Category Archives: Mmamania.com

Fight fans itching for some combat sports action on July 20, but don’t want to pay fifty bucks to watch Jake Paul duke it out with Mike Perry, UFC will be hosting another APEX card on ESPN and ESPN+, headlined by Top 5 strawweights Amanda Lemos and Virna Jandiroba.

Event: UFC Vegas 94: “Lemos vs. Jandiroba”
Date: Sat., July 20, 2024
Location: UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada
Broadcast: ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN+
Start Time: 5 p.m. ET Preliminary Card | 8 p.m. ET Main Card

UFC Vegas 94 Main Event On ESPN/ESPN+:

125 lbs.: Amanda Lemos vs. Virna Jandiroba

UFC Vegas 94 Main Card on ESPN/ESPN+ (8 p.m. ET):

185 lbs.: Brad Tavares vs. Jun Yong Park
145 lbs.: Steve Garcia vs. Seung Woo Choi
155 lbs.: Kurt Holobaugh vs. Kaynan Kruschewsky
145 lbs.: Doo Ho Choi vs. Bill Algeo

UFC Vegas 94 ‘Prelims’ Card on ESPN2/ESPN+ (5 p.m. ET):

125 lbs.: Cody Durden vs. Bruno Silva
145 lbs.: Jeong Yeong Lee vs. Hyder Amil
135 lbs.: Brian Kelleher vs. Cody Gibson
125 lbs.: Miranda Maverick vs. Dione Barbosa
155 lbs.: Loik Radzhabov vs. Trey Ogden
135 lbs.: Luana Carolina vs. Lucie Pudilova
265 lbs.: Mohammed Usman vs. Thomas Petersen

*Fight card, bout order and number of fights remain subject to change.*

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Holm is frustrated that she underperformed against Kayla Harrison at UFC 300, but insists she’s still got a lot of gas left in the tank.

Holly Holm is still not happy about how her UFC 300 fight against Kayla Harrison went.

Harrison handled the former women’s bantamweight champion with relative ease, taking Holm down and submitting her in the second round (watch the finish here). As if that wasn’t bad enough, UFC CEO Dana White gave her the proverbial kiss of death at the post-fight presser, declaring “I would love to see Holly retire,” when asked about her performance.

Holm is 5-6-1 since losing the 135 pound belt to Miesha Tate in 2016, and she looked a step behind throughout her last two fights. Time comes for all fighters, and at 42 it’s possible we’ve seen the best of “The Preacher’s Daughter.” But Holm is determined to prove her doubters wrong.

“I’m pissed off,” she said to MMA Junkie during the UFC fan expo. “I’ve lost a lot of sleep over it because I just know I’m capable of more than what I performed. That’s just how it goes. You can’t go back and change it. You gotta suck it up, own it, and keep grinding, and move forward.”

“I think what’s super frustrating is I had a great camp, no injuries. I was healthy, great training partners, great coaching, and I’m the one that let everyone down. I’m the one that didn’t go in there and letting everyone down including myself, you know. So, yeah, it’s frustrating.”

Holm has three fights left on her current contract, and it’s unlikely that the UFC would drop her or stop giving her fights just yet. But it’s never good when the boss urges you to hang ‘em up. How did Holly react to Dana White’s public rebuke?

“I’m just training because that’s all I can do,” she said. “Take it one day at a time, you know? Tomorrow’s never promised, in life or in sport. So I’m just training, and I always choose to be positive and driven in my life, and we’ll just see what tomorrow brings.”

“I’m ready to go whenever. I definitely am not ready to be done fighting. I know I’m still healthy and capable. I’m just mad that I haven’t performed.”

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Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Ryan Garcia’s career is in the midst of a free fall.

Just about two months ago, Garcia shocked the world by upsetting Devin Haney (watch here), erasing the champion’s undefeated record and hurting him badly more than once. It was a stunning moment, particularly given Garcia’s erratic public behavior and apparent problems with substance abuse. After the win, Garcia claimed it was all an act to score the role of underdog.

Maybe not.

Shortly after the win, Garcia tested positive for Ostarine, a performance-enhancing drug (PED). After some deliberation, Garcia accepted a one-year suspension, and his career-best victory over Haney was overturned to a “No Contest.” It also cost Garcia over a million in fines and fees.

Now, Garcia finds himself in more trouble. His social media behavior has long been unpredictable, but in the clip above, Garcia can be heard using the N word and identifying with the Ku Klux Klan (H/T NYPost). Because of that rant and other racist remarks online, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman has expelled Garcia from the WBC.

“Exercising my authority as president of the WBC,” Sulaiman wrote on social media. “I am hereby expelling Ryan Garcia from any activity with our organization. We reject any form of discrimination. I fear for Ryan well being as he has declined multiple attempts for our help with mental health and substance abuse.”

Afterward, Garcia wrote online that he was just “trolling,” but that didn’t stop him from arguing with random people online and continuing to use slurs.

Insomnia

Happy 4th!

Michael Page reacts to his competitive loss to Ian Garry:

Alexander Volkanovski vs. Dustin Poirier feels like the perfect fight for both men right now after their respective title fight losses.

James Vick has taken so much damage in the last few years, scary stuff.

Mark Hunt shares a document from his lawsuit against Brock Lesnar and the UFC:

Neil Magny is always taking on the baddest up-and-comers at 170 lbs. The greatest gatekeeper of all time?

Shocking that Denver isn’t overly excited about an Apex-level event.

Merab Dvalishvili and company are just doing what’s necessary to stay cool in this heat wave.

Apparently, Chael Sonnen’s Twitter account was hacked yesterday.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

A juicy stoppage win.

Hand trapping is growing more and more prevalent in MMA.

The agony of a well-placed body shot:

Random Land

Be careful out there!

Midnight Music: Folk, 1972

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

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“There’s gonna be no f*cking Americans left in the UFC.”

Sean Strickland hasn’t been fond of the influx of international talent in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

The former Middleweight champion sits atop the rankings in one of the promotion’s most culturally diverse divisions. In his last 14 bouts, Strickland has battled only two of his fellow Americans since November 2017.

It’s nothing new for the 185-pound division to have international talent rule the roost. Most obviously, Brazil’s Anderson Silva etched his name into the history books as one of the most dominant champions in mixed martial arts (MMA) history during his record 16-fight winning streak and 10 title defenses in UFC (Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold). In between Silva and Strickland, there were only two of 10 title reigns that belonged to Americans. The outspoken “Tarzan” would like to see his countrymen step up.

“At one point, there’s gonna be no f*cking Americans left in the UFC,” Strickland told MMA Mania. “We’re all gonna be watching Dagestanis and Russians, Brazilians fighting. No one’s gonna give a f*ck. So, that’s what I think about that, you know. Let’s make the UFC American again.”

Strickland, 33, lost his title to South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis in a closely contested split decision at UFC 297 in January 2024 (watch highlights). He rebounded to get back in the win column with a five-round split decision over Paulo Costa at UFC 302 last month (June 1, 2024).

With the win and close nature of his du Plessis loss, Strickland believes he deserves his rematch for gold and is planning to wait for it no matter what. Sorry, Robert Whittaker, your fellow former champion is not budging on that one. Meanwhile, du Plessis will make his first title defense against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 next month (Sat., Aug. 17, 2024).

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Jiri Prochazka has just two losses under the UFC banner, both of which came at the hands of reigning 205-pound titleholder Alex Pereira. After a questionable stoppage at UFC 295 late last year, “Poatan” erased all doubt with a thunderous head kick in their UFC 303 rematch.

So what happened?

“I believed Jiri was truly ready going into this fight. We wouldn’t have taken this short notice fight if we hadn’t believed he was ready,” coach Martin Karaivanov told TN CZ Sport. “Everything was great before the fight. In the locker room too. I don’t know what happened. Jiri himself said he wasn’t fully in the fight, that he wasn’t able to fully immerse himself in it, which was reflected by his performance. We are going to rewatch the fight, recap what happened and alter our future training accordingly.”

That future training could include a weight cut to 185 pounds.

“Personally speaking I see [middleweight] as a potential restart and a positive step,” Karaivanov continued. “He is also still at an age where he can cut weight to [185] relatively well. We will definitely talk about it. It won’t be my decision, but a team decision. Middleweight would make sense because it would be a new start, something new to focus on. A return to light heavyweight would make sense if and when it starts becoming difficult for him to cut weight to middleweight.”

It became difficult for Pereira, 36, which is why “Poatan” now fights at 205 pounds.

Prochazka, 31, is likely to make his Octagon return at some point later this year, though it remains to be seen if matchmakers keep him at 205 pounds or give “BJP” the freedom to change weight classes. To see what Prochazka would be up against in his new division, check out the middleweight Top 15 here.

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Don’t believe the rumors that UFC cut Andrei Arlovski. According to ‘The Pitbull,’ they offered him a new deal but he decided it was time to move on.

Andrei Arlovski may be done fighting in the UFC, but he’s not done fighting.

That’s the message “The Pitbull” has been repeating since news came out that he was leaving the promotion off a split decision loss to Martin Buday at UFC 303. The bout was the last on Arlovski’s current contract, and the former heavyweight champ says he decided not to re-sign with the promotion.

“I knew it was going to be my last [UFC] fight,” Arlovski said on a new episode of The MMA Hour. “The UFC proposed to do something, but I didn’t want it. My chapter in the UFC is closed, but definitely not on my MMA career. That’s why I decided not to do something, because the UFC proposed something, but I said no. So yeah, it was my last [UFC] fight.”

“They asked me, do I want? And I said no. But yeah, they proposed me.”

The 45 year old Arlovski has spent the last 10 years of his career as a de facto heavyweight gatekeeper, going 11-14-1 over that period with zero KOs. That’s a big switch from his early days when “The Pitbull” was a kill or be killed knockout artist that won the UFC heavyweight championship.

By the end of his run in 2024, Arlovski had transformed his style into a slow damage-avoidant grind. While it wasn’t particularly fun to watch, we give him props for cashing $ 300,000+ paychecks for as long as he did. Now we’ll see what comes next for Arlovski, who has said he’s already talking to other promotions.

“I’m not done fighting. I’m done with the UFC but I’m not done fighting,” he said. “More s— coming, we’re working on stuff.”

As for how he felt after his last fight with the promotion?

“I thought I was going to cry like little bitch,” Arlovski admitted. “But as of today … this is not the end of the line. Obviously I spent the biggest amount of time training and fighting especially in the UFC. But I didn’t sign new contract with UFC, I left the UFC, my chapter in UFC is done but life is not over. So like I said, I’m very excited.”

Arlovski was mostly positive when discussing the UFC, and thanked exec Hunter Campbell for moving his last fight from the Apex to a live crowd at UFC 303. He credited his longevity with the promotion to not talking trash, even when the UFC tried to bury him the last time his contract ended.

“Obviously, Uncle Dana helped me buy a new house, but I need to pay bills,” he said of his future. “I have a newborn baby, so I need to do a couple of more years.”

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Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

After the UFC 305 kickoff press conference on Tuesday, the Middleweight division is back at the forefront of the MMA world. Scheduled August 17, 2024 from Perth, Australia, the main event is a bad-blood-fueled title fight between 185-pound champion Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya.

The trash talk is already getting a little hairy.

Du Plessis vs. Adesanya comes at an interesting time. On one hand, it’s the obvious fight to make, a high-profile grudge match that was supposed to happen last year. Some extra time for the beef to simmer has only increased the intrigue, and it’s sure to move a lot of pay-per-view (PPV) buys. At the same time, “Stylebender” has lost two of his last three, whereas fellow former champions Sean Strickland and Robert Whittaker are already in the win column.

Consequently, Strickland and Whittaker both want the next shot at gold after UFC 305. According to the current champion, the obvious solution is to book the duo … even though Strickland is busy swearing up and down that he will not fight again unless it’s for the belt.

“People want to see me and Strickland do the rematch,” Du Plessis explained when asked which man he’d rather rematch. “They make the most noise, the Strickland fans. Either one of them. At the end of the day, I’m here to fight the best guys. I’m here to do the biggest fights, the fights the fans want to see.

“In my opinion, how I see this playing out, you cannot not do the Whittaker vs. Strickland fight. I think that’s the fight that needs to happen. It’s just a fight that makes so much sense. that’s the fight on its own, you can main event it on any card. I honestly think that’s how it’s gonna play out.”

Really, “DDP” is in an interesting spot. If victorious at UFC 305, he’ll have defeated three out of the last four Middleweight champions, as well as the top three ranked men in his division. Of course, Adesanya could throw a wrench in his matchmaking with a victory, and Khamzat Chimaev could be waiting in the wings too … if he’s ever healthy.

Insomnia

Joshua Van’s scheduled UFC Vegas 93 fight fell apart a couple weeks ago, but thankfully he’s getting a fairly quick rebound at UFC Denver.

Another high-quality Flyweight booking between entertaining up-and-comers:

Diego Lopes and Movsar Evloev have been chirping quite a bit lately — think we see a rematch in the near future?

Jon Jones weighs in on all the talk of shamanic magic:

In today’s episode of “Fight news that definitely isn’t happening.”

Nate Diaz and Demetrious Johnson is a funny combination that works better than I would’ve thought.

A look into the “Suga” Sean O’Malley training camp!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

A boxing match most that a lot of fight fans probably didn’t see:

I thought flinching/moving wasn’t allowed in this stupid game?

Fighting on top of freight has a real aesthetic to it.

Random Land

All terrain vehicles.

Midnight Music: Indie pop, 2014

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

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Don’t insult Nate Diaz to his face and not expect consequences or a reaction.

A clout-chasing streamer got exactly what he wanted at the final Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal 2 pre-fight press conference today (Weds., July 3, 2024). When you thought these shenanigans couldn’t get any worse, these internet celebrities always find a way to one-up each other.

After the presser concluded, the streamer was seen on his stream leaving the building to make a quick exit and dial Masvidal. Insisting on his team getting in their departure vehicle, he started to run as presumed Diaz team members chased him down as he shouted he was sorry. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time this specific attention-seeker has found their way around combat sports. The clip can be seen in the embedded player above.

“Second question I have for you today, man, is when you do get knocked out, are you gonna retire?” the streamer asked at the presser.

“Who said that so I know who you are?” Diaz responded. “That little b*tch boy? You f*cking little p*ssy f*ggot. What the f*ck?”

“If you do, I don’t know what’s gonna happen, I’m gonna be watching,” the streamer said. “I’m excited to see both sides.”

“I’m gonna kick you in your f*cking leg, motherf*cker,” Diaz said. “P.S., f*ck you.”

“I have a lot of respect for everyone, man, I just want to see a great fight,” the streamer replied.

“F*ck you,” Diaz stated. “It’s little sh*t kids like this little b*tch talking and motherf*cking changing the times. You’re gonna get your little ass whooped. I got little girls over here that will f*ck you up.”

Masvidal vs. Diaz 2 takes place in a boxing match at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California this weekend (Sat., July 6, 2024).

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Former UFC welterweight rivals Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal will stage a final pre-fight press conference this afternoon, LIVE at 4:30 p.m. ET in the embedded video above. Diaz rematches “Gamebred” under boxing rules on Sat., July 6, 2024 from inside Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., a pay-per-view (PPV) spectacle priced at $ 49.99.

Today’s press conference also features two-time world champion Daniel “The Miracle Man” Jacobs and red-hot rival Shane Mosley Jr., who meet in the “Last Man Standing” co-main event. Devin Cushing, Manuel Correa, and former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis are also scheduled to take the stage for Thursday’s media festivities.

Diaz, who is 0-1 in the “sweet science” after getting knocked around by Jake Paul last summer, will be looking to avenge his UFC 244 loss to Masvidal (1-0), which ended by way of doctor’s stoppage after Diaz suffered a fight-ending cut. Diaz vs. Masvidal 2 will be contested across 10 rounds at 175 pounds (light heavyweight).

“He won the first fight but I’m back for more, so that’s what’s popping,” Diaz said at their kickoff press conference earlier this year. “This is a new fight and I’m here to win. I expect him to do what he’s gotta do in there. He’s got a good coach and he’s doing what he’s supposed to do in training, but I’ve been doing this a long time. We’ll see how it goes for him.”

For much more on this weekend’s “Last Man Standing” boxing event click here.

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Nate Diaz explains why his performance in the Jake Paul fight left a little to be desired, and it involves four weeks of hard partying after a training camp injury.

Nate Diaz has a reputation for being one of the toughest fighters out there. But which Diaz are we expecting to see on July 6th when Nate fights Jorge Masvidal in an Anaheim boxing ring? The one who engaged in a legendary series of fights against Conor McGregor in 2016? Or the one who cruised to a listless decision loss against Jake Paul in 2023?

Paul has come out and mocked Diaz for his performance in their boxing match, saying the Stockton fighter was the weakest puncher he’d ever faced. In a new interview with ESPN, Diaz gave some eyebrow raising reasons as to why he wasn’t punching up to his usual level.

“For one, I was injured and I couldn’t even really throw a punch,” he said. “I was f—ed up. And for two, he was the easiest fight I ever had. That was the longest fight at the heaviest weightclass I ever had. Never got tired. Never got hurt. Nothing.”

“Even when I got knocked down, I think it was timing because it didn’t hurt, I got up like ‘You good?’ ‘Oh, I’m fine.’ I thought he was pretty weak himself.”

There have been several fuzzy reports on Diaz’s injury at the time of the Paul fight, with descriptions ranging from a bum shoulder to pinched back nerve. And now Nate is sharing some new info on how he decided to handle the setback.

“I went on a four week bender before the fight,” Diaz said. “We trained hard for months on months and we were over it, me and my whole team. So I sat back and started kicking it. I was over training.”

“If it was a scary opponent, you wouldn’t allow yourself to do that. But it was just easy to go to sleep at night fighting that guy. But it was good that it happened like that because now it’s necessary to work out, get disciplined, and go back and whip his ass.”

“I’m the weakest puncher, and you’re the one that wanted to fight 30 pounds over my original weight division?” Diaz asked. “You think I was just trying to sit there and just knock you out? Like throw as hard of punches as I can? I was just getting through that fight because I was half way to my potential that day.”

As for how his training camp has been going for the Jorge Masvidal fight?

“A lot better than the last fight, that’s for damn sure!” he exclaimed.

Nate Diaz vs. Jorge Masvial: “Last Man Standing” goes down Saturday July 6th from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Fans can watch at home for just $ 49.95.

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