UFC 2020 and Beyond - Continuing the Legacy

Pontarii · February 29, 2020

WEEK 4 - DECEMBER 2020

UFC 258: Jones vs. Blachowicz

Attendance: 25,126

Gate: $8,153,387

Critical Rating: 81%

Commercial Rating: 100%

Main Event

Jon Jones def. Jan Blachowicz by Knock Out (Knee) in 1:57 of Round 3 to retain the UFC Light Heavyweight title

Co-Main Event

Max Holloway def. Alexander Volkanovski by TKO (Strikes) in 2:39 of Round 3 to win the UFC Featherweight title

Main Card

Valentina Shevchenko def. Katlyn Chookagian by Knock Out (Punch) in 0:46 of Round 2 to win the UFC Women's Flyweight title

Ryan Hall def. The Korean Zombie by Submission (Heel Hook) in 1:58 of Round 2

Ovince St. Preux def. Jim Crute by TKO (Strikes) in 3:10 of Round 2

ESPN Preliminary Card

Megan Anderson def. Macy Chiasson by TKO (Body Kick) in 0:40 of Round 1

Sergio Giglio def. Bryce Mitchell by Unanimous Decision

Julianna Peña def. Irene Aldana by TKO (Strikes) in 2:12 of Round 1

ESPN+ Early Preliminary Card

Georgy Kichigin def. Julian Marquez by Submission (Armbar) in 2:02 of Round 2

Darren Stewart def. Gerald Meerschaert by TKO (Strikes) in 3:24 of Round 1

Summary

The biggest event of the winter, as well as the final UFC-event in the year 2020 took place at the T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring three title bouts and an all in all stacked card. Racking in a massive 8,1 million dollars in Gate, the event was the most profitable event in all of Mixed Martial Arts this year and it truly delivered one of, if not the best card of the year. Starting with the early prelims, we saw our first fantastic rated fight when Georgy Kichigin submitted the DWTNCS-alumni Julian Marquez with a slick armbar which together with the entertaining bout between Darren Stewart and Gerald Meerschaert started UFC 258 out in good fashion. Later on during the prelims, Julianna Peña confirmed her place in the top 5-rankings of the Women's Bantamweight division as she finished Irene Aldana in the first while the undefeated Peruvian submission expert Sergio Giglio outworked fellow Featherweight prospect Bryce Mitchell to secure his fourteenth straight victory in his career. In the last prelim bout, Megan Anderson all but secured her place in the next Women's Featherweight title fight with her body kick TKO early in the first against TUF 28-winner Macy Chiasson. Anderson, who called out the champion Amanda Nunes during her post-fight interview as expected, has looked extremely impressive in her last three bouts and she most definitely deserves a title shot in the thinly shaped division. We began the main event portion with a great Light Heavyweight bout between the young and hungry Jim Crute against the veteran Ovince St. Preux in a bout where OSP looked surprisingly good, shocking the majority of the experts as he won the bout as an +350 underdog. The Haitian-American called out Johnny Walker after the fight, proclaiming that they would put on a very entertaining bout for the fans to watch, but considering that Walker has an ongoing beef with rising prospect Ion Cutelaba it's unclear if OSP gets his wishes granted. The fight between The Korean Zombie and Ryan Hall was the second of four fantastic rated bouts where Zombie almost finished Hall in the first with his pressure fighting. But the elite BJJ-grappler flipped the script in the second round, taking down and submitting the Korean-native with a sweet heel hook, similar to the one he finished the legendary B.J. Penn a few years ago. Heading into the first title bout of the evening, Valentina Shevchenko vowed to not repeat the mistakes of her last meeting with Katlyn Chookagian and when Yves Lavigne started the fight it was clear that Valentina was more than ready to reclaim her title. Putting on an excellent performance, she dominated the champion Chookagian during the entire first round and eventually finished her forty-six seconds into the second round with a one punch knockout. With Valentina back on top as the champion, the division regains much of the credibility it needs as no one really saw Katlyn Chookagian as a permanent champion and a potential title bout between Valentina and undefeated Maycee Barber is already being worked on. Another former champion who reclaimed his title, albeit in a much more close contests, was Max Holloway. In a fantastic back-and-forth rematch between him and Alexander Volkanovski, both fighters had their moments where it looked like they might finish the opponent but in the end it was Max's high pressure, constantly going forward-type of style that edged out Volkanovski's heavy grappling-style. Holloway took the time after the bout to thank his camp for the preparations leading up to the fight as well as to the UFC for giving him the rematch he always knew he was going to win, as well as welcoming Zabit Magomedsharipov to a future title bout in a couple of months. It's speculated that Holloway vs. Zabit will either take place in Holloway's Hawaii or in Zabit's Russia, if everything goes to plan. The last but certainly not least bout of the night was the Light Heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Jan Blachowicz. In a classic Jones' champion display, the champion dominated the Polish challenger as he had promise and used a variety of attacks to keep Blachowicz guessing. Jones easily won the first round with his striking and dominated the second round scoring a rare 10-8 with his grappling before he finished Blachowicz with a knee in clinch around two minutes into the third. The Polish challenger received a lot of critique following his loss as he only managed to land eleven strikes in the entirety of the fight, but Jones defended his opponent afterwards claiming that the strikes he landed was some of the heaviest he has ever received. As it stands, Jon Jones has defeated every single one of the top four ranked fighters in the Light Heavyweight division while the fighters ranked below that is not near a title shot. It's getting hard to see which challenges Jones has left in the division, and perhaps it's time for him to make that final jump up to Heavyweight. UFC 258 will go down in history as one of the best cards in modern time, and it really capped of 2020 with a bang.

Bonus Awards

Fight of the Night: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway

Knockout of the Night: Jon Jones

Submission of the Night: Ryan Hall

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Pontarii · March 1, 2020

WEEK 1 - JANUARY 2021

MMA Awards & Yearly Summary

World MMA Awards 2020

Every year, the elite of the Mixed Martial Arts world gathers in Las Vegas, Nevada to celebrate the year and to highlight some of the best fighters, personalities, fights and events that has transpired during the past year. This year, taking place at the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms Resort Casino, the award show was hosted by actor and known MMA-enthusiast Kevin James. It was a fun night for everyone involved and to no surprise, UFC dominated the awards but a lot of upsets took place as well. The winners of the categories can be viewed down below:

The Charles "Mask" Lewis Fighter of the Year:

Winner: Khabib Nurmagomedov

Other nominees: Jon Jones, Kamaru Usman, Henry Cejudo, Ryan Bader

- Russian, undefeated UFC Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov took home the award for best male fighter of the year for the first time in his career after successfully defending his title against two dangerous contenders in Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. He is now 30-0 and is regarded as the best Lightweight fighter of all time.

Female Fighter of the Year:

Winner: Tatiana Suarez

Other nominees: Amanda Nunes, Cris Cyborg, Julianna Vasquez (Bellator), Maycee Barber

- UFC Women's Strawweight champion Tatiana Suarez won the Female Fighter of the Year award, not only winning the title against Weili Zhang but also keeping her undefeated record intact. Suarez also defeated former champion Rose Namajunas during the year and was regarded as the second favorite to win the award with Amanda Nunes being a slight favorite, but the California-native claimed the award for the first time in her career.

Breakthrough Fighter of the Year:

Winner: Antiere Terblanche

Other nominees: Edmen Shahbazyan, Paul Felder, Dave Marfone (ONE), Petr Yan

- Ultimately, this award was already decided beforehand as no one can top Antiere Terblanche's breakthrough year in the sport. First getting into The Ultimate Fighter season 29 as a complete unknown, then to go on and win the whole thing and shock the entire MMA world in his UFC debut to win and become the UFC Flyweight champion is a remarkable feat. Even though he only fought once professionally during the year, that fight catapulted him into stardom and championship glory and for that he's the only rightful victor in his category.

International Fighter of the Year:

Winner: Rafael Lovato Jr.

Other nominees: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Sokoudjou (ONE), Israel Adesanya, Andrey Koreshkov (Bellator)

- The first award not going to a UFC-fighter, but instead to Rafael Lovato Jr. in Bellator. The Middleweight champion of the organization has defended his title twice during 2020 and has looked really good, with rumors pitting him in the UFC if Bellator's struggles continue. Lovato Jr. is expected to face the former champion Gegard Mousasi in a rematch this weekend.

Fight of the Year:

Winner: Aaron Pico vs. Robert Whiteford (Bellator 236)

Other nominees: Sodiq Yusuff vs. Josh Emmett (UFC 256), Weili Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (UFC 248), Curtis Blaydes vs. Junior dos Santos (UFC FN: 166), Ralek Gracie vs. Phil Davis (Bellator 238)

- The winner of the Fight of the Year was a bit of an upset as Aaron Pico's second round submission victory over Robert Whiteford beat several other potential winners. The bout, which took place at Bellator 236: Lima vs. Daley II was a face pace one where both fighters showed tremendous heart and determination. In the end, Pico got the victory with a beautiful rear naked choke late in the second round after getting rocked moments earlier with an uppercut.

Knockout of the Year:

Winner: Takafumi Ito spinning elbow KO vs. Denilson Neves de Oliveira (Shooto Underground)

Other nominees: Robbie Lawler vs. Nick Diaz (UFC 255), Anthony Johnson vs. Stefan Struve (UFC FN: 178), Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Yair Rodriguez (UFC FN: 175), Ryan Bader vs. Ralek Gracie (Bellator 244)

- It was no surprise that the viral spinning elbow knockout by Takafumi Ito on Brazilian Denilson Neves de Oliveira at Shooto Underground won Knockout of the Year. With millions of views on Youtube, the knockout which happened in September was the heavy favorite to win the award.

Submission of the Year:

Winner: Arjan Bhullar armbar vs. Roque Martinez (ONE Showdown)

Other nominees: Abdulrashid Sadulaev vs. Lil Nog (UFC on ESPN: Yan vs. Moraes), Brian Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie (UFC 251), Tony Ferguson vs. Dustin Poirier (UFC 257), Aviv Gozali vs. Alfie Davis (Bellator 241)

- Former UFC-fighter and Olympic freestyle wrestler Arjan Bhullar pulled of an amazing armbar against Roque Martinez at ONE Showdown. Reminiscent of when Frank Mir broke Tim Sylvia's arm many years ago, Bhullar locked in an armbar on Martinez who tried to stand up and slam his opponent but eventually broke his arm instead. The image of the Heavyweight Bullar hanging from Martinez arm was a great one and the submission was rightfully awarded with Submission of the Year despite though competition.

Comeback of the Year:

Winner: Katlyn Chookagian vs. Valentina Shevchenko (UFC 247)

Other nominees: Brad Katona vs. Joe Soto (UFC FN: 177), Patricio "Pitbull" Freire vs. Michael Chandler (Bellator 234), Juliana Velasquez vs. Ilima-Lei MacFarlane (Bellator 237), Ryogo Takahasi vs. Martin Nguyen (ONE Blaze of Glory)

- The winner for Comeback of the Year was awarded to Katlyn Chookagian after her title victory over Valentina Shevchenko back at UFC 247. Having been dominated for four and a half rounds, Chookagian pulled of an incredible upset and came back in the fight to become the UFC Women's Flyweight champion with a submission victory. One of the greatest comebacks in Women's MMA of all time, no doubt about it.

Upset of the Year:

Winner: Antiere Terblanche vs. Joseph Benavidez (UFC FN: 183)

Other nominees: Katlyn Chookagian vs. Valentina Shevchenko (UFC 247), Abdulrashid Sadulaev vs. Lil Nog (UFC on ESPN: Yan vs. Moraes), Themba Gorimbo vs. Ryan Spann (UFC FN: 171), Sokoudjou vs. Aung La Nsang (ONE Payback)

- As clear as his award victory in Breakthrough Fighter of the Year, the award for Upset of the Year was always going to be Antiere Terblanche's. Everything has already been said about his victory, so more is not needed but he deserves all awards and credit he's been given.

mattu29 · March 1, 2020

<img src=https://i.imgur.com/eYAV0hw.jpg>

WEEK 1 - JANUARY 2021
MMA Awards & Yearly Summary

<img src=https://i.imgur.com/S25IrN1.jpg>

World MMA Awards 2020

Every year, the elite of the Mixed Martial Arts world gathers in Las Vegas, Nevada to celebrate the year and to highlight some of the best fighters, personalities, fights and events that has transpired during the past year. This year, taking place at the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms Resort Casino, the award show was hosted by actor and known MMA-enthusiast Kevin James. It was a fun night for everyone involved and to no surprise, UFC dominated the awards but a lot of upsets took place as well. The winners of the categories can be viewed down below:

The Charles "Mask" Lewis Fighter of the Year:
Winner: Khabib Nurmagomedov
Other nominees: Jon Jones, Kamaru Usman, Henry Cejudo, Ryan Bader
- Russian, undefeated UFC Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov took home the award for best male fighter of the year for the first time in his career after successfully defending his title against two dangerous contenders in Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. He is now 30-0 and is regarded as the best Lightweight fighter of all time.

Female Fighter of the Year:
Winner: Tatiana Suarez
Other nominees: Amanda Nunes, Cris Cyborg, Julianna Vasquez (Bellator), Maycee Barber
- UFC Women's Strawweight champion Tatiana Suarez won the Female Fighter of the Year award, not only winning the title against Weili Zhang but also keeping her undefeated record intact. Suarez also defeated former champion Rose Namajunas during the year and was regarded as the second favorite to win the award with Amanda Nunes being a slight favorite, but the California-native claimed the award for the first time in her career.

Breakthrough Fighter of the Year:
Winner: Antiere Terblanche
Other nominees: Edmen Shahbazyan, Paul Felder, Dave Marfone (ONE), Petr Yan
- Ultimately, this award was already decided beforehand as no one can top Antiere Terblanche's breakthrough year in the sport. First getting into The Ultimate Fighter season 29 as a complete unknown, then to go on and win the whole thing and shock the entire MMA world in his UFC debut to win and become the UFC Flyweight champion is a remarkable feat. Even though he only fought once professionally during the year, that fight catapulted him into stardom and championship glory and for that he's the only rightful victor in his category.

International Fighter of the Year:
Winner: Rafael Lovato Jr.
Other nominees: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Sokoudjou (ONE), Israel Adesanya, Andrey Koreshkov (Bellator)
- The first award not going to a UFC-fighter, but instead to Rafael Lovato Jr. in Bellator. The Middleweight champion of the organization has defended his title twice during 2020 and has looked really good, with rumors pitting him in the UFC if Bellator's struggles continue. Lovato Jr. is expected to face the former champion Gegard Mousasi in a rematch this weekend.

Fight of the Year:
Winner: Aaron Pico vs. Robert Whiteford (Bellator 236)
Other nominees: Sodiq Yusuff vs. Josh Emmett (UFC 256), Weili Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (UFC 248), Curtis Blaydes vs. Junior dos Santos (UFC FN: 166), Ralek Gracie vs. Phil Davis (Bellator 238)
- The winner of the Fight of the Year was a bit of an upset as Aaron Pico's second round submission victory over Robert Whiteford beat several other potential winners. The bout, which took place at Bellator 236: Lima vs. Daley II was a face pace one where both fighters showed tremendous heart and determination. In the end, Pico got the victory with a beautiful rear naked choke late in the second round after getting rocked moments earlier with an uppercut.

Knockout of the Year:
Winner: Takafumi Ito spinning elbow KO vs. Denilson Neves de Oliveira (Shooto Underground)
Other nominees: Robbie Lawler vs. Nick Diaz (UFC 255), Anthony Johnson vs. Stefan Struve (UFC FN: 178), Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Yair Rodriguez (UFC FN: 175), Ryan Bader vs. Ralek Gracie (Bellator 244)
- It was no surprise that the viral spinning elbow knockout by Takafumi Ito on Brazilian Denilson Neves de Oliveira at Shooto Underground won Knockout of the Year. With millions of views on Youtube, the knockout which happened in September was the heavy favorite to win the award.

Submission of the Year:
Winner: Arjan Bhullar armbar vs. Roque Martinez (ONE Showdown)
Other nominees: Abdulrashid Sadulaev vs. Lil Nog (UFC on ESPN: Yan vs. Moraes), Brian Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie (UFC 251), Tony Ferguson vs. Dustin Poirier (UFC 257), Aviv Gozali vs. Alfie Davis (Bellator 241)
- Former UFC-fighter and Olympic freestyle wrestler Arjan Bhullar pulled of an amazing armbar against Roque Martinez at ONE Showdown. Reminiscent of when Frank Mir broke Tim Sylvia's arm many years ago, Bhullar locked in an armbar on Martinez who tried to stand up and slam his opponent but eventually broke his arm instead. The image of the Heavyweight Bullar hanging from Martinez arm was a great one and the submission was rightfully awarded with Submission of the Year despite though competition.

Comeback of the Year:
Winner: Katlyn Chookagian vs. Valentina Shevchenko (UFC 247)
Other nominees: Brad Katona vs. Joe Soto (UFC FN: 177), Patricio "Pitbull" Freire vs. Michael Chandler (Bellator 234), Juliana Velasquez vs. Ilima-Lei MacFarlane (Bellator 237), Ryogo Takahasi vs. Martin Nguyen (ONE Blaze of Glory)
- The winner for Comeback of the Year was awarded to Katlyn Chookagian after her title victory over Valentina Shevchenko back at UFC 247. Having been dominated for four and a half rounds, Chookagian pulled of an incredible upset and came back in the fight to become the UFC Women's Flyweight champion with a submission victory. One of the greatest comebacks in Women's MMA of all time, no doubt about it.

Upset of the Year:
Winner: Antiere Terblanche vs. Joseph Benavidez (UFC FN: 183)
Other nominees: Katlyn Chookagian vs. Valentina Shevchenko (UFC 247), Abdulrashid Sadulaev vs. Lil Nog (UFC on ESPN: Yan vs. Moraes), Themba Gorimbo vs. Ryan Spann (UFC FN: 171), Sokoudjou vs. Aung La Nsang (ONE Payback)
- As clear as his award victory in Breakthrough Fighter of the Year, the award for Upset of the Year was always going to be Antiere Terblanche's. Everything has already been said about his victory, so more is not needed but he deserves all awards and credit he's been given.

Some interesting results, surprised to see Rafael Lovato take that international award, which 2 guys did he beat in 2020 in game to win the award?

Pontarii · March 1, 2020

Some interesting results, surprised to see Rafael Lovato take that international award, which 2 guys did he beat in 2020 in game to win the award?

Lovato Jr. beat Rafael Carvalho and Costello van Steenis in his two fights, finishing them both early in the first round in dominate fashion. He was scheduled to face Gegard earlier during the year, but Gegard pulled out due to injuries so the bout will take place this weekend. Perhaps an upset of a winner, but MMA Awards has a tendency to throw in a Bellator-award here and there to break the dominance from UFC.

Pontarii · March 1, 2020

WEEK 1 - JANUARY 2021

2020 in Mixed Martial Arts

Bellator

Champions

(2020 Record in that specific division)

Heavyweight: Ryan Bader (0-0) - Bader has not defended his Heavyweight title in 2020

Light Heavyweight: Ryan Bader (2-0) - Vadim Nemkov (W), Ralek Gracie (W)

Middleweight: Rafael Lovato Jr. (2-0) - Rafael Carvalho (W), Costello van Steenis (W)

Welterweight: Andrey Koreshkov (3-0) - Michael Page (W), Douglas Lima (W), Yaroslav Amosov (W)

Lightweight: Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire (1-0) - Michael Chandler (W)

Featherweight: Vacant - A.J. McKee defeated Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire to win the Featherweight title before vacating

Bantamweight: Darrion Caldwell (2-0) - Shawn Bunch (W), Ricky Bandejas (W)

Women's Featherweight: Cris Cyborg (2-0) - Julia Budd (W), Olga Rubin (W)

Women's Flyweight: Juliana Velasquez (3-0) - Denise Klietholtz (W), Ilima-Lei MacFarlane (W), Jaimelene Nievera (W)

Highest rated cards

(Top 5 highest rated cards according to critical rating)

1. Bellator 245: Velasquez vs. Nievera - 82% Critical - 52% Commercial - $335,663 Gate

Juliana Velasquez def. Jaimelene Nievera, Kyra Gracie def. Liz Carmouche, Leonardo Leite def. Rafael Cavalcante, Lewis Long def. Galore Bofando, Justin Lawrence def. Chinzo Machida

2. Bellator 241: Lima vs. Koreshkov IV - 81% Critical - 69% Commercial - $958,508 Gate

Andrey Koreshkov def. Douglas Lima, Lyoto Machida def. Austin Vanderford, Valerie Letourneau def. Alejandra Lara, Michael Page def. Kiefer Crosbie, Aviv Gozali def. Alfie Davies

3. Bellator 238: Emelianenko vs. Nelson - 79% Critical - 76% Commercial - $673,288 Gate

Fedor Emelianenko def. Roy Nelson, Ralek Gracie def. Phil Davis, Gaston Bolanos def. Damian Frankiewicz, Chris Dempsey def. Daniel Olejniczak, Leonardo Leite def. Jamal Patterson

4. Bellator 236: Lima vs. Daley II - 76% Critical - 79% Commercial - $699,592 Gate

Douglas Lima def. Paul Daley, Benson Henderson def. Josh Thomson, Aaron Pico def. Robert Whiteford, Mauricio Alonso def. Mike Shipman, Gavin Hughes def. David Rickels

5. Bellator 237: Lovato Jr. vs. Carvalho - 75% Critical - 49% Commercial - $251,812 Gate

Rafael Lovato Jr. def. Rafael Carvalho, Juliana Velasquez def. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Lorenz Larkin def. Neiman Gracie, Roberta Paim Rovel def. Arlene Blencowe, Daria Ibragimova def. Leslie Smith

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ONE Championship

Champions

(2020 Record in that specific division)

Heavyweight: Brandon Vera (3-0) - Sergei Kharitonov (W), Gabriel Gonzaga (W), Kazuyuki Fujita (W)

Light Heavyweight: Aung La NSang (2-0) - Alexandre Machado (W), Marcus Vanttinen (W)

Middleweight: Sokoudjou (2-0) - Reinier de Ridder (W), Aung La NSang (W)

Welterweight: Dave Marfone (2-0) - Luis Santos (W), Kiamrian Abbasov (W)

Lightweight: Christian Lee (2-0) - Amir Khan (W), Koshi Matsumoto (W)

Featherweight: Gesias Cavalcante (3-0) - Reynaldo Acevedo (W), Charles Bennett (W), Gavin Hughes (W)

Bantamweight: Jung Young Lee (3-0) - Andrew Leone (W), Kevin Belingon (W), Diego Nunes (W)

Flyweight: Mark Striegl (3-0) - Min Jong Song (W), Toni Tauru (W)

Strawweight: Jose Torres (3-0) - Chico Camus (W), Joshua Pacio (W), Ben Nguyen (W)

Women's Bantamweight: Miriam Nakamoto (3-0) - Martyna Czech (W), Kelly Faszholz (W), Sy Jewett (W)

Women's Strawweight: Xiong Jing Nan (2-0) - Tsui-Jen Cunanan (W), Pearl Gonzalez (W)

Women's Atomweight: Heqin Lin (2-0) - Angelie Sabanal (W), Gina Iniong (W)

Highest rated cards

(Top 5 highest rated cards according to critical rating)

1. ONE Stacked: Galvao vs. Gomez - 79% Critical - 45% Commercial - $296,805 Gate

Gilberto Galvao def. Anthony Gomez, Kairat Akhmetov def. Jesse Arnett, Kiamrian Abbasov def. Tyler McGuire, Thanh Le def. Tetsuya Yamada, Lei Chen def. Andrew Leone

2. ONE Relentless: Moraes vs. Johnson - 76% Critical - 69% Commercial - $918,450 Gate

Demetrious Johnson def. Adriano Moraes, Jose Torres def. Joshua Pacio, Sage Northcutt def. Jerry Olsim, Roque Martinez def. Mauro Cerilli, Vanessa Porto def. Michelle Nicolini

3. ONE Forsaken: Alvarez vs. Holzken - 75% Critical - 67% Commercial - $694,200 Gate

Eddie Alvarez def. Nieky Holzken, Loewn Tynanes def. Timofey Nastyukhin, Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke def. Joshua Pacio, Emily Corso def. Tiffany Teo, Rahul Raju def. Koji Ando

4. ONE Showtime: Striegl vs. Tauru - 75% Critical - 41% Commercial - $126,600 Gate

Mark Striegl def. Toni Tauru, Heqin Lin def. Gina Iniong, Arjan Bhullar def. Roque Martinez, Cosmo Alexandre def. Eduard Folayang, Mark Abelardo def. John Lineker

5. ONE Payback: La NSang vs. Sokoudjou - 74% Critical - 67% Commercial - $752,250 Gate

Sokoudjou def. Aung La Nsang, Kyoji Horiguchi def. Mathes Nicolau, Bibiano Fernandes def. Yusup Saadulaev, Igor Pokrajac def. Thiago Silva, Wilson Reis def. Jeremy Miado

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Professional Fighters League

Tournament Winners

(Tournament winner takes home $1,000,000)

Heavyweight: Francimar Barroso - Defeated Eric Prindle in the Final

Light Heavyweight: Vinny Magalhes - Defeated Francis Carmont in the Final

Welterweight: Rory MacDonald - Defeated Jake Shields in the Final

Lightweight: Thiago Tavares - Defeated Rashid Magomedov in the Final

Featherweight: Jeremy Kennedy - Defeated Manny Bermudez in the Final

Bantamweight: Chris Culley - Defeated Donny Walker in the Final

Flyweight: John Moraga - Defeated Eric Shelton in the Final

Women's Lightweight: Kayla Harrison - Defeated Genah Fabian in the Final

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Top 5 biggest signings of 2020

1. Mark Hunt signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship

Lost to Hector Lombard in his debut

2. Renan Barão signed with Legacy Fighting Alliance

Defeated Kolby Bonnar in his debut

3. Takanori Gomi signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship

Defeated Diego Brandão in his debut, but lost to Artem Lobov in his second fight

4. Gökhan Saki signed with Professional Fighters League

Will debut in PFL during the 2021 season

5. Gordon Ryan signed with King of the cage

Defeated Hector Lombard in his second ever MMA bout

Pontarii · March 3, 2020

WEEK 2 - JANUARY 2021

UFC Fight Night 185: Hermansson vs. Romero

Attendance: 12,668

Gate: $1,920,137

Critical Rating: 73%

Commercial Rating: 60%

Main Event

Jack Hermansson def. Yoel Romero by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 3:25 of Round 2

Co-Main Event

Myles Jury def. Makwan Amirkhani by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 2:53 of Round 2

Main Card

Emil Meek def. Max Griffin by TKO (Strikes) in 2:25 of Round 2

Nicolas Dalby def. Nathan Coy by TKO (Strikes) in 4:37 of Round 1

Gina Mazany def. Pannie Kianzad by Split Decision

ESPN+ Preliminary Card

Billy Quarantillo def. Giga Chikadze by Unanimous Decision

Ismail Naurdiev def. Sean Strickland by Submission (Guillotine) in 4:51 of Round 2

Damir Hadzovic def. Dong Hyun Ma by TKO (Strikes) in 4:06 of Round 1

Jose Alberto Quinonez def. Chris Gutierrez by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 3:59 of Round 1

Roman Kopylov def. Welington Turman by Knock Out (Punch) in 3:26 of Round 3

Summary

The injury bug plagued UFC's return to Stockholm, Sweden as two of the most prolific fighters on the card pulled out ahead of the weigh-ins. Ilir Latifi, who was supposed to face Sam Alvey in the co-main event, and Zebaztian Kadestam, who was supposed to make his UFC-debut on home soil against Brad Tavares, both informed the company that they couldn't fight citing injuries to the stomach and the head respectively. This halted the commercial rating for the event drastically as it realistically only featured one prominent fight which of course was the main event between Jack Hermansson, fighting in his birth nation of Sweden, against the former title challenger Yoel Romero. To fill up the main card, Featherweights Myles Jury and Makwan Amirkhani was drafted in on one day notice to the co-main event spot. Initially, the two was scheduled to face each other on next weeks UFC Fight Night 186-event but seeing as Amirkhani is Finnish and kind of popular in the Scandinavian market, the call was made for them to co-main event behind Hermansson and Romero. The Women's Bantamweight bout between home town fighter Pannie Kianzad and Gina Mazany was drafted from the prelims to the main card to fill the fifth and final spot. A solid event without anything special happening before the main event took place at the Ericsson Globe with some mixed results for the Nordic fighters. On one hand, Nicolas Dalby, Damir Hadzovic and Emil Meek both won their fights, on the other hand Pannie Kianzad and Makwan Amirkhani lost their bouts which netted a 3-2 result for the Nordic fighters before Jack Hermansson entered the frame. Yoel Romero, the 41-year old former Olympic wrestler from Cuba, was the slight favorite heading into the bout but Jack Hermansson was expected to be a tough opponent for Romero, and he sure was. Focusing primarily on his ground game, Hermansson took the fight to Romero with two takedowns early in the first round. Romero tried to make it a striking bout as he clearly was the better striker between the two, but Hermansson's game plan was solid and he used pressure grappling and a calm approach to keep Romero guessing. Three minutes and twenty-five seconds into the second round, Hermansson took the back of the Cuban and secured a tight rear naked choke to finish Romero by submission. This was the first time that Romero had been finished via submission in his storied career, and Michael Bisping said before the post-fight interviews that he believed that Romero was going to retire there and then. But, the 41-year old waved off the retirement rumors and made sure to the fans that he intend on coming back stronger than ever and make one final push for the title despite his latest losses. For Hermansson, the victory results in a climb up the rankings. He's now back in the top five of the Middleweight division and several fighters have used social media to call out the Swede for their next bout including Luke Rockhold, Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier. Following the event in Stockholm, Sweden - three fighters was notified that their contracts would not be renewed. This includes Max Griffin, who went 3-6 in the UFC, Nathan Coy, who went 1-3 in the UFC, and Dong Hyun Ma, who went 3-6 in the UFC.

Bonus Awards

Fight of the Night: Roman Kopylov vs. Wellington Turman

Knockout of the Night: Roman Kopylov

Submission of the Night: Jack Hermansson

<img src=https://i.imgur.com/tASJlnY.jpg

CageRage · March 3, 2020

Too bad injuries tore apart this card. Good to see Hermansson moving up the rankings, will be interesting to see who his next fight's against, especially given the number of fighters calling him out.

mattu29 · March 4, 2020

Damn! surprised to see Hermansson beating Romero, who do you see him facing next out of Rockhold/Whittaker/Cannonier? I guess a win next would earn him a title shot?

Pontarii · March 4, 2020

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="CageRage" data-cite="CageRage" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47212" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Too bad injuries tore apart this card. Good to see Hermansson moving up the rankings, will be interesting to see who his next fight's against, especially given the number of fighters calling him out.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="mattu29" data-cite="mattu29" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47212" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Damn! surprised to see Hermansson beating Romero, who do you see him facing next out of Rockhold/Whittaker/Cannonier? I guess a win next would earn him a title shot?</div></blockquote> Quite a shocker to me as well, I thought Romero was going to be quite the task in Hermansson's return home but he exceeded every expectation with this victory. I'm probably leaning against Rockhold for his next bout, but the Whittaker one is promising as well. Cannonier is the obvious third choice here since they fought recently IRL, but you never know.

Pontarii · March 4, 2020

WEEK 2 - JANUARY 2021

UFC Fight Announcement & News

Double champion Ryan Bader signs lucrative 8-fight deal with UFC following fallout with Bellator

The rumors surrounding the Bellator Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight champion Ryan Bader's (29-5-1) willingness to try out the free agency market has circulated for a while now, and after a couple of weeks of silence it's finally official: Ryan Bader has signed a lucrative multi-fight deal with the UFC, which marks his return to the company after almost five years away. According to sources, the contract spans multiple years and features a 8-fight deal which will net Bader around $75,000 per fight. This makes Bader the third best payed Light Heavyweight fighter behind the champion Jon Jones and the former Middleweight Chris Weidman.

37-year old Bader hasn't lost since leaving the UFC back in 2016 with his latest loss coming at the hands of now Heavyweight Anthony Johnson. During his tenure with Bellator, Bader claimed both the Light Heavyweight title, in a championship bout against fellow former UFC-fighter Phil Davis, and the Heavyweight title, emerging victorious in the 8-man Heavyweight Grand Prix where he defeated the legendary Fedor Emelianenko in the final. He is widely considered as one of the top five pound for pound greatest fighters on the planet and a potential rematch against the P2P-king Jon Jones will be greatly sought after for the fans.

The loss of the company's top fighter and the double champion of two of the most prominent weight classes is a tough pill to swallow for Bellator, and especially for the president Scott Coker. His position is being more and more questioned every day and many of the true Bellator-fans feels it's time to move on from the so-called "Coker Era". There's heavy rumors about a potential takeover regarding Bellator, and according to MMAJunkie the potential buyer is a wealthy businessman with some serious intentions about leading Bellator into a fierce rivalry with the UFC. If the rumors are to be believed, the Bader-deal will certainly lead to hostile negotiations between the two organizations in the future.

Ryan Bader is expected to make his highly anticipated return to the UFC during the first half of 2021. It's still unclear who he will face, but rumors suggest that a Light Heavyweight bout against recent title challenger Jan Blachowicz is in the works for an upcoming event.

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Bantamweight title bout between Henry Cejudo vs. Petr Yan slated for upcoming UFC on ESPN-card in Canada

Bantamweight king Henry Cejudo (17-2) will defend his championship for the third time when he takes on the extremely dangerous Petr Yan (15-1) in the main event of the upcoming UFC on ESPN-event. The card will take place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the second weekend of the new year. Cejudo has defended his Bantamweight title twice since winning it back in 2019, against two of the toughest in the division in Aljamain Sterling and José Aldo. Yan on the other hand are on a 10-fight winning streak having defeated Marlon Moraes, Urijah Faber and Jimmie Rivera to name a few.

In the co-main event spot, former Women's Strawweight champions face each other as Rose Namajunas (9-5) makes a quick return following her win against Jessica Andrade just two months ago to take on Weili Zhang (21-2). This bout will most likely be a number one contender bout as there's no clear title contender for the champion Tatiana Suarez to face in her first title defense. Either way it's going to be a rematch for Suarez as she has faced, and defeated, both Namajunas and Zhang during 2020. Another potential title challenger is Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who can always be thrown into the title mix without hesitation due to her being one of the greatest female fighters of all time but it's expected that she faces another top ranked fighter before getting another shot at the title.

The rest of the card is a solid one with many potential show stealers. A Light Heavyweight bout between the resurgent Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua (27-11-1) and Volkan Özdemir (17-5), and two Featherweight bouts between Shane Burgos (13-2) vs. Michael Johnson (20-15) and home town fighter Charles Jourdain (11-2) vs. Alex Caceres (15-13-1NC) also takes place on the main card portion of the event.

The UFC on ESPN: Cejudo vs. Yan main card looks like this:

Main Event

Bantamweight Championship Bout: © Henry Cejudo vs. (#1) Petr Yan

Co-Main Event

Women's Strawweight Bout: (#1) Rose Namajunas vs. (#2) Weili Zhang

Main Card

Light Heavyweight Bout: (#8) Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua vs. (#7) Volkan Özdemir

Featherweight Bout: Shane Burgos vs. Michael Johnson

Featherweight Bout: Charles Jourdain vs. Alex Caceres

Pontarii · March 5, 2020

WEEK 3 - JANUARY 2021

UFC Fight Night 186: Shahbazyan vs. Gastelum

Attendance: 7,383

Gate: $1,624,260

Critical Rating: 73%

Commercial Rating: 90%

Main Event

Edmen Shahbazyan def. Kelvin Gastelum by TKO (Strikes) in 0:35 of Round 4

Co-Main Event

Abdulrashid Sadulaev def. Ed Herman by Unanimous Decision

Main Card

Maycee Barber def. Jessica Eye by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 2:44 of Round 2

Yadong Song def. Cory Sandhagen by TKO (Strikes) in 4:46 of Round 1

Randy Brown def. Diego Sanchez by Unanimous Decision

ESPN+ Preliminary Card

Alex Perez def. Tim Elliott by TKO (Strikes) in 3:49 of Round 2

Markus Perez def. Tom Breese by Unanimous Decision

Sabina Mazo def. Justine Kish by Unanimous Decision

Arman Tsarukyan def. Bobby Green by Unanimous Decision

Jack Marshman def. Maki Pitolo by Unanimous Decision

Summary

Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, New Mexico hosted the UFC Fight Night: 186-event during the second Saturday for 2021 with a main event consisting of Mexican-American Middleweight Kelvin Gastelum and rising Middleweight prospect Edmen Shahbazyan of Armenian descent. A highly anticipated bout between two of the top ranked Middleweights with the eventual winner most likely getting a future title shot. The talk before the fight centered around Gastelum's toughness and experience over Shahbazyan, but the 23-year old was the slight betting favorite with a +100 line much due to his incredible win streak and form. Having faced some adversity in his last fight, Edmen Shahbazyan promised his always growing fanbase to finish Gastelum and not leave it at the hand of the judges, which was a subtle nod to the fact that Gastelum, having some form of connections to New Mexico due to his heritage, may be favorited by the judges if it went the distance. The fight started at close and cautious by both fighters with Gastelum getting the slight advantage with his advancing and controlling of the octagon during the first round. The second round was more in favor of Shahbazyan as he started utilizing his distance striking with some swift jab-kick combos to the body of Gastelum. With 19-19 on the scorecards, the third round was similar to the second one with Shahbazyan controlling the majority of the round again with a distance striking, focusing primarily on countering Gastelum's attempts to hit the 23-year old with power strikes. Having worked his opponent versatile and well, Shahbazyan started the fourth round in explosive fashion as he hit Gastelum with a head kicked that stunned the former title challenger to the point where he fell to the ground. The undefeated prospect jumped on the opportunity to finish the grounded Gastelum with some heavy elbows to the dome which led to the stoppage by referee Dan Miragliotta. A big victory for the 23-year old Armenian-American who advances to 14-0, with seven of those victories coming in the UFC. Whoever wins the upcoming title fight between the champ Israel Adesanya and the challenger Darren Till, it's safe to say that Edmen Shahbazyan is the new number one title contender in the Middleweight division without a shadow of a doubt. During the post-fight interview, before calling out the winner of the future title fight, Shahbazyan paid his respect to one of the MMA-greats in Ronda Rousey as she is a part of Glendale Fighting Club in which Shahbazyan trains. Moving on to the co-main event, Russian wrestling sensation Abdulrashid Sadulaev claimed his second victory in his second ever Mixed Martial Arts bout against the veteran Ed Herman. The affair went Sadulaev's way completely as he dominated Herman with takedown after takedown, using his next-to-none superior wrestling skills to neutralize the Portland-native. Looking to further climb the rankings of the Light Heavyweight division, Sadulaev called out Ovince St. Preux for a future showdown in Russia after the Haitian's impressive victory over Jim Crute at UFC 258. We also saw another bright prospect in Maycee Barber winning, and ultimately securing a title shot against the Women's Flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko. Barber dominated the number one ranked Jessica Eye and won via a rear naked choke in the second round. The title bout is already being discussed, with May being the most likely month for it to happen but nothing is yet official. Disappointingly, Diego Sanchez lost his homecoming fight in Albuquerque as Randy Brown outstroke him for two rounds to secure the 29-28 decision victory. Controversially, one judge ruled it to be a 30-27 victory for Diego Sanchez which was met by anger and shunning by the MMA community on social media with former UFC-fighter Ross Pearson calling it "one of the worst judging I've ever seen". As to be expected nowadays, three fighters was released following the event including Bobby Green (5-6-1 UFC), Justine Kish (2-4 UFC) and Maki Pitolo (0-2 UFC). During the broadcast, the audience was treated with a teaser as UFC confirmed that they're returning to London, England for an upcoming event. It's rumored to be the UFC-debut of British star Michael 'Venom' Page, but nothing has been made official as of yet. Who do you think 'MVP' will face in his promotional debut in his home country of England?

Bonus Awards

Fight of the Night: Diego Sanchez vs. Randy Brown

Knockout of the Night: Edmen Shahbazyan

Submission of the Night: Maycee Barber

<img src=https://i.imgur.com/7W90hbZ.jpg

mattu29 · March 6, 2020

Damn that's great for Edmen! massive win for him!

Pontarii · March 6, 2020

Damn that's great for Edmen! massive win for him!

Massive win indeed, a guaranteed title shot coming shortly for Edmen after this incredible run!

Thanks for the comment mattu and thanks to everyone for over 7000 views on the dynasty. It means the world to me, thanks and here's to many more!

Pontarii · March 7, 2020

WEEK 4 - JANUARY 2021

Bellator Results & UFC Press Conference

Bellator 249: Lovato Jr. finishes Gegard Mousasi inside the first round as rumors about potential takeover grows larger everyday

Bellator kicked off 2021 with a bang last night as the Middleweight title was on the line in the anticipated rematch between undefeated champion Rafael Lovato Jr. and the former champion Gegard Mousasi. The betting lines before the bout had Mousasi as the slight favorite despite being the challenger, but Lovato Jr. cemented his position as the top Middleweight and perhaps the best fighter outside the UFC as he finished the Dutch UFC-veteran with a D'Arce Choke two and a half minute into the first round. The Oklahoma City-resident is ranked as the sixth best Middleweight in the world behind the likes of Israel Adesanya, Darren Till, Edmen Shahbazyan, Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa and he has openly talked about the possibility of a cross-promotion bout with the best that UFC has to offer.

During the celebrated event, which garnered a gate of roughly $1,2 million, we saw a big victory for the former UFC-veteran Roger Huerta as he finished the former Bellator Lightweight champion Brent Primus in his comeback bout for the company. Huerta has been on a hiatus from the sport after losing three straight bouts against the top contenders of the Bellator Lightweight division, but bounced back in successful fashion scoring the Unanimous Decision victory over Primus as the underdog. We also saw big victories for the undefeated Tyrell Fortune, who defeated UFC-veteran Timothy Johnson in the Heavyweight division, as well for Rafael Carvalho, who defeated wrestling ace Johnny Eblen in the Middleweight division. Carvalho's victory earned him an upcoming title shot as the rematch against Lovato Jr. was announced shortly after the event.

But the big headlines surrounding Bellator is still the rumors about a potential company takeover. According to multiple sources, the company is in advanced talks with a Abu Dhabi-based consortium led by an anonymous multi-millionaire businessman with a large interest in Mixed Martial Arts. If the deal goes through, Bellator will challenge UFC of being the wealthiest MMA company in the world. That would probably lead to a more significant rivalry between the two with Bellator certainly interesting in signing the best fighters available on the market.

It's still unclear whether or not the deal is legit or not, but according to MMAJunkie the deal, if it goes through, will be announced in the near future.

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Demetrious Johnson: "I'm here to reclaim my destiny of being the best fighter of all time, and to do that I have to beat Henry Cejudo once more"

UFC 259: Cormier vs. Ngannou takes place at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York this Saturday. One fighter who makes his long awaited return to the company is the Flyweight great and one of the best pound for pound fighters on the planet in Demetrious Johnson (31-3-1). Johnson, who hasn't fought in the UFC since 2018, will fight Ray Borg (14-4) in the co-main event for the second time in his career, but "DJ" is already looking at the future to, as he says; reclaim his destiny.

"I'm focusing in facing Ray [borg] first of foremost, he's a dangerous fighter with a great wrestling pedigree who has defeated many top ranked fighters in the division. I'm not looking past him one bit, but I have to be honest with myself and to my fans when I say that I'm here for bigger and better things. I left UFC in disappointing fashion feeling unwanted and underutilized, but as I've said multiple times since signing the contract; I've worked things out with Dana [White] and everyone in charge so there's no hard feelings left. They understand my standpoint and I understand their standpoint. And now I'm back where I belong to reclaim my destiny of being the best. Not only the best Flyweight, but to be the best fighter of all time. I've got many records to my name and I've been on the mountain top for the biggest part of my career, but my goal is simple. I want to be the champion once again, and I want to face Henry Cejudo once more to get my win back and end our trilogy once and for all. He's the only man to beat me since 2011 and he has only been getting better ever since, but I want to prove to myself and everyone that I'm the better fighter and the better athlete than him", said Johnson during the press conference leading up to this Saturday's big event.

The event will feature the much anticipated Heavyweight title bout between the evergreen champion Daniel Cormier (23-2-1NC) and perhaps the most dangerous athlete on the planet in Francis Ngannou (15-3). Many experts predicts the bout going one of two ways; either Cormier outwrestles Ngannou to a decision victory just like Stipe Miocic did a few years ago or Ngannou finishes Cormier with a knockout. Staying true to his word, Cormier said that this fight will be "100 percent his last if he loses" but he intend on having "one or two more fights after winning against Francis" this Saturday. When asked about what fighters he sees as being challengers in the Heavyweight division, Cormier simply replied with "[Curtis] Blaydes and [Alexander] Volkov".

It's not only Cormier who is seriously considering retiring this Saturday. The 43-year old Brazilian legend Demian Maia (28-10) also stated during the press conference that he thinks this will be his final fight.

"I'm 43-years old and I've fought the best of the best since 2001. Maybe it's time to call it quits, but I'm focused on my fight with Gilbert [burns] this Saturday and then we'll see what happens", said Maia when asked about how many fights he has left. If it truly is the last fight in his long and storied career, Maia deserves all the credit in the world for an excellent career with many bright moments to cherish.

The UFC 259: Cormier vs. Ngannou card looks like this:

Main Event

Heavyweight Championship Bout: © Daniel Cormier vs. (#1) Francis Ngannou

Co-Main Event

Flyweight Bout: Demetrious Johnson vs. (#7) Ray Borg

Main Card

Welterweight Bout: (#13) Gilbert Burns vs. (#9) Demian Maia

Women's Bantamweight Bout: (#2) Ketlen Vieira vs. (#4) Aspen Ladd

Welterweight Bout: (#12) Geoff Neal vs. (#15) Neil Magny

ESPN Preliminary Card

Bantamweight Bout: Thomas Almeida vs. John Dodson

Women's Flyweight Bout: Yanan Wu vs. Lucie Pudilova

Bantamweight Bout: Brad Katona vs. Brian Kelleher

ESPN+ Early Preliminary Card

Bantamweight Bout: Raoni Barcelos vs. Montel Jackson

Lightweight Bout: David Teymur vs. Damir Ismagulov

CageRage · March 7, 2020

Good to see DJ back. Think he probably wins. I think Cormier will likely win the fight with his wrestling, but if Ngannou can get in a punch or two, you never know. Keep up the good work, and I'll be watching.

mattu29 · March 7, 2020

Would love to see Ngannou get the belt on your game too, alot more upside than Cormier, with Cormier's age

Hopefully see DJ get the win over Borg, then likely reclaim his belt in the future

Burns vs Maia is a great BJJ battle, think one is going upwards in his career and one downwards so see Burns taking this

Be interesting to see if Geoff Neal wins as hes killing it in my game and maybe a bit overpowered in the mod?

Pontarii · March 7, 2020

WEEK 4 - JANUARY 2021

UFC 259: Cormier vs. Ngannou

Attendance: 23,641

Gate: $7,281,428

Critical Rating: 74%

Commercial Rating: 100%

Main Event

Daniel Cormier def. Francis Ngannou by Knock Out (Elbow) to retain the UFC Heavyweight title

Co-Main Event

Demetrious Johnson def. Ray Borg by TKO (Strikes) in 4:32 of Round 1

Main Card

Demian Maia def. Gilbert Burns by Submission (D'Arce Choke) in 4:25 of Round 3

Ketlen Vieira def. Aspen Ladd by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 4:34 of Round 3

Neil Magny def. Geoff Neal by Knock Out (Punch) in 3:42 of Round 2

ESPN Preliminary Card

Thomas Almeida def. John Dodson by Unanimous Decision

Lucie Pudilova def. Yanan Wu by TKO (Strikes) in 1:35 of Round 3

Brian Kelleher def. Brad Katona by TKO (Strikes) in 1:07 of Round 3

ESPN+ Early Preliminary Card

Montel Jackson def. Raoni Barcelos by TKO (Strikes) in 3:03 of Round 1

Damir Ismagulov def. David Teymur by Knock Out (Punch) in 1:10 of Round 3

Summary

Madison Square Garden, one of the most iconic venues in the entire world, hosted the UFC 259: Cormier vs. Ngannou event tonight at it was a great event for everyone involved. The place was jam packed and UFC provided a solid card with some truly memorable moments for the fans to enjoy, both at home and at the arena. Of course the main attraction for the night was the main event which featured a heavily anticipated Heavyweight title bout between the undisputed champion Daniel Cormier and perhaps the scariest man alive in Francis Ngannou. A bout which was expected to provide fireworks, and it surely did. The referee for the evening was none other than former UFC-veteran Chris Leben, who has advanced remarkably since becoming a ref a few years ago. As predicted, the champion Cormier begun the first round with a grappling heavy game plan shooting for several takedowns but Francis Ngannou had evolved tremendously since he was outgrappled by Stipe Miocic a few years back and stuffed all three takedowns that Cormier went for even stunning him with a hard uppercut during the third and final one. This led to Cormier ditching the grappling entirely to focus on pressure fighting instead, getting in close to Ngannou and work in the clinch. This proved to be successful as he got the nod from the majority of the judges during the first round. Ngannou, who looked a bit cautious in the opening stage of the bout, came to life in the second round and used feints to land one of his deadly right hand knockouts, but Cormier always seemed to have the tactic telegraphed as he moved away almost every time. The former champ-champ edged Ngannou to secure the second round as well, using body kicks to his advantage to great success. Was this about to be a replica of the Stipe-fight for Ngannou or was he about to unleash the beast during the remainder of the bout? The third round certainly showed signs of the latter as Ngannou became more and more aggressive, connecting with several strikes to the head of Cormier. Especially one strike which happened four minutes into the third round was massive, Cormier got dropped for a second but jumped back to his feet before Ngannou could pound away. An extremely close call for the champion, who verbally confirmed to his coaches during the intermission between rounds three and four that he was out for a second when the shot landed. Sensing a victory after that shot, Ngannou became even more aggressive nearly on the verge of carelessness when the fourth round begun which ultimately led to the downfall that cost the Cameroonian the fight. Launching in for some bombs, Cormier calculated the move and connected with an elbow straight to the jaw of the ducking Ngannou. The enormous mountain of a man crumbled down and was out cold when Chris Leben stopped the fight, declaring Daniel Cormier the Heavyweight champion once again. A visibly disappointed Ngannou asked the fans for forgiveness during his post-fight interview for letting them down, but he was eventually cheered up by Cormier who raised Ngannou's hand and praised him for his effort stating that his strikes was "the most powerful I've ever felt". Cormier on the other hand thanked his family and his teammates for helping him prepare for the though fight, and welcomed the next challenger in line to a title shot. The fight truly lived up to the hype and both fighters received praise from the fans as the cheers and applause echoed through the illustrious Madison Square Garden. Earlier in the night, Demetrious Johnson made a greatly successful return to the UFC as he finished Ray Borg for a second time in his career, this time in the first round via strikes. "DJ" got a massive standing ovation during his walkout which shows that he has earned the respect of the fans, despite being labeled as "boring" by many during his first run with the company. It would be no surprise at all if "DJ" gets the immediate title shot against the newly crowned Flyweight champion Antiere Terblanche, as he's the biggest star in the division by a country mile. The highly experienced Demian Maia showed that age is merely a number as the 43-year old Brazilian defeated his countryman Gilbert Burns with the first D'Arce Choke of his career. Maia announced after the fight that his next bout will be the last of his storied career, and plans about him headlining his final card in Brazil against a big-name opponent is already in the works. Both Ketlen Vieira and Neil Magny earned big wins as they were both underdogs against their respective opponents Aspen Ladd and Geoff Neal. Especially Vieira's victory will have some serious consequences as she leapfrogged the aforementioned Ladd as well as Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie to become the number one ranked Women's Bantamweight fighter, and a future title shot against Amanda Nunes is most likely bound to happen. It's also worth noting that we saw some upsets during the ESPN Preliminary Card and the ESPN+ Early Preliminary Card. Thomas Almeida defeated the -300 favorite John Dodson, Brian Kelleher finished the -200 favorite Brad Katona and Damir Ismagulov defeated the -200 favorite David Teymur.

Bonus Awards

Fight of the Night: Daniel Cormier vs. Francis Ngannou

Knockout of the Night: Daniel Cormier

Submission of the Night: Demian Maia

<img src=https://i.imgur.com/cMa8Ze4.jpg

</div>

CageRage · March 7, 2020

At least Ngannou gave a good accounting of himself. Who's next for Cormier? Dos Santos? Terblanche may have upset Benevidez, but I don't see him beating DJ. Good to see Maia going strong at the end, but might have been better for the division overall if Burns had won. Be interesting to see if Maia can go out on a win, any idea who he might face in his retirement fight?

Pontarii · March 7, 2020

At least Ngannou gave a good accounting of himself. Who's next for Cormier? Dos Santos? Terblanche may have upset Benevidez, but I don't see him beating DJ. Good to see Maia going strong at the end, but might have been better for the division overall if Burns had won. Be interesting to see if Maia can go out on a win, any idea who he might face in his retirement fight?

Probably Curtis Blaydes. He has wins over JDS and Derrick Lewis in 2020 and is currently ranked number one after Ngannou's loss. Volkov is a contender as well having defeated a roided up Overeem and Jairzinho Rozenstruik in 2020, but I feel he need one more big win to earn a title shot. Other potential contenders are Stipe, but a fourth fight is something I want to avoid at all cost, and Walt Harris, who's now ranked number five after victories over Sakai and JDS in 2020.

Me neither, and not the game apparently as they see DJ as an -1200 favorite and Terblanche as a +900 underdog but you can never count out the champ, especially after his upset win over Joey Two Times. DJ should win this one 99 times out of 100, no doubt about it.

It's good and bad. I wanted Burns to win to freshen up the top 10 a bit as it consists mainly of the same guys that has been there the last couple of years but at the same time it's always good to have the more marketable fighter win as we can sell more tickets with Maia headlining an event compared to with Burns headlining. But yeah, there's many fighters coming up that's going to refresh the Welterweight rankings like MVP, Larkin, Soldic, Kunchenko and veterans making some form of comebacks like Matt Brown and Carlos Condit and so on so it's not the end of the world that Maia won. For his last fight, I've got a big name in my mind. I'm not going to spoil it until it gets announced, but I can guarantee that it's going to be a great bout for Maia's final show.

CageRage · March 7, 2020

Probably Curtis Blaydes.

Yeah, I think I got yours and mattu's dynasties mixed up when I guessed JDS.

Pontarii · March 8, 2020

WEEK 4 - JANUARY 2021

UFC Fight Announcements

T.J. Dillashaw cleared to return following 2-year drug suspension, takes on fierce rival Urijah Faber at upcoming UFC on ESPN-card

The former UFC Bantamweight champion and one of the greats in the division, T.J. Dillashaw (16-4) has served his 2-year USADA Suspension following his failed post-fight drug test when he challenged Henry Cejudo for the UFC Flyweight title. Dillashaw is already booked into a main event slot for the upcoming UFC on ESPN-event where the highly anticipated grudge match between fierce rival and former teammate Urijah Faber (36-11) will take place at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. Dillashaw vs. Faber has been in the makings for several years but has never come to fruition until now and the war of words has already started between the two.

"T.J. [Dillashaw] is cheat and a bad person all around", said Faber during an interview with Luke Thomas of the MMA Hour following the fight announcement. "Everyone knows our story. We [Team Alpha Male] brought him up, recruited him from high school and made him into a superstar. During his time with the team, he was always putting himself in the limelight. It was like 'We're teammates and all, but I'll do what's best for me' which wasn't always necessarily the best for the team. Just take the stuff with Chris Holdsworth as an example. He ended that kids career with his carelessness just to have an edge over anyone else. I know Chris has denied it being the reason why he hasn't fought since but that's because Chris is the nicest person ever, he don't want to turn this into a dog fight but it's the truth. I've waited a long time for the opportunity to face T.J. and I will make sure to bring everything I've got", Faber elaborated during the interview.

T.J. Dillashaw on the other hand used social media to do his talking, posting a serious of tweets regarding Faber and the upcoming bout. "He [urijah Faber] can do all the talking he wants. That's all his ever done in his career, talked his way into big fights. He's never reached the level of my success and he's always been jealous of my accomplishments. I never left his team, I stayed loyal to the team even though I felt that it lacked the necessary tools for me to be the best version of myself, which Duane Ludwig provided me with. He pushed me out of the team, saying things like 'Either you leave Duane or you're out' which for me is disrespectful to both me and Duane. I considered Urijah my friend back in those days, but his ego couldn't handle the situation and he made me out to be the bad guy. And for that, I will enjoy the revenge as I get my hand raised next month", said Dillashaw on Twitter.

UFC on ESPN: Dillashaw vs. Faber also features some interesting bouts including the former Women's Strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk (17-4) as she takes on Randa Markos (11-7-1) who's on a two-fight win streak, former Interim Welterweight champion Carlos Condit (31-13) as he takes on the inaugural Bellator Welterweight champion Lyman Good (21-6-1NC) as well as a Featherweight bout between the two top ranked fighters Yair Rodriguez (13-3) and Mirsad Bektic (15-2). Two of the alumni from the recent TUF-season Ruaridh Griffen (3-1) and Oddmund Duus (4-0) also returns to the Octagon during the preliminary portion of the card as they face Matt Schnell (14-6) and Su Mudaerji (14-4) respectively.

The UFC on ESPN: Dillashaw vs. Faber main card looks like this:

Main Event

Bantamweight Bout: T.J. Dillashaw vs. (#9) Urijah Faber

Co-Main Event

Featherweight Bout: (#6) Yair Rodriguez vs. (#8) Mirsad Bektic

Main Card

Women's Strawweight Bout: (#2) Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. (#7) Randa Markos

Welterweight Bout: Lyman Good vs. Carlos Condit

Welterweight Bout: Erik Koch vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UFC Fight Night 187: Lee vs. Felder announced for the first ever UFC-event in Delaware

UFC will host an event in Delaware for the first time in the history of the organization. The news broke earlier by Brett Okamoto of ESPN as he reported that UFC will head to Newark, Delaware and the Bob Carpenter Center named after the legendary MLB-owner Roberth R.M. Carpenter Jr. who died of cancer in the early 90's. For the first ever Delaware-based event, a Lightweight bout between the number five ranked Kevin Lee (20-5) and the number three ranked Paul Felder (19-4) will main event, a bout which has some serious title implications for the eventual winner. With Conor McGregor on some sort of temporary hiatus from the sport and both Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje recently receiving and subsequently losing their title shots against the undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, a win for either Lee or Felder could very well lead to a title shot.

Kevin Lee has revitalized his career since switching camp to Tristar Gym, where he trains under the tutelage of one of the greatest coaches in Mixed Martial Arts - Firas Zahabi. Lee has won three straight bouts since his arrival at Tristar defeating two of the biggest prospects in the Lightweight division in Gregor Gillespie and Islam Makhachev as well as the former top five ranked Dan Hooker. Paul Felder on the other hand has also had a sort of career renaissance with five straight victories over some of the biggest names in the division including Donald Cerrone, the aforementioned Dan Hooker and Edson Barboza before the Brazilian went down to Featherweight. It's truly two of the most in-form fighters facing each other in what many expect to be a Fight of the Night-guarantee.

Several prominent fighters will also fight on the first ever Delaware-card. Edson Barboza (21-9) will continue his potential climb up the Featherweight rankings as he faces Josh Emmett (15-4) in the co-main event while the popular and charismatic Sean O'Malley (12-0) takes on Cody Stamann (18-3-1). A heated rivalry match between Mike Perry (14-7) and Michael Chiesa (16-6) also features on the main card where Perry has threatened to "kill Chiesa and his career". Also worth noting is that the former PFL, KSW and RIZIN Heavyweight Ante Delija (18-3) will make his UFC-debut against one of the greatest Greco-Roman wrestlers ever in Amir Aliakbari (10-2) during the prelims.

The UFC Fight Night 186: Lee vs. Felder main card looks like this:

Main Event

Lightweight Bout: (#5) Kevin Lee vs. (#3) Paul Felder

Co-Main Event

Featherweight Bout: Edson Barboza vs. (#14) Josh Emmett

Main Card

Bantamweight Bout: (#15) Sean O'Malley vs. (#13) Cody Stamann

Welterweight Bout: Mike Perry vs. Michael Chiesa

Bantamweight Bout: Marlon Vera vs. Rani Yahya

Pontarii · March 8, 2020

WEEK 1 - FEBRUARY 2021

News from the world of MMA

Breaking News: Bellator takeover completed as consortium takes charge - Scott Coker to step down as President this Summer

The rumors have circulated for a while now and after months of speculation it's finally official: Abu Dhabi-based consortium Monochrome Investments has completed the ownership takeover of the second biggest Mixed Martial Arts company in the US - Bellator. According to media outlet Bloody Elbow, the deal was agreed to last night and the process of completing the affair was done earlier today as Monochrome Investments has bought out ViacomCBS majority shares in the company. Canadian-French Businessman and millionaire Peter Lecomte, who is the spokesperson of the newly formed consortium, confirmed the purchase in a written statement posted on Bellators homepage.

"To all the fans, fighters and everyone involved with Bellator MMA

We thank you all for your patience during the recent negotiation period and we welcome you all to a brand, new era - not just for Bellator MMA but for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts as a whole. The opportunity to enter the fantastic and evolving world of MMA has always been on Monochrome Investments radar and when the opportunity arose, we didn't hesitate to take the first step in our grand vision for this fantastic company. Bellator MMA is one of the biggest, and most respected MMA companies in the world and it has all the tools and the potential to become not one of but the best MMA company in the world. Under our ownership, we intend to enter a new Era of Bellator MMA where you, the fans, and you, the fighters, are the two main priorities.

We strive to put on the best, most entertaining events for our ever growing fan base with the best fighters and talents in the world. We also strive to treat our fighters as top athletes with fair salaries, health benefits and with respect. We feel that the world of MMA has fallen into the pits of moneyfights, spectacles and ludicrous bouts only to garner attention and in it's process, it has lost sight of everything that made the sport great in the beginning i.e. fair and justified rankings and honoring the championship titles. As part of our grand vision with this 'project' is partly making MMA a legit and respected sport, partly to take the fight to our competitors in hope of securing the best talent around. To ensure this, we have taken a few initial, necessary steps;

- Bellator has partnered with USADA to legitimatize the sport and our company even further.

- A new Bellator President will be elected to take the company into the new era. Current Bellator President Scott Coker has been notified that his employment has been terminated effective during the Summer of 2021. Coker will remain as a Senior Adviser to the company.

- Bellator will launch a streaming platform called 'BellatorPlus' where all previous events as well as all future events will be available on demand. It will also feature past and future events from our partners RIZIN.

- Bellator has signed a multi-year deal with the American Broadcasting company FOX Sports. All Bellator events will be available on FOX effective from the Summer of 2021, with the current DAZN-deal coming to an end during the same time period

We hope you will follow us on this new and exciting journey for Bellator MMA, because without you - there's no Us."

Following the breaking news, Bellator announced three new events taking place during the upcoming months. This includes:

Bellator 253: Caldwell vs. Dantas II - Darrion Caldwell defends his Bellator Bantamweight title against Eduardo Dantas in a rematch from their 2017 bout.

Bellator 254: Cyborg vs. Bell - Cris Cyborg defends her Bellator Women's Featherweight title against Amanda Bell.

Bellator 255: Lovato Jr. vs. Carvalho II - Rafael Lovato Jr. defends his Bellator Middleweight title against the former champion Rafael Carvalho in a rematch from their 2020 bout.

</div>

CageRage · March 8, 2020

Hope Faber whips TJ's butt. What's going on with Bellator? Are you controlling them now? Threw them a bunch of money? Just making up a story to go along with your dynasty? You've got my interest piqued.

Pontarii · March 8, 2020

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="CageRage" data-cite="CageRage" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47212" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Hope Faber whips TJ's butt. What's going on with Bellator? Are you controlling them now? Threw them a bunch of money? Just making up a story to go along with your dynasty? You've got my interest piqued.</div></blockquote> I grew tired of Bellator not really doing anything, not posing any sort of threat at all. They kept on giving the same mediocre contract proposals to every fighter in negotiation period but they never managed to sign anyone. So for this dynasty to not get monotone, I decided to boost Bellator's finance and reputation to hopefully make them a serious threat. And to make it somewhat realistic to go along with the whole story based dynasty, I created the story of the consortium and their business with Bellator. Purely for entertainment purposes of course, everything about it is fictional and nothing represented in the game. I'm not controlling them at the moment though, my desired plan is to make them a serious threat with the A.I. controlling them but now with a huge amount of money and boosted reputation, but if they continue not doing anything of real value I'm contemplating whether or not to take control over them and run them side by side with UFC in a rivalry. Perhaps all of you can give me your opinions about what I should do moving forward; should I continue only with the UFC and leave Bellator to the A.I. with their new, severely increased budget or should I take controll over them myself and play them as well as writing about them side by side with the UFC?

CageRage · March 8, 2020

I think your initial plan is good to start, just let the AI play them, but if things don't improve maybe take them over later.

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