Boxing / UFC / MMA
Boxing / UFC / MMA News
Bellator 256 results: Ryan Bader pummels Lyoto Machida
The Bellator MMA cage was in its usual venue, the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Friday for Bellator 256: Bader vs. Machida 2. The fight card was headlined by a Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix Tournament quarterfinal bout between heavyweight champion and former light heavyweight titleholder Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida. The bout was a rematch. The two previously fought at UFC on FOX 4 in August 2012 with Machida defeating Bader by knockout. On Friday, nine years after their first meeting, Bader got redemption. In the opening round, Machida looked sharp with his strikes and light on his feet. He delivered kicks to the body and legs of Bader who had trouble closing the distance. The first half of the second frame looked a lot like the first round. With 90 seconds remaining, Bader powered forward and secured a takedown. He repeatedly connected with short right hands until the round ended. In the third round, Bader was able to ground Machida early in the frame. He landed heavy punches and elbows. Bader had taken complete control of the fight. In the final two rounds, Bader controlled Machida on the ground while delivering a heavy dose of punches and elbows. “Redemption felt good. I know I just had to be tough out here,” said Bader after advancing in the light heavyweight tournament. “The first couple of rounds are tricky with Machida. I knew I could throw heavy, back him up to the fence and get that takedown.” In the co-main event, No. 2 ranked woman’s flyweight Liz Carmouche defeated promotional newcomer Vanessa Porto by unanimous decision. Porto, a former Invicta FC flyweight champion, entered the bout on a four-fight winning streak hoping to make a splash in the new company. Carmouche shut any hopes of that down with movement and pressure. Carmouche was able to back Porto against the cage and control her in the clinch position. As the fight wore on, Carmouche began to dominate the action. No. 3 ranked featherweight Adam Borics defeated No. 8 ranked Jeremy Kennedy by unanimous decision. After a competitive first round, Borics outclassed Kennedy. Borics’ jab repeatedly landed and his leg kicks had Kennedy nearly finished in the final frame. After the win, Borics called for a title shot. “This was my best camp in my life. I’ve been home for like two and a half months, so I totally recharged. Since I moved here to the States, I’ve never been at home for more than a month, so I was a little bit tired last year. Now I’m recharged. I’m ready for the title,” he said. “Just give me the winner of the tournament.” UFC Vegas 23 face-offs video No. 3 ranked women’s featherweight Cat Zingano picked up her second Bellator win with a first-round submission finish over Olivia Parker. Zingano took Parker down and got reversed. From there, she locked on an armbar that forced Parker to quickly tap out. “I had no idea what to expect. That’s how this game works. You respond as your problems occur and I didn’t really know what she was going to bring. I knew she has heart. I know she has grind and size on me and all of that, so I wanted to be patient and trust the work that I’ve done,” said Zingano. Following the win, Zingano laid out her plans of becoming a Bellator champion. “I’m in a run for gold. I want to go against the best. I know who’s the best. I know these two girls have a fight coming up in a couple of months, and I’d love to get a shot at the belt over here in Bellator. It would mean a lot to me,” she said. The Bellator 256 main card kicked off with an unexpected upset. Dan Moret defeated No. 3 ranked lightweight Goiti Yamauchi by split decision. Bellator 256 full results Ryan Bader def. Lyoto Machida by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-45, 49-45)Liz Carmouche def. Vanessa Porto by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)Adam Borics def. Jeremy Kennedy by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)Cat Zingano def. Olivia Parker by submission (armbar) at 2:56, R1Dan Moret def. Goiti Yamauchi by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)Dalton Rosta def. Tony Johnson by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)Talita Nogueira def. Jessica Borga by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)Jornel Lugo def. Cass Bell by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)Cody Law def. athan Ghareeb by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)Jaylon Bates def. Jeffrey Glossner by submission (Japanese necktie) at 1:27, R2Nainoa Dung def. Izzy William by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)Diana Avsaragova def. Tara Graff by KO (punches) at 0:29, R1John Douma def. Will Smith by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
UFC Vegas 23 weigh-in results & video: Vettori vs. Holland set; Norma Dumont pulled for missing weight
The UFC Vegas 23 weigh-in results are in with Saturday’s main event fighters easily hitting the mark. The UFC Vegas 23 weigh-ins took place on Friday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. UFC Vegas 23 weigh-in results The UFC Vegas on 23 (aka UFC on ABC 2) main event pits fast-rising middleweight contender Marvin Vettori against late-replacement Kevin Holland. No. 6 ranked Vettori was originally slated to meet no. 5 ranked Darren Till, but Till had to withdraw because of a broken collarbone. Anxious to get the fight in, Vettori was first to the scale, weighing 186 pounds, the upper limit for a middleweight non-title bout. Holland followed a short time later, stepping on the scale at just 183.5 pounds. Vettori is on a four-fight winning streak. His last loss was to current champion Israel Adesanya. Vettori lost that bout via a split decision well before Adesanya claimed the UFC middleweight title. Holland had been on a ferocious five-fight winning streak prior to his last bout, which took place just three weeks ago. He lost a unanimous decision to Derek Brunson in a bout where he was heavily criticized for joking around and casually talking to cageside observers throughout the fight. Two UFC Vegas 23 fighters misses weight Norma Dumont was the lone fighter to miss weight for UFC Vegas 23. She came to the scale with about half an hour left in the two-hour weigh-in window, weighing 139.5 pounds for her bantamweight bout opposite UFC newcomer Erin Blanchfield. While Blanchfield easily made weight at 135 pounds, Dumont was 3.5 pounds over the limit for a bantamweight non-title bout. Ignacio Bahamondes was the final fighter to the scale, having run out of time to make weight. He stepped on the scale at 156.75 pounds on his second attempt, which put him 0.75 pounds over the limit for his non-title fight with John Makdessi, who made weight earlier. If Dumont and Bahamondes are medically cleared to fight and an agreement can be reached with their opponents, their bouts could potentially proceed with the likelihood that each of them would be fined 20-30 percent of their fight purses for missing weight. The fine would go to their respective opponents. UPDATE: Norma Dumont pulled from UFC Vegas 23 bout for missing weight Shortly after the weigh-in, news broke that Dumont would not be allowed to fight on Saturday. MMAWeekly.com confirmed with Blanchfield’s management, KO Reps, that the Nevada State Athletic Commission would not allow Dumont to fight following her second consecutive miss of 3.5 pounds on the scale. Blanchfield’s camp was prepared to accept the fight with a 30-percent penalty, according to KO Reps, but the commission would not allow it. Darren Till shreds Marvin Vettori for doubting injury UFC Vegas 23 weigh-in results UFC Vegas 23 Main Card (3 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN+) Marvin Vettori (186) vs. Kevin Holland (183.5)Arnold Allen (145.5) vs. Sodiq Yusuff (146)Sam Alvey (186) vs. Julian Marquez (186)Nina Nunes (116)* vs. Mackenzie Dern (115) – Formerly Nina AnsaroffMike Perry (170) vs. Daniel Rodriguez (170.5) UFC Vegas 23 Prelims (12 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+) Jim Miller (155.5) vs. Joe Solecki (155.5)Mateusz Gamrot (156) vs. Scott Holtzman (155.5)Erin Blanchfield (135) vs. Norma Dumont (139.5)**Ignacio Bahamondes (156.75) vs. John Makdessi (153.5)**Jarjis Danho (255.5) vs. Yorgan De Castro (261.5)Hunter Azure (135.5) vs. Jack Shore (136)Jordan Griffin (145.5) vs. Luis Saldana (145.5)Da Un Jung (205.5) vs. William Knight (205.5) UFC Vegas 23 Early Prelim (11:30 a.m. ET on ESPN+) Impa Kasanganay (170.5) vs. Sasha Palatnikov (170.5) **Norma Dumont and Ignacio Bahamondes missed weight UFC Vegas 23 weigh-in video: Marvin Vettori vs. Kevin Holland (Subscribe to MMAWeekly.com on YouTube)
Kamaru Usman: ‘I didn’t break Jorge Masvidal the way I wanted to’
UFC welterweight champion and no. 2 ranked pound-for-pound fighter Kamaru Usman spoke with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto about several topics, including his rematch with no. 4 ranked welterweight Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261 and the state of the welterweight division. Usman started by explaining why he decided to defend his title against Masvidal again just two and a half months after successfully defending it against Gilbert Burns at UFC 258. “I’m not getting any younger. I don’t know how many more of these I want to do, and speaking with all the guys that I look up to and getting their advice is ‘You gotta do it while you can.’ Because time comes and goes very, very quickly,” Usman said. “So I just took that advice and I’m just like, ‘You know what? There’s no time to waste.’ Looking at all the contenders that were on that list, there was one that I kind of still had a bad taste in my mouth from.” Of course, Usman is referring to his next opponent in “Gamebred.” While the three-time defending champion handily decisioned Masvidal at UFC 251 with two 50-45’s and a 49-46 on the judges’ scorecards, “The Nigerian Nightmare” still believes he could have performed better. Despite the lopsided performance, some fans and pundits credited Masvidal for going to a decision with Usman on six days notice after seeing the champion finish formidable contenders like Colby Covington and most recently Gilbert Burns. Why Kamaru Usman opted for Jorge Masvidal rematch But Usman made it abundantly clear that the opinions of the aforementioned members of the MMA community is not why he sought a rematch. “It wasn’t because of what people said or what people thought. It was because of what I thought, and how I felt after the fight,” Usman said. “I knew what I was dealing with when I went there for that fight, and yes I was still able to get the win. But not in the way that I wanted.” Once the rematch was booked, many within the MMA community argued that there are contenders within the division who are more deserving of a title fight. Some point to Colby Covington, who defeated former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley last September. Others point to the fact that a rematch with Masvidal will be more lucrative than a rematch with Covington, and the numbers prove it. It was reported that Usman’s main event bout with Masvidal at UFC 251 sold 1.3 million pay-per-view buys, which falls into the top 10 of the UFC’s highest selling pay-per-views in history. Usman acknowledged there is truth behind those claims, but also provided arguments against that sentiment. “Does he bring more eyes right now? Absolutely. I’m a realist. I’ve always been a realist,” Usman said. “I don’t take that away from [Masvidal]. I’m proud of him for everything that he’s done, absolutely proud of him. Respect in that aspect, but let’s be honest, I have what everybody wants. It’s green panty night when you’re fighting me. He’s not getting pay-per-views and stuff like that on his own. He has to fight me.” Usman ultimately recognizes that there is a healthy balance between the potential revenue a dance partner like Masvidal generates in conjunction with wanting to rid that sour taste Usman has from their first fight. As far as the latter, however, Usman articulated why he has that bad taste from the first bout. “Honestly, I don’t think I broke him the way that I wanted to break him. There’s something that satisfies me when I fight guys, and that’s the thing that… I believe years ago, Jon [Jones] spoke about this… is when you’re in there with that opponent it’s such an intimate moment there to where only you and that guy know what’s going on,” Usman said. “Only you and that guy know how hard he hits you. Only you and that guy know how hard I’m coming at you, and with Masvidal, I don’t think I fully broke him the way I wanted to. With everyone else, I know when I broke them. I know when I broke their spirit. I know when I broke their heart. And with him, I don’t feel like I fully got there.” Jorge Masvidal wants trilogy after he beats Kamaru Usman at UFC 261 Why isn’t Usman fighting Colby Covington at UFC 261? Usman then turned his attention to current no. 1 welterweight contender and former interim welterweight champion Colby Covington saying he wants to see his former opponent compete more frequently. “I wanna see activity, and he’s not showing activity. That’s a problem. The champion can’t be the most active guy in the division,” Usman said. “Because like I said, I’ve lapped everybody, and now I’m coming back around.” While some may find it ironic that Usman’s next opponent in Masvidal has not fought since their first fight last July, Covington has only fought once since losing to Masvidal in December 2019. Usman believes rather than fighting lower ranked contenders, Covington is instead waiting for another opportunity to challenge for the belt. “You can’t just sit there and say, ‘Oh well, hopefully you pick me, pick me, pick me,’” Usman said. “Show me activity. Give me something. Give me a reason. It’s not necessarily me, I know what I’m capable of doing. I’ve done it before. You can ask his jaw. I’ve done that before. Now it’s for him to show the people that he deserves another chance to fight for the title.” As long as Usman continues this incredible run, it is going to be difficult to deter him from calling shots as the king of the UFC welterweight division. UFC 258 highlights & recap: Kamaru Usman’s most recent victory over Gilbert Burns (Subscribe to MMAWeekly.com on YouTube)