These three words also serve to describe the American Top Team mainstay’s approach after falling victim to a straight left from Till early on before landing a vicious knockout on the Liverpudlian in the second round.

After a shaky opening minute, Jorge forced a change in the tide in hostile territory and he began fighting from the fence and countering ‘The Gorilla’ on numerous occasions.

Despite the damaging shots from ‘Gamebred’, Till called the striker on and payed the ultimate price mid-way through the second round – a left overhand which completely switched his lights off.

Masvidal followed up with a right hand, and after Darren collided with the canvas beneath, he was met with a left hand before Marc Goddard peeled him off.

Till was ranked at third in the UFC welterweight division heading into the clash. The vicious victory over the one time title challenger in Till will surely catapult him through the top ten into a potential title eliminator at the very least.

Leon Edwards: Bad blood is almost an understatement at this stage.

A heated altercation between the two after the culmination of Saturday’s card resulted in Jorge landing a “three piece and a soda” on Leon, who interrupted his post fight interview with Laura Sanko.

Edwards is alleged to have called for a July meeting with Masvidal which resulted in Jorge’s retaliation, and this ‘beef’ between the pair is sure to escalate in the coming days and weeks.

Edwards looked great against submission specialist Gunnar Nelson in the co-headliner and called for the winner of the subsequent main event in his Octagon interview with Dan Hardy. How about the UFC pit them together for UFC 239 during International Fight Week?

Ben Askren: One man with a keen eye on proceedings on Saturday night was recent UFC debutante Ben Askren. The undefeated wrestling phenom was in attendance at the O2 Arena and was widely expected to be paired off with the main event winner.

‘Funky’ Ben and Darren Till exchanged some barbs via Twitter in recent weeks, but Jorge’s emergence from London with the victory sets up a tantalizing bout with the former ONE FC lightweight kingpin.

A successful debut win over Robbie Lawler, albeit a vexed win, seen the Olympian slotted right in at the number six spot at 170lbs. Similarly to a potential Edwards meeting, a July date would be ideal for this one.

Stephen Thompson vs. Anthony Pettis Winner: Despite spending some considerable time in the same division in among the upper echelon contenders, Jorge Masvidal and Anthony Pettis are yet to meet in the Octagon. This striking affair becomes a legitimate possibility if the division jumper Pettis overcomes ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in Nashville this weekend.

The three men in question are absolute snipers on the feet in contrasting ways. A bout would be sure to offer fireworks.

Despite already meeting back in late 2017, Thompson and ‘Gamebred’ could easily run it back considering the ongoing personal issues Masvidal was dealing with and has since thankfully resolved.

Kamaru Usman: The least likely match up realistically, but the champ is supposedly chomping at the bit at the prospect of defending his crown against Jorge Masvidal.

Usman displayed a flawless grappling game to neutralize long time champion Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 and is already chalked up to fight Colby Covington in the coming months once he recovers from surgery on his broken foot.

I’m sure Jorge also has no problem leapfrogging fellow American Top Team teammate, Covington into contention judging by his post fight comments where he expressed how “his kids need to eat and go to college”.

Who is your favourite matchup for the Miami based scrapper? I think we can agree, whomever is considered, they are all offering fireworks.

Cristina Ferguson who lives in the Santa Ana area of California along with her husband and son, has ordered the restraining order after multiple, separate incidents which are reported to have occurred at their home since January.

Ferguson hasn’t been arrested nor charged with any crime but a domestic violence hearing is scheduled to take place on April 5th.  Details of the apparent incidents are scarce at the moment, but it is reported that the order was issued after Tony took the pair’s two year-old child back to the family home before changing the locks.

Cristina and their son have since left the house after a police check up on Tony, and unidentified sources claim how he “had not slept in three days, broke apart the fire place and believed someone had placed a computer chip in his leg.” The second source worryingly tells us how Ferguson had made the claim that “someone was inside his walls”.

A phone call was made to the police by Cristina Ferguson after leaving the family home, where she claims Tony “kept throwing ‘holy water’ at her”. Ferguson has not been deemed a threat to himself or others after eventually agreeing to get an evaluation. UFC President Dana White briefly commented on the situation, telling how Ferguson was dealing with some “personal issues”.

Ferguson himself tweeted:

It remains to be seen how this incident plays out, but Cristina Ferguson has since released a statement via her lawyer regarding the ongoing matter

“Tony Ferguson is a good husband and good father to our son. The current legal proceedings are a part of a process to ensure that Tony will receive the help necessary to continue being the best possible husband and father, as well as to pursue his passion and career as a UFC champion fighter. All positive well wishes are sincerely appreciated and I hope our privacy will be respected”.

The Chicago card takes place on June 8th from the United Centre but it is yet to be determined if Shevchenko and Eye headline the event.

Shevchenko secured the title back at UFC 231 in a vacant title bout with former foe Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a largely one sided unanimous decision, while challenger Jessica Eye established her title tilt in a less dominant decision victory over Katlyn Chookagian.

After an unsuccessful siege of the 135lbs crown against stalwart Amanda Nunes back in 2017, Valentina found instant success a Flyweight. Paired in a largely debated scheduling with Priscila Cachoeira, the Kyrgyzstan native exacted a brutally one sided beat down leaving the Brazilian cover in claret before picking up a rear-naked choke victory in the second round. 2-0 heading into her trilogy with former Strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the similarly technical striker Shevchenko outpointed Joanna throughout their five round affair on her way to her premier promotion championship reign. Shevchenko may have clinched the title sooner on in her Flyweight rebirth but an initial clash between herself and inaugural champion Nicco Montano fell out back at UFC 228 resulting in the vacant title match.

Perennial contender for sometime now a division lower, former Bantamweight prospect Jessica Eye has earned her first title shot in her six year stint in the organisation. We’ve also witnessed an incredible turn around in Eye’s fortunes since her move to 125lbs, ending an astonishing four fight slide last year to find herself riding a three fight win streak heading into this championship pairing. Facing the stiffest of competition at Bantamweight, Eye dropped defeats to former world champion Miesha Tate, title challengers Bethe Correia and Sara McMann and TUF 18 victor Julianna Pena, although she was severely undersized for the division. The Ohio native seen a successful return to Flyweight at the start of 2018, picking up victories over Kalindra Faria, Jessica-Rose Clark and the aforementioned Chookagian.

UFC 238 takes place on June 8th from the United Centre in Chicago, Illinois, with two potential title eliminators announced recently. The Strawweight division will witness a shake up this summer with Rose Namajunas attempting to defend her throne against Jéssica Andrade in hostile Brazil, and either striker’s opponent will be determined after UFC 238, as Tatiana Suarez meets Nina Ansaroff. On the other hand, whoever leaves Chicago with the Flyweight crown is expected to meet the winner of Katlyn Chookagian and Joanne Calderwood’s clash.

The former three time title chaser, Romero was widely expected to meet another Brazilian in the main event slot, with Paulo Costa replaced by compatriot Souza late last night. The pair originally clashed back in 2015 at UFC 194, with Romero picking up a narrow decision victory after scoring an all important and ultimately tied turning spinning-back fist knockdown on the grappling ace.

Long regarded as one of the most imposing athletes in the promotion, freestyle wrestler Yoel ‘Solider Of God’ Romero brings more to the Octagon than just his incredible grappling ability. The Olympian has incredible power in both hands and hold two flying knee stoppage wins in his UFC career.

Losing both title clashes with current champion Robert Whittaker, the rematch in quite questionable circumstances it has to be noted. Yoel was successful in the Interim Middleweight title clash with former division front runner Luke Rockhold, but his vicious third round knockout was marred by a botched weight cut, subsequently leaving him title-less in Perth.

Questions have been asked regarding the Cuban’s conditioning in the past, case in point his contentious win over Tim Kennedy. Romero’s grappling and transitioning is high level of course, look back to his set ups against Chris Weidman and eventual trip and elbow finish of Lyoto Machida.

A 6th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, similarly to Yoel, Souza excels in one specific martial art but brings so much more to the Octagon.

Another heavy handed striker with a knack for a knockout, Jacaré has 22 stoppage wins in his storied career. A more traversed mixed-martial artist than Romero, Souza began his professional career all the way back in 2003 and has featured in promotions such as DREAM, Jungle Fight and Strikeforce where he held the Middleweight strap.

Yet to ‘earn’ his premier UFC title tilt even after a recent stoppage win over Chris Weidman, the alligator found himself on the wrong end of a rather dubious split decision to Kelvin Gastelum which may have resulted in his installment into the Interim Middleweight clash between Israel Adesanya and Gastelum at UFC 236. The 39 year old doesn’t differentiate between joint or choke submissions per say, with arm triangles, armbars and kimuras aplenty on his eye catching résumé.

Taking place on April 27th from the BB&T Centre, UFC Fight Night Florida features clashes like Glover Teixeira’s return versus streaking contender Ion Cutelaba, a Bantamweight meeting of perennial contender John Lineker and upstart Cody Sandhagen, while the highly controversial former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy makes his second Octagon walk after a disqualification against Allen Crowder.

An NCAA Division 1 All-American and consensus heaviest hitter in heavyweight history clash in Phoenix this weekend, but this match has so many more factors and implications.

There is no doubt Cain is a slick boxer. This was apparent with his stoppage over Minotauro Nogeuira. But, I think we can all agree his wrestling background is obviously his “meat and potatoes”. Absorbing almost two significant strikes a minute is detrimental when facing the Batié native, Ngannou, but the smothering style of wrestling and top pressure exacted by another former world champion in Stipe Miocic should be the obvious blueprint in order to prevent immediate danger against Francis. ‘The Predator’ was almost stuck to the canvas for the majority of his clash with Stipe, unable to create any space for a scramble or a stand-up.

Dropping another loss in an unmemorable meeting with Derrick Lewis after his premier promotion defeat to Miocic, Ngannou was pitted against former foe Curtis Blaydes in Beijing last November with the Juco national champion looking to avenge a doctor stoppage defeat to the rugged Cameroonian. In desperate need of a win, Ngannou remained composed and unleashed a massive overhand right inside the opening minute staggering the Elevation Fight Team product before follow up shots forced Marc Goddard to call a halt to the action.

Ngannou rebounded with a solid win and subsequently forced the fellow title surging Blaydes to return to the drawing board with his four-fight winning streak snapped.

Earning a shot at Stipe’s crown as a direct result of a terrifying knockout of Alistair Overeem and an earlier bludgeoning of Andrei Arlovski, Ngannou is still unquestionably one of the favourites to eventually pick up the strap with tweaks to his conditioning eyed at Vegas’ state of the art UFC Performance Institute. His ability to leave his opponent staring at the bright lights above the Octagon canvas early on will be a huge facet of this fight.

A fan favourite within the MMA community, the first Latin-American gold holder Cain Velasquez has dropped from the ranks entirely due to nagging back and neck injuries. Last competing at the monumental UFC 200 card against fellow division drop off Travis Browne, ‘Hapa’ was dispatched with certain ease inside the opening round with Cain’s boxing something to note heading into Saturday’s main event.

With arguably the most impressive résumé in Heavyweight antiquity, Velasquez has beaten the likes of Brock Lesnar to earn his first title, Junior Dos Santos twice during their legendary trilogy, Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva and former PRIDE FC great Minotauro Nogueira during his career prime. Dropping the title to JDS then currently suspended Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu player Fabrício Werdum at high altitude in Mexico, ‘Cardio Cain’ seen his often renowned conditioning diminish severely as he shot for a late takedown and fell into a guillotine as ‘Vai Cavalo’ claimed the Heavyweight crown.

Octagon rust is still somewhat of an open debate in the community, with the likes of bantamweight great Dominick Cruz refuting the theory but we’ve no doubt seen the return of one time promotion best’s suffer from jitters with Conor McGregor, in particular, looking flat-footed throughout his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 with coach John Kavanagh attributing the defeat to a lack of previous cage time. The theory suffers when studying Ronda Rousey’s return to action against Amanda Nunes as she was picked apart inside one minute, similarly to Brazil’s Cris Cyborg who also fell to the hands of Nunes despite competing only eight months prior compared to Rousey’s year hiatus.

It remains to be seen which Cain Velasquez makes the walk this weekend if he swarms Francis like he’s swarmed Brock Lesnar and the more technical boxer, Dos Santos, expect Ngannou to be forced into fighting from the back foot with a watchful eye on a shoot from Cain. Based on Velasquez’s tendency to eat some significant shots, I pick Ngannou to find his chin sometime in the opening round, he only needs to find it once.

Official Pick: Francis Ngannou via first-round knockout.

Both men have seen impressive win streaks snapped in their most recent outings. Vick suffered a tough first-round knockout loss to Justin Gaethje, while part-time colour commentator Felder found himself on the wrong side of the judge’s scorecards in a bloody back and forth against a much improved Mike Perry in July.

One of the tallest of the opposition at 155lbs, Texas native James Vick acquired a considerable following after racking up four straight wins throughout the last calendar year. Finishing Abel Trujillo, Polo Reyes and Joseph Duffy garnered a meeting with often overlooked Brazilian Francisco Trinaldo with the 31-year-old out striking the imposing Trinaldo over three rounds, subsequently earning him a clash with former World Series Of Fighting champion, Justin Gaethje.

Fighting on the back foot, Vick was dropped badly near the fence after a slick counter from ‘The Highlight’ but still lays claim to the #10 spot at Lightweight. Vick style contrasts greatly to Felder’s with a boxing heavy approach on display in the aforementioned bouts, but a front kick to the body had been incorporated to good effect to maintain distance recently.

Receiving a warm welcome as part of a three-team commentary booth alongside Joe Rogan and Jon Anik, Paul Felder is juggling both his current fight career and possible life after he hangs up his gloves to decent effect. A popular choice among Octagon fans for analysis, ‘The Irish Dragon’ has somewhat put his career inside the cage on the back burner competing just once last year in his previously mentioned defeat to Mike Perry.

Scoring three consecutive stoppages before clashing with ‘Platinum’, with strikes overwhelming Charles Oliveira, Stevie Ray and Alessandro Ricci. The certain lack of activity has seen Felder fall from the top fifteen rankings and his late notice Welterweight loss to Mike Perry further scuppered a quick turnaround for Felder who suffered a broken forearm during the three-round match. Well traversed in both Taekwondo and Shotokan Karate, Felder utilizes various kicking techniques throughout his fights giving him somewhat of an edge creative wise against the more mobile Vick.

Both men are wily and incredibly gritty so expect a three round back and forth.

Official pick: Paul Felder via split decision.

Kron, the youngest son of the legendary Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu pioneer Rickson Gracie, arrives with big expectations following two submission victories in Japan over UFC alumni Tatsuya Kawajiri and fellow submission specialist Hideo Tokoro bringing a four fight undefeated record with him. The ADCC gold medalist faces a stern yet winnable first test in the Octagon by way of 26 fight veteran Alex Caceres.

Caceres, the Florida native holds a notable victory over recent Flyweight title charger Sergio Pettis but has become unstuck against the likes of Yair Rodríguez and Urijah Faber with ‘El Pantera’ spring-boarding into main event contention with his win over the 30 year old.

Holding the obvious striking advantage over Gracie, Caceres will have his work cut out if Kron lands the all important takedown or decides to pull guard, similarly to another submission grappler Dillion Danis who recently made his mixed-martial arts bow in Bellator, proving successful as he secured a first round toehold finish.

Saturday’s clash with Caceres will be Kron’s first walk in just over two years. Some expect a hesitant start from the Brazilian, but his Judo black belt and grappling expertise should be more than enough for him find a probable finish over ‘Bruce Leeroy’. The 30 year-old has submitted the likes of Gary Tonon, UFC Lightweight contender Beneil Dariush, Otávio Souza and ONE FC mainstay Shinya Aoki during his illustrious submission grappling.

Kron isn’t necessarily biased toward choke or joint finishes with countless variations in his search for the tap on display throughout his five year stint in submission grappling. Expect Kron to finish within the opening round.
Official pick: Kron Gracie via submission.

The Trevor Wittman protege, Namajunas is still nursing a neck injury, keeping her inactive since her rematch with Polish striker Joanna Jędrzejczyk back in April at UFC 223. She faces a stern welcoming party in the form of Andrade who looks to make good on her second siege of the 115lbs gold.

Finding huge success since relocating to Colorado, the well rounded Namajunas achieved her life long goal of becoming world champion and has established a considerable fan base off the back of her two wins over Joanna in the process. Namajunas showed her finishing ability with a devastating first-round finish, while the second bout displayed Rose’s grit and determination to iron out a unanimous decision victory.

The Elevation Fight Team product is more than equipped on the feet and even more so when her grappling is called into practice, but her stopping power when compared to Andrade is vastly different.

Up until Jéssica Andrade’s title eliminator with fellow former title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz, we had never truly seen an earth shattering stoppage at strawweight. In the premier round, Andrade landed a massive right hand and slept Karolina in brutal fashion.

She once more grabbed the number one contender spot by adding wins over Tecia Torres and compatriot Cláudia Gadelha to her trail of destruction.

With incredibly heavy hands for her weight and an aggressive approach to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Andrade has posed somewhat of an unsolvable puzzle for those at 115lbs with only the previously mentioned Joanna Jędrzejczyk blemishing her record there since her drop from her previous bantamweight home.

This has all of the makings of a great fight where it will see the technique and creativity of Namajunas pitted against power and aggression of Andrade.

Shevchenko acts as the welcoming party for Joanna who makes her division return after two straight defeats to Rose Namajunas at strawweight and a decision win over Tecia Torres, while ‘Bullet’ Valentina made the drop to flyweight from bantamweight after a rematch loss to Amanda Nunes. Kyrgyzstan native Shevchenko was tipped to reign supreme at 125lbs and exacted a brutal first and second round beat down on Brazilian newcomer Priscila Cachoeira at the beginning of the year to earn an immediate title shot.

Despite this being the first time these women have clashed in mixed-martial arts competition, they are more than familiar with each other’s striking pedigree – Shevchenko picked up two decision victories over the Pole during they’re Muay Thai careers back in 2007.

A seamless transition to MMA displayed Valentina’s incredible striking and distance management to a wider audience and earmarked her as a potential world champion. Notable wins against the likes of former Bantamweight queen Holly Holm, top contender Julianna Pena and a one-sided victory over Cachoeira flaunted leaps in her grappling. The Judo black belt scored multiple takedowns over Holm and submitted both Pena and Priscila and landed her trademark counter right hand at will, something the more aggressive volume striker Jedrzejczyk must be wary of.

Before her first-round knockout defeat to ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas back in 2017, Joanna was regarded as one of the most formidable forces in Octagon history. An undefeated 14-0 pressure fighter who had dispatched each and every one of her opponents with relative ease, this undefeated record led to some considerable bravado and almost a feeling of invincibility, something Namajunas exploited.

On paper, Joanna was expected to steamroll Rose but was dropped twice in the exchanges of a frantic paced first round and in a mere three minutes, her Strawweight throne was over. A redemption story followed a much more collected Jedrzejczyk into her rematch with ‘Thug’ Rose and despite a much-improved showing, she lost a close decision to Namajunas. An incensed Joanna was convinced she regained her crown and disagreed with the judge’s unanimous decision ruling. Tecia Torres was next in line for Jedrzejczyk and despite some cagey exchanges, Joanna scored a three round decision win.

Olsztyn native Jedrzejczyk has made the 125lbs limit before, amassing a 5-0 record at the weight and a return to Flyweight will more than likely benefit Joanna, with her well-documented struggle to meet the Strawweight limit leaving her compromised, although it would be hard to notice given her dominance over the division for such a long time.

Shevchenko is the better grappler in this one but Joanna has been tested before in wrestling exchanges and has come out on top. Joanna’s pace pushing, volume striking style could bare the key to Valentina’s success with her distance control and counter striking ability second to none. Expect a highly significant and total strike count come to the culmination of this one with Valentina landing quickest.

Valentina Shevchenko via unanimous decision. 

Speaking on the FS1 post-fight show after The Ultimate Fighter 28 finale, White outlined the plan for recent UFC 229 headliner’s Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor to return to the Octagon after their respective NSAC hearings in late December conclude.

Khabib is expected to be once more paired with the former Interim champion, Tony Ferguson with the hope the fourth attempt at the meeting will finally prove successful. On the other side, “The Notorious” Conor McGregor is expected to face off with number three ranked contender and former opponent, Dustin Poirier with the winner of each bout expected to meet for the undisputed UFC lightweight title.

Both ‘El Cucuy’ and ‘The Diamond’ have surged through the best the 155lbs UFC division has had to offer, with Tony extending his win streak to an incredible eleven fights in his most recent outing against Anthony Pettis. It saw him return from after a 6-month layoff after tearing his MCL back in April. With a solid performance ending in TKO, he solidified his status as the division’s front-runner. Poirier, on the other hand, has finished his last three opponents, most recently dispatching now ONE FC star Eddie Alvarez in the pair’s rematch.

Despite signing the dotted line to fight each other on four separate occasions, we are yet to see Khabib and Tony Ferguson in the same Octagon due to injuries and weight cutting mishaps scrapping each and every match.

McGregor and Poirier first squared off at featherweight at UFC 178 in 2014 and it saw the Irishman stop the Louisiana native inside the opening round. It is worth noting Poirier has made drastic improvements to his overall game in that four year period since moving up to lightweight, winning eight fights whilst displaying a much polished striking game.

Khabib and Conor are both currently waiting on their respective punishment’s for their involvement in the post-fight altercation at UFC 229, with the Nevada State Athletic Commission expected to issue fines and a possible suspension to both. It will be interesting to how this whole thing plays out…