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Report: Yair Rodriguez’ UFC Return Set For Stacked PPV

Once-touted featherweight star Yair Rodriguez is finally set to make his UFC return. A report broke tonight from The Los Angeles Times’ Lance Pugmire (via MMAjunkie) that the No. 11-ranked 145-pound fighter will return to action on August’s stacked UFC 227 pay-per-view from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, and it won’t be an […]

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Once-touted featherweight star Yair Rodriguez is finally set to make his UFC return.

A report broke tonight from The Los Angeles Times’ Lance Pugmire (via MMAjunkie) that the No. 11-ranked 145-pound fighter will return to action on August’s stacked UFC 227 pay-per-view from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, and it won’t be an easy comeback fight if the report proves true.

“El Pantera” will reportedly return against surging Russian prospect Zabit Magomedsharipov, marking his first match since he was dominated by former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in a one-sided, violent stoppage at UFC 211 last May.

He’ll have no easy task in the 15-1 Magomedsharipov, who won an exciting war with Kyle Bochniak in one of this year’s “Fight of the Year’ contenders at UFC 223. ‘ZaBeast’ has won all three of his UFC bouts and has arguably replaced Rodriguez as featherweight’s most touted rising challenger.

Rodriguez won his first six UFC bouts beginning with The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America, and will look to restart a journey back into the top 10 by defeating the lanky, multi-talented Magomedsharipov. Also joining UFC 227 is another reported featherweight bout between Cub Swanson and Renato Moicano. If officially confirmed, the two 145-pound match-ups will join a bantamweight title rematch between rivals TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt.

UFC 227 will also supposedly feature a lightweight match between former middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and Nate Diaz, as well as a light heavyweight bout between former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and Alexander Gustafsson, but neither fight has been officially announced.

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10 MMA Stars Who Fought The UFC In Court

Fighting an opponent in the octagon is one thing, but over the years, some mixed martial arts stars have gone one step further and taken it upon themselves to battle the UFC themselves. In this article, we’ll explore 10 such instances where big-name fighters have sought to slug it out with the sport’s leading organization […]

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Fighting an opponent in the octagon is one thing, but over the years, some mixed martial arts stars have gone one step further and taken it upon themselves to battle the UFC themselves.

In this article, we’ll explore 10 such instances where big-name fighters have sought to slug it out with the sport’s leading organization in a court of law, and often found that it can be just as grueling and painful a process as going toe-to-toe with a bitter rival in the octagon.

Mark Hunt

The fan favorite knockout artist was incensed after losing to returning superstar Brock Lesnar at UFC 200 in 2016 only to then discover that his opponent had subsequently tested positive for banned PED clomiphene, leading to him being suspended for a year and the fight being amended to a no contest.

Hunt had claimed pre-fight that Lesnar was using performance-enhancing drugs and afterward became convinced that the UFC had purposefully turned a blind eye to his opponent’s PED use in the lead-up to the fight, noting that he’d been allowed to circumnavigate a required four-month USADA testing period for all returning fighters.

As such, Hunt filed a lawsuit against UFC, Dana White and Lesnar in 2017 seeking millions of dollars in damages, accusing them of Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering, Fraud, False Pretenses, Breach of Contract, Breach of Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Duty, Negligence and Unjust Enrichment.

A few months later the UFC would join White and Lesnar’s lawyers in filing motion’s to dismiss, claiming Hunt’s suit had “an utter dearth of specific allegations,” and a failure to establish a link, “between the injury asserted and the purported injurious conduct.”

However, that motion was denied and Hunt and his legal team are now pursuing an amended lawsuit that alleges the UFC intentionally delayed announcing Lesnar’s fight with Hunt until a month before UFC 200, because he was, “using banned substances and needed additional time in order to circumvent testing procedures.”

The case has yet to be resolved, but in the meantime, Hunt has continued to fight in the UFC, while recently warning his future opponents, “if you get popped for steroids I’m suing your punk-asses!”

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Six Huge Messes The UFC Should Have Avoided

Sometimes, the UFC shoots itself in the foot with problems that were easily avoidable. Whether it’s just bad matchmaking or more nefarious issues, the UFC has gone into crisis mode more often than they’d like to admit, and it seems like its been happening with concerning regularity lately. With mainstream media attention and publicity at […]

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Sometimes, the UFC shoots itself in the foot with problems that were easily avoidable.

Whether it’s just bad matchmaking or more nefarious issues, the UFC has gone into crisis mode more often than they’d like to admit, and it seems like its been happening with concerning regularity lately.

With mainstream media attention and publicity at an all-time high, the UFC needs to learn from their mistakes of the past to ensure a better product, but even as the world’s best MMA promotion by a wide margin, they could sometimes do much better in dealing with the curveballs the notoriously volatile fight game throws their way.

We broke down the six biggest messes the UFC could have easily avoided, and the results may surprise you:

6. Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen

This match-up never made sense in the first place, yet the UFC insisted on putting it together.

They tried it at UFC 151 on short notice after Dan Henderson was forced out with a knee inury, which Jones declined. The UFC then canceled the entire card altogether.

Ignoring fate, they put on the fight at UFC 159 instead, and Jones predictably smashed Sonnen in the first round. However, Jones did break his toe in a freak accident while defending a takedown, and one wonders whether Sonnen could have won the belt had the bout gone past the first round. Jones’ big toe was completely broken in the most grotesque way; he had snagged it in a tear in the Octagon canvas.

But the writing was on the wall the entire time the UFC insisted on putting together a Jones vs. Sonnen title fight.

They tried to punish Jones for not accepting the bout on a week’s notice, yet in reality, it was the fans and other fighters on UFC 151 who were punished.

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Quote: GSP Will Return Against Conor McGregor For ‘Biggest Fight In MMA History’

Recently, former UFC middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre revealed he would return to MMA if the right opportunity to ‘elevate himself’ arose – even if it was all the way down at 155 pounds. The statement prompted speculation that “GSP” was looking for a lucrative match-up with current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, a […]

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Recently, former UFC middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre revealed he would return to MMA if the right opportunity to ‘elevate himself’ arose – even if it was all the way down at 155 pounds.

The statement prompted speculation that “GSP” was looking for a lucrative match-up with current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, a bout that many, including St-Pierre’s longtime coach Firas Zahabi, touted as potentially the biggest MMA fight of all-time.

But Zahabi then went on record shortly thereafter saying that he didn’t think the fight would actually happen.

However, there’s a prominent name in MMA who disagrees with that sentiment, and not surprisingly it’s Chael Sonnen. The former UFC title contender recently offered his opinion on his “Beyond the Fight” podcast (via MMA Junkie), stating that St-Pierre will return against McGregor and it will be the biggest fight in history:

“It will be against Conor in what will be the biggest fight in MMA history.”

The decorated MMA great returned from a nearly four-year absence late last year to submit Michael Bisping and win the 185-pound title at November’s UFC 217.

It was one of MMA’s feel-good moments at the time; however, St-Pierre incited a bit of controversy when he vacated the middleweight title shortly thereafter, claiming that he was suffering from colitis due to the increased food intake consumed to fight at 185. Several accused him of picking and choosing his fights – and finding an ‘easy’ one in Bisping – but at this point in his decorated career, it doesn’t seem like he’s trying to hide that fact.

He claimed it wasn’t only because of the money that a fight with McGregor would bring because he’s more focused on furthering his legacy at this point, yet Sonnen wasn’t buying that in the slightest.

According to ‘The American Gangster,’ St-Pierre’s saying the right things and still wants the monster payday a bout versus McGregor brings:

“Conor doesn’t have the belt, and George wants to come back, and George only wants to come back for Conor. And they both want to do this legacy and all this other … a check, guys. That’s what you’re getting in this. Forget about how we think about you in the future, let’s talk about tonight. That’s the fight.”

“Making a statement like, ‘Hey, that does nothing for me,’ that is condescending, it’s rude, it’s mean-spirited, and it’s extremely appropriate if you’re Georges St-Pierre. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want that fight.”

With McGregor still enjoying his $100 million purse to box Floyd Mayweather last August, his MMA return remains unknown – if he even returns at all.

It’s largely thought he will finally make his first defense against the winner of UFC 223’s Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov main event this April, but nothing feels guaranteed when it comes to McGregor and his ongoing contract talks with the UFC. He’s teased a rematch with Mayweather in the UFC, and there’s little doubt a super fight with St-Pierre would be the most lucrative fight the UFC could book.

But the topic of what weight class it would be at would be a minor hurdle to surpass. Sonnen believes it would be at a new weight of 165 pounds after McGregor supposedly asked the promotion to create a new belt in the class for him to save last weekend’s UFC 222 on short notice:

“I know that George would do it. He’s made that clear. And I also know contrary to what some fans will say about, ‘Well, what wait class? You can only ask Conor to go up so much.’ Georges will go down. Now that it has come out that Conor talked to Dana and wanted to do a 165-pound fight, George will go down to 165. I’ll speak for him. I’ll tell you he for sure will. I’m not speaking for him; he shared that with me. But I will pass it on to you. He will go to 165 if it means Conor.”

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Georges St-Pierre Confirms He Could Return At Lightweight

Legendary former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre made one of MMA’s legitimate feel-good moments when he came back from four years off to win the middleweight title from Michael Bisping at last November’s UFC 217 from New York. Questions arose about his chances fighting up a class he’d never competed in before, but St-Pierre answered […]

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Questions arose about his chances fighting up a class he’d never competed in before, but St-Pierre answered those with a resounding display of striking and wrestling, perhaps fighting at a level even he had never attained despite being regarded as one of the finest mixed martial artists of all-time.

But that success came with a dire price, and he ultimately had to vacate the 185-pound title when he suffered a bout of colitis from the increased diet he ate in order to keep weight on at middleweight. So he vacated the title hardly a month after he won it, drawing some criticism that he only came back for an ‘easy fight’ in Bisping and never planned on defending the title.

He’s been quiet ever since, yet St-Pierre appeared on The MMA Hour today to discuss his fighting future with Ariel Helwani.

Noting that he could have kept the belt if he really wanted to, he instead chose to let the division move forward instead of costing his fellow athletes a chance to improve their standing:

“I could have kept the title for one year, walked around with and take the sponsors. And I could be in the spotlight, say I’m the champion. The truth is I don’t know, I knew I had a condition, I knew I would probably lose weight because I was forcing myself to eat like crazy; it’s not how I eat,

“I had a lot of water retention, not at my natural weight and it’s not a healthy way of living. The reason I vacated the title is because I did not want to put the division on hold. I didn’t want people to wait for me. Even though I could’ve done it, I didn’t want to be that guy. I have always been very vocal about fights, being for the fighter’s conditions and I didn’t want to be the guy who stalled the division. Because everyone’s trying to make money and a living. That’s why I vacated the title.”

While he won a classic bout in his return, his fighting future was thrust into unsure territory yet again, and that was only further clouded when he said he also didn’t defend the middleweight title because he didn’t know what weight he’d be fighting at when he returned.

In his eyes, it could be at 185 or 170 – or even down at 155 pounds:

“As far as if I will defend it or not, I don’t know where my weight will be when I will get back. Like, I don’t know if I will be 185, or 170, maybe even 155, you know?”

In doing so, he potentially confirmed he would return, something that Helwani asked him about him immediately.

St-Pierre said he would most likely return to fighting after his health improved:

“I think so, I think I will fight again. It just depends on my health condition and everything. It’s too soon to say now, but I feel much better now than what I did after my fight. I always prioritized my health over my performance. And I knew something was wrong with my body, and I don’t feel right in my own skin,”

If he does return, however, he wants it to be for a fight that elevates him even further into the public eye, no easy task based on his prior body of work. After so many high-profile bouts where he was the hunted, he now wants a fight where he has a lot to win as well:

“If I fight, it needs to be something that excites me, something that elevates me. The fight with Michael Bisping was a big risk, but he had the potential to elevate me as a fighter and my legacy,” said St-Pierre. “That’s why I took the fight, it was a great opportunity, a win-win opportunity. I could have lost and it could have been a disaster. But I was confident I put the work in and it would’ve been win-win. I had a lot to win, and a lot to lose. If I come back, there has to be a lot to win for me, not just a lot to lose.”

I’m no psychic, but the talk of a fight where he has ‘a lot to win’ after fighting a whos who of mixed martial arts talent for the past decade coupled with his hint at a move to lightweight could mean he wants one fight – the elusive payday against current UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor.

McGregor’s tentatively set to come back against the winner of Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223, or maybe he’ll fight Floyd Mayweather in the Octagon, or perhaps he’ll even finish his oft-discussed trilogy with Nate Diaz, making his queue quite full for a man who doesn’t seem in a hurry to fight again.

St-Pierre will have to wait in line, but if he can get it, there’s not much doubt it could be the biggest fight in UFC history.

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UFC Rankings Update: Ronda Rousey Stays Put Despite Move To WWE

After an extremely quiet event last weekend in UFC on FOX 27, which brought in the lowest television numbers ever for the series, the focus of the activity for this week’s official UFC rankings is actually on two fighters who may never fight in the UFC again. Former welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre was […]

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Former welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre was finally removed from the 185-pound rankings after vacating the belt roughly a month after winning it from Michael Bisping at November’s UFC 217. The MMA great cited a bout with colitis as a result of the increased diet needed to move up to middleweight, and with his coaches claiming he might take two more years off or even retire, his status in the UFC remains tenuous.

‘Rush’ stayed but also dropped on the pound-for-pound rankings, coming in at No. 6 after falling three spots.

One storied champion who didn’t fall out the rankings even though there wasfor more reason for her to was former women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Rousey made her debut appearance with pro-wrestling giant WWE at their Royal Rumble pay-per-view event last Sunday, noting afterward that ‘was her life’ for the next several years.

But even though she’s now competing in sports entertainment and have given absolutely no indication she would ever return after two consecutive knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, Rousey somehow stayed pat on the women’s bantamweight rankings at No. 9.

Perhaps it’s wishful thinking.

Anyway, here are the fully updated rankings via UFC.com:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Daniel Cormier +1
4 Stipe Miocic +2
4 Max Holloway
6 Georges St-Pierre -3
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Cris Cyborg
10 Tony Ferguson
11 Cody Garbrandt
12 Robert Whittaker
13 Amanda Nunes
14 Khabib Nurmagomedov
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 -1
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 Bryan Caraway
8 John Dodson
9 Aljamain Sterling
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Rob Font
12 Thomas Almeida
13 Eddie Wineland
14 Brett Johns
15 Matthew Lopez

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

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 Beneil Dariush
12 James Vick
13 Anthony Pettis
14 Francisco Trinaldo -1
15 Evan Dunham

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 Neil Magny
9 Kamaru Usman
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Carlos Condit
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Dong Hyun Kim
15 Yancy Medeiros

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

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

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Fabricio Werdum
4 Cain Velasquez
5 Mark Hunt
6 Derrick Lewis
7 Alexander Volkov
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Curtis Blaydes
10 Stefan Struve
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Andrei Arlovski
13 Junior Albini
14 Travis Browne
15 Tim Johnson

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 +1
9 Cynthia Calvillo -1
10 Alexa Grasso
11 Randa Markos
12 Cortney Casey
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Maryna Moroz
15 Tatiana Suarez

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

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

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