Author: Steven Rondina

Dana White: No Women Will Be Booked Until After UFC 157

Months ago, the UFC made headlines when Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was added to the UFC and booked to headline a card opposite Liz Carmouche. That bout, however, is the only fight involving women that the UFC has scheduled t…

Months ago, the UFC made headlines when Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was added to the UFC and booked to headline a card opposite Liz Carmouche. That bout, however, is the only fight involving women that the UFC has scheduled to this point.

With that in mind, the MMA media has been clamoring for more details on women’s MMA in the UFC and, at long last, Dana White opened up a little bit on the sport’s future. The news is not great.

Dana White, Nick Diaz and Georges St-Pierre are currently in Montreal hyping UFC 158. While no video is up yet, Mike Bohn from MMAMania.com posted a critical note from the festivities on Twitter:

That is big news for a few reasons.

While Ronda Rousey is the only woman booked for a fight, she is not the only woman employed by the UFC. Miesha Tate announced the same day as Rousey that she was now a part of the UFC. This has led many fans to wonder if White was waiting to see how UFC 157 panned out before booking any other fights.

Those rumblings seem to be true.

While UFC 157 has gotten a great deal of hype from the MMA media, there are several hurdles to overcome. In addition to the fact that the general receptiveness of MMA fans to women fighting is still unknown, the venue is not a surefire sellout, either. With this in mind, the text between the lines here is clear.

If Ronda Rousey loses, and/or if UFC 157 flops, it will likely be the end of women’s MMA in the UFC.

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Sonnen and Jones on SportsCenter: “We’re Not Going to Put on an Act” to Fight

Appearing on SportsCenter to plug The Ultimate Fighter season 17, which debuts tonight on FX, Chael Sonnen and Jon Jones opened up on both the reality show, the cancellation and UFC 151’s cancellation.While no new light was shed on UFC 151’s cancellati…

Appearing on SportsCenter to plug The Ultimate Fighter season 17, which debuts tonight on FX, Chael Sonnen and Jon Jones opened up on both the reality show, the cancellation and UFC 151’s cancellation.

While no new light was shed on UFC 151’s cancellation, the two fighters certainly reinforced talk about how the initially-spiny relationship between the current light heavyweight champ and the former middleweight contender has become softer.

While Jones said a montage of clips featuring Dana White and Sonnen immediately after the UFC 151 cancellation played by ESPN reminded him why he initially wanted the fight, when asked to describe his relationship with his opponent, he quickly responded “professional.” Sonnen agreed and said “we started as competitors, and it quickly got transferred into being coaches.”

Sonnen would go on to praise Jones for his expertise as a coach, and complimented the amount of time and effort he put into his charges. He would go on to hype the raw talent of the contestants on the show, and once again discussed how The Ultimate Fighter is “the toughest tournament in sports”, a line Sonnen has always made sure to pull out when discussing the show. Jones would return the favor and say how he respects Sonnen and said the two of them “did a great job”.

What’s more, when asked if disliking your opponent was important come fight night, the two agreed that it was not. Sonnen would go on to say that “we’re going to fight, and we make no apologies for that, but we’re not going to put on an act and pretend we’re upset with each other.”

Some fans have been disappointed by the lack of friction between the two fighters since agreeing to coach opposite each other.

They originally gave fans one of the most epic Twitter feuds in MMA (or Twitter) history, and went for the jugular in their meetings in Fall 2012. Neither left anything on the table in conference calls, with Sonnen rubbing in Jones’ DUI trouble, and Jones pointing out Sonnen‘s TRT use.

Either way, watch for The Ultimate Fighter season 17’s debut tonight on FX in America, and on ESPN in the UK.

Additionally, keep an eye on the Bleacher Report for more info on the season as it unfolds.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC’s Jon Jones Will Attend Super Bowl to Cheer on Ravens, Brother Arthur Jones

An under-the-radar story for the AFC Championship Game was the showdown between two brothers. Chandler Jones is the hotshot rookie defensive end for the New England Patriots. Arthur Jones, his eldest brother, plays defensive end for the Baltimore Rave…

An under-the-radar story for the AFC Championship Game was the showdown between two brothers. Chandler Jones is the hotshot rookie defensive end for the New England Patriots. Arthur Jones, his eldest brother, plays defensive end for the Baltimore Ravens.

The middle child? UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

Jones was guaranteed to have a brother in the Super Bowl and will apparently find the time to head to New Orleans to watch him play the San Francisco 49ers. Via Twitter:

Jones is currently training for a championship bout with former middleweight contender Chael Sonnen, who he will face at UFC 159 on April 27 in Newark, N.J. While the Super Bowl lands smack in the middle of his camp, a trip to New Orleans to witness one of the biggest sports events of the year is apparently enough to lure him from the mat.

The Ravens beat the Patriots, 28-13. Chandler Jones was relatively quiet throughout the game, but Arthur recovered the fumble that was jarred loose when Bernard Pollard cheap-shotted Patriots running back Stevan Ridley.

Before the game, Jon Jones was questioned about which team he would be rooting for. While he said that he loves seeing his little brother succeed, he is closer with the Ravens team as a whole, as well as their families. Because of that, the champ was pulling for the Ravens throughout the season.

The Super Bowl comes on February 3. Make sure to keep tabs on Bleacher Report as the game approaches!

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UFC on FX 7 Results: What’s Next for the Losers

Another night of UFC fights. Another set of eleven fighters (well…10 this time) now officially coming off a loss. What this card lacked in star power, it made up for in exciting finishes tailored directly for the Brazilian audience. With fighters at …

Another night of UFC fights. Another set of eleven fighters (well…10 this time) now officially coming off a loss.

What this card lacked in star power, it made up for in exciting finishes tailored directly for the Brazilian audience. With fighters at the top of their division, at the bottom of their division and everywhere in between, there are some very compelling matches to be made.

But who, pray tell, should face who? Find out right here!

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Bellator 85: Michael Chandler Defeats Rick Hawn

The main event to Bellator’s Spike TV debut (more or less) added to a solid night of fights filled with exciting finishes. Lightweight champion Michael Chandler fought Season 6 lightweight tournament winner Rick Hawn. The first round had Chandler press…

The main event to Bellator‘s Spike TV debut (more or less) added to a solid night of fights filled with exciting finishes. Lightweight champion Michael Chandler fought Season 6 lightweight tournament winner Rick Hawn.

The first round had Chandler pressing the action and throwing kicks up and down until taking Hawn to the ground. He would land modest ground and pound, but never really threatened en route to clearly winning the round 10-9. In the second round, Chandler took Hawn down early and after some ground work, sunk in a downright scary rear-naked choke to earn the tap.

It was a downright scary performance for everyone in Bellator‘s lightweight division, as Chandler demonstrated improved standup to go alongside his already established wrestling skills.

Chandler originally earned his shot at former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez by winning the Season 4 tournament, beating Marcin Held, Lloyd Woodard and Patricky Freire. He would beat Alvarez in the fourth round with a rear-naked choke after a back-and-forth brawl that ranks among the top lightweight battles, ever. He currently sports a perfect 11-0 record.

This is a harsh loss for Rick Hawn who, at 36 years old, was already looking towards the end of his career. The former Judo Olympian sported a 14-1 record coming into the fight, and held wins over solid competition, including Ricardo Tirloni and Shonie Carter.

Bellator still needs to determine its Season 7 lightweight tournament winner in order to determine who will be the next title challenger for Chandler. Marcin Held and Dave Jansen were scheduled to fight at Bellator 84 in December, but the fight was canceled when the 20-year-old Held was refused entry to the Horseshoe Casino where the event was taking place (the venue had a strict 21-and-over age limit).

We’ll keep you posted on more Bellator news as it becomes available!

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Bellator CEO May Consider Rampage Jackson, Does Not Want Josh Barnett

With Quinton “Rampage” Jackson still firmly committed to leaving the UFC following his fight with Glover Teixeira at UFC on Fox 6, the question on the mind of many fans is: “Where will he go next?”The same goes for ex-UFC, Pride…

With Quinton “Rampage” Jackson still firmly committed to leaving the UFC following his fight with Glover Teixeira at UFC on Fox 6, the question on the mind of many fans is: “Where will he go next?”

The same goes for ex-UFC, Pride and Strikeforce heavyweight Josh Barnett, who is now looking for his home following Strikeforce’s closure.

Bellator’s head honcho, Bjorn Rebney, recently opened up on the possibility of Jackson joining their ranks, and firmly shut the door on Barnett. Via Twitter:

 

You can read his full article here. The move, to some degree, makes sense for Bellator.

Bellator is home to a handful of solid light heavyweights, including former UFC fighter Renato “Babalu” Sobral, former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion “King” Mo Lawal, and European sensation Attila Vegh. Adding Jackson gives a legitimate, clear-cut, top-ten talent to Bellator, and offers some intriguing matchup possibilities. The same, however, cannot be said for their heavyweight division.

Lawal and Jackson previously had an ugly feud. Though they hugged it out in 2012, it’s hard to believe the two wouldn’t be willing to slug it out at some point.

Jackson, however, has remained a huge fan of the idea of fighting in Japan, and made sure to let everyone know how he went through great pains and fought injured at UFC 144. It’s possible he may turn to ONE FC in order to return to Japan. Other serious possibilities include World Series of Fighting and India’s Super Fight League.

Again, there seems to be very little hope of Jackson returning to the UFC. While Jackson first started talking about leaving the UFC a long while ago, he has stayed consistent on his desire to leave. As recently as yesterday, he was complaining about the UFC’s treatment of him and other fighters.

This also, possibly, presses Barnett closer to joining the UFC. The top-ten heavyweight has always been talented, but his lengthy history with PEDs and constant animosity towards Dana White has put him at odds with the promotion.

Keep checking in to see what happens with Jackson and Barnett, and how he fares at UFC on Fox 6.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com