Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Cole Shelton - October 20, 2021

Ricky Glenn wanted to be active this year after having hip surgery that kept him out of action from November 2018 until June of 2021 when he made his return. In his return fight, Glenn moved up to lightweight and scored a 37-second KO win over Joaquim Silva. After the fight, he thought he would get a quick turnaround, but nothing came up until he saw Diego Ferreira pulled out of his fight with Grant Dawson and Glenn jumped at the opportunity to face him at UFC Vegas 41.

Cole Shelton - October 20, 2021

In the main event of UFC Vegas 41, top-five middleweights collide as Paulo Costa battles Marvin Vettori. Heading into the fight, Vettori is a -150 favorite with the comeback on the Brazilian at +125. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their prediction for the scrap. The majority of pros believe Vettori will be able to use his wrestling to grind out a win over Costa.

Cole Shelton - October 19, 2021

Tim Johnson says it is still surreal to think he is fighting Fedor Emelianenko in Russia, in what could be the Russian’s final fight. When Bellator announced Emelianenko would be fighting back home in Russia, many thought he would be fighting a fellow legend. Yet, that wasn’t the case as instead, he will be fighting Johnson at Bellator 269, who has a theory as to why Emelianenko picked him.

Cole Shelton - October 19, 2021

Grant Dawson was supposed to get his shot to enter the lightweight rankings back on October 2 against Diego Ferreira, but Ferreira was forced out of the fight. After Dawson heard the news that Ferreira was out of the fight, he admits it was frustrating and disappointing. However, he made it clear to the UFC he still wanted to fight in October and he got his wish as he will face Ricky Glenn at UFC Vegas 41.

Cole Shelton - October 15, 2021

Casey O’Neill is currently the 14th-ranked flyweight, but she is in no rush to move up the ranks. O’Neill is 3-0 in the UFC and coming off a TKO win over Antonina Shevchenko, which was her third UFC win, with all of them coming by finish and happening this year. Although she has had a mediocre rise, she says it’s still surreal to think about.

Cole Shelton - October 15, 2021

Demetrious Johnson thinks Henry Cejudo would have success at featherweight if he were to move up to fight Alex Volkanovski. Cejudo has recently made it clear he wants to return and fight Volkanovski for the featherweight title. It would be an intriguing matchup and Volkanovski has said he wants to be active so the timing does work as Max Holloway is slated to fight Yair Rodriguez in November.

Drake Riggs - October 15, 2021

PHOENIX — Ryan Bader is known as “Darth” when entering the cage. However, the current Bellator heavyweight champ has hoped to use another nickname. Bader is 13-2 (1 no contest) in his last 16 bouts overall putting him on the most dominant stretch of his career by capturing titles in two weight classes. Therefore utilizing the nickname of “The Master” seems fitting… until piecing it all together.

Drake Riggs - October 14, 2021

PHOENIX — Julia Budd is making the move to the PFL after a championship run with Bellator. The first and former women’s featherweight champion in Bellator history suffered a single defeat in her run with the promotion when facing Cris “Cyborg” Justino in January 2020. Budd (15-3) rebounded with two wins over Jessica Miele and Dayana Silva.

Cole Shelton - October 14, 2021

Bibiano Fernandes is excited to finally make the walk to the cage once again. Fernandes hasn’t fought since October of 2019 where he submitted Kevin Belingon to defend his bantamweight title. It was his third straight fight against Belingon, where Fernandes won the final two fights. Since the win, however, COVID-19 and a contract dispute kept Fernandes out of the cage.

Cole Shelton - October 13, 2021

Brent Primus has been asking for a big-name opponent for quite some time and he gets his wish on Saturday night at Bellator 268. Primus returned in July and lost a controversial split decision to Islam Mamedov in a fight many thought he won. After the fight, he asked his management and Bellator for a high-profile fight. He got just that as he will face Benson Henderson on Saturday in Arizona.

Cole Shelton - October 12, 2021

Casey O’Neill knew she would be able to finish Antonina Shevchenko in their UFC Vegas 38 fight. O’Neill was 2-0 in the UFC with two finishes but early on, Shevchenko had success. She had O’Neill in a troubling spot but the 24-year-old was able to get out of it and then take over the round. In the second round, she dominated it and eventually got the stoppage win.

Cole Shelton - October 12, 2021

Demetrious Johnson didn’t have any hesitation when he got the call to have a special rules fight against Rodtang. At ONE X in December, Johnson and Rodtang will fight in a special rules bout. The first and third rounds will be muay Thai will the second and fourth will be MMA. The rounds will also be three minutes and for Johnson, he’s super excited for the fight.

Cole Shelton - October 6, 2021

Charles Rosa believes he has finally put everything together ahead of his UFC Vegas 39 fight against Damon Jackson. After Rosa returned to the win column in June against Justin Jaynes, he said he wanted to return in October or November and he got his wish.

Cole Shelton - October 6, 2021

Tim Elliott is now in a place where he doesn’t have to take any fight that comes his way, and that is what happened when Su Mudaerji pulled out of their fight in June. After his opponent pulled out, Elliott was offered Manel Kape on short notice which he turned down as for him, he only wants ranked guys. He also says he’s in a position now where he is being smart about his career and not taking any fight that comes his way.

Cole Shelton - October 5, 2021

Mackenzie Dern had a feeling her next fight would be a main event. Dern submitted Nina Nunes in the first round back in April. After that, she was offered two short-notice main event fights. However, they never came to fruition but Dern had a feeling once Rodriguez beat Waterson she would headline a card opposite the Brazilian.

Cole Shelton - October 5, 2021

Randy Brown wanted to get another fight in this year and he jumped at the chance to take a fight at UFC Vegas 39 against Jared Gooden. Brown is coming off a submission win over Alex Oliveira at UFC 261 and many thought he would get another high-profile name. Yet, that isn’t the case as he will battle Jared Gooden in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 39. For Brown, he says he just wanted to fight and this was a chance to get back in there.

Drake Riggs - October 1, 2021

FORT LAUDERDALE — Kayla Harrison is as dominant of a force as anyone in MMA in 2021. But with great success comes great detractors – or at least several in abundance. Beginning her run in June 2018 and now 11-0 in her professional MMA career, the Judo master has found the fans to be a lot more vocal than she’d experienced prior.

Cole Shelton - October 1, 2021

Jalin Turner called a first-round stoppage over Uros Medic at UFC 266 and he did just that. In the lead-up to his fight on the stacked pay-per-view card, Turner made his return against the undefeated Medic and many thought Turner would get finished early. Yet, it was the other way around as Turner submitted Medic in the first and he said he’s still not surprised people continue to doubt him.