No Bellator fighters tested positive for banned substances after the organization’s big event in San Diego on Nov. 15, MMA Fighting has learned.
All Bellator 131 fighters tested by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) were clean. CSAC executive director Andy Foster confirmed the information with MMA Fighting on Friday.
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While no announcement has been made yet, The Sports Network (TSN) in Canada sent out schedule revisions for January to television listings services on Friday which included extensive UFC coverage.
TSN, the country’s equivalent to ESPN, was the leading candidate to get the UFC contract, which had been held by Sportsnet, a rival sports network run by Rogers Cable, since the sport’s popularity explosion.
UFC officials would not confirm the deal at this time.
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Dustin Poirier’s featherweight days are over.
The former 145-pound contender confirmed to MMAFighting.com that he has decided to resume his fighting career as a lightweight.
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Just hours after it was announced that veteran fighter Mark Munoz would return to the Octagon against Caio Magalhaes at UFC 184, Magalhaes had to withdraw due to an infection in his mouth.
Looks like Munoz will remain on the card. On Wednesday night UFC Tonight’s Ariel Helwani confirmed that Roan ‘Jucao’ Carneiro will step in to fight “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” on Feb. 28 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
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Cris Cyborg will not cut down to 135 pounds after all.
Two and a half months after announcing her decision to drop to the bantamweight division for a bout at Invicta FC 10, the first and only Strikeforce and Invicta FC featherweight champion confirmed she won’t try cutting the extra 10 pounds anymore.
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The thirteenth episode of the UFC on FOX franchise is set for a Saturday. The card is headlined through a significant heavyweight battle between former winner Junior dos Santos and ever-soaring competition Stipe Miocic. The card, though, is full of other significant fights for combatants fighting to remain useful, those returning from layoff, or looking to earn a title shot.
Will JDS reaffirm his position as the very best heavyweight not named Cain or is Miocic set to replace him? I answer these inquiries and more with my forecasts for Saturday’s fights.
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Dan Miller will not be making his return to the Octagon this year.
Anticipated to confront Daniel Sarafian at UFC Fight Night 58 in Barueri, Brazil, on Dec. 20, Miller was removed from the card as a result of an undisclosed reason. Sarafian now meets UFC rookie Antonio dos Santos. MMAFighting.com supported the change with sources near the scenario adhering to a report from Combate.
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Coming off a massive triumph over Nam Phan, Mike Richman returns against a former winner in March.
Richman, who desired 46 seconds to knock Phan out on Nov. 15, is set to collide with former Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas at Bellator 134 in Thackerville, Oklahoma, on March 27. Lancenet first reported the fight, and MMAFighting.com supported with sources near the problem.
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Expert lightweight Anthony Njokuani has verbally agreed to some multi-fight deal with Legacy FC following his recent release in the UFC, Legacy FC owner Mick Maynard supported to MMAFighting.com on Wednesday.
A 34-year old former kickboxer, Njokuani (16-9, 1 NC) had been a mainstay in the WEC/UFC 155-pound division ever since his 2009 introduction, fighting 15 times and scoring memorable KO/TKO triumphs over Chris Horodecki, Edward Faaloloto and Roger Bowling, amongst others.
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An significant lightweight fight was added to UFC 183.
The UFC has reserved Joe Lauzon (24-9) vs. Al Iaquinta (10-3-1) for the Jan. 31 card in Las Vegas, Newsday first reported on Wednesday, and the UFC later confirmed the news with MMAFighting.com.
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Welcome to the Promotional Malpractice Live Chat, episode 113.
Seriously, it’s hard to know where to start with this given the amount of topics and issues going on in the sport. I suppose first and foremost would be actual fight results. UFC 180 saw Fabricio Werdum earn a version of UFC gold, Kelvin Gastelum cement himself as a true contender and Ricardo Lamas affirm himself as a top featherweight fixture.
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The UFC debut for Holly Holm, one of the top bantamweight prospects in women’s MMA, won’t happen next month.
According to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, sources have confirmed Holm will be out for her UFC 181 clash against Raquel Pennington on Dec. 6 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
MMAbyneko.com was the first to report Holm (7-0) will miss her fight with an undisclosed injury.
Johny Hendricks will defend his welterweight title against Robbie Lawler in the main event of UFC 181.
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Bellator 131 headliners Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar recently passed random urine drug tests administered by the California State Athletic Commission, CSAC executive director Andy Foster confirmed to MMAFighting.com.
According to Foster, Bonnar has passed two random urine tests and Oritz one, leading up to their Nov. 15 fight in San Diego.
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A whopping four combatants who appeared about the Bellator 127 card in Temecula, Calif. tested positive for prohibited materials.
Keith Berry, Rob Emerson, Fernando Gonzalez, and Nick Moghaddam neglected their California State Athletic Commission post-fight drug tests. MMAFighting supported an initial report by sherdog.com.
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Paulo Filho was shot in the leg in a celebration Tuesday night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The former WEC winner had a conversation using a guy in a party in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and was shot in the leg by a guy when he left the house. Psicoticos por VT first reported the news, and sources near the situation, supported the report to MMAFighting.com.
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UFC president Dana White formally declared Grace Tourinho as the managing director for UFC in Brazil on November 2013, and her tenure will end one year after.
Tourinho, who first began working for the promotion in early 2013, will leave the promotion next month, according to a report from Veja. Sources near the situation confirmed the news to MMAFighting.com.
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Paul Daley formally received his visa to restart fighting in America on Monday.
Daley (35-13-2), an English power-puncher who resigned with Bellator in July, is now eyeing an early-2015 return date to the promotion, sources near the situation supported with MMAFighting.com.
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Chris Weidman will defend his middleweight title against Vitor Belfort early next year.
Belfort, who earned a shot in the UFC gold after three straight knockout wins in 2013, supported to the Brazilian media Friday that he is going to be confronting Weidman on Feb. 28 in Los Angeles at UFC 184.
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A middleweight fight between Nate Marquardt and Brad Tavares continues to be added to UFC 182 on Jan. 3 in Las Vegas.
The fight was initially reported by Las Vegas Review Journal, and was supported by Tavares on Twitter.
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Directly to the heels of the news UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez is out of his UFC 180 main event fight opposite Fabricio Werdum, UFC lightweight Joe Lauzon is no longer place to confront Diego Sanchez to the very same card. MMA Junkie was the very first to report the news, which was afterwards affirmed by UFC Tonight on Fox Sports 1.
According to reports, the reasons for Lauzon’s removal in the fight are uncertain. No replacement was named for Sanchez yet. It is also not clear if Sanchez will still be kept within the primary or fight card.
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