MMA news for the week of July 18th includes social media beef between former UFC heavyweight champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and boxer Shannon Briggs, a permanent love-inking bet made by combat sports’ best troll Jake Paul, Conor McGregor says he injured his ankle pre- UFC 264, and so much more.
MMA News: Fights Coming up This Week (7-19-21 to 7-25-21)
Both BKFC and Combate Global have cards set for Friday night.
BKFC returns with BKFC 19 at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT, as former UFC headliner, Paige VanZant (8-5) collides with Rachael Ostovich (4-6) in the main event. VanZant says she learned greatly from her first BKFC fight and is ready to show her growth to fans at this bout.
Combate Global 14 will air live at 10:30 pm ET/7:30 pm PT in Miami with a lightweight main event featuring Levy Saul Marroquin (15-3) battling Carlos Calvo Calvo (7-2.) The action streams on Paramount+.
UFC Vegas 32 airs Saturday. Catch the Prelims at 3:30 pm ET/12:30 pm PT. The main card starts at 5:30pm/2:30 pm PT. In the Main Event, Cory Sandhagen (14-2) meets T.J. Dillashaw (17-4) as the former UFC Bantamweight champ makes his return to the octagon.
Fury FC 48 airs Sunday starting with the Prelims at 3:30ET/12:30 PT. The Main Card gets underway at 5:30 pm ET/2:30 pm PT. Don’t miss this spectacular 15-fight card featuring a main event between Alec Williams (7-2) and Kolton Englund (8-3.)
New Bellator & UFC Fight Announcements
Recently announced fights confirmed by the respective organizations include the following athletes and cards:
- Doo Ho Choi is off the card at UFC Vegas 33 on July 31 after an injury
- Khasan Magomedsharipov, brother of UFC featherweight Zabit Magomedsharipov, will face Nekruz Mirkohojaev (5-3 MMA; 1-1 BMMA) at Bellator 263 in a featherweight bout. The event takes place at The Forum in Inglewood, CA, on July 31.
Briggs; Jackson Boxing Match?
In other MMA news, Former UFC Heavyweight Champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and boxer Shannon Briggs have put on a Kings of Comedy-worthy exchange of jokes, memes, and trash-talking across various social media platforms in the past couple of weeks -including Instagram and Twitter – but the fun seems to have hit its head this week.
Seemingly fed up with Briggs’s trolling, Rampage snapped back Wednesday on his Instagram, reposting a meme on his personal IG account that Briggs had earlier posted on his IG account (depicting Jackson after a KO) with the caption, “Miss Shannon is getting kinda personal on his IG…I’m trying not to be on his level of pettiness…but i got time today. @Cannon_briggs the gloves are now off F*ck you. I kinda want to fight you in MMA 1st to shut yo fat ass mouth up!
Rampage went on to troll Briggs’s hairstyle and tagged him as @chockfambo before a rather humorous Twitter post, “Before he was @Cannon_briggs he was Miss Shannon Digs…back then it was “let’s go tramp” now it’s “let’s go champ.” (On a side note we are days away from making this fight a real thang.) @ Tramp.
McGregor Ankle Injured in Training Camp
Conor McGregor suffered a devastating leg injury TKO in Round 1 against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. Since then, a handful of athletes and MMA fans have scrutinised the fighter for the quick TKO loss.
Now, the Irishman’s head coach, John Kavanagh, said the injury occurred during McGregor’s training camp months before the fight.
McGregor posted a series of images to his Twitter account this week seeming to verify the ankle injury. In the images, McGregor’s ankle is wrapped in bandages or in a brace. He captioned the image by saying, “All you pull out merchants wouldn’t last 13 seconds in my world. My four-part Netflix docuseries coming soon has the entire behind the scenes. I’m going to title it, ‘Mad Mac’s: Fury Road”.
Sorenson Signs With Bellator MMA
Sherdog.com confirmed that former Invicta Fighting Championship titleholder, Pam Sorenson (8-3,) signed an exclusive deal with Bellator MMA. Sorenson last competed at Invicta FC 36 on Aug.9, 2019, earning a five-round unanimous victory over Kaitlin Young.
I Love (Jake Paul) or (Tyron Woodley)
Now this is MMA news! Someone’s getting a new tattoo. Love must be in the air!
During a press conference announcing the Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley boxing match set for August 29, the self-proclaimed troll said to Woodley, “So how about this, let’s make a new bet right now,” he said on stage. “Let’s make a new bet- if I beat you, you have to get “I love Jake Paul” tattooed on you. But if you beat me, I get “I love Tyron Woodley” tattooed on me and you have to post it on your Instagram feed.”
Jake went on to say, “Deal or no deal? Are you confident or not? This guy has no f*cking confidence.”
Woodley turned to the audience and asked, “What should I do,” before responding to the bet by saying, “Bet. Deal.”
ONE Championship Adds Turner Broadcasting Exec to Board of Directors
Former Turner Broadcasting exec David Levy joins ONE Championship as Lead Director on the Group ONE Holdings board. Levy will help expand ONE events and markets in his new position.
Catch you next week for more exciting MMA news and fight announcements!
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