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Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar is primed for a big return to the Octagon.

‘The Answer’ has been out of action since a decision win over Cub Swanson at last April’s UFC New Jersey. He was scheduled to face Chan Sung Jung in the main event of November’s UFC Denver, but a torn biceps forced him out of the bout.

The unfortunate exit capped off a tumultuous year for the iron-willed warrior from Toms River, NJ. Earlier last year, Edgar was scheduled for a title fight against current 145-pound champion Max Holloway at UFC 222 in March 2018. When ‘Blessed’ was forced out due to a leg injury, Edgar accepted a short-notice bout with top contender Brian Ortega. He would lose the fight by knockout, the first time he had ever been finished in his career.

Edgar soon rebounded with a decision win over Swanson. It wasn’t the greatest performance of his career considering he had dominated and finished Swanson in their first fight four years prior. But he still thinks he’s deserving of the next title shot regardless.

Everybody Knows?

Now ready to return, Edgar told ESPN.com he believes his body of work is enough to return to another shot at gold. He even thinks everybody knows that:

“I think everybody knows it should go to me. Even the guys who want the shot, you [hear] them say, ‘Well, I know Frankie should get it, but…’ You know? Alexander Volkanovski is fighting Jose Aldo in a few weeks and that may have an impact, but I think everybody knows it’s me. I’ve worked my entire career for it to be me.”

Edgar also believes the UFC rewards those who step up on short notice. That seems to happen for some fighters, others not so much. He put his title shot on the line at UFC 222 and it didn’t pay off. That’s something he’s done his whole career, he said, and he’s ready to finally reap the reward:

“The fact I put it on the line the last time Max and I were supposed to meet up, that holds some weight. I know the UFC likes to reward people who are willing to just let it fly. I’ve done that my whole career. I’m ready for that reward.”

Took A Risk

Edgar then showed a bit more emotion than we’re usually used to seeing from the normally stoic ‘Answer.’ He’s not going to start talking a bunch of trash, because that isn’t him. Edgar also knows he’s only on a one-fight win streak, but it’s more about the risk he took:

“I want this f—ing fight,” Edgar said. “I’m not really the guy who’s going to go out of his way to create buzz. It’s not my style. It seems that’s the style everybody is going with. It would be kind of cheesy for me to start now.

“I know I’m only on a one-fight win streak, but people do realize that I took a risk and went for it. And I’d do it again, because that’s the kind of guy I am.”

The Next Title Fight

Overall, Edgar has undoubtedly been one of the most consistent fighters in the UFC throughout his entire decorated career. He’s taken on anyone at anytime, a testament to his fighting will. The fact he was a lightweight champion while now being considered a smaller featherweight shows that grit and determination. The only knock on Edgar might be his inconsistent record in recent title fights. He lost to Aldo for the interim belt in his last one at UFC 200.

And he’ll potentially face no easy opponent in ‘Blessed.’ Yet while Holloway has been nothing short of dominant at 145 pounds, he did lose to the bigger fighter in Dustin Poirier at UFC 236 last weekend. Edgar acknowledged Poirier’s bulk played a big part in the win. Because of that, he didn’t learn much from “The Diamond’s” gameplan considering he’s a different kind of fighter:

“I was wondering how Max would do with a guy who was bigger and you saw in the fight Dustin was bigger. Max had the height on him, but Dustin’s weight was a big part of that win. Max couldn’t push him back the way he’s pushed some other guys. I learned a little bit here and there but not much. I’m a different fighter than Dustin.”

The post Frankie Edgar Says ‘Everybody Knows’ He Deserves UFC Title Shot appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

UFC women’s strawweight veteran Angela Magana is unfortunately in a coma.

Magana’s coach, Gabriel Lamastus, confirmed the harrowing news to MMA Junkie this morning (Wed., April 17, 2019). Magana is currently at University Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico, due to complications from emergency surgery. Magana had posted on social media that she was “about to be put in a gown and cap for surgery” early Tuesday morning.

More than half a day later, the following post on Magana’s social media accounts appeared:

“Message from Coaching Staff there have complications (sic) and they can not wake her up. They are trying many options we will keep you up to day. Thank you for the out pouring (sic) of concern and love #TeamLaPerla #”

Early this morning, another post confirmed Magana was still unresponsive:

Back Pain Lead To Surgery

Lamastus confirmed to MMA Junkie that Magana recently had back pain while training for an upcoming fight in Combate Americas. During a training session on April 7, she was taken down and injured as a result. She went in for testing and found out she had a herniated disc due to the training injury. Magana was prescribed medication the next day. She continued to train for the bout but the pain eventually became too great to bear.

Magana was given a nerve block on Monday of this week. But she did not respond well, Lamastus said. A diagnosis of cauda equina syndrome arose and she then needed emergency surgery yesterday.

Issues With Anesthesia

Her coach is at the hospital with her. He expanded further on the life-threatening situation, noting that the anesthesia was the cause of the problem:

“She’s in a coma, and we’re waiting to hear some positive news,” said Lamastus, who was at the hospital with Magana. “The surgery went fine. The problem was anesthesia. It’s very rare that patients react bad to anesthesia, but it does happen, and I guess this is one of those rare cases. But I’m being positive. She’ll be fine, and she’ll wake up. She’s a fighter. I’m just staying positive.”

Magana’s aunt died from anesthesia. Magana herself was frightened before the surgery in this video posted on Twitter:

Magana was released from the UFC in 2017 after an 0-3 run. Many attributed her losses to her level of competition such as Michelle Waterson and Tecia Torres. She initially rose to fame on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) due to her over-the-top personality on the show. She was last seen losing to Kanako Murata in Rizin FF last year. Her upcoming Combate Americas bout with Kyra Batara was scheduled for April 26.

Lamastus said Magana was planning on representing her home of Puerto Rico in wrestling at next year’s Olympics. He closed by saying the outspoken personality fans see on social media is only part of the real person. He claimed people don’t know the real Magana because of that:

“She’s a hard worker. Angela is a very, very hard worker,” Lamastus said. “A lot of people only know the Angela from social media. They don’t really know the real Angela. That woman busts her tail to provide for her family.”

The post UFC Vet Angela Magana In Coma After Emergency Surgery appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker thinks new interim champion Israel Adesanya wants all of the spotlight.

And he’s getting it after his classic five-round war with Kelvin Gastelum in the co-main event of last weekend’s (April 13, 2019) UFC 236 from Atlanta. ‘The Last Stylebender’ survived a vicious fourth-round assault from Gastelum to rebound strongly in the final round and win a hard-fought decision.

Afterward, Adesanya was immediately set up for a massive unification bout with ‘The Reaper.’ Whittaker is currently on the sidelines healing from the serious intestinal issues that forced him out of February’s UFC 234. We’ve seen the otherwise impressive champion far too little in recent years.

Whittaker has only two fights since April 2017, both of them wars with Cuban Boogeyman Yoel Romero. Adesanya, meanwhile, has taken the UFC by storm with six wins since February 2018.

So with Adesanya the UFC’s next big thing, Whittaker is attempting to place some of the attention back on himself. Appearing on this week’s episode of ‘Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show,’ Whittaker claimed Adesanya couldn’t stand the fact that people supposedly liked him more:

Who’s More Popular?

It’s quite debatable if that’s the case or not.

Whittaker is certainly popular in his adopted home of Australia. But he’s seen a shot to headline a pay-per-view there dissipate in each of the last two years. As champion, he just hasn’t been able to stay healthy. He’s looked unbelievable when he has fought, however. His five-round war with Romero at last year’s UFC 225 was one of the best fights all year, yet that seems like a decade ago in today’s fast-moving fight world.

Hopefully, he can return to fight Adesanya sometime soon. ‘The Last Stylebender’ wants to take some time off to heal up himself so that could help Whittaker make it to the fight. If and when it happens, he thinks it’s the biggest fight Australia and New Zealand, one that will gain huge numbers:

Big Shoes To Fill

Whittaker vs. Adesanya is a no-brainer for the next huge fight in Australia. If it will be the biggest fight of all-time Down Under is another question. November 2015’s UFC 193 gained a record-setting attendance of 56,214 fans. It still rates as the most–attended UFC event of all-time.

There, Holly Holm dethroned then-champion Ronda Rousey in one of the most shocking UFC title fights in the sport’s history. Whittaker vs. Adesanya is huge, especially because it pits two nearby fan favorites against one another.

But expecting it to reach 55,000 or more fans is a big number. As Dana White likes to say, we’ll see what happens. Let’s just hope this fight happens at all.

The post Robert Whittaker Says Israel Adesanya ‘Wants All The Attention’ appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Newly ascended interim UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya rocked the mixed martial arts (MMA) world when he outlasted Kelvin Gastelum over five rounds in the co-main event of last Saturday’s (April 13, 2019) UFC 236 from Atlanta, Georgia.

Adesanya and Gastelum left it all in the Octagon that night, trading huge punches (highlights here) in a fight that became a legitimate instant classic. Adesanya dug deep and went to a place he hadn’t been in his UFC career thus far – a place where he was rocked and in serious trouble. Gastelum stunned him with a high kick to the neck in the fourth round and nearly finished ‘The Last Stylebender.’

Like a true champion, however, Adesanya came back and almost finished Gastelum in the insane fifth round. He came out on top with the interim middleweight gold in tow after only 14 months in the promotion. Adesanya is now set to move on to a high-profile title unification bout with undisputed champion Robert Whittaker in Australia sometime later this year.

Yet it’s a burgeoning rivalry with another even larger personality that is gaining headlines. With the seeds of a rivalry planted before UFC 236, it became an official possibility when light heavyweight champion Jon Jones downplayed Adesanya’s win on social media after the fight.

On To Jones’ Plan

Adesanya appeared on today’s episode of “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” to discuss his title-clinching win, but the discussion soon shifted to Jones. Adesanya said Jones is looking to fight him now before he reaches his full potential. He said ‘Bones’ came off as not the nicest:

In his view, Adesanya is only going to get better as he racks up fights and potentially title defenses as champion. That’s why Jones wants the fight now, as he’s a ‘bully’:

Adesanya took the gloves off a bit by truly diving into some nasty trash talk. He called himself a ‘good c*nt’ while calling ‘Bones’ a ‘sh*t c*nt’:

Finally, ‘The Last Stylebender’ compared his path to that of a video game. He’s player one, he said, and the great Jones is the final boss:

It’s appearing like these two facing off in the UFC is becoming an eventuality. There’s no doubt it would be a highly anticipated fight sure to generate incredible buzz and pay-per-view success.

Adesanya is smartly taking it slow in the early days of his title reign, however, as he knows a challenge like Jones is no easy task. First, he has to defeat Whittaker, and he needs much-deserved some time off before he takes on that challenge.

The post Israel Adesanya Goes Off On ‘Bully’ Jon Jones: He’s A S**t C**t appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

It was far from a surprise to see Conor McGregor react to Dustin Poirier’s unreal win over Max Holloway (watch the highlights) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., April 13, 2019) UFC 236 from Las Vegas.

After all, ‘The Notorious’ has made it a post-fight custom to either congratulate or call out the weekend’s UFC main event winner (or both). However, this time around he had a personal investment. It was at least possible for the winner of the interim lightweight main event to get a shot at undisputed champ Khabib.

McGregor is still angling for that rematch after losing a one-sided contest to Khabib at last October’s UFC 229. That became apparent in recent weeks. The Irishman rekindled his highly personal online battle with ‘The Eagle.’

But Khabib thinks McGregor needs to pick up a win before he fights for the belt once again.

McGregor suggested that Poirier fight Nate Diaz next despite “The Diamond” holding the interim gold. However, UFC President Dana White confirmed Poirier would get the next shot at Khabib at the UFC 236 post-fight presser. It’s the right match to make in terms of rankings legitimacy, yet that has hardly been the gold standard for UFC fight booking in the ‘McGregor Era’ (if ever). As it sits, McGregor is dealing with a whole host of outside-the-cage issues he doesn’t really seem to be worried about.

Pending Comeback

He and White are supposedly meeting in the immediate future to discuss his next move. His longtime coach John Kavanagh is looking to see some positive fight-related things.

So he promised just that on social media this afternoon in a roundabout way, claiming his fans wouldn’t believe him if he revealed how confident he is for the future. That belief wasn’t needed anyhow, he boasted:

‘If I told you how confident I was for the future, you wouldn’t believe me. But your belief is not needed.’

All Style & No Substance

Another solid, drawing lead-in from McGregor on social media. Problem is, that’s becoming the whole scope of his appearances in the fight game as of late. It does get big attention from mainstream fans, and in truth, those are the fans he continues to thrive on. Hardcore MMA types will always follow the biggest news in the sport of mixed martial arts whether they like him or not.

But as Khabib so succinctly said this week, he hasn’t won a fight since 2016. That type of track record would sink many a lesser pro fighter. The UFC’s first double champ has kept his rep afloat with varied outside-the-cage ventures that turned to success. You only need look at his booming Proper Twelve Irish Whiskey sales to decipher that.

Still, he’s eventually going to have a win a fight to stay relevant in the rarified air he claims to occupy. It appears his boss Dana White is longing for his much more active early-career days as well, as he said new interim middleweight champ Israel Adesanya is like a young McGregor.

In truth, ‘The Notorious’ is only a year older than the 29-year-old Adesanya. There’s time for him to turn his somewhat floundering fighting career where he’s lost three of his last five contests back around. McGregor is confident he’ll do so.

Are you? According to him, that particular belief isn’t needed.

The post Conor McGregor Releases Cryptic Tweet On Fighting Future appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The UFC has a new interim champion after Dustin Poirier beat Max Holloway in a bloody slugfest (highlights right here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., April 13, 2019) UFC 236 from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. A title unification versus undisputed champ Khabib Nurmagomedov should be next up for “The Diamond,” so it’s time Poirier reveals why he is able to defeat the dominant Dagestani.

‘The Diamond’ was asked by MMA Junkie at the UFC 236 post-fight press conference just why he believed he would be the first fighter to beat Khabib when 27 other men failed. He responded with a short, no-nonsense statement that’s become commonplace from the hard-nosed, workmanlike competitor:

“Grit. Determination. The right amount of crazy. Self-belief. Everything it takes to be a champion, I have that.”

All The Intangibles

There’s no denying Poirier has all of those things in droves. ‘The Diamond’ was well on his way to destroying Holloway early at UFC 236. Yet he met a strong pushback from the Hawaiian champ in the third round. He admitted he was fading but dug deep to find a second wind and battle until the bell sounded.

After Poirier was named the winner by a 49-46 count on all three judges’ cards, he immediately called out Khabib for a unification fight. The undefeated lightweight king caught word of it and replied he thought the fight was a draw before offering to battle Poirier in September.

But even though he could have perceived that as a slight, ‘The Diamond’ wasn’t counting points against ‘Blessed.’ All he knew was his coach told him he needed to win the fifth and final round of the hard-fought war to become UFC champ:

“I didn’t know. My boxing coach told me coming into the fifth round when I was sitting on the stool, he said, ‘If you go out there win this round, you’re the world champion.’ My corner had me either tied there or ahead, and I won the fifth round, I feel like.

“But I didn’t know. When you’re in a fight like that, you’re getting hurt and you’re hurting him, there’s blood everywhere, it’s up, it’s down – I don’t know.”

A Bright Future

‘The Eagle’ has been rumored to be returning in Abu Dhabi in September, and Poirier was asked if he wanted to make that journey to unify the titles. The new interim boss said he hadn’t thought that far into the future:

“I honestly haven’t had time to digest that and think about those thoughts. There were talks about it, whoever won this fight was going to fight (Nurmagomedov), but I didn’t think that far. I knew I had my hands full with Max. I’ll start thinking about it and we’ll see, but I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Time To Unify Lightweight

‘The Diamond’ was then asked if he would eventually battle Holloway a third time. He appeared a bit silenced by that question after handily beating ‘Blessed’ twice. Because of that, overall, Poirier was justifiably focused on a unification bout with Khabib above all else:

“My next fight has to be for a unification fight,” he said. “But I love Max. I’ll fight him five more times.”

The post Dustin Poirier Reveals Why He’ll Be The First To Beat Khabib appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.