Jorge Masvidal asks for release from UFC on Twitter
The tradition of UFC fighters threatening to quit the promotion via Twitter amid the coronavirus pandemic continued on Friday afternoon when Jorge Masvidal tweeted that he wants out of his UFC deal. © Sarah Stier-USA TODAY Sports Jorge Masvidal is the latest UFC fighter to ask for his release from the organization on Twitter. "I'm not an independent contractor if I can't go anywhere else to make a living," Masvidal wrote. "Let me go and let me see if I'm worth it.
The UFC Fight Night 164 card on ESPN+ on Saturday was heralded as the return of two of Brazil's most prolific mixed martial arts heroes, but it wound up Twelve fights yield a lot of winners and losers of all shapes and sizes, and we've compiled our list coming out of the show in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
To sum it up, 13 fights yield a lot of winners and losers of all shapes and sizes. Read through to see what happened or to simply to decide whether your list jibes with ours. He met Cerrone himself in a UFC Fight Night main event in 2014 and has shared top billing with the likes of Nate Diaz as well.
It’s all a prelude to UFC 251 at Fight Island next month. Those who took to Las Vegas’ Apex facility Saturday night for UFC Fight Night on ESPN had a lot to prove.
© Handout Photo-USA TODAY Sports Agapova dominated Cifers, which should set her up for bigger and better things. Losses here would doom the career of some fighters. Others were in need of making a statement in order for Dana White to feature them moving forward.
Jessica Eye’s match against Cynthia Calvillo in the women’s flyweight division was the headliner with Marvin Vettori’s match against Karl Roberson being the main co-event.
Here are the biggest winners and losers from a fun and busy Saturday night in Las Vegas.
UFC 250: Alex Caceres lands filthy right hand, takes out Chase Hooper
Bruce Leeroy, as he is known, would go on to defeat Hooper by unanimous decision. It represented a rude wake-up call for Hooper and is the first time Caceres has won three consecutive matches since 2016.Subscribe to Yardbarker's Morning Bark, the most comprehensive newsletter in sports. Customize your email to get the latest news on your favorite sports, teams and schools. Emailed daily.
In the UFC Fight Night 168 main event, top-10 lightweight contenders Paul Felder and Dan Hooker delivered a five-round war, with the latter, the hometown hero, picking up a hard- fought split-decision win. When all was said and done, there were 12 winners and 12 losers .
UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo welcomed the UFC bantamweight champion to 125 pounds and finished him in 32 seconds, potentially saving an entire division filled with talented fighters . Beyond who got their hand raised and who did not, who were the real winners and losers ?
Winner: Jordan Espinosa salvages career
At 30 years old, this Ohio native was pretty much fighting for his career against Mark De La Rosa. Ranked 13th in the flyweight division, Espinosa had lost each of his past two fights. He was facing the possibility of a pink slip.
The good news for Espinosa is that he had a major advantage over De La Rosa throughout Saturday night, landing more punches and nearly submitting his opponent. It led to a unanimous decision win after three rounds. Espinosa is now aiming for Fight Island in the Abu Dhabi next month.
Loser: Hannah Cifers blows golden opportunity
Making her first appearance in the flyweight division after losing her past two strawweight matches, Cifers was in need of a statement at Apex in Las Vegas. In no way did that come to fruition. Cifers was submitted in Round 1 after her opponent, Mariya Agapova, landed a violent kick.
Kyrie Irving does not support Orlando plan, willing to give up everything
Several players apparently spoke up about not supporting the resumed season due to social issues. Sources: Kyrie Irving led a call of 80-plus NBA players, including Chris Paul/Kevin Durant/Carmelo Anthony/Donovan Mitchell, and Irving and several players spoke up about not supporting resumed season due to nationwide unrest from social injustice/racism. — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 13, 2020 Donovan Mitchell, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard among others spoke out about possibly sitting out due to social/COVID-19 issues, per sources. NBPA leadership, Paul/Garrett Temple, provided insight too.
Suffice to say 12 fights yield a lot of winners and losers of all shapes and sizes. Read through to see what happened or to simply to decide whether your list While the network's typical Fight Night show starting at 8 p.m. ET tends to run about three hours or more, the goings-on from Norfolk—thanks to a
The UFC made its first trip to Denmark as it hit the Royal Arena in Copenhagen for UFC Fight Night 160. Jared Cannonier came into hostile territory and A real win or loss is much more than the result of the fight . Let's jump into the fray to pick out the real winners and losers following the action at UFC
The 27-year-old North Carolina native has now lost three consecutive fights. Forget about her taking part in Fight Island, Cifers’ needs to take time to return to form.
Winner: Andre Fili sets stage for potential Fight Island match
Fili needed to come out on top over a lesser-known Charles Jourdain if he wanted to have any chance of being featured during next month’s Fight Island extravaganza. He lost his most-recent fight back in UFC 246 and needed to make a statement on ESPN.
While the match against Jourdain did go the distance, Fili more than proved himself in the featherweight division. Even after nearly being submitted early on, he was able to come out with a split decision win due to multiple take downs throughout the bout. The confident young man now waits for his next opponent.
Lane Kiffin shares how Ole Miss has fallen behind amid pandemic
The fact that players have not been allowed on campus or at practice has left players and coaches unfamiliar with each other, and Kiffin cited that as a huge issue.Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels are dealing with those issues and then some. As a first-year coach, Kiffin has a lot of work to do getting to know his players and what makes them tick.
No, the UFC went to the O2 Arena in Prague for the first time on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 145. In the main event, Thiago Santos got yet Twenty-six fighters in total competed in the UFC 's first Prague event, but who got their hands raised? More importantly, who were the real winners and losers
UFC Fight Night 159 went down Saturday in Mexico City. In the main event, favorite fighting son Yair Rodriguez tried to take a big step up the featherweight ladder against veteran slugger Jeremy Stephens For the literal-minded among us, final stat lines appear at the end. Loser : Everybody. 1 of 6.
Loser: Kevin Aguilar’s angel of death
Aguilar was in need of a divisive win over Charles Rosa in their lightweight bout Saturday evening. He had lost two consecutive fights after winning his previous nine bouts. It was among the biggest preliminary bouts of the evening in Vegas.
Unfortunately for Aguilar, he was not able to end this losing streak. Rosa came out on top in a split decision. The fight itself was also among the dullest of the evening. It didn’t necessarily paint either Rosa or Aguilar in the best of lights. But it was a damning defeat for the latter.
Winner: Mariya Agapova‘s impressive debut
A native of Kazakhstan, Agapova was relatively unknown to the masses heading into UFC Fight Night. Yet, die-hard MMA fans knew that she has the capability of ascending the flyweight division before even making her UFC debut.
This is exactly what we saw from Agapova against Hannah Cifers. She dominated from the get, submitting her opponent at 2:42 of Round 1. This represented Agapova’s fourth consecutive first round win. It now might earn her a spot on Fight Island.
Unnamed player, pitching coach test positive for coronavirus
An unnamed Major League pitching coach and a player on a 40-man roster have both tested positive for COVID-19 but it’s quite possible we might never know the identity of either person.It’s quite possible we might never know the identity of either person, though given what we know about the spread of COVID-19, it’s safe to assume that far more team-affiliated personnel than just these two have gotten the disease. Some people with COVID-19 can never experience any symptoms and thus don’t even know they have the coronavirus, which puts them at greater risk of unknowingly spreading the disease to others.
Cub Swanson was supposed to run through Artem Lobov at UFC Fight Night 108 in Nashville on Saturday. The vocal lightweight has reasserted himself in the division. Those are just two of the results, but that's all they are. Here are the real winners and losers coming out of Nashville.
Regardless, the clear top draw of UFC Fight Night 116 was the former middleweight champion. The popular and telegenic Rockhold hasn't competed It's not the densest card, but it'll get your motor running. Whether you watched or not, let us enlighten you with the real winners and losers from
Loser: Jessica Eye blows opportunity for championship rematch
Eye was looking to prove her worth in a potential rematch against Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight title after losing to the latter in UFC 238 last year. It did not happen. After winning Round 1, she saw herself playing defense throughout the remainder of the bout.
Boasting an 8-1-1 record, Cynthia Calvillo nearly submitted Eye multiple times and had some major take downs in Rounds 2-4 before she walked to a unanimous victory. It really was a disastrous performance from Eye, and has people wondering whether she’ll be featured a lot moving forward.
Winner: Marvin Vettori will now be ranked
The 26-year-old Italian has been waiting since last October to fight in the Octagon again. His match against Karl Roberson was postponed twice, once due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. There’s no love lost between these two middleweights. That was evidenced when the rivals refused to embrace one another ahead of the bout.
Vettori took out this frustration by submitting Roberson late in Round 1 with a rear-naked choke. It was something to behold.
Look for the middleweight to find himself within the top-15 in the latest rankings.
Report: MLBPA leaders likely to vote against MLB 60-game proposal
What happens next? The expectation within the game is that commissioner Rob Manfred will simply set a schedule, which is likely to be brief.According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the players union’s executive subcommittee is expected to vote against the proposal, and it may do so unanimously. Of the eight player representatives, only Daniel Murphy is believed to be considering a yes vote. The larger population of MLB players is also believed to oppose the deal.
Winner: Cynthia Calvillo makes major statement
This 32-year-old Northern California native made her flyweight debut in Las Vegas. She did so as a slight underdog against the better-known Eye. She did not look anything like an underdog.
Calvillo nearly submitted Eye multiple times throughout the fight after struggling early on. Once the match headed to Round 5, it was obvious Calvillo would come out on top. She’ll now likely go up against Katlyn Chookagian.
That could be a lot of fun.
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More must-reads:
- UFC Fight Night: Andre Fili calls out officials after winning split decision
- UFC Fight Night: Mariya Agapova submits Hannah Cifers in stunning fashion
- The 'UFC Light Heavyweight Champions' quiz
Related slideshow: The 30 best MMA fighters of the 2010s (Provided by Yardbarker)
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The 30 best MMA fighters of the 2010s
The 2010s were, to date, the most significant decade in the history of mixed martial arts. Back in November 2009, the thought of ESPN airing Ultimate Fighting Championship post-event programs across multiple platforms would’ve been laughed at by industry analysts, die-hard followers of the product and even fighters. As the 2010s reach their conclusion, MMA and UFC are more mainstream than ever before thanks to multiple promotions and broadcasters that provide new content every weekend of the year. If anything, MMA suffered from overexposure during the second half of the decade. The two most important aspects of all combat sports leagues are win-loss records and the ability to draw eyes and, in certain instances, pay-per-view buys. According to Alan Dawson of Business Insider, the August 2017 boxing match between UFC champion fighter Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather drew over 4 million PPV purchases even though McGregor didn’t belong in the ring with who is arguably the greatest ever pound-for-pound pugilist. Best, in this scenario, doesn’t necessarily mean most skilled. The “a tree falls in a forest” thought experiment applies to all combat sports. If a fighter dominates his opponents but nobody cares to watch, do those wins matter?
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Holly Holm
With a swift left kick to the head on Nov.14, 2015, Holly Holm became a household name by defeating Ronda Rousey, the previously “baddest woman on the planet” who appeared to be an unstoppable force until that fateful evening. Following the best night of her professional career, Holm failed to successfully defend the bantamweight title she won from Rousey, and she posted a professional record of 2-5 from March 5, 2016, through November 2019. Nevertheless, that one win made Holm a draw worthy of earning a trio of championship bouts even after she lost her strap.
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Brock Lesnar
When all is said and done, Brock Lesnar will go down as one of the most important fighters in MMA and UFC history. The World Wrestling Entertainment personality held an official record of 2-1 when he defeated Randy Couture at UFC 91 in November 2008 to become the UFC heavyweight champion. Per Business Insider, that fight drew over one million PPV buys, a number Lesnar topped on three occasions before he retired in 2019. Could Dana White convince The Beast to return in 2020 for a match with Stipe Miocic? Money talks.
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Robbie Lawler
Robbie Lawler’s second UFC stint began in February 2013 with a TKO victory over the outspoken Josh Koscheck. In December 2014, the “Ruthless” one avenged a previous defeat to Johny Hendricks to win welterweight gold in an instant classic that could’ve gone either way. Lawler twice retained his championship before he was dominated by Tyron Woodley at UFC 201 in June 2016. The former champion was 28-14 (one no contest) as of Nov. 22.
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Miesha Tate
Every great champion needs an antagonist. Ali-Frazier. McGregor-Diaz. In both Strikeforce and the UFC, Miesha Tate served as Ronda Rousey’s first bitter rival, and the two helped put women’s MMA on the map. Tate never caught her “white whale,” as she went 0-2 vs. the Rowdy one before Rousey's UFC departure. After Tate's second defeat to Rousey, she notched four consecutive victories to earn a bantamweight championship match vs. Holly Holm at UFC 196 on March 5, 2016. “Cupcake” choked Holm out to win her first UFC title, but she lost her only championship defense and a November 2016 contest before she retired as one of the most important figures in the history of women’s MMA.
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Cody Garbrandt
From March 6, 2010, through December 2016, Dominick Cruz accumulated an eight-bout win streak before he met up with Cody Garbrandt for the UFC bantamweight championship at UFC 207. The 10-0 Garbrandt won by unanimous decision to seemingly end one era and start another via a “Fight of the Night” performance. That proved to be Garbrandt’s highlight of the 2010s, though, as he dropped a pair of contests vs. T.J. Dillashaw before he fell to Pedro Munhoz in March 2019.
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Renan Barao
Throughout the opening half of the 2010s, bantamweight Renan Barao defeated all who stood in his way in both the WEC and UFC, and he held the interim and, later, undisputed UFC championship in that division. Following a win over Urijah Faber at UFC 169, Barao improved to a career 32-1 record. He was on pace to earn fighter of the decade honors until T.J. Dillashaw shocked the MMA world with a commanding and powerful performance to take Barao’s gold at UFC 173. Dillashaw won the rematch via TKO in July 2015, and Barao failed to return to a championship level.
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Rose Namajunas
Rose Namajunas was hardly a buzzsaw heading into her strawweight championship fight vs. the 14-0 Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217. Not only was Namajunas a massive underdog on Nov. 4, 2017, but many expected “Thug” couldn’t hang for five rounds vs. “Joanna Champion,” the best women’s striker in the world at that time. Namajunas didn’t need five rounds, as she knocked Jedrzejczyk down on multiple occasions and then won the title with a punishing left hook. Namajunas successfully defended the championship in a rematch against Jedrzejczyk in April 2018, but the champ suffered a surprise loss to Jessica Andrade in May 2019. In November 2019, Namajunas told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani she reclaimed a lost passion for fighting months after her final loss of the 2010s. Here’s hoping the Thug of old returns in 2020.
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Robert Whittaker
Australian-born Robert Whittaker broke into the UFC through the reality-television program “The Smashes,” and he won that competition via a victory over Bradley Scott in December 2012. While Whittaker dropped two of his next three contests, he eventually found his form and confidence, and a seven-match win streak earned him a shot at the interim middleweight championship vs. Yoel Romero in July 2017. According to Stuff, Whittaker made history in defeating Romero by becoming the first Australian or New Zealander to hold UFC gold. Whittaker won the rematch vs. Romero the subsequent January, but he lost his title to Israel Adesanya in October 2019.
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Chris Weidman
From February 2009 through the bulk of 2015, middleweight Chris Weidman added numerous recognizable names to his win list. Uriah Hall, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, and Demian Maia all fell to Weidman before July 2013, when the “All-American” handed Anderson Silva his first UFC loss with the title on the line. The 10-0 Weidman retained his gold that December after Silva suffered a brutal and gruesome broken leg while delivering a low kick, and the champ accumulated two more successful title defenses before he fell to Luke Rockhold via fourth-round TKO in December 2015.
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T.J. Dillashaw
T.J. Dillashaw is one of the “say it isn’t so” stories from the list. From March 2010 through the end of 2018, Dillashaw won 17 of 20 bouts, and his upset victory over Renan Barao at UFC 173 was one of the biggest MMA shocks of the first half of the 2010s. Dillashaw reclaimed the bantamweight title by finishing Cody Garbrandt in the second round on Nov. 4, 2017, and Dillashaw then stopped Garbrandt in the first round the following August. However, Dillashaw relinquished his championship in March 2019 after he failed a USADA test. He ended the decade serving the first half of a two-year suspension.
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Luke Rockhold
In September 2011, Luke Rockhold won the first significant title of his fighting career when he upset Jacare Souza for the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. Rockhold held the strap until the UFC absorbed Strikeforce in January 2013, and a loss to Vitor Belfort that May could’ve halted any momentum had by the one-time champion. Rockhold responded well, though, as he earned four straight wins before he ended Chris Weidman’s unbeaten run at UFC 194. Rockhold’s title reign lasted less than half a calendar year, though, as Michael Bisping stopped Rockhold via TKO in the first round of their June 2016 bout.
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Frankie Edgar
Frankie Edgar’s 2010s began with two lightweight championship fights vs. B.J. Penn. The April 2010 match went to the judges, and Edgar earned the decision even though some who watched the fight disagreed. Edgar’s second (August 2010) and third (July 2014) victories over Penn weren’t as controversial. “The Answer” moved to featherweight in the summer of 2012 after a pair of losses to Benson Henderson. Over the next eight years, Edgar beat well-known opponents such as Cub Swanson (twice), Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes, Jeremy Stephens, and Yair Rodriguez. As explained by Sherdog, Edgar accepted a January 2020 bantamweight fight at 38 years old.
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Henry Cejudo
On April 23, 2016, Henry “The Messenger” Cejudo was a 10-0 fighter who, simply put, wasn’t ready to face Demetrious Johnson, one of the greatest pound-for-pound MMA specialists of the past few decades. Following that humbling one-sided loss and a December 2016 defeat to Joseph Benavidez, Cejudo got back on his feet, won a pair of bouts and then surprised many by beating “Mighty Mouse” Johnson at UFC 227. In June 2019, Cejudo became a champ-champ when he won the vacant bantamweight crown via a third-round TKO of Marlon Moraes.
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Fabricio Werdum
Brazilian Fabricio Werdum was a heavyweight with a career’s worth of experience under his belt when he began a second run in the UFC in February 2012. Already respected for previous wins over Alistair Overeem, Aleksander Emelianenko, and Fedor Emelianenko, Werdum won four straight contests before he stopped Mark Hunt in the second round of their UFC 180 bout to win the interim heavyweight title. Werdum became the undisputed champion by defeating Cain Velasquez in June 2015, but he was no match for Stipe Miocic the following May.The all-time great of the division went 3-2 in post-title matches before a two-year USADA suspension banned him from September 2018 through May 2020.
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Joanna Jedrzejczyk
When Joanna Jedrzejczyk stepped into the Octagon on Nov. 4, 2017, to defend her strawweight championship vs. Rose Namajunas, the 14-0 “Joanna Champion” was understandably a heavy favorite. Arguably the greatest all-around striker in the history of any women’s division at the time, Jedrzejczyk had successfully defended her strap five times leading up to her showdown with Namajunas. As Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie wrote, Jedrzejczyk set records in her May 2017 takedown of Jessica Andrade. Then, Namajunas steamrolled Jedrzejczyk. Just like that, the former champion’s aura disappeared overnight. After her first loss to “Thug,” Jedrzejczyk finished the 2010s with a 2-2 record and an 0-2 mark in championship contests.
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Jose Aldo
One problem with ranking Jose Aldo in any list of the best fighters of the 2010s is that the first thing many remember when they see or hear his name is the famous 13-second knockout loss he suffered to Conor McGregor at UFC 194. Before Aldo lost the featherweight championship that fateful December 2015 contest, he had won 18 consecutive bouts, including title defenses vs. Urijah Faber, Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes (twice), and Frankie Edgar. Aldo ends the 2010s considered one of the greatest featherweights ever.
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Tyron Woodley
During the second half of the 2010s, Dana White, critics and even fans bashed Tyron Woodley for being too boring and too safe in the cage. While such comments were fair, there was little that was dull about Woodley dismantling Robbie Lawler with a first-round blitz to win welterweight gold on July 30, 2016. Woodley began 2019 with a legitimate opportunity to break into the top 10 of this list, but a convincing unanimous loss to Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 dropped him out of contention.
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Valentina Shevchenko
The tale of Joanna Jedrzejczyk may cause one to shy from “overrating” Valentina Shevchenko at the end of the 2010s. While Shevchenko dropped three of 14 bouts over the decade, a September 2017 loss to Amanda Nunes could’ve gone either way on the official scorecards. Shevchenko left no doubt in December 2018 when she downed the previously mentioned Jedrzejczyk via unanimous decision to win the flyweight championship. “Bullet” finished the decade with victories over Jessica Eye and Liz Carmouche.
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Max Holloway
If Jose Aldo is the greatest featherweight in history, to date, then Max Holloway entered the final month of the 2010s as the heir apparent to the throne. Holloway put together a nine-fight win streak and an overall record of 16-3 when he won the interim featherweight title via a TKO finish of Anthony Pettis on Dec. 10, 2016, and he twice beat Aldo (one of those contests unified the championship) the following year. On July 2017, 2019, Holloway defeated Frankie Edgar via decision for a third-straight successful title defense.
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Cain Velasquez
According to Business Insider, the Oct. 23, 2010, heavyweight title fight between then-champion Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez drew over 1 million buys. Those who tuned in witnessed Velasquez smash Lesnar into submission. However, the new champ lost his belt to Junior Dos Santos in November 2011. Thirteen months later, Velasquez avenged that result and reclaimed his title, and he notched successful defenses versus Antonio Silva and Dos Santos before he fell to Fabricio Werdum in June 2015. Injuries prevented Velasquez from making a third run at the championship, and he was a shell of his former self (and probably already considering a pro-wrestling career) when he lost to Francis Ngannou in February 2019.
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Cris Cyborg
Cris Cyborg is as complicated a mainstream fighter as any from the 2010s. For the bulk of the decade, no woman could stand toe-to-toe with Cyborg or withstand her crushing and powerful blows. A 2012 doping violation tarnished Cyborg’s reputation for years, and her inability/unwillingness to drop from 145 pounds to the 135-pound division cost her a dream fight vs.s Ronda Rousey. Strikeforce and Invicta opponents couldn’t touch Cyborg in the cage, and she signed with the UFC in 2015. As explained by MMA Weekly, Dana White created the organization’s 145-pound division specifically for Cyborg. She didn’t disappoint, as she won her first five bouts before she was knocked out by Amanda Nunes on Dec. 29, 2018.
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Amanda Nunes
Ronda Rousey is a pioneer, but Amanda Nunes is the G.O.A.T. women’s competitor from the 2010s. After Nunes lost to Cat Zingano in September 2014, she amassed a three-bout win streak to earn a July 2016 bantamweight title fight vs. Miesha Tate. “The Lioness” bloodied and massacred Tate, and Nunes then knocked Rousey all the way to WWE on Dec. 30 of that year. One belt wasn’t enough for Nunes. Following successful championship defenses vs. Valentina Shevchenko and Raquel Pennington, Nunes knocked Cris Cyborg out in 51 seconds at UFC 232 to win the featherweight championship. That result made Nunes the first female to simultaneously hold UFC championships in multiple weight classes.
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Georges St-Pierre
If Tyron Woodley was the pound-for-pound most boring winner of the second half of the 2010s, then Georges St-Pierre is the godfather of such performances. GSP may also be the greatest MMA fighter ever as of Jan. 1, 2020. Between the start of 2010 and the end of 2013, GSP participated in only six welterweight title defenses, all wins, before he embarked on a hiatus that lasted nearly four years. He returned to the UFC in November 2017 and choked Michael Bisping out for a third-round middleweight championship victory. As of the posting of this piece, GSP isn’t scheduled to ever fight competitively again. Per Tom Webber of the Sporting News, St-Pierre and Jon Jones were tied at 13 for the most title-match victories in UFC history heading into 2020.
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Khabib Nurmagomedov
Could Khabib Nurmagomedov draw over 2 million PPV buys without having Conor McGregor as an opponent? Probably not, but one can’t argue with perfection. Nurmagomedov will end the 2010s the UFC lightweight champion with an unblemished 28-0 record. After “The Eagle” defeated Conor McGregor in October 2018 and Dustin Poirier in September 2019, he left his division battered, broken and without any real challengers.
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Daniel Cormier
Do you believe Daniel Cormier ever lost to a “clean” Jon Jones? If your answer is no, then you may name Cormier as your best fighter of the 2010s and, potentially, your G.O.A.T. UFC performer. From Sept. 25, 2009, through the end of 2018, Cormier built an official record of 22-1, and he was the reigning light heavyweight champion when he defeated Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title at UFC 226. As Brian Campbell of CBS Sports wrote, Cormier submitted Derrick Lewis in November 2018, a victory that made the champ-champ the first UFC fighter to hold and defend two world titles simultaneously. Cormier’s run ended when he lost to Stipe Miocic via fourth-round TKO in August 2019.
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Stipe Miocic
Stipe Miocic’s legacy is set in stone regardless of what happens next decade. The Cleveland native is the greatest heavyweight in MMA history and the first fighter to successfully defend the UFC heavyweight championship in three consecutive bouts, which he accomplished at UFC 220. We eventually learned his loss to Daniel Cormier in July 2018 was but a blip on the radar, as Miocic reclaimed his belt 13 months later. Miocic doesn’t draw as did Lesnar, Rousey and McGregor throughout the 2010s. Blame UFC marketing for that. The champ’s record speaks for itself and his place among the all-time legends of the sport.
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Ronda Rousey
All current and future women’s MMA fighters who earn over seven figures owe Ronda Rousey for their successes. As Jordy McElroy wrote for Bleacher Report in 2012, Dana White wasn’t shy about admitting the UFC embraced women’s MMA because he believed Rousey could become a generational star who sold PPVs to new audiences. Rousey met and exceeded White's expectations. She had model good looks, an unbreakable armbar submission and the will to play the game. Rousey knew when to be a heel and when to act like a smiling baby face at press events. We can only guess where women’s MMA would be in 2020 had she flopped.
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Demetrious Johnson
Need further proof that winning, alone, doesn’t draw? From Sept. 22, 2012, through the morning of Aug. 2, 2018, Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson reigned over the UFC flyweight division as its unbeatable champion and the top pound-for-pound fighter on earth. Yet every victory he earned was met with stories about how the UFC undervalued someone the company didn’t view as a big-money fighter. As ESPN’s Marc Raimondi wrote, Johnson’s record of 11 straight UFC championship defenses didn’t prevent the organization from trading him to ONE Championship after he lost his title to Henry Cejudo.
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Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor wasn’t just the most successful UFC athlete of the 2010s. He’s the most successful MMA fighter ever, and there’s no close second. In November 2016, the outspoken and controversial McGregor became the first individual to simultaneously hold two UFC championships. Per Adam Hill and Gilbert Manzano of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the August 2017 boxing match between McGregor and Floyd Mayweather generated over four million PPV buys. As mentioned earlier, McGregor’s loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov set a record for UFC PPV purchases.
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Jon Jones
Physically speaking, Jon “Bones” Jones is the greatest MMA fighter in history — a man who didn’t taste defeat during the 2010s and who finished the decade as UFC light heavyweight champion with an official record of 25-1. He’s also a multitime USADA offender, as Marc Raimondi wrote for MMA Fighting in September 2018, who apparently will receive any figurative get-out-of-jail card the UFC can provide so long as he continues winning and selling tickets and PPVs. Jones deserves to be on any MMA Mount Rushmore regardless of what’s been in his system at different points of the last 10 years. In his prime, he had no equal. Then again, Daniel Cormier may deliver a NSFW response to that claim.
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MLB, MLBPA reportedly making final negotiation effort .
If the two sides aren’t able to reach a compromise, commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to implement a season at a length of the league’s choosing. Doing so would ensure the players their prorated salaries for the duration of the 2020 season and would not include the expanded playoffs, which the union has offered to ownership. Barring an agreement between the two sides, we’re down to the “last hours” before Manfred implements a season length, per Olney. Throughout this process, both parties have maintained that they hope to reach a deal rather than have a season set by Manfred under the pre-existing March agreement.
The tradition of UFC fighters threatening to quit the promotion via Twitter amid the coronavirus pandemic continued on Friday afternoon when Jorge Masvidal tweeted that he wants out of his UFC deal. © Sarah Stier-USA TODAY Sports Jorge Masvidal is the latest UFC fighter to ask for his release from the organization on Twitter. "I'm not an independent contractor if I can't go anywhere else to make a living," Masvidal wrote. "Let me go and let me see if I'm worth it. 
Bruce Leeroy, as he is known, would go on to defeat Hooper by unanimous decision. It represented a rude wake-up call for Hooper and is the first time Caceres has won three consecutive matches since 2016.Subscribe to Yardbarker's Morning Bark, the most comprehensive newsletter in sports. Customize your email to get the latest news on your favorite sports, teams and schools. Emailed daily. 
Several players apparently spoke up about not supporting the resumed season due to social issues. Sources: Kyrie Irving led a call of 80-plus NBA players, including Chris Paul/Kevin Durant/Carmelo Anthony/Donovan Mitchell, and Irving and several players spoke up about not supporting resumed season due to nationwide unrest from social injustice/racism. — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 13, 2020 Donovan Mitchell, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard among others spoke out about possibly sitting out due to social/COVID-19 issues, per sources. NBPA leadership, Paul/Garrett Temple, provided insight too. 
The fact that players have not been allowed on campus or at practice has left players and coaches unfamiliar with each other, and Kiffin cited that as a huge issue.Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels are dealing with those issues and then some. As a first-year coach, Kiffin has a lot of work to do getting to know his players and what makes them tick. 
An unnamed Major League pitching coach and a player on a 40-man roster have both tested positive for COVID-19 but it’s quite possible we might never know the identity of either person.It’s quite possible we might never know the identity of either person, though given what we know about the spread of COVID-19, it’s safe to assume that far more team-affiliated personnel than just these two have gotten the disease. Some people with COVID-19 can never experience any symptoms and thus don’t even know they have the coronavirus, which puts them at greater risk of unknowingly spreading the disease to others. 
What happens next? The expectation within the game is that commissioner Rob Manfred will simply set a schedule, which is likely to be brief.According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the players union’s executive subcommittee is expected to vote against the proposal, and it may do so unanimously. Of the eight player representatives, only Daniel Murphy is believed to be considering a yes vote. The larger population of MLB players is also believed to oppose the deal. 
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Jorge Masvidal asks for release from UFC on Twitter 
UFC 250: Alex Caceres lands filthy right hand, takes out Chase Hooper 
Kyrie Irving does not support Orlando plan, willing to give up everything 
Lane Kiffin shares how Ole Miss has fallen behind amid pandemic 
Unnamed player, pitching coach test positive for coronavirus 
Report: MLBPA leaders likely to vote against MLB 60-game proposal 
MLB offers to cancel expanded playoffs, universal DH for 2021 
MLB, MLBPA reportedly making final negotiation effort 
