ABU DHABI — Coronavirus has made the past year a difficult path for everyone in the fight game, but it was especially troublesome for a competitor like Kayla Harrison.

The two-time Olympic judo gold medalist was just starting to come into her own in mixed martial arts in 2020. Harrison (8-0) was the PFL’s 2019 women’s lightweight champion, and with seven fights under her belt at that point, she was just reaching the point that she no longer felt like a newbie in the cage.

When the pandemic hit, the PFL had to cancel its season, as, unlike other fight promotions, the PFL’s regular season and playoffs format can’t be condensed in a sport as physically demanding as MMA.

Harrison eventually was able to get a fight in under the Invicta FC banner. Meanwhile, her coach, American Top Team’s Mike Brown, says she used her year showing up to the gym as if she had a fight booked anyway,

“This is someone who, whether she’s got a fight or not, she’s in the gym,” Brown told MMA Junkie during UFC 257 fight week. “She’s there pretty much twice a day, every day, whether there’s a fight for her or not. She’s another very, very, very dedicated athlete who’s made huge strides, huge gains. I mean, you would expect this from somebody who is obviously, I would say, gifted genetically and I would say all in, and fully committed in every way. She lives her life to be the best fighter on the planet.”

With the PFL set to resume operations with the 2021 season, which gets underway in April, Brown believes Harrison, who went down to featherweight for her Invicta win over Cortney King, is ready for higher-level competition.

“She’s made unbelievable gains from Day 1, but now she’s 8-0,” Brown said, “Now she’s had eight fights with all the experience and now very comfortable in the cage, and she’s really at the point, I think, to start fighting anyone they can throw at her. Whoever in the world they got, throw it at her. I think she’s at that point she can take big, big challenges, and she’s at that point she can take anybody, I think. 

Harrison’s PFL contract expires after the upcoming season, and at times it has appeared she’s running laps around the competition. But given recent high-profile signings like former UFC and WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, Brown is confident PFL will find Harrison real challenges this year.

“The big names, she’s ready for,” Brown said. “PFL has been great. PFL is growing, it would be great to see them bring in some big names. They could bring in a (Cris) Cyborg or somebody of this nature to challenge her. I think she’s in a great spot. I think they’re doing good things, and it’s growing. You got guys like Pettis, world champions in other organizations now coming to the organization. I think it’s going to be a different PFL this year.”

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/pfl-kayla-harrison-ready-big-challenges-coach-mike-brown-says

Ever since he finished Conor McGregor in brutal fashion this past Saturday at UFC 257, Dustin Poirier has been on Twitter making some bold claims that he’s the new lightweight champion.

Just take a look:

Should @DustinPoirier simply be granted the lightweight title with Khabib out of the picture? 🏆💎#UFC257 | More: https://t.co/YYiSpNfF9K pic.twitter.com/xnKOIHY0A5

— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) January 26, 2021

The problem, of course, is that the title wasn’t on the line, as it still technically belongs to Khabib Nurmagomedov even though he retired last October. There was talk that if UFC president Dana White couldn’t convince Nurmagomedov to come return for a 30th fight before UFC 257, that maybe he would be stripped, but things didn’t pan out that way. Now, with Nurmagomedov seemingly not willing to budge on his retirement, that has Poirier feeling a certain way.

On this week’s episode of “Spinning Back Clique,” we debated bold statements, asking if they were overreactions or on the money. So … Dustin Poirier is the uncrowned champion of the UFC. Overreaction or on the money?

Watch the video above to hear Brian “Goze” Garcia, Danny Segura, and Nolan King weigh in.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/dustin-poirier-uncrowned-ufc-lightweight-champion-reaction-video

It was quite a week for the UFC on “Fight Island.”

Two cards went down with consequential results for the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings: UFC on ESPN 20 and the big one, UFC 257.

Let’s start with the first show, which was headlined by Michael Chiesa’s one-sided decision victory over Neil Magny. Chiesa improved to 4-0 since he moved up to welterweight, and that bumps him to No. 11 in the divisional rankings.

Then we move on to UFC 257, where, from a rankings perspective, Michael Chandler makes the biggest splash. The three-time Bellator lightweight champion turned heads with his UFC debut, a vicious first-round finish of the respected Dan Hooker in the evening’s co-feature. Chandler was unranked before this, and while one can certainly debate that decision, there’s no denying him now: Chandler enters the new rankings at No. 8.

As for the big one: Dustin Poirier’s victory over Conor McGregor was certainly impressive. But Khabib Nurmagomedov remains recognized as UFC lightweight champion as of this writing, and Poirier was already ranked No. 2, so that’s where he stays. Likewise, McGregor looked sharp in Round 1 and losing to Poirier is nothing to be ashamed of, so we’re keeping him at No. 6.

Those are just a few of the fights of note over the past week. So to see where your favorite — or least favorite — fighter places in the current edition of the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, click on the drop-down menu above.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/usa-today-sports-mma-junkie-rankings-jan-26-michael-chandlers-big-move

Former Bellator and ONE Championship titleholder and UFC veteran Ben Askren has agreed to box YouTube sensation Jake Paul.

Why? Because they Triller is backing a dump truck full of money to his front door, that’s why. Triller is the promotional company behind the recent Mike Tyson comeback against Roy Jones Jr.

Paul fought his second professional boxing match on the undercard of the Tyson vs. Jones card, knocking out former NBA star Nate Robinson in the second round.

After defeating Robinson, Paul used his platform of millions of social media subscribers and followers to try and lure Conor McGregor into a fight. That, of course, fell flat.

He tried to goad McGregor teammate and Bellator fighter Dillon Danis into a fight. That was also a non-starter.

His brother, fellow YouTube sensation and celebrity boxer Logan, inked an exhibition deal to face Floyd Mayweather in February.

How Ben Askren vs. Jake Paul came together

Jake Paul finally gained traction by taking shots at Ben Askren, who retired primarily because of health issues following back-to-back losses to Jorge Masvidal and Demian Maia under the UFC banner.

Askren finally agreed when Triller made its offer, which he says is more money than he’s ever been paid before for a fight in his career.

Askren has never fought in a professional boxing match, but he did box in the backyard in high school. Now he gets to step into the ring and get paid for it.

While he may not be a professional boxer, it’s not like he’s never trained in the discipline. It’s an integral part of mixed martial arts, a sport in which he has been a champion in two different organizations.

“I did this for free a whole bunch of times in high school and now they want to pay me a whole bunch of money. I thought this was just fun. I did this for a fun time. I think combat is fun,” Askren told TMZ Sports.

“Why wouldn’t I do this again if I’m getting paid a whole bunch of money? When I thought about it that way, the answer to me was obvious.”

Askren doesn’t understand why people think Jake Paul is a good boxer

“I don’t know why people actually think he’s good. I watched the Nate Robinson fight. I thought, ‘Holy s–t, these guys are bad.’ They’re really bad,” Askren said.

“So I really don’t see why people think he’s good at boxing. He’s a YouTube star who decided he wants to do a few boxing matches. He’s not a boxer.”

When they step in the boxing ring on April 17, Askren believes Paul is in for a rude awakening for thinking he can actually box.

“It won’t be more that I hit him and he goes down, but over the course of the eight rounds, he realizes, ‘Holy s–t, I’m in a real fight. I don’t really like this. I’m just some spoiled rich kid. I’m just gonna find an easy way out.’ It’s gonna be like a TKO, maybe round six, round seven. Something to that effect.”

The Askren vs. Paul fight will take place under the Triller Fight Club banner. It will serve as the main event, airing on pay-per-view. The location has yet to be finalized.

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UFC 257 recap highlights: Dustin Poirier KOs Conor McGregor

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Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/ben-askren-vs-jake-paul-boxing-set-for-april-17

Dustin Poirier’s knockout of Conor McGregor in the UFC 257 main event pushed the event to be one of the promotion’s top selling pay-per-views of all time.

According to John Ourand of The Sports Journal, UFC 257: Poirier vs. McGregor 2 has topped 1.6 million pay-per-view buys, which would put it in line with UFC president Dana White’s excitement over the numbers.

“It was a good night. It was a really good night. Top two all time,” White said at the UFC 257 post-fight press conference.

“Saturday’s UFC PPV is tracking to be one of ESPN+’s highest selling pay-per-view events since it started carrying UFC nearly two years ago. Sources say ESPN+ logged around 1.2 million PPV buys for UFC 257, which was headlined by Dustin Poirier’s second-round knockout of Conor McGregor,” reported Ourand.

“UFC added another 400,000 buys internationally, for a total of 1.6 million global buys, which would place it as one of the best-selling UFC PPVs of all time. At the post-fight presser, Dana White sepculated that ity could make the ‘top two of all time.’”