When Jan Blachowicz captured the UFC light heavyweight title with a victory over Dominick Reyes, fighters were coming out of the woodwork to challenge the Polish power puncher, partly because he wasn’t Jon Jones, but mostly because Blachowicz has been an underdog in 13 of his UFC fights and never seems to get the respect
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By MMA Junkie Staff | March 7, 2021 2:30 am In a bit of a rarity, the post-fight bonus winners at UFC 259 all came from the preliminary card. The promotion handed out a pair of “Performance of the Night” bonuses and “Fight of the Night” at Saturday’s event at the UFC Apex in Las
Feb 27, 2021 The UFC is about to hit a compelling stretch of events in which we will see five title fights (featuring six champions) in the span of one calendar month. It starts on Saturday night with UFC 259, which will be the seventh event in UFC history to feature three title fights. In
Jan Blachowicz has not let go of his desire to face Jon Jones in the future. Jan Blachowicz is the current UFC light heavyweight champion. That is a position that was held by Jon Jones for a very long time. Now that Jones has decided to make the move up and try his skills at
Tim Elliott is going all in for his flyweight matchup with Jordan Espinosa later tonight (Sat., Mar. 6, 2021) on the early “Prelims” portion of UFC 259 from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, and that includes placing a large bet on himself. This will be Elliott’s 15th trip to the Octagon, but arguably
By Farah Hannoun and MMA Junkie Radio | March 6, 2021 1:50 pm When Sage Northcutt makes the walk to the cage April 28, it will have been almost two years since he last competed. Northcutt (11-3) faces Japanese MMA pioneer Shinya Aoki in a welterweight fight at ONE on TNT IV in Singapore, his
12:46 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Israel Adesanya will be significantly lighter than Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259. Though, not as much as he indicated earlier this week. Adesanya weighed 200.5 pounds Friday morning at the official UFC 259 weigh-ins at the UFC Apex. He didn’t strip down, as athletes usually do. He just wore
Joseph Benavidez has hinted that he will be attempting to make another run at UFC gold. Joseph Benavidez has had four opportunities to become a UFC champion, and he has come up short each time. Notwithstanding his failures, Joseph Benavidez has also carried with him plenty of fortunes throughout his illustrious career. As someone who
Welcome to Midnight Mania! Few are envious of Megan Anderson less than 24 hours removed from her UFC 259 title shot vs. Amanda Nunes. It’s a great opportunity to be sure, but Nunes is a remarkable 10-1 favorite over the Australian, and “Lioness” doesn’t usually win via anything less than a punishing smackdown. Speaking with
By Michael Rosenthal | March 6, 2021 1:00 am (This story first appeared at BoxingJunkie.com.) Claressa Shields might want to compete exclusively in mixed martial arts if she cares about challenges. No one in boxing can touch her. Shields made previously unbeaten Marie-Eve Dicaire look as if she had no business in the ring with
7:06 AM ET In the 27-year history of the UFC, only seven fighters have won championships in multiple weight classes — and only four of those have held both titles simultaneously. Such is the rare air UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (20-0) is hoping to reach Saturday, when he challenges Jan Blachowicz (27-8) for the
After a violent display of striking against Maycee Barber, Alexa Grasso is as motivated as ever to climb up the flyweight ladder. Once hailed the “Ronda Rousey of Mexico” by UFC president Dana White, Grasso went through some growing pains inside the organization. Although, what flyweight wouldn’t if they have fought in the promotion since
ONE Championship was back in action on Friday with “Fists of Fury 2” from Singapore. Along with some elbows of fury, too. Undefeated South Korean heavyweight “Mighty Warrior” Kang Ji Won upset Greco-Roman Wrestling World Champion Amir Aliakbari in the main event, ending their titanic tilt by way of first-round (and one-punch) knockout. Then there
By Mike Bohn and Ken Hathaway | March 5, 2021 2:54 pm LAS VEGAS – UFC champions Jan Blachowicz and Israel Adesanya came face to face for the final time ahead of UFC 259 on Saturday, and both men seemed incredibly focused. After making weight on Friday morning, Blachowicz (27-8 MMA, 10-5 UFC) and Adesanya
6:32 PM ET LAS VEGAS – The UFC has not done a show in the United States outside its home of Las Vegas in more than a year. That could be changing soon, according to UFC president Dana White. White said Thursday at the UFC 259 prefight press conference that as soon as he heard
Dana White isn’t as convinced about Khamzat Chimaev’s future in the UFC as he sounded just a couple of days ago. 2020 breakout star Khamzat Chimaev shocked the world when he kicked off the month of March with a retirement out of absolutely nowhere. He went from calling out Neil Magny for a June fight
Welcome to Midnight Mania! Khamzat Chimaev’s future remains uncertain. The Chechen rose to fame quickly inside the Octagon, taking on opponents in multiple weight classes in rapid succession to immediately build a name for himself. All that success was to lead to an absolutely huge jump in competition opposite Leon Edwards, but COVID-19 benched “Borz,”
By Simon Head | March 4, 2021 11:45 pm After arriving in the UFC with high hopes of success, Megan Anderson has had to wait patiently for her shot at the UFC women’s featherweight title. Former Invicta FC featherweight champion Anderson (10-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC) has suffered a couple of setbacks along the way, but