MMA News

Mike Pendleton - July 3, 2019

As UFC 239 approaches, Jon Jones is making his final preparations for another light heavyweight title fight; a scene that he is very familiar with. Since he captured the divisional title in 2011 with a TKO of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Jones has found himself in title fights ever since. The career of Jones inside the Octagon is one that can only be described as remarkable. He grew up before the eyes of UFC fans, taking out the veterans that paved the way for the light heavyweight division like Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort, then taking on a wave of new challengers — most notably his chief rivals Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson.

Cole Shelton - July 3, 2019

In the co-main event of UFC 239, Amanda Nunes is looking to defend her bantamweight title against the former champ Holly Holm. Heading into the fight, the champion is a -380 favorite while the challenger is a +290 underdog. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the fight. Most are leaning towards Amanda Nunes defending her title. Some, like coach Mike Winkeljohn, believe Holly Holm will shock the world again.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - July 3, 2019

For Joe Rogan’s money, Tony Ferguson has proven to be the UFC lightweight division’s worst nightmare. Ferguson has not suffered a defeat since May 2012. Barack Obama was in office serving his first term, the Chicago Cubs still hadn’t won a World Series since 1908, and Benson Henderson was the UFC lightweight champion. Since that loss to Michael Johnson, Ferguson has been on a 12-fight tear. He’s stopped nine of his 12 fallen foes in that span.

Tom Taylor - July 3, 2019

On Saturday night, in the main event of UFC 239, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and challenger Thiago Santos will step into the cage together with gold on the line. Earlier on the same card, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will make his light heavyweight debut against Jan Blachowicz. If he’s successful, he believes he could be rewarded with a shot at the Jones vs. Santos winner. From the sounds of it, Luke Rockhold considers a Jon Jones win a near certainty. And because Jones’ arch rival Daniel Cormier is tied up at heavyweight, the former middleweight champ believes the path to a fight with Jones is wide open.

Cole Shelton - July 3, 2019

Since Jon Jones has returned from his suspension he has been very active. He will fight for the third time since December when he takes on Thiago Santos this Saturday at UFC 239. The Brazilian will be fighting for UFC gold for the first time in his career and is riding a four-fight winning streak with three wins at light heavyweight, with all coming by TKO/KO.

Tom Taylor - July 3, 2019

UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov doesn’t seem bothered by the idea of his arch nemesis Conor McGregor attending UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi, where he’ll defend his title against Dustin Poirier. That being said, the champ does have a piece of advice for the Irishman.

Tom Taylor - July 3, 2019

The official UFC rankings have been updated in the wake of last Saturday’s UFC Minneapolis card, and as expected there have been a few changes. Interestingly, headliner Francis Ngannou didn’t move on the strength of his 71-second knockout of Junior dos Santos. Instead, he held steady at number two in the heavyweight division.

Tom Taylor - July 3, 2019

In December of 2015, Luke Rockhold handed Chris Weidman his first professional loss, and stole the middleweight belt from him in the process. Given the competitive nature of this title fight, and Weidman’s previous dominance, the pair were then scheduled for an immediate rematch. Thanks to a Weidman injury, however, this rematch never materialized.

Mike Pendleton - July 3, 2019

Long-time UFC bantamweight contender John Lineker will be looking for a new promotion to fight for. According to a report from John Morgan of MMA Junkie, the UFC has released him from his contract. The news comes after months of frustration between Lineker and the UFC as he was vocal about his urgency to get a fight scheduled. John Lineker has been released from the UFC, per multiple sources. His team has declined to comment at this time. Story at @MMAjunkie shortly.

Christopher Taylor - July 2, 2019

Fan favorite Mike Perry will return to the octagon at August’s UFC Uruguay event against surging welterweight contender Vicente Luque. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani confirmed the news following an initial report from MMA Uncensored.

Cole Shelton - July 2, 2019

Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones have one of the biggest rivalries in all of MMA. They have fought two times, with “Bones” winning one, while the other being a no-contest, after originally being a win for Jones. After spending over 37 minutes in the Octagon with Jones, Cormier knows his tendencies. And, ahead of Thiago Santos’ title fight against “Bones” at UFC 239, the heavyweight champ shared some advice on what the Brazilian needs to do to beat the light heavyweight king.

Jordy McElroy - July 2, 2019

UFC light heavyweight king Jon Jones hasn’t officially committed to a move to heavyweight, but he has hinted strongly that he’d be willing to do so for the right price and the right opponent. Even a mere mention of that potential bombshell move is a roadblock for heavyweight phenom Francis Ngannou, who has rightfully staked his claim as the top contender after delivering consecutive first-round knockouts over Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez. The latter is undoubtedly the most jaw-dropping takeaway from the weekend’s UFC on ESPN 3 festivities, along with UFC President Dana White’s lukewarm response after witnessing Ngannou’s ham-sized fists dribble off dos Santos’ skull.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - July 2, 2019

Felicia Spencer doesn’t plan on getting caught up in the mystique of Cris Cyborg. While Cyborg was finally dethroned as the women’s pound-for-pound ruler, she hadn’t lost since her professional MMA debut back in 2005. Cyborg was stopped in the first round against Amanda Nunes back in Dec. 2018. Spencer will look to upset Cyborg, who is competing on the last fight of her current UFC deal.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - July 2, 2019

Brendan Schaub believes that Junior dos Santos showed hesitation in his bout with Francis Ngannou. In the main event of UFC Minneapolis this past Saturday night (June 29), dos Santos collided with Ngannou. “Cigano” was going for his fourth win in a row. It didn’t pan out for him as Ngannou scored a first-round TKO victory.

Adam Martin - July 2, 2019

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has long been rumored to join the pro wrestling circuit, and it looks like that day is finally coming. The Lucha Libre AAA wrestling promotion announced Tuesday on Twitter that Velasquez will make debut for them at Triplemania XXVII, which takes place August 3 at Mexico City Arena. Velasquez will be teaming up with Cody and Psycho Clown to take on Texano Jr., Taurus and a mystery opponent.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2019

Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about a potential UFC fight between actor Tom Cruise and pop star Justin Bieber. From the sounds of it, UFC commentator Joe Rogan would prefer to see actor Jason Statham test his mettle in the cage than Cruise or Bieber. Rogan got talking about Statham on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2019

Leon Edwards and Jorge Masvidal share one of the most high profile beefs in the UFC welterweight division. In fact, the pair recently came to blows outside the cage, when Masvidal mounted an attack on his British rival backstage at UFC London. Despite the heat between them, Edwards and Masvidal still haven’t been scheduled to fight each other. Instead, Edwards is scheduled to battle Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC San Antonio, while Masvidal will fight Ben Askren at UFC 239 this weekend in Las Vegas.

Cole Shelton - July 2, 2019

Holly Holm is no stranger to shocking the world. Back in 2015 at UFC 193, Holm was taking on bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, who was considered unbeatable. But, “The Preacher’s Daughter” did what no one expected her to do as she knocked out “Rowdy” to win the title. Holm was a +825 underdog, and at UFC 239 the similarities are hard to ignore.