The Nevada State Athletic Commission extended the temporary suspension of UFC fighters Kyler Phillips and Darrius Flowers | Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
NSAC extends temporary suspensions of Darrius Flowers and K…
The Nevada State Athletic Commission extended the temporary suspension of UFC fighters Kyler Phillips and Darrius Flowers | Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
NSAC extends temporary suspensions of Darrius Flowers and Kyler Phillips.
Two UFC fighters had their temporary suspensions extended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) during Tuesday’s monthly meeting.
Darrius Flowers was scheduled to face Erick Gonzalez in a lightweight bout at UFC Vegas 70, but he was pulled from that fight in mid-February. Reports at the time indicated Flowers was off the card for unknown reasons.
During Tuesday’s NSAC meeting, Deputy Attorney General Joel Becker said Flowers “submitted to a urinalysis, the results of which reflected the presence of ostarine, a quote, other anabolic agent, banned under the latest WADA list. The testing of respondent’s B sample confirmed the results… Executive director (Jeffrey) Mullen temporarily suspended respondent’s license on February 27th, 2023, and it’s now being requested that this suspension be continued pending resolution of the formal disciplinary action.”
Flowers was to make his UFC debut on the UFC Vegas 70 card. He scored a Rd 1 TKO win over Amiran Gogoladze on a Dana White Contender Series card in August 2022 to earn his UFC contract.
The other fighter who had his NSAC suspension extended was Kyler Phillips.
Phillips was slated to face Raphael Assuncao on the UC Vegas 71 fight card in March. Phillips was pulled from the card for undisclosed reasons as well, back in February, and replaced by Davey Grant.
According to Becker, “respondent submitted to a urinalysis, the result of which reflected the presence of ostarine, again, a quote, other anabolic agent under the latest WADA list. Testing of respondent’s B sample again confirmed the results. Based on these results. executive director Mullen temporarily suspended respondent’s license on March 1st, 2023, and is now being requested that this suspension be continued pending resolution of the form of disciplinary action.”
Phillips last fought in February 2022, defeating Marcel Rojo via third-round submission at UFC 271. Phillips has been with the UFC since February 2020.
The commission voted to extend the suspensions of both fighters and informed Flowers and Phillips of the disciplinary complaints against them. The NSAC will likely look to make a final ruling on both cases in the next few months.
Neither Phillips nor Flowers have made a public statement about their suspensions at this time.
Dana White holds Conor McGregor back during a staredown for UFC 264. | Photo By Thomas King/Sportsfile via Getty Images
The UFC president won’t be happy until all the MMA media coverage of his promotion is positive. If t…
Dana White holds Conor McGregor back during a staredown for UFC 264. | Photo By Thomas King/Sportsfile via Getty Images
The UFC president won’t be happy until all the MMA media coverage of his promotion is positive.
If there’s one thing UFC president Dana White has been consistent about over the past few years, it is his disdain for any reporting that fails to promote the UFC, himself, or the mission of the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion.
Back in February, White initially dismissed questions about the UFC sacking athletes from the current season of The Ultimate Fighter—the day before filming for the show began—as a favor to superstar talent Conor McGregor with a terse, “I have no idea. Who gives a s—t?”
Seconds after that rebuke, however, he changed tack, essentially confirming that McGregor received some treatment above and beyond what the UFC has afforded other TUF coaches over the years.
“These stories that come out of these things… heard something earlier tonight, too, said White. “We’re working on all this stuff, and you’re trying to get guys to commit to coach… to do the coaching commitment. Especially if you live in Ireland, yeah, Conor’s gonna get some things that he wants.
“Nobody lost an opportunity here. If there were guys that were booked to do that, we’ll do something with them… It’s not just like, ‘Hey, see you later, pal. Good luck to ya. Have a good life.’ We’ll figure it out, we’ll take care of these guys.”
Two weeks ago, White cleared up any confusion about the issue, telling Pat McAfee that McGregor was allowed to bring fighters with him—(again) after the original set of competitors were already in Las Vegas before filming—and place them on TUF.
“That just happened recently where Conor McGregor was going to coach this season of The Ultimate Fighter and he’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it, but I’m bringing two guys that I want to make it right onto the show.’ Then, of course, the f-cking media [says], ‘Oh, that’s not fair, and what happened to those guys?’ Shut the f-ck up. So we’ll take care of the guys that aren’t on it, and this is what Conor wants, we’ll give it to him,” said White.
The whole circus represents a well-worn tactic with White—to lead with a knee-jerk denial of whatever narrative he feels media might be pushing, only to circle around later and confirm the story. It’s easy form of spin that says, essentially, whatever the facts may be, the media has got it wrong. Even, as it turns out, if they’ve got it right.
The problem isn’t with the quality of reporting, but with the very idea of reporting something at all.
Justin Gaethje earned his first career UFC takedown in the co-main event of UFC 286 | Photo by Kieran Cleeves/PA Images via Getty Images
A running tally of important stats and records for all UFC events in 2023 After his…
Justin Gaethje earned his first career UFC takedown in the co-main event of UFC 286 | Photo by Kieran Cleeves/PA Images via Getty Images
A running tally of important stats and records for all UFC events in 2023
After his majority decision win over Rafael Fiziev, Justin Gaethje had a couple of messages he wanted to deliver. The first was that he expects to make one more run at the UFC lightweight belt before he hangs up his gloves and his unofficial “most exciting fighter in the UFC” title. The second was that he doesn’t want to hear about his lack of takedowns again.
“I got my takedown, and everybody can shut the f—k up now,” Gaethje told UFC commentator Daniel Cormier after the fight before adding, “I’m taking one more run at the title, but I ain’t gonna be around much longer. So I’m so glad you guys got to enjoy this with me.”
Following Gaethje’s “Fight of the Night” battle with Fiziev, Leon Edwards successfully defended his UFC welterweight title with a majority decision win over the man he took the belt from, Kamaru Usman.
Before both those contests, UFC veteran Gunnar Nelson put his name in the promotional record books with his UFC welterweight record seventh submission win. Nelson forced a tap from Bryan Barberena in the first round of their 170-pound scrap.
UFC 286’s main card streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and early prelims on ESPN+.
Below, we look at all the significant UFC stats for 2023.
Shortest Five-Round Fight: Jon Jones submits Ciryl Gane at 2:04 of Round 1 via guillotine choke at UFC 285.
Shortest Three-Round Fight: Rinya Nakamura KOs Toshiomi Kazama at 0:33 of Round 1 via punch to head at distance at UFC Vegas 68.
Latest Finish in a Three-Round Fight: Davey Grant submits Raphael Assuncao via inverted triangle from bottom side control at 4:43 of Round 3 at UFC Vegas 71.
Most Takedowns Landed: Loik Radzhabov lands 11 takedowns on 21 attempts vs. Esteban Ribovics at UFC 285 and Merab Dvalishvili lands 11 takedowns on 49 attempts vs. Petr Yan (five round fight) at UFC Vegas 71.
Most Submission Attempts: HyunSung Park three submission attempts against SeungGuk Choi, Jimmy Crutethree submission attempts against Alonzo Menifield, Clayton Carpenter with three submission attempts vs. Juancamilo Ronderos and Joe Solecki with three submission attempts vs. Carl Deaton.
Most Knockdowns Landed: Rinya Nakamura scores two knockdowns on Toshiomi Kazama , Alonzo Menifield scores two knockdowns on Jimmy Crute and Trevor Peek with two knockdowns vs. Erick Gonzalez.
Most Significant Strikes Landed in a Three-Round Fight: Jessica Andrade lands 231 of 369 significant strike attempts in unanimous decision win over Lauren Murphy.
Shutouts: Serghei Spivac prevents Derrick Lewis from landing any strikes or takedowns during their UFC Vegas 68 main event fight.
First career UFC takedown: Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev at UFC 268.
Jon Jones became the eighth double-champion in UFC history.
Jon Jones broke his own UFC record with 15 title fight wins.
Shavkat Rakhmonov became the first UFC welterweight to open his run with the promotion with five straight finishes.
Jamahal Hill lands 232 significant strikes in a UFC light heavyweight fight for a new UFC LHW single-fight record. Hill defeated Glover Teixeira to by unanimous decision to win the UFC light heavyweight title.
Jessica Andrade lands 231 significant strikes in a UFC women’s flyweight fight for a new UFC women’s flyweight record. Andrade defeated Lauren Murphy via unanimous decision.
Jessica Andrade tied Amanda Nunes for most wins in women’s UFC history with her 15th victory with the promotion.
Jim Miller participated in his 41st fight in the UFC. Andrei Arlovski is second to Miller with 39 UFC bouts.
With his one submission attempt vs. Alexander Hernandez, Jim Miller has the most submission attempts in UFC history with 47. Charles Oliveira is second with 40 submission attempts.
Jim Miller has 38 fights in the UFC lightweight division. Three other fighters: Clay Guida, Gleison Tibau and Joe Lauzon are tied for second with 27 fighters each.
Jim Miller has 6:18:59 of UFC lightweight fight time. Clay Guida is second with 5:10:50.
Jim Miller has 44 submission attempts in UFC lightweight fights. Joe Lauzon is second with 29.
Erin Blanchfield has a control time percentage of 55.4 percent in UFC flyweight fights. Taila Santos is second with 46.3 percent.
Erin Blanchfield has a top position percentage of 48.6 percent in UFC flyweight fights. Gillian Robertson is second at 41.9 percent.
Erin Blanchfield averages 1.57 submissions per 15 minutes of UFC women’s flyweight fight time. Taila Santos is second at 1.5.
Mayra Bueno Silva secures first kneebar submission in UFC women’s bantamweight history.
Gunnar Nelson sets UFC welterweight record with seven career submission wins.
Dana White and the UFC have an opportunity to address MMA’s homophobic fans | Photo by Amy Kaplan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The UFC has another opportunity to do more than just Rainbow Capitalism. With the focus o…
Dana White and the UFC have an opportunity to address MMA’s homophobic fans | Photo by Amy Kaplan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The UFC has another opportunity to do more than just Rainbow Capitalism.
With the focus of the MMA world turning from UFC 286, now would be a good time for the UFC to address the image they want to portray and the bigoted portion of its fan base.
UFC fighter Jeff Molina publicly came out as bi last week after he was outed online. Molina received an outpouring of support on his social media post addressing the circumstances of his coming out. Unfortunately, the flyweight fighter, who is on a 10-fight winning streak — three with the UFC — also received a deluge of hateful comments.
With Molina being a UFC fighter, the promotion has the opportunity to address a long-standing issue that raises its head too often among MMA fans, and that is the harassment and abuse that a far too large number of those fans are comfortable spewing.
The UFC has taken steps to align itself with the LGBTQIA+ community through its “We Are All Fighters” tee shirts and fight kits. However, the promotion has often let its fighters slide without repercussions for their free use of anti-queer slurs outside of UFC president Dana White calling the language “a problem” and “something we need to focus on.”
Nearly six years have passed since White said those words. If he and the UFC want to address the issue, why not now? Especially since White threw his support behind the idea of a male UFC fighter coming out as far back as 2011.
If the UFC is looking for a blueprint to follow, the U.S. Soccer team addressed the issue (along with racism, which the UFC could also stand to speak up on) in 2021, telling fans who made “racist, homophobic, vulgar or disrespectful comments while hiding behind the anonymity of social media, you are not a true fan and you are not welcome. Ever.”
There is no room for racist, homophobic, vulgar or disrespectful comments while hiding behind the anonymity of a social media. You are not a true fan and you are not welcome. EVER.
Another example for the UFC would be to look at what the San Jose Sharks organization did during a recent game, using its social media feed to “offer information and facts about LGBTQIA+ topics” instead of its normal in-game content.
The UFC has an opportunity here to take advantage of the moment and turn the negativity of Molina being outed against his will into a positive. However, this isn’t the first time they’ve had this opportunity (and whiffed at it)…
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Gunnar Nelson’s armbar submission of Bryan Barberena at UFC 286 gave him a new UFC welterweight record. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
A deep dive into the statistics from UFC 286: Edwards vs. Usman 3…
Gunnar Nelson’s armbar submission of Bryan Barberena at UFC 286 gave him a new UFC welterweight record. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
A deep dive into the statistics from UFC 286: Edwards vs. Usman 3
The UFC returned to London, England’s 02 Arena for the first time in nearly a year for Saturday’s UFC 286 pay-per-view card. In the evening’s main event, Leon Edwards defended his welterweight title in a trilogy bout against the man he knocked out to earn that belt, Kamaru Usman.
In that matchup, Edwards put together what might go down as the best performance of his career — outside a fence grab that cost him a point. The UFC welterweight title holder was an improved version of the fighter who scored a late knockout over Usman at UFC 278 in August.
In the co-main event, Justin Gaethje held on to his unofficial title as the most exciting fighter in the UFC with a bloody, violent, and unexpected jab-heavy (late in the fight) decision win over Rafael Fiziev. With his victory, Gaethje served notice that he remains in the mix for another run at the UFC lightweight title.
Also worth noting is that Gaethje secured his first takedown as a member of the UFC roster late in the third round of his matchup opposite Fiziev.
Before the two headlining bouts, Gunnar Nelson landed in the UFC record books with his submission win over Bryan Barberena. With his armbar victory, Nelson broke his tie with Chris Lytle and Demian Maia for most UFC welterweight submission wins.
Below, we take a deep dive into the stats from the event. UFC 286’s main card streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims ESPNews and early prelims on ESPN+.
Dana White said Colby Covington deserves a UFC welterweight title fight vs. Leon Edwards following UFC 286
Colby Covington doesn’t deserve a shot at Leon Edwards’ welterweight title – and the UFC knows that The word “des…
Dana White said Colby Covington deserves a UFC welterweight title fight vs. Leon Edwards following UFC 286
Colby Covington doesn’t deserve a shot at Leon Edwards’ welterweight title – and the UFC knows that
The word “deserves” did some heavy lifting for the UFC during Saturday’s UFC 286 post-fight press conference.
According to the organization’s president, Dana White, who has often said he doesn’t matchmake on fight night, UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards will face Colby Covington in his next title defense. Why? Well, according to White, because he “deserves” it.
And what did Covington do to deserve that matchup, which Edwards doesn’t seem interested in considering? In White’s words, “Colby came here and cut weight and did everything to be here for this fight.”
That statement, which the assembled UFC access media seemed to accept as gospel, has some Chunnel-sized holes.
