Jon Jones should only move to heavyweight if the money’s right, manager says

Manager Abraham Kawa doesn’t see a need for his client Jon Jones to move up to heavyweight unless it makes financial sense.

LAS VEGAS — Manager Abraham Kawa doesn’t think there’s much need for his most famous MMA client, [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag], to move up to heavyweight.

The current UFC light heavyweight champion, Jones (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all-time, and was recently named MMA Junkie’s No. 1 fighter of the decade.

He has ran through competition, taking out one hungry contender after the other, to the degree many believe he should move up to heavyweight.

But Kawa thinks Jones should only move up to heavyweight for a fight if the money is right.

“Jon’s comfortable at light heavyweight,” Kawa told MMA Junkie on Thursday during the launch party for Jorge Masvidal’s new El Recuerdo mezcal. “He has no reason to go up to heavyweight unless it makes financial sense for him. He’s already proved that he’s the best fighter that we’ve ever seen. He’s already proved that he’s the GOAT. In my opinion, he’s the GOAT.”

Jones takes on undefeated Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 on Feb. 8.

Current UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic is currently sidelined due to injury and on track to return in the summer, when he’s expected to complete his trilogy with former UFC dual-champ, Daniel Cormier.

So with both of the biggest-money potential heavyweight fighters expected to square off with one another, Kawa doesn’t see much urgency in a Jones move to 265.

“I don’t know if he goes to heavyweight,” Kawa said. “If the challenge is there and the challenge makes financial sense, he may or may not do it, it’s really up to him so that’s a question for Jon, but it won’t be a question that I believe he would answer today.”

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In a recent interview with Canadian outlet TSN, UFC president Dana White was asked what he foresees for 2020, and when asked about a potential Brock Lesnar return this year, White said he likes the odds of that happening.

Kawa, for his part, thinks it would take a fight of Lesnar’s star power for Jones to make the move up.

“Everyone is dying to see Jon jump to heavyweight, well ok, there’s your jump to heavyweight. Give him the big, scary monster that is Brock Lesnar and we could go from there.”

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UFC 246 ceremonial weigh-in faceoffs: Fighters meet up one final time

All the fighters competing at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night met up one last time on Friday.

LAS VEGAS – Friday marked the final time the competitors for the highly anticipated UFC 246 cross paths before fight night, as the ceremonial weigh-ins are the final bit of official business before the card.

The card is topped by the long-awaited return of former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag], who meets popular [autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag] in the welterweight main event.

UFC 246 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

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Watch the UFC 246 ceremonial weigh-in face-offs in the video above.

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Kayla Harrison celebrates her PFL title, which she calls ‘her fourth kid’

Kayla Harrison added her PFL belt to a gold collection which includes two Olympic medals and a world judo championship.

NEW YORK — [autotag]Kayla Harrison[/autotag] has won so many gold trophies over the course of her career, she’s starting to view them like her children.

Harrison’s unanimous-decision victory over the always-tough Larissa Pacheco in the main event of the 2019 PFL Championship on Tuesday night at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden not only added $1M to her bank account, but also added to a list of remarkable accomplishments, which include a pair of Olympic judo gold medals and a judo world championship.

“Well, I won two Olympic gold medals so those are my first two kids,” Harrison told MMA Junkie after he fight. “I have a championship gold medal, so that’s maybe my third baby, so this is maybe my fourth kid.”

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Harrison, who has competed seven times in less than two years and won all seven fights, is her own toughest critic. But at the end of the day, she wasn’t about to complain about her performance after taking home a big check and a new belt.

“It’s the end of the year, I learned a lot about myself in this fight, I learned a lot about fighting in this fight, and I also got a beautiful payday and live a truly blessed life,” Harrison said. “More important than anything is I got to touch gold again and got to taste gold and become a world champion again. It wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t necessarily, pretty but life is not always pretty and I’m happy with the result.”

Harrison knows that some think she doesn’t appreciate what she’s accomplished to date, but she also knows that her approach has led to great success on a worldwide stage.

“I’m always going to be my toughest critic, you know?” Harrison said. “I demand and expect nothing but the best from myself and that’s why I’ve climbed the mountain so many times. I don’t apologize for it. I think a lot of people misinterpret it for being a poor sport. Absolutely not. Hat’s off to Larissa she’s an amazing fighter but it’s just that I expect so much more for myself but for tonight, for right now, I’m going to try to be in the moment and enjoy it, I can’t wait to go back to the gym.”

At this point of the night, everything was a blur for Harrison after logging 25 minutes for the first time in her career. But while she hasn’t mentally broken down how the fight went just yet, she’ll leave New York knowing the win over Pacheco was an important moment in her MMA development. 

“I’m so in the moment that I don’t think I remember half the stuff that was going on in there, Harrison said. “But overall it was good, but I know for sure there’s a bunch of stuff I can get better at.  I feel like this time around I was a lot more composed, I took my time, I picked my shots better, every single time I am getting in that cage I am getting invaluable experience. Going five rounds, you don’t do any more than five, so it was a good test for me and it was important to use as a stepping stone to get even better.” 

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Bellator 237 free fight: Michael Chandler edges Benson Henderson in lightweight title defense

Watch Michael Chandler defeat former UFC champion Benson Henderson in lightweight title defense back at Bellator 165 in 2016.

[autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag]’s last successful Bellator lightweight title defense came over a big name, but also with some controversy.

At Bellator 165 back in 2016, the Bellator staple fought former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson in a back-and-forth war that ended in a split decision. Chandler (19-5 MMA, 16-5 BMMA) outpointed Henderson 48-46, 46-48, 48-47 in the judges scorecards that night in San Jose, Calif.

Although Chandler was disappointed in his performance, his fight with Henderson was one of the more exciting title bouts in Bellator’s history.

After defeating Henderson, Chandler went on to fight Brent Primus. He lost the fight via technical knockout after Primus’ leg kicks caused a nasty ankle injury that had many fans watching the fight cringing.

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But the injury didn’t stop Chandler. The All-American wrestler went on to defeat Goiti Yamauchi and then Brandon Girtz to get another shot at Primus. In his second bout with the man who took the belt away from him, Chandler outpointed Primus to win back the Bellator lightweight strap, beginning his third title reign.

However, things didn’t go well for Chandler moving forward, as he lost the title to now champ-champ Patricio Pitbull at Bellator 221 in May.

Soon, Chandler will get his chance to return to the win column and make another run for the title. He was supposed to rematch Henderson at Bellator 237 in Japan, but due to injury sustained by Henderson, Chandler will now take on late replacement Sidney Outlaw. The bout will go down on on Dec. 29.

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MMA rankings report: UFC, Bellator weekend fallout

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and Chan Sung Jung had big wins over the weekend. How did they affect the rankings?

The final weekend of dueling UFC and Bellator events didn’t have a gigantic impact on the rankings. But there are still some items worth pondering in the aftermath of UFC on ESPN+ 23 and Bellator 235 and 236.

  • [autotag]Ilima-Lei MacFarlane [/autotag] had another impressive defense of her Bellator flyweight title in defeating a tough Kate Jackson, and both shows in Honolulu featured fights with solid showings from those who wish to be next in line for “The Ilimanator.”
  • [autotag]Chan Sung Jung[/autotag] put on a show at UFC Busan, as he finished former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in the opening round and made it clear he is a force to be reckoned with at 145 pounds.

How did these results and more play out in this week’s USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings? Let “Gorgeous” George Garcia and John Morgan walk you through all the changes of note in the video above.

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Falls count anywhere: Josh Barnett turns Bellator 235 open workout into wrestling match

On Wednesday, Bellator 235’s Josh Barnett put on one of the craziest open workouts in a long time.

HONOLULU – Wait, is this MMA or pro wrestling?

[autotag]Josh Barnett[/autotag] blurred the line between the two at Wednesday’s Bellator 235 open workouts.

Friday night, Barnett (35-8 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) faces off against Ronny Markes (19-7 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) in the main event of the first leg of a Bellator two-night doubleheader.

But at the open workouts, “The Warmaster” had a different opponent, his own training partner.

What started out a typical open workout quickly escalated into something else entirely. After “trading blows” with his training partner, Barnett, whose history with pro wrestling included a recent stint as a color commentator on AXS-TV’s popular “New Japan Pro Wresting,” dragged the scuffle away from the designated workout mat.

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Pretty soon, the two big men were tumbling on the grass. A giant energy drink cooler filled with ice was knocked over. A folding chair was dragged into the mix and promptly used. Eventually, Barnett picked his “foe” over his head and slammed him to the ground.

“Give me a three count,” Barnett screamed. Luckily, Bellator director of communications Danny Brener was present to land the three-count and declare Barnett the victor.

Check out the full video above, as well as some social media clips from MMA Junkie’s Dan Tom, below.

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

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Video: Dawid Smielowski hits possibly the cleanest flying knee you’ll ever see

This Polish lightweight made like Jorge Masvidal and delivered a flying knee worth watching.

It’s unlikely [autotag]Dawid Smielowski[/autotag] will attract the attention that Jorge Masvidal got after knocking out Ben Askren at UFC 239.

However, the undefeated Polish lightweight presented a brutal flying knee of his own Friday, when he flattened Damian Zorczykowski at Babilon MMA 11.

Midway through the third round, Smielowski and Zorczykowski rose to their feet from the grounded position against the cage. Zorczykowski broke Smielowski’s clasp, before missing on a heavy head kick. The whiffed attempt caused Smielowski to stumble backward, as a tired Zorczykowski stumbled his way along the cage.

With just seconds remaining in the fight, Smielowski, who wasn’t even in the camera frame, launched himself across the cage and through the air.

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Visibly exhausted, Zorczykowski was a still target – a sitting duck, of sorts. Smielowski’s knee drilled Zorczykowski square on the button, resulting in one of the best flying knee knockouts of 2019.

Check out Dawid Smielowski’s brutal flying knee knockout of Damian Zorczykowski from Babilon MMA 11 in the video below:

Here’s another angle:

With the victory, Smielowski continued his undefeated streak of finishing opponents inside the distance.

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

 

UFC 245 ceremonial weigh-in faceoffs: Fighters meet up one final time

All the fighters competing at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night met up one last time on Friday.

LAS VEGAS – Friday marked the final time the competitors for the highly anticipated UFC 245 cross paths before fight night, as the ceremonial weigh-ins are the final bit of official business before the card.

Three title fights top the event, including the main event between welterweight champion [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] and [autotag]Colby Covington[/autotag]; featherweight champion [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag]’s defense against [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag]; and bantamweight champ [autotag]Amanda Nunes[/autotag]’ matchup with [autotag]Germaine de Randamie[/autotag].

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UFC 245 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. It airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.

Watch the UFC 2445 ceremonial weigh-in face-offs in the video above.

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UFC 245 video: Dan Hardy, John Gooden break down Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington

UFC 245 video: Dan Hardy, John Gooden break down Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington’s headlining fight

With three title fights slated for UFC 245, there sure is a lot going on Saturday night.

UFC welterweight champion [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] (15-1 MMA, 10-0 UFC) and challenger [autotag]Colby Covington[/autotag] (15-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) headline the at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and the winner will be dubbed the promotion’s best 170-pound fighter.

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Ahead of the fight, UFC broadcasters Dan Hardy and John Gooden take an in-depth look at the matchup in the latest edition of their pre-fight analysis series “Inside the Octagon.” Check it out in the video above.

UFC 245 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

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MMA rankings report: How will December’s big fights shake things up?

With a big month of fights on tap to close the year, Gorgeous George and John Morgan project how the rankings might shake out.

Things have been a little slow the past couple weeks in mixed martial arts, but the year will end with a bang, as December features a big slate of important fights.

There are several matchups which will have major implications on both their respective divisions and, in some cases, the pound-for-pound list. Matches such as:

  • [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Colby Covington[/autotag] at welterweight
  • [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Alexander Volkanosvki[/autotag] and [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Chan Sung Jung[/autotag] at featherweight
  • [autotag]Amanda Nunes[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Germaine de Randamie[/autotag] and [autotag]Aspen Ladd[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Yana Kunitskaya[/autotag] at women’s bantamweight
  • [autotag]Jose Aldo[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Marlon Moraes[/autotag] at men’s bantamweight

Those are just some of the matchups over the next several weeks which will have a major impact on the future. What might they mean for the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings? Let MMA Junkie’s “Gorgeous” George Garcia and John Morgan walk you through the changes in the video above.

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