MMA News

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.

Cole Shelton - September 11, 2019

Dan Hardy believes Henry Cejudo is the best ever champ-champ in UFC history. Since Conor McGregor became the first promotional ‘champ champ’ at UFC 205, many fighters wanted to do just that. Some have accomplished the lofty goal, while others have failed in their respective attempts.

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.

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?’

Adam Martin - September 11, 2019

Welterweight contender Neil Magny has been cleared by USADA after being provisionally suspended before his scheduled fight with Vicente Luque back in May. Magny shared the news on his social media Wednesday. He said his fourth-month provisional suspension is over, and he plans on returning to the Octagon shortly. He will face no further suspension, fine, or sanction.

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.

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2019

UFC light heavyweight contender Johnny Walker is freakishly athletic. He’s already proven that in his fights, and now, he’s reaffirming it in training. In a video that’s been circulating on Twitter, Walker can be seen landing a flying knee on a focus mitt held higher than the top of his own head. It really has to be seen to be believed. Check it out below (via @DovySimuMMA on Twitter):

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2019

Paul Felder and Edson Barboza are now tied 1-1 across two previous fights. The two lightweight contenders first met in July of 2015, in Felder’s second UFC bout. On that night, Barboza walked away with a unanimous decision win, handing Felder his first pro loss. Both fighters pocketed Fight of the Night bonus checks.

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2019

Now that UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov has vanquished Dustin Poirier, the expectation is that he will fight Tony Ferguson next, or perhaps Conor Mcgregor if Ferguson is unavailable. According to Nurmagomedov’s manager Ali Abdelaziz, however, neither Ferguson nor McGregor is likely to be next for the lightweight king. Instead, the manager says Nurmagomedov is more likely to battle retired former UFC welterweight and middleweight champ Georges St-Pierre.

Adam Martin - September 11, 2019

A Reddit user has dug deep into the UFC rankings, and has exposed a flawed system that features a number of panelists who do not actually even cover MMA. Reddit user u/kneeco28 posted an in-depth rundown of all 14 panelists on the UFC rankings panel. What he found was that a third of the panelists are not even active MMA media members. Remember, these are the same people who contribute to the rankings, which have an inexorable impact on fighter promotion, matchmaking, salaries and Reebok pay.

Mike Heck - September 11, 2019

Leon Edwards, for a moment, had a world title opportunity presented to him during the craziness of booking the main event for UFC 244. First, it was Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington that was discussed, then Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal, and ultimately onto Masvidal vs. Edwards for the vacant title before landing on the signed headliner, Masvidal taking on Nate Diaz. “Rocky” has won eight fights in a row including his most recent victory over former world champion Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC San Antonio. With Edwards’ recent surge, and Covington’s internal battle with the UFC going on, the 28-year-old is staking his claim at the title shot over the brash Covington.

BJPENN.COM Staff - September 11, 2019

The number of eye-popping matchups scheduled for the two ONE: CENTURY cards in Tokyo on October 13 is staggering. There are multiple world championship matches, and Grand Prix finals spread across a morning and evening events.  The lineup of bouts, in three different sports, and the dual cards as part of ONE’s celebration of 100 events, offers a unique presentation of action for fans. It’s a concept that is fairly unprecedented in combat sports. 

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2019

Colby Covington is a proud member of American Top Team. Unfortunately, Covington has become increasingly at odds with many of his American Top Team stablemates — particularly his long-time friend and fellow welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal, and recent lightweight title challenger Dustin Poirier. Over the last few weeks, Covington has taken very public shots at both Masvidal and Poirier, and the pair have not hesitated to fire back. In fact, both Masvidal and Poirier have hinted things could get tense if they encounter Covington at American Top Team.

Natasha Hooper - September 11, 2019

Donald Cerrone has some history with his UFC Vancouver foe Justin Gaethje. Cerrone will be facing Gaethje in the main event of UFC Vancouver on Saturday, September 14. Neither fighter will hold back when the cage door closes, yet Cerrone spoke fondly of his opponent in an interview with James Lynch.

Natasha Hooper - September 11, 2019

According to Ariel Helwani, Jon Jones will not be fighting this year. The light heavyweight champion teased a big fight announcement for this year, but Ariel Helwani squashed any speculation on Twitter.

Adam Martin - September 10, 2019

The UFC’s year-end pay-per-view card this December in Las Vegas, UFC 245, could potentially feature three title fights on it for a true blockbuster end to 2019. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani speculated that the UFC could consider stacking UFC 245 with three title fights. Here’s what the scribe tweeted.