Tag: Tyron Woodley

Fight Week: Vergil Ortiz returns to action against Michael McKinson

Fight Week: Vergil Ortiz will return to action against Michael McKinson on Saturday in Forth Worth, Texas, Ortiz’s home state.

FIGHT WEEK

Welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz will take on Michael McKinson of the U.K. on Saturday in Forth Worth, Texas, Ortiz’s home state.

VERGIL ORTIZ (18-0, 18 KOS) VS. MICHAEL MCKINSON (22-0, 2 KOS)

  • When: Saturday, Aug. 6
  • Time: 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
  • Where: Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, Texas
  • TV/Stream: DAZN
  • Division: Welterweight (147 pounds)
  • Rounds: 12
  • At stake: No major titles
  • Pound-for-pound ranking: None
  • Odds: Ortiz 10-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
  • Also on the card: Marlen Esparza vs. Eva Guzman, flyweights (for Esparza’s WBA and WBC titles); Maurice Hooker vs. Blair Cobbs, welterweights; Bektemir Melikuziev vs. Sladan Janjanin, super middleweights; Alex Martin vs. Henry Lundy, junior welterweights
  • Prediction: Ortiz KO 10
  • Background: The Ortiz-McKinson fight was scheduled to take place in March but was postponed after Ortiz pulled out because of illness. The 24-year-old slugger from Dallas is now healthy and ready to resume his pursuit of a shot at a 147-pound title. He has stopped all 18 of his opponents, the most recent being capable Egidijus Kavaliauskas in eight rounds in August of last year. No fighter has gone past eight rounds with Ortiz, who is ranked in the Top 3 by all four major sanctioning bodies, No. 1 by the WBA and WBO. He hopes that status will lead to a title fight sooner rather than later. McKinson is unbeaten but has faced no one with ability comparable to Ortiz. The 28-year-old Englishman is a good, experienced boxer but, with two stoppages in 22 fights, he has one of the lowest knockout percentages in the sport. He’s coming off a one-sided decision over Alex Martin this past March in Los Angeles, his first fight outside Europe.

 

ALSO FIGHTING THIS WEEK

THURSDAY

  • Callum Walsh vs. Benjamin Whitaker, junior middleweights, Montebello, California (UFC Fight Pass).

FRIDAY

  • Antonio Moran vs. Michael Dutchover, junior welterweights, Plant City, Florida (ProBoxTV).

SATURDAY

  • Michael Conlan vs. Miguel Marriaga, featherweights, Belfast, Northern Ireland (ESPN+).

Hector Lombard would love to fight ‘fake’ Tyron Woodley in Eagle FC: ‘You don’t even have to ask me’

Hector Lombard is all in on a potential fight with former teammate Tyron Woodley under the Eagle FC banner.

MIAMI – [autotag]Hector Lombard[/autotag] is returning to MMA and with that comes a new realm of potential matchups.

The former Bellator middleweight champion and UFC veteran signed a multi-fight deal with Eagle FC, as he gears up for his MMA return on May 20 at Eagle FC 48. And now resuming his MMA career, Lombard (34-10-1) would love to fight former teammate [autotag]Tyron Woodley [/autotag] to settle an old dispute.

Lombard hopes Eagle FC signs Woodley, who’s currently a free agent, and will book a bout between the two. The 44-year-old says he’d accept the fight in a heartbeat if it ever came across his table.

“You already know, you don’t even have to ask me,” Lombard told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “That’s a done deal, I’m in.”

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In the summer of 2021, Lombard and Woodley had a confrontation at a BKFC event. Lombard accused Woodley of hitting on his partner and since Lombard has been wanting to fight “The Chosen One.”

“He’s shameless, he’s fake, and I said it to his face,” Lombard said. “I don’t like fake people. He’s a liar and he takes cover in religion and uses it as a mask, but he’s fake. People like that I don’t get along with.”

Lombard has been competing in bare-knuckle boxing under the BKFC banner in recent years. He’s the BKFC cruiserweight champion. The Cuban fighter and former Olympic judoka plans to continue both bare-knuckle boxing and MMA career simultaneously.

Lombard hasn’t competed in MMA since his UFC release in 2018. He’s eager to get back to the sport where he competed for over a decade.

“I’m super happy, I’m super pleased to be fighting in Florida, in Miami,” Lombard said. “I can’t wait until I get to represent all the Cubans and my people and here we are. I’ve always had love for the sport of MMA and I will always for the rest of my life because it was a big part of my life for a long time. I will never get away from MMA.”

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Tyron Woodley: Jorge Masvidal will beat ‘smart as f*ck’ Colby Covington in UFC 272 grudge match

Tyron Woodley breaks down Colby Covington vs. Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272, gives keys to victory for both and makes a prediction.

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[autotag]Tyron Woodley[/autotag] has a unique insight into the UFC 272 main event grudge match between [autotag]Colby Covington[/autotag] and [autotag]Jorge Masvidal[/autotag].

Woodley (19-7-1 MMA, 9-6-1 UFC), a former longtime UFC welterweight champion, has a history with both fighters stemming from his time at American Top Team, and even fought one of them inside the octagon.

Covington (16-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) and Masvidal (35-15 MMA, 12-8 UFC) are former friends and training partners who saw their relationship splinter in a quick and ugly manner. They went from confidants to enemies, and now their rivalry will come to a head when they clash in the UFC 272 headliner March 5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

Although Woodley wasn’t a consistent part of the team when the fractures between Covington and Masvidal really started to occur, he was there for the early times. He trained with both men, and even had his own feud with Covington that resulted in a September 2020 bout that “Chaos” won by fifth-round TKO.

Given the depth of his knowledge on each side, there are few people more qualified to give analysis of the UFC 272 main event than “The Chosen One,” who touched on some key dynamics going into fight night in a recent interview with MMA Junkie Radio.

Report: Jake Paul earned $40 million in the ring last year

Report: Jake Paul earned $40 million in the ring last year.

Jake Paul demonstrated last year that drawing power isn’t necessarily related to ability.

The YouTuber-turned-boxer earned an estimated $40 million before taxes for his three pay-per-view fights in 2021, according to Forbes. He also made about $5 million outside boxing, including videos.

The $45 million would’ve been No. 20 on the previous year’s list of highest-paid athletes, ahead of No. 1 boxer Canelo Alvarez’s $34 million.

Paul also was No. 2 on the list of highest-earningYouTube personalities for 2021, behind only MrBeast ($54 million).

Paul defeated former MMA stars Ben Askren (TKO 1) and Tyron Woodley (SD) and (KO 6) last year to run his pro record to 5-0. His one-punch stoppage of Woodley in their rematch went viral.

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Report: Jake Paul earned $40 million in the ring last year

Report: Jake Paul earned $40 million in the ring last year.

Jake Paul demonstrated last year that drawing power isn’t necessarily related to ability.

The YouTuber-turned-boxer earned an estimated $40 million before taxes for his three pay-per-view fights in 2021, according to Forbes. He also made about $5 million outside boxing, including videos.

The $45 million would’ve been No. 20 on the previous year’s list of highest-paid athletes, ahead of No. 1 boxer Canelo Alvarez’s $34 million.

Paul also was No. 2 on the list of highest-earningYouTube personalities for 2021, behind only MrBeast ($54 million).

Paul defeated former MMA stars Ben Askren (TKO 1) and Tyron Woodley (SD) and (KO 6) last year to run his pro record to 5-0. His one-punch stoppage of Woodley in their rematch went viral.

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Vitor Belfort, Tyron Woodley to join PFL Challenger Series team as panel experts

Two former UFC champions will be a part of the new PFL Challenger Series expert panel.

The PFL is preparing to launch its new Challenger Series and has revealed a few familiar faces will be a part of the experience.

This new series of events will seek to find talent to compete in upcoming PFL seasons and will have a judging panel consisting of athletes combined with votes from the fans watching along.

A pair of former UFC champions, [autotag]Vitor Belfort[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyron Woodley[/autotag], will be panel experts for the new series, alongside a few familiar faces that have graced the PFL commentary booth in the past.

“I can talk about the panel,” PFL CEO Peter Murray explained to MMA Junkie in a recent interview. “On that panel, Vitor will be participating. Tyron Woodley will be participating, and Randy Couture will be participating in addition to our partner, Ray Lewis, someone outside of MMA. So, you know, a lot of personality and major expertise in combat, MMA, broader sports, champions, and so we think it’s going to be great chemistry.

“Those those four I mentioned, they will be the anchor panel experts, and so they’ll be with us for the significant majority of the events, that crew. We think it’s going to work really well.”

The PFL Challenger Series will feature eight weeks of action, streaming live on fuboTV and the Fubo Sports Network. Each week there will be four fights that will take place at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla. More details about the series will be revealed in the near future.

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Jake Paul open to drug test, but says Dana White avoiding real issues

Jake Paul is open to drug test, but says Dana White is avoiding the real issues.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published at MMAJunkie.com.

The war of words between Jake Paul and UFC president Dana White continues.

Sunday, Paul – cup and cigar in hand – posted a video from the beach on Saint Barthélemy, a Caribbean Island. In the video, Paul responded to White’s recent drug-testing challenge, but looped back around to criticize the UFC boss once again for the worldwide leading MMA promotion’s treatment of fighters.

“Dana, I accepted every part of your challenge,” Paul said. “I said I would fight (Jorge) Masvidal in MMA. Steroid test me whenever the f*ck you want. It is two weeks after my fight and I’m a fat b—-. I don’t do steroids and I take it as a compliment because there’s no other excuse to me knocking out all of your champions than, ‘This kid does steroids.’ Look at me (now). Look at that. (I’m) a fat b—-. If you steroid test me, then I want to steroid test every one of your fighters. You won’t want to do it, though, will you?”

Since he delved into the combat sports world in 2020, Paul and White have had numerous spats. However, the frequency has increased in recent months. White recently challenged Paul to go drug-test-for-drug-test in which the UFC president would be tested for cocaine while the YouTuber-turned-boxer partook in steroid testing.

Saturday, Paul responded and said he would enter the USADA testing program, walk away from boxing and head to the UFC if terms and conditions were met. The terms included an increase in minimum fighter pay and long-term health care.

“Long story short, you addressed nothing that I said,” Paul said in his video. “I said I would fight MMA. I said that I would retire from boxing and you avoided all of that s—. … It shows that you are in a corner. You’re a dog in a corner trying to fight to save his whole company and the embarrassment that I’ve put you through. Everybody sees it and what you can’t accept or love or appreciate is that I’m trying to change the sport forever. You are one of the most selfish, capitalistic motherf—ers that I’ve ever seen.

“Everybody else needs you, Dana. I’m the only person who doesn’t need you. I don’t give a f— about you, but all these people, all of your fighters, they can’t say s— because you’ll just bench them. You’ve met your maker. I’m not going to stop. Welcome to the show, ladies and gentlemen. The bottom line, Dana, is that you won’t add healthcare because you don’t give a f— about them. And you’re too much of a greedy b—- to pay your minimum fighter more than $12,000 for risking their lives. It’s what a janitor makes. You need to pay them $50,000, Dana. Stop avoiding my points.”

Paul also took exception with White’s comment that Masvidal was a bigger pay-per-view draw than him and pointed to the difference in recent social media stats.

“You say Masvidal is a pay-per-view superstar,” Paul said. “Let’s go to his last Instagram post. (It has) 5,000 likes or 10,000 likes or some s—. Do you realize that my mom, Pam, gets more likes than your pay-per-view ‘superstars’? Men lie. Women lie. Dana White lies. Numbers don’t. You want to talk s— about my manager (Nakisa Bidarian), who was the CFO of your company, that helped you sell it to Endeavor for $4 million? You’re just a jealous, ugly f—. You don’t know what true happiness is. You are the definition of a f—ing unhappy billionaire who thought that money would make their lives better. I feel bad for you.”

Paul (5-0) does not currently have his next boxing match on the books. White kicks off the UFC’s 2022 schedule Jan. 15 in Las Vegas.

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Jake Paul open to drug test, but says Dana White avoiding real issues

Jake Paul is open to drug test, but says Dana White is avoiding the real issues.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published at MMAJunkie.com.

The war of words between Jake Paul and UFC president Dana White continues.

Sunday, Paul – cup and cigar in hand – posted a video from the beach on Saint Barthélemy, a Caribbean Island. In the video, Paul responded to White’s recent drug-testing challenge, but looped back around to criticize the UFC boss once again for the worldwide leading MMA promotion’s treatment of fighters.

“Dana, I accepted every part of your challenge,” Paul said. “I said I would fight (Jorge) Masvidal in MMA. Steroid test me whenever the f*ck you want. It is two weeks after my fight and I’m a fat b—-. I don’t do steroids and I take it as a compliment because there’s no other excuse to me knocking out all of your champions than, ‘This kid does steroids.’ Look at me (now). Look at that. (I’m) a fat b—-. If you steroid test me, then I want to steroid test every one of your fighters. You won’t want to do it, though, will you?”

Since he delved into the combat sports world in 2020, Paul and White have had numerous spats. However, the frequency has increased in recent months. White recently challenged Paul to go drug-test-for-drug-test in which the UFC president would be tested for cocaine while the YouTuber-turned-boxer partook in steroid testing.

Saturday, Paul responded and said he would enter the USADA testing program, walk away from boxing and head to the UFC if terms and conditions were met. The terms included an increase in minimum fighter pay and long-term health care.

“Long story short, you addressed nothing that I said,” Paul said in his video. “I said I would fight MMA. I said that I would retire from boxing and you avoided all of that s—. … It shows that you are in a corner. You’re a dog in a corner trying to fight to save his whole company and the embarrassment that I’ve put you through. Everybody sees it and what you can’t accept or love or appreciate is that I’m trying to change the sport forever. You are one of the most selfish, capitalistic motherf—ers that I’ve ever seen.

“Everybody else needs you, Dana. I’m the only person who doesn’t need you. I don’t give a f— about you, but all these people, all of your fighters, they can’t say s— because you’ll just bench them. You’ve met your maker. I’m not going to stop. Welcome to the show, ladies and gentlemen. The bottom line, Dana, is that you won’t add healthcare because you don’t give a f— about them. And you’re too much of a greedy b—- to pay your minimum fighter more than $12,000 for risking their lives. It’s what a janitor makes. You need to pay them $50,000, Dana. Stop avoiding my points.”

Paul also took exception with White’s comment that Masvidal was a bigger pay-per-view draw than him and pointed to the difference in recent social media stats.

“You say Masvidal is a pay-per-view superstar,” Paul said. “Let’s go to his last Instagram post. (It has) 5,000 likes or 10,000 likes or some s—. Do you realize that my mom, Pam, gets more likes than your pay-per-view ‘superstars’? Men lie. Women lie. Dana White lies. Numbers don’t. You want to talk s— about my manager (Nakisa Bidarian), who was the CFO of your company, that helped you sell it to Endeavor for $4 million? You’re just a jealous, ugly f—. You don’t know what true happiness is. You are the definition of a f—ing unhappy billionaire who thought that money would make their lives better. I feel bad for you.”

Paul (5-0) does not currently have his next boxing match on the books. White kicks off the UFC’s 2022 schedule Jan. 15 in Las Vegas.

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Dana White challenges Jake Paul: Cocaine test me for 10 years if I can PED test you for two

Dana White challenges Jake Paul: Cocaine test me for 10 years if I can PED test you for two.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published at MMAJunkie.com.

Dana White isn’t fond of Jake Paul constantly calling him a cocaine addict, and the UFC president has responded with a challenge for the YouTube-star-turned-boxer.

Following Paul’s recent knockout of former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in their boxing rematch, he pleaded with White to exempt a few of his high-profile fighters from their contracts in order to share the ring.

Paul’s prodding of White didn’t stop there. He’s gone personal on multiple occasions and has frequently accused him of using cocaine. White finally addressed those accusations in a recent interview on “The FIGHT with Teddy Atlas,” and turned the tables on Paul with a thinly veiled accusation of his own.

“I got a challenge for Jake Paul,” White said. “This guy keeps saying that I’m a coke head. He can randomly cocaine test me for the next 10 years if I can randomly steroid test him for the next two.”

White is not the first person to infer that Paul has used performance-enhancing drugs. Woodley questioned the lack of PED testing around both of their boxing matches this year, and Tommy Fury, who was supposed to box Paul this month before he withdrew due to an injury, offered similar suspicions.

In August, Paul told MMA Junkie that he’s never used banned substances and is open to being tested at any time.

White almost certainly doesn’t think Paul is going to accept his challenge, and he doesn’t intend on doing any favors for him.

At this stage, White said he has no intentions of allowing fighters who are actively under UFC contract to box Paul, whether it’s Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvidal or anyone else.

“No (scenario I’d let Diaz or Masvidal box Paul while under UFC contract),” White said. “You notice how he wants to fight f*cking everybody that’s not in his weight class, guys that are older and all this bullsh*t. Go fight a boxer. Go hump somebody else’s leg, you goofball.”

Dana White challenges Jake Paul: Cocaine test me for 10 years if I can PED test you for two

Dana White challenges Jake Paul: Cocaine test me for 10 years if I can PED test you for two.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published at MMAJunkie.com.

Dana White isn’t fond of Jake Paul constantly calling him a cocaine addict, and the UFC president has responded with a challenge for the YouTube-star-turned-boxer.

Following Paul’s recent knockout of former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in their boxing rematch, he pleaded with White to exempt a few of his high-profile fighters from their contracts in order to share the ring.

Paul’s prodding of White didn’t stop there. He’s gone personal on multiple occasions and has frequently accused him of using cocaine. White finally addressed those accusations in a recent interview on “The FIGHT with Teddy Atlas,” and turned the tables on Paul with a thinly veiled accusation of his own.

“I got a challenge for Jake Paul,” White said. “This guy keeps saying that I’m a coke head. He can randomly cocaine test me for the next 10 years if I can randomly steroid test him for the next two.”

White is not the first person to infer that Paul has used performance-enhancing drugs. Woodley questioned the lack of PED testing around both of their boxing matches this year, and Tommy Fury, who was supposed to box Paul this month before he withdrew due to an injury, offered similar suspicions.

In August, Paul told MMA Junkie that he’s never used banned substances and is open to being tested at any time.

White almost certainly doesn’t think Paul is going to accept his challenge, and he doesn’t intend on doing any favors for him.

At this stage, White said he has no intentions of allowing fighters who are actively under UFC contract to box Paul, whether it’s Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvidal or anyone else.

“No (scenario I’d let Diaz or Masvidal box Paul while under UFC contract),” White said. “You notice how he wants to fight f*cking everybody that’s not in his weight class, guys that are older and all this bullsh*t. Go fight a boxer. Go hump somebody else’s leg, you goofball.”