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“EPO is king to everything.”

Chael Sonnen has made serious accusations about NBA superstar LeBron James.

The former UFC title contender turned analyst and MMA mouthpiece accused “King James” of being on performance-enhancing drugs, even claiming they both had the “same drug guy.”

“If the world understood what LeBron did… like other basketball players will hear what LeBron does and go, ‘but that doesn’t matter.’ It’s like a baseball player, and you’re hitting the stick — it doesn’t matter,” Sonnen said in a recent appearance on comedian Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant podcast. “If you knew what these performance-enhancers did, then you would know why it does matter.

“We have the same drug guy, I know exactly what he’s doing,” he said.

Sonnen later claimed that the drug in question is EPO, which is one of the many substances he tested positive and got suspended for during his MMA career.

“It matters. Trust me that it matters. EPO matters. It’s the reason Lebron takes it. It matters,” Sonnen said. “And if other basketball players understood what it did… EPO increases your red blood cells, which gives you endurance so you can play all game long.

“You can shoot in the fourth quarter just like you shot in the fourth minute. It’s the king of performance enhancers. EPO is king to everything.”

It’s worth noting that such statements from Sonnen should be taken with a grain of salt, as he is known for not exactly being truthful when he tries to sell stories. You won’t even have to look far for examples of this.

In the very same podcast with Schulz and company, he also claimed to have made more than $ 8 million in his rematch with Anderson Silva in 2012. This figure isn’t even remotely close to the purses he received based on UFC’s financial disclosures in court and to their lenders. Bloody Elbow’s business expert John S. Nash pointed this out on social media.

In the same podcast, Sonnen also declared himself to be “half a Robin Hood” because he “used to rob banks.”

That of course was his way to twist the story and tell a more entertaining version of his 2011 money laundering and mortgage fraud case.

About the author: Milan Ordoñez has been covering combat sports since 2012 and has been part of the Bloody Elbow staff since 2016. He’s also competed in amateur mixed martial arts and submission grappling tournaments. (full bio)

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‘Bones’ says he gave ‘Bon Gamin’ a ’nice chiropractic adjustment’ in their fight at UFC 285. 

What did he tap to?

That was the question UFC color commentator Daniel Cormier asked Joe Rogan after Jon Jones submitted Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 this past Saturday. For his first appearance in three years, ‘Bones’ wasted no time getting ‘Bon Gamin’ to the ground and snatching up a guillotine choke up against the cage that saw their fight end in the very first round.

It happened so fast that Cormier and Rogan were trying to figure out what exactly had Gane submitting so quickly to. The latter quipped, ‘It looks like he might have had the arm under the neck. I mean, it seemed like a quick tap’.

In one of his first post-fight interviews with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Jones confirmed that Gane was, indeed, in a hurry to get out of there—but there was good reason for it.

“I locked it up twice,” said Jones. “The first time, I could hear his spine popping. I gave him a nice chiropractic adjustment. The second time, he didn’t want that same ratchet on his neck, and I put my arm on his neck and choked him out.

“I didn’t expect it to go that quickly,” continued Jones. “But that’s what we were looking for—the win and domination.”

After getting through his fight with Gane unscathed, the newly crowned UFC heavyweight champion set his sights on his first defense against Stipe Miocic at International Fight Week. He sent a warning to Miocic in his post-fight interview with Rogan, saying he ‘hoped’ the former UFC heavyweight champion was already in training. Miocic has not fought since suffering a second-round KO to Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 two years ago.

After UFC 285, Dana White confirmed that Jones vs. Stipe is going to get scheduled for a soon-to-be-determined date.

About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)

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Middleweight champion Alex Pereira had a little teasing message for rival Israel Adesanya ahead of their rematch in April.

The UFC middleweight champion looks like he might be playing a few mind games ahead of his first title defense. While preparing for his rematch against long time rival Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira posted a sparring video on Instagram to show how his camp has been coming along so far.

Though the footage itself presents nothing out of the ordinary (beyond that poor man getting ripped up with body shots), the caption ‘Poatan’ wrote tells a different tale. In it, the Brazilian wrote Adesanya’s date of birth next to a star emoji and then followed it up with the date of their rematch, next to a coffin emoji.

Seems like Adesanya may want to make sure his affairs are in order come UFC 287.

Having already defeated Adesanya twice before in his kickboxing days, Pereira (7-1) will look to do it for the second time in the Octagon as well—all while extending his current win streak to five straight. Before beating the ‘Last Stylebender’, the 35-year-old defeated Andreas Michailidis, Bruno Silva and Sean Strickland.

Pereira is expected to face Adesanya at UFC 287’s headliner, on April 8. The card is scheduled to take place in Miami, Florida. Alongside the middleweight main event a welterweight top-contender’s bout between Gilbert Burns and

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Are Paul and Mayweather getting into the imitation beef business?

Jake Paul has been pretty quiet since seeing his perfect pro boxing record get cracked by Tommy Fury in Saudi Arabia. Before the bout it was announced that Paul, win or lose, would be facing former UFC fan favourite Nate Diaz.

However, without an undefeated record, or an aura of decent-ability around him, it might be harder to fill seats to see Paul’s attempts to box again. So what’s a Problem Child to do?

Well, maybe set up a fight with a bigger name than Diaz and use the tried and tested ‘bad blood’ angle to do it.

Cut to a Miami Heat game this week where, wouldn’t you know it, Jake Paul and Floyd Mayweather Jr. just happened to be in attendance. Mayweather has of course partnered with Paul Brother Inc. in the past, putting on a show-fight with Logan Paul for a boatload of cash.

TMZ Sports, who have an uncanny knack of getting footage from the scene of incidents like this, almost as if they knew it would happen, shared a clip of Paul being confronted by a massive Mayweather entourage outside of Miami-Dade Arena.

The clip shows Mayweather’s loudest flunkies berating Paul before the influencer turns tail and runs. Why get into a fight for free when you want people to pay $ 50 a pop to see it?

Paul then created some content on his Instagram page about what went down. He used his time there to hype up the danger he appeared to be in.

“So I’m leaving the Miami Heat game and Floyd Mayweather and 50 dudes pull up out of nowhere,” he said. “Out of some side alley waiting for me outside of the stadium. They’re like ‘what’s up, what’s all that talk now!’ I’m like first of all, what did I say to you Floyd? I just took your hat and you’re still mad about it? Come on, bro. Then 50 dudes literally start surrounding me trying to jump me. I’m out that bitch.”

The last time we saw a confrontation between Paul the Younger and Mayweather was in the build up to the 50-0 pro’s fight with Logan in 2021. During one of the press events, Paul swiped a baseball hat off of Mayweather’s head.

That seemed to provoke genuine ire out of Mayweather, who raged and claimed he wanted to kill Paul. Seems Mayweather might not be great when you go off-book.

Love him or hate him you have to admit that Paul has done a good job disrupting combat sports since KOing Nate Robinson in 2020. With smart match-making and over-the-top promotion the viral star ushered in a new era of celebrity fights. Those spectacles, though not at all important from a sporting sense, have brought in a lot of money for those involved and have certainly brought in an ocean of web traffic for schmoes like us.

However, with Paul agreeing to fight someone who could beat him (and perhaps others down the line who could do the same), we may soon see the back of him. Though, don’t be too smug about it. If nothing else, Paul’s millions of wannabe influencers and ‘cross-over fighters’ how to get the the top and how to throw it all away. So the next ‘Problem Child’ might stay a problem for much longer.

About the author: Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. (full bio)

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“Don’t say that on your interview!”

There are a lot of things that get said in the Octagon that don’t make it to the actual UFC broadcast.

Fights get uploaded to the UFC Fight Pass library without commercial breaks though, and sometimes it captures interesting moments that most audiences don’t get to see. While browsing those archives, Twitter user @DovySimuMMA was able to notice one such moment between Bruce Buffer and Danish UFC lightweight Damir Hadzovic.

Following his last TKO win back at UFC Fight Night 145, Hadzovic’s opponent Polo Reyes was hurt remained on the ground for an extended period. Seemingly feeling bad about the damage he dealt to his opponent, Hadzovic was seen approaching Buffer while they were on commercial break.

“They don’t pay us enough to do this shit,” Hadzovic was heard whispering to Buffer.

“I know, I know, I know,” the longtime UFC announcer responded. “When you see somebody like this…”

Buffer was then heard calling Hadzovic back. “Just, don’t say that in your interview, okay?”

Hadzovic acknowledged him, and said he won’t do that as he wants to receive a post-fight bonus.

“There you go,” Buffer responded. “I hope you get it.”

Prior to returning from commercial break, Buffer was also heard on the UFC Fight Pass broadcast directing Hadzovic and the referee to “get away from that, I don’t want them to see.”

Buffer was pointing at Reyes, who was still on the ground getting attended to.

“TKO right?” Buffer double checked before the announcement.

“TKO indeed, sir,” the referee responded.

On his post-fight interview, Hadzovic did not mention fighter pay, but alluded to feeling bad about hurting his opponent. He said there was mutual respect and he had “no animosity” towards Reyes, but just wanted to put on a show for the fans.

He did not get a post-fight bonus that night.

Hadzovic has fought four more times since then, now holding a 4-5 UFC record and 14-7 overall.

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The former UFC bantamweight champion returns against a top-10 name.

Miesha Tate returns.

Following a one-fight stint at flyweight, ‘Cupcake’ is headed to bantamweight for her next fight. That booking will be coming against Mayra Bueno Silva at an upcoming UFC event set for June 3 at a soon-to-be-announced location and venue.

Dama de Ferro MMA was the first to report the fight.

In her most recent appearance, Tate lost a unanimous decision to Lauren Murphy at UFC Long Island this past July. That was her second consecutive loss after she fell short against Ketlen Vieira at UFC Vegas 43 the year prior.

Though 1-2 since ending her retirement and resuming competition, Tate said she was not hanging up her gloves yet. She now has a chance to snap her two-fight losing streak against Bueno Silva.

Since her return to bantamweight, Bueno Silva has gone 3-0 in her past three fights. After her ‘Fight of the Night’ awarded appearance against Wu Yanan, ’Sheetara’ rattled off two straight finishes of Stephanie Egger and Lina Länsberg at UFC Vegas 59 and UFC Vegas 69, respectively.

After the Länsberg fight, the Brazilian used her time on the microphone to call out a few names in the top-10 of the division, including Tate and Raquel Pennington. It appears as though the UFC preferred the Tate call-out, so the fight was scheduled.

At this time, Tate vs. Bueno Silva is the only fight attached to the upcoming event. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more updates as they become available in the coming months.

About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)

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A fan almost found out the hard way why its not the best idea to try and fight a UFC fighter on the streets. 

Ian Machado Garry was going to add another name to his résumé after UFC 285 this past Saturday.

Shortly after his third-round TKO of Song Kenan, the ‘Future’ encountered a fan who was ‘shouting and screaming’ near him and his team at the T-Mobile Arena. A video showed some words were exchanged, and Machado Garry prepared himself for a fight.

“This f—king loser,” said Machado Garry on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. “I’m stood there with my whole team. I’m stood there with about eight, nine people and [UFC fan] Grandma Khabib came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, Ian! Can I have a photo?’ And I was like, ‘Of course you can!’ So we start talking and chatting…and while I’m chatting with her, I just hear this guy shouting and screaming, coming through where all the cars were. And he’s like, ‘Bro, that’s the easiest f—king [$ 50,000] I’ve ever made in my life! I’m f—king awesome!’ He’s just screaming and shouting, and I don’t know if he’s off his face or what he’s doing, but then he just bumped into me. And I just turned around to him and went, ‘Hey, relax.’ And he goes, ‘Or what?’ And I just laugh. I just start laughing and I look at him like, ‘Sorry?’

“And he’s like, ‘Or what? I’m a fighter! I do this s—t!’ And I said, ‘Oh really? Really? You do this s—t?,’” continued Machado Garry. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, you don’t want any of this smoke!’ And then his fat little mate stood there in his f—king pink blazer going, ‘Yeah, you don’t want any of this!’ And I’m like, Ha!’.”

As the fan continued to accost Machado Garry, the UFC welterweight started to remove items on his person because he was planning to ‘drop’ the self-appointed fighter. That was until his wife, Layla, reminded him of the consequences he would face if he followed through with that plan.

Though the video ended without showing the conclusion of their encounter, Machado Garry said nothing happened with the fan.

“I’ve never been in a fight outside of the Octagon because I’m too smart,” said Machado Garry. “But it took everything in me, with the way he was eyeballing me, not to go at him. It was like he wanted to kill me with the way he looked at me, and I was like, I’m going to put you unconscious if you take one step forward. One step forward or say one more word, I’m going to end you. But I had to keep my cool because I’m a professional athlete. It would be a bad rap for the sport and everything. So it’s like, just stand there, look him in the eyes, if he wants to d—k measure with me, fine. At the end of the day, there’s no way he’s going to win, so leave him be. I’m sure he went off and had a great night.”

Since he suffered little to no damage against Kenan, the Irishman is targeting a return to the Octagon at UFC 287, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for April 8 at the Miami-Dade Arena.

About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)

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“I just wasn’t as good.”

Daniel Cormier had one of the most impressive runs in recent UFC and MMA history. From Olympic freestyle and NCAA Division I wrestling, “DC” smoothly transitioned into mixed martial arts to later become a light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, and eventually inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

But like any successful athlete, Cormier has some things he wished he did differently in his career. During the UFC 285 heavyweight fan Q&A over the weekend, he revealed two of those regrets.

“I probably would have retired after I beat Stipe the first time or beat Derrick Lewis,” he said (quotes via MMA Mania). “Just to be done. Because I threw my back out and I just wasn’t as good.”

Regret number two involved an unorthodox move he once tried against Frank Mir, one that likely wasn’t in his toolbox, to begin with.

“Also, I might not have thrown that kick against Frank. “You remember that kick I tried to do? When I jumped and tried to kick you,” he said, addressing Mir, who was part of the panel.

“You looked at me like, ‘What the f—k are you doing?’ I might have not did that in the Octagon because people still make fun of me about jumping and trying to kick Frank. They called me the Kung-Fu Panda.”

Cormier lost to Miocic twice after his UFC 230 title defense against Lewis in 2018. He retired in 2020 after the third Miocic fight and left the sport with a record of 22-3 (with 1 NC).

About the author: Milan Ordoñez has been covering combat sports since 2012 and has been part of the Bloody Elbow staff since 2016. He’s also competed in amateur mixed martial arts and submission grappling tournaments. (full bio)

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Jon Jones may have manifested one of Henry Cejudo’s drills for him ahead of UFC 285.

Jon Jones finished off Ciryl Gane with ease at UFC 285 to become the new undisputed heavyweight champion. “Bones” got it done inside three minutes via a short wrestling sequence en route to a guillotine choke finish off the fence. The more noteworthy part of it all is how easy he made it seem to pull off.

But that particular finishing sequence has apparently been part of Jones’ training. And he did it with the help of former double-champion Henry Cejudo.

“Triple C” himself posted a clip of their training on social media. The nutshell of his instructions was to immediately move to a dominant position instead of lingering on a neutral and essentially futile one.

Jones did switch to a front headlock after getting briefly stuck in a less dominant position, which led to the guillotine finish.

Cejudo and Jones have been working with each other since 2021, and here’s what Jon had to say at the time.

“It really feels like he’s a guy that I need to be around,” Jones said of Cejudo. “I’m excited to grow. I’m excited to be more honest with myself than ever before and just elevate to a new place – a new place not only as an athlete but spiritually and mentally. I’m excited.”

Jones also won a $ 50K bonus for Performance of the Night at UFC 285, which ultimately improved his record to 27-1 (1 NC).

About the author: Milan Ordoñez has been covering combat sports since 2012 and has been part of the Bloody Elbow staff since 2016. He’s also competed in amateur mixed martial arts and submission grappling tournaments. (full bio)

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A compelling MMA VIDEO Podcast, with a smattering of social commentary & ramblings, as well as some colorful anecdotes from your host’s life.

“You knew it was coming. Better late than never…” – Eugene S. Robinson 3.5.2023

Welcome to our weekly guest podcast, which fills our Wednesday Bloody Elbow Presents Podcast Network content slot. If you aren’t familiar with the show, it’s probably best described as a compelling MMA video podcast, with a smattering of social commentary & ramblings, as well as some colorful anecdotes from your host’s life… sometimes directly pertaining to combat sports, sometimes barely touching upon it – but always interesting, if you hang in there.

Check it out, you might learn something new, or find something that was said kinda worms its way into your head all week and really makes you think, or not. Shrug. We’re fans and are happy to share it with you.

The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host: Eugene S. Robinson. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of BloodyElbow.com, its staff, or parent companies. It is merely a guest podcast.

Produced by June M. Williams

If you dig the show, then subscribe to eugenesrobinson.substack.com, follow Eugene on twitter @EugeneSRobinson, on Insta @MrSleep3. PAY here at his show #Patreon IF you wish: www.patreon.com/thestomper OR use [email protected] for #PayPal, OR eugene-robinson-28 for #CashApp, OR PlanetOxbow for #Venmo.

Give the LIVE video broadcast of ‘The Eugene S. Robinson Show Stomper Podcast’ a “thumbs up”, subscribe on The Stomper YT page Sunday afternoons, or give a “like”, follow & share on The Stomper’s Facebook Monday nights.

OR: Listen to premium audio on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Apple TV, iHeartRadio, OverCast, PlayerFM, TuneIn, Stitcher, blubrry, audible, Amazon Music, PocketCasts, Castro, Castbox, Downcast, PodCruncher, iCatcher, Castaway 2, Podcast Republic, BeyondPod for Android, and more! Also, coming soon to Simplecast, Pandora, & SiriusXM!

Your talented host is Eugene S. Robinson, author of the ‘Eugene S. Robinson Substack’, the upcoming “A Walk Across Dirty Water and Straight Into Murderer’s Row: A Memoir”, & the ‘Fight Book’, “Fight: Everything You Wanted to Know About Ass-Kicking but Were Afraid You’d Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking”, and “A Long Slow Screw”.

He hosts this ‘Eugene S. Robinson Show Stomper! Podcast’ of course, and is one of the hosts of the ‘Care/Don’t Care Podcast’, as well as a co-host on the ‘If The Shoes Fit’ socio-political podcast, & the recently released ‘Bad Boss Brief Podcast’. He is also a recurring guest of the ‘Crooklyn’s Corner Podcast’, the host & demonstrator on the ‘JJB! – Jiu Jitsu Breakdown!’ show, as well as the wildly popular host of the former ‘Knuckle Up Podcast’, which can be found in the Bloody Elbow Presents SC playlists.

He grew up in New York City, where he first understood the surreal joy of a bloody nose obtained through fighting. The 6’1”, 235lb Robinson is a practicing, black belt bjj artist, having studied boxing, kenpo karate, muay thai, & wrestling. He’s also a former bouncer, ‘98 CAAT HW Men’s Sanshou champ, 2nd place overall & 1st place divisional ‘03 CA Submission Fighting champ.

He has also worked in magazine publishing, film, & TV. His most recent writing gig was part of his duties as the former Assistant VP of Marketing Content for WONGDOODY.com, including his work on TheEndofNowhere.com/Interviews. He routinely creates freelance pieces for The New York Times, among others. Over the years he has been a literary gunslinger for publications including GQ, REVOLVER Magazine, Real Fighter, Gladiator, TheWire Magazine, Grapple Wrestling Magazine, Vice Magazine, Hustler Magazine, Mac|Life, SF Weekly, LA Weekly, Corporate Computing, PC Gamer, Decibel, and ALTA Magazine, among many others. He has also been Editor-in-Chief of CODE Magazine, and EQ Magazine.

Eugene is also the vocalist & front man for the alt metal band: #OXBOW, a rock group-cum-fight club, whose most recent album, ‘Love’s Holiday’, will be released this year with Ipecac Records. The band has achieved a substantial international cult following, still conducting European Tours. Some of his music is in the intro & outro of this ‘Show Stomper’ pod, as well as in the custom video of the show, airing on both his Stompville fb & BloodyElbow YT pages; there is a 1 min snippet he owns from #Stigmata. He was also a founding member of the band, #WhippingBoy prior to branching out into #OXBOW & #Buñuel. He can be found on numerous recordings, having performed a wide variety of musical collaborations over the years.

On film & TV he’s appeared in Leonard Part 6 with Bill Cosby, NBC’s Midnight Caller, ABC’s The King of Love, MTV’s Liquid Television’s #LasApasionadas, and commercials — most notably one directed by Gus Van Sant for Miller Genuine Draft.

Above all else, he is the adoring, devoted father of four incredible young ladies, and an outstanding spouse to his lovely wife. They currently reside near the Stanford, California area, with exciting future plans to reside off the coast of Spain.

For more on Eugene visit his wiki here.
Intro/Outro Music Clips: Band – Stigmata / Album – ‘The Calling of the Just’ – 1991 / Track 05 – ‘A Dream of Pain and Sorrow’ / 20:20 Timestamp at: https://youtu.be/3KOInLUjAEA?t=1220
Video Intro Underlay Music: Band – Stigmata / Album – ‘The Calling of the Just’ – 1991 / Track 01 – ‘Intro-All of Nothing’ / 00:00 Timestamp at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KOInLUjAEA
* Stigmata was a “metalcore band” from Troy, New York from 1989-2016. Bob Riley on Vocals | insta: stigmata518

About the author: June M. Williams is a midwest-based graphic designer, videographer, author & editor for Bloody Elbow. She began work for the Combat Sports Division in 2010, Bloody Elbow since 2013. Among other tasks, she currently manages & syndicates our ‘Bloody Elbow Presents’ Podcast Network. (full bio)

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