MMA News

James Lynch - December 13, 2018

With another welterweight tournament matchup happening this weekend, the big question has been when champion Rory MacDonald will face Jon Fitch in the final first-round tournament bout. Bellator President Scott Coker provided some clarity on the issue when speaking to MMAJunkie this week in Hawaii.

Tom Taylor - December 13, 2018

On December 29, in the main event of UFC 232, Alexander Gustafsson and Jon Jones will finally meet again — and with the vacant light heavyweight title on the line. Heading into this high-stakes rematch, there has already been quite a bit of heat between the two fighters, particularly at a recent press conference where Jones actually pushed Gustafsson.

Tom Taylor - December 13, 2018

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 231, UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway returned to the Octagon in dominant form, defeating formerly undefeated challenger Brian Ortega by doctor stoppage. In the wake of this dominant performance, fans and pundits have once again started calling for Holloway to move up to the lightweight division, where the weight cut would be less intense, and new challenges would await.

Tom Taylor - December 13, 2018

In November, ONE Championship announced that it will it be promoting a flyweight and lightweight Grand Prix in the New Year. On Friday morning, ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong took to Twitter to announce the kickoff dates for these two anticipated tournaments.

Drake Riggs - December 12, 2018

When it comes to the MMA super fight, there is one matchup that was once the one that was truer than any other possible pairing. That, of course, being none other than the fantasy fight between two of the sport’s all-time greats, the welterweight division’s best, Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre and middleweight’s best, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva.

Jason Kindschy - December 12, 2018

Eddie Alvarez joins us for an in-depth conversation regarding his recent move to ONE Championship. “The Underground King” discusses his reasoning for parting ways with the UFC, his goal of capturing every major title in MMA, and how moving to a company with the values of ONE Championship is like a breath of fresh air. We’ll also get Eddie’s thoughts on potential matchups, the upcoming lightweight tournament, moving up in weight under the company’s hydration protocol, breaking into new markets, and all that means for expanding his already well-known brand.

Drake Riggs - December 12, 2018

Hawaii’s Max “Blessed” Holloway is the current best 145-pound fighter on the planet. At only 27 years old, Holloway calls himself the undisputed UFC champion. Since the third loss of his professional career in August 2013, Holloway has meteorically risen to elite status in not just his division but all of MMA. His current 13-fight winning streak that includes an interim title and two title defenses is only second to the UFC record of 16 that was set by Anderson Silva over the course of 2006 to 2012.

Mike Pendleton - December 12, 2018

After getting a UFC contract following his win on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series over Shawn Teed in July, heavyweight Juan Adams is finally ready to make his official UFC debut. Adams will face Chris De La Rocha at UFC on FOX 31 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this Saturday and he has set some high goals for himself in his UFC debut. ‘The Kraken’ Juan Adams spoke about making his promotional debut, wanting to send his opponent into retirement, and extending a personal streak of his.

Drake Riggs - December 12, 2018

The UFC’s second show on ESPN+ in Fortaleza, Brazil looks to be shaping up as a great one. Already having had a plethora of good fights announced, another very exciting one has joined the mix between top Brazilians at 145-pounds.

Tom Taylor - December 12, 2018

After weeks of struggling to find a suitable main event for UFC 233, which is scheduled for January 26 in Anaheim, California, the UFC has cancelled the card outright. This news was first reported by Brett Okamoto on Twitter. Breaking: UFC is rearranging its pay-per-view schedule. UFC 233 will no longer take place on Jan. 26 in Anaheim, due to a combination of factors. That PPV will change to another date, so 2019 will still feature the same amount of PPVs as originally planned. More info coming.

Tom Taylor - December 12, 2018

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping had a long and illustrious fighting career before he finally hung up the gloves in early 2018. Given his many accomplishments, you might expect him to have a difficult time pinning down the most satisfying moment of his career. Yet when he was asked to name his most satisfying win by UFC color commentator Joe Rogan on the JRE MMA show, Bisping was able to produce an answer quite quickly. His pick? Anderson Silva, who he defeated by unanimous decision after a frenzied, five-round war in early 2016.

Cole Shelton - December 12, 2018

English MMA veteran Brad Pickett spent many years as a WEC and UFC bantamweight contender before retiring in 2017. During the height of his career, when the UFC was still owned by Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, there was much less of a focus on the “money fights” and “super fights” we hear so much about today. Instead, fighters generally had to earn their title shots and big paydays the old fashioned way: with wins. That’s the way Brad Pickett liked it. He didn’t need to trash talk to gain fans or move up the rankings. All he needed to do was win.

Tom Taylor - December 12, 2018

Former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez will be welcomed to ONE Championship in the most exciting way possible, as he’s set to compete in the promotion’s anticipated Lightweight Grand Prix in 2019. The details of this Lightweight Grand Prix are still somewhat scarce, yet Alvarez believes the first round of the tournament will occur in March 31, when ONE Championship makes its anticipated debut in Tokyo, Japan.

James Lynch - December 12, 2018

Through 20-career fights, Kevin Lee has only lost three times. On Saturday at UFC on FOX 31, Lee will look to avenge one of those blemishes as he faces Al Iaquinta in a rematch. Lee was only 21-years-old when he suffered the first loss of his career to Iaquinta back at UFC 169. Losing by unanimous decision at the time, Lee not only plans to get his hand raised on Saturday, but he plans to send Iaquinta back to the preliminary portion of the card.

BJPENN.COM Staff - December 12, 2018

You could be forgiven for thinking that reigning ONE women’s atomweight champion Angela Lee may have some form of superpowers when you watch her in action in the cage. She is, after all, one of the most talented mixed martial artists in the world at just 22 years old. As it turns out, the martial arts prodigy has had a lifelong love of the Marvel universe, which she’s shared with her brother and fellow ONE athlete, Christian Lee. After growing up watching early morning cartoons, that love has now translated to the big screen. Lee has become an enthusiast for all of Marvel’s blockbuster films, especially Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, and The Avengers. So you can imagine how excited the Evolve MMA product was when, on a recent trip to New York City, she had the chance to participate in a special collaboration to put her martial arts skills to the test against the superhuman realm.

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

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.