MMA News

Justin Golightly - February 14, 2018

What can be said about Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson’s upcoming fight that already hasn’t? This will be the fourth time these two have tried to meet inside the Octagon, so we’ve broke down this fight over and over again. The same can be said for the fighters. If the style match-up wasn’t already compelling, they’ve been preparing each other for years. His coach recently spoke up about Ferguson’s secluded training and used to think he’d submit Nurmagomedov, now he believes it will be a knockout. “[Conor] McGregor made about $60 million his last fight. He doesn’t favor fighting anyone for $5, $6, or $7 million. He never favored fighting Tony [Ferguson] because he’s too dangerous and now [that] Tony’s name finally blew up, he’s rich and lazy while Tony’s super hungry, so no way he was ever fighting Tony. Tony’s jab and his feet will keep McGregor at bay. When we choose to, we will close the gap with strong counters from different angles. Tony hits like a truck. It won’t last long. McGregor has no chance at all in that fight.”

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2018

Last weekend, in the main event of the stacked UFC 221, Yoel Romero knocked out Luke Rockhold with a brutal bombardment of third-round punches. In the subsequent moments, Romero pinned a bewildered Rockhold against the cage, and planted a kiss on his cheek. Though Romero’s intention was clearly an act of sportsmanship, the gesture didn’t go over well with former middleweight champion Michael Bisping. Yoel Romero comforts Luke Rockhold with a kiss after #UFC221 pic.twitter.com/mv6IXxqQP7

Justin Golightly - February 14, 2018

If you’re on Twitter enough, you’ll start thinking a lot of tweets are about you. Some may be straight up intended to insult you, other “sub-tweets” could be directed at your character without outright saying your name. Now, imagine instead of Joe Schmoe, you’re a high-profile UFC fighter. The amount of tweets a day alone – positive or negative – have to be just overwhelming. Yesterday as Tyron Woodley scrolled through his feed, he saw a curious tweet from ex-UFC fighter Dan Hardy, then a big debate unfolded in public. It is not befitting of a world champion to whine so much. A champion is someone that represents courage and strength. An ability to endure difficult circumstances and push on. How is it not obvious that this characteristic negatively affects marketability?

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2018

Floyd Mayweather’s potential move to MMA is a seriously hot topic these days. Of course, it’s unlikely the legendary boxer would have much of a chance in the UFC’s Octagon – particularly against his arch rival Conor McGregor. Speaking on Tuesday’s edition of The Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show UFC commentator Joe Rogan broke down Mayweather’s chances of success in a potential MMA bout with McGregor. Unsurprisingly, he thinks they’re incredibly slim.

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2018

At UFC 223, which goes down April 7 in Brooklyn, New York, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will battle for the UFC lightweight title. What exactly this means for Conor McGregor, who is hanging on to his own lightweight belt with both hands, remains to be seen. Whatever the case, Nurmagomedov and Ferguson’s massive title clash is already dominating fan attention. Everybody and their mother has opinion on the fight, and that includes the pair’s fellow fighters.

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2018

After blasting through the 2017 Rizin bantamweight Grand Prix to capture bantamweight gold, former UFC flyweight title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi now has another momentous challenge to look forward to: a battle with fellow UFC veteran Ian McCall. The pair will collide in Fukuoka, Japan on May 6. McCall announced this awesome booking on his official Instagram account.

Drake Riggs - February 13, 2018

After a bumpy 2-5 in his last seven, Jeremy Stephens has put together two very impressive performances over the likes of Doo Ho Choi and former Strikeforce lightweight champion and two-time UFC lightweight title challenger, Gilbert Melendez. Stephens’ last fight against Choi took place in January where he won in exciting fashion with a second-round TKO. Fast forward one month and ‘Lil Heathen’ is already booked for another main event as he’s set to square off with Josh Emmett in Orlando, Florida for UFC on Fox 28. Jeremy Stephens has been with the UFC since May of 2007 and racked up twenty-nine fights with the promotion. When Stephens looks back at his non-stop action career, one moment stands out in particular, and it might not be one that you would expect. Of his forty-one fights overall, Stephens has only been knocked out one time and that was to the ‘Thugjitsu Master’ Yves Edwards in 2012. Stephens credits this loss greatly for a turnaround in his career after going on a three-fight losing then dropping to featherweight.

Drake Riggs - February 13, 2018

At Bellator 185 back in October, the undefeated boxing champion and undefeated MMA rookie, Heather ‘the Heat’ Hardy suffered her first career loss in either sport. After a successful debut at Bellator 180 in Madison Square Garden, it was Hardy who fell victim to Kristina Williams’ successful debut at Bellator 185. Williams utilized her crisp kickboxing to violently pick Hardy apart for a round and a half before the doctors had seen enough. As rough of a loss as it may have looked to the viewers, Hardy had a much different perspective when looking at the outcome as she told MMASucka in an interview:

Drake Riggs - February 13, 2018

The year is 2016, the UFC has been sold to WME-IMG from Zuffa in a four billion dollar deal. Fighters unions are being formed and trying to stay intact. Primarily there was the MMA Athletes Association(MMAAA) and the Professional Fighters Association(PFA). Both of which weren’t helped by being associated with former Bellator promoter Bjorn Rebney. So much so that they disbanded pretty quickly. The oldest of all has been the MMA Fighters Association(MMAFA) which is roughly ten years old. The MMAFA has never had unionization as their goal though, its focus has been on the Ali Act extension bill in Congress and an antitrust lawsuit against the UFC.

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

In the lead up to UFC 221, we tried to educate you on Israel Adesanya and why his debut — despite barely any promotion — was one the most hyped UFC debuts since Conor McGregor. He didn’t let any “kickboxing hipsters” who were singing his praises to friends on social media down, as he dominated his fight with surgical precision then proceeded to cut a fun promo in the Octagon. After a nearly 80 fight journey has finally culminated in being in the premier MMA league on the planet, he recently sent a message to those that closed the doors on him. “Sponsors. Shout out to the ones that turned me down. The ones that said, “You’re not what were looking for at the moment.’ The ones that “helped” me only to help themselves, then keep reminding you they “helped” you four years ago. I f-ck with Ash James [from ENGAGE Fight Wear] because he saw the potential of what I could do beyond just fighting. He bought in early and helped me along some highs and lows of this game, because he’s a good c-nt. The rest of you corporations  trying to buy in now because I’m hot in these streets, my stock is rising, it’s gonna keep rising and the buy-in rate just tripled. Also, you have to be a GC.”—Israel Adesanya via his official Instagram.

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

With Daniel Cormier moving up to heavyweight for his superfight with Stipe Miocic before his retirement, it left room for Luke Rockhold to make his move. Before his loss to Yoel Romero, he opened up about how he’s getting older and weight cuts are getting harder. He decided going up to light heavyweight was ‘imminent’. However, two-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson warns Rockhold that he may want to re-think his division and offered a stern warning to the former middleweight champ. “Luke Rockhold, your teammate is holding my division hostage and you think there are only easy fights at light heavyweight? If you think [Yoel] Romero hits hard, then wait till you come to the big boys. I want Daniel Cormier, and knocking you out will keep me warm in the meantime. Beware of coming up in weight because I will be standing at the front door waiting.”— Alexander Gustafsson via his official Instagram.

bjpenndotcom - February 13, 2018

Way back in 2001 a young Hawaiian prize fighter by the name of BJ Penn decided to change the game of mixed martial arts by creating his own news website. A lot has happened over the last seventeen years, but one thing that hasn’t changed is BJ Penn’s passion to keep fans up to date with the latest news from the mixed martial arts world. At last month’s UFC 220 event in Boston, BJ Penn revolutionized the game once again by introducing “Play By Play Radio” on BJPENN.com.

Tom Taylor - February 13, 2018

Argentina’s Santiago Ponzinibbio is riding one of the best win-streaks in the stacked UFC welterweight division, having bested his last six foes – men like Nordine Taleb, Gunnar Nelson, and most recently, “Platinum” Mike Perry. With all of this momentum behind him, Ponzinibbio is hoping to be rewarded with a fight with two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

Back in September of last year at UFC Rotterdam, a New Jersey featherweight by way of Dagestan made his debut and immediately had everyone talking about him. Zabit Magomedsharipov was fighting like it was a video game and he had all the cheat codes. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, he did the same thing in November and cemented his place as a problem to the new division. Evidently, too much of a problem. Magomedsharipov has been itching to get back into the Octagon — eyeing the UFC 225 Brooklyn card — but has had a total of five opponents turn him down. Two of them are Arnold Allen and Artem Lobov. Zabit Mamogedsharipov has had 5 opponents turn down the fight against him according to Ali. Artem Lobov said yes, but his team said no. They want an opponent for #UFC225. #TheMMAHour

Tom Taylor - February 13, 2018

If things had gone according to the original plan, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar would be challenging Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title in the main event of the upcoming UFC 222 card. Regrettably, an injury forced Holloway out of this planned fight, which left Edgar without an opponent. After several frantic days of searching, the UFC was able to find Edgar a new opponent in surging UFC featherweight contender Brian Ortega. The pair will fight in the UFC 222 co-main event. Unfortunately for Edgar, no title will be on the line. Not even an interim title, which the UFC seems to hand out like candy on Halloween these days.

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

With everyone looking forward to the three superfights that the UFC has in mind for this year, everyone was slightly disappointed to hear that Cris Cyborg was going to be defending her UFC women’s featherweight title against former Invicta FC bantamweight champon Yana Kunitskaya. It turns out it is still just a speed bump in the way of her anticipated fight with Amanda Nunes. That is, if they both win. Either way, the decision to step in and help prop up UFC 222 was strategic. Cyborg is hoping that if she scratches the UFC’s back, they’ll scratch hers. “[Stepping in to fight Yana Kunitskaya] was a great opportunity to keep the momentum from the win against Holly [Holm] and get me back into the octagon quickly so ‘Cyborg Nation’ can keep growing. I’m going to have to start putting a mouth guard in my purse if this fight pace continues the rest of 2018, though. […] When [the UFC] called saying they needed a new main event, we saw this as an opportunity to prove to everyone that Cris Cyborg can be a company girl and that I’m willing to step up when the promotion needs it. I am hoping this will continue to build my relationship within the promotion and lead to the type of marketing and exposure I have been asking for.”

Tom Taylor - February 13, 2018

The UFC has updated its official rankings in the wake of last weekend’s UFC 221 card. As expected, several of the promotion’s divisions have experienced quite a bit of movement. At middleweight, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza rose a spot as the result of Luke Rockhold’s knockout loss to the number-one ranked Yoel Romero. At heavyweight, meanwhile, Curtis Blaydes catapulted into the top-five as the result of his impressive decision defeat of Mark Hunt, while Australia’s Tai Tuivasa entered the rankings, claiming the number-15 spot. Interestingly, Ronda Rousey also dropped a spot at women’s bantamweight, entering a ninth-place tie with Leslie Smith.

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

Ronda Rousey shook up the world of professional wrestling when the move that had been teased for years finally came to fruition. She’s a WWE superstar now after making her debut at the Royal Rumble. However, any current fan of the promotion knows that there are two brands in the WWE for Rousey to align with. The final part of her signing was announced last night on Monday Night RAW by Kurt Angle that Rousey will be signing her RAW contract at WWE’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event later this month. “This is my life now. First priority on my timeline for the next several years. This is not a smash-and-grab; this is not a publicity stunt. When I first met with Triple H, I told him, ‘There are other things I can do with my time that’ll make way more money, but I won’t enjoy nearly as much.’ I don’t have words at all. I’m like — this is the most overstimulated I’ve ever been in my life and I’m just, like I’m still processing it.”