Steven Marrocco of MMAjunkie.com reported Thursday the UFC released Wanderlei Silva from his contract with the company.The news coincides with Silva recanting his previous claim this past summer that the UFC fixed fights.Silva provided a full statement…
The news coincides with Silva recanting his previous claim this past summer that the UFC fixed fights.
Silva provided a full statement on his Facebook page:
In July of last year, I posted a number of comments on Facebook and Twitter, which included repeated claims that the UFC “fixed fights” and that I could “prove it.” I hereby retract any such statements in their entirety as I failed to understand that the term “fight-fixing” specifically refers to the illegal action or practice of dishonestly determining the outcome of a contest before it occurs. I understand the UFC’s reputation would be harmed if my fans and others actually believed the UFC engaged in fight fixing, and I have no evidence to support such a claim. I apologize for any misunderstanding my comments may have caused.
The 39-year-old found himself in hot water after going on social media and ranting about UFC.
“They have no respect for anyone,” he wrote, per Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com. “I made it clear for all of you that I won’t ever fight for this event again, UFCircus! Fixed fights, and I can prove it. I haven’t dropped the bomb yet, I haven’t said what I know.“
The controversial firing of cutman Jacob Duran sent Silva over the edge and precipitated his disparaging comments.
Shortly thereafter, UFC’s parent company, Zuffa, filed suit against Silva, claiming he defamed the organization.
“Over the past year, Silva has continued to criticize Zuffa, its owners and executive officers, and the (Nevada State Athletic Commission),” claimed Colby Williams, a lawyer representing Zuffa, per Marrocco. “While Zuffa has monitored Silva’s remarks, the company has largely dismissed Silva’s attacks as the misguided rants of a disgruntled ex-fighter. Silva’s latest outburst, however, indisputably crossed the line and necessitates swift legal redress.”
Thursday brings arguably the optimal solution for both parties.
Silva is free to pursue fights outside of UFC, and Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter already has one opponent lined up:
UFC, meanwhile, got Silva to walk back on his claims and thus will be able to move on from the whole situation.
Whether they’re valid or not, allegations of fight-fixing are always damaging for an organizing body. The quicker the UFC could put the issue to bed, the better.
Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will not fight at UFC 200 as previously planned because of scheduling commitments related to her movie career.
According to UFC President Dana White, Rousey asked for additional time o…
Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will not fight at UFC 200 as previously planned because of scheduling commitments related to her movie career.
According to UFC President Dana White, Rousey asked for additional time off when the filming of her upcoming Roadhouse remake was delayed.
“The filming of the movie got pushed back,” White said Tuesday, per Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports. “She could do both, but the question is, should she do both? She could do both, but why should she? The filming is in a time frame where she’d finish before 200, but it would be cutting it too close.”
Nick Diaz will be permitted to return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 1 after it was confirmed his five-year drug suspension had been reduced to 18 months, along with a $100,000 fine.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission “quickly…
Nick Diaz will be permitted to return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 1 after it was confirmed his five-year drug suspension had been reduced to 18 months, along with a $100,000 fine.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission “quickly approved” a settlement to reduce Diaz’s punishment on Tuesday, according to FoxSports.com‘s Damon Martin. Diaz tested positive for marijuana following a unanimous-decision defeat to Anderson Silva at UFC 183 in January 2015, his middleweight debut.
Immediately following Tuesday’s announcement, UFC President Dana White revealed his happiness to hear Diaz had seen his punishment reduced, per mixed martial arts reporter Adam Hill:
Diaz’s defeat to Silva was ultimately ruled a no contest, but the 32-year-old is looking to bounce back from a three-fight winless streak following losses to Georges St-Pierre in 2013 and Carlos Condit in 2012.
UFC superstar Ronda Rousey is set to host Saturday Night Live on Jan. 23 with musical guest Selena Gomez, the show tweeted Tuesday.
Rousey will become just the third fighter—joining boxers Marvin Hagler and George Foreman—and the first MMA …
UFC superstar Ronda Rousey is set to host Saturday Night Live on Jan. 23 with musical guest Selena Gomez, the show tweeted Tuesday.
Rousey will become just the third fighter—joining boxers Marvin Hagler and George Foreman—and the first MMA fighter to host the show, according to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports. SNL has been hosted by 24 other athletes, including Peyton Manning and LeBron James.
Rousey, 28, is one of the biggest stars in all of sports, and she is certainly one of the top draws in the UFC. She was 12-0 with only one of those fights even reaching the third round before she faced Holly Holm in November. Holm shockingly knocked her out with a high kick to the head in the second round, and now the MMA world awaits the inevitable rematch.
Rousey was clearly devastated by the loss, and she posted the following to Instagram on Monday:
Perhaps her appearance on SNL will help her become adored once again. Rousey certainly isn’t an amateur on the acting front, as she’s appeared in several films, including The Expendables 3 and Entourage.
UFC 195 finished with a classic. Main events rarely live up to the hype, but Saturday night’s featured bout surely did. “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler retained his UFC Welterweight Championship with a thrilling and close split-decision win over “The Natural …
UFC 195 finished with a classic. Main events rarely live up to the hype, but Saturday night’s featured bout surely did. “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler retained his UFC Welterweight Championship with a thrilling and close split-decision win over “The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit. MMA Junkie shared the official scorecards:
The fight had several momentum shifts, and it was punctuated by a fifth round that will go down as one of the best in welterweight history. ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto thought it might have been the best regardless of weight class:
Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter took it a step further:
The fight stats for the bout are interesting, but the numbers from the fifth round are especially notable. Per UFC.com, Condit landed 81 strikes to just 43 for the champion. By most accounts, Lawler took the final round because it looked as though he was on the verge of stopping Condit, but The Natural Born Killer proved to have a granite chin.
SB Nation’s Luke Thomas shared those sentiments:
Even with Lawler’s hard combinations wobbling the challenger, it’s hard to ignore Condit’s edge in volume. In fact, he had a huge advantage in strikes landed throughout the fight. Falling just shy of 200 strikes landed, Condit hit Lawler 198 times, while the champion landed 78 strikes. That’s a huge discrepancy.
Looking at those numbers, it’s easy to find fuel for opinions like the one former UFC fighter and current Fox Sports analyst Kenny Florian shared:
With that said, decisions aren’t awarded based on strikes landed; the judges go by rounds won. The third round was probably the toughest to call. No one was rocked, but Condit did outland Lawler 22-10 in the frame.
In any case, it was a great and competitive fight. Though I scored it for Condit, it was too close to call the decision a robbery. After the bout, the challenger seemed to feel slighted by the judges, per Bleacher Report MMA:
The classy champion gave Condit all the respect he earned in his post-fight interview. Per MMAFighting.com, he laid the groundwork for a potential rematch:
Lawler isn’t a matchmaker, and some fans are clamoring for Tyron Woodley—a man who defeated Condit—to finally get his shot at the gold. After this epic clash, fans might be more inclined to shell out dough to see Lawler vs. Condit II as a main event, though, than they would for Lawler vs. Woodley.
That could be all UFC matchmaker Joe Silva and UFC President Dana White need to book the rematch.
Miocic Smokes the Pit Bull
Stipe Miocic walked through former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski in 54 seconds. The two men exchanged a few insignificant jabs and body shots, but the first shot of substance came from Miocic.
A hard right hand caught Arlovski on his ear, and Miocic followed up with a right and left hand that put the Belarusian down. Arlovski dropped to all fours, and Miocic dropped one more shot that forced referee Herb Dean to call an end to the fight.
Seconds after the win, Miocic ran over to White and began screaming at him, “I want my shot!” He was referring to a shot at the UFC Heavyweight Championship. The champion is Fabricio Werdum, but he has a rematch with Cain Velasquez already scheduled for UFC 196 on February 6.
With Miocic’s knockout victory over Arlovski, he has to be next in line for a shot at the winner of the UFC 196 main event. Bleacher Report MMA thinks it’s time for Miocic to get his crack at the belt, as well:
Here’s a look at all of the results from Saturday night’s card in Las Vegas:
Drew Dober def. Scott Holtzman, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Prelims on UFC Fight Pass
Dustin Poirier def. Joe Duffy, unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
Michinori Tanaka def. Joe Soto, split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Sheldon Westcott def. Edgar Garcia, TKO (Round 1, 3:12)
The Highlights
Westcott Pounds Garcia
Edgar Garcia’s only chance to beat Sheldon Westcott was with his striking on his feet. Westcott made sure Garcia didn’t stay on his feet for long. Early in the first frame, Westcott secured a takedown and started pounding Garcia.
For some reason, referee Chris Tognoni elected to allow the fight to continue for 30 to 40 seconds longer than it needed to. Garcia was defenseless with Westcott clinging to his back. Finally, Tognoni called an end to the bout, and Westcott was named the victor.
The Canadian’s celebration made UFC Europe nervous:
The victory was a huge one for Westcott. He had lost his first two fights in the promotion, so the win might have saved him from the cut line.
McDonald Chokes out Masanori Kanehara
It had been more than two years since Michael McDonald last competed in the Octagon, and his return had some anxious moments. Masanori Kanehara proved to be a better grappler than most expected, and McDonald had to fight through a serious side arm-triangle choke.
Just when it looked as though McDonald was in trouble, he popped out of the hold and immediately took Kanehara’s back. Without hesitation, the American sunk his arm under Kanehara’s chin to force the tapout.
McDonald is just 24 years old despite his eight UFC bouts and 20 total professional fights. His future looks bright, but he may need to guard against overconfidence moving forward.
Trujillo Squeezes Sims
When you’re strong, you don’t necessarily need to do things in textbook fashion. Tony Sims was outstriking Abel Trujillo, before the former made the mistake of going for a takedown.
Sims slipped a wild punch nicely, but when he lifted Trujillo, the powerful Des Moines, Iowa, native was able to lock in a guillotine. Trujillo used the butterfly to push Sims over and apply his weight and strong arms on his opponent’s neck.
It didn’t take long for Sims to tap. Both fighters were coming off losses, so it was somewhat of a must-win situation. Trujillo got the much-needed victory.
T-City Explains the Meaning of His Name
I was wondering what Brian “T-City” Ortega’s nickname meant. In his victory over Diego Brandao, Ortega showed us and proved why the moniker makes sense. The “T” stands for triangle, and that’s the brand of choke he used to submit Brandao.
After likely losing the first two rounds, the Gracie-trained Ortega put his Brazilian jiu-jitsu into effect and displayed some high-level transitioning. The winning sequence started as an anaconda choke, moved to full mount and within seconds became a triangle choke.
T-City baby!
USA Today and MMA Junkie’s Ben Fowles understands the nickname but still doesn’t like it:
Whatever his alias is, Ortega showed an excellent chin, poise and some awesome grappling. Keep your eye on this young man.
What’s Next
UFC Fight Night 81
The main event scheduled for the January 17 card in Boston could easily be a headliner for a pay-per-view. MMA fans will be delighted to know it’ll be on Fox Sports 1.
UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw will defend his title against former titleholder Dominick Cruz in what could be a classic battle. In the co-main event, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis will return to the Octagon to take on former Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez.
If you blinked, you probably missed it.
Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds Saturday to win the UFC featherweight championship at UFC 194, the fastest knockout in a title fight in UFC history, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
As quick…
If you blinked, you probably missed it.
Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds Saturday to win the UFC featherweight championship at UFC 194, the fastest knockout in a title fight in UFC history, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
As quickly as McGregor was able to knock out Aldo, it didn’t take long for Twitter to explode into a frenzy with reactions to the title fight.
Here are some of the earliest Twitter reactions, starting with Dan Rafael of ESPN.com:
Sam Vecenie of CBS Sports summarized the fight nicely:
Legendary wrestling broadcaster Jim Ross was impressed with McGregor’s left-handed knockout:
Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, who is an avid MMA fan, was just as surprised as anyone else:
Phil “CM Punk” Brooks could muster up only one word:
Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald apparently picked against McGregor on Saturday night, and it turns out he picked wrong for every other fight on the card:
Fellow Irishman and WWE world heavyweight champion Sheamus showed love for his countryman:
WWE manager Paul Heyman talked about the domino effect of the crazy results that have happened this year:
UFC bantamweight star Miesha Tate said there needs to be a rematch in the near future:
This was one of the stranger fights in UFC history. All McGregor needed was one shot and it was over. If there’s a rematch in the future, fans might not complain—as long as Aldo lasts longer than 13 seconds.
However, Frankie Edgar may be waiting in the wings for McGregor.
Steven Marrocco of MMAjunkie.com reported Thursday the UFC released Wanderlei Silva from his contract with the company.