Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submission from May 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from May 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for May.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
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With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from May 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from May 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for May.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
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Anthony Smith took off his gloves, but never had any intention to retire after UFC on ABC 4.
[autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] took off his gloves, but never had any intention to retire after UFC on ABC 4.
Smith, a former light heavyweight title challenger, dropped a unanimous decision to Johnny Walker this past Saturday and proceeded to remove his gloves while still in the cage, which sparked speculation about his future.
Smith (36-18 MMA, 11-8 UFC), 34, explains that he took his gloves off merely because they bothered him and insists he still has fight left in him.
“First of all, I’m not retiring,” Smith said on the “Believe You Me” podcast. “That’s not happening. Not like that, that’s for sure. I’m not going out like that. I still have it. There’s some problems that I’ve got to fix for sure, but it’s definitely not gonna happen like that.
“It’s not gonna be on a whim. It’s not the first time I’ve taken my gloves off in the cage before. It’s very documented I’ve had lots of hand injuries. The gloves and the hand wraps bother me. They cramp my hands, they’re tight, they hold them open. They bother my hands.”
Smith came into the Walker fight after undergoing surgery to repair his ankle, which he injured in a TKO loss to Magomed Ankalaev last July. Leg kicks were an issue for Smith again, who was visibly hampered after Walker chopped away throughout the fight. Smith was honest in his assessment of how things played out and what he needs to address moving forward.
He made no excuses and credited Walker for his effective game plan.
“There is a glaring hole in my game,” Smith said. “It’s the leg kicks. It’s become a liability at this point. It’s not even a hole in my game anymore. It’s a liability. I’d love to see the numbers and see how many leg kicks I’ve absorbed in my UFC career. It’s got to be in the thousands. At this point, checking them isn’t even good enough because I checked a good number of those kicks, and it got to a point where the checking didn’t even matter.
“It hurt worse to check it than to lift it and take it. So I think over time, I’ve taken so many that my leg isn’t taking them as well as it used to. We’ve addressed it over and over. We’ve changed my stance, we’ve changed my movement, we’ve changed the block, we’ve changed the defense, I do it in practice, and for whatever reason, I get in the fight, and I can’t do it in the fight. I don’t know why.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 4.
Three UFC fighters who competed on Saturday’s card in Charlotte, N.C. are no longer on the roster.
Three fighters who competed at UFC on ABC 4 are no longer on the promotion’s roster.
UFC on ABC 4 took place Saturday at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C. and featured 11 fights including a headliner between Jailton Almeida and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
On Tuesday, algorithm-based Twitter account UFC Roster Watch shared three fighters, all from the prelims, were removed from the fan rankings pool.
Thirteen of the 22 competitors at UFC on ABC 4 were suspended due to injuries sustained in their bouts Saturday in Charlotte, N.C.
Four fighters are out indefinitely due to injuries sustained at UFC on ABC 4, which took place Saturday at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.
A document MMA Junkie obtained Tuesday from North Carolina Boxing and Combat Sports interim executive director Alvin Coley showed medical suspensions were handed out to 13 of the 22 competitors on the card.
[autotag]Tim Means[/autotag], [autotag]Mandy Bohm[/autotag], [autotag]Ji Yeon Kim[/autotag], and [autotag]Gabe Green[/autotag] are out indefinitely until their injuries are cleared by a physician.
The list of fighters who exited UFC on ABC 4 without a medical suspension include both headliners, [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag] and [autotag]Jairzinho Rozenstruik[/autotag].
Scroll below to see the full list of UFC on ABC 4 medical suspensions. All suspended fighters are eligible to return prior to the conclusion of the durations handed out should they get cleared beforehand.
With their performances at UFC on ABC 4, Jailton Almeida and Ian Garry enter the rankings and Johnny Walker bumps up.
UFC on ABC 4 took place Saturday at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C. where a pair of rising stars continued their ascents up the ladder.
Heavyweight [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag] and middleweight [autotag]Ian Garry[/autotag] both picked up first-round finish victories that elevated them into the top 15 of the USA Today Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.
Additionally, [autotag]Johnny Walker[/autotag], who defeated Anthony Smith by unanimous decision in the co-main event, bumped up three spots from No. 13 to No. 10.
Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings above.
Check out what the 22 fighters from UFC on ABC 4 were paid (disclosed), according to the North Carolina commission.
Eight fighters who competed at UFC on ABC 4 took home six-figure disclosed paydays with veterans Matt Brown and Anthony Smith atop the list.
The event took place Saturday at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.
On Tuesday, North Carolina Boxing and Combat Sports interim executive director Alvin Coley provided documentation to MMA Junkie that showed the full disclosed fighter payouts from the event.
Scroll below to see a full list of payouts. It’s important to note, the figures do not include performance bonuses, sponsorships, viewership points, or any other discretionary bonuses.
It appears Ji Yeon Kim had plenty working against her even before she stepped in the octagon at UFC on ABC 4.
[autotag]Ji Yeon Kim[/autotag] had plenty working against her at UFC on ABC 4.
Kim (9-7-2 MMA, 3-7 UFC) lost a split decision to [autotag]Mandy Bohm[/autotag] (8-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) this past Saturday at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., but the setback didn’t come without controversy.
Kim was docked two points in a fight that was stopped after Bohm was rendered unable to continue following an illegal knee from Kim. The stoppage came at 1:55 of Round 3, and the fight was scored before its entirety. Kim was deducted her first point at the end of the second round when she kicked Bohm off of her after the bell sounded.
According to Kim, she entered the fight with a torn ACL but was set on competing regardless. She took to her Instagram Stories to extensively comment on the fight, taking aim at Bohm for being unable to continue. Kim explained that she kicked Bohm off her for a reason.
“It’s lame, but if I have to make an excuse of the outcome, as everyone can see from the fact that I went to the fight wearing knee pads on,” Kim wrote. “I prepared for this fight for three months at first and another four months due to Mandy’s unilateral cancellation of the first dated match. I prepared for this fight with a completely torn ACL in my knee for a total of seven months. My knee is still in the worst condition than anyone can imagine. I just didn’t show it to the point even my corners couldn’t tell during the fight. And despite every medical staff telling me I needed surgery, and needed 7-12 months at least to recover after surgery, yet I took the fight because I wanted to put on a show for everyone.
“For people asking why I didn’t strike with Mandy and not listening to my coach because I just couldn’t stand still, my knee pulled out of it’s position giving me such pain in the middle of the very first round, that’s why I decided to grapple with her instead, and I didn’t want to risk myself to be in a situation where my knee totally pulls out making me unable to continue, which has happened numerous times during this long training camp.”
Check out Kim’s full statement below:
🚨| Ji Yeon Kim has released the following statement after her controversial #UFCCharlotte loss to Mandy Bohm.😳 pic.twitter.com/x3KCTYrHlV
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) May 15, 2023
Kim now has dropped five consecutive fights, which has her questioning her future. The 33-year-old South Korean fighter hasn’t notched a win since a knockout of Nadia Kassem in October 2019. Meanwhile, Bohm picked up her first octagon win after dropping her first two to Ariane Lipski and Victoria Leonardo.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 4.
UFC on ABC 4 winners and losers react on social media outlets such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Since the early days when the sport was anything but a mainstream endeavor, the MMA industry has thrived and survived through various websites, forums, and – perhaps most importantly – social-media platforms.
Fighters interact with fans, each other and many more through the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, which helps outsiders get a deeper look into the minds of the athletes.
Following Saturday’s UFC on ABC 4 in Charlotte, N.C., several of the winning and losing fighters, along with their coaches, training partners or family members, took to social media to react to the event or share a message with supporters.
Check out some of those reactions.
Ian Garry reacts to UFC president Dana White’s praise and wants Neil Magny because he “can separate the contenders from pretenders.”
[autotag]Ian Machado Garry[/autotag] thinks this past weekend’s finish of Daniel Rodriguez at UFC on ABC 4 marked a turning point in public opinion.
Garry (12-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) needed less than one round to become the first in MMA history to stop Rodriguez (17-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) with strikes, landing a big head kick that spelled the beginning of the end in the welterweight bout, which took place at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.
The result kept the Irishman’s undefeated record in tact, and marked the defining performance of his career thus far. Due to Garry’s outspoken and brash demeanor, there’s a segment of fans rooting for his demise. He’s aware, and is thrilled to hush the naysays for the time being.
If anybody is going to be sitting here and criticizing me now, then they’re just a hater,” Garry told MMA Junkie on Monday. “Because there is absolutely nothing that anyone could say to make any sense right now about speaking negatively. I just went in and knocked out a guy who has never been knocked out. I’ve done it with absolute ease. Not only did I did it with absolute ease, I did it with the guy who was ranked No. 15 in the world. All you can do it sit and say, ‘Wow, this kid is impressive.’ That’s it. Anything else, you’re just a hater.”
Garry caught the praise of several high-impact players in the aftermath of his Performance of the Night winning effort. His mentor and countryman Conor McGregor praised him on social media, and UFC president Dana White was bullish on the 25-year-old, as well.
“I am what I say I am,” Garry said. “I know what I’m capable of and it’s time that the organization and the people who are doubting me see it, too. … Dana should be excited for my potential, because it’s another superstar in the making.”
Immediately following his win, Garry called out Neil Magny for his next fight. Magny (27-10 MMA, 20-9 UFC) has the most wins in UFC welterweight history and has fought almost all the biggest names in the division during his more than 10-year stint with the company.
Magny is current scheduled to fight Phil Rowe at UFC Fight Night on June 24, but Garry wants him after that no matter what. He knows beating Magny will be the statement to the rest of the ranked fighters that he’s looking for.
“He can separate the contenders from the pretenders,” Garry said. “That is absolutely perfect. That point is absolutely why. We have seen catch people that are on the rise, then we’ve seen him put up against someone like Shavkat, and Shavkat go out there and show, ‘You’re not on my level, get out of my way.’ Magny’s been either in or just below the top 10 since I was a f*cking amateur fighting in Ireland on a card nobody had ever hurt of, and he’s fighting some of the biggest names the sport has ever f*cking seen.
“For me to go in there and absolutely run through him in any way I want to, whether it’s grappling, wrestling or striking – or all combined – no matter where I goes I believe I will out work him.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 4.
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