MMA News

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 18, 2018

There are a handful of top-tier, seasoned titleholders on the ONE Championship roster, and Aung La N Sang is one of them. He is one of the promotion’s most beloved, revered and respected martial artists. N Sang will put his middleweight title on the line against Mohammad Karaki in the main event at ONE: Pursuit of Greatness on October 26 in Myanmar.

Christopher Taylor - October 18, 2018

A handful of professional fighters, including current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, are set to star in an upcoming mixed martial arts film called Embattled. Nicole Bosco was first to share the news amongst the MMA Community.

Christopher Taylor - October 18, 2018

Fan favorite Donald Cerrone will be looking to bounce back into the win column next month in Denver when he squares off with knockout artist Mike Perry at UFC Fight Night 139. “Cowboy” was most recently see in action at June’s UFC Fight Night event in Singapore, where he suffered a unanimous decision loss Leon Edwards.

Cole Shelton - October 18, 2018

Derrick Lewis was just in an absolute war with Alexander Volkov at UFC 229. Volkov had arguably dominated the first fourteen minutes of the fight, this before Lewis knocked him out with just seconds left on the clock in round three. Lewis did not only produce a fantastic finish at UFC 229, but his post-fight interview also gained him thousands of followers. With his stock as high as ever, the UFC has subsequently booked “The Black Beast” to challenge Daniel Cormier for the promotions heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 230 at Madison Square Garden.

Mike Straus - October 18, 2018

As the MMA universe puts the mayhem of UFC 229 in the rearview mirror, our attention shifts to UFC 230. It has become an annual trip, the Octagon touching down at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. The two previous trips to the Garden gave fans some of the most memorable moments in recent memory. Georges St-Pierre winning the middleweight title last year and Conor McGregor steamrolling Eddie Alvarez in 2016 come to mind. To think, one of the biggest cards of the year didn’t have a proper main event until about 10 days ago.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2018

UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is set to defend his title against Derrick Lewis in the main event of UFC 230 on November 3 in New York City. While many fight fans seem pretty interested in this matchup, others feel the next heavyweight title shot could have gone to former champion Stipe Miocic, the man Daniel Cormier won the title from, and the most dominant champion in the division’s history. Daniel Cormier, however, says a rematch with Stipe Miocic just doesn’t make sense right now. A big part of the reason it doesn’t make sense for him, he says, is that his first bout with Miocic just wasn’t that lucrative. Yet he also feels that Miocic’s recent Twitter trash talk might boost interest in a potential rematch.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2018

UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw is now 2-0 over his former training partner and fiercest rival Cody Garbrandt. While Dillashaw undeniably came out on top in this high-profile rivalry, however, he still feels some serious hostility toward Garbrandt. Speaking to MMAjunkie, TJ Dillashaw explained that he is still making good on his pre-fight promise to ruin Cody Garbrandt’s UFC career.

Mike Pendleton - October 18, 2018

When Daniel Cormier steps into the Octagon at UFC 230 on November 3 inside Madison Square Garden, he’ll do so looking to defend his heavyweight title against Derrick Lewis, but it’ll also be just a short moment of glory for him. Besides defending his heavyweight title, Cormier will be stepping inside the Octagon as both the heavyweight and light heavyweight champion of the UFC, meaning he’ll be the only fighter to ever compete as a reigning two-weight champion inside the UFC. The accomplishment is an incredible career achievement but in the two instances in which there has been a two-weight champion, neither fighter was given the opportunity to defend both belts. So while holding two belts is great for photo opportunities and for the resume, is it really worth it in the end?

Mike Straus - October 18, 2018

UFC 230 Is just weeks away, and while headliners Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis will garner the majority of the headlines, and rightfully so, Jason Knight has snagged three fight night bonuses and plans on taking home an extra $50,000 on the November 3 card. A proud Mississippian, Knight recently decided to change things up. He and fellow UFC fighter Brandon Davis packed up and headed to the West Coast.

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.

Drake Riggs - October 18, 2018

The 135-pound bantamweight division is one of the most talent-rich divisions in all of MMA. But currently, it feels like it’s at a bit of a standstill. Despite the myriad of options when it comes to next challengers for the champion TJ Dillashaw, it seems fairly possible that his next bout could be coming against the flyweight champion Henry Cejudo. Which in the meantime would call for some movement to be made at the top of 135.

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 heavyweight division is starting to really get fresh and exciting as new contenders are flowing into the ranks of the top 10. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re young contenders though. As is the case with the 41-year old Russian “Boa Constrictor” Alexey Oleynik.

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