MMA News

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

It wouldn’t have been a RIZIN New Year’s Eve event without Gabi Garcia (5-0). And as the promotion announced today, she will be in action after all. The past three years during RIZIN’s big yearend events, the multi-time BJJ gold medalist Garcia has been featured.

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.

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 welterweight title picture continues to figure itself out. And it looks like it may doing so without the likes of Colby Covington. As most everyone expected, the next welterweight title bout would surely be Covington taking on his nemesis in the undisputed champion Tyron Woodley. However, since Kamaru Usman’s continued dominance after defeating former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos, plans appear to be changing.

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

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

On February 16, at Bellator 216, Bellator will promote one of the biggest fights in UK MMA history, as British knockout artists Paul Daley and Michael Page finally collide in a long-awaited grudge match. Unfortunately, this massive fight will not occur in the UK. Instead, it will go down at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Speaking to MMAjunkie ahead of Bellator’s double-header in Hawaii this weekend, Bellator President Scott Coker explained why this fight isn’t happening on British soil.

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.

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

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

Despite the rocky start to the flyweight division through season 26 of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC is now working its way into the right direction with some recent signings. Already having acquired two top worldwide flyweights in former Invicta FC champion Jennifer Maia and former KSW champion Ariane Lipski, the UFC has now signed arguably the top prospect in the division overall.

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.