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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: Weekend recap with all the action from Jake Paul vs. Mike Perry and UFC Vegas 94 plus the Parlay Boys look back at the best and worst bets.

2 p.m. ET: Arnold Allen drops by to discuss his return at UFC 304 against Giga Chikadze.

2:30 p.m. ET: Oban Elliott previews his fight at UFC 304 in his second appearance in the octagon.

3 p.m. ET: Terence Crawford looks ahead at his fight against Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3.

3:30 p.m. ET: Kayla Harrison joins the show to talk about what’s next for her in the UFC.

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

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UFC commentator Laura Sankos busted the buttons off her pants while calling fights at UFC Vegas 94.

Sanko was one of the three commentators, and during Hyder Amil’s 65-second knockout win over Jeong Yeong Lee, Sanko got so excited during the thrilling action that the button of her pants broke off. She showed the moment it happened in a funny Instagram video.

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A post shared by Laura Sanko (@laura_sanko)

“Anyone else break their pants last night? That main card was CRAZY good!! @hurricane_415 is a gangster!,” Laura Sanko wrote on Instagram.

It was a good moment from Sanko who was joking about it throughout the night, as it was a great performance from Amil to remain undefeated and pull off the upset win.

Laura Sanko takes aim at Jamie Varner after controversial comments

Laura Sanko became the first female to call UFC fights in the modern era, and although many fans like her on the mic, former fighter Jamie Varner was not a fan of her.

Varner deleted the tweets, but in a pair of tweets, he criticized Sanko saying she sucks at commentary and is ruining fights as she doesn’t know what she is talking about. Varner also said a female UFC fighter who is knowledgeable should be the commentator and after those comments, Sanko took to social media to blast Varner.

“@jamievarner you and I actually fought on the same card in 2011 for Titan FC. We warmed up next to each other in the basement of the Memorial Hall building in KCK. My best friend braided your hair because you couldn’t find anyone to do it. I remember thinking how cool it was at the time to be on a card with you.

“I had followed your career in the WEC and was a a little star struck to be honest. It’s ok that you don’t like my commentary, but respectfully, I’ve been a part of this game and training since 2006. I’m a brown belt in Jiu Jitsu and while I can’t compare my career to yours I have in fact fought. And if ufc had a 105 division I would have fought a lot longer,” Sanko wrote.

It was a good response from Sanko who continues to commentate Fight Night events and will continue to do so.

LowKickMMA.com

Fight week for the UFC 304 pay-per-view this Saturday night has kicked off with the release of the promotion’s latest Countdown episode.

Under the spotlight in this edition is the headliner between Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad and the co-main event between Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes.

Saturday’s lineup is topped by a championship rematch, with welterweight kingpin Edwards (22-3, 1 NC) looking to add a third successful defense to his reign, which got underway with a victory over Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 in August 2022. He’s since retained possession of the belt by getting the better of Usman again and Colby Covington in 2023.

If “Rocky” is to continue his rule atop the 170-pound mountain, he must record a victory over Muhammad (23-3, 1 NC) at the second time of trying. The pair first collided in a UFC Fight Night main event back in 2021, which ended prematurely when accidental eye pokes left “Remember the Name” unable to continue. He’s since won five straight over Demian Maia, Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Sean Brady, and Gilbert Burns to finally earn his first shot at gold.

Before those two run it back in the main event at Manchester’s Co-op Live arena, another home fighter will put his title on the line in a rematch.

Two years on from a devastating knee injury handing him his first UFC loss, interim heavyweight champion Aspinall (14-3) will look to right that wrong by leveling the score with Blaydes (18-4, 1 NC). In defense of the strap he captured with a thunderous knockout of Sergei Pavlovich last November, Aspinall is tasked with preventing “Razor” following his TKO of Jailton Almeida with first-time title glory on July 27.

Ahead of those two contests across the pond, fans can catch previews in the full episode of UFC 304 Countdown on the promotion’s YouTube channel.

UFC 304 Countdown: Full Episode

Continue Reading VIDEO: UFC 304 Countdown Episode Ahead Of Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad 2 & Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes 2 at MMA News.

MMA News

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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A failed drug test for Irina Alekseeva fell through the cracks for months, allowing her to compete in the UFC after signs of exogenous testosterone were found in her system.

The UFC has released a statement on their website calling out USADA for screwing up the administration of a failed drug test for one of their fighters.

According to the entry on UFC.com authored by Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD), “Russian Ronda” Irina Alekseeva failed a drug test on June 21st, 2023, which was when USADA was still running UFC’s drug testing program. Alekseeva’s urine contained ‘values consistent with the administration of testosterone of exogenous origin.’

But USADA didn’t bother to report this drug test failure to Alekseeva or UFC for months.

“USADA failed to report the results of this sample to her and to UFC until October 31, 2023, more than four (4) months after the sample was collected and AFTER Alekseeva was allowed to compete in a UFC event in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 14, 2023,” the statement read.

The UFC ended it’s relationship with USADA at the end of 2023 (under somewhat acrimonious circumstances), and now uses CSAD. The new drug testing regime hasn’t been as visible as USADA was, but seem to be administrating things in a fair and competent manner thus far.

“While CSAD was not the independent administrator of the UFC ADP during the above-described time period, CSAD recognizes the importance of promptly reporting results on samples collected in the months and weeks leading up to a UFC event BEFORE the event takes place,” the statement read. “CSAD also recognizes that positive results reported out more than 4-months after a sample is collected, and where the athlete is allowed to compete in a UFC bout in the interim, is unacceptable.”

CSAD contacted Alekseeva once their program took over and conducted a full investigation into all of her testing surrounding the failed drug test. Three tests given after the initial test failure all came back with no signs of exogenous testosterone. But due to the delay between failing the test and being notified of the failure, Alekseeva’s team wasn’t able to investigate a detailed list of supplements that may have caused the strange drug test result.

In the past, USADA would have said too bad, so sad, two year suspension. Given the goofy situation surrounding the test notification, CSAD is giving her 12 months from the day she last competed for UFC, which was October 15, 2023.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Khamzat Chimaev’s seemingly innocent endorsement of a meme-themed crypto coin landed him in hot water with fight fans after it appeared he had defrauded them.

In early July, Chimaev shared a video on X promoting SMASH coin, a cryptocurrency named after the undefeated UFC superstar. Considering how many athletes, influencers, and celebrities have taken to promoting crypto in recent years, it was by no means surprising.

However, it quickly became clear that something wasn’t right.

Crypto sleuth ZachXBT discovered that 78% of the SMASH coin supply had been purchased by insiders. Within 24 hours, the value had dropped a whopping 96% leaving early adopters with nothing, but a whole lot of frustration.

Khamzat Chimaev places blame on his management team

As the controversy brewed, Chimaev deleted everything that tied him to the meme-coin, but it wasn’t until a recent interview with Aslanbek Badaev that he actually addressed the accusations head-on, placing the blame on his manager for simply trusting the wrong people.

“Well, my manager… you can say acted stupidly and I also made a mistake in this crypto. I don’t understand [crypto] at all, I trust my manager. You could say I asked people if I could trust them, my people said I can trust them. Make this video, like any other athlete, probably doesn’t know what crypto is and how it works. I don’t know for sure. I don’t even have time to look at what it is.

“I made a video and then made an advertisement as they told me and that they will send me money. Well, these people are also lost now. We are looking for them. One was found. They forced him to make a video [explaining] that it’s their fault. We will find the others too and we’ll make them apologize for it.“

Chimaev’s manager, Majdi Shammas, had already taken responsibility for putting his fighter’s name on the cryptocurrency scam and made it clear that ‘Borz’ was in no way involved in any attempt to commit fraud.

Khamzat Chimaev was scheduled to headline UFC Saudi Arabia in June, but the 14-0 fighter was forced to bow out after becoming “violently ill” due to an undisclosed illness. ‘Borz’ is already making plans to return at UFC 308 in October when the promotion makes its annual pit stop in Abu Dhabi, though no official announcements have been made.

LowKickMMA.com