MMA News

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 13, 2020

Henri Hooft is a legendary trainer, and one of his newest pupils, Tial Thang, made his professional debut last year at ONE: Reign of Valor. Thang followed that victory up with another win in December at ONE: Mark of Greatness. Thang is already a calculated technician, which fits in well with Hooft’s style. The Burmese athlete has a powerful base discipline of wrestling, and he’s obviously attempting to broaden his skillset under the tutelage of Hooft. 

Tom Taylor - January 13, 2020

For a time, Conor McGregor was the biggest sporting star in Ireland, and arguably one of the most popular athletes in the world. After a couple of losses and a long list of troubles outside the cage, however, there is a widespread perception that the Irishman’s popularity has died down, even on the Emerald Isle. Not so, says long-time McGregor head coach John Kavanagh.

Cole Shelton - January 13, 2020

Diego Ferreira is days out from arguably the biggest fight of his career. He will take on Anthony Pettis in the UFC 246 pay-per-view opener this Saturday in Las Vegas. With a win, the Brazilian might just enter the lightweight rankings. Although Pettis, who is the former WEC and UFC lightweight champion is a big name, this was not an opponent Ferreira expected to get. Instead, he originally asked for Alexander Hernandez, but is happy with the Pettis matchup.

Tom Taylor - January 13, 2020

Jon Jones is a former training partner of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, and an acquaintance and admirer of Conor McGregor. As such, the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion was reluctant to make a prediction for McGregor and Cerrone’s UFC 246 fight when he was asked to do so by BT Sport. Here’s what Jones had to say instead.

Tom Taylor - January 13, 2020

BJJ ace Dillon Danis is one of Conor McGregor’s key training partners, and has undoubtedly been particularly valuable as McGregor prepares for the submission chops of Donald Cerrone. Unfortunately, there is a small barrier to Danis actually being able to corner McGregor for his fight wth Cerrone, which tops the UFC 246 card this Saturday. According to Kevin Iole, who spoke to Nevada Athletic Commission director Bob Bennett, Danis still owes the state of Nevada $7,500 for his role in the infamous UFC 229 brawl between McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s teams.

Tom Taylor - January 13, 2020

This weekend, in the main event of UFC 246, Conor McGregor will return to the Octagon for a welterweight scrap with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Kamaru Usman, the welterweight division’s current champion, will be watching this fight very closely. Speaking during a live chat with his fans on social media, Usman weighed in on this McGregor vs. Cerrone fight. Like many members of the MMA community, he favors McGregor early and Cerrone if the fight goes into the later rounds, and based his prediction on that.

Adam Martin - January 12, 2020

UFC lightweight contender Dustin Poirier wants to fight Nate Diaz so badly that he says he would move up to welterweight to fight him. Poirier has been calling out Diaz ever since he lost his chance to claim the UFC lightweight title from champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242. Poirier has been calling out the biggest names possible, and a matchup against Diaz would certainly qualify as one.

Adam Martin - January 12, 2020

Pound-for-pound great Demetrious Johnson will look to add to his incredible resume when he challenges ONE Championship flyweight titleholder Adriano Moraes. Johnson will take on Moraes for the world title April 11 in China. ONE Championship founder/CEO Chatri Sityodtong broke the news on his Twitter.

Adam Martin - January 12, 2020

UFC superstar Conor McGregor is promising his fans that he will “create magic inside the Octagon” at UFC 246 next weekend. McGregor takes on Donald Cerrone in what is one of the most highly-anticipated fights of 2020. It’s McGregor’s first fight since he lost to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018. He sat out the entirety of 2019 due to a suspension and legal troubles outside of the Octagon.

Adam D Martin - January 12, 2020

A new video showing UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington playing pickup basketball seems to show that his recently broken jaw is healing up nicely. Covington suffered a jaw fracture during his epic welterweight title fight against champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 245, which he lost via fifth-round TKO. After the fight, Covington ran out of the Octagon backstage and was criticized by fans, media and fellow fighters online for doing so.

Adam D Martin - January 12, 2020

UFC bantamweight contender Aljamain Sterling says that he will be returning to the Octagon sooner than expected following his recent wrist surgery. Sterling went under the knife back in October to fix his wrist that has been bothering him for quite some time. Sterling was expected to be next in line to fight UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo, but his injury has led other contenders to emerge at 135lbs. However, Sterling now says he could be back sooner than expected.

Adam D Martin - January 12, 2020

UFC heavyweight contender Walt Harris hopes to return to the Octagon in April following the shocking murder of his daughter Aniah Blanchard in October. According to a report from MMAjunkie.com, Harris would like to return to active competition this spring, though an opponent has not been finalized yet.

Adam D Martin - January 12, 2020

UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping says that his Twitter was hacked and he plans on speaking to whoever it was that hacked his social media. Bisping took to his Twitter to alert his fans that he had been hacked. By tweeting about it, it appears as though Bisping was able to get his account back unscathed.

Adam D Martin - January 12, 2020

Welterweight contender Paul Daley says that he has been fired from his role as a television analyst for the Bellator MMA promotion. Daley was one of Bellator’s television analysts for its European Series in 2019. However, he will not be continuing in that role in 2020 as “Semtex” himself announced on his Instagram he was fired from the gig. Here’s what Daley told his fans.

Adam D Martin - January 12, 2020

UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal doesn’t think that superstar Conor McGregor will call him out if he beats Donald Cerrone at UFC 246. For months, the talk of the town has been that McGregor’s plan for 2020 included a fight against Cerrone, a match against Masvidal, and then a title shot against UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. However, Masvidal believes that based on recent interviews from McGregor he won’t be getting called out should “Notorious” get by “Cowboy” at UFC 246 next weekend.

Adam D Martin - January 12, 2020

UFC middleweight star Darren Till is currently awaiting his next fight booking, and he is now teasing a return at UFC 248. Till is coming off of a split decision win over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 244 in what was his official UFC middleweight debut. He is currently ranked No. 5 overall in the UFC’s 185lbs rankings, so he should be in line for a big fight his next time out.

Chris Taylor - January 11, 2020

Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor is extremely confident heading into his UFC 246 main event bout with Donald Cerrone. The highly anticipated McGregor vs. Ceronne clash will take place at welterweight, this after both men suffered losses in their most recent Octagon appearances in the lightweight division.

Chris Taylor - January 11, 2020

UFC President Dana White was so impressed by the heroic efforts of Summer Tapasa-Sataraka that he is bringing her out to Vegas for UFC 246. In addition, the UFC boss added that he wants Summer to work for him, this after she was allegedly fired from her job over the incident.