Tag: ufc 220

Yoel Romero Fires Brutal Comeback At Daniel Cormier

Yoel Romero had a brutal comeback for Daniel Cormier – but does it make sense?

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It was hardly a surprise to see new UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier rebuff Yoel Romero’s request for a light heavyweight title shot.

After all, the “Soldier of God” has lost two of his last three fights to middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, and he’s also missed weight prior to his last two. So while a move up to 205 pounds may be a smart career decision overall for the Cuban bulldozer, being one of Cormier’s rumored final two fights in his career just doesn’t make much sense.

The new double-champ revealed as much on last night’s “UFC Tonight,” insisting that Romero may have beaten him in wrestling back in the day, but based on his recent UFC track record, he couldn’t ‘fail a class and move up a grade’:

“Here’s the deal: I never wrestled Yoel Romero, but in wrestling, he probably would have served me up. He’s one of the great wrestlers of all-time. But, you don’t fail a class and then get moved up a grade to the next one.”

A fair bit of logic from the UFC’s new pound-for-pound king, yet it didn’t stop Romero from clapping back with his own example of Cormier’s rival Jon Jones supposedly ‘failing a class’ by failing a drug test prior to UFC 200 and then returning to knock “DC” out at last year’s UFC 214:

A tough comparison to be sure, however, because as mentioned above Romero has lost two of his last three and missed weight before his last two. While Jones obviously has a ton of issues with both recreational and performance-enhancing drugs, he technically never lost (except by disqualification early in his career) and also never missed weight.

So while both “Bones” and Romero have some not-so-desired qualities on their resumes as of late, suggesting that he should get a title shot because Jones got one coming off a suspension just doesn’t make a ton of sense, and it beyond highly unlikely to happen.

Cormier has two fights left, or so he says, and one of them is going to be against Brock Lesnar. The other, well, even if it is at light heavyweight, it probably won’t be against a normal middleweight who has yet to win a fight at 205 pounds. In fact, it definitely won’t.

Kudos to Romero for keeping his name towards the top of MMA discussions, however.

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UFC Rankings Update: Daniel Cormier Overtakes ‘Mighty Mouse’ On P4P List

The UFC rankings just got a serious update after UFC 226.

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The official UFC rankings have been updated in the week following last weekend’s (Sat., July 7, 2018) UFC 226 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it’s safe to say there’s been quite a large shift in several divisions.

The movement, of course, is headlined by new heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in the aftermath of his first-round knockout over Stipe Miocic in the UFC 226 main event. Also the UFC light heavyweight champion, Cormier overtook dominant flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson atop the pound-for-pound list.

Also at pound-for-pound, featherweight champion Max Holloway inexplicably rose three spots to No. 3 despite being forced out of his scheduled title fight against Brian Ortega in the UFC co-main event. The move was most likely caused by Miocic’s precipitous five-spot drop from No. 2 to No. 7. Bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw also moved up to No. 6. weeks ahead of his championship rematch with Cody Garbrandt at August 4’s UFC 227.

In other high-profile movement, Tony Ferguson also overtook Conor McGregor for the top spot at lightweight even though Ferguson is currently recovering from a serious knee injury while McGregor’s future remains uncertain as he awaits his next court date in Brooklyn for his highly-publicized April attack prior to UFC 223. Former 155-pound champion Anthony Pettis also rose four spots for his impressive submission win over Michael Chiesa, who fell three spots to No. 9 as a result. Dan Hooker also made his debut on the lightweight ranks for his latest finish over Gilbert Burns.

Middleweight saw two rising stars make a move on the rankings, with bulldozing knockout artist Paulo Costa moving up two spots to No. 8 following his second-round TKO over Uriah Hall, who dropped three spots to No. 12, and undefeated phenom Israel Adesanya, who debuted at a lofty No. 9 after a dominant display of skill against Brad Tavares, who fell two spots to No. 10, in the TUF 27 Finale main event.

At heavyweight, Miocic obviously fell to the top spot while Derrick Lewis rose three spots to No. 2 for his horrible decision win over former top contender Francis Ngannou, who only dropped three spots to No. 4 for his listless, uninspired defeat. Curtis Blaydes fell one spot to No. 3 amidst the chaos.

Check out the fully updated UFC ranks courtesy of UFC.com below:

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

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

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

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

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion : Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Tony Ferguson +1
2 Conor McGregor -1
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier
5 Kevin Lee
6 Edson Barboza
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Anthony Pettis +4
8 Nate Diaz
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Michael Chiesa -3
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Dan Hooker *NR
15 Francisco Trinaldo

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

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion : Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Chris Weidman
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Jacare Souza
6 Derek Brunson
7 David Branch
8 Paulo Costa +2
9 Israel Adesanya *NR
10 Brad Tavares -2
11 Antonio Carlos Junior
12 Uriah Hall -3
13 Thiago Santos -1
14 Elias Theodorou -1
15 Krzysztof Jotko -1

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

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion : Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic -1
2 Derrick Lewis +3
3 Curtis Blaydes -1
4 Francis Ngannou -3
5 Alexander Volkov -2
6 Alistair Overeem -2
7 Mark Hunt -1
8 Junior Dos Santos -1
9 Marcin Tybura -1
10 Tai Tuivasa -1
11 Aleksei Oleinik -1
12 Andrei Arlovski -1
13 Stefan Struve -1
14 Shamil Abdurakhimov -1
15 Justin Willis -1

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 Tatiana Suarez
10 Cortney Casey
11 Alexa Grasso
12 Randa Markos
13 Nina Ansaroff
14 Joanne Calderwood
15 Angela Hill

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

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

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Stone Cold Sounds Off On Brock Lesnar’s UFC 226 Drama

Some liked Brock Lesnar’s UFC 226 drama, and some did not.

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Many MMA fans feel the UFC is swaying too far towards a WWE-like production.

That belief has been brewing for some time now, but never more so than during the mixed reaction to WWE champion Brock Lesnar’s in-cage appearance the moments after Daniel Cormier’s historic knockout win over Stipe Miocic in the main event of last weekend’s (Sat., July 7, 2018) UFC 226 from Las Vegas.

Former UFC champ Lesnar stormed the octagon to berate Francis Ngannou, the once-touted title challenger who had just lost a horrible bout to Derrick Lewis, and Miocic, the record-breaking champion who was just knocked out cold, by calling both ‘pieces of s***,’ a proclamation that was justifiably blasted by both many MMA fans and media members.

That’s the climate of mixed martial arts these days, unfortunately, as the UFC struggles to put together a high-selling pay-per-view (PPV) event after even a card such as UFC 226 featuring a heavyweight champion vs. light heavyweight champ superfight could only muster a reported 400,000 buys. So the UFC is banking on Lesnar to bring in the numbers they cannot on the back of their own efforts, and that’s eliciting a wide range of reactions from the MMA and pro-wrestling worlds.

One prominent name from the scripted wrestling side recently weighed in on Lesnar’s UFC return. WWE fan favorite “Stone Cold” Steve Austin recently discussed UFC 226 on his podcast (quotes via MMA News), revealing he was a huge fan of Cormier and Miocic but believed it would be “DC” who triumphed in Vegas:

“I was talking with my buddy Joe Romero, a guy who designs a lot of t-shirts for me, and we’re both huge DC fans but I’m a Stipe Miocic fan as well. I called Joe up and I said, “man both guys are extremely smart fighters.’ I said, ‘this is gonna be a clinic and we’ll see that wrestling background that DC has, we’ll see what he’s able to do.’ … And I called Joe up and I said, ‘dude, I’m feeling DC on this thing.’”

Austin then gave his take on Lesnar’s appearance, noting that the UFC obviously had Lesnar queued up and ready to set foot in the octagon. That much many MMA fans agree with after he was seen sitting alongside UFC President Dana White right before the main event, but Austin disagreed with said fans by offering his belief that Lesnar’s promo in the octagon was one of the best he’s seen:

“We’ll see what comes out of the promo that happened afterwards with Brock Lesnar. They had Brock queued up, here he comes looking like a million bucks. And Brock just draws a lot of attention whenever he goes anywhere, especially here in the fight game where he’s had a very successful and interesting and lucrative career. And he goes out there and he cuts one of the best promos I’ve ever heard. ‘So and so is a piece of trash, Daniel Cormier I’m coming for you motherf*****.’ Daniel started jawing back-and-forth with him, it was a good time.”

Throughout his UFC 226 assessment on his podcast, Austin showed an overall knowledge, respect, and affinity for mixed martial arts, offering a detailed opinion of the whole main card.

Perhaps that shows that MMA and pro-wrestling are becoming more intertwined than they ever have been, for better or worse. In fact, with Lesnar becoming one of the most hotly-debated topics in MMA, that’s definitely true.

Are you a fan of this new “entertainment” era in the UFC, or should the UFC take a hint from their slumping ratings and stick to what earned them the moniker of the world’s greatest MMA promotion?

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UFC 226 PPV Estimates Show More Concerning Numbers

The UFC’s horrible run of PPV numbers continues.

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Last Saturday night’s (Sat., July 7, 2018) UFC 226 from Las Vegas was supposed to be the biggest UFC card of the year.

Featuring a heavyweight superfight between record-breaking champion Stipe Miocic and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, the card also boasted a stacked lineup of top-level talent that, for the most part, produced an extremely entertaining night of action-packed fights.

True, the card lost its Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega co-main event only three days before fight night and the new co-main, an awaited heavyweight slugfest between Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou that turned out to be anything but didn’t deliver, but the prospect of Miocic vs. Cormier for the heavyweight title was legitimately one of the best match-ups in UFC history, at least on paper. However, that reportedly failed to translate into success at the box office despite a shocking KO from Cormier.

According to MMA Fighting’s Dave Meltzer, the card didn’t exactly do gangbusters at the box office, continuing a disturbing trend of UFC PPVs that have failed to draw anything resembling great numbers as of late:

“The expectation going in was that this would be the biggest show so far this year. But the most preliminary of pay-per-view estimates have the show doing a little under 400,000 buys. There are those who believe the loss of Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega hurt interest, but Cormier vs. Miocic on its own should have been able to do bigger numbers.”

The preliminary card did decent numbers by comparison, with the bouts earning FOX Sports 1 the top spot for cable sports networks. In terms of overall television sports broadcasts, the UFC got third place behind NASCAR on NBC at 4,437,000 viewers and Major League Baseball on FOX at 2,217,000 viewers. The prelims peaked at 800,00 viewers for the featured Paulo Costa vs. Uriah Hall match.

However, the FS1-aired pre-fight show only earned 254,000 viewers and the post-fight show only 155,000 viewers, very disappointing figures considering the circus-like atmosphere Brock Lesnar fostered after Cormier’s win over Miocic.

The low pay-per-view buys continue for the world’s MMA leader, with UFC 226’s estimated sub-400,000 buys following up June’s concerning 250,000 buys – a number that was initially projected at a paltry 150,000 buys. That’s why the UFC is bringing Lesnar back, but at this rate, it may not be worth the perceived insult to the integrity of the UFC – if it has any left at this point.

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Former UFC Champ: Brock Lesnar Is ‘Absolutely’ Doping

One former UFC champ thinks Brock Lesnar is ‘absolutely’ on ********.

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Former UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar’s UFC return is all but a formality – if he can pass series of stringent drug tests, that is.

After the WWE star returned to the UFC in an over-the-top, circus-like affair following Daniel Cormier’s first-round knockout win over Stipe Miocic in the main event of last weekend’s (Sat., July 7, 2018) UFC 226 from Las Vegas, USADA recently revealed the earliest date Lesnar can return to MMA – next January.

With “The Beast” still serving a roughly six-month suspension from his failed tests for clomiphene during his 2016 return at UFC 200 in a victory over Mark Hunt that was overturned to a no contest, Lesnar has only just re-entered the testing pool. The UFC granted him a waiver of the normally mandatory four-month testing period for un-retiring fighters, and they looked incredibly bad for making a glaring exception for Lesnar only to see him fail.

So the heat is back on Brock, so to say, and it may be a tougher fight for him to pass all his required drug tests than his match against Cormier (yes, even though the early odds say Cormier will destroy him with ease). One former UFC champion doesn’t believe he will be able to in order to cash in on arguably the least-deserved title shot in UFC history, as Lesnar hasn’t won since 2010.

Dominick Cruz told the Scott & BR Show on 1090 AM in San Diego (via MMA News) that he absolutely thinks Lesnar is doping:

“Absolutely. One hundred percent,” Cruz said. “If he makes it to the fight I’d be shocked. And I just mean that because USADA is the toughest anti-doping system there is on planet Earth, and that guy is absolutely doping. Period. No ifs, ands or buts about it. And he’s not been in mixed martial arts, so of course he’s been doing that stuff.”

In fact, Cruz believes it so much so he’d be surprised if the hulking professional wrestler actually makes it to the fight:

“How they’re going to get him to be clean on fight night is beyond me.”

You’ll be hard-pressed to find several fans who disagree with Cruz’ opinion here, as Lesnar has long been suspected of PED use and has of course been officially busted in MMA now.

He’ll be eligible to fight again on next January, but he’ll be facing a full gauntlet of USADA tests required to return in the meantime. Is Cruz right in his assumption, or will Lesnar buck the odds and make it to fight night versus Cormier without incident?

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USADA Reveals Brock Lesnar’s Earliest Return Date

Brock Lesnar is back in the UFC! But there’s a catch.

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Brock Lesnar has ended his retirement from MMA (again).

The hulking behemoth was confirmed to be fighting newly-crowned UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier after he made an in-cage appearance in the moments following “DC’s” shocking first-round knockout of Stipe Miocic in the main event of last Saturday’s UFC 226.

The news sparked off yet another set of questions about Lesnar’s ability to fight, however, as the WWE superstar still had at least some time left on the USADA suspension he received following his decision win over Mark Hunt at 2016’s UFC 200. The suspension would be long expired, but Lesnar ‘retired’ in December 2016 while it was still active, pulling him out of the USADA testing pool and onto its retired list.

Rumors swirled that Lesnar would return at November’s UFC 230 from Madison Square Garden in New York City, but based on news released today, that simply won’t be the date. A USADA spokesperson issued a statement to MMA Fighting confirming that Lesnar has indeed re-entered the USADA testing pool, yet did so only recently and will be eligible to fight again in early 2019:

“After receiving notice of his intent to compete in the UFC, USADA re-entered Brock Lesnar to the testing pool on July 3. With six months and four days remaining on his period of ineligibility, Lesnar will be able to compete on or after January 8, 2019, should he remain in compliance with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.”

One of the UFC’s biggest-ever pay-per-view stars, Lesnar has also found himself in a hotbed of controversy involving performance-enhancing drugs. He was granted a conditional four-month waiver prior to his return in 2016 and then tested positive, overturning his win over Hunt to a no contest.

“The Super Samoan” sued the UFC, White, and Lesnar for multiple alleged charges involving racketeering, amongst others, in an ongoing suit. Lesnar’s overturned win over Hunt means that he has not officially won a UFC fight since July 2010, but the fact he will fight for the heavyweight title has sparked significant backlash amongst MMA fans in the two days following his over-the-top scene at UFC 226 where he shoved Cormier and called out Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou.

That’s the UFC these days, like it or not, and Lesnar has a monster fight with Cormier in his sights. Now, the hardest part of cashing in may be passing the drug tests.

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