Tag: UFC Fight Night 128

Kevin Lee Is Great At 155 But He Could Be Even Better At 165

The breakthrough performance at last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 128 event, which took place last Saturday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, came in the main event, where Kevin Lee battered Edson Barboza so badly the doctor was forced…

The breakthrough performance at last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 128 event, which took place last Saturday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, came in the main event, where Kevin Lee battered Edson Barboza so badly the doctor was forced to stop the bout in the fifth round. Lee’s combination of dominant takedowns to […]

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UFC Rankings Update: Inactive Since 2016, Conor McGregor Somehow Moves Up

Former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor may not have competed since November 2016, and he’s currently awaiting his next court date on assault charges, but that hasn’t stopped him from actually rising on the latest UFC official rankings. That was just the case this week when the media-voted rankings voted for to move McGregor […]

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Former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor may not have competed since November 2016, and he’s currently awaiting his next court date on assault charges, but that hasn’t stopped him from actually rising on the latest UFC official rankings.

That was just the case this week when the media-voted rankings voted for to move McGregor up one spot to a tie with current UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic at the No. 3 pound-for-pound spot.

This was despite McGregor not fighting or even having a clear return date even close to confirmed, something that will undoubtedly put the already questionable ‘official’ rankings under even more scrutiny.

The UFC was in New Jersey last weekend for UFC Fight Night 128 from Atlantic City, where rising contender Kevin Lee battered Edson Barboza on the way to a fifth-round TKO stoppage, but the fact that McGregor somehow moved up the pound-for-pound list overshadows Lee’s move up to No. 5 and Barboza’s move down to 6.

In other rankings movement, Cub Swanson moved down one spot on the featherweight rankings after his decision loss to Frankie Edgar in the UFC Atlantic City co-main event, allowing Jeremy Stephens to rise to No. 4. Swanson has now lost to the top three contenders at 145 pounds and owns a 2014 decision win over No. 4 Stephens.

You can check out the fully updated rankings via UFC.com right here:

POUND-FOR-POUND:

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

FLYWEIGHT:

Champion: Demetrious Johnson

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

BANTAMWEIGHT:

Champion: TJ Dillashaw

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

FEATHERWEIGHT:

Champion: Max Holloway

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

LIGHTWEIGHT:

Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov

1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier
5 Kevin Lee +1
6 Edson Barboza -1
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 Olivier Aubin-Mercier

WELTERWEIGHT:

Champion: Tyron Woodley

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

MIDDLEWEIGHT:

Champion: Robert Whittaker

1 Yoel Romero
2 Jacare Souza
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Chris Weidman
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Vitor Belfort
10 Brad Tavares
11 Uriah Hall -1
12 Lyoto Machida +1
13 Thiago Santos -1
13 Antonio Carlos Junior +2
15 Paulo Costa -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 Mauricio Rua
7 Ovince Saint Preux +1
9 Corey Anderson +1
10 Misha Cirkunov -1
11 Patrick Cummins
12 Tyson Pedro
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Gian Villante
15 Jordan Johnson

HEAVYWEIGHT:

Champion: Stipe Miocic

1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Alexander Volkov
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Fabricio Werdum
6 Derrick Lewis
6 Mark Hunt
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Andrei Arlovski
10 Aleksei Oleinik
11 Stefan Struve
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Shamil Abdurakhimov
14 Junior Albini
15 Justin Willis *NR

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

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT:

Champion: Nicco Montano

1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Roxanne Modafferi
5 Katlyn Chookagian -3
7 Barb Honchak -1
8 Liz Carmouche -1
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Mara Romero Borella
13 Paige VanZant
14 Montana De La Rosa
15 Rachael Ostovich

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT:

Champion: Amanda Nunes

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

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Leslie Smith Plans To Sue UFC For Buying Her Out

A unique scene unfolded at last weekend’s UFC Atlantic City. When women’s bantamweight competitor Aspen Ladd missed weight by 1.8 pounds for her preliminary card bout versus Leslie Smith, Smith refused to take the fight against her overweight opponent. Certainly an acceptable response, although not one wholly seen too often in the UFC. But it was […]

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A unique scene unfolded at last weekend’s UFC Atlantic City.

When women’s bantamweight competitor Aspen Ladd missed weight by 1.8 pounds for her preliminary card bout versus Leslie Smith, Smith refused to take the fight against her overweight opponent. Certainly an acceptable response, although not one wholly seen too often in the UFC. But it was what happened when the UFC responded to Smith’s decision to not compete in what was the last fight on her UFC contract.

The world’s biggest MMA promotion decided to pay Smith her show money and win bonus for the card, totaling $62,000, and then branded her a free agent after deciding not to extend her contract. It was a strange scene full of several working parts considering Smith is the president of Project Spearhead, an effort to make the government decide if UFC fighters are employees or the independent contractors they’re currently considered.

So it wasn’t really surprising to hear the UFC had refused to extend Smith’s contract given their prior relations with labor-focused groups and individuals, but the timing of the whole situation and how it went down made it a curious one that will most likely shape a part of the inevitable labor dispute between fighters and the UFC to come.

And that scope of attention could get a lot bigger, as Smith revealed on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour that she believes the UFC tried to pay her off, and she would be taking legal action against them with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in addition to a state court in California.

In the eyes of “The Peacemaker,” what the UFC did was illegal because they created a culture of fear to dissuade other fighters from standing up for their rights:

“It’s my opinion that what the UFC did was illegal. Because they have created a situation where it encourages a climate of fear where the other people in the UFC on the roster are going to be fearful of publicly organizing and standing up for their rights.

“By creating a climate of fear, that violates federal law. That’s the whole point of the National Labor Relations Board and the laws that are in there.”

Smith also detailed that she was surprised when the UFC let her go because she thinks it will paint a clear picture of how they treat and consider fighters who attempt to stand up to them in the current climate:

“I am surprised. I think that it opens up an examination of how they feel about my activities in organizing the fighters recently. I think by doing unusual behavior, it’s going to ask what are the unusual circumstances leading to this?”

Always at the forefront for the fight for improved labor conditions for fighters, Smith also discussed why she couldn’t take the fight with Ladd after the UFC told her they would pay her the full win purse. In her opinion, she would have then been fighting for free, something fighters have simply done too much due to pride:

“I feel like if I didn’t do that at this point, it wouldn’t be living up to everything I’ve been talking about,” Smith said. “That’s why I couldn’t take the fight once they offered me the $62,000, because then I would be fighting for free. And that’s been my whole point this whole time. We shouldn’t be manipulated by pride. We need to look at ourselves as a business and fight for the large sums of money that we deserve.”

Overall Smith was just hoping that Project Spearhead would be taken seriously enough for the UFC to be concerned about it, and she believes that when they essentially paid her to leave, it became apparent they were concerned about her efforts:

“I guess in a way I guess I was almost hoping that Project Spearhead would be significant enough for them to be a little bit worried about it,” Smith said. “And then the fact that they did this unprecedented thing where they bought out my contract, so that I wouldn’t be around anymore kind of shows that they do think Project Spearhead is pretty significant.”

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UFC Fight Night 128 Performance Of The Night Bonus Winners

UFC Fight Night 128 has come-and-gone and it was quite the event. The event saw Kevin Lee dominate Edson Barboza, aside from one scary moment from a hook kick, en route to a fifth round TKO victory due to doctor stoppage. Also on the card, Frankie Edga…

UFC Fight Night 128 has come-and-gone and it was quite the event. The event saw Kevin Lee dominate Edson Barboza, aside from one scary moment from a hook kick, en route to a fifth round TKO victory due to doctor stoppage. Also on the card, Frankie Edgar bounced back from his first-ever knockout loss to […]

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UFC Fight Night 128’s Dan Hooker Is On The Rise At 155 Pounds

One of the standout performances at UFC Fight Night 128, which took place Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, came courtesy of New Zealand’s Dan “The Hangman” Hooker. The 28-year-old fighter took on long-tim…

One of the standout performances at UFC Fight Night 128, which took place Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, came courtesy of New Zealand’s Dan “The Hangman” Hooker. The 28-year-old fighter took on long-time UFC veteran Jim Miller in the opening main card bout in the biggest fight of his young […]

The post UFC Fight Night 128’s Dan Hooker Is On The Rise At 155 Pounds appeared first on MMA News.

Edson Barboza vs. Kevin Lee Full Fight Video Highlights

No. 5-ranked Edson Barboza met No. 6 Kevin Lee for pivotal positioning in the deeply talented 155-pound title picture in the main event of tonight’s (Sat., April 21, 2018) UFC Fight Night 128 from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In a dominant showing, Lee showed his complete overall game by hanging with the […]

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No. 5-ranked Edson Barboza met No. 6 Kevin Lee for pivotal positioning in the deeply talented 155-pound title picture in the main event of tonight’s (Sat., April 21, 2018) UFC Fight Night 128 from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

In a dominant showing, Lee showed his complete overall game by hanging with the lethal striker Barboza standing and absolutely dominating him on the ground. Lee’s pace was relentless, his takedowns successful, and his ground position and damage unwavering as he survived a third-round spinning wheel kick to pick up the biggest win of his MMA career.

It was a telling comeback fight for the surging 25-year-old Lee, who answered the questions about his loss to Ferguson and his weight-cutting problems with a resounding reply.

The 25-year-old ‘Motown Phenom’ not surprisingly looked to ground the Brazilian early, securing a textbook double leg in the opening frame:


The takedown opened a path for an onslaught of ground shots that continued until the end of the first:


Barboza got up from the ground already wearing the damage from Lee’s first-round onslaught:

Lee’s assault continued in the second round as he kept pounding Barboza to the point it seemed the fight would be stopped:


But Barboza turned the tide with his trademark spinning wheel kick that had Lee doing the stanky leg, a strike he somehow survived:


Here’s another slow-motion angle of Barboza’s kick:


Lee made it through the massive kick and stood and traded with Barboza throughout the later rounds, taking him down and maintaining dominant positions to batter Barboza until the cageside doctors had no choice but to stop the fight, awarding “The Motown Phenom” the biggest win he’s ever scored after he landed 233 strikes.

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