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Bellator heavyweight Matt Mitrione is attempting to being about a revolution in UFC and hopes to change the way in which they go about business and especially how they treat their fighters. It has not been too long since several former UFC fighters that migrated to Bellator were publicly vocal about the inherent benefits of leaving the UFC, specifically the facts about how they can now enjoy a lot more flexibility and also earn a lot more money than what they did in the UFC. These comments have already spurred an interest among current UFC fighters that may soon consider going down the same road too.

Mitrione is one fighter that in an interview with Mauro Ranallo and Bas Rutten talked about his decision to leave the UFC and the reasons why he took that decision. Mitrione said that apart from the financial incentives of leaving the UFC, the real stimulus to him leaving was that he now has more freedom to make his own money, he is not tied down by contracts or sponsorships, he said he can now say what he really feels and voice his opinions without the fear of losing out on an year-end bonus which he may not receive either way.

Mitrione also cited the example of Jon Fitch who was released for 24 hours simple because he did not agree to sing a lifetime release of his likeness rights so that the UFC could use his character in their video games for further profits.

Mitrione however conceded that he is where he is only because of the UFC itself. He would have been a name that nobody knew if it was not for his UFC career. So he remains thankful for having gotten the opportunity to fight in the UFC, but then again he maintains that that is not enough to get him to stay, he wants to move on, wants to be able to live life on his terms, enjoy financial freedom and continue being the boisterous and outspoken athlete that he is without worrying about repercussions.

Post an initial first-bout knockout of the highly regarded fighter Rashad Evans which occurred this past Saturday night and was aired on UFC on FOX 19 as the highlight main event, Glover Teixeira answered a question in his post-match interview where very uncharacteristically he actually dropped a name and suggested that this person is who he would like to take on and fight next.

The name that he mentioned was none other than Anthony Johnson. Johnson, also known as Rumble is a mixed martial arts fighter that has a distinguished record so far and competes fiercely in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. At the moment, Anthony Rumble Johnson is doing extremely well and has scaled up to second rank in the light heavyweight contender official UFC listings. ESPN and Sherdo also rate Johnson highly and have ranked him number two in the whole world. Johnson has also featured in a movie, he appeared as a fighter named Orlando “Midnight” Lee in a movie titled Warrior which was released in the year 2011.

However, just as how several things in the UFC right now is convoluted, so is this potential match up between Johnson and Teixeira. Johnson became the self-proclaimed number one contender in the light heavy weight division after knocking out formidable opponent Ryan Bader in January of 2016. Despite this win, Johnson may find himself in a limbo when he has fully recovered and declared fit to competitively fight again, the reason for this being that Jon Jones has now beaten Ovince St. Preux in their fight that took place in UFC 197 for the intermin title and the opportunity to face off against the present champion, Daniel Cormier.

Teixeira of course had already run this whole scenario in his head before dropping Jonhson’s name. he agreed that Johnson deserved a title shot, and it was up to him what he wanted to do. Furthermore, he also called the on going back and forth between Jones and Corimer a soap opera. Teixeira finally added that Johnson may go a whole year doing nothing, and said that he would be giving him a job by challenging him to a fight.

It’s finally going to happen this week, the eagerly awaited return of Jon Jones after being away from the sport for over one year. As Jones makes his way back into the Octagon, his first encounter will be against Ovince St. Preux which is set to happen Saturday night in Las Vegas and the two will be fighting it out for the light heavyweight interim title. However, the real focus premised around Jones’ return is not his bout against Ovince St. Preux but instead, all eyes are on whether or not Jones will be scheduled to fight against his arch nemesis Daniel Cormier (the current UCF champion) once again.
Daniel Cormier had to pull out from his fight against Jones as he had sustained an injury prior to the main title fight. Jones, who at the time was in Bristol, said some things about Cormier in an interview that questioned Cormier’s lack of sportsmanship among other things. Jones reiterated that Cormier was a fighter that had lost to him in the past, and rather than just accept the fact that Jones was the better fighter and still is the better fighter, Cormier had come up with a bunch of excuses. Jones carried on mocking Cormier when he listed the excuses Cormier had provided such as, I lost because I am not used to this weight class, it was my first time fighting this weight class, I lost because it was a big fight and I was nervous, I lost since I was not able to train with my preferred training partner Cain Velasquez, etc.
Jones went on to tell Hannah Storm that all of the excuses that Cormier made up basically proved that Cormier was basically convincing his own self that there were reasons why he could not beat Jones which had nothing to do with the reality of the matter which is that he just is not as good as fighter as Jones is.
When Jones was asked specifically if he would like to fight Cormier in Madison Square Garden, he said he would like nothing more but he was quite positive that Cormier would never sign up for something like that since he was scared and would not want to take on Jones, especially not in Jones’ backyard.
Jones also was suspicious in the interview about Cormier’s injury, saying he was hurt, not injured and being hurt is part and parcel of being an elite athlete and you should fight through it.

It’s finally going to happen this week, the eagerly awaited return of Jon Jones after being away from the sport for over one year. As Jones makes his way back into the Octagon, his first encounter will be against Ovince St. Preux which is set to happen Saturday night in Las Vegas and the two will be fighting it out for the light heavyweight interim title. However, the real focus premised around Jones’ return is not his bout against Ovince St. Preux but instead, all eyes are on whether or not Jones will be scheduled to fight against his arch nemesis Daniel Cormier (the current UCF champion) once again.
Daniel Cormier had to pull out from his fight against Jones as he had sustained an injury prior to the main title fight. Jones, who at the time was in Bristol, said some things about Cormier in an interview that questioned Cormier’s lack of sportsmanship among other things. Jones reiterated that Cormier was a fighter that had lost to him in the past, and rather than just accept the fact that Jones was the better fighter and still is the better fighter, Cormier had come up with a bunch of excuses. Jones carried on mocking Cormier when he listed the excuses Cormier had provided such as, I lost because I am not used to this weight class, it was my first time fighting this weight class, I lost because it was a big fight and I was nervous, I lost since I was not able to train with my preferred training partner Cain Velasquez, etc.
Jones went on to tell Hannah Storm that all of the excuses that Cormier made up basically proved that Cormier was basically convincing his own self that there were reasons why he could not beat Jones which had nothing to do with the reality of the matter which is that he just is not as good as fighter as Jones is.
When Jones was asked specifically if he would like to fight Cormier in Madison Square Garden, he said he would like nothing more but he was quite positive that Cormier would never sign up for something like that since he was scared and would not want to take on Jones, especially not in Jones’ backyard.
Jones also was suspicious in the interview about Cormier’s injury, saying he was hurt, not injured and being hurt is part and parcel of being an elite athlete and you should fight through it.

Rico Verhoeven, the world’s top heavyweight kickboxer says he is serious about becoming a MMA fighter. The GLORY champion went a step ahead to claim he was more excited about training in MMA than kickboxing at the moment where he felt everything, like the grappling and submissions, was new. And learning new things is what excites him most especially with UFC and Bellator gaining more popularity while the Japanese were showing interest as well.

The 27 year old Dutchman debuted in MMA last October with a first round TKO against Viktor Bogutzki. He currently trains with UFC middleweight star Gegard Mousasi and has for the last four years been training in grappling, picking up a few tournaments on the way. Some experts believe he could be the best heavyweight MMA contender due to his youth and striking power.

Verhoeven is to defend his GLORY title on Saturday in Paris where he takes on Mladen Brestovac at GLORY 28 after which he could be tapping into UFC and Bellator. Sports management firm, Paradigm, who has on its list of clients the likes of Conor McGregor and Michael Bisping, will be handling his affairs.

The 6 foot 5 inch, 250 pound Dutchman claimed that there was not much more to learn in kickboxing, a sport he has been in since he was 6 years old. He owns a 47-10-1 pro kickboxing record but, in bringing out the businessman in him, Verhoeven said he would give up the sport for UFC if the money is good while Bellator would offer more flexibility since that wouldn’t restrict him to MMA.

Currently, the list of top MMA heavyweight fighters is aging, which is something that Verhoeven sees as an opportunity to make a good break into UFC. He said he would like to jump in and take on some of them to gain experience. The Dutchman was of the opinion that the level of striking in MMA was much lower than kickboxing. For now, he continues to train for both.