MMA News

Harry Kettle - July 15, 2020

UFC lightweight Devonte Smith‘s sister has been shot and killed in Columbus, Ohio during an incident in the early hours of Saturday morning. Dariene Smith was leaving a nightclub with her friends when an unrelated dispute broke out, and when gunshots were fired, Smith was caught in the crossfire. She was taken to Ohio Health Rehabilitation Hospital, but as reported by 10WBNS, she was later pronounced dead.

Cole Shelton - July 14, 2020

Henry Cejudo may be retired, but he is still keeping a close eye on his former division. Following Petr Yan scoring a fifth-round TKO win over Jose Aldo to win the vacant bantamweight title, Cejudo took to Twitter to say he sucked. The Russian then told him if they were to fight, he would retire “Triple C” again.

Cole Shelton - July 14, 2020

Jorge Masvidal is focused on getting a rematch against Kamaru Usman. In the main event of UFC 251, Masvidal stepped up on six days’ notice to fight Usman for the welterweight title. It was the first time “Gamebred” would be fighting for UFC gold, but he ultimately came up short losing by decision.

Cole Shelton - July 14, 2020

Calvin Kattar expects to extend his winning streak and add another stoppage win to his record tomorrow night. In the main event of Wednesday’s July 15 Fight Island card, Kattar is set to battle rising contender, Dan Ige. It is a very interesting fight, but for many, they believe Kattar should’ve fought a higher-ranked opponent. For him, he says he will have to fight them at some point, so he might as well make it now.

Tom Taylor - July 14, 2020

The official UFC rankings have been update in the wake of Saturday’s UFC 251 card in Abu Dhabi, an as expected after such a huge card, there have been some key changes. Most notably, Jorge Masvidal, who came up short to UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in the UFC 251 main event, took a one-spot tumble down the welterweight rankings. He’s found a new home behind England’s Leon Edwards.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - July 14, 2020

Chael Sonnen doesn’t believe there was a robbery at UFC 251 but he does think Max Holloway deserved the nod over Alex Volkanovski. In the co-main event of UFC 251, Holloway challenged Volkanovski in a rematch for the featherweight championship. Volkanovski captured the 145-pound gold back in Dec. 2019 with a unanimous decision win over “Blessed.” In the rematch, “The Great” had a tougher time with Holloway but was able to secure the split decision victory.

Adam Martin - July 14, 2020

UFC heavyweight Fabricio Werdum says he gave stitches to Alexander Gustafsson during a past sparring session between the two rivals. Werdum meets Gustafsson in an intriguing heavyweight bout at a UFC Fight Island event on July 25. Gustafsson will be moving up to heavyweight for the first time in his UFC career and will be looking to bounce back from a submission loss to Anthony Smith last June. As for Werdum, he recently returned to the Octagon with a split decision loss to Aleksei Oleinik at UFC 249 in what was a disappointing showing by the former UFC heavyweight champion.

Adam Martin - July 14, 2020

Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Jessica Andrade is staying on Fight Island in hopes of taking a short-notice fight in case someone falls off a card. Andrade lost a split decision to Rose Namajunas on the main card of UFC 251 in an entertaining bout that won her a share of “Fight of the Night” and a $50,000 bonus to boot. Although Andrade lost the decision on the judges’ scorecards, it was a very entertaining bout and it showed that she is still one of the top fighters in the division despite losing back-to-back fights to Namajunas and UFC women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang.

Tom Taylor - July 14, 2020

UFC President Dana White has reacted to the massive success of the UFC 251 card, which is reported to have done 1.3M pay-per-view buys. The card, which was headlined by a welterweight title fight between champion Kamaru Usman and short-notice challenger Jorge Masvidal, went down last Saturday on the UFC’s much-discussed Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

Adam Martin - July 14, 2020

The opening betting odds have been released for the UFC 252 main card, including the odds for the bantamweight fight between Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera. The UFC officially announced the main card for UFC 252 during the UFC 251 broadcast. The promotion’s next pay-per-view event takes place on August 15 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event of the evening features the trilogy fight between UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and rival Daniel Cormier. The odds for that bout were previously revealed last fall, with that fight opening as a Pick ’em.

Harry Kettle - July 14, 2020

UFC’s light heavyweight king Jon Jones is clearly keeping himself in good shape during his time away from the Octagon. Jones, 32, has not fought since he successfully defended his Light Heavyweight Championship against Dominick Reyes in UFC 247’s controversial main event back in February. Ever since then, “Bones” has been embroiled in a feud with the UFC and Dana White regarding fighter pay.

Tom Taylor - July 14, 2020

No. 1 UFC bantamweight contender Marlon Moraes and his wife have both tested positive for COVID-19. His children, thankfully, both tested negative. Moraes announced this news to ESPN Brazil. The Brazilian finisher says he began to feel symptoms about 10 days ago.

Tom Taylor - July 14, 2020

New UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan knows who he wants to fight in his first title defense, and when he wants to make that defense. The UFC bantamweight title became vacant when Henry Cejudo retired in May. The UFC moved to crown a new champion by booking a title fight between Yan and former featherweight champion Jose Aldo at last weekend’s UFC 251 card. In the end, Yan won this fight with a brutal, fifth-round stoppage, becoming the new bantamweight king.

Tom Taylor - July 14, 2020

Former UFC welterweight and middleweight champ Georges St-Pierre may be retired, but he’s still in truly phenomenal shape. St-Pierre flaunted his rippling physique and jaw-dropping athleticism in a recent post to Instagram, which will no doubt fuel another wave of speculation about his potential comeback.

Adam Martin - July 14, 2020

Bellator veteran Jahreau Shepherd was murdered this past weekend in London, England when he was stabbed to death at his 30th birthday party. Shepherd, known as “The Nightmare,” was celebrating his birthday by having a barbeque with friends and family at The Black Prince Estate in Kennington around 10 pm on Saturday when he was attacked. The Evening Standard reports that paramedics arrived on the scene but were not able to save the life of Shepherd, who was stabbed to death.

Cole Shelton - July 14, 2020

Just like the debut episode of Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com the second show is a stacked one ahead of the July 15 and 18 Fight Island shows. Host Cole Shelton is first joined by sixth-ranked UFC featherweight Calvin Kattar (1:19). Then, 10th-ranked featherweight, Dan Ige (17:13) comes on, and the final guest is middleweight contender Jack Hermansson (38:28).

Natasha Hooper - July 14, 2020

Jorge Masvidal is already back to business following his UFC 251 loss to Kamaru Usman. In the main event of UFC 251 on UFC Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, the “BMF” winner faced off against the welterweight champion. Usman was originally expected to fight Gilbert Burns, but the title challenger tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced out of the contest.

Harry Kettle - July 14, 2020

UFC star Jorge Masvidal has reacted to the news that UFC 251 reportedly brought in 1.3 million pay-per-view buys on Saturday night. Everyone knew that the addition of “Gamebred” to the first Fight Island card was going to be big for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but few could’ve realistically imagined that it would be the biggest pay-per-view for the promotion since Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor at UFC 229 in October 2018 — as reported by The Athletic.