MMA News

Cole Shelton - September 19, 2018

Devin Clark’s path to the UFC involved getting noticed on the reality show ‘Dana White Looking for a Fight,’ where he won the RFA Light Heavyweight Championship. Since that moment where White announced he was going to sign the South Dakota native, Clark has had aspirations to capture the UFC light heavyweight title. Clark lost his first fight in the UFC, but then went on a roll and won back-to-back fights by unanimous decision before getting his toughest test in Jan Blachowicz. Unfortunately, Clark got submitted by Blachowicz in this fight, but he’s since rebounded with a decision win over Mike Rodriguez, which occurred at UFC 223 in April.

Tom Taylor - September 19, 2018

On December 29, in the main event of UFC 232, UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg will attempt to defend her title against UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. Ahead of this fight, Cyborg has had some choice words for her opponent. In her latest verbal volley, Cris Cyborg referred to Amanda Nunes as a “traitor” for failing to properly represent Brazil — and for training at American Top Team, alongside Colby Covington, who has repeatedly disrespected the country of Brazil.

Drake Riggs - September 18, 2018

There has been little to no promotion for the “biggest fight in UFC history” outside of the commercials or little hype videos here and there. But on Thursday we’ll be getting the first meeting between the men in the main event since the fight has been made official. The first UFC 229 promotional press conference will go down on Thursday and both the lightweight UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former champion Conor McGregor will be in attendance.

Jason Kindschy - September 18, 2018

BJPENN.COM Radio is back, Penn Nation!

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

Shortly after winning the UFC flyweight title with a historic decision defeat of long-time champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, Henry Cejudo jumped on a plane to Russia to enjoy the festivities of the promotion’s UFC Moscow card. As most UFC champions would on such a trip, he toted along his UFC belt. Unfortunately, the airline lost his luggage, which meant that he lost his belt. Given that Henry Cejudo had already lost his Olympic gold medal in a house fire, this incident was particularly wild.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

Originally, British light heavyweight contender Jimi Manuwa was expected to battle former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Glover Teixeira in the main event of this Saturday’s UFC Sao Paulo card. Teixeira was then forced out of the fight with an injury, and replaced by middleweight contender Thiago Santos, who planned to move up a division to fight Manuwa. Unfortunately, that’s not where the trouble ended for the Jimi Manuwa. Days after he arrived in Brazil, he sustained a serious leg injury while sprinting and was ultimately forced out of the cursed card’s main event as a result. Thiago Santos will now battle last-minute replacement Eryk Anders in Manuwa’s stead.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is now a Bellator fighter. The Brazilian legend will make his promotional debut this December, when Bellator touches down in Hawaii, where he will take on former middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho. Having worked with both the UFC and Bellator, Lyoto Machida has some interesting insight into the differences between the two massive MMA promotions. The main thing he’s noticed so far is that Bellator’s top decision-makers are much more accessible than those of the UFC.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

Ryan Hall is one of the best BJJ practitioners in the UFC. His UFC 232 opponent, UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn, is also known for his dangerous grappling game. As such, many fans are excited to see how the pair match up on the mat. While BJ Penn has proven his ferocity on the mat time and time again, Ryan Hall doesn’t seem worried about his foe’s skill. In fact, he says he’s “not the least bit afraid” about a potential grappling match with his decorated adversary.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

It’s sounding more and more likely that former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk will move up to the flyweight division to battle Valentina Shevchenko for the division’s vacant title. Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday, Joanna Jedrzejczyk divulged that there’s a strong chance the fight happens this year.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

The UFC’s return to Sao Paulo, which goes down on Saturday, September 22, has been absolutely decimated by fight cancellations. The latest blow to this UFC Sao Paulo card occurred when welterweight fighter Belal Muhammad was forced out of his fight with Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. This news comes was first reported by Combate. Per Combate’s report, Muhammad, who sustained an undisclosed injury, will be replaced by promotion newcomer Luigi Vendramini, who steps in on mere days’ notice. The 22 year-old-Brazilian is 7-0, and will have his hands full against the streaking finisher dos Santos, who is 19-5 overall.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2018

The mixed martial arts world took a major blow to the heart this evening when it was announced that legendary Japanese fighter Kid Yamamoto had passed away at the age of 41. Back on August 26, 2018, “Kid” announced on social media that he was battling cancer.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2018

Terrible news struck the mixed martial arts community tonight as it was announced that legendary Japanese fighter Kid Yamamoto had lost his battle with cancer. Norifumi Yamamoto’s gym, Krazybee in Tokyo, broke the tragic news on social media just moments ago.

Drake Riggs - September 17, 2018

After two very smartly fought title defending performances, a necessary shoulder surgery led to the brief break of about a year for the UFC’s welterweight champion. Once he returned, it was time to remind all the doubters how skilled that he truly is. And he did just that. Of course, the champion in reference is “The Chosen One” Tyron Woodley. Despite those two title defenses that followed his draw with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in their first encounter, fans and pundits alike still didn’t seem all too sold on the reigning champion. It just further showed going into his recent defense against Darren Till as Woodley was once again the betting underdog.

Tom Taylor - September 17, 2018

Back in June, former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks announced plans to retire from mixed martial arts. Earlier this month, long-time Bellator welterweight contender Brennan Ward announced that he was retiring from MMA as well. As it turns out, both of these knockout artists’ retirement plans seem to apply strictly to MMA. According to Adam LeBarr of FightBookMMA, the pair will end their respective retirements to fight in the main event of World Bareknuckle Fighting Federation’s (WBKFF) debut event on November 9th.

Tom Taylor - September 17, 2018

Conor McGregor is currently gearing up for a massive UFC 229 title fight with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov — but that’s certainly not all he’s got on the go. On Monday afternoon, the Irish MMA star unveiled his new Irish whiskey, which he’s been teasing since he battled Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring in August of 2017. McGregor also announced that a portion of the sales from each bottle will be donated to local first responders.

Tom Taylor - September 17, 2018

Darren Till’s shot at UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley did not go the way he planned. Instead, the young British challenger was dropped by Woodley in the second round, and quickly submitted with a D’arce choke thereafter. Speaking to his cage-side broadcast partners Joe Rogan and Jon Anik shortly after this fight concluded, UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier detailed what he believed was a major tactical error on Darren Till’s part.

Tom Taylor - September 17, 2018

In December of 2015, former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold stepped into the cage with Chris Weidman in hopes of stealing the UFC middleweight title. After three wild rounds of fighting, Rockhold succeeded on his mission, stopping Weidman with a volley of fourth-round strikes and capturing the UFC middleweight belt. On November 3, on the main card of UFC 230, Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman will step into the cage for a second time. If Weidman is able to defeat Rockhold, thereby evening the score with him, it’s conceivable the pair could be booked for a tie-breaking trilogy fight in the near future.

Tom Taylor - September 17, 2018

On October 6, in the main event of the blockbuster UFC 229 card, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor will make his anticipated return to the Octagon for a showdown with undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. In the buildup to this fight, we haven’t seen nearly as much of the Conor McGregor trash talk we’ve grown accustomed to. That being said, the Irishman has taken a few shots at Nurmagomedov — even if they’ve been subtle.