Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Russell Ess - September 26, 2017

Rising UFC featherweight Yair Rodriguez is one of the most entertaining fighters that you will see compete in the Octagon. With his exciting striking capabilities, “El Pantera” has grown a large fan base and many are surely curious as to when we’ll see the Mexico native back in the Octagon. BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor caught up with Rodriguez on Tuesday and asked Yair when fans could expect to see “El Pantera” back in action.

Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

“Platinum” Mike Perry is one of the fastest rising contenders in the UFC welterweight division. Since joining the UFC fold in August of 2016, he has knocked out Hyun Gyu Lim, Danny Roberts, Jake Ellenberger, and most recently, Alex Reyes. Though these knockout wins were interspersed by a decision loss to Alan Jouban, they have still been enough to elevate Perry to the number-15 spot in the UFC welterweight rankings. And now that he’s in the top-15, he’s putting all of his peers on notice. One of the latest fighters to find himself in Perry’s crosshairs is two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, who battles Jorge Masvidal at UFC 217 on November 4.

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

UFC 217, which goes down on November 4 inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, is one hell of a fight card. Topped by a trio of title fights, it could even be the biggest fight card of the year outright.  Given the scale of the card, it should come as no surprise that a great many fighters were eager to shoehorn themselves onto the bill. Fourth-ranked UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal, who battles Stephen Thompson on the main card, is one of the fighters that was lucky enough to succeed in his effort to do so. He couldn’t be happier about this fact.

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

Last weekend, in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 116, rising welterweight slugger “Platinum” Mike Perry authored yet another brutal knockout, this time putting down Alex Reyes with a rocket-fuelled knee against the cage. Reyes, of course, was not supposed to be Perry’s opponent. Perry was originally expected to battle former UFC welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves on the card. It was only when Alves was forced out of this anticipated booking that Reyes got the call and agreed to step in against Perry on mere days’ notice.

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

Last weekend, in the co-main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Pittsburgh, brick-fisted welterweight “Platinum” Mike Perry picked up a thunderous knee-induced KO win over Alex Reyes, who stepped in to replace Thiago Alves on short notice. Shortly after this win, Perry made an exciting callout of former UFC welterweight king and fellow knockout artist Robbie Lawler. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio Mike Perry explained the reason for this callout of Lawler.

Tom Taylor - September 14, 2017

On October 28th, on the main card of UFC Fight Night 119 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, red-hot welterweight contender Colby Covington will battle recent title challenger Demian Maia. While Covington has repeatedly shared his confidence in the way he matches up with Maia, he actually has ample respect for the Brazilian grappling specialist. That respect does not extend to UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley – at all. Covington explained why he respects Maia but not Woodley on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio.

Tom Taylor - September 7, 2017

This Saturday night, in the main event of the anticipated UFC 215, 24-year-old flyweight contender Ray Borg will attempt to do the seemingly impossible and derail the historic win-streak of champ Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. Borg, of course, is not the first man to attempt to end Mighty Mouse’s reign. Ten others have tried and failed. When the cage door closes on Saturday, however, he believes he’s got what it takes to defeat the dominating flyweight king.

Tom Taylor - September 7, 2017

Shortly after his destruction of Zebaztian Kadestam at last weekend’s ONE Championship: Shanghai event, it was announced that Ben Askren’s next fight would be his last. His opponent in this November 24 retirement fight, it was revealed, would be Japanese lightweight veteran Shinya Aoki, who stands out as one of the finest submission players in MMA history. Speaking on BJ Penn Radio, Askren revealed that this awesome matchup was initially a surprise to even him:

Chris Taylor - September 5, 2017

Perennial UFC featherweight contender Cub Swanson (25-7 MMA) is currently riding an impressive four fight win streak and is on the cusp of earning a shot at the promotions coveted featherweight title. Swanson was last seen in action this past April in the main event of UFC Fight Night 108 where he scored a unanimous decision victory over Artem Lobov.

Tom Taylor - September 3, 2017

AJ McKee (9-0) and James Gallagher (7-0) are two of the hottest prospects on the Bellator roster, and they happen to compete in the same division. As such, the two rising featherweights have developed a pretty memorable rivalry – one that will inevitably have to be settled in the cage. Speaking on the latest edition of BJ Penn Radio, McKee discussed his beef with Gallagher, explaining that he initially had no interest in a fight with him, but that the Irishman’s disrespect changed his mind.

Russell Ess - August 17, 2017

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko are scheduled to fight once again at UFC 215. Nunes and Shevchenko first met in the Octagon in March of last year at UFC 196 where Nunes won a unanimous decision after Shevchenko turned things up in the third round. The two were set to fight in the main event of UFC 213 in July, however, Nunes pulled out of the bout the day of the scheduled fight after feeling ill.

Tom Taylor - August 17, 2017

On August 26, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will step into the boxing ring with undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. In the buildup to this fight, many members of the combat sports community have offered insights, expectations and predictions for it. One of the latest to do so is Richard Perez, who serves as the boxing coach for Nick and Nate Diaz – the latter of whom stands out as McGregor’s fiercest rival. Perez discussed this upcoming boxing match on the latest edition of BJ Penn Radio. In his opinion, McGregor has a few dangerous weapons at his disposal, but they probably won’t be enough.

Tom Taylor - August 10, 2017

Earlier this week, rising UFC welterweight Colby Covington made a clever callout of recent welterweight title challenger Demian Maia. On Wednesday’s edition of BJ Penn Radio, Covington gave an update on this fight, telling host Kinch that he hopes it happens at UFC 217, inside Madison Square Garden, on November 4. “I’m looking for November 4 in Madison Square Garden against Demian Maia,” he said. 

Tom Taylor - August 10, 2017

Over the last few months, Colby Covington and his friend and training partner Jorge Masvidal have made repeated callouts of fellow welterweight contenders Rafael Dos Anjos and Neil Magny. Unfortunately, Magny and Dos Anjos didn’t oblige those callouts. So, you can imagine Covington and Masvidal’s frustration when a Magny and Dos Anjos were booked to fight each other at UFC 216. On the latest edition of BJ Penn Radio, Covington went off on Magny and Dos Anjos in a scathing rant. Check out what he had to say below:

Tom Taylor - August 8, 2017

Last weekend, during the UFC Fight Night 114 broadcast, former UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis made an interesting callout of fellow contender Dustin Poirier. It did not take Poirier long to respond. “I’m down,” he said matter-of-factly on Twitter. 

Tom Taylor - August 8, 2017

Back in May, UFC lightweight contender Dustin Poirier very nearly picked up the biggest win of his career, as he had former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez on spaghetti legs during their UFC 211 undercard scrap. Regrettably, Poirier was then cracked with a salvo of illegal knees. When he was unable to continue, the bout was ruled a no contest. Unsurprisingly, Poirier then set his sights on a rematch with Alvarez, and for a time, it looked like he’d get one. Ultimately, however, the UFC opted to pit Alvarez against breakthrough star Justin Gaethje, leaving Poirier without a dance partner

Chris Taylor - August 6, 2017

At 38-years-old, former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson (22-9 MMA) remains one of the very best 155-pound fighters in the sport of mixed martial arts. The product of American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) was most recently seen in action this past February in San Jose, where he had his two-fight win streak snapped by Patricky Freire via a controversial second-round knockout.

Tom Taylor - August 3, 2017

On September 16, when the UFC touches down in Pittsburgh, PA, ever entertaining welterweight “Platinum” Mike Perry will step onto the canvas with former welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves. Alves, of course, has long stood out as one of the welterweight division’s most exciting – and dangerous  – fighters. The one knock against the Brazilian star, however, is that he’s had some real difficulty making weight in the past. To recount, Alves has missed weight for welterweight fights with Matt Hughes and Jon Fitch, and for his lone attempt at making lightweight, when he tipped the scales at 162 pounds rather than the mandated 155. And while he seemed to have his weight under control for his last fight – an exciting decision defeat of Patrick Cote – there seems to be an ever-present possibility that he misses again.