Weekly Roundkick: MMA News at 5 Reasons Sports

Pretty busy week as far as UFC News is concerned, got some exciting fights announces, a few fights in the works, some unfortunate dropouts due to Covid-19, and much more. Here’s your one-stop for everything that happened this week

Upcoming Fights Announced

• Kamaru Usman set to fight Gilbert Burns for UFC Welterweight Championship at UFC 256 on December 12 (Unnoficial Announcement confirmed by Brett Okamoto) 
• Ovince Saint Preux vs. Alonzo Menifield added to UFC Vegas 9 this Saturday, Sept. 5  on ESPN + (Via UFC)
• Brian Kelleher vs. Kevin Natividad (Replacing Ricky Simon Due to COVID) on UFC Vegas 9 this Saturday, Sept. 5 on ESPN + (Via MMAJunkie)
• Herman vs Mike Rodriguez at light heavyweight on UFC Vegas 10 on Sept. 12 (MMAFighting)
• Sijara Eubanksvs Julia Avila at UFC Vegas 10 on Sept.12 (MMAFighting)
• Bobby Green vs. Alan Patrick at UFC Vegas 10 on Sept.12 (TheRingReport)

Fights Teased

Jorge Masvidal vs Nate Diaz for the BMF Title- Dana White among others confirmed that they are working to get this fight on a card in January. There’s no doubt this is one of the biggest fights you can put out as far as marketability. Masvidal in my mind is a heavy favorite in my opinion due to the fact that he’s got great boxing, great takedown defense and Nate Diaz doesn’t like checking leg kicks. Even if the fight didn’t stop the first time, it was pretty clear that Masvidal had won every round since. Hopefully we have the opportunity to have fans in the arena for this fight but even if they don’t, PPV numbers should be pretty high with the proven draw that both fighters are. 

Jon Jones vs Brock Lesnar- Now we don’t know if this is something that will come to fruition, but Dana himself said that he is open to it if both fighters want to do it. As far as competitiveness goes, this wouldn’t or shouldn’t be a tough fight for Jon Jones to win. He is way ahead of Brock in the MMA game. Jones is much more well rounded and has much better striking. On top of that Jon Jones hasn’t legitimately lost a fight in his pro career and it would be tough to see Brock be the one to break that streak. As far as breaking the streak goes Undertaker yes, Jon Jones no.

Fighter Cancellations and Suspensions

• Glover Teixeira vs. Thiago Santos canceled on September 12th due to Texiera testing positive for Covid-19
• Light heavyweight Jamahal Hill received a six-month suspension for marijuana (MMAFighting)
• Flyweight Tim Elliott  received four-and-a-half month suspension for marijuana (MMAFighting)
• Lightweight Luis Pena received four-and-a-half month suspension for marijuana (MMAFighting)
• Jorge Gonzalez had temporary suspension extended following a positive drug test for several anabolic steroids (ESPN)
• Middleweight Deron Winn received suspended for nine months after testing positive for amphetamines (ESPN)

Other News 

Daniel “DC” Cormier has pulled out of the USADA testing pool, which means his retirement seems to be final. We have seen many fighters say they’re retired, only to come back and try and get more hype in their name. Pulling out of the USADA testing pool makes it more official because now if he would want to fight again, he would need to reenter and be in the pool for a significant period of time before getting another fight. At 41, it seems we’ve seen the last of the legend DC in the octagon

Ricardo Lamas seems to be on that same route. After having a fight of the night performance against Bill Algeo, Lamas said he would love to leave on a high note. Coming into that fight, Lamas was 1-3 in his last 4 fights and was on the back end of his career. He spoke about not wanting to chase that feeling of getting a win as an addiction that could be his downfall. After a great extended career in the UFC, it may seem like that Fight of the Night performance could’ve been his last.