UFC news: Chad Mendes retires, Anthony Smith hits out at Luke Rockhold, Jorge Masvidal backyard brawl, Tito Ortiz to face Alberto Del Rio
marvelbet369.com looks at all the latest news from the Ultimate Fighting Championship
marvelbet369.com brings you a round up of all the biggest news and gossip from the world of UFC…
Mendes calls it a day
Former three-time UFC featherweight title challenger Chad Mendes has retired from mixed martial arts.
Mendes lost his last fight to Alexander Volkanovski in December at UFC 232.
In his career, the 32-year-old was beaten by notable fighters, Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor, and has now decided to hang up his gloves.
“I wanted to step away for a little bit and let everything settle, just make sure my feelings didn’t change. And they haven’t,” Mendes said in a statement initially released by . “It’s just that time for me. I have no regrets. I had an amazing time.”
Smith hits back at Rockhold
It is safe to say there is no love loss between Anthony Smith and Luke Rockhold.
The two men have been engaged in a bitter war of words, since Rockhold stated his intentions to move up a division and dismissively said he does not see Smith as a '' in the 205 division.
And after Rockhold had his jaw broken by sixth-ranked Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239, Smith said he wished he had been the guy to have put him in his place.
“I would have loved to have been the guy that put Rockhold out like that, but I think it serves him right,” Smith told .
“All the trash talk, all the ‘Anthony Smith is a bum, Gustafsson’s gonna roll over him and I’m gonna starch Jan,’ and just the disrespect and just looking right over Jan.
"I’ve been telling everybody that asks, Jan Blachowicz is the dark horse in the division. He’s one of the most dangerous dudes and part of it is because he’s so quiet.
"He keeps his mouth shut and he does his thing and he keeps on just walking through people. He does have the loss to Thiago [Santos] but I think it’s safe to say that there’s nothing to blink your eyes at there."
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Street fighter Jorge
Footage has emerged of Jorge Masvidal taking part in two brutal backyard bareknuckle fights and winning both.
In the video, ‘Gamebred’ can be seen fighting a significantly larger man, known only as Ray, who bit off more than he could chew against his more skilled opponent.
Masvidal lands a number of vicious blows to emerge victorious and then won the rematch, with Ray again unable to deal with Masvidal’s variety of punches and kicks, leading to a sustained onslaught.
Battle of the veterans
UFC legend Tito Ortiz is set to fight former WWE wrestler Alberto Del Rio at MMA event, Combate Americas.
The fight will be at a catch-weight of 210 pounds and a date and venue is still to be announced.
Ortiz, the 44-year-old former UFC light-heavyweight champion last fought in November, knocking out Chuck Liddell, while former WWE heavyweight king Del Rio has not been inside the Octagon since 2010.
“The fight is going to happen,” Combate Americas vice president of operations and communications Mike Afromowitz said.
“I came up with the idea a few months ago, after Alberto had expressed his intention of wanting to fight for Combate Americas, and brought the idea to my boss Campbell McLaren. We went out to both camps and have put this fight together. It’s on.”