Author: Anton Tabuena

Megan Anderson gives an update on her fighting career.

Megan Anderson’s last UFC appearance was a title bout against Amanda Nunes, which also marked the last fight in her contract. The featherweight contender is now a free agent, but she just announced that she’s more than happy with her current situation, that she isn’t planning on fighting anytime soon.

The 31-year-old Australian hinted at a possible retirement from fighting as she gave an update on her career.

“For all those that are asking and continue to ask me daily, I have no plans to fight right now,” Anderson announced on social media. “I’m not saying that I will never fight again, but at this point in my life, I’m loving everything else I’m doing. From gaming and streaming, working as an analyst for ESPN and Invicta, and currently filming my first major feature film, I couldn’t be happier and fighting isn’t on my mind.

“I’m currently not affiliated with any gym, I’m not to any promotion right now and haven’t been pursuing a new fight contract. I appreciate the love and interest from everyone hoping to see me in the cage again, but hopefully, this answers your questions for now!”

As Anderson alluded to, she has other sources of income now that doesn’t involve the same short and long term health risks as fighting. The former Invicta FC champion currently works an as analyst, interviewer and commentator for both Invicta and ESPN. She also juggles those duties with her regular gaming streams on Twitch, along with a budding acting career.

A couple of months ago, Anderson revealed on her social media page that she spent time working in Prague for Chris Hemsworth’s latest movie, Extraction 2.

If we have indeed seen the last of Anderson’s fighting career at 31-years-old, she will end it with a record of 11-5, with six of those bouts happening in the UFC. The 6-foot heavy hitter entered the promotion after winning the Invicta FC featherweight belt in 2017, and notched big wins over Cat Zingano and Norma Dumont in the UFC. She also has notable losses to former champions Nunes and Holly Holm.

Benson Henderson is weighing his options after completing his Bellator deal.

Benson Henderson not only ended Islam Mamedov’s 20-fight unbeaten streak this past weekend, that quality victory also marked the final bout in his Bellator contract. The former UFC champion will be weighing his options, but acknowledged that at 38-years-old retirement is also one of them.

“I wanted to soak it all in,” Henderson said at Bellator 273’s post-fight press conference (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “I’m not sure if this will be my last fight or not, so I wanted to enjoy it. I wanted to enjoy the ‘W,’ enjoy getting my hand raised. I might keep going, I might not. We’ll find out.

“They paid me a lot of money — I might have under-fought my contract, so going into the re-negotiations, I’m not sure how they’re going to treat me,” Henderson said. “We’ll see, we’ll find out. But I do know that if this is the last one, this was a great way to go out.”

While Henderson did hint at the possibility of retirement, he also seems more than open to fighting again if things fall into place. He also briefly spoke to Khabib Nurmagomedov at Bellator 273 about possibly joining his ranks now that his fellow former UFC lightweight champ is a promoter.

“I just said I’m a big fan of his, and I’ve heard rumors of Eagle FC or something like that,” Henderson said with a smile.

“I don’t know. I do know that I would like to continue fighting, but other things have to line up. My wife [Maria Henderson] is going to go pro [in MMA] pretty soon. We’ve got four babies. You’ve got to be home to take care of those babies,” Henderson said. “Man, four kids is a lot of work, so if I have to become a stay-at-home dad, that might be the case, and mommy’s going to go take over and bring home the bread.”

Henderson (29-11) was UFC lightweight champion from 2012 to 2013, where he successfully defended his title three times against Frankie Edgar, Nate Diaz and Gilbert Melendez. After capping his UFC stint in 2015 with a win over Jorge Masvidal, “Smooth” fought 12 times for Bellator and managed to end his contract with them with a nice victory as well.

Sean O’Malley wants to be the next Conor McGregor?

Sean O’Malley wants to be the next mainstream UFC megastar, which he says has always been the goal since his days as an amateur fighter. He proclaimed that he is heading down the same road as Conor McGregor, but hopefully without all the controversies and legal issues that followed the Irishman after he reached superstardom.

“I wanted to kind of get into the UFC and be that motherf—er. Like, Conor was the first. I wanted to be that (mainstream star),” O’Malley said on Raw Talk (via sportskeeda). “Conor was that, which I thought was important for me to learn from. And I think I’m gonna just go on a similar path, but take it to another level, like even further.

“…And hopefully, not lose my mind. I think Conor; I mean, he made a 100 million dollars. You kind of try to stay humble, but it’s hard. No, I don’t wanna f—king get to a point where I’m throwing a dolly at a f—king bus; but I also kind of do.”

O’Malley is 7-1 in the UFC, and has grown to be a popular figure since joining the promotion in 2017. He seems to have the potential to be a breakout star, but one criticism that has followed him is the level of competition he’s faced. He’s shown good skill in his bouts, but even Dana White had doubts about him being “ready” for higher ranked opponents.

For all of McGregor’s serious flaws and mistakes, he did face talented opposition even early into his UFC career. By the time he was O’Malley’s age, he already won the interim featherweight belt, and was heading into that huge title fight with Jose Aldo.

While McGregor’s fighting career has seen better days, the bar he set in his prime with his achievements and drawing ability is astronomically high. Perhaps O’Malley can follow in those footsteps to win UFC titles and be a mainstream superstar, but any McGregor comparison just doesn’t have much basis in reality at this point.

Be careful what you wish for. Kevin Holland is willing to teach internet trolls a lesson.

Kevin Holland has almost 30 professional fights and has headlined two UFC events. He’s beaten top caliber foes, including a win over an MMA and BJJ great, but for some reason this random internet troll thought he could take him on.

Holland posted screenshots of an MMA fan harassing him on social media and repeatedly calling him out for a fight.

“All I gotta say is even though your a black belt I’m positive I could submit you prove me wrong,” said a message from a guy named Jayden Draper.

There were follow up messages from each of the next two months, saying “Stop ducking me” and “Still ducking me p—syass.”

Eventually, the fighter obliged.

Holland paid for his bus ticket and hotel room in Texas, so they can meet at the gym. That’s where the UFC fighter aptly called “Big Mouth” decided to shut him up.

In the short clip he posted, Holland offers his leg for a takedown. The UFC fighter fended off the takedown before effortlessly choking him out and telling him to “get the f—k out of here.”

The internet troll is actually lucky that Holland was very nice in this sequence, as there are far more nasty and painful techniques he could’ve done instead. As seen in previous gym incidents, things could go significantly worse for those who issue these ill-advised challenges to UFC stars.

Here’s just two examples of random people thinking they can fight actual professionals:

John Riel Casimero vs Paul Butler should’ve happened in December.

John Riel Casimero seemingly opened a lot of doors to lucrative opportunities after not only successfully defending his WBO bantamweight belt and winning his fifth straight title bout, but also adding Guillermo Rigondeaux’s name to his resume.

The Filipino boxing star looked to be on his way to big things, but like many stories in boxing, some questionable behavior along with serious management issues derailed all of that.

An all-Filipino title bout against Nonito Donaire was set, but some ugly remarks Casimero and his team directed towards his opponent’s wife (and manager) cost him that payday. Soon after, Casimero continued to have management issues.

Instead of getting the high-profile title unification bouts with Donaire or Naoya Inoue that he wanted, Casimero just got a relatively short-notice mandatory title defense against Paul Butler. To make matters worse, his promoter didn’t bid on that contest, and he ended with a near minimum purse and a significantly lower $78,750 salary.

The issues didn’t end there, as Casimero pulled out of that December bout right before the weigh-ins. He claimed it was due to gastritis, but Butler accused him of just lying about a poor weight cut.

According to Bad Left Hook, the match up with Butler, which Casimero didn’t even want in the first place, has been rebooked for April 23 in Liverpool. The WBO, in an attempt to ensure it pushes through this time around, issued Casimero an ultimatum.

The sanctioning body basically threatened to strip his title and declare it vacant “in the event that Casimero does not attend the official weigh-in for any reason whatsoever, refuses to fight, is injured or suffers an injury, or is unavailable to participate regardless the circumstances.”

While he’s going into this contest taking a pretty steep pay cut, and possibly a lack of motivation, this bout could represent a crossroads in Casimero’s career.

He and his team can continue to botch things then lose his world title — in or out of the ring — or he can try to salvage those opportunities by impressively beating Butler and fixing his management issues. The silver lining for Casimero is that accomplishing the latter could still get him back in the conversation with the likes of Inoue and Donaire, but it’s obviously a lot easier said than done. A lot of pieces will need to fall perfectly into place, and everything should likely start even before the actual fight with Butler.

Two MMA veterans on the wrong side of 40 have picked up wins at Eagle FC 44.

Sergei Kharitonov is 41. Rashad Evans is 42. Both veterans were able to fend off Father Time just enough to pick up wins against much younger foes at Eagle FC 44.

In Khabib Nurmagomedov’s first foray into the US as an MMA promoter, his headliner saw Kharitonov face off against fellow kickboxing star Tyrone Spong. While both are known for their striking, the PRIDE standout from Russia banked on his extensive MMA experience to pick up a quality victory.

The 36-year-old former Glory champ in Spong had his moments on the feet, but Kharitonov secured two takedowns and finished the contest in the second round with some nasty ground and pound.

In the co-main event, the UFC hall-of-famer in Evans returned from retirement and picked up a shut out decision over Gabriel Checco. Evans also showed some good work on the ground, even against the younger Checco, who has been active in the professional BJJ scene.

This would mark Evans’ first bout since his UFC stint in 2018, and more importantly, his first win since 2013. Prior to this, the former UFC light heavyweight champ was on a five-fight losing streak.

Also on the card, Ray Borg also picked up an entertaining win over fellow UFC veteran Cody Gibson.

Full Eagle FC 44 results can be seen below:

Sergei Kharitonov def. Tyrone Spong via TKO (ground strikes) at 2:55, R2

Rashad Evans def. Gabriel Checco via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Ray Borg def. Cody Gibson via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Ramazan Kuramagomedov def. John Howard via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)

Raimond Magomedaliev def. Anthony Njokuani via TKO (strikes) at 2:49, R1

Dylan Salvador def. Arman Opsnov via TKO (corner stoppage) at 5:00, R2

Yorgan De Castro def. Shaun Asher via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:04, R1

Demarques Jackson def. Miles Hunsinger via TKO (strikes) at :54 seconds, R1

Shawn Bunch def. Firdavs Khasanov via unanimous decision (29-29, 29-28, 29-28)

Loik Radzhabov def. Zach Zane via submission (standing guillotine choke) at 3:23, R1

Ayadi Majdeddine def. Sitik Muduev via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)