MMA News

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2018

On December 29, in the main event of UFC 232, former UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and top contender Alexander Gustafsson are expected to rematch for the vacant light heavyweight title, which will simultaneously be stripped from current champ Daniel Cormier. Anthony Smith, who recently won big with a submission of former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir in the UFC Moncton main event, believes he’s the obvious next opponent for the winner of this UFC 232 title fight. “I just took out the No. 2 guy in the world. I’ve finished two former world champions back-to-back and then the No. 2 contender,” Anthony Smith told Luke Thomas on The MMA Hour this week (transcript via MMA Fighting). “The No. 1 contender’s fighting for the title and I think that Daniel Cormier has all but left the division. I don’t think that he’s coming back to 205. I don’t know who else would be in front of me. I don’t know who else is a legitimate threat to either one of those guys, no matter who wins the title. You might be able to throw (Ilir) Latifi in there, but if Gustafsson wins [against Jones], then that’s definitely out the window.

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2018

Now that he’s dispatched of Conor McGregor, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov would seem to have a long list of options in terms of his next fight. He could rematch McGregor. He could fight Tony Ferguson or Dustin Poirier. He could welcome Ben Askren to the UFC… Yet in the opinion of UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier, a long-time friend and training partner of Khabib Nurmagomedov, there’s currently only one fight to make for the undefeated Russian champion: a showdown with former welterweight and middleweight champ Georges St-Pierre.

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2018

Minutes after Daniel Cormier won the UFC light heavyweight title with a July knockout of Stipe Miocic, he was joined in the cage by former UFC heavyweight champ and long-time WWE star Brock Lesnar. Lesnar then shoved Cormier, causing chaos in the Octagon and adding some serious zest to their potential matchup. Although Daniel Cormier was then expected to fight Brock Lesnar next, he instead agreed to battle streaking contender Derrick Lewis in the UFC 230 main event on November 3.

Drake Riggs - October 30, 2018

The biggest knock on Ben Askren throughout his dominant MMA career has been that we haven’t seen him face the very best and he realizes that. But now we’re going to get too as the former ONE Championship and Bellator welterweight king is finally on his way to the UFC.

Drake Riggs - October 29, 2018

UFC Argentina has taken a hit as Maryna Moroz is going to have to pull out of her upcoming bout with ‘The Violence Queen’ Ariane Lipski at UFC Argentina. Initially, this bout was made thanks to an injury as Moroz was to face off with Veronica Macedo before Macedo suffered an injury of her own that led to the former KSW flyweight champion Lipski stepping in.

Drake Riggs - October 29, 2018

Believe it or not, it has happened. Former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight king Ben Askren has finally made his way to the UFC. Now that he has made it, he’ll need someone to make his debut against. When asked about who Askren will fight first, UFC president Dana White responded to TMZ with the following.

Drake Riggs - October 29, 2018

After the biggest fight of his career at UFC 229, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov now seems destined for continuing the trend of landing fights that are on that same level. Nurmagomedov has always had his sights set on taking on the ultimate challenges and has never shown fear when doing so. One of the challenges he has made it clear that he would like to take on is the arguably greatest fighter of all time, former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion, Georges “Rush” St-Pierre.

Thomas Taylor - October 29, 2018

Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, who shattered the record for most consecutive title defenses by a UFC champion with 11-straight victories, is headed to Singapore-based Asian MMA powerhouse ONE Championship. The widespread feeling is that the former champ will fit in well in his new home and be well-received by fight fans in Asia. This is good news, considering the fact that Johnson never quite caught on with UFC fans. Although he was one of the sport’s most dominant champions, and the dynamo behind some of the most incredible performances in recent memory, he was never quite what you’d call a needle-mover for the promotion.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2018

By moving to the UFC, Ben Askren has opened the door to dozens of exciting new matchups, and he’s already started laying the foundation for some of those new fights. There is one matchup, however, that seems to be off the table: one with reigning UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley, to remind, are frequent training partners at Roufusport in Milwaukee. The relationship they’ve developed inside the Milwaukee gym is strong enough that Askren assures he’ll simply never fight the reigning champion.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2018

Shortly after Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Conor McGregor in the UFC 229 main event, he leapt over the side of the Octagon and attacked McGregor’s training partner Dillon Danis. McGregor then attempted to chase Nurmagomedov, but was intercepted by a pair of the Russian champion’s training partners, including one who punched him in the back of the head from behind. In the wake of this event, McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh has stated that he doesn’t fault Khabib Nurmagomedov for losing his tempter and attacking Danis. That being said, Kavanagh recently divulged that he considers the actions of the fighters who attacked McGregor in the Octagon to be absolutely reprehensible.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2018

As you’ve probably heard, it’s now official. Former UFC flyweight champion and bona fide MMA legend Demetrious Johnson is now a ONE Championship athlete. That’s thanks to a history-making trade between ONE and the UFC that saw the UFC cough up Johnson in exchange for ONE’s former welterweight champion Ben Askren. Speaking on a media conference call on Sunday, an elated Demetrious Johnson explained how this out-of-left-field trade came to fruition.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2018

UFC middleweight Marvin Vettori has announced that he’s currently facing a potential United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) violation. The Italian fighter, who trains at Kings MMA in California, made this announcement on his official Facebook page, explaining that the failed test in question was administered on August 6 (h/t Tudor Leonte of Sherdog).

James Lynch - October 29, 2018

It’s been a rough year for former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman (14-3). From an injury that has been keeping him on the sidelines since July 2017, to his opponent Luke Rockhold withdrawing from Saturdays UFC 230 bout, 2018 hasn’t been the year Weidman has hoped for. But perhaps the most frustrating part is that the last man he defeated, Kelvin Gastelum, is fighting for the middleweight title sometime next year against champion Robert Whittaker.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2018

https://twitter.com/MichaelBensonn/status/1056251614716157953 Some fighters just have a tough time accepting defeat, and it looks like Georgian boxer Levan Shonia is one of those fighters.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 29, 2018

ONE Championship’s Singapore events always seem to produce something special. It could be because Singapore is where the promotion started on its journey to becoming one of the world’s largest martial arts organizations back in 2011, or perhaps it’s the always enthusiastic Singaporean crowd that spur the athletes on to reach new heights.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2018

These days, it seems like trash talk is part of the buildup to almost every major UFC fight. Pre-fight press conferences, media conference calls and interviews are increasingly filled with virulent mudslinging, while incidents like Conor McGregor‘s infamous bus rampage and the UFC 229 post-fight brawl seem to be making headlines with greater frequency. For fighters who aren’t fond of this kind of drama, this can be a little problematic.

Christopher Taylor - October 28, 2018

UFC commentator Joe Rogan has interviewed former light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones on several occasions during his storied octagon career. Most of those conversations took place inside the cage, this following any one of Jon Jones’ sixteen career UFC victories.

Christopher Taylor - October 28, 2018

Michael Johnson defeated Artem Lobov in the co-headliner of last night’s UFC Fight Night 138 event in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. “The Menace” was able to utilize his lightning-quick jab to outpoint “The Russian Hammer” for the better part of fifteen minutes.