MMA News Round-Up: Bellator Says They Can Beat UFC Fighters, UFC Lightweight Contender Forced To Retire, Luke Rockhold Teases Comeback

A lot has taken place in the MMA world. The Bellator MMA head, Scott Coker, got fired up after his promotion cleanly swept the Rizin FF fighters. Bellator scored 5-0 against Rizin FF, which had their head saying that a lot of their athletes can compete against anyone in this world, including UFC’s athletes. Further, the coveted former UFC Middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold, hinted at a return to combat sports after only six months of his retirement via one of his Instagram posts, and lastly, the known UFC Lightweight fighter, Damir Ismagulov was forced to announce his retirement via an Instagram post.

Scott Coker said that his fighters can get the better of the UFC ones

Scott Coker’s Bellator MMA achieved the awesome feat of winning all 5 fights of the coveted inter-promotional event against the Rizin Fighting Federation on 31 December 2022. This event, held in Saitama, Japan, featured a fantastic bout where the face of Bellator, A. J. McKee, defeated the Rizin Lightweight Champion, Roberto de Souza. The clean sweep from Bellator athletes had their boss fired up.

Coker took to the mic at the post-event interview and hinted how Bellator fighters were capable defeating even UFC’s athletes.

He stated, “If you go all the way up and down our weight class, not only do we have fighters that can beat the UFC (fighters), we have fighters that can compete, three or four fighters at each weight class that can compete against any company on the planet.”

But, chances are less that fans will ever get to see a Bellator vs UFC event since the UFC boss Dana White isn’t quite a fan of cross-promotional events.

Luke Rockhold reveals his desire to return to combat in 2023

There can be no doubt about the popularity of Luke Rockhold in the MMA community. The coveted former Middleweight champion of the UFC was also a former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion and boasts a whopping 936k followers on his Instagram profile. Rockhold had his final UFC fight against the noted Paulo Costa, on August 20, 2022. He decided to hang up his gloves after losing this one.

But one of the recent Instagram posts from Rockhold had his fans buzzing all over again. It showcased him in his training attire, with boxing gloves on. He captioned his post, “Putting the old rig to the test. 2023 could get interesting.”

A lot might agree that this is a hint towards Rockhold’s desire to step into the Octagon once more. Fans also lauded his post and implied that they would love to see Rockhold inside the Octagon once more.

Damir Ismagulov reveals retirement via Instagram owing to unescapable factors

The known UFC Lightweight, Damir Ismagulov, took to Instagram on the first day of the new year to present a shocking update to his fans. The ’31-year-old’ Russian had his last fight just on December 17, 2022, against Arman Tsarukyan, which he lost via a unanimous decision. Ismagulov didn’t look severely troubled or injured after the fight but indicated health problems as an issue leading to his retirement.

He stated that he was “forced” to retire due to “circumstances and health problems” but clarified nothing else. Fans regretted the untimely retirement of ‘Qazaq’ along with wishing the best for the rest of his life.

Some more MMA news

• The UFC Bantamweight Champion, Aljamain Sterling has hinted towards his all-new plan with the onset of the new year. ‘Funk Master’ showed signs of eyeing a fight with ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley fight in 2023.

READ MORE- UFC World Concerned for “Too Skinny” Zabit Magomedsharipov in New Video as They Ask for Comeback After Khabib’s Recent Comments

• One of the most prominent faces of Bellator, A. J. McKee termed his inter-promotional fight experience as “Phenomenal”. McKee used a flurry of ‘soccer kicks’ and stomps to achieve a unanimous decision win, over Rizin FF Lightweight Champion, Roberto de Souza.

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