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USA Today
6 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Steve Garcia OK losing his finishing streak in the name of big-picture UFC ascension
Garcia's KO streak snapped at five, but wins keep coming Steve Garcia kept a streak this past Saturday, but lost one, too. When his MMA timeline gets long enough, though, the 33-year-old featherweight suspects his unanimous decision win over Calvin Kattar at UFC on ESPN 70 in Nashville will have a pin in it as a key moment on his resume. Garcia (18-5 MMA, 7-2 UFC) put on a dominant and well-rounded standup display in his win over Calvin Kattar (23-10 MMA, 7-8 UFC). And though Kattar is in the midst of a hefty slump – five straight losses after Garcia was done with him, and six setbacks in his past seven – he's long been considered a stiff test in the division. Garcia had to go the distance to get his hand raised for the first time since 2018 – before he was in the UFC. Going into the Kattar fight, in which he was nearly a 2-1 favorite, he had five straight finishes. But with that streak snapped, he thinks he proved he's got more than just knockout power. "I've been wanting a fight like this for a while," Garcia told MMA Junkie Radio. "I thought I was going to get it with Edson (Barboza) in February (before Barboza pulled out), but that's OK. Timing's everything. We got Kattar, and Kattar's a phenomenal striker. I think I was the better boxer, though. "I think everyone wants to set the bar high. That's what I was trying to do: I was trying to knock out Kattar. … That's just how I fight. I always go for the KO. But I get a lot of backlash because everyone thinks I'm reckless or I don't know how to fight properly. … But I just knew with a veteran like Kattar, you go with someone like that who's been in the game for such a long time, who's knocked out people, such a vet – you can tell the difference in there. He's always dangerous." In his five knockouts leading into the fight with Kattar, Garcia had three post-fight bonuses in wins over Chase Hooper, Seung Woo Choi and Kyle Nelson. And those are great. But at his gym, Jackson-Wink MMA in Albuquerque, N.M., he's being told to not obsess and tie emotion to wanting to finish fights. It's a message he's trying to take to heart. With six straight wins, and increasing levels of opponent quality on paper, Garcia knows he's creeping up on title contention – but he's not trying to insert his name into the conversation ahead of schedule. That's why a win over Kattar was so important, and despite no knockout, it showed, he thinks, that he can compete with the elite at 145 pounds. "I came into this sport to be at the top," Garcia said. "I didn't really boast about any of my accomplishments leading up to any of this. … You guys understand how deep the 145 bracket is. To even have that conversation about a main event or pushing toward a title shot, it just seemed so far out of reality that I wasn't going to stumble over all that conversation and even make that a situation until there's actually some substance behind that. "I wanted to make sure we got to this position before we could even have this legitimate conversation. The five-rounders are a very high possibility now. I believe I can compete with anybody at the top."
USA Today
6 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Mike Davis goes off on UFC commentators: 'Put some respect on my name'
Mike Davis is not happy with the commentating of his UFC on ESPN 70 win. Mike Davis is not happy with the commentators who worked his most recent fight. The UFC lightweight took to Instagram on Thursday to vent about the commenting of his TKO win over Mitch Ramirez this past Saturday at UFC on ESPN 70 in Nashville, Tenn. Daniel Cormier and Laura Sanko served as color commentators for the event, while Brendan Fitzgerald did the play-by-play role. Although Davis (12-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) got his hand raised in the end, Ramirez (8-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) did have his moments in the second round, and the broadcast team thought Davis was fading in the moments the fight wasn't going his way. Davis finds those comments disrespectful and untrue, as he assures that he wasn't tired – he was fighting smart. "Every time I fight, there's one thing I can't f*cking stand, and it's the commentator," Davis said in a video posted to Instagram. "It's what they're saying about me in a fight. I've never had a fight where they're just like, 'Damn, Mike is doing good. Mike is slipping punches. Mike is countering. Mike's wrestling is great. Mike's back control is good. Body locks here. This and that.' It's always bad-mouthing everything I do. "They always think I'm tired. Show me one fight where I got tired, where I stopped fighting. Show me one. Sodiq Yusuff, I fought with one leg nearly the whole f*cking fight. Mason Jones, I fought back the entire f*cking fight. Thomas Gifford, Viacheslav (Borshchev), Fares (Ziam). I hold back pace, my pressure, my punches because one: I'm accurate, I don't need to throw a thousand punches to hit you. I know when to hit you, how to hit you, why to hit you. And two: If you are attacking me constantly, and I'm just evading and blocking your punches like I did in the Mitch Ramirez fight this weekend, you're going to get tired. I'm not. When you're too tired to throw back, I'm going to capitalize on it and finish you like I did this weekend. Put some respect on my name. I'm not f*cking tired." With the win over Ramirez, Davis bounced back into the win column after a decision loss to Fares Ziam in February. Prior to the loss to Ziam, Davis was on a four-fight wining streak with two finishes and one Fight of the Night award.
USA Today
7 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Daniel Cormier wouldn't be surprised if Derrick Lewis got UFC title shot vs. Tom Aspinall
Daniel Cormier is throwing Derrick Lewis' name in the UFC heavyweight title mix. Cormier doesn't see too many options for UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall's next title defense after Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) has already beaten top contenders such as Alexander Volkov, Curtis Blaydes, and Sergei Pavlovich. All signs are pointing to Ciryl Gane as Aspinall's next opponent, but after Lewis (29-12 MMA, 20-10 UFC) knocked out Tallison Teixeira in the UFC on ESPN 70 headliner this past Saturday, Cormier doesn't rule out the possibility of "The Black Beast" jumping the line. "Probably could (get a title shot), man, with the way the heavyweight division is right now," Cormier told MMA Junkie of Lewis. "He might get an opportunity. If all things were considered and you just need somebody to put on a show, a person that you know is going to bring the eyes, it's Derrick Lewis. "He really is going to bring more eyes than most in the division right now. Tom Aspinall needs challengers. Chael Sonnen told me that on our show, 'If Ciryl Gane so much as coughs, Derrick Lewis is going to get a title fight.'" Many, including UFC CEO Dana White, thought Lewis' TKO win over Teixeira was an early stoppage. While Cormier doesn't disagree, he gives referee Jason Herzog the benefit of the doubt. "I think (the stoppage) was bad, but when a guy grabs the fence to pull himself up you've got to do something," Cormier said. "You can't reset the position because he's getting finished. I think he made the right decision. We're pretty hard on these officials a lot of times, but I think under those circumstances, he was left with no option."
USA Today
16-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Calvin Kattar issues statement on UFC Nashville loss after breaking foot early
A post shared by calvinkattar (@calvinkattar) Calvin Kattar had to battle through some early adversity at UFC on ESPN 70. Kattar (23-9 MMA, 7-7 UFC) lost a unanimous decision to Steve Garcia (17-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in their featherweight bout this past Saturday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. Once on the cusp of title contention, Kattar now has lost five fights in a row. The 37-year-old took to Instagram to open up on the loss, revealing that he injured his foot badly in Round 1. "Thankful for my family, team and those that came out or tuned in to the fight," Kattar wrote. "Pushed through a lot just to get to the fight and even more when it started. Broke my foot in the first round in two places but content that I was able to make it through to the end even though came up short. Congrats to my opponent on top 15, well earned. Time for some recovery." Kattar hasn't won a fight since defeating Giga Chikadze in the UFC on ESPN 32 main event in January 2022. He holds notable wins over Dan Ige, Jeremy Stephens and Ricardo Lamas.
USA Today
16-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Stephen Thompson critical of scoring in UFC Nashville loss: 'I didn't lose that fight'
Stephen Thompson thought he had the win in the bag at the end of his fight at UFC on ESPN 70. Stephen Thompson doesn't quite understand how he didn't get his hand raised Saturday. Thompson (17-9-1 MMA, 12-9-1 UFC) lost a split decision to Gabriel Bonfim (18-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC on ESPN 70 in Nashville, Tenn. There were two 29-28's for Bonfim and one for "Wonderboy." This scoring sparked a big reaction and wave of criticism towards the judging, as many thought Thompson had done enough to win the bout. A few days removed from the event, and Thompson recalls feeling the fan frustration in the arena, as the decision was met with boos. "I felt that I did enough to win the fight," Thompson told Ariel Helwani. "Clean strikes, I felt great during my movement, I think I felt I had more damage. The damage was in my favor. Bonfim, tough fighter, hat's off to the guy. But when the crowd, the journalists, and the team are all like this shocked about the decision, I'm like, 'Something is not right.'" Thompson, a 22-fight veteran in the UFC, is 8-6-1 in the UFC when he's gone to decisions. The 42year-old is familiar with both the feeling of defeat and victory, and the reading of the scorecards didn't match the way he felt in Nashville. "I've been in this game for a long time, and I know what it feels to win a fight and I know what it feels like to lose a fight," Thompson said. "I didn't lose that fight. I feel like I didn't lose that fight." The Tennessee Athletic Commission didn't issue any type of statement on the matter. It's rare to see any athletic commission address an officiating controversy. Thompson calls for more accountability, as he would've liked to hear from the people who handed him the defeat. "I lost the fight, but I felt like I won it," Thompson said. "When you've got your family, your team, your friends and family back home, everybody who saw the fight thought I won the fight – it kind of goes back to, what do we do about that? I think there's got to be more accountability with the (judges). I know it's not the UFC's fault. It's the commission's fault. But there's got to be more transparency, for sure, when it comes to the judging of these fights."
