MMA News

Nolan King - April 27, 2019

With the event less than two months away, UFC Greenville is finally starting to fill up. A bantamweight bout between Andre Ewell (14-5) and Anderson “Berinja” Dos Santos (20-7) is in the works for the June 22, sources tell BJPenn.com. A former titleholder in CES MMA, Ewell has split his two UFC appearances thus far. After defeating former UFC champion Renan Barao in his UFC debut, Ewell was submitted by Nathaniel Wood at UFC 232.

Drake Riggs - April 27, 2019

For the rest of his career, the UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones will be haunted by his run-ins with the United States Anti Doping Agency… Better known as ‘USADA.’ Jones’ troubles date back to 2016 and somewhat continue to this day depending on your thoughts of his continuous picogram findings of turinabol.

Chris Taylor - April 27, 2019

The octagon invades the BB&T Center tonight for UFC Fort Lauderdale, an event headlined by a middleweight bout between Ronaldo Souza and Jack Hermansson. Ronaldo Souza was last seen in action at November’s UFC 230 event, where he scored a spectacular knockout victory over former champ Chris Weidman. “Jacare” has gone 4-2 over his past six fights and is expected to become the next middleweight title challenger if he can prove victorious this evening.

James Lynch - April 27, 2019

Paulo Costa has accepted a six month punishment from the USADA. The rising UFC middleweight agreed to a six-month suspension from USADA (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) for violations in June and November of 2017. The suspensions were handed down August 10, 2018 and expired on February 10, 2019.

Drake Riggs - April 26, 2019

She’s back. After 21 months out of action, ‘The Peacemaker’ Leslie Smith will be returning to action as she has signed with Bellator MMA.

Drake Riggs - April 26, 2019

Just when we thought that the trilogy bout with Chuck Liddell may have been it, Tito Ortiz goes out and signs another contract. Yep, that’s right. The former UFC light heavyweight titleholder is now set to embark on a new journey as he has signed a multi-fight deal with Combate Americas at Combate 35: Reinas on Friday night, as confirmed by FanSided. No opponent or debut date is established just yet, but his promotional debut is expected to be in the Fall.

Drake Riggs - April 26, 2019

Without a doubt, Russia’s ‘Last Emperor,’ Fedor Emelianenko is one of the greatest mixed martial artists to ever grace the face of the Earth. But despite his incredible success throughout his career and late resurgence through the Bellator heavyweight Grand Prix, it all ended abruptly in January. At Bellator 214, the vacant title was on the line in the tournament’s finals. Standing in Emelianenko’s way on his path to becoming a champion for the first time in 10 years was the current light heavyweight champion of Bellator, Ryan Bader. In the end, 35 seconds was all it took for Bader to sleep the icon with a stiff left hand followed by some on the ground.

Drake Riggs - April 26, 2019

At RIZIN 14 on New Year’s Eve 2018, we saw a massive inaugural title fight that saw two promotions best bantamweight fighters go head to head. Of course, on one side of the ring, there was the Japanese superstar, RIZIN’s Kyoji Horiguchi. On the other side, it was Bellator bantamweight champion, Darrion ‘The Wolf’ Caldwell who fought for the first time out of the United States.

Drake Riggs - April 26, 2019

The end of 2018 marked a new era of sorts when it comes to cross-promotion in MMA as Bellator and RIZIN teamed up like never before. For RIZIN’s annual big New Year’s Eve show, in 2018 that was RIZIN 14, one of their biggest stars, Kyoji Horiguchi would fight for the inaugural bantamweight title. His opponent would be none other than Bellator’s bantamweight champion, Darrion Caldwell.

Drake Riggs - April 26, 2019

Often times when fighters are undefeated, they can understandably be arrogant and perhaps overly confident. The same can be said for champions. So when mixing the two, it’s rare to see that zero stay a zero for all too long. However, despite being both undefeated and a champion, these descriptions wouldn’t be fitting for Bellator’s first and only flyweight queen, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane. Similarly, like another undefeated champion in Virna Jandiroba who is also fighting this weekend, Macfarlane manages to stay very grounded and humble on her journey although many others in her position wouldn’t be. And that she attributes to her realistic view of the MMA landscape after having seen others fall before her.

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2019

At UFC 239, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos will collide with one of the few heavyweight punchers with power to rival his own: Francis Ngannou. Speaking to Helen Yee recently, the former heavyweight champion made a bold prediction for this fight with the ferocious puncher Ngannou. He expects to knock out the hulking Cameroon-born Frenchman in the second round.

Drake Riggs - April 26, 2019

Tomorrow night in San Jose, California, the Bellator welterweight and flyweight titles will be on the line. Looking for his first Bellator welterweight title defense and to advance to the semifinals of the welterweight Grand Prix will be Rory MacDonald who is back in his normal weight class after trying to dethrone middleweight champ, Gegard Mousasi.

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2019

“Sugar” Sean O’Malley is one of the most promising young prospects in the crowded UFC bantamweight division. Unfortunately, it’s been some time since we’ve seen the fan favorite in the cage, as he was recently sidelined by a four-month suspension from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the result of his ingesting a tainted supplement containing Ostarine. The good news is that The MMA Lab representative is now set to return to the cage — on the biggest UFC card of the year thus far. According to ESPN, he will battle Marlon “Chito” Vera at UFC 239 on July 6 in the midst of the UFC’s International Fight Week in Las Vegas.

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2019

“Platinum” Mike Perry made weight for his UFC Fort Lauderdale showdown with Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira, but from the sounds of it, it wasn’t an easy feat. In fact, he’s calling his weight cut for this fight his most difficult yet. Perry shed some light on this tough cut — and the overall sensation of weight cutting — in a Friday morning Instagram post.

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2019

Under the leadership of CEO Chatri Sityodtong, ONE Championship has signed a host of free agents of late, such as Demetrious Johnson, Eddie Alvarez, Sage Northcutt, and Vitor Belfort. Johnson and Alvarez have already debuted in the ONE cage — with very different results — and Northcutt will do so on May 17 in Singapore. Belfort, however, has not yet been booked for his first ONE Championship fight.

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2019

On Saturday, the UFC will return to the Sunshine State with the compelling UFC Fort Lauderdale card, scheduled to air on ESPN+, ESPN, and ESPN 2. In the main event of this exciting card, top middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza will battle short-notice replacement opponent Jack Hermansson in a bout loaded with very different implications for both men.

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2019

This weekend, in the main event of UFC Fort Lauderdale, long-time UFC middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza will take part in a high risk, low-reward fight with rising contender Jack Hermansson. If he wins, well, he simply reminds the world that he already deserves a title shot. If he loses, meanwhile, his UFC title dreams will be dashed for perhaps a final time. “It was hard negotiating for Jack,” the Brazilian contender told MMA Junkie recently in his native Portuguese. “That was hard. That was tough. I didn’t want to accept the fight at all. It’s a risk that I’m taking. I’m putting my career at risk; that’s the truth. It made me very upset, this fight. But we talked, and this and that. Then (UFC matchmaker) Mick Maynard came in, Hunter (Campbell), (UFC president) Dana White, all those people, and I said, ‘Either you promise me the belt and put that to paper and send it to me, or there’s no deal.’”

Cole Shelton - April 26, 2019

In the main event of Bellator 220, Rory MacDonald will look to defend his welterweight title against Jon Fitch. Not only will MacDonald be putting his belt on the line, but it will also be the last matchup of the first round of the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their picks for the fight. And, they all are leaning one way.