Rafael dos Anjos Ready For Long-Awaited Showdown With Conor McGregor; ‘We Were Supposed to Fight 200 Times Already’

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...

Action movie star Liam Neeson is expressing his disdain for the UFC and for Conor McGregor. The UFC is not everyone’s cup of tea. Over the past twenty years, mixed martial arts has evolved from a no-holds-barred, no-rules fighting spectacle to the MMA that we see today. It is one of the most popular sports in the world and the athletes in the UFC and other MMA organizations are increasingly growing in popularity. The most popular MMA fighter at this time is Conor McGregor and people seem to either love him or hate him.

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.

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.

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:

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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:

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.

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...

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.

Robert Whittaker is being kept in the dark when it comes to plans for his next fight. The UFC middleweight division seems to be rolling on without former champion Robert Whittaker. The upcoming event to be held in Perth, Australia was supposed to be a huge homecoming for the Aussie, but unfortunately, the bout he had scheduled for that card fell through. This is the first time the UFC will be heading down under since before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the plan was to bring all the local fighters to the event.