Author: Dan Hiergesell

Happy New Year!

Well, fight fans. We made it (sort of). Another year is in the books. We may have experienced some serious setbacks with COVID-19, but at least we witnessed some awesome fights over the past 12 months. A true blessing in disguise even if some matchups were ruined by the pesky virus.

Nonetheless, we’re about to embark on another year of championship fights, massive pay-per-view (PPV) cards, and blood-boiling grudge matches. This includes the upcoming UFC 270 PPV event on Jan. 22 from Anaheim, Calif., which will feature a bout between Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane for the undisputed UFC heavyweight title.

But first, let’s enjoy New Year’s day and toast to all that has happened over the past 12 months. Also, let’s not forget to set our New Year’s resolution and make sure we actually go through with it. Feel free to share your resolutions in the below comment section so we can hold every Maniac accountable (good luck!).

The final UFC pay-per-view (PPV) event of 2021 is in the books and fight fans can now check out all the behind-the-scenes action for UFC 269 in the above video player, courtesy of UFC’s ‘The Thrill and the Agony’ video series.

UFC 269 turned out to be one of the most impactful and memorable UFC cards of the year. Two exhilarating title fights led the way, but the card also featured the likes of Sean O’Malley, Dominick Cruz, Cody Garbrandt, Tai Tuivasa, Josh Emmett, and many more. It was a tremendous showing for the promotion as it closed out 2021 with a bang.

The main event saw Charles Oliveira successfully defend his UFC lightweight title against perennial contender Dustin Poirier, who was favored to win the affair. After two savage rounds featuring back-and-forth action Oliveira was able to wear “Diamond” down in the third and secure a fight-ending submission finish. It was quite impressive and solidified Oliveira as the very best lightweight fighter in the world today.

The co-main event featured one of the biggest upsets in MMA history as Julianna Pena shocked the combat sports world with a submission finish over long-time UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. Pena was able to land some big shots on the feet before taking Nunes down in the second round and applying her career-changing choke.

Check out all of the pre-fight, mid-fight, and post-fight action above and let us know your thoughts. Was UFC 269 in fact the best card of 2021?

For complete UFC 269 results and coverage click here.

Francis Ngannou is arguably the scariest striker in combat sports right now, but the UFC heavyweight champion believes Jon Jones is the best all-around standup fighter in MMA today.

MMA is full of high-level strikers who are capable of producing some inspiring performances. From Max Holloway’s volume striking to Israel Adesanya’s precision and technique, the list of world-class standup artists is long and vast. Some possess more ability than others, but MMA is full of skilled strikers wherever you look.

Jones, who is widely considered one of the best fighters in MMA history, isn’t known solely for his striking. The former UFC light heavyweight champion is the complete package offering wrestling, grappling, punches, kicks, and submissions. Jones’ diversity is one of the biggest reasons why he’s considered a MMA legend.

Still, Ngannou believes Jones’ overall ability on the feet makes him the best striker in the sport today. From Jones’ elbows in the clinch to his piercing oblique kicks, Ngannou is impressed by everything “Bones” throws on the feet.

Surprisingly, Ngannou also claims that heavyweight rival Ciryl Gane is the best kickboxer in MMA today. Ngannou and Gane, who are former training partners, will collide at UFC 270 next month for the undisputed UFC heavyweight title.

“If I’m about to say the best striker for MMA striking, it would still be Jon Jones,” said Ngannou via his YouTube channel. “But if we go kickboxing style, then I think it will be Ciryl [Gane]. But for MMA striking, I would give it to Jon Jones. Because, like, with his elbow and all this stuff that he does.. the oblique kick, all those stuff. For MMA, is the perfect striking.”

What say you, Maniacs? Is Jones the best striker in MMA considering every weapon he has at his disposal?

Let’s hear it!

Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt has fallen on tough times once again, but “No Love” has no plans of giving up on his title hopes.

Garbrandt, 30, was hoping to rediscover his dominance in a drop down to flyweight earlier this month at UFC 269. The former 135-pound champ had lost four out of his last five in the bantamweight division and was eager to start fresh in a weight class desperate for star power. Unfortunately for Garbrandt, he came up short in a pay-per-view (PPV) showing against Kai Kara-France, losing via first-round TKO.

Garbrandt doesn’t believe his drop down to 125 pounds had anything to do with the loss. Instead, Kara-France was simply the better fighter who capitalized in the biggest fight of his own career.

“The camp was great, felt good, the weight cut was amazing,” Garbrandt said on his “Rollin with the Homies” podcast. “Rehydration, refuel process was good, I felt great at 125. I just got caught with a good punch in there and I just couldn’t recover. After I got hit with the punch, got back up, kinda felt OK to where I was moving, coming forward, but I still wasn’t like all there and then I took him down, and then we got into a scramble and came back to our feet and it just felt like I was on a slant.

“I was like damn, I’m still not recovered. He brought the pressure and he brought the combinations and was able to capitalize so hats off to him. He was able to do his job and I still feel like 25 is a great weight for me. I love what I was able to do inside the camp. What I’m taking away from this past camp or the last six months of getting the weight down or three months of camp that we did was just the positive stuff from it.”

Luckily for Garbrandt, he’s still one of the more popular fighters on the UFC roster today and should be given another opportunity to prove himself inside of the Octagon. Garbrandt is unsure if his next fight will take place at flyweight or back up at bantamweight, but “No Love” is ready to roll the dice again.

“Like I said, I felt great at 125,” Garbrandt said. “I think that’s something I have to decide, whether I – 35, 25, I feel great at both. I think if I went to 35, I would do things a little differently. Keep my weight up throughout the camp.”

“There’s a lot of good matchups. Sean O’Malley, I really want to whoop his ass. That’s a fight that’s looming. Hopefully, that could possibly be my next one. I want that fight so I’d like to stay at 35. He might fight me now because I’m not in the rankings at 35 and he’s ranked so that’ll be a good fight. You got to respect his skills, he leveled up a little bit with the Raulian fight, caught him early on, but we know that. The only way he was gonna win was catching him early on and he did that. He did his job, hats off to him. He’s now in the rankings so I have to go back up to 35 and whoop his ass, but we’ll decide, we’ll figure it out.”

After starting his UFC career with a 6-0 record and a bantamweight title fight win over long-time champion Dominick Cruz, Garbrandt has gone just 1-5 inside of the Octagon. That lack of success usually leads to a UFC pink slip for most fighters, but “No Love” isn’t ready to turn it in just yet. Despite what anyone else might think Garbrandt believes he’s still one of the best fighters in the world today.

“When it’s over, I say it’s over,” Garbrandt said. “Not the fans, not Dana, not anybody but me. When I know and I understand that I don’t have it anymore, I don’t have what it takes to push myself and train to be prepared to go out there and give my best shot to win, then I’ll be done. I can honestly say that, and I have a good support system around me that’ll be like, ‘Look, let’s look at something else.’ But that’s so far down the road. I’m 30 years old, I still have a lot left in the tank to do. We’ll make the corrections, we’ll figure it out.”

Just like last year Christmas 2021 will offer a much-needed break from the unpredictable hardships and day-to-day crap that we’ve been eating all year.

Luckily, Santa has filled all of our stockings with special little goodies and did his best to put our most-wanted gifts under the tree. I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping to unwrap another bottle of Proper No. Twelve later tonight to add to my already dusty collection of liquor.

As usual, we’re rolling out our annual Christmas thread to help promote some holiday cheer. We also want to open up the discussion about this past year, all things MMA, and whatever whacky holiday tradition you may celebrate this time of the year.

For me, my Christmas is pretty simple. I pour the wife some wine, let her do all the cooking, and sit back and watch the kid play with her toys. When night time rolls around me and the Mrs. like to enjoy one of our favorite Christmas movies. I know most endure the 24-hour Christmas Story marathon, but we prefer a little Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart in Just Friends. I guess it’s not a typical go-to Christmas movie, but it’s pretty hilarious and offers some of the best one liners in any holiday flick. If you haven’t seen it I’d recommend giving it a whirl, especially with Netflix about to give it the old axe on Dec. 31.

Have a very Merry Christmas and continue to follow along as we look forward to more MMA chaos in 2022!

Ciryl Gane may only have 10 professional fights under his belt, but fellow UFC fighter Anthony Smith believes “Bon Gamin” is the very best heavyweight in the world today.

It’s not a complete stretch considering Gane is 7-0 under the UFC banner and just captured the interim heavyweight title with a TKO win over Derrick Lewis this past August, but Gane still has a lot to prove inside of the Octagon. Luckily, he’ll have his chance to unify his interim belt with Francis Ngannou’s undisputed title at UFC 270 next month.

According to Smith, who serves as a UFC analyst while he isn’t preparing for his own fights at light heavyweight, Gane will handily defeat Ngannou when the two meet in the new year. Smith also believes Gane will eventually knock off former 205-pound king, Jon Jones, who is still plotting his own heavyweight takeover.

“I think Ciryl Gane is the real deal,” Smith said on SiriusXM’s “Fight Nation,” which can be seen below. “I’m making the bold prediction, I think Ciryl Gane beats Francis Ngannou, and I think he does it fairly handily. I also think Ciryl Gane beats Jon Jones.”

“When Jon Jones finds someone who matches him physically and athletically, I think that then you’re going to have to check down on his list to skill and technique,” Smith said. “I think with Ciryl Gane, I think he loses that battle. I think Ciryl Gane matches his size and athletic ability, his speed, his movement.

“Ciryl Gane’s absolutely the better striker for sure. The little caveat there is if Ciryl Gane can defend a takedown, I think that he beats Jon Jones, and I think it’s boring. I think it’s a game of darts, and they’re just throwing darts at each other. I just think that Ciryl Gane is the higher-level striker. I think he manages distance as well as – maybe a little bit better than – Jon Jones.”

While some MMA analysts have zero fight experience to fall back on Smith has actually gone 25 full minutes with Jones, who many consider to be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in MMA history. Jones ended up defeating Smith in a lopsided title defense, but the time spent in the cage has afforded “Lionheart” a special type of insight into the capabilities of “Bones.”

Smith believes he saw enough in his own fight to know what Gane has to do against Jones to be victorious. Of course, every fight is different, but maybe Smith’s analysis does hold some weight.

“Being in there with Jon Jones for 25 minutes, I was expecting some power wrestler that I was going to really struggle with,” Smith said. “He shot 10 takedowns, and I stuffed eight of them. I wasn’t like a Division I wrestler. I just was able to manage that wrestling.

“Once we got into the clinch, that’s when I started having problems because his arms are long. He is deceptively strong. The clinch game is going to be a little funky with those guys, but if they’re just at a distance and Jon Jones plays his game, I think he loses at his own game there.”

What do you think, Maniacs? Does Gane have what it takes to defeat Ngannou at UFC 270 and then Jones later in 2022?

Let’s hear it!