Tag: ufc 259

Dominick Cruz Maintains Keith Peterson ‘100%’ Stopped His Fight With Henry Cejudo Prematurely

CruzFormer WEC and UFC bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz returns on March 6 at UFC 259 — headlining the preliminary portion of the card against the streaking Casey Kenney, but a certain chip appears to remain on his shoulder following his knockout loss to former titleholder, Henry Cejudo last May. Replacing former featherweight kingpin, Jose Aldo […]

Cruz

Former WEC and UFC bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz returns on March 6 at UFC 259 — headlining the preliminary portion of the card against the streaking Casey Kenney, but a certain chip appears to remain on his shoulder following his knockout loss to former titleholder, Henry Cejudo last May.

Replacing former featherweight kingpin, Jose Aldo on short-notice at UFC 249, Cruz made his Octagon return for the first time in three years following his title loss to Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207 — clashing with Cejudo for the bantamweight crown.

Dropping just his third professional loss against the former two-weight world champion and Olympic gold medalist, Cruz suffered a second round knockout defeat after eating catching a knee on the entry, before subsequent ground strikes. With just two-seconds remaining before the klaxon would sound, referee Keith Peterson separated the two — with Cejudo wheeling away in celebration. 

Speaking with UFC reporter, Megan Olivi afterwards, Cruz voiced his displeasure with Peterson’s stoppage, before controversially claiming the official had smelled “like alcohol and cigarettes“ backstage as he gave his pre-fight instructions and laid out the ruleset. The San Diego native also questioned if it would be possible to veto a referee from officiating your fight in the future.

Touching on the stoppage defeat to Cejudo during a recent interview with ESPN MMA reporter, Ariel Helwani, Cruz claimed once more that Peterson stopped his fight prematurely.

“I believe Keith Peterson gave him (Henry Cejudo) a nice gift with that (stoppage),” Cruz said. “I was, you know — yeah I got hurt and I shouldn’t have put myself in that position but I was — if you talk to the refs, and you talk to anybody — you have a couple things you need to do in order to keep the fight going. You need to be defending yourself and you need to be working into a better position. I was doing both of those things when the fight got stopped.“

“You can’t be knocked out when you’re standing up on your feet while someone’s hanging on you — like I was okay. So it was hard for me to get stopped when it wasn’t — it was a premature stoppage 100%. I don’t believe I lost that fight, I believe Keith Peterson took that fight. Now I say that, in the midst of somebody who always takes responsibility for their losses. I lost to Cody Garbrandt. I think I probably won two out of five of those rounds against Cody, but he won three out of five, so I would say he won that fight. And I take responsibility for losing that fight (against Garbrandt). This fight (against Cejudo) was different — that’s what was tough about it.“

Cruz also explained how whilst he respects the athletic commission’s decision no matter what the outcome may be, he plans to request that Peterson doesn’t officiate his March 6 outing against Kenney.

“I’m gonna definitely request — and I can only hope and pray that the commission honours my request to not have him (Keith Peterson) in my corner — or refereeing my fight,” Cruz told. “I can’t guarantee it, the commission does whatever they want and I respect them and their decisions, but I don’t believe he’s a competent ref with the way he treated my fight and the way he treated it before the fight happened.“

“The way that I saw him going through the rules in the back — I’ve never had a referee that I’ve had to say, ‘hold on, hold on, stop. Can you start all over again? I can’t understand anything you’re saying. And you’re not looking me in the eyes, are you here? Are you present?’ And I don’t know if he was nervous, or if he had something going on — but I never dealt with that. I’ve had twenty fights, twenty-five fights close to.“

Thiago Santos Still Targeting UFC Gold, Will Compete Even In 40s

SantosIt might surprise some to learn that Thiago Santos is 37. However, the light heavyweight contender has no plans of stopping fighting just yet. Santos is on a two-fight losing streak following defeats to Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira. He will look to return to the win column when he faces Aleksandar Rakic at the […]

Santos

It might surprise some to learn that Thiago Santos is 37. However, the light heavyweight contender has no plans of stopping fighting just yet.

Santos is on a two-fight losing streak following defeats to Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira. He will look to return to the win column when he faces Aleksandar Rakic at the UFC 259 pay-per-view event taking place March 6.

Another setback could hinder his chances of contending for the title again.

However, even if that should happen, “Marreta” has plenty left in the tank as he will even compete in his forties to achieve his goal of becoming UFC champion.

“My goal is to become the UFC champion,” Santos told MMA Junkie. “I’m not in the UFC just to be in the UFC. I plan to fight past the age of 40. It all depends on how much my body can take. As long as I can have good performances, I’ll keep working at it.”

He won’t face an easy task in Rakic next who is 5-1 in the UFC and coming off a unanimous decision win over Anthony Smith.

However, given the Austrian’s skillset along with his own, Santos is expecting an “awesome” fight.

“Aleksandar is super tough,” Santos said. “He’s young. He’s scored several great wins in the UFC. He’s tall, strong, with a great reach. He hits hard. He has very good kickboxing, and uses takedowns and wrestling when necessary. I think it’s going to be an awesome fight.

“On fight night, I believe I’ll be a better version of myself, better than the one who fought Glover. I’m going to surprise everyone. Without a doubt, it’s going to be a great fight. Fans should not miss this one. We’re both very aggressive. I’m ready to bring home another win.”

As for his submission loss to Teixeira — in which he knocked down his fellow compatriot twice prior to losing — Santos believes his preparation was perfect going into the fight.

It was just ring rust that played a major factor, however.

“Against Glover, he did what he had to do,” Santos added. “He was very strategic. We knew what he was going to do. I trained hard for that bout. I was ready. My wrestling and jiu-jitsu were on point. By that time, I was fully recovered from COVID-19.

“What really weighed on me was the time away from the octagon. The lack of fight time made the difference. Glover deserves full credit. Now, I am completely focused on what’s ahead, on winning my next fight.”

Who do you think will win between Santos and Rakic?

Javier Mendez: Islam Makhachev Has All The Tools To Be The Next UFC Lightweight Champion

MakhachevAmerican Kickboxing Academy leader, Javier Mendez has already produced one UFC lightweight champion hailing from Russian in the form of current pacesetter, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and he now claims Khabib’s compatriot, Islam Makhachev is waiting in ‘The Eagle’s’ wings — capable of becoming the next lightweight titleholder. Scheduled to make his long-anticipated Octagon return, the streaking […]

Makhachev

American Kickboxing Academy leader, Javier Mendez has already produced one UFC lightweight champion hailing from Russian in the form of current pacesetter, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and he now claims Khabib’s compatriot, Islam Makhachev is waiting in ‘The Eagle’s’ wings — capable of becoming the next lightweight titleholder.

Scheduled to make his long-anticipated Octagon return, the streaking Makhachev draws fellow surging contender, Drew Dober at UFC 259 in two week’s time, slated to make his first UFC walk since September of 2019 at UFC 242. 

Makhachev was slated to headline a UFC Vegas 14 event in November against former lightweight champion, Rafael dos Anjos — with the matchup shelved for a second time after the former was stricken with a staph infection. Niteroi native, dos Anjos would go on to lodge a split decision win over short-notice replacement, Paul Felder at the event.

The 29-year-old has amassed a six-fight winning spree since his knockout loss to Adriano Martins at UFC 192 in October of 2015, and according to renowned head coach, Mendez, Makchaev has “all the tools” to score lightweight gold next.

“Well, I wouldn’t call him (Islam Makhachev) the next Khabib (Nurmagomedov), I’d just call him the next Islam — which to me is the next champ,” Mendez said during a recent interview with Mike Swick on the Real Quick with Mike Swick show. “I think he has all the tools to be the next lightweight champion. And it’s just a matter of getting by Drew Dober which is no easy task.“

“Drew’s ranked higher in the rankings (than Makhachev),” Mendez said. “You know, he’s not ranked lower which he should be ranked lower cause he’s really that good. But for us, beating a Drew Dober which we’re planning on doing, is not gonna do a great deal for us, only because Drew’s ranking is too high.“

Failing to secure another rebooking against dos Anjos, Mendez maintains an outing and victory over the former division gold holder would’ve benefited Makhachev more than a victory over Dober — predicting he would’ve earned the #7 rank at 155-pounds.

“If we would’ve got RDA (Rafael dos Anjos) as was originally scheduled, that would’ve been a good one, because then they (the ranking committee) would’ve put him in the top-ten at least, I would say top-seven for damn sure if he had of beat RDA — which I believe he would’ve.“

Entering his March 6th. outing against Dober riding a six-fight winning streak, Makhachev has taken decision wins over Chris Wade, Nik Lentz, fellow prospect, Arman Tsakuryan, and Davi Ramos, as well as an armbar win over Kajan Johnson and a knockout of Gleison Tibau. 

Elevation Fight Team mainstay, Dober is enjoying a rich vein of form as well — scoring a trio of knockout victories over Marco Polo Reyes, the highly-touted, Nasrat Haqparast, as well as a UFC Fight Night Jacksonville stoppage of Alexander Hernandez last May. 

UFC Holding Contest For Fans To Attend UFC 259 on March 6

Fans will be allowed to attend a UFC APEX pay-per-view event for the first time ever at UFC 259 in a special tickets sweepstakes. Coming into 2021, fans had not been able to attend a UFC event since March of 2020, but that all changed when the UFC open…

Fans will be allowed to attend a UFC APEX pay-per-view event for the first time ever at UFC 259 in a special tickets sweepstakes. Coming into 2021, fans had not been able to attend a UFC event since March of 2020, but that all changed when the UFC opened the year with its trio of […]

Petr Yan Fires Back At Aljamain Sterling: ‘Worry About Your Ass’

Petr Yan is the UFC's Bantamweight ChampionThe UFC’s Bantamweight Champion, Petr Yan recently responded to Aljamain Sterling over rumours that he did not have a place to train because of the Covid-19 pandemic. (H/T essentiallysports.) It was recently confirmed that Petr Yan will defend his title against Sterling at UFC 259, both men had been scheduled to fight at UFC 256 […]

Petr Yan is the UFC's Bantamweight Champion

The UFC’s Bantamweight Champion, Petr Yan recently responded to Aljamain Sterling over rumours that he did not have a place to train because of the Covid-19 pandemic. (H/T essentiallysports.)

It was recently confirmed that Petr Yan will defend his title against Sterling at UFC 259, both men had been scheduled to fight at UFC 256 but the bout was scrapped.

Writing on Twitter, Sterling said to Yan that there was a rumour he didn’t have a place to train whilst stating he trained for his bout against Cory Sandhagen in a garage.

However Petr Yan was quick to respond. Writing back the Russian said “Don’t worry about me, worry about your a**. Yan then went on to say he trained for his title fight in a garage insisting there was nothing special about it.

Yan who is 15-1 is unbeaten in the UFC. He recently claimed the Bantamweight Title when he defeated Jose Aldo in the fifth round at UFC 251. His fight against Sterling will be his first defence of the title.

The confirmation of a bout already adds to a stacked UFC 259 card on March 6th. The Bantamweight crown will be one of three titles on the line.

As well as Yan Vs Sterling, Middleweight Champion, Israel Adesanya will attempt to become a two-division champion when he faces Light Heavyweight Champion, Jan Blachowicz.

The third title fight on the card will feature the greatest female fighter of all time in Amanda Nunes, she defends her 145-pound title against Megan Anderson.

Other notable fighters on the UFC 259 card include Thiago Santos, Joseph Benavidez, Islam Makhachev and Dominick Cruz.

Do you think Petr Yan will defend his title against Aljamain Sterling and if so how?

Glover Teixeira Open To Serving As Backup For Blachowicz vs. Adesanya Fight

TeixeiraVeteran, one-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger, Glover Teixeira may have been overlooked for the next 205-pound title shot by promotional brass, but that hasn’t deterred the Minas Gerais native from possibly offering his services as a short-notice backup.  Slated for UFC 259 in March, incumbent light heavyweight champion, Jan Blachowicz puts his crown on […]

Teixeira

Veteran, one-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger, Glover Teixeira may have been overlooked for the next 205-pound title shot by promotional brass, but that hasn’t deterred the Minas Gerais native from possibly offering his services as a short-notice backup. 

Slated for UFC 259 in March, incumbent light heavyweight champion, Jan Blachowicz puts his crown on the line as he battles division mover, current middleweight pacesetter, Israel ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya in a champion vs. champion ‘superfight’.

The winner of a stunning five consecutively, 41-year-old striker, Teixeira was briefly linked to a title matchup with Blachowicz following his eventual showdown with Thiago ‘Marreta’ Santos at UFC Vegas 13 in November. Battling through a bout of COVID-19 to make the walk in a rescheduled pairing, Teixeira, the consensus underdog rallied from an opening-round scare to submit his compatriot in the third-round with a rear-naked choke. 

Given his age and status as a longtime top-contender, Teixeira pleaded with promotional president, Dana White afterwards to warrant him his second title siege under the UFC’s banner, however, the organization eventually landed on City Kickboxing ace, Adesanya as Blachowicz’s first challenger. 

The current lie of the title picture hasn’t stopped Teixeira noting his willingness to make himself available to the promotion as a potential short-notice backup to the UFC 259 clash, and if his services aren’t required, the Brazilian would look at the situation as more ‘glass half full’ rather than empty, with another useful camp potentially under his belt.

“Of course,” Teixeira replied when asked by MMA Fighting reporter, Guilherme Cruz if he would entertain the possibilty of competing as a backup. “I’ll be rooting for… [laughs] it sucks. I’ve never rooted for anyone to get hurt, but I’ll be rooting for an injury there [laughs]. I just got back from vacation, so I’ll talk to ‘Joinha’ (manager) (Jorge Guimaraes) and see what we’ll do, but (being a backup) is a possibility. I would have to do a full camp so, even if I have to wait, at least I did a camp, I won’t lose rhythm. Like you said, COVID(-19) is complicated, you really have to pull out if you catch it.“

Extending his unbeaten run at 205-pounds to five straight, the #1 ranked contender had main evented UFC Fight Night Jacksonville in May, completely decimating former title challenger, Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith from the second-round onward on his way to an overdue fifth-round stoppage. 

With four finishes from those five wins, Smith also submitted both Karl Roberson and Ion Cutelaba before a split decision triumph over former Fight Nights Global titleholder, Nikita Krylov.