Tag: Frankie Edgar vs. Brian Ortega

Coach: Conor McGregor ‘Puts Max Holloway Away’ In Rematch

Conor McGregor is still on the sidelines reaping the monetary windfall of his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather last year, but his longtime striking coach is still speculating about a fight that’s most likely far off. McGregor has been linked to a rematch with Mayweather in the UFC octagon, but his most likely return bout […]

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Conor McGregor is still on the sidelines reaping the monetary windfall of his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather last year, but his longtime striking coach is still speculating about a fight that’s most likely far off.

McGregor has been linked to a rematch with Mayweather in the UFC octagon, but his most likely return bout (at least hopefully) is an awaited title unification bout with the winner of April 7’s Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov UFC 223 main event.

With featherweight champion Max Holloway, whom McGregor outlasted by unanimous decision at 2013’s UFC Fight Night 26, apparently owning the inactive ‘Notorious’ on social media as of late, McGregor’s longtime striking coach Owen Roddy discussed a potential rematch with ‘Blessed’ during a recent spot on Submission Radio (transcribed by MMA Fighting) and offered a less-than-surprising prediction.

According to Roddy, Holloway, who won the featherweight title from legendary champion Jose Aldo last June and defended it against him again last December, is now a bit overconfident in his skills and would ‘go to sleep’ were he to face McGregor again:

“I think Conor would probably put Max away,” Roddy said. “I think Max would probably be way more confident in his ability, and if you go in there a little bit overconfident with Conor you’re gonna go to sleep. Whereas, he was a little bit more… he stood back in the first fight — and obviously Conor injured himself, he couldn’t put him away — but yeah, I think it would be a great fight.

“Max has done, he’s done so well since the Conor fight. He’s been on a tear, and even John Kavanagh said it back in the day, he called that Max would have been the next champion after that fight with Conor. You could see it in Max, and I think everyone sees it. He’s a great fighter, but I think Conor’s on another level compared to him as well.”

conor mcgregor ufc 178
Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

McGregor was briefly linked to a supposed short-notice bout with Franke Edgar after Holloway was forced out of March 3’s UFC 222 with a leg injury, but the validity of him offering his services at the last minute was disputed by Edgar’s manager Al Abdel-Aziz, who claimed McGregor wanted the UFC to book him for a new 165-pound belt in order to compete on the card.

Roddy disputed that and said McGregor was excited to potentially fight Edgar, and indeed the infamous Irish superstar has claimed he will return to fight again because he’s ‘the best.’

With many doubting – and growing extremely tired of – his boasts as his streak without a title defense pushes closer to three years, McGregor and his camp seemingly need to give fans something of substance rather than endless interviews claiming he would beat this or that top contender.

As Dana White loves to say, we’ll see what happens.

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UFC Rankings Update: Brian Ortega Surpasses Jose Aldo After Huge Knockout

The UFC held their third pay-per-view (PPV) event of the year with last weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and several pivotal rankings changes resulted. The most notable shift undoubtedly went to surging featherweight contender Brian Ortega, who overtook the No. 1 spot at 145 pounds for […]

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The UFC held their third pay-per-view (PPV) event of the year with last weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and several pivotal rankings changes resulted.

The most notable shift undoubtedly went to surging featherweight contender Brian Ortega, who overtook the No. 1 spot at 145 pounds for his scintillating knockout of UFC great Frankie Edgar.

Previously ranked at No. 3 following his submission of Cub Swanson, Ortega pushed longtime former champion Jose Aldo out of the top spot, dropping him to No. 2 and Edgar to No. 3. The previously No. 3-ranked ‘T-City’ filled in for injured champion Max Holloway against Edgar at UFC 222, and will now move on to a title bout with “Blessed” according to UFC president Dana White.

In other rankings movement, former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski rose two spots after a surprisingly wrestling-focused win over Stefan Struve on the main card. Struve fell two spots to No. 12. Debuting lightweight Alexander Hernandez stormed on to the Top 15 with his explosive first-round knockout over previous No. 12 Beneil Dariush, debuting at No. 13 while allowing Anthony Pettis to rise to 12 and dropping Dariush to 15.

John Dodson rose up a spot to No. 7 at bantamweight after a close win over Pedro Munhoz, and Bryan Caraway dropped two spots to No. 9 after a split decision loss to Cody Stamann, who debuted on the 135-pound rankings at No. 12. Finally, at women’s bantamweight, rising contender Ketlen Vieira moved up a spot to No. 4 after her decision win over No. 6 Cat Zingano while writers continue to rank Ronda Rousey, even though she fell two spots, despite her clearly being a WWE-employed pro wrestler.

Here are the fully updated rankings from the official UFC website:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Daniel Cormier
4 Stipe Miocic
5 Max Holloway
6 Georges St-Pierre
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Cris Cyborg
10 Tony Ferguson
11 Robert Whittaker
12 Khabib Nurmagomedov +2
12 Cody Garbrandt
14 Amanda Nunes -1
15 Joanna Jedrzejczyk

FLYWEIGHT
Champion : Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 Wilson Reis
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Ben Nguyen
9 Dustin Ortiz
10 John Moraga
11 Matheus Nicolau
12 Tim Elliott
13 Alexandre Pantoja
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 John Dodson +1
8 Aljamain Sterling +1
9 Bryan Caraway -2
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Rob Font
12 Cody Stamann *NR
13 Thomas Almeida -1
14 Brett Johns -1
15 Eddie Wineland -1

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion : Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega +2
2 Jose Aldo -1
3 Frankie Edgar -1
4 Cub Swanson
5 Jeremy Stephens
6 Josh Emmett
7 Ricardo Lamas
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Darren Elkins
10 Yair Rodriguez
11 Renato Moicano
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Calvin Kattar +1
14 Dooho Choi -1
15 Myles Jury

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion : Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Dustin Poirier
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Kevin Lee
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis +1
13 Alexander Hernandez *NR
14 Evan Dunham
15 Beneil Dariush -3

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion : Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Darren Till
8 Kamaru Usman
9 Neil Magny
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Carlos Condit
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Dong Hyun Kim
15 Leon Edwards

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion : Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Jacare Souza
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Chris Weidman
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Uriah Hall
10 Vitor Belfort
11 Thiago Santos
12 Lyoto Machida
13 Krzysztof Jotko
14 Paulo Costa
15 Brad Tavares

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion : Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Jimi Manuwa
5 Ilir Latifi
6 Ovince Saint Preux
7 Mauricio Rua
8 Misha Cirkunov
9 Corey Anderson
10 Patrick Cummins
11 Jan Blachowicz
12 Tyson Pedro
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Gian Villante
15 Jordan Johnson *NR

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion : Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Fabricio Werdum
4 Cain Velasquez
5 Curtis Blaydes
6 Derrick Lewis
6 Mark Hunt
8 Alexander Volkov
9 Marcin Tybura
10 Andrei Arlovski +2
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Stefan Struve -2
13 Junior Albini -1
14 Tai Tuivasa -1
15 Shamil Abdurakhimov *NR

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion : Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Cynthia Calvillo
10 Alexa Grasso
11 Cortney Casey +1
12 Randa Markos -1
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Tatiana Suarez
15 Nina Ansaroff

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion : Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Roxanne Modafferi
6 Barb Honchak
7 Liz Carmouche
8 Katlyn Chookagian
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Montana De La Rosa
12 Rachael Ostovich
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Paige VanZant
15 Shana Dobson

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Raquel Pennington
3 Julianna Pena
4 Ketlen Vieira +1
5 Germaine de Randamie -1
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Bethe Correia
10 Leslie Smith -1
11 Aspen Ladd +1
12 Lucie Pudilova +1
13 Ronda Rousey -2
14 Irene Aldana
15 Sarah Moras

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Frankie Edgar Reacts To First-Ever Knockout Loss At UFC 222

A shocking changing of the guard took place at this past Saturday night’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas when surging contender Brian Ortega knocked out longtime mainstay Frankie Edgar in the co-main event. Ortega had been stellar throughout his entire unbeaten six-fight UFC run, but few thought he […]

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A shocking changing of the guard took place at this past Saturday night’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas when surging contender Brian Ortega knocked out longtime mainstay Frankie Edgar in the co-main event.

Ortega had been stellar throughout his entire unbeaten six-fight UFC run, but few thought he would handle “The Answer” with such ease – especially on the feet considering he was mainly hyped for his stellar Brazilian jiu-jitsu skill.

Edgar was doing well early on, using his trademark movement to land accurate punches on a much bigger Ortega, yet none of them had close to the impact that “T-City’s” eventual lead elbow and the uppercut that followed to drop Edgar like we’ve never seen before did. The loss was a majorly brutal one for Edgar, a throwback fighter who never even considered not taking the fight after champion Max Holloway pulled out of their originally scheduled title fight because he most likely could have waited for Holloway a second time.

The fact that he didn’t is a testament to his true fighting spirit, win or lose, and he’s not going to stop doing that just because he was sent packing.

Edgar’s longtime boxing coach was at the head of a deserved outpouring of support, issuing a statement of full support and praise for the UFC great, and earlier today, the fighter himself addressed the loss. Always classy, Edgar gave his props to Ortega and vowed he’d be back to put it on the line again:

The former lightweight champ deserves a measure of respect for taking a fight in which he had everything to lose and his only reward was the positioning he had already earned, yet there’s no doubt it’s a big setback for a 36-year-old fighter in a division that’s undergone a major youth movement in the past two years thanks to Holloway and Ortega.

But the iron-willed Edgar is far from done.

The time may be now for Edgar to make a long-rumored move down to 135 pounds if he can because he was towered over by “T-City” in Las Vegas.

Many high-profile fights could await him there, and it could also be a much shorter path to one last title run if he decided he could cut the weight.

He’s fallen short in two featherweight title fights and had two more fall apart due to injury, but a final 145-pound push isn’t out of the question for one of the UFC’s most consistently excellent fighters of all-time.

Where, or whom, do you think Edgar should fight next?

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Frankie Edgar’s Coach Releases Statement On KO Loss To Brian Ortega

Frankie Edgar was finished for the first time at UFC 222 on Saturday night after an elbow and a vicious uppercut by Brian Ortega ended the co-main event in the first round. The finish came just over three minutes into the frame and sent shockwaves throughout the collective mixed martial arts universe. After taking a […]

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Frankie Edgar was finished for the first time at UFC 222 on Saturday night after an elbow and a vicious uppercut by Brian Ortega ended the co-main event in the first round.

The finish came just over three minutes into the frame and sent shockwaves throughout the collective mixed martial arts universe.

After taking a huge risk in facing Ortega and suffering a vicious loss, the former UFC lightweight champion’s coach took to social media to issue a statement and lift Edgar up after what amounts to be the lowest point of his storied career:

“You’re beyond blessed in your life if you’ve had the privilege to meet one great person in your life. I’m talking about someone who impacts just thousands around him and changes and impacts your life for the better. It’s been an absolute miracle in my almost 50 years to have had two of these amazing men in my life. My father in law Pino and my little brother Frankie Edgar.”

You're beyond Blessed in your life if you've had the privilege to meet 1 great person in your life. I'm talking about someone who impacts just thousands around him and changes and impacts your life for the better. It been a absolute miracle in my almost 50 years to have had 2 of these amazing men in my life. My father in law Pino and my little brother @frankieedgar. Even though I'm a lot older than Frankie, he has taught me way more lessons in life than I could have ever taught him. Besides being an incredible son, brother, father, husband, friend, general, mentor, champion, teammate and example to millions, I can't thank him enough for being the most incredible example to my son for the past 13 years. So hard in these times to find a great role model for your kids these days and I've been Blessed beyond belief to have had this man be an example to what is dearest to me. Forget this fight stuff there's way bigger things in life and it's a GUARANTEE FE will be back stronger than ever!! Congratulations to Brian Ortega and his amazing team. Brian's awesome example to kids. Thanks so much to everyone for always giving love and respect to our Champ. ??

A post shared by Mark Henry (@mark_henry7) on

Henry has been an integral part of Edgar’s team for the majority of his UFC career, winning the lightweight title from BJ Penn back in 2010.

Edgar was initially supposed to fight featherweight champion Max Holloway, but opted to take the Ortega fight when the champion became unavailable.

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Five Best Fights To Make After UFC 222

UFC 222 last night (March 3, 2018) from Las Vegas, Nev., had a little bit of everything. From young prospects upsetting established veterans to a dominant performance by the women’s featherweight champion, Saturday night was a barnburner. Brian Ortega did the unthinkable by becoming the first man to finish Frankie Edgar in his entire career, […]

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UFC 222 last night (March 3, 2018) from Las Vegas, Nev., had a little bit of everything.

From young prospects upsetting established veterans to a dominant performance by the women’s featherweight champion, Saturday night was a barnburner.

Brian Ortega did the unthinkable by becoming the first man to finish Frankie Edgar in his entire career, Cyborg proved why there’s only one fight that makes sense for her, and surging newcomer Sean O’Malley showed some serious heart after appearing to break his leg against Andre  Soukhamthath.

On a night full of intriguing, unique action, some great potential bouts arose for the immediate future. We broke down the five best fights to make after UFC 222 here:

5. Andrei Arlovski vs. Winner of Fabricio Werdum vs. Alexander Volkov

Arlovski keeps plugging along in the heavyweight division, and now he’s riding a two-fight win streak after defeating Stefan Struve on the main card of UFC 222.

While both men offered tepid performances, Arlovski still won, so he lives to see another day within the Octagon. He’s had a rough go with the top of the division, but it’s a shallow one.

Still, he’s on a two-fight win streak, so a fight with the winner of March 17’s Fabricio Werdum vs. Alexander Volkov main event in London makes sense for the former champion. Werdum, a former champion himself, or Volkov, who beat Struve by knockout in his last fight, is the best possible match-up for Arlovski at this stage of his career.

Werdum or Volkov gets the chance to add another big name to their list of vanquished enemies, or Arlovski wins and begins another improbable win streak.

Either way, it’s the fight to make.

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Dana White Reacts To Brian Ortega’s Shocking Knockout Of Frankie Edgar

Surging featherweight star Brian Ortega shocked the MMA world when he knocked out Frankie Edgar (highlights here) in the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, nailing “The Answer” with a vicious elbow and an absolutely beautiful uppercut to seal the deal. Becoming the first […]

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Surging featherweight star Brian Ortega shocked the MMA world when he knocked out Frankie Edgar (highlights here) in the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, nailing “The Answer” with a vicious elbow and an absolutely beautiful uppercut to seal the deal.

Becoming the first man to ever finish Edgar, Ortega capitalized on the biggest opportunity of his career after taking the fight on short notice when champ Max Holloway was forced out of the original UFC 222 main event against Edgar. The sheer scope of the exhilarating win left the previously No. 3-ranked jiu-jitsu wiz with no options but a title shot against ‘Blessed.’

After the fight, Dana White discussed Ortega’s knockout on the FOX Sports 1-aired post-fight show with Megan Olivi, noting that he surprised everyone by using his hands rather than his vaunted jiu-jitsu:

Yeah, and to do it with punches. You know, you’d expect Ortega to win, you expect him to do it by submission, but he finishes him with punches. It just sets up an incredible match-up between Ortega and Holloway, so, that’s next.”

White gave praise to the legendary Edgar, adding that he was highly confident wanted to fight again after facing Ortega. A star was born, however, and the UFC’s top man continued the praise of his rising 145-pound talent:

“Well, listen, Frankie Edgar is so tough, man, and he’s been in there with everybody, and I now he was very confident for this fight. He wanted to turn around again right after this fight and fight again. And, uh, you know, you found out tonight that Ortega’s for real. If you didn’t believe it in the Cub Swanson fight, you know it now.”

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