Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Chris Taylor - November 8, 2017

Well you knew this was coming! Yoel Romero has sent a clear message to bitter rival Michael Bisping following “The Count’s” UFC 217 title loss to Georges St-Pierre. In short, “The Soldier of God” was not impressed by Bisping’s performance (GSP voice).

Chris Taylor - November 7, 2017

Yoel Romero has a plan for when Georges St-Pierre announces that he will be vacating his newly obtained UFC middleweight title. The Canadian superstar, St-Pierre, returned from a near four-year hiatus last weekend where he defeated Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 217 to become the UFC’s new middleweight champion.

Tom Taylor - November 7, 2017

Riding high off a dominant win over Demian Maia, Colby Covington has spent the last few weeks campaigning for a title fight with welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. On the most recent episode of BJ Penn Radio, the surging welterweight contender also gave a prediction for the outcome of a possible fight with Woodley. Based on his previous training sessions with Woodley at American Top Team, Covington is expecting a lopsided, stoppage win over the champ – probably inside the first three rounds.

Tom Taylor - November 2, 2017

This weekend, on the main card of the stacked UFC 217, Jorge Masvidal will step into the cage with two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. While Wonderboy is an incredibly dangerous opponent, Masvidal plans to devastate him when the cage door closes. “I got respect for his skillset and his heart,” Masvidal said on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. “He definitely took some shots against [Tyron] Woodley in both fights, that a lesser man would’ve gave into. He fought through that. Through the guillotine, through the right hands, the abuse that he took, you know? I don’t think he’s a walk in the park or northing like that. He has a skillset, but come Saturday, I’m gonna devastate him.”

Tom Taylor - November 2, 2017

Last weekend, moments after taking out former welterweight title challenger Demian Maia, Colby Covington unleashed a fiery post-fight callout of Tyron Woodley. During this callout of the champ, Covington also referred to Brazil as a “a dump,” and its people as “filthy animals.” These remarks generated a tidal wave of controversy. In the opinion of Covington’s good friend and training partner Jorge Masvidal, however, this controversy has been a little overblown. “What was he supposed to say?” Masvidal queried on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. “‘I love Brazil, I love you guys’ like every other fake fucking fighter that goes over there and says that, though they got spit on, pushed, shoved and they chanted all types of shit? The guy actually spoke from the heart and he gets crucified for it.”

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2017

Last week, UFC and World Series of Fighting veteran Gerald Harris picked up a gruesome, slam-induced stoppage win, badly breaking his foe’s arm to force the end of the fight. In the subsequent moments, Harris seemed elated – even pleased about his opponent’s injury – but apparently, this wasn’t the case. Despite the tidal wave of trash talk Harris received in the buildup to this fight, he harbored no ill-will toward his opponent, and didn’t even know he’d broken his arm until later. “A lot of people, they watched the video, and you can’t judge a book by it’s cover,” Harris said on episode 55 of BJ Penn Radio. “It looked like I was celebrating the injury, and I was overreacting, but man, everything that happened before that… This guy cursed me out at weigh ins, he was three pounds overweight, he tried to fight me at weigh ins, and then before the fight he was yelling at me, and then in the fight he was yelling at me, and right before I slammed him, literally, the round before that, he was giving me the ‘suck-it’ sign, he was like ‘F-you, you ain’t no slam king, you can’t even slam me b*tch.’ Then a minute later, that same hand he was flipping me off with was crooked as hell behind his head. There was so much karma in that moment. I don’t have anything against the dude, he’s a fighter and he does what works best for him, but he just disrespected me a little bit too much.” 

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2017

Over the last year or so, there has been a significant trend of fighters calling out competitors in other weight classes in an effort to procure the biggest and most lucrative fights possible. UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor has flirted with a bout with welterweight king Tyron Woodley. Woodley has eyed fights with McGregor and UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping. Bisping is fighting a former welterweight in Georges St-Pierre. Former UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones briefly eyed a heavyweight fight with Brock Lesnar. The list goes on. And while this trend seems to aggravate many members of the MMA community, current Bellator light heavyweight star Chael Sonnen, who foresees a heavyweight scrap with Fedor Emelianenko down the road, is all for it. “Just before you and I got on the phone today I was reading something about a St-Pierre versus McGregor matchup, and I love that,” Sonnen said on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. “I have a little bit of resentment because of the fights that we missed because of where the sport was at, and [the UFC] specifically, they weren’t willing to change guys’ weight classes. What comes to mind is Matt Hughes versus Anderson Silva, also Anderson Silva versus Jon Jones. Those were matchups that the athletes were willing to do, the fighters wanted to see, the media wanted to see, but the promotion was pretty locked in on the policy of everybody stays in their own division.”

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2017

Though his widely discussed matchup with Chuck Liddell is apparently off the table, Chael Sonnen still has plenty of exciting options in the Bellator cage. Two of the most compelling of his options are heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko, and former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald. And apparently, he expects both fights to happen. “I think it’s hard to imagine that that doesn’t happen,” Sonnen said of a potential fight with Fedor Emelianenko on the most recent episode of BJ Penn Radio. “We’re only about 20 pounds apart. I get up to about 216 pounds – maybe that’s a little heavy – but right in there, [around] 216. [Fedor has] weighed in pretty consistently at 236 for the last number of years. So, you’re only talking about 20 pounds. I know some people say ‘don’t do that fight, he’s too big,’ but we’re only talking about 20 pounds. When I started this thing, we didn’t have weigh-ins. I’ve never cared what a guy weighed. I will acknowledge that there’s an advantage at a certain point to a certain size, but 20 pounds man, that’s not very much.”

Tom Taylor - October 26, 2017

UFC 217’s main event, a middleweight title fight between champ Michael Bisping and challenger Georges St-Pierre, seems to have the world divided. There are some members of the combat sports community who believe Bisping will come out on top. Others are convinced St-Pierre will win. File current Bellator star Chael Sonnen into the latter category. “I like that fight,” Sonnen said on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. “I am picking Georges in that fight, but I really like it. I’ve competed with Bisping twice myself, once in MMA and once in grappling. Tough sonofa bitch. I’ve only trained with Georges, so maybe I come to you with a little different perspective, but it appears a lot of what’s being said about this fight is Bisping’s size. Anytime you talk about size, what you’re really talking about is, the [bigger] guy is stronger, right? We don’t really care about who weighs more, we care about who’s stronger than who. This is a weird one because Bisping is meaningfully bigger. He will cut to make 185, he will get into the ring about 200 pounds. Georges St-Pierre will weigh in about 183 pounds, he will get in the ring at 183 pounds. However  – this might surprise you – Georges is meaningfully, meaningfully stronger than Bisping.”

Tom Taylor - October 26, 2017

Not long ago, there seemed to be real reason to believe that MMA legend Chuck Liddell was ready to make a comeback. Most rumors on this subject suggested that this possible Liddell comeback would occur in the Bellator cage, and that his opponent would be three-time UFC title challenger and current Bellator star Chael Sonnen. Even Sonnen believed this is the way things were going to down, as he repeated eluded to this fight in interviews and on social media. Unfortunately, “The American Gangster” now feels this much-discussed scrap is a no-go.

Chris Taylor - October 22, 2017

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is not sure who he will be fighting in his next octagon appearance. “The Chosen One” recently spoke with BJPENN.com’s Chris Taylor where he discussed the upcoming welterweight showdown between former champ Robbie Lawler and former lightweight title holder Rafael dos Anjos which takes place December 16 in Winnipeg.

Tom Taylor - October 19, 2017

On November 18, when the UFC touches down in Sydney, Australia, rising UFC featherweight Alexander Volkanovski will take on Humberto Bandenay, who replaces his originally planned opponent, Jeremy Kennedy. If Volkanovski wins this fight, he’ll take another big step up the UFC featherweight rankings, toward the divisional top-10, and perhaps, an eventual featherweight title shot. As one of the featherweight division’s brightest young contenders, Volkanovski will be watching UFC 218’s Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar featherweight title fight very closely. While Holloway is a slight favorite heading into this fight, Volkanovski sees a bit of himself in Frankie Edgar, and as such, believes Edgar has what it takes to pull off the upset.

Tom Taylor - October 15, 2017

Shortly after Tony Ferguson captured the UFC interim lightweight title with a submission defeat of Kevin Lee, UFC President Dana White claimed that Ferguson will be the next man to battle undisputed lightweight champion Conor McGregor. This claim from the UFC boss is a stark contradiction of the recurring rumors that McGregor’s next bout will be a trilogy fight with rival Nate Diaz. If Ferguson is indeed the next man in line for the undisputed champ McGregor, he could very well come out on top. In fact, many people believe that Ferguson is an even tougher matchup for McGregor than Diaz is.

Tom Taylor - October 15, 2017

As the undisputed UFC lightweight champion and interim UFC lightweight champion respectively, Conor McGregor and Tony Ferguson seem destined to fight. At this point, it really just seems to be a question of when they actually collide. Whenever the fight happens, fans are bound to be divided in their predictions for it. The fight’s early odds reflect this reality. Even Eddie Bravo, Ferguson’s long-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach, has a hard time predicting what might happen when the cage door closes on McGregor and Ferguson.

Russell Ess - October 13, 2017

An exciting UFC women’s flyweight matchup will be coming in January as Justine Kish will move up from the strawweight division to the new UFC women’s flyweight division. Kish will meet Ji Yeon Kim, who will be dropping down to the flyweight division from the women’s bantamweight division at a yet to be announced January 20 fight card in the USA.

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2017

Now that Tony Ferguson is the UFC interim lightweight champion, pretty much everybody wants to see him take on undisputed lightweight champion Conor McGregor. That, of course, includes long-time Tony Ferguson trainer Eddie Bravo. Speaking on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, 10th Planet jiu jitsu founder Eddie Bravo weighed in on a fight between Ferguson and McGregor. Apparently, he think it’s a near certainty that this massive lightweight title unification fight happens soon.

Tom Taylor - October 9, 2017

In the wake of Jon Jones’ latest failed drug test, which was administered in the buildup to his UFC 214 title fight with Daniel Cormier, many fans have questioned the legitimacy of his legacy, suggesting that perhaps his greatness can be the attributed to PED abuse. In the opinion of top light heavyweight contender Volkan Oezdemir, however, these claims are not exactly fair. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio “No Time” shared his belief that, while Jones’ could well have been helped by PEDs, his talent remains unquestionable. “It’s hard to answer to this, because the way Jones fights, it’s just amazing,” Oezdemir said. “He’s doing stuff nobody does. He just has a really high IQ when it comes to fighting. He’s doing stuff with perfect timing, crazy, spinning back elbows… you know. You cannot take anything off Jon Jones, because he so much talent. So, I don’t think it’s really tarnished his legacy. When you watch his fights, he doesn’t win because [of the banned substances]. Of course, it probably helped, but he doesn’t win because he’s so strong and so big. It’s all about the intelligence that he has, and also the IQ, fight IQ. He’s just an amazing athlete.” 

Tom Taylor - October 5, 2017

Back in June, in the co-main event of the Bellator NYC pay-per-view, Bellator heavyweight star Matt Mitrione stepped onto the canvas with MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko. The fight was absolutely while it lasted. About a minute into the first round, Fedor and Mitrione both threw, both landed, and both hit the deck. In an instant, it all seemed to come down to who would be able to regain their composure and crank up the offense first. In the end, that man was Mitrione, who stormed his legendary foe with punches en route to a first-round knockout win.