The Nevada Athletic Commission on Friday approved sweeping changes for dealing with drug cheats in combat sports, ratcheting up the suspensions and fines and ultimately calling for lifetime bans for repeat offenders.
MMA UFC
A featherweight bout between Frankie Edgar and Urijah Faber will serve as the main event for an Ultimate Fighting Championship card Saturday in Manila, the first time the organization has held an event in the Philippines.
Stipe Miocic landed 361 total strikes, the most by any fighter in UFC history, in his pummeling of Mark Hunt in the main event of an Ultimate Fighting Championship card Saturday in Australia. Fans were critical of referee John Sharp for not stopping the fight until the fifth round.
Conor McGregor has come a long way in the past two years since he picked up his final public assistance check in Ireland just days before a spectacular Ultimate Fighting Championship debut catapulted him to stardom in the octagon. He’ll fight for the featherweight title against champion Jose Aldo at UFC 189 on July 11 at the MGM Grand Garden.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship this week announced a tiered payment system for its athletes from its partnership with Reebok, and if all 586 currently under contract didn’t voice their displeasure across social media, well, a good chunk of them did.
Bill Brady, who has served since 2007, has resigned his position on the five-member panel effective immediately. “I just don’t have the time or the heart to do it anymore,” he said from his summer home in Alaska.
For a reminder that it never pays to paint a professional boxing event as a morality play, remember the silly white hat some people placed on Manny Pacquiao’s head.
Daniel Cormier has a nasty rivalry with disgraced fighter Jon Jones and stands to benefit from the UFC’s decision to strip his light heavyweight belt. But Cormier isn’t reveling in Jones’ fall: “I hope this guy gets help and comes back to the UFC just as he was before.”
Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was scheduled to fight Anthony Johnson in the main event of UFC 187 on May 23 at the MGM Grand Garden. With Jones suspended indefinitely by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Johnson will face Daniel Cormier for the vacant title on the card.
UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones turned himself in to Albuquerque, N.M., police on Monday night after an arrest warrant was issued for leaving the scene of an accident involving death or personal injuries on Sunday morning. He posted bail and was released from custody just after 10 p.m. Monday.
Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson locked in an armbar and forced Kyoji Horiguchi to submit with one second left in the fifth and final round of their main-event title fight at UFC 186 on Saturday in Montreal, the sixth consecutive title defense for Johnson.
A breakdown of the fights on the main card of UFC 186 today at Bell Centre in Montreal:
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson returns to the UFC a happier fighter than when he left two years ago. A court injuncton almost stopped him from fighting Fabio Maldonado on Saturday in UFC 186 in Montreal.
Comparisons between UFC breakout female star Paige VanZant and Ronda Rousey are unavoidable. Both are attractive blondes with a whole lot of ability inside the cage. VanZant, a 21-year-old Reno native, improved to 2-0 in the UFC with a unanimous decision over Felice Herrig on Saturday in Newark, N.J., before a national TV audience on Fox.
Middleweights Luke Rockhold and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza each scored early submission wins at UFC on Fox 15 in Newark, N.J. They could be in line for a title shot, but first, champion Chris Weidman will fight Vitor Belfort on May 23.