Mixed Martial Arts Megathread

Looks like Miesha is going to be defending here title against Amanda Nunes at UFC 200.

I have zero idea what is going on with Fight Night Tampa. Currently looks like Khabib-Ferguson is being rescheduled to May. But Khabib and Cowboy have both verbally agreed to fight, however Khabib is claiming Cowboy signed then pulled out with an injury and of course Cowboy is claiming he is fine. I would love to see Cowboy fight Khabib but my guess is the UFC isn't willing to buy into Cerrone's condition of still fighting Cote on the Ottawa card. Pretty much every single side is saying different things and I am only trusting Ariel Helwani in this.

I'll leave this here for those who watched the fight tonight. Give the man a title shot.

I'm pretty sure this is illegal anywhere else! I was half expecting some Revenant type shit to occur.

Sure give him the title fight, he looked great against awful competition but after a few minutes of hesitation, he was the dominant grappler that I've known since I first saw him in the UFC

Bisping is fucking champion? Lesnar is returning against TBD at 200? What the fuck is going on in this world?!

It's kind of crazy to me that a guy I might not even have in the top 5 at MW is now the champion. I'm very curious to see what the odds are for his first defense because I would probably have him as an underdog against all of the big contenders (Jacre, Weidman, Romero, and even Rockhold).

Also I think it's funny that in one night Bobby Green gets KOed while taunting Poirier to "Bring it" and Rockhold shows no effect from Bisping's early shots so he goes in hands down and gets blasted.

Also I still can't get over that comeback by Hendo.

Oh and I know that there's some beef with Zuffa and Ariel Helwani, but escorting him out of the arena and banning him for life right before the main event started because he broke the incredibly predictable Lesnar news comes off as petty to me, especially when you take into account his firing from Fox for basically asking questions people wanted to know the answer to (which many also assume Zuffa was responsible for). I know they don't want their announcements spoiled or the hard questions asked but the man is doing his job and I feel the majority of fans who follow him do so because he does these things that have caused these issues for him.

Even if they have beef with him also handing lifetime bans to his photographer and video director whose only crimes were being at the event with Ariel just seems childish. It also sounds like either the UFC is muzzling people over this or MMAFighting has told it`s writers not to speak about this so they can attempt to repair their relationship with Zuffa, if we see MMAFighting release Ariel in the next few days I think it will be pretty clear what`s going on. Time will tell.

Congrats to Michael Bisbing on getting the gold after so long. Luke Rockhold fought dumb and got what he deserves. Hopefully he comes back hungrier then ever.

Btw word that Brock Lesnar coming back? I'd like to see what Lesnar still has left in the tank especially in a heavyweight division where alot of the higher ranked fighters have looked human after winning the belt.

@overnow: MMA Fighting, and SB Nation, have put out a statement supporting Ariel, Casey and Esther. Said that Ariel will address the situation tomorrow on The MMA Hour. While it could be they are keeping quite so that they can try and repair their relationship with Zuffa I think there could be more to it. Ariel is the star of the site, and the biggest journalist in all of MMA, so they could be keeping quite until tomorrow where he will discuss what happened. Ariel has also been very supportive of the fighters and the sport first, making sure they are focuses on before himself or the UFC, which can be seen in how he addressed his being fired from Fox. The silence could also be SB Nation/Vox preparing for potential legal action against Zuffa, which is the least likely and most extreme but I don't think entirely unlikely. If the story is as it seems at the moment, that Ariel simply scooped the UFC and is being punished for it, then they could have a pretty strong case depending on how the UFC has their rules around media credentials documented. Likely the UFC could revoke his credentials but to ban him from all events is where I could see things getting iffy.

Either way I don't see MMA Fighting releasing Ariel. He is the main reason the bulk of their audience go their site. Seems to be widely appreciated by the fighters and likely has the deepest connections for insider info in the sport. He is way too valuable for them to release, even if he somehow stays banned from UFC events the fighters will still appear on The MMA Hour.

The Lesnar news took me by surprise, kind of figured he was just done with MMA at this point but makes more sense now that I am seeing it appears to be a one time thing for UFC 200. It is unlikely by I am calling it that his opponent is going to be Fedor. There have been lots of talk that Fedor has been very close to signing with the UFC, and with Fedor's next fight against Maldonado being FightPass is opens up an avenue for the UFC to semi-promote him and get some fans who might not know of him a chance to see him fight. The big issue I could see if Fedor could be clean in time for the fight, as his next one is having no drug testing and a dude his age is almost certainly going to use something, and to fight on a UFC card he is going to need to pass USADA. Still Lesnar vs Fedor on UFC 200 would be huge for the company, gets both the casual fans in with Lesnar and the hardcore with Fedor finally making his UFC debut. Works out well both ways for them too, if Lesnar wins then they can go "See Fedor was never that good guys" and if Fedor wins then they can set up Fedor for a title run.

Edit: Well Lesnar is fighting Mark Hunt at 200. Kind of surprised, makes sense in a lot of ways but there is also a real chance of Lesnar being knocked the hell out by Hunt and that is not a good look for him. Still feel like a Fedor UFC debut is coming, potentially against an older guy like Arlovski or Barnett.

Damn now Kimbo Slice has passed away. RIP.

So, it seems like the mixed martial arts community just lost Kimbo Slice tonight. Damn, I don't know what to think about this right now. I just hope that the lack of this news spreading just means that its some internet hoax, but a Twitter message from American Top Team makes me a little worried. No word yet on how he passed, but the night is still young. 2016 has been a sad year.

CBS News Affiliate Reporting The Death

American Top Team's Twitter Account

Jon Jones flagged for USADA doping violation and pulled from UFC 200. We don't know what its for yet but still...

https://youtu.be/HUBWxiu5cOo

Just...just....fucking come on. Seriously making me consider buying the main card for 200, cause while I am interested in the two title fights the Lesnar/Hunt will be fun but I don't need to see live and Cain/Browne I don't really care about that much. Not sure who they push up, Zingano/Pena is last of the prelims but in my opinion Dillashaw/Assuncao would make more sense as it is likely the #1 contender fight for Bantamweight. This seriously just sucks, not to take anything away from the other great fights on the card but maaaaaaan. Gutted for Cormier who is likely not going to fight and good chance he won't even get paid. I also just wanted this rivalry to finally end between the two and now it may never get resolved, even though it is 1-0 for Jones, because if it is a full PED suspension Jones is out for two years and at Cormier's age he might retire by then. Oh well now the debate of which event is better 200 or 202 is settled.

Also just a savage tweet from John Kavanagh, McGregor's Head Coach:

Modern Brock sounds so happy and excited about everything, so I can see why Paul Heyman does all the talking for the Beast.

Weird card, weird week. I enjoyed it. Didn't live up to expectations but most things don't

Last night's show was great. The first one I've watched in a long time.

@nightriff: Truth. Daniel Cormier fought smart by not striking with the Spider, but because of that strategy it was the most boring fight on the card. Cormier I feel has turned into a fuckin' heel and I'm not sure why cause DC seems like a nice dude. I think its just the fact that he holds a belt and dumbass Bones can not do something dumb to take that shit back.

@i_stay_puft: DC didn't want to hurt Silva more than he had to because he was doing him a solid. Saw it a mile away so I wasn't surprised. AND Brock/Hunt was the worst fight on the main card by far. Guess I expected them both to give it their all but Brock fought incredibly smart. Honestly the Northcutt/Marin fight was the worst on the card outside of that armbar, Sage shouldn't be in the UFC yet, he's very very green so if he has any desire to fight tougher competition he will get smashed.

@apparatus_unearth: You should've watched Thursdays show or even Fridays show. Best fight of the weekend was Joanna Champion vs. Gadelha, was technical fight where both fighters had to dig deep.

@nightriff: I mean you don't wanna kill the guy but I think it was more that DC didn't want to get KO'd by a 40 year old sorta past his prime Spider who just had his gallbladders removed a month ago. I mean if DC lost, it would kind of enforce the idea that Jones is still the real lhw champ.

@i_stay_puft: Yup, it was a lose lose situation no matter what. He gets ko'd by a 41 year old past his prime fighter then he looks ridiculous. He goes out there and beats the ever living shit out of him, well the guy was past his prime anyways and doesn't mean anything. He goes out there and does what he does, well its all his fault despite him getting the takedowns but it isn't like Silva tried to be very active, all he did was absorb shots and tie up DC's leg (very effectively honestly).

Silva had everything to gain and nothing to loose except potential embarrassment if he got pummeled. DC had everything to loose except a nice pay day and not waisting an entire camp.

$2 million purchase turns into a $4 billion sale. What a turnaround.

@drdarkstryfe: yep, they're announcing it monday, I guess.

It's as if somebody took the spirit of Ric Flair and put it into an actual, real human.