Tag: UFC 226

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.

The post Yoel Romero Fires Brutal Comeback At Daniel Cormier appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

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

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

The post UFC Rankings Update: Daniel Cormier Overtakes ‘Mighty Mouse’ On P4P List appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

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.

The post Stone Cold Sounds Off On Brock Lesnar’s UFC 226 Drama appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

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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Daniel Cormier Felt Faster Without Weight Cut To 205 Pounds

Daniel Cormier usually has to cut down to 205 pounds for his fights in the UFC – but not this past weekend (Sat. July 7, 2018). “DC” fought at heavyweight against the all consensus greatest UFC heavyweight champion of all time in Stip…

Daniel Cormier usually has to cut down to 205 pounds for his fights in the UFC – but not this past weekend (Sat. July 7, 2018). “DC” fought at heavyweight against the all consensus greatest UFC heavyweight champion of all time in Stipe Miocic. Cormier was able to take some attention away from the weight […]

The post Daniel Cormier Felt Faster Without Weight Cut To 205 Pounds appeared first on MMA News.

Jeremy Stephens Says He’ll Fight ‘Ducking’ Brian Ortega At His Mom’s House

Will Stephens and Ortega ever cross paths?

The post Jeremy Stephens Says He’ll Fight ‘Ducking’ Brian Ortega At His Mom’s House appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Jeremy Stephens had an opportunity to compete for his first UFC title of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career this past weekend (Sat. July 7, 2018), but top-ranked Brian Ortega threw a wrench in those plans.

Stephens was called upon by UFC officials when featherweight champion Max Holloway was forced out of his UFC 226 co-headliner against Brian Ortega. “Blessed” was suffering from some scary concussion-like symptoms and was thus removed from the bout.

Ortega was offered an interim title fight against Stephens, who agreed to take the bout on short notice. The timing couldn’t have been better for Stephens, who was already in a training camp in preparation for his fight against Jose Aldo at UFC on FOX 30 on July 28th.

Instead, “T-City” opted to wait for a healthy Holloway rather than fight “Lil Heathen” on short notice. Stephens joined Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show earlier this week to discuss the situation, and said he was 100 percent ready to fight (quotes via MMA Mania):

“It’s really not my concern what that guy does. I stepped up and he stepped back. It is what it is, what can I do about it? I don’t want to sit here and talk about the guy, I really don’t know him personally,” he said.

“I am willing to fight and all I know is that this is the third time that my name has been in his ear. He has seen me fight a lot, in the front row, and seen me knock a ************ out. I mean, you tell me.”

Stephens was asked if he thinks Ortega is doing as much as possible to avoid a fight with him. His answer – “facts, bro”:

“Those are facts, bro. Deny all you want, he stepped back and I stepped up. They said they were going to fight somebody else, Frankie, and I said take it and then they called it off,” he said.

Should Holloway not be ready to jump back into action anytime soon, Stephens is ready to give things with Ortega another shot. As a matter of fact, he’d be willing to throw down in Ortega’s home state of California at UFC 227 in August:

“I told Dana that I will go to that kid’s mama’s house in L.A. and fight him in his front yard. I’ll fight him August 4, why not? Jose Aldo lost two title fights, he is out. I’ve been in the sport 11 years, putting on dominant performances, why not give him to me right now? Let’s set it up for September 8,” said.

“This kid is ducking me. Whether I fight Jose or not, they can pull me off this card and I will fight this kid in L.A. on August 4. I will go to his backyard, fight him there and pull his gangster card. I saw on Embedded where he is talking about he used to show up to domes and bar fights where you look at a guy, you are the same weight and you fought.

“Well I don’t know if he was there with his little jiu-jitsu crew watching guys like me who actually stepped up and fought grown men when I was 16 years old and I wasn’t even supposed to be there. That was me, I was really living that type of life. I do this **** for fun, because I love it,” concluded a fired-up Stephens.”

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Poor UFC 226 Buyrate Shows Why Brock Lesnar Is Getting Title Shot

The numbers are in, and they aren’t pretty. According to Dave Meltzer of MMAFighting.com, UFC 226 did less than 400,000 pay-per-view buys. That’s a huge disappointment for the UFC considering it was one of the most stacked shows of the year…

The numbers are in, and they aren’t pretty. According to Dave Meltzer of MMAFighting.com, UFC 226 did less than 400,000 pay-per-view buys. That’s a huge disappointment for the UFC considering it was one of the most stacked shows of the year, featuring a true superfight at the top of the bill between former UFC heavyweight […]

The post Poor UFC 226 Buyrate Shows Why Brock Lesnar Is Getting Title Shot appeared first on MMA News.