MMA News

Jason Kindschy - March 28, 2018

Another STACKED episode of BJPENN.COM Radio has arrived, Penn Nation! We kick things off with former UFC lightweight champion and current Bellator MMA star, Benson Henderson. Following the announcement that James Gallagher would not be competing at Bellator 196 in Budapest next weekend, Benson answered the call to save the card and now faces another MMA veteran in Roger Heurta. We’ll preview the fight in the usual “Smooth” fashion, discuss what he’d like to accomplish in 2018, and we’ll hear Ben’s interesting take on how to fix judging in MMA.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2018

Reigning UFC light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier has fought Jon Jones twice. The first time they met, Jones won by decision. The second time, they collided, Jones put Cormier down with a head-kick, though this result was overturned when Jones failed a drug test. Despite the pair’s sizzling rivalry, Cormier has never debated Jones’ incredible ability. In his opinion, Jones has never needed performance enhancing drugs to thrive in the Octagon.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2018

Former UFC heavyweight title challenger Antonio Bigfoot Silva, who was jettisoned by the UFC in 2016, is currently an undeniably brutal 1-8-1 in his last 10 bouts. And that’s not including a second-round knockout loss to Rico Verhoeven in the Glory ring. Despite this tough skid, however, Bigfoot isn’t ready to hang up the gloves just yet. The hulking Brazilian is hoping to fight for another two years before he retires.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2018

Back in November, Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s dominant reign as UFC women’s bantamweight champion came to an abrupt and brutal end, as she was put down by a first-round punch from unheralded challenger “Thug” Rose Namajunas. In the wake of this shocking, upset loss, Jedrzejczyk blamed a brutal cut down to the strawweight division’s 115-pound limit for her performance. Unsurprisingly, she’s hoping for a much better weight cut ahead of her upcoming rematch with Namajunas, which co-headlines UFC 223 on April 7.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2018

In the co-main event of UFC 222, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar was knocked out by surging featherweight contender Brian Ortega. In the wake of this knockout loss—the first of his career—Edgar was handed a medical suspension by the Nevada Athletic Commission, which stipulated he could not partake in any contact training (that includes sparring) until April 3. The problem is, Edgar recently said he has been sparring. Edgar made this admission on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2018

9th-ranked UFC lightweight contender Michael Chiesa will be watching very closely when Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov battle for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 223 this April 7. With another few impressive wins, after all, he could very easily find himself locked in the cage with the winner. So who does Chiesa expect that winner to be? He’s leaning in the direction of Nurmagomedov on the basis of Nurmagomedov’s world class grappling ability.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2018

The UFC’s upcoming stop in Liverpool, England already looks like a big card. From the sounds of it, it could get even bigger, as former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping is interested in competing in his retirement fight at the event. “This is a ‘Believe You Me’ exclusive,” Bisping said on the latest edition of his Believe You Me podcast (h/t MMAJunkie). “UFC, I’m available. If you want me on that card, you’ve got my number.”

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2018

On Tuesday, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion and new WWE star Ronda Rousey engaged in a whirlwind media day that produced plenty of interesting soundbites – and a few truly awkward moments. Given the current landscape of combat sports, it should come as no surprise that Rousey was eventually asked about the possibility of undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather moving to MMA.

Tom Taylor - March 27, 2018

https://twitter.com/jedigoodman/status/978677004265385984 This morning, we shared video of an extremely tense interview, during which Mike Golic made the mistake of asking new WWE star Ronda Rousey about her previous career as a professional fighter (see Golic’s undeniably clumsy attempt to get Rousey to open up on her MMA career here).

Tom Taylor - March 27, 2018

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has accomplished more in his 39 years than most of us could in several lifetimes. When he moves back up to the heavyweight division to challenge reigning king Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 on July 7, he stands to accomplish even more. That, of course, doesn’t mean Cormier’s life is devoid of regret. The champ is human, after all, and if he could time-travel, there’s one particular thing he’d go back and do over. It is not, for those wondering, his “Cake and Chicken” video. 

Tom Taylor - March 27, 2018

After a prolonged, bureaucratic battle with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett has been cleared of all wrong-doing, meaning he’s now allowed to fight again for the first time since his September, 2016 defeat of Andrei Arlovski. Given that the UFC heavyweight division is perpetually starving for top talent, this is fantastic news. So, who should the now 40-year-old Barnett fight in his anticipated return to action? For a fighter of his caliber, there are always plenty of interesting options, but here are three that we find particularly compelling.

Tom Taylor - March 27, 2018

Back in November, in the first of three title fights on the UFC 217 bill, Joanna Jedrzejczyk lost the UFC strawweight title to Rose Namajunas, succumbing to a first-round knockout. While this emphatic loss marked the end of her longstanding title reign, Jedrzejczyk seems to have taken it in stride. In fact, she says her life is better than it was before she lost the title. “Life has been great, better than before,” Jedrzejczyk told Jim Edwards of MMANytt. “After my last fight my life just got better. I have honest people – I’m surrounded by good and honest people and life is good. I know the value of my life, my family, my friends and the real people around me unlike before.”

Tom Taylor - March 27, 2018

Frankie Edgar last fought just a few weeks ago, when he was knocked out by surging featherweight contender Brian Ortega in the first round of the UFC 222 co-main event. Despite this recent, concussive loss to Ortega, Edgar will fight again on April 21 in Atlantic City, where he will rematch fellow featherweight veteran Cub Swanson. Given that Edgar was knocked out so recently, many fans and pundits feel he should be taking a little more time off before he gets back in there. It’s the same kind of criticism Michael Bisping received for fighting Kelvin Gastelum mere weeks after he was defeated by Georges St-Pierre.

Christine Allen - March 27, 2018

“Every single loss feels like a piece of my soul has died. I’m never the same after a loss. For me, losing is second only to having a loved one die,” Ronda Rousey says in her memoir My Fight / Your Fight. Former UFC bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey, continues to be criticized by many within the MMA community following her unofficial retirement from the fight game on foot of back to back defeats within The Octagon.

Drake Riggs - March 26, 2018

Everybody loves to be the person who stops a so-called ‘hype train’. They’re those cases where one gets to prove that maybe they’re the ones who deserved some of the spotlights over those who were hogging it all up(whether by their choice or not). In this case, it’s fair to say that highly touted young prospect and BJJ wizard, Mackenzie Dern has herself a bit of a hype train rolling and she even admits it. So why wouldn’t her next opponent, Amanda Cooper be wanting to stop that?

Drake Riggs - March 26, 2018

All good things must come to an end… It just depends on when! And the time was not now for veteran featherweight, Cub Swanson. Swanson has had twenty-two fights in the UFC and WEC combined. A fan favorite in the aforementioned WEC, Swanson’s popularity carried over to the UFC after the organization was absorbed and his name value only began to grow from there. All you need to do is look at his eight fight of the night awards to see the evidence.

Drake Riggs - March 26, 2018

One of the more underrated light heavyweight competitors of the last decade has been the winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 8 and current Bellator 205-pound champion, Ryan ‘Darth’ Bader. Bader has fought practically his entire MMA career in the UFC but has recently ventured over to Bellator where he’s had nothing but success. That’s not to say he didn’t find success in the UFC either though as he amassed a record of 15-5 with the organization before they decided to let him walk as a free agent. Including Bellator and UFC, better has won nine of his last ten fights.

Chris Taylor - March 26, 2018

REPORT | Another key welterweight fight in the works for UFC Liverpool The UFC’s welterweight division is finally back in motion as three huge 170-pound matchups were confirmed to be in the works last week.