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The headline clash that went four rounds was the best fight UFC had put on at that point in time by some considerable margin. Ortiz started the quicker putting Shamrock on his back twice and landing some nice shots as he did so. Shamrock recovered somewhat and managed to return to his feet before Ortiz took him down again to end round one. The second followed much the same formula with Ortiz taking Shamrock down but the champion being active from his guard, landing some punches....

The main event features Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero battling for the interim middleweight championship (Update: Rockhold will be the only competing for the title as Romero failed to make weight after coming in at 187.7 instead of the 185-pound maximum. The fight was in serious question as negotiations took place between Rockhold’s team, Romero’s team and the UFC but both parties came to terms early Saturday morning). In the co-main event, former heavyweight title challenger Mark Hunt takes on Curtis Blaydes....

The main event features Khabib Nurmagoemdov battling late replacement Al Iaquinta for the undisputed UFC lightweight title. In the co-main event, in a rematch, Rose Namajunas defends her women’s strawweight championship against Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Will Nurmagomedov fulfill a dream or does Iaquinta pull off the huge upset.? UFC 223: Breaking down the card, stakes UFC 223: Nurmagomedov vs. Holloway predictions Kyte: I’m happy someone got the go ahead to step in and fight Nurmagomedov and think Iaquinta is a solid competitor, but the idea that he’s going to roll into the Octagon on Saturday night and shock the world is laughable to me....

In case you didn’t know.. Michael Johnson is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes in the featherweight division of the UFC. He is an experienced fighter, with a professional record of 19 wins and 13 losses. Johnson has previously had victories over the likes of Tony Ferguson, Danny Castillo, Edson Barboza, and Dustin Poirier. His last contest came in the form of a short notice fight against Artem Lobov, who he beat via unanimous decision....

Askren won two high school state wrestling titles. He won a junior national title. He was a four-time NCAA finalist and a two-time NCAA champion at 174 pounds at the University of Missouri. He became one of four men to win the Dan Hodge Trophy, awarded to the NCAA’s most outstanding wrestler of the year, multiple times. “I loved the fact that as an individual you can control your destiny,” Askren told Sporting News as he was driving a reporter to the fighter’s about-to-be completed dream home....

The bout, which was deemed the “Fight of the Night,” ran the Brazilian’s record to 13-0 and put him in line to face the winner of the middleweight title unification bout at UFC 243 on Oct. 5 between champion Robert Whittaker and interim titleholder Israel Adesanya. Join DAZN and watch more than 100 fight nights a year Even though he plans to be in Australia for the event, Costa made it clear that there’s “absolutely” no way he will be the standby fighter in case Whittaker or Adesanya gets injured....

The main event marks the return of arguably the biggest draw in the history of the sport, former UFC Featherweight and Lightweight Champion, Conor McGregor against the former Lightweight title challenger Donald Cerrone. It is among the most-anticipated bouts in the MMA world. McGregor will make his much-anticipated return after his loss against Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018. Despite the bout being a non-title fight, it is expected to break pay-per-view figures....

MMA Fighting reported that Donald Cerrone suffered fractures on his nose and orbital bone as a result of the shoulder strikes from Conor McGregor. He was transported to the hospital immediately after the PPV but was discharged quickly and a test for brain damage came back negative, according to his manager Josh Jones. A six-month suspension for Cerrone, however, may not end up playing out. He’s suspended until a minimum of February 18th, but MMA Fighting reported that he can return earlier than six months if he’s cleared by maxillofacial surgery....

Robbie Lawler has competed in the UFC as far back as 2002, when he defeated Aaron Riley at the promotion’s 37th event. He has had a Hall of Fame worthy career, which peaked with him winning the UFC welterweight title in 2014. However, as of late, Lawler has struggled to maintain a consistent run of form. He is currently on a four-fight losing streak, having come up short against Rafael dos Anjos, Ben Askren, Colby Covington and Neil Magny....

The highly anticipated grudge match between Leon Edwards and Jorge Masvidal was scheduled for UFC 269 on December 11th. However, earlier today, it was revealed that Masvidal had to step aside from their matchup due to an injury. Taking to his official Twitter account, Leon Edwards posted a tweet addressing Jorge Masvidal’s withdrawal from their UFC 269 fight. Edwards’ tweet read as follows: As indicated in the tweet above, Leon Edwards is lobbying for a rematch against UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman....

Penn was unbeaten in his MMA career at this point and the more experienced, Pulver was undefeated in six UFC fights. This would be his final one, for four years, however. Pulver signed off his initial UFC run in style. Penn entered the fight as the red hot favourite but was schooled by the Lightweight Champion. The bout was all action and Penn definitely got his shots in, including a guillotine choke in round one and armbar in the second but as the bout wore on, the more controlled Pulver dominated the pressing, countered most of Penn’s offence superbly and landed more strikes....

The light heavyweight fighter (33-15, 17 KOs) lost via TKO to Glover Teixeira (31-7, 18-0) in the fifth round, though it was clear that Smith’s corner or the ref should have stopped the fight before then. Case in point: Smith handed his knocked-out teeth to the ref in the middle of Round 4, then told his corner “my teeth are falling out” before the beginning of Round 5. MORE: Fighters say Daniel Cormier’s analysis in empty venue helped them win at UFC 249...

A vicious uppercut that short-circuited Cain Velasquez back in January was a shocking display of power that rinsed away a pair of underwhelming performances in back to back losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis. But was he really back? “No,” Ngannou said point blank to Sporting News. “I don’t have that feeling. That Francis Ngannou isn’t coming back because this now is a better Francis Ngannou. This is something different....

Volkanovski and Ortega coached the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter earlier this year. In the first episode of UFC’s Embedded series, Volkanovski revealed that the experience at TUF changed his opinion about Ortega. Check out the first episode of UFC Embedded below: Although Volkanovski and Ortega had a few confrontational moments at TUF, there sometimes appeared to be mutual respect between the pair. Volkanovski was also seen pulling off pranks and indulging in banter with his counterpart....

Brad Tavares’ last fight in the UFC Prior to his scheduled fight against Antonio Carlos Junior, Brad Tavares was expected to face Ian Heinisch at UFC on ESPN+20, however, Heinisch eventually withdrew from the bout, as Tavares faced the replacing Edmond Shahbazyan at UFC 244. Tavares ended up losing the fight via first-round knockout. Prior to his loss to Edmond Shahbazyan, Tavares had already lost to current UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya at The Ultimate Fighter 27 Finale and is on a two-fight losing streak in the UFC....

When White agreed to speak with Rich Eisen on B/R Live, he may have been expecting to go in-depth about this weekend’s card. However, as is often the case, the conversation quickly went in the direction of Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov. In case you didn’t know… The lightweight division in the UFC has an incredible depth of talent and star-power, and while the undefeated Nurmagomedov currently holds the throne, there is a long list of challengers patiently waiting for a shot at the belt....

When speaking to the media at his UFC 241 open workout, DC made the following comments on the super fight that never materialised… In case you didn’t know… Daniel Cormier had always intended to call time on his MMA career on his 40th birthday back in March. As part of his masterplan, he had always envisaged one last blockbuster fight with the former UFC heavyweight champ, Brock Lesnar. In the aftermath of Cormier’s historic win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 (full fight available here), everything looked like it had fallen into place when Lesnar entered the cage to confront DC....

His victims, of course, happened to be of the highest caliber, namely - Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, and Junior Dos Santos. It’s clear that he’s deserving of a title shot but given the Stipe Miocic-Daniel Cormier situation, the Cameroonian has been itching to get back in the Octagon. Despite not having to do so, he called out Alexander Volkov for a fight and in an interview with MMA Junkie, expressed his frustrations over UFC treating him like a gatekeeper:...

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Harris opened up about what pushed him to make the call for retirement. Harris doesn’t want to get hit anymore Gerald Harris had completely different plans when he stepped into the cage for his bout against fellow ex-UFC fighter Seth Baczynski at C3 Fights 48. Retirement was not only far from his mind, but he was in fact hoping to use the fight as an opportunity to get noticed by major promotions and restart his career....

The Corona, Calif., native was also considering Arizona and California. MORE: UK lands another 5-star guard | Joshua Langford makes decision | Heat draftee gets bizzare congrats “I really didn’t think that I was going to make the decision today,” Hill (6-8, 205) told Scout.com. “They spelled out everything I wanted and everything I was looking for in a college. There was no other second place to them. I went with my gut....