On this edition of Monday Morning Analyst, Luke Thomas breaks down some of the action at UFC Fortaleza including Marlon Moraes submission of Raphael Assuncao, Jose Aldo’s TKO over Renato Moicano and more.Read More →
Modern anti-doping is in crisis. The central institution in charge of the effort, WADA, has lost confidence among national anti-doping agencies like USADA as well as athletes. While the heyday of performance enhancing drug (PED) use is over, problems remain.Read More →
Conor McGregor and UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov faced punishment from the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) on Tuesday for their respective roles in the melee following their fight at UFC 229 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The NAC fined McGregor $50,000 and suspended him six months retroactive to the day of their fight. Read More →
Ryan Bader knocked out Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 214 to not only win the heavyweight grand prix tournament, but to become the heavyweight and light heavyweight champion at the same time, the first champ champ in Bellator history. Read More →
Aaron Pico – one of MMA’s and Bellator’s top prospects in any weight class – suffered the second defeat of his pro career at Bellator 214 against veteran fighter Henry Corrales. What lessons can we infer from this loss?Read More →
Alexander Gustafsson lost his bid for the UFC light heavyweight title against Jon Jones at UFC 232. Since then, however, his team – lead by his manager Nima Safapour – has questioned the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)’s inconsistent application of the ‘strict liability’ standard. Read More →
If Fedor Emelianenko beats Ryan Bader, what does that do for his legacy? In some ways, perhaps nothing. A win over Bader is important, but wouldn’t match the top accomplishments Fedor’s already racked up. Read More →
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones tested positive for a trace amount of the same oral Turinabol metabolite that caused a series of issues surrounding UFC 232, according to the CSAC and VADA. Jones will not face sanction either by USADA or the other regulatory authorities. Read More →
The UFC on ESPN era is upon us and the first event (UFC Brooklyn or UFC on ESPN+ 1) is in the books. How did the fighting promotion and broadcasting company do? I’d argue, overall, pretty well. While I hate the ESPN+ user interface, think the inclusion of Stephen A. Smith is misguided and thought more of a production refresh was owed, there were plenty of successes. Read More →
At UFC Brooklyn (UFC on ESPN+), Henry Cejudo stopped TJ Dillashaw in about 30 seconds. After the bout, UFC President Dana White heavily criticized referee Kevin MacDonald for, in his estimation, calling the fight far too early. Read More →
NFL All Pro turned UFC heavyweight Greg Hardy made his UFC debut at UFC Brooklyn (UFC on ESPN+ 1), but lost via disqualification after illegally kneeing his opponent Allen Crowder when he was down. Some have suggested Hardy, after facing some adversity, was ‘looking for a way out’.Read More →
At UFC Brooklyn… In the co-main event, Greg Hardy blitzed Allen Crowder, but was disqualified for an illegal knee.. Read More →
My hope is that Conor McGregor commits himself to the maximum of his mixed martial arts (MMA) abilities in 2019. I consider him an elite professional MMA fighter and believe, as an observer with my own vested interests, that placing him in an area where he can maximally employ his fighting skills is the optimal outcome. However, what the former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion wants to do at this stage in his career is far from clear.Read More →
Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis is reportedly set to face Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in late March at welterweight (170 pounds). Why would the former lightweight champion want to jump up a weight class against a natural welterweight who is still ranked at the top of the division? And why would Thompson risk a catastrophic loss against someone not in line for a title shot in his division? There are good reasons, actually. While I don’t necessarily love this fight, I do like it and in this video, I explain why.Read More →
On this edition of the Monday Morning Analyst, Luke Thomas breaks down the upcoming champion vs. champion superfight between Henry Cejudo and TJ Dillashaw that’s set to headline UFC Brooklyn. Read More →
UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw is dropping to flyweight to take on champion Henry Cejudo in the first ever UFC on ESPN+ card. In this interview from my radio show, Dillashaw stops by to discuss the weight cut, why he has his sights set on the ‘slow’ UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway and much more.Read More →
UFC 232 pay-per-view buyrate estimates are in courtesy Dave Meltzer and they’re substantial: 700,000. Jon Jones’s second over Alexander Gustafsson reaches his third-best buyrate figure as a UFC pay-per-view headliner.Read More →
American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) doesn’t get credit a major management project. For starters, they’ve recruited and/or developed UFC champions at lightweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight (twice). ..Read More →
Tristar Gym owner and famed MMA coach Firas Zahabi made a Q&A video on his YouTube channel where he espoused the view that, in a rematch, he expected Max Holloway to defeat Conor McGregor. In response, McGregor issued an insulting tweet wondering why Zahabi never fought professionally and demanded he keep quiet. Read More →
Was 2018 the year the UFC and its president Dana White stopped caring what we think? According to an article by Ben Fowlkes at MMAJunkie, it just might be. From moving UFC 232 last minute to accommodate Jon Jones’s situation to placing domestic abuser Greg Hardy on the same card as domestic abuse victim Rachael Ostovich, UFC took both of those issues in stride despite blowback from fans or media or both. Was 2018 the year they stopped caring about criticism? Read More →
Tyron Woodley will be facing Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 (not Colby Covington!) and there’s something worth considering when taking into consideration both the fight and the challenge ahead of Woodley. First, the fight could have stalemates at various point and second, those stalemates – and the ones he’s previously had in other fights – are a function of the fact that no other welterweight champion has had to face elite fighters this uniquely and consecutively as difficult as Woodley. Georges St-Pierre is still the best welterweight of all time, but no three or four stretch of opponents are as unique from the previous opponents at the championship level as what Woodley has had to face.Read More →
A great channel named MixedMollyWhoppery confirmed an aspect of the recent Jon Jones case before the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Namely, that other substances where WADA and other anti-doping organizations got excretion windows for various substances wrong – like meldonium and marijuana – there was deeply insufficient science around oral turinabol. In MixedMollyWhoppery’s video…Read More →
On this edition of the Monday Morning Analyst, Luke Thomas breaks down Kamaru Usman’s game and explains why Usman might be the biggest threat to champion Tyron Woodley.Read More →
According to reports, Jon Jones will face Anthony Smith to defend his light heavyweight belt at UFC 235 on March 2nd. That will serve as that event’s headlining bout. The co-main event, however, will by Tyron Woodley defending his strap against Kamaru Usman. Former interim champion Colby Covington is healthy and ready to compete, but apparently UFC brass have soured on him and decided to reward the surging Usman. What does all of this mean? Here are four takeaways.Read More →