Tag: UFC News

EXCLUSIVE | Leon Edwards On His Work To Prevent Knife Crime In The UK

Leon EdwardsLeon Edwards has joined forces with fellow MMA fighters Darren Till and Jimi Manuwa to help prevent knife crime among the British youth. It was announced on May 1 the three fighters would be linking up with the government to find a solution to the issue after a spate of stabbings took place in the […]

Leon Edwards

Leon Edwards has joined forces with fellow MMA fighters Darren Till and Jimi Manuwa to help prevent knife crime among the British youth. It was announced on May 1 the three fighters would be linking up with the government to find a solution to the issue after a spate of stabbings took place in the UK despite the fact the country is on lockdown right now.

Speaking exclusively to LowKickMMA, Edwards opened up about how he became involved in the effort to prevent knife crime in his home country and how he managed to link up with Till and Manuwa, he said.

“For me, I grew up in that same environment. I understand what these kids are going through and what’s going through their heads. I retweeted a video a few weeks ago on my Instagram about that kid getting stabbed in Birmingham – one of my friends’ cousin. So, I messaged my management straight away and said ‘what can I do to help?’ And set something up that can help and prevent this. Jimi Manuwa reached out to me literally the next day and he was saying the same thing as me and it would be good to get Till involved as well. So that’s it really. We all came from the same situation as these kids. We all understand the kids. I think martial arts changed our lives and it can hopefully change someone else’s life.”

A month since first announcing their plan the three fighters have spoken with government officials and are now hoping to launch their own program in collaboration with the UFC that will see young Brits get martial arts training and mentoring for free.

“At the moment we are still bouncing ideas,” Edwards said. “At first the plan that came was like we are going to join someone else’s organisation. Our thing is though we want to do our own thing. We want to do it in our own way. We don’t want to join a pre-existing organisation. So at the moment it’s bouncing ideas, speaking to the UFC – they want to be involved as well. We think we are going to be doing our own thing with the UFC. It’s moving forward and we are getting more people involved which is good.”

“It’s about getting them into martial arts. Some of these kids don’t have money to come to the gym and can’t afford the memberships. So somehow we are trying to get it so the government can help us get these kids in the gym for free basically by covering the costs and we teach them, we mentor them and use the UFC to help as well. So, we don’t really have a timeline as to when it will launch but I think in the next month we should have something up in running. At the moment we are just bouncing ideas on what the best way to do it is, hopefully, we can help.”

Everyone at LowKickMMA supports Leon Edwards, Jimi Manuwa, and Darren Till in their efforts to prevent knife crime in the UK – keep up the good work lads!

EXCLUSIVE | Marlon Vera Calls For Dominick Cruz Fight Next

Marlon VeraUFC Bantamweight Marlon “Chito” Vera believes he should face former champion Dominick Cruz in his next fight. Speaking to Ryan Galloway in a LowKick MMA exclusive, Vera explained why this matchup makes the most sense for him following his recent controversial loss to Song Yadong. “I think Dominick Cruz paper wise make the most sense. […]

Marlon Vera

UFC Bantamweight Marlon “Chito” Vera believes he should face former champion Dominick Cruz in his next fight.

Speaking to Ryan Galloway in a LowKick MMA exclusive, Vera explained why this matchup makes the most sense for him following his recent controversial loss to Song Yadong.

“I think Dominick Cruz paper wise make the most sense. We are like two or three rankings apart, he’s coming off a loss, I’m coming off a loss. I feel that’s the perfect fight to make right now.

Vera also shared that he would be interested to face Uriah Faber should he decide to fight again.

“If Uriah have the balls to actually fight for real instead of just making a show for weigh-ins and acting like a guy that will do it any time, he won’t. He’s broke. his last fight he got destroyed and I’m sure he don’t want to get that feeling again because he don’t train anymore. But if he got the balls to do it one more time, I’ll put him out for sure. I will send a message to him ‘Hey you don’t belong here anymore’. But that’s not the main focus, he is doing it for the social media. He have a team, he have a name so he has to do it so often just to stay relevant so I get it.”

When asked, Chito shared how he believes a fight with Cruz would play out.

“I think I put the pressure on him, and I break him. I’m a younger better version and I still have enough tools. His wrestling is pretty good so if this fight goes to the ground he’s not going to hold me there I think I can tap him out too, I’m pretty confident that I can beat him up in the stand-up and on the ground so I hope that fight happens.”

At this stage, neither Vera nor Cruz has scheduled opponents or dates for their respective returns.

Check out the full interview at the link below.

Who would you like to see Vera face next?

Tyron Woodley Reacts To UFC Vegas Defeat To Gilbert Burns

WoodleyWoodley Reflects On Setback Tyron Woodley has no excuses about his defeat to Gilbert Burns. The former welterweight champion returned to action for the first time since March last year when he met Burns in the UFC Vegas headliner on Saturday night. However, it ended up being a lopsided decision defeat for Woodley who was […]

Woodley

Woodley Reflects On Setback

Tyron Woodley has no excuses about his defeat to Gilbert Burns.

The former welterweight champion returned to action for the first time since March last year when he met Burns in the UFC Vegas headliner on Saturday night.

However, it ended up being a lopsided decision defeat for Woodley who was dropped multiple times and outclassed in pretty much every area of the fight. It marked just his fourth professional defeat as well as the first two-fight losing streak of his career.

Although he didn’t stick around for a post-fight interview, “The Chosen One” took to Instagram to reflect on the fight (via BJ Penn).

“What’s up people. Like I said, you just can’t get on the camera when you win, you have to get on the camera when you lose too and umm I felt good. I don’t have no excuses. I felt good and I trained hard. I was in great shape. I felt like I did everything right. Everything felt good from the walkout to the stretch and every single thing about the fight. I looked (Gilbert Burns) in the eyes yesterday and I knew he was going to be ready to fight. I thought that was good. He did a good job of you know keeping the distance and not coming into shots. And I just felt like I was reaching so I don’t have any excuses. I will hold my head high. A lot of mother f*ckers would have let somebody finish them off in that moment but I didn’t give up. I was just thinking about everything going on right now and all those people protesting and fighting for something good. So I was like ‘I just can’t give up in here’ and I never really gave up.

“I hoped I was going to win the fight to be honest. I know the first round started off rough. I don’t know how that motherf*cker elbowed me. I know he kicked me in my damn leg and that thing hasn’t been right since. I don’t know what he hit me with on the feet if it was a elbow or what. You motherf*ckers saw it but whatever. He kicked me in my damn leg and then ever since then that thing was just not right. I could not get a rhythm going. So injury wise I think I am fine. I’ve got a nice little cut that you can’t see because I’ve got the best plastic surgeon dude on earth Dr. Greg, who hooked me up with some stitches. So I got like 3,000 stitches in my eye. Because that thing was split wide open. But yea my leg, that motherf*cker look like I got a watermelon inside my skin. So I just wanted to come and face you guys. I don’t understand all of this, but I just know that I have to trust God.”

What did you think of Woodley’s performance?

Dana White Says He Has Nothing To Gain From Lying About Jon Jones, Jones Fires Back

White JonesThe feud between Jon Jones and UFC president Dana White continues to heat up. The pair have been going back-and-forth after negotiations for a Francis Ngannou super fight recently came to a halt with Jones claiming the UFC were not prepared to offer him a more lucrative deal to move up to heavyweight. White retorted […]

White Jones

The feud between Jon Jones and UFC president Dana White continues to heat up.

The pair have been going back-and-forth after negotiations for a Francis Ngannou super fight recently came to a halt with Jones claiming the UFC were not prepared to offer him a more lucrative deal to move up to heavyweight.

White retorted that Jones was essentially pricing himself out, later adding that he had asked for Deontay Wilder level money. Jones denied this and claimed he never even mentioned a number. The light heavyweight champion went on to ask White to back up his words by releasing the text messages showing him asking for the aforementioned Wilder money.

White responded that he had his own text messages and when asked about them and Jones’ claims that he was lying about negotiations following UFC Vegas on Saturday night, he responded further:

“Who do you believe? It’s up to you guys,” White said. “The f*ck would I lie for? What do I gain in lying about it? Why would I lie? Doesn’t matter. … I don’t really care. I could care less to be honest with you.

“… Being the greatest of all time doesn’t mean you get $30 million. Being able to sell [does]. Jon Jones has done a lot of things to himself. In one his tweets he was saying that I tarnished his — I tarnished you? You’ve done a very good job of tarnishing you. I haven’t done that.”

It didn’t take long for “Bones” to respond right back.

“The reporter asked Dana to show the text messages instead he gives a 55 second response talking about why would I lie ?????

“At no point did I ever demand anything from you Dana, I simply asked for a Super fight and asked to be compensated for it. You are the one who started talking negotiations publicly and showing the world how much you’ve been withholding from your athletes this whole time.

“Hunter and I had a very respectful conversation, I love how you’re trying to paint this picture of me being some angry guy disrespectfully demanding money. And then bringing up my out of the cage affairs to justify under paying me by tens of millions for years

“You’re talking all that big guy stuff about not caring, put your money where your mouth is and release me from that contract”

When asked by a fan why he doesn’t just post the text messages himself, Jones responded that there were no text messages simply because he never asked for a number.

He ended things by claiming he could make more from his first boxing match than three UFC fights combined. He also continued to hint at not fighting anymore.

“I’d probably make more in my first boxing match than my next three UFC fights combined. There’s real estate, acting, just kicking it and being a dad. No one needs to put up with Dana‘s lies”

What do you make of this latest interaction between the duo?

Dana White Says He Has Nothing To Gain From Lying About Jon Jones, Jones Fires Back

White JonesThe feud between Jon Jones and UFC president Dana White continues to heat up. The pair have been going back-and-forth after negotiations for a Francis Ngannou super fight recently came to a halt with Jones claiming the UFC were not prepared to offer him a more lucrative deal to move up to heavyweight. White retorted […]

White Jones

The feud between Jon Jones and UFC president Dana White continues to heat up.

The pair have been going back-and-forth after negotiations for a Francis Ngannou super fight recently came to a halt with Jones claiming the UFC were not prepared to offer him a more lucrative deal to move up to heavyweight.

White retorted that Jones was essentially pricing himself out, later adding that he had asked for Deontay Wilder level money. Jones denied this and claimed he never even mentioned a number. The light heavyweight champion went on to ask White to back up his words by releasing the text messages showing him asking for the aforementioned Wilder money.

White responded that he had his own text messages and when asked about them and Jones’ claims that he was lying about negotiations following UFC Vegas on Saturday night, he responded further:

“Who do you believe? It’s up to you guys,” White said. “The f*ck would I lie for? What do I gain in lying about it? Why would I lie? Doesn’t matter. … I don’t really care. I could care less to be honest with you.

“… Being the greatest of all time doesn’t mean you get $30 million. Being able to sell [does]. Jon Jones has done a lot of things to himself. In one his tweets he was saying that I tarnished his — I tarnished you? You’ve done a very good job of tarnishing you. I haven’t done that.”

It didn’t take long for “Bones” to respond right back.

“The reporter asked Dana to show the text messages instead he gives a 55 second response talking about why would I lie ?????

“At no point did I ever demand anything from you Dana, I simply asked for a Super fight and asked to be compensated for it. You are the one who started talking negotiations publicly and showing the world how much you’ve been withholding from your athletes this whole time.

“Hunter and I had a very respectful conversation, I love how you’re trying to paint this picture of me being some angry guy disrespectfully demanding money. And then bringing up my out of the cage affairs to justify under paying me by tens of millions for years

“You’re talking all that big guy stuff about not caring, put your money where your mouth is and release me from that contract”

When asked by a fan why he doesn’t just post the text messages himself, Jones responded that there were no text messages simply because he never asked for a number.

He ended things by claiming he could make more from his first boxing match than three UFC fights combined. He also continued to hint at not fighting anymore.

“I’d probably make more in my first boxing match than my next three UFC fights combined. There’s real estate, acting, just kicking it and being a dad. No one needs to put up with Dana‘s lies”

What do you make of this latest interaction between the duo?

UFC Apex: Woodley Vs. Burns Bonuses

UFC ApexEarlier tonight (Sat. May 30, 2020) UFC Apex: Woodley vs. Burns took place from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company owned facility hosted a welterweight title eliminator bout between former champion Tyron Woodley and rising contender Gilbert Burns in which Burns got a dominant decision victory. In the co-main event of the […]

UFC Apex

Earlier tonight (Sat. May 30, 2020) UFC Apex: Woodley vs. Burns took place from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The company owned facility hosted a welterweight title eliminator bout between former champion Tyron Woodley and rising contender Gilbert Burns in which Burns got a dominant decision victory. In the co-main event of the event, we saw a heavyweight bout between Blagoy Ivanov and Augusto Sakai. This fight was a close decision that saw Sakai edge out Ivanov. Outside of the main events, there were plenty of great moments over the card, some of which pocketed athletes a bonus.

Fight Of The Night came in a matchup between Tim Elliot and Brandon Royval. Being his debut Royval set out to showcase his ability both on the feet, however, this plan was short-lived as Elliot immediately sought after the takedown to negate his ability in striking. What was a competitive bout ultimately finished with Royval finding an arm triangle submission in the second round.

The First Performance Of The Night went to Mackenzie Dern for her quick kneebar submission of Hannah Cifers only 2:36 into the first round. The submission will go down in history as the first female to get a finish via leg lock in the UFC.

The final Performance Of The Night went to Gilbert Burns for his domination of Tyron Woodley in the main event. Starting fast Burns managed to knock down the former champion quickly controlling him on the round for the remainder of the round. What ensued in the rest of the fight followed trend as Woodley was unable to find an opportunity to get started resulting in him being controlled and pieced apart for the full 25 minutes. The judges scored the bout 50-44, 50-44, 50-45 for the rising contender seemingly putting him in the conversation for a title shot.