UFC 296 | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

Leon Edwards Touts himself ‘Leon Nurmagomedov’ following impressive showing against Colby Covington

After showing off his grappling skills against Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington in his last two bouts, Leon Edwards…

After showing off his grappling skills against Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington in his last two bouts, Leon Edwards is ready to start sporting the signature Dagestani beard.

‘Rocky’ is fresh off a dominant performance against Covington at UFC 296 to retain his welterweight world title decisively. The victory comes nine months following his impressive win over former champion Kamaru Usman. In both matchups, Edwards more than held his own against two of the best grapplers in the history of the division.

Speaking about his performances in a recent interview, Leon Edwards generated a few laughs when suggesting that he’s ready to join the ranks of Russia’s greatest grapplers, facial hair and all.

“Two of the best grapplers in the division, I’m able to out-grapple them and take them down,” Edwards said in an interview with TNT Sports. “I might like, cut my mustache off and just have a little beard. Leon Nurmagomedov.”

Leon Edwards managed to stuff eight of Colby Covington’s 10 takedown attempts at the final pay-per-view of the year. Giving ‘Chaos’ a dose of his own medicine, ‘Rocky’ landed a solid two out of three takedowns against the All-American.

What’s next for Leon Edwards?

With his victory over Covington officially in the books, Edwards will likely turn his attention toward Belal Muhammad. ‘Remember the Name’ is riding a nine-fight win streak in the division and has been waiting patiently for his shot. However, current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev hopes to throw a monkey wrench in those plans, recently lobbying for a champion vs. champion clash with ‘Rocky’ in 2024.

With both Justin Gaethje and Charles Oliveira awaiting their turn at the ‘Dagestani Destroyer,’ we suspect Makhachev and Edwards will hang out in their divisions for the next year working through a backlog of hungry contenders before potentially colliding in a superfight.

Henry Cejudo rips Sean Strickland for emotional outburst amid UFC 296 brawl: ‘He’s somewhat of a crybaby’

Former two-division Octagon gold holder, Henry Cejudo has labelled undisputed middleweight kingpin, Sean Strickland a “crybaby” – in reaction…

Former two-division Octagon gold holder, Henry Cejudo has labelled undisputed middleweight kingpin, Sean Strickland a “crybaby” – in reaction to the latter’s emotional outburst and melee with incoming title challenger and foe, Dricus du Plessis in the crowd at UFC 296 last weekend.

Cejudo, a former undisputed flyweight champion and bantamweight gold under the banner of the promotion, as well as an Olympic gold medalist, made his return from a three-year retirement back in May.

Challenging for divisional spoils, Los Angeles-born contender, Cejudo suffered a close, split decision loss to former champion, Aljamain Sterling in the pair’s title affair.

Booked to make his return to the Octagon at UFC 298 in Anaheim, California, taking on surging bantamweight challenger, Merab Dvalishvili in a potential championship eliminator.

Henry Cejudo labels Sean Strickland a “crybaby”

And sharing his thoughts on Strickland’s brawl on fighter row with du Plessis ahead of the pair’s UFC 297 title showdown in Canada, Cejudo donned Strickland a “crybaby” for his emotional outburst.

“[Sean Strickland] likes to talk about other people, he likes to talk about other people’s wives,” Henry Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “But when somebody brings up something about his past and with his dad, all of a sudden he’s crying. So, as cool as Sean Strickland could be – and the funny things that he could be, he’s also somewhat of a crybaby.”

“I was a fan, but the fact now that he’s really bringing it to the fists – like fighting outside of an actual Octagon – let’s me know that hte dude is just frickin’ emotional…” Henry Cejudo explained. “And now when they say something about you when you were a kid, and all this other sh*t, now you get p*ssed off and you’re the first one throwing blows. You know what that is? That’s a b*tch move.”

Stephen Thompson reveals broken foot suffered in UFC 296 loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov: ‘i’ll be back better than ever’

Former two-time welterweight title challenger, Stephen Thompson has vowed to come back to the Octagon “stronger” than ever amid…

Former two-time welterweight title challenger, Stephen Thompson has vowed to come back to the Octagon “stronger” than ever amid his one-sided second round rear-naked choke submission loss to the unbeaten, Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 296 last weekend.

Simpsonville striker, Thompson made his return to the Octagon for the first time in over a year at UFC 296 last weekend, suffering a late second round rear-naked choke submission defeat to the undefeated Uzbekistan finishing ace, Rakhmonov.

Prior to that, the former two-time undisputed welterweight title challenger had landed a fourth round corner’s stoppage TKO win over Kevin Holland in the main event of UFC Fight Night Orlando back in December of last year.

Stephen Thompson addresses UFC 296 loss

And sharing his thoughts on his submission loss to improving contender, Rakhmonov, veteran striking technician, Thompson vowed to make a return to the Octagon in better form than ever, fearing he may have fractured his foot to boot.

“I appreciate all of your support after the fight this past Saturday,” Stephen Thompson said on his official YouTube channel. “It obviously didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, and that’s why you should always follow the plan, guys. I didn’t follow the plan. That’s my fault.”

“Anyway, I love you guys, and I’ll be back stonger and better than ever,” Stephen Thompson explained. “I have some things to work on and get this foot heald up, and we’ll get after it again. That’s what happens when you don’t follow the game plan. You get submitted in the second round. I actually came out of the fight pretty much unscathed, other than the fact that I think I broke my foot in a body kick right to the elbow. Don’t kick your opponent to the elbow because that sucks.”

What’s next for Stephen Thompson after UFC 296?

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Coach Comments on Tony Ferguson’s losing streak and his post-UFC Potential

Javier Mendez, the legendary coach of UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov, believes there are plenty of options for…

Javier Mendez, the legendary coach of UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov, believes there are plenty of options for Tony Ferguson outside of the Octagon.

‘El Cucuy’ suffered his seventh-straight loss under the UFC banner at the promotion’s final pay-per-view of the year, dropping a unanimous decision to rising UK-based contender Paddy Pimblett. Now tied with BJ Penn for the most consecutive losses in UFC history, many fight fans expected Tony Ferguson to lay down his gloves following the defeat. However, the moment never came.

Instead, Ferguson stormed out of the Octagon as soon as the decision was announced and then proceeded to suggest that his career was still far from over.

Speaking about Ferguson’s career trajectory, Mendez believes that there are a lot of lucrative options outside of the UFC, should ‘El Cucuy’ move on from his time with the Las Vegas-based promotion. But whether or not he retires is for nobody, but him to decide.

“Well, number one, the UFC releasing him at this stage might benefit them,” Mendez said on his podcast. “Before it didn’t because he was still a needle-mover. He’s really good for advertising, hyping fights up. Tony’s still good at that. So, the fact that there’s bare-knuckle fighting, the fact that there’s other organizations out there it means that Tony still has a job if he wants to, a high-paying job ’cause people pay to watch him.

“So, I think he probably needs to really look at himself now because that’s seven in a row, and he keeps changing things up. Father time’s catching him up more. It’s gonna be up to him and his family, but I don’t want to say he should retire. That’s on him” (h/t MMAKnockout.com).

Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov were scheduled to scrap for the lightweight world title on no less than five separate occasions. Each time, the bout fell through for one reason or another. The last attempt came in April 2020, but the bout was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A month later, ‘El Cucuy’ would go on to fight Justin Gaethje in the first of his seven straight defeats.

Dana White rips Colby Covington continued trash talk after UFC 296: ‘You know what type of scum you’re dealing with’

UFC CEO, Dana White has branded former interim welterweight titleholder, Colby Covington “scum” according to Leon Edwards’ head coach,…

UFC CEO, Dana White has branded former interim welterweight titleholder, Colby Covington “scum” according to Leon Edwards’ head coach, after the Clovis native poked fun at the murder of the former’s father during the pre-fight and now post-fight talk of their UFC 296 title grudge match.

Covington, a former interim welterweight champion under the banner of the promotion, headlined UFC 296 last weekend in Las Vegas as part of the promotion’s final event of the year.

Suffering a one-sided title fight loss to undisputed gold holder, Edwards, Covington’s defeat came as his third consecutively in an undisputed welterweight title fight, following prior stoppage and judging losses to arch-rival, Kamaru Usman.

And continuing his ugly tirade aimed at Edwards and his deceased father in the immediate aftermath of UFC 296, Colby Covington compared the slain former crime boss to former German dictator, Adolf Hitler in podcast appearances after the event.

Dana White unleashes on Colby Covington after UFC 296

According to Edwards’ head coach, Dave Lovell, however, UFC boss, White was less than impressed with Covington’s avenue of trash talk, labelling him “scum”.

“I’m a father and I’ve got children, and God forbid, if anything was to happen to me, I know how my boys would feel – and if somebody was to rub that into their face or say that, I know the reaction that would happen,” Dave Lovell told MMA Fighting. “I’m feeling it for Leon (Edwards) because he’s grown up basically fatherless, and for somebody to chuck that at him, it’s gut-wrenching.”

“And I even said to Dana (White), after when he came over, I said, ‘Dana, where do you draw the line?’” Lovell explained. “Dana turned around and said, ‘Well, listen, you know what kind of scum you’re dealing with.’ But I said, ‘Yes, Dana, but you’ve got to draw a line at somewhere wrong.”

Amongst his recent claims, Colby Covington has also stated within 30 seconds of the opening round of his fight with Edwards, he fractured his foot after inadvertently kicking the Birmingham native’s elbow.

Daniel Cormier urges Tony Ferguson to retire from MMA after UFC 296 loss: ‘That time has come’

UFC Hall of Fame inductee, Daniel Cormier has encouraged former interim lightweight titleholder, Tony Ferguson to seriously consider calling…

UFC Hall of Fame inductee, Daniel Cormier has encouraged former interim lightweight titleholder, Tony Ferguson to seriously consider calling time on his storied mixed martial arts career, after the Oxnard native dropped his seventh consecutive loss at UFC 296 last weekend.

Ferguson, a former interim lightweight champion under the banner of the UFC, featured on the main card of the promotion’s final flagship event of the year last weekend, dropping a one-sided unanimous decision loss to Paddy Pimblett.

The defeat came as Ferguson’s seventh consecutively – as The Ultimate Fighter victor joined former two-weight champion, B.J. Penn on the longest concurrent losing streak in the history of the organization.

Urged by UFC CEO, Dana White to call time on his mixed martial arts career and hang up his gloves following his judging loss to Liverpool up-and-comer, Pimblett, Ferguson claimed, however, that he had no intention of ending his time in the sport.

Tony Ferguson urged to retire by Daniel Cormier

Adding his thoughts to Ferguson’s situation, former undisputed light heavyweight and heavyweight gold holder, Cormier claimed the time has now firmly arrived for the former to stop fighting professionally.

“Tony Ferguson would seem to be done,” Daniel Cormier said on an episode of DC & RC. “Call it what it is. I believe that Tony Ferguson should retire. I really try to limit trying to show a man the door because nobody knows when someone’s done until they know that they’re done.”

“Only Tony knows when it’s time,” Cormier explained. “But it seems as though he’s the only one left that isn’t sure. Everybody else feels pretty certain that that time has come for Tony Ferguson.”

Earlier this year, Oxnard veteran, Ferguson dropped a one-sided eventual third round arm-triangle submission loss to Bobby Green on the main card of UFC 291 back in July.

Do you think Tony Ferguson will retire after UFC 296?