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UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will attempt to make his first title defense since January 2015 when he meets Anthony Smith in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., March 2, 2019) UFC 235 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Bones” just returned to the spotlight by winning back the belt he never lost with a dominant TKO of Alexander Gustafsson at December 29’s UFC 232. The win settled the running rivalry of his closest UFC title defense, which says a lot about Jones’ overall legacy. He was pushed to the limit in the first fight with ‘The Mauler.’ More than five years later, he made it look easy. But there are the outside-the-cage incidents.

Jones found himself in trouble with every sort of drug both recreational and performance-enhancing. The DUI early in his reign as champion, the positive test for cocaine and the one-day stint in ‘rehab,’ the ‘d*** pills’ defense from UFC 200, and the current ‘picogram’ scandal. I apologize for making you sleepy for reading that. It’s become that tired at this point. However, for all of Jones’ terrible decisions outside of the cage, there’s another more positive side to the story.

Jones’ Historic Run

The competitor who probably should be GOAT (and maybe is) is looking to make up for lost time and defend his belt several times in 2019. It starts with Smith, the rising striker who has finished three straight fights at light heavyweight since last June. The fight will be on just over two months rest for “Bones,” an unheard of amount for most UFC champions these days. In fact, it’s a mini throwback to his unreal run of 2011-2012 where he won the belt and defended it four times.

The enigmatic great fought six times from February 2011 to September 2012. We just don’t see that from the elite fighters of today and probably won’t again.

It seems a little soon to be all “back in my day” about something that happened in 2012, but take a look at how much the UFC has changed since then. Many fans of today may not even have followed mixed martial arts at that point. But many did, and they remember that time well. We were witnessing history in the making whether we realized it or not. Champions just don’t fight and dominat with the consistency and precise success Jones did during his first run. In truth, as fans, we were spoiled.

These days champion seem to call their shots and wait around for the best possible payday, or easier match-up, or whatever. Jones defended against the next man up, and that’s what he’s doing here. It seems weird to write it, but the whole champ-champ thing has become played out in around two-and-a-half years since Conor McGregor kickstarted it in 2016. It’s no longer a special occurrence that guarantees pay-per-view buys. All it really does is grind divisions to a halt.

No Champ-Champ For Jones (Yet)

Jones could have easily called out his biggest rival in heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier for a superfight. It could still happen and would obviously do monster business. Credit to him for taking the deserving opponent in Smith. Yes, Cormier is injured right now. Yet we may not see “DC” back at light heavyweight nonetheless. Jones is taking on all comers instead. It hearkens back to a more consistent era when champs like Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, and then Jones defended their belts successfully and often.

Of course, it could all fall apart with one Jones indiscretion. You would think he’s on his last chance yet he always seems to sort things out and climb back in the cage. One more failed drug test or arrest would be a mess. At this point we can’t predict it would actually be the end of “Bones,” however. So we need to respect his approach to fighting in 2019, even if we question his eligibility to fight.

I won’t deny Jones’ controversy. It’s unfortunate. He’d already be the greatest of all-time, and by no small margin, had he only stayed out of trouble after that initial illustrious reign. He has yet another chance to stay on track and become just that.

I also won’t deny that Jones’ current path of defending his title is a breath of fresh air. It’s a throwback to an era of MMA we may have perhaps taken for granted. Let’s enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

The post Jon Jones’ UFC 235 Return Is Throwback To An Era Now Missed appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The rivalry between top lightweights Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor is on hold for now. One former champ doesn’t think that would matter.

Undefeated champ Khabib is currently on the side awaiting the expiration of his teammates’ suspension for the UFC 229 post-fight brawl. As for McGregor, well, he’s been rumored to return against fellow fan favorite Donald Cerrone later this year. He was called out by former interim champion Tony Ferguson, but didn’t take the bait at all.

So with both combatants’ fighting future unknown, the UFC lightweight division is once again in a state of uncertainty as a result. It always seems to be like that in some sense, mainly due to fighters picking their shots. An immediate rematch between Khabib and McGregor has often been discussed. Yet it’s not really going to provide the division with much clarity. It would give the UFC yet another record pay-per-view, however, because of the pre-installed rivalry and hype.

One man with knowledge of the situation recently spoke up on the confusion. Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who will make his ONE Championship debut in Tokyo on March 31, told TMZ Sports not to count McGregor out just yet when asked if the star was done winning titles:

“Um, no. I mean, he’s young. He can do what he wants. I think he’s still passionate about the sport. If he is still passionate about the sport, he’ll win titles. Guy’s a talent, he’s been all over.”

Khabib Retiring?

The topic of the Khabib vs. Conor rematch inevitably rose. Alvarez then voiced his stance that Khabib didn’t really want to fight anymore due to his recent actions:

“Yeah, but I don’t think Khabib’s gonna fight anymore. I don’t know, who knows?”

The MMA veteran dove into why he believes Khabib is almost done competing. He pointed to the fact that Khabib could have gotten a reduced suspension from the NSAC for the UFC 229 brawl, but just chose to sit out an entire year. Based on that, Alvarez said the already inactive champ could just take the belt and walk off:

“If you truly wanna fight, and he got a penalty. He got a penalty from the courts. The courts said, ‘If you do this, we’ll give you six months” – very simple. He opted not to fight and just said, ‘I’m not gonna do what you tell me to do and I’m gonna sit out a whole year.’ I just don’t think he wants to fight. He never fought a lot, too often anyway, when he was fighting – about once a year. So I just don’t think he wants to fight. Maybe he just takes the title and just rolls. Who knows?”

Conor Will Never Beat Khabib

If Khabib did decide to return and face McGregor again, Alvaez believes the Irish star has no shot at beating ‘The Eagle.’ There was one reason for that:

“No. Style match-up. He can’t overcome the style match-up in that short amount of time. Khabib just has a style that beats him, that’s it.”

It’s tough to argue with that assessment. McGregor has had trouble with elite wrestlers throughout his career, and Khabib is arguably the best in MMA right now. It was pointed out that McGregor recently resumed grappling training with Dillon Danis, to which Alvarez replied it just didn’t matter:

“Doesn’t matter. He can grapple all he wants. Styles make match-ups, he’s not gonna beat that style match-up. It’s just not gonna happen.

The post Former UFC Champ: Conor Will Never Beat Khabib, Who Wants To Retire appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has a beef with USADA.

“The Chosen One” was in Atlanta, Georgia, for Super Bowl Weekend earlier this month. He had a number of high-profile parties and events to attend, some of which paid him to appear.

However, some of those appearances fell apart due to an unexpected visit. Woodley opened up about a late night call from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) during this week’s UFC 235 media luncheon. The champ revealed that a USADA agent called him late at night during one of the days and didn’t arrive until well after midnight. Woodley said he missed the events and was out $10,000 as a result (quotes from MMA Fighting):

“They tested me Super Bowl weekend,” Woodley said. “The lady came to me, bless her soul, because I said a few unchoice words to her. But with respect. She came to test me at 12 a.m. on Super Bowl weekend. Knowing the reason I was in Atlanta was probably for the Super Bowl. And I had some appearances that I was supposed to be at. I had an event with [NFL player] Devonta Freeman and Meek Mill I was supposed to be at, an event with Ludacris and an event with Snoop Dogg.”

Waiting Around

The champion waited for the testing agent to traverse a lengthy stretch of traffic. Woodley also tried to get USADA to test him the following morning, but to no avail:

“And I was in the hotel waiting on her to come in 45 minutes of traffic to test me. So, she tested me around 1 a.m. And I missed those events. So I asked her, I said, ‘Why can’t you test me in the morning? I’m gonna be here.’ [She said,] ‘Oh let me call them and ask them if I can test you in the morning.’ They said, ’No, I gotta test you now.’”

Understandably annoyed at the inconvience, Woodley said he asked why he hadn’t been tested earlier that day. In an odd twist, the agent said she had an ‘event’ to attend, the exact same thing he was missing to be tested:

“Why in the hell didn’t you test me earlier today?” Woodley said he asked. “‘Oh I had an event I had to go to.’ I have an event I have to go to that I’m missing money because I’m supposed to be there. She said, ‘Oh, I can meet you there.’ I said, ‘No, you can’t get in, you can’t get on the list.’ So I had to wait there and she had to test me at 1 a.m. And I was not happy.”

USADA Reacts

MMA Fighting then contacted UFC spokesperson Adam Woullard for comment on the situation. He stated that Woodley had not provided USADA with enough relevant information about his plans on their whereabouts app. If they had been, other plans could have been arranged:

“USADA makes attempts based off of the information athletes provide on their whereabouts filings,” Woullard wrote. “If whereabouts are kept up to date with accurate information, and we see situations that don’t make sense logistically, we will plan accordingly. In this case, the opportunity seemed appropriate given the information we had and we weren’t aware that Woodley had a paid appearance when we made initial contact with him.”

Woodley will take on Kamaru Usman in the co-main event of this weekend’s UFC 235 from Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s the biggest UFC card of the year thus far, so Woodley won’t need the $10,000 that bad. Of course, it’s the principle of the matter, however.

The post Tyron Woodley Claims USADA Recently Cost Him $10,000 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Tyron Woodley is headed for one of the biggest fights of his decorated career when he fights Kamaru Usman in the co-main event of this weekend’s (Sat., March 2, 2019) UFC 235 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It’s a huge fight with a built-in rivalry that will shape the UFC’s welterweight division for the immediate future.

Yet somehow, some way, any conversation related to the sport of MMA circles back to one man. Right or wrong, that was the case when the topic of Conor McGregor’s loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 was brought up during a recent UFC 235 media luncheon via MMA Fighting this week. While the bout drew the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) numbers in the history of the UFC, Woodley offered the opinion that it just wasn’t that great of a battle:

“It wasn’t that great a fight,” said Woodley, who was in town Monday promoting his Saturday night title defense against Kamaru Usman in Las Vegas. “I don’t care what anybody else said … they both kind of looked bad. They both looked like old men at the nursing home fighting each other. But then we glorified this fight. It wasn’t like this great strategic fight where one person was strategic.”

Doesn’t Matter?

“The Chosen One” has been called out for having some ‘strategic’ bouts of his own. He bumped that trend when he dominated Darren Till in his last defense. Woodley has held the belt since July 2016, but he’s nowhere near the level of McGregor in terms of stardom. No one ever has been in MMA.

So as critical as he is of UFC 229, it was a sort of ‘compliment’ to what he’s accomplished in MMA. It’s to the point where it doesn’t matter if McGregor, who is 2-3 in his last five fight including his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, wins or loses. He makes people care and therefore, pay. In the fight game, it’s a quality that is valued above all else:

“This is a person that, I don’t give stats, he’s lost a few times and won a few times,” Woodley said. “But look at his mystique he has. So it’s telling you it’s not so much about winning. It’s about the showmanship. It’s about what you bring to the table., it’s about making people give a f*ck. You gotta find a way to do both. You gotta find a way to do both of it. You’ve got to find a way to make people invested, want to see me lose, want to see me win.”

A Double Standard?

The champ went back to his own critics who cite his strategic style. He claimed an all-out brawling style helped fighters keep their spots on the UFC roster:

“If you go out there and you punch and you bleed and you brawl and you go back and forth, you really can’t lose in that situation,” Woodley said. “You can get your ass whupped and knocked out, but if you fought to a point where everyone was like ‘oh my god, he’s so tough,’ not only with the fighters and the fans but the promotion, you’ve kind of almost put yourself in the mold where they’re going to keep you.”

So it creates an odd trend in the UFC according to Woodley. Some fighters keep their jobs with poor records, while others are dropped after one fight. It’s not something you see in a professional sport like basketball, Woodley pointed out:

“We saw with [Keith] Jardine, we saw with so many fighters forever that, subpar, .500 records that stayed around that, then you have a guy who lose maybe one fight and they’re gone,” Woodley said. “And I just think that, when you look at a sport? Think about basketball. It don’t matter if you wear a pimped out custom suit, talk the most sh*t as possible, if you can shoot a three, you can shoot a three. How many times you seen Steph Curry talking crap? You get paid the big bucks based on how you deliver out on the court.”

Two Sides To The Tale

He’s right that pro fighters must hold up two ends of a spectrum to find success. The best fighters do deliver both in and out of the cage. Playing at a high level is enough for those in sports like football, baseball, and basketball. Talking trash is often viewed as a bad thing, in fact.

But this is fighting, and rivalries do and always will fuel it, like it or not. There’s some bad vibes between he and Usman right now. It’s helping the bout as a result. Woodley is known for speaking his mind. It’s not always received with welcoming ears; in fact, often it isn’t. He holds up the other end of the bargain by winning in the cage, however.

He has to. As for McGregor, well, Woodley may be right that it doesn’t matter. ‘The Notorious’ is rumored to be returning this summer. We’ll see if it does matter if he loses that fight.

The post Tyron Woodley Explains Why It Doesn’t Matter If Conor McGregor Loses appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The biggest and most high-profile fight card of 2019 is set to go down this weekend (Sat., March 2, 2019) in the form of UFC 235 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event features two anticipated title fights, but the preliminary card will showcase a fight that will shape the future of the UFC featherweight division. That fight is the featured prelim bout of Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Jeremy Stephens.

Zabit has somewhat quietly been running roughshod over his opponents since debuting at UFC Rotterdam in September 2017. He’s often the talk of the moment during his fights, but we little from him in between. That’s okay, as the Dagestani isn’t known for his trash talk just like Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t. What he is known for – just like Khabib – are his nearly peerless skills inside the Octagon.

The rising star has won all four of his UFC bouts including three via submission. The only fight he didn’t finish was a “Fight of the Year” contender with Kyle Bochniak at last year’s UFC 223. His list of UFC opponents isn’t exactly been a who’s who of featherweight contenders; quite the opposite, in fact. But Zabit will face his first true top challenge in longtime vet Stephens this weekend. True, Stephens has gone through his ups and downs in MMA, even considering suicide after a vicious loss to Jose Aldo last year.

Breakthrough Looming

You simply can’t argue that he’s not miles ahead of Brandon Davis, Bochniak, Sheymon Moraes, and Mike Santiago, however. He most certainly is. “Lil Heathen” is ranked number six as well, meaning that an impressive win will undoubtedly propel the No. 13-ranked Zabit into the Top 10. That’s when his true ascension to title contention can begin to evolve. Zabit stands at over 6’1″, a lethal combination when you add his grappling skills into the mix. He has seven submissions in 16 wins. He’s well-rounded as well, with six T/KOs mixed in. That’s 13 finishes in 16 wins.

Zabit has the chance to truly break through at UFC 235. He’s not on the pay-per-view main card, but being in the featured ESPN prelim bout could play into his favor. He’ll have a chance to secure his biggest-ever win in front of more people than will buy the pay-per-view. If he can do that, the sky will be the limit for him.

Stephens is a tough contender. That cannot and will not be denied. He’s only lost three times by submission and twice by knockout in 15 career losses. Those statistics could point to a war with “Lil Heathen.” If so, great; Zabit will get that out of the way early in his UFC career. If Zabit is able to finish the iron-willed fighter, however, all bets are off. The 26-year-old Dagestani could shoot himself onto a short list including maybe Alexander Volkanovski and himself for featherweight’s fastest-rising contenders.

A Path Not Defined

That doesn’t mean he’ll get the next shot. Division champ Max Holloway will take on top contender Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight title in the main event of April’s UFC 236. “Blessed” has had his issues with the draining cut down to 145. And his current fight signifies he may not be long for 145. That casts a shadow of uncertainty over Holloway’s featherweight reign. But more specifically, it does just what every champion does when they move up or down a weight class to contend for a new belt – clogs up the division for an unknown period of time.

That’s okay also. Zabit may not be ready for a shot at Holloway with a victory over Stephens, but he’ll be close. Killing off a contender by pitting him against Volkanovski in his next fight (should he defeat Stephens) may not be the best route to go. But there aren’t too many other avenues for Zabit to head in if he does defeat Stephens. Perhaps he could fight longtime contender Frankie Edgar, who seems willing to take on the next big thing in order to extend his career. He could fight Brian Ortega as well, yet “T-City” seems to want Aldo for his next fight.

Either way, there’s time. Zabit seems to be the future of the featherweight division no matter what. Any outcome outside of a one-sided knockout loss to Stephens at UFC 235 will further his attention and hype. Zabit has all the tools and a loyal fanbase growing with each bout.

We’re witnessing the rise of another dominant Dagestani in Zabit, and it continues this weekend.

The post The Future Of Featherweight Is Named Zabit appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The biggest and most high-profile fight card of 2019 is set to go down this weekend (Sat., March 2, 2019) in the form of UFC 235 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event features two anticipated title fights, but the preliminary card will showcase a fight that will shape the future of the UFC featherweight division. That fight is the featured prelim bout of Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Jeremy Stephens.

Zabit has somewhat quietly been running roughshod over his opponents since debuting at UFC Rotterdam in September 2017. He’s often the talk of the moment during his fights, but we little from him in between. That’s okay, as the Dagestani isn’t known for his trash talk just like Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t. What he is known for – just like Khabib – are his nearly peerless skills inside the Octagon.

The rising star has won all four of his UFC bouts including three via submission. The only fight he didn’t finish was a “Fight of the Year” contender with Kyle Bochniak at last year’s UFC 223. His list of UFC opponents isn’t exactly been a who’s who of featherweight contenders; quite the opposite, in fact. But Zabit will face his first true top challenge in longtime vet Stephens this weekend. True, Stephens has gone through his ups and downs in MMA, even considering suicide after a vicious loss to Jose Aldo last year.

Breakthrough Looming

You simply can’t argue that he’s not miles ahead of Brandon Davis, Bochniak, Sheymon Moraes, and Mike Santiago, however. He most certainly is. “Lil Heathen” is ranked number six as well, meaning that an impressive win will undoubtedly propel the No. 13-ranked Zabit into the Top 10. That’s when his true ascension to title contention can begin to evolve. Zabit stands at over 6’1″, a lethal combination when you add his grappling skills into the mix. He has seven submissions in 16 wins. He’s well-rounded as well, with six T/KOs mixed in. That’s 13 finishes in 16 wins.

Zabit has the chance to truly break through at UFC 235. He’s not on the pay-per-view main card, but being in the featured ESPN prelim bout could play into his favor. He’ll have a chance to secure his biggest-ever win in front of more people than will buy the pay-per-view. If he can do that, the sky will be the limit for him.

Stephens is a tough contender. That cannot and will not be denied. He’s only lost three times by submission and twice by knockout in 15 career losses. Those statistics could point to a war with “Lil Heathen.” If so, great; Zabit will get that out of the way early in his UFC career. If Zabit is able to finish the iron-willed fighter, however, all bets are off. The 26-year-old Dagestani could shoot himself onto a short list including maybe Alexander Volkanovski and himself for featherweight’s fastest-rising contenders.

A Path Not Defined

That doesn’t mean he’ll get the next shot. Division champ Max Holloway will take on top contender Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight title in the main event of April’s UFC 236. “Blessed” has had his issues with the draining cut down to 145. And his current fight signifies he may not be long for 145. That casts a shadow of uncertainty over Holloway’s featherweight reign. But more specifically, it does just what every champion does when they move up or down a weight class to contend for a new belt – clogs up the division for an unknown period of time.

That’s okay also. Zabit may not be ready for a shot at Holloway with a victory over Stephens, but he’ll be close. Killing off a contender by pitting him against Volkanovski in his next fight (should he defeat Stephens) may not be the best route to go. But there aren’t too many other avenues for Zabit to head in if he does defeat Stephens. Perhaps he could fight longtime contender Frankie Edgar, who seems willing to take on the next big thing in order to extend his career. He could fight Brian Ortega as well, yet “T-City” seems to want Aldo for his next fight.

Either way, there’s time. Zabit seems to be the future of the featherweight division no matter what. Any outcome outside of a one-sided knockout loss to Stephens at UFC 235 will further his attention and hype. Zabit has all the tools and a loyal fanbase growing with each bout.

We’re witnessing the rise of another dominant Dagestani in Zabit, and it continues this weekend.

The post The Future Of Featherweight Is Named Zabit appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.