MMA News

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 17, 2025

British striker Liam Nolan decided to call it a day at the young age of 27 years old following a loss in February 2024. That was, however, until an encouraging call came from ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong. Nolan returns at ONE Fight Night 31: Kongthoranee vs. Nong-O II on Friday, May 2, as he seeks revenge against Nauzet Trujillo in a lightweight Muay Thai rematch inside Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Stadium.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 17, 2025

Flyweight Muay Thai star Sean Climaco is currently tackling the arduous process of grief after losing his dad last summer, a frightening part of life that nobody ever truly prepares for. He’s taking it day by day. “The One” meets Akif Guluzada in a flyweight Muay Thai encounter at ONE Fight Night 31: Kongthoranee vs. Nong-O II on Friday, May 2, inside Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Stadium.

Cole Shelton - April 16, 2025

Ian Machado Garry doesn’t think Carlos Prates will dig deep if the going gets tough. Garry is set to headline UFC Kansas City on April 26 against Prates in an intriguing welterweight scrap. Heading into the fight, Garry believes that if he can bring Prates into a dog fight, he will quit as that is who he is as a fighter.

BJ Penn Staff - April 16, 2025

Andrew Benibe, an MMA veteran from the Philippines and a one-time ONE Championship veteran, has passed away. The sad news was announced by authoritative Filipino MMA journalist Nissi Icasiano on Facebook.

Cole Shelton - April 16, 2025

Ilia Topuria is confident his next fight will be against Islam Makhachev. Topuira vacated his featherweight title as he planned to move up to lightweight. The thought was that he would face Makhachev for the belt right away. However, the lightweight champ has said he doesn’t want to fight Topuria and instead believes he needs to get a win first.

BJ Penn Staff - April 16, 2025

UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington is known as one of the biggest trash talkers in MMA. Some of his remarks have been somewhat questionable in terms of veracity, and his recent remarks about Hollywood actress Megan Fox definitely fit that bill. Covington recently linked up with streamer N3on, and during their conversation, claimed he got a DM from Fox.

BJ Penn Staff - April 16, 2025

Some hardcore MMA fans may remember Alex Nicholson from his brief stint as a member of the UFC roster. Well, Nicholson has long since left the promotion, but is still competing regularly in combat sports, and his latest fight ended with a little extra drama. Nicholson, a training partner of “Platinum” Mike Perry, debuted in the UFC in 2016, suffering a devastating submission loss to Misha Cirkunov at light heavyweight. He then dropped down to middleweight. In his first middleweight fight, he scored a first-round KO over Devin Clark — one of the best wins of his career. Unfortunately, he was then defeated by Sam Alvey and Jack Hermansson, and was sent packing from the promotion.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - April 16, 2025

Ilia Topuria has reacted to Paddy Pimblett’s dominant UFC 314 win over Michael Chandler. Pimblett has been a rising star in the UFC lightweight division, but many wondered how he would fare against “Iron.” It was a high-profile fight for “The Baddy,” and he passed the test with exceptional results. He battered Chandler to score a third-round TKO finish. It was a one-sided thrashing, and Pimblett has now emerged as a top lightweight contender.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - April 16, 2025

Newly minted UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski has revealed why a fight with Movsar Evloev is intriguing to him. Volkanovski silenced the doubters who thought he’d be on the receiving end of a third straight knockout loss. He defeated Diego Lopes via unanimous decision on April 12 to become a two-time UFC featherweight titleholder. The title victory comes after Volkanovski suffered back-to-back finishing losses against Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria.

Harry Kettle - April 16, 2025

UFC president Dana White has defended the promotion’s decision to book a rematch between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley. As we know, Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley are set to run it back at UFC 316 on June 7. It will serve as an immediate rematch for O’Malley, who hasn’t competed since his initial loss to Merab. While it wasn’t all one-way traffic, the majority of people believe that the Georgian decisively won the contest. Since then, he’s also successfully defended the strap against Umar Nurmagomedov.

Harry Kettle - April 16, 2025

UFC featherweight contender Movsar Evloev has given his thoughts on Yair Rodriguez claiming that he should receive a title shot after UFC 314. For the longest time now, Movsar Evloev has been a top contender in the UFC’s featherweight division. Despite that, he hasn’t really been given his flowers by a lot of MMA fans. Many aren’t that impressed by his style and don’t believe he’s deserving of a crack at the title. However, now that Alexander Volkanovski is once again the champion, you’d have to think he’d be more than happy to give someone like Movsar a shot.

Harry Kettle - April 16, 2025

Khabib Nurmagomedov has given his thoughts on who Islam Makhachev’s most competitive fight could be at lightweight. Right now, it’s hard to argue against Islam Makhachev being the best fighter in the UFC – and all of mixed martial arts. He has an incredible resume, he’s beaten some elite names, and he is the reigning UFC lightweight champion. You may not be a big fan of his style in comparison to others, but nobody can deny the body of work that he’s put together.

Cole Shelton - April 15, 2025

Henry Cejudo believes that had Max Holloway fought Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 314, the Hawaiian would have gotten his hand raised. Holloway is 0-3 against Volkanovski, and he was dominated in the third fight, as it was the most lopsided fight of their trilogy. Yet, Cejudo believes Volkanovski didn’t look as good as he once did, which is why he thinks Holloway would have beaten him.

BJ Penn Staff - April 15, 2025

UFC star Islam Makhachev does not want to fight Ilia Topuria — at least, if his friend and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov is to be believed. Makhachev is the UFC lightweight champion. He is also the top fighter in the promotion’s hallowed pound-for-pound rankings. That list also includes Topuria, who is a touch lower down the list.

BJ Penn Staff - April 15, 2025

Sean O’Malley has been training with one of the best fighters in MMA history ahead of his UFC 316 rematch with Merab Dvalishvili. UFC 316 goes down on June 7 in Newark, New Jersey. O’Malley will meet Dvalishvili in the main event.

BJ Penn Staff - April 15, 2025

The first season of the HBO series The Last of Us was a massive success. Fans of the original video game loved it, and critics did too. After an extremely long wait, the second season debuted last weekend. The reception to the first episode was generally quite positive. However, there was one scene in the The Last of Us season two episode one that some fans seemingly didn’t quite buy. Specifically, MMA fans.

Cole Shelton - April 15, 2025

Marvin Vettori shared a heartfelt message after his younger brother Patrick Vettori died in a house fire at age 30. According to Italian news station TgCom24, the fire broke at Patrick’s apartment in Mezzocorona. He reportedly had put a pan on the stove but fell asleep on the couch, leading to the accident.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - April 15, 2025

Ian Machado Garry believes he had something to do with Shavkat Rakhmonov’s inability to compete for gold at UFC 315. Belal Muhammad is scheduled to put the UFC Welterweight Championship at stake against Jack Della Maddalena on May 10. It was revealed that Rakhmonov couldn’t accept the title fight due to an injury. The UFC ended up pulling Maddalena from a planned UFC London bout with Leon Edwards, so that the UFC 315 main event could be made official.