fun! Why do you bring the announcer up?did he get cleared finally?

— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) March 15, 2016

I’ll take that as a compliment. After watching your fights, you are lucky you still speak in sentences. https://t.co/m00ZAj4E6J

— Dan Hardy (@danhardymma) March 16, 2016

@danhardymma @AllScream4Stevn @TheNotoriousMMA I’m good n healthy trust me! sharper than I’v ever been, would love to show you how sharp

— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) March 16, 2016

I’d like that too. It’d undoubtedly be your last fight though. As sharp as you are, a kitchen knife won’t cut iron. https://t.co/bt9Cg9LBnt

— Dan Hardy (@danhardymma) March 16, 2016

@Lee88Jay @danhardymma I’m not going anywhere and I’ll give him that fight as a comeback for fun… But it’s a mere fantasy he’s done!

— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) March 16, 2016

Hardy last fought in 2012, winning two straight against Amir Sadollah and Duane Ludwig. Sanchez, who is about a year older than the Brit, recently defeated Jim Miller by decision. He says his next bout will happen on UFC 200.

UFC: Brisbane co-main event had judges that still don’t seem to know how to use the 10-pt must system.

The UFC: Brisbane co-main event had a crazy back and forth match up that saw Neil Magny dropped and almost finished by Hector Lombard in the opening round, only to recover to completely dominate the second round. That stanza had the MMA world screaming for a stoppage as referee Steve Perceval allowed Magny to throw countless shots to a completely defenseless Lombard for almost 2 minutes.

This led to Hector making it to the end of the round, but all the unnecessary damage he took from the bad refereeing just let to him being promptly finished just seconds into the third. (Watch highlights here)

The scorecards didn’t matter with the end outcome, but you’d still expect it to be pretty straight forward as there were two very dominant rounds. Alas, it was much different in reality.

While I scored it exactly the same as how Dallas Winston did on our play-by-play — a 10-8 score first round for Lombard, and a 10-7 score on the second for Magny — the judges didn’t. In fact there’s not even a single 10-8 on there.

It was quite baffling, but judges Evan Field, Barry Foley, and Kon Papaionannou all somehow still had both rounds as 10-9s.

Magny-Lombard was 19-19 on all three cards heading into the third. pic.twitter.com/K8Noawx3uw

— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) March 20, 2016

You see a lot of people complain about the 10-point must system in Mixed Martial Arts, but as I’ve said in the past, it’s the judges who are the bigger problem. Those were two of the most one-sided rounds you’ll see, ones that could’ve been stopped on numerous occasions. Yet they all still refused to use the other scores on their disposal, seemingly dead set on turning this into the “10-9” must system.

UFC headliners Frank Mir and Mark Hunt had a funny face off after learning that they’re wearing similar outfits.

Zuffa officials are looking to book Cris Cyborg at UFC 198.

UFC 198 will be held in a massive football stadium in Curitiba, Brazil. With the promotion heading to her home town for the first time, Cris Cyborg has been campaigning for a UFC berth in the card.

It seems like the UFC likes the idea as well, as UFC Tonight reports that the promotion is actively exploring the idea of putting the Invicta featherweight champ on the pay-per-view event.

Cyborg is one of the top pound-for-pound women fighters in the sport, and has destroyed all comers and held titles in Strikeforce and Invicta. The 30-year-old has gone undefeated since losing her pro-debut back in 2005.

Cris competes in Invicta FC, but her contract is officially owned by Zuffa, leaving weight class and opponent as the only probable hurdles remaining. The UFC currently doesn’t have a women’s featherweight division, but Cyborg has been campaigning on social media and hoping that the outpour from fans could convince officials to book her anyway.

In the past, Cyborg flirted with the idea of trying to do a huge cut down to bantamweight for a big money fight with Ronda Rousey. She has since scrapped all those plans after her rival lost the title.

UFC 198 will be headlined by a heavyweight title bout between Werdum and Miocic. It will also feature numerous Brazilian stars such as Anderson Silva, Shogun Rua, Belfort, Jacare, Nogueira and many more.

Jon Jones says he has ‘mixed feelings’ about Conor McGregor’s loss. He says he’s ‘glad it happened’ for two reasons.

Jon Jones recently spoke about Conor McGregor’s tough loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196. The former light heavyweight champ says he has ‘mixed feelings’ about the whole situation, but he states he is ‘glad it happened’ for multiple reasons.

“A part of me thinks it’s a good thing he was humbled,” Jones said. “Right before he lost, he was getting into conversations about fighting anybody, anywhere, saying things like I could beat anybody, any weight class they’re in.”

“I was getting fans writing me messages asking ‘How would you do against McGregor?'” he said. “I was like ‘C’mon guys, you can’t be serious. I’m a 220 lb, 9-time world champion. You really think he’d even be a match?’ Some people really believed that he can beat anyone at any weight class.”

“So I’m glad that it happened,” he continued. “It allowed the fans to have that reality check, that alright, maybe that guy isn’t unbeatable — stuff that us professional fighters knew the whole time.”

Jones then went on to explain the other reason he’s happy to see the UFC featherweight champ take a loss.

“Then another side of me, is glad to see him lose, because I’m positive this is actually going to bring out the best in him,” he said. “After defeat, you really start closing holes in your game, you start questioning your training to become better.”

“As a fan of McGregor, I want to see him have longevity in this sport. Guys like Conor McGregor, they symbolize our sport’s future. Conor McGregor is getting fans from all over the world, who tune in and actually don’t watch the UFC, they just watch Conor fight. We need guys like Conor McGregor be successful.”

“So yeah, I’m a fan of his, but I just have mixed feelings about his loss.”

Shortly after UFC 196, Jones took to social media to take a dig at Conor for his past comments about being the top pound-for-pound fighter in Mixed Martial Arts.