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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

When Ronda Rousey made her professional mixed martial arts debut in King of the Cage in March 2011, no one knew that she’d change the landscape of the sport.  She was signed by Strikeforce later that year and was noticed by UFC matchmakers.  

At the time, women did not compete in the UFC.  There were no women’s divisions.  Rousey’s star power and ability to arm bar seemingly any opponent propelled women into the spotlight and changed the mind of UFC CEO Dana White.  White once said that women would never fight in the UFC. but then he met Rousey.

Rousey was the inaugural UFC women’s bantamweight champion and the first female fighter signed by the fight promotion.  She defended the title six times before losing her last two fights and leaving the sport.  Since walking away in 2016, Rousey hasn’t even attended an event.  She believes the MMA media and the fans have turned on her and that she’s not welcome at events.  

“I feel like I’m really vilified by MMA media at this point and I’m not really welcomed back, which is why I haven’t gone to a UFC fight since, ’cause I’m pretty sure if I walked into the arena, I’d be booed. Yeah! That’s how it feels,” Rousey said in a recent interview on the “High Performance” podcast.

Former UFC title challenger and commentator Chael Sonnen doesn’t think Rousey’s treatment was unique, and believes she was treated like every other fighter.  

“If the public understood Ronda is done, I can assure you they would not boo her.  If her career were truly done and it’s not a back-and-forth, and it’s not a play, and it’s not to get a bigger contract here… If they truly understood that that artist, even if a martial artist, but that artist’s career is behind, they absolutely would not boo,” said Sonnen.   

Related: Khabib Nurmagomedov: ‘We have great respect for Dustin Poirier, but …’

“She is right.  That’s how her career went.  They built her to the highest and the second she fell they talked about she was terrible.  That’s true.  The part that she’s missing is that”s not unique.  There’s never been anybody to come along who has a story that’s any different,” Sonnen continued.    

“The peaks and the valleys of many other athletes aren’t the same.  They never rose to the level that Ronda did and therefore that fall was never quite as dramatic.  And that’s just something we know about life.  What goes up must come down.  Not maybe and not sometimes.  What goes up must come down,” Sonnen said.  

“I do admit, it might have felt unique to Ronda.  It might have felt like an extra level of hate, or even meanness by the fans…  If you stand back and look at it there was nothing, and I mean nothing, aside from the peaks and the valleys, those were higher and I suspect lower, but there was nothing about her career or the way the media treated her that isn’t how the media treats everybody.”

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UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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UFC

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Islam Makhachev might be the strongest man at 155-pounds.

The lifelong wrestler manhandles top-notch opponents with relative ease more often than not, and that dominance has raised some eye brows. Notably, former opponent and longtime UFC veteran Bobby Green was adamant that Makhachev was using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Another past opponent, Dan Hooker, repeatedly accused Makhachev of using IVs to rehydrate, a strategy which can also mask PED usage.

It doesn’t help Makhachev’s reputation that he had a run-in with the UFC’s previous drug testing company, United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Back in 2016, an out-of-competition test was flagged for meldonium, and Makhachev was handed a three month suspension despite being quickly found “without fault or negligence.”

Unfortunately, that controversy remains a stain on his reputation. Things are looking up, however, because eight years later, Makhachev has joined the Ugly Jacket Club! That’s an achievement for fighters who have successfully passed 50 drug tests without issue, and UFC Senior Vice President of Anti-Doping Compliance Jeff Novitzky took the mic to clear Makhachev’s name of the 2016 incident.

According to Novitzky, the whole thing is USADA’s fault! Good thing UFC ousted that organization last year.

“In 2016, USADA, who ran our program, put it on our prohibited list,” Novitzky said about Meldonium (via MMAJunkie). “Before that, you were allowed to use it. He had a medical procedure back in 2014. He submitted documents that he used it under that. Ultimately, he was cleared by USADA. But in my opinion, one of the greatest, colossal mistakes in anti-doping. It affected not only Islam but several other UFC athletes and hundreds of other amateur Olympic athletes.

“That’s something that just cannot happen. That’s something you can carry forward with you and your reputation forever. I’m here today today to say that Islam absolutely did nothing wrong. This mistake was on the anti-doping authority, not him. It’s very important to note that.”

Nowadays, Combat Sports Anti-Doping is in charge of the UFC drug testing program. Can they avoid any more “colossal mistakes” and keep the sport clean? Not everyone is convinced.

Insomnia

Joaquin Buckley is allowed to say silly s—t all the time if he’s actually down to fight Shavkat Rakhmonov …

Nick Diaz wants to fight the stiffest of competition, which is the exact opposite of what I’d like to see as a fan.

The general hatred of Colby Covington is so strong it’s turning enemies to allies.

Another interesting reason to watch the UFC 302 undercard!

Ex-UFC Lightweight Justin Jaynes suffering memory loss after a knockout loss on the regional scene:

Cody Garbrandt celebrates two years sober.

I’m glad to see a softer side of Sean Strickland, but wasn’t he talking s—t on dog owners without kids like … a month ago?

Slips, rips, and KO clips

His method was chaotic, but Schisano effectively got Caldarera to the fence and then unloaded a right hand.

Ultimate Fighter veteran Joe Giannetti put his opponent to sleep in seconds over the weekend.

The left hook closes the door on a swang-and-bang brawl.

Random Land

Is Batman ready for Power Slap?

Midnight Music: The new Billie Eilish album is quite good in my opinion, her usual mix of quiet and sad, loud and catchy.

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

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Jack Della Maddalena’s plans for a home date are off.

The proud Australian fighter, currently No. 5 at welterweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, had hoped to compete at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, on Aug. 17, but an arm infection has removed the possibility of Della Maddalena competing at that event.

Maddalena shared the details of his situation on social media, explaining that complications arose after a pair of surgeries.

“Had surgery on my arm one week after [UFC 299],” Della Maddalena wrote. “Ten days later my wound had began splitting, which was indicative of infection. Went in for surgery 2 as believed to be infection present, bone cleaned, plate replaced, stayed in hospital for nine days on IV antibiotics then moved to oral antibiotics. Thought the infection was under control, the wound itself had a couple of abscesses pop up over a five-week period which had been cut and drained which had bacteria present.”

In additional slides showing footage of his surgery and the aftermath, Della Maddalena showed how an abscess was removed, with the procedure leaving a “messy hole” in his arm. Both tissue and bone were also removed to eliminate the infection, with more surgery to come.

Della Maddalena is coming off of the biggest win of his career, a third-round knockout of one-time UFC welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns. He is 7-0 in the UFC, with his first four wins for the promotion all coming inside of a round.

Though Della Maddalena was not booked to fight at UFC 305, he had hoped to sign on for a matchup that would let him make the walkout to the octagon in front of fans in his home country.

“Unfortunately, this means I won’t be competing at UFC 305 in Perth,” Della Maddalena wrote. “Which is a tough pill to swallow. At the moment I am focused on recovery, ridding my body of infection and allowing the bone to mend. Planning to get my arm back to 100 percent, which if all goes well will be in 12 weeks’ time. I am still motivated to compete before the year’s end in the fight I believe is the toughest and makes the most sense.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Fans hopeful of landing a coveted ticket to next week’s UFC 303 press conference in Dublin had to act fast this morning on Ticketmaster, with a reported 8,000 tickets snapped up in less than five minutes ahead of Conor McGregor’s return against Michael Chandler.

Earlier this month, following the confirmation of McGregor’s return from an almost three-year hiatus was confirmed for UFC 303 at the end of June in a welterweight clash with Chandler, the promotion revealed a press conference between the two was set to land in Dublin on Monday of next week.

UFC 303 presser ‘sells out’ in less than 5 minutes

And seating 8,000 fans at the 3Arena on the capital’s North Wall Quays, tickets were up for grabs – for free online this morning on Ticketmaster, with fans queuing and waiting for snatch up their place in the crowd.

However, amid uproar on social media, hosts of fans were left disappointed with all 8,000 tickets for the press event in Dublin snapped up in less than five minutes.

Furthermore, despite the fact tickets were free to the general public, an array of touts and scalpers were offering tickets – for prices in the region of $ 1,000. (H/T MMA Mania)

Slated to make his return to the Octagon for the first time since fracturing his left tibia and fibula back in 2021, former two-weight champion, McGregor dropped a first round doctor’s stoppage TKO defeat to incoming UFC 302 headliner, Dustin Poirier in the pair’s trilogy rubber match. 

As for Chandler, the former three-time undisputed Bellator MMA lightweight kingpin has hismelf been out of action since he dropped a third round rear-naked choke loss to the above-mentioned, Poirier back in 2021 at Madison Square Garden.

Who do you think wins at UFC 303: Conor McGregor or Michael Chandler?

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