UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The Mixed Martial Arts Hour is back in your life! Below is a rundown of Monday’s show, which begins at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT / 6 p.m. UK time.

1 p.m. ET: Recapping the weekend with Fury vs. Usyk new date, Dustin Poirier news, UFC APEX 85 and more.

1:50 p.m.: UFC APEX 85’s Themba Gorimbo reacts to his big win.

2:15 p.m.: Former boxing champ Teofimo Lopez previews his Thursday clash with Jamaine Ortiz.

2:45 p.m.: Former UFC champ Quinton Jackson returns to talk about his boxing match with Shannon Briggs.

3:30 p.m.: UFC APEX 85 co-headliner Renato Moicano reacts to his win over Drew Dober.

4 p.m.: UFC featherweight title challenger Ilia Topuria talks about his UFC 298 title shot against Alexander Volkanovski.

4:30 p.m.: UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier talks about the wild week surrounding his UFC 299 fight with Benoit Saint Denis.

5 p.m.: Parlay Boys pick best bets for UFC APEX 86 and more.

For the latest episodes of The MMA Hour, subscribe on Spotify or iTunes.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

The thought of changing the downed fighter rule in mixed martial arts has gained steam in recent years and Saturday’s UFC Vegas 85 main event proved why the rule should be changed.  

After watching the middleweight headliner between Roman Dolidze and Nassourdine Imavov, former middleweight champion Michael Bisping joined the change the rule camp.  

“The UFC Fight Night at the UFC Apex just finished, Roman Dolidze taking on Nassourdine Imavov.  And that went the distance and the rule needs to be God d**mn changed,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel.    

The rule “The Count” referenced is the “downed fighter” or the “downed opponent” rule.  Some states, like Florida for instance, have already adopted a new rule for a downed fighter.  In the past, and in a lot of places, the rule that defined a downed fighter stated, “A grounded fighter is defined as: Any part of the body, other than the soles of the feet touching the fighting area floor.”

The newer rule only adopted in some places reads: “A grounded fighter is defined as: Any part of the body, other than a single hand and soles of the feet touching the fighting area floor. To be grounded, both hands palm/fist down, and/or any other body part must be touching the fighting area floor. A single knee, arm, makes the fighter grounded without having to have any other body part in touch with the fighting area floor. At this time, kicks or knees to the head will not be allowed.”

Part of the problem with allowing fighters to simply put a finger on the canvas to be considered grounded is that when a fighter does that he’s not protecting himself.  The second part is that it makes it difficult for a referee to determine whether a fighter is grounded.  

In Saturday’s main event, Dolidze put his hand on the canvas while standing.  Imavov kicked him in the head.  A point was deducted from Imavov for the infraction but it was a clear example of why the rule should be amended everywhere.  

“There was a point deducted because, I think, it was round 3.  In round 3, Dolidze again had given up his back standing because he throws a lot of spinning techniques and at times trying to get the takedown against the fence he’d turned and gave up his back a few times,” Bisping said.  

“Dolidze had given up his back.  Imavov’s got him in the body lock.  What does Dolidze do?  Well, he’s playing the game.  He’s putting the hand down on the octagon canvas,” continued Bisping.  “And you can’t hit him there because that’s a ‘downed opponent.’  Just recently there was a lot of talk by the California Athletic Commission that that was going to be changed.”

Related: Renato Moicano promises to ‘fix America’ and impregnate his wife during wild post-fight rant at UFC Vegas 85

The new rule is mostly the same as the old rule.  It required two hands instead of one on the canvas to be considered downed.  If any other part of your body is on the canvas other than your feet, you are considered a downed opponent.  Fighters would simply have to take a knee, for instance, to be considered downed.  One hand on the canvas would no longer make a fighter downed and his or her opponent would be allowed to kick or knee.”

“Imavov kicked him in the face.  Whoa.  Stop.  Herb Dean stops the fight and takes a point from Imavov.  It didn’t really matter because he had dominated most of the rounds anyway.”

“The big thing here is nobody in their right mind, in a real fight live combat situation, if they’re in a fight is going to lean on the ground, just chill here for a second.  I’m just going to put my hand on the ground because in a fight situation you’re going to get cracked.  You’re going to get punched, kicked,  You’re going to get demolished.  Nobody, no man alive, leans, puts their hands on the ground and goes, you know what.  I’m good here sausage.  I can hang out here all day,” said Bisping.     

MMAWeekly.com | UFC and MMA News, Results, Rumors, and Videos

He’s ready
| BJPenn.com

‘Mystic Machado Garry’ is back with another prediction on how he’ll win on February 17th. This one is, for lack of a better descriptor, kind of crappy.

Ian Machado Garry is back with another unique prediction for how he’ll win at UFC 298, but we think he may want to take this one back to the workshop for a little fine tuning before fight week.

“The Future” has lifted several elements of his shtick from Conor McGregor — one of them being “Mystic” Mac’s pre-fight prophecies on how his fights will end. Fair enough: everybody loves watching someone call their shot and try to hit it. Although Garry’s latest prediction for his UFC 298 bout against Geoff Neal is just … strange.

“What am I going to finish him with? I am going to make him quit,” Garry declared in a new video post on Instagram. “He’ll choose when he’s done.”

“I’d like to kick him to the body and have him do that — when the dog’s sh***ing. The dogs look at you like, when they’re pooing, for protection. That’s what they do, right? Dogs look at their owners when they’re pooing because that’s when they’re vulnerable for attack.”

Okay, then.

Garry hopes to continue his rise up the welterweight rankings on February 17th. A win over Neal would jump him from No. 10 to No. 8, where he hopes to strike at top names in the division like Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman. Maybe he can even convince former middleweight champion Sean Strickland to fight?

Garry and Strickland have beef after Sean kicked off a social media storm targeting Garry’s wife. We don’t need to rehash everything “Tarzan” said about the situation, but her perpetual presence has some fans wondering whether she’s the puppet master behind a lot of his pre-fight antics.

Not that the Machado Garry family hides this — they released the footage that showed her helping Garry make a controversial Geoff Neal mugshot shirt. In this latest strange Instagram video you can hear her laughing in the background at her husband’s dog poop joke.

Ian was forced to pull out of his last fight at UFC 296 due to a bad case of pneumonia, right at the peak of the internet’s obsession with the intimate details of his relationship. A lot of that has died down because the internet has the attention span of a goldfish, but things could heat right back up when Garry arrives in Anaheim, California for UFC 298 fight week.

It will be interesting to see how he performs when the mental warfare is being waged against him instead of being directed at his opponent.

MMAmania.com – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The bantamweight division will hold the first UFC title fight rematch of 2024.

Sean O’Malley’s crowning moment against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 this past August was one of the highlights of the year. The reigning bantamweight champion fulfilled his personally long-expected dream after launching to superstardom through season one of Dana White’s Contender Series in July 2017. Along the way, there was only one setback of the “Sugar Show,” which came opposite Ecuador’s Marlon “Chito” Vera in August 2020.

Vera TKO’d the future champion in round one and went on to remain one of the division’s most violent finishers, but small hiccups prevented him from reaching his own title shot. The biggest of those came in early 2023 when he lost to Cory Sandhagen via a unanimous decision. “Chito,” however, rebounded to get back in the win column the same night that O’Malley became champion as he earned a unanimous decision over Pedro Munhoz.

The victory was enough to earn the Ecuadorian a title shot despite the vast talent pool of contenders at 135 pounds, which even surprised Vera’s rival O’Malley.

“I’m honestly surprised that it’s happening in a sense,” O’Malley told Helen Yee. “I didn’t think that he would get to the title shot, and did he really deserve it after his performance over Pedro? I don’t know, but I thought, you know what? It’s time that I take him out. So, here we are and it’s very exciting.”

Success hasn’t been hard to find for Vera (23-8-1) since his O’Malley triumph. The aforementioned mishap against Sandhagen was only one of two losses in his seven bouts since. Ultimately, the loss, injuries to other contenders, and the timing couldn’t have been better for O’Malley to pass Vera by in the Sterling title fight sweepstakes.

Bad blood is certainly present between the two in this upcoming matchup as it was previously. It’s not anywhere near a boil though. Both men have remained composed and confident when speaking about or around each other. From the champion’s perspective, he’s coming to prove a point and get redemption for his only loss in 19 fights.

That alone is enough for the rematch to be worth making as his first title defense, believes O’Malley.

“I think it’s the biggest fight in the division,” O’Malley said. “I think it’s an important fight from what happened the first time. I claimed that I’m undefeated and he claims that he beat me, so now March 9, we get to settle it to see who was right.

“There’s a possibility it does [go the distance]. He’s never been submitted, never been knocked out. He’s very, very durable. I just truly, truly believe that I’m on another level and going to bring a level of performance that the UFC has never even seen. I think I’m gonna hit a level that people will be shocked at, and I’m gonna put on a masterful, beautiful performance.

“We’ve seen ‘Aljo’ get knocked out, but we’ve just never seen ‘Chito’ get finished. That would be extra special,” he concluded.

TOP STORIES

Collab. BKFC President David Feldman ‘creating an ally’ during recent meeting with UFC CEO Dana White

Money. Renato Moicano celebrates 62-year-old father having baby, announces SWAT plans in wild post-fight speech

Victory. Nassourdine Imavov outstrikes Roman Dolidze to win UFC Vegas 85 main event, gets into war of words with Chris Curtis

Rough. ‘Someone getting fired tomorrow’: Fighters react to odd judge’s score, weird UFC Vegas 85 main event

Interesting. Holly Holm considered being Amanda Nunes comeback opponent: ‘I have all the respect for her’

Contention. Cory Sandhagen believes he could be next for title shot: ‘I still see a lot of argument for me fighting for the belt’

Earned. Road to UFC video: 3 fighters earn contracts with thrilling finishes

Return. KSW champion Phil De Fries faces Josh Barnett in submission grappling match on Feb. 24

Transition. Aljamain Sterling eager for 145 debut: ‘I’ve been hurting for a very, very long time’

Nope. Nassourdine Imavov trashes ‘quitter’ Chris Curtis, explains disinterest in rematch

Matchup. Robert Whittaker: Dricus du Plessis loss was wake-up call, ‘I beat him 9 times out of 10’

VIDEO STEW

UFC Vegas 85 Post Show.

Superlek vs. Takeru in full.

C3 fight camp.

Arnold’s Amsterdam eats.

Back drilling.

MORNING MUSIC

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

A Weili weekend.

An unlikely visit.

Ice, ice, baby.

Snow scuffle.

Victory…?

Night sky.

Lol.

Scrap.

GOAT.

Interesting…

Re-ignited.

Setback.

Fouls.

Callout.

Update.

Y.

Bias?

Reaper.

Poor Dan.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Hyder Amil (8-0) vs. Fernie Garcia (10-4); UFC Vegas 86, Feb. 10

Ihor Potieria (19-5) vs. Robert Bryczek (17-5); UFC Vegas 86, Feb. 10

Matt Schnell (16-7, 1 NC) vs. Steve Erceg (11-1); UFC Vegas 87, March 2

Alessandro Costa (13-4) vs. Kevin Borjas (9-2); UFC 301, May 4

Paul Craig (17-7-1) vs. Caio Borralho (15-1); UFC 301, May 4

FINAL THOUGHTS

The durability of Chito plus two extra rounds really does make the O’Malley rematch more compelling. I still don’t think it’s the best or most exciting title fight that can be made, but it has enough intrigue, obviously.

Thanks for reading!

POLL POSITION

Last Week’s Results:

Friday: 92% of 657 total votes answered “No” when asked, “Will the Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint Denius negotiation story lead to any change in practice from the UFC?”

Thursday: 35% of 227 total votes answered “Roman Dolidze and Drew Dober” when asked, “Who wins this weekend?” Nassourdine Imavov defeated Dolidze via a majority decision in UFC Vegas 85’s main event and Renato Moicano defeated Dober via a unanimous decision in UFC Vegas 85’s co-main event.

Wednesday: 60% of 724 total votes answered “Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler” when asked, “Which interests you more right now?”

Tuesday: 85% of 508 total votes answered “No” when asked, “Is defeating Tyron Woodley the most impressive thing Jake Paul has done in boxing?”

Monday: 74% of 470 total votes answered “Israel Adesanya” when asked, “Who does Dricus Du Plessis fight first?”

Today’s exit poll:

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

While the UFC’s return to The APEX delivered a series of entertaining scraps to kick off the month of February, it was Renato Moicano who stole the show. Not with his performance, but with a post-fight interview for the ages.

Following his bloody three-round brawl with Drew Dober in the UFC Vegas 85 co-main event, ‘Money’ Moicano took the mic and never looked back. During his multi-minute rant, the lightweight standout revealed that his 62-year-old father recently welcomed a new baby into the world. In turn, Moicano plans on impregnating his own wife as soon as he returns home. He also declared his desire to join the police force in America and “kill the bad guys” once his citizenship is finalized.

Moicano closed things up by going after The MMA Guru, a YouTuber and content creator who apparently rubbed ‘Money’ the wrong way with his prediction of how things would go down on Saturday night.

“Hey MMA Guru, you are a f*cking pig,” Moicano said. “You said I would get slapped by Drew Dober. I went almost two years without fighting and I schooled this motherf*cker.”

Mere minutes after his 15-minute war with Dober, ‘Money’ was back online and once again slamming The MMA Guru in a live stream on his YouTube channel.

“Tell MMA Guru that I’m going to beat his ass, brother,” Moicano said. “On the streets, my friend. Show some f*cking respect.”

The MMA Guru Responds to Renato Moicano Callout

The MMA Guru offered his response to being called out by Moicano, letting it be known that the animosity between the two is nothing more than the pair having a bit of fun.

“Still can’t believe Renato Moicano called me out live on a UFC broadcast it only took nearly 6 years of covering this sport to happen,” The MMA Guru said in a response on X. “Shout out @moicanoufc we will be doing a collab on his youtube channel “money moicano” some time soon.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts