Jordan Leavitt has a message for any potential opponent who is thinking about testing his ground skills.
LAS VEGAS – One of the newest members of the UFC roster, [autotag]Jordan Leavitt[/autotag] has a message for any potential opponent who is thinking about testing his ground skills.
Shortly after earning a UFC contract as a result of his first-round submission of Luke Flores at DWCS 27 on Tuesday, Leavitt (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) voiced a mix of emotions in the post-fight news conference.
“It’s a lot of emotions,” Leavitt told MMA Junkie. “It’s very hard to put into words. I guess ‘happy’ is the first one. ‘Nervous’ is the second one. ‘Excited’ is the third one. I’m excited to have made it, I guess.
Leavitt’s ground game is his forte. In six pro victories, Leavitt has finished four of his wins by submission. Leavitt said it doesn’t matter who he’s fighting; he’ll like his odds on the ground regardless of opponent.
“I’m not afraid of anyone on the ground,” Leavitt said. “I train with great black belts. I’ve been training with great black belts since I was 15 years old. I’m not afraid of anybody, especially when it comes to on the ground. There’s no chance of you knocking me out there. There’s no chance of you getting lucky. You have to be really good to tap me. That was the gameplan, 100 percent.”
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Leavitt, 25, said he doesn’t have an opponent or date in mind for his UFC debut. He did say, however, that he’d like longer than three weeks in between fights. Leavitt won two bouts in 18 days en route to his UFC deal.
“A little bit longer than three weeks, but soon,” Leavitt said.
When asked what he hopes to accomplish in his UFC tenure, Leavitt didn’t mention a UFC title – although that could very well be a byproduct of his ultimate goal: making money.
“My future (in the UFC) I’m going to make a bunch of money and get out of here,” Leavitt said. “That’s the plan. I’m going to pay these bills.”
DWCS 27 took place Tuesday at the UFC Apex. The four-fight card streamed live on ESPN+.
To hear more from Leavitt, check out the video above.
Uros Medic made quick work of his opponent once again but knows he hasn’t had the chance to fully test his body at his new weight class.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Uros Medic[/autotag] made quick work of his opponent once again but knows he’s yet to be truly tested.
Undefeated Medic (6-0) made good in his lightweight debut when he took out Mikey Gonzalez in the first round at Dana White’s Contender Series 27 to earned himself a UFC contract.
Having previously shed only five pounds to make welterweight, Tuesday night’s fight represented the first time Medic went through a proper weight cut. But with the fight barely passing the two-minute mark, he wasn’t able to test how his body would have felt in the later rounds.
Medic knows that at some point he’ll have to push the pace late on in fights and he wants to know how his body would react to it.
“We knew I was going to fight at 155,” Medic told MMA Junkie. “It was a matter of time and the right opportunity. Every fighter, they know weight cuts, they tend to drain you out a little bit, and it was a matter of time when we were going to start doing it and there was an opportunity for Dana White’s Contender Series. Perfect opportunity.”
He continued, “I always knew I wanted to be at ’55. There’s still stuff I need to figure out: the way my body works, what is the proper nutrition I need to intake to get my cut even better and smoother so I can go to these five, five-minute round fights (and) put on some good shows.”
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Medic is ready for a quick turnaround and, now that’s he’s competing in arguably the most stacked division, he says he’s prepared for the tougher challenges that lie ahead.
“Nothing changes; we keep training,” Medic said. “Try and get a fight as soon as possible. I want to fight. As I said, I just want to figure out how my body works better so I can get those five, five-minute round fights. I stopped almost everybody in the first round. I need to know how my body is going to react to that kind of pressure, and I want to. I cannot wait for it. So now there’s opportunities, there are people who are going to help me with it, and I have a good team by my side.”
DWCS 27 took place Tuesday at UFC Apex. The four-fight card streamed live on ESPN+.
To hear more from Medic, check out the video above.
A one-man dance party broke out at Dana White’s Contender Series.
[autotag]Jordan Leavitt[/autotag] picked up a major victory at the Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 4 premiere Tuesday – and danced up a storm afterward.
A short-notice replacement, Leavitt (7-0) took on Luke Flores in the card’s opening bout. After dragging his opponent to the mat in the opening minute, Leavitt fended off submission attempts to lock in one of his own, submitting Flores (9-2) in Round 1 via arm triangle.
Immediately after the tap, Leavitt sprung to his feet. That’s when an all-out dance party broke out.
Leavitt first dove into an impressive split, displaying tremendous flexibility. After rising back up, Leavitt wasn’t done. The worm was next – and somewhere Johnny Walker was shuddering.
Leavitt’s rhythm continued to the post-fight announcement, where he wiggled until his arm was raised. After the fight, Leavitt explained the celebration in an interview with Laura Sanko on the broadcast.
“Oh, (it’s) nothing,” Leavitt said. “I just do the splits. My first amateur fight, I just happened to do it as a joke and it became my thing. And it’s become my thing. I guess I’ll be doing the splits until I’m 40 and done with this.”
Check out Leavitt’s submission and subsequent dance moves in the video below:
The submission might earn Jordan Leavitt a UFC contract, but hitting the splits and doing the worm earned him legend status 🤣 #DWCSpic.twitter.com/Gv7ivBpd7U
DWCS 27 took place Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The four-fight card simulcasted on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass.
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.
Jordan Leavitt is unusual – but he knows it and he doesn’t care.
[autotag]Jordan Leavitt[/autotag] is unusual – but he knows it and he doesn’t care.
A competitor on the Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 4 premiere, Leavitt (6-0) will fight for a UFC contract Tuesday. Beyond what viewers will see him do inside the cage, Leavitt’s intrigue extends beyond his competitive skills.
Leavitt, 25, is a ground specialist and an undefeated MMA fighter – but he’s also an avid barefoot runner, political campaign worker, 100-books-a-year-reader, and a student. Leavitt has always liked sticking out.
“I’ve always been against the grain,” Leavitt recently told MMA Junkie. “I’ve never really cared about fitting in with people. It’s always been about what I want to do – things that push me and challenge me. But I’ve always been a person who’s been focused on one thing at a time. I’ve always had an obsessive nature. I was either obsessed with politics or obsessed with wrestling – so I just kind of traded it for fighting. I’m interested in all different things. I read 100 books a year – at least. I do yoga and I do love running. But fighting is definitely my obsession. It’s definitely a grounding influence in my life. It kind of puts everything else in order for me.”
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The soft-spoken, self-proclaimed “nerdy kid” doesn’t fit the mold of a stereotypical MMA fighter. Oftentimes, people don’t think he’s a professional mixed martial artist. But Leavitt understands why and has accepted it.
“I definitely don’t think I fit the mold,” Leavitt said. “I don’t think I’m dripping of machismo. I’m not the most manly alpha-male type of person. I’m very smiley and very relaxed. … I’ve never cared about what people think. It definitely has helped me to stick out in this kind of environment. A lot of people are trying to be something they’re not. They have this idea that a fighter is supposed to be fit and supposed to be tough – or supposed to be macho. I’m just like, ‘I’m going to be myself.’ Real recognizes real, as they say.”
Being open and true to himself has bolstered Leavitt’s career. He doesn’t feel the need to promote himself by acting outlandish. He does admit, though, it was initially difficult for him to come to grips with how violent his career-choice is.
“I used to be a little insecure about it – especially when I was younger when I was a few fights in,” Leavitt said. “I hate hurting people. I’ve never been aggressive or a mean person. I’m probably overly polite. I’m probably too nice a lot of the time. It definitely took me a while to separate the violence from the sport for me. It’s not about hurting people. It’s not about me competing with my opponent. It’s about me competing with myself. I’ve figured out a way to frame it where it’s me becoming a better version of myself when I’m out there.”
A win would not only vindicate Leavitt’s pursuit of MMA as a career, but it would also provide him relief knowing he can support himself – and let the world know that.
“I wouldn’t have to be embarrassed when people ask me what I do and I say, ‘A professional fighter.’ They’ll respond, ‘So you make a lot of money doing this?’ I’ll respond, ‘No, I’m kind of broke.’ Fighting doesn’t pay the bills,” Leavitt said. “It’ll mean everything to say, ‘I fight. That’s what I do to pay the bills. That’s what I do to take care of everything.’ It’ll definitely make it feel like all the work I put in actually means something.”
DWCS 27 takes place Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The four-fight card will simulcast on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass.
“As if dealing with that first loss of my career wasn’t hard enough, a week later I’m sitting inside a jail cell.”
At times, [autotag]Jerome Rivera[/autotag] has bent – but he’s never broken.
Rivera (9-2 MMA) has encountered high highs and low lows. But it’s led him to where he is today – on the UFC’s doorstep. There have been close calls, but every time Rivera has sniffed a UFC deal, he’s come up short – not in effort, but in the outcome.
Growing up, Rivera’s upbringing wasn’t bad. While other New Mexico neighborhoods battled severe crime, Rivera largely avoided encountering such lifestyles. Instead, his area inspired him – especially because of its MMA culture and fighters like Diego Sanchez.
After a youth wrestling career, Rivera began training MMA. A skinny kid, Rivera proved it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but rather the size of the fight in the dog. Rivera’s scrappy attitude translated perfectly to mixed martial arts.
Rattling off victories, Rivera started off his career at 5-0. Things were going well. Unofficially one fight away from a UFC deal, Rivera’s luck took a turn for the worse outside the cage.
On the UFC’s doorstep, Rivera anticipated his highest-profile fight offer to date. Before the fight took place, however, adversity reared its head.
Rivera, 21, was arrested for DWI.
“It was terrible,” Rivera told MMA Junkie. “I felt stupid. I felt dumb. I hit a dark place. I sprained my ankle right before that DWI. I was in jail coming off a pretty bad ankle sprain.”
Shortly after spending nearly two days locked up, Rivera received the offer he anticipated – the chance to fight Roberto Sanchez for the vacant flyweight title at LFA 14. It was a huge opportunity.
Fast forward.
In mid-2017, Rivera sat in a jail cell, fresh off a defeat to Sanchez, which for the time being, derailed his UFC dream. Shortly after his third-round armbar submission loss, Rivera was arrested for not having an interlock license.
Rivera had reached a new low. In an instant, Rivera went from an undefeated fighter destined for the highest level of MMA, to some guy who was banged up, sitting in a jail cell.
Life came fast – too fast, Rivera admits. Soul-searching was necessary.
“At that point, I was at a time where I knew I needed to change my life around or I was going to go into a dark place and probably would turn out to be a person I didn’t feel good about being,” Rivera said.
“… As if dealing with that first loss of my career wasn’t hard enough, a week later I’m sitting inside a jail cell. I’m just sitting there like, ‘(Expletive), this is rock bottom. You’re supposed to be getting ready for a UFC fight and doing all these things and making all this money. Now, you’re sitting here in a jail cell because you’re a dumbass. You should have gotten your interlock license and done all this stuff sooner.'”
To make matters worse, Rivera started to hear his doubters’ voices. Even some people close to him were counting him out and writing him off.
“Mentally, I was a little bit defeated,” Rivera said. “But the same thing: I just kept that chip on my shoulder like everybody was doubting me. Nobody believes in me and they think I’m going to stop.”
It was at that point Rivera received a kickstart, but not from a family member or a friend. It was from the person he trusted most – himself. Thinking of his fiancee, and his first baby on the way, Rivera picked himself up by his bootstraps and reentered competition.
Matched up with Brandon Royval, Rivera had a chance at redemption. After months of mental and physical rebuild, he was back – attempting to change his life for the better.
The fight lasted only 40 seconds. In an early exchange, Royval caught a kick and pushed Rivera backward. Rivera extended his arm to catch his balance. The two fighters crashed into the fence.
Pop!
Rivera circled out to reset, but something wasn’t right.
“I swear I felt like I had an out-of-body experience,” Rivera said. “I could see myself get ran back into the fence. Then, I just remembered right when my hand touched that fence. Immediately, I heard a loud pop, ‘Boom.’ I could not feel my arm, instantly. I felt like I was screaming in my head like, ‘Dude, your arm is broken. Your arm is broken.’
“I took that step off and I wanted to try to hit him with it – like, a spinning back elbow or something. I just felt my arm slow motion swing. I looked down and saw my pinky where my thumb is supposed to be. I was just like, ‘Holy (expletive).’ That’s when I went and kind of told the ref to get me out of there.”
Image via LFA
On national television, Rivera’s arm flopped around in one of the most grotesque injuries in mainstream MMA history. After everything he went through, another layer of adversity revealed itself. Rivera instantly went viral.
“I was expecting to go to the UFC,” Rivera said. “I had my daughter on the way. It was just crushing for me mentally from ‘About to get signed to the UFC again’ to ‘All of a sudden, you have to go back home and get surgery – and you can’t work for eight weeks and you have your daughter on the way and all this stuff.'”
Image via Jerome Rivera
Rivera came face-to-face with his demons but fought back. Tommy John surgery was in the cards for him, yet he persevered through it and its recovery. His injury and its gruesomeness only catalyzed his doubters, which in turn catalyzed Rivera.
“I realized the hard way that the world doesn’t stop turning for anybody,” Rivera said. “If I were to sit there and stay depressed and quit and give up on everything, the world wasn’t going to stop turning for me. Eventually, I was going to fall into a really bad place. I knew I just had to pick back up and set an example for everybody around me – to show my fiancee and everybody that wasn’t going to break me.
“I just used that chip on my shoulder. I just said in my head that everybody was doubting me. Everybody thought that was the end of my career and that I was never going to come back. To them, it was silly at this point to continue. A lot of people – everybody I asked – thought I was done for. … I was just super motivated to prove everybody wrong.”
In his next two fights, Rivera went 2-0. Fueled by an offered rematch against Brandon Royval that was offered twice but never came to fruition, Rivera was extra motivated to improve his game.
The wins punched his ticket to official “one-fight-away” status. Earlier this year, Rivera was offered a slot on Dana White’s Contender Series. After a pandemic delay, Rivera will finally carry out the opportunity against Luis Rodriguez (11-1 MMA) on Tuesday.
With an impressive performance, Rivera could earn a UFC contract – and in the process, prove that sometimes the ends justify the means.
“It would just be a dream come true,” Rivera said. “It would just really feel like all this hard work, all those hours spent in the gym, all the hours away from my family and friends, it would just give me that sense of accomplishment. Like, ‘OK, this was all for a good reason.’ Even if I don’t get to the UFC, I told everybody, like, if this is my last fight on (Tuesday), I’m just very thankful for this.
“… I’ve learned so many lessons through this sport. Win, lose, or draw. Those lessons have made me the man I am today. I believe I’m a very strong person because of this martial arts journey. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
DWCS 27 takes place Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The event streams on ESPN+.
A lightweight fight has been added to the Dana White’s Contender Series opening lineup for Season 4.
A lightweight fight has been added to the Dana White’s Contender Series opening lineup for Season 4.
On Aug. 4 at DWCS 27, UFC hopefuls [autotag]Taylor Callens[/autotag] and [autotag]Uros Medic[/autotag] will square off for the chance to potentially earn a UFC contract.
Two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the booking on Saturday but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Callens (6-0) has competed for notable regional promotions V3 Fights and Valor Fights. The Tennesee native has won back-to-back fights with submissions. Callens has only competed once since 2015.
Born in Serbia, Medic (5-0) has spent most of his career fighting for Alaska FC. Through five professional fights, Medic sports a 100 percent finishing rate. Medic will be dropping down to lightweight from welterweight.
DWCS will kick off Aug. 4 and is expected to run for 10 episodes, with the season concluding Oct. 6.
