MMA News

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.

James Lynch - November 27, 2018

The next cage Sage Northcutt steps into will not be the UFC’s Octagon. That’s according to President Dana White who told the UFC Unfiltered podcast this week that that the young fighter will not be re-signing with the promotion.

BJPENN.COM Staff - November 27, 2018

One mistake. That’s all it took to derail Ev Ting’s hopes for a shot at the ONE Lightweight World Title. “I should have kept moving,” reflected Malaysia’s Ting, who was submitted by Japan’s Shinya Aoki inside the first round at ONE: Kingdom of Heroes in Bangkok, Thailand in October. “I gave him way too much time and respect. He faked a few times and one mistake was all it took for him to put me to sleep.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2018

Last weekend, in the main event of the first mixed martial arts card promoted by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, former UFC light heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz stepped into the cage with his arch rival Chuck Liddell for a third time. In this third fight, Ortiz finally got the victory over Liddell he’d been seeking, melting “The Iceman” with a first-round heater. Unfortunately, Ortiz’s long-awaited win over Chuck Liddell has been somewhat marred by controversy, as some members of the MMA community feel that the 48-year-old Chuck Liddell, who had not fought since a string of knockout losses initially forced his retirement eight years ago, should not have been anywhere near another fight.

Cole Shelton - November 26, 2018

Alex Volkanovski is a streaking featherweight who is currently riding a lofty 15-fight winning streak. Even with that, the Australian is only ranked 10th in the featherweight division. However, that can all change on Dec. 29 at UFC 232, where Volkanovski will have his toughest test to date when he takes on Chad Mendes. Mendes is a two-time title challenger and is currently ranked fifth in the division. Put all of that together and it is a huge fight for Volkanovski.

Drake Riggs - November 26, 2018

The second UFC women’s flyweight title bout in the promotion’s history takes place next month on December 8 at UFC 231 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The bout will feature one-time bantamweight title challenger, Valentina ‘Bullet’ Shevchenko as she faces the former strawweight champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Drake Riggs - November 26, 2018

There have been plenty of issues over the years regarding the technical aspects of how the UFC operates. One of which that has never been addressed, however, is the glove style. When it comes to being an issue, the main reason that the UFC gloves have been problematic in their existence is that of the fact that they don’t really prevent any chance of eye poking. Some may even say that they are helping the chance of it, especially when compared to some other organization’s gloves.

Drake Riggs - November 26, 2018

There has been plenty of speculation regarding what will be next for the UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov after his big title defending victory against Conor McGregor at UFC 229. Well, the boss has given us some clarity. Since the conclusion of the event, we’ve seen boxing matches with Floyd Mayweather get teased and even a report for a bout with Georges St-Pierre being in the works.

Thomas Taylor - November 26, 2018

It’s an exciting time to be an MMA fan. While the UFC remains the biggest promotion on the planet, other promotions such as Bellator MMA and ONE Championship are gaining a real footholds, while new promotions like Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy MMA continue to pop up. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan has taken notice of these promotions. Speaking on a recent Fight Companion episode of his popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast, he gave his take on a number of the UFC’s competitors.