Author: Dan Hiergesell

Chael Sonnen will collide with former UFC champion Lyoto Machida later tonight (Fri., Jun 14, 2019) at Bellator 222 live on DAZN from inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, in hopes of locking down a future title shot with current Bellator light heavyweight king Ryan Bader.

At 42 years of age, this may be the last chance for Sonnen to win a major world title. He wasn’t able to do it under the UFC banner after losing twice to the legendary Anderson Silva at 185 pounds and once to pound-for-pound great Jon Jones at light heavyweight, and has been unable to put himself back in position to challenge for gold over the past six years.

Sonnen, who made a promise to his late father that he wouldn’t stop fighting until he earned himself a world title, is hoping to take out Machida this evening at Bellator 222 and lock down presumably his last title shot against the aforementioned Bader, who is also Bellator MMA’s heavyweight champion.

“At this point, I almost regret it and wish I would’ve kept it as a personal motivation for myself,” Sonnen told MMA Junkie. “It is a lot of pressure. … I will either win the championship, or I will be a failure, I believe that wholeheartedly. I was told when I was 17-years-old by Matt Lindland, we were both on a wrestling quest at that time. But, he told me, ‘You cannot retire unless you win a world championship; you can only quit.’ I don’t want to be a quitter.”

Sonnen, who is coming off a disappointing TKO loss to the great Fedor Emelianenko last October at heavyweight, has posted an even 2-2 record since making his Bellator MMA debut back in 2017. In both his wins and losses, Sonnen has leaned on the same gameplan to try and tire opponents with strong wrestling and a suffocating top game. Things will be no different tonight at Bellator 222 as “American Gangster” aims to take “Dragon” off his feet.

“Looking at it going in with, say the intimidation factor, he’s right up there because he’s so weird,” Sonnen added. “I don’t have anybody in Portland that does what he does. We don’t do karate. In my mind we settled this debate of wrestlers vs. karate guys in 1993. That’s what I thought happened, but he stuck around, and that’s a credit to him. But somehow he’s found a way to make a sport that sucks effective.”

Even at this stage of his career Sonnen remains one of the most popular names in MMA. Should he get past Machida and back in the win column there’s no doubt that Bellator will push him into a title fight with Bader and let Sonnen try one more time to hoist a world championship.

Bellator 222’s main card will start at 10 p.m. ET with “Prelims” undercard bouts at 6:30 p.m. ET, both of which will stream exclusively on the aforementioned DAZN. MMAmania.com will deliver results and play-by-play for the entirety of the Bellator 222 card below.

T.J. Dillashaw has done his best to remain secluded since earning a two-year suspension from mixed martial arts (MMA) back in April and rightfully so.

The former UFC bantamweight champion not only had to relinquish his 135-pound crown after testing positive for a highly-illegal EPO, but he also offered zero reasoning behind his decision to cheat the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) system. It was the worst case scenario for the 33-year-old, especially after coming off a heart-breaking, 32-second TKO loss to UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo at UFC on ESPN+ 1.

Dillashaw, who will not be eligible to return to UFC until January 2021, finally broke his silence about his failed drug test during a recent appearance on Chael Sonnen’s You’re Welcome podcast. Here is what Dillashaw had to say about his decision to take the EPO and the aftermath it has caused:

“I’ve hidden out, I haven’t done any interviews, I haven’t done – I’ve just kind of hidden away from – there’s things I’ve been wanting to say, but I didn’t, because I don’t want to create any excuses. Let’s start off, first and foremost, I cheated. I don’t want to run around that, that’s why even I announced it when USADA was coming out. I didn’t want to create excuses.

“It was like, look, this is it, I did it, I want to be upfront with you guys. I didn’t want to create any excuses of why I did it, I knew eventually I would talk about it, and this is now, it’s the first time I have. I was so into doing something that has never been done before. Not the two champs. Obviously, I wanted that more than anything, I wanted to prove I’m the best in the world, but was also to drop that weight class. I’m a lean 135’er. I wanted to drop the weight class to go to the 125s, and I played it off to how easy it was going to be. ‘I can do this, no problem, I always cut weight.’

“And I pushed my body to the extreme. About six weeks out, my body started to crash, I started to get tired, I started feeling I didn’t want to wake up for practice. I test everything. I test my hair for toxins, I test my saliva for hormone levels – I want to be the most optimized athlete I possibly can. And I started crashing.

“I decided to take something I knew I wasn’t allowed to take. It’s called Procrit, it’s an anemia medication that would help me, not only make the weight, but be myself. And, you know, I’m not mad I did it, because I don’t think I could’ve taken the fight. I’m obviously going to own up that I cheated, I got caught – it’s a rough one man. It’s hard not to hate yourself a little bit. To – I don’t know. It’s a tough one.”

While Dillashaw did what he thought was necessary to make an effective cut down to 125 pounds to challenge Cejudo for the flyweight title, his efforts were illegal at the end of the day. That’s why few people in the MMA community supported Dillashaw when his failed drug test was released and why he will be on the sidelines for the next year and a half.

Many have already discredited Dillashaw’s accomplishments throughout his UFC career in fear that the former champion has always found a way to cheat. Just ask former teammate and arch rival Cody Garbrandt, who claimed back in 2017 that Dillashaw showed Team Alpha Male members how to do steroids.

At this point, Dillashaw lacks credibility across the board. Struggling with a weight cut is not a reason to cheat the sport, his opponent, and the fans, so he’ll have a lot of catching up to do when 2021 comes around.

The action delivered on arrival last night (Sat., June 8, 2019) at UFC 238 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside United Center in Chicago, Ill., as UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo moved up in weight to defeat Marlon Moraes for the vacant bantamweight title and become the promotion’s newest two-division king (highlights HERE).

In addition to Cejudo’s history-making performance, Valentina Shevchenko successfully defended her UFC women’s flyweight title with a spectacular, and very scary, knockout win over respected veteran Jessica Eye, lightweight contenders Tony Ferguson and Donald Cerrone went toe-to-toe for two brutal rounds before a doctor’s stoppage left “El Cucuy” victorious, and surging featherweight contender Calvin Kattar leveled former title challenger Ricardo Lamas to the tune of a first-round TKO.

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 238 bonus winners below:

Fight of the Night: Tony Ferguson vs. Donald Cerrone

Performance of the Night: Henry Cejudo

Performance of the Night: Valentina Shevchenko

For complete UFC 238 results and coverage click here.

Henry Cejudo took another step towards combat immortality last night (Sat., June 8, 2019) at UFC 238 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside United Center in Chicago, Ill., when he stopped Marlon Moraes in the third round of their bantamweight title fight to become a two-division UFC champion.

Cejudo, who came into the main event bout as the UFC’s flyweight champion, looked lost in the early going of the bout before turning it on in the third round and sending ”Magic” packing with an impressive TKO finish (highlights HERE). As a result, Cejudo joins the like of Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, and Amanda Nunes as the only UFC fighters to simultaneously hold two titles.

After the fight, McGregor reached out to Cejudo via Twitter to congratulate “Messenger” and welcome him to the Mount Rushmore of UFC double champs.

“Congratulations Henry Cejudo! Welcome to the club,” wrote McGregor.

Now the owner of two UFC belts, Cejudo will begin to creep into the discussion as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, especially considering he knocked all-time great Demetrious Johnson out of UFC last year. Add in the fact that Cejudo also owns an Olympic gold medal and he may go down as one of the best combat athletes of all time.

As of now, none of the UFC’s four double champs have ever defended a title while holding both belts. Nunes will have the chance to do so next month at UFC 239 when she defends her bantamweight crown against Holly Holm but her featherweight strap is tied to a division barely in existence. For Cejudo, he’ll have a chance to reign supreme over two weight classes and further prove that flyweights deserve to stick around.

For complete UFC 238 results and coverage click here.

Reigning UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo made history last night (Sat., June 8, 2019) at UFC 238 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside United Center in Chicago, Ill., when he put a brutal stop to Marlon Moraes via third-round TKO to claim the vacant bantamweight title and become the promotion’s newest double champ (or triple champ if you ask the Olympic gold medalist).

Moraes lead the dance in the early going as he peppered Cejudo with hard leg kicks and pressured with powerful right hooks. Cejudo struggled to get inside and land his own shots, but remained confident in his attacks. More kicks landed for Moraes to begin the second as he mixed in strikes to the head as well. Cejudo’s inside leg started to swell and force him to lean back in his stance. After Moraes knocked Cejudo down with a heavy leg kick Cejudo pounced back up with a fire under his ass. He hurt Moraes bad with hard right hands and then moved inside for powerful knees and dirty boxing. Moraes survived, but Cejudo stole the round.

Cejudo went back to his straight right hand to begin the third round. Moraes kept trying to sneak in a head kick off exchanges but Cejudo avoided it every time. Cejudo returned favor with more knees inside the clinch. During a grappling exchange Cejudo was able to grab a hold of a choke and nearly ended the fight. Moraes defended nicely but Cejudo gained top control and landed heavy hammer fists, forearms, and elbows. The flyweight king added even more punishment as Moraes’ head slammed off the canvas. The damage piled up and Cejudo’s vicious attack eventually forced the referee stoppage.

Check out the full fight video highlights above and below courtesy of UFC/ESPN.

For complete UFC 238 results and coverage click here.

Surging featherweight contender Calvin Kattar made the most out of his clash with former title challenger Ricardo Lamas on ESPN earlier tonight (Sat., June 8, 2019) at UFC 238 from inside United Center in Chicago, Ill., when he stopped “Bully” via first-round TKO (punches).

Despite some early kicks to the leg and body by Lamas, Kattar ruled the way from the opening bell. Kattar’s striking was impressively precise and allowed him to stay calm until a bigger window of opportunity presented itself. After throwing out a few feints to keep Lamas guessing, Kattar was able to land a brutal left hook-straight right combination that sent the Chicago native to the ground. Kattar followed suit with heavy strikes before the referee stepped in for the stoppage.

Check out the highlights above courtesy of UFC/ESPN.

With this performance, Kattar scores the biggest win of his career with a finish of Lamas and pushes his UFC record to an impressive 4-1, losing only to Renato Moicana via decision last year. The 31-year-old Kattar looks poised for a big charge into the Top 10 and with striking like this he may be able to make a serious push by year’s end.

For complete UFC 238 results and coverage click here.