Flyweight Andre Lima remained undefeated and picked up his first octagon win on Saturday during the UFC Vegas 89 preliminary card when his opponent was disqualified.
During the second round of their bout, Igor Severino bit Lima on the arm while attempting to take him down. Lima alerted referee Chris Tognoni and showed him the bite mark. Tognoni halted the fight and disqualified Severino. The bite marks could clearly be seen on Lima’s arm during his post-fight interview. Severino received his pink slip from the fight promotion following the brazen rule violation.
Lima decided to get the bite marks forever in place on his arm where he was bitten. He posted a video to social media of him getting a tattoo of the indentions. “First ever “I got f**king bit bonus,”” the caption read.
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With the win, Lima improved his undefeated record to 8-0. With such an infraction, it’s unlikely Severino will see the inside of the UFC octagon again. UFC CEO Dana White was not happy about such a blatant foul and the Nevada State Athletic Commission will not be either.
“Those were two up-and-coming undefeated fighters,” White told Kevin Iole. “If you get frustrated and want out of the fight, there are plenty of ways to do it, but the worst thing u can do is bite your opponent. Now, you get cut and lose the biggest opportunity of your life. Not to mention, he’s going to have real problems with the NSAC.”
After being accused of knowing nothing about MMA by the UFC vet, Sanko pointed out that she fought on the same card as Varner back in 2011.
Former WEC champion and UFC fighter Jamie Varner is sticking to his position that UFC commentator Laura Sanko knows nothing about MMA and should be replaced by a woman who’s actually competed in the promotion. It’s an opinion that has half of X (formerly Twitter) roasting him mercilessly, but Sanko has decided to take the high road in her response.
“Jamie Varner, you and I actually fought on the same card in 2011 for Titan FC,” she tweeted. “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,” she continued. “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 didn’t just fight for Titan FC, she also ended up doing color commentary for the promotion. It’s that decade plus of experience on the mic that helped her claw her way up the UFC commentary ladder from Contender Series and Road to UFC shows all the way to UFC Fight Nights and international pay-per-views. But no matter how much experience a woman may have, there’ll always be someone to say they don’t deserve their position.
In this case it’s Jamie Varner, who continues to dig his hole on social media.
“I do remember that night, and appreciate your friend for doing what she did,” he replied to Sanko. “However when you rewatch the fights do you think you are doing a good job? You don’t feel like you are forcing it too much? Feels like overcompensating. There are fighters in my DM’s that agree w/me.”
“You’re high if you think she knows anything,” he argued with another X user. “She’s the worst I’ve ever heard in my life. Holly Holm should have that job.”
When another Sanko fan declared “she is a bigger name in the MMA community than you,” Varner brought up his Jakks UFC Collection action figure.
“Hahaha ok, how many belts and actions figures does she have?” he asked. “How about this how many Fight of the Night bonuses does she have? Last one, how many fight of the year awards does she have? I’ll wait for you to count them lol.”
Those who were around in 2010 may remember Varner’s career high notes, but that was a long time ago. These days, UFC fans see Laura Sanko at all the events, on the weigh-in shows, and during the broadcasts. There’s literally hundreds of hours of her doing mic work for the UFC, and if she knew nothing like Varner suggests she would have been exposed by the fanbase several times over by now.
Calling Laura Sanko an annoying try-hard is an opinion someone can have. But an unqualified know-nothing? Factually incorrect, sir.
On the inaugural episode of This is CineMMA, the MMA Fighting movie review crew takes a long look at the recently released #RoadHouse remake (re-imagining? remix?), which also features Jake Gyllenhaal as a disgraced #UFC fighter looking to turn his life around when he gets a job as a bouncer in the Florida Keys.
Join Alexander K. Lee, Jed Meshew, and E. Casey Leydon as we give you a blow-by-blow account of the best fight scenes, the most convincing combatants, and the most inspiring martial arts quotes from what some are calling a cinematic masterpiece.
How is McGregor as an actor? How is Gyllenhaal as a fighter? And how would any of the characters in Road House fare if they actually got a call-up to the UFC?
All that, plus we answer the question of where Road House ranks among the greatest MMA-related movies of all time.
New episodes of the This is CineMMA show come out weekly and are available to watch on YouTube, and in podcast form on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. This week’s episode can be heard below.
Former UFC welterweight title challenger, Nick Diaz has been linked with numerous returns to the Octagon since he snapped a six year hiatus back in 2021, and appears to be keen to honor a speculated comeback, claiming “Somebody is gonna pay very soon” – posting new training footage across social media.
Diaz, a veteran former welterweight title challenger under the UFC banner and a gold holder under the scrutiny of the now-defunct, WEC, and Strikeforce promotions, made a return to the sport at UFC 266 back in 2021.
Mandatory Credit: Chris Unger – Zuffa LLC
Suffering a one-sided third round TKO retirement loss to former champion and prior foe, Robbie Lawler in the pair’s rematch, Stockton veteran, Nick Diaz claimed that he was more or less forced to make his return to fighting – with his management and training firm disbanding midway through fight camp.
Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez – USA TODAY Sports
Expressing his interest in a comeback fight at the middleweight limit against former two-time undisputed champion, Israel Adesanya, Diaz, the elder brother of former UFC star, Nate Diaz, was spotted in sharp shape partaking in road work with heavyweight knockout artist, Derrick Lewis.
Expected to make a return to competition at the end of last year, Diaz was reportedly targeted to face-off with former welterweight foe, Georges St-Pierre in a submission grappling rematch, however, the UFC Fight Pass Invitational bout failed to materialize.
Nick Diaz shares new footage of training regime
And late last year to boot, former welterweight kingpin, Tyron Woodley also claimed Diaz rejected a “dumb” payday to share the ring with him in a professional boxing match.
Mandatory Credit: Chris Unger – Zuffa LLC
However, on social media tonight, Diaz, 40, shared new footage of himself laying into the heavy bag – with the caption “Somebody is gonna pay very soon…”
Nick Diaz releases new training footage
He’s captioned it “Somebody is Gonna Pay Very Soon… ”
Without a victory since a title eliminator clash with former two-weight foe, B.J. Penn back in 2011, Diaz turned in a unanimous decision win over the Hawiian, as part of a stunning 11-fight winning streak.
Would you like to see Nick Diaz make one final UFC outing?
Conor McGregor insists he’s ready to return to action, but communication with the UFC has broken down in recent months with no word on when he’ll fight again.
Meanwhile, Michael Chandler continues to wait for the fight after he signed to welcome McGregor back to the octagon. He’s made it clear he’s not planning to fight anybody until McGregor returns.
Chandler’s two-year anniversary of inactivity is approaching in November.
UFC welterweight Matt Brown understands why Chandler is waiting, because fighting McGregor gives him the chance to cash a huge paycheck by fighting the biggest draw in the history of the sport. As much as the fight might add a few zeroes to his bank account, Brown cautions Chandler that outside of the financial windfall, beating McGregor in 2024 — or whenever they actually fight — won’t really mean that much in the grand scheme of things.
“Michael Chandler’s been waiting for the red panty night for [two] years,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “If Conor came back, fought him and Chandler won, how much of a star would that make him? Chandler’s already a pretty good star but I guess the name power would be pretty good, pretty solid but would anybody even really care?
“When Nate [Diaz] did it, it was special. We thought Conor was the man and Nate did it coming in on what f****** two weeks’ notice? That was amazing. But if Chandler did it, I don’t even think we’d be impressed. OK, you beat a dude that’s been doing movies and drinking and partying for three years.”
It seems like a lifetime ago when Conor McGregor demolished Eddie Alvarez to become the first ever simultaneous two-division champion in the UFC. Since that night eight years ago, the now 35-year-old Irish superstar has only competed four times in the UFC, amassing a 1-3 record and suffering a gruesome broken leg in his previous outing that kept him sidelined for nearly three years.
In some ways, Brown equates Chandler beating McGregor to Jake Paul’s upcoming fight against former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.
“It might happen with Jake Paul,” Brown said. “He goes out and beats Mike Tyson, he’s getting that name power, but you’re beating a f****** 57-year-old man. Get out of here.”
Because McGregor appears to be on the backside of his career – his 36th birthday is in July – Brown questions whether his name power alone makes a fight intriguing.
Chandler has bet nearly two years of his career on the fact that beating McGregor still means a lot.
“I think even if he fights Conor, even if he beats Conor, I just wonder if it’s going to be the lottery ticket that it would have been a few years ago,” Brown said. “I don’t know. I’m still learning towards Conor never fighting again.
“When [Conor] says things like [he’s anxious to return], it gives me a little bit of [hope], not 100 percent, now it’s like 90 percent he’s not fighting again. I don’t know. It’s just lost so much interest. I know after this movie, he comes back and fights, the mainstream would have a lot of interest in it. Everybody’s going to watch it but if you go beat him it’s like what did you do? I just don’t feel like anybody would be that impressed.”
A lot has changed in McGregor’s absence, with a slew of new fighters emerging as top contenders. So even if he beats Chandler, the path back to the top of any division isn’t an easy road to travel.
Brown believes McGregor will struggle to topple most athletes currently in the top 15 rankings at either lightweight or welterweight, which is where he’s most likely to compete when he returns.
“I would pick [Benoit Saint Denis], I would pick Drew Dober to beat him,” Brown said. “[Renato] Moicano I think would beat him easy — maybe not easy, but I think it would be a good matchup for Moicano. Moicano, he’s that guy that on the right night, he could beat anybody in the division. I think he could be a champion on the right night. He seems to have off nights, too.
“He’s in a killer division. 155 and 170. You’ve got a f****** murderer’s row up there. Even at 170, like Neil Magny would beat him. Neil’s what [ranked] 14 or 15?”
That said, Brown hopes that McGregor takes his return to action seriously and puts his considerable resources into transforming himself back into the same fighter who once ranked among the pound-for-pound best in the sport. He’s not betting on that happening, but there’s a world where he could see McGregor coming back with a vengeance.
“If Conor takes it serious, Conor gets healthy, stays off the fun stuff, isn’t drinking or partying or doing whatever he’s putting in his body and he takes it serious, I think all this talk goes out the window,” Brown said. “He still has the talent to beat just about anybody in those divisions. I just don’t see him taking it seriously.
“We don’t even know what to believe with what he says. He says all kinds of crazy stuff but if he is still training to some extent, even if in and out, and keeping at least a little bit sharp, he is that guy. He could come back and surprise everybody, look amazing, pull off another Eddie Alvarez moment. He’s a f****** athlete. He’s a great fighter, great eyes, great reactions, so he could just surprise everybody, too. Surprise us by even fighting again in the comeback and look great. I kind of hope that’s what he does, but I don’t think he will.”
Listen to new episodes of The Fighter vs. The Writer every Tuesday with audio only versions of the podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio
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