MMA News

Adam D Martin - July 6, 2021

MMA manager Alex Davis defended his client — UFC women’s flyweight Mariya Agapova — after Maryna Moroz accused her of being a junkie. Moroz recently revealed the bombshell comments about her former training partner at American Top Team in Agapova, as Moroz accused Agapova of threatening behaviour at the gym and said that she was a drug addict. Agapova is no longer training at American Top Team and is at MMA Masters now, and Moroz says it’s because of her personal issues.

Adam D Martin - July 6, 2021

Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley believes that Jake Paul’s aggressive style will result in a KO loss for the YouTuber. Woodley and Paul meet on August 28 in a professional boxing match that is set to be one of the biggest fights of the summer. For Paul, he is facing the biggest puncher of his career to date in the form of Woodley, while for “The Chosen One,” this is his first professional boxing match and he sees it as a good opportunity for him to get another big knockout.

Harry Kettle - July 6, 2021

UFC middleweight Kevin Holland is set to return to the Octagon on October 2 against Kyle Daukaus, MMA Fighting reports. Daukaus, the younger brother of UFC heavyweight prospect Chris Daukaus, holds a 10-2 professional mixed martial arts record but is just 1-2 since reaching the UFC. His last outing was a unanimous decision loss to Phil Hawes back in May, although he did appear on Dana White’s Contender Series in June 2019. He won the bout on that card against Michael Lombardo but wasn’t quite able to secure a contract.

Harry Kettle - July 6, 2021

Tyson Fury has given his thoughts on who he believes will win the trilogy fight between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier this weekend. Over the course of the last few years we’ve seen Fury tease the idea of potentially making a move over to mixed martial arts. While many don’t believe it’ll happen, that hasn’t stopped him from training with the likes of Darren Till as “The Gypsy King” continues to strengthen his legacy as one of heavyweight boxing’s very best.

Cole Shelton - July 5, 2021

UFC lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira will be cageside to watch Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 3 at UFC 264 on Saturday night. In the main event of the pay-per-view card in Las Vegas, Poirier and McGregor are set for their highly-anticipated trilogy fight. They first met in 2014 where McGregor won the fight by first-round TKO. They then had their rematch in January where Poirier exacted his revenge with a second-round TKO win.

Cole Shelton - July 5, 2021

Curtis Blaydes wasn’t too impressed with Jairzinho Rozenstruik’s win over Augusto Sakai. Ahead of Rozenstruik-Sakai, Blaydes said he knew he would face the winner so he was paying close attention to it. Although Rozenstruik got the first-round stoppage win he says he wasn’t impressed by Rozenstruik or his technique.

Cole Shelton - July 5, 2021

Jorge Masvidal is looking to return in the fall and has two names in mind. After Masvidal suffered a KO loss to Kamaru Uamsn for the welterweight title he said he would be returning in the fall. He said he wanted a top-ranked opponent and he’s sticking to that as he wants the rivalry fight against Colby Covington. Or, according to his manager, “Gamebred” is also interested in fighting Nick Diaz.

Adam D Martin - July 5, 2021

Former UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo shared his prediction for this weekend’s Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier 3 bout. McGregor and Poirier meet this Saturday night in the main event of UFC 264. It’s a huge fight between the bitter rivals, who are 1-1 all-time in their series. The winner of this third and final bout will hold all the cards, making this a very important fight for both men. With an impressive win this weekend, the winner of McGregor and Poirier seems destined to fight for the title their next time out against UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.

Adam D Martin - July 5, 2021

UFC Hall of Famer Rashad Evans praised “phenomenal fighter” Jon Jones and said he believes “Bones” will dominate the UFC heavyweight division. Evans and Jones were former training partners at Team Jackson – Wink a decade ago, but they had a falling out and eventually fought, with Jones defeating Evans via unanimous decision at UFC 145 in April 2012. Although both men are no longer close friends, there is still that mutual respect there between each other as former friends and training partners. In many ways, Evans gave Jones the torch to carry at 205lbs and he ran away with it.

Adam D Martin - July 5, 2021

A longtime title contender at 170lbs, Stephen Thompson is convinced he’s the “worst matchup” for UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Thompson takes on Gilbert Burns this Saturday night in the co-main event of UFC 264, and with an impressive win, it’s possible that “Wonderboy” could be next in line to face Usman for the title. While UFC president Dana White has already said that Colby Covington is set to get his rematch with Usman next, Thompson believes that if he goes out there and puts on a dominant showing against Burns that he will be able to jump past him in the title line.

Cole Shelton - July 5, 2021

Joey Beltran is still the BKFC heavyweight champion. Beltran was looking for his second title defense when he faced Sam Shewmaker in the main event of the stacked BKFC 18 card. Entering the scrap, the UFC and Bellator veteran was confident he would get his hand raised and he ended up doing so by decision.

Alfredo Zullino - July 5, 2021

A bantamweight clash between Gaetano Pirrello (15-6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) and Douglas Silva de Andrade (26-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) is in the works, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation informed BJPENN.com. The sources asked for anonymity since the news hasn’t been officially confirmed yet. The contracts have not been signed, but it seems it’s in the promotion plans to book this fight in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 2.

Adam D Martin - July 5, 2021

Jake Paul is not worried about Tyron Woodley training with “old man” Floyd Mayweather ahead of their upcoming boxing match this summer. Paul and Woodley meet on August 28 in what is set to be one of the biggest combat sports events of the summer. Ahead of their upcoming boxing match, Woodley revealed that he has been training with Mayweather, who is universally regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. There is also another connection with Mayweather and the Paul brothers, as Mayweather just fought Logan Paul to an eight-round No Decision in an exhibition bout.

Adam D Martin - July 5, 2021

Former WWE superstar Jake Hager wants to fight Fedor Emelianenko in Bellator, saying that “I really honestly believe that this is my fight.” The legend Emelianenko recently revealed that he is set to return to the Bellator cage this October in Moscow, Russia. Bellator did not announce his opponent yet, with company president Scott Coker admitting that there has been significant interest from other fighters to take on “The Last Emperor,” specifically mentioning Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, and Josh Barnett as potential fights. But it appears there is another challenger in the arena.

Adam D Martin - July 5, 2021

UFC bantamweight veteran Louis Smolka explained why he was forced to withdraw from his scheduled fight against Sean O’Malley at UFC 264. Smolka and O’Malley were expected to kick off the pay-per-view portion of this weekend’s blockbuster UFC 264 card, but “Da Last Samurai” was forced to pull out of the fight last week. Instead of fighting Smolka, O’Malley now faces off against UFC newcomer Kris Moutinho. It’s a disappointing turn of events, and Smolka took to his Instagram to explain exactly why he is not able to fight.

Harry Kettle - July 5, 2021

UFC has released a video documenting all of Dustin Poirier‘s finishes with the promotion heading into UFC 264 this weekend. For over a decade now we’ve all seen “The Diamond” thrive at the highest level in the Ultimate Fighting Championship at both featherweight and lightweight. Of course, while he may be viewed as one of the very best in the game right now, he’s also had to endure some setbacks – but that’s not what the enclosed video is about.

Cole Shelton - July 4, 2021

Sean O’Malley has a unique reason as to why Louis Smolka pulled out of their fight at UFC 264. Less than two weeks before O’Malley and Smolka were set to fight, the Hawaiian was forced out of the bout due to a staph infection. However, according to “Suga”, he thinks there is more to it.

Adam Martin - July 4, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes recently underwent successful surgery on his left knee and is expected to make a full recovery. Reyes announced himself through his social media that he underwent successful knee surgery on Thursday to repair the meniscus, a surgery that typically has someone on the bench for four-to-eight weeks. That’s not a huge amount of time on the sidelines, so it’s possible that if Reyes has a speedy recovery, he could even fight before the year is up.