Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from July 11-17.
Austin Vanderford competes for the first time with a loss on his record. How will he rebound?
[autotag]Austin Vanderford[/autotag] has signed on for his first post-title fight assignment in Bellator.
At Bellator 284, Vanderford (11-1 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) will fight [autotag]Anthony Adams[/autotag] (9-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) in a middleweight bout, a promotion official Monday informed MMA Junkie. The event takes place Aug. 12 at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The main card airs on Showtime after prelims on MMA Junkie.
Vanderford, 32, looks to rebound from a quick title fight loss to Gegard Mousasi. The bout lasted 85 seconds and Mousasi won by TKO. The loss was Vanderford’s first as a professional MMA fighter and came on the heels of a very bloody unanimous decision victory over Fabian Edwards.
Adams, meanwhile, will look to continue the momentum from his most recent outing, a unanimous decision upset over former UFC fighter Khalid Murtazaliev at Bellator 266 in September. The win came in Adams’ first fight in 13 months. He has not competed since, though did withdraw from a May booking against Lorenz Larkin.
With the addition, the Bellator 284 lineup includes:
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All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past two weeks.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from April 18-May 1.
We talked with Anthony “Spice” Adams about his playing days, thoughts on the Bears defense, the new NFL rules, and his work with Charmin.
There aren’t many former Chicago Bears players who have become more recognizable after their playing days concluded than Anthony “Spice” Adams.
The former defensive tackle who spent nine years in the NFL, including five with the Bears, has become an internet sensation and energetic television host. He’s created countless social media videos and characters since retiring from the NFL, but continues to stay involved with the Bears as co-host of “Inside the Bears” with Lauren Screeden.
We had the opportunity to talk with Adams about his playing days, his thoughts on this year’s defense, the new NFL rules, and the work he’s doing with Charmin and their new Forever Roll.
Yoel Romero lost his Bellator debut – but was still compensated the highest amount of anyone on the card.
Bellator 266 is in the books and although [autotag]Phil Davis[/autotag] was the victorious half of the main event, he didn’t receive the highest disclosed payout according to the event’s commissioning body.
While Davis (23-6 MMA, 10-3 BMMA) pocketed a $100,000 flat salary for his three-round split decision, his opponent [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] (13-6 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) earned $150,000 in defeat. The fight was Romero’s promotional debut with Bellator and his first bout since his UFC departure in 2020.
MMA Junkie acquired a full list of Bellator 266 payouts Wednesday from California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) executive director Andy Foster. The amounts include win and show purses, but do not account for any discretionary bonuses.
Bellator 266 took place Saturday at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The main card aired on Showtime after prelims on MMA Junkie.
Check out the full list of Bellator 266 payouts below:
The lineup for Bellator return to its Northern California home base is set with the addition of four new fights on the preliminary card.
The lineup for next week’s Bellator return to its Northern California home base is set with the addition of four new fights on the preliminary card.
[autotag]Rhalan Gracie[/autotag] (0-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) will return to MMA for the first time since 2007 when he takes on [autotag]Shane Keefe[/autotag] (1-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) at welterweight.
Plus, [autotag]Eddie Abasolo[/autotag] (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) meets [autotag]Art Hernandez[/autotag] (4-5 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) in a 160-pound contract weight fight; [autotag]Edwin De Los Santos[/autotag] (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) takes on [autotag]Jon Adams[/autotag] (0-1-1 MMA, 0-1-1 BMMA) at flyweight; and [autotag]Jesse Delgado[/autotag] (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) fights [autotag]Joshua Dillon[/autotag] (1-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) in a 130-pound contract weight bout.
Bellator 266 takes place Sept. 18 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie. The card will be Bellator’s first in San Jose in more than two years.
In the main event, [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] (13-5 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) finally will make his Bellator debut when he takes on former light heavyweight champion [autotag]Phil Davis[/autotag] (22-6 MMA, 9-3 BMMA).
Romero signed with Bellator in December 2020 after a seven-year run with the UFC. He was booked to make his promotional debut against Anthony Johnson to open the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix in May, but was forced to withdraw because of concerns over his eye following a pre-fight medical exam.
Romero, 44, hasn’t fought since March 2020 when he dropped a unanimous decision to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 248, which marked his third consecutive loss. His other two defeats in the skid came against Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa. Romero hasn’t won since a February 2018 knockout of Luke Rockhold at UFC 221.
Davis is coming off an April unanimous decision loss to champion Vadim Nemkov in the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix, which snapped a three-fight winning streak.
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The Bellator 266 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (10 p.m. ET, Showtime)
PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie, 7 p.m. ET)
MMA’s premiere feeder league has announced a milestone event.
LFA is on the verge of a milestone event.
The unofficial UFC and Bellator feeder league will host its 100th event, LFA 100, on Friday, Feb. 19 at the Hartman Arena in Park City, Kan., the promotion announced Wednesday. The event’s main card will stream on UFC Fight Pass after prelims on Facebook.
LFA launched in January 2017, following a merger between Resurrection Fighting Alliance and Legacy FC. Since that time, LFA has promoted fights involving numerous competitors who went on to sign contracts with the UFC and Bellator.
LFA 100’s main event will have the vacant LFA flyweight title on the line. American [autotag]Victor Altamirano[/autotag] (8-1) and undefeated Brazilian [autotag]Carlos Mota[/autotag] (5-0) will square off for title gold.
UFC flyweight Jimmy Flick was the last man to hold the promotion’s 125-pound title, but he vacated after a UFC contract-earning performance on Dana White’s Contender Series.
In LFA history, there have been five 125-pound champions. None of them have needed to put forth a successful title defense to get a call to the big show. Roberto Sanchez, Casey Kenney, Brandon Royval and Brandon Moreno all were signed by the UFC before putting their belts on the line.
Joining the flyweight title challengers at LFA 100 is a middleweight tournament semifinal fight between DWCS alumni [autotag]Anthony Adams[/autotag] (8-2) and [autotag]Gregory Rodrigues[/autotag] (7-3). The winner will take on Josh Fremd (7-1), who was victorious at Friday’s LFA 98, for the LFA middleweight title later this year.
Additionally, DWCS alum [autotag]Steven Nguyen[/autotag] (6-1) takes on [autotag]Raihere Dudes[/autotag] (8-1) at featherweight. The fight will be Nguyen’s first since he was knocked out by Aalon Cruz on DWCS in 2019.
The current LFA 100 lineup includes:
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Anthony Adams discussed Charles Tillman’s and Lance Briggs’ Hall of Fame candidacy and how he might pitch the committee on each player.
When it comes to describing how dominant Chicago Bears cornerback Charles Tillman and linebacker Lance Briggs were during their careers, not many people are as qualified as their former teammate Anthony “Spice” Adams.
Adams, who played defensive tackle for the Bears from 2007-11, sat down with Bears Wire to talk about a number of topics, from the current team’s inability to run the ball, to grilling for Thanksgiving with Kingsford pellets. The former Penn State standout also discussed Tillman’s and Briggs’ Hall of Fame candidacy and how he might pitch the committee on each player.
Tillman and Briggs each played for the Bears from 2003 to 2014. Briggs retired after 2014 and Tillman played one season with the Carolina Panthers before calling it a career. Between the two of them, they combined for nine pro bowls, two first-team all-pro selections and two second-team all-pro selections. Briggs is in his second year of eligibility while Tillman is entering his first.
Adams, playing with both of them for five seasons, had no issue explaining why both players should get a gold jacket, despite the news that neither player was included as a Modern-Era Player Semifinalist this year for the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection in February.
Adams on Charles Tillman:
“Oh that’s easy. If you’re a wide receiver and you catch the ball, you want to know where he is at all times. That right there is a game changer. Look at the Tennessee Titans game (in 2012), the guy forced four fumbles. Anytime you’re around him and you look around and don’t see him, you’re like ‘oh my gosh he must be right behind me’ or something like that. You want to know where he is at all times. That’s what he does, he punches the ball out. I’ve seen him do it in the lunchroom with your food, in the hallways with the playbook. I’ve seen him do it when you’re getting your laundry, the guy is knocking out your socks. His mind is always on punching the ball out. A guy like that definitely changed the game. He should definitely be in the Hall of Fame.”
Tillman truly did change the game of football, as every football that is punched out of the ball carrier’s hands is now commonly referred as the “Peanut Punch” across the country.
Tillman specialized in ripping away the football, but he was still a dominant cornerback all the way around. In addition to his 44 forced fumbles, a record for a defensive back, Tillman picked off 38 passes and had 925 tackles over his career, including 100 in one season back in 2011.
Adams on Lance Briggs:
“You talk about a guy who probably averaged over 100 tackles every year that he’s been healthy. Multiple touchdowns, multiple interceptions. The guy is all over the place every year. The most consistent – I think he had seven or eight pro bowls in a 13 year career? I can’t say enough about Lance Briggs. You think about all of the great linebackers in Chicago Bears history and Lance Briggs is definitely one of those, for sure.”
Briggs was one of the most consistent players in the 2000s, going to seven-straight Pro Bowls during the height of the Bears defense. He and Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher formed one of the greatest linebacking duos in NFL history and Briggs clearly stands out in the minds of his former teammates. In 12 season, he amassed 1,181 tackles, including 97 for a loss.
While Tillman and Briggs will have to wait another year to see if they can become a semifinalist for the Hall of Fame, many around the league, including Adams, believe they’re deserving to have their bust enshrined in Canton, OH.
Anthony ‘Spice’ Adams preached simplicity when it came to solving the Bears’ problems on offense.
You can pick out pretty much any negative adjective or term to describe the 2020 Chicago Bears offense and any one of them would be valid. The unit ranks in the bottom of the league in nearly every statistical category. Now that they’re out of their bye week with six games to go, can they turn things around to go on a late-season run? One former Bear lays out the recipe on how to do just that and more.
Former Bears defensive tackle and social media star Anthony “Spice” Adams gave his advice and thoughts to Bears Wire on how Chicago can remedy their offensive woes. Adams also shared as his thoughts on the running game, who on the Bears reminds him of a younger Spice and even grilling tips for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Adams, who played defensive tackle for the Bears from 2007-11, preached simplicity when it came to solving the Bears’ problems on offense.
“Just throw away half of the playbook,” Adams said, literally. “You look at an offensive players playbook, and that thing weighs 50 pounds. Get it down to 25 pounds. Get it to something where, the offensive line, they love mauling people. Give them an offense where they can maul somebody, where they can double team the nose, double team the three technique, on up to the linebacker. Run some powers, get back to the nitty gritty, put a fullback in there and go ‘I’ formation. Go goal line on the 20 yard line and make sure we are going to run the ball. We’re going to run power, we’re going to run trap, counter.
“All the bread and butter. Get back to the smash mouth, snot in your nose football. Get back to the basics. Then, everything else will open up. Once you establish that run game, teams got to respect it. They have to. Then that’s going to open up the play action.”
The running game is an area that has plagued coach Nagy over the course of his tenure with the Bears, who has lost the luster from his shine recently. Adams believes the offense has become too predictable over the last few weeks.
“The offense is sputtering,” he said. “Sometimes we move the ball well when we absolutely need to, but sometimes we go three and out. We haven’t been able to run the ball as effectively as we normally would, which kind of allows teams to peel their ears back and just go ‘I know the Bears aren’t going to run on me and if they do run, they’re going to try and run with Cordarrelle Patterson and it’s not going to work. We’ve seen that a billion times. Teams are making us one dimensional. The fact that we’re not going down the field with that, because we can’t, we’re not getting the protection that we need to. A lot of teams are peeling their ears back and trying to rush the passer to get to our quarterback.”
The Bears certainly have become one dimensional, as they rank third in the NFL in pass attempts per game. Fortunately, fans won’t have to carve time out of their Thanksgiving holiday this year to watch the offense underperform and can instead focus on the cooking, or grilling in Spice’s case.
“I’ve partnered with Kingsford and they’ve been sending me these pellets and I’ve been using a smoker tube and I put the pellets in there,” Adams said. “I let the smoke do the cooking of the turkey, the chicken, or the ham. There’s nothing like that bold, smoky flavor, especially from Kingsford pellets because they’re 100% hardwood. There’s nothing like the smoke of a hickory, or a mesquite.”
Adams offered up a quick and easy meal to prepare on the grill as well; A whole chicken.
“Just get like a smaller version, something you can put a little TLC in and you can start in the morning and cook as long as you want,” he said. “Just let the smoke do the work, get some Kingsford pellets in that thing and woo!”
Spice was fired up about his grilling opportunities this Thanksgiving and had lots of praise for Kingsford, but also had that same enthusiasm for a current Bears player on the defensive line. When asked which player reminded him of himself during his playing days, Adams didn’t hesitate.
“I like Bilal (Nichols),” he said of the third-year pro. “I think Bilal is one of those hard-working guys who has a chip on his shoulder, has something that he has to prove. He’s been getting better every year. He can play multiple positions because he’s so athletic. He can play end, he can play on the inside. With Eddie Goldman opting out of the season, it was a chance for him to get in the middle and show what he can do there and he’s been flourishing there. I like his motor, I like his attitude. I think he’s a good, young player that’s going to last a long time in this league.”
Nichols and the defense have continued to be one of the top units in the NFL, while the offense maintains its status as one of the worst. Will Nagy and the coaching staff take Adams’ advice this Sunday evening and commit to the running game like they did in September? Should the Bears want to make a run at the postseason, they’ll first have to run the ball to get their offense in gear and take pressure off the quarterback. Better start ripping those pages, Nagy.
