MMA News

Tom Taylor - April 11, 2019

Kelvin Gastelum was supposed to battle Robert Whittaker for the undisputed UFC middleweight championship at UFC 234 in February. Regrettably, Whittaker was forced out of the bout with a last-minute injury, leaving Gastelum without his long-awaited title shot. As Whittaker recovers, Kelvin Gastelum is now scheduled to battle Israel Adesanya for the interim middleweight title in the co-main event of UFC 236 this Saturday.

Tom Taylor - April 11, 2019

This week’s news that former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw had tested positive for EPO, an “injectable only” performance-enhancing substance, sent a shockwave through the MMA community. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan is just as disappointed by this news as the rest of us. “To me, it’s a shame because I’m a TJ fan,” Rogan told his guest Herb Dean on Wednesday’s edition of the Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show (transcript via MMAjunkie) “I think he’s a phenomenal fighter and I’m a big fan of watching him perform. But it just taints his legacy. It just does. There’s no way around it. When you get caught cheating – this stuff, there’s no way it’s not cheating. This is just cheating. This isn’t any accident. It taints your legacy, and the guy had an amazing legacy: two-time bantamweight champion, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters.”

Cole Shelton - April 11, 2019

In the main event of UFC 236, this Saturday, featherweight champion Max Holloway will move up in weight to take on Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight championship. Ahead of the rematch, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the fight. The consensus is that it will be a close interesting fight.

Tom Taylor - April 11, 2019

This week, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) handed former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw a two-year suspension for his use of EPO, a powerful performance enhancer that can only be taken by injection. This news was particularly pertinent to former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt, who has lost to TJ Dillashaw twice in the last two years. Garbrandt himself, and other members of the MMA community, have wondered publicly if Dillashaw might have had an extra advantage in their two recent bouts.

Cole Shelton - April 11, 2019

In the co-main event of UFC 236 this Saturday, Israel Adesanya is set to take on Kelvin Gastelum for the UFC’s interim middleweight title. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the fight. Although many think Adesanya will win, some just can’t count out Gastelum.

Nolan King - April 10, 2019

Conor McGregor’s recent surge of tweets continued Wednesday evening, as the former UFC Champ Champ replied to dozens of comments on Twitter. One Twitter user asked McGregor why his footwork appeared to be so flatfooted in his last fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Nolan King - April 10, 2019

Wednesday afternoon, the Miami Herald released a full surveillance video of the recent incident involving Conor McGregor, a fan, and a phone. The incident occurred outside of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The video shows McGregor and his entourage come into the shot, with multiple individuals walking near him, filming him.

Tom Taylor - April 10, 2019

Former UFC welterweight star “Super” Sage Northcutt is set to make his debut in the ONE Championship cage at ONE: Enter the Dragon on May 17 in Singapore. He’ll make this debut opposite kickboxing export Cosmo Alexandre, who has carved out an impressive 7-1 MMA record, primarily in the Bellator cage. Sage Northcutt is excited to get this new phase of his fighting career underway.

Tom Taylor - April 10, 2019

At UFC Philadelphia, Josh Emmett delivered an undeniable Knockout of the Year contender, flattening Michael Johnson in the third round of their featherweight contest. Surprisingly, however, his jaw-dropping knockout victory didn’t earn him a post-fight bonus. Like many fans, he’s still scratching his head about that.

Tom Taylor - April 10, 2019

ONE Championship has announced the full lineup for its upcoming ONE: For Honor card, which will go down on May 3 inside Jakarta, Indonesia’s Istora Senayan. As previously announced, the card will be topped by a ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Title bout between Thai champion Sam-A Gaiyanghadao and English challenger Jonathan Haggerty.

James Lynch - April 10, 2019

Bellator’s two division champion is staying put. To no one’s surprise, Bellator light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Ryan Bader has re-signed with the promotion. According to MMAFighting it’s an exclusive, multi-year deal with the promotion. Bader (27-5) has yet to lose a fight under the Bellator banner. After years of coming up short for a UFC title shot, Bader captured the Bellator light heavyweight title in his promotional debut in 2017, defeating Phil Davis in a rematch at Bellator NYC. Following a stoppage victory over Linton Vassell at Bellator 186, the 35-year-old would step up a weight class and compete in the Heavyweight Grand Prix. From there, the Power MMA and Fitness product would stop Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal at Bellator 199 and dominate Matt Mitrione at Bellator 207 on route to a unanimous decision victory.

Cole Shelton - April 10, 2019

Most of the attention ahead of UFC 236 has surrounded the two interim title fights on the bill, and rightfully so. The matchups are interesting and gold is on the line. But, one fight that has been flying under the radar is a main card fight between Eryk Anders and Khalil Rountree. Anders is set to move up to light heavyweight for this fight, but he doesn’t see it as a permanent move.

Tom Taylor - April 10, 2019

Former Strikeforce, DREAM and K-1 heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem has been fighting for a very long time. And despite his long history in the rings and cages of the world’s top promotions, he’s still a force to be reckoned with, ranked as one of the top contenders in the perilous UFC heavyweight division. Speaking on The MMA Hour recently, Alistair Overeem explained that a big key to his longevity has been his frequent camp changes. For example, after his recent loss to Curtis Blaydes, he migrated to Elevation Fight Team to train alongside Blaydes.

Tom Taylor - April 10, 2019

Yesterday afternoon, former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw was hit with a two-year suspension from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after testing positive for recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO), a substance that can only be injected, and is therefor not taken accidentally. Speaking on Instagram, Duane Ludwig, the long-time handler of TJ Dillashaw, issued a quick statement on the situation. He referred to Dillashaw’s EPO use as “inexcusable” but vowed to stand by his student.

Christopher Taylor - April 9, 2019

The nutritionist and strength and conditioning coach of TJ Dillashaw has released a statement on the former Bantamweight champs positive drug test results. The coach, Sam Calavitta, released the following statement (via ESPN’s Brett Okamoto) shortly following today’s news that TJ Dillashaw had been suspended two years for using EPO.

Nolan King - April 9, 2019

The upcoming return of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series continues to take shape, with the addition of a 185-pound matchup to the season premiere on June 18. In a middleweight tilt, Puna Soriano (5-0) will square off with Jamie Pickett (9-3), BJPenn.com has learned. Only five fights into his professional mixed martial arts tenure, Hawaii’s Soriano is already starting to turn heads. All five of the 26-year-old middleweight’s bouts have ended in the first round with Soriano victorious.

Chris Taylor - April 9, 2019

Conor McGregor recently took to Twitter where he shared his reaction to the two-year suspension handed down on TJ Dillashaw by USADA. Earlier this afternoon, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reported that TJ Dillashaw’s positive test, which forced him to vacate his bantamweight title, was a result of the banned substance EPO. Consequently, Dillashaw has received a two-year suspension as a result. This suspension is dated retroactively to January 18, 2019.

Nolan King - April 9, 2019

LFA champion Brendan Allen (11-3) and surging Canadian Aaron Jeffery (6-1) are potentially one fight away from a UFC contract. The two middleweights will be squaring off on the July 16 episode of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, multiple sources confirm to BJPenn.com Allen, 23, is highly regarded as one of the best unsigned middleweight prospects in North America. Competing against tough competition for the entirety of his stint in MMA, has suffered three career losses. All three men that beat Allen went on to make it to the UFC — Anthony Hernandez, Eryk Anders, and Trevin Giles.