MMA News

Mike Heck - January 22, 2020

Maycee Barber suffered her first loss last Saturday, on the undercard of UFC 246, giving up a decision to Roxanne Modafferi while also suffering a complete tear of her ACL in the process. While the injury was unfortunate, Barber’s father Bucky Barber believes that his daughter showed a lot of heart in the fight and, because of her grit and toughness — along with the injury early in the fight — questions whether or not Saturday night’s fight should be considered a loss.

Adam Martin - January 22, 2020

Tristar Gym head trainer Firas Zahabi says he would like to see Conor McGregor fight Nate Diaz in a trilogy for the first 165lbs title in UFC history. McGregor knocked out Donald Cerrone in the main event of UFC 246 to re-emerge as the biggest superstar in MMA. The race to become his next opponent is now on, with several fighters vying for the coveted spot of being McGregor’s next foe. Some of the possible opponents for McGregor include UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, superstar Jorge Masvidal and lightweight stud Justin Gaethje.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 22, 2020

Aung La N Sang is not like other champions. Many titleholders allow themselves to be challenged for their respective world titles.  Despite holding both the ONE Light Heavyweight and Middleweight World Titles, Aung La is still hunting for the best challenges. That’s why it’s no surprise to see “The Burmese Python” calling for a title defense against undefeated middleweight prospect Reinier de Ridder.

Cole Shelton - January 22, 2020

In the main event of UFC Raleigh, Curtis Blaydes will look to extend his winning streak to three when he battles the former heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos. Heading into the fight, Blaydes is a -250 favorite while dos Santos is a +195 underdog. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. The majority believes Blaydes’ wrestling will be the difference-maker and that he will get his hand raised.

Tom Taylor - January 22, 2020

In September of 2019, former two-division World Series of Fighting champion David Branch was released by the UFC after receiving a two-year suspension from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Since leaving the UFC, Branch has completely transformed. Today, he looks less like a middleweight mixed martial artist, and more like a member of the Justice League.

Tom Taylor - January 22, 2020

UFC 246 was, by all accounts, a pretty violent card. Just ask Donald Cerrone, who was mauled to a TKO loss by Conor McGregor in just 40 seconds in the main event. Given the nature of this card, it should come as no surprise that several fighters on the bill are facing lengthy medical suspensions.

Tom Taylor - January 22, 2020

There was a time, not all that long ago, when Michael Bisping and Jorge Masvidal were mortal enemies. The pair allegedly had several public run-ins, and exchanged tons of trash talk in interviews. Today, however, Bisping and Masvidal on good terms.

Harry Kettle - January 22, 2020

Conor McGregor has moved up the UFC rankings in the welterweight & lightweight divisions as well as the pound-for-pound rankings. The presence of McGregor in the rankings during his two big stints away from the sport between UFC 205 & UFC 229 and UFC 229 & UFC 246 certainly divided the opinion of fans, and now, it feels as if there’s going to be even more uproar than before in the wake of the rankings being released.

Adam Martin - January 21, 2020

UFC president Dana White has outlined the timeline of a potential superfight between UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Adesanya and Jones have gone back-and-forth at each other on social media in the last few months, and White has admitted in the past that he is intrigued by a potential superfight between the two. With Adesanya set to defend his middleweight belt against Yoel Romero at UFC 248 and Jones set to defend the light heavyweight title against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247, this superfight won’t be happening anytime soon. However, White has now given a timeline for the potential fight.

Cole Shelton - January 21, 2020

Dustin Poirier is looking to run things back with Conor McGregor after the Irishman’s win at UFC 246. McGregor, who returned to the Octagon on Saturday, knocked out Donald Cerrone in just 40 seconds which was a very impressive performance. After the fight, many wondered what would be next. Dana White made it clear he wants the Khabib Nurmagomedov rematch. Yet, John Kavanagh says Justin Gaethje makes sense, but Poirier has now thrown his name in the hat.

Cole Shelton - January 21, 2020

Darren Till says he isn’t afraid of anyone except for Yoel Romero. Till took to social media to let everyone know he will fight anyone after news came out he was out against Jared Cannonier at UFC 248. Although he had an ankle injury, some fans on social media claimed the Englishman was scared of the fight which he clapped back on.

Cole Shelton - January 21, 2020

Conor McGregor has options for who he fights next, but according to his coach, John Kavanagh, he wants it to be against Justin Gaethje. In the main event of UFC 246, McGregor made his highly-anticipated return to the Octagon against Donald Cerrone at welterweight. There, the Irishman made quick work of “Cowboy” as he knocked him out in 40 seconds.

Tom Taylor - January 21, 2020

When Paulo Costa defeated Yoel Romero in August of 2019, the expectation was that he’d get the next crack at UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Unfortunately for Costa, an injury derailed this plan, and Romero was granted the next title shot while Costa recovers. While the title fight between Adesanya and Romero is already official for UFC 248 on March 7, Costa has seemingly been on the mend faster than expected, and is even back to training.

Tom Taylor - January 21, 2020

Former two-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Johnson retired from competition in 2017, but has recently been teasing a comeback. Johnson has stated repeatedly that he’s interested in returning to the cage for the right price, specifying that he wants to fight at heavyweight in his prospective comeback.

Adam Martin - January 21, 2020

UFC president Dana White claims that Conor McGregor wants to fight UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov next although McGregor recently said he wasn’t that interested in it. McGregor knocked out Donald Cerrone in just 40 seconds in the main event of UFC 246 in his comeback fight after 14 months away from the Octagon. It was a massive win for him that will shoot him back into the good graces of fans, and it guarantees that McGregor will get a big-name opponent for his next fight.

Adam Martin - January 21, 2020

UFC superstar Conor McGregor took to social media to praise United States President Donald Trump, telling him that he could be the greatest president of all time. McGregor, who just knocked out Donald Cerrone in 40 seconds in the main event of UFC 246, is not known for making big political statements, so it was surprising to see him praise Trump so much, seemingly out of nowhere. Nevertheless, McGregor did just that, with a tweet that has already generated over 70,000 likes not even 12 hours later.

Cole Shelton - January 21, 2020

Michael Chiesa wanted a ranked opponent after his win over Diego Sanchez but did not expect to get a top-five opponent in Rafael dos Anjos. Chiesa, who moved up to welterweight in 2018, is now 2-0 in the weight class and revealed it was dos Anjos who asked for the fight at UFC Raleigh.

Harry Kettle - January 21, 2020

UFC president Dana White has confirmed that he is planning to meet with lightweight contender Justin Gaethje after UFC 246. There has been a great deal of speculation over what the future is going to hold for Gaethje ever since his magnificent TKO win over Donald Cerrone back in September 2019, which marked his third straight win in the UFC.