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Tag: UFC 200

  • Dana White says Daniel Cormier will fight at UFC 200 & Jon Jones’ issues may just be starting

    Dana White said this afternoon that Daniel Cormier will be fighting at UFC 200, and in speaking off the cuff, seemed to intimate Jon Jones may be in even more trouble than previously thought.

    “There are tons of guys that are interested. We’ll get a fight done,” White said to Colin Cowherd on FS 1 today.

    Later, White said Cormier would fight this weekend, would get the same money* as he would have against Jones, and that they hope to have the fight finalized and announced by the end of the day today.

    *Cormier’s money is based on a percentage, but the amount is expected to be lower since the number of buys will likely be lower.

    Cormier had said he was willing to fight anyone up to 220 pounds, saying that because he’s dropped so much weight he wasn’t willing to fight a big heavyweight.

    White nixed the talk of Michael Bisping, which would be the most marketable potential fight for storyline reasons.

    “Bisping just won the 185 pound title,” he said.  “Let me tell you what Bisping does in his off season.  When Bisping’s not training, he goes on a bender. He’s in no condition to fight Daniel Cormier. I promise you that. I don’t even have to ask him.”

    Bisping was the third name after Gegard Mousasi and Tom Lawlor who publicly asked for the fight when word got out that Jones was off. He would make the most sense given it would create an historical champion vs. champion fight, and there is a storyline situation with Bisping having just beaten Luke Rockhold on June 4 to win the middleweight title.

    Even if odds would be against it, it would make for a remarkable story if Bisping could win two titles on short notice.  In fact, if such a thing would happen, it would probably go down as something that would be a huge part of the history of the sport that would be talked about for decades as the perhaps the most remarkable feat in UFC history.

    Mousasi was already scheduled to fight Thiago Santos on Saturday. For fighters who have trained and are in top condition, Mousasi is really the only choice, but there is no story built around that fight. Mousasi was to fight at middleweight, but has fought at heavyweight in the past and fought for years at light heavyweight.

    Glover Teixeira said today it would be impossible for him to make weight to fight Cormier, but Alexander Gustafsson said he could make it and do the fight. In the case of the former, Teixeira is set to face Anthony Johnson later this summer in essentially a #1 contender’s fight while Gustafsson and Cormier had a Fight of the Year candidate in 2015.

    Onto the Jones story, White confirmed that Jones did not test positive for a recreational drug.

    Also, when saying how it’s virtually impossible the B sample will come back clean, White mentioned two different agents in the A sample test failure. It is possible testing positive for two agents could lead to a suspension longer than two years.

    Jones held a press conference Thursday morning where he denied taking any performance enhancing drugs.

  • UFC 200: Jon Jones denies knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs

    Additional notes by Dave Meltzer

    A visibly distraught Jon Jones denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs at a press conference Thursday morning after being flagged by USADA for a potential out of competition drug test failure on Wednesday night.

    The emotional Jones had to leave the press conference to gather himself briefly before coming back. He apologized for the fans, the UFC, and Daniel Cormier for being removed from the fight. 

    “I want to apologize to Daniel Cormier. I know that this fight means a lot to him. The fight means a lot to me and the fight is not happening. So I just want to apologize to everyone sincerely.”

    The interim light heavyweight champion and top pound-for-pound fighter in the world was joined by agent Malki Kawa and said that he had never even heard of the substance that led to him being removed from the main event of UFC 200 against Cormier. Kawa said that it is possible that the failure could’ve come from a tainted supplement.

    “I’ve been taking the same supplements for the majority of my career and I’ve been so outspoken about being against any type of performance enhancers,” Jones said. “The whole thing sucks because being labeled someone who would ever cheat just really hurts more than anything else I’ve been through in my whole career.”

    Both Yoel Romero and Tim Means were able to prove to the satisfaction of USADA officials that it was a supplement they had taken which caused a positive test. In those situations, the fighters were suspended for six months, rather than the usual two years for a first offense.

    If such a thing happens here Jones would be eligible to fight on the New Year’s show, but would miss the Madison Square Garden show that he was expected to be part of, whether he won or lost against Cormier.

    Kawa said that Jones’ B sample will be tested tonight in Salt Late City, Utah, but that chances the test would come back negative weren’t good.

    The big question coming out of this is why it took until July 6 to get the result from the A sample for a test on June 16, and yet a B sample test could come back immediately. And if that is the case, if the B
    sample comes back clean (unlikely but it is possible), what that would mean, because in that theory the fight should still be on.

    If Jones is unable to prove that the positive test came from a contaminated supplement, that would mean a two-year suspension from the sport. Jones vowed to continue fighting even if given the lengthy suspension.

  • JNPO: MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle & UFC Fight Week’s 10 most intriguing fighters

    36 fights. 72 fighters. Three shows. Lots of punches.

    That’s what we’re looking at as International Fight Week kicks into full swing Thursday night as the first of three UFC shows in Las Vegas happens, headlined by lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos defending the belt against Eddie Alvarez on UFC Fight Pass. After Friday night’s TUF Finale show on FS1, the big one is upon us: UFC 200 — arguably the greatest card that has ever been assembled…on paper, anyway.

    But with all of those fights and fighters, surely some stand out more than others, right? That’s why Josh brought in special guest Dave Doyle of MMA Fighting to help him preview the week in a slightly different way.

    Both Josh and Dave jotted down 10 fighters competing over the next three days that they are most interested in seeing how this week plays out for. While there was a little bit of crossover, both guys had distinct picks and rationale for why they’re so intriguing to them. There’s a few names you might expect (Brock, Cain), but many that you might not expect.

    Click below to listen to a special 45-minute conversation that will get you ready for all three UFC events!

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  • VIDEO: UFC 200 press conference with Brock Lesnar, Jon Jones, more!

    Brock Lesnar, Mark Hunt, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, interim light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, Amanda Nunes, Cain Velasquez, and Travis Browne will address the MMA media this afternoon at 3 PM EST.

    The press conference is in anticipation of this Sunday’s UFC 200 event that the promotion is hoping will be the biggest show in company history.

    On the show, Lesnar will make his return to mixed martial arts after an almost five-year layoff against Hunt. Lesnar last fought at UFC 141 in a loss against Alistair Overeem.

    Jones is challenging Cormier in a light heavyweight championship unification bout as Jones was forced to vacate his title after a string of personal issues kept him out of the sport for a year. He won the interim version of the belt earlier this year in a unanimous decision win over Ovince Saint Preux.

    Tate will defend her championship against Nunes with the winner likely to face either Ronda Rousey or Holly Holm later this year if the cards falls right.

    Also on the show, Aldo faces Edgar for the interim featherweight championship, and Velasquez vs. Browne opens the PPV portion of the card.

  • UFC Fight Night 90 DFS Playbook: value picks, who to avoid

    It is UFC International Fight Week in Las Vegas, Nevada and Thursday night brings us UFC Fight Night 90, the first of three straight nights of action inside the Octagon.

    This event will be headlined by a UFC Lightweight Championship bout as champion Rafael Dos Anjos defends against challenger Eddie Alvarez.

    Below are our studs, value plays and fighters to avoid when setting your fantasy lineups for Thursday night’s event.

    STUDS

    Joseph Duffy ($11,100)

    Joseph Duffy is coming off a loss to Dustin Poirier in which he was completely outclassed, so he takes a big step backwards in taking on Mitch Clarke on Thursday.

    Clarke will be fighting for the first time since losing to Michael Chiesa in April 2015. The 2-3 Clarke appears to be a rebound fight for Duffy, who is 14-2 in his career and was ranked in the top 15 prior losing against Poirier.

    Duffy is a finisher and 13 of his 14 wins have come by stoppage. Clarke has only been finished once in his career, but he doesn’t have the same skillset that Duffy does. Duffy is a strong striker, has excellent submissions and good grappling. Clarke is a good grappler as well, but loses this match-up on foot.

    Duffy has the highest salary of all the fighters on the card, but is still a good investment. I expect him to win big on Thursday.

    Gilbert Burns ($10,800)

    Gilbert Burns is looking to bounce back from his first career loss when he fights Lukasz Sajewski on the card’s prelims Thursday night. Burns had won the first 11 fights of his career before dropping a decision to Rashid Magomedov in November.

    That loss is nothing for Burns to hang his head about as Magomedov is 19-1 in his career, but it showed some holes that Burns needs to fill to get back on track inside the Octagon.

    At his best, Burns is arguably the lightweight division’s best submission artist and has the strongest grappling chops. He has scored 10 of his 11 wins by finish, with seven wins by submission. He also trains with a strong camp in the Blackzilians.

    He is a strong favorite over Sajewski, who also lost for the first time in his career when he made his UFC debut in his last fight. Sajewski hasn’t fought the level of competition that Burns has. And if Burns can avoid the slow start that has often plagued him, he should be able to end this quickly. I feel confident in having him as a stud play.

    VALUE PLAYS

    Eddie Alvarez ($8,600)

    Eddie Alvarez is looking to make history when he challenges Rafael Dos Anjos for the UFC Lightweight Championship in the main event of UFC Fight Night 90. And he is also looking to become the first fighter to hold championship gold in both the UFC and Bellator promotions.

    He gets his title shot against Dos Anjos on the heels of wins over former champions in Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez. Alvarez has just two losses in the last eight years, coming to Michael Chandler and Donald Cerrone, so he presents a real challenge in this fight.

    Dos Anjos has looked like a killer the last several years and is the rightful champion at 155 pounds. He finished Cerrone quickly in his last fight, but is coming off an injury and no one knows what he will look like in this new era of the UFC.

    I actually like Alvarez to score an upset as this fight goes the distance and the extra time allows for more point scoring opportunities. He is a risk, but I find a lot of value in Alvarez.

    Alvaro Herrera ($8,500)

    Alvaro Herrera is another interesting fighter with a low salary who has a lot of value on Thursday night’s card. He is coming off a 30-second knockout win in his UFC debut in November, which was his first fight in over three years.

    He gets back to action against Vicente Luque in the opening bout of Thursday’s card, and Luque is looking to score his second straight win.

    Luque has been inconsistent in his career, winning just eight times in 14 career bouts. He is tough to finish, having only been finished twice in his five losses. But Luque has finished opponents in seven of his eight wins, including in his last bout against Hayder Hassan in December. Herrera has scored finishes in eight of his nine wins, but has also been finished in all three of his losses.

    This fight is primed for a finish, and I see Herrera’s punching power being the difference. His salary is worth a good amount of value.

    FIGHTERS TO AVOID

    Anthony Birchak ($10,700)

    Anthony Birchak has one of the highest salaries on the card, and I don’t think he’s worth that high price.

    Birchak is just 1-2 inside the UFC Octagon, and all three of his fights have ended in the first round. He has suffered a submission loss to Ian Entwistle and a knockout loss to Thomas Almeida, and scored a knockout win over Joe Soto in betweeen those losses. Birchak does have 10 wins by finish, but he has been finished in all three of his losses.

    I do like him to get the win over Dileno Lopes on Thursday, but I’m not all that confident in him winning by stoppage. I see him going the distance and getting a decision over Lopes. With his high salary, you have to expect a finish if you have him on your team. Birchak is an easy avoid for me.

    Russell Doane ($9,000)

    Russell Doane is another fighter that should be avoided on Thursday night’s card.

    He hasn’t fought in almost a year and is coming in riding a two-fight losing skid. His last three fights have gone the distance and he hasn’t looked overly impressive in those bouts.

    He gets a tough match-up against Pedro Munhoz, who has been one of the top prospects in the bantamweight division, but has struggled against tougher competition.

    Doane doesn’t land a lot of strikes in his fights, but he is good at takedowns. Munhoz has good takedown defense and is the more well-rounded fighter. And I see that being the difference with him taking a decision. Avoid Doane as I feel he will be fighting a losing battle on Thursday.

    OUR LINE-UPS

    RYAN FREDERICK- Joseph Duffy ($11,100), Gilbert Burns ($10,800), Derrick Lewis ($9,600), Alberto Mina ($9,500), Eddie Alvarez ($8,600)

    I like Joseph Duffy as my top play on the card and I see him having no troubles against Mitch Clarke. I’m expecting him to end it by at least the end of the second round, and probably even in the first.

    I also like Gilbert Burns to bounce back and get a stoppage win, likely by submission as his ground game is so good.

    I have Derrick Lewis on my team as well. He has the size and power edge over Roy Nelson, and I think he can knock Nelson out. Alberto Mina is undefeated with 11 stoppage wins, and is facing Mike Pyle who is nearing the end of his career. I can see Mina knocking Pyle out early in their fight.

    The last fighter on my team is Eddie Alvarez. I believe he will end Thursday night as the new UFC Lightweight Champion, and that it will go the distance, which gives him more chances to score points.

    PAUL FONTAINE- Vicente Luque ($10,900), Reginaldo Vieira ($10,200), Roy Nelson ($9,800), Alberto Mina ($9,500), Dileno Lopes ($8,700)

    All but one of Luque’s career wins have come by finish and his opponent Alvaro Herrera has been finished in all three of his losses. To me, that’s a recipe for some bonus points for Luque.

    Vieira was the TUF Brazil season 4 champion and he beat a guy I also have on my team in his official UFC debut. That win was the first time he’d gone to the judges in one of his wins. I see the fight with Marco Beltran being an all-out balls to the wall brawl with Vieira being the last one standing.

    Roy Nelson should score a late KO or submission over Derrick Lewis. Nelson is tough to finish and Lewis will probably gas out before getting caught by a shot that drops him.

    I’m surprised Alberto Mina is an underdog against the aging Mike Pyle. Mina scored a finish in his UFC debut and then beat a tough vet in Yoshihiro Akiyama in his follow-up. He’s unbeaten and an impressive finish over a another vet like Pyle should move him up the ranks.

    My last pick is more a pick against Anthony Birchak than for Dileno Lopes. Birchak has been finished in the first round of two of his last three fights. And Lopes has a KO or sub in eight of his last nine wins. 

    PEACH MACHINE- Rafael Dos Anjos ($11,000), Alan Jouban ($10,000), Derrick Lewis ($9,600), Alberto Mina ($9,500), Marco Beltran ($9,200)

    I hate this card, but I love Rafael Dos Anjos. He’s really good and will most likely be one of the most dominant champions in UFC history after it’s all said and done.

    Nelson is done and Lewis will KO him. I hate Pyle so I’m picking Mina. Jouban is handsome. I just love Carlos Beltran of the NY Yankees and I assume Marco is related. Play this lineup!

  • UFC responds to Brock Lesnar USADA queries

    One of the big questions regarding the Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt fight at UFC 200 is the USADA drug testing procedure.

    When the procedure was first announced, a policy to avoid a fighter announcing his retirement, going on PEDs, only to then come out of retirement was addressed with this passage in the policy:

    “An athlete who gives notice of retirement to UFC, or has otherwise ceased to have a contractual relationship with UFC, may not resume competing in UFC bouts until he/she has given UFC written notice of his/her intent to resume competing and has made him/herself available for testing for a period of four moths before returning to competition.  UFC may grant an exemption to the four-month written notice rule in exceptional circumstances or where the strict application of that rule would be manifestly unfair to an athlete.”

    While Lesnar has said he’s talked about returning for three months, he was not on the active roster and has not been drug tested. Zuffa stated Tuesday that because Lesnar last competed in 2011, long before the USADA policy was in place, he’s being treated as a new athlete just signed to the promotion for the purpose of the policy and not as a fighter who retired, was no longer being tested, and then decided to return.

    Lesnar only signed to face Hunt on Friday, the day before the announcement. There had been a delay in finalizing the deal because Lesnar required permission from WWE to do the show.

    In response to our question on this subject, UFC said the following:

    “On June 6, 2016, UFC heavyweight Brock Lesnar was registered by USADA into the UFC Anti-Doping Policy testing pool. As part of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, UFC may grant a former athlete an exemption to the four-month written notice rules in exceptional circumstances or where the strict application of that rule would be manifestly unfair to an athlete. Given Lesnar last competed in UFC on December 30, 2011, long before the UFC Anti-Doping Policy went into effect, for purposes of the Anti-Doping Policy, he is being treated similarly to a new athlete coming into the organization. 

    “While conversations with the heavyweight have been ongoing for some time, Lesnar required permission from WWE to compete in UFC 200 and only agreed to terms and signed a bout agreement last Friday. He was therefore unable to officially start the Anti-Doping Policy process any earlier. UFC, however, did notify Lesnar in the early stages of discussions that if he were to sign with the UFC, he would be subject to all of the anti-doping rules. Lesnar and his management have now been formally educated by USADA on the policy, procedures, and expectations. 

    “UFC Anti-Doping Policy testing statistics are publicly available at ufc.usada.org and are updated on a weekly basis.” 

  • Ariel Helwani speaks out about UFC 199 incident

    After the events of UFC 199 that saw veteran journalist and MMA personality Ariel Helwani, as well as Casey Leydon and Esther Lin, have their UFC credentials pulled because Helwani broke the news that Brock Lesnar was returning to the Octagon, the Canadian reporter was a guest on several high-profile sports shows Monday giving his side of things.

    The day began on The Dan Patrick Showwhere he addressed the incident that occurred between he and UFC officials, specifically Dana White. Here are the bullet points from the interview that went about 15 minutes or so:

    • Dan Patrick, when leading into the interview, said UFC was reached for comment and refused. Dana just said that Ariel was “too negative”
    • Helwani said that he first reported that Conor-Nate was finalized and was told that he had jumped the gun. A couple hours later, they made the announcement.  He says that he’s batting 1.000 on breaking stories
    • He then reported that Brock was coming back at 5 pm pacific (about 3 hours prior to UFC announcing it during the PPV)
    • He was approached right before the main event and told that Dana White wanted to see him. He first refused to go. Then someone else came and told him that he had to come now. He brought his videographer with him and they went and saw White. Dana told him “get out of here, you’re done. Go cover Bellator or something, you’re done here” “you’re too negative and Lorenzo Fertita is not a fan of yours and he made the call to kick you out of here”. A PR person told Ariel that he should’ve asked UFC for a comment before running with the story
    • Ariel thanked Dana for everything he’d done and hoped he’d reconsider at some point. At that point, he and his co-workers were escorted from the building.
    • He said that Dana was “very upset” and that his face was red. He also speculated that perhaps White didn’t really want to do this. On multiple occasions, he said that this was Lorenzo’s call and that he is finished and will never cover this organization again
    • Patrick asked Helwani about getting dropped from FOX. Ariel said that it’s “100% fact” that he was dropped because UFC told them to.  Over the last few months of his time at FOX, he was criticized for “out-scooping” UFC on stories.
    • He brought up the fact that other journalists have had to go through this but didn’t mention their names
    • Dan Patrick offered to apply for a credential for the next UFC show and then hire Ariel to be his MMA correspondent. Ariel kind of chuckled that one off.  He speculated that UFC would probably deny the request anyway
    • He said that he needs to get the word out about what journalists are having to go through when dealing with UFC.
    • Patrick finished the segment by saying that they reached out to UFC but they never got back to the show producer

    He then did similar spots on the Dan LeBetard Show, the Tony Marinaro show on TSN radio in Montreal, and The Rich Eisen Show.

    Then, it was time for The MMA Hour where he went for two hours explaining a sordid and confusing relationship with the UFC and Fox that included praise, physical assault, and revelations:

    Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez discuss the Brock Lesnar story in a breaking news audio update, available now for subscribers.  Lesnar’s opponent at UFC 200 will be Mark Hunt, as announced today on ESPN Sportscentre. The bout will take place July 9th at the T-Mobile Arena as part of International Fight Week, the same week as this website’s annual convention.

  • JNPO: FloCombat’s Duane Finley on UFC 200, Conor & Jones vs. DC

    After a month in the Fortress of Solitude, Josh Nason has returned for the 36th edition of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out with fellow scribe and FloCombat senior editor Duane Finley in tow!

    Josh and Duane had no shortage of interesting stuff to talk about which included:

    – A few good minutes on the Conor McGregor vs. UFC situation

    – Thoughts on the build toward UFC 200 before the announcement of the event and after

    – Why people are booing Daniel Cormier and loving Jon Jones

    – Josh’s theory as to what Demetrious Johnson needs to get over with fans

    – What other fights Duane is looking forward to

    – Some verbal roses for Carlos Condit (here’s Duane’s great series on Double C)

    – What Duane is doing with FloCombat and why it’s different than anything he’s ever done

    – And plenty more!

    Enjoy this free edition of the show and share liberally!

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  • May 2, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Death of Chyna, new UFC 200 main event, plus tons of news

    Joanie Laurer, who was one of the most recognizable stars during the period that pro wrestling has its most mainstream significance in the last 60 years, best known as Chyna, was found dead on 4/20 at her home in Redondo Beach, CA. She was 46.

    Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

  • Conor McGregor claims he is back on UFC 200, Dana White says not so fast

    Photo: Sherdog

    The silliness that lasted all week may or may not be over with Conor McGregor claiming he is back on UFC 200.

    Early Monday morning, McGregor tweeted, “Happy to announce that I am back on UFC 200!  Shout out to Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta on getting this one done for the fans.”

    However, Dana White contradicted that claim Monday morning, sending a text message to Los Angeles Times reporter Lance Pugmire that read, “Not true.  We haven’t talked (to) Conor or his manager since the press conference.  I don’t know why he
    would tweet that.”

    McGregor’s tweet was done early enough West Coast time (where UFC operates) where the promotion would have theoretically confirmed such a story. After hours went by with no confirmation, it raised questions as to not just the veracity of the McGregor tweet as well as the reason.

    As noted on previous shows we’ve done, McGregor is playing a dangerous game because if the fanbase starts thinking of him as someone who makes stories up, he just becomes another attention seeking worker.

    McGregor’s trainer John Kavanagh was on The MMA Hour today with Ariel Helwani where the situation was addressed.