MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 1, 2019

When Daniel Cormier captured the UFC heavyweight title with a July knockout of Stipe Miocic, the expectation was that he would battle former champ Brock Lesnar in a heavyweight title super fight sometime toward the end of the year. Unfortunately for Daniel Cormier, this fight still hasn’t happened, and from the sounds of it, he’s not sure it will.

Mike Straus - December 31, 2018

UFC 232 is in the books and boy, did it deliver. The world leader in MMA came through with its annual year-end PPV as UFC 232 more than lived up to the hype. But who are the biggest winners and losers from the final UFC event of the year?

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2018

Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell traveled all the way to Japan on his quest for a second world title, as we was booked for a RIZIN 14 bantamweight title fight with Japanese star Kyoji Horiguchi. Early on this fight, it looked as though Caldwell might succeed on his transpacific mission, as he was able to take Horiguchi down and control him on the canvas.

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2018

On New Years Eve in Tokyo, Japan (Monday morning in North America), Japanese kickboxing sensation Tenshin Nasukawa stepped through the ropes for an exhibition boxing match with undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. Because this fight was an exhibition, it would not wind up on either fighters record, no matter the outcome. All the same, Nasukawa hoped to do the unthinkable and knock the Floyd Mayweather out.

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2018

This morning in Tokyo, Japan, Floyd Mayweather authored a lopsided destruction of kickboxing whiz Tenshin Nasukawa in a boxing exhibition bout (watch here). From the sounds of it, there could be another interesting crossover fight in the boxing legend’s future. Speaking to TMZ Sports, MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz claimed that Floyd Mayweather has been “begging” to fight his star client Khabib Nurmagomedov in their recent text exchanges.

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2018

On Monday night (Monday morning in North America), undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. stepped into the RIZIN Fighting Federation ring for a strange exhibition bout with 20-year-old kickboxing sensation Tenshin Nasukawa. In the weeks leading up to this exhibition bout — and really, until the very point the action began — Floyd Mayweather looked like he was taking it all incredibly lightly. Once the action began, however, the legend of pugilism began pouring on the offense, punishing his much smaller opponent with the kind of winging power shots he has not thrown in years. To him, it seemed, this was indeed a real fight.

Tom Taylor - December 31, 2018

On Monday night (Monday morning in North America), in the main event of the action-packed RIZIN 14 card inside the hallowed Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan, boxing legend Floyd Mayweather returned to the ring for an undeniably bizarre exhibition bout with undefeated kickboxing wunderkind Tenshin Nasukawa. The rules for the bout were as follows:

Drake Riggs - December 31, 2018

It came and went, but as usual, it was a great night of action for the RIZIN Fighting Federation’s big New Year’s Eve show. This year, it was RIZIN 14. Of the multiple UFC veterans competing at the event, Justin Scoggins was one of them as he made his promotional debut against Yuki Motoya in a 132-pound catchweight bout.

Tom Taylor - December 30, 2018

Amanda Nunes’ 51-second knockout of long-time featherweight champion Cris Cyborg was about as one-sided a fight as you’ll get in mixed martial arts. Yet the incredible run of dominance that preceded this loss for Cyborg has many members of the MMA community calling for an immediate rematch between the two Brazilian juggernauts. Cyborg, they feel, deserves the opportunity for to redeem herself. UFC President Dana White doesn’t seem to share this opinion — at least not right now.

Cole Shelton - December 30, 2018

Last night, the UFC held its final pay-per-view of 2018 in Inglewood, California and had two titles on the line. For all the negative attention the card got after being moved from Las Vegas to California, it ended up delivering. In the co-main event, Amanda Nunes shocked the world and knocked out Cris Cyborg in just 51 seconds to become the first-ever female fighter to hold UFC titles in two divisions. Then, in the main event, Jon Jones TKO’d Alexander Gustafsson in the third round to reclaim the light heavyweight belt.

Tom Taylor - December 30, 2018

The UFC’s return to London, England, which goes down on March 16, could be bolstered by an exciting light heavyweight attraction. On Saturday night, amid the excitement of UFC 232, BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor reported that a fight between former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir and surging contender Dominick Reyes is in the works for the card. I'm told a light heavyweight fight between Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes is being worked on for #UFCLondon on March 16. Still early stages, but it's on the table.

Tom Taylor - December 30, 2018

On Saturday night, Amanda Nunes become the first woman in UFC history to win titles in two different divisions, and one of just three fighters ever to wear belts in two UFC divisions simultaneously. Nunes achieved this incredible feat by bludgeoning the seemingly unbeatable Cris Cyborg in just 51 seconds to capture the UFC featherweight title, which joins the UFC bantamweight title on her crowded mantle. With this incredible win, Amanda Nunes now holds first-round stoppage victories over Cris Cyborg, and former UFC women’s bantamweight champions Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. She also owns a pair of victories over reigning UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.

Tom Taylor - December 30, 2018

Despite his long absence from the cage, Jon Jones had all the tools required to dispatch his rival Alexander Gustafsson and reclaim the UFC light heavyweight title in the UFC 232 main event on Saturday night. And thanks to former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor, he also had the tools required to properly celebrate: a few bottles of the Irishman’s popular Proper No. Twelve Irish whiskey. That’s according to Yahoo! Sports reporter Kevin Iole, who says Jon Jones told him Conor McGregor sent him a few bottles of the whiskey.

Tom Taylor - December 30, 2018

In the co-main event of UFC 232 on Saturday night, the win-streak of long-time featherweight champion Cris Cyborg came to a skittering halt amid a blizzard of power punches from Amanda Nunes. Nunes had the long-time champion wobbled in seconds, and had her face down on the canvas in less than a minute. It was a shocking and brutal loss for the former champion Cris Cyborg, who had not tasted defeat in well over a decade. That being said, she is handling it with absolutely class and dignity.

Tom Taylor - December 30, 2018

On Saturday night, in the main event of the stacked UFC 232 card, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones made his anticipated return to the Octagon, where he rematched the toughest adversary of his career so far in Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson. Though Gustafsson put forth a good fight, Jon Jones once again came out on top, this time with a meteor shower of strikes in the third round (see the finish here). After this impressive stoppage victory, in his post fight interview with long-time UFC commentator Joe Rogan, Jones addressed the much discussed possibility of a third fight with his arch nemesis, former two division champion Daniel Cormier.

Thomas Taylor - December 29, 2018

Last night, in the co-main event of UFC 232, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes added a second title to her mantle with an unbelievable knockout victory over the seemingly unbeatable featherweight champion Cris Cyborg. While this jaw-dropping upset shocked most members of the MMA community, one former Cyborg opponent claims to have seen it coming: Gina Carano.

Tom Taylor - December 29, 2018

On Saturday evening, in the main event of the stacked UFC 232 card in Los Angeles, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones rematched the toughest opponent of his career in Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson. The pair collided with the UFC light heavyweight title, recently vacated by Daniel Cormier, on the line. In the end, Jon Jones made a successful comeback, reclaiming the light heavyweight title with a third-round TKO defeat of his Swedish rival.

Tom Taylor - December 29, 2018

In the main event of UFC 232 on Saturday night in LA, former UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and fearsome Swedish contender Alexander Gustafsson finally stepped into the cage for a rematch of their 2013 classic. Just as it was in their first fight, the light heavyweight title was on the line. Throughout the first round, Jon Jones showed off far more striking diversity than he did in his first fight with Gustafsson, landing kicks and punches across all levels, a crackling elbow to the dome, and unfortunately, a knee to the cup. Alexander Gustafsson, however, had answers for every one of the former champion’s many takedown attempts.