MMA News

Tom Taylor - September 12, 2019

Colby Covington’s list of allies at American Top Team is getting shorter and shorter. After alienating many of the gym’s Brazilian fighters with his previous comments, he’s now at odds with two of the gym’s top fighters in Jorge Masvidal and Dustin Poirier. Speaking on the latest episode of BJPENN.com Radio, Covington admitted that things have gotten quite tense at American Top Team, and added that the gym’s owner Dan Lambert — also his manager — has become quite exasperated with the state of things.

Tom Taylor - September 12, 2019

UFC middleweight champ Robert Whittaker is scheduled to defend his title opposite interim champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 243 this October. In the opinion of long-time middleweight contender Uriah Hall, however, this Whittaker-Adesanya matchup is doomed to fail. Hall believes that Whittaker will ultimately withdraw from this fight, just as he did last time he was scheduled to fight in his native Australia. In that event, Hall says he’ll happily step in on short-notice to replace Whittaker against Adesanya — a fighter he seems to respect.

Adam Martin - September 12, 2019

Heavyweight Todd Duffee went off on the MMA media during a pre-fight interview prior to this weekend’s UFC Vancouver event. Duffee spoke to MMAjunkie.com and gave his take on a number of topics, including the state of the MMA media. In the interview, Duffee criticized the MMA media for doing what he believes is a substandard job in covering the sport.

Tom Taylor - September 12, 2019

As one of the top contenders in the UFC lightweight division, New York’s Al Iaquinta was watching last weekend’s Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Dustin Poirier fight very closely. In fact, Iaquinta had some pretty unique insight into this Nurmagomedov vs. Poirier matchup, having battled the former to a decision loss in a short-notice fight in early 2018. In the end, Nurmagomedov defeated Poirier by submission. With the dust settled, Iaquinta shared his thoughts on the fight on the latest episode of BJPENN.com Radio.

Natasha Hooper - September 12, 2019

Fan favorite UFC lightweight contender Donald Cerrone believes Justin Gaethje is the only opponent standing between him and the undefeated lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov. “Cowboy” Cerrone is scheduled to fight “The Highlight” this weekend at UFC Vancouver. The highly anticipated matchup is a chance for Cerrone to recover from his last fight: a doctor’s stoppage loss against Tony Ferguson at UFC 238. With a significant 36 wins under his belt, Cerrone believes he has what it takes to fight Nurmagomedov for the title.

Cole Shelton - September 12, 2019

In the main event of UFC Vancouver, two fan favorites will collide as Donald Cerrone will take on Justin Gaethje. ‘Cowboy’ is looking to return to the win column, while Gaethje is looking to extend his winning streak to three. Heading into the fight, Justin Gaethje is a -210 favorite while ‘Cowboy’ is a +170 underdog. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. They all agree it will be a fan-friendly fight and a tough one to call.

Natasha Hooper - September 12, 2019

What better way to prepare yourself for Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal’s “Baddest Motherf**ker” title fight, scheduled for UFC 244, than by watching the pair’s baddest motherf**king moments. Jed I. Goodman created this awesome trailer, which was posted on Twitter, showcasing the two fighters’ finest moments in and out of the cage. It’s hard to tell if it’s a trailer for UFC 244 or Quentin Tarantino‘s next movie.

Natasha Hooper - September 12, 2019

Justin Gaethje believes we’ll see an explosive end to his fight against Donald Cerrone. He says somebody is going to sleep. Gaethje and Cerrone are going head-to-head this weekend at UFC Vancouver. This isn’t the first time the fighters have faced off. In an interview with The Score, Donald Cerrone revealed that he and Gaethje have previously trained together. Gaethje, meanwhile, went as far to say Cerrone knocked him out in training.

Natasha Hooper - September 12, 2019

Mackenzie Dern recently showcased her impressive physique on Instagram — just 3 months after giving birth. The strawweight fighter gave birth do her daughter on June 9th. However, that hasn’t stopped Dern from getting back to business. She is back in training and is making regular visits to the beach — and she’s documenting it all on her Instagram account.

Mike Heck - September 11, 2019

Justin Gaethje is preparing for a big fight with Donald Cerrone in the main event of UFC Vancouver this weekend, but he has his future plans laid out — which could include a showdown with Conor McGregor. Justin Gaethje spoke to the media following his UFC Vancouver open workout on Wednesday night and was asked about his recent comments about McGregor and would love to fight him. While many believe the winner of Saturday’s headliner will fight McGregor in his Octagon return, Gaethje would certainly be down for that, or a shot at the potential lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.

Mike Heck - September 11, 2019

  Justin Gaethje arrived to the UFC Vancouver open workout Wednesday night and everything seemed normal heading into his main event fight with Donald Cerrone this weekend.

Cole Shelton - September 11, 2019

The ongoing feud between Ben Askren and Conor McGregor is far from over. The two have been going back and forth on social media, this after Ben Askren went on a Twitter rant about the Irishman. In three tweets he had said the following.

Jason Kindschy - September 11, 2019

Colby Covington returns to address the title situation regarding Kamaru Usman, and respond to Jorge Masvidal’s verbal assault from earlier this week. Covington was expected to face Usman at UFC 244 in November at Madison Square Garden following his dominate performance against Robbie Lawler. However, after being offered the fight with an unappealing payday attached, Colby refuted the UFC’s offer and attempted to enter negotiations. Unwilling to do so, the UFC instead booked Masvidal vs Diaz for the main event at UFC 244. Leaving Covington without his title fight, and prompting him to take jabs at his former friend on social media. As this situation continues to escalate at a furious pace, we’ll hear Covington’s response to Masvidal’s recent tirade and a whole lot more.

Cole Shelton - September 11, 2019

Khabib Nurmagomedov is 28-0 and has only lost one round in his entire MMA career. Yet, Bellator featherweight and lightweight champion, Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire believes he can be the one to hand the Russian his first loss. Although they are in two different promotions, Freire hopes he can get the chance as he knows he wouldn’t just beat Nurmagomedov, but knock him out.

Chris Taylor - September 11, 2019

Former UFC champion Conor McGregor has responded to Ben Askren. The former Bellator and ONE champion, Askren, had taken to Twitter yesterday evening where he issued the following statement insinuating that McGregor’s days competing at a championship level are gone.

Thomas Taylor - September 11, 2019

Brendan Schaub didn’t watch the recent UFC Shenzhen card, which was topped by a strawweight title fight between challenger Weili Zhang and champ Jessica Andrade. In fact, in the wake of this UFC Shenzhen main event, which Zhang won by first-round TKO, Schaub went so far as to claim he doesn’t care about the strawweight division. “People are Tweeting me saying ‘Oh what’s up now Schaub, didn’t call Zhang over Jessica Andrade,’” he said on his  Below the Belt podcast recently. “I sure didn’t! Or in the [replies to the] post about my son [people were saying] ‘Oh where the f**k were you on Zhang vs. Andrade?’

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2019

This weekend, in the main event of UFC Vancouver, Justin Gaethje will step into the Octagon with a fellow fan-favorite in Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. If Gaethje is able to defeat Cerrone, who he considers a friend, he believes he’ll be right near the summit of the lightweight mountain, and will only accept a few fights thereafter. One, he says, is a fight against the winner of an expected but yet unscheduled title fight between divisional champ Khabib Nurmagomedov and top contender Tony Ferguson. The other is a fight with a man he’s become increasingly hostile toward; former two-division champion Conor McGregor.

Natasha Hooper - September 11, 2019

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father is hinting that, after 30 fights, his son will retire from mixed martial arts competition. Nurmagomedov maintained his incredible undefeated record at UFC 242 against Dustin Poirier. He beat “The Diamond” in the third round via submission and brought his record up to 28-0.