Khabib Nurmagomedov returned at UFC 254 in October with his undefeated record on the line to face interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje in an emotional performance.

“The Eagle” logged one of his best career performances, finishing Gaethje early in the second round. Following the fight, Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from fighting.

Will he ever return to the Octagon? UFC president Dana White thinks the answer is ‘yes.’

(Courtesy of UFC)

TRENDING Khabib would likely return to fight Georges St-Pierre; turned down Floyd Mayweather

Dana White thinks Khabib Nurmagomedov will fight again

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Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/watch-khabib-nurmagomedov-take-out-justin-gaethje-in-retirement-fight

A pair of women’s bantamweights will look to rebound at UFC Fight Night on March 20.

Julia Avila (8-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) faces Julija Stoliarenko (9-4-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) in an event that does not yet have a venue or location. A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the news to MMA Junkie following a report from MMA Fighting.

After going 2-0 to start her UFC tenure with wins over Pannie Kianzad and Gina Mazany, Avila saw her four-fight winning streak snapped at the hands of Sijara Eubanks at UFC on ESPN+ 35 in September.

In her return to the UFC, Season 28 “The Ultimate Fighter” alum Stoliarenko fell short against Yana Kunitskaya at UFC on ESPN+ 32, which snapped her five-fight winning streak. Prior to that, Stoliarenko captured the vacant Invicta FC bantamweight title by edging out Lisa Verzosa in an absolute bloodbath.

With the addition, the UFC Fight Night on March 20 lineup includes:

• Derek Brunson vs. Kevin Holland
• Cheyanne Buys vs. Kay Hansen
• Julia Avila vs. Julija Stoliarenko

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/ufc-fight-night-julia-avila-vs-julija-stoliarenko-booked-march-20

The coronavirus pandemic, and its resulting restrictions, hit gym owners and teams hard in 2020. But, despite the challenges arriving from the onset of COVID-19, MMA’s elite gyms still managed to help fine-tune their fighters to deliver memorable performances throughout the year.

One gym, in particular, enjoyed an excellent year, with Colorado’s Elevation Fight Team delivering an impressive series of results as the Denver-based gym led its big names to a positive 2020.

The gym added a new championship belt to its honor roll when Justin Gaethje stepped in on short notice and finished Tony Ferguson to capture the interim lightweight title at UFC 249. Unfortunately for Gaethje and his team, “The Highlight” wasn’t able to upgrade to the undisputed title when he lost to Khabib Nurmagmedov later in the year, but following Nurmagomedov’s subsequent retirement, Gaethje looks well placed to challenge for undisputed gold once again in 2021.

Elsewhere, the gym’s two star heavyweights went undefeated, as Alistair Overeem and Curtis Blaydes both were 2-0 for the year, with all four victories coming in UFC main events.

Overeem’s back-to-back TKO finishes of Walt Harris and Augusto Sakai gave him his first unbeaten calendar year since 2015, while Blaydes followed up a 2-0 year in 2019 with another in 2020, with victories over former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos and ex-Bellator champ Alexander Volkov. A four-fight winning streak sends Blaydes into 2021 with real momentum.

It was also a big year for evergreen welterweight Neil Magny, who returned to his prolific fighting ways in 2020 by fighting, and winning, three times. Magny picked up a trio of unanimous decisions over Li Jingliang, Rocco Martin and former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler to put him in a solid position heading into the new year.

While its established stars cemented its elite credentials, Elevation’s emerging talent also enjoyed successes. Most notably, lightweight Drew Dober continued his impressive rise toward the lightweight elite by adding two significant victories to his record. Dober’s back-to-back finishes of fellow highly rated prospects Nasrat Haqparast and Alexander Hernandez saw him end 2020 with an honorable mention in the MMA Junkie/USA TODAY Sports lightweight rankings.

Elevation’s Shana Dobson produced one of the biggest upsets of the year when she defeated Mariya Agapova at UFC on ESPN 15, while bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen bounced back from a submission loss to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 250 with a second-round TKO finish of Marlon Moraes in his first UFC main event at UFC Fight Night 179 in October.

It all added up to a positive year for the Colorado collective, which deservedly earns our accolade as MMA Junkie’s “Gym of the Year” for 2020.

Honorable mention

New England Cartel

Fronted by head coach and joint-winner of MMA Junkie’s 2020 “Coach of the Year” Tyson Chartier, the New England Cartel enjoyed something of a breakout year in 2020, with both Calvin Kattar and Rob Font enjoying significant success as they both edged their way toward title contention at featherweight and bantamweight respectively.

Kattar lived up to his nickname “The Boston Finisher” with a second-round TKO of Jeremy Stephens at UFC 249, then followed up with a hard-earned unanimous decision win to halt the two-year, six-fight winning streak of Dan Ige at UFC on ESPN 13.

Font, meanwhile, picked up a huge win in December when he returned from a one-year layoff to finish Marlon Moraes and force himself into the title conversation at 135 pounds.

Jackson Wink MMA

Albuquerque-based Jackson Wink MMA gym maintained its reputation for excellence with another strong year in 2020.

Jon Jones defeated Dominick Reyes to retain the UFC light heavyweight title before relinquishing the belt later in the year in preparation for his move up to heavyweight in 2021, while former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm earned back-to-back decision wins over Raquel Pennington and Irene Aldana to put her firmly on a path toward a rematch with Amanda Nunes in 2021. Strawweight contender Michelle Waterson also produced a “Fight of the Year” contender with Angela Hill at UFC Fight Night 177 in December.

Elsewhere on their sizable roster, former interim welterweight champ Carlos Condit snapped a five-fight skid in his first appearance since 2018 with victory over Court McGee, while, a year to the day after he tore his knee at the Quintet Ultra grappling event in December  2019, Cub Swanson returned to score a big TKO victory over Daniel Pineda at UFC 256.

But perhaps the biggest success story for the gym in 2020 was the development of Aaron Pico. The Bellator featherweight reeled off a hat-trick of stoppage victories in 2020, with a submission of Solo Hatley Jr. sandwiching TKO finishes of Daniel Carey and John De Jesus as he continues to evolve under the tutelage of coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/mma-2020-gym-of-the-year-elevation-fight-team

The UFC’s matchmaking process is a closely guarded secret, but promotion president Dana White revealed that the official rankings are far from the deciding factor when putting fights together on the sport’s biggest stage.

Speaking to Laura Sanko during an online chat with ESPN+ subscribers Tuesday, White explained that, while rankings are definitely considered, fan interest and engagement are also essential to making fights.

“Obviously the rankings are very important,” White said. “We always try to stay with the rankings, and it’s always awesome when you have the champion vs. the No. 1, or No. 1 vs. No. 2. But you’ve seen many times when there’s a fight people want to see, we’ll make it.”

White went on to discuss how the UFC keeps a close eye on statistics and the numbers that each fighter pulls in, which helps decide the types of fights fans want to see.

“We know every number and every little detail that goes into making a fight like that,” White said. “All the kids that came off the Contender Series, I know how many people watched their fights on the Contender Series, and it keeps updating because it stays in the system.”

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/ufc-news-dana-white-discusses-matchmaking-strategy

A champion in RIZIN and Bellator and a title challenger in the UFC, Kyoji Horiguchi has proven himself one of the world’s finest lighter-weight competitors by actually going and winning all over the world.

Horiguchi hit some obstacles in 2020, but he finished the year in a manner which suggests he’ll be right back on track in 2021.

The Japanese competitor lost a stunning upset to Kai Asukara in 2019, then missed most of 2020 due to a knee injury.

On Dec. 31, however, Horiguchi returned to the ring at Rizin FF 26, extracted revenge, defeated Asukara, and regained the Rizin bantamweight belt.

Horiguchi remains a threat at both flyweight and bantamweight, and with that, he returns to our 135-pound rankings in the honorable mention section.

And that quite frankly was the only performance of note as the MMA world took a much-needed breather to end the year. If you’d like a refresher on where your favorite — or least favorite — competitor rates — go to the drop-down menu above and select a division.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/usa-today-sports-mma-junkie-rankings-jan-5-kyoji-horiguchi-rebounds