Demetrious Johnson clearly wasn’t consulted about TUF 24.
The reigning, defending flyweight champion took to TWITCH to give his two cents on the new season which sees the winner of the show getting a shot at the 125lb title. Johnson as we know is currently booked to fight Henry Cejudo at UFC 197, the winner of which will likely end up fighting the TUF contestant.
Here’s what “Mighty Mouse” had to say on the matter.
“Oh wow. That’s crazy. That’s super weird. So the winner would face the champion. Joseph [Benavidez] should enter the contest! That’s kind of fucked up for all the other guys that have been in the division for a long time. That’s super interesting though because I feel like if I was in the UFC and I wasn’t the champion that I would jump on the show and get released from my contract. So what about the current flyweight contenders? No matter how amazing they perform, they’re not getting the shot. But, UFC does what they want. I just worry about myself. I just fight and that’s what I do.”
John Makdessi and Mehdi Baghdad join the line up for UFC 199.
UFC officials announced the fight earlier this morning with the lightweight bout added to the already impressive card.
Makdessi is 6-5 in the UFC and will be looking for a must-win victory over Baghdad who joins the UFC after a stint on TUF 22. Baghdad is coming off a loss against Chris Wade in the TUF Finale after stringing together a seven fight win-streak.
The latest UFC 199 card now includes:
- Champ Luke Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman — middleweight title fight
- Champ Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber — bantamweight title fight
- Bobby Green vs. Dustin Poirier — lightweight bout
- Evan Dunham vs. Leonardo Santos — lightweight bout
- Kevin Casey vs. Elvis Mutapcic — middleweight bout
- Luiz Henrique da Silva vs. Jonathan Wilson — light heavyweight bout
- “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim vs. Polo Reyes — lightweight bout
- Tom Breese vs. Sean Strickland — welterweight bout
Cat Zingano and Julianna Pena has been added to UFC 200.
The rumour mill has been swirling about this fight for a couple of weeks now and it’s finally been officially announced by the UFC.
Interestingly enough Zingano will be fighting on the undercard despite having beaten both Tate and Nunes previously! Nevertheless Zingano vs. Pena has all the makings of a fiery throw down between two of the top contenders in the bantamweight division.
Amanda Nunes has come out to defend her title shot against Miesha Tate.
The Brazilian has copped a lot of slack over the last couple of days with fans saying she doesn’t have the gas tank to keep up with the current champ.
Nunes took to MMA Junkie Radio to address the matter.
“A lot of people say I get a little bit tired as a negative thing, but I live in Florida, and Florida is very humid and very dry,” Nunes said. “Fighting against Cat Zingano, I felt a lot of change with the weather. The (dryness) and everything. It doesn’t make any sense that I got tired in the third round because I’m training. I have the best training in the world. I have the best conditioning. I’m in the gym every day – every single day. It doesn’t make any sense that you get tired in the third round. For sure now I’m going to see, do some blood work (and) see what’s going on to see (what made) me tired.
“I don’t understand why I get tired. It happened with me twice with Cat and now with Valentina (Shevchenko). Now I have to figure out what is going on. For sure I’m going to be in Vegas maybe with a month to go before this fight with Miesha training there to see how I feel and to get comfortable with the weather there. At least with me, I don’t know if it’s happening with other fighters, but with me it happens. Vegas – so much (dryness) in Vegas.”
Ronda Rousey joined Odell Beckham Jnr in a “Face 2 Face” session for Draft Kings.
The two sporting stars shared some of their most memorable photos and discussed what was happening in each of them. Rousey touches on the Sports Illustrated cover, the weigh-in with Bethe Correia, the cover of UFC 2 and a movie still from Entourage.
There’s a huge month ahead on UFC Fight Pass with over 100 live fights on offer.
Eric Winter, UFC Senior Vice-President and UFC FIGHT PASS General Manager, said in statement that “this month truly highlights Fight Pass’s unbeatable value for combat sports fans. From exclusive live UFC fights and events to emerging promotions, Fight pass is the only destination to watch up-and-coming talent, as well as the biggest names in the sport.”
Here’s the full line up courtesy of Vendetta Fighter.
– Victory FC 49 on Friday, April 1 at 10/7 p.m. EDT/PDT
- Catch the replay here.
– SHOOTO Brazil 62 on Saturday, April 2 at 8/5 p.m. EDT/PDT
- Watch the replay here.
– BRACE MMA 39 on Friday, April 15 at 11/8 p.m. EDT/PDT
- Theo Christakos vs. Kevin Manderson headlines a card of fights Down Under
– GLORY 29 SuperFight Series on Saturday, April 16 at 1:30 p.m./10:30 a.m. EDT/PDT
- Zack Mwekassa meets Zinedine Hameur-Lain in a light heavyweight bout
– EFN: UFA on Friday, April 22 at 11/8 a.m. EDT/PDT
- David Khachatryan takes on Vener Galiev at 160 pounds
– Pancrase 277 on Saturday, April 23 at 1 a.m. EDT / Friday, April 22 at 10 p.m. PDT
- PANCRASE champion Kazuki Tokudome faces UFC veteran Akbarh Arreola
– Eddie Bravo Invitational 6 on Sunday, April 24 at 10/7 p.m. EDT/PDT
- 16-man submission grappling tournament for a $50,000 prize
– Titan FC 38 on Saturday, April 30 at 6.3 p.m. EDT/PDT
- Steve Carl battles Belal Muhammad for the vacant welterweight title
Featured exclusive and original content added to Fight Pass:
– April 7: Daniel Cormier’s Best of Strikeforce
- The UFC light heavyweight champion introduce his favorite fights from the now-defunct California-based promotion
– April 12: Daniel Cormier FIGHTOGRAPHY 2
- Cormier takes you through his UFC run and greatest fights
– April 14: Daniel Cormier’s Ultimate Light Heavyweight Fights
- The champ lays out his top fights in 205-pound history
– April 20: THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER: TEAM JOANNA vs. TEAM CLÁUDIA entry round fights
- Watch all the opening fights that determine which fighters move into THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER house, starting at 9 p.m. PT
If you want a great read this weekend look no further than Mike Bohn’s feature on Jon Jones for Rollingstone.
Bohn provides a rare inside look into the life of one of the greatest mixed martial artists the world has ever seen. It’s candid and well worth your time.
I recently went to Albuquerque to spend a day with @JonnyBones, who opened up about his life unlike I’ve ever heard. https://t.co/nSwGkRGLI9
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) April 7, 2016
Robert Whittaker is looking sharp on the mitts as he prepares for his clash with Rafael Natal at UFC 197. FNA caught up with Whittaker earlier in the month to talk about the lead up to the biggest fight of his career.
Episode 2 of “On the fly” has aired showcasing Nicolas Dalby ahead of his fight at UFC Zagreb. If you missed episode one with Robert Whiteford you can catch it here.
