Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Tom Taylor - November 30, 2018

It’s a strange and worrying time for the UFC flyweight division. The former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson has been traded to ONE Championship in exchange for welterweight talent Ben Askren. A procession of long-time UFC flyweights have been released from their contracts, including Justin Scoggins, Jared Brooks, Roberto Sanchez, and most recently, Ulka Sasaki. Rumors that the promotion plans to close the division have been rampant, and when pressed about these rumors, UFC President Dana White hasn’t exactly provided cause for optimism… “The flyweight division just never took off, it never caught on,” White said on a recent episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast. “Even with a dominant champion like Demetrious, it just never caught on. People didn’t care. I battled for a long time, I tried to keep it alive and obviously, it’s still going on now. We still have fights going on in that division, but we’ll see what the future holds for it.”

Cole Shelton - November 29, 2018

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is about to finish their first season on New Year’s Eve. PFL decided to take MMA back to where it started by doing a tournament format. The tournament was structured like most other professional sports leagues, with a regular season, playoffs and then the finals. Ray Cooper III took part in the PFL’s first season and will be taking on Magomed Magomedkerimov in the welterweight final for the $1 million prize money. Ultimately, the first season of PFL can be chalked up as a success. It brought a fresh new feel to MMA. As well, fighters didn’t have to call for their title shots, rather simply earn them. That is something that intrigued Cooper III to take part in the PFL.

Christopher Taylor - November 29, 2018

The mixed martial arts community is still grieving after losing legendary Japanese fighter Kid Yamamoto to cancer this past September. Norifumi had announced that he was battling the disease back on August 26 via his official Instagram.

Cole Shelton - November 29, 2018

Luis Pena was an undefeated lightweight up until his last fight, when he came up short against TUF 27 winner Mike Trizano. Then, after the fight, the man they call ‘Violent Bob Ross’ announced that he would be moving down to the featherweight division. This news came as a bit of a shock to some, given that Pena is 6’3″. Pena himself, however, feels it’s the right move.

Tom Taylor - November 29, 2018

Juan Archuleta has long stood out as one of the most exciting prospects in the Bellator featherweight division. In his Friday night Bellator 210 fight with Jeremy Spoon, he’ll look to take another big step toward divisional champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. To say Archuleta is excited for this looming test would be an understatement.

Chris Taylor - November 28, 2018

Former two-division UFC champion BJ Penn will return to the octagon on December 29 to battle Ryan Hall in a lightweight contest at UFC 232. “The Prodigy” has returned to his roots for this fight, training under his original jiu-jitsu coach Andre Pederneiras at Brazil’s famous Nova Uniao gym.

Cole Shelton - November 28, 2018

Aaron Pico (4-1 MMA) is a future superstar. The 22-year-old is currently riding a four-fight win streak, with all four of those victories coming by way of first-round knockout. However, for Pico, arguably the best attribute of his game is his wrestling and so far he hasn’t had to use it.

Cole Shelton - November 28, 2018

At UFC 229, Conor McGregor made his long-awaited return to the Octagon. He took on Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title. Ahead of the fight, not many people knew how it would turn out. Some people believed McGregor would be able to catch Nurmagomedov and knock him out. Others thought Nurmagomedov would just take McGregor down and ground and pound him or submit him, which ultimately is what happened.

Cole Shelton - November 27, 2018

Last Saturday night, Oscar De La Hoya promoted his first-ever MMA event under the Golden Boy MMA banner. In the weeks leading up to this MMA card, which was headlined by a trilogy fight between UFC Hall of Famers Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, there was plenty of reason to believe it was a one-off for De La Hoya. Yet according to Fernie Garcia, who fought on the undercard of the event, this is not the case. “I have heard that they are [going to do more MMA],” Garcia told BJPENN.com of Golden Boy MMA. “I have heard that the plan was for two events. So they are going to have two events. From what I know, they are going to have another event for sure.”

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2018

When BJJ whiz Garry Tonon submitted South Korea’s Sung Jong Lee at ONE: Heart of the Lion earlier this month, he improved to an impressive 3-0 as a mixed martial artist. Thus far, the the five-time EBI Grappling Champion has drifted between the 155-pound ONE featherweight division, and the 170-pound ONE lightweight division. And from the sounds of it, he could continue floating between both divisions.

Cole Shelton - November 26, 2018

Alex Volkanovski is a streaking featherweight who is currently riding a lofty 15-fight winning streak. Even with that, the Australian is only ranked 10th in the featherweight division. However, that can all change on Dec. 29 at UFC 232, where Volkanovski will have his toughest test to date when he takes on Chad Mendes. Mendes is a two-time title challenger and is currently ranked fifth in the division. Put all of that together and it is a huge fight for Volkanovski.

Drake Riggs - November 26, 2018

There are many variables that can and will affect the way that one’s life plays out. And the same goes for when referencing a career in sports, especially one that happens to be in combat sports.

Tom Taylor - November 25, 2018

Demetrious Johnson no longer calls the UFC’s Octagon home. After a legendary, 18-fight stint with the Las Vegas promotion, the long-time UFC flyweight champion was traded to Singapore-based martial arts promotion ONE Championship in exchange for top welterweight talent Ben Askren. Several weeks after this unprecedented swap was made official, Demetrious Johnson boarded a plane to Singapore to meet the ONE Championship team and take in the stacked ONE: Heart of the Lion card.

Mike Straus - November 23, 2018

Jordan Young is an undefeated Bellator light heavyweight fighter that with a win next weekend will start his career 10-0. Unlike boxing, few fighters start their professional careers 10-0 in MMA. Even fewer fighters do so at just 24 years old. Such is the case for American Top Team’s Young who finds himself in that exact position next weekend in Thackerville, Oklahoma.

Mike Straus - November 23, 2018

Chris Honeycutt has quietly positioned himself as one of Bellator MMA’s top middleweight contenders. He fights at next weekend’s Bellator 210 event but has his thoughts set on a rematch. Honeycutt has long been one of the promotions most talented middleweights. But a recent change in training camps could see Honeycutt’s game go to the next in his upcoming fight.

Cole Shelton - November 23, 2018

Colby Covington is the UFC’s interim welterweight champion. At present he’s hoping to fight current undisputed champion Tyron Woodley in early 2019 to unify the belts. Once he’s done that, we could see him in a different line of work, as he’s hoping to transition to the WWE ring in the future.

Cole Shelton - November 20, 2018

Colby Covington is known for his trash talk. He is seemingly always calling out several fighters at a time and saying he is the best fighter on the planet. However, Covington hasn’t been able to back that up since his last fight in which he won the interim welterweight title in June against Rafael Dos Anjos. Since then, he was supposed to fight Tyron Woodley but Woodley took on Darren Till instead. Now, it is a waiting game for Covington. The current plan is for ‘Chaos’ to fight Woodley in the early part of 2019.

Cole Shelton - November 19, 2018

Colby Covington vs. Tyron Woodley is a fight MMA fans are looking forward to. Ever since Covington defeated Rafael Dos Anjos in June to win the promotions interim belt, fans and analysts have been debating if “Chaos” is the man to dethrone “The Chosen One”. Fans initially expected to get that answer in the fall of 2018. However, after an injury to Covington, Woodley ended up fighting Darren Till in September. “T-Wood” would cruise to a second-round submission win over Till at UFC 228, once again proving himself as the best welterweight fighter in the world.