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Latest 10 UFC fight announcements, today's in bold
•Ilir Latifi vs. Volkan Oezdemir at UFC on ESPN+ 10 on 6/1 in Stockholm
•Jimi Manuwa vs. Aleksandar Rakic at UFC on ESPN+ 10 on 6/1 in Stockholm
•Stipe Miocic vs. Jon Jones at HW reportedly under consideration
•Felice Herrig vs. Yan Xiaonan at UFC 238 on 6/8 in Chicago
•Makwan Amirkhani vs. Chris Fishgold at UFC on ESPN+ 10 on 6/1 in Stockholm
•Li Jingliang injured and OUT vs. Alex Oliveira at UFC on ESPN 3 on 4/27 in Ft Lauderdale
•Henry Cejudo vs. Marlon Moraes for vacant bantamweight title reportedly at UFC 238
•Alexa Grasso OUT Jessica Aguilar IN vs. Marina Rodriguez at UFC on ESPN 2 on 3/30 in Philly
•Tai Tuivasa vs. Blagoy Ivanov on 6/8 at UFC 238 in Chicago
•Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Ian Heinisch at ESPN+9 card on 5/18 in Rochester
Bellator WFTW champ Julia Budd defends vs. Olga Rubin in 7/12
Bellator’s return to WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Okla. on Friday, July 12 will be headlined by a women’s featherweight title fight featuring Canada’s Julia Budd (12-2) defending her title for the third time vs. undefeated Olga Rubin of Israel. The event will be broadcast live and free on Paramount Network at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, as well as DAZN.com, while preliminary action will stream on Bellator.com and globally on the Bellator Mobile App.
Nate Diaz colorfully addresses Conor, Khabib, Poirier
Kamaru Usman has a mean theory about Ben Askren's popularity
“He’s just a troll. There’s a reason a lot of people relate to him. Because a lot of trolls are ... people behind the computer at home, they’re eating doughnuts. They look like Ben Askren, to be honest. They got the hair like him; they got the gut like him; so they relate to him. So it’s all fun and games. It’s not personal.” h/t MMA News
Champ Eduard Folayang ready to rematch best version of Shinya Aoki
“I am really happy to be sharing the main event with him, and to face a legend like Aoki for the second time. I could not be any happier. It’s an honor, definitely. He’s the greatest submission artist in the history of mixed martial arts. We all know how dangerous he is on the mat, but I’m confident with my skills and I will do whatever it takes to defend my belt. I knew that one day, [we] were gonna face each other again. It was really inevitable. He has finished all his opponents, which means he’s determined to reclaim his belt. I think he’s still the best at what he does, especially when it comes to grappling. I think I have a mental and spiritual edge against Aoki. I know I have also improved from my last fight. As much as possible, I will not give him the opportunity to bring me down to the mat...” h/t Manila Standard • Watch trailer
Alexis Davis sums up losing in two words
Daniel Cormier still aiming for Brock Lesnar fight
“I don’t have a fight exactly scheduled yet but I got my eyes on Brock Lesnar. I may go to the WWE’s WrestleMania and I may go cost him his title over there so he can hurry up and get to the UFC so I can beat him here.” h/t MMA Fighting • Watch
Maycee Barber's family is beyond all in on her UFC career
All six of Bucky and Maryanne Barber's children were homeschooled and started martial arts early. Maycee, 'The Future' who may be the future of WMMA, started at 3, was teaching adults at 13 at the family studio, and at 14 decided she wanted to fight in the UFC. Then it goes serious. They drove her 1000 miles round trip every other week to Jackson-Wink, put her with Duane Ludwig and Trevor Wittman, they tried to get Matt Hume, put her at Team Alpha Male, brought her to Ryan Schultz and Matt Pena and Marc Montoya and Izzy Martinez and more. While Marc Montoya at Factory X in Colorado remains her head coach, the family sold their martial arts academy and moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for Maycee and her 17-year-old brother Wyatt, and now own a coffee shop there. Barber intends to break Jon Jones's record as youngest UFC champ; he was 23 years, eight months and one day. That gives Barber two years, ten months, and six days. She's off to an extraordinary start.
Pettis reports CM Punk still in training
CM Punk (real name Chick Magnet Brooks) took a Fire-Ready-Aim approach to MMA, signing with the UFC, and then starting training. It didn't work, but to his credit, as detailed by Anthony Pettis, he hasn't quit training: "I don't know what his plan is. I know he's doing some movies and a couple other things, but I'm not sure if he plans on fighting again or what. But, I know he's still training ... That dude's a hard worker. Not many people in the world can do what he did. I mean, it's on the biggest stage, and he fought some good guys too. It's not like he was fighting scrubs. He's fighting good guys in the UFC. He's training with killers. He's training with me, Woodley. He comes in day and day, and he's getting his butt kicked, and coming back, showing up, so I give him props, man. No matter what, he did it." h/t TMZ
Keanu Reeves in stunt/fight training for John Wick 2 (12:00)
Mike Tyson's pointed advice to Conor McGregor over equity aim
Karate Hottie on E:60
Bellator 218 highlights
Inside the regulatory kitchen: Massachusetts
Meatball back in the gym one week post surgery
Artem Lobov confirms Conor McGregor has not left SBG
Notorious has a mansion in Miami and has been spotted training at ATT in Atlanta and Bas Rutten’s Elite MMA in California, leading to rumors he had left John Kavanagh's Straight Blast Gym Ireland; however, friend and teammate Artem Lobov assures that it isn't so: "Conor is still with us, we are all still a part of SBG. The thing is that many of the SBG fighters that have kind of retired now or whatever, they have opened their own SBG gyms. So we all will often train not only at the main SBG but other SBG gyms. For example, Peter Queally opened SBG Naas and that’s a great facility, so Conor and many of us would often train there. There’s SBG D24 with Paddy Holohan; we’ve got many SBGs now so as a result,it may seem sometimes that we’re not all there at SBG HQ, but we still are all a part of SBG.” h/t BJPenn.com
Blaydes breaks heavyweight takedown record
Curtis Blaydes’ pushed his cumulative takedown total to 40 vs. Justin Willis at UFC Nashville, the most in UFC heavyweight division history. The record was formerly held by Cain Velasquez, with 33. The most takedowns in a single heavyweight fight was set by Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos at UFC 155, with 11. h/t MMA Junkie
Maycee Barber: If I ever lose, I aim to return differently than Ronda did
“I’m a completely different person from Ronda, and that’s no disrespect to her. She’s a phenomenal athlete, phenomenal fighter and she had an amazing career, but I want to take my career a little bit different. But if I ever do get a loss – which I’m going to continue to fight to make sure I never get one – but if I ever do, I hope I can come back a little bit differently than she did. But we’ll see. I’m hoping to not take that loss. I’m kind of the face for us up-and-coming fighters who are well-rounded, who are tough and we work hard and we’re coming to finish it. We’re the whole new breed of athletes that are coming.” h/t MMAjunkie
Jose Aldo released from hospital, fight vs. Alex Volkanovski still on
The great coach Andre Pederneiras reports that his fighter has been released from Samaritan hospital in Rio after being hospitalized for multiple days with an infection. Dede says preparation for the fight at UFC 237 on 5/11 in Rio will continue unhindered. h/t Combate (Portuguese language)
Big Pretty responds to Big Titty jibe
Pedro Munhoz: 'Actual bantamweights' should fight for title, not Hnery Cejudo
Munhoz argues there's just three valid contenders for the vacant belt: Marlon Moraes, Aljamain Sterling, and himself: “Marlon was probably going to face T.J. if the Cejudo fight didn’t happen first. Now, I think the UFC should let actual bantamweights fight for the vacant belt. That would be Marlon and me. ... Since T.J. relinquished the belt, we can forget about the rivalry with Cejudo and let the bantamweights move forward. Aljamain is tough, but he’s a bit boring. Most of his fights are won by points. He never engages toe-to-toe. I think if I face Marlon, the fans will get two aggressive fights with a crowd-pleasing style. We both look to knock out or submit. It’s more entertaining. Aljamain is good and experienced, but also boring and decision-prone. Both Marlon and I have mostly finishes, and we’ll collide head on. It’s a better fight for the company." h/t MMAjunkie
Randa Markos comments on first UFC submission
Randa Markos and Angela Hill didn't get along on TUF 20, but that didn't factor into the win for the Canadian-Iraqi: "It’s done and gone and I’ve grown as a person, she’s changed and I’m sure she’s not that same person anymore and really I just wanted to come in here today and find myself again. ... I feel like my old self again, it feels amazing. I haven’t had a submission since I got into the UFC and I’ve been wanting this for a long time and been searching for it and searching for it in my training and I think I found it. ... I don’t really want to make it all about the winning and just make those little goals for myself and keep going and win every situation of the fight and not the end result. The end result will come and I just want to keep growing and understanding myself and letting go of things and just being myself.” h/t MMA Junkie
