UFC President Dana White has provided a positive update on his promotion’s ongoing negotiations with heavyweight titleholder Francis Ngannou. As Ngannou gears up for his return to the Octagon on January 22, much of the build-up so far has surrounded his fractious relationship with the UFC and his uncertain future. Despite holding the heavyweight gold
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If you’ve ever been driving with someone who was so annoying that you wanted to reach over and choke their ass out; well, I have great news for you. Courtesy of the combat sports braintrusts in Russia, home to other high-concept creations like 5-on-5 MMA, comes “Car Jitsu,” which is exactly what it sounds like.
Monday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here. On Episode 3,220, the fellas had some fun going over some of the latest news sprinkled in with some things they missed from Thursday, including Jon Jones and Dan Hooker going at it, discussing who’s upset was bigger, Pena over Nunes or
4:38 PM ET The UFC has booked a flyweight matchup between Askar Askarov and Kai Kara-France to a UFC Fight Night on March 26, sources confirmed to ESPN on Monday. The 125-pound contest will likely produce the UFC’s next flyweight title challenger, although the promotion has not officially made that distinction. The UFC has also
UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Julianna Peña has issued a challenge for those who continue to doubt and discredit her title-winning performance at UFC 269. At the final pay-per-view of 2021, Peña finally had her long-awaited clash with then-two-division titleholder Amanda Nunes. Having dominantly reigned over both the bantamweight and featherweight classes for years, most expected
Welcome to Midnight Mania! December proved an excellent month for World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) legends. Dominick Cruz survived a nasty knockdown to ultimately beat up Pedro Munhoz in his second victory of 2021, while Jose Aldo picked up a main event victory over Rob Font to assert himself back into the Bantamweight title picture. Given
By Farah Hannoun | December 28, 2021 5:15 pm ET UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling is ready to defend his title in the first quarter of 2022. Almost 100 percent after neck surgery and a second contraction of COVID-19, Sterling (20-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) hasn’t competed since capturing the title from Petr Yan at UFC 259
8:00 AM ET Every year in every sport brings ups and downs, memorable performances, the emergence of new stars. In mixed martial arts, the leading fight promotion, the UFC, has eight weight classes for men and four for women and ran 43 fight cards in 2021, making plenty of room available onstage for athletes to
UFC light heavyweight, Anthony Smith doesn’t buy the recent allegations made against Chael Sonnen. Recently, Sonnen was hit with five battery citations after allegedly being a part of a hotel brawl in Las Vegas. TMZ Sports reported that Sonnen was detained but was ultimately not arrested because cops didn’t personally witness the alleged incident. Nevertheless,
Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar is not ready to retire from combat sports despite a dreadful 1-4 run dating back to summer 2019, which includes consecutive knockout losses in his last two fights. Perhaps “The Answer” to his recent struggles is back surgery. Edgar underwent a microdiscectomy earlier this month to remove a portion
By Farah Hannoun | December 27, 2021 9:45 pm ET Kamaru Usman has proven knockout power, but Teddy Atlas doesn’t think he’d fair well in a boxing ring. UFC welterweight champion Usman has been unstoppable in the octagon and his striking has improved leaps and bounds his past few fights. Usman scored knockouts in three
Manager to the stars, Ali Abdelaziz, is tired of hearing people talk about fighting for the BMF title. The BMF title was a specially crafted belt designed for and awarded to the winner of the fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz. Ultimately, it would be Masvidal who was awarded the novelty belt, with none
Welcome to Midnight Mania! Alex Pereira is one of the most exciting Middleweight prospects in the world, and he’s not against using that to his advantage. The talented Brazilian kickboxer recently scored a fight vs. Bruno Silva on March 12, a pretty devastating puncher in his own right who went 3-0 inside the Octagon in
By Mike Bohn | December 27, 2021 4:45 pm ET Frankie Edgar’s fighting career is on pause as he attempts to recover from a recent back surgery. Edgar (24-10-1 MMA, 18-10-1 UFC), a former UFC lightweight champion who now fights at bantamweight, went under the knife roughly two weeks ago for a microdiscectomy. The operation
Dec 12, 2021 Jeff Wagenheim Julianna Peña believed. She might have been the only one. Peña entered Saturday night’s UFC 269 co-main event as a 6½-to-1 betting underdog against Amanda Nunes, and who could argue with that? She was up against the greatest fighter in the history of women’s MMA, and a two-division champion. Amanda
Car-Jitsu is beginning to find its wheels in the wide-open spaces of the loopy world of combat sports. Invented in 2020 by Vik Mikheev, Car-Jitsu features jiu-jitsu contests held within mid-sized sedans. The participants compete in two three-minute rounds of grappling and alternate between driver and passenger between rounds. Points are earned by establishing an
UFC welterweight contender Belal Muhammad got a stiff finger to the eye from Leon Edwards at UFC Vegas 21, ending their 170-pound headliner by way of “No Contest” back in March 2021. Instead of booking an immediate rematch, the promotion sent both fighters in different directions. Edwards believes that his follow-up fight, a unanimous decision
By Matt Erickson and John Morgan | December 26, 2021 8:30 pm ET Manel Kape might be a rare breed in MMA. Most fighters have no qualms about asking to be next in line for a title shot, even if it’s far from likely. But Kape is realistic about his place in the UFC’s flyweight