Tag: UFC News

Lopez Threatens To Release Sparring Footage Of Gane Dropping Ngannou

The beef between Francis Ngannou and former coach Fernand Lopez continues to grow.

The UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has a date set to defend his title against his old training partner Ciryl Gane. The matchup is arguably one of the most …

Francis Ngannou Ciryl Gane Fernando Lopez

The beef between Francis Ngannou and former coach Fernand Lopez continues to grow.

The UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has a date set to defend his title against his old training partner Ciryl Gane. The matchup is arguably one of the most anticipated heavyweight title fights in a long time. Now, the growing animosity between Ngannou and Gane’s head coach Fernand Lopez is adding even more drama to this bout.

Recently, Lopez set forth some heavy claims that accused Ngannou of trying to keep Gane out of the UFC. Ngannou was also the target of some released footage that showed Ngannou and Gane training together.

The Cameroonian was unhappy with the clip that was released and called it misleading. According to Lopez, however, Ngannou could have been made to look much worse. And now, he is willing to release the entire length of training footage.

“That footage didn’t tell the whole story of what happened in training,” Lopez told Low Kick MMA. “There were so many opportunities where they got the better of each other in sparring, so we couldn’t have manipulated the footage. He didn’t want me to release the whole footage because, in that specific training, Francis Ngannou ate a knee shot to the liver and got dropped. Stopped the whole training. These are facts. Francis was on his backside. If he’s saying this isn’t true, I’ll release the whole footage. But, my content manager didn’t want to release it because we have privacy in the gym. When guys train in your gym, they expect things to stay in the gym.”

Ngannou and Gane trained together at MMA Factory in France before Ngannou left. Lopez, now the head coach of Gane, has expressed his problems with Nagnnou in a public capacity. In return, Ngannou publically ignored them while both were backstage at UFC 268 in New York.

Everything will soon enough be settled inside the Octagon. The real fight will be taking place on Jan. 22 at UFC 270. At that time, all sparring footage will become obsolete and the truly better man and fighter will be crowned as the UFC heavyweight champion.

Do you think Francis Ngannou has what it takes to defeat Ciryl Gane at UFC 270?

Continue Reading Lopez Threatens To Release Sparring Footage Of Gane Dropping Ngannou at MMA News.

Gaethje Hopes To Prove His Theory Right And ‘Make Oliveira Quit’

While Charles Oliveira may have proven him wrong at UFC 269, Justin Gaethje is hoping to flip the script when he gets his title shot later this year.

The Oliveira vs. Gaethje matchup was almost certainly confirmed at UFC 269. “The Highlight” effect…

Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje

While Charles Oliveira may have proven him wrong at UFC 269, Justin Gaethje is hoping to flip the script when he gets his title shot later this year.

The Oliveira vs. Gaethje matchup was almost certainly confirmed at UFC 269. “The Highlight” effectively secured his place opposite the champion in 2022 by putting on a Fight of the Year candidate with Michael Chandler. After three rounds of action, the former interim titleholder was awarded a unanimous decision and overtook Islam Makhachev and Beneil Dariush in the race for the #1-contender spot.

His opponent was decided in the final pay-per-view main event of 2021, which pitted champion Oliveira against challenger Dustin Poirier. While many expected “The Diamond” to secure a third victory of the year and experience his first undisputed title crowning, the Brazilian continued to upset the odds, this time by submitting Poirier in the third frame and recording his first successful defense.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CXX0q_YN5tS/

Like many in the MMA community, Gaethje had doubted Oliveira’s championship credentials before his clash with Poirier. As well as refusing to recognize him as the lightweight king until he beat the Louisianan, Gaethje suggested “Do Bronx” still has quit in him, something he believes Chandler proved in the opening round of the UFC 262 main event.

Having recovered from an early knockdown to deliver an imposing performance against Poirier, who some branded the “uncrowned champion,” many have suggested Oliveira has firmly proved Gaethje wrong. While admitting that to be the case at the moment in an interview with ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, “The Highlight” intends on proving himself right when his own title shot arrives next year.

“I never said Charles Oliveira would quit in the first or second round,” Gaethje said. “The times I’m talking about is deep, deep in the fight when, you know, it gets rough, it gets hard… We’ll see. He’s proven me wrong up to this point. But, you know, my job will be to prove myself right when I step in there with him and make him quit.”

Gaethje Targets May/July Title Shot

In terms of timeframe, Gaethje suggested the contest is likely to go down in the second quarter of 2022, highlighting May as the earliest possibility.

“Even by entertainment standards, which are pretty low, I’m next,” Gaethje said. “How could I not be? … I would say earliest May, latest July.”

Given his desire to dethrone Oliveira in the champ’s home country of Brazil and the recent reports suggesting a return to the South American nation in May, it seems logical we’ll be seeing Oliveira’s second title defense headline that card if it comes to fruition.

While the hometown hero would be looking for perhaps the most memorable victory of his career, Gaethje would be hoping to spoil the party on foreign soil.

How do you think the fight between Justin Gaethje and champion Charles Oliveira will play out?

Continue Reading Gaethje Hopes To Prove His Theory Right And ‘Make Oliveira Quit’ at MMA News.

Sean O’Malley Shuts Down Cody Garbrandt FIght Next, Questions If He’s Suffering From CTE

Sean O'MalleySurging UFC bantamweight challenger, Sean O’Malley has dismissed talk of a showdown with former division kingpin, Cody Garbrandt next, questioning if the Ohio native could possibly be suffering from CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) after suffering a slew of knockout losses recently. O’Malley, who eventually earned the #12 rank at bantamweight back in December, took out […]

Sean O'Malley

Surging UFC bantamweight challenger, Sean O’Malley has dismissed talk of a showdown with former division kingpin, Cody Garbrandt next, questioning if the Ohio native could possibly be suffering from CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) after suffering a slew of knockout losses recently.

O’Malley, who eventually earned the #12 rank at bantamweight back in December, took out Brazilian striker, Raulian Paiva with a one-sided opening round knockout at UFC 269.

Sean O’Malley landed his third consecutive knockout victory with his December win over Raulian Paiva

On the same card, former bantamweight champion, Garbrandt made his flyweight divisional bow against City Kickboxing feature, Kai Kara-France, suffering his second consecutive defeat after succumbing to late first round strikes.

Following the loss, Ohio native Garbrandt claimed that he felt good at flyweight, and mentioned how easy his weight cut to the 125lbs limit was, however, failed to rule out a bantamweight return – explaining how he would like to fight O’Malley next following a press conference war of words between the two. 

“There’s a lot of good matchups –  Sean O’Malley, I really want to whoop his ass,” Cody Garbrandt said. “That’s a fight that’s looming. Hopefully, that could possibly be my next one. I want that fight so I’d like to stay 1t 35. He might fight me now because I’m not in the rankings at 35 and he’s ranked so that’ll be a good fight. You’ve got to respect his skills, he leveled up a little bit with the Raulian (Paiva) fight, caught him early on, but we know that. The only way he was gonna win was catching him early on and he did that. He did his job, hats off to him. He’s now in the rankings so I have to go back up to 25 and whoop his ass, but we’ll decide, we’ll figure it out.”

Responding to Garbrandt’s call out, O’Malley distanced himself from a fight with the former champion next, at least, as well as questioning if Garbrandt was suffering from the progressive brain condition, CTE – after suffering knockout losses in four of his last five losses.

“Dude, Cody (Garbrandt) wants – he’s not getting that fight (with me),” Sean O’Malley said on his podcast. “When he said it, you could see in his voice (sic), ‘Oh, I want, uh’ – but that fight’s not happening. It doesn’t make sense for him to say that, I wonder if that’s CTE, he’s been knocked out five (four) times in the last two years (five years). That fights not happening, at least, not next. He needs to – it just doesn’t make sense, dude. It just literally doesn’t make sense.”

Before his win over Paiva last month, Montana striker, O’Malley had landed a July knockout win over Kris Moutinho in record-setting fashion – which followed a March stoppage victory over now-promotional alum, Thomas Almeida.

Tyson Fury Offers To Fight Francis Ngannou With UFC Gloves In Boxing Match

Tyson FuryReigning WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury has questioned his followers if they would be interested in seeing him clash with UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou in a professional boxing match – with the pair sporting mixed martial arts gloves. Tyson Fury, who most recently scored his second career win over former champion, Deontay Wilder – […]

Tyson Fury

Reigning WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury has questioned his followers if they would be interested in seeing him clash with UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou in a professional boxing match – with the pair sporting mixed martial arts gloves.

Tyson Fury, who most recently scored his second career win over former champion, Deontay Wilder – stopped the Alabama native with an eleventh round knockout back in October.

Francis Ngannou is set to headline UFC 270 later this month against interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane

For Ngannou, the Cameroon native is slated to take main event status at UFC 270 on January 22. – clashing with former teammate, Ciryl Gane in a heavyweight title unification bout at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. 

However, Ngannou, who retains just one fight on his current UFC contract, has admitted that he would love to test his striking skills inside the boxing ring, but the Batie native would be subject to a ‘champion’s clause’ should he unify the titles against Gane later this month, tying him to the UFC for at least another fight.

Posting on his official Twitter this Thursday, Tyson Fury gauged fan interest in a potential boxing match against Ngannou, sharing a fan-made poster of the duo.

“Who would like to see me fight this beast (Francis Ngannou) (with) boxing rules (and) @ufc gloves?” Tyson Fury tweeted. “@danawhite @francis_ngannou”

Issuing his response to Tyson Fury, Ngannou suggested the two should meet in a professional mixed martial arts fight, sporting boxing gloves, instead.

“How about MMA rules with boxing gloves?” Francis Ngannou tweeted. “I can do you that favor.”

Once more issuing a tweet directed at Ngannou, Fury claimed that he would knockout the heavyweight champion, and secure him the most lucrative payday of his professional career to date in the same night.

“You want to come in to (sic) my world calling me & (Deontay) Wilder out to a boxing match,” Tyson Fury tweeted. “What I can guarantee you would be knocked out & also paid your highest purse to be so! So have a think (thinking face emoji).”

In a final response to Fury, Ngannou claimed that once he concludes business with Gane later this month, he wants to fight the Manchester native, whether that come inside the Octagon, in a boxing ring, or a phone booth. 
“After I handle business on Jan. 22 (UFC 270) I’ll fight you under any special rule set you want,” Francis Ngannou tweeted. “In a ring, an Octagon or a phone booth.”

Diaz Hints Poirier Fight May Take Place On The Streets After Failed Booking

Nate Diaz still wants to fight Dustin Poirier one day, even if it isn’t a sanctioned fight.

On Tuesday, Poirier said on Teddy Atlas’ podcast that he had agreed to a short-notice fight against Diaz. He wouldn’t reveal what card it was for, but many …

Nate Diaz

Nate Diaz still wants to fight Dustin Poirier one day, even if it isn’t a sanctioned fight.

On Tuesday, Poirier said on Teddy Atlas’ podcast that he had agreed to a short-notice fight against Diaz. He wouldn’t reveal what card it was for, but many assumed it would be UFC 270 on January 22 in Anaheim or UFC 271 in Houston, as both cards could use the boost.

“Honestly – another thing that kinda got that flame going is a couple of days ago, I got a phone call – but I can’t talk about it,” Poirier said. “It’s a very short notice thing. Something I would hate to do is stack things against myself and take a fight on short notice, but, we’ll see what happens, man. I don’t want to give too much ‘cause I don’t know what I can say. No contract has been signed yet, but if this goes go through, I’m gonna take it. I said yes, now we’re waiting on him.” 

After Poirier revealed that, many thought the fight was nearly official, yet reports then came out that the fight wouldn’t be happening anymore. Diaz then took to Twitter to say he talked to the UFC, but they didn’t want the fight.

Now, after years of the two taking shots at one another, Nate Diaz took to social media to say he will fight Dustin Poirier whenever and wherever.

https://twitter.com/NateDiaz209/status/1479016789799436288

“Still gonna fight u somewhere,” Diaz wrote in a since-deleted tweet along with the image below.

Nate Diaz hasn’t fought since UFC 263 in June, where he lost a decision to Leon Edwards. It was his second loss in a row after suffering a TKO doctor stoppage loss to Jorge Masvidal for the BMF belt in the main event of UFC 244. He also is on the final fight of his UFC contract, which could play a role as to why the Poirier fight never came to fruition.

Who do you think would’ve won, Nate Diaz or Dustin Poirier?

Continue Reading Diaz Hints Poirier Fight May Take Place On The Streets After Failed Booking at MMA News.

The Pulse of MMA: Fans React To Volkanovski vs. Holloway III Booked

The Pulse of MMA: Fan Reactions To The Sport’s Biggest Stories

In this installment of The Pulse of MMA, we look at the raw, unfiltered reactions from MMA fans to the booking of Alex Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway III.

Alex Volkanovski vs. Max…

Alex Volkanovski, Max Holloway

The Pulse of MMA: Fan Reactions To The Sport’s Biggest Stories

In this installment of The Pulse of MMA, we look at the raw, unfiltered reactions from MMA fans to the booking of Alex Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway III.

Alex Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway Trilogy Set For UFC 272

Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway
Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway (Image Credit: Louis Grasse/PxImages & Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

Yesterday, we learned that Alex Volkanovski will be tasked with beating Max Holloway for the third time when the two meet at UFC 272.

The first time Volkanovski defeated Holloway was in 2019 at UFC 245. Volkanovski was able to win a relatively comfortable decision to capture the featherweight title in Las Vegas, Nevada, three years ago.

The rematch, however, would come with quite a bit of controversy, with many (arguably most) scoring the UFC 251 rematch in favor of the former champ, Max Holloway. Nevertheless, as they say, there are only three opinions that matter, and those were swayed in the direction of the Australian.

Since that loss, Holloway has earned another crack at Volkanovski with back-to-back Fight of the Night-winning victories, first over Calvin Kattar followed by a win over Yair Rodríguez.

So what did The Pulse of MMA have to say after this trilogy bout was announced? Find out down below!

Want to weigh in on the sport’s biggest stories? Be sure to follow us on Twitter and let your voice be heard!

Continue Reading The Pulse of MMA: Fans React To Volkanovski vs. Holloway III Booked at MMA News.