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Last fight was in 2015 and after turning 30 last year I thought I'd challenge myself and get back in there after a few years of not taking care of myself / struggling with addiction. Feeling good, sharp and excited to test myself at lightweight. Never too late to get your shit back on track, hopefully update you all tomorrow with good news and a belt! submitted by /u/Badranza [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

A.J. McKee didn’t exactly have the year he wanted in 2023, so he’s ready for a fresh start to kick off 2024.

Originally slated to be one of the eight participants in the Bellator lightweight grand prix, McKee had to drop out due to an injury before the tournament even began. He eventually returned to action this past November, earning a hard-fought decision over Sidney Outlaw despite spending the majority of the bout on his back.

Now set to face Clay Collard at the PFL vs. Bellator card on Saturday, McKee anxiously awaits the chance to jump back into title contention, especially with the grand prix in limbo following Bellator’s sale late last year.

“I’m dedicating this fight to myself and getting that gold back around my waist,” McKee told MMA Fighting. “Whether it’s [145 pounds, 155 pounds,] whatever it may be, I’ve just got to take one fight at a time. I really can’t overlook anybody. Just focus on what’s at hand, and right now, Clay Collard is the man.

“I wasn’t happy with how my last fight went, spending 12 out of 15 minutes on my back, but when you’re dealt low cards in the game of poker, sometimes you’ve got to bluff, and I did what I did to come out victorious. I was happy to receive the win, and receiving an opponent like Clay Collard on a pay-per-view event, it’s great. I couldn’t have asked for a better opponent. I really haven’t been able to utilize my striking at 155 pounds. Looking at this event in Saudi Arabia, Clay Collard’s going to come forward, he’s going to put it all on the line, and I’m looking forward to doing the same thing.”

A win on Saturday would move McKee to 4-0 as a lightweight after spending the majority of his career competing at 145 pounds. His ultimate goal hasn’t changed — and that’s capturing Bellator gold at 155 pounds, which he thought would happen in the grand prix.

Meanwhile, reigning Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov remains sidelined until April due to a six-month suspension after he tested positive for a banned substance following a fight against Brent Primus this past October.

Nurmagomedov’s win over Primus was overturned to a no-contest by the California State Athletic Commission, but Bellator opted not to strip him of the lightweight title because his positive test came as a result of a prescribed medication.

It remains to be seen exactly what will be next for Nurmagomedov when he returns, but McKee definitely hopes he gets to welcome him back.

“It’s the fight that everyone wants to see,” McKee said. “There’s a lot of great fights on this card. Like I said, if I can’t be undefeated, no one can. I’m looking forward to taking that ‘0.’ I’m coming for Usman. He’s a great champ. I would love to test his skills. He’s got great wrestling, pretty decent striking, jiu-jitsu, and I think that’s just an entertaining fight wherever it may go. I think it’s the fight to make.”

As far as Nurmagomedov failing a drug test, McKee doesn’t care much about whatever substance was found in his body, legal or not. He’s not going to sacrifice his chance to win the Bellator lightweight title just because Nurmagomedov might be illegally enhanced.

“As far as Usman being suspended, I don’t really give a s*** what he’s taking or what he’s on,” McKee said. “I don’t care. Take whatever the hell you want. When we get in the cage, you’ve got a fight on your hands. OK, it’s prescribed, you didn’t list it, I don’t care. I don’t really care. You can get f****** steroids prescribed if you wanted. I really don’t care.

“At the end of the day, I lost the opportunity to claim a world title, and eight names to continue my hit list on [my way to] a world title. That’s what I was really intrigued about.”

If the lightweight title is unavailable after he faces Collard this weekend, McKee would entertain a return to featherweight as well if he could finally settle some unfinished business there.

The only blemish on McKee’s otherwise spotless résumé came in a decision loss to Patricio Pitbull in their 2022 rematch. McKee hoped for an immediate trilogy fight, but that didn’t happen, so he’s hoping an eventual bout with Pitbull is still on the table for the future.

“I’ve always been open to [returning to featherweight],” McKee said. “I think I’ve always been open and verbal about it. The fight has to make sense. At 22 or 23 fights in the 145-pound division, who else on the Bellator roster is there for me to fight besides Patricio Pitbull? That’s the fight everybody wants to see.

“It all matters to what happens. I can dream on what I want to do and I can say what I want to do, but I need to sit down and speak to PFL and see what they want to do and figure out a game plan.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Following his impressive win at UFC 294 late last year, many are impatiently waiting to see Khamzat Chimaev make his octagon return. 

‘Borz’ quickly became a fan-favorite under the UFC banner since joining the promotion from Brave CF in 2020. Chimaev has since gone on to win seven straight, extending his record to a perfect 13-0, with his most impressive victory arguably coming last time out against Kamaru Usman.

Amid all the speculation about his next fight, Khamzat Chimaev has finally cleared that up. During a recent interview, the elite prospect gave his ideal timeline for his return to action.

“In the summer, I think. In the summer we’ll be back,” Chimaev said regarding his comeback. “I want to fight in Saudi Arabia but I don’t think anybody wants to fight me there.”

“So, we’ll see what’s going to happen. So, [I’m] just waiting for something. They wanted me to fight [at UFC] 300 but I said it’s too short a time for 77 kilos [170lbs]. So, I need a little bit of time.”

When asked about a potential Leon Edwards clash, Chimaev revealed why the huge welterweight title fight didn’t come to fruition.

“It wasn’t 100 percent sure, but they talked. My manager said, ‘Maybe, maybe.’ My brother said to me, ‘Not in Ramadan.’ So, after Ramadan, we take some time in camp and then we fight anyone.”

Related: Israel Adesanya vs. Khamzat Chimaev at UFC Saudi Arabia?

Having competed just twice in almost two years, fans’ have become desperate to see Chimaev back where he belongs. 

Despite potentially missing out on a title shot for missing weight in his canceled matchup against Nate Diaz, the Chechnya-born star remains in touching distance of his first shot at UFC gold.

Competing in both the middleweight and welterweight divisions during his run in the UFC, Khamzat Chimaev has expressed his interest in facing both Dricus Du Plessis and Leon Edwards for their belts.

Another man that the 29-year-old has been keen on facing is light heavyweight king, Alex Pereira. While there is no official date yet, check out what Chimaev had to say about his return in the video below.

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Aggressive finisher, Brandon Royval, will get his chance at revenge opposite former champion, Brandon Moreno, this Saturday (Feb. 24, 2024) at UFC Mexico City inside CDMX Arena in Mexico City, Mexico.

“Raw Dog” is an athlete trying to make the most of his skill set like any other. Unlike most, however, Royval climbed the ranks and found great success by breaking the rules. For most of his career, Royval’s general tactic has been throwing out a ton of high-risk, high-reward offense in the hopes that he can outlast whatever counters come back his way.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

By and large, though, it works. Unfortunately, the cream of the crop occasionally have been able to capitalize on his aggression and turn it against him. As such, he’s in the midst of a rebrand, trying to adjust his style to that of a more patient distance kickboxer. There have been growing pains, noticeable in a disappointing title performance against Alexandre Pantoja.

Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:

Striking

Standing 5’9”, Royval is one of the lankier men at 125 pounds. The Southpaw makes that range work in his favor often, but he doesn’t always do so in conventional ways.

First and foremost, Royval is of course firing that left kick at every possible opportunity. He’s often throwing them naked, a habit which occasionally gets him in trouble with counter punches or takedowns (GIF). Still, there are few better weapons in mixed martial arts (MMA) than a strong left kick, which can wreak havoc on the lead leg, liver or skull of an Orthodox opponent.

Royval pairs this left kick mostly with an active right hand. The interesting thing here is that Royval’s jab doesn’t have a ton of weight behind it. The Coloradan athlete tends to paw with the jab and throw it more as an arm punch. His jab isn’t intended to do huge amounts of damage, but instead, it allows him to keep a bead on his opponent’s timing and movement.

Often, a flash of the jab is followed by that left leg punt. Sometimes, he’ll follow with a cross, but standard 1-2s down the middle are not really Royval’s game. He’s more likely to double and triple the jab or hook off it, just touching his foe with his lead hand to set up other offense like the power kick or knee from the left side.

What really makes Royval’s kickboxing special — what catches opponents off-guard — is how well he ties together punches, kicks, knees, and elbows. He is frequently putting together lengthy combos that mix all of them together, and those shots do damage when they sneak through the guard.

For example, let’s say Royval flicks the jab then follows with a left body kick, a classic Southpaw approach. Most would circle off afterwards, whereas Royval will often use his leg returning to stance to throw another right hook. If his opponent stays in place and takes the right hook on their guard, Royval will step forward hard into a left knee or left elbow. Suddenly, his opponent is back off in the face of all that offense, and Royval is following with a trio of light jabs, looking to line up the left kick again.

Rinse and repeat.

Another interesting angle to Royval’s attack is how often his power shots come in from the right side. Southpaw offense tends to revolve around the left cross and left kick, great weapons that play off each other well. That’s true for Royval too, but his ability to reset off missed kicks often sees him spinning into elbows/punches that come from the right side instead.

In addition, Royval really likes to attack with his right knee. To do so, he first has to take at least a small step with his left foot to square up his stance and load the right hip a bit. Usually, he’ll hide this step by feinting a left kick or actually throwing a left hand, both of which can allow him to slide the back foot forward and fire the knee up the middle. This is how he knocked out Matheus Nicolau (GIF), and it really throw off Kai Kara-France as well. Royval’s height makes it easier to raise the knee to the chin level of his opponents, which is scary!

Defensively, Royval is not a difficult man to hit. He throws himself into the fray willingly, and there’s a reason most fighters are not stringing together 10-strike combinations. Spectacular head movement isn’t what makes it possible for Royval; it’s toughness and boldness.

Wrestling

Royval’s wrestling is the weakest aspect of his game. He’s not an awful wrestler — truly bad wrestlers don’t take down Pantoja or win decisions against Rogerio Bontorin — but his striking and jiu-jitsu are far superior.

Since Royval isn’t usually looking for offensive takedowns, defense is the issue. His wildness on the feet and naked kicking tend to be the biggest issue in this regard. He stands tall and isn’t overly strong, meaning a well-timed double leg or caught kick is likely to just bowl him over.

Part of Royval’s more patient approach to kickboxing in his last few fights is due to an effort to improve his takedown defense. When Royval sees a takedown coming at distance, he tends to do good work in feeding his opponent onto the single leg, which is good strategy for a lankier fighter.

The rematch with Pantoja showed the real issue to this stylistic adjustment, however. Pantoja was physical and experienced enough to still wrestle through a patient “Raw Dog” defense, but Royval’s decreased activity also hurt his odds of scoring a finish.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Royval is a jiu-jitsu black belt with eight finishes via submission, including three strangles inside the Octagon.

There are a few aspects that really stand out about Royval’s grappling game. First and foremost, the man is an excellent scrambler. From both top and bottom position, he really excels at forcing his opponent to keep moving. The activity doesn’t stop!

From bottom position, Royval’s guard is extremely active. He rarely closes it, instead opting to shift for hard angles from his back. Much of the time, he’s looking to isolate an arm and attack the omoplata. Though he did successfully sweep Kara-France with an omoplata in the first round of their fight, he’ll also build off the threat of that submission. If his opponent pulls away to escape the omoplata, Royval will invert and attack a leg. As his opponent drives back into him to prevent the leg entanglement, Royval will throw his legs up to attack the triangle/armbar in return (GIF).

It’s a similar strategy to Roman Dolidze.

The guillotine has proven a serious weapon for Royval, accounting for two of his UFC submissions. What’s interesting is that both finishes were different styles of guillotine! Against Kara-France, Royval’s pressure and varied offense forced an uncomfortable double leg from the Kiwi. Rather than defend, he immediately wrapped the neck in an old-school arm-in guillotine, jumping full guard. Sitting up into the strangle, Royval finished the choke in correct fashion (GIF).

Rewatching Royval’s quick finish over Matt Schnell, it’s actually a bit funny how badly Schnell was kicking Royval’s ass prior to the guillotine. Royval didn’t find a bit of success, getting knocked down, mounted, and beaten up in the opening two minutes. Then, Schnell fell off top position going for a choke. When he tried to wrestle up, Royval jumped a guillotine and finished him almost instantly! Schnell went from complete control to tapping in 10 seconds.

As for the guillotine itself, Royval did well to drive into Schnell before jumping guard, allowing a deeper grip on the neck. Once again, he initially had an arm-in guillotine grip. However, since his choke arm was so deep, Royval was able to release that grip and squeeze with just one arm, using the other hand to merely control Schnell’s arm and prevent him from fighting hands. He switched that non-choke arm to helping apply pressure to the squeeze at the last-second, but Schnell was already tapping.

Conclusion

Royval is a really offensively potent opportunist, able to create a finish suddenly and from thin air. However, he’s faced with one of the toughest and most durable men at Flyweight, and Moreno has fewer of the defensive openings in his game. It’s a difficult style match up for Royval, who will likely need the perfect connection of knee or elbow to score the upset.

Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Mexico City fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 10 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Mexico City: “Moreno vs. Royval 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Yair Rodriguez knows exactly where he screwed up against Alexander Volkanovski.

Last July, Rodriguez faced Volkanovski in a featherweight title unification bout at UFC 290, falling to the long-reigning champion via third-round TKO. It was an unfortunate result for “El Pantera,” but one that he believes taught him a valuable lesson moving forward in his career.

“Listen to my corner a little more,” Rodriguez said on The MMA Hour when asked what he did wrong against Volkanovski. “I wasn’t really listening to my corner. I did everything OK before the fight. During the fight, I started making some adjustments and I started picking it up slowly. I think I was doing a pretty good job until I got that good punch. I think he hit me with the head once in the third round, and I didn’t really take much time to come back and fight. My corner was like, ‘OK, take some time. You’re not in a rush.’ I didn’t listen. I just went back and after that I got the right hand and I was almost out. I couldn’t really defend myself that well. But it is what it is. That’s the name of the sport.

“I just tried to come back faster. I didn’t want the fight to cool down. I felt like, ‘I can do this,’ and then I got punched right after that and I felt it. It was a really good punch too. After that punch I was almost out, so I couldn’t really do much.”

Rodriguez admitted that in the immediate aftermath, he was upset with the outcome. But upon reflection, “El Pantera” says he believes his story with Volkanovski is not over yet.

“I was sad. I didn’t want to go back and watch the fight,” Rodriguez said. “I was like, ‘OK, whatever. I lost the fight.’ But I went back and watched the fight and it wasn’t that bad. I think I can get him in the next one. I’m still in contention. I’m still at the front of the division. I think I’m going to have another opportunity to fight for the title again.”

Rodriguez remains the No. 2-ranked featherweight, according to UFC. He begins his climb back to title contention on Saturday with a five-round rematch against Brian Ortega in the co-main event of UFC Mexico. The two first met back in 2022 in the main event of UFC on ABC 3, with Rodriguez winning in the first round after Ortega suffered a shoulder injury. The of nature of the ending left some fans dissatisfied with the result, and now the two have a chance to correct that — and do so in Rodriguez’s home country.

“I like the fact that I’m fighting in Mexico City,” Rodriguez said. “It just kind of surprised me that they didn’t give me the main event but still gave me five rounds. But who cares? Whatever. I’m OK with whatever.

“I didn’t really have much options [for opponent]. They offered Brian Ortega and I said yes. I’m OK with that. Many people didn’t like the result of the last fight. But who cares? We’re fighting again and I guess now there will be no doubt.”

And when the cage door closes, Rodriguez believes that home field advantage will be enormous, and ultimately lead to the same outcome as the first go around.

“I don’t know if Brian has been preparing himself at high elevation, but I think he’s going to try and come quick at me,” Rodriguez said. “Try and take my back, take me down. He’s going to try and do something desperate like that and it’s going to lead to me winning the fight because of him getting desperate. He’s going to feel the elevation, he’s going to feel the pressure of the public, he’s going to feel my pressure because I am 100 percent not getting tired in that fight, and I think I’m going to get him in the second round.”

UFC Mexico takes place on Feb. 24 at Arena CDMX in Mexico City. It’s set to be headlined by a flyweight rematch between Brandon Moreno and Brandon Royval.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Khamzat Chimaev’s return to the Octagon is imminent.

Fight fans last saw the undefeated Chechen monster in October when he scored a majority decision victory over former welterweight world champion Kamaru Usman. Since then, rumors have been flying as to who he would face next.

In an interview ahead of this Saturday’s Fight Club Rush 19 event in Stockholm, Sweden ‘Borz’ offered up a timeline for his first appearance in 2024.

“In the summer, I think — in the summer we’ll be back,” Chimaev said. “I want to fight in Saudi Arabia, but I don’t think anyone wants to fight me there. So we’ll see what’s going to happen. Just waiting for something, and they want me to fight [at UFC] 300, but I said it’s too short a time for [170 pounds], I need more time.”

For a time, Chimaev was heavily rumored to feature on UFC 300 in April. As it turns out, the promotion offered him a spot opposite reigning welterweight titleholder Leon Edwards. However, With too short of a turnaround to properly make the weight and Ramadan going right up until fight week, ‘Borz’ decided it was best to take the advice of his brother and opt out of the opportunity.

“It wasn’t 100 percent sure, but we had talked, my manager said, ‘Maybe, maybe,’” Chimaev said of the Edwards matchup. “My brother said to me, ‘Not in Ramadan,’ so after Ramadan we take some time in camp and then we fight anyone” (h/t MMA Fighting).

Following his win over the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ at UFC 294, Khamzat Chimaev appears to be primed for a long-awaited title shot, whether it be at welterweight or middleweight. He was recently tied to a fight with Israel Adesanya in the Saudi Arabian capital on June 22, but UFC CEO Dana White was quick to squash those rumors.

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