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Joaquin Buckley can no longer be denied. Once a hot-and-cold middleweight, he is now 6-0 as a welterweight, with wins over a number of established contenders.…
Joaquin Buckley can no longer be denied. Once a hot-and-cold middleweight, he is now 6-0 as a welterweight, with wins over a number of established contenders.…
UFC lightweight veteran Michael Johnson showed he has plenty left in the tank in Tampa this past weekend, so much so that he’s targeting names toward the top of the division. Johnson was among the biggest winners to emerge victorious from Saturday’s year-ending UFC Fight Night at Amalie Arena. On a night that included a […]
UFC lightweight veteran Michael Johnson showed he has plenty left in the tank in Tampa this past weekend, so much so that he’s targeting names toward the top of the division.
Johnson was among the biggest winners to emerge victorious from Saturday’s year-ending UFC Fight Night at Amalie Arena.
On a night that included a host of knockouts, not many came more brutal than “The Menace’s” victory over Ottman Azaitar, who was rendered unconscious before eating some vicious follow-up shots on the ground.
The result has put Johnson back onto a win streak on MMA’s biggest stage, and despite nearing the 40 mark, he doesn’t plan on leaving life as an active fighter for a long time.
During his post-fight press conference backstage at Amalie Arena, Johnson reflected on his successful performance and looked ahead to his future.
On the topic of retirement, the 42-fight MMA veteran outlined a lengthy timeline for the remainder of his career.
“Five years (more, I want to fight),” Johnson said. “I always tell people I want to do eight to 10 more years and they look at me with this face. I’m not slowing down any time soon. As long as my body’s healthy and I can get through what I need to get through, I’m going to fight for as long as I can.
“I think Nate Diaz said it the best, and he’s turned into a good friend. He was an opponent of mine. We always keep in touch, but he made a comment that said, ‘Sh*t, I’ll fight till I’m 50. Just getting started.’ So that’s what it is. I’m just getting started,” Johnson continued. “This might be my peak. A lot of people peak at 25, 30 (years old). I might be one peaking at 38, 40.”
With that in mind, Johnson looks set to have plenty of time to tick off some of his remaining ambitions. And when it comes to advancing his late-career title aspirations and exacting revenge for a past result, “The Menace” has a perfect next opponent in mind.
“The Justin Gaethje fight – that’s the one that I want,” Johnson explained. “I think everybody would love a Gaethje-Johnson (rematch). I gave him that opportunity when he came over (from WSOF), when nobody else wanted to. So, I think he should go ahead and give that back. We need to run one ’cause I know he knows he got away with that one.”
Johnson welcomed Gaethje to the UFC back in 2017, a bout that came after the 38-year-old had battled Beneil Dariush, Nate Diaz, Dustin Poirier and Khabib Nurmagomedov in consecutive assignments. The promotional newcomer got his hand raised after finding the knockout late in round two of a fight that was widely seen as the year’s best.
Whether Gaethje and the UFC will reciprocate the interest in a rematch remains to be seen. “The Highlight” hasn’t competed since suffering a vicious last-second knockout at the hands of Max Holloway at UFC 300 this past April.
Regardless, be it the former interim champion or perhaps another name inside the top 15, it would appear that Johnson has earned the chance to climb back up the ladder in 2025 following a perfect 2-0 run this year.
THE START OF A NEW WIN STREAK
@Menace155 ends it early in the second! #UFCTampa pic.twitter.com/m8xaeUqF1R
— UFC (@ufc) December 15, 2024
UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington was up to his usual antics when addressing his defeat this past weekend for the first time. Saturday’s event in Tampa didn’t go to plan for the former interim champion, who returned on short notice to headline the year-ending UFC Fight Night at Amalie Arena. The bout came 12 months […]
UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington was up to his usual antics when addressing his defeat this past weekend for the first time.
Saturday’s event in Tampa didn’t go to plan for the former interim champion, who returned on short notice to headline the year-ending UFC Fight Night at Amalie Arena.
The bout came 12 months on from Covington’s third failed attempt at claiming the undisputed crown, and in order to return to winning ways, he was tasked with stalling the charge of Joaquin Buckley.
Instead, “New Mansa” continued to climb the ladder toward gold at the polarizing veteran’s expense, beating him up across two rounds before a cut he caused with an elbow in the first frame proved too deep for “Chaos” to continue.
While the ending was somewhat anticlimactic and saw Dana White suggest wouldn’t have happened had the fight been staged in Las Vegas, many believed the writing was already on the wall for Covington’s chances of victory.
Unsurprisingly, the “many” does not include the man himself…
During a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Covington took fans behind the scenes before and after his headliner at Amalie Arena.
“Chaos” spoke to the camera post-fight, giving his first comments on a result that has left him 2-4 across his last six and 0-4 against names currently inside the welterweight top 15.
From the late-notice nature of the bout to the debated stoppage, “Chaos” had his usual litany of reasons to explain the loss ready.
“We’re gonna be back stronger than ever, this is just the beginning for me,” Covington said. “I wasn’t at my best tonight. I came off the couch but it was for the company, I did this for the company that I love so much that changed my life. … I know there’s still a lot of fight in me and the best is still yet to come.
“I was just getting warmed up in that fight, I think it was tied up 1-1 and I was starting to wear on him. I see him breathing out of his mouth, I was starting to catch him with more shots so it’s unfortunate that they stopped it,” Covington continued. “Even Dana (White) came out and said if that was in Vegas, it would’ve never been stopped. I took his hardest shots and they didn’t phase me at all. … We’ll come back stronger.”
It remains to be seen what the future holds for the 36-year-old, but he’s evidently not planning on hanging up his gloves — as some had advised following a defeat that leaves him firmly out of the championship conversation.
Buckley, meanwhile, looks set for even bigger things in 2025 after extending his perfect welterweight stint with a 4-0 run this year. Though he’s prepared to step in with gold on the line should Shavkat Rakhmonov fall out of his expected shot, “New Mansa” also set his sights on Kamaru Usman post-fight in Tampa.
Last night @Newmansa94 grabbed his 6th win in a row
Big things coming for Joaquin Buckley in 2025! #UFCTampa pic.twitter.com/rB4sfJOInR
— UFC (@ufc) December 15, 2024
One of the UFC’s rising stars in the lightweight division ‘The Baddy’ Paddy Pimblett shared his perspective on why…
One of the UFC’s rising stars in the lightweight division ‘The Baddy’ Paddy Pimblett shared his perspective on why Muay Thai fighters are seldom seen in the UFC despite being the greatest strikers on earth.
Paddy Pimblett pointed to cultural factors, financial obligations, and technical differences between Muay Thai and MMA athletes. Discussing the challenges faced by Muay Thai fighters, Pimblett stressed the lifestyle many of them lead.
“Them Thai fighters—some of them start fighting from the age of six, seven, eight, and they’re fighting every week,” Paddy Pimblett explained. “They’re the breadwinners for the family from that age, man. That’s madness.” By the time a Muay Thai fighter is in their late 20s, their career is likely done after hundreds of matches.
Pimblett described a generational cycle in Thailand, where fighters often come from families deeply rooted in Muay Thai tradition. “Because their dad’s been fighting since he was a kid, all the way up into the stadiums, and then he’ll have a kid… You’re just seeing this cycle,” he said.
Another factor Pimblett touched on is the cultural reverence for Muay Thai. “You never see Thai fighters in the UFC, though, do you? That’s because they all do Thai. It’s like an honorable thing in their country as well,” he noted. “There’s so much honor there in fighting Thai, especially fighting in their stadiums in Thailand.”
On the technical side, Pimblett believes the traditional Muay Thai stance doesn’t adapt well to MMA. “The stance doesn’t cross over well. It just invites takedowns, really,” he explained.
Some Thai-based fighters have seen success in the UFC such as Loma Lookboonme and in MMA Stamp Fairtex. Otherwise, Muay Thai-based fighters have found success in MMA but tend to have mixed backgrounds in training such as Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo, and Valentina Shevchenko.
With a professional record of 22-3 and an undefeated streak in the UFC, Pimblett continues to solidify his position as a top contender in the competitive UFC lightweight division. He is a former two-division Cage Warriors champion who has made quite an impact since debuting in the UFC.
One of the most accomplished submission specialists in MMA history Frank Mir discussed his multiple matchups against Brock Lesnar….
One of the most accomplished submission specialists in MMA history Frank Mir discussed his multiple matchups against Brock Lesnar. The bout, which ended with Mir submitting Lesnar via kneebar, marked one of the defining moments in both fighters’ careers. But behind the scenes, Mir revealed professional frustrations from his wife.
When Lesnar transitioned from WWE to the UFC, many dismissed him as a mere entertainer, but Mir quickly recognized the danger Lesnar posed.
“The guy’s legitimate,” Mir said. “The base of wrestling this guy has down is scary. But wait a minute, you guys think he’s only a pro wrestler? That scared me. I was like, Oh shit. No. I’m not fighting an entertainer. I’m actually fighting a guy who went into pro wrestling but has been wrestling since he was a kid.”
Brock Lesnar’s collegiate wrestling accolades, including an NCAA Division I championship, were no joke, and Mir understood that underestimating him would be a fatal mistake. However, he also felt the pressure of public perception. “I thought, Oh shit, people are gonna think if I struggle with this guy, ‘Oh, look, pro wrestling won.’ But I’m like, No, this ain’t pro wrestling, buddy. That guy’s actually a legitimate grappler.”
Despite being a former UFC heavyweight champion, Frank Mir’s wife felt sidelined in the promotion’s marketing of the fight. He recalled being informed just days before the fight that Brock Lesnar, despite being the UFC newcomer, would walk second—traditionally reserved for the more highly ranked fighter.
“So, right off the bat, I was just the B-side guy,” he explained, “I was just showing up to be thrown to the wolves, you know? That was after my accident, and I really hadn’t come back that strong. I’d won a fight, lost a fight, won a fight—they didn’t know how my leg was doing.”
“I remember because that was one thing that actually irritated my wife. But my wife’s my pitbull, to the point where sometimes we get into fights because she’s so protective of me. It’s great. I’m easygoing—I don’t give a sh*t. So, I remember they called me up, like, two days before the fight, saying, “Hey, uh, we know you’re a former champion, but we’re gonna have him walk second, so you’ll be waiting for him in the cage.””
Looking across the cage at the behemoth Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir recalled thinking, “I need to get new management.”
Lesnar’s explosive power overwhelmed Mir early, but Mir stayed composed, biding his time to capitalize on a mistake. “When he jumped over the top, actually, I thought I had the kneebar locked,” Mir explained. “Usually, when I do that move, people fall to their ass. Yeah, he jumped and dragged me with him. He dragged me like a little child. If you watch, he jumped over the top of me and dropped me about five feet, hanging off his leg.”
Frank Mir at UFC 81 quickly submitted Brock Lesnar and spoiled his debut in the UFC. The two would later rematch headlining UFC 100.
Frank Mir, former UFC heavyweight champion and rival of Brock Lesnar, believes that many Brazilian jiu-jitsu BJJ practitioners are…
Frank Mir, former UFC heavyweight champion and rival of Brock Lesnar, believes that many Brazilian jiu-jitsu BJJ practitioners are approaching their training incorrectly. Known for his technical grappling and record-setting submissions, Mir recently shared his views on the flaws he sees in how people train.
“I don’t train to make people tap,” Mir said. “The ultimate goal is the choke. Submissions like armbars, kimuras, and leg locks are just tools. “Okay, this is in my way.” It’s kind of like scoring a touchdown in a game. It’s not over with, but I’m upping the score in my favor. I guess I kind of think of it like a boxer throwing a body punch. Hey man, if you fall down and the fight’s over, great. But that body punch is actually more meant to hurt you, disable you, and put things more in my favor.” This is the philosophy he used to submit several opponents int he UFC including Brock Lesnar.
Mir argues that focusing solely on making an opponent tap during training misses the bigger picture. “People tap in the gym all the time to things that don’t mean anything,” the multi-time opponent of Brock Lesnar explained. “To make them tap in a fight? There are things I’ll tap into in the gym just because they’re uncomfortable. If we’re outside by my car, my kids are there, and you’re in between me and them? I’m not tapping into that. That ain’t happening. Most people won’t. You know what I mean? That’s on them, though. That’s bad technique.”
Mir compared the fixation on tapping to focusing on test scores in education, saying that measuring success in this way is misleading. “It’s like teaching kids to take a test rather than teaching them the subject,” he said. Frank Mir ha broken multiple limbs in the octagon.
“It’s when you use the measuring stick as the actual test. For example, when they did No Child Left Behind, right? So we educated the kids, and they said, “Hey, we’re going to make sure the kids take this test. How well they do on the test is how well we’ll do for state or government funding to the school.” So what did teachers do? What humans do. They just taught the kids how to take the test. They weren’t really teaching them. They said, “Okay, well, we’ll just make you better at the test.”“
“It’s like, okay, so you’re good at the game, but for the sake of the game. You should be good at the game because it reinforces realistic life situations and systems. You’re not bench pressing yourself out of most situations in a fight.“
Mir believes this mindset is especially problematic in self-defense and compared it to NFL trials, he continued:
“That’s why, like, people watch the NFL Combine. How often do you see a guy, and they’ll show him on ESPN like, “This guy just ran the fastest for his position.” You never hear about him during the regular season ever again. That was his highlight, because he specialized to be good at the test.”
At 44, Mir still trains regularly, often with his wife, who is a purple belt in BJJ. “When I roll with her, it’s all about technique. I’m not using strength, just precision. It’s like a chess match,” he said. He also highlighted the value of jiu-jitsu for women, saying it teaches valuable skills for self-defense.
Mir, who holds the record for the most submissions in UFC heavyweight history including one over Brock Lesnar, is a strong proponent of technique over raw strength. He pointed out that relying on strength alone is a common mistake. If your game is based on strength, it’s not going to work against someone bigger or more skilled, bad technique doesn’t hold up in real situations.
Frank Mir, who famously submitted Brock Lesnar with a kneebar and broke Tim Sylvia’s arm with an armbar, says his philosophy extends beyond the gym or competition. “But the ego of not protecting yourself, guys—just let it go. I’m like, “No, that reinforces that they’re an idiot.” This is a game or something. If you’re not tapping, I’m assuming that means my move isn’t very good because I’m not breaking something. You know what I mean? Like, if you tap, it means you’re protecting your limb, and you’re reinforcing that I have good technique.”
“But if you’re just there to hurt people and make them tap, it’s like… yeah, but right now we all have to go to work tomorrow. There’s a different mentality. I want longevity.”
