Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Cole Shelton - December 19, 2019

In the final UFC card of the year and the decade, the Octagon will touch down in Busan, South Korea. The UFC Busan main event pairs short-notice replacement, Frankie Edgar against “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung. Heading into the fight, Edgar is a +145 underdog while Jung is a -175 favorite. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. The majority believe Chan Sung Jung will get his hand raised at home.

Cole Shelton - December 17, 2019

Ilima-Lei MacFarlane is set to defend her Bellator women’s flyweight title at home in Hawaii for the second straight year. She takes on Kate Jackson this Saturday. Last year, she submitted Valerie Letourneau in Hawaii, and it was an emotional night for her. MacFarlane cried during her walkout, and the 29 year old expects to do so again at Bellator 236.

Cole Shelton - December 12, 2019

Ian Heinisch has violent intentions for Omari Akhmedov. Heinisch is taking on the Dagestani fighter at UFC 245 this weekend. The American is looking to return to the win column after a disappointing performance against Derek Brunson at UFC 241.

Cole Shelton - December 12, 2019

At UFC 245, Amanda Nunes will look to defend her bantamweight title once again when she takes on Germaine de Randamie. The contest will be a rematch of a 2013 fight, which Nunes won by first-round TKO. Heading into the fight, the Brazilian champion is a -300 favorite while the challenger is a +230 underdog.

Cole Shelton - December 11, 2019

Irene Aldana believes she is part of a No. 1 contender fight with Ketlen Vieira at UFC 245. Vieira, who is ranked No. 2 in the division, has not fought since March of 2018, so Aldana was surprised she was offered this fight.

Cole Shelton - December 11, 2019

In the co-main event of UFC 245, Max Holloway will look to defend his featherweight title against Alexander Volkanovski. Heading into the fight, the Hawaiian champion is a -175 favorite, while the challenger is a +145 underdog. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get the predictions for the scrap. This time around, the majority believe Max Holloway’s cardio will be too much for Volkanovski, and that the champ will defend his throne.

Mike Heck - December 10, 2019

Saturday night’s UFC 245 fight card is absolutely stacked. With three title fights and two very intriguing bantamweight matchups making up the main card, along with a slew of fascinating preliminary fights, the organization’s year end pay-per-view is shaping up to be one of 2019’s best. In addition, a welterweight matchup between Ben Saunders and Matt Brown — veterans of over 40 combined Octagon appearances — has a chance to steal the show away from the fights on the marquee. Saunders and Brown will compete during the ESPN2 preliminary card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “Killa B” is looking to snap a three fight skid against a performance bonus magnet in Brown, who hasn’t competed since knocking out Diego Sanchez over two years ago and briefly retired from the sport.

Cole Shelton - December 10, 2019

In the main event of UFC 245, Kamaru Usman will look to defend his welterweight title for the first time when he battles his arch rival, Colby Covington. Heading into the fight, the champion is a -185 favorite while “Chaos” is a +150 underdog. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. This time around, the pros are split, as the majority believe it will be a close fight where it could go either way.

Mike Heck - December 9, 2019

One of the fights fans were looking forward to seeing most on Saturday night at UFC on ESPN 7 was a bantamweight fight between Cody Stamann and Song Yadong. While the fight featured a solid game plan from Stamann against a 2-1 favored opponent in the dangerous Yadong, it was mired in controversy following the reading of the judges score cards. Stamann, along with many members of the MMA community, believed he had done enough to get the nod against Yadong. However, one judge scored it for Stamann, while the others scored it an even 28-28 to lead to a majority draw — the first of two draws on the night.

Cole Shelton - December 9, 2019

Alexander Volkanovski believes he will be the first person to defeat Max Holloway in a title fight at featherweight. Hawaii’s Holloway has looked unstoppable at 145 pounds but when he tried his luck at lightweight, Dustin Poirier appeared to be too powerful a foe. 

Cole Shelton - December 6, 2019

Yana Kunitskaya believes her boyfriend, Thiago Santos, should be the UFC’s light heavyweight champion right now. Back in July at UFC 239, Santos took on Jon Jones. Many thought it would be an easy fight for the champion “Bones.” Yet, that is far from what happened, as Jones barely edged out a split-decision. Some, including Kunitskaya, thought Santos did enough to win.

Cole Shelton - December 5, 2019

This Saturday, the UFC is back after a two-week break with an exciting card in Washington D.C. The card will be topped by a heavyweight fight between Alistair Overeem and Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Heading into the fight, Overeem is a -120 favorite while the short-notice replacement is a +110 underdog. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. The majority believe Alistair Overeem’s experience will be too much for Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

Cole Shelton - December 3, 2019

Michelle Waterson had a chance to earn a strawweight title shot with a win over Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the main event of UFC Tampa. Yet she lost by decision which sent her back to the drawing board. Her coach Mike Winkeljohn knows Waterson can be a top-fighter at 115-pounds but hopes the UFC starts an atomweight division. If that happens, he is confident Waterson would become a UFC champion.

Cole Shelton - December 2, 2019

Jairzinho Rozenstruik may be the newcomer of the year in 2019 for the UFC. He didn’t have his first UFC fight until February of this year where he knocked out Junior Albini in the second round. It was an impressive debut, but Rozenstruik did even better in his next fights, with a nine-second knockout win over Allen Crowder, then a 29-second knockout win over Andrei Arlovski.

Cole Shelton - November 29, 2019

Holly Holm is coming off of a knockout loss to Amanda Nunes, which marked a failed bid to reclaim the UFC bantamweight title. She was expected to return against Raquel Pennington at UFC 243, but an injury forced her to pull out. Now, according to JacksonWink MMA coach, Mike Winkeljohn, the hope is that Holm will return in early 2020.

Cole Shelton - November 29, 2019

Amanda Nunes is set to defend her bantamweight title against Germaine de Randamie at UFC 245. It will be a rematch of their 2013 bout, which Nunes won by TKO in the first round. Dan Lambert and the coaches at American Top Team are confident Nunes will get it done once again.

Cole Shelton - November 27, 2019

Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya have been going back-and-forth at one another on social media and a fight between the two seems likely. Yet, “The Last Stylebender” has said it won’t happen until 2021 once he clears out the middleweight division.

Cole Shelton - November 27, 2019

UFC 239 was expected to be a big card for JacksonWink. They had Jon Jones defending his light heavyweight title in the main event, Holly Holm challenging for the bantamweight strap in the co-main. Also on the main card was Diego Sanchez battling Michael Chiesa. Yet, just days before the fight, Sanchez left JacksonWink and was cornered by one person: a self-awareness coach with no martial arts experience.