MMA News

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.

Drake Riggs - May 9, 2018

“You could just kind of tell by my performance [if the incident messed me up]. Everything I said after in the press conference, is kind of like, you know, my feelings on the issue.

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.

Tom Taylor - May 9, 2018

After a lengthy stint in the UFC’s Octagon, Australian strawweight-turned-flyweight Bec Rawlings has parted ways with the promotion. That, of course, does not mean her combat sports career is over. While Rawlings will continue to make her living in the perilous world of prizefighting, she will be making a foray into a different realm of combat. The Australian talent is now poised to try her hand at bareknuckle boxing, and will debut under the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) banner on June 2.

Tom Taylor - May 9, 2018

This weekend, in the main event of Bellator 199, current Bellator light heavyweight champ Ryan Bader will battle former Strikeforce champ Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the final first-round matchup of the promotion’s exciting Heavyweight Grand Prix. The winner will then collide with Matt Mitrione, who defeated Roy Nelson to advance to the second round, later this year. Speaking to MMAjunkie this week, Mitrione discussed this Bader vs. King Mo matchup. Apparently, he’s got nothing but respect for Bader. King Mo, meanwhile, isn’t exactly his favorite person.

Tom Taylor - May 9, 2018

Last night, rapper 50 Cent took to social media to make a bizarre callout of Bellator light heavyweight and heavyweight star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. 50 made his callout of Rampage in an Instagram post that has since been deleted. https://twitter.com/alex_scaffidi/status/994041547422289920

Tom Taylor - May 9, 2018

Last night, footage of Darren Till teeing off on a sparring partner hit the ‘net. While Till looks absolutely vicious in this footage, it did not take long for fans and pundits to begin criticizing him for taking things too far with a seemingly outmatched stablemate. https://www.instagram.com/p/BihuSvGFRH5/

Tom Taylor - May 9, 2018

Chuck Liddell has been toying with the idea of a comeback for quite some time, and now it sounds as though he’s closer than ever to pulling the trigger. Speaking to TMZ Sports, retired boxing legend and long-time promoter Oscar De La Hoya announced that he’s close to finalizing contracts that will see Liddell compete in his new MMA promotion — probably against his biggest rival, Tito Ortiz.

Drake Riggs - May 8, 2018

https://youtu.be/1HTNW25s0M8?t=8s Darren Till has been occupying the metaphorical shelf since his gigantic breakthrough victory over Donald Cerrone in October at UFC Gdansk and now he’s very clearly ready to get back inside the Octagon.

Drake Riggs - May 8, 2018

Did you think that it was only the UFC that was providing us with an MMA circus recently? Then you must not have been paying attention to Bellator…at least that’s how it may seem. Bellator has already been known for putting on various “legends” fights ranging from Stephan Bonnar vs Tito Ortiz and Royce Gracie vs Ken Shamrock 3 to Kimbo Slice vs DaDa 5000…we’ll just ignore that last one though.

Tom Taylor - May 8, 2018

The UFC’s upcoming stop in Boise, Idaho, which is scheduled for July 14, keeps getting better. The latest bout to be tacked onto the bill is a dynamite featherweight matchup between all-heart Team Alpha Male star Darren Elkins and surging Australian prospect Alexander Volkanovski. This bout was first reported by BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor.

Tom Taylor - May 8, 2018

When Gunnar Nelson was forced out of his UFC Liverpool co-main event showdown with Neil Magny, sixth-ranked UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal offered to step in and replace him. He only asked that this short-notice bout with Magny be contested at a 180-pound catchweight, as he wouldn’t be able to make the welterweight division’s 170-pound limit in time for the card. Regrettably, it seems as though this fight won’t be happening.  Masvidal gave his side of things on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - May 8, 2018

Over the last few weeks, there’s been significant buzz about a potential fight between Bellator welterweight champ Rory MacDonald, and former Bellator and ONE welterweight champ Ben Askren. While this fight is one that most fans want to see, the key roadblock is that, even in his retirement, Askren remains under contract with ONE Championship. In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Bellator President Scott Coker divulged that he recently met with ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong to discuss a possible Askren vs. MacDonald matchup. While we already know that Coker isn’t interested in bringing Askren back to Bellator for a one-off fight, it sounds like he is interested in swapping fighters with ONE Championship in the future.

Tom Taylor - May 8, 2018

Former UFC strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who is now 0-2 against reigning champ Rose Namajunas, will look to get back on track when she battles Tecia Torres at UFC on Fox 30 this July 28. If she wins this fight, she expects to be rewarded with another crack at the title. “I am very happy to fight Tecia,” Jedrzejczyk said of the matchup with Torres on The MMA Hour this week (transcribed by Adam Guillen Jr. for MMAMania). “The good thing is she fought Jessica Andrade in her last fight, she lost that fight. But Jessica Andrade is going to be the challenger for Rose Namajunas. So I am very happy to face Tecia Torres and get the title shot after this fight.”

Tom Taylor - May 8, 2018

The UFC and ESPN have reached a new deal, per a joint release from the two parties (via MMAJunkie). Starting in 2019, the UFC will begin streaming content on ESPN+, ESPN’s new streaming service, which costs $4.99 a month. The deal will include 15, 12-fight events per year, which will be referred to as “UFC on ESPN+ Fight Nights.”

Tom Taylor - May 8, 2018

Over the weekend, reports surfaced that former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre could be fighting Nate Diaz at UFC 227 on August 4 in Los Angeles. https://twitter.com/MIKERUSSELLMMA/status/992990891865407488