MMA News

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.

Adam D Martin - May 17, 2020

Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz reacted to the officiating in the UFC Florida main event of Alistair Overeem vs. Walt Harris. Harris hurt Overeem badly with punches in the first round, but referee Dan Miragliota let Overeem fight out of it. The veteran then came back to win via TKO in the second round. During the first round, some observers remarked that Miragliotta gave Overeem much more leeway than Cruz was given last weekend against Henry Cejudo at UFC 249.

Adam D Martin - May 17, 2020

UFC welterweight Matt Brown has reacted following his second-round KO loss to Miguel Baeza on the preliminary card at UFC Florida. After a back-and-forth first round where Brown had Baeza hurt badly at several points, the younger Baeza was able to land a big punch in the second that knocked the veteran Brown to the floor, where Baeza finished him off with strikes for the biggest win of his career. Baeza ended up earning a well-deserved $50,000 bonus for “Performance of the Night” for the most impressive victory in his career so far.

Chris Taylor - May 17, 2020

UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo decided to call it a career following his recent title defense against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249. ‘Triple C’ squared off with ‘The Dominator’ in the co-headliner of last weekend’s pay-per-view event in Jacksonville. The result was a second round TKO victory for Cejudo, marking the first time he had defended his bantamweight throne.

Chris Taylor - May 17, 2020

UFC strawweights standouts Claudia Gadelha and Angela Hill collided in the co-headliner of tonight’s UFC on ESPN 8 event in Jacksonville. The former title challenger, Gadelha (18-4 MMA), was returning to action for the first time since July’s UFC 239 event in Las Vegas, where she scored a unanimous decision victory over Randa Markos.

Harry Kettle - May 16, 2020

Controversial UFC star Colby Covington took it upon himself to take a shot at Alistair Overeem prior to his main event fight this evening. “Chaos” has been looking to return to the cage ever since he was humbled in his UFC Welterweight Championship clash against Kamaru Usman, which was a fight that left him with a fractured jaw.

Natasha Hooper - May 16, 2020

The bonuses for UFC on ESPN 8 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena have been announced. The Octagon remains open for business as it featured a stacked card, headlined by Alistair Overeem vs Walt Harris on May 16, at UFC on ESPN 8.

Natasha Hooper - May 16, 2020

Heavyweight fighter Walt Harris gave a heartfelt response following his TKO loss to Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC on ESPN 8. Overeem, the former UFC heavyweight title challenger entered tonight’s fight coming off a knockout loss to Jairzinho Rozenstruik. During that battle, “The Reem” lead the action until his opponent managed to flip the switch at the very end of the fifth round and achieve the KO win. Prior to his finish against Rozenstruik, Alistair Overeem was riding back-to-back TKO wins against opponents Alexei Oleinik and Sergei Pavlovich.

Chris Taylor - May 16, 2020

A key heavyweight bout between perennial division contenders Walt Harris and Alistair Overeem headlined tonight’s UFC on ESPN 8 event in Jacksonville. The former UFC heavyweight title challenger, Overeem (45-18 MMA), entered tonight’s event looking to rebound, this after suffering a fifth round knockout loss to Jairzinho Rozenstruik in a fight that he had been dominating his last time out.