MMA News

Natasha Hooper - January 29, 2020

Conor McGregor’s return to the Octagon garnered priceless reactions from the MMA community. That included fellow MMA superstar, Israel Adesanya, who reacted to ‘The Notorious” 40-second victory against Donald Cerrone at UFC 246. The current middleweight champion tuned into the blockbuster event with friends in New Zealand. In the main event, the Irishman returned to action for the first time since his 2018 loss to lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov. He delivered unusual shoulder strikes and a head-kick to set up a show-stopping TKO victory against “Cowboy” in the first round.

Harry Kettle - January 29, 2020

Boxing promoter Bob Arum has said that he believes Terence Crawford could “pin” Conor McGregor in a mixed martial arts bout. Arum has always been a thorn in the side of MMA fans, many of whom believe he doesn’t really understand the sport in any way, shape or form.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 29, 2020

Things didn’t go exactly as planned for former ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang in 2019. The 35-year-old entered the year as a world champion but shortly after succumbed the title to rival Shinya Aoki in ONE Championship’s debut event in Japan.

Tom Taylor - January 29, 2020

Mackenzie Dern will look to rebound from the first loss of her MMA career at UFC Lincoln on April 25, when she takes on Ariane Carnelossi. This bout was first reported by Combate and confirmed thereafter by MMA Fighting.  When Dern last fought, at UFC Tampa in October, she experienced her first taste of defeat, giving up a decision to Amanda Ribas. Prior to that setback, she rattled off seven straight victories to begin her pro MMA career. Her main claim to fame, of course, his her massive success on the professional grappling circuit.

Cole Shelton - January 28, 2020

Kamaru Usman is not interested in moving up in weight to fight Israel Adesanya or taking on Khabib Nurmagomedov. Usman, who is the current UFC welterweight champion made it very clear he does not want to fight the champions in the weight classes below and above him. He and Nurmagomedov share the same manager and are often seen hanging out with another at events so that is why he doesn’t want to fight the Dagestani native.

Cole Shelton - January 28, 2020

Valentina Shevchenko expects to fight Amanda Nunes again. The two first met at UFC 196 where it was Nunes who won by unanimous decision and would go on to win the bantamweight title in her next fight. The rematch then came a year and a half later where Nunes edged out a split-decision to defend her title and beat the Krygyzstan native again.

Cole Shelton - January 28, 2020

Daniel Cormier is confident that no light heavyweight will be able to beat Jon Jones. Jones has been reluctant to move up to heavyweight so far in his career, as he has continued to reign over the light heavyweight division. Still, fans have made it clear they want to see ‘Bones’ at heavyweight. But, there still are fights for him at 205 pounds, as evident by his upcoming title defense against undefeated contender Dominick Reyes.

Thomas Taylor - January 28, 2020

The official Twitter and Instagram accounts of the UFC have been hacked. A hacking organization identifying itself as OurMine is taking credit for this incident. The original Tweet from the hackers has already been deleted — though it’s not clear if it was deleted by the hackers, the UFC, or by Twitter. Whatever the case, the Internet is forever. See a screenshot below.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - January 28, 2020

Brendan Schaub is taking ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith to task. Like many within the MMA community, Schaub is none too pleased with Smith’s assessment of the UFC 246 main event. Conor McGregor stopped Donald Cerrone via TKO in 40 seconds. On SportsCenter right after the event, Smith expressed his belief that Cerrone’s performance was “atrocious.” He even said it appeared as if Cerrone “gave up.”

Alfredo Zullino - January 28, 2020

Amongst the most hardcore of fight fans, interest is growing in an extremely brutal combat sport: Lethwei. Also called Burmese bare knuckle boxing, Lethwei is far older than other combat sports like MMA, as there are records of matches taking place as far back as the third century in Myanmar. Lethwei, nicknamed “The Art of Nine Limbs” because it includes head-butts, punches, elbows, kicks and knees, is considered one of the most violent sports in the world. Clinches, sweeps, and throws are accepted techniques as well, which makes the sport even more dangerous.

Cole Shelton - January 28, 2020

In the main event of Bellator 238, Cris Cyborg was looking to become the Bellator featherweight champion as she was taking on Julia Budd. It was Cyborg’s promotional debut, where a win could be the first fighter to win belts in Strikeforce, Invicta, UFC, and Bellator. She did just that as she TKO’d Julia Budd in the fourth round.

Tom Taylor - January 28, 2020

Former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub recently claimed that all the best fighters are on the UFC roster. Unsurprisingly, this comment generated a torrent of backlash — including a retort from MMA referee turned Bellator commentator John McCarthy. Hear what McCarthy had to say about Schaub’s claim below (via Twitter):

Tom Taylor - January 28, 2020

Conor McGregor recently returned to the UFC’s Octagon with a 40-second drubbing of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Ever since, the MMA community has been debating who he should fight next. While all signs point to McGregor competing in another MMA bout soon, however, his manager Audie Attar recently divulged that the Irish star also has his sights set on a world title in boxing.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 28, 2020

Danny Kingad unloaded his full arsenal of skills in hopes of defeating the legendary Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. Unfortunately, he fell just short of victory in a grueling three-round contest. The unanimous decision loss to Johnson put an end to Kingad’s six-bout win streak. But it did not dampen his spirits to continue his march towards greatness. This Friday night, Kingad joins his Team Lakay brethren at ONE: Fire & Fury, live from the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila on 31 January.

Cole Shelton - January 28, 2020

Sodiq Yusuff is now a perfect 4-0 inside the Octagon, and ranked in the featherweight top-15. At UFC 246, Yusuff competed in the biggest fight of his career when he took on Andre Fili. The Nigerian-American knew it was going to be a tough fight but was confident he would get his hand raised. That is exactly what happened as he edged out a decision victory.

Tom Taylor - January 28, 2020

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has already proved he doesn’t need any help in the trash talking department, but he’s decided to enlist some anyway. Adesanya recently linked up with comedian Tom Segura to direct some trash talk at his UFC 248 opponent Yoel Romero. See it below (via @seguratom on Instagram):

Harry Kettle - January 28, 2020

Julia Budd received $100,000 more for her performance at Bellator 238 than the woman that beat her for the title, Cris Cyborg. The two main eventers went toe to toe for the Bellator Featherweight Championship, and after a fascinating encounter, it was Cyborg who cemented her place in the record books with an impressive fourth-round TKO.

Harry Kettle - January 28, 2020

The MMA superhero known as ‘Phoenix Jones’, formerly a fighter with the World Series of Fighting, has been arrested on drug charges. ‘Phoenix Jones’ is the pseudonym of Ben Fodor, a 31-year-old mixed martial arts fighter from Texas. Jones made headlines in the 2010s for his vigilante crime patrols in Seattle, before he moved on to MMA where he was able to obtain a 7-3-1 record.