CombatSports.org

With Belal Muhammad now reigning as the welterweight champion and his next challenger already lined up for the first quarter of 2025, it doesn’t look like Islam Makhachev will be making the jump to 170-pounds anytime soon. The pound-for-pound number one has spoken about wanting to challenge himself up a weight class many times.

Having fought and defeated Alexander Volkanovski, who was the featherweight champion at the time, on two occasions, Makhachev wanted his opportunity to try and win a second belt. Instead, he’s now gearing up for a rematch with Arman Tsarukyan in the near future.

One fighter that was very outspoken about the idea of Makhachev moving up was the former interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington. Given his trash talking public persona, a fight between him and the lightweight king would’ve been a huge fight.

He recently criticized Makhachev for going back on his plans during a recent interview with Submission Radio where he accused the champion, and Khabib Nurmagomedov, of being weight bullies who don’t commit to anything they say.

“Not really, you know. We saw the same thing with Khabib. He talked a big game his whole career, ‘Oh I’m going to go to 170, I’m going to stop cutting all this weight,’ because both those guys are legitimately cutting chromosomes off their bodies. Those guys are huge lightweights. I mean they’re bigger than me and I’m a weight class up so those guys are walking around at 190 plus, probably closer to 200. So, you know, they’re just weight bullies and that’s what they do best.

“They talk a big game like they’re going to come up to welterweight but they’ve never actually done it so if he wanted to come up and look for big fights, look no further than me. USA versus Russia, this is the biggest fight you could possibly get. I mean it’s a mega blockbuster fight but I think Islam’s all talk just like Khabib. They’re never actually going to come up to welterweight, they’re just going to stay at lightweight and throw stones from the lightweight division.”

Continue Reading Colby Covington: ‘Weight Bully’ Makhachev’s Champ-Champ Plans ‘All Talk’ Like Khabib at MMA News.

MMA News

submitted by /u/SugarShow37 [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Think you can figure out which UFC fighter we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out.

We’re back for another day of the SB Nation UFC in-5 daily trivia game, and we’re switching to a system of a new article each day for the game.

We tried using a single article for the game, updated with the latest game each day, but it was creating a bit of an unwieldy experience in the comments. So, we’ll have the current day’s game plus the previous three days in each new article. That way, you can catch up if you miss a day.

Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game!

What we need from you

1. Play the game
2. Share your result in the comments and on social media
3. Provide feedback (Google Form or in comments below)

Today’s UFC in-5 game

Wednesday’s UFC in-5 game

Tuesday’s UFC in-5 game

Monday’s UFC in-5 game

The goal of the game is to guess the correct random UFC fighter player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED FIGHTERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the MMA Fighting layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day.

After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

UFC

submitted by /u/SugarShow37 [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

David Onama needs a new opponent for next week’s UFC 309 after Lucas Almeida was forced off the card due to undisclosed reasons, multiple people with knowledge of the situation told MMA Fighting.

UFC 309 will take place at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, and the promotion is currently seeking a replacement to fight the Ugandan featherweight on just over a week’s notice.

Onama (12-2) hopes to keep the momentum going after back-to-back wins over Gabriel Santos — a bonus-winning second-round knockout in Jacksonville, Fla. — and Jonathan Pearce, a bout he missed weight for.

Almeida (15-3) was looking to compete for the first time since signing a new UFC contract following a decision victory over Timmy Cuamba this past June, rebounding from stoppage defeats to Pat Sabatini and Andre Fili.

UFC 309 will air live on pay-per-view and feature Jon Jones’ first defense of the heavyweight belt against former champion Stipe Miocic in the main event.

Mike Heck contributed to this story.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Do-or-die
| BJPenn.com

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Three-time UFC title challenger, Colby Covington — who is still ranked No. 6 in the world at 170-pounds, by the way — hasn’t fought much lately. His last appearance was just about a year ago, a lackluster showing against Leon Edwards in December 2023. More to the point, his only victory since 2021 came opposite fading rival Jorge Masvidal, which puts some pressure on Covington to return to action.

A LOT of fighters have called out Covington in the last year. Most notably, UFC has reportedly tried to book “Chaos” opposite Ian Garry on more than one occasion, including the upcoming UFC Tampa card. Instead, “The Future” will face Joaquin Buckley in the main event, whereas Covington continues to languish on the sidelines without a fight booked.

In the interview above with Submission Radio, Covington addresses his absence and explained why he’s been busy away with the cage. According to Covington — who also says he was with Donald Trump on the night of the election — his priority hasn’t been fighting. Instead, it’s been supporting the Trump campaign.

“The most important reason why, everything I do is for God and country. That’s more important than my own selfish agenda to go win UFC fights and be a world champion in the UFC. That doesn’t matter if we don’t have a country to live in. So, the most important thing that’s been in my life the last eight, nine months is the campaign trail, being a little tiny part of the Trump campaign. Trying to help get him elected any way possible. I was traveling with the campaign a lot. I was obviously still getting healthy from my broken foot, but first and foremost is God and country.”

Since Trump won the election (with a little help from Joe Rogan and the Nelk Boys), Covington is now free to resume his career as a UFC fighter. According to “Chaos,” he’ll be back sooner than later.

“… Now I can resume business. I’m excited man, me and [UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell] have sat down and talked about a couple different options. I’m excited to get back in there, first quarter next year, 100% I’m coming back to the UFC Octagon to unleash chaos.”

It’s a lot of devotion to the Commander-in-chief, but sadly, it’s still not enough to be Trump’s favorite UFC fighter.

Insomnia

I’ll admit to being curious about Jon Jones’ game plan ahead of UFC 309. Think he primarily plans to strike at distance or wrestle?

Favorite hobby: Partying hard.

Joe Rogan memes go beyond MMA and beyond simple politics.

The keys to the crescent kick:

Whoever runs Alex Pereira’s social media team deserves a raise. Guy is always making viral clips!

It’s not going to be easy, but there’s something to be said for the idea that avoiding the pocket only plays into Ilia Topuria’s hands. He catches opponents trying to move away from him at the end of his range, where his punches are most powerful!

Khamzat is back to work training in Sweden:

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Fights and fighters were this skilled 20 years ago and fans will still defend Apex slop.

On a more positive note, Carlos Prates is genuinely one of the most exciting newcomers in years. Here’s hoping he doesn’t get Magny’d!

Adjusting on the fly!

Random Land

BKFC with a side of drowning!

Midnight Music: Indie, 2021

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

MMAmania.com – All Posts

submitted by /u/SugarShow37 [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul is nearly here and Tyson looks ready.

Next Friday, Tyson and Paul face off in an eight-round boxing match broadcast live on Netflix. The fight figures to be one of the biggest combat sports events of the year and while some have concerns about the 58-year-old Tyson returning to the ring, his coaches are not among them.

On Wednesday, Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions released training footage of Tyson training and though the former heavyweight champion is clearly not his best, he still packs one heck of a punch. That trademark Tyson power was on display during sparring where Tyson dropped his sparring partner with a powerful left hook.

The footage also shows Tyson going through his workout routine outside of sparring as he prepares to fight a man 30 years his junior.

Tyson was last in the ring for an exhibition bout against Roy Jones J. in 2020, and has not fought professionally since a 2005 loss to Kevin McBride. Paul last fought Mike Perry in July, scoring a sixth-round TKO.

Tyson vs. Paul takes place on Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.

MMA Fighting – All Posts