Tag: UFC News

Marlon Moraes Believes He Should Be Next For Petr Yan

Marlon MoraesBantamweight contender Marlon Moraes believes he deserves the next shot at 135lb champion Petr Yan. The Brazilian knockout artist came up short when he challenged for the belt in June 2019. Henry Cejudo stopped him inside three rounds to become a dual-weight champion at UFC 238. Since then Moraes has picked up a win over […]

Marlon Moraes

Bantamweight contender Marlon Moraes believes he deserves the next shot at 135lb champion Petr Yan. The Brazilian knockout artist came up short when he challenged for the belt in June 2019. Henry Cejudo stopped him inside three rounds to become a dual-weight champion at UFC 238.

Since then Moraes has picked up a win over Jose Aldo although it came in controversial circumstances. ‘Magic’ scored a split decision on the judge’s cards but many disagreed with the outcome including UFC president Dana White who handed Aldo a title shot despite the fact he lost his divisional debut to Moraes.

Aljamain Sterling has established himself as the number one contender in the eyes of many fans. ‘The Funkmaster’ is riding a five-fight winning streak since being stopped by Moraes in 2017. Last time out he quickly tapped fellow contender Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250 in an impressive performance worthy of a UFC title shot. White though doesn’t seem to agree and has been reluctant to declare ‘Aljo’ next in line despite being pressed on the matter by media on several occasions.

With the UFC boss hesitant Moraes has decided to step forward and state his case for the next shot at Yan on social media, he wrote.  

“Congrats to the champ his last bout but the reality is I knocked out Aljo and Jimmy rivera, finished Assancuao, beat Ado. How anyone can tell me that I am not #1 contender? @danawhite @ufc”

Moraes was quickly backed up by his manager Ali Abdelaziz who gave props to Sterling but circled back to his knockout loss at the hands of his client, he wrote.

“Aljo is very good but @MMARLONMORAES knocked him and Jimmy rivera out, finished Assancuao and beat Aldo, ranking says he is #1.

“How anyone can tell me he is not?  @danawhite will make a decision, if Aljo get it it’s all good, I’m happy for him but Marlon the man for the job”

Do you think Marlon Moraes should get the next bantamweight title shot?

Arman Tsarukyan Wants Al Iaquinta Next Because ‘He Fought With Khabib Nurmagomedov’

Tsarukyan IaquintaArman Tsarukyan is now targeting the ranked lightweights. Tsarukyan is coming off an impressive performance in his unanimous decision win over Davi Ramos at UFC Fight Island 2 last night. The 23-year-old was certainly pleased with his performance, especially as he notably became the first person to take Ramos down in the UFC. “This was […]

Tsarukyan Iaquinta

Arman Tsarukyan is now targeting the ranked lightweights.

Tsarukyan is coming off an impressive performance in his unanimous decision win over Davi Ramos at UFC Fight Island 2 last night.

The 23-year-old was certainly pleased with his performance, especially as he notably became the first person to take Ramos down in the UFC.

“This was a great fight for me because Davi Ramos is a very strong opponent,” he said post-fight (via MMA Junkie). “He is one of the stronger grapplers in the world. … I’m a very young fighter, every day I will get better and better. I can destroy my whole division.”

Tsarukyan Wants Iaquinta Next

The win puts him at 2-1 with the UFC with his only setback coming in his debut last year.

On that occasion, he faced the mighty task of defeating Islam Makhachev and although he suffered a unanimous decision loss, it was still a very competitive, grappling affair.

And now, Tsarukyan wants to test his grappling against someone who faced arguably the best grappler in the sport today in Khabib Nurmagomedov. And that is Al Iaquinta.

“Next fight, I want to fight with top 15, top 10 guys – maybe (Al) Iaquinta because he is a very strong guy and he fought with Khabib Nurmagomedov,” Tsarukyan added. “I want to fight with him because it’s a good fight for me.”

Iaquinta stepped in on short notice to face Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title back in April 2018. Although he had a very few moments of success, he was ultimately dominated by the current champion.

The New Yorker is currently on a two-fight losing streak so it would make some sense for him to face an unranked opponent. However, it is still unlikely as he will undoubtedly look to climb back up the rankings as soon as possible by facing another ranked opponent.

Regardless, would you like to see this fight next?

Florian: “I’ve Never Seen Anybody Train More Than Georges St-Pierre”

Kenny Florian recently talked about his time training with Georges St-Pierre and shared insight on the UFC Hall of Famer’s work ethic. In a new podcast documentary on St-Pierre by MMA TRUFAN, Florian talked about training with St-Pierre as a team member at Tristar Gym in Montreal. During that time he saw St-Pierre outwork virtually […]

Kenny Florian recently talked about his time training with Georges St-Pierre and shared insight on the UFC Hall of Famer’s work ethic. In a new podcast documentary on St-Pierre by MMA TRUFAN, Florian talked about training with St-Pierre as a team member at Tristar Gym in Montreal. During that time he saw St-Pierre outwork virtually everybody in the sport.

“I trained an incredible amount. I could not sustain, and I’ve never seen anybody been able to sustain the volume of training that Georges St-Pierre was able to do. You could do it for a few days and you could do it for maybe a week. But, I can’t tell you how many people have tried to do that and have actually left or failed in that process of trying to keep up with Georges St-Pierre. And that’s not something that Georges does for a week and then stops. He’s doing that week in and week out.”

“Now I think there was certainly a lot of overtraining that Georges St-Pierre did. I’m not saying it was a perfect process. But I’ve never seen anybody train more than Georges St-Pierre.”

Florian on GOAT

Florian explained how St-Pierre still trains regularly even though he has been officially retired since February of 2019.  He also talked about where he thinks St-Pierre belongs on the list of the all-time greats in the sport.

“I’ve said this for a long time. Even when Anderson Silva was kind of touted as the GOAT, I always had Georges St-Pierre at the top of the list. Not only because of his consistency but also the quality of competition that he faced at the time. For me, that kind of consistency and also that kind of well-rounded martial arts skill is what stands out to me.”

Listen to the MMA TRUFAN documentary on Georges St-Pierre below.

Listen to “Georges St-Pierre: Audio Documentary” on Spreaker.

Dana White Still Refuses To Name Aljamain Sterling As No. 1 Bantamweight Contender

SterlingIt appears clear to everyone that Aljamain Sterling is the No. 1 contender in the bantamweight division — except UFC president Dana White. Sterling is coming off an impressive first-round finish of Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250 last month that put him on a five-fight winning streak. White would claim afterwards that “Funkmaster” would be […]

Sterling

It appears clear to everyone that Aljamain Sterling is the No. 1 contender in the bantamweight division — except UFC president Dana White.

Sterling is coming off an impressive first-round finish of Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250 last month that put him on a five-fight winning streak. White would claim afterwards that “Funkmaster” would be next in line for a title shot.

However, he seems more than uncertain now. When asked if Sterling would get the next shot following Petr Yan’s win over Jose Aldo to become bantamweight champion at UFC 251 last week, White claimed he wasn’t sure.

That led to a rant from Sterling on social media.

To make matters worse, Yan would add insult to injury which led to a back-and-forth between them.

White Remains Unsure About Sterling

In what will only add further frustration for Sterling, White once again, refused to name him as the next person in line following UFC Fight Island 2 last night.

“I don’t know,” White said. “He’s in there. He’s up there. He’s one of them.”

Sterling is yet to respond to that comment on social media but Yan certainly took time to mock him once again.

What do you think of White’s refusal to name Sterling as the next contender?

Ali Abdelaziz Explains How Conor McGregor Can Get Title Shot

AbdelazizAli Abdelaziz is sure of one thing — Conor McGregor won’t be fighting for the lightweight title anytime soon. Nurmagomedov is expected to face Justin Gaethje in a lightweight title unification fight that was set to take place in September. However, it is unlikely that “The Eagle” will be back anytime soon following the recent […]

Abdelaziz

Ali Abdelaziz is sure of one thing — Conor McGregor won’t be fighting for the lightweight title anytime soon.

Nurmagomedov is expected to face Justin Gaethje in a lightweight title unification fight that was set to take place in September. However, it is unlikely that “The Eagle” will be back anytime soon following the recent death of his father Abdulmanap.

Abdelaziz has since claimed that Nurmagomedov will be back before the end of the year to face Gaethje. As for whether McGregor could possibly be inserted into the title picture, Nurmagomedov’s manager was clear as to how the Irishman could possibly get a shot in the future.

“Justin said no (to McGregor),” Abdelaziz told TMZ (via BJ Penn). “Khabib told me to go tell Justin to fight Conor. Justin said no. Listen, we dictate this. Conor right now he can be a backup fighter. He can go make weight and maybe make some money, but at the end of the day, that’s the two champions. He’s not even No. 3, he’s No. 4 or No. 5. Conor can go fight Nate (Diaz) or (Jorge) Masvidal.

“We’re not interested in fighting him. He needs to get some wins and he needs to fight some good opponents. I said, the only way he can fight Khabib is if he fights Islam Makhachev, then he can fight Khabib.”

For now, McGregor is retired with one of the reasons being the UFC’s resistance in letting him fight Gaethje in the meantime. However, UFC president Dana White wouldn’t be surprised if he returned next year once things start to move again.

It will certainly be interesting to see how things play out then, especially as White’s plan all along was for McGregor to face the winner of Nurmgamedov vs. Tony Ferguson earlier this year.

Do you think McGregor will get a title shot in his next fight? Or will he have to fight some contenders?

Dana White Denies Reports That Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa Is Finalized

Adesanya CostaIsrael Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa is not finalized yet. It was reported on Saturday by Brazilian publication Combate that the middleweight title fight was set to take place at UFC 253 on September 19. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani would confirm the same while Costa would claim the fight was on soon after. Fans were left relieved […]

Adesanya Costa

Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa is not finalized yet.

It was reported on Saturday by Brazilian publication Combate that the middleweight title fight was set to take place at UFC 253 on September 19. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani would confirm the same while Costa would claim the fight was on soon after.

Fans were left relieved as it’s a fight many have been expecting to take place for a while only for a deal not to come to fruition seemingly until now.

However, the fight still isn’t done as of yet according to UFC president Dana White.

“I don’t think that’s true,” White said at the UFC Fight Island 2 post-fight press conference. “I don’t think both have signed. Have both signed that deal? It’s not done. F*cking guys. They were told not to say anything. Combate breaks it immediately and tweeting, you know? The fight is not done.” 

Adesanya vs. Costa Likely Taking Place On Fight Island

Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, re-shutting down of cities and travel restrictions involving Costa, White confirmed the title fight, once booked, would likely take place in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

As for why the fight isn’t confirmed despite recent reports — with one report in particular stating one of the fighters hasn’t signed a deal yet — White refused to divulge more information.

“The fight’s not done yet. It doesn’t matter [who hasn’t signed]. The fight’s not done,” White responded. “The people are out saying that the fight is done when the fight isn’t done. You know what I mean? It drives me crazy.

“If the fight was done, you would have saw a promo tonight inside the arena. There would have been promos on TV for it. And we would be announcing the fight. It’s not done.”

Hopefully, it gets done soon.

What do you make of White’s revelation?