Author: Tom Sunderland

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship star Ryan Jimmo was killed in Edmonton, Canada, in a hit-and-run incident on Sunday, aged 34.

The ex-UFC fighter’s aunt, Sharon Jimmo, spoke to CBC News and confirmed the news her nephew had died, saying it “doesn’t seem possible”:

He was a people person, he loved everyone. He was so kind. He was a fighter but personally he was a great guy.

Ryan would help anyone would need it, he was just that kind of guy. He lived his life the way he wanted, he was happy-go-lucky. It’s terrible, it’s hard to wrap your head around, it just doesn’t seem possible. 

His aunt, per Mack Lamoureux of CBC News, said Jimmo was preparing to move back to the Alberta city and was “only in town for a couple of days” before Sunday’s incident.

UFC President Dana White paid his respects to the fighter, who last represented the promotion just over a year ago, boasting a mixed martial arts record of 19-5:

Jimmo last fought for the UFC at a UFC Fight Night event in May 2015, when he lost to light heavyweight opponent Francimar Barroso via unanimous decision.

White wasn’t alone in sending his respects to Jimmo, either, as former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman joined those mourning his death:

Jimmo found his UFC start on the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter, the show that also gave fellow heavyweight Roy Nelson his first chance with the promotion:

Simmo’s most famous moment in the UFC was his seven-second knockout of Anthony Perosh at UFC 149, and lightweight Michael Chiesa provided a timely reminder of the veteran at his comedic best:

CBC News said police reported the car that struck Jimmo “was occupied by at least two Caucasian males” at the time of the incident, which occurred in the car park of the H2O Lounge on Whyte Avenue and 101st Street.

Per Lamoureux, Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning.

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It’s been confirmed Holly Holm will make her return to the Octagon on July 23, and she is scheduled to headline a UFC Fight Night event in Chicago, where she’ll take on Valentina Shevchenko.

Fox Sports’ Damon Martin reported Sunday that the former women’s bantamweight champion will face Shevchenko in her first bout since surrendering the title to Miesha Tate at UFC 196.

The UFC Fight Night card in Chicago is shaping up to be an entertaining one, too, with Anthony Johnson facing Glover Teixeira, while Edson Barboza will go up against Gilbert Melendez in a lightweight showdown.  

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Jon Jones could have a chance to reclaim the UFC light heavyweight title in a showdown against current titleholder Daniel Cormier at UFC 200, according to President Dana White.

The UFC figurehead was asked about the prospect of a rematch between Jones and Cormier after the former defeated Ovince Saint Preux via unanimous decision at UFC 197 on Saturday to claim the interim title, per ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto:

According to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com, Jones also pushed home the point that he’d be ready to clash at UFC 200 on July 9, having just sat out for 15 months in between fights because of a suspension:

Bones defeated Cormier at UFC 182 by unanimous decision—at the time, his eighth successive defence of the light heavyweight crown—but the UFC later stripped him of the title and suspended him after his infamous hit-and-run incident.

Cormier and Jones were set to face off at UFC 197 before the former suffered a foot injury that ruled him out. Not only did White say the rematch was a possibility for UFC 200, but Cormier also took to the microphone and baited Jones into staging a second fight in July as long as he’s cleared to compete, per UFC Europe:

UFC 200 has a headline slot open after Conor McGregor was pulled from his main event fight against Nate Diaz for failing to fulfil his promotional duties, per BBC Sport.

By the time July comes, it will have been 18 months since Jones and Cormier last met in the Octagon, but the rivalry nevertheless runs deep between the two, as Bones illustrated in the wake of Saturday’s triumph over OSP:

Thankfully for White, Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo were already scheduled to fight for the interim featherweight title at UFC 200 on a card that does have big attractions outside the pulled headline event.

With that being said, a rematch between Jones and Cormier would help reignite interest in a summer card that lost a lot of its lustre after McGregor’s antics took him off the card.

White also emphasised that it looked as though Jones needed a warm-up clash before moving back into title contention, per Fox Sports:

Jones may have expected to make lighter work of Saint Preux upon making his return to the Octagon, but it already looks as though he’ll get a chance to reclaim his title belt sooner than expected.

The stars appear to be aligning for Bones to get his shot at Cormier in just three months’ time, with both fighters and the UFC ready to get the rematch collision under way.

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Just days after suggesting he was ready to hang up his gloves, Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight champion Conor McGregor has announced he has not retired.

In a lengthy post published to his official Facebook page, The Notorious explained he had become lost in the sport’s promotional duties and forgotten about the art of fighting. He then signed off with “I am not retired”:

UFC president Dana White pulled McGregor from the UFC 200 card on Tuesday because he wouldn’t promote the fight, just hours following a tweet in which McGregor said he was ready to “retire young.”

A reminder of the tweet, posted on Tuesday, that sent the mixed martial arts world, and indeed most of the sports sphere, into a frenzy:

John Kavanagh, McGregor’s coach, likened his pupil’s statement on Thursday to bible verse:

The Dubliner may see his help in promoting the UFC as reason enough to justify reinstating him on the UFC 200 card—$400 million worth of help, to be exact—but it appears there are deeper issues that need resolving.

UFC President Dana White previously addressed the notion of McGregor returning to the UFC 200 card for a rematch against Nate Diaz. He appeared on Fox’s UFC Tonight on Wednesday and said the window for that was “pretty much closed,” (h/t Yahoo’s Andreas Hale):

It isn’t about whether or not Conor McGregor is fighting at UFC 200 because it’s been announced that he’s not fighting. The big question is if he’s retired because if he is, that belt is vacant and they will fight for the title.

Friday is not the first day of promotion. All of the fighters are here right now. Ten million dollars is going to be spent on promotion and the commercial alone is going to cost $1 million. He’s already missing stuff so the window is pretty much closed.

Part and parcel with becoming one of the biggest combat sport athletes on the planet is that one’s responsibilities and obligations tend to grow in kind with their bank balance. As McGregor becomes a bigger star in the UFC and makes more money with the promotion, he may be asked to do more in his role.

White also appeared on The Herd with Colin Cowherd and insisted he was “not mad even a little bit” after being forced to take action and remove McGregor from the July 9 date in Las Vegas:

Questions will now turn to where the two parties go from here and whether the UFC would be willing to put McGregor back up for the Diaz fight as scheduled, including what that entails in regard to his promotion work.

It doesn’t appear as though the UFC is willing to bend in terms of what it demands of its fighters in regards to contract obligations. Chamatkar Sandhu of MMA Junkie said this would represent a major shift in power balance if the UFC did give McGregor any kind of special treatment:

On the other hand, if the UFC sticks to its guns and appoints a replacement to fight Diaz, McGregor will have a long wait before his next bout, scheduled to be a featherweight title defence against either Jose Aldo or Frankie Edgar.

One thing for certain is McGregor’s time in mixed martial arts, and indeed the UFC, has not reached the premature end many feared it had.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced on Wednesday that mixed martial arts veteran Lyoto Machida has tested positive for a banned substance, per the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.

The UFC released a statement via its official website and confirmed the United States Anti-Doping Agency had brought to its attention that Machida “declared the usage of a banned substance during an out-of-competition sample collection last week”:

The UFC organization was made aware today by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency  (USADA), the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, that Lyoto Machida declared the usage of a banned substance during an out-of-competition sample collection last week.

Machida stated that he was unaware that the substance was prohibited both in and out of competition and, in accordance with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, his disclosure of usage will be taken into consideration by USADA during any potential results management and adjudication process.

Machida has been removed from the UFC on Fox 19 card in Tampa, Florida, on Saturday, where he was scheduled to fight Dan Henderson. Hollywood didn’t respond well to the revelation:

Performance-enhancing drugs and doping violations have become a hot topic of discussion in mixed martial arts circles, and Wednesday’s news serves as the latest smudge on the UFC’s record when it comes to regulating banned substances.

There are no details yet regarding Machida’s positive test.  

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