MMA News

Tom Taylor - December 12, 2018

UFC President Dana White recently divulged that the winner of Anderson Silva and Israel Adesanya’s UFC 234 showdown is likely to get the next crack at the UFC middleweight belt. For Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, who has been working to earn a UFC middleweight title shot for years, this was unwelcome news. Speaking to Brazil’s Portal do Vale Tudo in his native Portuguese, Jacare sounded off on the UFC potentially giving a title shot to Anderson Silva, who was very recently tied up with a United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspension.

Tom Taylor - December 12, 2018

Late last month, long-time boxing promotor Oscar De La Hoya promoted his first-ever MMA event under the Golden Boy MMA banner. The card was headlined by a light heavyweight battle between UFC Hall of Famers Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, which the former won by first-round knockout. While this card was not the financial home run that Oscar De La Hoya and Tito Ortiz seemed to be expect it to be, De La Hoya says he plans to promote more MMA cards in the future. That being said, he plans to change his strategy.

Tom Taylor - December 12, 2018

With UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov and former champ Conor McGregor both currently tied up with looming discipline from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Dustin Poirier has recently been angling for a fight with the only other top lightweight available: Tony Ferguson. Poirier made his first callout of Ferguson on Twitter.

Drake Riggs - December 11, 2018

To say that it’s been a pretty good year for Daniel Cormier would be quite an understatement. With the fighter of the year award pretty much locked up as there is only a matter of days left in 2018, ESPN has recognized ‘DC’ as one of the top 20 most dominant athletes of the past year.

Cole Shelton - December 11, 2018

Ricky Bandejas has his next fight booked. The former CFFC interim bantamweight champion will return on January 26 at Bellator 214 against top contender Juan Archuleta. Bandejas confirmed the news with BJPENN.com after an initial report by FloCombat.

Drake Riggs - December 11, 2018

With the current champion at 135-pounds TJ Dillashaw dropping down to flyweight in the hopes of claiming a second title, his division must stay active until he returns. And that’s just what they’ll be doing as AZCentral’s Greg Moore has reported that a top 10 bantamweight collision between Jimmie ‘El Terror’ Rivera and Aljamain ‘Funkmaster’ Sterling is on for UFC Phoenix on February 17. This card is the first UFC card to be televised on the ESPN channel.

Drake Riggs - December 11, 2018

Former UFC middleweight king Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping retired in May of this year and has been enjoying life as an analyst and podcaster. Since his last fight at UFC Shanghai in November 2017, he has also dabbled in some commentary on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series season 2.

Drake Riggs - December 11, 2018

The welterweight division is one of the deepest and best that MMA has to offer. Yet in the UFC, things are looking somewhat complicated at the top right now. With Kamaru Usman’s emergence as a top title threat and the long-awaited arrival of Ben Askren, the two have been making more noise than the champion Tyron Woodley and interim champion Colby Covington.

Drake Riggs - December 11, 2018

It seems that disaster has struck once again for the former bantamweight king Dominick Cruz. Having his comeback set for UFC 233 on January 26 opposite John Lineker, that appears to longer be the case as MMA Brasil’s Tarso Doria reports that Cruz has sustained yet another fight canceling injury. Thus prompting the promotion to pursue Cruz’ last opponent, Cody Garbrandt to replace him against the Brazilian.

Tom Taylor - December 11, 2018

Last weekend, in the co-main event of UFC 232, Valentina Shevchenko captured the vacant UFC women’s flyweight title with a dominant decision defeat of former UFC strawweight Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Speaking on The MMA Hour with Luke Thomas on Monday, the new champion broke down this victory.

Tom Taylor - December 11, 2018

Jon Jones has officially been removed from the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) suspension list, clearing him to fight Alexander Gustafsson for the vacant UFC light heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 232 this December 29 in Las Vegas. Jones received this positive news at a CSAC hearing on Tuesday afternoon.

BJPENN.COM Staff - December 11, 2018

World champion Joshua Pacio will be out for redemption when he puts his ONE Championship belt on the line next year. Pacio (16-2-0), the undisputed ONE Strawweight World Champion, bids to avenge his only defeat in almost 500 days when he takes on Japan’s Hayato Suzuki (20-1-2) in Indonesia. The pair will square off in the main event at ONE: Eternal Glory, set for Istora Senayan in Jakarta on 19 January.

Tom Taylor - December 11, 2018

ONE Championship has a new home on television in the United States. On Tuesday morning, ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong teased big news, and shortly thereafter, ESPN confirmed what many suspected: that the promotion has signed a long-discussed United States broadcast deal.

Tom Taylor - December 11, 2018

Surging UFC lightweight contender Dustin Poirier was expected to return to the cage opposite Nate Diaz at UFC 230 in early November. Regrettably, the New Orleans native was forced out of this fight with an injury and sidelined for several weeks. Now back in fighting shape, Dustin Poirier is getting antsy. He wants to fight, and fight soon. But with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor both tied up with imminent Nevada State Athletic Commission punishments, he’s low on viable options.

Tom Taylor - December 11, 2018

WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder fought an incredible fight against Tyson Fury. In fact, The American titleholder very nearly finished the resurgent British fighter in the 12th round, scoring a ring-shaking knockdown that would have left lesser men glued to the canvas for minutes. Miraculously, however, Fury was able to return to his feet and survive to the final bell, at which point the ring-side judges ruled the fight a draw.

James Lynch - December 11, 2018

Bellator MMA announced in a press release that James Gallagher will headline Bellator 218 in Dublin, Ireland on Feb. 23. Gallagher (7-1) will look to bounce back from the first loss of his career as he’s set to face Steven Graham in a bantamweight bout. The 22-year-old is coming off a first-round TKO loss to former CFFC champion Ricky Bandejas at Bellator 204 in August. Losing for the first time in his career was especially tough for Gallagher who had engaged in a lot of trash talk leading up until the bout. The highlight reel head kick made it’s way on SportsCenter and did big numbers on social media.

Tom Taylor - December 11, 2018

UFC President Dana White has once taken a shot at UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, this time scolding the champ of turning down a fight in the main event of UFC 233 on January 26, and accusing him of avoiding fights. “When is Woodley ready to fight anybody, ever? Tell me when,” White said at the UFC 231 post-fight press conference (transcript via Sherdog). “Yeah [he just fought three months ago], and it took us forever to get him to fight that fight. He never wants to fight. You want to be a world champion, but you don’t want to fight anybody. That’s a problem.

Christopher Taylor - December 10, 2018

Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar was expected to challenge Max Holloway for the promotions featherweight title at UFC 222. Unfortunately for fight fans, that contest failed to come to fruition after “Blessed” suffered an injury in training.