CombatSports.org

submitted by /u/TurbulentBear8 [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Daniel Cormier isn’t sure Jorge Masvidal should come back.

The 39-year-old former ‘BMF’ champion retired from MMA in April of 2023 after losing to Gilbert Burns at UFC 287, but returned to combat sports this past July when he faced Nate Diaz in a boxing match that Diaz ultimately won. But that loss seemed to motivate Masvidal, who announced earlier this week he’s in talks with the UFC to return to the promotion in the near future.

However, UFC Hall of Famer and commentator Cormier questions if Masvidal should return.

“Jorge Masvidal should be commended for doing what he did to reach the levels of stardom that he did, because when you look at his career as a whole, you really do see a guy that spent the vast majority of his prime, the vast majority of his youth, as a middling fighter,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “He just was. It is what it is. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s what it was…

“Look at the names on his résumé. At the end of the day, when you look at the career as a whole, it boils down to one year where Jorge Masvidal made you guys care, and it made him a star. But my question to you now is: Do you still care? Because that’s what he’s banking on…

“He has lost his last four MMA fights, [and] he lost a boxing match. He said he’ll come back, starch somebody and the UFC would be begging him to fight for a championship. My question to you is, do you care now? Do you care like you did in 2019? Do you care like you did when he was on that amazing run when he made himself from a guy that was middling, from a guy that was a bit of a journeyman, into a main event attraction? He and Kamaru Usman sold a boatload of pay-per-views. But do you care today, in 2024, to see Jorge Masvidal come back and fight someone?”

As Cormier noted, Masvidal came to superstardom late into his career. A veteran of over 50 professional fights, Masvidal broke out in 2019 with wins over Darren Till and Ben Askren, the latter being the fastest knockout in UFC history, before then winning the inaugural ‘BMF’ title over Diaz at UFC 244. That ended up being the final victory of his MMA career, at least thus far, as “Gamebred” then dropped four straight bouts before retiring.

Given that run of form and his age, plus the nature of his stardom, Cormier simply isn’t sure Masvidal draws a huge amount of interest from fans right now.

“In 2019 he did something I’ve never seen someone do in fighting before,” Cormier said. “…This is a guy that started the beginning of his UFC career not very good, and nobody cared. But he ultimately made himself into a main event guy. Do we care to see him today? Or do we care to see him today against someone that’s a big name? Is that the only way you’d care? Because to me, if Jorge Masvidal comes back, it has to be against someone that’s a fun fight. Because right now, he’s not fighting as competitively as he was…

“I can tell you right now, if Nate Diaz were to say, ‘I’m coming back,’ people would get excited. Are Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal held in the same regard?”

Whether fans will care remains to be seen but Masvidal certainly seems to think they will. He threw out the possibility of fighting Michael Chandler, should his theoretical fight with Conor McGregor not come to pass, but mostly he’s happy to fight anyone so long as the paycheck is correct. And for all Cormier’s uncertainty around whether Masvidal draws interest anymore, the former two-division champion admits should it happen, he will certainly be tuning in, he just sort of hopes it won’t happen.

“I’d watch him fight, absolutely… But my question is, do you care? … He’s 39 years old now,” Cormier said. “His best days seem to be behind him, lost four in a row. Can he recreate what he did before?…

“I believe with the work he was doing outside of the octagon, his promotion seems to be doing well, and I was happy to see him walk away.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Statement
| BJPenn.com

Just like the TV dinner, Daniel Cormier is a HUNGRY MAN.

The former two-division champion, who now serves as color commentator on UFC pay-per-view (PPV) cards, was caught stuffing his maw with handfuls of popcorn in between fights during a live broadcast. Then producers sent it back to the kernel-crazed “DC” for replay analysis and things got super awkward.

“Chael, you have to have popcorn, because you’re sitting in the best seat in the house,” Cormier explained to fellow UFC analyst Chael Sonnen during their “Good Guy-Bad Guy” segment for ESPN MMA. “What I did not expect, was the replay to come! It looked like we were going to the next thing; but hey, such is life. The boy got caught eating popcorn. You said, ‘why can’t I control myself?’ Why do I need to control myself, I’m living my best life out here Chael P.”

Maybe Hendo should have shipped Poppycock instead of Popeye’s.

MMAmania.com – All Posts

submitted by /u/TurbulentBear8 [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

John Lineker may be facing Asa Ten Pow in a Muay Thai contest this Friday when ONE Championship returns to Denver, but he still remains fully focused on regaining his MMA title from Fabricio Andrade.

Lineker has won twice in his weight class since losing to Andrade in February 2023, knocking out Jae Woong Kim and then beating Stephen Loman via decision, but ONE still hasn’t offered him another shot at gold. Instead, he was paired up against Liam Harrison for a Muay Thai contest that ultimately feel through, then lost to Shinya Aoki in an MMA openweight bout.

“I haven’t fought in almost a year, so this is an opportunity for me stay active,” Lineker told MMA Fighting, saying he doesn’t take the Aoki loss into consideration since it took place outside his weight class and was offered on hours’ notice as a replacement for Sage Northcutt. “MMA is my focus, but ONE gives us the opportunity to fight in other sports, so I took it to stay active and also test myself.”

Andrade hasn’t defended the ONE title since his second clash with Lineker and has competed only once since, losing to Jonathan Haggerty in a kickboxing bout.

“He has the belt for a long time and hasn’t defended it yet,” Lineker said of Andrade. “There’s no one else but me that should do this fight, this trilogy, so let’s wait for the negotiations and see what happens. God willing, I’ll get this victory and we’ll see what the future holds for us.”

“The Aoki fight pretty much never happened,” he continued. “It was an openweight match, so it definitely won’t affect my division. I’m coming off two wins in my division, and if you look at the rankings, there’s no other fight to make but this trilogy. But regardless of them giving me a title shot or not, the important [thing is] having me fight MMA next, because that’s my main goal.”

Lineker said it took him a few training sessions to get used to preparing for a Muay Thai bout instead of the sport he has done since 2008 in which he defeated the likes of Marlon Vera, John Dodson, Rob Font, Brian Kelleher, and Bibiano Fernandes.

The hard-hitting Brazilian originally agreed to face Harrison in a Muay Thai contest back in January, but the one-time ONE Muay Thai title challenger withdrew weeks prior. Lineker said Harrison is more experienced than his upcoming opponent, but beating Pow is no easy task, especially given his prior experience of seven kickboxing appearances inside the GLORY ring and a trio of Muay Thai matches at ONE.

“My plan is to go for the knockout,” Lineker said. “I don’t like to leave it to the judges, MMA or Muay Thai. It could happen, but I go in there looking for the knockout — and it won’t be different this time.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Jon Anik is now hyped for Noche UFC after witnessing the impressive production quality of the upcoming pay-per-view event at The Sphere. UFC 306, known as Riyadh Season Noche UFC, is scheduled for September 14 at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, in honor of Mexican Independence Day. The landmark event will represent a significant […]

Continue Reading Jon Anik Labels Noche UFC At The Sphere The ‘Sickest S*it’ He Has Ever Seen at MMA News.

MMA News

Michael Chandler is currently researching how submitted by /u/Wild_Coffee_2554 [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dylan Budka had a rough weigh-in.

At the official morning weigh-ins for UFC Vegas 97, Budka came in at 188.5 pounds, 2.5 pounds over the middleweight limit (including the one-pound allowance for a non-title fight). Worse, he looked visibly shaky as he stepped to the scale.

Watch video of Budka’s scary weigh-in below, courtesy of FanSided MMA.

Budka’s opponent Andre Petroski successfully made weight at 185.5 pounds. The UFC later confirmed that the bout will proceed as scheduled with Budka forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as penalty.

Canadian featherweight Kyle Nelson also missed weight by 2.5 pounds, coming in at 148.5 pounds for a bout with Steve Garcia (145.5). It is not yet known if Nelson vs. Garcia will proceed at a catchweight and, if so, what Nelson’s purse penalty will be.

It’s a poor showing for Nelson, who has made a habit of beating the odds lately, if not the scale. Nelson is riding a hot streak of consecutive wins over Bill Algeo, Fernando Padilla, and Blake Bilder. In each of those matchups, he entered the octagon as the underdog. Garcia also looks to extend a winning streak, having finished his past four opponents.

Welterweight headliners Gilbert Burns (171) and Sean Brady (171) also successfully made weight, as did co-main event flyweights Natalia Silva (124.5) and Jessica Andrade (125.5).

UFC Vegas 97 takes place at UFC APEX on Saturday.

See official weigh-in results below.

Main Card (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

Gilbert Burns (171) vs. Sean Brady (171)

Jessica Andrade (124.5) vs. Natalia Silva (125.5)

Steve Garcia (145.5) vs. Kyle Nelson (148.5)*

Matt Schnell (135) vs. Cody Durden (135)

Trevor Peek (155) vs. Yanal Ashmouz (154.5)

Preliminary Card (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)

Rongzhu (155.5) vs. Chris Padilla (154)

Isaac Dulgarian (145.5) vs. Brendon Marotte (145)

Felipe dos Santos (124.5) vs. Andre Lima (125.5)

Yizha (144.5) vs. Gabriel Santos (146)

Jaqueline Amorim (115.5) vs. Vanessa Demopoulos (116)

Andre Petroski (185.5) vs. Dylan Budka (188.5)**

Zygimantas Ramaska (145.5) vs. Nathan Fletcher (145)

*Nelson missed weight

**Budka missed weight. His bout with Andre Petroski proceeds as a catchweight with Budka forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as penalty

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Michael Chandler is currently researching how submitted by /u/Wild_Coffee_2554 [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts