Connect with us

MMA

UFC featherweight title history: Volkanovski, Holloway, Topuria, more

Published

3 hours ago

on

UFC featherweight title history: Volkanovski, Holloway, Topuria, more

The featherweight title is on the line Saturday in the UFC 308 main event when Ilia Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) puts his belt up for the first time when he takes on former champ Max Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC).

Take a look at a chronological history of the UFC’s 145-pound title, which migrated over from the WEC in 2010 when the promotions merged.

Jose Aldo

Jose Aldo

Date: Nov. 20, 2010
Event: UFC 123
Opponent: N/A
Total reign: 1.848 days
Title defenses: Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung, Ricardo Lamas, Chad Mendes

Advertisement

Conor McGregor (interim)

Jul 11, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Conor McGregor (blue gloves) celebrates after defeating Chad Mendes (not pictured) in their interim featherweight title bout during UFC 189 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. McGregor won via second round TKO. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Date: July 11, 2015
Event: UFC 189
Opponent: Chad Mendes
Total reign: N/A
Title defenses: None

Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor after knocking out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds at UFC 194.

Date: Dec. 12, 2015
Event: UFC 194
Opponent: Joe Aldo
Total reign: 350 days
Title defenses: None (stripped of title)

Advertisement

Jose Aldo (interim)

Jose Aldo

Date: July 9, 2016
Event: UFC 200
Opponent: Frankie Edgar
Total reign: N/A
Title defenses: None

Jose Aldo

May 11, 2019; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Jose Aldo (red gloves) reacts to fight against Alexander Volkanovski (blue gloves) during UFC 237 at Jeunesse Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Silva-USA TODAY Sports

Date: Nov. 26, 2016
Event: N/A
Opponent: N/A
Total reign: 189 days
Title defenses: None

Advertisement

Max Holloway (interim)

Max Holloway

Date: Dec. 10, 2016
Event: UFC 206
Opponent: Anthony Pettis
Total reign: N/A
Title defenses: None

Max Holloway

Max Holloway

Date: June 3, 2017
Event: UFC 212
Opponent: Jose Aldo
Total reign: 925 days
Title defenses: Jose Aldo, Brian Ortega, Frankie Edgar

Advertisement

Alexander Volkanovski

Alexander Volkanovski, UFC 245

Date: Dec. 14, 2019
Event: UFC 245
Opponent: Max Holloway
Total reign: 1,526 days
Title defenses: Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, Chan Sung Jung, Max Holloway, Yair Rodriguez

Yair Rodriguez (interim)

Feb 12, 2023; Perth, WA, AUSTRALIA; Yair Rodriguez (red gloves) is interviewed after defeating Josh Emmett (not pictured) during UFC 284 at RAC Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasmin Frank-USA TODAY Sports

Date: Feb. 12, 2023
Event: UFC 284
Opponent: Josh Emmett
Total reign: N/A
Title defenses: None

Advertisement

Ilia Topuria

Feb 17, 2024; Anaheim, California, USA; Ilia Topuria celebrates his championship victory against Alexander Volkanovski during UFC 298 at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Date: Feb. 17, 2024
Event: UFC 298
Opponent: Yair Rodriguez
Total reign: Incumbent
Title defenses: None

Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.

Advertisement

Source link

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

MMA

Kade Ruotolo def. Blake Cooper at ONE Championship 167: Best photos

Published

6 mins ago

on

October 26, 2024

By

Kade Ruotolo def. Blake Cooper at ONE Championship 167: Best photos

Check out these photos of Kade Ruotolo’s pro MMA debut, a first-round submission of Blake Cooper at ONE Championship 167 at Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photos courtesy of ONE Championship)

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

MMA

‘Striker’ Victor Hugo vows to justify nickname with knockout win at UFC 308

Published

27 mins ago

on

October 25, 2024

By

‘Striker’ Victor Hugo vows to justify nickname with knockout win at UFC 308

Victor Hugo grew up watching his father Marcio compete in full-contact fights and began training martial arts at 5 years of age, but quickly dropped jiu-jitsu to focus solely on striking practice. Two decades later, he’s now a UFC fighter looking for his first knockout inside the octagon.

Nicknamed “Striker” for his love of stand-up fighting, Hugo enters the UFC 308 cage to face undefeated Farid Basharat this Saturday in Abu Dhabi and wants to add the 9th knockout to his MMA record. Hugo won his UFC debut with a decision over Pedro Falcao, six months after tapping out Eduardo Torres on Dana White’s Contender Series.

“I’m by far the best fighter he’s ever faced,” Hugo said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “He fought (Taylor Lapilus), a kickboxing champion with no ground game or takedown defense. If we’re talking striking, my nickname says it all. And I don’t even need to talk about my takedown defense. And I’m a black belt on the ground, brother. He’s never fought a black belt before.”

“This is a test for him, not for me,” he continued. “It’s a good fight for me. He has good striking, he’s fast, and he has good cardio, but my takedown defense is ridiculous. He won’t take me down like he has against other opponents. … He’s good, but he’s not a fantastic striker. His kicks are fast but that’s it. He’s never finished anyone, and I’ve knocked out a shitload of people, so there’s a good chance I knock him out as well.”

Advertisement

Hugo said “it’s always been my dream to fight vale tudo since I was a kid” after watching old tapes of Royce Gracie winning the first UFC events and Mirko Cro Cop dropping people left and right inside the PRIDE ring, and it’s special to now find himself standing on the same cage that has once welcomed such legends.

“I was such a big fan of Cro Cop,” Hugo said. “We had no access to information like we have today, so I used to go to [n internet cafe] and burn CDs and DVDs of his fights so I could watch it over and over and over again at home.”

Though Hugo claimed otherwise, Basharat does have stoppage wins on his record, with one knockout and six submissions across a dozen of professional MMA appearances, but the Brazilian isn’t amazed. A pro fighter since 2011, Hugo says “my calm makes others desperate.”

“All that time has gotten me ready for this,” Hugo said. “I see fighting as math. Many people are emotional, but I’m different. He has this single leg takedown? I’ll defend it 50 times in the gym. What are his flaw? Body shots? Ok, I’ll work a lot on my attacks to the body. When you’re calm and collected up there you can see everything your opponent is doing, and that makes them desperate.”

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

MMA

Dana White lost to me, and ‘he cannot stand it’

Published

48 mins ago

on

October 25, 2024

By

Dana White lost to me, and ‘he cannot stand it’

When it comes to Dana White’s continued attempts to paint his UFC departure a certain way, Francis Ngannou is doing his best to take the high road – but he also wants to keep it real.

On Thursday, White was asked to share his thoughts on Ngannou’s performance in his first-round TKO win over Renan Ferreira this past weekend at PFL: Battle of the Giants. The fight marked Ngannou’s return to mixed martial arts for the first time since defending the UFC heavyweight championship in his final promotional appearance against Ciryl Gane in January 2022. One year later, Ngannou left the UFC to sign with the PFL.

Rather than give his take on Ngannou’s in-cage performance, White went out of his way to re-hash how things ended with Ngannou – at least according to him.

“(His performance) was better than Donn Davis’ – way better,” White said with a laugh. “Listen, man, I’m going to tell you what I think about Francis: Francis is all about the money. Francis left because he knew if he fought Jon Jones and didn’t win, it would hurt his chances of making the money he wanted to make. But realistically his deal was bigger here. His deal was bigger here if he stayed in the UFC. I think I told this story a million times. They can deny it all they want. Why the f*ck would I lie? What do I care? It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.”

Advertisement

White later said that he wanted to release Ngannou in 2018 after consecutive losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis, but he didn’t because someone “begged” him not to.

Ngannou responds directly to White

Francis Ngannou and Dana White

Ngannou can’t seem to understand why White won’t stop talking bad about him.

“Regardless of everything that happened, I’m not about him,” Ngannou said Friday in an interview with Sirius XM Fight Nation. “I went out there, did a fight, had a good fight for my son’s memory, but the guy can’t stand – I don’t know what is his problem. He can make everything up as he wants. That’s his problem. I think he needs to make peace with himself. …

Advertisement

“(He) could’ve just said, ‘We didn’t find an agreement. We couldn’t come to a deal, but good luck to him.’ That’s it, you know? Good for him, and we continue our lives. What’s the problem here? I think the problem is he can’t handle this loss.”

And that’s a point Ngannou wants to drive home

“Dana has lost in this situation, and the only thing is that he cannot stand it,” Ngannou said. “Bro, I won everything.”

A big reason why Ngannou couldn’t come to terms with the UFC on a new contract was because the promotion wouldn’t support his desire to venture into boxing. The PFL obliged that request and after signing with the promotion, Ngannou took part in two lucrative fights with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in October 2023 and this past March.

Advertisement

While he lost both matchups in the ring, Ngannou widely has been lauded for finding his way out of a restrictive UFC deal and maximizing his earnings. Ngannou can only imagine how much that bothers White.

“I’m sure he’s been praying for my downfall, but I just keep doing my thing, rising,” Ngannou said. “Since I left the UFC, in many senses, I’m more than what I was. …

“Now I have made more money than I would have ever made in the UFC. I would say maybe twice the money that I could have made in my entire UFC career if I had continued in the UFC. I’m not just saying from the moment that I stopped. Either way, if I have made less money, if I’m not making enough money that I could’ve made in the UFC, that would be my problem. Why is he so pissed about me not making that much money? C’mon, man, live your life.”

Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Football

Cooper 'really disappointed' after 'self-inflicted' defeat

Published

59 mins ago

on

October 25, 2024

By

Cooper 'really disappointed' after 'self-inflicted' defeat



Steve Cooper bemoans “individual errors” as his Leicester side suffer a 3-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest.



Source link

Continue Reading

MMA

Umar Nurmagomedov responds to Merab Dvalishvili saying he doesn’t deserve title shot: ‘Decide who you are’

Published

1 hour ago

on

October 25, 2024

By

Umar Nurmagomedov responds to Merab Dvalishvili saying he doesn’t deserve title shot: ‘Decide who you are’

Umar Nurmagomedov says he’s fighting soon, regardless of what Merab Dvalishvili does.

Back in August, Nurmagomedov defeated Cory Sandhagen in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi, setting himself up as the next title challenger for the bantamweight title. So one month later, when Merab Dvalishvili took the belt from Sean O’Malley at UFC 306, it looked for all intents and purposes that the promotion had a fight, to the extent that they even asked Dvalishvili about Nurmagomedov in his post-fight speech.

But now things don’t seem nearly so certain.

Over the past couple of months, Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov have feuded publicly over their possible fight, with Dvalishvili even lobbying for an immediate rematch with O’Malley during a Fan Q&A ahead of UFC 308 this weekend. And of course Nurmagomedov responded.

Advertisement

“I am always ready, and right now I am waiting for an opponent, as [Song] Yadong declined to fight in December — I was told he is injured.

“Merab, before my fight with Sandhagen, you said that if I beat him, I would deserve recognition. Now you have changed your position — decide who you are. All the fans and analysts are noticing how you are avoiding the fight. Championship is recognition, but you haven’t received it, and you know that perfectly well.

Advertisement

“I am not waiting for anyone and I want to fight before Ramadan. I hope UFC finds an opponent. And the title, inshaAllah, is just a matter of time.”

While the fight was never confirmed, Nurmagomedov was rumored to face Song Yadong in the main event of UFC Tampa on Dec. 14. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili is targeting a return to the cage in 2025.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

MMA

UFC 308 Preview Show: Can Max Holloway upset Ilia Topuria and reclaim featherweight gold?

Published

2 hours ago

on

October 25, 2024

By

UFC 308 Preview Show: Can Max Holloway upset Ilia Topuria and reclaim featherweight gold?

UFC 308 goes down this Saturday, headlined by the long-awaited featherweight title matchup between Ilia Topuria and ‘BMF’ champion Max Holloway. On top of that, the #UFC presents a highly-anticipated middleweight matchup in the co-main event, as former champion Robert Whittaker faces undefeated terror Khamzat Chimaev.

UFC 308 is one of the biggest events of the year and so ahead of Saturday’s doubleheader, MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and Mike Heck preview the massive card, discuss Holloway’s chances at upsetting Topuria, whether or not Chimaev can finally earn himself a title shot, just how badly Magomed Ankalaev needs a win over Aleksandar Rakic, and much more.

Catch the UFC 307 preview show above. An audio-only version of the show can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2024 WordupNews.com