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Rory MacDonald to defend belt on 4/27 in tournament
Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald fights Jon Fitch on 4/27 in San Jose, CA in a fight with two results. It is both a title defense, and part of the Bellator welterweight Grand Prix. Fitch, 40, is a former top contender on the UFC, former WSoF champ, and is on a five-fight win streak. MacDonald is coming off a superfight loss to Gegard Mousasi. h/t MMA Fighting
Holly Holm prefers fight vs. champ champ Amanda Nunes at 135 not 145
“I think that bantamweight is probably where we would fight, I think that would be the case. Who knows really how the future goes, but I definitely think that bantamweight is what we would fight at. I’ve been wanting to go to bantamweight for a while, but that doesn’t mean that I’m so focused on it that I’m not open to other opportunities at ‘45. I’m just taking each fight as it comes. Aspen Ladd is at 135, so that’s where I’m going. ... Amanda can’t look at a fight with Cyborg and say, ‘Well, I beat Cyborg, and Cyborg beat Holly, so I can beat Holly.’ It’s just styles make a difference. ... But that just brings me back to one of my main points that anything can happen in there. There’s no promise of any victory. You have to get in there and work hard and anything can happen.” h/t MMA Fighting
Latest 10 UFC fight announcements, today's in bold
•Paul Craig vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu at UFC on ESPN 2 on 3/30 in Philadelphia
•Paulo Costa vs. Yoel Romero in main event of UFC on ESPN 3 on 4/27 in Miami
•Gian Villante vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC Fight Night 145 on 2/23 in Prague
•Randa Markos vs. Angela Hill at UFC Fight Night 148 on 3/23 in Nashville
•Maycee Barber vs. JJ Aldrich at UFC Fight Night 148 on 3/23 in Nashville
•Alexis Davis vs. Jennifer Maia at UFC Fight Night 148 on 3/23 in Nashville
•Rustam Khabilov vs. Diego Ferreira at UFC Fight Night 145 on 2/23 in Prague
•Jussier Formiga vs. Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Fight Night 148 on 3/23 in Nashville
•Jorge Masvidal vs. Darren Till headlines UFC on ESPN+ 5 in London on 3/16
•Leon Edwards vs. Gunnar Nelson co-headlines UFC on ESPN+ 5 in London on 3/16
Khabib: Punching Conor McGregor was enjoyable
Khabib Nurmagomedov: “I enjoyed this, when I punched his face. This is a very good feeling, believe me, when someone talks $#!@ all the time. Every time I punched his face, I enjoyed. I asked him, ‘Hey, let’s talk.’ But at the end of the second or third round, he said ‘This is just business.’ He tried to make me relax. This is not sparring session. We’re gonna keep going, you know. Maybe he don’t understand my English, I think. h/t BE • Watch Aus Q&A
Congratulations Gabi Garcia and crossfitter Bruno Almeida
Woodley's coach: Colby Covington deserves a title shot
Din Thomas: “Colby does deserve the title sho. Tyron had to eat it for two years, Colby’s been poking him with a stick for two years and he’s earned it, and we recognize that. Colby beat everyone in front of him, he won the interim belt, and said what he said so Tyron was ready for him but then Usman came along. Usman in his own way earned the right to fight Tyron but we felt he should’ve gotten in line. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter to Tyron. Tyron said he’s going to fight both of these guys, it doesn’t matter who’s first. Unfortunately, Tyron doesn’t get to pick who’s first, the UFC does. They put Usman in, what’s done is done, and after Usman, hopefully it’s Colby. We aren’t going to complain about it because he planned on fighting them both anyways.” h/t BJPENN.com
Bellator heavyweight GP belt revealed
LFA 47 highlights
Anderson Silva UFC 234 open workout
Black breaks down BeetleMania
Yoel Romero on reality television obstacle course
Henry Cejudo's 'biggest crush' Nikki Bella responds
Jose Aldo on being the underdog vs. Renato Moicano at UFC on ESPN+ 2
“I couldn’t care less about it. I don’t give a $#!@. I don’t care about gambling at all. I’m only interested in my training, my team and my potential to get in there and win my fights."(UFC on ESPN+ 2 also known as UFC Fight Night 144 also known as UFC Fortaleza will take place on February 2 at Centro de Formacao Olímpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil. h/t BE • Combate
UFC on ESPN+ 3 poster is blue
Ragin' Al: McGregor is not willing to die
Al Iaquinta: “I think [a fight vs. McGregor] is definitely possible. We both have a common opponent in Khabib. I came back and won a fight against Kevin Lee. ... Conor’s skills are great. His mental warfare leading up to the fight, he is the best at it right now. And then when he goes in there he is dangerous. He is a great bully, he walks across the cage and just gets right after it. But, a little bit further down the line you can see it on his face - the moment the momentum switches. ... Conor is not going to look like himself in there. You will see that switch in his face when he realizes he is in there with a bad mother f@$%er. And somebody that he is going to have to kill to get out of there. I don’t think Conor is willing to die, he’s got a lot of money and a lot of other things going on. So to put it all on the line in a cage when you have all that stuff.. I look up to him for what he’s done but I’ve got something he doesn’t have, and no money can buy that. I hope I get that fight, because I know what I can do against an opponent like that.” h/t BJPENN.com
Coach on DC retirement
Daniel Cormier says he wants to retire when he turns 40, which is 3/20, but his coach, AKA founder Javier Mendez believes it won't happen so fast. “I don’t know what is going to happen now. So many things have changed, the landscape, things that were unforeseen. Now, the retirement thing is going to be prolonged. I don’t know, one fight, two fight, three fights, who knows. The best scenario is for him to fight Brock Lesnar and finish. We will see what happens, it is hard to say. For me, he is done with the light heavyweight division so I think he fights Brock.” h/t BJPENN.com
Wonderboy: Why I want Kamaru Usman to beat Tyron Woodley, but ...
Stephen Thompson: “For me career-wise, I would want Kamaru Usman to win. But man, Tyron is just another animal. He’s another animal. His wrestling ... is very good. I think better than any of the guys that Usman has faced. I believe that Tyron’s striking is, he’s very explosive. They’re both gonna have their hands full. But for my career, yeah I would definitely want Usman to win.” h/t BJPenn.com • Listen on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show
ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong believes Joshua Pacio won, plans rematch
On Saturday former ONE strawweight world champ Joshua 'The Passion' Pacio lost his belt via split decision to Yosuke Saruta at ONE: Eternal Glory in Jakarta, Indonesia. However, ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong thinks the decision was wrong: "I was very disappointed. In my opinion, Joshua Pacio won because he won the exchanges, he landed the harder shots. Yes, he was taken down, but Saruta did nothing. In our rule set, there’s a very big difference between our rule set and the unified rule set. The unified rule set is, it’s a game. The last 30 seconds, I take you down, I win the round. If I do it enough times, I win the fight. But that’s not real martial arts, that’s just a game. Lay-and-pray is just a game. Why was martial arts first invented? For defense. Self-defense. Can your stuff work in a real fight? I will tell you this, the officials over at ONE Championship are the very best in the world. Seven years, thousands of fights, they hardly, hardly ever make an error, so I can’t say that they made an error or not, but it was a close fight. Just for me, from my perspective, I thought Joshua won, so yes there will be a rematch."
Benavides calls for rematch vs. Henry Cejudo
MMAjunkie's 16 greatest P4P fighters of all time
In no particular order: Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Demetrious Johnson, Conor McGregor, Amanda Nunes, Ronda Rousey, Daniel Cormier, Jose Aldo, B.J. Penn, Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Cris Cyborg, Royce Gracie. h/t MMAjunkie
Bader: Fedor is MMA
Light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader, who seeks to become champ champ in the finals of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix on Saturday vs. heavyweight G.O.A.T. Fedor Emelianenko: “Fedor is MMA ... You don’t know what’s coming from me. When you think I’m wrestling, I’m putting hands on you and vice versa. I’m very unpredictable out there.” h/t MMAjunkie
Dillashaw Manager: If Cejudo wants to save 125, that's where rematch should be
Tiki Ghosn: “I think it definitely needs to be run back. It needs to be run back at whatever weight – it just needs to happen again. The whole thing is unfortunate – it sucks – and that’s not to take anything away from Cejudo. Being a fighter, I know what these guys go through. I know they’re both prepared and trained their asses off for it. And if it was the flipside, too, and it was the other way around, it would suck. The whole thing’s unfortunate. ... Here’s the question, and here’s the challenge: If Henry wants to save the 125 division, then I think the rematch needs to happen at 125. You could say [he already saved the division], except for the controversial stoppage. There are two ways to look at it: Did Henry Cejudo earn his chance to become a double champ? Yeah, I think he did. But it just comes down to what [Cejudo] wants to do moving forward. What are they going to do with the 125-pound division? That’s the catch.” h/t MMAjunkie
