John Balfe

Dublin

Senior Editor at The Mac Life

Enjoyer of cheese

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Articles

Arman Tsarukyan confirmed as UFC 317 backup fighter

1 week ago | themaclife.com | John Balfe

Should any last minute incidents befall this month’s UFC 317 event in Las Vegas, the UFC have a backup plan in place.
‘I’d proper hurt him’: Pimblett confident ahead of possible Topuria bout

1 week ago | themaclife.com | John Balfe

If Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria end up crossing paths, the Liverpool man is confident he’ll get his hand raised. The two fighters have engaged in a years-long rivalry following a fracas at the fighter hotel ahead of a UFC event in the United Kingdom several years ago, with Pimblett continually referring to his rival as ‘hand sanitiser boy’; the object that he flung in Topuria’s direction after their coming together.
Ilia Topuria elaborates on ‘terrible’ weight cuts to featherweight

1 week ago | themaclife.com | John Balfe

Ilia Topuria is enjoying the extra breathing room following his move to 155-pounds. The former UFC featherweight champion makes his debut in the UFC lightweight division in the main event of UFC 317 later this month in Las Vegas, where he will battle the former champion Charles Oliveira for the vacant world title.
UFC Atlanta weigh-in results

2 weeks ago | themaclife.com | John Balfe

The UFC’s first visit to Atlanta since April 2019 is official following Friday’s weigh-ins. Both men in the welterweight main event, former champion Kamaru Usman and the surging contender Joaquin Buckley, successfully made weight on the scales early Friday. Both registered an official weight of 171-pounds, which is on the nose for a non-title welterweight fight.
Watch: Kamaru Usman confident world title run not over just yet

2 weeks ago | themaclife.com | John Balfe

Kamaru Usman is c0nfident of returning to the top of the mountain — not just at welterweight, but at middleweight too.
‘No excuses’: Sean O’Malley reflects on second loss to Dvalishvili

2 weeks ago | themaclife.com | John Balfe

Sean O’Malley isn’t making excuses following his loss at the hands of UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili. Former champion O’Malley succumbed to a third-round North South choke in the UFC 316 main event last weekend in Newark, New Jersey in what was his second consecutive defeat at the hands of the Georgian titleholder — a result which, for the time being at least, ends his hopes of reclaiming 135-pound gold anytime soon.
Canelo-Crawford ‘Fight of the Century’ confirmed for September

2 weeks ago | themaclife.com | John Balfe

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will fight fellow undisputed world champion Terence Crawford in Las Vegas on September 13, it has been confirmed. The bout pitting the two undisputed world champions represents the first boxing collaboration between Saudi powerbroker Turki Alalshikh and UFC boss Dana White, with Canelo’s undisputed super middleweight title up for grabs, with the fight being broadcast live on the Netflix streaming platform.
Merab Dvalishvili overtakes Jon Jones in UFC P4P rankings

2 weeks ago | themaclife.com | John Balfe

Jon Jones’ recent inactivity isn’t doing his pound-for-pound candidacy any favours. The longtime former UFC light heavyweight champion has now held the promotion’s heavyweight championship since March 2023, competing just once since then — a TKO win over Stipe Miocic this past November in what was just his second fight since before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Alex Pereira: ‘No one knows Ankalaev is champion’

2 weeks ago | themaclife.com | John Balfe

Alex Pereira says that UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev is struggling for relevancy. The 33-year-old Russian defeated ‘Poatan’ by unanimous decision this past March, dethroning the former two-division champion in what was the Brazilian’s first-ever defeat in the 205-pound fold.
Dana White: Jon Jones ‘accepted’ Tom Aspinall fight

2 weeks ago | themaclife.com | John Balfe

Dana White has lifted the lid on the difficulties in arranging the much-hyped heavyweight title showdown between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. The fight, dubbed by the UFC boss as the ‘biggest’ possible heavyweight title fight in the company’s history, has become MMA’s ‘golden goose’ over the past several months, as both the UFC and Aspinall himself struggle to confirm the fight which has caused a bottleneck atop the division.