Israel Adesanya Reacts To UFC Orlando Main Event, ‘You Can’t Drop A Crackhead’

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.

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.

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.

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...

Dana White’s Power Slap League was hit with a hard dose of reality after receiving a brief glimmer of hope last week. Despite being promoted more than UFC 284, which features a super fight between the top two pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Power Slap failed to carry over its audience over the past two weeks. Debuting on January 18 with a meager 295,000 viewers, Dana White’s latest pet project received a bit of a reprieve in week two as the number jumped up to 413,000, moving it from No. 45 to No. 30 on the list of cable television’s most-watched programs. The slight success was short-lived.

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.

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:

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:

Power Slap League has had a tough time finding fans since its inception, but Anthony Smith is one of the few who will openly preach their love for Dana White’s latest pet project. Known for his occasional hot takes, the UFC light heavyweight contender recently declared his love for...

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.

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...

Israel Adesanya will once again attempt to solve the puzzle that is Alex Pereira. UFC president Dana White revealed in a blockbuster announcement that newly crowned middle champion Alex Pereira will defend his title in a rematch with the man he has beaten on three separate occasions, Israel Adesanya. The two strikers previously met under the GLORY Kickboxing banner with Pereira coming out on top in both instances. Pereira once again proved he had Adesanya’s number when he spectacularly knocked out ‘The Last Stylebender’ in the UFC 281 main event last year.

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.

Former UFC two-division champion Daniel Cormier encouraged Charles Oliveira to make things personal with Conor McGregor. McGregor has been on the sidelines for over a year and a half since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in Jul. 2021 at UFC 264. After recovering from the injury, he got to make his Hollywood debut and has been inching closer to his comeback. Michael Chandler is leading the race along with Tony Ferguson to welcome McGregor back with a few other options thrown in the mix.

Conor McGregor continues to give back to his community after having established himself as one of the biggest combat sports stars of all time. The Irishman swiftly gained notoriety with a legendary stint in the UFC, elevating himself to superstardom and participating in some of the largest PPV events in the promotion’s history.

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...

Fans won’t see Kenny Florian in the booth at Power Slap events anytime soon. Former UFC fighter and analyst Kenny Florian has been the voice of MMA fighting for years. He spent many years inside the cage and has fought some of the best of all time. Following the end of his competitive career, Florian turned to the mic and provided color commentary for the UFC, nowadays he is a host for the series Battle Bots and has signed on to provide his commentary services for PFL.

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.