Dustin Poirier

This fight was Poirier’s first fight back since losing to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in September of 2019. Poirier outworked Dan Hooker in the later rounds of their main event bout this past Saturday night. Pushing him one step closer to challenging for the lightweight title once again. Next in line for that title is Justin Gaethje so a perfect fight to make for the end of the year would be Poirier versus Tony Ferguson who just lost to Gaethje in his last fight. It’s a fight that is gaining traction as ESPN’s Ariel Helwani tweeted after the fight that this should be the match to make.

Poirier’s Next Fight: Tony Ferguson 

Dan Hooker

Although he lost this past Saturday, Dan Hooker should have no trouble finding his next fight because lightweight is absolutely stacked right now. Paul Felder even tweeted after the fight that he would come out of retirement and return to the UFC to fight either man in Saturday’s main event. Hoooker’s best options seem to be a rematch with Paul Felder or taking on fellow rising prospect Charles Oliveira.

Both fights come with great opportunity and risk. For people who believe in superstitions, anyone who has ever beat Paul Felder has lost their next fight. If Hooker believes in this, a Felder fight could be a lose-lose situation. If he wins the possibility of him losing his next fight looms, and if he looses it just pushes him further back in the rankings. Oliveira is no less dangerous however. A win over Oliveira could help him a little in the rankings. A loss would send him tumbling down the ladder.

Hooker’s Next Fight: Charles Oliveira 

Mike Perry

Mike Perry shocked the world on Saturday night by only having his girlfriend in his corner. No coaches no teammates just his Latory Gonzalez telling him that “you’re doing great.” It seemed to work as he was able to get a decision win over Micky Gall. Perry made a statement after the fight that he wants to get teammates and a team in due time. It is being said that American Top Team in Florida is opening their doors to Perry after Perry said he wanted to train with Yoel Romaro. If Perry decides to stay at welterweight we would like to seem him fight Diego Sanchez next.

Sanchez was the last man to beat Gall before Perry did so on Saturday. This makes for a great match-up as we just witnessed Perry out grapple and overpower Gall on the ground. Gall, who is a black belt in Jiujitsu. We can tell Perry has improved his grappling so a good test for his grappling would be Diego Sanchez. That along with the fact that almost nobody except for Sanchez is as crazy as Perry makes for an insane build-up and fight.

Perry’s Next Fight: Diego Sanchez 

Who do you think these fighters should be fighting next? Let us know in the comment section down below.

The post What’s Next: UFC On ESPN 12 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Worthy proved the oddsmakers wrong. And while most casual observers might have given Pena the edge on the ground, Worthy proved them wrong as well. Thanks to a guillotine choke that ended Pena’s night early.

Speaking backstage to media outlets including Cageside Press following his win, Worthy jokingly gave his message to the bookies.

“Money. Cardi B. Money, they throwing money in the air. People making money off me man? I’m cool with it,” he exclaimed. “I told everyone, I told my older brothers that ‘yo bet like two grand on me.’ I’m like ‘bet on me dude.’ I’m like, ‘I’m not I’m not freaking losing this fight.’ I have a family. I own a gym right now. Like sh*t, the whole world might get shut down again so I might never have enough money, so I need to make as much money as possible. So if I’m in there fighting, Imma fight to my death, so the oddsmakers are stupid, obviously.”

Worthy’s journey to the UFC has been anything but traditional. In his early 20s, he’d found work as a model. Then transitioned to a sport where he’d be getting hit in the face. Luckily, he doesn’t get hit too often. “I don’t got a lot of scar tissue. I don’t like getting hit,” he admitted.

During his modelling days, Worthy was just trying to stay in shape. “I was always at the gym, kicking bags and stuff.” One of the older guys at the gym asked if he’d ever though of doing MMA. “And I’ve done traditional martial arts and stuff with my father and stuff, but I didn’t want to be breaking boards and sh*t like that. So I didn’t really get into it. But I watched and the guy was like, ‘you ever heard of MMA?’ And I was like, ‘No, what the heck is that?’ And I walked outside and there’s a billboard for Georges St. Pierre. It’s huge. I’m in downtown New York. I’m like, ‘What the heck’ and I go to the video store and I buy like a hundred dollars worth of King of the Cage videos and it’s all like Urijah Faber stuff. And I watch them and I’m just blown away.”

The next day, Worthy informed his boss that he’d be moving back home. The idea, to make the jump to MMA. He even came close to training with Phil Nurse, who coached GSP in Muay Thai. Now, Worthy is a gym owner, and UFC fighter, boasting a 16-6 record following UFC on ESPN 12. Quite the journey, and it’s really just getting started.

Watch the full UFC on ESPN 12 post-fight press scrum with Khama Worthy above.

The post UFC on ESPN 12: Khama Worthy Explains How a Georges St. Pierre Billboard Sparked Interest in MMA appeared first on Cageside Press.

Erosa is now on his third stint with the UFC. His first came following The Ultimate Fighter 22, and saw him go 1-1 before being cut in 2016. He returned after an appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2018, as a replacement rather than a contract winner, only to lose three straight and be cut again.

Taking a single fight on the regional scene, Erosa was welcomed back in a 150lb catchweight bout against Sean Woodson over the weekend. One for which he had precious little time to prepare.

“Five days,” he told media outlets including Cageside Press. Though he suggested that thanks to his team’s mindset, it wasn’t the burden one might expect. “Every day is part of a fight camp really. We train hard as it is, so we’re always pretty ready. It’s more like, worried about weight.”

And for good reason. Even at a catchweight, five days isn’t much time to shed what turned out to be twenty pounds. “Monday I was 170 pounds when I woke up and you know, I was lucky enough that we did it at 150,” Erosa observed. “And no problem, I made it. You know, cut was average so wasn’t too bad of a curve and was able to just to come out and perform.”

After being handed a pink slip twice, Erosa would go on to tell Cageside Press that there were times he doubted whether he’d ever be back.

“You start doubting yourself and start thinking, ‘what am I doing wrong?’ And obviously, if you’re in the UFC, you have to win. You can’t just go out and do good and hope that you’ll keep getting shots, because people who win still even get cut.”

“Juicy J” figured that if he kept working hard, someone would pick him back up, even if it was another organization and not the UFC. “I actually thought I would never fight in the octagon again after my last loss, but I love doing this stuff and so I wasn’t gonna stop doing it,” he admitted.

Persistence paid off in the end. Not only did Erosa get his hand raised, but he earned a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his D’Arce choke submission of Woodson.

Watch the full UFC on ESPN 12 post-fight scrum with Julian Erosa above.

The post UFC on ESPN 12: Julian Erosa Admits He Wasn’t Expecting Octagon Return, Ever appeared first on Cageside Press.

While the whole world has been turned upside down due to the coronavirus, Sato has also had to deal with the passing of his father. Which is tragic, but what came next is even more heartbreaking.

Ahead of a fight in New Zealand in February, Sato’s father severely ill father insisted that his son not come home, but rather focus on his fight against Maki Pitolo. Then, at the 11th hour, the fight was scrapped — during the event’s weigh-in, due to Pitolo falling ill.

Sato had skipped his father’s funeral for the chance to win that night. A win that he had planned to honor his late father with.

A source close to Takashi Sato has informed me that his dying father told him NOT to come back to Japan & stay in Florida for training camp so he skipped his father’s funeral when he passed away. He wanted to dedicate this fight to his father in heaven but won't have a chance now https://t.co/V2RzHVjEtO

— Korean John (@KoreanJohn_) February 21, 2020

Fast forward to June. The pandemic rages on, but the UFC has managed to successfully run a half-dozen plus shows. Sato, originally scheduled for a Texas card against Ramiz Brahimaj, wound up fighting on Saturday’s card in Las Vegas. To add one more wrinkle, his opponent changed just days out, with Jason Witt stepping in for Brahimaj, who was pulled from the event after a corner tested positive for COVID-19.

Sato (16-3) got the job done, earning a TKO victory within a minute. And finally, he had the chance to honor his father.

“I did speak with my father three days before he passed away. And he told me to not to come back to Japan,” Sato told media outlets including Cageside Press following the win. “Your job is to fight, so just stay in the fight camp and concentrate,” he recalled his father saying.

“However, I couldn’t fight in New Zealand. So I kept that promise. My father just told me to keep going forward, and that’s what I did.” The results were in his win Saturday.

With so much turmoil heading into the bout, Sato had ceased to worry about who he was fighting. “I don’t care who the opponent was, because it changed so much. I only concentrated on what I was supposed to do,” he said.

As for Witt stepping up on just two day’s notice, it’s a decision Sato would have made himself. “I actually think the job of a professional fighter is to be ready at any time. I’m a professional fighter, so if I were in his shoes, I would have taken that offer too.”

Watch the full UFC on ESPN 12 post-fight media scrum with Takashi Sato above.

The post UFC on ESPN 12: Takashi Sato’s Win Saturday In Honor of Late Father appeared first on Cageside Press.

“As soon as I started landing my right hand, I figured out he was very confused in my switching stances,” Zalal told media outlets including Cageside Press backstage at the UFC Apex. “I kept hearing his coaches yell, ‘he’s right handed, he’s right handed, he’s right handed.”

It was all the motivation the Moroccan fighter needed to keep focusing on those stance switches. And it led him to a unanimous decision victory on Saturday in Las Vegas, his second straight inside the octagon. Two wins so far this year, and a third on this current streak, dating back to his time with LFA.

Not a bad start to his UFC career for the 23-year-old, who is now 9-2 overall. And while Youssef wasn’t 100% happy with his performance, he knows that means room for improvement. And overall, he fought a good fight opposite a dangerous opponent.

“You don’t see a lot of 23 year olds, staying active taking short notice [fights]. I don’t have to take this short notice, you know, especially against a guy who’s 18-7,” Zalal observed. “His two first fights are against ranked featherweights, so for me to go out there and really just to step up and really show my game and and my knowledge of mixed martial arts, it’s a good thing.”

Anybody who fights him, added Zalal, “it’s not going to be an easy cardio day. I don’t care if even if you’re winning. It’s not gonna be fun for you, fighting me. I’m a little African-Moroccan kid, man. That’s all we do. I’m skinny. I’m not the power guy, I’m not the fast guy, but I’m coming for those lungs, I’ll tell you that.”

In the future, that skinny frame may lead to a move to bantamweight. “I really think about that bantamweight division. I can really go out there and really do some noise down there.”

Watch the full UFC on ESPN 12 post-fight press scrum with Youssef Zalal above.

The post UFC on ESPN 12: Youssef Zalal Credits Cardio for Win, Eying Bantamweight Division appeared first on Cageside Press.

Following a submission win over Villante, the damn broke. Greene could barely keep it together during his post-fight interview. And it’s understandable. A lot was on the line, with the heavyweight planning to uproot his family so he can train full time with Jackson-Wink.

Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press backstage, Greene admitted that a lot was riding on the fight. “I got it done tonight. My back was against the wall, I was on a two-fight skid. And I could have lost my job tonight. I could have lost my job,” the heavyweight said. In his mid-30s, as the bread winner, and about to move his family, Greene knows time is a factor. “You do the math on how much time I have. So you know it always feels good to be here.”

Addressing his post-fight speech, Greene explained that “I’m a very emotional person, you saw on Ultimate Fighter, [when] I won the first time. You know it’s like I try my best to put this face on and say ‘there’s no pressure,’ but that sh*t was thick, very thick.”

Getting dropped during the fight let him know he was in a tough spot. “I don’t really remember a lot of it,” he admitted, before adding “to be able to finish from the bottom with my jiu-jitsu is so sweet to me. There’s not a lot of heavyweights that do jiu-jitsu, and I’m one of them. And it’s just very sweet to me. I never went to college so I call whenever I get my Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, that’s my college degree.”

The win was extra special not just because of that, but because of a number of personal issues, including a somewhat unplanned gym switch.

“I had a bunch of personal things going on leading up to this. I had a gym switch. I actually didn’t mean to switch gyms really, I was going out there just to get work in,” Greene explained. “But when I got out there, Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn kind of took me under their wing and penciled me in every day for time with each one of them. On top of all the heavyweights they got out there. Probably six plus, which is unheard of.”

“They’re building a stable of stallions out there, and I want to be part of that,” he added.

Watch the full UFC on ESPN 12 post-fight press conference with Maurice Greene above.

The post UFC on ESPN 12: Maurice Greene Talks Emotions, Joining Stable of Stallions at Jackson-Wink appeared first on Cageside Press.

Whatever you think of the controversial fighter, he does things his way.  For better or for worse.  On Saturday, it wound up being the former.  With no coaches and no corners other than girlfriend Latory Gonzalez, Perry (14-6) put in a solid effort against Mickey Gall.  He even managed to hang with Gall on the ground, which had been the question mark heading in.  On the feet, as expected, the hard-hitting Perry led by a wide margin.

With critics all over him heading into the fight, it seems like Perry might have been vindicated, at least a little.  Perry, not one for flowery language, wasn’t entirely sure on the definition.  “Proven right,” it was suggested at the post-fight press conference following UFC on ESPN 12.

“Yes, proven right is what it is tonight,” agreed Perry.  “I feel awesome bro, I can’t lie.  There was a lot of haters hating on us, hating on her and she’s so innocent and all this.  And you know, obviously it’s cause I say things and I talk, from an entertainment side of the sport, and also like, because they be hating on me so hard, so I just talk back because it’s just, ugh.  And then when she started getting it, you know, I was just really upset but I fed off that tonight.”

Though by the time he walked out to the octagon, Perry admitted, he was “blank.  And that’s the way it should be.  You react, you just go out there and you fight.  The work is done.  It’s time to go.”

Perry’s girlfriend Latory Gonzalez took a fair amount of abuse from the usual corners of the internet ahead of the fight.  Asked what her response to it all was, Perry explained that “this is all kind of new to her man.  You know, everybody loves her.  So all these people hate her because of me.  You know, it makes me feel kind of bad sometimes that I brought her into that.  But that’s what happens when you get attention and people just start hating on it.”

“Platinum” gave Gonzalez top marks for her work between rounds, which amounted mainly to giving encouragement and applying ice.  In comparison, Perry pointed to the fight before his, between Gian Villante and Maurice Greene.

“I remember Gian Villante going back to his corner and the coach was like ‘What are you doing?  You’re not doing nothing!’ and it’s like ‘You ain’t doing nothing bro!’  You sitting on the outside, don’t come in here and— and then I think Michael Bisping was like ‘Oh that’s great coaching.’  No, that’s terrible!  Don’t make the guy feel bad and down on himself,” an exasperated Perry exclaimed.  “Amp him up or something.  Come on, they’re heavyweights too.  Like, what do you think he’s doing?  He’s trying to not get knocked out!  That should be first.  I understand that we’re entertainers and we got to go out there and we got to fight, we got to put on a show.  But you also, when you get in the octagon, you got a show purse, and you got a win bonus.  That win bonus is more important than putting on that show.”

That speaks to the reason Perry didn’t have coaches on Saturday, he said.  Too many haven’t been in his position.  And the corner he did have, Latory, “spoke from a humble standpoint, on the outside. She kept it simple.”

With all that said, Perry isn’t done with coaches.  “I’m going try to put a team together that we can work, for upcoming events,” he said.  The current plan is to look for that in Florida. Possibly at American Top Team.

“I want to go to South Florida and work with Yoel Romero.  Feel that 185 pound weight class,” Perry stated.  “Man 170 is such a great place for me, but I want to fight Darren Till, I do want to fight that guy.”

“If I see him in person, I’m gonna fight him.  Nobody’s gonna stop me,” Perry said about Till.  The British fighter has been hounding “Platinum” on social media.  “I’m gonna grab him.  I’m gonna stick my finger in his eye and I’m gonna get a hold of me.  I’ll say it out loud because I don’t care.”

Watch the full UFC on ESPN 12 post-fight press conference with Mike Perry above.

The post UFC on ESPN 12: Mike Perry Points to Villante Corner as Example of Poor Coaching appeared first on Cageside Press.

The thunderous knockout will no doubt earn Boser (18-6-1) a step up in competition moving forward.  Or perhaps the fight he’s been calling for with Maurice Greene, who also picked up a key win at Saturday’s card in Las Vegas.

However, Boser’s performance wasn’t supposed to go down the way it did.  Or at least not when it did.  Originally slated for the event’s main card, just an hour or so before show time, he was told he’d be fighting on the prelims.

“They changed that up on me like an hour before I fought,” he exclaimed post-fight to media outlets including Cageside Press.  Not that it impacted him too much.  “I mean, normally probably, but I’m a mutt, man.  I function just fine in any circumstances.  I’m not specialized.  I can fight anyone, anywhere, anytime.  I mean it.  So although it’s inconvenient and kind of annoying, it didn’t affect me at all.”

During Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 12 broadcast, there was a suggestion made that Boser could drop to light heavyweight.  Boser isn’t the largest heavyweight, and weighed 235lbs for the fight.  It’s an idea that Boser, however, instantly dismissed, failing to see the logic in changing divisions while coming off a win.

“Yeah, great.  Yeah, everybody thinks that.  Why don’t you just lose 30 pounds?  No.  Why?  I just won, I should go to light heavyweight because I just kicked ass?” he exclaimed.  “[That] doesn’t make any sense.”

Later, Boser would address the recent trend of heavyweights coming in a little lighter.

“It’s such a big weight class, anything above 205 up to 265.  Some guys are giants.  Some guys have to cut weight and that’s just the way it is.  It’s just how they are.  Some guys are somewhere in the middle and don’t feel like killing themselves to get 205,” he opined.  “Everybody’s so quick to jump on a guy who’s 30 pounds above a weight class.  They go to 205 and then turn around the next day and say ‘Oh! Fighter safety I don’t want guys cutting too much weight.  What about their health?’  Make up your mind.  I’m happy here, you know?”

Watch the full UFC on ESPN 12 post-fight press conference with Tanner Boser above.

The post UFC on ESPN 12: Tanner Boser Dismisses Notion of Light Heavyweight Move appeared first on Cageside Press.

Welcome to the UFC, Kay Hansen.  It’s a call many expected for the talented youngster at some point. But it all seemed to come together very fast.  Speaking to Cageside Press in a media scrum post-fight at the UFC Apex, Hansen explained how it came about.

“I got the call Sunday afternoon. And I was literally taking my little sisters to Starbucks,” she recalled.  “I was in the drive thru line, and I get the DM from Mick Maynard. And I’m like, ‘Whoa,’ and then like 10 minutes later he calls me, and he not only offered me the bout but he offered me the contract with the UFC and I was like, ‘I can’t turn this down.’  This is all I’ve ever wanted.  This is the call that fighters wait for, you know? I was I was caught off guard, but at the same time I was fully excited and ready to take up you take him up on the opportunity.”

The opportunity was clearly the biggest of her career, and Hansen made the most of it.  With idol Ronda Rousey‘s signature finish, an arm-bar, no less.  Hansen also made one particular MMA fan very happy with the win: prior to the fight, a $37,000 wager was placed at the BetMGM Sportsbook at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Hansen found out shortly before she made her first walk to the octagon.

“I saw I saw that, probably like 45 minutes before my fight.  That’s so crazy to me,” she said.  “I mean, I don’t know who did it.  But that’s a lot of money to bet on someone making their UFC debut.  But congrats to them, I guess.”

A $37,000 bet was just placed at @BetMGM sportsbook at MGM Grand in Vegas on Kay Hansen to beat Jinh Yu Frey in the women’s strawweight fight tonight. Would win $20,000. pic.twitter.com/R2i4Qgaekd

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 27, 2020

The big wager didn’t have any effect on her heading into the fight, however.  “Not really no.  I mean, I saw and I was like, ‘What?’  But I mean, it didn’t put any pressure on me because that’s your choice,” Hansen observed.   “I’m not responsible for fulfilling that.  But I mean, it is cool to see people putting that kind of faith in me in a way, I guess.  But really crazy for sure.”

Watch the full UFC on ESPN 12 post-fight press scrum with Kay Hansen above!

The post UFC on ESPN 12: Kay Hansen Reacts to $37,000 Wager Placed on Her in Octagon Debut appeared first on Cageside Press.

The action kicked off from the opening bell, and never let up. It was instantly being referred to as a Fight of the Year contender, although, like Shane Burgos vs. Josh Emmett last week, it will face stiff competition from Weili Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

No matter. The fight was wildly entertaining, leaving fans wanting to see more of both men. After a good long rest, of course (both Poirier and Hooker were transported to hospital for precautionary reasons following the bout).

NO QUESTION.

(B2YB @ToyoTires) #UFCVegas4 pic.twitter.com/xsE2zImQhs

— UFC (@ufc) June 28, 2020

As for the Performance of the Night bonuses, newcomer Kay Hansen (7-3) picked up one. The twenty-year old debutante submitted another debuting fighter and Invicta FC alum, Jinh Yu Frey, via arm-bar in the third round. A heck of an introduction for the young strawweight, especially given Frey is a former Invicta FC champ, at atomweight.

The other Performance of the Night bonus wound up in the hands of Julian Erosa (24-8). Rather than a debut, he was making his return to the UFC, having been cut last year. A win on the regional circuit, the a promotion in need of bodies willing to fight, paved the way for his homecoming. And he made the most of it with a D’Arce choke submission of Sean Woodson.

All four bonus winners will take home $50,000 USD for their efforts. As usual during the pandemic, there was no gate and no attendance at the UFC Apex.

The post UFC on ESPN 12 Bonuses: The Obvious Choice Takes FOTN, Hansen and Erosa Both Cash In appeared first on Cageside Press.