MMA News

Tom Taylor - May 11, 2018

Tomorrow night, the UFC will take over Rio de Janeiro’s Jeunesse Arena with UFC 224. On Friday morning, the 26 fighters on the card’s 13-fight bill took to the scales to weigh in for their imminent battles. As always, the weigh-ins included a high dose of drama. This time, that drama came courtesy of grappling star Mackenzie Dern.

Tom Taylor - May 11, 2018

Tony Ferguson’s year has not been off to a great start. Though he was scheduled for a UFC 223 lightweight title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, he was unfortunately forced out of the bout at the last minute when he sustained a knee injury whilst taking care of some media obligations for the card. With his lightweight title dreams temporarily dashed, Ferguson went under the knife in an effort to repair his injured knee.

Tom Taylor - May 11, 2018

Last night, after much back-and-forth, we learned that a rematch between former UFC lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez and surging contender Dustin Poirier will officially go down this July 28 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The negotiations for this fight were not exactly breezy, but both fighters have agreed to it, and it’s a go. https://twitter.com/Ealvarezfight/status/994599154419752961

Drake Riggs - May 10, 2018

Just when you thought that things couldn’t get any crazier during a fight week after UFC 223’s incident, reports of a scary situation have been brought to light. UFC 224 takes place this Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and ESPN’s Brett Okamoto has reported that several UFC employees and associates of UFC 224 were held at gunpoint near the event’s host hotel, the Windsor Marapendi.

Drake Riggs - May 10, 2018

https://twitter.com/btbshowtime/status/994625993561305088 “Well, the rumor going around is that it’s going to be Nate Diaz vs GSP [Georges St-Pierre] in Los Angeles. I don’t think so. From what I hear, GSP doesn’t want that Nate Diaz fight. For him to make 155 [pounds], which him and Nate Diaz would fight at in Los Angeles, it’s too much of a cut.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

If things had gone according to the initial plan, Leslie Smith would have fought Aspen Ladd on the undercard of April’s UFC Atlantic City card. Regrettably, things took an incredibly ugly turn at the last minute, and the end result was Smith’s release from the UFC. The trouble began when Ladd missed weight for the fight, tipping the scales 1.8 pounds over the bantamweight limit. Despite this hiccup, Smith was willing to take the fight, but she wanted to hash out a new deal with the UFC first, as her bout with Ladd marked the last obligation on her current contract. Unfortunately, the UFC instead opted to buy out Smith’s contract, paying the bantamweight her show and win money, and ending her UFC career on the spot…

Drake Riggs - May 10, 2018

The news that’s gotten most of the buzz lately is that of a potential Nate Diaz vs Georges St-Pierre fight in which Dana White confirmed is what he would like to add to UFC 227 in Los Angeles, California on August 4th. While the fight between the former two-division UFC champion and The Ultimate Fighter season 5 winner has yet to be made official, the news alone of it being in the works has confused people to an extent. One of which being a close friend and former training partner of GSP’s at TriStar, retired UFC veteran turned analyst, Kenny Florian.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

On June 9, in the co-main event of UFC 225, top welterweight contenders Colby Covington and Rafael dos Anjos will battle for the interim welterweight title. While this matchup seems to have many fans and pundits divided, Covington’s friend and training partner Jorge Masvidal feels dos Anjos is in for a tough night.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

Former UFC flyweight title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi has looked absolutely unstoppable since parting ways with the promotion, rattling off five-straight victories in the Rizin Fighting Federation ring — many of which have come against significantly larger foes.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

Earlier this month, it was reported that the UFC’s July 28 return to Calgary, Alberta, Canada could be headlined by a rematch between top lightweight contenders Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier. While these reports were met with heaps of excitement, it then sounded as though the fight wouldn’t be happening after all, as Alvarez assured MMA Fighting‘s Ariel Helwani that he wouldn’t be competing until he worked out a new deal with the UFC.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

For a fleeting moment earlier this year, it sounded as though UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw would drop down to flyweight to battle dominating divisional champ Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in an incredible superfight. Regrettably, negotiations for this endlessly compelling contest stalled, and ultimately flat-lined.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

Over the last few months, former UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping has been searching for a suitable opponent for the final fight of his illustrious career. During that time, the British legend has been linked to fights with Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, and Luke Rockhold, and called out by everyone from Brad Tavares to Gokhan Saki. From the sounds of it, however, Bisping might not return to the cage at all, and opt instead to ease into his well-deserved retirement.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

Back in November, in the co-main event of UFC 217, TJ Dillashaw stepped into the cage with Cody Garbrandt in an attempt to reclaim the UFC bantamweight title. In the second round, Dillashaw succeeded on this mission, putting his rival down with a crackling combination.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

Several months ago, on a March episode of BJ Penn Radio, Jorge Masvidal shared a story of yet another heated run-in with former UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping (read that here). During this incident, which occurred in Shanghai, China, Masvidal alleges that Bisping went off on him, blasting him with a profanity-laced tirade. This week, on the latest episode of The MMA Hour, Masvidal once again recounted this story. Not long thereafter, Bisping shared his side of the encounter on his podcast Believe You Me.

Jason Kindschy - May 9, 2018

BJPENN.COM Radio is back in action, Penn Nation! We kick things off with UFC bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw. Last time the champ joined us, the super-fight against “Mighty Mouse” was all but finalized. Since then, the matchup has been shelved and TJ now faces former champion and rival Cody Garbrandt in a rematch at UFC 227 on August 4th. We’ll get TJ’s perspective on what went wrong with negotiations to fight Demetrious and if he feels that fight will eventually materialize. We’ll also preview the second bout with Cody, get TJ’s pick for the Lomachenko vs Linares fight this weekend, and much more.

Drake Riggs - May 9, 2018

It’s hard to argue that there is a fighter that has been more impressive than Kyoji Horiguchi in their post-UFC career. Since losing for only the second time in his career to UFC flyweight king, Demetrious Johnson, Horiguchi has rattled off nine straight victories with five finishes in a row(4 KO/TKO, 1 submission). More impressively, those recent five have been at bantamweight rather than his UFC divisional home of 125 pounds. And now it looks like Horiguchi plans on impressing in even more ways as BJPenn.com’s own Jason Kindschy is reporting that Rizin is planning for Horiguchi to enter their kickboxing Grand Prix with the hopes of him and Tensin Nasukawa facing off.

Tom Taylor - May 9, 2018

Kickboxing legend Gokhan Saki, who made his UFC debut in September with a first-round demolition of Henrique da Silva, might just be the most accomplished striker to ever set foot in the Octagon. As such, his opinions on the UFC’s other striking specialists are particularly interesting. In a Wednesday interview with BJPenn.com’s Jason Kindschy, Saki was asked to size up the UFC’s other striking experts. Let’s just say his answer reflected his tremendous confidence in his own abilities.

Tom Taylor - May 9, 2018

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has been trying to find a suitable opponent for his retirement fight for some time, but seems to be having a little bit of difficulty doing so. Kickboxing legend Gokhan Saki, who is now firmly embedded as a member of the UFC light heavyweight roster, is hoping to make the search a little easier for the former middleweight champ. Shortly after Bisping took to Twitter to ask the fans who they wanted to see him fight in his final bout, Saki threw his own name in the hat.