MMA News

Tom Taylor - May 18, 2020

UFC heavyweight contender Alistair Overeem says he enjoyed the experience of fighting in an emptied-out arena in Jacksonville, Florida. Overeem defeated Walt Harris via second-round TKO in the main event of Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 8 card. Like most sporting events going on during the coronavirus pandemic, this one went down without any fans in attendance — just the fighters, their corners, and the required UFC staff.

Tom Taylor - May 18, 2020

Conor McGregor recently rewatched his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and he seems to be very happy with his performance. McGregor, a former two-division UFC champ, and Mayweather, an undefeated boxing legend, met in the boxing ring in 2017. The pair’s crossover fight generated massive mainstream interest and went down as one of the most lucrative bouts in combat sports history.

Tom Taylor - May 18, 2020

Alistair Overeem was the biggest earner for Saturday night’s UFC on ESPN 8 card in Jacksonville, Florida, pocketing a hefty $400,000 for his second-round TKO win over Walt Harris. The next biggest earners on the card were Claudia Gadelha and Krzysztof Jotko, who earned $108,000 each for their defeats of Angela Hill and Eryk Anders respectively.

Adam Martin - May 18, 2020

UFC president Dana White says he hopes the next UFC card will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, but he’s prepared to go to Arizona if that can’t happen. The UFC’s next show is set for May 30, but the location is still up in the air at this point. The event was originally targeted to take place in Jacksonville but White later said the UFC was hoping to put on the event at the Apex in Las Vegas. However, Nevada still hasn’t given White the go-ahead to start running events again, and with the card just two weeks away the UFC is already on Plan B in the event it can’t hold the card in Vegas.

Tom Taylor - May 18, 2020

Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Dana White and the UFC were able to promote three events last week in Jacksonville, Florida. White’s decision to promote events during the pandemic generated plenty of controversy, but he repeatedly emphasized the importance the promotion was putting on safety protocols — though some doubters have pointed out that those protocols weren’t followed to the letter.

Harry Kettle - May 18, 2020

Edson Barboza has been denied the chance to appeal his controversial defeat at the hands of Dan Ige this past weekend. Barboza made his featherweight debut in Jacksonville and while many fans and pundits thought he’d struggle with the weight cut, he looked to be in the shape of his life — leading many to believe he’d put in an impressive display against Ige.

Natasha Hooper - May 18, 2020

Alistair Overeem wants one more shot at the heavyweight title as he enters the “final phase” of his career. On May 16, Overeem returned to a winning position in the main event of UFC on ESPN 8. He collided against Walt Harris who entered the bout on a two-fight win streak. It was the first time Harris had fought since the tragic death of his stepdaughter in 2019 and he started the fight leading the way. He knocked down Alistair Overeem with a big combo, and followed up with an onslaught of ground and pound. “The Reem” miraculously recovered and managed to turn the tide on the ground. He carried the momentum into the second round and finished Harris by TKO.

Natasha Hooper - May 18, 2020

Jon Jones has been spending his COVID-19 lockdown on Twitter going back and forth with many of his rivals. His latest target is Chael Sonnen. The former middleweight and light heavyweight title contender turned MMA analyst responded to the light heavyweight champion’s insults.

BJPENN.COM Staff - May 18, 2020

Asia’s largest martial arts organization, ONE Championship, without a doubt, has the largest collection of Asian martial arts World Champions who are currently employed on its roster of talent. The list of respected figures is long and consists of some of the most iconic names in combat sports.  The roster includes Japanese MMA stars Shinya Aoki and Yoshihiro Akiyama, as well as Muay Thai legends Nong-O Gaiyanghadao, Sam-A Gaiyanghadao, and Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex. The organization even once held a title defense for former boxing World Champion and pound-for-pound great, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.

Adam Martin - May 17, 2020

UFC heavyweight Ben Rothwell is not a fan of the recent slate of decisions in MMA, calling the judging “extra disgusting lately.” Rothwell was responding to a Tweet from women’s strawweight contender Angela Hill, who lost a narrow split decision to Claudia Gadelha in the co-main event of UFC Florida. The Hill decision was high scrutinized by fans and media, as were the decisions giving Dan Ige the victory over Edson Barboza and Song Yadong defeating Marlon Vera. Overall, the judging was very poor at UFC Florida and UFC president Dana White said as much himself.

Adam Martin - May 17, 2020

Former UFC and Bellator light heavyweight Tom DeBlass is coming out of retirement and signing with ONE Championship, he announced on Sunday. The 38-year-old DeBlass is a third-degree black belt under Ricardo Almedia and is considered one of the finest grapplers in the world. Between 2010 and 2013, DeBlass racked up a 9-2 record in MMA. He fought twice in the UFC back in 2012, losing to Cyrille Diabate and Riki Fukuda via decision. He then signed with Bellator and picked up wins over Carlos Brooks and Jason Lambert before stepping away from MMA in 2013 to focus on his love for Brazilian jiu-jitsu and his gym, Ocean County BJJ.

Adam Martin - May 17, 2020

Check out videos of the top five submissions from UFC 51 to UFC 60, featuring Matt Hughes submitting Frank Trigg at UFC 52 in a classic fight. In our latest series here at BJPenn.com “Top 5 Submissions” we take a look at the most lethal submissions from the fifth block of UFC events. These submissions all took place from 2005 to 2006, and they feature numerous future UFC Hall of Famers in their early days. Keep in mind there are many other submissions deserving of the list, but we had to choose just five.

Adam Martin - May 17, 2020

UFC president Dana White said that as far as he’s aware Rose Namajunas is the lone UFC fighter to not want to fight during the coronavirus pandemic. Namajunas was set to fight Jessica Andrade at the original UFC 249 card but understandably withdrew from the event after several members of her family passed away from COVID-19. The promotion told fighters on the roster during a conference call that no one is forced to fight during the coronavirus pandemic and it wouldn’t be held against any fighter if they choose not to fight.

Adam Martin - May 17, 2020

UFC president Dana White said that he disagreed with the judges in the Dan Ige fight, saying that he scored the bout in favor of Edson Barboza. Ige won a highly controversial split decision, with the judges awarding him the bout 29-28, 28-29, and 29-28 over Barboza, who also dropped a highly-scrutinized decision to Paul Felder in his last fight at UFC 242. Many pros reacted to the decision on social media, with the majority of those commenting saying they believed Barboza had done enough to beat Ige. Count White among those who thought that Barboza won.

Adam D Martin - May 17, 2020

UFC bantamweight legend Urijah Faber believes the referee stopped the Dominick Cruz vs. Henry Cejudo fight at UFC 249 too soon. Cejudo dropped Cruz with a knee and then followed it up with a barrage of punches which led to referee Keith Peterson stepping in and waving off the contest. Immediately following the stoppage Cruz protested it, saying that he was fine and that Peterson stopped it too early. After the event, Cruz accused Peterson of using “alcohol and cigarettes” prior to reffing the fight.

Adam D Martin - May 17, 2020

UFC welterweight contender Rafael dos Anjos wonders if the coronavirus pandemic has led to a change in the judging criteria in MMA. UFC Florida featured a number of controversial decisions that left fans, fighters including dos Anjos, and even the media up in arms on social media. The co-main event featured Claudia Gadelha win a controversial split decision over Angela Hill, while elsewhere on the main card Dan Ige won a hotly-contested split decision over Edson Barboza and Song Yadong won a surprising unanimous decision over Marlon Vera. The prelims also featured a close decision between Nate Landwehr and Darren Elkins.

Adam D Martin - May 17, 2020

The judges’ scorecards have been released for the hotly-debated featherweight fight at UFC Florida between Dan Ige and Edson Barboza. In his first fight since dropping down to featherweight, Barboza appeared to have done enough to win the first two rounds against Ige and take home a decision, but the judges gave the bout to Ige via split decision instead. It’s the second straight controversial split decision loss in a row for Barboza after dropping another hotly-debated decision to Paul Felder at UFC 242. For Ige, meanwhile, that makes it six straight wins, with Barboza representing the biggest name on his resume thus far.

Adam D Martin - May 17, 2020

UFC bantamweight contender Marlon Vera blasted the judges following a highly controversial unanimous decision loss to Song Yadong at UFC Florida. Vera and Yadong went back-and-forth for 15 minutes and each man won a share of the “Fight of the Night” bonus for their tremendous showings in the fight. Many felt that while it was a competitive fight, it should have been Vera getting his hand raised. But the judges decided to go in the opposite direction, with all three judges scoring the fight 29-28 in favor of Yadong, giving Yadong the first two round and Vera the last.