Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Joel Alvarez got a controversial submission win over Marc Diakiese after a head clash at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London.
LONDON – [autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag] beat Marc Diakiese with a second-round submission Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London.
Take a look inside the fight with Alvarez, whose submission came not long after Diakiese complained about head clash for which he didn’t get a recovery timeout.
Chris Duncan settled for a decision win against the resilient Yanal Ashmouz at UFC Fight Night 224 in London. Then he made two callouts.
LONDON – [autotag]Chris Duncan[/autotag] beat Yanal Ashmouz with a unanimous decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London.
Take a look inside the fight with Duncan, who came close to putting the resilient Ashmouz away, but had to settle for a decision win.
Molly McCann is leaving the UFC women’s flyweight divsion.
[autotag]Molly McCann[/autotag] is leaving the UFC women’s flyweight division.
The fan favorite English fighter announced Monday she’s making the drop to strawweight and leaving behind the 125-pound women’s division in hopes to improve her fighting career in the UFC.
This decision comes after McCann (13-6 MMA, 6-5 UFC) suffered a quick submission loss to Julija Stoliarenko at UFC Fight Night 224 in London on Saturday.
“We have one more adjustment to make, and I believe that will make all the difference in the world,” McCann wrote in a lengthy statement on Instagram. “The smallest in the division makes it tough when the opponents are so much bigger. So for me, it’s time to drop down and face the girls who are the same size!
“To all the keyboard warriors who’ll give me down the banks and want to tell me about my self go ahead, I’m living my dream EVERY SINGLE DAY, I’m winning in life, the best teams around me, the best promotion in the world. This game has give me everything, and I am beyond blessed.”
McCann finds herself on a two-fight skid. Both losses came by first round submission. Prior to the pair of defeats, the 33-year-old was on a highly celebrated three-fight winning streak. That run included a Fight of the Night bonus against Kim Ji-yeon and two Performance of the Night bonuses for KOs of Luana Carolina and Hannah Goldy.
You can read McCann’s full statement in the post below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CvFjz24sAzT/
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.
This week’s “Spinning Back Clique” discusses and debates UFC London’s big winners, UFC 291’s big fights, future title bookings and more.
Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts. This week’s panel of Farah Hannoun, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Danny Segura will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel. You can watch this week’s episode in the video above.
After a successful debut in London, Jonny Parsons hopes the UFC signs Bellator free agent Michael Page – and wants to fight him next.
LONDON – [autotag]Jonny Parsons[/autotag] called out Paddy Pimblett after his Saturday win, but that’s actually not whom he intended to pick a fight against.
Parsons (9-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) was victorious in his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 224 in London with a second-round TKO of Danny Roberts (18-8 MMA, 7-7 UFC).
After the win, former middleweight champion Michael Bisping, now a UFC analyst, interviewed Parsons – and that’s when he fumbled the callout for Pimblett instead of Bellator free agent Michael Page, who was sitting cageside.
“To be 100 percent honest, I have legend Michael Bisping right here. He didn’t really ask me a question, he just put the mic in front of me and I kind of choked,” Parsons said at his UFC Fight Night 224 post-fight news conference. “Maybe at some point I’ll try to make my way to lightweight, but who I really wanted to call out was, I heard ‘MVP’ is a free agent and there were talks of him coming to the UFC to fight.
“I’d really like to come back to London and try to sleep a little better the next time. I don’t think ‘MVP’ can hang with the wrestlers in this division, so I would love to give the fans here in London at The O2 an awesome striking fight. I think me and ‘MVP’ can put on a show for the crowd, for sure.”
Page, one of Bellator’s biggest stars and an England native, recently revealed he fought out his contract and currently is exploring options.
Parsons not only is down to welcome Page to the UFC, but he’s also more than OK if he has to do it in enemy territory.
“I’ve been there before,” Parsons said. “The majority of my fights, my amateur career, were all in Las Vegas. They have a pretty solid amateur scene there. But once I went pro, they really don’t have any regional pro fights in Las Vegas to build your record. I was always going to other paces to fight, so I’m used to it. I fought in Hawaii twice, I fought in China, Thailand, other states. I’m used to going to enemy territory. This is what we do.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.
Analysis of the biggest storylines coming out of UFC Fight Night 224, including Tom Aspinall’s chances of securing a Jon Jones fight.
What mattered most at UFC Fight Night 224 at the The 02 in London? Here are a few post-fight musings …
Despite being undefeated with another win at UFC Fight Night 224 in London, Lerone Murphy thinks he’s not getting the credit he deserves.
LONDON – Despite being undefeated with five wins in the UFC, [autotag]Lerone Murphy[/autotag] doesn’t feel like he’s getting the credit he deserves.
The English featherweight picked up his fifth win in the octagon Saturday when he beat Josh Culibao (11-2-1 MMA, 3-2-1 UFC) with a unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 224 in London. Murphy (13-0-1 MMA, 5-0-1 UFC) thinks his career is on a good track, but his popularity has yet to match it.
“It’s just that I’m not a big talker, isn’t it?” Murphy told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 224 post-fight press conference. “If you’re a big talker out here, you get noticed. I’m trying to do it with my fighting and my skills, but I need to be finishing fights, really.
“It is what it is. I’m competing at the top level in the world. I just got 13-0, six fights in the UFC, six fights at the top level, still undefeated and heading to the top.”
Murphy has won five consecutive fights since a draw with Zubaira Tukhugov in his UFC debut. His six fights have been in the U.K. or in Abu Dhabi. The 32-year-old is hoping his next fight is in the U.S. since he has yet to show his skills in front of the American audience.
“For sure, I want to travel the world with this,” Murphy said. “It’s a short career. I love fighting, I love traveling, so why not blend them together? I would love to fight all over the world. I have not done the States yet, so end of the year in the States, that would be perfect for me – get some different experience and put my name out there in the States. Go take over the States – I would love that.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.
See whom Tom Aspinall should fight next after his victory over Marcin Tybura in the UFC Fight Night 224 headliner.
[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] answered all the questions about his physical and mental state after a yearlong layoff due to injury when he blitzed through Marcin Tybura in the UFC Fight Night 224 main event.
After his knee blew up in a headlining bout with Curtis Blaydes in the same venue one year ago, Aspinall (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) returned for a quick first-round TKO of Tybura (24-8 MMA, 11-7 UFC) at The O2 in London.
With the win, Aspinall resumed his rise as a heavyweight title contender and put himself in position for something big after some key fights in the weight class play out in the back half of the year.
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Watch the video above for thoughts and analysis on Aspinall’s future after UFC Fight Night 224.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.
Despite a bonus-winning middleweight TKO debut at UFC Fight Night 224 in London, Paul Craig said he won’t leave light heavyweight behind.
LONDON – Despite picking up an important win in his UFC middleweight debut, [autotag]Paul Craig[/autotag] is not planning on abandoning light heavyweight.
Saturday, Craig (17-6-1 MMA, 9-6-1 UFC) made a successful drop to 185 pounds and stopped ranked contender Andre Muniz (23-6 MMA, 5-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London. Many saw it as a new chapter in Craig’s career and the end of his days at 205 pounds.
However, the career move for the Scottish standout just opens up more title possibilities.
“We aren’t done at light heavyweight, and we’re just starting at middleweight,” Craig told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 224 post-fight news conference. “We will do both. It’s where the fights are. If the fights are at light heavyweight, then we’ll take it.
“We have a victory over Jamahal Hill. We have the only victory over (Magomed) Ankalaev. We have beaten (Nikita) Krylov, right, with a few bumps on the road in the light heavyweight division. But we’ll take both divisions. … Who knows what a year can do. Who knows what two years can do. But ultimately, we have another five years left in this company, and we’re going to leave the UFC with (a title), be it at middleweight or light heavyweight. But we’re coming for it.”
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Craig entered UFC Fight Night 224 on a two-fight skid that saw him finished by Johnny Walker and outpointed by Volkan Oezdemir. Prior to the pair of defeats, Craig was on a four-fight winning streak.
When asked about the difficulty in managing weight for two different divisions, Craig said he and his team are more than ready to handle it. He doesn’t see competing in two different weight classes as a problem.
“From the science point of view, it’s not difficult at all,” Craig said. “If you’re going in here without a team, and you’re just doing it on your own, then you’re leaving it up to chance. Then it’s going to be difficult. But as long as you have a good team who are all doing their jobs, and they’re all pulling their weight, (it’s not difficult). If you’ve got one guy at the top of the helm who’s thrown off the leg of the table, then he’s going to throw off whatever is on that table.
“All the guys are there to support me, be it as training partners, coaches, mentors – they’re all there for Paul. That’s what makes it such a great team to be part in. That’s what makes going to middleweight or light heavyweight so much easier.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.
Nathaniel Wood wants to fight Edson Barboza or Chan Sung Jung next following his win over Andre Fili at UFC Fight Night 224 in London.
LONDON – [autotag]Nathaniel Wood[/autotag] thinks it’s time for a step up in his rise at 145 pounds.
Now 3-0 since moving up to the featherweight division, Wood (20-5 MMA, 7-2 UFC) wants to get one of the more seasoned and respected names of his weight class. For him, that means fighting one of two people.
“I would like to fight a legend of the sport, and that would be Edson Barboza in Brazil,” Wood told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 224 post-fight press conference. “It would be an absolute honor again, like I just said with Andre Fili. I’ve been a fan of his for years, and I know he’s coming toward the end of his career.
“For me, someone like (Chan Sung Jung), ‘The Korean Zombie,’ that would be something special. I would like to get one of the legends before they kind of retire from the sport or go on decline. Edson Barboza is coming off a win. He’s still a dangerous opponent. For me, that’s a fight I would like. But whatever the UFC wants. I will fight anyone they give me and start making my way up the rankings.”
This request to fight one of the more known names at 145 pounds comes after Wood’s latest triumph – defeating Andre Fili (22-10 MMA, 10-9 UFC) in a split decision on the main card of UFC Fight Night 224.
Although Fili might not carry the same prestige as Barboza or “Korean Zombie,” he’s still someone with a lot of history in the division and a name Wood respects.
“It was amazing to share the octagon with Andre Fili,” Wood said. “I sounded like a fanboy, but I was watching him way before I was in the UFC. It must’ve been when I was semi-pro, amateur. I was following him, Urijah Faber and all his boys.
“Facing him in the octagon was an honor, and to come out with the win – he obviously made me work for it, but I’d like to think I won two rounds to one, and we came out victorious.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.
