MMA News

Drake Riggs - June 28, 2018

In a scarce light heavyweight division and their champion off to challenge for the heavyweight crown, the top of the heap is left in limbo. Seemingly alone as the peak contender is the Swede, two-time title challenger, Alexander Gustafsson.

Jason Kindschy - June 28, 2018

A new episode of BJPENN.COM Radio is here, Penn Nation! Our first guest is good friend of the show and one of the realest guys in the business, Jorge Masvidal. “Gamebred” is back to discuss a recent callout by Leon Edwards. Masvidal has been planning to make his return to action this summer and has been seeking a dance partner. Is Leon Edwards the fight Masvidal is after? Not exactly. But “Gamebred” is more than willing to face the Englishmen and we’ll get an update on his plans moving forward. We’ll also get Jorge’s reaction to his longtime friend and team-mate Colby Covington capturing the interim title at UFC 225.

Drake Riggs - June 28, 2018

The fallout from a non-fighting related incident was unlike anything we’d ever seen before in the UFC during UFC 223’s fight week. As everyone knows by now, it was the infamous fighter bus attack by Conor McGregor and his dolly throwing ways.

Drake Riggs - June 28, 2018

Now that they are set to do battle, the war before the war inside the Octagon has begun between the men in UFC Lincoln’s main event. Late last night, it was announced that Gaethje’s original opponent for the UFC’s first time in Nebraska, ‘Ragin’ Al Iaquinta has pulled out of the bout for undisclosed reasons.

Drake Riggs - June 28, 2018

Love him or hate him, as long as you talked about him. After three big-name retirements these past two weeks, we now have a third. That third being one of the original cast members from the very first season of The Ultimate Fighter, Josh Koscheck.

Drake Riggs - June 28, 2018

The fight fallouts continue, unfortunately. The day after we lost out on Justin Gaethje vs Al Iaquinta, we’ve lost another fun fight. A highly anticipated welterweight scrap was set to take place at UFC 226 on July 7th between Mike Perry and Yancy Medeiros. MMAJunkie has now reported that Medeiros is out of the fight due to a rib injury and the UFC is now in search of a replacement.

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2018

UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker felt that Yoel Romero changed quite significantly between their first and second fights. According to Whittaker, Romero felt more or less normal when they first fought, and more like “metal” or “concrete” when they met for a second time at UFC 225 earlier this month. “When I was punching and kicking him [at UFC 225] he felt like metal — like a dude made out of concrete, it was a ridiculous,” Whittaker said on Grange TV.  “I fought him a year ago, and he didn’t feel like concrete. Not like that.”

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2018

If you look at Stephen Thompson’s recent record, you will see he’s recently fought Tyron Woodley to a draw, given up a decision in a rematch with Woodley, and given up a decision to Darren Till. In the eyes of some fans — and of course Thompson’s team — he should have won all of those fights. In order to avoid disappointing judges’ decisions going forward, Thompson says he plans to adjust his fighting style in an effort to improve his chances of scoring a stoppage.

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2018

Donald Cerrone’s first four fights in the UFC welterweight division could not have gone better, as he delivered decisive stoppage wins over game foes in Alex Oliveira, Patrick Cote, Rick Story, and Matt Brown. Unfortunately, his subsequent time in the division hasn’t gone as he hoped, as he’s sandwiched a knockout defeat of Yancy Medeiros between knockout losses to Jorge Masvidal and Darren Till, and decision defeats to Robbie Lawler and Leon Edwards. Having gone 1-4 in his last five welterweight bouts, it sounds as though “Cowboy” is now plotting a return to the lightweight division, where his UFC career began. He hinted at this lightweight return in a Thursday morning post to Instagram.

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2018

From the sounds of it, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell will in fact fight for a third time. Speaking on Submission Radio this week, Ortiz divulged that he’s in shape, and that he’s just waiting for Liddell to sign his contract. “I’ve bounced back faster than I expected, which is great,” Ortiz said (transcribed by Jim Edwards for MMANytt). “But I feel good, man, I’m anxious. I’m just waiting on Chuck Liddell’s side to kind of sign the contract, get this done. So, it’s just a matter of time.”

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2018

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, who retired in the cage after a November, 2016 decision loss to future title challenger Raquel Pennington, says the door on her fighting career is not 100% closed. That said, the former champ and new Mom doesn’t expect to ever compete again. She explained why on MMA Tonight on SiriusXM Rush. “I’m open ended in every part of my life,” Tate said (transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting). “There’s never a time where I really think that a door is 100% closed because there was a time where if somebody would have asked me if I want kids, I would have said ‘I don’t think so. I don’t think I want kids.’

Drake Riggs - June 27, 2018

Well, the search for Justin Gaethje’s new UFC Lincoln opponent didn’t last long. Late Wednesday night it was reported that Al Iaquinta had pulled out of his upcoming main event bout with the former WSOF champion, Gaethje that was set to take place on August 25th.

Jordy McElroy - June 27, 2018

More eyes will be on the UFC than ever before with the partnership with ESPN taking flight in 2019, and UFC President Dana White, along with matchmakers Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard, will be turning over every rock to give fans the dream fights they want to see. Trilogies, grudge matches, champion vs. champion bouts—everything is on the table when the MMA mecca begins business with the mainstream sports media conglomerate.

Thomas Taylor - June 27, 2018

https://youtu.be/wJQXthr_4F8 Over the course of her Hall-of-Fame worthy UFC career, Ronda Rousey appeared in dozens of commercials for a range of brands and products. Now that she’s making her living as a WWE superstar, she’s bound to get a whole new procession of commercial gigs — like the one at the top of this post.

Thomas Taylor - June 27, 2018

Earlier this week, on the debut episode of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans announced his retirement from the sport of MMA. On Wednesday afternoon, the former champ and UFC legend issued a lengthy and thoughtful statement to Instagram, detailing his decision-making process, and looking back on his time in the sport.

Drake Riggs - June 27, 2018

The MMA world was hit with a big retirement from a legend and former UFC champion earlier this week. Now we’ve been hit with another. Unfortunately, the story of Johny Hendricks’ wild career may be more remembered for his rapid decline after losing his title via a controversial decision. However, what he did before that can’t be forgotten.

Tom Taylor - June 27, 2018

In honor of his retirement, we count down the Top 5️⃣ @SugaRashadEvans moments. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Gkk2TXiOMd — UFC (@ufc) June 26, 2018

Tom Taylor - June 27, 2018

If Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager Ali Abdelaziz is to be believed, Conor McGregor is running low on dough. Speaking to TMZ Sports this week, Abdelaziz claimed that the Irish star is running out of money, which is why he’s “agreed” to fight Nurmagomedov.