MMA News

Christopher Taylor - November 28, 2018

Late last month it was announced that undefeated welterweight Ben Askren would be joining the UFC as part of a historic trade that sent pound-for-pound great Demetrious Johnson to ONE Championship. Four weeks later and we now know who the former Bellator and ONE title holder, Ben Askren, will be facing in his highly anticipated octagon debut.

Drake Riggs - November 28, 2018

It’s no secret that Cynthia Calvillo likes to stay active with her MMA career and after losing out on some fight time due to a suspension, she’s ready to make up for the time that’s been lost. Calvillo made her professional debut in August 2016…she’s amassed a record of 7-1 since then and five of those fights came in 2017 (four in the UFC).

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2018

Last weekend, former UFC light heavyweight kingpin Chuck Liddell returned from a hiatus of eight years to battle a fellow former champion in Tito Ortiz — a man he’d beaten twice before. Unfortunately for his fans, the 48-year old Chuck Liddell did not win this third fight, and was instead felled by a first-round punch. Heading into this contest, there was widespread discourse suggesting Chuck Liddell should not be allowed to fight — that he was too old, that he’d been out too long, that he’d received enough punishment, including the three knockout losses that originally drove him into retirement.

Cole Shelton - November 28, 2018

At UFC 229, Conor McGregor made his long-awaited return to the Octagon. He took on Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title. Ahead of the fight, not many people knew how it would turn out. Some people believed McGregor would be able to catch Nurmagomedov and knock him out. Others thought Nurmagomedov would just take McGregor down and ground and pound him or submit him, which ultimately is what happened.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2018

You won’t be seeing former UFC lightweight and featherweight champ Conor McGregor behind the wheel any time soon — at least not in Ireland. The Irish MMA star has had his driving privileges suspended for six months after being booked for excessive speeding near his home city of Dublin. He was also fined 1,000 euros ($1136.62) for this incident.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2018

MMA fans have been dying to see former UFC champions Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva fight for years. That was true at the height of their title reigns, when St-Pierre guarded the welterweight strap and Silva simultaneously sat in the middleweight throne, and it’s true today, when Silva is a mere middleweight contender and St-Pierre appears to have once again retired. Unfortunately, the fight has never materialized, and Anderson Silva assures that’s no fault of his own. Speaking to ESPN recently, the former middleweight champion shared his belief that Georges St-Pierre is only interested in taking easy fights, rather than truly challenging himself.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2018

In the end, the United States Anti-Doping Agency handed Jon Jones a 15-month suspension for the failed drug test that caused his July, 2017 win over Daniel Cormier to be overturned. That being said, the agency was apparently contemplating a much more severe punishment: a four-year ban. Speaking to ESPN earlier this week, Jon Jones admitted that, had USADA issued this four-year suspension, he would have asked to be released from his UFC contract so that he could fight overseas, outside the jurisdiction of the anti-doping agency.

James Lynch - November 28, 2018

A compelling women’s strawweight matchup has been added to the UFC 233 lineup, as Aleksandra Albu is set to face Oregon’s Emily Whitmire on the card. The UFC’s official Russian Twitter account confirmed the news on Wednesday.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2018

Speaking on the UFC Unfiltered podcast this week, UFC President Dana White unleashed a virulent tirade targeting Oscar De La Hoya and Tito Ortiz for allowing Chuck Liddell to fight again — and ultimately be knocked out again. “Listen, I love Chuck Liddell and I don’t ever want to badmouth Chuck Liddell,” White said (transcript via MMANytt). “People do think I’m badmouthing Chuck Liddell , but the reality is, first of all, let’s says this first, I heard last week that the cokehead, ‘Oscar Del La Weirdo’ is talking s***, that I don’t have any place to tell guys when to retire. First of all, it’s called friendship you f***ing cokehead. I’ve been friends with Chuck Liddell for 20 years and the reality is that Chuck Liddell retired when he should’ve retired, 8 or 9 years ago, whenever it was.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2018

Ahead of his UFC 229 fight with undefeated UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor unleashed plenty of his famous trash talk. Unfortunately, some fans felt that McGregor crossed some lines with his trash talk of Nurmagomedov, as he targeted the champ’s family, ethnicity, religion and more. UFC President Dana White, however, doesn’t see it that way. Speaking to ESPN recently, White essentially said that all’s fair in the fight business, and that Conor McGregor mentioning Khabib Nurmagomedov’s religion and family is no different than Muhammad Ali targeting George Foreman ahead of The Thrilla in Manila.

Christopher Taylor - November 27, 2018

Former UFC light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones will make his highly anticipated octagon return at January’s UFC 232 event in Las Vegas. “Bones” is scheduled to rematch former division title challenger Alexander Gustafsson at the December 29 event.

Cole Shelton - November 27, 2018

Fernie Garcia recently was apart of history. The 26-year-old fought on the first ever Golden Boy MMA fight card in which he fought on the undercard. Ultimately, Garcia impressed enough that when Golden Boy does their next MMA event, Garcia will be fighting on it. However, before his fight with Golden Boy MMA, Garcia was 4-0 as a professional and was looking to fight in a bigger promotion. That is when Golden Boy reached out and it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. As a prospect, fighting in front of thousands of fans, and fighting on a big card like this was important to Garcia.

Drake Riggs - November 27, 2018

Despite recently going through a tougher personal battle than any she could have in the Octagon, UFC flyweight prospect Rachael Ostovich will remain set to fight at UFC Brooklyn on January 19. Last week, Ostovich was involved in an altercation with her husband and fellow MMA fighter, Arnold Berdon that resulted in her being attacked and suffering what was reported as a broken orbital bone among other injuries.

Cole Shelton - November 27, 2018

Last Saturday night, Oscar De La Hoya promoted his first-ever MMA event under the Golden Boy MMA banner. In the weeks leading up to this MMA card, which was headlined by a trilogy fight between UFC Hall of Famers Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, there was plenty of reason to believe it was a one-off for De La Hoya. Yet according to Fernie Garcia, who fought on the undercard of the event, this is not the case. “I have heard that they are [going to do more MMA],” Garcia told BJPENN.com of Golden Boy MMA. “I have heard that the plan was for two events. So they are going to have two events. From what I know, they are going to have another event for sure.”

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2018

When BJJ whiz Garry Tonon submitted South Korea’s Sung Jong Lee at ONE: Heart of the Lion earlier this month, he improved to an impressive 3-0 as a mixed martial artist. Thus far, the the five-time EBI Grappling Champion has drifted between the 155-pound ONE featherweight division, and the 170-pound ONE lightweight division. And from the sounds of it, he could continue floating between both divisions.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2018

There’s recently been reason to believe that the end is near for the UFC flyweight division. First, the promotion traded the former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to ONE Championship in exchange for Ben Askren. Then, it cut ties with a number of talented flyweight fighters — some of whom claimed to have heard that the division is being decommissioned. UFC President Dana White, however, has remained fairly tight-lipped about the division’s future. Speaking on the latest episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast, Dana White shared his latest update on the division — though it didn’t exactly clear things up.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2018

File UFC President Dana White into the group of people who seemed to strongly disapprove of last weekend’s Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell rematch. Speaking on the UFC Unfiltered podcast, the UFC boss unleashed a virulent tirade against the bout’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya, Tito Ortiz, and the California State Athletic Commission for allowing this fight to happen.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2018

After losing his first two mixed martial arts bouts — first a submission defeat to Mickey Gall, then a submission setback against Mike Jackson — former pro wrestling star CM Punk now finds himself in a tough situation. Although he undeniably possesses the heart required to compete as a professional fighter, he is simply at a technical deficit when compared to most of his potential opponents. Except, say, somebody like Logan Paul. Logan Paul, a famous YouTuber, recently competed in a celebrity boxing match opposite fellow YouTube star KSI. After this bout, Paul discussed a potential move to the UFC, and given his inexperience, was mentioned as a potential opponent for CM Punk. Even UFC color commentator Joe Rogan discussed the possibility.