Author: Timothy Rapp

Joe Hawkins Says He Will Beat Greg Hardy in Former NFL Player’s MMA Debut

Joe Hawkins, who will be fighting against Greg Hardy in the former NFL player’s MMA debut at Rise of a Warrior 21 on Nov. 4, unsurprisingly believes he will come out victorious in the bout.
“I’m gonna be incredible,” he said, per TMZ Sports, addin…

Joe Hawkins, who will be fighting against Greg Hardy in the former NFL player’s MMA debut at Rise of a Warrior 21 on Nov. 4, unsurprisingly believes he will come out victorious in the bout.

“I’m gonna be incredible,” he said, per TMZ Sports, adding, “I see the referee raising my hand.”  

Hawkins, who is also making his professional fighting debut, told TMZ his goal is to fight in the UFC one day.

Hardy, 29, last played in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys in 2015. While he was a talented player, registering 40 sacks in his six-year career, the NFL suspended him for four games in the 2015 season for domestic assault. Hardy had been convicted of the crime but the charges were dropped after Hardy’s ex-girlfriend, Nicole Holder, stopped cooperating with prosecutors.

He was also arrested in September 2016 on charges of cocaine possession.

According to Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com, Hardy began MMA training in 2016. 

“I have a lot of different issues that I’m definitely working through and working on,” Hardy told MMAFighting.com (h/t Okamoto). “I would say [training MMA] helps me channel everything. It helps me just come back down to earth, be humble, because these are machines that I see every day.

“I get choked out, punched in the face and laid out on the mat daily, and that’s not something that a guy my size and my stature with my history has ever come across.”

 

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Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino-Holly Holm Fight Still in Works Despite Tweet About Money

A matchup between Cris “Cyborg” Justino and Holly Holm is still being negotiated after Justino said Tuesday she had cancelled a meeting with the UFC for financial reasons.         
“Emotions can run high during n…

A matchup between Cris “Cyborg” Justino and Holly Holm is still being negotiated after Justino said Tuesday she had cancelled a meeting with the UFC for financial reasons.         

“Emotions can run high during negotiations, but to clarify things, the UFC has not made an offer for a fight at UFC 219,” Justino’s manager, George Prajin, told Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com on Wednesday. “We are still in talks. Cris wants to fight Holly Holm on Dec. 30. That is what we are working towards, and we are optimistic it will happen.”

That comes a day after Justino tweeted the following:

According to Okamoto, a meeting between Justino’s and Holm’s camps is “tentatively” scheduled for next week.

Justino, 32, is a perfect 3-0 in the UFC and 18-1-1 overall in her professional fighting career. In her last bout at UFC 214 in July, she defeated Tonya Evinger by technical knockout and claimed the vacant featherweight title. She is one of the most feared fighters of all time, and perhaps only Ronda Rousey in her prime was more dominant. 

Holm, 35, is most famous for upsetting Rousey at UFC 193 in November 2015 in one of the most shocking results in the organization’s history. That win ended Rousey’s perfect 12-0 record and halted her dominance over the women’s bantamweight division. Holm promptly lost her next three fights, though she defeated Bethe Correia via TKO in June at UFC Fight Night, improving her MMA record to 11-3.

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Ronda Rousey’s Trainer Says There’s a ’50-50′ Chance She Fights in UFC Again

Ronda Rousey’s trainer, Edmond Tarverdyan, told the MMA Hour on Monday that he believes the UFC superstar may fight again, giving her a 50-50 chance to return to the Octagon. 
“It’s going to be her decision,” he said (h/t Brett Okamoto of ESP…

Ronda Rousey‘s trainer, Edmond Tarverdyan, told the MMA Hour on Monday that he believes the UFC superstar may fight again, giving her a 50-50 chance to return to the Octagon. 

“It’s going to be her decision,” he said (h/t Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com). “Maybe one more. I’ve spoken to her; I don’t know if she’ll do it. If her body does give her one more fight, and she really wants to, mentally, she might. It’s 50-50 right now, I’d say.”

He added: “I would love her to fight one more fight, and a fight I always wanted for her was [Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino] vs. Ronda. When I trained Ronda, I knew Ronda could beat Cyborg. I know that. Cyborg is too slow.

“I’m telling you, she’s too slow for us. Ronda would beat her. And Ronda needs a challenge. She really needs to be like, ‘This person is no good. I need to prove something to the whole world.’ That’s how Ronda works good. She didn’t have that with Holly [Holm] … This one, she has it.”

Rousey, 30, exploded onto the UFC scene, winning her first six fights by either submission, TKO or KO. Between July 2014 and Aug. 2015, she won three fights in a combined 64 seconds and emerged as one of the most popular and marketable UFC superstars.

That came to a halt at UFC 193 in Nov. 2015, however, after getting knocked out by Holm in the second round. A year later at UFC 207 she disappointed again, losing by TKO to Amanda Nunes in just 48 seconds.

A Cyborg-Rousey fight has long been desired by the fighting community, though Rousey’s recent defeats have made the matchup less scintillating. Okamoto also reported that Justino is “eyeing” a potential title fight vs. Holm this December, so a Cyborg-Rousey fight likely wouldn’t occur until sometime in 2018, if at all. 

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Daniel Cormier Reinstated as UFC Light Heavyweight Champion

UFC spokesperson Lenee Breckenridge confirmed to Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting on Wednesday that Daniel Cormier has been reinstated as the UFC light heavyweight champion.
Jon Jones defeated Cormier at UFC 214, but “the California State Athletic Commiss…

UFC spokesperson Lenee Breckenridge confirmed to Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting on Wednesday that Daniel Cormier has been reinstated as the UFC light heavyweight champion.

Jon Jones defeated Cormier at UFC 214, but “the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) overturned the fight to a no-contest” after Jones tested positive for the banned substance Turinabol.

“If it’s a no-contest, then the fight didn’t happen,” Cormier said Wednesday on UFC Tonight (via Raimondi). “[White] said, ‘If one of you guys would have missed weight, he would have won the fight, but you still would have kept the belt. Because of that, the championship is getting returned to you.’ The fight is a no-contest. If he cheated, he could not have fought and cheated and still won the fight. Once again, I’m the UFC champion.”

As Brett Okamoto noted, it’s a fascinating final chapter to Jones vs. Cormier: 

Jones “won” both matchups between the pair, though only his first win at UFC 182 in January 2015 will stand.

It’s unclear whom Cormier will now fight as the titleholder. As for the dubious nature of his earning that belt, Cormier isn’t concerned.

“Now, people will say stuff like, ‘Well, you got handed the belt,'” he continued on UFC Tonight (via Steven Marrocco of MMAjunkie). “He cheated, and the reality is, for me to say I don’t want this title when I was going to be in championship fight anyways, financially it’s just a big difference if I don’t fight as the champion as opposed to fighting for a vacant title. I’m taking the belt.”

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Jose Aldo Wants to Finish Fights in UFC Contract to Start Boxing, Coach Says

Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo may soon follow in the footsteps of Conor McGregor and take his talents to the boxing ring. 
“He’s training boxing because he has this dream of competing in professional boxing,” his coach, Andre P…

Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo may soon follow in the footsteps of Conor McGregor and take his talents to the boxing ring. 

“He’s training boxing because he has this dream of competing in professional boxing,” his coach, Andre Pederneiras told Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com. “If it was up to him, he’d fight all of his UFC fights (left on the contract) in three months and go box. He wants to box professionally.”

“He doesn’t want to stay inactive for a long time, and there’s both sides: He definitely wants to finish the contract,” he added.

Aldo has four fights remaining on his UFC deal.

He has lost two of his last three fights, however, including his loss to McGregor in Dec. 2015 that cost him his featherweight title before winning it back against Frankie Edgar in July 2016. He lost it again vs. Max Holloway in June.

Prior to the McGregor fight, Aldo was a perfect 7-0 in his UFC career, defending the featherweight title in all seven of those fights. 

McGregor’s decision to make the crossover to boxing—and his decent showing and the huge paycheck he garnered—may have a ripple effect in the UFC. At the very least, fighters like Aldo could leverage a potential move to the ring in the attempt to gain bigger money while negotiating with the UFC. And for UFC fighters with the right reputation, making the move to boxing—even if only for a fight or two—could potentially lead to a major payday on its own as well.

The counterargument, however, will be that the appeal of McGregor facing Floyd Mayweather won’t be replicated. McGregor is arguably the UFC’s biggest and most marketable star, Mayweather put his perfect record on the line and was already boxing’s most notorious figure and the novelty of seeing an MMA fighter face a boxer may have already run out.

Nonetheless, it would appear last weekend’s superfight now has MMA fighters like Aldo carefully weighing their options. As for Aldo’s next fight, that remains up in the air.

“We’re waiting for the UFC,” Pederneiras said. “We’re trying to get this fight done, against Cub Swanson or someone else. He wants to fight (against) someone well ranked, and wait for an opportunity to fight for the belt.”

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Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor Party at Separate Clubs After Fight

Floyd Mayweather went to his Girl Collection strip club after his fight against Conor McGregor in Las Vegas on Saturday night, TMZ Sports reported, while Conor McGregor went to the Surrender Nightclub.
“It didn’t turn out the way we wanted bu…

Floyd Mayweather went to his Girl Collection strip club after his fight against Conor McGregor in Las Vegas on Saturday night, TMZ Sports reported, while Conor McGregor went to the Surrender Nightclub.

“It didn’t turn out the way we wanted but we can still party like it did,” McGregor said on the mic at the club.

As for Mayweather’s party, “Floyd partied inside for two hours, then re-surfaced and dealt with Vegas cops who showed up for crowd control. There were so many people who wanted a piece of Floyd they were spilling into the streets.”

Mayweather defeated McGregor by technical knockout in the 10th round of their matchup on Saturday evening. While McGregor didn’t hit the mat, the referee stopped the fight after Mayweather stunned and bloodied McGregor with a flurry of punches. 

The much-hyped and highly anticipated fight earned Mayweather a guaranteed purse of $100 million and McGregor a guaranteed $30 million, per Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, though he reported that the promotional money from the fight is likely to push Mayweather’s earnings past $200 million, while McGregor should exceed $100 million.

So it isn’t hard to see why both men were in the mood for a party afterwards.

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