Sports

Addict

MMA News wrap-up: Amanda Nunes returns, Tyron Woodley reveals rap mystery, UFC 314 fallout, more

 
Partager
 
Amanda Nunes | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

"The Lioness" roars again.

There were plenty of storylines coming out of UFC 314—Alexander Volkanovski champion again! Patricio Pitbull bombs! Jean Silva is an insane person!—and somewhat lost in the shuffle was the announcement of Amanda Nunesreturning to competition after retiring in 2023.

Perhaps it wasn't all that surprising the former bantamweight and featherweight champion has decided to step back into the octagon, given that her initial retirement felt like it was more due to boredom than an inability to continue fighting at the highest level. Nunes, 36, has literally done it all in MMA and she's had plenty to handle in her personal life as well as a mother of two. So it was always a matter of timing for her.

The time is now with Julianna Peña defending the bantamweight title against Kayla Harrison at UFC 316 on June 7. No matter who wins, Nunes should be motivated. Peña scored a massive upset against Nunes at UFC 269 and despite being bludgeoned for five rounds in the rematch, Peña has never given up on calling out Nunes for a trilogy bout.

As for Harrison, the two-time PFL champion and former training partner of Nunes has long been considered the most intriguing test for the recently announced Hall of Fame inductee. If she gets past Peña, calls for a Nunes-Harrison fight will be deafening.

Check out the fan reaction to Nunes' comeback announcement below.

Nicolas Caged
Kayla smash Pena. Kayla vs Amanda.

semantic5
I agree. But, part of me wants to see Nunes fight Peña again, so she can finally accept that the first fight was the exception, not the second. Although, I'm not sure even another lopsided defeat would make her acknowledge it. I don't know what I want, Nic!

gstan1010
Finally some juice in this division again. I'm actually pretty excited for these fights.

Bloody_Hellbow
I am hoping that Pena does to Kayla what she did to Amanda in their first fight. Wears her down until she's so ready to quit that she gives up her neck so she can submit and get outta there.
Then I hope Pena does the same to Amanda in their trilogy fight. Only gets it done in the first round this time to put a stamp on her dominance.
It's Julianna Queena Pena's world, we're all just living in it.
Bloody_Hellbow
Holy crap! I think Julianna Pena has hacked my MMA Fighting account!! I'd better change my password.

$SOL
I'd much rather Nunes stays retired than watching her in a trilogy nobody is excited about.
Nunes vs. Harrison is a fight you can sell on it's own PPV. You'll need another championship fight as a co-main if it's Nunes vs. Pena.

Chris27
think they kind of spoiled this. She shouldnt have said anything and just gone to the fight in June and if Kayla won then she comes into the cage for the face off and announces shes coming back for this fight.

UFC 314 report: Who suffered the most damaging loss in Miami?

We asked who was the biggest loser coming out of UFC 314 and you answered.

Simon Ross
Oh, that's an easy one: The UFC brand. They are trying WAY TOO HARD to shove politicians into our screens, it's disgusting. I already don't care about crowd shots, especially when it's not showing UFC stars in attendance, but this takes it to a whole other level. I'm not an American and I'm sick and tired of being force-fed these morons.

I'm not even talking about Trump here, to be clear. It makes sense to show the president in attendance a few times, it's respectful and I'm ok with that. But Ted Cruz and the Gang? Are you effing sh*tting me now???

I'm gonna pirate every UFC shows that they put out as long as they try to use it as a vehicle for promoting politicians.

Nicolas Caged
Chandler is cooked, washed, done. He might as well get knocked out by Jake Paul for one last paycheck and then vanish into a life of obscurity.

Be subpar for Ja'Marr
Pitbull is an old man that lost to a former interim champion and title challenger
Iron Mike lost to a guy that everyone called a hype train. And he's 0-2 since sitting for 2 years to try to get a Conor fight

Daddydaft
Chandler had the most damaging loss and it's not even close.
He was already 2-4 in the UFC, however people wrote that record off constantly by talking about how competitive his fights were and how they were against top ranked guys.. Now he took the worst beating of his career by Paddy who wasn't even ranked in the top 10.
The narrative now will be that he's completely washed. He's also turning 39 next week and has less leverage with the UFC than ever. This was the ultimate "Should I retire after this" fight, and the answer is an emphatic yes. He had absolutely nothing for Paddy.

ThunderingHochuli
I think Pitty took the worst loss.
We all came in thinking "another washed up Pfellator guy" and it looks like we got it.
Diego doesn't lose much in my dumble opinion, I expected Chandler and Bryce to lose.
Big loss for Krylov too - GREAT win for Dom.

gstan1010
Pitbull was the most disappointing one for me. He looked like he didn't have any answers out there. The Chandler loss was bad, but I also didn't expect him to win in the first place. And he's the type of guy that will continue to have a place in the company a little while longer just purely for entertaining matchups. He makes good money, he still has a great relationship with the UFC brass, etc. He'll be fine. I don't know where Pitbull goes from here though. He's 37 and just had a pretty lackluster debut. His ceiling in the UFC might be a lot lower than I initially thought. Excellent card top to bottom though. Really enjoyed it. It's a shame that cards like that are getting increasingly rare these days.

TopTierPlatypus
bryce mitchell for sure had the most damaging loss. He's still getting spam roasted on reddit even 3 days after the event.
He now has 2 sleepy memes of himself.
Thats rough.

Matt Brown questions if Michael Chandler is 'either past his prime or just wasn't UFC material to begin with'

It's probably too early to be eulogizing Michael Chandler and his storied career, but that hasn't stopped some of you from putting together a draft.

Patanouk
He was already past prime when the ufc signed him yet he still proved to be ufc material by destroying Dan Hooker who was ranked 5th in the ufc deepest division at the time. He then lost in a title fight to Do Bronx after giving him hell, went toe to toe with freaking Gaethje for the entire fight then knocking out Tony Ferguson something that was never done before.

ForSerious
Usually snicker at these articles sometimes but this is the best topic yet from Matt Brown.
Chandler just did not handle his career well especially with the potential McGregor fight.
By the time he was able to resume fighting after the cancellations he was too old to compete in the lightweight division. His skillset also would better fit a younger more durable fighter. Also, he never technically advanced in certain positions. Charles and any plus grappler just jumps on his back just like they do to Dustin.
Chandler still was a great fighter, and it would have been nice if we got the version that fought Eddie in Bellator versus what we saw.

Cheers Matt Brown!

Bear_TNK
Matt Brown jokes aside, I can't believe Chandler is 2-5 in the UFC while have missed the last two years waiting for a drug addict to fight. Dana White must be the greatest promoter in the world by making us believe Chandler is still a top talent.
I imagine Chandler would be 2-7 or possibly 3-6 if he had been active during the two lost years. Anyone else would have been cut. Except maybe BJ or Smiling Sam.

7thLayerOfHair
"Now's the perfect time to make the Conor fight I guess. Both on losing streaks and nothing to really fight for…"
Yaaaaa really sell that one. Im excited to see that

SexyFatGuy
I think he was UFC material, but that's a fair question.
He was extremely close against some top tier competition before losing. This fight against Paddy I think is a combination of Paddy improving by a lot and Chandler getting up there in age.
I'm glad they signed him. He didn't get a title, but he sure did have some doozies in the octagon.

nuts!!!
It might help to look at some numbers:
  • Chandler UFC record: 2-5
    Ranked opponents: 6
    Losses by finish: 3
    Wins by finish: 2
    Bonuses: 5 (3 FOTN, 2 POTN)
Keeping with the numbers, let's look at the scorecards from his losses:
  • Oliveira I: Chandler up 10-8 X 2, 10-9 after 1st round
    Gaethje: 29-28X2, 30-27 (FOTN)
    Poirier: 19-19 X 3 after 2nd round (FOTN)
    Oliveira II: 49-46 X 2, 49-45 (FOTN)
    Pimblett: Pimblett up 20-18, 19-18, 19-19 after 2nd round
So, in 2 of his losses by finish, he was ahead or tied on the scorecards going into the round in which he was finished. The Pimblett fight was the only finish where he was behind on the scorecards before the round in which he was finished.
In the Gaethje fight, 2 judges had it tied entering the final round and the other judge had Gaethje up 20-18.
There you go. Make of all that what you will. I believe what I've believed all along: His fight IQ is iffy, and maybe his opponents had better corner advice between rounds or adjusted better as the fights progressed.

Dana White addresses new UFC TV deal as exclusive negotiating window with ESPN comes to an end

One of the biggest stories in all of sports is who the UFC's next broadcasting partner will be. Damon Martin and I broke down the contenders and you have your opinions on the subject as well.

The toaster
Netflix with no ppv model will grow the sport. Multi network deal where ppvs still exists will kill growth and prolly even turn some loyal fans away. My 2 cents

ppg
Wonder which network gets the Apex Fights cards that nobody wants?

JohnWinger
If the Apex cards end up on Netflix, the audience will grow immensely.
People won't spend time finding ESPN+ content or ordering subscriptions for mediocre cards and no ppvs, but it's real easy find stuff on Netflix and the subscription base is over 10x of the ESPN base.

Darrenm01
I'd take the Apex fight cards off their hands. I could broadcast them online from the PC in my mom's basement.
Early testing shows the whole thing crashes after four users start viewing… so that won't be an issue for those cards.

rustbeltking
There's a dark horse here, and IMO this would be the way to go: Warner Bros Discovery. With all the chatter about the UFC being split between networks and WBD having Max, TNT, TBS, TruTV, Discovery+, and more, WBD would give the UFC a bunch of options for distributing their programming without needing to bring a second company on board. Plus, the UFC already has a relationship with them from their UK/European distribution deals (TNT Sports/Discovery+). Additionally, with WBD losing NBA rights in the US (even though they offered to match Amazon), they've got a lot of money to offer for sports programming now. I wouldn't be surprised to see them gobble up the UFC

Alan Belcher calls out GFL as a 'scam' after debut cards cancelled: 'We all got screwed on this one'

This whole GFL situation just sucks right now, man.

Nicolas Caged
Sadly, it is the elderly who are often the target of scams. And these poor grandpas and grandmas just wanted a place to compete in the twilight of their lives.

Bloody_Hellbow
It seems like it's all just a big, lack of a better word, scam.
Let's see, better word. How about farce? Maybe hoax? Sham (rhymes with scam)? What about joke? Or my favorite, MMA-legends-video-game-roster-parody?

Cape MO Guy
Good news: it's not Geezer Fight League after all.
Bad news: it's really Grifter Fight League.

DiazLevelTough
Bush league. There is money in this sport, but it's crazy that fighters get stuck with crap like this or predatory leagues.
This guy kept waiting until the last minute to secure "funding" in some ponzi scheme where he paid out their money through the event or something. Seems suspicious...allegedly.

EmeraldConfusion
The Streak Scam Continues for GFL Maybe someone should make a "days without scam mention" counter for GFL.
Spoiler: It will remain 0 even after it dissolves.

Tyron Woodley: 'I'll Beat Yo Ass' rap was aimed at Dana White

Tyron Woodley bringing up his rap song from 2018 led to some mean—but let's be honest, completely hilarious—comments.

Ivan_l
You could've at least included trigger warnings you're going to list the lyrics in full (I was able to evade serious injury by looking aaway instantly)

semantic5
Tyron's music could be significantly improved if he took more influence from John Cage's 4'33.

semantic5
I feel like they felt like, 'This motherf*cker thinks he's too smart
Nobody has ever felt that way.
But I'm not going to dumb myself down for nobody
You got Jake Paul's name tattooed on yourself.

ThunderChopps
Sweet Jesus, I think I lost 10 IQ points reading the lyrics to that song. I wonder how much money Tyron spent on his rap career? Seems like all of it.

iamthekeyboardwarrior
I don't know which song bangs harder, I'll beat yo ass or fallin in n out of luv wit chu. You showed them Tyron. You Rap legend you.

pk76
This is the type of person who ruins rap for all rap fans because this is what people who hate rap music think rap music sounds like.

Justice Cocklecarrot
Sweet baby J, those lyrics… it's akin to reading Finnegans Wake.

eegahbrain
At the moment Bob Dylan is the only musician to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature for his lyrics. Could Tyrone be next?

Poll of the Week

In other news...

Read more on MMA Fighting
img

Top 6 MMA

More news MMA

Sports

Addict