MMA News

Fernando Quiles Jr. - October 7, 2019

Chael Sonnen has praised Michael Bisping’s toughness and ability to overcome adversity. Bisping surprised fight fans when he popped out his prosthetic eye during an edition of his Believe You Me podcast. For many, it was their first time knowing that Bisping had a fake eye. Back in Dec. 2018, “The Count” told Joe Rogan that he had a prosthetic eye after dealing with several issues stemming from a detached retina suffered in his 2013 bout with Vitor Belfort.

Thomas Taylor - October 7, 2019

Earlier this year, Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya collided with the UFC interim middleweight title on the line. After five, razor-close rounds, Adesanya was named the winner and adorned with a UFC belt. Over the weekend, Adesanya became the undisputed middleweight champion with a second-round stoppage of Robert Whittaker. Gastelum, on the other hand, is gearing up for a UFC 244 scrap with Darren Till.

Adam Martin - October 7, 2019

Edson Barboza’s manager Alex Davis says that rival Paul Felder has agreed to a trilogy fight after their controversial split decision outcome at UFC 242. Felder won a split decision with scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 27-30 in his favor. The fact that opposing judges had the fights 30-27 in favor of each fighter was very concerning.

Tom Taylor - October 7, 2019

Earlier this year, Combate Americas laid out plans to promote a fight between former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz and pro wrestler turned Combate Americas exec Alberto Del Rio. That fight now has an official date.

Adam Martin - October 7, 2019

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman makes his light heavyweight debut next weekend in the main event of UFC Boston against top-ranked contender Dominick Reyes. It’s a huge opportunity for Weidman, and he knows it. According to Weidman, a win over Reyes would immediately catapult him into the top-five and get him closer to a matchup against UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones Weidman spoke to UFC Unfiltered recently and said he believes a win over Reyes would allow him to skip the line and get a matchup against Jones sooner than expected.

Cole Shelton - October 7, 2019

UFC 243 has come and gone and with it, a new middleweight champion has been crowned. In the main event, the middleweight title was on the line as champion, Robert Whittaker was taking on the interim champion in Israel Adesanya. In the end, Israel Adesanya TKO’d Robert Whittaker in the second round to become the undisputed champion.

Adam Martin - October 7, 2019

New UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya heaped praise upon surging contender Jared Cannonier, saying he has been impressed by Cannonier’s quick rise up the middleweight rankings. “The Last Stylebender” was asked by reporters at the UFC 243 post-fight press conference what other middleweight contenders impress him, and Adesanya immediately singled out Cannonier as someone who expects to defend his belt against in the near future.

Adam Martin - October 7, 2019

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has been officially removed from both the USADA testing pool and the UFC rankings. The moves are an indication that Velasquez is done with MMA, at least for the time being. The former two-time UFC heavyweight champion recently made an appearance on WWE Smackdown, putting the pain on former Octagon rival Brock Lesnar.

Mike Heck - October 7, 2019

Jared Cannonier went from rising middleweight fighter on the UFC roster to world title contender in just under six minutes last month at UFC Copenhagen. After defeating Jack Hermansson, Cannonier sees himself mixing things up with the likes of Yoel Romero, Kelvin Gastelum, Darren Till, or anyone blocking his path to a title shot. “Killa Gorilla” finished Hermansson via second-round TKO in the main event of the UFC’s trip to Denmark. While it was one of the biggest wins of his career — snapping the four-fight winning streak of Hermansson — Cannonier is already back to normal life as Dad.

Adam Martin - October 7, 2019

New UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya believes he will eventually see former champ Robert Whitaker in the Octagon again one day. Despite knocking Whittaker out in devastating fashion in the second round of their UFC 243 main event fight, Adesanya doesn’t believe it will be the last time he meets Whittaker in the cage. “The Last Stylebender” spoke to reporters at the UFC 243 post-fight press conference and said that he expects to eventually have a rematch with “The Reaper.”

Cole Shelton - October 7, 2019

Michelle Waterson is calling it the biggest fight of her career. In the main event of UFC Tampa, she is taking on former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and the winner could very well be getting the next title shot.

Tom Taylor - October 7, 2019

Colby Covington has alienated many of his stablemates at American Top Team, and that includes former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Jedrzejczyk gave her thoughts on Covington during a recent interview with James Lynch of theScore.

Tom Taylor - October 7, 2019

Israel Adesanya put forth a star-making performance in the UFC 243 main event, first dazzling fans with an incredibly unique walkout (at least by UFC standards), then by delivering an impressive defeat of Robert Whittaker to capture the UFC middleweight belt. It’s truly difficult to imagine things going much better for Nigerian-born Kiwi, and all signs point to his achieving the kind of mainstream stardom we’ve only seem from a few fighters previously. UFC welterweight Ben Askren certainly seems to think that will be the case.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 7, 2019

Danny “The King” Kingad will meet Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in the Finals of ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix in the biggest event in mixed martial arts history at ONE: Century on October 13 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan. Teammate and former ONE Flyweight World Champion Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio is confident that Kingad is well prepared for the upcoming bout.

Tom Taylor - October 7, 2019

Robert Whittaker is no longer the UFC middleweight champion, having come up short to Israel Adesanya at UFC 243 over the weekend. Even in defeat, however, the Australian still has the respect and admiration of long-time UFC commentator Joe Rogan. Rogan was not on commentary duty for UFC 243, and instead watched the card from the United States. Shortly after the card wrapped up, Rogan praised Whittaker for the way he handled his defeat to Adesanya and the loss of the UFC middleweight strap.

Chris Taylor - October 6, 2019

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was watching last night’s UFC 243 main event between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker with keen interest. After all, ‘Bones’ and ‘Stylebender’ had been going back and forth on social media and interviews for months in the lead up to tonight’s event.

Adam Martin - October 6, 2019

Over 57,000 fans got to see a great night of fights at UFC 243, and now it’s time to look ahead at what’s next for the winners. Who’s next for new UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya? We answer that question and others as we play matchmaker for UFC 243. Israel Adesanya vs. Jon Jones

Adam D Martin - October 6, 2019

UFC executive Lawrence Epstein took the place of UFC president Dana White at the UFC 243 post-fight press conference. He got the usual questions of who’s next for who, who won the bonuses, what the attendance was, and so on. But he also got an interesting question about fighter pay. At the UFC post-fight presser, The Athletic’s Ben Fowlkes asked Epstein about fighter pay and if he believes it’s fair the UFC only pays 20 percent of its revenue to the fighters. In comparison, most of the other top professional sports leagues are closer to a 50/50 split.