Category: News

Forrest Griffin puts his paradigm shift enacting fight with Stephan Bonnar above becoming a father. This was touched upon during a 20 year celebration effort for The Ultimate Fighter with specific season 33 related Q&A also interwoven into the proceedings with coaches Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen involved.

The inaugural season of the show saw Forrest Griffin emerge as the champion but it was quite a curious road to get to then TUF 1 house and then subsequently to the finale as Griffin said,

“I was a last-minute replacement. I had no idea—I didn’t audition for the show, wasn’t trying to be on a show, didn’t even know if I’d fight again. I found out 17 days before the show. I was a cop, didn’t want to get on the plane. I said, ‘I may have made a huge life mistake—going to do reality TV.’ But obviously, I got on the plane.”

“Everybody knows the fight with Stephan Bonnar is the thing that basically saved the UFC or put it on the map. It’s one of the highlights of my life—way bigger than having a kid. Any jabroni can have a kid, but not any jabroni can be in the right moment and have the right fight to put the UFC on the map.”

Forrest Griffin and TUF 1 as a catalyst for MMA’s mainstream success

Forrest Griffin was correct in his assessment of how key his first Bonnar fight was as a device to shoot MMA into the pop culture zeitgeist. Prior to entering the TUF house for the first ever season of the ground breaking reality show, Griffin had a professional MMA record of 9-2 at the time with a recorded win over the aforementioned Chael Sonnen. Upon becoming part of the reality show fold, Griffin would secure wins over Alex Schoenaur and Sam Hoger after finishing both with strikes inside the distance.

Then on April 9th, 2005, Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar would create an electricity inside the cage that not only caused the live TV rating to spike through the roof in real time, but it pulled the sport out of the precarious spot it was in at the time. Griffin would get his hand raised via unanimous decision that night and while he eventually became the UFC light heavyweight champion, many see this Bonnar performance as Griffin’s biggest career moment in the context of how it was such a shot in the arm for the sport itself.

Merab Dvalishvili has just had the dust settle on his latest UFC title defense but he already is squarely focused on the idea of who his next opponent should be on a meritocracy level. After finishing Sean O’Malley in their rematch at UFC 316 to go 2-0 over ‘Suga’ and make the second defense of his bantamweight belt, Dvalishvili also put a surging contender in his proverbial crosshairs when addressing who he felt would be next up for a crack at 135 pound gold. This was referenced during the post-fight press conference following the pugilistic proceedings on June 7th when Dvalishvili said,

“Cory Sandhagen is the best deserving guy in this division right now. He was always fighting the best of the best, he’s a company guy, very respectful, hardworking, super talented. I think he deserves it the most. If UFC wants, I’m happy. I want to be busy. I want two more title defenses. I’m just going on a two-week vacation—one week in my country Georgia, with Nina Nina Drama and some friends, seeing cool parts of Georgia, enjoying good food, traveling. Then a week after, I’m going to Asia. After that, I’m coming straight back to support Ilia, and I’m ready whenever UFC wants me. I will fight, no problem.”

Merab Dvalishvili receives champion’s welcome after returning home in Georgia

Merab Dvalishvili returned to his home country on Wednesday and the man who many are now calling MMA’s bantamweight GOAT was greeted quite warmly upon his return. Throngs of fans surrounded the UFC titleholder after he got off of the airplane and Dvalishvili had quite the raucous victory celebration at the airport. Merab Dvalishvili was then seen on top of a double decker bus that had a UFC championship logo adorned on the front as enthusiastic fans riding motorcycles close to the bus clamored to get a visual of the dominant mixed martial artist.

The reception was massive and spotlights an ever growing popularity that Merab Dvalishvili has after notching two title defenses this year against previously unbeaten Umar Nurmagomedov in January and Sean O’Malley a few days ago at UFC 311 and UFC 316, respectively.

UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili has explained why he believes he had to finish Sean O’Malley in their UFC 316 main event.

Last Saturday night, Merab Dvalishvili successfully defended his UFC bantamweight championship. He did so by defeating, and submitting, Sean O’Malley in their highly anticipated rematch at UFC 316. It was yet another great outing from ‘The Machine’, and the fact that he got a finish just shows how much he continues to improve in the cage.

There was clearly a lot of bad blood between the two men heading into this one and as we look ahead to the future, it’s hard to picture him losing the belt. In a recent interview, Merab Dvalishvili wasn’t shy when talking about why he felt the need to get the finish over ‘Suga’ in Newark.

Merab Dvalishvili explains why he “had” to finish Sean O’Malley

“Yes, of course, you always want to do better in the next fight, especially in a rematch. I wanted to do way better than the first time. When I was fighting Sean for the belt, I just wanted to win the belt and I took less risk. 

“Sometimes I don’t risk it because I just want to win. But this time, because Sean made so many excuses, I was thinking, ‘He really might come as a different person.’ He was way better than the first time, but because it was a rematch, I was supposed to do something extra.”

Merab Dvalishvili is on top of the world right now. If he can carry on building momentum like this, it won’t be long before he’s in the pound-for-pound #1 conversation. At the very least, bantamweights across the globe will be questioning whether or not they have what it takes to compete with someone as good as this.

Jeremy Kennedy is running it back with Adam Borics on June 12th and when the two step into the PFL smart cage, the former will look to gain a measure of redemption against the latter. In a prior interview on the MMA Canada platform, it was referenced that this fight was one that Kennedy wouldn’t mind getting back considering their history previously fighting in Bellator. Borics secured the unanimous decision win over Kennedy at Bellator 256 and when asked for his thoughts on the MMA Canada platform regarding the machinations of this second Borics contest, Jeremy Kennedy said,

“This is one actually running for four years now. Like I knew as soon as that fight ended, he’s a young guy, we were both young at the time at the top of the division in the Bellator rankings. Like he was two and I was, you know, like we were in the top of the rankings then and then we both came over to PFL and he’s just been on my radar since that happened. That was one of the fights I wanted to get back, just with how that fight went. I feel like I’m the better fighter.”

“I’m sure he feels the same way and just the way I fought, it wasn’t; I just; I’m better better than what I showed back then. I just get to to show improvements and I know he’s improved since then too. I just think I’ve closed the gap more so than he has. Like I said man, this is just one I’ve been wanting back since the day it happened four years ago. Ideally it would have been cool to be in the finals but you know fights went the way the way they did and here we are in the ultimate position fighting each other now. So I’m just happy I get a chance with this guy now.”

Jeremy Kennedy on this Adam Borics rematch being the second best case scenario

While responding to the notion that this Adam Borics sequel clash represents one of the better outcomes he can get here all factors considered, Jeremy Kennedy stated,

“Before the last one, I was expecting to win and and fight this date anyways. So when the fight went the way it did, I was kind of bummed that I wasn’t going to continue on. When they brought this to me I was like this is the second best case scenario you know. I get to continue on this active busy schedule and stay the course and who knows? A lot of things can happen you know. I do my job and there’s four other fighters that can miss weight, can be injured, visa issues. Like there there’s tons of things. So to keep my name in the hat is is more important as well.”

Magomed Ankalaev and those around him are growing frustrated as well as confused with why an immediate rematch has not been booked with Alex Pereira. Prolific MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz, who represents Ankalaev as well as many other big name fighters, spoke about this situation recently during a sit down interview with Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie.

Since Ankalaev claimed the light heavyweight belt from Pereira via unanimous decision during their UFC 313 clash in March, it seemed like the writing was on the wall that an immediate sequel clash for the 205 pound crown would be booked between the two combatants.

That being said, nothing has been officially confirmed for this blockbuster rematch and in addressing the situation from his purview, Abdelaziz said,

“We got asked to fight International Fight Week—we said yes. We got asked to fight Alex in August—we said yes. We got asked to fight in October—yes. But Magomed is saying, ‘Alex is out of every event, he’s on vacation, he’s doing this.’ ‘I’m killing myself in the gym, I don’t know when I’m fighting him.”

“I’m the champion, but I feel like I’m the challenger.’ If Alex doesn’t want to fight, let me get some of these other guys, I’ll fight. But Alex Pereira earned it, and he deserves it. If we have to wait, it’s okay. The guy did a lot for the sport, and we respect him. It should be him and Magomed Ankalaev next.”

Magomed Ankalaev receives a response from Alex Pereira

Magomed Ankalaev and his team are growing uncertain regarding rematch negotiations but Alex Pereira recently came out to clarify some things from his side of the situation. The former two division UFC champion recently spoke on this to UFC Brasil when Pereira was on-scene at UFC 316.

Pereira spoke about how many are assuming he is done with combat sports when in reality he is simply taking a bit of a breather after a notoriously torrid schedule especially for an active UFC champion. Alex Pereira also spoke about Ankalaev consistently having his name in his mouth and said that the constant references were because no one knows that the latter is actually the champion and that the Russian combatant can get some notoriety off of mentioning his name.

Merab Dvalishvili offered up some words of encouragement to Sean O’Malley after going 2-0 over ‘Suga’ at UFC 316. Dvalishvili made the sophomore defense of his 135 pound belt when he submitted the man he initially claimed it from, O’Malley, on June 7th in Newark. The UFC bantamweight champion has been doing the media rounds since this win and Dvalishvili fielded several questions on The Ariel Helwani Show after this victory. When asked about what advice he would offer up to O’Malley after now sustaining a second loss to the reigning bantamweight champion, Dvalishvili said,

“I would just say, stay positive. Loss sometimes is good. It makes you motivated, makes you change, makes you get better mentally and physically. Of course, loss in a fight is never good, but you have to blame yourself and look for a reason to get better. Just do your best. If you still love this, keep doing it, keep training. As long as you love it, keep doing it. If you don’t love it anymore, then relax. He’s a happy dad, I wish him all the best. Not everybody will be champion. Only eight guys will be champion at a time. If you still love this, keep doing it.”

Merab Dvalishvili leaps over MMA GOAT in P4P rankings

Merab Dvalishvili has such an impressive resume at this point that many are saying he’s the greatest bantamweight in mixed martial arts history and his win at UFC 316 has positioned him above a man many see as the overall MMA GOAT. In the latest rankings update from the UFC, it now has Dvalishvili positioned at number two in the pound for pound rankings above Jon Jones who is in the number three spot in then P4P hierarchy. The only fighter in the company who now sits above the UFC bantamweight kingpin is Islam Makhachev with the number one pound for pound fighter in the promotion recently vacating his lightweight belt to now pursue welterweight gold.

Kevin Holland was able to expound more upon his Colby Covington post-fight callout in the wake of winning at UFC 316. Holland defeated Vicente Luque by way of an Anaconda Choke at the sixty three second mark in the second round of their June 7th bout in Newark. With this victory marking back-to-back wins for the surging 170 pounder, Kevin Holland pointedly called out for a fight with the former multi-time UFC welterweight title challenger, Covington. As the ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus earner fielded questions from on-site media at the UFC 316 post-fight press conference regarding the callout of ‘Chaos’ Covington, Holland said,

“A lot of people who want to fight Colby Covington have personal issues with him. I don’t really care about talk, but it might be one of the most entertaining lead-ups to a fight we’ve had in a while. I think it’d be a good one. They could cancel The Ultimate Fighter and just do me and Colby. Anything you guys wanted to do with me and Colby would sell. It could be fun, a lot of [expletive] talking, whatever it needs to be. I think me and Colby does numbers. We’d be the highest fight night, and if we were on a pay-per-view co-main event, we’d help sell that thing out. You wouldn’t even need a stacked undercard.”

Kevin Holland declares a more directional approach in his career

Kevin Holland has notable highlights in both middleweight contests and welterweight contests but seems squarely focused on the 170 pound division going forward. In his post-fight interview, Holland mentioned that while he did love fighting at 185 pounds, he also mentioned that he is more professional these days and feels like he can truly make some noise a welterweight.

Holland then referred to Colby Covington as the worst fighter in the division whilst calling him out to the live pay-per-view audience. Holland touted Vicente Luque as a tough fight while Covington would be an easy fight in his estimation. A Summer or Fall timeline was put out there by Holland with Covington not responding to the callout as of yet.

Kayla Harrison took time to spotlight single mothers in the wake of her recent UFC championship victory. Harrison became the new UFC bantamweight champion at UFC 316 with a second round submission win over a two time titleholder in the division in Julianna Pena and the newly minted champion appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show to cover several subjects after her win.

When explaining why she carved out time in her post-fight victory speech to highlight single moms when she was given the microphone for her post-fight interview on June 7th, Kayla Harrison said,

“I did know it was on my heart to speak to single moms. I have felt like mom guilt and just questioning because my life is changing right in front of my eyes right now. We went out for ice cream today and I had to stop and take pictures. It’s a privilege and an honor for me, but life is going to change for my kids and I. I have been thinking about that a lot, and thinking about single moms and how hard it is.”

“A lot of times it just feels like you’re alone and you’re suffering and you’re questioning, you wish you could be better and you want to be more present and more loving, but you’re so overwhelmed and overstimulated that you snap.”

“You want to chase your dreams but you want to be a good mom. I just wanted single moms to know that they’re not alone. We all feel like that and we all struggle with it. I do believe that it is important to live your life on fire. If God put a dream in your heart, it’s your duty to go out there and give your absolute best and chase your dreams.”

Kayla Harrison on the importance of family and faith to her

Harrison continued, “Maybe that dream just means being a mom, and that is a big dream of mine now—just to be a good steward to my children and lead them in the right ways. I was just giving glory to God because I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be the person I am, I wouldn’t be walking this earth. I have had moments where I didn’t want to live, and that still small voice inside of me kept me going.”

Miranda Maverick is set to do battle later this week with a former UFC champion in the penultimate fight of UFC Atlanta but took a bit of time to preview the UFC Fight Night main event that transpires after her contest. Maverick will test skills with Rose Namajunas in the co-main event of UFC on ESPN 69 on June 14th. The headliner of this UFC Fight Night will see former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman look to get back onto the winning track as he looks to halt the momentum of surging 170 pound contender Joaquin Buckley.

Both of the main and co-main event clashes have clear divisional relevance with Miranda Maverick vs Namajunas seeing the number eleven ranked contender fight the number seven ranked contender while Usman vs. Buckely sees the number five ranked contender do battle with the number seven ranked contender, respectively. During an appearance on a recent episode of Bowks Talking Bouts covered several subjects relevant to her flyweight division including the big divisioanl movement at UFC 315, Maycee Barber’s last minute pullout vs. Erin Blanchfield, and more.

Maverick did also turn her attentions toward the welterweight category though and when offering up her thoughts on the Usman versus Buckley fight night headliner, Maverick said,

“Yeah, I mean, I think I’m supposed to support Usman because he’s kind of training out here in the Denver area. But I honestly think Buckley’s going to take home the win.”

Miranda Maverick expounds upon her Kamaru Usman vs. Joaquin Buckley prediction

When asked a follow up question about if that assessment was ‘a rate of activity for each fighter’ kind of consideration or if it’s just Joaquin Buckley‘s time heading into this Kamaru Usman fight, Miranda Maverick stated,

“I think it’s kind of Buckley’s time. I think Usman’s gotten a little older. I think he has shown that he’s gotten slower and a little worse over time, you know. He might have one more one more climb left in him. I’m not sure but I see him as kind of going downhill. I see Buckley as kind of rising to the top and I think some people just have their limit and start going downhill a little bit. I think Kamaru’s still one of the best in the world but I think Buckley’s going to get it done.”

Miranda Maverick is squarely focused on her task at UFC Atlanta but she does have a bit of a peripheral focus on some key rematches someday as well as a pronounced focus on some of the big changes in her personal life in recent times. Miranda Maverick appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts ahead of her co-main event fight with Rose Namajunas on June 14th and covered several subjects that touched on potential sequel clashes down the line as well as becoming a mother relatively recently.

During the interview, the number eleven ranked flyweight contender touched on how she wishes she could replay her Jasmine Jasudavicius fight that saw Maverick sustain an eye injury in the second stanza of their contest. Two other contenders within the flyweight top five also got some of Maverick’s attention in this context too though. When asked about if she has rematches on the mind if she gets the ideal outcome against Namajunas this weekend, Miranda Maverick said,

“I mean at some point but honestly I’d rather get the fight back against Erin [Blanchfield] or against Maycee [Barber], you know. I think Maycee’s kind of out of that lineup at this point but I’d love to be fighting Erin again. Jasmine [Jasudavicius] I’d love to fight again too. Honestly at this point, my focus is climbing the ladder. I don’t care who gets put in front of me but I’m focused on Rose right now. I’m going to beat Rose and we’ll see what happens after that.”

Miranda Maverick’s Motherhood Journey So Far

Miranda Maverick is also immersed in mom life now and the surging 125 pound contender described it as ‘the most important cornerstone of life right now.’ When touching upon how much of a change in perspective she has now in terms of the realignment of priorities and how becoming a mom has changed her approach to not just fighting endeavours but for life in general, Maverick stated,

“Well, one, you know, fighting’s always kind of my priority in life or it has been the last 10 years basically. It’s been the dream that I’ve gone after. I’ve still done school, I’ve still had my work. I focused on family in terms of my husband and stuff but the rest of my family’s kind of been put on the back burner, you know. They’re back in Missouri. I’m super close with my family and stuff. But I obviously am not living there right now and I still plan to one day and having Renegade has definitely made it more of the forefront. I would say now family is the main priority. I still as far as time and obligation have to put it towards fighting and stuff.”

“But other things kind of fall to the wayside you know. It puts everything into perspective of ‘you win, you lose a fight, it’s not that big of a deal either way.’ Like yeah there’s the money aspect of it but other than that, you know, if somebody loves you or is supporting you; my little girl is not going to care that I won or lost the fight. She’s just going to care that I’m holding her afterwards, you know, and ultimately that’s what it’s all about. For me, motivation going into this fight is now bigger and better too, you know. I do have something more to fight for literally. I have more money I want to get to be able to support her future and invest in her future.”

Maverick continued, “I want to be able to make it higher in the rankings to where I can continuously do that and kind of make that stamp that I’ve always wanted to make. Now’s kind of my time to shine with that, you know. I’m 27 years old, I finally gotten to that prime level. I’m not just like young up-and-comer anymore. It’s time that I need to put my foot down and make something or not make it at all.”

Kayla Harrison is open to fighting former UFC bantamweight and UFC featherweight champion Amanda Nunes in either weight category when we they eventually collide inside the octagon. Harrison cemented herself as the new UFC bantamweight champion when she submitted two-time 135 pound titleholder Julianna Pena over the weekend and the dust barely settled at UFC 316 before her next opponent was confirmed in the aftermath.

The former PFL champion and multi-time Olympic gold medalist had finally added UFC gold to her mantle on June 7th and Harrison also organically generated a massive moment with the GOAT of women’s MMA, Nunes. When discussing the electric fallout with Amanda Nunes inside of the cage shortly after she was minted as the new UFC bantamweight champion, Harrison said,

“I invited Amanda into the octagon. It wasn’t planned; I just saw her on the jumbotron and thought, ‘Let’s make some promotional magic.’ I said, ‘Come on, let’s go, girl.’ It worked out great. When I spoke to Ali a couple days ago, he said the perfect plan would be us fighting at 145 and then 135. I have no idea if that will happen, but I’m open to it.”

Kayla Harrison continued, “I just want to fight. I definitely want to fight Amanda—she’s the greatest of all time. I want to be the greatest of all time. There’s no bad blood. I don’t care what weight we fight at. I’d fight her on Mars, I don’t care. I want her to be ready, and I’ll be ready.”

Kayla Harrison prepares for ‘magic’ matchup with Amanda Nunes

Also at this same post-fight press conference when touching upon the magnitude of this matchup with ‘The Lioness’, Kayla Harrison quippeed,

“When that fight happens, I want her to be the best her, and I’m going to be the best me. We’re going to make some absolute magic in the women’s division, break some records, make some history, and make a lot of money doing it. We’re going to bring women’s MMA to a whole new level.”