Tag: ufc 220

UFC 226 Embedded Episode 1

UFC 226 is less than a week away and the first episode of Embedded was released on the UFC’s YouTube channel.

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UFC 226 is less than a week away and the first episode of Embedded was released on the UFC’s YouTube channel.

In the episode, featherweight champion Max Holloway adjusts to the heat of Las Vegas, while 205-pound champion Daniel Cormier adjusts to working out at his new size. Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic risks life and limb to assemble his soon-to-be-born daughter’s playpen.

Featherweight title challenger Brian Ortega juggles training, surfing, music and karma. Holloway puts in time at the UFC Performance Institute, and Cormier spends time on the soccer field.

You can watch it here:

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UFC Rankings Update: Cormier Passes St-Pierre On P4P List

Daniel Cormier is making moves before his heavyweight super fight with Stipe Miocic:

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The official UFC rankings have been updated heading into July 7’s pay-per-view UFC 226 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

And one of its featured fighters was the main benefactor of the rankings update.

Light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier rose to the No. 4 spot on the pound-for-pound list prior to his heavyweight super fight with Stipe Miocic in the UFC 226 main event, sending former middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre down two spots to No. 5.

In other rankings movement, rising welterweight Leon Edwards failed to break into the Top 10 after defeating longtime veteran Donald Cerrone in the main event of last Saturday’s (Sat., June 23, 2018) UFC Fight Night 132 from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore, rising two spots to No. 11.

You can check out the full updated rankings from UFC.com right here:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Stipe Miocic
3 Conor McGregor
4 Daniel Cormier +1
5 Georges St-Pierre -2
6 Max Holloway
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Khabib Nurmagomedov
10 Cris Cyborg
11 Robert Whittaker
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 *NR

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 +2
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Rob Font +1
12 Thomas Almeida +1
13 Alejandro Perez +2
14 Brett Johns
15 Eddie Wineland *NR

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 +1
13 Zabit Magomedsharipov -1
14 Dooho Choi
15 Calvin Kattar

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier
5 Kevin Lee
6 Edson Barboza
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Paul Felder
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 +2
12 Donald Cerrone -1
13 Gunnar Nelson -1
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 Brad Tavares
9 Uriah Hall +1
10 Paulo Costa +1
11 Antonio Carlos Junior +1
12 Thiago Santos
13 Elias Theodorou +1
14 Krzysztof Jotko +1
15 Cezar Ferreira *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 Ovince Saint Preux
8 Mauricio Rua -1
9 Corey Anderson
10 Misha Cirkunov
11 Dominick Reyes
12 Patrick Cummins
13 Tyson Pedro
14 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
15 Sam Alvey

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

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 Lauren Murphy
5 Katlyn Chookagian
6 Liz Carmouche
7 Barb Honchak
8 Roxanne Modafferi
9 Jessica Eye +1
10 Jessica-Rose Clark -1
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Andrea Lee
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Paige VanZant
15 Gillian Robertson

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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USADA Won’t Confirm Nor Deny Brock Lesnar’s UFC Return

Apparently, this is the first time USADA has ever done this:

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The rumors of former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar’s latest return have begun to ramp up of late, with “The Beast” reported to be making an appearance at July 7’s UFC 226.

There, Lesnar will supposedly challenge the winner of the main event super fight between heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier for a megafight later this year, with the speculated-upon target date December 29’s UFC 232.

Discussion of Lesnar possibly fighting longtime former light heavyweight champ Jon Jones is still circulating, but with “Bones” facing a possibly substantial USADA long suspension for his latest drug test failure, that fight could be on the backburner for quite some time if it ever happens.

And the coast isn’t exactly clear for Lesnar to return either, however, as the hulking fan favorite still has six months left on the one-year USADA suspension he was handed after testing positive for estrogen blocker clomiphene in conjunction with his UFC 200 win over Mark Hunt in 2016 that was eventually overturned. Lesnar would have to re-enter the USADA testing pool – something for which he made big headlines when he was granted a waiver to avoid prior to UFC 200 – for six months before returning to mixed martial arts.

He may have already done so, as MMA Weekly’s Damon Martin (via MMA Mania) recently revealed that he had called USADA and they could neither confirm nor deny that Lesnar was coming out of retirement, the first time they ever said they could not confirm if a competitor was un-retiring:

An interesting revelation to be certain – or lack thereof.

Regardless, it’s beginning to look like Lesnar’s Octagon return is more of an eventuality than a possibility, so perhaps the hardest part of getting him back in the UFC is him passing the drug tests, which became clear far after the fact when he faced “The Super Samoan.”

The fan favorite (or at least at one time) subsequently sued White, Lesnar and the UFC for conspiring against him against a fighter they knew was on PEDs, yet that was after Hunt said he knew Lesnar was “juiced to the gills.”

In a time where the UFC needs true pay-per-view stars arguably more than ever, the promotion most likely isn’t too concerned about the truth of that statement or not; bypassing the rules and regulations they put in place, ironically enough, could ultimately prove if they miss out on their biggest fight of 2018 or not.

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Jon Jones Declares He’s Still UFC Champion

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

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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?

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UFC 226: Miocic vs. Cormier Official Poster Released

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

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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:

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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:

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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.”

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