Jimmy Crute marked himself as one to watch in the UFC’s light heavyweight division in 2020.

The young Australian fought twice this year, and earned “Performance of the Night” both times.

And while his October knockout of Modestas Bukauskas was impressive, the win which really put him on the map occurred at UFC Auckland in February.

There, Crute (12-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) took on a well-established foe in Michał Oleksiejczuk. Crute spent the better part of the fight out-grappling his foe, and turned it into an impressive Kimura submission at the 3:29 mark of the opening round.

Crute doesn’t yet have his next fight lined up. But given what we saw from him in 2020, whenever that fight is announced, it will no doubt it will be one to watch. In the meantime, the UFC has made his outstanding finish of Oleksiejczuk free to view, and you can watch it in the video above.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/ufc-free-fight-jimmy-crute-arrives-with-slick-finish-of-michal-oleksiejczuk

Amanda Ribas has quickly made an impact on the UFC strawweight division. She is 4-0 in her four trips to the Octagon, including this flyweight fight where she sent Paige VanZant packing.

Ahead of Ribas’s UFC 257 bout opposite Marina Rodriguez, rewatch her quick finish of VanZant at UFC 251.

TRENDING Check out the UFC’s wildest knockouts of 2020

(Video courtesy of UFC)

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/watch-amanda-ribas-send-paige-vanzant-packing-ahead-of-ufc-257

Bellator’s slate of events was reduced in 2020 because of the pandemic, but there was still plenty of action to be had as they came on strong late in the year.

Take a look back the best Bellator knockouts of 2020, as we get ready to launch into 2021.

TRENDING Conor McGregor reveals UFC 246 numbers as top 2020 PPV, but Jorge Masvidal’s manager begs to differ

(Video courtesy of BellatorMMA)

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/check-out-the-bellators-best-knockouts-of-2020

UFC featherweight Nik Lentz has a newfound appreciation for competition after his fighting career almost ended unexpectedly following a January 2020 bout.

While this year was tough year for many, Lentz (30-11-2 MMA, 14-8-1 MMA) was faced with unusual and scary hurdles en route to his return to competition at UFC Fight Night on Jan. 16, when he takes on Mike Grundy.

Lentz, 36, last competed 11 months ago when he lost to Arnold Allen. During the fight, Lentz was poked in the eye – and the next nine months of his life were severely affected.

“I ended up having triple vision,” Lentz said, in a recent interview with MMA News. “From that moment on, it was like four-and-a-half minutes left in the fight, I was fighting three guys. I was just trying to hit the one in the middle, I guess. I didn’t work it out at the time. I never had this happen, but in the fight, I was trying to close the eye, but it turns out it’s really hard to try to close your eye when someone is trying to punch at you. It just automatically opens.”

The end of the fight, however, was just the beginning of his struggles. From the moment he left the cage, the reality slowly sunk in. Something was really wrong.

“After the fight, I couldn’t even get out of the cage,” Lentz said. “I couldn’t see the steps. I couldn’t see anything. My vision didn’t return to normal for nine months after that until I had surgery.  I went and had to see a series of doctors. No one could really figure out what the problem was. The eye had healed, but I still couldn’t see right. I still had terrible double vision. I went to specialists and specialists and specialists, and finally I found one.”

Lentz initially thought finding a doctor who knew the issue was a stress-reliever, but things quickly changed. The doctor couldn’t guarantee the surgery would help, though he was willing to try. If the surgery didn’t work, Lentz was facing a grim outcome: having his eye removed.

“(The doctor) pretty much straight-up said, ‘I might be able to help you but there’s a greater chance than half that we could do something and nothing could happen and your eye is just not going to work right,’” Lentz said. “If it hadn’t fixed and I had not (stopped seeing) double, I would’ve had to remove the eye because seeing with one eye is better than seeing double. When they were both together, I had terrible double vision, so I couldn’t do anything. It was a scary nine months. There were a lot of times where this might have been it. This injury might have been my career. It might have been onto the next phase of life.”

However, the surgery did go well. Through some retraining and healing, Lentz’s coordination issues resolved themselves, and he’s ready to step back into the cage with a newfound appreciation for his occupation.

“It’s been one of the hardest years, but also me and fighting have never been best pals,” Lentz said. “It’s something I’m very good at, but I’m an antisocial person. I never wanted to be in the public light. There were parts of fighting that maybe, in the back of my mind, I always thought I didn’t like it.

“When it was taken away from me, I sort of had to switch that mindset. I started seeing all the things that I loved about it and the things that it’s given me. Maybe I take it for granted. All my friends are fighters. All my friends are coaches. My entire life has revolved around this sport. This is where I grew up. This is where I became a man. (Since coming back), a certain pressure of the fight world has been lifted.”

UFC Fight Night on Jan. 16 takes place on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Viewing details have yet to be announced, though MMA Junkie has learned part of the event will likely air on ABC.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/ufc-news-nik-lentz-reveals-nearly-eye-removed-newfound-appreciation

With Bellator’s light heavyweight division getting deeper, it appears Ryan Bader is looking to regain his 205-pound crown.

Former Bellator double champ Bader (27-6 MMA, 5-1 BMMA), who lost his light heavyweight title to Vadim Nemkov in August, was initially intending on bouncing back by defending his heavyweight belt.

But after some consideration, Bellator president Scott Coker says Bader has shifted gears and wants to avenge his loss to Nemkov, who handed him his first promotional defeat.

“We were definitely heading in that direction, then I got a call recently from his management saying that he would like to consider fighting Nemkov again,” Coker told MMA Junkie. “So to me, we haven’t flushed it out, but I think there is a desire for a rematch for that fight. If it happens, I’m not sure, but we’re definitely going to have a conversation with him about it because we were all about him getting into the heavyweight division and defending his belt, but that could change in the next couple of weeks.”

If Bader does end up rematching Nemkov, it will have been well over a year since he’s defended his heavyweight title. Bader retained his belt against Cheick Kongo in September 2019, when an accidental eye poke rendered Kongo unable to continue, resulting in a no contest.

So for the sake of the heavyweight division, Coker thinks Bader might end up having to vacate his title if he holds up the division for too long.

“I think he might have to make a decision at that point, but we’ll talk it through because he’s our champ, but we also want to let the belt continue on,” Coker said. “If you really want to fight Nemkov, we have to have a conversation at some point.”

He continued, “I think his management told us he’s basically very excited about these new signings and he’d love to fight these guys. Fight Nemkov, get his belt back. He’d also like to fight the other guys we just signed, whether it’s Yoel (Romero) or ‘Rumble’ (Johnson), but he’s ready to go. Ryan Bader’s afraid of nobody, believe me. This guy is a killer, too.”

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/scott-coker-ryan-bader-interested-in-vadim-nemkov-rematch