Author: Dan Hiergesell

Dan Ige will have a lot on the line tomorrow night (Sat., June 19, 2021) at UFC Vegas 29 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, when the rising featherweight contender takes on “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung in the main event. This will be just Ige’s second main event bid as a member of the promotion.

Ige, 29, just scored a massive 22-second knockout win over streaking prospect Gavin Tucker this past March (highlights HERE). The hard-hitting featherweight was coming off a decision loss to Calvin Kattar so the victory was much needed to stay afloat at the top of the 145-pound division. The win also allowed Ige to land a matchup with Korean Zombie, who will test Ige every second of their main event fight.

“Honestly, from day one, I’ve been preparing for this fight like I’m embracing zombie apocalypse mentality,” Ige told MMA Fighting. “I’m preparing myself every single day for the apocalypse, and the apocalypse is June 19. I’m 100 percent ready for it. I’m ready for it right now.

“He’s been through a lot of wars, he can take punishment. But there’s a difference, and I really think there’s a difference in my power and the way I can touch someone and put them out. I’ve always known I’ve had that ability. I’ve never gotten to show it except in my last fight.”

Korean Zombie, who is coming off a decision loss to Brian Ortega back in Oct. 2020, remains one of the most dangerous and durable fighters at 145 pounds today. His fighting style is a fan favorite and it often entices his opponents to exchange in an all-out brawl until someone drops. Ige understands this mentality that Korean Zombie brings to the Octagon and is ready to counter with his brutal knockout power.

“If he comes at me and fights me the way he does and wants to brawl the way he does, then he will get knocked out cold,” Ige said. “There’s no what if, can he take my punishment? No, he can’t take my punishment. I’m not going to fight a 50/50 fight with him. It’s going to be a fun fight, but it’s going to be a fun fight for me.

“It may be a war, but it may be a one-sided victory as well, because I’m just 100 percent prepared. I’m ready to go, and I’m going to take it to him.”

If Ige does in fact take Korean Zombie out it will leave him in a great position atop the featherweight division. A win would increase his overall UFC record to 8-2 and it should be enough momentum to land Ige a No. 1 contender’s bout his next time out.

“As much as this is the fight game, this is a business,” Ige explained. “The Korean Zombie is a big move in my business. Establishing myself as a top-five fighter in the world. Establishing myself as a title contender. You’re always one good fight away from a title shot or a No. 1 contender fight. This is it. This is my opportunity. I have to go out there and make a statement.

“I have to put on a performance, especially the fact that he went to a decision with Brian Ortega. That motivates me to go out there and put on an even greater performance. I want to get something exciting, a big finish, a KO, a submission or complete domination. That’s literally the only way I see this fight. No disrespect of course to him but he’s in the way of me obtaining my goal and my title. That’s all I have to do, go out there and win and then I’m established. I’m right there in the title picture with the other big names like Max [Holloway] and Yair [Rodriguez] and [Alexander] Volkanovski and [Brian] Ortega.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 29 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN2 / ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance on ESPN2 / ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET.

Logan Paul may be looking to take his boxing talents up a few weight classes to battle former world champion Mike Tyson.

Paul, who is doing his best to infiltrate the world of boxing to land the biggest paydays he can find, is coming off a massive bout with undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. While the bout was only an eight-round exhibition Paul still managed to land some shots and last the entirety of the fight opposite “Money.” Paul clearly lost the match, but walked away a lucrative winner as the pay-per-view (PPV) showdown brought in over 1 million buys.

With Mayweather in his rearview Paul is now searching high and low for his next opponent. To this point, Paul has been smart with his fight selection. Mayweather is a far superior fighter, but he weighed in nearly 30 pounds less than Paul before their fight. “Money” may have held back a little bit and carried the social media influencer for all eight rounds, but Paul did not look out of place.

Unfortunately, Paul’s time inside of the ring may be limited depending on who he competes against next. And considering the 26-year-old star is already talking about a potential fight with former heavyweight king Mike Tyson there’s a good chance he doesn’t stick around for too much longer.

That’s because Tyson would absolutely mop the floor with Paul, right?

“Someone mentioned Mike Tyson,” Paul said on his podcast, Impaulsive, when talking about his next opponent. “My lawyer mentioned it and he’s like, ‘Nah, Tyson will rip your head off, you don’t stand a chance.’ I’m like, ‘I just went through all this.’ You can’t tell me I can’t beat Mike Tyson. He’s old, old.”

Tyson, 54, is certainly old and well past his prime, but “Iron Mike” is still a very dangerous fighter inside of the ring. After releasing countless training videos throughout last year showing off his re-fined boxing skills and overall physical shape Tyson stepped inside of the ring against Roy Jones Jr. back in Nov. 2020. That bout was an exhibition also, but one that saw Tyson land some heavy body shots and get the best of Jones (highlights HERE).

It is unknown at this time if there are any serious talks being had between Team Paul and Team Tyson, but it would be a massive matchup. Considering the current shift in combat sports that favors circus fights over real competition there’s a chance Paul vs. Tyson does more than 1 million PPV buys.

Israel Adesanya returned to the win column with a successful middleweight title defense over Marvin Vettori at UFC 263 earlier this month in Glendale, Arizona, and you can now watch the action in super slow-motion.

Adesanya, who was coming off a loss to Jan Blachowicz in his quest for double-champ status, absolutely dominated Vettori from bell to bell with incredible precision, takedown defense, and shot selection. In the end, “Last Stylebender” captured his third-straight title defense at 185 pounds and pushed his overall middleweight record to 21-0 (10-0 UFC).

In addition to Adesanya’s main event dominance, flyweight contender Brandon Moreno stepped up in a huge way to pull off an upset in his rematch with UFC champion Deiveson Figueiredo. Moreno wasted little time in attacking the champion and started to really shine on the feet. In Round 3, Moreno worked his way to back control and finished Figueiredo via rear-naked choke. He became the first fighter to finish the Brazilian and also walked away with his first UFC title.

Last, but certainly not least, Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz also met at UFC 263 in an entertaining five-round welterweight clash. Edwards got the best of Diaz over the course of the first four rounds, but Diaz landed a crisp left hand in the fifth that badly hurt “Rocky” and nearly closed out the comeback win.

All of this action can be seen above as part of UFC 263’s “Fight Motion” video, courtesy of UFC

For complete UFC 263 results and coverage click here.

Chris Weidman has had some extra time to look back on his MMA career as he recovers from a nasty leg break suffered at UFC 261. The time that Weidman has spent recovering and plotting his return to the cage has led him to have a powerful conversation with former rival, Anderson Silva.

Once upon a time, Weidman was an undefeated contender who was rapidly climbing the UFC middleweight ranks. His success eventually earned him a shot at Silva, who was the 185-pound champion at that time and had won 16-straight UFC fights before their eventual matchup at UFC 162. As we all know, Weidman clipped Silva with a sneaky punch in the second round and knocked him out cold. It was the first time “Spider” had suffered defeat inside of the Octagon.

In the highly-anticipated rematch at UFC 168 Silva was hoping to reclaim his belt and right his only UFC wrong. Unfortunately, Silva launched a leg kick in the second round that was checked by Weidman and left “Spider” with a gnarly leg break (see it HERE). Ironically, it’s the same injury Weidman suffered against Uriah Hall earlier this year at UFC 261.

Until now, Weidman really didn’t understand the severity of breaking his leg from a kick and what Silva had gone through so many years ago. During the debut episode of his “Won’t Back Down” podcast Weidman reminisced about his fight with Silva and finally issued an apology to “Spider” for the way everything went down (video shown above courtesy of ESPN MMA).

“This is Anderson Silva. My leg looked like Anderson Silva’s,” Weidman said about his injury suffered at UFC 261. “What the hell. There’s no way that’s my leg right now. Then all of a sudden the pain is coming in.

“And I remember when it happened with you. I didn’t know your leg broke as soon as it happened. I thought you were just in pain. I circle around and I remember hearing this screaming like someone was being murdered. Then I came over and saw you holding your leg. I could not believe it.

“As time went on I tried to get in touch with you that week. I felt terrible about it. But as time went on you kind of forget. I feel terrible now because now I understand the pain that you went through. All the trials and tribulations you went through. It just makes me empathize with you so much more with those situations. And to be honest I’ve never even said this out loud, but but it’s been on my mind really since this happened. I want to apologize to you.”

This may not seem like a big deal but Weidman and Silva formed quite the rivalry back in the day. Also, the rematch that Silva suffered the leg injury in occurred all the way back in 2013. It took a similar injury for Weidman to come to grips with the past and finally extend his condolences to Silva.

Pretty powerful stuff. Hopefully Weidman can make his own return to the Octagon just like Silva did, who competed seven more times after recovery from his own leg injury.

Israel Adesanya captured another middleweight title defense last night (Sat., June 12, 2021) at UFC 263 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, when “Last Stylebender” outlasted Marvin Vettori for a lopsided unanimous decision (highlights HERE). In addition to the middleweight rematch, a slew of main card and “Prelims” bouts turned in some serious action. Check them out below and let us know your favorite:

• Brandon Moreno won the UFC flyweight title with a third-round submission win over Brazilian champion Deiveson Figueiredo
• Welterweight contender Leon Edwards captured his ninth-straight win with a decision over Nate Diaz, who almost scored a fifth-round comeback (highlights HERE)
• Lightweight strikers Drew Dober and Brad Riddell went toe-to-toe in a war of strikers and hard punches with “Quake” coming out on top

• Light heavyweight veteran Paul Craig scored an impressive finish over rising contender Jamahal while dislocating his arm
• Octagon newcomer Terrance McKinney made a huge debut with a seven-second knockout finish over lightweight veteran Matt Frevola (highlights HERE)

In order to sift through the action and see which fighters took home an extra $50,000, we take a closer look at the official UFC 263 bonus winners below:

• Fight of the Night: Brad Riddell vs. Drew Dober
• Performance of the Night: Brandon Moreno
• Performance of the Night: Paul Craig

For complete UFC 263 results and coverage click here.

Israel Adesanya returned to his dominant ways last night (Sat., June 12, 2021) at UFC 263 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, when “Last Stylebender” defended his UFC middleweight title with a lopsided win over Italian contender Marvin Vettori.

Both middleweights scored whipping leg kicks early on before Vettori caught one and secured a takedown. Adesanya was able to work his way back to the feet and land more offense from kicks and punches. In Round 2, Adesanya went back to the leg kicks but Vettori’s forward movement didn’t change. He kept plodding forward and whiffed on a few takedown attempts.

Vettori smartly shot in for a takedown early into the third round and gained top control. The Italian contender nearly sunk in a rear-naked choke after working his way to Adesanya’s back, but the champion reversed position and got back to his feet where he unloaded more hard leg kicks. The fourth round saw Vettori score another timely takedown only to have Adesanya reverse again and return to his feet. Vettori didn’t have much to offer as Adeanya avoided any real damage and kept scoring shots. It was much of the same in the fifth round as “Last Stylebender” toyed with Vettori and forced him to stand and exchange.

Check out the full fight video highlights below courtesy of UFC/ESPN:

For complete UFC 263 results and coverage click here.