MMA News
England's 'Meatball' Molly returns at UFC on ESPN+ 5 in London
James Lynch - November 23, 2018
Former Cage Warriors champion “Meatball” Molly McCann will face Priscila Cachoeira at UFC on ESPN+ 5 in London on Mar. 16. The flyweight matchup was first reported by Combate and later confirmed by the UFC. McCann (7-2) will be searching for her first UFC victory after dropping her debut against Gillian Robertson at UFC Fight Night 130 in May. The loss not only snapped her six-fight win streak, but she missed weight by one pound over the 126-pound flyweight limit.
BJPENN.COM Radio Ep. 105 // Demetrious Johnson | Yancy Medeiros | Garry Tonon | Christian Lee
Jason Kindschy - November 23, 2018
Demetrious Johnson joins us to have an in-depth discussion regarding his UFC departure and subsequent signing with ONE Championship. The pound-for-pound king will give us the inside scoop as to how this deal got done, his thoughts on the challenges he faces against an entirely new roster of opponents, and why Demetrious believes his talents will be far better appreciated by the Asian fans. You’ll also hear the latest on his involvement with ONE Championship’s pursuance of the E-Sports market, his reaction to the UFC’s dissolving the flyweight division, and a whole lot more from “Mighty Mouse.”
EXCLUSIVE | Colby Covington names his ideal tag team partner for potential WWE debut
Cole Shelton - November 23, 2018
Colby Covington is the UFC’s interim welterweight champion. At present he’s hoping to fight current undisputed champion Tyron Woodley in early 2019 to unify the belts. Once he’s done that, we could see him in a different line of work, as he’s hoping to transition to the WWE ring in the future.
Brandon Vera retains title with one-punch KO, Eduard Folayang captures gold with 5-round thriller (video)
Tom Taylor - November 23, 2018
ONE: Conquest of Champions, which went down in Manila, The Philippines on Friday night (Friday morning in North America), did not disappoint. To the elation of the deafeningly loud crowd in attendance, two Filipinos left the arena with belts wrapped round their waists, as Brandon Vera sniped Mauro Cerilli to retain his ONE heavyweight title, and Eduard Folayang out-duelled Amir Khan to capture the vacant ONE lightweight strap. Eduard Folayang battled Amir Khan in the card’s co-main event. While Singapore’s Khan enjoyed some success in the first frame, Folayang came alive in the second, and did not relent until the end of the fifth. The Filipino champion, who is now the first two-time titleholder in ONE lightweight history, punished his dangerous foe with a stunning breadth of spinning attacks — just what we’ve come to expect from the top fighters out of the belt-hoarding Team Lakay gym.
Alistair Overeem says he 'had to Google' his UFC Beijing opponent
Tom Taylor - November 23, 2018
On Saturday night (early Saturday morning in North America), in the co-main event of UFC Beijing, former Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will return to the Octagon. His opponent in this bout will be Sergey Pavlovich, a former Fight Nights Global heavyweight champion who is making his promotional debut. If you’re not familiar with Sergey Pavlovich, you can’t really be faulted. Alistair Overeem admits he didn’t know who Pavlovich was either when the bout was first offered.
PHOTOS | The MMA community celebrates Thanksgiving
Tom Taylor - November 23, 2018
Thursday was thanksgiving, and as always, the stars of the MMA world joined up with their friends and family, filled their plates with turkey, potatoes, stuffing and the like, and ate until their belts bursted and their weight classes had changed completely. Check out how the MMA community celebrated thanksgiving — along with what some the sport’s top stars are thankful for — below.
ONE: Conquest of Champions live results and highlights
Tom Taylor - November 23, 2018
On Friday night (Friday morning in the North America), ONE Championship took over Manila’s Mall of Asia Arena with the stacked ONE: Conquest of Champions card. This ONE: Conquest of Champions bill was topped by a heavyweight title fight between long-absent Filipino-American champion Brandon Vera, and debuting Cage Warriors champion Mauro Cerilli.
Chael Sonnen rips "has beens" Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell
Chris Taylor - November 22, 2018
Former two-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen is not supporting this weekend’s third fight between Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. “The American Gangster” recently took to Twitter where he referred to both men, Ortiz and Liddell, as “has beens”.
Banario’s back in the game after receiving last minute opponent
BJPENN.COM Staff - November 22, 2018
ONE Championship’s Honorio Banario barely had time to wallow in self pity and he was back in the game. Digesting the news of Dae Sung Park’s withdrawal from the blockbuster ONE: CONQUEST OF CHAMPIONS card in Manila on Friday night, the smile soon returned to Banario’s face when he realised he had a new challenger.
Dana White says the UFC has 'huge plans' for Alexander Volkanovski
Drake Riggs - November 22, 2018
UFC 232 on December 29 plays host to plenty of great matchups to close out the year. One of which happens to take place at 145-pounds as top contenders Alexander Volkanovski and Chad Mendes face off. For the former two-time title challenger in Mendes, this will be only his second fight since returning from a two-year suspension in July.
Cynthia Calvillo and Joanne Calderwood trade shots on social media but then proceed to squash their beef
Chris Taylor - November 22, 2018
Cynthia Calvillo defeated Joanne Calderwood via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 113 in July of 2017. If you recall, “Jojo” missed weight for that contest (118lbs) and ultimately made the move up to flyweight following the defeat.
Israel Adesanya believes his next fight will be historic
Cole Shelton - November 22, 2018
Israel Adesanya is a rising star in the UFC. The New Zealander signed with the promotion early in 2018 and has had a phenomenal year. The 29-year-old went 4-0 in 2018 and is the favorite to win breakthrough fighter of the year. Adesanya went from a virtual unknown to being ranked sixth in the middleweight division in only a matter of a couple months. In his most recent effort, Adesanya defeated Derrick Brunson at UFC 230 which put him into the top ten of the rankings. Following his stoppage victory over Brunson, Adesanya stated his desire to fight for the title in his next octagon appearance. However, with Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum booked for early in 2019, Adesanya will most likely have to win another fight before being granted that opportunity.
EXCLUSIVE | Randa Markos and the undisclosed form of mental warfare
Drake Riggs - November 22, 2018
When people see or hear the term ‘mental warfare’, especially in combat sports, they’re generally going to assume that trash talking is being referenced. But in reality, there is a very different form of mental warfare that every athlete faces day in and day out that is discussed far less than the former.
Sean O'Malley is making bank playing video games
Cole Shelton - November 22, 2018
Sean O’Malley is a rising star in the UFC’s bantamweight division. Unfortunately, he’s been sidelined by a USADA suspension. He was supposed to fight on the biggest card of the year at UFC 229 but was pulled off the card when he was flagged by USADA. While this represents a definite setback for O’Malley, he’s determined to turn it into a positive.
Randy Couture gives take on Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz trilogy fight
Tom Taylor - November 22, 2018
This Saturday night, former UFC light heavyweight champions Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will battle for a third time. While some members of the MMA community have been critical of this fight between the two UFC Hall of Famers, who are 48 and 43 years old respectively, their fellow UFC legend Randy Couture is happy for them. Randy Couture gave his take on this Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz rematch on a recent episode of Submission Radio.
Francis Ngannou explains how his mindset has changed after recent losses
Tom Taylor - November 22, 2018
Francis Ngannou began the year 2018 as arguably the most hyped fighter on the UFC roster. Unfortunately, the year hasn’t gone quite the way he planned. Currently riding back-to-back losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis, the hulking Cameroonian-French knockout artist will enter his Saturday, UFC Beijing rematch with Curtis Blaydes in a must-win scenario. From the sounds of it, however, he’s in a good place mentally as this crucial contest bears down.
Tenshin Nasukawa sends a warning to Floyd Mayweather
Tom Taylor - November 22, 2018
The story of Floyd Mayweather and Tenshin Nasukawa’s New Years Eve showdown has been a strange one. The contest was first announced earlier this month, but the excitement was promptly stomped out by Floyd Mayweather, who claimed he’d been ‘blindsided’ by the bout’s promoter, Rizin Fighting Federation.
Paige VanZant gets called out by two potential opponents for UFC on ESPN+ 1 card
James Lynch - November 22, 2018
The disturbing news involving Rachael Ostovich being pulled off the UFC’s first show on ESPN has prompted two UFC fighters to call our her previously scheduled opponent Paige VanZant. Strawweight Maycee Barber and flyweight Gillian Robertson both offered their services against the Paige VanZant in separate tweets.