Stephen Thompson is confident that his brother in law Chris Weidman can never throw a kick again and still dominate in the UFC — Fightful has you covered on this story as well as all of the other news in the world of combat sports.
Stephen Thompson confident that Chris Weidman can come back and dominate in the UFC
At UFC 261, the former undisputed UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman suffered a sickening leg break in the first 20 seconds in his fight against Uriah Hall.
Weidman's first leg kick came just 13 seconds into the fight and it was checked by Hall which caused Weidman's leg to snap in half on impact and break even worse when he stepped back and put a lot of weight on the leg.
Stephen Thompson who is a UFC welterweight title contender is also Chris Weidman's brother in law has come out and expressed his confidence in Weidman making a successful return to the Octagon in the future.
When speaking to TMZ Sports, Thompson spoke about what it is like training with Weidman and why he thinks that Weidman can still dominate in the UFC despite suffering a very nasty leg break.
Thompson said "When I first started training with Chris Weidman, this was before he was the champion, and I realized when he got the title why he was the champion. The grind that he puts himself through, the mental toughness, the spiritual toughness that this guy has, it’s unbreakable man, it really is. So knowing that about him, I know for a fact he will come back."
Thompson then explained why he thinks that the injury which Weidman suffered probably won't affect his fighting style going forward.
Thompson explained "His style of fighting, if that ever happened to me, it would be different cause I rely a lot on my kicks. He can never throw a kick again and still dominate in the UFC, in his division. He’s not known for his kicking, he’s known for his striking, his wrestling. So that’s the thing that makes this not very worrisome. So yeah, it’s terrible that it happened and I pray that it heals up fast and I know it will, but he doesn’t have to ever throw a kick again and he can still win fights."
Do you agree with Thompson's comments that Weidman can come back and still win fights?
Dominick Reyes issues a statement following a devastating loss to Jiri Prochazka
Since Dominick Reyes controversially lost to Jon Jones at UFC 247 he has suffered two devastating knockout defeats in a row to Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka.
The loss to Prochazka this past weekend is bound to sting for Reyes as he had Prochazka badly hurt but was unable to capitalize on the opportunity to finish him.
Reyes has now issued a statement on social media following his loss to Prochazka.
In his statement Reyes said "Finally home and surrounded by those I love, I’d like to say, I went out there and fought with all my heart. I put it all out there and I’m glad it was entertaining for most of you. I’m happy and upset as you can imagine as I didn’t get the desired outcome. But I went out and fought and for that, I can say I’m proud.”
Reyes also went on to praise Prochazka for the elbow which he landed to knock him out.
He said "I love this game and at times it does not love me back but that’s what we have all signed up for. I want to say I’m doing good healing up I’ll be OK. And congrats to (Prochazka.) Hell of a fight and what an elbow! It’s the ones you don’t see coming that get you. God bless you all and I’ll see you guys at the next one.”
Tatiana Suarez calls on Valentina Shevchenko to grapple with her
In her last few fights, Valentina Shevchenko's main strength has been her amazing grappling skills to take down and control her opponents on the ground.
She has been fighting in a very similar way to her fellow UFC women's title contender Tatiana Suarez.
Suarez last competed in the UFC's women's strawweight division which is one division below which Shevchenko currently fights, but she is tempted to move up after seeing how Shevchenko's last fight against Jessica Andrade went.
Suarez has not competed in nearly two years due to constant lingering injuries but if she manages to get injury-free she sees herself moving up to the flyweight division.
When speaking on The 1, 2 Podcast With Kendrick and James, Suarez gave her opinions on Shevchenko's last fight and how a fight between herself and Shevchenko would go down.
Suarez said "I just think that Jessica is strong. I don’t think that Jessica is technically the best grappler at 125. I would never say that. I just think she’s very powerful and strong and I truly believe that my grappling is way beyond her’s in terms of technique. So if I fought Valentina, I don’t think she would be able to impose the same game that she did with Andrade.”
Suarez then went onto explain how she would match up in a potential bout with Shevchenko.
She said "I’m open to her trying to grapple with me too because I’m a very defensive grappler. She has a really good body lock, I have a really good body lock. Honestly, I just think it would be a really good fight if we were grappling together. I really feel like my technique is pretty good, I’ve been wrestling my whole life so I’m not shy to grapple with somebody ever.”
How do you think a fight between Suarez and Shevchenko would go?
Joanna Jedrzejczyk shows off nasty shin injury (not for the faint-hearted)
Former UFC women's strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk has not fought in the UFC in over a year but that does not mean that she has not been training in that time.
In fact, it seems like Jedrzejczyk has been training a little too hard as she has suffered a pretty nasty shin injury which she showcased on her Instagram.
See the picture of the injury below.
Israel Adesanya's coach criticizes Robert Whittaker for not taking title shot
The former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has been criticized by Israel Adesanya's head coach Eugene Bareman for turning down to fight Adesanya for the title this summer at UFC 263.
Whittaker was offered the chance to fight Adesanya this summer for the belt just hours after dominantly defeating Kelvin Gastelum just weeks ago.
However, due to being "banged up" Whittaker chose to decline the fight as the date for the title fight was too soon considering he was probably carrying injuries as well as the time he has to spend in quarantine before he goes home to his family.
Due to Whittaker declining the fight, Adesanya will now rematch Marvin Vettori for the belt instead.
Whittaker has now been criticized by Adesanya's head coach Eugene Bareman for choosing not to take the fight.
When speaking to Combat TV, Bareman said "Robert has to, when you turn down an opportunity like that, just like we know — when you turn down an opportunity like that now you have to sit at the back of the list again. Now he goes into the pool again, which is unfortunate for him but he has his reason for making his decision, but now as far as we’re concerned, he said no. He’s in the pool again. Now there are all these guys coming up, there’s Holland, there’s Till. He was able to separate himself from that, unfortunately for whatever personal reasons, he hasn’t taken the fight."
Bareman also went on to say that Whittaker now has to go and fight someone else to earn a rematch with Adesanya.
He said "Now he goes back into that pool and has to keep fighting to earn his spot, just like we would have to if we refused the title shot. Vettori’s the one that stepped up so he’s the one we’re fully concentrating on at the moment.”
Do you agree with Bareman's comments?
Randa Markos issues statement after controversial finish to her fight against Luana Pinheiro
This past weekend at UFC Fight Night Reyes vs Prochazka, Randa Markos fought Luana Pinheiro and it is fair to say that the fight had a pretty controversial ending.
Markos threw an illegal up kick which landed on the face of Pinheiro which appeared to really hurt her.
After watching the fight back, Markos is not convinced that Pinheiro was that hurt and she said that she should have continued.
See Markos' statement below.
Raphael Pessoa suspended for two years by USADA for a second doping violation
Brazilian UFC heavyweight Raphael Pessoa has officially accepted a two-year suspension from USADA for his second doping violation.
USADA released a statement saying "Pessoa Nunes, 32, tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) and its metabolites chlorothiazide and 4-amino-6-chloro-1,3-benzenedisulfonamide (ACB) as the result of urine samples collected out-of-competition on February 9, 2021, February 15, 2021, February 16, 2021, and March 4, 2021. HCTZ is a Specified Substance in the class of Diuretics and Masking Agents and is prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy and UFC Prohibited List. Because Pessoa Nunes was not yet notified of the positive tests until after all four samples were collected, they were treated as a single second violation."
Also in the statement, USADA said "The athlete also evaded sample collection on January 25, 2021, and January 28, 2021. Evading sample collection, or refusing or failing to submit to sample collection, without compelling justification is a doping violation under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy. Pessoa Nunes had not been notified of the evasion violations until after his positive tests were reported. Therefore, the evasion violations were also combined into the single second violation.”
This means that Pessoa will now not be able to compete in MMA until February 2023.
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