MMA News

Tom Taylor - July 12, 2018

Earlier this week, on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Yoel Romero’s manager Malki Kawa confirmed that, after a pair of weight-cutting blunders, the long-time middleweight contender plans to move to light heavyweight. The hope, Kawa said, was for Romero to meet Daniel Cormier in a light heavyweight title fight in his first fight back in the division. “So we are talking to UFC about him moving up to light heavyweight,” Kawa said. “And I think what we’re going to propose to them — well to be honest they offered us the Gustafsson fight and we accepted it. But Gustafsson needed to fight in August and Yoel wanted to fight later because he has to have surgery, he broke his orbital. So there are talks for him to fight at light heavyweight.”

Tom Taylor - July 12, 2018

At this point, most fight fans know that UFC President Dana White and former UFC heavyweight turned podcaster Brendan Schaub are not fond of one another. This week, their tense relationship resulted in yet another skirmish — in the comments section on an Israel Adesanya Instagram post… It began when Schaub gave his take on the ability of elite kickboxers to transition to MMA. Adesanya, who is a kickboxing transplant himself, shared a clip of this segment of Schaub’s podcast, insinuating that he disagreed with what Schaub was saying.

Tom Taylor - July 12, 2018

Last night, UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg began to call for a super fight with Amanda Nunes at UFC 228 on September 8. I agreed for second time , fight Amanda Nunes September 8 #UFCdallas #UFC228 my last fight was 4 months ago. I’m ready to fight.

Tom Taylor - July 12, 2018

Sorry, Demetrious Johnson. According to the new UFC rankings, which have been updated in the wake of Saturday’s UFC 226 card, Daniel Cormier is the UFC’s new pound-for-pound king. These updated UFC rankings also featured some other interesting changes.

Drake Riggs - July 11, 2018

Daniel Cormier is currently the hottest commodity in the MMA world. And after becoming a dual-division champion at UFC 226, rightfully so. Everyone has their eyes on the light heavyweight and heavyweight titleholder and that ranges from fans to fighters. Some of which being former fighters looking to return like Brock Lesnar and currently active fighters looking to enter into one of Cormier’s divisions.

Jason Kindschy - July 11, 2018

BJPENN.COM Radio is back again, Penn Nation! Our guest for this episode is one of the most talked about and polarizing athletes in the sport today, a good friend the show and the UFC’s interim welterweight champ, Colby “Chaos” Covington. Currently on a victory lap back home in Oregon after defeating Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225, Colby is now solely focused on unifying the titles against his arch rival Tyron Woodley. However, as he always does, Covington has plenty to say on a variety of topics to share with us as. We’ll get an update on the looming fight against Woodley, his reaction to UFC 226, his beef with recent UFC Hall of Fame inductee Matt Serra, and when we can expect to see Colby at the Whitehouse shaking hands with Donald Trump. All that and much more!

Drake Riggs - July 11, 2018

One season of The Ultimate Fighter concluded last week so now it’s onto the next. With potentially the next season being the show’s last, we’re getting heavy hitters. At the TUF 27 Finale this past Friday, it was announced that the coaches for TUF 28 would be UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and his next challenger Kelvin Gastelum. Both Whittaker and Gastelum are past winners of TUF. Gastelum on season 17 and Whittaker on TUF: The Smashes.

Drake Riggs - July 11, 2018

Colby Covington calls Daniel Cormier the greatest fighter of all time… pic.twitter.com/UUs0yM7DMn — Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) July 11, 2018

Tom Taylor - July 11, 2018

Israel Adesanya, who thumped Brad Tavares in the TUF 27 Finale main event, and Paulo Costa, who smoked Uriah Hall on the UFC 226 undercard, are two of the fastest rising stars in the UFC middleweight division. In fact, they’re two of the fastest rising stars in any UFC division. Given that they both picked up decisive wins over established UFC middleweights last weekend, many fans and pundits began calling for a matchup between them. Apparently, however, any potential fight between the pair is likely to occur later on.

Tom Taylor - July 11, 2018

Undefeated featherweight contender Brian Ortega was supposed to battle divisional champ Max Holloway for the title in the co-main event of last weekend’s stacked UFC 226 card. Regrettably, this plan was derailed when Holloway was forced off the card at the last minute — allegedly with concussion-like symptoms, though UFC President Dana White has suggested other issues could have been at play. “It’s a weird situation,” White said at the UFC 226 pre-fight press conference. “Some people think it’s concussion-related and some people think it’s weight-cut related.

Tom Taylor - July 11, 2018

After missing weight for two consecutive middleweight fights — an interim title fight with Luke Rockhold and an undisputed title fight with Robert Whittaker — Yoel Romero is most likely headed up to the 205-pound light heavyweight division. Romero’s manager Malki Kawa confirmed this plan on Monday’s episode of Ariel Helwani’s MMA show on ESPN. Apparently, the plan was originally for Romero to fight Swedish light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson, but the pair’s scheduling didn’t line up. With that plan off the table, the new hope is for Romero to battle Daniel Cormier for light heavyweight gold.

Tom Taylor - July 11, 2018

Brian Ortega did everything he was supposed to do with respect to his planned UFC 226 featherweight title fight with champ Max Holloway. He trained his butt off. He dieted. He navigated an extensive schedule of media obligations. He showed up in Las Vegas. He participated in the open workouts. Unfortunately for him, Holloway was forced off the card at the last minute, which meant the fight itself didn’t happen. Apparently, that also means Ortega might not get paid…

Tom Taylor - July 11, 2018

Conor McGregor will receive a pretty impressive present for his 30th birthday: a massive, marble and silicone statue of himself, valued at over £50,000 (approximately $66,350). This statue, titled ATLAS, was carved by Birmingham-based, Lithuanian-born “hyperrealistic interpretative sculptor” Edgar Askelovic. Weighing in at more than 200 pounds, this statue will be displayed at London, England’s JD Malat Gallery from July 14 to September 30. It will then be gifted to McGregor, who has already accepted the gift.

Tom Taylor - July 11, 2018

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov would like to fight Conor McGregor or Georges St-Pierre next. If neither of these stars are available, however, there are thankfully some other options on the menu. One option, Nurmagomedov says, is the winner of Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez’s rematch, which headlines UFC Calgary on July 28.

Mike Pendleton - July 10, 2018

It was the ever-lasting shadow of the bad boy former UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones that everyone who consumed the UFC seemed to love and forgive no matter what. For the fans, there was nothing that Jones could do that would turn them away and through it all, his bitter rival stood across from him. That rival, Daniel Cormier, was a former Olympic medalist, a collegiate champion wrestler, a former Strikeforce heavyweight champion, and the only one standing in his way of the UFC light heavyweight championship was Jones.

Tom Taylor - July 10, 2018

Nick Diaz’s legal situation has gotten amply worse. According to a report from MMAjunkie, the former Strikeforce welterweight champ and UFC welterweight title challenger has been hit with two new charges in an amended complaint filed by prosecutors from the Clark County District Attorney’s office. They are: “an additional felony count of battery constituting domestic violence by strangulation, and felony battery domestic violence resulting in substantial bodily harm.”

Tom Taylor - July 10, 2018

Saturday was a great night, but not just for me at the @americankickboxingacademy we are a family. Here is @officialcainvelasquez , @slikbxr and @iamthebay watching the fight in the locker room. I love my team ! The best gym in the world AKA! Go to @iamthebay YouTube page for bts pic.twitter.com/VoQGohclW0 — Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) July 10, 2018

Tom Taylor - July 10, 2018

Francis Ngannou’s UFC 226 battle with Derrick Lewis was an undeniable disappointment, as he failed to mount any meaningful offense over the course of the three-round fight, and ultimately lost a unanimous decision as a result. After a brief period of silence, a disappointed Ngannou took to social media to explain his performance. Apparently, he let the residual nerves from his last fight — a decisive decision loss to Stipe Miocic — affect the way he fought at UFC 226.