MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 27, 2020

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith has received a ton of hate from the MMA community over the last few days, catching flack from the likes of Joe Rogan, Conor McGregor, Josh Thomson, Din Thomas and others. In the opinion of UFC and Bellator analyst Chael Sonnen, however, the blowback Smith has received has been undue. The reason for all of this criticism, to remind, are the comments Smith made at UFC 246, which were widely regarded as disrespectful to Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.

Tom Taylor - January 27, 2020

At UFC 246, Maycee Barber experienced the first loss of her professional MMA career, giving up a lopsided decision to the veteran Roxanne Modafferi. Unfortunately, Barber also sustained a complete ACL tear early in this fight, which will keep her out of action for some time. In a prepared statement to MMA Fighting, Barber opened up on this first taste of defeat. She says her goal of becoming the youngest champion in UFC history is unchanged.

Adam Martin - January 27, 2020

UFC welterweight superstar Jorge Masvidal joked that he was honored to win a Grammy award after lookalike Dan Smyers won an award at Sunday’s ceremony. Smyers is one half of the country music duo Dan + Shay, and he looks a lot like Masvidal. A fan posted a few photos of Dan + Shay accepting their Grammy for Best Country Duo Group Performance for the song “Speechless” and Masvidal was quick to respond.

Adam Martin - January 27, 2020

The UFC has decided to split up the pound-for-pound rankings as men and women fighters will now be ranked in their own categories. Even since the UFC instituted the pound-for-pound rankings a few years ago, they have allowed panelists to combine both men and women in the rankings. That’s led to some controversy, and many fans and media have felt for quite some time that there should be separate rankings for male and female fighters.

Tom Taylor - January 27, 2020

Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor recently took a moment to thank one of the men who inspired him to chase his combat sports dreams: Chuck Liddell. McGregor gave his props to Liddell on Twitter, sharing a photo of himself and the former UFC light heavyweight champ from 2008, and another photo of Liddell at the weigh-ins for his recent fight with Donald Cerrone.

Mike Heck - January 27, 2020

John Gotti III has already developed a big name as he continues to develop in the sport of mixed martial arts. One person that seems to be watching Gotti’s development has been none other than UFC president Dana White. Prior to Gotti’s unanimous decision win over Marcos Lloreda at Friday night’s CES 60 event, White put out a Tweet to let the masses know that the fighter — the grandson of the infamous mob boss — would be competing on UFC Fight Pass.

Cole Shelton - January 27, 2020

Kevin Lee believes he’s the true champion of the lightweight division. Lee recently returned to the win column with a massive knockout win over Gregor Gillespie at UFC 244. Following the win, “The Motown Phenom” is set to headline UFC Brasilia against Charles Oliveira. He then plans to fight Islam Makhachev in Russia.

Tom Taylor - January 27, 2020

Yesterday afternoon, the sporting world was torn asunder by the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant. Within hours, countless sports stars — including many of the UFC’s best — had reacted to this tragedy. Former two-division UFC champ Conor McGregor is one of the latest to do so. McGregor is still on US soil after his dominant, 40-second knockout of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC 246. On Sunday night, he attended the Grammys, which went down in the Staples Centre, the setting of Bryant’s greatness on the court.

Tom Taylor - January 27, 2020

Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier are tied 1-1 across two previous fight. Ever since Miocic won the pair’s second fight to reclaim the UFC heavyweight title, the expectation has been that they will meet in a tie-breaking trilogy fight next. Last week, however, Miocic’s manager Jim Walter provided an update that implied the champ wants to fight somebody new instead of Cormier once he’s healthy.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 27, 2020

ONE Championship is one of the elite martial arts organizations in the world. We’ve seen martial artists like Sage Northcutt and Eddie Alvarez come from other promotions and have a difficult time with the opponents they have faced in their debuts.

Adam Martin - January 26, 2020

UFC featherweight Nik Lentz showed a video of a brutal eye injury he sustained after being poked in the eye by Arnold Allen at UFC Raleigh. Lentz lost a unanimous decision to Allen on the undercard of UFC Raleigh. He took a ton of damage in the fight but was able to tough it out and go the full 15 minutes despite his face wearing it. However, what ultimately hurt him the most was that he was poked in the eye by Allen, and his eye is in bad shape because of it. Despite the severity of the injury, Allen was not deducted a point by the referee for the infraction.

Natasha Hooper - January 26, 2020

Today, TMZ announced the news that NBA legend Kobe Bryant had passed away in a helicopter crash. The former professional basketball player died on Sunday morning in a helicopter incident in Calabasas, Los Angeles.

Adam D Martin - January 26, 2020

Bellator president Scott Coker says that the next opponent for new Bellator women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg could be Arlene Blencowe. Cyborg dominated former champ Julia Budd at Bellator 238 to become the promotion’s new 145lbs champion in the women’s featherweight division. As soon as Cyborg got through with Budd the next question fans and media were asking was who will fight Cyborg next.

Adam D Martin - January 26, 2020

UFC superstar Nate Diaz says that he was not impressed with Conor McGregor’s 40-second knockout win over Donald Cerrone at UFC 246. Diaz was in attendance at Bellator 238 in support of his teammate Chris Avila, who lost a majority decision to Anthony Taylor on the undercard. Diaz was asked what he thought about McGregor’s quick finish over Cerrone, and the Stockton native says he was not impressed by the Irishman’s performance.

Adam D Martin - January 26, 2020

UFC welterweight contender Michael Chiesa says he has respect for Colby Covington as a fighter, but he believes this is the fight that makes sense next. Covington is one of the most controversial and divisive MMA fighters out there right now. His outspoken and brash personality has fans, media and his fellow fighters divided about him as a person, but there’s no mistaking that Covington is one of the best welterweights on the planet.

Adam D Martin - January 26, 2020

UFC welterweight contender Michael Chiesa released a statement following his decision win over Rafael dos Anjos in the co-main event of UFC Raleigh. Chiesa used a dominant wrestling game to take down RDA and control him on the mat for the majority of the fight to earn a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards. It’s the biggest win over Chiesa’s career to date as the former “Ultimate Fighter” winner defeated the No. 5 ranked welterweight in RDA.

Adam D Martin - January 26, 2020

New Bellator women’s featherweight Cris Cyborg took to social media to share a photo of herself posing with her four belts from major MMA promotions. Cyborg dominated Julia Budd en route to a fourth-round TKO win in her Bellator debut. It was an incredible performance by Cyborg, who displayed her trademark striking and punching power to go along with her underrated grappling game. Budd was game for the fight but ultimately wasn’t in the same class as Cyborg.

Adam D Martin - January 26, 2020

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones showed off new photos of his physique for his fight against Domnick Reyes at UFC 247 and he looks jacked. In less than two weeks Jones will fight Reyes in his next title defense. Jones is once against a big betting favorite for the fight, but Reyes cannot be written off as an undefeated contender. To that end, Jones has clearly been putting in the work in his training camp, and it showed in his new photos.