MMA News

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

Last year, Junior dos Santos was notified of a potential violation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Ultimately, dos Santos was cleared of any wrong-doing, as it was  deemed he’d ingested a tainted supplement — but only after a nightmarish few months of investigations into his case. In the wake of this debacle with USADA, dos Santos is dreading the possibility of the whole situation repeating itself. In his eyes, if it happened once, it could happen again.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

It’s happening. Former UFC light heavyweight champions and irrefutable MMA legends Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz are going to fight for a third time later this year, in the first offering from Oscar De La Hoya’s new Golden Boy MMA promotion. A date for the fight, which will air on pay-per-view, has not been set, but both parties have agreed to the fight. News of this fight’s fruition comes from ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

Riding high on impressive defeats of former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and former Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Kelvin Gastelum feels he’s earned the next shot at reigning UFC middleweight champ Robert Whittaker. Unfortunately, he feels that Whittaker is attempting to steer clear of the matchup. “I know that he’s been offered the fight against me twice and he has not been wanting to fight me,” Gastelum said on a recent episode of The MMA Hour (transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting). “And I think that’s for good reason. I think I give him the most difficult time if we step in the cage and I think he knows that. In my opinion, I match up horribly for him.”

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

Former UFC welterweight title challenger Dan Hardy, who has not fought since September of 2012, is still eyeing a return to the Octagon. And having slimmed down significantly in his time away, he feels he’d perform much better than the Dan Hardy of old. The fighter turned color commentator discussed his potential comeback on a recent episode of The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

Over the last few weeks, middleweight contenders Kelvin Gastelum and Chris Weidman have been verbally sparring over who deserves the next middleweight title shot. Now, UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker’s team seems to have decided for them. According to Whittaker’s manager Titus Day, Whittaker is hoping to defend his title against the former champion Weidman at UFC 231 in November, which is expected to occur inside Madison Square Garden in Weidman’s native New York.

Jordan Colbert - July 1, 2018

Curtis Blaydes cemented himself as one of the top contenders in the UFC heavyweight division at UFC 225 with a dominant and brutal TKO win over Alistair Overeem. Post-win, Blaydes set the record straight. It’s title shot or bust for the No. 2 ranked fighter in the division. In an exclusive interview with BJPenn.com, Blaydes dished on this and much more. Check it out below!  

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2018

On July 5, at PFL 3 in Washington, DC, UFC veteran Eddie Gordon will debut in the PFL cage against Shamil Gamzatov. The pair will be looking to advance in the PFL’s inaugural middleweight season, and take one step closer to each division’s million-dollar prize.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2018

Mike Perry was originally expected to fight Yancy Medeiros at UFC 226, but unfortunately, this plan hit a snag when Medeiros sustained an injury in training.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2018

Forget Jon Jones, forget Alexander Gustafsson, forget Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, forget Anderson Silva. Forget Dan Henderson and Josh Barnett and Frank Mir. Of all the world-class fighters UFC light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier has met in the cage, he considers his UFC 226 opponent, UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic, to be the best of the bunch. “I think he’ll be the best,” Cormier said on the UFC 226 conference call this week (transcribed by Damon Martin for MMANytt). “He is who he is for that reason that he’s the baddest man on the planet. They call the heavyweight champ the baddest man on the planet and for a long time, guys got to have that title for a short period of time because they would get knocked off.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2018

Back in January, in the main event of UFC 220, hulking French-Cameroonian heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou stepped into the cage with divisional champ Stipe Miocic, and promptly attempted to take his head off. Ngannou swung like he wanted to send Miocic’s head to settle amongst the mess of dead satellites in earth’s orbit, and when that failed do so, he swung some more. Then, he got tired — which gave the champ Miocic to opportunity to get to work with his boxing and wrestling, and ultimately, capture a lopsided unanimous decision victory from his exhausted foe.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2018

At present, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway has his crosshairs locked on undefeated challenger Brian Ortega, who he will fight at UFC 226 on July 7. While this featherweight title fight is at the forefront of Holloway’s mind, however, the featherweight division is not his permanent home.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2018

Travis Fulton is perhaps the most unheralded legend in MMA. Although there are no major world titles on his mantle, he has fought upward of 315 times against all manner of weekend warriors, prospects, veterans, and legends. He has battled inside the enclosures of the UFC, WEC, Pancrase, and pretty much any Iowa promotion with the wherewithal to set up a cage in a church basement or back yard. In the past, he’s shoehorned over 40 fights into a single calendar year. No, he’s not your traditional MMA legend, but he’s a legend all the same. Last night, the journeyman added another fight to his crowded resume, and it was a weird one. In the main event of Colosseum Combat 45, Fulton met the errr… eccentric… Jonathan Ivey, a fighter with nearly 100 pro fights of his own. Oh — Ivey also has a tattoo of Fulton on his leg, which should give you a sense of how much he respects him.

Chris Taylor - June 30, 2018

UFC 226: Miocic vs. Cormier – How Do You Want To Be Remembered? The octagon will once again take center stage at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 7 for the promotions UFC 226 fight card.

Drake Riggs - June 30, 2018

We’re already halfway through 2018! And with that has come plenty of great moments inside the many MMA enclosures around the world. These are our BJPenn.com staff awards for the half-way point of 2018.

Chris Taylor - June 30, 2018

Andre Pederneiras is no longer the leader of Brazil’s famed Nova Uniao team. Pederneiras announced that he was stepping down as the teams leader on social media earlier today, this following an initial report from Combate.com.

Chris Taylor - June 30, 2018

Current UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier believes that former promotional title holders Jon Jones and Anderson Silva have already eliminated themselves from the “GOAT” conversation. Cormier, who is set to challenge current UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic at next weekend’s blockbuster UFC 226 event, explained his reasoning during the UFC 226 media conference call on Thursday.

Chris Taylor - June 30, 2018

UFC welterweight standout “Platinum” Mike Perry (11-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) suffered a unanimous decision loss to Max Griffin this past February in his hometown of Orlando. The loss served as Perry’s second in a row as he had previously been defeated by Santiago Ponzinibbio via decision at UFC on FOX 26 in Winnipeg.

Chris Taylor - June 30, 2018

Juan Archuleta improved his record to a sensational 19-1 at last night’s Bellator 201 event scoring a brutal third-round knockout victory over Robbie Peralta. The fight began with an absolutely wild pace as both men were throwing bombs in hopes of scoring an early finish.