On the heels of becoming champion, Miesha Tate has improved her own standing within the UFC.
The reigning female bantamweight titleholder inked a new deal with the promotion on Tuesday, according to KHI Management, which helps direct the career of “…
On the heels of becoming champion, Miesha Tate has improved her own standing within the UFC.
The reigning female bantamweight titleholder inked a new deal with the promotion on Tuesday, according to KHI Management, which helps direct the career of “Cupcake.”
No word yet on when Tate will make her first title defense, though rumors of a potential spot on the UFC 200 card have been floating around.
Tate (18-5), 29 years old, came over to the UFC when Zuffa purchased Strikeforce back in 2013. She made her debut, falling to Cat Zingano via TKO. A loss to Ronda Rousey for the title followed later that year, but she has now won her last five.
According to UFC President Dana White, not only is former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey able to eat apples again, she is also once again finally “ready to fight.”
White appeared on TMZ Live this weekend and spoke about the upcoming …
According to UFC President Dana White, not only is former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey able to eat apples again, she is also once again finally “ready to fight.”
White appeared on TMZ Live this weekend and spoke about the upcoming return of one of the biggest stars in the UFC. He claimed that Rousey will return to the Octagon in November or December and that the door is open for a potential third fight against Miesha Tate for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship.
Rousey last appeared inside the Octagon at the record-breaking UFC 193 pay-per-view event from Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia on November 15, 2015, where she lost her first professional MMA fight in devastating fashion by being knocked out by a head kick from Holly Holm in the second round of their main event fight.
Holm would go on to lose the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship in her first title defense, a fight she pushed to have instead of waiting for Rousey to return for an immediate rematch of their historic first encounter.
Longtime career rival of Rousey, Miesha “Cupcake” Tate, choked Holm out in the co-main event of the UFC 196 pay-per-view in March to become the new UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion.
As noted, the belief is Rousey will return to challenge Tate for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship upon returning to the UFC, which as White noted, is expected to be in November or December of this year.
Whether or not Rousey’s return takes place at UFC’s debut event at Madison Square Garden in New York, which is also expected to take place near the end of the year, remains to be seen.
The first-ever Bellator female featherweight champion will be crowned this coming May at Bellator 155, as Marloes Coenen meets Julia Budd.
The bout, set for May 20 from the CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho, will not be part of the Spike TV main car…
The first-ever Bellator female featherweight champion will be crowned this coming May at Bellator 155, as Marloes Coenen meets Julia Budd.
The bout, set for May 20 from the CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho, will not be part of the Spike TV main card. Instead, according to a report by MMAjunkie.com, it will anchor the online prelims before the televised action.
Coenen (23-6) has won both of her Bellator appearances and is 4-1 over his last five. She is a former Strikeforce champion and challenged for the Invicta FC featherweight title, falling to Cris “Cyborg” Justino.
Budd (8-2) is also a perfect 2-0 with the promotion and is on a six-fight win streak overall.
The event features middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho defending his title against Melvin Manhoef.
Top Invicta FC Flyweight contender Andrea Lee tested positive for a banned diuretic and has been temporarily suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC).
Lee tested positive for the substance canrenone and/or spironolactone for her Invicta FC …
Top Invicta FC Flyweight contender Andrea Lee tested positive for a banned diuretic and has been temporarily suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC).
Lee tested positive for the substance canrenone and/or spironolactone for her Invicta FC 16 fight on March 11th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Andrea Lee was the first to break the news, as she wrote the following about the positive test, as well as her claim that she didn’t knowingly take any banned substances:
Apparently UFC didn’t have the easiest time finding an opponent to fight Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino in her Octagon debut at UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil in May.
UFC’s General Manager in Brazil, Giovanni Decker, spoke with MMAFighting.com this week and spoke about the process of finding someone to fight the reigning Invicta FC Featherweight Champion.
“We didn’t think it would be impossible (to have Cyborg at UFC 198) because we knew someone would accept the fight,” Decker said during a media scrum in Brazil. “I won’t mention names because I protect the fighters, but many athletes declined. Many names, really. You can say tens of fighters. But we were positive that someone would say yes.”
Headlined by Fabricio Werdum vs. Stipe Miocic for the UFC Heavyweight Title and featuring Vitor Belfort vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Anderson Silva vs. Urijah Hall and Cris Cyborg vs. Leslie Smith, UFC 198 takes place on May 14, 2016 from Curitiba, Brazil.
Apparently UFC didn’t have the easiest time finding an opponent to fight Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino in her Octagon debut at UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil in May.
UFC’s General Manager in Brazil, Giovanni Decker, spoke with MMAFighting.com this week and spoke about the process of finding someone to fight the reigning Invicta FC Featherweight Champion.
“We didn’t think it would be impossible (to have Cyborg at UFC 198) because we knew someone would accept the fight,” Decker said during a media scrum in Brazil. “I won’t mention names because I protect the fighters, but many athletes declined. Many names, really. You can say tens of fighters. But we were positive that someone would say yes.”
Headlined by Fabricio Werdum vs. Stipe Miocic for the UFC Heavyweight Title and featuring Vitor Belfort vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Anderson Silva vs. Urijah Hall and Cris Cyborg vs. Leslie Smith, UFC 198 takes place on May 14, 2016 from Curitiba, Brazil.
The MMA world was dealt a bit of exciting news yesterday (Mach 28, 2016) when it was unveiled that Invicta FC champion Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino would finally make her UFC debut against Leslie Smith at May 14’s packed UFC 198 card from Curitiba, Brazil. It was exciting to see Cyborg making her way to the
It was exciting to see Cyborg making her way to the Octagon after years of unfulfilled hype centered around her rumored bout against former women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, yet the MMA community couldn’t help but ponder if the UFC was setting Smith, who has fought at flyweight as recently as late 2013, for a squash match against the hulking ‘Cyborg,’ who cuts a significant amount of weight to make 145.
One fan voiced that concern to UFC President Dana White on Twitter, asking him if he was simply setting ‘Cyborg’ up for an easy win as he supposedly did with Conor McGregor and Sage Northcutt recently, which obviously backfired.
White’s response was that Smith was the only one willing to fight Justino, so she deserved respect:
It’s no surprise to see White defend the UFC’s decision, yet it’s also not all that difficult to see a realistic scenario where no other female fighter wants to face the dominant champion on short notice in her home country, as well. ‘Cyborg’ hasn’t lost a MMA fight since her debut way back in 2005, and she is regarded as the most powerful and brutalizing female in the sport today for good reason.
But we’ve seen many ‘sure things’ get destroyed in recent months, and the UFC’s current list of champions definitely reflects that. That doesn’t mean that Smith is going to pull off a monumental upset, but from the sound of things, she’s the only one willing to try.
