UFC bantamweight Casey Kenney faced widespread backlash Thursday after he made “utterly degrading” sexual comments about fellow UFC fighter Megan Anderson and has issued an apology to the women’s featherweight title challenger with whom he’ll share a card at UFC 259.

Kenney came under fire for his words on “The Timbo Sugarshow” podcast co-hosted by Tim Welch and Sean O’Malley. Kenney was asked by Welch if he would “smash” Anderson – meaning have sex with her. He answered the question openly.

“Probably not, man,” Kenney said, laughing. “She’s not too … well, I mean, if it came down to it, and it was like 5 a.m., 4, she’s a 5 a.m.-er, 4 a.m.-er. Just us two hanging out, like, ‘F*ck it, let’s do it.’”

That portion of the interview was shared on Twitter and seen by Anderson. She quote-tweeted it and indicated discomfort at having to share the March 6 card with Kenney.

I guess MMA is a line of work where you can publicly talk about whether you’d have sex with a coworker in an utterly degrading way and face zero consequences.

Disgusting behavior and it’s unfortunate that he’ll be fighting on my card in March. https://t.co/hJd1OuHIyD

— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) January 28, 2021

I guess MMA is a line of work where you can publicly talk about whether you’d have sex with a coworker in an utterly degrading way and face zero consequences.

Disgusting behavior and it’s unfortunate that he’ll be fighting on my card in March.

The UFC did not immediately respond to MMA Junkie’s request for comment about Anderson’s concerns.

Within 90 minutes of Anderson’s response, Kenney apologized directly to her.

“I’m sorry this upset you,” he wrote. “I will be more careful with my words. I was just answering a question and thought it was all a joking matter. I see I was wrong and I’m sorry. Best of luck with training camp and your fight.”

Anderson, 30, is set to challenge dual champion Amanda Nunes for the women’s 145-pound belt as part of a title triple header on the UFC 259 pay-per-view. Kenney, 29, will look for his fourth consecutive win in the biggest fight of his career against former UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/ufc-casey-kenney-apologizes-megan-anderson-sexually-degrading-remarks

The first real chapter in what became the legend of Randy Couture went down at UFC 15 on Oct. 17, 1997.

There are many reasons why “The Natural” is a UFC Hall of Famer. He was the first man to win UFC titles in different weight classes, and his five combined UFC title reigns — three at heavyweight, two at light heavyweight — remains a company record. Couture also created one of the all-time great moments in UFC history when he came out of retirement to defeat Tim Sylvia and win the heavyweight belt at UFC 68 at age 43.

Couture made his MMA debut at UFC 13, winning two fights in one night to claim the heavyweight tournament. But his first real legendary moment was he scored what at the time was considered a major upset of an undefeated Vitor Belfort at UFC 15, which was held in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

And it only made sense Couture spoke to Burt Watson on a new edition of Legend 2 Legend about the bout, which Couture won via TKO in 8:16.

A young Belfort was called “The Phenom” for a reason. He was considered a superstar in waiting, having won all four of his previous fights, including three in the UFC, via TKO or KO, with the longest bout lasting 77 seconds.

But Belfort made Couture, who walked first, wait in the cage for 10 minutes before officials had to order him out of his locker room. And in his head, that told Couture that Belfort was doubting himself.

“I’m in the cage, they play the entrance music, and nobody comes out of the tunnel,” Couture told Burt Watson. “And I stayed in the cage for about 10 minutes. And there was no opponent. … And in my mind right away I thought ‘he’s just scared.’ This is something that somebody who is scared to come out and compete would do. That’s what I thought.

“That’s an old boxing trick, you freeze the guy out, you make him stand there and wait, and you get in his head that way. I thought it had the opposite effect. For me, in my mind, he was intimidated. He was scared.”

From there, the fight was on, and the result sent reverberations around the sport that was then known as “No Holds Barred.” After defeating Belfort, Couture then went out at UFC 19 and defeated Mark Coleman to win the heavyweight belt and claim the first of his five titles.

To hear more from Couture on one of the first truly legendary moments in UFC history, check out the video above.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/legend-2-legend-randy-couture-vitor-belfort-iwas-intimidated-ufc-15

By MMA Junkie Staff
January 28, 2021 11:05 pm

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Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/mma-junkie-radio-3126-special-guest-sam-alvey-jake-paul-vs-ben-askren-more

Michael Chandler is living the dream.

Following his first-round finish of Dan Hooker in the co-main event of UFC 257, Chandler cut an epic promo, honoring one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Ric Flair.

And it appears “The Nature Boy” took notice, giving Chandler a call to congratulate him on his impressive promotional debut. A giddy Chandler shared the clip on his Instagram, thanking the pro wrestling legend for the praise.

“Are you kidding me?! Just got a personal zoom call from @ricflairnatureboy to congratulate me on my win at #ufc257 Living an actual dream. Thank y’all for being on this journey with me. Stay the course. Eventually all your hard work will pay off, you just still have to be standing there with arms wide open when it does. WOOOOOOOOOO! See you at the top! Huge thanks to @theathleteassist for making the connection for me.”

A post shared by Michael Chandler (@mikechandlermma)

Chandler, who entered the UFC lightweight title picture with his big win over Hooker, immediately called for former interim champion Dustin Poirier next. Though the retired Khabib Nurmagomedov is still the official UFC 155-pound champion, Chandler is hoping to face Poirier for the vacant title that’s expected to be on the line once the promotion accepts his retirement.

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/ric-flair-calls-michael-chandler-after-the-nature-boy-inspired-promo

Former UFC title challenger Raquel Pennington has been suspended for six months by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the UFC’s official anti-doping partner.

Pennington today revealed that a suspension was forthcoming, and the agency shortly after issued a formal announcement, following a self-reported violation of the UFC’s anti-doping policy by the 32-year-old women’s bantamweight.

Pennington was found to be using the prohormone 7-keto-DHEA and the peptide AOD-9064, both of which she said were prescribed to her by a doctor to treat a medical condition. Unfortunately, both substances are prohibited at all times under the UFC’s policy.

According to USADA officials, “after using the substances for a short period of time, she conducted research and learned that they were prohibited substances and immediately came forward about her use to USADA.” While Pennington faced a potential two-year sanction, she was granted a reduced order “based on her forthright declaration prior to sample collection and for her Full and Complete Cooperation” USADA officials confirmed.

Pennington’s period of ineligibility began on Nov. 17, the date she declared the use of the substances, leaving her eligible to return in May.

Pennington (11-8 MMA, 8-5 UFC) last fought in June, picking up a decision win over Marion Reneau at UFC on ESPN 11. She currently sits at No. 8 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie women’s bantamweight rankings.

Pennington’s full statement is below (via Instagram):

A post shared by Raquel Pennington (@raquel_pennington)

I wanted you to hear this from me first. This morning, USADA will be announcing a violation I committed of the UFC anti-doping policy. Here are the facts. I went to my physician about a medical condition I was experiencing and was prescribed several medications to treat the condition. Unfortunately, I took the medications for a brief period of time, before realizing I should have checked on their status under the program. I soon discovered that these medications may be prohibited, so I immediately stopped taking the medication and contacted the UFC to report this potential issue. I want to make it very clear that there was nothing that forced me to report this to UFC, and ultimately USADA. No one knew about this except myself and my physician and USADA had not collected a sample from me since I started the medications. This was simply me realizing a potential mistake and wanting to do the right thing. As USADA’s forthcoming statement will show, I fully cooperated with them and provided them with 100% honesty. I was not trying to cheat, skirt the rules or trying to gain a performance advantage. I was simply trying to treat a medical condition and made the mistake of not timely checking the status of these medications. I want to apologize to all of my fans and publicly make the commitment that I will be much more careful in the future and not let this happen again. I hope that I can serve as a role model in showing that we all make mistakes, but it is what you do after realizing those mistakes that define your true character. I believe that my actions shown in these events show everyone what I am made of, and while I regret making this mistake, I am proud of how I handled this and hope that you are of me as well. Thank you for your understanding and your support. #TeamRocky #BeBackInMay

Following the announcement, UFC senior vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky took to Twitter to emphasize Pennington’s willingness to be transparent as her case was investigated, taking a quote from her statement (via Twitter):

Once she realized her potential mistake, Raquel did EVERYTHING right. “Your mistakes don’t define your character. It’s what you do after you have made the mistakes, that make all the difference.” https://t.co/oo00d0SwYm

— Jeff Novitzky (@JeffNovitzkyUFC) January 28, 2021

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/usada-suspends-raquel-pennington-for-six-months-following-self-report-rocky-issues-statement