Hot off the heels of his close victory over Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284, Islam Makhachev has been accused of cheating by a former opponent. Lightweight contender Dan Hooker lit up social media by accusing the lightweight champion of using an illegal IV drip to gain an added advantage for the fight. Makhachev went into the fight with a pronounced size advantage already, but Volkanovski gave him all he could handle in their five-round tilt. Hooker might not be all sour grapes. The “Hangman” alleges that Makhachev brought in a nurse after the official weigh-in to perform the rehydration. Such…
Author: Danny Howard
Danny Howard
Danny Howard has been covering combat sports for 13 years and likes to think he knows what he’s talking about. He has been a featured contributor at FightHype, The Boxing Tribune, The Fight City, and Covers.
UFC 284 was sparingly promoted, but was an explosive show in every way. The aftermath of the show left two champions in transition, and a star waiting to break into the big time. Let’s go over what we learned from UFC 284. UFC 284: Makhachev vs Volkanovski Results Islam Makhachev defeats Alexander Volkanovski by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) Yair Rodriguez defeats Josh Emmett by submission (triangle choke) at 4:19 of Round 2 Jack Della Maddalena defeats Randy Brown by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:13 of Round 1 Justin Tafa defeats Parker Porter by KO (left hand) at 1:06 of…
Promoting a fight card is not an easy job, even when you’re the biggest MMA promotion in the entire world. Even though you’re bigger than everyone else, you have the most money, and boast the biggest stars, you’re bound to throw up a few lame ducks every once and a while. Sometimes, cards are so bad that they’re dead on arrival before the press tour even begins. A stillborn promotion is usually so low energy and boring that only the most hardcore fight fans will stick around to watch it, but they might not admit to doing it when it’s…
Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Boxing promotions is off to the races with a surprising card that has left the MMA and boxing world scratching their heads. Anthon Pettis will face off against 54-year-old Roy Jones Jr. on a card that will also feature Jose Aldo vs. Jeremy Stephens and Vitor Belfort vs. Ronaldo Souza. The April 1 card is not a joke, though it’s honestly hard to believe it. Masvidal spoke to The MMA Hour about the Miluawaukee card, hyping the event and its inclusion of Jones Jr. as the 38-year-old prepares for his UFC 287 grudge match with Gilbert Burns: …
Less than a week after Tony Ferguson let it out of the bag that Conor McGregor would be a coach for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, we’ve gotten confirmation and a juicy new layer to accompany it. The controversial McGregor will return after two years after his defeat to Dustin Poirier at UFC x at the end of the season in a dream match against Michael Chandler. McGregor has been rehabilitating a leg injury he suffered against Poirier, and won’t have to drain down to lightweight as the proposed bout will take place at 170 pounds. https://twitter.com/espnmma/status/1621888469235556353 With…
Serghei Spivac (16-3, 7-3 UFC) needed a little over three minutes to officially end the run of Derrick Lewis (26-10, 17-8 UFC) as a top heavyweight at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. The two faced off in a high-profile crossroads fight that was pitched as a closer fight than it should have. Spivac has been on the upswing as he’s established he is a problematic heavyweight, whereas Lewis has been on a sharp decline despite his resilient popularity. Ahead of the fight, Lewis displayed a slimmed down physique giving the appearance he was finally getting into shape for a…
The legendary run of Fedor Emilianenko came to a predictable end at Bellator 290. Once again, Emelianenko succumbed to the heavy hands of heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in a failed attempt to recapture a major MMA title. This would be the second meeting between the two. They previously faced off at Bellator 208 when Bader stunned Emelianenko with a jab that sent him to the ground, leading to a follow-up barrage that ended the fight in just 35 seconds. https://twitter.com/BellatorMMA/status/1622082566991020033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Emelianenko, 46, announced ahead of this bout that it would be his last, prompting a huge outpouring of the MMA…
Former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is looking at things both ways. While Miocic is understandably disappointed that he won’t get a trilogy fight with the recently released Francis Ngannou, he also knows the show must go on and will recognize the winner of the upcoming Ciryl Gane vs. Jon Jones bout at UFC 285 as the heavyweight champion. Miocic, 40, has been out of action since suffering a 2nd round KO to Ngannou at UFC 260. It was a stunning reversal of fortunes as Miocic handily defeated Ngannou by decision a few years prior at UFC 220. The former…
The 31st season of UFC’s popular The Ultimate Fighter series has yet to begin, but the recent rumors lead us to believe it could be a huge season. Conor McGregor and Tony Ferguson have allegedly been contacted to coach opposing teams, leading to believe the faded legends will face off later this year. Ferguson shared the news, stating that the UFC asked him to return to the show after appearaning back in season 11. The former lightweight contender was hoping Khabib Nurmagomedov would join the show, but Nurmagomedov has stepped away from MMA completely. That left the door for McGregor,…
New UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill is not short on opponents, but an opportunity has just fallen on his lap. Middleweight champion Alex Pereira called Hill out and has signaled his willingness to climb a division to face him. While Hill is likely to face former champion Jiri Prozchaka once he’s recovered from a shoulder injury that led to him vacating the title, Pereira is no closer to finding an opponent at middleweight. Pereira ended the long reign of Israel Adesanya by knockout at UFC 281. “Poatan” has faced and beaten Adesanya three times going back to their kickboxing…