MMA News

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

UFC 230 was a big night for the UFC middleweight division. First, we saw undefeated striking sensation Israel Adesanya burst into the division’s top-10 with a first-round dissection of Derek Brunson. Then, an hour or so later, we saw former Strikeforce middleweight champ Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza surge back into title contention with a jaw-dropping third-round knockout of former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman. While Adesanya and Jacare both impressed the MMA community at UFC 230, it turns out that the former did not really impress the latter.

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

On Friday night (Friday morning in North America), in the main event of ONE: HEART OF THE LION in Singapore, ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano Fernandes will attempt to unify his undisputed title with the interim title currently owned by Kevin Belingon. As this challenge bears down, the dominant ONE Championship bantamweight king is dialed in on the task at hand.

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is now a ONE Championship fighter, and it’s becoming clearer and clearer that he’s a perfect fit for the promotion. Mere weeks into his time as a ONE Championship fighter, he’s already being pushed by the full muscle of the promotion’s substantial marketing department. Given that he occasionally felt a little under-promoted by the UFC, he’s very excited about this. “It feels good,” Demetrious Johnson told BJPENN.COM in Singapore this week. “I think with the UFC, their model is different than ONE Championship’s is. They’re looking for the next big star and trying to push out that next pay-per-view. And that’s what the North American audience wants. They want to see confrontation.”

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

Earlier this week, ONE Championship featherweight contender Christian Lee hopped on a plane to Singapore to support his sister Angela in her ONE: HEART OF THE LION main event showdown with Xiong Jing Nan. Unfortunately, the ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion was forced out of this main event battle with an injury while her brother was making his transpacific journey. Christian Lee was understandably quite disappointed to hear that his sister would not be able to compete in the ONE: HEART OF THE LION main event as planned. In a strange twist of fate, however, his sister’s bad break ultimately resulted in an interesting opportunity for him.

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

After the UFC attempted once again to set up Yoel Romero vs Paulo Costa, it fell through and now Romero wants to face Anderson “The Spider” Silva. According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, the UFC was planning to book Romero vs Costa as the main event of the UFC’s first event on ESPN+ which will take place on January 19 in Brooklyn, New York.

Tom Taylor - November 7, 2018

ONE Champion is welcoming Eddie Alvarez to its roster in style, having recently announced that the former UFC and Bellator lightweight titleholder will make his promotional debut as part of a wild, eight-man Lightweight Grand Prix. Like most combat sports fans, Eddie Alvarez was thrilled to learn about this upcoming tournament.

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

The Singapore based MMA promotion ONE Championship is only just beginning with their continuation of big-name acquisitions as former UFC and Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate has joined their staff. ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced the addition of Tate late on Thursday night.

Tom Taylor - November 7, 2018

The end is nigh for the UFC flyweight division. Earlier this week, FloCombat reported that the promotion will soon be pulling the plug on its lightest mens’ division, and that many of the fighters on the promotion’s flyweight roster will not be given the chance to move up to the bantamweight division. Shortly thereafter, UFC flyweights such as Jose Torres, Jared Brooks and Justin Scoggins all reported that they have been released from their contracts.

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

https://twitter.com/MMAjunkie/status/1060270140405637121?s=19 “This is my last fight at 170 [pounds]. This is it. Going back to [1]55. I’m going to get the belt, it’s time. It’s time. It’s the last thing I gotta do. It’s time.

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

WWE star and former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar will indeed be returning to the Octagon at some point in the future. But he’ll also be staying in the ring. A few months ago Lesnar lost his Universal WWE championship which led us to the confirmation that he would definitely be making his way back to the MMA world.

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

This Friday night the World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation is set to hold their very first event. However, it won’t be headlined by its original main event. Originally, the inaugural show for the WBKFF was to feature in its main event a middleweight showdown between former Bellator standout “Irish” Brennan Ward and former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks.

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

Just when you thought that UFC 233 couldn’t be getting a better building start, we get one hell of a bantamweight matchup thrown into the mix. It will have been two years once the end of December rolls around that we’ll have seen the former bantamweight king Dominick Cruz (22-2) compete inside the Octagon.

Mike Straus - November 7, 2018

The UFC brings it back to where it all began – Denver, Colorado which will serve as the backdrop for the promotions 25th-anniversary event that goes down this Saturday night. Denver – With MMA events seemingly every weekend it can be an arduous task trying psych yourself up for some of the smaller Fight Night cards. With the big year-end PPV card approaching and Jon Jones returning to the Octagon again, UFC Denver could easily fall between the proverbial cracks.

Cole Shelton - November 7, 2018

One of MMA’s best overall prospects, Bellator featherweight Aaron Pico has set the world on fire. Now he will be making his return to the cage on Jan. 26. Sources confirmed the news with BJPenn.com earlier today. The card is set to take place at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Pico’s opponent is expected to be Henry Corrales.

Tom Taylor - November 7, 2018

Speaking in a Wednesday afternoon Instagram post, undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. made the announcement that his recently announced RIZIN Fighting Federation showdown with kickboxing star Tenshin Nasukawa, scheduled for December 31 in Tokyo, is cancelled. Or, perhaps it’s most accurate to say it was never really on. At least not from Mayweather’s vantage point. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp49AUphcLu/

BJPENN.COM Staff - November 7, 2018

Former PXC Welterweight Champion Zebaztian Kadestam knows he has to weather an early storm when he takes on the unbeaten Tyler McGuire for the vacant ONE Welterweight World Title in the main event of ONE: WARRIOR’S DREAM on 17 November at Stadium Istora in Jakarta, Indonesia. Kadestam, 28, is coming off a huge third round stoppage victory over Agilan Thani this past July. Nicknamed as “The Bandit”, the Swedish striker says he’s been training for the kind of style that McGuire brings to the table.

Tom Taylor - November 7, 2018

At a Wednesday afternoon press conference in Singapore, ONE Championship announced plans for a Flyweight Grand Prix. This intriguing flyweight tournament is expected to feature stars such as reigning ONE flyweight champ Geje Eustaquio, former champions Adriano Moraes and Kairat Akhmetov, rising contender Danny Kingad, and of course, new ONE Championship athlete Demetrious Johnson. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp3qsDKhUCi/

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

ONE Championship’s biggest all-time acquisitions in former UFC champions Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez now know when their promotional debuts will take place. Interestingly enough, they won’t be coming in your basic format but instead, tournament style as ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced via Instagram.