Cain Velasquez Returns To Pro Wrestling In First Public Appearance Since Release From Jail

Colby Covington is closing in on a year since his last appearance inside the Octagon, but according to Ali Abdelaziz, the UFC is looking to book Covington’s return against streaking welterweight contender Belal Muhammad. Abdelaziz represents some of the biggest names in MMA including Kamaru Usman, Justin Gaethje, Henry...

The long and successful career of a mixed martial arts legend is coming to an end. Fedor Emelianenko will be making his last walk to the cage on Saturday at Bellator 290. In many circles, Emelianenko is said to be the best heavyweight of all time. He has had 47 professional fights spanning over twenty years in multiple different fight promotions. Now at 46 years old, Emelianenko is ready to hang his gloves up for good.

Scott Coker says that Bellator MMA has an interest in making a deal with free agent Francis Ngannou. Recently the UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou decided to step down as champ and left the UFC to pursue opportunities elsewhere. He and the UFC had not been seeing eye to eye for some time and since they were unable to come to a deal that suited both parties, he decided to leave. This makes Ngannou one of the biggest free agents on the market today. Of course, many MMA and boxing organizations are interested and Bellator is no different.

Alexander Volkanovski thinks that Islam Makhachev and his corner will be second-guessing their game plan once the fight starts at UFC 284. One of the most anticipated fights of the year is just under two weeks away. The UFC lightweight strap will be on the line as champion Islam Makhachev looks to defend against the featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in Perth Australia. This matchup is pitting two of the best fighters in the world against each other to claim the number one pound-for-pound spot and take home the 155-pound belt.

Yair Rodriguez isn’t ruling out a potential move to lightweight down the road. ‘El Pantera’ is preparing for an interim 145-pound world championship fight against Josh Emmett. With that said, the 5’11” featherweight took some time to discuss his future, regardless of the outcome at UFC 284. During an interview with TMZ Sports, Rodriguez was asked about considering moving up to 155 pounds later in his career. He responded by saying:

Cody Garbrandt will fight Trevin Jones on March 4 at UFC 285. ‘No Love’ has a new opponent once again. The former UFC bantamweight champion last fought in December 2021, losing to Kai Kara-France in the flyweight division. Since then, Garbrandt has been planning to return to 135 pounds, but he’s struggled to find an opponent that can make it to fight night.

Aljamain Sterling puts a halt to reports of him fighting Henry Cejudo at UFC 287 in April. The UFC Bantamweight Champion says he won’t be ready for his next title defense until a month later in May. While the recovering Sterling’s next move has been delayed yet again, one thing is for sure, he’ll be facing Cejudo in his return.

Henry Cejudo doesn’t think that the upcoming clash between UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is getting the hype it deserves. The pair will headline the upcoming UFC 284 pay-per-view (PPV) from Australia. Volkanovksi will attempt to capture a second division title simultaneously, while Makhachev...

Despite being critically panned, Dana White’s Power Slap League will move forward with plans to close out its first season on pay-per-view. The Power Slap finals will air live from The UFC APEX in Las Vegas on March 11 according to a report from Sports Illustrated. The event will bear witness to the crowning of the first-ever Power Slap champions in four different weight classes including heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, and welterweight. Headlining the event will be a heavyweight title matchup between Darius “The Destroyer” Mata-Varona and “Wolverine” Ron Bata, the two head coaches of Power Slap: Road to the Title.

Laura Sanko provided a heartfelt reaction to becoming the first female commentator of the Zuffa era. On February 4, Sanko will make history by commentating on an official UFC event. The only other woman to do so was Kathy Long, who appeared at UFC 1 in 1993. Since Dana White and Zuffa bought the UFC in 2001, no female has followed in Long’s footsteps until now. During a UFC Vegas 68 press conference, the former Invicta fighter had this to say about the opportunity:

Alex Volkanovski is targeting a finish over Islam Makhachev in their upcoming bout at UFC 284. Reigning featherweight champ Volkanovski will take on lightweight champ Makhachev in the headlining fight of UFC 284 on Feb. 12 in the promotion’s grand return to Australia. The pound-for-pound king will look to become a double-champ whereas Makhachev will aim to topple him off the throne.

Randy Couture is confident about how the PFL will handle Jake Paul’s transition from boxing to MMA. “The Natural” thinks trash-talking and hooplas will not work for “The Problem Child” in the PFL. PFL analyst and broadcaster Randy Couture weighed in on Jake Paul’s highly anticipated...

Islam Makhachev thinks more could have been done to get the word out about his first-ever UFC lightweight title defense. Just around the corner is one of the biggest champion vs. champion fights the UFC has ever seen. On February 11, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will be taking on the featherweight champion and pound-for-pound king Alexander Volkanovski. This huge title fight will serve as the main event of UFC 284 in Perth, Australia. This is the first time that UFC has returned to Australia since before the pandemic began.

UFC bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley is sticking around for a while. Over the past few years, Sean O’Malley has been one of the fastest-rising fighters in the UFC. He went from out of the top ten to number one in just about a year’s time and now is waiting on his title shot. O’Malley set himself up in the number one spot on the rankings by defeating former champion Petr Yan at UFC 280. He knows he has earned a title shot but was waiting to negotiate with the UFC before signing on to that fight. It seems that now there is nothing standing in his way.

Charles Oliveira and Rafael dos Anjos vowed to move on and not to call out Conor McGregor again. The Brazilians both think “The Notorious” has been ducking them. Brazilian UFC stars Charles Oliveira and Rafael dos Anjos are no longer putting Conor McGregor on top of their priority list after concluding that the former UFC two-division champ has been cherry-picking his fights.

Alexander Volkanovski sees no trouble in floating between featherweight and lightweight when he wins the belt at UFC 284. Alexander Volkanovski has been the champion in the UFC featherweight division for three years. During that time he has defended the belt four times and has proven himself to be one of the best to have ever competed at 145 pounds. Now he will be trying to make history by moving up in weight and holding both the 145-pound and 155-pound belts simultaneously. Standing in his way is the newly crowned lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. These two will be battling it out for the lightweight title and the number one pound-for-pound spot when they meet in the main event of UFC 284 on February 11.

A Power Slap League contestant claimed he felt ill after Michael Bisping slapped hours before his slap fight. “The Count” addressed the subject and shared his theory of what might have happened to the contestant. UFC commentator Michael Bisping was at the Apex to be a presenter at Dana...

Taylor Guardado is not a fan of slap fighting and was insulted by the offer to participate. The newest craze in combat sports is the new Power Slap League. This slap-fighting promotion has been started by Dana White and is getting a huge push from the UFC. The premise is exactly what it sounds like, two men or women pitted up against each other to see who can out-slap who. One at a time each “fighter” takes turns slapping the other. The one being slapped may not defend at all and must keep their hands behind their backs.

Taylor Guardado only suffered one loss in her amateur mixed martial arts career and it came against women’s MMA pioneer Ronda Rousey. Speaking with Mike Owens in a MiddleEasy exclusive interview, the one-time PFL finalist was asked about her 2011 amateur showdown with the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion. Guardado revealed that like many of Rousey’s opponents, she found herself on the losing end via armbar.

UFC flyweight Muhammad Mokaev will be sticking around the UFC for a while with a new contract. Over the past year, up-and-coming flyweight contender Muhammad Mokaev has been turning heads. He made his promotional debut in March of 2022 and immediately showed that he was going to be a problem in the UFC 125-pound division. Over the course of 2022, Mokaev was able to rack up three wins and is showing no sign of slowing down.