MMA News

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2018

Former Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem could be back in our lives quite soon. According to a report from Farah Hannoun on Twitter, the decorated heavyweight star has been linked to a showdown with the debuting Sergey Pavlovich at UFC Beijing this November 24.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2018

Former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who recently signed with Singapore’s ONE Championship, hasn’t had the chance to thoroughly examine the promotion’s lightweight division just yet. That being said, he expects to get very familiar with his peers in the division very soon. “No I’m not entirely familiar,” Eddie Alvarez said in response to BJPENN.COM on Wednesday’s ONE: Heart of the Lion media conference call. “Today when I’m on Twitter they put a poll out for possible opponents to fight. That was kind of the first time I understood who the top contenders there are.”

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2018

Undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather has recently been linked to a boxing match with undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Apparently, Mayweather is also hoping to rematch former UFC lightweight and featherweight champ Conor McGregor down the road. Floyd Mayweather called for rematch with Conor McGregor, who he bested in a 2017 boxing match, in a recent interview with TMZ.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2018

Former UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson has repeatedly been linked to a January scrap with former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler. As of yet, however, the bout is still not official. Speaking to MMANytt recently, Stephen Thompson updated on the status of this fight. Apparently, he’s all for it, and it now comes down to Robbie Lawler to make it happen.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 18, 2018

On Thursday, October 11 we saw Mark Fairtex Abelardo earn the $100,000 ONE Championship contract when he scored a TKO win over Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg at the ONE Warrior Series Season 3 show in Singapore. The bantamweight had already put together a memorable performance in his first appearance on the ONE Warrior Series stage. Those two wins were enough to secure him a roster spot and the lucrative contract.

Thomas Taylor - October 17, 2018

Former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez appeared on ONE Championship’s Thursday evening media conference call, alongside ONE women’s atomweight champion Angela Lee, ONE women’s strawweight champion Xiong Jing Nan, ONE bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes, ONE interim bantamweight champion Kevin Belingon, and ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong. Among the highlights of this call was Eddie Alvarez’s announcement that he plans to stick to ONE Championship’s lightweight division (169 pounds), and that he will not be heading north to the promotion’s welterweight division (185 pounds). Because ONE Championship does not allow extreme weight cutting, this would seem to rule out a widely desired fight with the promotion’s ostensibly retired former welterweight champion Ben Askren.

Drake Riggs - October 17, 2018

Khabib Nurmagomedov has been the hot topic of discussion since his big title defense at UFC 229. So much so that he’s even acquired Floyd Mayweather’s attention. The likelihood of this completely hypothetical and fantastical matchup happening is slim to none…but we kind of felt that way with Mayweather vs Conor McGregor didn’t we?

Drake Riggs - October 17, 2018

The UFC is currently home to 12 different weight classes. Four of which belong to the female competitors. That’s also four more than was ever expected 10 years ago. In the UFC, the lowest division for the men is 125-pounds with the flyweight division. For the women, it’s 115-pounds with strawweight. There is a men’s strawweight division outside of the UFC but it’s almost exclusively seen in Asia and unlikely to ever end up in the UFC.

Cole Shelton - October 17, 2018

Controversial heavyweight fighter Greg Hardy has his next fight booked according to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. Hardy is coming off of another first-round knockout win over Rasheem Jones at Xtreme Fight Night 352 on September 29. Now, with Hardy 3-0 as a professional, his next step will be once again fighting for a smaller promotion outside of the UFC. Former NFL Pro Bowler turned MMA fighter Greg Hardy's next fight will be Dec. 21 in Pensacola, Fla. for Island Fights, according to sources close to Hardy. If all goes well, this could very well be his last non-UFC fight, sources say. More: https://t.co/GJN4QKAuKO pic.twitter.com/Iz1TPeWXTD

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2018

Michael Chandler is one of the best lightweight fighters in the world. For the moment, however, he is not able to test himself against the sport’s consensus best lightweight fighter, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. That’s because Chandler currently calls Bellator MMA home, whereas Nurmagomedov is tied up with a UFC contract. While Michael Chandler and Khabib Nurmagomedov currently fight for different promotions, Chandler believes it’s possible they’ll find themselves under the same roof in the future. He could wind up in the UFC, or Nurmagomedov could end up in Bellator. In fact, he believes it’s possible the UFC champ could be fighting for Bellator within a year or two.

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2018

Floyd Mayweather saw the frenzied brawl that unfurled shortly after Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Conor McGregor at UFC 229, and he’s not impressed. In his eyes, it’s important for fighters to comport themselves like professionals, inside and outside the ring. The undefeated boxer, who has recently been mentioned as a potential opponent for Khabib Nurmagomedov, discussed the UFC champion’s post-fight actions in a recent interview with TMZ.

Cole Shelton - October 17, 2018

Bellator recently announced they will be heading to Hawaii on back-to-back nights on December 14 and 15. While both cards will feature title fights, another fight that is a rather interesting one is former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir will be taking on Bellator veteran Javy Ayala on the first of the two cards. Javy Ayala received the call to fight Mir in September and knew it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2018

Earlier this week, Alex Nurmagomedov, the uncle of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, told Russia’s Sport Express that the champion had already been offered a $15 million payday for an eventual rematch with Conor McGregor. Uncle Nurmagomedov also also divulged that the champion wanted to fight Tony Ferguson next, and then retire from MMA. “From the start, they offered him 15 million if he agrees,” Alex Nurmagomedov said (via MMAjunkie). “But Khabib said no. Let Conor stand in line, let him fight with others. Khabib wants to fight Ferguson, and then finish his career.”

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2018

Back in April, Conor McGregor went ballistic in Brooklyn, and launched dolly through the window of a shuttle bus carrying several fighters on the UFC 223 bill. One of those fighters was Michael Chiesa, who was lacerated by a piece of flying glass, and forced out of his UFC 223 fight with Anthony Pettis as a result. Given the injury he sustained, and the fact that he was deprived of his expected UFC 223 payday, Michael Chiesa and his team elected to pursue legal action against Conor McGregor. And while it’s very possible Chiesa receives a nice chunk of cash at the end of this ongoing case, he says he and his family have been faced with the wrath of McGregor’s ornery fans as it all unfurls.

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2018

UFC 230, which goes down inside New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden on November 3, is just around the corner, and the promotional has finally released an official poster for the card. Any delay in releasing this official poster, of course, can be attributed to the fact that the card didn’t even have a main event until very recently. See the new UFC 230 poster, which features main event fighters Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis, and co-main event fighters Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold, below.

Drake Riggs - October 17, 2018

It’s hard to find a matchup in the lightweight division that won’t be exciting. When it comes to many of the fighters, we’re just guaranteed fireworks. That statement couldn’t read any truer when it comes to speaking about the former World Series of Fighting champion Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje (19-2).

Christopher Taylor - October 16, 2018

Undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov improved to 27-0 earlier this month in Las Vegas, scoring a fourth-round submission win over Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 229. Immediately following his victory over the Irish superstar, “The Eagle” proceeded to leap out of the octagon and attack McGregor’s teammate Dillon Danis.

Cole Shelton - October 16, 2018

At UFC 229, Conor McGregor made his long-awaited return to the Octagon when he took on undisputed lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Ultimately, the two years off of MMA looked to prove costly as Nurmagomedov defeated McGregor relatively easily by fourth-round submission. However, following the fight, McGregor has pleaded for a rematch against Nurmagomedov. Ali Abdelaziz, Nurmagomedov’s manager, seemed to shut down the idea of a Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor 2.