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Alvey: UFC Is Doing Everything It Can To Boost Fighter Pay

Former UFC light heavyweight Sam Alvey has once again spoken out in support of the promotion’s fighter pay structure. This past weekend, Alvey’s Octagon tenure came to an unceremonious end at the hands of Micha? Oleksiejczuk. The final bout…

Continue Reading Alvey: UFC Is Doing Everything It Can To Boost Fighter Pay at MMA News.

Video – Muhammad Ali battles Antonio Inoki at historic 1976 MMA event in Japan

Billed at The War of the Worlds – a battle of sports icons, boxing great, the late Muhammad Ali, and professional wrestling veteran, Antonio Inoki has once more emerged into the spotlight, 46-years on from the historic Tokyo, Japan matchup. Ali, who passed away back in June 2016 at the age of 74 after a […]

Ali, who passed away back in June 2016 at the age of 74 after a prolonged battle with Parkinson’s as well as deteriorating and declining health, made the trip to the Nippon Budokan arena in Tokyo in 1976, sharing the squared circle with Japanese professional wrestling star, Inoki in one of the most acclaimed and historic sports cross overs in history.

The battle, which was contested between Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki, took place over the course of 15 rounds in an eventual draw, took place under ‘special rules’ – however, Ali sporting boxing gloves, and Inoki, sporting wrestling boots and shorts, were considered to compete under certain mixed martial arts rules. The matchup was also refereed by the late, Gene LeBell – credited ‘The Godfather of Grappling’ – who passed away earlier this week at the age of 89 years old.

Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki battled over 15 rounds to a draw

Electing to play guard and often pull guard on occasion, Inoki, a professional wrestling pioneer often laid on his back over the course of the 15 round limit, attempting to chop at Ali’s legs and hope to limit the movement of the Louisville, Kentucky favorite.

Credited with outlining the first of many subsequent cross-over athletic contests in professional combat sports, the subject of Ali – Inoki was brought up over the course of the build-up, pre-fight, and then post-fight of note in 2017 ahead of another prominent boxing match between former multiple-time and weight champion, Floyd Mayweather, and former two-weight UFC champion, Conor McGregor.

Touted worldwide as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time and to the consensus, the greatest heavyweight his generation – Muhammad Ali ended his career boasting a 56-5 professional record, featuring in historic events including TheTrilla in Manila, as well as The Rumble in the Jungle.

Update: Procházka vs. Teixeira 2 Official For UFC 282 On Dec. 10

Multiple sources have now confirmed that Ji?í Procházka vs. Glover Teixeira 2 will take place at UFC 282 as originally reported in August. UFC 275 played host to one of the greatest fights in UFC history when Ji?í Procházka claimed the light heavyweigh…

Continue Reading Update: Procházka vs. Teixeira 2 Official For UFC 282 On Dec. 10 at MMA News.

Alex Pereira warns Israel Adesanya that the champion ‘won’t make it’ five rounds at UFC 281

Alex Pereira may only have three fights inside the UFC, but his performances have been more than enough to earn a shot a the UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Of course, many felt that a showdown between the two would be rushed by the promotion given the built-in narrative. Technically, Alex Pereira and Adesanya’s main […]

Alex Pereira may only have three fights inside the UFC, but his performances have been more than enough to earn a shot a the UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

Of course, many felt that a showdown between the two would be rushed by the promotion given the built-in narrative. Technically, Alex Pereira and Adesanya’s main event clash at UFC 281 will be a trilogy bout with the two prior meetings taking place under the Glory of Heroes banner years back. In those two meetings, Alex Pereira was the victory and famously knocked out ‘The Last Stylebender’ in their 2017 bout. It was the first and only time Adesanya has been knocked out in combat sports.

Adesanya has received criticism as of late for his lack of activity in his world title defenses, particularly in his most recent contest against Jared Cannonier. Adesanya opted to keep his distance through the 25-minute affair. It was nothing out of the ordinary as the champion implored the same sleep-inducing tactics against Yoel Romero in their UFC 248 meeting. What seemed to strike a chord with fans was Adesanya’s talk that he was only interested in giving exciting performances and highlight reel finishes leading up to the mundane match-up.

Getting his chance to defeat Adesanya for the third time, Alex Pereria has no intentions of letting Adesanya dance along the outside on his way to another humdrum decision.

“I can tell you that it will be impossible for him not to engage, if he’s within my reach I will hurt him,” Pereira said while speaking to Brazilian MMA Fighters. “And five rounds he won’t make it, five rounds? And I come close, you can see in the fights that I come close, I have a very good defense. He will want to attack or counterattack, but I can hurt him with my defense too.

“I saw in his fights that he kicks a lot and the guys don’t have the right time, the right time to block, you can hurt him with a block. The guy kicked, you blocked, maybe he won’t kick anymore. He’s got a big weapon and I can sort of eliminate it early on, I’ll be close to him, if he doesn’t hit me he’ll get beaten, and if he hits me he’ll get as tired as me.“

‘Triple C’ Henry Cejudo is Backing Alex Pereira to Defeat Israel Adesanya

Former two-division world champion Henry Cejudo is gearing up for his own return to the Octagon. No official date has been announced for the return of ‘Triple C,’ but the Olympian has been vocal when discussing some of the UFC’s highly anticipated bouts. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Cejudo discussed the upcoming clash between champion Israel Adesanya and challenger Alex Pereira. The former champ-champ revealed that he believes Alex Pereira will walk away with the gold, and likely by way of knockout.

“This is interesting because Israel Adesanya hasn’t had the best performances and him not having the best performances, I’m saying being boring and everybody being critical of him, me being one of them,” Cejudo said. “But I do believe with this fight you are gonna have two strikers, and I don’t think this fight is gonna go five rounds. I really don’t. I think just for the simple fact that Alex Pereira has experience with Israel Adesanya, and this is the way I see the fight coming out.

“Obviously Israel is a champion for a reason, but I also see the more the diversity that Pereira has I think is what makes him a little more dangerous, because there is one thing that Israel does leave behind, which is very wide, so I think he may end up changing this during the fight is his stance.

“Notice he’s very heavy on his legs, because he’s able to rock back and forth, and really a lot of mixed martial artists haven’t been able to take advantage of that front leg. But when you got a guy like Pereira who’s been there before, who’s a kickboxer, who’s known for kicking, this is where the fight could pay dividends on his side.”

Opening odds for the contest had Adesanya as a -200 favorite with Alex Pereira listed as a +170 underdog. Those odds have since shifted with ‘The Last Stylbender’ being slightly less favored at -165 while ‘Poatan’ is +140. Given the history between the two and Adesanya’s seemingly uninspired performances as a champion, it would not be a surprise to see those odds shift again as we get closer to UFC 281.

Sterling: Cejudo “Punked” O’Malley At UFC 276

UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling has given his take on the backstage interaction between Sean O’Malley and Henry Cejudo at UFC 276. While he’s since claimed the result as a victory and is now looking ahead to a blockbuster showdown with #1-ranked contender Petr Yan at UFC 280, O’Malley’s International Fight Week appearance certainly didn’t…

Continue Reading Sterling: Cejudo “Punked” O’Malley At UFC 276 at MMA News.

Exclusive | Gerald Meerschaert on U.S. fans not supporting U.S. fighters; ‘Why are you gonna root for the spoiled rich kid?’

UFC middleweight Gerald Meerschaert returns to the Octagon on Saturday night when the promotion heads to Pechanga Arena in San Diego for UFC Fight Night: Vera vs. Cruz. In the main event of the evening, former two-time bantamweight world champion Dominick Cruz returns to face No. 5 ranked contender Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera. Opening the evening’s […]

Opening the evening’s main card will be ‘GM3’ as he meets Bruno Silva. With both fighters having their winning streaks halted in their last outings, Meerschaert and Silva will look to get back into the win column and potentially break into the division’s top 15 rankings.

In an exclusive interview with LowKick MMA, Gerald Meerschaert discussed his brilliant run in 2021 where he rattled off three straight victories. During the conversation, talk turned to American fans and the belief that those fans don’t typically support American-born fighters the same way they appear to support those hailing from a foreign country.

“I think there’s probably a lot of things. I think one thing would be definitely oversaturation of the market so to speak. Even in the UFC, it’s an American-based company so most are from here, and you know, America is still a pretty big center worldwide for culture and exporting culture and stuff like that. Nobody wants to root [for] the big kid on the block. So it’s like if you come from the U.S. we have a lot of opportunities and things that maybe other people don’t have.

“Basically, why are you gonna root for the spoiled rich kid, you know what I mean? But then you come from somewhere else, I think there’s another side of that too where if there’s not as many fighters from where you’re from, or they’re just much more feverishly into sports like that, they’re gonna get behind their own. The only things in America that people really get into like that right now are football and baseball. And even then, you kinda gotta be a big deal, but we just don’t have that same fan base for other sports, especially combat sports.”

Gerald Meerschaert Hopes to Regain Some of the Momentum He Had in 2021

Following a tumultuous 2020 where he lost two out of three bouts, including a 17-second knockout against welterweight star Khamzat Chimaev, Gerald Meerschaert is intent on regaining some of the moment that he got from his spectacular 2021 run. Bouncing back from a rough patch in the wake of COVID-19, ‘GM3’ would go on to score three straight wins against Bartosz Fabi?ski, Makhmud Muradov and Dustin Stoltzfus. All three victories came by way of submission.

Hoping to carry that momentum into 2022, Gerald Meerschaert’s streak was halted by Krzysztof Jotko who defeated ‘GM3’ in April. Meerschaert is ready to get back to his winning ways, but he’ll have a tough test against Brazilian opponent Bruno Silva.

Silva’s seven-fight win streak was snapped by the man to knock out Israel Adesanya in combat sports, Alex Pereira. While Silva lasted the full 15 minutes, he was unable to match the power and precision of Pereira. Now ‘Blindado’ is ready to get his hand raised on Saturday night at the expense of submission machine Gerald Meerschaert.