Tag: Instant Articles

Quote: Miocic & Overeem Would Provide ‘Hard’ Fights For Jon Jones

After once again winning the UFC light heavyweight title with a brilliant third round TKO victory over Daniel Cormier at July 29’s UFC 214, Jon Jones called out former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, and teased a potential jump up in weight. While Jones called out Lesnar, he has showed less interest in facing off with […]

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After once again winning the UFC light heavyweight title with a brilliant third round TKO victory over Daniel Cormier at July 29’s UFC 214, Jon Jones called out former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, and teased a potential jump up in weight.

Gary A. Vasquez for USA TODAY Sports

While Jones called out Lesnar, he has showed less interest in facing off with current heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, which is a sentiment that ex-titleholder and former Jones training partner Frank Mir agrees with:

“The only fight immediately that would make me nervous for Jon would be Stipe,” Mir told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

“I think any other heavyweight I can see [Jones] beating,” Mir said. “Stipe is a hard one. And I think Alistair, too, might be a hard one.”

Jones is certainly a large light heavyweight, and if he were to move up in weight, he’d likely still possess a height and reach advantage over most of his opponents, but Mir worries that “Bones” may lack power against some of the larger heavyweights, although he isn’t counting out the 205-pound king:

“I think he’s a dangerous fighter and I would never, ever put him out,” Mir said of Jones. “His upper body is definitely in that world, that realm that he could compete at heavyweight, but it’s his lower body. Heavyweights are still big and pushing around and carrying that weight. I don’t know.”

“Could he do it?” Mir said. “Would I put it past Jon? No. Not at all. I’ve trained with him. I know how good he is. He’s not giving up reach and distance. It would just be that horsepower. Could he eliminate it through his technical wrestling and his angles? He very well may could.”

Jones’ next move is still unclear, but it’s obvious that he’s looking for lucrative fights, which is why Miocic hasn’t appealed to him as a potential opponent. Jones doesn’t necessarily feel as if Miocic is a major draw, and Mir agrees:

“Stipe is a phenomenal champ as far as like he’s a good guy, if you want to point your kids in the right direction, ‘Hey, look at this guy, he’s a good person,’” Mir said. “Family guy, down to Earth, still works a regular job as a firefighter. He’s an asset to the community. But as far as a blockbuster [in] ticket sales, he’s no Conor McGregor. Stipe still, he doesn’t break into that realm of ticket sales and pay-per-view buys that some other heavyweights in the past have that are not as talented as he is. He has everything except for he’s just not that marketing machine that some other people have been.”

Who would you like to see Jones face next?

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UFC Mexico Could Shape Rashad Evans’ Legacy

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad “Suga” Evans could be fighting for much of his career legacy at UFC Fight Night 114 in Mexico City tonight (Sat., Aug. 5, 2017). The 37-year-old will face “Smile’N” Sam Alvey in a must-win situation for “Suga” since dropping down to middleweight (185 pounds), and is currently on a […]

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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad “Suga” Evans could be fighting for much of his career legacy at UFC Fight Night 114 in Mexico City tonight (Sat., Aug. 5, 2017).

The 37-year-old will face “Smile’N” Sam Alvey in a must-win situation for “Suga” since dropping down to middleweight (185 pounds), and is currently on a three-fight losing streak. The last time Evans won was back in 2013, when he beat Chael Sonnen at UFC 167.

Evans’ last two fights were hard to watch.

In April 2016, Glover Teixeira sent Evans to another planet with a left hand that forced “Suga” to drop from 205 pounds to 185. After a year of recovery, Evans returned to the Octagon to debut as a middleweight and fought Daniel Kelly at UFC 209 in March of this year.

 

Joe Camporeale for USA TODAY Sports

What should have been a return to form for Evans turned out to be a snoozefest where Evans looked tentative and lazy. He lost via split decision in a less-than-stellar fashion.

Tomorrow, Evans will face heavy-handed Alvey, who is coming off a loss after a four-fight win streak. If his performance does not improve and he loses, the UFC could decide Evans should no longer be fighting the best MMA combatants in the world.

“Suga” has said the 20-pound weight cut did not affect his performance in the Kelly fight; if anything, he feels like he is finally in the proper weight division. Evans’ problems are more mental than anything else, and he recently spoke to MMA Junkie about his state of mind:

“It’s the hardest part because you’re constantly compared to what your results used to be. For the longest time, I went undefeated. And that’s great. But in life and in your career, sometimes you hit those valleys. And it’s about making it past those things.

And when you get stuck in one, or when you’re in one, don’t start second-guessing yourself. It’s a difficult process, and it’s easier said than done. But at the end of the day, as long as you stay with that belief inside, you’ll be OK.”

Rashad Evans
Image Credit: Joe Camporeale of USA TODAY Sports

“There was definitely a part where I had that doubt, and I started to give in to what people were saying. Just the mental weaknesses, just giving into the pressures of whatever was causing me to not go out and compete and be at my best.

The easiest thing in the world is to just give in and to give up. And I really had to have a gut check. Just be honest with myself and just face some of the things that I didn’t want to face. Get my mind turned around in order to put myself in the position where I feel like I can compete.”

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Former Boxing Champ Leaves Conor’s McGregor’s Training Camp Amidst Massive Drama

Days after former boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi and Conor McGregor met in a highly-publicized sparring session at the UFC Performance Institute in as Vegas, Nevada, Malignaggi has apparently left the McGregor camp after a late night rant against his now-former training partner. After the session reportedly got a bit ‘out of control’ according to Joe […]

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Days after former boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi and Conor McGregor met in a highly-publicized sparring session at the UFC Performance Institute in as Vegas, Nevada, Malignaggi has apparently left the McGregor camp after a late night rant against his now-former training partner.

After the session reportedly got a bit ‘out of control’ according to Joe Cortez, the referee brought in to oversee the action, Malignaggi posted on Twitter that some of the pictures of the session posted on social media were misrepresented, especially one that made him look like he had been dropped to the ground when he was allegedly pushed.

Here is the photo in question:

The Sun

Malignaggi offered his view that he fell down from a push, prodding McGregor and his camp to release the full video of their sparring session:

The respected boxer then said he came to McGregor’s camp to help him train to fight Floyd Mayweather, not to be exploited to make him look good:

Malignaggi then tried to set the record completely straight, claiming that he had ‘beat McGregor’s ass’ and wants the full video of the session posted because the time to not be petty is clearly over:

And as a code between fighters, professionals usually don’t do interviews about sparring sessions in order to keep what they saw in the gym, but when McGregor began leaking photos that were from his official photographer – the only photographer allowed in the room – he was forced to defend himself:

Malignaggi got a bit testy with a ‘fan’ who blasted him for doing the interview, noting that it wasn’t him who kicked off the media blitz:

Malignaggi continued blasting McGregor supporters, telling another to stop ‘inventing his own reality’:

Finally, Malignaggi posted a lengthy Instagram response revealing he was officially leaving McGregor’s training camp and would divulge the reasons why later:

So McGregor’s highest profile sparring partner has left his camp 22 days away from the circus-like event in Las Vegas, mainly be cause he didn’t like how he was portrayed in photographs that he believes were engineered to only show McGregor in a favorable light.

With no professional boxing matches on his record, it could be assumed that McGregor needed to puff himself up by only allowing his official photographer in the room and posting only pictures that were favorable to him.

Perhaps Malignaggi got tagged and had his pride hurt a bit too, but as the former boxing champion noted, we’ll never know until they release the full video of the sparring session, and that doesn’t seem like a likely occurrence at this time.

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Cat Zingano Feels She Has An ‘Answer’ For Cris Cyborg

Cat Zingano was tuning in quite closely to this past weekend’s (July 29, 2017) UFC 214 card, and more specifically to the women’s featherweight title bout between Cris Cyborg and Tonya Evinger, which Cyborg won via third round stoppage. Zingano, a former bantamweight title challenger, was actually a possible opponent for Cyborg, but she wasn’t […]

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Cat Zingano was tuning in quite closely to this past weekend’s (July 29, 2017) UFC 214 card, and more specifically to the women’s featherweight title bout between Cris Cyborg and Tonya Evinger, which Cyborg won via third round stoppage.

Zingano, a former bantamweight title challenger, was actually a possible opponent for Cyborg, but she wasn’t going to be healthy in time to fight at UFC 214. The fight, however, is still one she’d like to land, and after watching Evinger take on Cyborg, Zingano feels as if she has an ‘answer’ for the Brazilian slugger:

“This weekend I feel like I got to learn a lot watching this fight with Tonya, you know, seeing Tonya control the pace and seeing the fact that Cyborg had a handful with that girl, [which] I actually didn’t expect.” Zingano told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

“Me and Tonya used to have to wrestle each other in college so I knew she was strong and tough, but I didn’t necessarily see it transfer over to MMA – as I’ve seen in wrestling. But she obviously pulled it together, and that’s why she’s a champion at 135 [pounds] and I felt she did a pretty good job against Cyborg, and at least she’s tough, you know, at the very least. And watching that fight I was like, ‘Man, I have something for that, I have and answer to that,’ and for everything that didn’t work for Tonya. Watching that fight opened up my eyes to some things and it just made me more excited to get in there with that girl. I think the match up is one of the century and I have what it takes to take Cyborg down, if anyone does.”

Gary A. Vasquez for USA TODAY Sports

Zingano hasn’t been very active over the last few years, but when she’s healthy, she feels as if she’s still one of the best in the world, and she believes a fight with Cyborg is a ‘winnable’ fight for her:

“With Cyborg, this is a winnable fight for me,” Zingano explained. “When I’m healthy, none of these girls [can] deal with me, not one, so that’s what I’m looking for. Going into a fight with Cyborg, you need to be as on point as possible. She’s got her advantages – whatever, arguably fair or unfair – and I just know that If I’m at 100 percent, she probably can’t even touch me and those are things that are in consideration when trying to achieve my goal.”

And at the end of the day, if “Alpha” Cat can’t score a bout with Cyborg, she’s hoping to fight bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, who she happens to own a win over:

“The two biggest people on my radar at this point are Amanda Nunes and Cyborg because I beat Amanda, and I feel like she should want to fight me,” Zingano said. “I want to go up in weight, but I also want to stay active in the 135-pound division when the time is right because the 145 [pound division] is not extremely established yet.”

Who would you rather see Zingano take on next?

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Rumor: Robbie Lawler vs. Jorge Masvidal In The Works For Interim Title

Tyron Woodley isn’t going to be happy about this one. The currently unpopular UFC welterweight champion made headlines earlier this week when he went off on Dana White, threatening some dirt he didn’t want out in the win after White had heavily criticized his safe UFC 214 win over Demian Maia. Woodley was seriously injured […]

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Tyron Woodley isn’t going to be happy about this one.

The currently unpopular UFC welterweight champion made headlines earlier this week when he went off on Dana White, threatening some dirt he didn’t want out in the win after White had heavily criticized his safe UFC 214 win over Demian Maia.

Woodley was seriously injured in the fight, tearing his labrum to earn a medical suspension which was just extended to a full six-month term when it was revealed he needed surgery. A long recovery on the horizon, Woodley recently discussed the prospect of an interim title, noting that would ‘lose it’ if the UFC or anyone else even uttered the term that has become far too prevalent.

But unfortunately for him, that’s just what is rumored to be happening. Even though he and White supposedly squashed the beef, a rumor has surfaced that the camps of both Robbie Lawler and Jorge Masvidal have been approached about fighting for an interim title at November 4’s UFC 217 from MSG. The UFC has not yet confirmed the fight and the bout is just a rumor as of right now.

If it were indeed found out to be true, the booking is a curious one at the very least, because while Woodley may indeed be out for six months or more with his injury, he’s also been the most active UFC champion during his recent run, defending the belt three times in less than a year after winning it from Lawler at July 2016’s UFC 201. He’s also defended it against the clear top contenders, facing Stephen Thompson twice at UFC 205 and UFC 209 and then Maia at UFC 214.

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

But he’s been crying out for a fight with Georges St-Pierre or Nick Diaz while all the while putting on two absolute snoozers in his last two bouts, fights where the MMA community called him out for playing it far too safe in order to keep the belt. By comparison, Lawler only recently returned from his knockout loss to Woodley, defeating Donald Cerrone in a hard-fought decision at UFC 214, and Masvidal lost his latest bout to Maia at May’s UFC 211. Neither has anything close to the recent resumé of Woodley, but both are known to bring the action in the fights nonetheless.

So that may have played into the decision, or the UFC may just want to stack UFC 217, its second straight November card in New York City. Last year’s UFC 205 was obviously a blowout with three title fights, and middleweight champion Michael Bisping is rumored to finally make his next defense against St-Pierre, already putting two title fights on the card.

Photo by Gary A. Vasquez for USA TODAY Sports

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UFC Rankings Update: Jon Jones Overtakes Mighty Mouse In Top P4P Spot

Jon ‘Bones’ is back in the top pound-for-pound spot on the official UFC rankings. Following his third-round knockout of archrival Daniel Cormier to win back the title in the main event of last weekend’s (Sat., July 29, 2017) UFC 214 from Anaheim, Calif., “Bones” has surpassed dominant flyweight champion Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson at the top […]

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Jon ‘Bones’ is back in the top pound-for-pound spot on the official UFC rankings.

Following his third-round knockout of archrival Daniel Cormier to win back the title in the main event of last weekend’s (Sat., July 29, 2017) UFC 214 from Anaheim, Calif., “Bones” has surpassed dominant flyweight champion Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson at the top of the P4P rankings, retaking the spot he ruled for years as the dominant light heavyweight champion.

A head-scratching series of out-of-the-cage problems with drugs were the only thing that could stand in Jones’ way, but unfortunately, they did in a big way, limiting him to just one win in more than two years since his first victory over Cormier at January 2015’s UFC 182.

In his stead, Johnson had racked up title defense after title defense, tying legendary former middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s record for most consecutive defenses with 10. Jones certainly could have tied and/or broken that record if he had been able to stay out of trouble, but nonetheless, his overtaking of ‘Mighty Mouse’s’ top spot is sure to be the cause of several heated discussions among fight fans.

In other rankings movement, Robbie Lawler moved up two spots following his hard-fought unanimous decision win over Donald Cerrone at UFC 214, moving from 3 to a tie with Stephen Thompson at the No. 1 spot after recent title contender Demian Maia moved down two spots to No 3 after his heavily criticized loss to Tyron Woodley in the UFC 214 co-main. Cerrone moved down one spot to No. 7 for the close loss.

Here are the fully updated rankings courtesy of UFC.com:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Jon Jones +4
2 Demetrious Johnson -1
3 Conor McGregor -1
4 Stipe Miocic
5 Max Holloway -1
6 Cody Garbrandt -1
7 Daniel Cormier -4
8 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
9 Tyron Woodley
10 Dominick Cruz
11 Michael Bisping
12 Jose Aldo
13 Cris Cyborg *NR
14 Amanda Nunes -1
15 Robert Whittaker -1

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

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

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

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion : Conor McGregor
1 Khabib Nurmagomedov
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Justin Gaethje
6 Nate Diaz
7 Kevin Lee
8 Dustin Poirier
9 Michael Johnson
10 Michael Chiesa
11 Al Iaquinta
12 Beneil Dariush
13 Anthony Pettis
14 Evan Dunham
15 Gilbert Melendez

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

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion : Michael Bisping
1 Robert Whittaker (Interim Champion)
2 Yoel Romero
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Jacare Souza
5 Chris Weidman
6 Anderson Silva
7 Derek Brunson
8 Kelvin Gastelum
9 David Branch
10 Krzysztof Jotko
11 Vitor Belfort
12 Thales Leites
13 Tim Boetsch
14 Uriah Hall
15 Thiago Santos

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

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

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion : Joanna Jedrzejczyk
1 Claudia Gadelha
2 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
3 Rose Namajunas
4 Jessica Andrade
5 Tecia Torres
6 Michelle Waterson
7 Carla Esparza
8 Cynthia Calvillo
9 Randa Markos
10 Joanne Calderwood
11 Felice Herrig
12 Paige VanZant
13 Cortney Casey
14 Maryna Moroz
15 Jessica Aguilar

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : Amanda Nunes
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Holly Holm
3 Julianna Pena
4 Ronda Rousey
5 Raquel Pennington
6 Sara McMann
7 Cat Zingano
8 Germaine de Randamie
9 Liz Carmouche
10 Alexis Davis
11 Marion Reneau
12 Ketlen Vieira
12 Katlyn Chookagian +2
14 Bethe Correia -1
15 Leslie Smith

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