Luke Rockhold Flames ‘Easy Money’ Thiago Santos: Let’s Go

Streaking light heavyweight contender Thiago Santos put on a show against Jan Blachowicz in the main event of today’s (Sat., February 23, 2019) UFC on ESPN+ 3 from the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. The Brazilian slugger knocked the No. 4-ranked Blachowicz (highlights here) with a vicious third-round assault. The victory has ‘Marreta’ calling […]

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Streaking light heavyweight contender Thiago Santos put on a show against Jan Blachowicz in the main event of today’s (Sat., February 23, 2019) UFC on ESPN+ 3 from the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. The Brazilian slugger knocked the No. 4-ranked Blachowicz (highlights here) with a vicious third-round assault.

The victory has ‘Marreta’ calling for a title shot in the suddenly buzzing division due to his recent streak. But one former UFC champ isn’t buying all the hype. Luke Rockhold called the supposedly ‘sloppy’ Santos ‘easy money’ on social media after his win in Prague:

The former middleweight champ has teased a move up to light heavyweight for quite some time. He’s also been out of action since a vicious knockout loss to Yoel Romero at UFC 220 last February.

The former Strikeforce ruler was set to rematch Chris Weidman at last November’s UFC 230. A concerning shin injury forced him out of action and his return remains unknown. He’s willing to return against the Brazilian wrecking machine, however:

Rockhold may be calling Santos out for being ‘sloppy’ and ‘easy,’ yet the truth is ‘Marreta’ may be too big of a fight for him at this point. He’s knocked out Eryk Anders, Jimi Manuwa, and now, Blachowicz in three straight fights. He’s arguably close to title contention as a result. Rockhold, meanwhile, hasn’t won a fight since September 2017 over David Branch due to his loss and injury.

So while the onetime middleweight king has been stirring up trouble at 205 on social media, fighting him wouldn’t do much for Santos right now. He’s going to UFC 235 to watch Jon Jones vs. Anthony Smith in expectation of fighting the winner.

And he should be.

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Paulo Costa Explains How Interim UFC Title Shot Was Nearly His

Paulo Costa says he was close to getting a shot at the interim Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title. On April 13, Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya will do battle at UFC 236. The bout will take place in Atlanta, Georgia and will be…

Paulo Costa says he was close to getting a shot at the interim Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title. On April 13, Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya will do battle at UFC 236. The bout will take place in Atlanta, Georgia and will be contested for the interim middleweight championship. It’s a bout that nearly […]

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Stefan Struve Considers Retirement Following UFC Prague Win

Stefan Struve may have had his final professional mixed martial arts bout. Struve took on Marcos Rogerio de Lima earlier today (Feb. 23). The action took place inside the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. Struve was in trouble early, being knocked do…

Stefan Struve may have had his final professional mixed martial arts bout. Struve took on Marcos Rogerio de Lima earlier today (Feb. 23). The action took place inside the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. Struve was in trouble early, being knocked down in just seconds. “Skyscraper” was able to survive and pulled off a second-round […]

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USADA Suspends UFC Middleweight Two Years For Steroids

The United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA) has suspended Khalid Murtazaliev two years for testing positive for banned substance drostanolone. Murtazaliev defeated C.B. Dollaway in his UFC debut last September. However, that win may not be as impressive as once thought. USADA announced Friday (Feb. 22, 2019) that Murtazaliev, a Russian native, tested positive for […]

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The United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA) has suspended Khalid Murtazaliev two years for testing positive for banned substance drostanolone.

Murtazaliev defeated C.B. Dollaway in his UFC debut last September. However, that win may not be as impressive as once thought.

USADA announced Friday (Feb. 22, 2019) that Murtazaliev, a Russian native, tested positive for drostanolone, which is an anabolic steroid. The positive results are from out-of-competition samples collected Oct. 3, 2018, and Dec. 6, 2018. USADA has suspended Murtazaliev for two years, per the official release.

The release also stated that the two positive results will be treated like one as USADA’s rule book. Essentially, the evidence indicates Murtazaliev used one time prior to the sample collected on Oct. 3.

The report did not indicate whether or not Murtazaliev’s win over Dollaway will be turned to a no contest. You may remember, veteran referee Herb Dean took some heat for a late stoppage in this fight. The fight was his UFC debut. He spent much of his career fighting for Fight Nights Global.

Dollaway had this to say about the stoppage:

“I’ve been on the other side before, where I thought a fight got stopped too early for me,” Dollaway said afterward. “But, being on the other side now, it’s like — it’s a rough job being a ref, they want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time, you’re there to protect us, and I don’t know what was going on, but I don’t feel like I got protected. He didn’t stop the fight. Ever.

“Like, he was telling me to get on the stool and I didn’t even want to fight. Like, ‘Dude, I’m done.’ I was pretty out of it. I’m going to go out and take more punishment, that’s all that was going to basically happen at that point. I understand being a referee’s a tough job, we all make mistakes in life. It just sucks when it’s you.”

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UFC Prague Bonuses: Thiago Santos Banks An Extra $50K

UFC on ESPN+ 3 went down from the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic earlier today (Sat. February 23, 2019). Dwight Grant ended the ESPN 2 prelims with a bang. He finished Carlo Pedersoli Jr. with one second left in the first round with a TKO. That kind of sequence was worthy of a $50,000 Performance […]

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UFC on ESPN+ 3 went down from the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic earlier today (Sat. February 23, 2019).

Dwight Grant ended the ESPN 2 prelims with a bang. He finished Carlo Pedersoli Jr. with one second left in the first round with a TKO. That kind of sequence was worthy of a $50,000 Performance Of The Night bonus. Also, Micha? Oleksiejczu made a statement on the main card by toppling UFC veteran Gian Villante. He dropped Villante with a body shot before finishing him off on the ground.

Oleksiejczu’s first-round win was awarded with Performance Of The Night, and an extra $50,000. In what was likely the last fight of his career, Stefan Struve also banked $50,000 for Performance Of The Night. The longtime UFC heavyweight submitted Marcos Rogerio de Lima in the second round by way of arm-triangle choke.

And in the main event of the night, Thiago Santos defeated Jan Blachowicz with a third-round knockout. “The Hammer” uncorked two huge hooks that ended Blachowicz’s night. After the bout was over, Santos called out the winner of Jon Jones vs. Anthony Smith at UFC 235 next week. Santos will also take home a $50,000 Performance Of The Night bonus.

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UFC on ESPN+ 3 Bonuses, Attendance & Gate

The UFC on ESPN+ 3 card took place from the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic earlier today (Sat. February 23, 2019). The Prague crowd turned out for the event with a total attendance number of 16,583, and the gate was $1,606,176. Some well-deserved b…

The UFC on ESPN+ 3 card took place from the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic earlier today (Sat. February 23, 2019). The Prague crowd turned out for the event with a total attendance number of 16,583, and the gate was $1,606,176. Some well-deserved bonuses have also been awarded. Headlining the ESPN 2 prelims, Dwight Grant […]

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