Tag: UFC 252

UFC 252 medical suspensions: Stipe Miocic, Daniel Cormier both need eye clearance

Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier both need to have issues with their left eyes checked out following their trilogy bout at UFC 252

[autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] and [autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] both need to have issues with their left eyes checked out following their heavyweight title trilogy bout at UFC 252 on Saturday.

MMA Junkie obtained the full list from the Nevada Athletic Commission on Monday. Fighters can return sooner than the duration of their suspension if cleared by a doctor.

Miocic (20-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) and Cormier (22-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) had a grueling five-round fight in the headliner of the event at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, with Miocic keeping the belt. A second-round eye poke on Cormier apparently tore his cornea, and that’s one of the issues “DC” will need checked out post-fight. Miocic, meanwhile, needs hie eye examined, too.

Outside of the main event, bantamweight prospect [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] (12-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) faces the longest medical suspension. He hurt his leg in a first-round TKO loss in the co-main event, and will need his ankle cleared, otherwise he’s out until February 2021.

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Complete UFC 252 medical suspensions included:

  • Stipe Miocic: Must have retinal specialist clearance on left eye; minimum suspension until 9/30/20, no contact until 9/15/20
  • Daniel Cormier: Must have left eye cleared by an ophthalmologist or no contest until 2/12/21. Minimum suspension until 9/30/20, no contact until 9/15/20
  • [autotag]Marlon Vera:[/autotag] No suspension
  • Sean O’Malley: Must have orthopedic doctor clearance on right ankle or no contest until 2/12/21. Minimum suspension until 9/30/20, no contact until 9/15/20
  • [autotag]Jairzinho Rozenstruik[/autotag]: No suspension
  • [autotag]Junior Dos Santos[/autotag]: Must have laceration under left eye cleared by a doctor or no contest until 10/15/20, no contact until 9/30/20
  • [autotag]Daniel Pineda[/autotag]: Suspended until 9/30/20, no contact until 9/15/20 due to left eyebrow laceration
  • [autotag]Herbert Burns[/autotag]: Suspended until 9/30/20, no contact until 9/15/20 due to right eyebrow laceration
  • [autotag]Merab Dvalishvili[/autotag]: No suspension
  • [autotag]John Dodson[/autotag]: No suspension
  • [autotag]Vinc Pichel[/autotag]: No suspension
  • [autotag]Jim Miller[/autotag]: Must have cut on bridge of nose cleared by doctor or no contest until 9/30/20, no contact until 9/15/20
  • [autotag]Virna Jandiroba[/autotag]: No suspension
  • [autotag]Felice Herrig[/autotag]: No suspension
  • [autotag]Danny Chavez[/autotag]: No suspension
  • [autotag]TJ Brown[/autotag]: Must have left orbital fracture cleared by an ophthalmologist or no contest until 2/12/21. Minimum suspension until 9/15/20 with no contact until 9/6/20
  • Livinha Souza: No suspension
  • [autotag]Ashley Yoder[/autotag]: No suspension
  • [autotag]Chris Daukaus[/autotag]: No suspension
  • [autotag]Parker Porter[/autotag]: Suspended until 9/15/20, no contact until 9/6/20
  • [autotag]Kai Kamaka[/autotag]: Must have facial lacerations cleared by doctor or no contest until 9/30/20, no contact until 9/15/20
  • [autotag]Tony Kelley[/autotag]: Suspended until 9/15/20, no contact until 9/6/20 due to forehead laceration

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Merab Dvalishvili was interested in Sean O’Malley – but now he may have to wait

Take a look inside Merab Dvalishvili’s win over John Dodson at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Merab Dvalishvili[/autotag] beat John Dodson with a unanimous decision Saturday to open up the main card at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Dvalishvili, who has won five straight unanimous decisions since dropping his first two fights in the UFC.

Result: Merab Dvalishvili def. John Dodson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Updated records: Dvalishvili (12-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC), Dodson (21-12 MMA, 10-7 UFC)
Key stat: Dvalishvili attempted 20 takedowns, but got credit for only two officially since Dodson popped back up so quickly on several of them.

Dvalishvili on the fight’s key moment

“In the final round , we signaled to each other, ‘Let’s touch (gloves).’ Once we touched good, I (screamed), ‘Let’s go!’ … Afterward, I controlled my emotions because he’s dangerous.”

Dvalishvili on being a role model

“This is already big for me. I feel this energy. A lot of people – a lot of young kids, also – look up to me and they dream about UFC. I’m happy that I can show them that if you guys work, you can be like me. I’m just beginning. I’m just starting. I can do a lot more.”

Dvalishvili on what he wants next

“A lot of people love this fight (with Sean O’Malley) because I’m a grappler, and he’s a great striker. So this is is going to be a good stylistic fight, so why not? … I’m challenging myself always, and he should challenge himself. … Let him win this fight first, then let him fight me.” (O’Malley lost for the first time in his career.)”

To hear more from Dvalishvili, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

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Vinc Pichel: ‘Little dirty tactics’ helped wear out Jim Miller at UFC 252

Take a look inside Vinc Pichel’s win over Jim Miller at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Vinc Pichel[/autotag] beat Jim Miller with a unanimous decision Saturday to close out the preliminary card at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Pichel, who has back-to-back wins and victories in six of his past seven fights.

Result: Vinc Pichel def. Jim Miller via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
Updated records: Pichel (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), Miller (32-15 MMA, 21-14 UFC)
Key stat: Pichel won the striking battle 84-26 and landed a trio of takedowns.

Pichel on the fight’s key moment

“In the first round, I’m learning the guy. I’m watching him. I’m listening to his corner. I’m seeing what his corner is telling him to do – how they were training and coaching against me – and then I take all of that into play. In the second round, he tried to take me down. He couldn’t get me down. I knew he wasn’t going to be able to get me down against the cage. The only real chance anyone really has of taking me down is an open mat because of my wrestling – I’m not really the best wrestler. Against the cage, I knew he wasn’t going to take me down, so I was waiting for that.”

Pichel on his strategy

“In that second round, I knew I wore him out bad, I knew that was a little much for him to take, especially in that second round. He was kind of fighting for his life in that second round. I was doing little dirty tactics, covering his mouth so he couldn’t breathe so well – but that’s legal right? (If) you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying. I just wore him out. I’m a steamroller. I start off slow, I learn the guy, but then I just increase, increase, increase until either I quit or he quits.”

To hear more from Pichel, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

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Ecuador president Lenin Moreno congratulates Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera on UFC 252 win over Sean O’Malley

Ecuador president congratulates Marlon Vera on his UFC 252 win over Sean O’Malley.

[autotag]Marlon Vera[/autotag] has been getting a lot of love the past couple of days.

The rising UFC bantamweight contender picked up arguably the biggest win of his MMA career when he stopped prospect Sean O’Malley in the first round of their co-main event at UFC 252. The pay-per-view event went down Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

With the win, Vera (18-6-1 MMA, 10-5 UFC) has received congratulations from fans, fellow fighters, celebrities such as Steve-O, and now the president of his home country of Ecuador.

On Sunday, Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno took to Twitter to congratulate “Chito” on his latest victory:

“Congratulations, @ChitoVeraUFC! Well deserved victory. Your triumph makes Ecuador bigger,” president Moreno wrote in Spanish.

 

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The 27-year-old competitor is now 6-1 in his past seven UFC bouts. The lone defeat came this summer in a controversial decision to Song Yadong. Vera’s six wins in his latest run have all come by stoppage.

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Chris Daukaus revels in UFC 252 win after long road to the promotion

Take a look inside Chris Daukaus’ TKO of Parker Porter at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Chris Daukaus[/autotag] beat Parker Porter with a first-round TKO Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Daukaus, who won his UFC debut and had his sixth straight victory by knockout.

Result: Chris Daukaus def. Parker Porter via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:28
Updated records: Daukaus (9-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Porter (10-6 MMA, 0-1 UFC)
Key stat: Daukaus outstruck Porter 45-18.

Daukaus on the fight’s key moment

“You obviously game plan for every opponent, so we (saw) that he was going to throw a little bit wild punches – big overhand followed by a big left. So we stayed tight – everything down the middle.”

Daukaus on dropping weight for the fight

“It feels great to get something I’ve been working for for close to 10 years now, so I couldn’t be happier with the results. That’s just things we worked on. … I knew he was going to be fast, so I dropped a lot of weight for this fight – just changing the diet, changing everything. So I knew that I was faster than him and I knew I could definitely land with a simple 1-2 down the middle.”

Daukaus on what he wants next

“I’ll get back in as soon as I can – get cleared with medicals, get cleared with work, get cleared with the UFC, and whoever wants to throw down in the cage, I’m down.”

To hear more from Daukaus, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

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Daniel Cormier issues first statement since UFC 252 loss: ‘Been a helluva ride, huh?’

Daniel Cormier said as much after his UFC 252 loss, but now it sounds like he’s officially closed the book on fighting again.

[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] said as much in the immediate aftermath of his UFC 252 loss this past Saturday, but now it sounds like he’s officially closed the book on fighting again.

Cormier (22-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) said in the buildup to his trilogy rematch with heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic (20-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) that win or lose, the fight likely would be his last, and Monday he put out a statement on Instagram intimating he’s headed into retirement.

Cormier dropped a unanimous decision to Miocic in the UFC 252 main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The fight wasn’t without a little controversy, though. Cormier accidentally poked Miocic in the eye early in the fight. And in the third round, Miocic caught Cormier with an accidental eye poke that referee Marc Goddard missed. Cormier said afterward he was left without any vision in his left eye.

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Goddard ultimately issued an apology online for missing the poke in the moment, but only seeing it later on a replay. And UFC president Dana White weighed in to say he didn’t think Cormier could use the poke as an excuse for the loss. Cormier reportedly suffered a torn cornea, but won’t require surgery.

Cormier leaves MMA as a rare two-division UFC champion. He won the light heavyweight title, then knocked out Miocic to win the heavyweight belt in their first meeting. He then relinquished the 205-pound strap to focus on heavyweight.

After Miocic stopped Cormier in 2019 to win the belt back, it set up the trilogy rematch for this past Saturday.

Cormier leaves competitive MMA still best known for his fierce rivalry with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Jones holds a win over Cormier and another that was overturned when he tested positive for banned substances.

On his Instagram, Cormier thanked his family, teammates, the UFC and fans and congratulated Miocic on the win. His full statement is below.

Thank you all for the love and support. Not what I wanted or expected but it is what it is. Congrats to @stipemiocic on a fantastic fight, was an honor and pleasure to share the octagon with you for 50 minutes. Boy did we give ‘em a show everytime. To my team: I love you all to death, you’ve made so many sacrifices. I hope I made you guys proud. Salina and the kids: thank you for being my motivation. To all the fans: I love you so much. You guys push me to try and be great. To @danawhite and the @ufc: I have loved every minute. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. Been a helluva ride, huh?

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Stipe Miocic happy to cement his legacy with UFC 252 trilogy win over Daniel Cormier

Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic reflected on his successes after sealing the deciding win in his trilogy with Daniel Cormier at UFC 252.

LAS VEGAS – Heavyweight champion [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] put an end to his historic trilogy with Daniel Cormier at UFC 252 as he added to his remarkable MMA resume.

Miocic (20-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) defeated Cormier via unanimous decision in Saturday’s main event at the UFC Apex, tying Randy Couture for most overall heavyweight title fight victories, at six.

The narrative going into the fight stated that the winner of the trilogy would determine the greatest heavyweight of all time and, while Miocic already held the record for the most consecutive heavyweight title defenses at three, UFC 252 was another opportunity for him to eliminate any doubt.

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“Everyone is gonna change their opinion, I always get (expletive) on, it seems like,” Miocic told reporters, including MMA Junkie, post-fight at UFC 252. “Listen, I’m just happy to cement my legacy, they always talk about legacy. The only reason I’m happy I cemented my legacy is to show my daughter and if we have more kids, to show them that hard work pays off.”

He continued, “I’m just happy where I’m at. I’ve done a lot and it wasn’t just me, it was my coaches, my amazing wife, my family, my friends. They always supported me, backed me up no matter what. I missed a lot of fun stuff, especially family stuff. It kills me inside.”

With No. 1 contender Francis Ngannou and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones looming, Miocic is unconcerned with what’s next and said he was just ready to head back home to his family. As always, he’s ready to “fight anyone.”

The win over Cormier was another incredible accolade in Miocic’s career, with the Ohio native continuing to shine when the stakes are highest.

“A lot of things have been proved, I just keep winning,” Miocic said. “I like winning, winning is fun.”

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Danny Chavez says he had no first-time octagon jitters in UFC 252 win

Take a look inside Danny Chavez’s win over T.J. Brown at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Danny Chavez[/autotag] beat T.J. Brown with a unanimous decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Chavez, who won for the fourth straight time.

Result: Danny Chavez def. TJ Brown via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Updated records: Chavez (11-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Brown (14-8 MMA, 1-2 UFC)
Key stat: Chavez landed four takedowns in the fight.

Chavez on the fight’s key moment

“Me and my team, we always come up with a good game plan for the fights. The plan was to outbox him, to kick him, to be able to take his lead leg and to stop his lead leg. I think his experience helped him in the third round. In that third round, I was starting to fade away just in the middle of the round, and then as I got deeper into the round, I was able to overcome that.”

Chavez on being in the UFC

“I’ve been training for 14 years for this to happen. I’m fighting (in the UFC). It’s a great experience, a great moment. People talk about the jitters when they get into the octagon for the first time. I didn’t really feel that because I feel like my experience let me come in here and feel comfortable. I went against a very experienced guy and I feel great. I have a big supporting group – my team, my teammates, everybody from Latin America and Columbia. I feel amazing.”

Chavez on what he wants next

“I want to fight one more time before the year ends. That’s guaranteed. I’m not going to take so much time off.”

To hear more from Chavez, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

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Livinha Souza felt cage rust but now ready to head to UFC’s ‘Fight Island’

Take a look inside Livinha Souza’s win over Ashley Yoder at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Livinha Souza[/autotag] beat Ashley Yoder with a unanimous decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Souza, who got back in the win column after a loss to Brianna Van Buren 13 months ago.

Result: Livinha Souza def. Ashley Yoder via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Updated records: Souza (14-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC), Yoder (7-6 MMA, 2-5 UFC)
Key stat: Yoder actually won the overall striking battle 89-70, but Souza landed more significant strikes and had a takedown.

Souza on the fight’s key moment

“I felt the pace because I (haven’t) fought (since) last year in July. I came for the win. It’s a great feeling for me.”

Souza on persevering in training

“I had a lot of worries in the pandemic times, and this victory, this win, is significant to my team, to my coaches, to my family. I can only say thank you to Brazil, to Dana (White), to Sean Shelby, anyone at the UFC: Thank you for the care with us. UFC is the best organization.”

Souza on what she wants next

“I need to fight more in the UFC. I’m ready for anyone, anywhere, but my dream is to fight on the ‘Fight Island.’ If Dana (White) gives me a chance, I’ll be ready.”

To hear more from Souza, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

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Kai Kamaka ready to relax after making it to UFC ahead of first son’s birth

Take a look inside Kai Kamaka’s win over Tony Kelley at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Kai Kamaka III[/autotag] beat Tony Kelley with a unanimous decision Saturday to open the preliminary card at UFC 252 in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Kamaka, who won his UFC debut and picked up his sixth consecutive victory.

Result: Kai Kamaka III def. Tony Kelley via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Updated records: Kamaka III (8-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Kelley (5-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC)
Key stat: The striking battle was razor thin: Kamaka edged Kelley just 138-136. But Kamaka’s five takedowns made a big difference.

Kamaka on the fight’s key moment

“I just had to not let him back me up in that third round – that’s it. I knew if I stuck my feet on the ground, he couldn’t figure out my timing. When I was backing up, that’s when he was on the gas, but if I don’t back up, it’s hard to figure out my jab, it’s hard to figure out my timings.”

Kamaka on making it to the UFC

“I’m just relieved to be here – I know I belong. It was perfect, but everybody (saw) that I belong here. Now I just have to step up my game more and everything. It’s good to be here. It’s good to finally be here. I’m relieved that I’m here. I’m not working to get here – I’m not working to move up the ladder.”

Kamaka on what he wants next

“I’m going to go to my grandma’s house (and) lay back. (I) can’t wait to get home to my kids. But the way I’m celebrating is, my wife is going to give birth in a month – my first boy. That’ll be a relief, and I can take a step back.”

To hear more from Kamaka, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

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