Chris Curtis considers himself to be a fighter’s fighter who will test his talents against any UFC opponent. However, there has been an exception. Curtis (31-11 MMA, 5-3 UFC), who returns from an injury layoff on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 249 for a middleweight bout with Roman Kopylov (13-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) at the
Day: January 7, 2025
Amanda Ribas took a self-imposed break from competition following her loss to Rose Namajunas and feels rejuvenated going into 2025. In what has been a rarity for her UFC tenure, Ribas fought just once in a calendar year during 2024. She was supposed to rematch Mackenzie Dern on the final event of the year, but
Despite the UFC’s reach and schedule feeling suffocating at times, there’s a ton of worthwhile talent that resides outside of the umbrella of the world’s leader when it comes to MMA. In fact, between the constant growth of the sport to the UFC’s semi-recent business trends and how it affects the promotion’s talent cultivation, one
Michael Bisping praises UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ negotiation tactics before he potentially fights Tom Aspinall. Jones has been dismissive of interim champ Aspinall and wants to be paid handsomely for a title-unification bout. Despite his reluctance to fight Aspinall next after finishing Stipe Miocic this past November at UFC 309, Dana White guaranteed that
UFC middleweight standout Bo Nickal remains confident in a potential matchup against Khamzat Chimaev. Nickal (7-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC), who was a three-time national champion wrestler at Penn State, insists that Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) won’t be able to match him in grappling. He also thinks with Chimaev’s explosive starts, such as when he
It would be unfair to presume there was extra pressure on Mackenzie Dern when she flew to Abu Dhabi this past summer. The renowned jiu-jitsu ace deals with stressful situations and pressure for a living. But the fact is, when she made the walk in August against Loopy Godniez, she set out to snap the
UFC CEO Dana White is now in business with Mark Zuckerberg. Meta, formerly known as Facebook Inc., announced Monday the UFC CEO has joined the company’s board of directors along with John Elkann, CEO of Exor; and Charlie Songhurst, former General Manager and Head of Global Corporate Strategy at Microsoft. “Dana, John and Charlie will
Henry Cejudo has his next UFC assignment. A former UFC bantamweight champion, Cejudo (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) is targeted to return vs. Song Yadong (21-8-1 MMA, 10-3-1 UFC) in a main event bout at UFC Fight Night 252. The event takes place Feb. 22 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Two people with knowledge of
The UFC’s all-time female fight leader is adding another bout to her tally. Angela Hill returns for promotional fight No. 27 at UFC Fight Night 251 on Feb. 15 when she takes on rising Brazilian strawweight Ketlen Souza at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA
Chael Sonnen’s boldest prediction for 2025 involves UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Jones defended his heavyweight title with a third-round finish of Stipe Miocic this past November in the UFC 309 headliner. Jones expressed interested in fighting light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and said he’d need “f*ck you money” to consider a title-unification bout with
UFC 311’s bad blood might have gotten worse. In two weeks (Sat., Jan. 18, 2025), the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) pay-per-view (PPV) is going down inside the brand-new Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California, and in the co-main event of UFC 311, Merab Dvalishvili will defend his Bantamweight title against rival Umar Nurmagomedov. The
We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 249. Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT). Those reader consensus picks will be part of
Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz has agreed to fight for the first time since 2022. Verbal agreements are in place for Cruz (24-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) to face Rob Font (21-8 MMA, 11-7 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 252 co-main event Feb. 22 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. A person with knowledge