The UFC returns to pay-per-view (PPV) tonight (Sat. September 9, 2017) from the Rogers Place arena in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada for UFC 215. The card was set to be headlined by a flyweight title defense from champion Demetrious Johnson against No. 3-ranked Ray Borg, however, Borg was forced to withdraw from the bout due to […]
The UFC returns to pay-per-view (PPV) tonight (Sat. September 9, 2017) from the Rogers Place arena in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada for UFC 215.
The card was set to be headlined by a flyweight title defense from champion Demetrious Johnson against No. 3-ranked Ray Borg, however, Borg was forced to withdraw from the bout due to an illness and the fight is expected to be rescheduled soon. In its place, a women’s bantamweight title bout between champion Amanda Nunes and No. 1-ranked Valentina Shevchenko will close out the night.
Also on the card is a welterweight match-up between Neil Magny and former UFC lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos. Former 125-pound title challengers Henry Cejudo and Wilson Reis will also be going head-to-head, and former 155-pound title challenger Gilbert Melendez makes his return to the Octagon in his 145-pound debut against the heavy-handed Jeremy Stephens.
Tonight is sure to be a great night of fights, and you can check out the full fight card, start times, and information on how to watch UFC 215 here:
Main Card (10 P.M. ET PPV)
Women’s bantamweight: (C) Amanda Nunes (135) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (133.5)
Welterweight: Rafael dos Anjos (170) vs. Neil Magny (169.5)
Flyweight: Henry Cejudo (125.5) vs. Wilson Reis (125)
Light heavyweight: Ilir Latifi (205.5) vs. Tyson Pedro (205.5)
Featherweight: Gilbert Melendez (146) vs. Jeremy Stephens (146)
Preliminary Card (8 P.M. ET FS1)
Women’s bantamweight: Sara McMann (135.5) vs. Ketlen Vieira (136)
Women’s bantamweight: Ashlee Evans-Smith (135.5) vs. Sarah Moras (135)
Featherweight: Rick Glenn (145.5) vs. Gavin Tucker (145.5)
Lightweight: Mitch Clarke (155.5) vs. Alex White (155.5)
UFC Fight Pass Exclusive Prelims (7 P.M. ET)
Heavyweight: Arjan Bhullar (239) vs. Luis Henrique (244.5)
Lightweight: Kajan Johnson (155) vs. Adriano Martins (156)
Conor McGregor’s professional boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather generated a ton of cash, so much so that the pair were able to break yet another record in the pay-per-view (PPV) world. The August 26th mega-fight generated over 1 million PPV buys in the UK, topping the previous record that was set by Anthony Joshua and Wladmir […]
Conor McGregor’s professional boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather generated a ton of cash, so much so that the pair were able to break yet another record in the pay-per-view (PPV) world.
The August 26th mega-fight generated over 1 million PPV buys in the UK, topping the previous record that was set by Anthony Joshua and Wladmir Klitschko, per a report from Sky Sports. “The Money Fight” also broke the 700,000 buy record set by Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, which was able to generate 4.6 million PPV buys in the U.S. Mayweather vs. McGregor is expected to do 4.4 to 4.6 million.
The fight that was hyped up to be the biggest event in combat sports history is likely to break the world-wide PPV record given the record-breaking numbers its pulled in from the U.K. The fight that was hyped up beyond belief certainly lived up to the promotion.
Image Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
After the UFC 155-pound champ seemed to take the opening rounds of the bout, Mayweather poured on the offense late in the fight as McGregor began to fatigue. The Irishman was unable to answer a barrage of shots from Mayweather in the 10th round, prompting the referee to step in and wave off the fight. With the win Mayweather improved his unblemished record to 50-0, and with the showing “The Notorious One” put on against, arguably, the greatest of all time, it leaves the door open for a possible return to the squared circle for him.
In light of recent events, former UFC interim light heavyweight championship challenger Ovince Saint Preux (OSP) believes Jon Jones could have been on performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) during their bout against one another at UFC 197 in April of 2016. OSP recently joined Submission Radio to discuss Jones’ recent failed drug test from UFC 214 […]
In light of recent events, former UFC interim light heavyweight championship challenger Ovince Saint Preux (OSP) believes Jon Jones could have been on performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) during their bout against one another at UFC 197 in April of 2016.
OSP recently joined Submission Radio to discuss Jones’ recent failed drug test from UFC 214 this past July and said he ‘of course’ believes Jones was on PEDs when they fought (quotes via Bloody Elbow):
“I mean, of course,” OSP said. “I did an article a while back saying, I just wanted him to tell the truth. But at the end of the day, with me, I just wanted to know. But at the end of the day, what can I do about it? It’s a situation where I’ve learned, especially like my fight when I fought Volkan. You know, I walked in the locker room and I caught myself screaming, and I was like, ‘Why am I mad for?’ I did everything I did, I poured my heart out in the fight. I trained hard, I felt like I won the fight. Like I said, I out-landed him by over 50 punches.
“But at the end of the day, after that I looked at my trainer, I was like, ‘I’m back in the gym Monday, we need to find a fight, it’s on to the next one.’ By then, my mindset was already onto the next one. And at the end of the day, when anything happens, everything comes out to light eventually. You can’t hold onto the same thing over and over again, everything always comes out to light.”
When asked if knowing whether or not Jones was on PEDs during their fight last year would give him closure on the loss, OSP couldn’t quite put his finger on it:
“Maybe, maybe not,” OSP said. “Cause at the end of the day it’s like, can I dwell on it? Yeah. But if I was dwelling on it, I’m holding onto the past and there’s no reason for me to do that. So my mindset is always going to be to be like, I’m here in the present, concentrate on present. Cause whatever is gonna put me in the present, however I perceive myself right now, then the future’s gonna be that much better. I can’t perceive myself the way I did in the past and whatnot, especially me getting down on myself. And that’s another form of mental skills training where that comes in the head. I gotta end up elevating my mind a lot more.”
If the opportunity once again arose for Saint Preux to step into the Octagon against “Bones” once again, however, the University Of Tennessee alumni wouldn’t necessarily rule out the possibility:
“Not necessarily,” OSP said. “Because at the end of the day, as much scrutiny as he’s been under, especially these past two years and what not, I would say he’s walking a tightrope. And even if the results come back negative, he’s still gonna have that bubble of people that’s gonna be like, ‘We still don’t like you,’ or, ‘We still think you’re this bad guy.’ But at the end of the day, even if it comes back negative, you know how much scrutiny he’s gonna be or how many eyes are gonna be on him? Do you know how much times USADA might pop up at his house?
“It’s one of those things where, okay, it came positive – if something comes back positive and they do sample B and it comes back negative, they’re gonna actually keep more eyes on you just for the simple fact that it’s one of those things where, ‘We need to figure out how this happened, because this was just positive, now it’s negative. Something went wrong there.’ So they’re gonna dial in him a lot more anyway. But if it comes back positive, I mean shoot, he’s gone for the next two to three years.”
By all rightful expectations, last month’s (Sat., August 26, 2017) massive Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., was a fight so big, so grandiose, so “once-in-a-lifetime” that there was bound to be an inevitable hangover for the UFC, who took the risk of having their biggest star face […]
By all rightful expectations, last month’s (Sat., August 26, 2017) massive Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., was a fight so big, so grandiose, so “once-in-a-lifetime” that there was bound to be an inevitable hangover for the UFC, who took the risk of having their biggest star face a legend in his own combat sport.
And it’s been a big one, an overarching cloud that has made it feel as if a massive shoulder shrug was emanating from the collective populous of all but the most hardcore and enthusiastic MMA fans.
True, Jon Jones failing for an anabolic steroid after his feel-good comeback win over Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 certainly hasn’t helped the sport maintain any of the precious momentum that was regained during a late-summer push following an atrocious start to 2017. But the sheer lack of buzz and hype for this weekend’s (Sat., September 9, 2017) UFC 215 from Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, proves just how dependent the UFC currently is on one man – McGregor – and that’s a truly dangerous place to be.
Mark J. Rebilas for USA TODAY Sports
There are many reasons UFC 215 was bound to fail as many expect it to, and the last-minute withdrawal of title challenger Ray Borg was the last straw. But even before Borg pulled out of his main event match-up with longtime flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson, a bout where “Mighty Mouse” was attempting to break his tie with Anderson Silva for the most consecutive title defenses ever, there just wasn’t any anticipation for the event.
Sure, you could come up with a ton of reasons for that, like Dana White’s recent public thrashings of both Johnson and Amanda Nunes, who rematches surging contender Valentina Shevchenko in the new UFC 215 main event, after Johnson refused to fight former bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw and Nunes pulled out of her scheduled UFC 213 headliner with Shevchenko due to illness.
It’s never good to bash the fighters that are supposed to be making you millions of dollars – it’s counterproductive and the UFC needs new stars now more than they ever have, so calling out your own athletes in the news only loses the promoter money, and potentially lots of it.
Photo by Ron Chenoy for USA TODAY Sports
The main reason for this rain cloud hanging over the UFC and MMA as a whole, however, is the mere absence of McGregor. The UFC has grown too dependent on their biggest star, especially with former women’s champ Ronda Rousey inactive and most likely never to return. “The Notorious” was the clear catalyst during the UFC’s surge to a record-breaking $4.2 billion sale in July 2016, a number that new owners WME-IMG are probably wishing they could rescind after a disastrous 2017.
They put all their eggs into the Rousey and McGregor baskets, and when Rousey got knocked out at UFC 207 and McGregor spent the entire year chasing and eventually getting his boxing ‘super fight’ with Floyd Mayweather, the world’s MMA leader just looked like they didn’t know what to do.
It still seems that way, and even though the last quarter of 2017 will feature one of the biggest fights of the year when longtime former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre returns to fight middleweight champion Michael Bisping for the belt at UFC 217, it’s going to be an extremely down year for the UFC without a McGregor-headlined card. With McGregor’s coach recently stating he’d probably be out for the rest of 2017, they could still book a trilogy match with longtime rival Nate Diaz for the year-end card that could legitimately save the year.
Photo: Mark J. Rebilas for USA TODAY Sports
The fact that the UFC has to do that to save the year proves that they are putting too much emphasis on one fighter, one star, who, despite being perhaps the most electric personality in the history of MMA, may or may not even defend one of the two titles he’s won in the octagon. The hangover of his gamble of a boxing match with Mayweather makes that apparent, and even though they made a ton of money in the process, it was incredibly short-sighted in that the cupboard is bare in their own octagon without McGregor, who says he’s a free agent.
UFC 215 was a card with two title fights on it, title fights featuring two of the most talented and recently dominant champions in MMA who literally represented the evolution of the sport. It was never billed or built as such, and with McGregor’s boxing match having sucked the wind out of anything else combat sports-related for the time being, the UFC is looking like they need “The Notorious” a lot more than he needs them.
They’re going to have to pay him whatever he wants when he does return if they ever want to recoup their initial investment, but they’re also going to need to depend on some of their other fighters, too. A starting point would be to not trash them online, because they can use every champion they can get right now.
While UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor ponders his next move, Tony Ferguson will take on Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight belt in the main event of October 7’s UFC 216 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. With McGregor’s coach and many others hoping for a trilogy match with Nate Diaz, Ferguson is having […]
While UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor ponders his next move, Tony Ferguson will take on Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight belt in the main event of October 7’s UFC 216 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. With McGregor’s coach and many others hoping for a trilogy match with Nate Diaz, Ferguson is having none of it.
Conventional wisdom would state that McGregor would fight the winner of that fight as they are the interim champion and deserving of the next title shot, but based on the Irish champ’s style of picking fights, that may not be the case. With McGregor, his coach and many others hoping for a trilogy match with Nate Diaz, Ferguson is having none of it.
“El Cucuy” has been vocal about McGregor defending his lightweight title, but the Irishman has failed to do so since winning it against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. Ferguson went off on the idea of McGregor vs. Diaz III when asked by Submission Radio (via MMA Fighting):
I believe that they absolutely need to. If that’s my belt and he has the belt, they need to unify both belts. F**k that Nate Diaz three shit. Both those b**ches f**in – they want to try and act like they want to go and make money. Nate don’t want to fight. He’s trying to recover from a f**king hit that he took with his management and all that other things. McGregor’s gotta defend or vacate. He’s gotta defend that belt, he needs to come back. If not, there goes his legacy, there goes the UFC s**t. I mean, really, legitimately, why do we have rankings? Why do we have a belt system? Why do we have all this other stuff?
“In ultimate reality, I don’t give two f**ks. The fight that’s the most important at hand is the one that’s most important and that’s the one motherf**kers need to get excited about, because obviously everybody f**king knows what the f**k I can do to Nate Diaz.
““And look, there goes my swearing jar. I haven’t acted like I needed to get my s**t together for my kid, but like, straight up, you guys want me to talk about those other fighters? They’re a bunch of b**ches. They want to go and they want to talk – look, we can f**king put this s**t out on video and we can make this a money fight. If you guys really wanna get gangster, let’s do that s**t. If you want to f**king put on money, let’s put it on paper, Nate. I will f**king Stockton slap the s**t out of you kid. You don’t f**king know me, dude. Straight up. Same thing with Conor McGregor. You guys are a bunch of b**ches and you guys are a bunch of fakes. If you wanna fight while we’re here in the UFC, why don’t you come and sign on the dotted line after you get your s**t together and defend your f**king belt, Conor.”
Do you think McGregor should fight the winner of Ferguson vs Lee upon his return? Or should he complete his trilogy with Diaz, the only man to beat him in the UFC?
It looks like UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson’s record-breaking title defense will have to wait just a bit longer. Johnson was set to make what would be a record-breaking 11th consecutive title defense (if successful) against No. 3-ranked Ray Borg in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat. September 9, 2017) UFC 215 pay-per-view (PPV). […]
It looks like UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson’s record-breaking title defense will have to wait just a bit longer.
Johnson was set to make what would be a record-breaking 11th consecutive title defense (if successful) against No. 3-ranked Ray Borg in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat. September 9, 2017) UFC 215 pay-per-view (PPV). “Mighty Mouse” is undefeated in mixed martial arts (MMA) competition when competing at 125 pounds, not having lost in 12-straight fights since going to a draw with Ian McCall back in 2012.
Borg has won two-straight in his MMA career, but has showed struggles making the 125-pound weight limit after having missed weight twice. In his career Borg has lost two bouts total, a unanimous decision to Justin Scoggins and a split decision to Dustin Ortiz.
Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
MMA fans were interested in seeing if Borg could pull off the seemingly impossible, and best “Mighty Mouse” in 125-pound competition, putting an end to his title reign and crushing all hopes of breaking Anderson Silva’s 10 consecutive title defense record. Those fans will have to wait, however, as MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani reports that the fight has now been called off due to Borg being forced to pull out citing an illness.
The report suggests that Borg has been battling the illness all week and has been deemed unfit to compete by UFC doctors. His illness was also unrelated to his weight cut despite “The Tazmexican Devil’s” history with weight-cutting issues. Borg’s nutritionist, Dr. Michelle Ingels of Perfecting Athletes, had this to say:
“It wasn’t weight related,” Ingels said. “Ray has been getting progressively more sick each day this week and still wanted to fight so badly that he put on a game face and went to all of his fight week obligations.
“However, prior to beginning the bulk of his weight cut the UFC doctor examined Borg and concluded that he was too ill to fight this week and needed time to rest and get better.”
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes’ title defense against Valentina Shevchenko has been promoted to the UFC 215 main event. Johnson vs. Borg is likely to be rescheduled for UFC 216 in Las Vegas next month (Sat. October 7, 2017).
When asked if knowing whether or not Jones was on PEDs during their fight last year would give him closure on the loss, OSP couldn’t quite put his finger on it:
