MMA News

Cole Shelton - October 25, 2018

Luke Rockhold was expected to fight Chris Weidman again at UFC 230 in New York, New York at Madison Square Garden. However, Rockhold had to pull out of the fight against Weidman with a leg injury. Ultimately, the former middleweight champion didn’t want to pull out, but he had to. “The leg injury has been a f*cking nightmare, a complete nightmare. It was a misinformed surgery. Unfortunately, I was misguided by a couple of doctors, and I wouldn’t say malpractice, but it was a pretty idiotic move to open me up on the blade of my shin where they did, and everything I learned thus far,” said Rockhold to Submission Radio.

Tom Taylor - October 25, 2018

Earlier this week, UFC President Dana White suggested that Brock Lesnar could be sitting cage-side for the UFC 230 main event, which will see Daniel Cormier attempt to defend the UFC heavyweight title against Derrick Lewis. If Brock Lesnar does attend the event, it sounds like he better be on full alert.

Tom Taylor - October 25, 2018

At long last, it seems that former ONE and Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren could be headed to the UFC. While it’s not official just yet, he’s already rattling the cages of many of the UFC’s top welterweights.  One of the first UFC welterweights that Ben Askren set his sights on was Darren Till, who recently came up short in a title fight with Askren’s training partner Tyron Woodley.

Christopher Taylor - October 25, 2018

Cain Velasquez (14-2 MMA) is considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time. The former UFC heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez, has not competed inside the octagon since July of 2016, where he defeated Travis Browne via first-round TKO at UFC 200.

Cole Shelton - October 25, 2018

Canadian lightweight John Makdessi has called the UFC home for years. He has been fighting for the promotion since 2010. Since he joined the UFC, however, the top Canadian fighter in the Octagon was always Georges St-Pierre. Now that St-Pierre is competing so much less, Makdessi believes the UFC is really trying to push him as the next big Canadian fighter. He has fought inside the Octagon 15 times, and 10 of them has been fights in Canada.

Tom Taylor - October 25, 2018

At long last, ONE Championship heavyweight kingpin Brandon Vera is once again set to defend his title. The Filipino-American striking specialist will do so on November 23 in Manila, The Philippines, where he will battle Italy’s Mauro “The Hammer” Cerilli. This news was first reported by MMA-Today’s Al Zullino, and subsequently announced by the promotion. 

James Lynch - October 25, 2018

It looks like we’ll finally see Gunnar Nelson back in action this year. ESPN is reporting that the UFC is close to booking a welterweight matchup between Nelson and Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira at UFC 231 on Nov 8.

Tom Taylor - October 25, 2018

If Derrick Lewis is going to win his short-notice UFC 230 heavyweight title fight with champ Daniel Cormier, he’s going to need to make sure his cardio is on point. From the sounds of it, he’s very focused on getting his lungs and ticker to the level they need to be at — he’s just doing it his own way.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 25, 2018

“The Underground King” Eddie Alvarez, the most recent signing by ONE Championship, comes to the promotion with an impressive resume. The 34-year-old has competed in various countries and for a number of organizations. In each of his stops, Alvarez has reached the pinnacle.

Tom Taylor - October 25, 2018

On Wednesday afternoon, ESPN reported that the UFC and Singapore’s ONE Championship are closing in on a history-making fighter trade. This potential trade would see ONE Championship send its former welterweight champion Ben Askren to the UFC, and the UFC send its former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to the Singapore-based promotion. It did not take long for the MMA community to begin imagining matchups for both fighters in their new potential homes. Ben Askren himself, however, feels like the UFC welterweight division has gone silent since the news of his possible arrival surfaced.

Drake Riggs - October 25, 2018

There are plenty of personalities to go around in the UFC’s welterweight division. One of which includes interim champion Colby Covington and could soon be including former Bellator and ONE Championship champion Ben Askren. With Askren’s transition over to MMA’s ultimate proving ground seemingly being inevitable, he’s already let it be known who he may be interested in taking on first. That, of course, being the brash Covington.

Christopher Taylor - October 24, 2018

Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor has proven to be the biggest draw in the history of mixed martials arts. Despite suffering a fourth-round submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in his highly anticipated octagon return at UFC 229, Conor McGregor’s stock is still sky high.

Chris Taylor - October 24, 2018

Josh Thomson is no stranger to testing the free agent market, having competed under the PRIDE, Strikeforce, UFC and Bellator banners during his illustrious career. With that said, the former Strikeforce lightweight champion, Josh Thomson (22-9 MMA), has never experienced being traded by a promotion.

Drake Riggs - October 24, 2018

Nothing has been announced officially yet by the UFC…but if Ben Askren himself is any indication, it very well might be. Earlier today a report that a historic and groundbreaking potential “trade” was in the works between the UFC and ONE Championship. The “trade” between the organizations is an exchange between former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and the former Bellator and ONE welterweight champion Askren.

Drake Riggs - October 24, 2018

The first of two hearings for Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s UFC 229 post-fight actions took place today and we didn’t learn a whole lot. What we did learn was that the two will be required to show up their second hearing which takes place on December 10 where they will presumably receive their punishments.

Thomas Taylor - October 24, 2018

Earlier this month, we learned that former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez had signed with Singapore-based MMA promotion ONE Championship. Alvarez was instantly hailed as the biggest free agent signing in ONE Championship history — and from the sounds of it, he could soon be joined by another massive name: former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. On Wednesday afternoon, ESPN reported that the UFC and ONE Championship were close to finalizing an unprecedented fighter trade. This trade would see the UFC send Johnson, widely regarded as the best fighter of all time, to ONE Championship, and ONE Championship offer up its former welterweight champion in return.

Tom Taylor - October 24, 2018

On Wednesday afternoon, ESPN reported that the UFC and Singapore’s ONE Championship are closing in on a history-making fighter trade. This potential trade, which is still not official, would see ONE Championship send its former welterweight champion Ben Askren to the UFC, and the UFC send its former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to the Singapore-based promotion. If this trade comes to fruition, the ramifications would be massive and far-reaching. It could conceivably usher in an unprecedented era of fighter trades — not just the kind of -talent-sharing that Bellator has done with Rizin and BAMMA, but legitimate promotion-to-promotion trading. This trade could also signal the end of the long-struggling UFC men’s flyweight division, as it’s hard to believe the UFC would part ways with Johnson — still widely considered the division’s best fighter — if it had any intention of keeping the division around.

Tom Taylor - October 24, 2018

Earlier today, news broke that the UFC and Singapore-based MMA promotion ONE Championship were closing in on a historic trade that would send former UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson to Asia, and former ONE and Bellator welterweight champ Ben Askren to the UFC’s Octagon. If this trade works out, it will be a massive moment in the history of our sport, as there is not much of a precedent for major promotions swapping one fighter for another on a permanent or even long-term basis. While promotions like Bellator and Rizin have shared talent before, they have not ever truly traded fighters.