MMA News

Adam D Martin - March 22, 2020

Former UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao has signed a new free-agent deal with the Serbian Battle Championship. SBC recently announced the signing of Barao to a multi-fight deal. Here’s the statement the promotion released on Instagram regarding Barao’s arrival.

Adam D Martin - March 22, 2020

Boxing legend Mike Tyson predicts that we will see more MMA vs. boxing crossover bouts in the future, including potentially with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Tyson recently spoke to The Sportsman and gave a fascinating interviewing answering questions about a wide variety of topics. Many of the topics included Tyson’s own boxing career, but he was also asked about the possibility of MMA vs. boxing crossover bouts.

Adam D Martin - March 22, 2020

Legendary MMA referee Big John McCarthy recently explained the proper way to judge an MMA fight, using Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero as an example. McCarthy is the most experienced official in mixed martial arts and was instrumental in the creation of the Unified Rules of MMA and the judging criteria for the sports. Since retiring from officiating a few years ago, McCarthy currently works as a commentator for Bellator and also hosts the “Weighing In” podcast with former UFC lightweight Josh Thomson.

Adam D Martin - March 22, 2020

Nearly 18 years later, relive one of the greatest knockouts of all time in the UFC between Phil Baroni and Dave Menne at UFC 39. In just his sixth pro fight, Baroni met the former UFC welterweight champion Menne in a main card bout at UFC 39: Ricco Rodriguez vs. Randy Couture in September 2002. At that time Menne was one of the top-five welterweights in the sport while Baroni was an emerging prospect. The UFC paired them up and it produced fireworks.

Adam D Martin - March 22, 2020

UFC lightweight contender Conor McGregor issued a statement on his social media reminding fans to be vigilant during the coronavirus pandemic. McGregor is one of the most influential figures in all of professional sports, so anytime he talks, people listen. On Saturday, McGregor took to his Instagram to remind fans to be vigilant during the coronavirus pandemic, giving hope to those in Ireland as the numbers of those infected have been dropping in recent days.

Adam D Martin - March 22, 2020

UFC light heavyweight contender Jan Blachwoicz shared a fan-made promo video for a potential fight against champion Jon Jones. Blachowicz knocked out Corey Anderson in the main event of UFC Rio Rancho with Jones in attendance, and many believe the UFC will book this matchup next. Although some believed Dominick Reyes should get the rematch with Jones after a razor-thin controversial decision loss at UFC 247, all signs are pointing to Blachowicz getting the next title shot.

Adam D Martin - March 22, 2020

UFC welterweight contender Niko Price has signed a new four-fight contract with the UFC and awaits his next opponent during quarantine due to coronavirus. Price himself took to his social media to announce the new contract with the UFC. Here’s what “The Hybrid” wrote on his Twitter.

Chris Taylor - March 21, 2020

Daniel Cormier has confirmed that he will be retiring from MMA win or lose following his trilogy bout with Stipe Miocic this summer. While the highly anticipated rubber match has not been made official by the promotion, it is expected that Miocic and Cormier will throw down for a third time at UFC 252 this July.

Chris Taylor - March 21, 2020

Former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson suffered the first knockout loss of his career to Anthony Pettis twelve months ago. The welterweight contest took place at March’s UFC Fight Night event in Nashville, and pitted two of the promotions most decorated strikers in the main event.

Chris Taylor - March 21, 2020

Moments after suffering a knockout loss to Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Norfolk, Joseph Benavidez was on the microphone answering questions from Michael Bisping. The bout had served a Benavidez’s third attempt at claiming UFC gold, this after two failed attempts against MMA legend Demetrious Johnson.

Chris Taylor - March 21, 2020

Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has issued an apology to his previous rival Stephen Thompson. On Friday, ‘The Chosen One’ took to Instagram where he shared the following hilarious video from 2017, where he and ‘Wonderboy’ were exchanging verbal jabs in the leadup to their rematch at UFC 209.

Alfredo Zullino - March 21, 2020

It was only matter of time before this brand new Coronavirus affected the MMA world. Italian, now retired, MMA fighter Cristian Binda posted on his social media that he is been found positive to COVID-19.

Chris Taylor - March 21, 2020

UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo took aim at former two-division champion Conor McGregor early this afternoon on social media. After McGregor posted a video of him throwing bombs on Instagram, ‘Triple C’ would reply to the post (shared by ESPN) with the following message for the Irish star.

Chris Taylor - March 21, 2020

Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor is trying to make the best out of these troubling times. The former featherweight and lightweight title holder made his long awaited return to the Octagon at January’s UFC 246 event, where he needed less than one minute to dismantle Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.

Cole Shelton - March 20, 2020

Anthony Smith is looking for a big fight or running things back with Jon Jones after he battles Glover Teixeira. In the main event of UFC Lincoln, Smith will be fighting at home against Teixeira. Yet, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, “Lionheart” knows if the fight gets moved to a different place it is unlikely he will ever be able to fight back at home again. The reason? He expects to beat Teixeira easily then will be getting a title shot or big fights and will soon be the UFC’s light heavyweight champion.

Cole Shelton - March 20, 2020

Cory Sandhagen says he will not be fighting Dominick Cruz at UFC San Diego. It was reported Cruz was interested in making his return at the event and Sandhagen then took to Instagram to say he signed the contract. Now, however, the surging contender says the former bantamweight champion is not interested in fighting him.

Adam Martin - March 20, 2020

Although most of the sports world is currently on a hiatus right now due to the coronavirus pandemic, there are still some mixed martial arts events happening around the globe. Despite most sports leagues shutting down for the next few weeks or months, the UK-based promotion Cage Warriors decided to hold its Cage Warriors 113 event this Friday in Manchester, England. During a time when sports fans don’t have much else going on, Cage Warriors 113 was a welcome reprieve from everything going on in the world right now. In the main event of the evening, UFC fighters Bartosz Fabinski and Darren Stewart grinded each other for 15 minutes in a fight that went the full three rounds. Fabinski was able to plant Stewart down on the mat and win a unanimous decision for the biggest win of his career to date. Despite taking place in Cage Warriors, this was essentially a UFC fight. And in the co-main event, Mason Jones knocked out Joe McColgan in a quick fight to win the Cage Warriors lightweight title.

Natasha Hooper - March 20, 2020

Arguably one of the hardest challenges of MMA begins before the fight has even started: weight cutting. The primary purpose of cutting weight is to make the limit set by the division that the fighter has chosen to compete in. The process involves dehydrating the body and can create major health complications and even hospitalization. Today at BJPenn.com, we cover the biggest weight cut blunders that have hindered fighters’ careers: