The fight card for UFC Fight Night 89 has been set, with the action beginning on UFC Fight Pass at 6 p.m. ET.
Set for Sunday, May 29 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, the card is headlined by Cody Garbrandt meeting Thomas Almeida, al…
The fight card for UFC Fight Night 89 has been set, with the action beginning on UFC Fight Pass at 6 p.m. ET.
Set for Sunday, May 29 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, the card is headlined by Cody Garbrandt meeting Thomas Almeida, along with Renan Barao facing off against Jeremy Stephens.
Those two fights, along with Tarec Saffiedine-Rick Story, Chris Camozzi-Vitor Miranda, Lorenz Larkin-Jorge Masvidal and Josh Burkman-Paul Felder anchor the FOX Sports 1 main card that begins at 9 p.m. ET.
Starting at 7 p.m. ET will be four FS1 prelims, as Jessica Eye takes on Sara McMann, Diego Ferreira meets Abel Trujillo, Jake Collier battles Alberto Uda and Shane Champbell faces Erik Koch. Aljamain Sterling-Bryan Caraway and Chris De La Rocha-Adam Milstead begin the night on UFC Fight Pass at 6 p.m. ET.
UFC has announced an exciting new fight for their upcoming UFC Fight Night 89 event.
Joining the card, which is headlined by Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson vs. Rory MacDonald, will be Bantamweight contenders Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto and Chris Beal.
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UFC has announced an exciting new fight for their upcoming UFC Fight Night 89 event.
Joining the card, which is headlined by Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson vs. Rory MacDonald, will be Bantamweight contenders Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto and Chris Beal.
The Yamamoto-Beal bout will take place on the undercard of the event in Canada.
UFC Fight Night 89 takes place on June 18, 2016 at the TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Since taking over as President of Bellator MMA in 2014, Scott Coker has turned the promotion into a serious player – or at least somewhat of a competitor to the UFC in terms of luring in high profile fighters. In recent memory, notable UFC fighters such as Josh Thomson, Josh Koscheck, Phil Davis, Matt Mitrione
Since taking over as President of Bellator MMA in 2014, Scott Coker has turned the promotion into a serious player – or at least somewhat of a competitor to the UFC in terms of luring in high profile fighters.
In recent memory, notable UFC fighters such as Josh Thomson, Josh Koscheck, Phil Davis, Matt Mitrione and even former champion Benson Henderson have jumped ship to Bellator in regards for better conditions, or better pay.
Speaking on the matter at a recent Bellator press conference (Via MMAJunkie), Coker advised fighters to test free agency, claiming that Bellator emerging as a contender is good for MMA as a whole:
“You should fight your fights out, because we’re here too. “Now, there’s more than one buyer, which is good for the market, which is good for individuals, which is good for the league, which is good for the industry,” he said.
As far as future endeavors go, Bellator will continue their efforts to bring in the best fighters in the world according to Coker.
One name that stands out as a possible target could be 26 year old UFC welterweight contender and former title challenger Rory “Red King” MacDonald.
MacDonald, although young in age, has become a veteran of the fight game, and he’s currently gearing up to fight the last fight on his current contract with the UFC, as he’ll take on surging contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in the main event of June’s UFC Fight Night 89 from his home of Canada.
The “Red King” recently stated that he’d be willing to test free agency in search of the most lucrative deal offered, and it appears as if Coker and Company will attempt to be at the forefront of those negotiations:
“He’s a guy that we’d be interested in talking to, if the time is right,” Coker said.
Could you see a young star like MacDonald making the jump to Bellator in the future?
It’s been quite an eventful week for the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion in terms of breaking news, but the UFC has also been quite busy in booking fights for its upcoming spring and summer cards. Clearly the biggest news came in the blockbuster formation of the quickly shaping-up-to-be epic UFC 200 from the
It’s been quite an eventful week for the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion in terms of breaking news, but the UFC has also been quite busy in booking fights for its upcoming spring and summer cards.
Clearly the biggest news came in the blockbuster formation of the quickly shaping-up-to-be epic UFC 200 from the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 9, 2016. The event got its rumored Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor main event, but another massive bout was added last night when news arrived that Jose Aldo would meet Frankie Edgar for the interim title belt on the card.
Former welterweight champion Johny “Big Rigg” Hendricks will also return. He finds himself fighting former The Ultimate Fighter winner Kelvin Gastelum. Hendricks will look to bounce back after suffering a disappointing defeat to Stephen Thompson last February.
A highly intriguing clash between veteran warriors Diego Sanchez and Joe Lauzon was also added to action-packed schedule. If this bout doesn’t just scream blood and excitement, I’m not quite sure what does.
Also this week was the confirmation that Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino would finally be making her Octagon debut against Leslie Smith at May 14’s UFC 198 from Brazil.
Sticking with the females, it was also reported that former 115-pound title holder Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza would be making her return to action to replace Jessica Aguilar on short notice against Julianna Lima at April 23’s UFC 197 in Las Vegas.
Esparza has been sidelined since suffering a one-sided loss to reigning champion Joanna Jedrzeczyk at UFC 185 last March while Lima has won two straight.
Boosting an already packed card at May 29’s UFC Fight Night 88 from Las Vegas, a top bantamweight bout No. 4 Aljamain Sterling and No. 8 Bryan Caraway joined the Thomas Almeida vs. Cody Garbrandt main event at 135.
Following UFC 197 and UFC 198 will be June 4’s UFC 199 from The Forum in Inglewood, California. The promotion recently added a welterweight bout between Tom Breese and Sean Strickland to this card.
Piggy-backing off of these announcements, the UFC went to town on June 18’s UFC Fight Night 89 from Ottawa, Canada, rounding out the card with seven new bouts.
Steve Bosse, who is coming off of a knockout victory over James Te Huna, will meet Sean O’Connell, who is coming off of a first round stoppage defeat at the hands of Ilir Latifi, in a light heavyweight bout. Canadian middleweight Elias Theodorou will clash with the electrifying “Smilin’” Sam Alvey.
In addition, Jason Saggo has been scheduled to scrap with Leandro Silva, while Misha Cirkunov will welcome Ion Cutelaba to the UFC in a 205-pound contest.
The famed Tristar Gym in Canada will showcase a few more of its combatants as well, as Olivier Aubin-Mercier gets Thibault Gouti, and Alex Garcia signed on the dotted line to meet Colby Covington. Rounding out the madness at UFC Fight Night 89 will be a bout showcasing recent returnee and Bellator veteran Tamdan McCrory, who will meet Krzysztof Jotko.
A matchup of two fighters with fitting nicknames has been made official for UFC Fight Night 89, as Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone takes on Patrick “The Predator” Cote.
The event goes down June 18 from Ottaway, marking the debut of the Octagon in the Canadi…
A matchup of two fighters with fitting nicknames has been made official for UFC Fight Night 89, as Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone takes on Patrick “The Predator” Cote.
The event goes down June 18 from Ottaway, marking the debut of the Octagon in the Canadian province. Rory MacDonald and Stephen Thompson are the scheduled headline fight.
Cerrone (29-7) moved up to welterweight earlier this year, besting Alex Oliveira. The former lightweight title contender owns 21 stoppage victories to his name and 11 “Fight Night” bonus awards.
Cote (23-9) has strung together three consecutive wins and is 5-1 overall at 170 pounds. He previously faced off with then-middleweight champion Anderson Silva for the title back in 2008.
Other planned bouts for the card include Steve Bosse-Sean O’Connell, Elias Theodorou-Sam Alvey, Jason Saggo-Leandro Silva, Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Thibault Gouti and Tamdan McCrory-Krzysztof Jotko.
On Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com, longtime UFC Welterweight contender Rory MacDonald shed light on an interesting contract situation he has with the UFC heading into his next — and final — fight on his current deal with the co…
On Monday’s edition of “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com, longtime UFC Welterweight contender Rory MacDonald shed light on an interesting contract situation he has with the UFC heading into his next — and final — fight on his current deal with the company.
According to MacDonald, he and the UFC failed to come to terms on a contract extension, meaning he will go into his next fight against Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson rolling the dice in terms of his negotiation leverage with the promotion.
Below are some comments MacDonald made during his appearance on Ariel Helwani’s show earlier this afternoon:
On his next fight being the last fight on his existing UFC contract:
“I am fighting my sixth fight of my six-fight deal. I will be a free agent afterwards. Basically, we didn’t really come to an agreement so I am going to honor the contract and go from there. We weren’t too far apart when we came down to it, but I felt that I was worth, my offer was fair and I was going to stand my ground for what I feel I am worth and what I brought to the table. They didn’t see it like that, so, it’s okay. I’ll try to make a dominant performance and show my worth in my next fight. Then maybe after that we will come to a new agreement.”
On being willing to sign with whoever offers the most money:
“I want to make the most money I can. I want to get paid for what I bring to the table. I’ve sacrificed a lot to get to the top, to the world title. I really sacrificed and I took a lot of chances and did a lot of favors for UFC. And I don’t think it got returned. So now, it’s all about making money and whoever wants to pay me the most is where I will go.”
Rory MacDonald vs. Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson headlines UFC Fight Night 89 on June 19, 2016.
