Category: Women’s MMA

UFC contender Tatiana Suarez hit with another injury

Posted on by Zane Simon in MMA News, UFC 298, UFC News, Women's MMA

One of the more unfortunate aspects of MMA is how incredibly taxing it is on the human body. Not just the fights themselves, which often see injury suspension lists that cover almost an entire UFC card, but all the training that goes into it. Boxing and kickboxing can cause cuts and concussions, but wrestling and grappling are seemingly rife with injury potential, for the constant wear and tear on necks, backs, knees, and other joints.

As a result, for many fighters, the biggest hurdle for their career longevity can come not inside the cage, but with the litany of injuries they must deal with outside of it. For top strawweight prospect Tatiana Suarez, those issues have slowed her career to a crawl.

Tatiana Suarez out of UFC 298

Back in 2019, Tatiana Suarez was one of the brightest prospects in the UFC. Still just 28-years old and with an unbeaten 9-0 record, the Millennia MMA talent seemed destined for title contention in the near future. Four-and-a-half years later, Suarez has fought just twice.

With her perfect record still intact, it seemed likely that she could finally reach that goal of UFC gold in 2024, provided she get a win over Amanda Lemos at UFC 298. Unfortunately, that plan will once again have to be put on hold.

The OC Register reports that Suarez has withdrawn from her bout against Lemos due to an as-yet-undisclosed injury. It’s just the lastest setback for the 33-year-old, who has been through thyroid cancer, a torn bicep, a torn labrum, inflamed discs in her neck causing “left side atrophy,” a torn ACL, LCL, MCL, and meniscus. Hopefully her current situation is less severe; for the moment, no time table for her return has been released.

Mackenzie Dern steps up

Replacing Suarez at UFC 298 will be multiple time BJJ champion and current strawweight top contender Mackenzie Dern. Dern is fresh off a shocking TKO loss to former champion Jessica Andrade at UFC 295 this past November. After starting her Octagon career on a 6-1 run, the 30-year-old has traded wins in losses in her last five bouts, stretching back to a 2021 loss to Marina Rodriguez.

For Amanda Lemos, her form has been much more consistent over the last few years. Following her Octagon debut (a TKO loss to Leslie Smith) in 2017, the Brazilian went on a 7-1 run. That form led the 36-year-old straight to a title shot against Zhang Weili back in August of last year, a fight that saw the Marajo Brothers athlete dominated from pillar to post by the defending champion over five rounds.

This bout against Dern will represent the first fight back for Lemos since her title fight loss.

UFC 298 is currently set to be headlined by a featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria. A top ranked welterweight bout between Goeff Neal and Ian Machado Garry has also been tabbed for the event, alongside a bantamweight contest between former two division champion Henry Cejudo and Serra-Longo talent Merab Dvalishvili.

OnlyFans gets another win over MMA

Posted on by Zane Simon in MMA News, UFC News, Women's MMA

While the UFC may not be the best paying organization in the combat sports world, it’s undeniable that the world’s largest MMA promotion provides a solid platform for fighters to gain fame. Fighters like Kieth Jardine, and Krzysztof Soszynski have had solid runs as bit-part actors, built off the back of their success inside the Octagon.

Others, like Kenny Florian, Chael Sonnen, and Paul Felder have found regular work behind the commentary desk, working with ESPN, the UFC itself, and other various MMA promotions. Stay with the UFC long enough and there’s a solid chance that some unexpected door will open.

Ailin Perez gets OnlyFans boost from UFC twerk

Following in the footsteps of Paige VanZant—and several other women MMA fighters—Argentinian UFC talent Ailin Perez has found her non-MMA financial success not from the world of acting, but instead from the realm of the subscription-based social media platform OnlyFans. After defeating Czech bantamweight Lucie Pudilova by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night: Allen vs. Craig, Perez put her feet up on the cage and her ass up in the air for a twerk-heavy victory celebration. A move, she claims has netted her tens of thousands of dollars. More even than her UFC fight purse.

“Since [this past] Thursday to now, it’s been over $30,000,” she said via translator.

“I take advantage of the OnlyFans, because that’s where I’m [making] my money,” she said. “With the money I got from OnlyFans, I was able to buy a car.

“I’m in the UFC because I love to fight. This is the challenge that I’ve put forth for myself in my life, and I’m fighting in the UFC because I love it. But I’m [making] the money I have on OnlyFans.”

Dance was actually an OnlyFans request

While Perez added that she would be willing to give up her OnlyFans account if the UFC asked, she also revealed that, while she love dancing, the big reason she scaled the Octagon last Saturday was because it some post-fight twerking was her no. 1 request from subscribers on her account. Considering the money she made, it seems like she gave fans exactly what they were asking for.

“There are two reasons I did the celebration,” Perez admitted. “First, because during the [fight] camp, we actually practiced that, because we always want to be different in whatever we do, so this was a planned thing. And because it was one of the most common videos that my OnlyFans subscribers asked for.

“I love dancing, and everything I do, I find a way—I can be in the shower, I can be cooking something, and I’m dancing. When I’m with my son, we’re always dancing together. Any time there’s something to celebrate about that we’re happy, I love to dance.”

With the potential for that kind of extra income, and no signs that UFC compensation rates are about to change dramatically, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more women looking at services like OnlyFans as a way to make bank early in their careers. After all, as Dana White has often pointed out…

“This isn’t a career. This is not a career. This is an opportunity. Anything can happen in any given moment… Who the hell knows what is coming down the pipeline. So you have to take every opportunity that you can get.”

Perez in pre-fight brawl with fellow UFC fighter

OnlyFans earnings and a win in the Octagon weren’t the only reason Perez made headlines this last week. The fighter also found the spotlight for some more nefarious reasons as well, although exactly who is at fault remains unclear. Just before her fight against Pudilova, Perez and her coach Javier Oyarzabal were involved in a backstage brawl with fellow bantamweight Joselyne Edwards and MMA manager Alex Davis.

“This irrelevant lady came up to me after I was opinionated about one of her fights, just talking about the performance that she did. And she came to assault me,” Perez revealed. “She did assault me with the intention to make me pull out of my fight, but I’m sorry, she did not achieve it. I won and fought regardless of the assault that took place.

“I want to thank my coach, who was there at the time of the assault, because if it wasn’t for him, I would have had much worse injuries because he was able to take her off me when she was assaulting me. And the fight probably would have been off if it wasn’t for my coach, who saved me.”

That’s a much different story than Edwards tells, however. According to the Panamanian fighter, it was Perez’s team that goaded the two women to fight, and then attacked her from behind.

“While we were fighting, her coach attacked me from behind. He was strangling me so that Ailin would hit me,” Edwards said of the incident. “Her coach attacked me. I practically had to fight two of them. He did not protect anyone, he started the fight, he was the one who heated things so that the fight would take place, and then he attacked me and was strangling me.

“Later, when they had already separated me from Ailin, he was still strangling me and did not want to let me go. He never separated the fight; he attacked me while she attacked me.”

Manager Alex Davis stepped in to help break up the fight and corroborated Edwards’ side of the story at least as far as Perez’s coach, Javier Oyarzabal attacking her and choking her went. But, from the sound of things, he didn’t see who or what kicked things off in the first place. As of yet it does not appear either woman has been intent on pressing charges.

Amanda Nunes vs Julianna Pena 3 set for UFC 289 in Vancouver

Posted on by Zane Simon in UFC News, Uncategorized, Women's MMA

For fans hoping to see a new face in the women’s bantamweight title picture, it looks like they’ll have to wait a little longer. UFC president Dana White has confirmed that a Amanda Nunes vs Julianna Pena trilogy fight is in the works for UFC 289. TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter first reported the news.

The UFC 289 fight card is set to take place on June 10th, with Amanda Nunes vs Julianna Pena serving as the night’s main event. The card will take place in Vancouver, BC, Canada—the UFC’s first event north of the border since UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Gaethje back in 2019. The Rogers Center has been tabbed for the event location.

Amanda Nunes vs Julianna Pena is the only womens’ bantamweight title fight since 2019

This booking will feel like an intensely familiar one to fans at this point, Amanda Nunes vs Julianna Pena has been the only women’s bantamweight title fight the UFC has put on going back to December of 2019, when Nunes took on Germaine De Randamie. Nunes went on to defend her featherweight belt twice after that fight, beating Felicia Spencer and Megan Anderson, before dropping back to 135 to take on Pena at UFC 269 in December of 2021.

‘The Venezuela Vixen’ shocked the world that night, upsetting Nunes to give the Brazilian her first loss since a TKO to Cat Zingano in 2014. After a dominant first round for the ‘Lioness’, Pena stormed back, hurt her standing and eventually finished the fight via rear-naked choke in the second round.

Pena’s time as a title holder was short lived, with a rematch against Nunes at UFC 277 a little over six months later. Nunes came into that fight with a switched stance that seemed to entirely befuddle Pena, shutting out the longtime SikJitsu talent for a dominating five round decision.

Aldana & Pennington will stay on the sidelines

Without a clear next contender ready, Nunes has seemed happy to wait and see if a new challenger could rise to the forefront of the bantamweight division. Raquel Pennington has put together a five-fight winning streak over the past three years, but with a TKO loss to Nunes in her first title shot back in 2018, it appears the UFC isn’t eager to stick her back in the spotlight. Irene Aldana is the other top contender on a win streak, but she’s still just two bouts removed from a disappointing loss to Holly Holm.

Amanda Nunes vs Julianna Pena 3 will represent the UFC’s first women’s title fight trilogy in the promotion’s history. Alongside the main event, the card is expected to feature a welterweight bout between Stephen Thompson & Michel Pereira.

Bella Mir, daughter of former champ Frank Mir, signs UFC’s first ever amateur NIL contract

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA News, UFC News, Women's MMA

Could this be the new face of UFC talent development? For years, the world’s largest MMA promotion has taken something of a catch as catch can approach to finding new fighters. Whether it’s poaching champs from other smaller organizations, targeting talent on the rise from notable camps, depending on managers to curate prospects, or holding try-out shows like the Ultimate Fighter and Dana White’s Contender Series, most athletes only tend to get to the UFC after proving themselves to the promotion in other arenas.

On occasion the UFC has also run talent development programs like their ‘combine’ events to identify potential fighters to watch for the future. But, this could be a more significant way for the Endeavor-owned company to headhunt talent early in their careers.

“Bella was destined to become a member of the UFC family her entire life, and I’m proud that she’s making history as our first NIL ambassador in one of the best programs at the University of Iowa,” UFC president Dana White said, via press release. “She’s a four-time state high school wrestling champion who has won jiu-jitsu tournaments and three professional MMA fights before turning 19. Bella is an incredible role model for young women who are not only looking to get into sports, but also pursue their dreams. She’s on another level, and we can’t wait to see what she does next.”

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

‘Name, Image, Likeness’ deals have become a noted trend in college athletics, following the NCAA’s recent moves to loosen restrictions on how amateur athletes can leverage their celebrity into money-making opportunities into things like sponsorship deals and social media influencing. Alongside supporting Mir’s collegiate career, the UFC has also signed an independent deal with the University of Iowa to sponsor their wrestling programs.

“The partnership between Iowa wrestling and UFC is a perfect fit,” men’s wrestling coach Tom Brands said in a December press release. “We both celebrate tough, physical athletes who compete at the highest level. There is a bridge between wrestlers and fighters across the two sports. With this agreement, it is even more significant.”

It’s not at all difficult to imagine White & Co. signing similar deals with other rising stars, not just in wrestling, but possibly in sports like BJJ, judo, or maybe even boxing as a way to start building working relationships with top talent well before they’re ready to make a serious run in mixed martial arts.

“I’m super grateful and I honestly couldn’t be more thankful to [UFC President] Dana [White] and UFC for giving me this opportunity,” Mir revealed. “I’m going to make sure I do my best to represent UFC and show the world what I’m all about.”

Bella Mir is 3-0 as a pro fighter, having last competed at Xtreme Fight Night 381 back in June of last year. After debuting at 137 lbs in 2020, she currently competes in the women’s flyweight division.

I had my worst concussion ‘falling off of a pole’ – Vanessa Demopoulos on switch from stripping to MMA

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA News, UFC News, UFC Vegas 65: Lewis vs. Spivac, Women's MMA

Vanessa Demopoulos has been making a splash in the Octagon. The former LFA strawweight champion made her UFC debut back in 2021 with a rough loss to JJ Aldrich, but has found nothing but success since—picking up her third straight victory at UFC Vegas 65 this past Saturday, October 19th.

While winning has plenty of its own rewards, the victories are extra sweet in the case of ‘Lil Monster’ who plunged in to the life of being a full time fighter after quitting her job as an exotic dancer. In a recent interview on the MMA Hour, Demopoulos talked about making the transition and why she gave up her more stable profession.

“It was the worst,” Demopoulos said of balancing both jobs at once (transcript via MMA Fighting). “Staying up late, constant stimulation, overstimulating your nervous system that late at night. I’d get home, I couldn’t sleep. My body automatically wakes up so early for training that even if I go to sleep late, I was only getting three hours of sleep because I’d automatically wake up. It just wasn’t good for me in a lot of aspects. I have to give a lot of my emotional energy to the job, and I just want to focus on fighting.

“So I took a risk, actually. I really didn’t have the money to quit and I believed in myself enough and I was like, ‘I’m going to make this happen, no matter what.’ So I burned the bridge and I walked away.”

While it seems like the move from stripping to fighting would only be harder on the body, Demopoulos might disagree. Especially since she claims that the worst concussion she ever suffered didn’t come from a punch, but a fall from a dancing pole.

“[It hurt] like hell,” she said. “I had the worst concussion I think I’ve ever had falling off of a pole. I fell straight down, it was almost two stories.

“I instantly woke up and ran, and then I had this giant bag of ice on my head, and I fell to sleep on the bag of ice, so that’s how I knew that I was badly concussed. For sure [worse than anything I felt in fighting.]”

No word yet on when the 34-year-old may be looking to return to competition. But, with her latest successes it seems more and more obvious that her change of careers is paying off.

Last-second haircut saves UFC record breaking weigh-in disaster

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA News, UFC News, UFC Vegas 64: Rodriguez vs. Lemos, Women's MMA

It seems fans aren’t the only ones who might not be taking this weekend’s UFC card all that seriously. UFC Vegas 64 takes place this Saturday, November 5th, at the promotion’s Apex facility in Las Vegas, NV. Headlined by a strawweight bout between Marina Rodriguez and Amanda Lemos, the event hasn’t garnered much excitement heading into fight week.

As fight night approaches, however, the card almost made at least one inauspicious entry into the record books, with five athletes missing weight on the scales. That’s more than any previous event in UFC history. At least, it was right up until flyweight fighter Shanna Young took drastic action.

Young initially weighed in at 127 lbs, one pound over the flyweight allowance. Given an additional hour to make the limit, Young came back at 126.25 lbs—still a quarter pound shy of the division’s edge.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

That’s when she decided to make on final sacrifice, with a quick haircut that saw her hit 126 lbs on the nose.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

With Young making weight on her third attempt, that puts the fight card right in line with other previous all-time bad weigh-ins. Four fighters still failed to hit their marks. Fortunately for fans, all bouts will go ahead at catchweights, with at least three fighters hit with a 20% fine to their show purses (Grant Dawson has since been fined 30% of his purse as well).

The four catchweight bouts are as follows (complete weigh-in results can be found here):

Grant Dawson (157.5) vs. Mark Madsen (155)
Benito Lopez (138.5) vs. Mario Bautista (135.5)
Carlos Canelario (128.5) vs. Jake Hadley (126)
Ramona Pascual (137) vs. Tamires Vidal (134)

Rose Namajunas poses for Victoria’s Secret ad campaign

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, MMA News, UFC News, Women's MMA

Rose Namajunas hasn’t always had the most comfortable relationship with appearance-focused side of women’s MMA. Shortly after debuting with the UFC she made the decision to shave her head, telling fans that, “It’s a fight, not a beauty pageant,” and that the “shit’s in my way at practice … cut it off!”

That hasn’t stopped the former strawweight champion from getting in front of the camera from time to time, however.

In 2018, she even stripped all the way down for the Women’s Health ‘Naked Issue.’ So perhaps it’s not such a surprise that ‘Thug Rose’ took the opportunity to become a featured model for Victoria’s Secret and their new ‘Undefinable’ ad campaign, featuring notable public figures who don’t necessarily fit the brand’s traditional model style.

“When I got into the UFC, I felt an expectation to be ‘pretty’ so that people would pay attention,” Namajunas said explained in a statement to the lingerie brand. “So, I shaved my hair off and made them pay attention.”

The campaign also features Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, musician Brittney Spencer, model Bella Hadid, and former model and activist Bethann Hardison.

For her part, Namajunas is coming off a recent loss to Carla Esparza, back in May. The bout saw the 30-year-old lose her strawweight title in a five round split decision. The longtime Trevor Wittman protege has yet to announce her next fight in the Octagon, but was on the receiving end of a callout from recent fight night headliner Yan Xiaonan, following Yan’s win over Mackenzie Dern at UFC Vegas 61 back on October 1st.

Aspen Ladd removed from UFC roster after latest weight miss

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC News, Women's MMA

All things considered, Aspen Ladd’s apparent exit from the UFC comes as no surprise. Nearly eight years into her pro MMA career, Ladd has had trouble on the scales of one note or another practically every year, stretching all the way back to her Invicta days. In her five years fighting in the Octagon, Ladd has had four fights cancelled during fight week.

When asked about the bantamweight’s future with the promotion during a recent press conference, Dana White hinted that her time in the UFC may be at an end.

“I don’t know,” White said when asked about Ladd’s future, before correcting himself. “I do know, but we should probably talk about that at the appropriate time.”

On Tuesday, September 27th Ladd’s profile was removed from the UFC’s active portion of their online roster, and from their rankings eligibility pool. While that isn’t always the definitive word on a whether or not a fighter’s contract has been canceled, this time around that seems almost certain to be the case.

Ladd (9-3) is currently riding two straight losses, with only one victory in her last four bouts after opening her career on an eight-fight unbeaten streak. Her most recent fight came against former title contender Raquel Pennington, at UFC 273 back in April. Ladd lost that contest via unanimous decision.

Interestingly, Sara McMann—who was set to fight Ladd at UFC Vegas 60 earlier in September, before Ladd missed weight—has also had her profile removed from the UFC roster. In a recent post on Instagram, McMann noted that she had been paid by the UFC for her cancelled fight. As a result, MMA Fighting reports that the former Olympic silver medalist had technically completed her UFC contract and is now testing the free agency market.

McMann (13-6) has traded wins and losses since returning from the birth of her son back in 2018. Most recently she defeated top rising Brazilian prospect Karol Rosa via decision at UFC on ESPN: Blaydes vs. Daukaus back in March.

It was a ‘little chauvinistic’ – Dana White talks initial aversion to women’s MMA

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Interview, UFC News, Women's MMA

Few soundbites have haunted Dana White so regularly throughout his tenure as UFC president as a 20-second TMZ clip captured outside an LA restaurant back in 2011. In the video, White answers a question about Cain Velasquez’s return from injury, before getting asked “When are we going to see women in the UFC?” His answer, delivered with a laugh, couldn’t have been more succinct.

“Never. Ever.”

Two years later, the UFC hosted its first ever women’s MMA bout. A main event fight between newly minted champion Ronda Rousey—her title ported over from Strikeforce with the UFC’s acquisition of the rival promotion—taking on Liz Carmouche. The years since have seen the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion host hundreds of women’s MMA matches. Today the Endeavor-owned fight organization hosts four women’s divisions and more than 100 female athletes.

On a recent episode of the BASIC! When Cable Was Cool podcast, White sat down with former Viacom and Spike TV executive Doug Herzog to talk about the UFC’s rise to TV prominence. Along the way he got onto the topic of women’s MMA and the journey White went on, in going from ‘never’ to making female athlete’s a cornerstone of the UFC brand.

“So, one of the things that you have to remember at the time—there’s a very famous clip of me on TMZ, I’m getting out of a restaurant in LA, and they’re asking me, ‘When are women going to fight in the UFC?’ And I look in the camera and I say, ‘Never,’” White explained, setting the stage for his story on the UFC and women’s MMA. “At this time, I’m trying to get people to accept men fighting in a cage! Right?”

“I went to a fight up in northern California, once, where there was a horrible mismatch between women. And I was like, ‘Oh, my god.’ And listen, I’m not gonna lie, there’s a little bit of that—being a man—little chauvinistic; in that, ‘Women are pretty, women are—bwah, you don’t wanna see women get beat up, you don’t wanna see—’ In a million years, I never saw this coming; where these women would be so technical, and so tough, and so badass. I mean, the women that we have now, in the UFC? There’s a lot of things I saw coming, I didn’t see that one coming. That’s for damn sure.”

White may not have been at all prepared for the idea of women competing inside the Octagon, but—as he’s often repeated—the rise of Ronda Rousey in Strikeforce was a major game changer.

“But the thing that changed everything was, I met Ronda Rousey,” White explained. “Ronda Rousey manifested all these things that have happened. And I had a meeting with her one day, and halfway through the meeting I’m like, ‘Holy shit, I think I’m gonna do this. And I think she’s the one to do it with.’ And thank god I was right.”

Surprisingly enough, after that meeting and White’s growing interest in bringing women to the UFC, the longtime promoter revealed that he got no push-back whatsoever from FOX executives or anyone else in the UFC front office. According to him, it was fans who held all the resistance to the idea.

“No,” White answered when asked if he had trouble convincing other top brass to bring women to the UFC. “But, I think that you hear these things about—and this is coming from a man’s point of view—you know, ‘Women aren’t treated the same as men. Women aren’t this and that.’ All this other stuff. And I was always like, [chuckles] ‘You know, maybe there’s some of this and some of that.’ Until I headlined Ronda Rousey above Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida and people lost their fucking minds. I was getting these messages from people, like, ‘You piece of shit. You dah-dah-dah-dah-dah.’ I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ I never realized this existed because it’s never happened to me, you know what I mean?

“So once I headlined Ronda Rousey I was like, ‘Wow, man.’ I never realized there would be this kind of blow-back from these lunatics out there. Then, that night, we were in Anaheim; when she walked out of that tunnel in that arena, I knew I made the right decisions. Sold out, two women fighting in a main event.

“If you look at women’s boxing—before I did my first women’s fight, you looked at women’s boxing and it was more sort of a sideshow type thing,” he continued. “When Ronda Rousey walked out of that tunnel that night? The entire arena erupted. I get goosebumps even telling the fricking story. The entire arena erupted. And the fight, it was incredible. She was one her way to not only being the biggest superstar in the sport, but the highest paid. Pretty badass.”

Beyond just coming around on one star, or simply the idea that female athletes could be a profitable presence in the fight business, White admits that the whole experience gave him a new perspective on the sexism that women face in their everyday lives.

“I have learned my lesson, believe me. I have learned my lesson,” White admitted. “We live and learn, and I have learned. It’s true.”

Weili Zhang challenges Carla Esparza for strawweight gold at UFC 281

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC News, Women's MMA

Carla Esparza has the first title challenger of her second UFC championship run. The promotion’s first ever strawweight champ made an unlikely return to top contender status over the last several years, culminating in a victory over Rose Namajunas at UFC 274 back in May. A story made all the more remarkable considering that ‘Thug Rose’ was across the Octagon from the ‘Cookie Monster’ when she won gold back in 2014.

Now it just remains to be seen if Esparza can hold on to her belt a little longer than she did the first time around. After winning the Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale, Esparza faced Joanna Jedrzejczyk only four months later, losing by crushing second round TKO. Getting back to the top of the mountain took nearly a decade.

The first title challenger for the Team Oyama talent this time around will be a familiar face to fans. Esparza announced the news via her Instagram account that she would be facing off against another former champ in Bangtao Muay Thai’s Zhang Weili. The two women are set to square off in the co-main event of UFC 281 on November 12th.

UFC 281 will go down at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. The event is scheduled to be headlined by a middleweight title fight between former kickboxing rivals Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira. A lightweight bout between top contenders Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler has also been teased for the card but is not yet official.