MMA News

Drake Riggs - January 12, 2018

The last time we saw Brazil’s current best middleweight contender, Jacare Souza, he was on the receiving end of a rather astonishing upset loss. He took on the now champion, Robert Whittaker at UFC on Fox 24 last April and lost by second-round knockout. This was the first time Jacare had really ever been beaten in such a surprising and dominant fashion. After the fight, Jacare required surgery on a pectoral muscle that was a lingering issue prior to his fight before Whittaker against Tim Boetsch. Thus making the struggles all the more difficult as he told MMAFighting: ”I thought about stop fighting because it was a long surgery. When I came back to training, seven months later, my trainer asked me to run for 10 minutes, and I called him back, ‘Brother, I can’t even run for five minutes, it hurts so bad and I’m tired’ [laughs]. It was complicated for me to return. I was thinking about retirement. It was really hard,” he continued. “I thought about it for a while, it was too complicated. I had to undergo surgery many times. I had never suffered any injury throughout my career, was always healthy, and all of a sudden I had a lot of injuries. I said, ‘Man, I don’t want to go to the surgery table and go through all this again.’

Drake Riggs - January 12, 2018

Everyone was expecting that the highly anticipated welterweight title fight between Rory MacDonald and the champion, Douglas Lima was going to headline their big January 20th show. I mean, the welterweights are even highlighted on the poster as if they are the main event. But just a week before, Bellator has made the change to swap the co-main with the main making the first fight of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix between UFC veteran middleweight and light heavyweight, Chael Sonnen and former UFC champ, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. TheSportingNews’ Steven Muehlhausen confirmed the change via Bellator president, Scott Coker.

Justin Golightly - January 12, 2018

Ever since Khabib Nurmagomedov put on a dominating performance against Edson Barboza, he’s continued to dominate headlines. From being slated for a high-profile fight with Tony Ferguson, to Conor McGregor’s coach watching footage of his fights, to an epic first-ever Russian UFC card, you can’t look anywhere without seeing Nurmagomedov’s name. Everyone is wondering what is next for the Russian Sambo machine, but it seems like his manager already knows. It looks like the plan is to indeed skip Ferguson and go straight to McGregor, unless the belt is stripped and a fight with Tony is for the true UFC lightweight title. “Khabib [Nurmagomedov]’s next fight, we’re not fighting for no damn interim belt. We want the real belt, or we don’t want nothing. We appreciate everything the UFC has done for us, but it’s time for a real belt. Nobody is interested in fighting for a fake belt. Tony Ferguson has a fake belt. Nobody wants this.” — Ali Abdelaziz, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager, speaking to MMA Fighting.

Justin Golightly - January 12, 2018

At the end of December, fans were shocked that Jimmy Smith and long-time employer Bellator parted ways. Although, the silver lining quickly showed itself on Monday when Smith said he’d know about his next job within the week. Sure enough, the news was released today as per an official UFC press release. Jimmy Smith just got picked up by the UFC to join the broadcast team and will be getting to work as soon as possible. “I am honored to join the world’s premier combat sports brand in 2018. It is a privilege to call fights for a living and I can’t wait to join the tremendous UFC broadcast team to call the best fights in the world. “To the UFC fans, I am thrilled to join you for this wild ride. See you all very soon!” — Jimmy Smith via official UFC press release.

Justin Golightly - January 12, 2018

A giant specimen with natural strength and constantly evolving skills. Six UFC fights, all finishes, complete with an action movie-style knockout over Alistair Overeem. This is Francis Ngannou. The next big thing. The monster who is walking into the Octagon in a week against Stipe Miocic, a fight the heavyweight champion says himself that the UFC wants him to lose. However, can Ngannou fulfill all of the UFC’s prophecies? Francis Ngannou thinks he can and he will, in two rounds at UFC 220 in Boston. “I’ve never been in that level but I always train for that level. When I go to my training camp, I train my conditioning, everything, I prepare [for] a regular fight, for the regular round fight. Even the fight against Alistair Overeem, I was already prepared for five rounds because I knew I was going to have Stipe [Miocic] after that. That is the problem because people always want to believe what they see.”

Justin Golightly - January 12, 2018

There is a UFC card in Missouri this Sunday, but the big UFC kick-off to 2018 is just a week away now. UFC 220 goes down in Boston with Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier both defending their titles against young hard-hitting hype machines. As we get closer to the event, tensions get higher and there’s bound to be some verbal jabs before the physical ones. Volkan Oezdemir went straight from a poke to an all-out haymaker to try and get underneath Cormier’s skin, but the UFC light heavyweight champion turned it right back on him. Savage post @volkan_oezdemir but since no one knows or follows you I’ll send it out to the public. 3000 likes for such a good post seems like a waste. quick point tho you’re no Jon Jones and I’m no jimmy Manuwa. And I’m a lot better than Kelly Amunson #tapmachine #bum #ufc220 pic.twitter.com/pvGpoHLE2F

Justin Golightly - January 12, 2018

Khabib Nurmagomedov and team has said that some big news is in the works. Fans and media alike specualted whether that would be a interim title fight against Tony Ferguson, or if Nurmagomedov would just be able to skip straight to an undisputed title fight with Conor McGregor. No one expected that it may also be a huge card in Russia, but that just became way more of a possibility. First reported by Denis Geyko of RT Sport, the UFC has booked their the first ever fight card in Russia at Moscow’s Olympiyskiy Stadium. “Most likely, this event is going to be connected with us. [Khabib Nurmagomedov] will fight in April first with Tony Ferguson, and then we will receive a date for a fight with [Conor] McGregor. Although I can’t exclude the possibility they will make us wait for Ferguson until September, and there won’t be an April fight.”

Justin Golightly - January 12, 2018

Kamaru Usman is frustrated to say the least. He’s campaigned for the better part of a year for higher ranked names to test himself against, but the fights never got booked. All of the big fights he’s wanted have either passed him by for some reason or another, or have been taken by Colby Covington. So, make no mistake that going into his fight this Sunday against Emil Meek, he’s going to fight the man who was willing to step up, but he’s not taking his eyes off of bigger things. Sooner or later, he believes he and Covington will have to fight. Not just because the natural progression of the rankings, but because it is written in the book of fate. “It’s a fight that has to happen. It’s a fight that has to happen because I believe this is fate. This fight has been written. How much of a small world do we live in? I was a little boy born in Auchi, Nigera, in a country full of over 200 million people, in a small farm town. To get to the point where I immigrate here, I’m in America, to where I get to college and I cross paths with the people that I have. Let’s just summarize this a little bit: Me and Jon Jones crossed paths senior year of high school. We met at senior nationals, a big wrestling tournament, and after that, we became friends. ‘Hey, I’m going to go to school in Iowa next year.’ He said, ‘I’m going to go to school in Iowa [too].’ That’s great. We stayed in touch.”

Drake Riggs - January 11, 2018

The back and forth between team Cyborg and team Nunes continues… Recently, one of UFC Bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes’ coaches at American Top Team, Conan Silveira commented his thoughts on the potential super fight that has fans buzzing. “People want to see it, I think they have the best opportunity to leave their marks on history. I believe for the weight division, Amanda is going to be extremely well-prepared,” he said. “She’s not going to have to make the weight. She’s probably going to be strong in that division. I do believe the compensation (for) the strength that comes from Cyborg definitely will be the tools that Amanda has on her side. I think it’s the perfect fight. It’s a perfect match. It’s a champions fight – it’s something we don’t see happen often.

Drake Riggs - January 11, 2018

It was announced by Invicta FC on their official website today that the UFC’s Bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes would be re-joining their organization! But this time, not as a fighter but as part of the Athlete Development Team. Nunes’ primary responsibilities will be to assist in making matchmaking decisions, therefore leading to intriguing fight card layouts and helping identify future champions, specifically looking at talent from Brazil and the southeastern U.S. Nunes fought twice for Invicta, once in 2012 and once in 2013. She went 1-1, defeating Raquel Pa’aluhi and losing a decision to Sarah D’Alelio. She spoke a bit about Invicta and her new position in this interview:

Drake Riggs - January 11, 2018

It’s definitely not the type of news you would like to receive while preparing for the biggest fight of your career… UFC Flyweight, “Jessy Jess” Jessica-Rose Clark makes her sophomore appearance with the organization this Saturday in a big-time showdown with the returning star from the Strawweight division, Paige VanZant. Unfortunately…today, Jessy Jess received some troubling news. Someone just broke into my house, stole all my housemates stuff, trashed the whole place, stole clothes and shoes from me Wtf man.

Jason Kindschy - January 11, 2018

BJPENN Radio returns tonight at 8PM ET/5PM PT and we are kicking off 2018 the right way! 8:15PM ET- First, we are joined by the No. 4 ranked featherweight in the UFC, Josh Emmett. Following his spectacular KO of Ricardo Lamas in Winnipeg last month, Emmett has catapulted up the rankings and now looks to prove himself amongst the elite of 145. We’ll recap the big win, discuss what’s next for the Team Alpha Male product, and get the inside scoop on a potential matchup with Brian Ortega.

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

Josh Emmett has been wanting to capitalize off his fire built off of the startling knockout of top featherweight contender Ricardo Lamas. He classily offered a rematch to Lamas, but it looks like both parties are moving on. He put his sights on Brian Ortega, who had his own upset over Cub Swanson, but it looks like it all of that has fell through. While everyone wondered what was going to be the main event of UFC Orlando would be, at one point it was Emmett fighting Ortega. According to the man himself though, Ortega has refused the fight. I just got some bad news like just, thirty minutes ago. The UFC was actually putting this fight together [with Brian Ortega]. Ortega and I were supposed to fight. We were going to headline a fight on another huge card and he will not fight me. He turned it down. He flat out said he will not fight me. I have no idea [the reason]. He just will not fight me. We were going to headline the UFC Orlando card. Main event on FOX.”

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

Paulo ‘The Eraser’ Costa may be wishing he’d have erased this latest video. On his official Facebook, Costa goes off on transgendered athlete and MMA fighter Fallon Fox. It’s unclear what prompted Paulo Costa to bring up Fallon Fox, considering she hasn’t fought since 2014 and is basically retired from MMA, but he had some very heated and controversial comments to say about her. Refusing to call Fox by her preferred pronoun, he even claimed that he’d fight her for free to ‘protect women’. “[Fallon Fox] was born a man, and he is a man, even though he calls himself a transsexual. It’s absurd cowardice, not only by him, but also by the promoters of any event that has accepted this kind of absurdity. He has simply annihilated the girls who have fought against him.”

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

Potentially the biggest fight in Bellator history is just nine days away. Former UFC welterweight title challenger and infamous violence deity Rory MacDonald will challenge Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima next Saturday at Bellator 192. Always in the shadow of the UFC, Lima is looking to come out on the lighter side of an organizational eclipse by beating one of the absolute best in the world. Whether you believe in the rankings or not, the numbers don’t even need to be beside the names to understand that this is a fight to determine the elite of the elite in the division. “I’d love to think [the winner is No. 1 in the world] – I think Rory [MacDonald]’s been on the top for a long time. He beat the guy [Tyron Woodley] who is supposedly the No. 1 right now – he beat him before. So he can be considered the No. 1, and I’ll take that spot when I beat him next Saturday, for sure. I’m honestly not even thinking about that. I’m just focused on the fight. I don’t really care much about rankings. There’s always going to be someone saying something like, ‘He doesn’t deserve to be No. 1.’ So, I’m not really focusing on that.”

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

The UFC’s first pay-per-view of 2018 is just over a week away and they’ve been strapping a rocket ship of hype to the card. It looks like the marketing behind it is stepping into overdrive as it draws even closer. New beer sponsor Modelo has chosen UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic to be involved in their new ‘Fighting Spirit’ ad campaign, highlighting special stories of blue collar success. Aside from Reebok and Conor McGregor’s Monster Energy commercial, this looks to be one of the ads yet. “As we looked across the UFC, Stipe [Miocic] rose to the top as one of the stories we’d like to tell and we’re looking forward to telling the stories of other UFC fighters with this digital video series.” — Ann Legan, Modelo’s Vice President of Marketing, speaking to ESPN.

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

Andrei Arlovski, Roy Nelson, Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Hunt. These are some of the names that Josh Barnett have taken out in his staggering 21 year stay in the world of combat sports. He even beat Randy Couture back at UFC 36 to become the UFC heavyweight champion. While he’s been out of MMA since 2016, he hasn’t been lazy. From television shows, inhabiting the body of a Viking, to pro wrestling inside and outside of the ring, Barnett isn’t lacking things to occupy his battle-sharpened mind. Although, he doesn’t rule out a return to the cage either. “I’m not finished with it. I still have a lot within MMA that I want to do. There’s still a desire in me to go out and fight. I know that it is going to be a much smaller window for me in that there’s so many other things in my life. At the moment, I know the desire is there to compete, but the desire to structure my life around training camps and all that at the moment just isn’t there.”

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

We’re just over a week away from two huge title fights in Boston for UFC 220. In a way, the main and co-main events are mirror images of each other. Two hyped newcomers in Volkan Oezdemir and Francis Ngannou with one-punch knockout power, against champions seemingly on a completely different level than their competition. Daniel Cormier keeps reminding Oezdemir of that fact in the lead-up to their big showdown. Against Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson and before that against the top heavyweights in the world, Cormier has felt that power and has never been taken out by it. “It’s crazy that this kid thinks he can knock me out with one punch. What happens when it doesn’t happen? You will all see next Saturday. I’ll stand with this kid and still beat him. There are levels to this game and this guy ain’t on the level. Volkan Oezdemir, you have done well but now you’re in over your head. Sharpening my tools with Javier Mendez. I am who I am because of who I am. Hard work and commitment is something I’ve always had in spades. I can’t wait to show you what we have been cooking up. We are AKA. Down goes Volkan.” — Daniel Cormier via his Instagram.