Tag: Stipe Miocic

Jon Jones Declares He’s Still UFC Champion

Jon Jones says he’s still the UFC light heavyweight champion:

The post Jon Jones Declares He’s Still UFC Champion appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Jon Jones may be facing a likely lengthy suspension from USADA, but he doesn’t think that prevents him from still being the UFC light heavyweight champion.

But knowing Jones, he could wiggle out of the situation if everyone could, and indeed he believes (or claims to) that he’ll be proven innocent when it becomes apparent he never knowingly used the anabolic steroid Turinabol he tested positive for during his UFC 214 title bout with Daniel Cormier last year.

That’s kept the champ extremely active on social media in his attempt for his latest and now-countless comeback, and he did just that today. When presented with a fan’s opinion that he was still the champion, Jones said he didn’t need to physically have to hold the belt to be the 205-pound champion, and the top five of his division knows that:

Jones then followed up on his opinion by stating why he believed he was the champion and how he still had great things to do:

The legendary former champion certainly still has time to live up to his all-time greatest potential, but he may be slowly running out of it as his outside-the-cage issues with drugs both performance-enhancing and recreational in addition to alcohol.

Jones had his fighting license revoked and was fined $250,000 by the State of California in February this year after testing for Turinabol prior to his third-round knockout over archrival Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 214. He returned to fight on the card less than a month after he was suspended before his scheduled rematch with Cormier at 2016’s UFC 200 for testing positive for two other banned substances.

He now awaits punishment from USADA, who could hand him a very significant sit on the sidelines. Cormier, meanwhile, will go on to face heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of July 6’s UFC 227, a bout Jones was most likely headed for if he stayed out of trouble.

Unfortunately for him, he’s been unable to accomplish anything resembling that in the last few years.

He still feels he’s the champion nonetheless. When will be able to prove in the octagon?

The post Jon Jones Declares He’s Still UFC Champion appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

UFC 226: Miocic vs. Cormier Official Poster Released

Check out the all-new UFC 226 poster right here:

The post UFC 226: Miocic vs. Cormier Official Poster Released appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The UFC will kick off a packed run of events in Chile tonight, but it’s safe to say the pinnacle of the promotion’s summer schedule is focused on July 7’s UFC 226 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

There, dominant heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic will meet light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in a high-stakes super fight for the 265-pound gold, while featherweight champ Max Holloway meets surging challenger Brian Ortega in a similarly anticipated co-main event.

The card will be the culmination of the traditional International Fight Week after Miocic and Cormier finish their tenure as opposing coaches on the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF).

The UFC recently released the official poster for the event, so check it out here:

The post UFC 226: Miocic vs. Cormier Official Poster Released appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Francis Ngannou’s Coach Responds To Recent Death Threats

Francis Ngannou’s coach issued a brutal warning to those who issued him death threats online:

The post Francis Ngannou’s Coach Responds To Recent Death Threats appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Top-ranked UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou saw his hype train come crashing down when he lost a one-sided unanimous decision to champion Stipe Miocic at January’s UFC 220.

The loss prompted the expected social media backlash from the Internet warriors wanting to poke fun at how the UFC’s next big thing lost in such dominant fashion, but some overzealous ‘fans’ reportedly took things too far in messages to ‘The Predator’s’ striking coach Dewy Cooper.

Aside from the normal trolling that accompanies such a loss in a huge title bout, Cooper recently revealed to MMAjunkie that he also received death threats because of the fight. A longtime kickboxer, Cooper was surprised so-called fans of MMA would take their responses to such a level, especially against a highly-trained master of martial arts.

But if these so-called fans are going to make threats, Cooper said he told them where and when they can find him to carry them out:

“I responded to every single one of them – ‘(Expletive) you, I’m at One Kick’s Gym on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays,’” Cooper told MMAjunkie Radio. “‘I’m at Mayweather’s gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. I’m at the UFC gym at 2 o’clock on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Come kill me, mother(expletive).”

Even though Cooper has experienced the ups and downs of the fight game throughout his 30-year career in combat sports, he’s still baffled by the social media-focused world of MMA in that regard. With the threats coming both baseless online and inching towards true physical violence, Cooper issued a final warning to his detractors willing to threaten him – online or in person:

“We’re not being bullied physically or on social media,” Cooper said. “You talk (expletive) about me, I’m talking (expletive) about you. Period. I don’t give a (expletive) if I’m at the White House with the president. I don’t care if I’m at the hospital with my girl having my child. You disrespect me, I’m disrespecting you.

“I’m a Malcolm X follower. I believe eye for an eye, cheek for a cheek, and that’s what it’s going to be until the day I die. But I’m the nicest, coolest guy in the world. But I’m no punk (expletive). I’m not going to be disrespected and my life challenged and not have some serious recourse about it.”

The post Francis Ngannou’s Coach Responds To Recent Death Threats appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Daniel Cormier Says Him vs. Stipe Miocic ‘Is As Good As It Gets’

Daniel Cormier is well aware that his legacy could be set in stone following UFC 226…

The post Daniel Cormier Says Him vs. Stipe Miocic ‘Is As Good As It Gets’ appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

On July 7, a bonafide super fight will headline UFC 226 during International Fight Week at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, as heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic will put his title on the line against 205-pound titleholder Daniel Cormier.

And while the stakes are obviously high in terms of titles, Cormier feels as if this bout, which he described as ‘unbelievable’, could hold major implications in terms of pound-for-pound status as well:

“That’s what it should be. Stipe and I are ranked like No. 3 and 4 or No. 4 and 5 in the pound-for-pound rankings right now. How much better does it get than that?” Cormier told FloCombat. “This is as good as it gets in terms of sport, in terms of athletic competition, in terms of importance of the sport tied to one fight.

“It’s unbelievable. I’m so lucky to be a part of this.”

Cormier is also looking at the bout as one that could further cement his legacy in the sport. The former Olympian has established himself as one of the greatest light heavyweights of all-time, holding a 20-1-1 professional record, with his only loss coming against Jon Jones.

In addition to beating another champion and another fighter considered to be one of the best in the world, a win at UFC 226 will also make Cormier only the second fighter in UFC history to simultaneously hold two titles in two different weight classes.

And if he comes out on top in July, Cormier says that his accomplishments won’t be able to be denied:

“This gives me exactly what I’ve been pining for,” Cormier said. “I get this done, everything I’ve always wanted, wished for and hoped for is not only a reality but it’s my truth now. I can honestly say I am one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time and have no reservations about it and no one can question it.

“They can only say you know what he’s accomplished, he has that right, and he’s earned it.”

How do you see UFC 226’s main event playing out?

The post Daniel Cormier Says Him vs. Stipe Miocic ‘Is As Good As It Gets’ appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Cormier Says Miocic Bout Should Determine Pound-For-Pound Best Fighter

Daniel Cormier is grateful for the position he’s currently in and feels he’s going into a bout that should determine who the pound-for-pound best fighter is. Cormier is the reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight tit…

Daniel Cormier is grateful for the position he’s currently in and feels he’s going into a bout that should determine who the pound-for-pound best fighter is. Cormier is the reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight title holder. His next bout, however, won’t be a title defense. Instead, Cormier has his sights set on Stipe […]

The post Cormier Says Miocic Bout Should Determine Pound-For-Pound Best Fighter appeared first on MMA News.

Junior Dos Santos Claims USADA Made His Last Year ‘A Nightmare’

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos will finally return to the octagon when he meets Blagoy Ivanov in the main event of July 14’s UFC Fight Night 133 from Boise, but it’s been a long road to get there for him. Dos Santos was provisionally suspended for testing positive for banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide in a […]

The post Junior Dos Santos Claims USADA Made His Last Year ‘A Nightmare’ appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos will finally return to the octagon when he meets Blagoy Ivanov in the main event of July 14’s UFC Fight Night 133 from Boise, but it’s been a long road to get there for him.

Dos Santos was provisionally suspended for testing positive for banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide in a normal USADA sample collection last August. He was then pulled from his UFC 215 bout against Francis Ngannou last September. After a lengthy adjudication process, however, “Cigano” and his Brazilian countrymen Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Marcos Rogerio de Lima were found to have been flagged due to tainted supplements produced by a pharmacy.

He’ll now return when he was given a six-month suspension that has now expired, but the time – and the big fight with Ngannou – is gone for now. Dos Santos recently opened up about the frustrating times he experienced trying to clear his name to MMA Fighting, noting that he felt he was guilty until proven innocent. Ultimately, he feels his name is cleared, which was of the utmost importance to the knockout slugger:

“They stopped my whole career to investigate the thing,” dos Santos said. “I think that goes in the completely opposite direction of the law. I’m innocent until proven guilty. In this case, it’s different — you’re guilty until you’re proven innocent. So, yeah. This is not good, man. Especially in my case, that I knew I didn’t do anything wrong and I was going all through this situation. It was a very bad feeling.

“I feel the truth was found and everybody knows that was a tainted supplement,” dos Santos said. “It wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my intention. There’s always negative people, that they keep saying bad things about you. They hold on the negative things. But I feel like I got my reputation back. It’s very, very important to me.”

“Cigano” went into further detail about why his process was so frustrating, focusing on the fact that he had tested positive for extremely low levels of the banned substance, something that should have tipped USADA off to the questionable nature of his failure. Such a trivial amount, he suggested, is too much to hold up a hard-working athlete’s career:

“Based on those numbers, on those things, in my mind USADA would be the organization that know that I’m not a cheater,” dos Santos said. “But it wasn’t like that. I still went through this whole investigation, this whole scenario and they were putting me as a cheater. It was very bad, man. Now, I hope they can keep a clean sport however they can do that. But they have better rules, better ways to treat the athletes. Because it’s our lives. I hope the system gets better.”

Overall, though, dos Santos still supports USADA because he wants the UFC to feature clean champs:

“I know this sport, these drugs, these performance-enhancing drugs are a big problem for all the athletes. Because everybody knows most of the athletes, in general, in other sports, too, sometimes they take PEDs. I want to see a clean sport, because we want to know who is the real champion. We don’t want to see a fake champion over there.”

While he may be in favor of a clean sport, he reiterated that proving his innocence made his life a nightmare for the last year, and the ordeal saddened him. “Cigano” chose to affirm that he became champion the right way, and wants to yet again:

“This last year was a nightmare for me, because man, I never imagine I could go through something like that in my career,” dos Santos said. “I’ve been playing the fair game my entire career. I became the champion of the world like that and my goal is to become champion of the world again this way. This thing that happened with me and USADA, that was very sad for me.”

The post Junior Dos Santos Claims USADA Made His Last Year ‘A Nightmare’ appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.