Tag: Cat Zingano

Bellator 300 video: Champ Cris Cyborg has intense faceoff with Cat Zingano

The title fighters kicked off fight week Wednesday in San Diego. Check out the Cris Cyborg and Cat Zingano faceoff at Bellator 300.

SAN DIEGO – The Bellator 300 headlining champs and challengers kicked off fight week Wednesday in San Diego.

Women’s featherweight champion [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] (26-2 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) takes on former UFC bantamweight title challenger [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] (14-4 MMA, 4-0 BMMA). It’s one of three title fights on the main card of the historic show.

Wednesday, Cyborg and Zingano took questions from the media at a pre-fight news conference at the host hotel. They were joined by Bellator president Scott Coker, the other four title fighters and former fighter Chael Sonnen, who served as the event’s emcee.

Check out the Cyborg-Zingano faceoff in the video above. Bellator 300 takes place Saturday at Pechanga Arena in San Diego. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 300.

[lawrence-related id=2685116,2684600,2683801,2683812]

Video: Watch Bellator 300 pre-fight press conference on MMA Junkie

Bellator 300 takes place Friday in San Diego. Watch a live stream of the pre-event news conference with three title fights at 4 p.m. ET.

SAN DIEGO – Bellator 300 takes place Friday at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, and you can watch a live video stream of the pre-event news conference here on MMA Junkie at 4 p.m. ET.

The press conference takes place at the Bellator host hotel in San Diego. The media event will be hosted by Chael Sonnen, as well as Bellator President Scott Coker.

Women’s flyweight champion [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] (19-7 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) takes on longtime teammate, friend and former titleholder [autotag]Ilima-Lei Macfarlane[/autotag] (13-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA). Women’s featherweight champ [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] (26-2 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) meets [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] (14-4 MMA, 4-0 BMMA). And lightweight champ [autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag] (17-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) puts his belt on the line against ex-champ [autotag]Brent Primus[/autotag] (12-3 MMA, 10-3 BMMA) to close out the three title fights on the main card.

Check out the press conference and subsequent faceeoffs in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 300.

[lawrence-related id=2684600,2683801,2683812]

UFC veterans in MMA action Oct. 4-7

Check out which veterans of the UFC are competing in combat sports across the globe this weekend.

This week, the UFC returns to action with UFC Fight Night 229 in Las Vegas.

Last week, the promotion took a week off after 17 consecutive weekends with a fight card. At the UFC Apex, lightweights [autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] and [autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag] will collide in the main event.

Elsewhere, many other combat sports events are taking place that feature a number of familiar names that have competed under the UFC banner.

Check out which veterans of the global MMA leader are competing in MMA Oct. 4-7.

Check out the names and details about their bouts below.

Upcoming event information from Tapology.

Bellator 300 pre-event facts: Strong stats behind title-fight triple header

Check out all the facts and figures about Bellator 300, which takes place Saturday and features three championship bouts.

Perhaps the final monumental event in Bellator history takes place Saturday with Bellator 300, which goes down at Pechanga Arena in San Diego with a main card that airs on Showtime following prelims streamed on MMA Junkie.

Three championship fights will top the bill, with the lightweight, women’s featherweight and women’s flyweight belts all on the line in what the promotion is dubbing as a “triple main event.”

For more on the numbers behind each bout, as well as other notable bouts on the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about Bellator 300.

* * * *

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Aug. 7-13)

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 or officially announced by a promotion from Aug. 7-13.

Bellator 300: Historic event set for Oct. 7 in San Diego with 4 title fights

Bellator 300 finally has a date and location, as well as a historic main card with four title fights.

Bellator 300 finally has a date and location, as well as a historic main card.

The event is set for Oct. 7 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego and will feature four title fights. The promotion is saying Bellator 300 will have four main events, but atop the card will be heavyweight champion [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] against challenger [autotag]Linton Vassell[/autotag].

In addition, women’s featherweight champ [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] takes on challenger [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag], lightweight titleholder [autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag] meets former champ [autotag]Brent Primus[/autotag], and in a long-discussed matchup, women’s flyweight champ [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] will put her title on the line against her good friend, training partner and former champ, [autotag]Ilima-Lei Macfarlane[/autotag].

Bellator officials announced the card Wednesday. The event date, location and lightweight title fight first were reported by BJPenn.com. The additional three title fights were announced on “The MMA Hour” ahead of a Bellator news release. The main card will air on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

“When I first joined Bellator, we set out to sign and develop the best available talent in the world and produce events for massive audiences,” Bellator president Scott Coker said in a press release. “Our first tentpole event was Bellator 131 in San Diego, and we couldn’t be more excited to return to that very same arena for this monumental Bellator 300 event.

“We wanted to give the fans and supporters an epic night of fights and there is no better way to do that than showcasing these four incredible champions all putting their belts on the line. I’m proud of the all the work we have done to grow this brand and its athletes since I came on board. I can’t wait for Bellator 300, which is going to be the biggest event in the history of Bellator MMA.”

Former two-division champ Bader (31-7 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) lost the light heavyweight title in 2020, but has held onto the heavyweight belt. After he was knocked out by Corey Anderson in the 205-pound tournament in 2021, he has three straight heavyweight title wins over Valentin Moldavsky, Cheick Kongo and Fedor Emelianenko.

The fight against Vassell will be a rematch of a Bader win at Bellator 186 in November 2017, which Bader won with a second-round TKO to defend his light heavyweight title. Now Vassell will try again, but a weight class up.

Vassell, who is all of four days older than Bader, lost his first fight at heavyweight in 2019, but has been on a tear since then with five straight wins and four stoppages in the division. In March, he knocked out Moldavsky in the first round.

Cyborg (26-2 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) re-signed with Bellator earlier this year after she tested the free agency market. Ultimately, she decided to stay put, but stayed at least a busy boxing. But now she’ll have a grudge match with Zingano. Cyborg is considered one of the best women’s fighters in history and has held titles for Bellator, the UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta.

Zingano (14-4 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) has been waiting for a shot at Cyborg since she signed with Bellator after a lengthy run in the UFC. She’s been perfect out of the gate and now will get her first shot at a title since she challenged Ronda Rousey at UFC 184 in 2015. Her resume already includes wins over Amanda Nunes and Miesha Tate, and a win over Cyborg would be a legacy-defining moment.

Nurmagomedov, a cousin over former UFC lightweight champion Khabib, won the title in November 2022 against then-champ Patricky Freire. In March, he submitted former UFC and WEC champ Benson Henderson for his first successful title defense in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Primus (12-3 MMA, 10-3 BMMA) was on the outside looking in when the tournament started, but stepped in as a late replacement alternate. Then he silenced the crowd in Paris with a unanimous decision over local French fan favorite Mansour Barnaoui at Bellator 296. He beat Michael Chandler for the title in 2017, and an upset of Nurmagomedov would give him the belt back and put him in a $1 million title defense in the final.

And finally, Carmouche (19-7 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) and Macfarlane (13-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA) get their dream matchup. Macfarlane has said she wants to win back the flyweight belt she used to hold, then retire. To do it, it’ll have to come against her good friend and longtime training partner.

Carmouche defended the title against DeAnna Bennett in the Bellator 294 main event in April in Honolulu. The next night, Macfarlane took a split decision from Kana Watanabe in front of her home fans to set up the fight between the two. Carmouche has been unstoppable since she signed with Bellator. Macfarlane has bounced back from the first two losses of her career with wins over Bruna Ellen and Watanabe.

There have been reports that Bellator may be on the cusp of being acquired from Paramount, and the strongest rumored bidder has been the PFL. Further speculation has been that Bellator 300 could be the promotion’s final event before a merger.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 300.

Scott Coker on ‘Pitbull’ Freire’s shot at history, Cyborg, Harrison and more after Bellator 293

See what company president Scott Coker had to say about Daniel James, Cat Zingano, Cris Cyborg, Patricio Freire and more after Bellator 293.

TEMECULA, Calif. – The heavyweight title picture got a fresh name Friday, but that’s not the only big thing going on with Bellator lately.

After Bellator 293 at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif., promotion president Scott Coker talked to MMA Junkie and other media members at a post-event news conference.

Coker talked about [autotag]Daniel James[/autotag]’ emergence at heavyweight, [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] as the No. 1 women’s featherweight title contender for champ [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] and featherweight champ [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag]’s upcoming shot at the bantamweight belt.

See what Coker had to say about those topics and more below.

Bellator 293 post-event facts: Unbeaten fighters fall on upset-heavy card

Check out all the facts and figures from Bellator 293, which featured a number of upsets, including a loss by a 16-1 favorite.

Bellator closed its March schedule Saturday with Bellator 293, which took place at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif.

The main event saw the late career success of [autotag]Daniel James[/autotag] (15-6-1 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) continue. He added to his case as a potential heavyweight contender to watch when he beat [autotag]Marcelo Golm[/autotag] (10-4 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) by third-round knockout.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from Bellator 293.

Cat Zingano ‘always looking for blood,’ which she found in grueling Bellator 293 win vs. Leah McCourt

Cat Zingano put it on Leah McCourt to get the win and set up a Bellator women’s featherweight title shot – presumably vs. Cris Cyborg.

TEMECULA, Calif. – [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] is a trailblazer of women’s MMA and with that comes a tough mindset when she steps in the cage.

“I don’t get in here for fun. I don’t get in here just to participate. Like, I really want to win,” Zingano told reporters, including MMA Junkie, after Bellator 293 on Friday. “Part of winning means you have to hurt people, you have to cause damage. I’m always looking for those cuts. I’m always looking for blood. I feel like a shark when that happens. There are moments that I honestly can say I take personally in there. If someone does something to me in front of all these people, I want to get them back.”

That mentality served Zingano (14-4 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) well in the night’s co-main event at Pechanga Resort Casino, where she earned a grueling unanimous decision win over Leah McCourt (7-3 MMA, 6-2 BMMA), who gave the former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger all she could handle in a back-and-forth fight full of wild grappling sequences.

McCourt had a noticeable height and size advantage in the featherweight fight, and Zingano felt that. for 15 minutes.

“It was a very big adjustment for me, her being so tall,” Zingano said. “I felt like, as I was trying to throw these kicks at her, I was aiming above even my head, because she was so much taller than me. That kind of made it weird from my stance and my posture and taking my feet out from underneath.”

[lawrence-related id=2629479,2629254]

Even though McCourt had her moments on top of Zingano, they weren’t as impactful – both literally and figuratively. Unlike McCourt, Zingano was able to inflict major damage, which showed on McCourt’s face after she was left with welt under her left eye and gash on her forehead that leaked blooed after the third round concluded.

“I knew I did a lot more damage than her,” Zingano said. “When she got into good positions, she kind of just held position. She didn’t really do anything with it. And then when I got into good positions, I did a lot of damage.”

Now Zingano finds herself in prime position to compete for the Bellator 145-pound title. According to Zingano, her fight with McCourt originally was pitched as a vacant title fight, something that Bellator president Scott Coker denies was ever considered.

The reason for the uncertainty is that champion Cris Cyborg only remains under contract with Bellator during an exclusive negotiating period after she fought out her deal last year. In Zingano’s ideal word, she would fight Cyborg for the belt within the next six months.

Now 40, she’s not trying to look too far beyond that.

“I mean, it’s punch by punch, fight by fight, breath by breath at this point,” Zingano said. “I like what I’m doing. I’m still having fun, and I’m still good at it. That’s where it’s at.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 293.

Cat Zingano def. Leah McCourt at Bellator 293: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Cat Zingano’s unanimous decision win over Leah McCourt at Bellator 293.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag]’s unanimous decision win over [autotag]Leah McCourt[/autotag] at Bellator 293 at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif. (Photos by Lucas Noonan, Bellator)