Category: MMA News

Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Ribas Set For UFC San Francisco

After a 14-month layoff, Mackenzie Dern will make her UFC return against Amanda Ribas on October 12th. Originally reported by ESPN, the news of the fight announcement broke on Monday night that Dern would return after taking a leave of absence to give birth to her daughter.

Amanda Ribas made her UFC debut last month, defeating Emily Whitmire via rear naked choke in the second round. She currently has a professional record of 7-1.

Mackenzie Dern continued her undefeated streak as a professional through her first two fights for the UFC. Debuting in 2016, Dern currently holds a record of 6-0.

The October 12th card is set to take place in San Francisco, with two big fights already announced for it. In the headlining spot, Joanna Jedrzejczyk will face Michelle Waterson in a strawweight bout. Jedrzejczyk recently lost to Valentina Shevchenko, with Waterson currently riding a three-fight win streak with a recent victory over Karolina Kowalkeiwicz.

In the co-main event slot is featherweight fighter Cub Swanson facing Kron Gracie. Swanson is a veteran of MMA, while Gracie is only five fights into his professional career.

UFC Montevideo Sees Four Card Changes

The UFC Uruguay event was thrown for a spin on Monday, with four different fights on the card being changed. In a day’s time, Rachael Ostovich, Laureano Staropoli, Rafael Fiziev and Taila Santos have all been pulled from the card, with replacements found for only some of the bouts.

The news started on Monday morning when the story that Taila Santos was pulled from her bout with Ariane Carnelossi due a wrist injury. A replacement fighter for that bout has yet to be found.

Combate reported the change of two more bout. It was reported that Rafael Fiziev would be replaced by Rodrigo Vargas to face Alex da Silva and that Laureano Staropoli would not face Alexey Kunchenko due to a broken nose.

The other change was that Rachael Ostovich would not face Veronica Macedo, but instead, Polyana Viana would.

UFC Uruguay is set to happen in under two weeks time, with the headlining about a championship bout between Valentina Shevchenko and Liz Carmouche. With 14 fights currently scheduled, here’s the card with all of it’s complete fights:

  1. Valentina Shevchenko (17-3) vs. Liz Carmouche (13-6) (UFC Flyweight Championship)
  2. Volkan Oezdemir (15-4) vs. Ilir Latifi (14-6) (Light Heavyweight)
  3. Vicente Luque (16-6-1) vs. Mike Perry (13-4) (Welterweight)
  4. Humberto Bandenay (14-6) vs. Luiz Eduardo Garagorri (12-0) (Featherweight)
  5. Oskar Piechota (11-1-1) vs. Rodolfo Vieira (5-0) (Middleweight)
  6. Cyril Gane (3-0) vs. Raphael Pessoa (9-0) (Heavyweight)
  7. Enrique Barzola (15-4-1) vs. Bobby Moffett (14-4) (Featherweight)
  8. Tecia Torres (10-4) vs. Marina Rodriguez (11-0-1) (Strawweight)
  9. Raulian Paiva (18-2) vs. Rogerio Bontorin (15-1) (Flyweight)
  10. Alex da Silva (20-2) vs. Rodrigo Vargas (11-2) (Lightweight)
  11. Polyana Viana (10-3) vs. Veronica Macedo (5-3-1) (Flyweight)
  12. Geraldo de Freitas (12-4) vs. Chris Gutierrez (13-3-1) (Bantamweight)

Undefeated Movsar Evloev to face Mike Grundy At UFC Shenzen

The late August Fight Night card set to take place in Shenzen, China, had it’s 11th bout added on Monday. Confirmed by the fighters and promotion, it was announced that Movsar Evloev and Mike Grundy would compete in a Featherweight bout.

Both fighters will only be having their second bout within the UFC. Mike Grundy holds a 12-1 MMA record at the age of 32. His first UFC fight was a round two stoppage victory over Nad Narimani. Movsar Evloev is still undefeated with a record of 11-0, defeating Seung Woo Choi in his respective promotional debut. Before then he had an extensive run in Russian MMA promotion M-1.

In a rare case for a Fight Night card, a championship is in the headlining bout. In a UFC Strawweight Championship bout, Jessica Andrade will attempt to defend her newly won bout against China’s own Weili Zhang. Andrade won the belt from Rose Namajunas back in May in her home country of Brazil. She will walk a mile in “Thug Rose’s” shoes when she goes into the home territory of Zhang.

The card features four other Chinese fighters among the 11 scheduled bouts. Here’s the complete card as of right now:

  1. Jessica Andrade (20-6) vs. Weili Zhang (19-1) (UFC Strawweight Championship)
  2. Elizeu Zaleski (21-5) vs. Jingliang Li (16-5) (Welterweight)
  3. Yanan Wu (10-2) vs. Luana Carolina (6-1) (Flyweight)
  4. Saparbeg Safarov (9-2) vs. Da Un Jung (11-2) (Light Heavyweight)
  5. Anthony Hernandez (6-1) vs. Jun Yong Park (10-3) (Middleweight)
  6. Mark De La Rosa (11-2) vs. Kai Kara-France (19-7) (Flyweight)
  7. Karol Rosa (11-3) vs. Lara Procopio (6-0) (Bantamweight)
  8. Movsar Evloev (11-0) vs. Mike Grundy (12-1) (Featherweight)
  9. Andre Soukhamthath (13-7) vs. Su Mudaerji (11-4) (Bantamweight)
  10. Damir Ismagulov (18-1) vs. Thiago Moises (12-3) (Lightweight)
  11. Kenan Song (14-5) vs. Derrick Krantz (24-11) (Welterweight)

Yair Rodriguez vs. Jeremy Stephens Among Fights Announced For UFC Fight Night: Mexico City

UFC’s Fight Night event from Mexico City has gotten a big wave of fights announced, lead by Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens. Along with six other bouts, the contest between the two featherweights was announced during UFC 240 on Saturday night.

Yair Rodriguez’s last fight was back in November, getting a buzzer beater finish over the “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung, landing an elbow. Jeremy Stephens has fought more recently, losing to Zabit Magomedsharipov at UFC 235 in April. He attempts to snap a two-fight losing streak, as his previous loss was to Jose Aldo. Rodriguez is currently rank #7 in the featherweight division, while Stephens is #8.

Three high profile women’s fights were also announced, with one in the strawweight division and two other in the bantamweight class. #9 rank strawweight Carla Esparza will face #10 seeded Alexa Grasso. Unranked bantamweight Bethe Correia will face #14 ranked Sijara Eubanks. The other bantamweight bout announced was #9 Marion Renau versus #10 Irene Aldana.

The other fight that has two ranked fighters is a flyweight contest between #5 ranked Sergio Pettis and #10 ranked Alex Perez. Similarly, #7 Brandon Moreno and Askar Askarov will compete in a flyweight bout. Also announced was a light heavyweight clash between Vinicius Moreira and Paul Craig.

In no specific order, this is the announced fights for UFC Mexico City:

  1. Yair Rodriguez (11-2) vs. Jeremy Stephens (26-16) (Featherweight)
  2. Carla Esparza (14-6) vs. Alexa Grasso (11-2) (Strawweight)
  3. Sijara Eubanks (4-3) vs. Bethe Correia (10-4-1) (Bantamweight)
  4. Sergio Pettis (17-5) vs. Alex Perez (22-5) (Flyweight)
  5. Morion Reneau (9-5-1) vs. Irene Aldana (10-5) (Bantamweight)
  6. Vinicius Moreira (9-3) vs. Paul Craig (11-4) (Light Heavyweight)
  7. Askar Askarov (10-0) vs. Brandon Moreno (15-5) (Flyweight)
  8. Angela Hill (9-7) vs. Istela Nunes (7-1) (Strawweight)
  9. Jose Alberto Quinones (7-3) vs. Carlos Huachin (10-4-2) (Bantamweight)

The card currently has five Mexican fighters scheduled to compete. The event is scheduled for September 21st, with the prelims at 5pm EST and the main card at 8pm EST.

Max Holloway Defeats Frankie Edgar Via Decision, Retains Featherweight Belt

Max Holloway made the third defence of his UFC Featherweight Championship on Saturday, defeating Frankie Edgar in a five round decision victory. From the Rogers Place, Holloway had a clean sweep on two judges cards, with two rounds lost on the third scorecard (50-45, 50-45 & 48-47). The fight headlined “UFC 240” at the Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Despite it being a title defense, the fight was a bounce back for Holloway after losing his Interim Lightweight Championship in April to Dustin Poirier. That fight was another five round decision, although it didn’t go in Holloway’s favour. His previous featherweight defense was against Brian Ortega in December, winning via doctor’s stoppage in-between rounds four and five.

The co-main saw Cris Cyborg finish the last fight on her UFC contract against undefeated Canadian prospect Felicia Spencer. Cyborg won via decision. The card featured six Canadian fighters, with the win/loss record for the country being 3-4 by the end of the night.

UFC’s next event is a fight night at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, USA. Robbie Lawler and Colby Covington are set to compete in a five round main event.

Jon Jones Retains Light Heavyweight Belt In Split Decision Against Thiago Santos

Jon Jones had a close five-round battle with Thiago Santos on Saturday, with Jones edging the victory via split decision to win the fight and retain his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. From UFC 239 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, Jones lost at least two rounds on all three judges scorecards, with the score being 49-48, 49-48 and 49-48, with one of the scorecards going towards Santos.

A turning point in the fight was early when Santos injured a leg. He continued to throw kicks but would stumble and fall down numerous times in the bout. Santos had flurries of punches throughout the fight, as both fighters didn’t engage as much as possible. 

“Boy he is tough,” Jon Jones said after the fight. He apologized to fans and supporters in the interview as well. He claimed that Santos’ best chance of winning as via KO, hence why he didn’t engage so much.

In the co-main event of UFC 239, Amanda Nunes defeated Holly Holm in a one round TKO victory. Nunes retained her Bantamweight Championship for the fourth time in her career.

Amanda Nunes Stops Holly Holm In One Round To Defend Bantamweight Championship

Amanda Nunes made another defense of her Bantamweight Championship, picking up her second first round finish in a row, defeating Holly Holm. At UFC 239 in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, Nunes landed a head kick which dropped Holm and concluded the bout in just under five minutes. 

“I told my coach I wanna knock her out the same way she knocks people out,” said Nunes in the post-fight interview. 

This became the fourth defence of the UFC Bantamweight Championship by Nunes. In between those wins was another fight where she claimed the UFC Featherweight Championship, defeating Cris Cyborg back in December.

The fight took place in the co-main event slot of UFC 239, with the main event being Jon Jones versus Thiago Santos for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

Israel Adesanya Set To Face Robert Whittaker In Middleweight Unificaton Bout

The UFC Middleweight and Interim Middleweight Championship will be unified on October 5th, when Robert Whittaker takes on Israel Adesanya at UFC 243. Set to take place in Australia, it will be the third time within a year that the promotion held an event within the country.

The fight was formally announced on Friday at one of UFC’s quarterly press conferences, previewing many of the big upcoming fights. The press conference was hosted by Dana White and was in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“He’s fought twice in the last maybe three years. I’ve been busy,” said Adesanya when comparing himself to Whittaker. The Aussie defended himself, saying “It’s just one of those things, I got sick and you can’t help that.” Adesanya responded to that by claiming he fought through a knee injury in his last appearance.

Israel Adesanya has had an electric year and a half, defeating top contenders in Derek Brunson, Anderson Silva and Kelvin Gastelum. Robert Whittaker’s last fight was at UFC 225, where he got his first Championship defence over Yoel Romero.

The press conference featured other big names in the UFC like Daniel Cormeir, Stipe Miocic, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dustin Poirier, Max Holloway and Frankie Edgar.

7/7/19 8:01 PM EST Correction: Venue removed as it is not confirmed yet.

Francis Ngannou Defeats Junios dos Santos in Heavyweight Eliminator Bout

On Saturday, Francis Ngannou made himself next in line for a shot at the UFC Heavyweight Championship, defeating Junior dos Santos in quick fashion. Just over a minute into the first of five rounds, Ngannou caught dos Santos with punches, dropping him and making referee Herb Dean end the fight. Ngannou’s victory happened at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, in front of 10 thousand fans live in attendance.

Defeating the #3 seed in the heavyweight division, he is lined up to face the winner of Daniel Cormier versus Stipe Miocic, which goes down on August 17th. He made it clear that this fight is what he wants, touching on it in the post-fight interview.

The co-main event of the show had another eliminator bout, as #2 seeded flyweight Joseph Benavidez defeated #3 seed Jussier Formiga in the second round with punches. The current flyweight champion is Henry Cejudo, who recently defeated Marlon Moraes to become a two-division champion.

UFC holds a flagship event next week, with a two championship event happening as part of their “International Fight Week.” Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones will face Thiago Santos with Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes fighting Holly Holm in the fight before.

Korean Zombie Pulls Off First Round Victory Over Renato Moicano

Chan Sung Jung, better known as “Korean Zombie” had a quick and dominant performance on Saturday over Renato Moicano. Sung Jung came in as the underdog, being the #12 ranked Featherweight facing the fifth-ranked fighter. Although it was scheduled for five rounds, not more than a minute was needed for Sung Jung to get the victory at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, USA.

The fight only lasted a minute, with Sung Jung taking control of the fight with a strong overhand right which dropped Moicano. On the ground, Sung Jung tried for a rear naked choke on top position and landed strikes after Moicano flattened out on the ground. The referee stopped the contest with just a few seconds left in the first minute.

Sung Jung has now tripled his losses with wins, extending his record to 15-5. Renato Moicano was only given his third career loss from this bout, with the previous one coming from Jose Aldo back in February. The Korean Zombie bounced back from a previous prolific loss to Yiar Rodriguez, where an elbow landed in the final seconds of the fifth round.