Tis the season for MMA rumors. With only 27 days remaining in the year of our Fight Lord 2016, the MMA World will not rest of its laurels. The UFC is even cramming four more events, in three different time zones, into the next 26 days of the December calendar.
With the MMA community staring down some drastic changes heading into the New Year, the one element of its makeup that will never changes is rumors.
As always these our rumors that have been talked about behind closed doors between MMA higher ups, so take them as MMA rumors.
Let your MMA powers combine; Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Heart, and RUMORS because this is your Earth friendly edition of the Sunday Morning Rumor Mill.
- Huge if true, the UFC is currently reaching out to lightweight and welterweight fighters on their roster in hopes of building a cast for a new season of The Ultimate Fighter. If the proposed season goes through the winner of each weight class would get a title shot at Conor McGregor and Tyron Woodley respectively
- Despite the new UFC ownership group letting go of more staff this week it is expected more firings will come after the first of the year. The thought behind this “cutting of the fat” is to lower costs, improve numbers for investors and phase the out the old culture of running the promo. Sources say what’s left of the UFC ambassadors as well as longtime announcer Mike Goldberg are people to keep in mind
- So is Jose Aldo back in the UFC’s good graces? Rumor is stripping Conor McGregor of the featherweight title is what made Aldo have a change of heart about his relationship with the promotion. The move to take the title off McGregor may have been weeks in the making and as a sign of good faith towards Team Aldo.
- Sources says former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar will likely get his rematch versus Goldberg at WrestleMania. The Lesnar-Goldberg trilogy fight will also likely be the final time the former WCW champion steps in the ring for the WWE
- ROAD FC are actively reaching out to fighters for their $1 million lightweight tournament, sometimes even publicly. One of those fighters was Jose Aldo and the most recent fighter they’ve asked is reigning WSOF champ Justin Gaethje. Khabib Nurmagomedov was also a rumored fighter who has been spoken to by the Asian promo. ROAD FC are having five international qualifiers which will take place in 15 regions: Russia, UK, China, Poland, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Canada, USA and Brazil. Expect more UFC and WSOF fighters to be contacted in the coming weeks
- Behind the scenes, the UFC ownership group is constantly prepping for when their TV deal with Fox expires. A big part of why Zuffa sold the UFC for such a large amount was the expectation new owners could secure a record-breaking TV deal with ESPN, Fox, CBS or NBC. In order to entice networks into bidding higher for future TV rights, the new UFC ownership group may even offer a percentage of their PPV revenues in the deal
If you have heard of any interesting rumors that you would like to add, feel free to post them in the comments section below, on our Facebook page, tweet us or mail them to us in an unmarked envelope. Just remember they are rumors and not confirmed as fact, so please take them as such.
