Author: McKinley Noble

Cris Cyborg Wins Invicta FC Debut, Gets 145-Pound Title Shot vs. Marloes Coenen

Cristiane Santos is back in business, making a successful debut with the Kansas City-based all-female MMA promotion, Invicta Fighting Championships.Earning an aggressive first-round technical knockout victory against Australian fighter Fiona Muxlow, th…

Cristiane Santos is back in business, making a successful debut with the Kansas City-based all-female MMA promotion, Invicta Fighting Championships.

Earning an aggressive first-round technical knockout victory against Australian fighter Fiona Muxlow, there was no mercy given by “Cyborg” Santos as she pummeled her opponent from bell to bell over three minutes and 46 seconds.

With the victory, Cyborg secures herself a shot at becoming Invicta FC’s first featherweight champion.

That match is planned to take place in a few months, as Cyborg will assumedly compete in a rematch against one-time Strikeforce foe Marloes Coenen, whom Cyborg defeated in January 2010 during her first title defense.

This marked Cyborg’s first MMA bout since December 17, 2011, when she defeated Hiroko Yamanaka in a third consecutive successful defense of the Strikeforce Women’s Featherweight Championship.

Unfortunately, the Brazilian’s 11th straight win was overturned into a “no contest” following a positive test for anabolic steroids, resulting in a year-long suspension.

Cyborg had recently been in talks to set up a superfight with UFC women’s bantamweight star Ronda Rousey, but negotiations broke down when Cyborg (and her manager, Tito Ortiz) insisted that cutting down to 135 pounds was out of the question. Rousey also refused to move up to 140 pounds for a catchweight bout, prompting Cyborg to call her rival a “bitch” in a heated message over Instagram.

But unfortunately for Ortiz and Cyborg, even UFC president Dana White stated that a fight at 140 pounds wouldn’t make sense, with Rousey as the 135-pound champion and the UFC currently not hosting any other female weight classes:

It’s not a title fight. If that’s what [Cyborg] is willing to do is go to 140, let’s let Ronda defend her title a few times and see if Ronda wants to go to 140. If I know Ronda, she probably would anyway, so let’s see what happens. But if [Cyborg] wants to fight for a title and have a title fight, she has to go to 135 pounds.

A fight at 140 would be a fan fight because everybody wants to see it, but it’s not one of those fights that makes sense.

Eventually, Cyborg requested her release from the UFC altogether, seemingly abandoning any notion of fighting Rousey in the future.

Moreover, not a single mention of the UFC’s women’s bantamweight champion was made during Cyborg’s post-fight interview, as she simply thanked God and the Kansas City crowd, who cheered the former champion in her return to the sport.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania & The L.A. Times.

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UFC 159: Jon Jones ‘Could Care Less’ About Promoting Fight vs. Chael Sonnen

Despite the fact that UFC star Jon Jones will make his fifth title defense against one of the biggest trash talkers in the sport, the young champion doesn’t care about hyping the fight.In fact, he says he “couldn’t care less” about it.Although fans may…

Despite the fact that UFC star Jon Jones will make his fifth title defense against one of the biggest trash talkers in the sport, the young champion doesn’t care about hyping the fight.

In fact, he says he “couldn’t care less” about it.

Although fans may have expected Jones would respond directly to Chael Sonnen and his latest pre-fight promo from UFC Tonight on Fuel TV, the Greg Jackson’s MMA prodigy told his followers on Twitter that he’s fine with leaving the talking to his challenger.

Despite Jones’ claims that he’s unconcerned with hyping his fight, that hasn’t stopped him from giving a scathing review of Sonnen as a fighter.

During a recent UFC interview, Jones stated that the former middleweight contender was simply a ‘weak’ fighter without “a championship soul,” who lost title fights because he didn’t believe in himself:

Guys like Muhammad Ali said a lot of things that were bold statements. The difference between guys like Muhammad Ali and Chael is that guys like Muhammad Ali actually believed. No matter how much [Sonnen] tries to convince himself that he’s going to win this fight or that he’s a champion without a belt, he just doesn’t believe. And that’s why he comes up short in every opportunity he gets to be a champion.

Regardless of what Jones says on Twitter, he and Sonnen have been naturally been ramping up their banter in the build to UFC 159, both off-the-cuff and as part of their contractual duties.

Strangely, Jones and Sonnen seemed to bury the hatchet on their rivalry during The Ultimate Fighter 17 in Episode 9.

But with a manufactured grudge or not, both men will settle things soon enough when they face off on April 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Jones will enter UFC 159 on an eight-fight winning streak, including five successful championship bout victories over Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort.

Sonnen is 3-2 in his last five fights, with two losses to middleweight champion Anderson Silva—the first of which Sonnen nearly won via unanimous decision before getting caught in a Hail Mary armbar-triangle submission from Silva.

Although Sonnen hasn’t competed in the UFC’s 205-pound division since a 2005 bout against MMA veteran Renato Sobral, the Oregon native became the No. 1 contender to Jones’ title in the wake of the infamously canceled UFC 151 event. With roughly a week to prepare for a new opponent after Dan Henderson turned up injured, Jones ended up pulling out of the card altogether when Sonnen was announced as a last-minute replacement.

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UFC 158: Nick Diaz’s Camp Says He Was Tested, Asks for Drug Test Documents

Even with a clean drug test for UFC 158, Nick Diaz and his camp still aren’t happy with the Quebec Boxing Commission.As reported on Thursday by Bleacher Report MMA, six fighters from the event each turned in negative drug tests for banned and…

Even with a clean drug test for UFC 158, Nick Diaz and his camp still aren’t happy with the Quebec Boxing Commission.

As reported on Thursday by Bleacher Report MMA, six fighters from the event each turned in negative drug tests for banned and illegal substances, but the commission did not release the names of the individuals in the results.

That didn’t escape the notice of welterweight contender Diaz and his camp.

Jonathan Tweedale, a representative of Diaz, confirmed with MMA Weekly that the Stocktonian was indeed one of the fighters tested for drugs—but they want the following details:

1) A copy of the [Quebec commission]’s request to the laboratory specifying which substances the lab was asked to test the sample for (if any).

2) A copy of any documents received from the lab conducting the drug testing showing the precise test results for Mr. Diaz for all substances the sample was actually tested for.

Diaz and his camp have also been at odds with the Quebec Boxing Commission for the past few weeks regarding unusual circumstances regarding Diaz‘s recent title fight against welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

In addition to their latest request for transparency on the UFC 158 drug tests, Diaz‘s camp has also accused the UFC and the RACJ of conspiring to protect GSP. Diaz even claimed that St-Pierre had been using “plenty of steroids” in his MMA career with the UFC’s consent.

To make matters more suspicious, the Diaz camp also recorded a candid video of UFC legal affairs vice president Michael Mersch telling them “off the record” that the commission would unofficially allow a 0.9-pound safety net during the weigh-ins for Diaz and St-Pierre (via MiddleEasy).

Although Diaz‘s camp and several outlets have attempted to post the video on YouTube, the UFC has repeatedly filed copyright claims to have them taken down.

Circumstances like that—in addition to an extremely one-sided unanimous decision loss to the champion—led Diaz to state in his post-fight interview that he was “done with mixed martial arts” and intended to retire.

That stance was reconfirmed during a recent episode of UFC Tonight, where host Ariel Helwani replayed that Diaz is maintaining his retirement status unless he’s offered a rematch with GSP or a superfight with middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania & The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Invicta FC 5: Sarah Kaufman Looking for Rematch with UFC Champ Ronda Rousey

Before Ronda Rousey became the face of women’s MMA, Canada’s own Sarah Kaufman was widely considered the pound-for-pound best female fighter in world.That wouldn’t last—the popular Rousey continued to rise undefeated through Strikeforce while Kau…

Before Ronda Rousey became the face of women’s MMA, Canada’s own Sarah Kaufman was widely considered the pound-for-pound best female fighter in world.

That wouldn’t last—the popular Rousey continued to rise undefeated through Strikeforce while Kaufman dropped a featherweight title defense to Marloes Coenen and a bantamweight championship bout to Rousey just three fights later.

Now, Kaufman will start her comeback in the all-women’s Invicta FC 5 event on April 5, but she still wants another shot at Rousey.

During an interview with the MMA Underground, Kaufman talked about her previous win over potential Ultimate Fighter 18 coach Miesha Tate and where she wants to go if she notches a win on Friday in Kansas City:

100% I want Ronda Rousey. I will continue to put on exciting fights and beat my way back to the top. Women (and the 135lb division) in MMA are in a great place right now. We have the UFC, Invicta, Bellator, and other organizations all putting on some amazing fights. I want to continue to be a part of that growth and push the boundaries even further. Miesha Tate was also fun to punch in the face. I’d love to get that opportunity again, but this time, finish her before the final bell!

Kaufman previously defeated Tate in her May 2009 Strikeforce debut by unanimous decision, but the two fighters are in very different places nearly four years later.

Both women would eventually lose title matches against Rousey, though, with Kaufman falling prey to an armbar in just 54 seconds. 

Tate would rebound a win in her final Strikeforce bout and a UFC contract, where she’s currently scheduled to fight Cat Zigano at the upcoming TUF 17 Finale in Las Vegas on April 13.

(That match will be the second-ever female fight in UFC history, set as part of the event’s main card.)

Whoever wins that fight will go on to coach opposite of Rousey in the 18th season of The Ultimate Fighter, which will include a mix of male and female bantamweight fighters—a rare first in the show’s eight-year history.

Rousey and Tate are noted for having an intense rivalry, so a win for Tate could mean huge ratings for TUF and the UFC next season. Kaufman is one of the few female MMA bantamweights to have earned a UFC contract, so a victory at Invicta FC 5 might potentially start building up a solid case for a rematch with Rousey.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania & The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC President Dana White Lashes out at Fans over UFC on Fuel 9, Gustafsson

Several fans aren’t happy about losing Alexander Gustafsson vs. Gegard Mousasi as the UFC on Fuel 9 main event, but Dana White doesn’t want to hear it.After all, the card is “free” on Fuel TV.But with Gustafsson officially benched due to a cut about hi…

Several fans aren’t happy about losing Alexander Gustafsson vs. Gegard Mousasi as the UFC on Fuel 9 main event, but Dana White doesn’t want to hear it.

After all, the card is “free” on Fuel TV.

But with Gustafsson officially benched due to a cut about his left eye, Mousasi is now in a risky situation, facing a virtual unknown in Swedish fighter Ilir Latifi, a 29-year-old prospect with just 10 total bouts on his professional MMA record.

As more people have voiced their displeasure to Dana White on Twitter, the UFC president has fired back at some of his detractors, apparently fed up with the feedback:

Even though Swedish website MMA NYTT had reported on March 31 that Gustafsson would likely not be medically cleared to fight, White spent April 1 re-assuring fans that “The Mauler” was still scheduled to meet Mousasi in Stockholm, Sweden.

Fans were left with nothing but confusion in the wake, even falling for an April Fools’ Day prank by Wanderlei Silva, who claimed that the UFC asked him to step in on short notice. Many outlets reported Silva’s statement, with even Mousasi saying that he would accept the fight.

Of course, the whole thing turned out to be a ruse.

According to Mousasi (via MMA Junkie), even former UFC champion Vitor Belfort was rumored at one point to be a potential candidate for a last-minute replacement, but that plan apparently never came to fruition.

Instead, the main event spot eventually wound up going to Latifi—Gustafsson’s sparring partner at the Allstars Training Center.

Since none of the other bouts in the Fuel TV event were suitable as an alternate headliner, some MMA pundits have argued that the card is far less appealing without a “name” fighter like Gustafsson. That doesn’t fly with White, who says there’s little reason to complain:

Unless prominent MMA journalists fail to press the issue, White may have to field questions about how he handled the entire debacle during the remainder of fight week.

Overall, it’s not unusual behavior for the bombastic and sharp-tongued UFC president, who often uses his Twitter account to interact with nearly 2.5 million followers. Over the years, Dana White hasn’t been shy about frequently trading thoughts, opinions and insults with many of his fans—and UFC on Fuel 9 is no exception.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania & The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC on Fuel 9: Gegard Mousasi Says Vitor Belfort Wanted to Replace Gustafsson

Just a week away from UFC on Fuel 9, top light heavyweight fighter Gegard Mousasi was without an opponent for the card as Alexander Gustafsson found himself injured.Now, Mousasi is facing Swedish prospect Ilir Latifi on just a few days’ notice, co…

Just a week away from UFC on Fuel 9, top light heavyweight fighter Gegard Mousasi was without an opponent for the card as Alexander Gustafsson found himself injured.

Now, Mousasi is facing Swedish prospect Ilir Latifi on just a few days’ notice, confirmed Tuesday by Dana White via Twitter.

If you’re wondering who Latifi is, you’re not alone.

From a promotional standpoint, it’s unfortunate for the famous Mousasi to risk a three-round main event against a last-minute replacement with no name value, but as MMA Junkie reports, former UFC champion Vitor Belfort had been an option at one point:

“Vitor Belfort stepped up, and there were talks with my manager, and he wanted to take the fight on short notice,” said Mousasi, who isn’t sure what ultimately happened with the possibility. “So we would have gladly accepted that fight.”

Belfort last competed in Brazil against Michael Bisping at UFC on FX 7, where “The Phenom” defeated “The Count” with a highlight reel head kick in the first round.

However, Belfort’s next move is unclear, as the UFC decided against offering him a rematch against middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Bisping, on the other hand, actually had a long-sought title shot against Silva promised to him if he somehow managed to overcome Belfort.

(Belfort is 3-1 since his loss to Silva, including a competitive effort against light heavyweight Jon Jones at UFC 152.)

Following his win, Belfort instead called out Chael Sonnen and Jones in a frantic, rambling post-fight interview, but the two Ultimate Fighter 17 coaches are currently deadlocked for their title fight at UFC 159 in New Jersey.

Belfort has recently come under scrutiny for his admitted use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), which the 36-year-old fighter claimed to Brazilian publication TATAME (via Bloody Elbow) was known to the UFC all along:

The UFC always knew that I use, do not do it to cheat. I have medical monitoring and UFC also accompanies it. Never broken through anything, always acted cleanly. Do blood tests every week to equal the testosterone levels of a person my age. Many people are averse to treatment. I am not. I am in favor of people being open and fair in what they are doing.

It’s currently unknown why Belfort was not allowed to step into the main event in Stockholm, Sweden, but Mousasi says that he’s happy to still be fighting (via MMA Junkie).

Betting books currently have the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion and two-division DREAM champion pegged as high as a -1350 favorite to win (via BestFightOdds). Mousasi carries a 33-3-2 record from various MMA promotions, with his only loss in over five years coming against former Strikeforce champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania & The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com