Welcome to MMATorch’s new Daily Top Five. Every weekday, tune in for a new Top Five list on a variety of topics; some will be regularly updated, some will be one offs, but we hope you enjoy them all throughout the week! If you’ve got an idea for a Top Five list you’d like to see, email mmatorcheditor@gmail.com and we may fit them into the weekly mix!
4/8/16: Top Five Stories of the Week
In our new regular Friday feature, we list out the most newsworthy stories/articles from the past week in MMA.
5. Yoel Romero’s two-year USADA suspension reduced to six months after settlement: In a first for the UFC/USADA drug testing policy, a fighter has successfully argued supplement contamination for a failed test, leading to a reduced suspension. Middleweight contender Yoel Romero was facing two years out of the sport, but will instead be able to return by late July this summer, with his positive drug test being determined to have resulted from an illegal substance being in a supplement off-label. He’ll now look to shake up the Middleweight Title picture upon his return.
4. TUF 24 to determine next UFC Flyweight Title challenger: In a rare move for the UFC’s long-running reality competition, The Ultimate Fighter will have title implications this fall, with the flyweight winner of season 24 facing the UFC Flyweight Champion on the finale event in December. The season will crown the challenger, with the entire tournament taking place while the fighters are in the house this summer, and fans won’t know the title contender until the week before the finale card.
3. Miesha Tate defends Title against Amanda Nunes, not Holly Holm, at UFC 200: Miesha Tate doesn’t think the Holly Holm rematch is a necessity, and as a result she’ll defend the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Title against Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 in July. It was a slightly surprising booking, but Tate herself made a solid enough argument for why it’s the fight she preferred with Ronda Rousey out until late in the year.
2. Tony Ferguson out of UFC on Fox 19 main event, Khabib Nurmagomedov remains on card: Russia’s Nurmagomedov has been out almost two years, but he wasn’t willing to let that layoff extend further after Tony Ferguson pulled out due to injury. As a result, he’ll remain on the main card of the Tampa event on Fox to get his payday and keep himself in line in the title picture. He’s facing a complete unknown in Darrell Horcher, making this a slightly risky proposition, but as one of the top fighters in the field he should roll through to his next assignment.
1. Daniel Cormier injured, Jon Jones now meets Ovince St. Preux at UFC 197: The continued Jon Jones-Daniel Cormier saga was extended this week, as Cormier’s leg injury took him out of their scheduled fight at UFC 197 later this month. The continued back and forth on social media hasn’t been the best for Cormier, but the division moves forward as Jones meets OSP in Las Vegas. While certainly a challenge, Jones is expected to capture the Interim Title to keep the Cormier fight intact later this year.
[Photo (c) Jayne Kamin-Oncea via USA Today Sports]
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