Tag: UFC 214

Jon Jones Continues Twitter Assault On Alexander Gustafsson

One’s a disgraced former champion who may be facing a multiple-year suspension for steroids and the other is 3-3 in his last six fights, but that isn’t stopping longtime rivals Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson from continually throwing down on social media. Jones jumped into Gustafsson’s online feud with current light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier […]

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One’s a disgraced former champion who may be facing a multiple-year suspension for steroids and the other is 3-3 in his last six fights, but that isn’t stopping longtime rivals Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson from continually throwing down on social media.

Jones jumped into Gustafsson’s online feud with current light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier last night, focusing on “The Mauler’s” tough talk despite losses to both “Bones” and “DC”:

Gustafsson responded last night by teasing Jones’ issues with performance-enhancing drugs, saying that he fought tough in the championship rounds thanks to the ‘good stuff’:

That sent Jones on a reaction spree, taunting the Swedish contender by chronicling his legendary resumé of former champions on his list:

Jones made it personal by referring back to his classic bout against Gustafsson at UFC 165 almost five years ago, asking “The Mauler” if he truly thought he was on PEDs when he outlasted him by decision:

Finally, Jones resorted to the juvenile with a good ‘ol ‘American balls’ reference:

Another day, another chapter in the saga of Jones and Gus.

Their first fight was arguably the greatest fight in the history of storied 205-pound class, but several roadblocks stand in the way of the two towering superstars ever facing off in the octagon again.

Even though the hype for such a fight has obviously cooled over the past five years, it still retains a certain amount of intrigue and bad blood even after so much time.

If only Jones could make it back to the octagon soon, their rivalry could become so much more than a back-and-forth smack talk battle on Twitter – just don’t count on it anytime soon.

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Jon Jones Jumps Into Daniel Cormier & Alexander Gustafsson’s Twitter Beef

Although the UFC’s light heavyweight title is currently on hold as champion Daniel Cormier meets heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of July 7’s UFC 226, that hasn’t stopped the top fighters at 205 pounds from remaining active online and spewing smack talk at one another. The latest round in a seemingly never-ending […]

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Although the UFC’s light heavyweight title is currently on hold as champion Daniel Cormier meets heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of July 7’s UFC 226, that hasn’t stopped the top fighters at 205 pounds from remaining active online and spewing smack talk at one another.

The latest round in a seemingly never-ending saga between Cormier, legendary but troubled former champion Jon Jones, and perennial top contender Alexander Gustafsson was riled up when Gustafsson revealed he had signed a lucrative new contract with the UFC.

Announcing the deal, ‘The Mauler’ threw a bit of shade at the aging Cormier, suggesting he was ready to fight while Cormier was discussing retirement:

But even though Gustafsson talked a big game and suggested Cormier was the one soon to quit, ‘DC’s’ been the far more active fighter than the towering Swede, who has fought only five times since his historic loss to Jones at 2013’s UFC 165.

Cormier has fought twice as much as ‘The Mauler’ in that timeframe, including a split decision victory over Gustafsson at UFC 192 in 2015 for one of his three title defenses of the 205-pound belt. So even though that fight and Gustafsson’s match-up with Jones went down to the wire, Gustafsson is largely known for his two closest losses, something “DC” brutally pointed out on Twitter while urging Gus to quit talking on social media and go fight :

Finally, in a reaction that may have been a bit unexpected (or may not at all), Jones chimed in tonight by saying that even though he didn’t like Cormier, Gustafsson should bring the ‘tough guy’ act to the championship rounds when fighting the best at 205:

Arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history and almost definitely the best light heavyweight to fight in the UFC (at least by the numbers), Jones was almost assuredly on the way to becoming the most dominant to set foot in the octagon before a long, concerning series of outside-the-cage incident involving all sort of drugs both recreational and performance-enhancing derailed his otherwise decorated career as he continues playing the victim.

‘Bones” latest comeback was at last July’s UFC 214, where he knocked out Cormier in the third round of their awaited rematch to take back the throne most felt was rightly his anyway. Yet he ruined the emphatic return by testing positive for anabolic steroid Turinabol and is currently facing punishment for his second PED-related offense from USADA after essentially claiming that he didn’t know the steroids got into his system in a previous hearing in front of the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC).

Jones could be suspended for quite some time; however, he’s still the only man to defeat Cormier and Gustafsson, and he could somehow return for yet another comeback sooner than we think. He could also just as easily stay on the sidelines as the most shocking, cautionary tale of wasted talent in MMA history as well.

Either way, he’s not going to let his former  – and possibly future – rivals get away with generating some heat without him being involved.

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Alexander Gustafsson Offers Backhanded Compliment To ‘Fat Guy’ Daniel Cormier

Former two-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson thought he had a third title shot locked up when he knocked out Glover Teixeira in the fifth round of their rousing slugfest in Sweden last May. However, the rise of formerly surging contender Volkan Oezdemir coupled with shoulder surgery for ‘The Mauler’ lead to him […]

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Former two-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson thought he had a third title shot locked up when he knocked out Glover Teixeira in the fifth round of their rousing slugfest in Sweden last May.

However, the rise of formerly surging contender Volkan Oezdemir coupled with shoulder surgery for ‘The Mauler’ lead to him being passed over, and when current UFC 205-pound champion Daniel Cormier smothered Oezdemir in the co-main event of UFC 220 this January, yet another roadblock presented itself for the Swedish slugger.

Also on that card, heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic put in a similarly dominant performance over hyped knockout striker Francis Ngannou, paving the way for a high-profile champion vs. champion super fight this July that has once again left Gustafsson out in the cold.

He’s tried to stay relevant on social media, but it’s brought mixed results, as his recent callout of Cormier’s teammate Luke Rockhold, who was recently knocked out by Yoel Romero and teased a move up to 205 pounds, was a little cringe-worthy considering ‘The Soldier of God’ had only put Rockhold’s lights out a few days prior.

So Gustafsson has relegated himself to discussing the Miocic vs. Cormier fight in interviews in hopes of facing the winner, something he did during a recent appearance on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast (via MMA Mania). In the interview, Gustafsson started with some praise of former heavyweight Cormier, focusing on his win over Josh Barnett in the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix:

“He did good, he didn’t lose as a heavyweight. He is good. He lifted (Josh Barnett) up like nothing.

“This fight against Stipe, if it was against another heavyweight I would probably say Stipe is going to win. But ‘DC’ is a really good heavyweight, so we will see what happens. He is world class, doesn’t take a step back and he is in your face.”

Gustafsson had some praise for Miocic as well, but also focused on Cormier’s toughness before the compliments ended and he added that “DC” had great conditioning for a “fat guy”:

“He’s a badass, but ‘DC’ is such a competitive guy. He goes for it, in tough situations he eats it and comes right back and does what he does, always. And for being a fat guy, that guy is doing five rounds like nothing. So his conditioning is on top.”

That’s about as brazen as the usually respectful “Mauler” gets with his trash talk, yet he’s stepped that part of his game up recently after feeling slighted at being passed over the title shot a second time.

Gustafsson fought Cormier in a narrow split decision at UFC 192 that was one of the best fights of 2015, and he infamously took legendary former 205-pound champion Jon Jones to the limit in their classic match-up back at UFC 165. Since then, however, a series of injuries have derailed Gustafsson’s chances at getting another title shot, even though he’s clearly on the cusp of being champion and could have been twice if only one judge’s card had gone his way in two instances.

He’s going to have to wait a bit longer, and with Cormier planning to retire in less than a year’s time, that shot may never come – at least not against his second greatest rival.

On the other hand, he may have a shot at the belt in Cormier’s final fight, and what a fitting end to one of the sport’s greatest careers that would be.

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UFC Rankings Update: Conor McGregor Finally Falls On P4P List

Conor McGregor’s outrageous antics – and his overall lack of any in-cage activity – have finally begun to affect his ranking on the official pound-for-pound list. In the newest rankings released this week, McGregor fell one spot to No. 4 as heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic overtook him at No. 3. McGregor, of course, was last […]

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Conor McGregor’s outrageous antics – and his overall lack of any in-cage activity – have finally begun to affect his ranking on the official pound-for-pound list.

In the newest rankings released this week, McGregor fell one spot to No. 4 as heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic overtook him at No. 3. McGregor, of course, was last seen throwing a metal dolly through a bus window before UFC 223, resulting in his arrest and pending court date on a felony and multiple misdemeanors. “The Notorious” was also stripped of his lightweight title after the event, marking the second title of which he’s been relieved of without a single defense.

Miocic, meanwhile, has been a picture of consistency in an otherwise inconsistent heavyweight division, defending his title three times since winning it with a first-round knockout of Fabricio Werdum at 2016’s UFC 198. The Cleveland-based firefighter will face light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in the main event of July 7’s UFC 226 after the two coach The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 27, which debuted last night.

The other significant rankings movement took place in the currently booming lightweight division, with rising contender Dustin Poirier moving up one spot to No. 4 after his exciting fourth-round TKO finish over Justin Gaethje, who dropped down to No. 7 for his second straight UFC loss.

That shakeup forced previous No. 4 Edson Barboza down to No. 5 and allowed Kevin Lee, Barboza’s upcoming opponent in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., April 21, 2018) UFC Fight Night 128 from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to rise up to No. 6, creating a No. 5 vs. No. 6 match-up at 155 pounds for the second straight week.

You can check out the full updated rankings from the UFC’s official website here:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Georges St-Pierre
3 Stipe Miocic +1
4 Conor McGregor -1
5 Daniel Cormier
6 Max Holloway
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley +1
8 Khabib Nurmagomedov
10 Cris Cyborg
11 Tony Ferguson
12 Amanda Nunes
13 Robert Whittaker
14 Cody Garbrandt
15 Rose Namajunas

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

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

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Cub Swanson
5 Jeremy Stephens
6 Josh Emmett
7 Ricardo Lamas
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Renato Moicano
10 Darren Elkins
11 Yair Rodriguez
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Dooho Choi
14 Zabit Magomedsharipov
15 Myles Jury

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier +1
5 Edson Barboza -1
6 Kevin Lee +1
7 Justin Gaethje -1
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Paul Felder
15 Olivier Aubin-Mercier

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

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Jacare Souza
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Chris Weidman
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Vitor Belfort
10 Uriah Hall
10 Brad Tavares +5
12 Thiago Santos -1
13 Lyoto Machida -1
14 Paulo Costa
15 Antonio Carlos Junior *NR

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

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Alexander Volkov
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Fabricio Werdum
6 Mark Hunt
6 Derrick Lewis
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Andrei Arlovski
10 Aleksei Oleinik
11 Stefan Struve
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Shamil Abdurakhimov
14 Junior Albini
15 Justin Ledet

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Alexa Grasso
10 Cortney Casey
11 Randa Markos
12 Tatiana Suarez
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Nina Ansaroff
15 Angela Hill

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Roxanne Modafferi
6 Barb Honchak
7 Liz Carmouche
8 Katlyn Chookagian
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Mara Romero Borella
13 Paige VanZant
14 Montana De La Rosa
15 Rachael Ostovich

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Raquel Pennington
3 Julianna Pena
4 Ketlen Vieira
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Leslie Smith
10 Aspen Ladd
11 Bethe Correia
12 Irene Aldana
13 Lucie Pudilova
14 Sarah Moras
15 Lina Lansberg

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Cormier: Conor McGregor Could ‘Go Off The Deep End’ At Any Time

Former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor committed what was by far the most ‘Notorious’ act of his MMA career when he stormed into the Barclays Center on April 5 and threw a metal dolly through a bus containing current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. The fallout of the all-out chaos saw McGregor booked […]

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Former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor committed what was by far the most ‘Notorious’ act of his MMA career when he stormed into the Barclays Center on April 5 and threw a metal dolly through a bus containing current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The fallout of the all-out chaos saw McGregor booked and jailed on a felony charge and multiple misdemeanors, and also left two fighters riding that bus unable to compete at April 7’s UFC 223 from Brooklyn.

It’s left the future of the UFC’s biggest star in extreme uncertainty – if not outright jeopardy – and it’s also left him drawing comparisons to troubled all-time UFC great Jon Jones, who has seen his otherwise historic career go careening down a path of disappointing drug-related issues.

The man perhaps most connected to the sad saga of ‘Bones,’ his longtime rival and current UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, recently weighed in on the parallels between McGregor and Jones during a recent media appearance (via Yahoo!) to promote tomorrow’s debut of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 27, which he’ll coach alongside heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.

To Cormier, his unpredictable nature won’t prevent fans from accepting him because he’s seen the same scene unfold with Jones:

“His behavior has been a tad bit erratic, and the one thing people don’t like is erratic behavior where they really don’t know what you’re doing next,” Cormier said. “But as we saw with Jones, it did not lead to people completely turning their backs on him. I think because of his ability to fight, and he’s such a special talent, people will accept him when he comes back.”

Cormier stopped short of declaring that the public would accept McGregor back fully, however, because he thinks people will still be somewhat tentative considering that he’s now showed he could do anything at any time:

“But they’ll be a little more leery of him because of that erratic behavior, he could go off the deep end at any time, as we saw in Brooklyn.”

It’s a good point from Cormier, who will face Miocic for the heavyweight title in the main event of July 7’s UFC 226 in an attempt to become one of the more decorated champions in UFC history.

The fight just as easily could have gone to Jones if he had not been suspended for using the anabolic steroid Turinabol prior to his UFC 214 knockout win over his longtime rival, but he did, and now it’s “DC” who stands on the edge of making history. It’s far from Jones’ only outside-the-cage transgression while scheduled to fight Cormier, so he’s all too familiar with how going off the edge in public can derail an otherwise supremely talented fighter.

McGregor’s the biggest star in UFC history on the other hand, and he’s yet to receive any kind of punishment from the UFC and accounting for how much they need him to return, he may not.

But the legal system he’s now caught up in is another matter altogether, and even though he may get off easy the first time, another such outburst may not produce the same result.

Will McGregor eventually go off the deep end as Cormier suggests he could?

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Rose Namajunas vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk Full Fight Video Highlights

Five months after UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas shocked the MMA world by knocking out dominant former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk at last November’s UFC 217, the two top-ranked 115-pound women locked horns a second time in the co-main event of tonight’s (Sat., April 7, 2018) UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. In […]

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Five months after UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas shocked the MMA world by knocking out dominant former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk at last November’s UFC 217, the two top-ranked 115-pound women locked horns a second time in the co-main event of tonight’s (Sat., April 7, 2018) UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

In a close, hard-fought affair, Namajunas retained her belt thanks to three 49-46 scorecards from the judges, but many believed it should have been more like 48-47 after the champion arguably won the bout by winning the fifth and final round.

At the outset of the pivotal title bout, the two rivals refused to touch gloves:


Namajunas started out strong, tagging Jedrzejczyk with several flurries including this one at the end of the first round:


The champion followed it up with a huge left, the punch that floored the former champ in their first fight:


But even though the first two rounds went to the champ, the momentum began to shift in the third and fourth rounds as Jedrzejczyk found her groove by landing a steady volume of vicious low kicks.
With the shift weighing on the champ, the two fighters traded big shots in the fourth round:


The tide had turned, and it may have come down to just who could edge out the fifth and possibly deciding frame. Namajunas cam out aggressive and landed some big shots during the fifth, and in the end, she closed out the round big with an important takedown to defend her 115-pound belt for the first time:

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