UFC star Jon Jones reportedly tested positive for Turinabol, an anabolic steroid, prior to his UFC 214 win over Daniel Cormier, according to TMZ Sports.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN confirmed the news, although he noted the fighter has not yet been stripped o…
UFC star Jon Jones reportedly tested positive for Turinabol, an anabolic steroid, prior to his UFC 214 win over Daniel Cormier, according to TMZ Sports.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN confirmed the news, although he noted the fighter has not yet been stripped of his light heavyweight title. He could face a ban from the sport for up to four years.
Several people weighed in on the potential impact of the suspension:
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden mocked an earlier Twitter post from Jones:
Even if he predicted it before the first fight, Cormier was surprised by the news, via Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting:
Meanwhile, Jeremy Botter of Bleacher Report looked at a new option for the UFC star:
Jones is one of the best mixed martial arts fighters of all time, with a 23-1 record and his only loss coming by disqualification. Unfortunately, his poor decisions will create a black mark on his entire career.
If you still haven’t figured out how to say Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s name, it might be time to figure it out. The Polish striker successfully defended her title at UFC 211 with a unanimous-decision win over Jessica Andrade in the evening’s co-main event Sa…
If you still haven’t figured out how to say Joanna Jedrzejczyk‘s name, it might be time to figure it out. The Polish striker successfully defended her title at UFC 211 with a unanimous-decision win over Jessica Andrade in the evening’s co-main event Saturday in Dallas.
UFC on Fox had the scores from the lopsided decision:
The first frame had all the signs of a great fight forming. Both fighters had success doing what they do best. Jedrzejczyk peppered Andrade with jabs and kicks from the outside, but Andrade’s aggressive forward movement allowed her to land heavy hooks to the head.
Andrade’s strength was also evident early on as she picked up and slammed the champion to the mat. The UFC passed along the highlight:
Former Jedrzejczyk opponent and rival Claudia Gadelha provided some insight into what it’s like to fight the champion after the first round:
The difference in movement between the two fighters highlighted the second round. Andrade’s flurries from the first frame started to miss more regularly as she continued to chase Jedrzejczyk, and the champion simply circled away and peppered her with shots from the outside.
Although the round was mostly one-sided for the champ, the UFC provided the highlights from a close end to the round:
Former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub weighed in on the champion’s masterful striking:
As usual, Jedrzejczyk’s use of range and space was just too much for Andrade to handle. RJ Clifford of SiriusXM summed up the difference between the two rather nicely:
As the disparity grew in the later rounds, it became obvious that two things were on display: Joanna Champion’s excellence and Andrade’s toughness. Damon Martin of Fox Sports gave props to Andrade for continuing to go at the champion despite getting countered at every opportunity:
Toughness can only take someone so far, though. Jedrzejczyk’s skill was simply too much to overcome as she showcased why she’s the undisputed champion of her division.
The win marks yet another notch in the belt for the dynamic Jedrzejczyk. After beating inaugural women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza in 2014, she has taken the division and run with it, reeling off five successful title defenses.
For Jedrzejczyk, it’s just the beginning of what she hopes will be a career that puts her among the best female fighters of all time.
“I know what I want from myself and what I can expect from myself. I want to be the first female fighter to hold two belts,” Jedrzejczyk said, per Mike Bohn of Rolling Stone. “First I want to reach the record of Ronda Rousey. She had six successful title defenses, which is a pretty big deal to me. I want to be an undefeated champion and retire undefeated. It’s not going to be easy.”
With title defenses, Jedrzejczyk now has the first part of her plan in reach. Just one more defense and she will match Rousey’s mark.
Given her win over Andrade, it’s hard to envision her not successfully defending the belt at least once more.
In her time in the UFC, the champion has shown little in the way of weaknesses in the cage. However, Gadelha was able to push Jedrzejczyk with her grinding wrestling game and strength. Ostensibly, Andrade was the one who could have taken that to another level.
A former bantamweight, Andrade had the size and strength advantage, but Jedrzejczyk still found a way to get through this challenge.
The second part of Jedrzejczyk‘s plan is much more attainable than it once was now, too.
According to Shaun Al-Shatti of MMA Fighting, The Ultimate Fighter 26 will crown the first women’s flyweight champion.
With a weight class now just 10 pounds up for the Jedrzejczyk, the reality of being a two-division champion isn’t far-fetched. It’s a probability.
Gegard Mousasi made himself even harder to ignore when discussing top middleweights with a controversial second-round TKO win over former UFC champion Chris Weidman in the co-main event of UFC 210 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday…
Gegard Mousasi made himself even harder to ignore when discussing top middleweights with a controversial second-round TKO win over former UFC champion Chris Weidman in the co-main event of UFC 210 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday.
The All-American got off to a great start. After a brief feeling-out process from both fighters, Weidman dumped Mousasi on the mat off a single-leg takedown and worked for a choke. Although he was denied the submission, it set the pattern for the first round: Weidman takedown, minimal ground-and-pound, Mousasi working to his feet only to get taken down again.
The two early takedowns were why Mike Chiappetta of Bleacher Report gave the first round to Weidman:
The second round is where the fight moved from legitimately good to crazy.
Mousasi came out firing, overwhelming Weidman against the fence with a barrage of strikes. But an ill-advised takedown attempt stifled his momentum.
As the bout continued, the new rules that state a fighter must have two hands on the ground to be considered down came into play. Mousasi hit Weidman with two knees, and while the first was legal, the second appeared to be illegal with Weidman lifting his hand off the mat just as the knee arrived on his forehead.
At first, the fight was stopped to give Weidman time to recover; however, after replay, the knee was ruled legal and the doctor stopped the fight.
Jonathan Snowden of Bleacher Report voiced his displeasure with the decision:
However, Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports highlighted its controversial nature by declaring it the right call.
Weidman gave his final thoughts on the decision, via MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani:
It was an unsatisfying conclusion to what was shaping up to be a great bout.
The win solidifies a hot streak for the Dutch kickboxer. Mousasi has now won five straight in the division, but a name like Weidman’s adds legitimacy to those numbers. His list of previous vanquished foes in that time includes Uriah Hall (who he lost to previously) and Vitor Belfort, but Weidman is the only one who is currently ranked in the top 10 of the division.
Regardless, it always feels like Mousasi is the forgotten man among middleweights. But the 31-year-old is doing his best to rectify that, in and out of the cage.
Mousasi has become increasingly vocal about his place in the organization and continues to back it up with strong performances. He hasn’t shied away from declaring he’s deserving of a title shot, but realizes the UFC might not have that on its radar.
“I feel the same way (deserve title shot), but, Dan Henderson fought for the title and now GSP is fighting for the title, Yoel Romero is next,” Mousasi said, per Adam Guillen Jr. of MMA Mania (via MMA H.E.A.T.). “I don’t know, I just need to win so I will concentrate on that first. Do I feel I deserve to with my career, especially if I get this win? Yes.”
Now that he has the win, it’ll be interesting to see what the UFC does with him. Even with a career that is marked by championship runs in Cage Warriors, DREAM and Strikeforce, he still doesn’t have the same name recognition as other contenders ahead of him.
What’s interesting is where Weidman goes from here. At this point, he’s the epitome of just how quickly things can turn on an athlete in this sport.
After starting his career 13-0 with two wins against one of the greatest fighters of all time in Anderson Silva, he’s now on a three-fight losing streak. It makes him a 13-3 fighter who might be done contending for titles.
It’s hard to envision a turnaround for the 32-year-old when it’s uncertain if a guy like Mousasi will even get a title shot.
UFC legend Vitor Belfort suffered his third consecutive loss Saturday, as Kelvin Gastelum knocked him out in the middleweight main event of UFC Fight Night 106 at Centro de Formacao Olimpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil.
Gastelum scored a…
UFC legend VitorBelfort suffered his third consecutive loss Saturday, as Kelvin Gastelum knocked him outin the middleweight main event of UFC Fight Night 106 at CentrodeFormacaoOlimpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil.
Gastelum scored a TKO triumph with punches at the 3:52 mark of the first round.
The 39-year-old Belfort fell to 25-14 with the loss, and was unsuccessful in front of his home crowd after losses to Ronaldo Souza and GegardMousasi in his previous two fights. Gastelum improved to 14-2.
As MMA journalist ChamatkarSandhu pointed out, Belfort‘s decisive loss took the air out of the building:
Per MMAFighting.com, Saturday’s win was an example of Gastelum‘s improvement with each passing fight:
Despite his recent struggles, The Phenom entered Saturday’s bout confident that he would be able to turn things around, according to Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com:
People talk about losses, but my last fights were against the toughest guys. Nobody wants to fight these guys. Everybody is running away from them. It’s obvious that I didn’t fight the way I should, but there’s the mistakes I made in the fight and there’s their qualities, too. You can’t define a person by two fights. That’s what needs to change. To rewrite my story, to learn new things, to grow. To look ahead. There’s light at the end of the tunnel. Come on!
Belfort faced a stiff challenge at UFC Fight Night 106 in the form of a fighter who is 14 years his junior.
Gastelum had won consecutive bouts over Johny Hendricks and Tim Kennedy ahead of his clash with Belfort, but making weight has been an issue for him.
The California native has failed to make weight on three occasions at welterweight, which resulted in his moving back up to middleweight to defeat Kennedy.
He remained at middleweight for the Belfort bout, and he hoped it would serve as a springboard to even bigger fights, regardless of the weight class, per Cruz:
I’m not against [staying at 185], but I feel like welterweight is my optimal weight class. But I’m not against staying at 185. What I want is the No. 1 contender fight after this fight, whether it’s at middleweight or at welterweight. I want to fight for the No. 1 contender so I might get my title shot. But it doesn’t matter if I’m at middleweight or welterweight, I just want to fight the No. 1 contender.
Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com speculated on what could be next for Gastelum:
Saturday’s win may well have put Gastelum into the No. 1 contender conversation, although there are still major question marks regarding what weight class he will settle on moving forward.
As for Belfort, he has now lost three straight fights for just the second time in his illustrious career.
He bounced back the first time by winning seven of his next nine bouts, but with his 40th birthday quickly approaching, retirement whispers will start to surround Belfort.
Bellator 170 will be remembered as the final sendoff for an MMA legend in Tito Ortiz.
The Huntington Beach Bad Boy looked like a blast from the past in taking former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen out by rear-naked choke in the first round.
After a …
Bellator 170 will be remembered as the final sendoff for an MMA legend in Tito Ortiz.
The Huntington Beach Bad Boy looked like a blast from the past in taking former UFC title challenger ChaelSonnen out by rear-naked choke in the first round.
After a lot of hype leading in to the bout, Ortiz followed up on his promise of being motivated to take out Sonnen. He was the aggressor of the action from the outset and landed a takedown less than 30 seconds into the bout, Sonnen countered by latching on to a guillotine choke, but the submission attempt eventually gave way to mount position for the eventual victor.
From there, Sonnen gave up his back, and Ortiz was able to apply enough pressure with a neck crank that he drew the tap. As Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting noted, Ortiz held on to the choke a little long, further exemplifying the emotional nature of this fight for Ortiz:
The fight was a proper sendoff and the UFC Hall of Famer created another memorable moment for the card by allowing his son to be the one to symbolically lay down his gloves at the center of the cage while officially announcing his retirement:
Josh Gross of Bleacher Report gave Ortiz props for the moment:
Meanwhile Helwani wondered where the organization will go from here. Sonnen was a huge acquisition for the promotion, but losing his first fight under the Bellator banner is less than ideal from a promotional standpoint:
The marquee matchup of Sonnen and Ortiz anchored the event, but the company made sure to put plenty of its own talent on display in the lead-up to the fight. Here’s a rundown of all the action that went down before the aging light heavyweights squared off along with a closer look at each main card fight.
Bellator 170 Results
Main Card Results
Tito Ortiz vs. ChaelSonnen: Ortiz via sub (RNC) 2:03 R1
Paul Daley vs. Brennan Ward: Daley via KO 2:27 R1
Ralek Gracie vs. HisakiKato: KatoUD 29-28 X2, 30-27
Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Emmanuel Sanchez: Sanchez MD 28-28, 28-27 X2
Derek Campos vs. Derek Anderson: Campos UD 29-28 X3
Preliminary Results
ChinzoMachida vs. Jamar Ocampo: Machida via TKO 3:48 R3.
Jack May vs. Dave Cryer: May via TKO 0:41 R1.
Henry Corrales vs. Cody Bollinger: Corrales via KO 4:28 R3.
Kevin Casey vs. Keith Berry: DRAW 29-27 Casey, 28-28 X2.
GuilhermeVasconcelos vs. John Mercurio: Vasconcelos via KO 0:41 R2.
Gabriel Green vs. Jalin Turner: Turner via KO 0:36 R1.
Christian Gonzalez vs. Daniel Rodriguez: Rodriguez via TKO 3:55 R2.
Alex Soto vs. Demarcus Brown: Soto UD 29-28 X3.
Paul Daley vs. Brennan Ward
After two lackluster fights, the night needed someone to step up and do something memorable. It was Paul “Semtex” Daley who was the hero the Los Angeles crowd deserved and needed.
After an early takedown by Brennan Ward, the Brit worked to his feet and landed a violent spinning back elbow to create some space. Daley then covered that space by lunging across the cage and landing a massive flying knee flush to the face that allowed Daley to score his 29th career knockout in walk-off fashion.
MMA Fighting took to naming the finish an early favorite for knockout of the year:
Daley is now 6-1 in his last seven fights. That should be moving him up the ladder of the Bellator ranks. Helwani had a great suggestion for his next fight as Michael Van Page would certainly be an exciting scrap:
However, Daley had another name in mind in his post-fight interview, via Helwani:
Regardless of the direction that Bellator decides to go, Daley opened the door to continue to be a fighter the organization can push. After his controversial run in the UFC, his knockout power has made him a legitimate fighter the promotion can set up big fights with.
Ralek Gracie vs. HisakiKato
There’s two fighters feeling each other out. There’s a slow fight. There’s a boring fight. Then there’s a level of inactivity so great that the ref literally has to remind two combatants they should probably do stuff.
The welterweight bout between Ralek Gracie and HisakiKato reached that level in Round 2, as referee Jason Herzog had to step in and tell the fighters they both needed to up their activity.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com put into writing what everyone was thinking while watching the fight:
The lack of fireworks in the first two rounds was a surprising development given Kato‘s involvement in the fight. Kato owns two knockout wins over striking specialist Joe Schilling, including one in kickboxing, so it was surprising to see him be so tentative against Gracie.
The irony wasn’t lost on Connor Ruebusch of Bloody Elbow:
For Gracie, this was his first trip back to the cage in nearly seven years, and he fought like it. He wasn’t really able to get his jiu-jitsu game going until the end of the third round, and by then it was too late.
Kato was able to pull off the decision win, but it certainly wasn’t the kind of performance that is going to endear him to fans.
Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Emmanuel Sanchez
Weird.
That was the one word you could use to describe the featherweight bout between Georgi Karakhanyan and Emmanuel Sanchez.
The two fighters started off on an inauspicious note. Neither fighter had much of an upper hand in the first round, as they traded advantageous positions on the ground toward the end of the round.
Then, the second round was marked by illegal strikes. Karakhanyan broke the rhythm of the fight first with an illegal upkick to a downed Sanchez first, but it was Sanchez who lost a point due to a brutal knee to a grounded Karakhanyan.
Karakhanyan would be cleared to continue, but Sanchez went on to win the round.
The third round was then bizarre in the fact that it was mostly spent with Karakhanyan taking Sanchez’s back for the vast majority of the frame without doing much damage. In the end, it was a majority-decision win for Sanchez in a fight that really shouldn’t see either guy’s stock rise too much.
Derek Campos vs. Derek Anderson
If Bellator‘s aim was to kick off the TV broadcast on Spike with an action fight, it should be happy with the results that Derek Campos and Derek Anderson produced. The lightweights, who were fighting at a catchweight of 161 pounds, put on a show.
Through three rounds, it was a juxtaposition of striking styles between Anderson’s rangy combinations and Campos’ powerful punching.
Gross commented on the fight that Anderson showed while Campos ultimately edged him out on his scorecard:
The win shows that Campos needs to be taken seriously as one of the top contenders in Bellator‘s lightweight division. He now has three wins in a row, with one of those wins coming against explosive striker Melvin Guillard.
With the loss, Anderson moves to 2-2 over his last four fights and will need to pick up a win in his next bout to remain relevant in the division.
Sometimes a fight just means so much to someone they just find a way to win. Such was the case when underdog Tito Ortiz defeated Chael Sonnen in the main event at Bellator 170 by first-round submission.
MMA Fighting tweeted out the official resul…
Sometimes a fight just means so much to someone they just find a way to win. Such was the case when underdog Tito Ortiz defeated ChaelSonnen in the main event at Bellator 170 by first-round submission.
MMA Fighting tweeted out the official result and time of the finish:
An emotional Ortiz wasted little time in exacting his revenge against Sonnen. The 4-year-old went for a takedown almost immediately but found himself in a headlock from Sonnen.
However, the American Gangster couldn’t turn that headlock into a guillotine choke, and Ortiz was able to turn the position into full mount.
From there, it didn’t take long for Sonnen to give up his back, and the end was nigh. Ortiz worked his grip into a rear-naked choke and forced the tapout from Sonnen to end his career on a high note.
Josh Gross of Bleacher Report commented on the finish, as Ortiz drew the tap without even having the hold under Sonnen‘s chin:
As Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com noted, this isn’t the first time Sonnen‘s submission defense has been suspect. It’s always been his Achilles’ heel:
Ortiz used the post-fight interview to officially announce his retirement:
The win for Ortiz isn’t just the end of an era for him, but vindication that’s been a long time coming. Sonnen defeated The Huntington Beach Bad Boy in an amateur wrestling match in just 44 seconds, back in 1998, which provided some additional motivation in this fight, per Mike Bohnof Rolling Stone:
This history goes back to 1998 when he pinned me on my birthday. I was heartbroken. I stayed and started running stairs until the end of the night when the coach told me I had to go or they would leave me. I could have quit after I got pinned by Chael. Instead I strapped my shoes on and ran stairs and worked harder. Now this is my repayment for that hard work. I wasn’t able to win that match but it led to better things. Whenever you get knocked down, get back on that horse and go harder.
Ortiz certainly got his payback, but he also got to walk away from the sport on his terms. The former UFC champion said many times leading up to the fight that this would be his final fight.
“This retirement is well due,” Ortiz said on a Bellator 170 conference call, per Dave Doyle of MMA Fighting. “Twenty years of competition has pretty much, I’d still be fighting if it wasn’t for my surgeries.”
If this truly is Ortiz’s final appearance in the cage, it ends a career that should be remembered for being legendary.
The Huntington Beach Bad Boy may have provided some laughable trash talk and the twilight of his career may have lasted a few years too long, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that he was a pioneer of the sport and a UFC Hall of Famer.
Given the result, this may have been the end for two longtime names in the sport. Sonnen was once one of the bigger draws the UFC had to offer, but it’s fair to wonder if he’ll reach anywhere near that status in his Bellator comeback.
This was the 39-year-old’s first appearance in the cage since November 2013, when he lost to Rashad Evans in the UFC.
“I didn’t get brought to Bellator to fight Tito Ortiz,” Sonnen said, per Bohn. “I got brought to Bellator to replace Tito Ortiz.”
That likely would mean providing the company with some star power as it continues to try to grow its brand while competing with the UFC but also compete for the company’s light heavyweight championship. Ortiz fought for the strap in what is now his penultimate fight against Liam McGeary.
Now, it’s doubtful that the denouement of his career will feature a late run at the title. Instead, he simply gave Ortiz a proper sendoff.
UFC star Jon Jones reportedly tested positive for Turinabol, an anabolic steroid, prior to his UFC 214 win over Daniel Cormier, according to TMZ Sports.