MMA News

Jason Kindschy - June 18, 2018

The latest episode of BJPENN.COM Radio has arrived, Penn Nation! Our first guest, coming off a devastating third round finish of Alistair Overeem at UFC 225 that likely cemented him as the rightful No. 1 contender to the heavyweight title, Curtis “Razor” Blaydes. We’ll recap the victory in his hometown of Chicago and discuss the heel-hook attempts by Overeem that injured the knee of Blaydes. What’s next for Curtis? He believes it’s the winner of Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic, but he’s also not against taking another fight before reaching the belt.

Chris Taylor - June 18, 2018

Add UFC welterweight Alan Jouban to the list of fighters who would like to see side kicks to the knee banned in mixed martial arts. This weekend former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson sat down with BJPENN.com’s Chris Taylor where he revealed his desire to see side kicks to the knee being made an illegal strike in mixed martial arts.

Tom Taylor - June 18, 2018

The next UFC event on the calendar is UFC Fight Night 132, which will emanate from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore this Saturday. Here’s everything you need to know about this UFC Singapore card. The card will be headlined by a welterweight contender bout between rising Brit Leon Edwards, and beloved MMA veteran Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. The bout will mark Cerrone’s opportunity to build on the momentum of a February TKO of Yancy Medeiros, while Edwards will seek to improve his current win-streak to six-straight.

Tom Taylor - June 18, 2018

Late last week, a report out of Russia suggested that a lightweight title fight between undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former two-division champ Conor McGregor could headline UFC 229, this October 6 in Las Vegas. Over the weekend, McGregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy was asked about this possibility. While he assured he couldn’t confirm anything outright, he did say McGregor is training hard, and that the fight with Nurmagomedov is “brewing up nicely.”

Tom Taylor - June 18, 2018

Rising UFC bantamweight prospect Sean O’Malley is suggesting he’ll be fighting in the co-main event of UFC 229, which goes down October 6th in the fight capital of Las Vegas, Nevada. O’Malley made this interesting claim in a Saturday Instagram post, which included video of one of his many knockout victories. He did not name an opponent for this possible UFC 229 co-headlining bout.

Tom Taylor - June 18, 2018

If things had gone according to the original plan, Neil Magny would have fought Gunnar Nelson in the co-main event of last month’s UFC Liverpool card. Regrettably, Nelson was forced out of the fight with an injury, leaving Magny without a dance partner. Enter Craig White. White, who had been fighting in reputable UK promotions for years, but had never set foot in the Octagon, stepped in to replace Nelson against Magny on just two weeks’ notice.

Tom Taylor - June 18, 2018

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping is now officially retired. The UK MMA pioneer announced his retirement on a recent episode of his podcast Believe You Me. “It ain’t worth it,” Bisping said. “I mean, what else am I going to do? I’ve won the belt, I’ve had tons of wins, I’ve done everything that I set out to achieve. What’s the point in flogging a dead horse? Not that I’m a dead horse, but what’s the point? I’ve done everything that I set out to achieve, and fortunately now I’ve used my platform to open other doors. You know, you’ve got to know when to walk away. I’m almost 40 years old, the time is now. So, I want to say, first of all, thank you to my wife. Without her, it wouldn’t have happened. That’s a fact. She was incredible every single step of the way. My children. My dad. My dad was amazing. And of course everyone in the U.K. and around the world that supported me.

Tom Taylor - June 18, 2018

Yesterday was fathers day, and many members of the MMA community took to social media to show how they were celebrating. Some were being honored by their children. Others, meanwhile, shared heartfelt messages to their own fathers and adoptive father figures. Others still memorialized fathers who have passed away. Our namesake BJ Penn even got some unexpected love from one UFC featherweight fighter! Here are some of the best Father’s Day posts from the stars of the MMA world, including Daniel Cormier, Renzo Gracie, Gina Carano, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Paige VanZant, Michael Bisping and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

Drake Riggs - June 18, 2018

A lot of the late buzz that surrounded UFC 224 last month came from the event’s weigh-ins. Which of course, is never a good thing. The guilty party, in this case, was the top prospect, Mackenzie Dern. The BJJ wizard, Dern would miss weight for her scheduled 115-pound strawweight bout by coming in at 123 pounds.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2018

https://twitter.com/Jolassanda/status/1007962651849379840 Marcin Held, a veteran of the Bellator and UFC cages, could not have looked much better in his debut with European promotion Absolute Championship Berkut (ACB). Held’s debut, which occurred at ACB 88 in Brisbane, Australia, pitted him against the dangerous Callan Potter. The UFC and Bellator veteran delivered his debut win with a first-round heel-hook.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2018

The MVP KO pic.twitter.com/s2V1dsUoYz — Seán Sheehan (@SeanSheehanBA) June 15, 2018

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2018

Talk of a potential heavyweight superfight between former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has once again started making headlines. This, thanks to some recent comments from UFC President Dana White, who implied that both men want the fight. “I know that Brock’s WWE deal is up at the end of the summer, I think,” White recently told TMZ. “I know he wants to fight so I’m sure we’ll end up getting that figured out.”

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2018

At UFC 225, Mike Jackson picked up his first UFC win, authoring a lopsided decision defeat over former pro wrestler CM Punk. Unfortunately for Jackson, the win didn’t go over well with UFC President Dana White, who doesn’t seem to have any interest in keeping him around. “I don’t know what that guy did for a living before we gave him the shot, but whatever it was, he needs to go back and do that again,” White said of Jackson post-fight. “He’s 0-2 as far as I’m concerned.”

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2018

UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal isn’t particularly impressed by his fellow top-15 welterweights Neil Magny and Kamaru Usman. Masvidal went off on his two rivals on a recent episode of MMAjunkie Radio. Magny started with Usman, diminishing the significance of “The Nigerian Nightmare’s” recent decision win over Demian Maia, who stepped up to replace the injured Santiago Ponzinibbio on short notice.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2018

https://twitter.com/grindcitymedia/status/1007773336703729665 UFC President Dana White has given a few pro wrestlers the opportunity to test themselves in the Octagon, most notably CM Punk and Brock Lesnar. On Friday, the UFC boss flipped the script, and tried his hand at professional wrestling.

Chris Taylor - June 16, 2018

Former tow-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson (14-3-1 MMA) has an interesting theory on why so many fighters continue to miss weight. “Wonderboy” believes that fighters who miss weight for the most part are just being lazy.

Chris Taylor - June 16, 2018

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has issued a response to Colby Covington’s sister. Earlier this month at UFC 225 in Chicago, Colby Covington was crowned the UFC’s new interim welterweight champion after scoring a unanimous decision victory over former lightweight title holder Rafael dos Anjos.

Chris Taylor - June 16, 2018

A women’s flyweight title fight featuring top contender Valentina Shevchenko taking on current division champion Nicco Montano is in the works for September’s UFC 228 event. “The Bullet” took to Twitter earlier today with the following message for Nicco Montano encouraging the current 125-pound champion to sign the fight agreement.