MMA News

Author: Cole Shelton

  • Cody Garbrandt: I Was Not Motivated For Rob Font Main Event

    Cody Garbrandt is set to make his UFC flyweight debut and that has rejuvenated him of sorts.

    Garbrandt, the former UFC bantamweight champ, has been on a bit of a skid as he’s 1-4 since winning the title, with three of the four losses coming by knockout. In his last fight, he fought Rob Font in a Fight Night main event which the former champ says didn’t motivate him. He also says that made him not train and prepare as the way he should’ve for a fight against a skilled opponent in Font.

    “This fight, if you’re comparing it to my last fight, I came here and was like, ‘Yeah, I feel good, I feel ready to go,’ but I didn’t prepare the way that I should’ve prepared, you know, for a five-round fight. And that’s the word that I hate to use is motivated. I was not motivated,” Garbrandt said at media day.

    “This fight camp I’ve been inspired. I’ve been inspired this whole entire camp because it’s to do something that a few people have done. Yes, I’ve been a world champion, I’m a former world champion in a previous weight division; that’s a small percentage of humans being able to have that title to their name,” Garbrandt continued. “But even a smaller percentage of going to a different division and being a world champion as well, so I’m inspired by myself, but also a lot of people around me, for what’s about to take place Saturday, and that’s just the start of it.”

    At UFC 269, Cody Garbrandt is set to face the sixth-ranked flyweight, Kai Kara-France in a very intriguing matchup. Garbrandt has never been the biggest bantamweight and the flyweight move has always been talked about. If all goes well on Saturday night, the next time he fights could be for the flyweight strap.

    Do you think Cody Garbrandt will beat Kai Kara-France at UFC 269?

  • John Fury: Tommy Broke His Rib Because Of ‘A Complete Idiot In The Gym’

    Tommy Fury’s father, John, revealed how Tommy sustained his broken ribs.

    Fury was supposed to box Jake Paul on December 18 in the main event of a Showtime boxing pay-per-view. Yet, recently it was revealed the Englishman was forced out of the bout due to an injury including a broken rib, which John says happened due to an idiot in the gym.

    “He’s had a bacterial chest infection for about six or seven weeks, but that didn’t bother us, we were going to battle through that,” John Fury said to Behind The Gloves (via Mirror). “But owing to a complete idiot in the gym, punched him in the ribs. A man of 16 or 17 stone with his bare-knuckle, punched him in the ribs and broke his ribs. At the end of the day, I was horrified, we were going to try and battle through it, because when we got him x-rayed they said, ‘No, it’s just bruised, it’s ligament damage’. And then, he was sparring and he couldn’t throw a punch, he couldn’t move.

    Tommy Fury
    Tommy Fury

    “He said, ‘Look, I’m in bad pain dad.’ He said to Tyson, ‘I’m in bad pain, I can’t move’. So, I took him to a specialist in Manchester, they x-rayed him properly and the finding was there. Broke ribs, what can you do? Chest infection, broke ribs, it’s unfortunate, it’s cost a lot of money, people have lost a lot of money, the disappointment is immense for Tommy and us. But, we’ll bounce back, we’re fighters, if you want to reschedule, that’s not a problem,” Fury continued.

    As John mentions, the injury is no doubt disappointing to Tommy Fury as this was supposed to be a massive fight for him. However, the hope for him is he can rebook the Jake Paul fight assuming he gets past Tyron Woodley again on December 18.

    Would you like to see Tommy Fury vs. Jake Paul be rebooked?

  • Chael Sonnen: Jake Paul Just Made The ‘Biggest Mistake’ Of His Career

    Jake Paul, who already beat Tyron Woodley four months ago, will be rematching him on just 12 days’ notice, which Chael Sonnen says was not a smart decision.

    Paul was supposed to box Tommy Fury in a highly-anticipated bout. Both men are undefeated in their young boxing careers and are massive social media stars, yet Fury was forced out of the scrap due to an injury. Shortly after the news broke that Fury was out of the fight, it was revealed Woodley will be stepping up on short notice and the rematch was set.

    Although Jake Paul controlled the first fight and won a decision, Woodley did have success and rocked the YouTuber badly. With that, Sonnen thinks this is a risky fight and possibly a bad idea for Paul.

    “This is the biggest mistake of Jake Paul’s short career,” Sonnen said in a YouTube video analyzing the newly-made fight (via The Mirror). “Absolutely, without question, this is the biggest risk he could possibly take. To fight Tyron Woodley – who by the way is training all the time – Jake is not getting a softball down the middle. He’s getting a very hard fight against his No. 1 rival who is completely motivated to fight and defeat him and Jake wasn’t even thinking about the guy.”

    Jake Paul
    (via Getty)

    Although Chael Sonnen believes this is a risky fight for Jake Paul, he does say this proves the social media star is a real fighter. That is due to the fact he is taking a short notice fight and letting the show go on, but it still is a risky fight.

    “Jake is willing to step in because he follows the golden rule of show business which is that the show must go on,” Sonnen added. “So when I tell you this is a huge mistake from Jake, I am right, but it’s because he is willing to make that mistake that you must accept him into the club. He doesn’t have to beat Tyron Woodley, he already did, what he does have to do is show up and show a respect to the rest of the card who is counting on that paycheque.

    “Their holidays are going to be very different if Jake is not there, Showtime [the event’s broadcaster] have taken all the risk, believed in him and set this thing up and he’s shown them respect,” Sonnen continued. “He absolutely did, and in a matter of fact he took this thing one step further and told Tyron Woodley that he’ll give him $500,000 if he can knock him out.”

    Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley 2 goes down in Tampa on December 18 live on Showtime pay-per-view.

    Who do you think wins the rematch between Jake Paul and Tyron Woodley?

  • Muhammad Mokaev Set To Make UFC Debut Against Cody Durden In March

    Muhammad Mokaev has gotten his wish.

    Mokaev, a highly-touted prospect, signed with the UFC just a few weeks ago and after Cody Durden said he was sending Aoriqileng back to China, Mokaev took to social media saying he wanted to fight the “racist” and smash him in his UFC debut.

    Now, according to MMAJunkie, Mokaev vs. Durden is set to take place on March 19 which is targeted to be a UFC London card. Mokaev has since confirmed the fight on social media.

    Muhammad Mokaev (5-0 and one No Contest) is just 21-years-old and coming off a second-round submission win over Blaine O’Driscoll at BRAVE CF 54 in September. He’s the former IMAAF bantamweight champion and also holds a notable win over Abdul Hussein. Mokaev was born in Dagestan but trains in England now, so this will also be a homecoming fight for him.

    Cody Durden (12-3-1) picked up his first UFC win back at UFC Vegas 43 where he edged out a close decision over Aoriqileng. After the win, the comments he made were not well received as several fighters called him out for being racist, along with Daniel Cormier ending the post-fight interview. In the UFC, he was submitted by Jimmy Flick and in his debut, he fought Chris Gutierrez to a draw.

    With the addition of Mokaev vs. Durden at flyweight, the March 19 card is as follows:

    • Francisco Figueiredo vs. Jake Hadley
    • Luana Carolina vs. Molly McCann
    • Cody Durden vs. Muhammad Mokaev

    Who do you think will win, Muhammad Mokaev vs. Cody Durden?

  • Tommy Fury Shares X-ray Of Broken Rib That Forced Him Out Of Fight

    Tommy Fury has shared the x-ray of his broken rib that has forced him to pull out of his upcoming boxing match against Jake Paul.

    Fury had been vocal about the fact that he would be able to beat Paul with ease and his half-brother in the heavyweight champ of the world in Tyson Fury even said Tommy would win with broken ribs and a hand tied behind his back. With that, Paul was frustrated to hear the news that the Englishman was forced to pull out.

    “So originally, it was just like a chest infection that we had known of, and then the broken rib thing they threw in there last minute. So I really don’t know. The whole entire thing seems shady,” Paul said.

    Now, after all the questions of whether or not he really had an injury, Tommy Fury took to social media to show off his x-ray of the broken rib.

    Tommy Fury released an X-ray of his injury

    To no surprise, it did show a broken rib and the hope for him to rebook the fight sometime in the new year. However, on a media call on Monday, Jake Paul said he isn’t sure if he will sign up to fight Fury again.

    “I was throwing up from the pain , I was doubled over. I literally got my bag and went straight to the hospital for an MRI scan and got the results back the same day,” Fury said. “The results showed I had a clean break and I had multiple fractures. For the following week I still thought I could fight but then it took the doctor and my whole team to say you cant fight. Even now it hasn’t sunk in that I’m not fighting. My only focus is getting a new fight date set and recovering.”

    As he said, Tommy Fury will be healing up his broken rib and will no doubt be paying close attention to Paul-Woodley 2.

    Would you like to see Tommy Fury vs. Jake Paul be rebooked?

  • Michelle Waterson vs. Amanda Ribas Set For March Fight Night Card

    Michelle Waterson and Amanda Ribas will finally be sharing the Octagon with one another.

    Waterson and Ribas were booked to fight one another at UFC 257 in January on Fight Island but “The Karate Hottie” was forced out of the bout. Since then, Ribas has called her out a few times and now according to MMAFighting, they will fight one another on a Fight Night card on March 26. The location of the event has not been announced.

    Michelle Waterson (18-9) is coming off a decision loss to Marina Rodriguez back in May, which served as the main event of the card. Prior to that, she earned a split decision win over Angela Hill which was also the main event. The victory snapped her two-fight losing skid after dropping a split decision to Carla Esparza and a five-round main event decision loss to Joanna Jędrzejczyk.

    Waterson is currently ranked ninth at strawweight and does hold notable wins over Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Paige VanZant, Jessica Penne, and Cortney Casey among others.

    Amanda Ribas

    Amanda Ribas (11-2) returned to the win column back at UFC 267 as she earned a hard-fought decision win over Virna Jandiroba. In the fight prior, she was knocked out by Marina Rodriguez, who took the fight on short notice after Waterson was forced out of the scrap. The Brazilian is ranked 10th and started her UFC career out 4-0 with wins over Mackenzie Dern, Paige VanZant, Randa Markos, and Emily Whitmire.

    Currently, only two fights are official on the March 26 card which sees Jan Blachowicz take on Aleksandar Rakic in the main event at light heavyweight. Sara McMann will also battle Karol Rosa.

    Who do you think will win, Michelle Waterson or Amanda Ribas?