Tag: breaking

Jorge Masvidal’s team channels ‘Scarface’ in official response to Nick Diaz

Jorge Masvidal’s team issued a prompt response to Nick Diaz’s apparent callout for a fight.

[autotag]Jorge Masvidal[/autotag]’s team issued a prompt response to [autotag]Nick Diaz[/autotag]’s apparent fight callout.

Diaz (26-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) surfaced for a rare interview Monday which seemingly served as the building block for his return to the octagon after an abcense of four years. He had some words for Masvidal (35-13 MMA, 12-6 UFC) throughout the conversation, indicating that he would like to fight the man who won the “BMF” title with a third-round TKO of his brother Nate Diaz at UFC 244.

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Not long after the interview aired, Masvidal’s manager Malki Kawa issued a direct response on social media (via Instagram):

@gamebredfighter official response to nick diaz. #supernecessary #baptized #bmf

This isn’t the first time a matchup between Diaz and Masvidal has been broached.

The UFC announced a fight between the two for UFC 235 in March, but it was never made official. Diaz insisted from the beginning that he never committed or signed a contract to end his hiatus from the sport.

In the aftermath of Masvidal’s UFC 244 victory over his brother, though, it appears Diaz may have rediscovered his motivation to fight.

Masvidal has never shied away from a fight, and while he seems to have a bevy of options that could include a welterweight title shot or Conor McGregor, it appears “Gamebred” is willing to beat his second Diaz brother, too.

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Nick Diaz: Jorge Masvidal ‘in a (expletive) position’ if we fight, ‘BMF’ title is ‘my belt’

If Nick Diaz ever fights again, it appears a matchup with Jorge Masvidal could be among his top interests.

If [autotag]Nick Diaz[/autotag] ever fights again, it appears a matchup with [autotag]Jorge Masvidal[/autotag] is among his top interests.

ESPN released a long interview with Diaz (26-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) on Monday in which he touched on many subjects revolving around his absence from the octagon since January 2015.

One of the leading narratives, though, is that Diaz was irked by some of the comments Masvidal (35-13 MMA, 12-6 UFC) made in the buildup to and aftermath of UFC 244, where “Gamebred” beat Diaz’s younger brother, Nate.

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According to a follow-up report from ESPN.com, Diaz is interested in making his comeback in 2020, and Masvidal is the desired opponent.

“You want to talk about baptizing my younger brother? That’s on you,” Diaz told “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show.” “I never had nothing disrespectful to say. But you don’t talk about baptizing my younger brother. So you’re already in a (expletive) position if you fight with me. You don’t talk about (expletive) baptizing someone’s brother. That’s my baby brother. You don’t talk like that to nobody.

“So who is riding on whose side? You want to say that, you want to do that, you want to walk, that’s on you. I can relate to you, that’s why I ain’t mad at you. But if you want to walk that’s on you.”

The UFC announced a fight between Diaz and Masvidal for UFC 235 in March, but it was never made official. Diaz insisted from the beginning that he never committed or signed a contract, and as a result felt slighted by the UFC brass.

“I’m on the poster with this guy I’m like, ‘What the (expletive)? Nobody talked to me. What are you talking about?'” Diaz said. “I’m on a poster. What the? C’mon. That’s cool if I’m going to be fighting this guy, but like, why are you doing this to me? You’re just giving this advantage and giving more power to the opposite team. No offense to the opposite team. Let’s just play fair a little bit.”

Diaz indicated his younger brother gave him the green light to do a rare interview and seemingly push the agenda for a Masvidal matchup.

Getting Diaz back in the cage seemingly won’t be easy. He said he needs to be paid and it must be something “big” like a AT&T Stadium in Dallas.

Ultimately, Diaz said the choice will be hi. He’s only fought three times in the past eight years and is nearing the four-year anniversary of his most recent bout, an infamous UFC 183 meeting with Anderson Silva after which both fighters were suspended. Nothing has forced Diaz to operate outside of his chosen path, and he said that won’t change now.

“The BMF, the 170, that’s my belt,” Diaz said. “But I’m not going to get in my brothers way of taking it. As far as I’m concerned that’s my belt. … This ain’t up to no UFC. We’ve seen that in the past already. I don’t need to do anything more than what I’ve already done here. I don’t know what to tell you people. All I know is I’ve got a whole lot of people who feel the same way.”

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Arlene Blencowe thinks she’s earned another title shot with win over Leslie Smith at Bellator 233

Arlene Blencowe thinks her win over Leslie Smith at Bellator 233 should warrant a title shot.

THACKERVILLE, Okla. – [autotag]Arlene Blencowe[/autotag] thinks she’s positioned herself as the No. 1 contender after this past Friday.

She defeated Leslie Smith by unanimous decision at Bellator 233, outpointing her on the strength of her jab en route to a 30-27 sweep on the judges’ scorecards.

Blencowe (13-7 MMA, 6-3 BMMA) was narrowly edged out by current 145-pound champion Julia Budd nearly two years ago at Bellator 189 for the women’s featherweight title. It was her second loss to the champ.

Since then, Blencowe has won three in a row and thinks she’s done enough to get the next title shot against the winner of Budd and Cris Cyborg, who are set to fight for Budd’s title at Bellator 236 on Jan. 25.

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“Obviously, since my controversial split decision loss to Julia, I’ve just worked my way back into the next title shot,” Blencowe told MMA Junkie after her win over Smith. “I knew just getting wins is what I needed. I got two stoppage wins. I was hoping for a third win by stoppage, but we also knew that Leslie was a tough girl, so she doesn’t go down easy. But I definitely I think I’ve earned my spot to get another shot at the title.”

And while avenging her loss to Budd is definitely on her mind, a stylistic matchup against Cyborg is also something that interests her.

“To be honest, if it’s Julia, yeah, that would be awesome,” Blencowe said. “I’ve got some redemption to do there. But Cyborg’s another awesome fight. I’d love to stand in there and bang it out with her. I’ll just be sitting back in January, just excited to watch a good, quality fight, and I think both girls are going to be absolutely awesome.”

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Artem Lobov says there’s still some unfinished business with Khabib Nurmagomedov

Artem Lobov says there’s definitely some unsettled business with lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The SBG Ireland vs. Dagestan war may be far from over.

It all started with [autotag]Artem Lobov[/autotag], good friend and training partner of former UFC dual champion Conor McGregor, who was confronted by lightweight champ [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] and his crew backstage at UFC 223.

McGregor came to Lobov’s defense soon after and flew to New York, where he threw a hand truck through the window of a bus that carried Nurmagomedov and his team. Eventually, McGregor and Nurmagomedov fought at UFC 229, where Nurmagomedov retained the lightweight title with a fourth-round submission.

Following his win, Nurmagomedov jumped the cage and attacked McGregor’s corner, and a brawl ensued. But after a few altercations, a brawl, suspensions, and a fight, the bad blood has not boiled over.

Ever since then, McGregor has been campaigning for a rematch, and the man who was initially in the center of it all, Lobov, said things are certainly not cordial between him and Nurmagomdov.

“Definitely, things are not fine,” Lobov told Chael Sonnen. “There’s some unsettled business there, and I think in due course it will all be settled. But as of now, it’s definitely not. Not even close.”

But Lobov admits he doesn’t mind that the beef is not settled, after all, it keeps his name relevant, and his bank account pretty.

“It’s Khabib’s fans obviously, I have a lot of Russian fans, myself, that support me – and obviously he has a lot of guys that support him,” Lobov said. “So obviously his guys that support him, they always have a lot to say about me, but I don’t mind. It keeps my name in the headlines, it keeps my name in the Internet searches, and as a result, it keeps my salary nice and high.”

Since being released by the UFC, Lobov has signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, where he picked up unanimous decision wins over fellow UFC veteran Jason Knight and former boxing world champion Paulie Malignaggi, who infamously had a falling out with McGregor when helping him prepare for his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.

Lobov is set to rematch Knight at BKFC 9 on Nov. 16 in the night’s headliner.

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Logan Storley: Win over D-I wrestler E.J. Brooks at Bellator 233 speaks to my wrestling ability

Logan Storley thinks taking out a D-I wrestler in E.J. Brooks at Bellator 233 speaks to his own elite wrestling ability.

THACKERVILLE, Okla. – [autotag]Logan Storley[/autotag]’s win Friday at Bellator 233 was a major feather in his cap.

Storley (11-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA), a four time All-American wrestler,  took on former Division-I wrestler E.J. Brooks. He picked up a TKO win when Brooks didn’t come back out for the second round with an apparent broken arm.

Storley was able to hurt Brooks early, throwing a couple of kicks that hurt Brooks’ arm. He was then able to use his wrestling to take the fight to the mat, and after the end of Round 1, Brooks’ corner stopped the fight with Brooks unable to continue due to the injury.

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The game plan for Storley was to come out aggressive and put pressure on Brooks, which he was able to do. The arm injury suffered by Brooks made it that much harder for him to get off the mat when Storley was all over him.

“I knew that first kick, I think it was the first or second kick that hurt him,” Storley told MMA Junkie after the fight. “I felt him underneath when I kept putting it on him, and forcing him to push off of it – and that was a hard, grinding pace, the first five. That’s what I wanted to do because I felt him slowly losing that energy and me just getting into more dominant positions, but it takes a while to get to that. You don’t just get to go land big shots right away. You have to wear these guys out, then you can set the pace and fight your fight.”

Storley thinks taking out an accomplished wrestler in Brooks proves how good his wrestling is.

“It took a little longer than I wanted, getting to those positions, but he’s a former Division-I wrestler,” Storley said. “He’s beat really good guys in wrestling, and that’s what people don’t understand is, that guy was a really good Division-I wrestler. So for me to go out there and dominate a former Division-I wrestler like that, I think that speaks to my wrestling ability.”

Bellator 234: Make your predictions for Sergei Kharitonov vs. Linton Vassell

We want your predictions for Bellator 234 in Israel, featuring Sergei Kharitonov vs. Linton Vassell.

We want your predictions for this week’s Bellator 234 event in Israel.

Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Wednesday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).

Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the Bellator 234 event staff predictions we release Thursday ahead of the event. Bellator 234 takes place Thursday at Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv, Israel. The main card airs on Paramount and streams on DAZN on Friday via tape delay.

Make your picks for all five main card fights inside:

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6

Undefeated M-1 Global lightweight champion Roman Bogatov signs with UFC

The UFC has added another M-1 Global champion to its roster.

The UFC has added another M-1 Global champion to its roster.

This time it’s a lightweight. The promotion has inked undefeated Russian fighter [autotag]Roman Bogatov[/autotag] (10-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), according to a tweet posted by M-1 Global on Monday.

No date, location or opponent has been announced for Bogatov’s UFC debut.

The 28-year-old lightweight made his M-1 debut in March 2017. After winning his first five fights under the promotion’s banner, Bogatov earned a title shot for the vacant championship against Brazil’s Rubenilton Pereira in September 2018. Bogatov earned a five-round unanimous decision victory.

Bogatov defended his title twice, ending both opponents’ nights inside the distance. After he defeated Michel Silva by second-round submission in January, Bogatov defeated UFC veteran Mickael Lebout by TKO due to injury at M-1 Challenge 104 in March.

Bogatov becomes one of a handful of M-1 Global champions to take advantage of a 2018 partnership deal with the UFC. The deal allows M-1 Global champions the ability to leave the promotion to go to the UFC.

Other fighters who have taken advantage of the partnership include bantamweight Movar Evloev, featherweight Nate Landwehr, middleweight Bruno Silva and light heavyweight Khadis Ibragimov.

Check out Roman Bogatov’s official highlight video (via M-1 Global) below:

Bellator 233’s Kyle Crutchmer happy to be compared to teammates Cormier, Khabib – if he has bank account to match

“If my bank account says what ‘D.C.’ and Khabib’s say, you can compare me to whoever you want to compare me to.”

THACKERVILLE, Okla. – With his strong wrestling background, [autotag]Kyle Crutchmer[/autotag] is happy to draw comparisons to his teammates – but not necessarily to their fighting styles.

Crutchmer (5-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), who was a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University, has a strong grappling background like former two-division UFC champion [autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] and UFC lightweight champ [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag], his teammates at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.

Crutchmer improved to 5-0 Friday at Bellator 233 in his promotional debut with a unanimous decision win over Robert Gidron. He used his superior wrestling to control the fight and showed off some of his striking, too.

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But with inevitable comparisons to his accomplished wrestling teammates at AKA, Crutchmer is more concerned with making similar paydays down the line.

“I don’t know how many people knock dudes down with spinning back fists, but I threw that (expletive) today – it landed, it knocked him down, so I’ve got a little bit different style from (them),” Crutchmer told MMA Junkie. “But listen, man, at the end of the day, if my bank account says what ‘D.C.’ and Khabib’s say – man, you can compare me to whoever you want to compare me to.”

His opponent, Gidron, stepped in on short notice for the fight. But the natural middleweight missed weight for the 170-pound bout by nearly five pounds. While Crutchmer is accustomed to being the smaller opponent, he says Gidron had an apparent size difference, a challenge he was able to overcome.

“My wrestling kind of speaks for itself,” Crutchmer said. “I think I would be dumb to not at least attempt it in the first, to see how hard or how easy it would be. Man, that guy was big. People don’t realize – he missed weight by five pounds. He’s never fought at (1)70, I don’t think, so he had some height on me, too. So some of those things, I was trying to get to. It took a lot more than people could see.”

And there was no doubt in his mind that he was going to accept the fight regardless, as he looks to begin his ascent in the Bellator 170-pound rankings.

“I’m in this to prove I’m the baddest mother(expletive) in the world, and if I’m turning down fights or I’m saying no to somebody, then why am I doing this?” Crutchmer said. “I knew it was going to be hard. You could see it, how big he was, and that does play a factor in fights. I had no hesitation. I told our coaches, ‘I’ll get paid a little bit more and we’ll roll with it.'”

ONE Championship 102 highlights: Geje Eustaquio’s sick liver kick, Joshua Pacio’s slick title defense

ONE Championship 102 is in the books, and you can check out the highlights right here on MMA Junkie.

ONE Championship 102 is in the books, and you can check out the highlights right here on MMA Junkie.

ONE Championship 101 took place Friday at Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines, and streamed on B/R Live.

In the main event, Joshua Pacio defended his strawweight title with a second-round arm-triangle choke against Rene Catalan. But ahead of that, there were some brilliant stoppages – including Geje Eustaquio’s one-kick shot to the liver to stop Toni Tauro

You can watch the highlights in the video above.

Cris Cyborg still wants Amanda Nunes rematch in a Bellator vs. UFC cross promotion fight

Cris Cyborg still wants a rematch with Amanda Nunes in a Bellator vs. UFC cross-promotion fight.

On the heels of her first loss in more than 13 years, [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] still wants to avenge her setback to [autotag]Amanda Nunes[/autotag].

But now that she is part of the Bellator banner, doing that could be difficult. Following her first-round knockout loss to Nunes at UFC 232, where she lost her featherweight title, Cyborg (21-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Felicia Spencer at UFC 240.

But her complicated relationship with UFC president Dana White, who claimed that dealing with Cyborg is a nightmare, got in the way of a potential rematch with Nunes (18-4 MMA, 11-1 UFC). Cyborg was a free agent after her win at UFC 240 in July and signed with Bellator in September.

Speaking to TMZ, Cyborg said the first thing she asked Bellator president Scott Coker is if they could do a cross-promotion with the UFC and get the Nunes rematch done.

“Before I signed with Bellator, the first thing I asked Scott for (is) maybe to have the possibility to fight (against UFC fighters) – the same he’s doing for Rizin (with) his champions fighting with champions in Japan. … I said maybe if he’ll be able to do that,” Cyborg said.

Cyborg is set to make her Bellator debut when she challenges 145-pound champ Julia Budd for the title at Bellator 236 on Jan. 25. The former UFC, Invicta and Strikeforce featherweight champ is hoping to add another belt to her collection, then hopefully get her rematch with Nunes.

“Cris Cyborg (vs.) Amanda Nunes – she’s the UFC champion, and I hope in the future (UFC) vs. Bellator champion, maybe the fight will happen. Scott said yes, we can do that,” Cyborg said. “Dana White (just has) to call him and make this happen, and I think everybody would like to watch.”

“One-fight deal – just call Scott.”

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