The MMA Ten keeps you updated on the latest news from the world of the UFC and beyond. Read it and you’ll feel like you’re going to an Ivy League school instead of lowly Stanford.
Your Insane MMA Picture of the Week
You might remember Peggy Morgan from such shows as The Ultimate Fighter. She’s currently fighting for Invicta FC, and last week battled Megan Anderson. I’ll go ahead and let you guess who won.
Morgan said she’s fine, as did her coach, who added that she always swells up after a fight. That’s probably not a good sign performance-wise. Morgan has lost four of her last six fights, so maybe I’m on to something here. As for Anderson, she’s on a roll with three straight wins. (H/T: The UG)
Jimmy Kimmel Pranks McGregor Fans — with Nate Diaz!
Props to Jimmy Kimmel for having a lot of UFC-related content on his show. Their latest effort involves interviewing Conor McGregor fans on the street, only to have Nate Diaz confront them right after they say Conor will win the rematch at UFC 202. Roll the tape…
The rematch between Diaz and McGregor is the next big UFC fight, and it’ll go down at UFC 202 on Aug. 20. If you missed the first one…
Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 1: Full Fight Video
The UFC has released video of the first Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz fight. It’s a must-watch if you’ve yet to see it, and certainly worth another look even if you watched it live.
https://youtu.be/p3VN21wOq2A
Nick Diaz Is Back and So Is the Trash Talk
Nate Diaz isn’t the only Diaz in the news. Brother Nick has completed his 18-month suspension and is being talked about as a potential opponent for new welterweight champion Tyron Woodley’s first title defense.
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The Diaz Bros. are the kings of trash talk, and Nick got right to it after Woodley called him out in his UFC 201 post-fight interview. Woodley said he’d love to fight Diaz or Georges St-Pierre, and he wondered why they didn’t fight back in their Strikeforce days. Nick responded on Facebook with a question and a video of Nate Marquardt knocking Woodley out.
I’d rather see GSP vs. Woodley, which should be the more competitive fight, but the bad blood is starting to bubble between Diaz and Woodley.
Woodley: Nick Diaz’ IQ Not Too High
Shots fired! Woodley told TMZ Sports that outside of fighting, Nick Diaz’s IQ is “not extremely high.” Woof.
Lost in all of this is that Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, the No. 2-ranked welterweight, gets cast aside and has to wait for his title shot while Woodley fights GSP or Diaz. It’s a raw deal, but eventually he’ll get his shot.
Teruto Ishihara Hates MMA, But Girls
Teruto Ishihara will be fighting Horacio Gutierrez Saturday at UFC Fight Night. Yahoo’s Kevin Iole has a fun piece on the knockout artist, in which Ishihara explains that he can’t stand MMA, but does it because he loves ladies.
http://gty.im/515122726
“I don’t like MMA. I don’t like boxing. I don’t like wrestling. I don’t like grappling. I like only [women]. I don’t want to fight. I really don’t. I’m not trying to get fans or be different from anyone else. I don’t want to fight. I do this because it’s the best way I know of to get girls. If you fight, and you get the knockout, you get the girls. That’s my thing, getting the girls.”
Ishihara also took to Instagram to let Gutierrez know he’s going to beat him up, but after that, it’s time to hit the clubs — together.
Ishihara is currently the favorite in that fight at -245. Odds on meeting new lady friends in Salt Lake City aren’t yet posted. Perhaps it depends on if he gets the knockout. I’m sure he’ll give us an update next week.
Some Rapper Wants to Fight Joe Rogan
Kasper Knight, the aspiring rapper who purposely shot himself in the face, says he’d like to fight Joe Rogan. Knight caught word that UFC fighter Jeremy Stephens and Rogan were making fun of him on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. When Stephens asked where Knight’s parents were, Rogan said, “They’re at home doing meth.” Knight didn’t appreciate that at all.
But Knight started dialing back the bravado in another Facebook post, perhaps after reading about Rogan’s accomplishments as a martial artist.
I’ll leave a little advice here for Knight: one year of training isn’t enough to beat a guy that skilled on his feet and the ground. Joe is a legit BJJ black belt, and he’d need all of about 60 seconds to finish Knight — unless he wanted to make it last longer.
Baby Slice Turns Pro, Signs With Bellator
The MMA community was shocked to learn Kimbo Slice had passed away earlier this year. Slice had six children, one of which followed in his footsteps by becoming an MMA fighter. Kevin Ferguson Jr., aka “Baby Slice,” has been training martial arts for a few years and won his first amateur fight last March.
Now Baby Slice has signed a deal with Bellator — the last place his father fought — and will turn pro. He’ll do battle at Bellator 160 in Anaheim on Aug. 26. He’ll fight Jon Tomasian, another amateur making his pro debut. It’s sure to be an emotional moment for Slice, and it will be interesting to watch him fight as a professional for the first time. You can catch that fight on Spike TV.
Amanda Nunes Wants Ronda Rousey In First Title Defense
Amanda Nunes dominated Miesha Tate at UFC 200 to take her UFC bantamweight title. Nunes has made it perfectly clear as to who she’d like to fight in her first title defense: former champ Ronda Rousey.
“This is the fight that makes sense,” Nunes told MMA Junkie. “Ronda was one of the biggest fighters of all times, and I’m the champion now. I made history for my country. I think it’s going to be a big pay-per-view, one of the UFC’s biggest pay-per-views. I’m taking my country and she’ll be in hers, because I want it to be in New York City. It will be historic – the first card there. I want to keep making history, and this is the next step.”
Nunes is referring to the first-ever UFC event in New York, UFC 205 on Nov. 12 at MSG. The UFC and fight fans would love that, and rumors also have the Aldo vs. McGregor rematch as part of that card. If Rousey opts to continue to sit out, Nunes said that Julianna Pena would be her preferred opponent. Stay tuned.
Bisping Worried Hendo Will Juice for UFC 204 Rematch
UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will get the fight he wants for his first title defense: a rematch with Dan Henderson, who famously knocked out Bisping at UFC 100, arguably the best knockout in UFC history. But with Henderson set to retire after the bout, Bisping worries that Hendo, a former therapeutic user of TRT, will try to juice up with PEDs. Bisping talked about it on his Sirius radio show, and MMAFighting.com had the story.
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“Let me tell you this, lightning does not strike twice. It struck once the first time, it will not strike twice. There will be no TRT, no drugs, no steroids, no performance-enhancing drugs. Dan Henderson I challenge you to announce to me at the press conference that you will not take any performance-enhancing drugs, that if USADA show up on any day, any time they can test you, because I think he’s gonna cheat. I think he’s gonna go out there and have some sneaky PEDs because he’s gonna think, ‘Well screw it. If I get suspended, so what? I’m retiring anyway.’
“I think he’s gonna juice because if he gets popped, he’s just gonna get suspended. That is no consequence to him and people will remember that he retired as champion even though it would be a no-contest. If he was to get the win, he could still retire saying, ‘I just beat the world champion.'”
Many of Bisping’s losses have come from fighters who were either actively on TRT when it was still legal or fighters who were caught taking PEDs in their post-fight drug tests. Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, and Wanderlei Silva were all on some kind of performance enhancers during those bouts, so you’ll have to excuse Bisping if he’s a bit sensitive about the subject.
It wouldn’t be a proper Bisping call out without some sort of barb. So here it is: “People do play with fire even though they know USADA might turn up. People do make these stupid f—ing mistakes. Dan Henderson being a weird version of bloody Fred Flintstone -– that’s what I’m gonna nickname him, he looks like Fred Flintstone -– he will probably make that mistake.”
UFC 204 goes down Oct. 8 in Bisping’s beloved England. It should be epic.
