Spencer on a Cyborg vs. Nunes rematch: ‘I am right here to spoil that occasion’
The newest episode of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Present featured a number of former UFC champions, a rising prospect on the verge of a title shot and a well-known tv and film star.
This is what you may need missed:
Spencer able to ‘shock the world’
Cris Cyborg, at one level thought of the best feminine fighter of all time, will compete for fairly probably the final time within the UFC on Saturday when she faces Felicia Spencer within the co-main occasion of UFC 240 in Edmonton, Alberta. Cyborg is on the ultimate bout of her contract and has spoken publicly about pursuing different promotions as soon as she is a free agent. If she indicators a brand new UFC deal, nonetheless, a potential rematch with bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes may very well be on the horizon.
UFC 240 options dominant featherweight champion Max Holloway defending towards veteran Frankie Edgar, who at 37 is perhaps competing for a title for the ultimate time. Within the co-main occasion, Cris Cyborg goals to bounce again from simply her second profession defeat towards the unbeaten Felicia Spencer.
UFC 240: Holloway vs. Edgar
• Saturday, Edmonton, Alberta
• Early prelims: ESPN+, 6:30 p.m. ET
• Prelims: ESPN, eight p.m. ET
• Essential card: ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET
Order UFC 240 now
Spencer is aware of all about it. She advised Ariel Helwani on Monday that followers have made it identified they’re waiting for the Nunes bout and have already chalked up this weekend’s struggle as a simple Cyborg win.
“There have been lots of people speaking about her subsequent struggle, as if this struggle wasn’t occurring,” Spencer mentioned. “So no matter plans are being made, I am right here to spoil that occasion.”
Spencer (7-Zero) is the previous Invicta FC featherweight champion. She made her UFC debut in Might and submitted Megan Anderson by rear-naked choke halfway via the primary spherical.
She mentioned whereas her title is probably not as referred to as Cyborg’s, she believes in her means to stay undefeated after this weekend.
“I do know my expertise within the public eye on the grand stage hasn’t been proven rather a lot, however I have been coaching and doing martial arts my complete life,” Spencer mentioned. “I’ve had the mat time. My cage time does not match a number of the opposite opponents within the UFC, however my mat time is there or past a number of the roster. I really feel very assured. I am very excited for this coming Saturday to shock the world.”
Edwards solely open to UFC title shot or Masvidal
Leon Edwards, who earned his eighth straight win on Saturday, is not searching for “random'”fights anymore. He desires to struggle for what means one thing to him. And to Edwards that leaves solely two choices: an opportunity towards Kamaru Usman for the UFC’s welterweight belt or a gathering with Jorge Masvidal in a No. 1 contender bout. The latter appeals to him after Masvidal attacked him backstage at a UFC occasion in London in March.
“That is the struggle to make,” Edwards mentioned. “That is the struggle the followers need to see. That is the struggle I need. Simply make it for a No. 1 contender’s spot, and we’ll go from there.”
1:21
Leon Edwards says Jorge Masvidal “retains making excuses” and is a “weasel” however desires to struggle Masvidal in a title elminator bout within the UFC welterweight division.
Jedrzejczyk on the strawweight division: ‘All of them want me’
Longtime UFC strawweight champion Jonana Jedrzejczyk will face Michelle Waterson on Oct. 12, and a win is more likely to get her again within the title image. That might imply one other matchup with present champion Jessica Andrade, who takes on Zhang Weili for the belt on Aug. 31.
Jedrzejczyk defeated Andrade at UFC 211 in Might 2017 in a troublesome however unanimous choice win. She advised Helwani she is not nervous within the slightest about probably preventing the Brazilian once more (and did not maintain again when addressing the remainder of the strawweight division).
Joanna Jedrzejczyk defeated Jessica Andrade by unanimous choice in 2017. Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Getty Pictures
On Andrade: “I watched her [Instagram] tales of her coaching. She was by no means a striker, however watching her coaching? On this degree? It is not so good. She’s the champ. She ought to symbolize high, high, excessive degree. However she doesn’t. [Zhang] could be very powerful, so I can not wait to see what occurs on the finish of August.
“I do know her good aspect is her wrestling and takedowns, and placing was by no means her good aspect. However she will be able to throw some good punches and good combos. She’s very sturdy and at all times going ahead, however I am not impressed.”
On Claudia Gadelha: “I beat her twice, what does she need? I beat her twice, and I do not assume she remembers what occurred within the second struggle. There’s a lot of unhealthy blood between us, too, however she misplaced. I beat her badly. In fact [I have no interest in the fight]. I do not want the struggle. She wants me.”
On different strawweights calling her out: “All of them want me. Once I misplaced to Rose [Namajunas], look what number of women referred to as me out. All of them need to struggle me as a result of I am a giant title. However now I will headline the present in San Francisco with Michelle Waterson as a result of we each are value it. We imply rather a lot to the UFC. I am grateful to the UFC for giving me one other likelihood.
“They need to struggle me as a result of I am a giant title. I can open the door for cash and large enterprise. That is not my means to try this. You by no means heard me calling out somebody — by no means ever.”
Steve-O vs. Justin Bieber?
Steve-O, one of many stars of MTV’s “Jackass” sequence, is an avid MMA fan. However as he advised Helwani on Monday, he is not fascinated with simply watching the fights. He desires to be a part of them. Noting Justin Bieber’s curiosity in preventing Tom Cruise, Steve-O mentioned he can be prepared to struggle Bieber himself.
“I actually consider Justin Bieber can throw a imply punch, and I can take one,” he joked. “If it have been to occur, I believe Justin Bieber would completely mop the ground with me. However I consider there’s sufficient cash to be made that it is a beating I might fortunately take.”
2:17
Steve-O tells Ariel Helwani in regards to the time he jokingly requested Dana White for a struggle contained in the Octagon towards Justin Bieber.
Walt Harris explains USADA suspension
After choosing up a split-decision victory over Andrei Arlovski at UFC 232, Walt Harris was pinged in January for a constructive drug take a look at by the California State Athletic Fee. The win was vacated, however Harris acquired solely a four-month suspension. He labored with the U.S. Anti-Doping Company to show he took a tainted complement, and on Monday Harris revealed extra of the main points of how he is preventing the suspension retroactively.
“I took a complement that was labeled improperly, they usually came upon that I did nothing incorrect,” Harris advised Helwani. “I did not fail any USADA exams, however one thing confirmed up for California and CSAC, in order that they sort of received collectively and determined that 4 months was the suitable factor, for me to endure that suspension. And we did it, we took the suspension, however I am taking authorized motion towards the complement firm as a result of they mislabeled their product they usually did that knowingly.
“I simply really feel prefer it’s not about cash for me,” Harris continued. “It is about my status and my title. I labored extraordinarily arduous to get to the place I am at, and I am nonetheless working, so I do not need something like that on my report or displaying up in my previous.
“It was arduous, man, as a result of I pleasure myself on doing issues the fitting means and being a real martial artist. For one thing like that to return up, man, it tore me up. It hit me actually arduous, man. I will undergo all of the authorized channels to do what I must do to get my title vindicated. … Folks that basically know me know that I did nothing deliberately. [UFC vice president of athlete health and performance] Jeff Novitzky was there each step of the best way, [and the UFC’s] Donna Marcolini, I need to thank them a lot, [and] USADA, for serving to me undergo all the fitting channels — serving to me be certain I had all of my stuff located and information me alongside within the course of.”
“It tore me up. It hit actually arduous.”@thebigticket205 plans to take authorized motion towards the complement firm whose contaminated product triggered his constructive take a look at and subsequent suspension by USADA (by way of @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/Z4VMnsQe5m
– ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 22, 2019
Why Marc Goddard won’t ever referee a Leon Edwards struggle
Marc Goddard is now referred to as one of many high referees in MMA. However a decade in the past he was a former skilled fighter who was coach and half proprietor of a health club in his hometown, Birmingham, England. And someday a youngster walked in, wanting curious.
“He was only a younger, quiet child,” mentioned Goddard, “who needed to seek out out what MMA was all about.”
It did not take lengthy for Goddard to know what that child named Leon Edwards was all about.
“I might inform,” Goddard mentioned throughout Monday’s look on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Present. “He was what I’d classify as the brand new breed. He did not have a martial arts background. He wasn’t coming from boxing, wrestling , jiu-jitsu. He was only a younger, hungry, athletic child, and he simply sort of soaked all of it up from there.”
At the moment, coming off his eighth straight victory on Saturday, Edwards (18-Three) is within the dialog for a shot on the UFC welterweight title. If he will get there, the third man within the cage will most undoubtedly not be Goddard.
“Regardless that I have never been in the identical health club as Leon for a lot of years — I finished teaching him earlier than he even turned skilled — you understand what it is like as a ref,” mentioned Goddard. “Are you able to think about me reffing one in every of Leon’s fights, one thing occurs after which somebody says, ‘Marc was on the identical mat as Leon 10 years in the past’? I do not want that in my life. From an integrity perspective, from knowledgeable perspective, any sort of tie that we’ve with a fighter, regardless of how faint or how distant, we’ve to make that well-known from the get-go. It saves any type of trouble throughout.”
Michael Bisping introduced his retirement from the game of combined martial arts on the age of 39 in Might. Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC by way of Getty Pictures
Bisping: ‘Decide that despatched me [to prison] did me a favor’
Michael Bisping’s spouse, Rebecca, was seven months pregnant with their first baby when household life received a jolt. Bisping was despatched to jail because of a bar struggle.
“I used to be by no means a legal however I used to be at all times fast to get right into a struggle,” the retired former UFC middleweight champion mentioned Monday on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Present. “Go determine. I grew to become knowledgeable fighter.”
This “low level for me and her” was one thing the Bispings hid away for practically 20 years. He talked about his jail keep in his speech earlier this month throughout his induction into the UFC Corridor of Fame. He devoted a chapter to it in his new ebook, “Quitters By no means Win” (Ebury Press). However as he was arising in MMA, he purposely didn’t make this a part of his story.
“I did not need for that to be the stigma. I did not need to be ‘one other powerful man, one other legal coming into cage preventing,’ since you robotically assume the incorrect issues,” he mentioned. “So I by no means spoke of that.”
In a means, Bisping’s previous is what pushed him towards MMA. After leaving college at 16, he had hopes of turning into a professional boxer, and as somebody raised in a army household, he envisioned a solution to make that occur.
“Get on the Military boxing staff, then come out and switch skilled,” he mentioned. “A British boxer by the title of Nigel Benn did the identical factor.”
However the army rejected Bisping due to his legal report.
He virtually misplaced his UFC profession for a similar purpose. After profitable Season Three of “The Final Fighter,” Bisping utilized for a visa to struggle in the USA — and was denied. On attraction, nonetheless, his U.S. visa was accepted, and the remaining is MMA historical past.
Though Bisping says he “selected to neglect” his time in jail and “put it behind me,” he doesn’t merely fake his previous did not occur. He took away a lesson he’ll always remember.
“The decide that despatched me down did me a favor,” Bisping mentioned. “I spotted which you could’t undergo your life behaving like this. So I made some adjustments. I modified my pals. I modified my ingesting habits. Grew to become a greater individual.”