UFC Hall of Famer, Team Alpha Male founder, and three-time bantamweight title challenger Urijah Faber is 39 years old and retired in December of 2016. However, ‘The California Kid’ spoke recently at a Quintet 3 media event in Las Vegas, and said he remained in the USADA testing pool, so could return at any point if he wanted to. And he might want to.

“Could I do some more fights? Absolutely,” said Faber to MMAjunkie, as transcribed by Mike Bohn. “Could I do years of more fights? Absolutely. Would I maybe do some fights? Very possible. But right now, I’m enjoying having my brain and having a good time.”

“I’m still contracted to the UFC, I’m still in the USADA pooling just in case something comes up. I train more than some of the guys who are pros, to be honest. I’m in the gym all the time when I’m in town, especially. I wouldn’t put it past jumping back in. I know that I’ve watched throughout. I’ve been a student of careers – guys like Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz and Henderson and these guys who have fought well into their 40s.

“I know it’s very possible and I would be a candidate since I live such a healthy lifestyle and I didn’t take a ton of damage. But for right now, I’m just really enjoying doing what I’m doing. Being a guy who is mentoring and doing business and entertainment and having a lot of fun.”

“I would never rule out a comeback. This is the real world. It would have to be a fight that makes a lot of sense and have some good money behind it. It’d have to get me excited. That’s all.”

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Darren Till lost a fight Saturday night vs. UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Till missed weight for the #1 contender fight, and had missed three fights back, so the UFC had Kamaru Usman weigh in as back up. Going into the fight Till said he would win, defend once, then move up to middleweight.post-fight, he was less certain one way or the other.

However, his nutritionist, Eoghan Gallagher, appeared recently on Peter Carroll’s surging Eurobash podcast, and said Till can stay at welter for the foreseeable future, if he has a mind to.

“[The weight cut] did go extremely well in the end,” said Gallagher, as transcribed by Peter Carroll for MMA Fighting. “I was very confident [he would make weight] and I think he can make 170 with ease for years to come, it’s just all about what his preference is moving forward.”

“We are absolutely confident that when you put in a system that looks to achieve goals over a certain period of time and don’t leave everything to the last minute, like a lot of people do, [Till can make the weight]. I only got to work with Darren [for a short period of time]. I met him and 20 days later he was 169 pounds, which was significantly less than what I got him at.”

“Ideally, what I’d like to do moving forward is spend six to eight weeks with him in Liverpool in a much longer camp than this one, obviously this was a short-notice fight. I’d look to get the weight down earlier, get him a bit slimmer — a little bit less aggressive than I had to do it this time. I’d get the weight down slowly, making the cut in the end extremely easy.”

“This cut was super easy. The actual water cut itself did not take a significant amount of time. When he jumped on the scales and we saw 170, his teammate Mike Grundy and I were there, we were all together and it was a really emotional moment for us. We just hugged it out and we were like, ‘Wow’. Absolutely, Darren can make 170 with ease with the systems that we have in place.”

(24:00 mark)

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Beginning with this weekend’s card headlined by Levy Marroquin vs. Jose ‘Pochito’ Alday, DAZN will be the exclusive home of Combate Americas’ English-language broadcasts in the United States and Canada. The multi-year deal promises to deliver 13 Combate events in 2019.

“Chapter one of DAZN’s entrance into the U.S. market is focused on combat sports,” said DAZN SVP Joseph Markowski. “With 80 percent of Combate Americas’ fights ending in a stoppage, we are excited to bring that type of action to fight fans.”

DAZN has a $1 billion deal to stream boxing, and has a nine-figure deal with Bellator, which begins with Bellator 206 on September 29.

The Marroquin vs. Alday bout will stream live from Phoenix on DAZN at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Friday, Sept. 14. The winner of the bantamweight (135 lbs.) matchup between Marroquin, who hails from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico and Alday of Tucson, Ariz. by way of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, will be crowned the first Mexican MMA world champion in history as well as the first world champion in Combate Americas’ history.

DAZN also has moved into boxing, reportedly signing a deal with Matchroom Boxing valued at $1 billion. The service, which costs $9.99 a month, also operates in Austria, Canada, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland.

Fans can sign up for DAZN for only $9.99 per month by registering at DAZN.com or by downloading the DAZN app on a wide range of connected devices, including smart TVs, PCs, smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. For more information, fans can follow DAZN’s U.S. social channels:
•@DAZNUSA on Facebook;
•@DAZN_USA for Twitter; and,
•DAZN_USA for Instagram.

MMA stars Gilbert “El Niño” Melendez and Julianna “The Venezuelan Vixen” Peña, alongside play-by-play announcer Max Bretos will call the action inside “La Jaula” – the Combate Americas cage.

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Extreme weight cutting in mixed martial arts reached a new level of irrationality at UFC 228 last weekend. Darren Till failed to make weight for his #1 contender fight, his second miss in four fights, but still got the title shot. Instead of moving Till up a division and protecting his health, as he plans to do anyway, the UFC paid another fighter, Kamaru Usman, to suffer through a weight cut to step in if Till failed. Welterweight champ Tyron Woodley said rightly he would refuse to take a new fight on a day’s notice, but the UFC had Usman cut anyway.

ESPN senior writer Arash Markazi was given exclusive access to Usman as he made the dangerous, worthless cut.

“This is going to be a tough weight cut,” explained Usman on Thursday night in his hotel room. “They’re all tough but this one is going to suck.”

“It’s tough dealing with that mentally because making weight is one of the biggest battles for fighters and the reason I do it is because I have a fight where I get to showcase everything I’m working on. So for me not to have that guarantee, it sucks but I’m a professional and this is part of the job.”

Usman steps on the scale and is 183.

“F*** me,” Usman exclaims. “Mother f***er. I’m not leaving until I’m 170.”

Usman’s cut is pretty old school. He rubs his body with Sweet Sweat, to promote sweating. Then he puts on a sauna suit. Then he puts on workout apparel.

Next he warmed up with 20 minutes of basketball, and got on an elliptical. When he stepped off, he can barely walk. Finally he lay in a sauna, then exited and wais swaddled in towels. He repeatsed the process three times, at time appearing to slip in and out of consciousness.

“This is dehydration,” explains Usman. “You’re dehydrating the body and dehydrating the organs. It’s not the healthiest thing for you but over the years I’ve figured out the human body is capable of that. Someone off the street can’t do that. You’re going to feel like you’re going to die and you might just die. There have been people who have died from this but over the years, I know the limits I can push my body that normal people can’t. I knew this was going to be tough but it’s part of the job.”

At 11:00 p.m. the gym is closing and Usman stepped back on the scale.

“Please Lord, be 170,” said Usman. “Please Lord. … Whatever it is, we’ll cut a leg off if we have to. We’re going to make it.”

After three hours, Usman had cut 13 pounds.

Then of course he had to sleep. But in his current state, it’s not possible.

“There’s no sleep,” explains Usman. “It’s the worst feeling in the world that I’ve experienced. You can’t function. They say the body is 70 percent water and you need that water for a reason. Your eyes need liquid, your mouth needs liquid, your organs need liquid for them to function and you’ve just taken 13 pounds of water out of your body. So you can’t sleep. You can’t close your eyes. I have double vision, I can’t talk, my throat and everything is shutting down. I’m just going to be in pain until the morning.”

At 8:00 a.m. Friday, he weighed in at 169. Woodley and Till both made weight, too, and Usman was happy for them to have their time.

If Till had missed, the plan was for Usman, after all that, to fight for the world title. The fans would have gotten a depleted athlete. Usman is undoubtedly doing damage to his organs. Woodley would have refused, causing the UFC another weight-cutting problem. And it’s all for nothing – the next day everyone would be about the same size.

The culture of extreme weight cutting is the most dangerous regulatory issue in mixed martial arts. Andy Foster, executive director of the California State Athletic Commission has created a 10 Point Plan to fix the deadly problem. It works. The ABC medical committee supports it. The ABC has adopted it. The UFC supports it and will continue to adopt further parts of it.

Unfortunately, most athletic commissions are apparently waiting for a high profile death, unconvinced by the lesser known deaths, and the endless series of hospitalizations and other major health problems.

The post Usman: Cutting feels like you are going to die, and you might appeared first on MMAInformed.

The UFC has enjoyed no clear Frazier to its Ali since the fall of PRIDE in 2007. However, under the leadership of Scott Coker, Bellator is rising. Some economists argue that every business strives to be a monopoly, and that it never lasts; if that’s true, then the rise of a rival is not just possible, it’s inevitable.

Commentator Joe Rogan is very closely associated with the UFC brand, but above all that, he loves combat sports, loves competition, and on the latest JRE podcast said he hopes Bellator gives the UFC a run.

“I like it. I like that the fighters are having a good time over there. They get paid well,” said Rogan, as transcribed by Nathan Zur for Sherdog. “I want it to grow. I want it to be right up there with the UFC. I would love it if it was a full rival like PRIDE was.”

“I love [Bellator MMA President Scott] Coker. I like what he’s doing. I’m somehow or another supposed to be in competition with Bellator. I say that’s horses***. I’m the one who got Jimmy Smith hired [by the UFC]. I tried to get him hired years ago. I love the fact that ‘Big’ John is over there now, and ‘Goldie’ is too. And Mauro, I love Mauro. They’ve got great fighters over there.

“I love that Rory MacDonald’s over there. He’s the champ. If he’s not the best welterweight in the world, it’s him and Tyron. He’s most certainly one of the best. Mousasi is one go the best 185ers in the world, if not the best. They have legit claim to world-class fighters now in at least two weight classes.”

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As novel as MMA Pro League touts its concept as being, there have of course been several notable attempts in recent years at launching team-based mixed martial arts promotions. The most well-known and perhaps impactful of these efforts was the International Fight League (IFL).

The IFL signed excellent prospects and MMA legends, both, to fight and coach on teams ostensibly based out of different cities across the world. The promotion also received substantial beat and mainstream media coverage and raised significant amounts of investor cash.

Still, the IFL never managed to be a major ticket seller or draw consistently big ratings on television and folded after a few years of producing some excellent and high-level MMA cards.

Taffet insists that he isn’t getting into MMA with naiveté, especially when it comes to using a team sports concept. In fact, ahead of his promotion’s debut, he tells us that he learned a lot from the IFL’s short run, in large part because of a personal connection to the promotion.

“My most important reflection on the IFL is a personal one,” Taffet says.

“Jay Larkin was at Showtime when I was at HBO and we both were key negotiators for putting together the first Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson fight. That was a pretty remarkable deal that we put together with the two networks because the fans wanted to see the fight, and Jay and I became good friends.”

When Larkin later joined the IFL in an attempt to revive the MMA promotion a few years before his tragic death, Taffet says his old friend and he often spoke about the project and its challenges.

“He and I spent a lot of time talking about that league – the good, the bad, and the ugly,” he continues. “That league was ahead of its time, first and foremost. I also believe that they spent too much time focusing on sensationalism. There was a lot of violence being shown in those early [IFL] broadcasts. There were close-ups of cuts, ambulance chasing type scenes.

“With MMA Pro League, we have excellent fighters and will put on great contests, but we consider them and will present them as athletes, first and foremost. We will emphasize the amazing athleticism, and dedication these athletes in MMA have. I have confidence that fans will respond to that, as well as the chance to root for these athletes who will truly be based in cities. They will train there, live there, and be active in those communities. It will be organic, real, and emphasize the right things. I believe fans will ultimately root for MMA athletes in a way that they haven’t in a long time.”

(Mark Taffet, coach Dan Miller, co-founder Hani Darwish)

About the author:
Elias Cepeda is a host of Sports Illustrated’s Extra Rounds Podcast, a staff writer at FloCombat, and has a regular column for The UG Blog.

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In a two-and-a-half year run, UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt fought Alistair Overeem, Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Bigfoot Silva, Stipe Miocic, and Fabricio Werdum. Of those, now only Miocic is clean. The latest to fail a PED test Werdum. The former UFC heavyweight champ was supposed to have headlined UFC Fight Night 136, but withdrew after an anti-doping test was flagged, and was replaced by Hunt

During a recent media event ahead of his fight vs. Alexei Oleinik on Saturday in Moscow, Russia, Hunt did the verbal equivalent of one of his walk away knockouts.

“I’m glad that Fabricio Werdum got caught, that little b****,” said Hunt, as transcribed by Damon Martin for MMA Weekly. “Go back to the favelas. F*** you, you little c***. Good job. He was supposed to be here, but that’s what you get for being weak. That’s what you get, Fabricio, for being a weak-minded person. See you later.”

“That guy kneed me in the head in Mexico. I had to lose 21 kilograms (46 pounds) in three and a half weeks to make that a title fight. I got kneed in the head by that little cheater. Then he beats Cain in Mexico. That really upsets me about that guy. Then he wouldn’t fight me – he’s just a cheating little b**** man.

“He’s a little dog, that guy. See you later, Fabricio. Enjoy, motherf***er.”

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The early, official UFC Fight Night 136 weigh-ins took place at the event hotel in Moscow, at 2:00 a.m. ET. There will be no ceremonial weigh-ins.

Two fighters missed weight; both fights will go on.

Jin Soo Son weighed in at 137, missing the bantamweight non-title cut off by one pound; he will forfeit 20% of his purse to opponent Petr Yan. Mairbek Taisumov weighed in at 161, missing the lightweight non-title cut off by five pounds; he will forfeit 40% of his purse to opponent Desmond Green. And Taisumov should move up a division; most fighters should for the health and safety.

UFC Fight Night 136 weigh-in results:
Main Card (UFC Fight Pass, 2:00 p.m. ET )
Mark Hunt (265) vs. Aleksei Oleinik (235)
Jan Blachowicz (205) vs. Nikita Krylov (205)
Shamil Abdurakhimov (256) vs. Andrei Arlovski (244)
Thiago Alves (171) vs. Alexey Kunchenko (170)
Prelim Card (UFC Fight Pass, 10:30 a.m. ET)
C.B. Dollaway (186) vs. Khalid Murtazaliev (185)
Jin Soo Son (137) vs. Petr Yan (136)
Kajan Johnson (155) vs. Rustam Khabilov (156)
Desmond Green (156) vs. Mairbek Taisumov (161)
Magomed Ankalaev (204) vs. Marcin Prachnio (205)
Jordan Johnson (186) vs. Adam Yandiev (184)
Ramazan Emeev (171) vs. Stefan Sekulic (170)
Merab Dvalishvili (135) vs. Terrion Ware (135)

Fighter faceoffs following official weigh-ins:

Courtesy of MMAjunkie.

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There is a short list of potential candidates for greatest female mixed martial arts fighter of all time, that includes Gina Carano, Cris Cyborg, Megumi Fuji, Amanda Nunes, Ronda Rousey, and the consensus choice is Cyborg. However, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Nunes fights the featherweight champ Cyborg at UFC 232 on December 29 in Las Vegas, and during an interview with Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting, The Lioness argued persuasively, that with a win, she’s the G.O.A.T.

“For sure,” she emphasized. “That’s the reason why I made this decision to move up a division. I want fans to remember me like that. Winning on December 29, I won’t ever leave fans’ heads, that’s for sure. Achieving that, being the only Brazilian woman to become two-division champion… The only woman, the only Brazilian, will be a huge achievement. It’s a big fight, a fight that will make history, and I will come out victorious one more time.”

“I was chatting to my coaches, Nina [Ansaroff] was there as well, and this idea came up. Din Thomas told me, ‘You have to do something different, you have to make history,’ something like that, and I said he was right. Some time after, Din Thomas said in an interview, ‘Amanda will fight Cris.’ I was like, ‘You know what, man, that conversation happened for a reason.’ It’s happened at the right time because my division is still moving and still needs some fights to really decide the next top contender for me. Cris’ division has nothing happening as well, there’s no one in that division, and the UFC kind of has its hands tied with that division.”

Nunes reports that she is 165 right now, and will be comfortable fighting at 145.

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UFC lightweight Michael Chiesa was on the fighter bus that former lightweight champion McGregor attacked with a hand truck at UFC 223. The target of the attack was soon-t0-be lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was amused. Two fighters including Chiesa, were cut by flying glass to the point they couldn’t fight.

On weigh-ins day, late replacement main eventer Max Holloway was ruled medically unfit for his fight vs. Nurmagomedov for the vacant title. Pettis took the fight, but couldn’t make weight. Eventually, the fight went to Al Iaquinta. Chiesa is certain that had McGregor not injured him, he would have had a title fight.

Cheisa is now suing McGregor for the loss of a lifetime. Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting interviewed Brooklyn lawyer Dmitriy Shakhnevich about the merits of the case, and potential defenses for McGregor’s team.

The attorney explains that there is no legitimate defense for McGregor, that in the absence of serious injury or death damages could be as high as the low six figures, but that the case can make McGregor miserable. He predicted a settlement.

“There’s no other way,” said Shakhnevich. “Because there’s no defense. There’s no way Conor can defend his case — he pled guilty. He allocated in open court what he did wrong. There’s no defense that’s admissible in this case.”

“What they can do in this case is they can really put Conor through the ringer. They can make him sit for a deposition, they could tape the deposition. It could make him really uncomfortable. He doesn’t need that. He has money, he has fame, he has everything. He’s not gonna want to be dragged through the mud. He’s gonna pay whatever he has to pay. Whatever he pays will pale in comparison to what he makes in a couple of weeks. There’s really no reason for him to defend this case.”

“To get that much money in his pocket for a guy — you never know, [Chiesa] could lose his next fight and be cut and that’s it. It’s that kind of business. So, you can’t really judge him. I don’t. I’d encourage him to do the same thing and I’d encourage everybody else in that bus to do the same thing.”

McGregor fights lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 on October 6 for big money.

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