MMA News

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

Pros react to Cris Cyborg’s victory over Holly Holm! Cris Cyborg retained her UFC featherweight championship in the main event of tonight’s UFC 219 fight card in Las Vegas by defeating Holy Holm via unanimous decision.

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

Pros react to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s dominant victory over Edson Barboza! Khabib Nurmagomedov picked up a dominant decision victory over Edson Barboza in the co-main event of tonight’s UFC 219 fight card in Las Vegas.

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

A women’s featherweight title fight between current champion Cris Cyborg and former bantamweight title holder Holly Holm served as the main event of tonight’s UFC 219 fight card in Las Vegas. HERE WE GO!!#UFC219 pic.twitter.com/mNFW134MAk

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

A key lightweight scrap between top division contenders Edson Barboza and Khabib Nurmagomedov served as the co-main event of tonight’s UFC 219 fight card in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Barboza lands a nasty inside leg kick to start. He lands another. Khabib is applying a lot of pressure trying to prevent Edson from throwing those kicks. “The Eagle” shoots in but Barboza is able to scramble free. Khabib with a right hand as he chases after Edson, he presses Barboza against the fence but cannot secure the takedown. Edson breaks free. He lands a low kick and then a hook. Khabib eats the strikes and continues to press forward. He gets inside and scores a trip takedown. Khabib working from top position now. He lands a big elbow and then some hard punches. Barboza is trying to kick Khabib off of him but it doesn’t work. Another massive shot from Nurmagomedov. He moves to side control and then mount. Barboza is in a bad spot here. Khabib with full mount now. He begins raining down big left hands from the top. He switches to right hands and this is getting ugly quickly. Barboza attempts to scramble but Khabib won’t let him go. More shots from the top by Khabib. He lands a nasty elbo and then works the body. Nurmagomedov with another big punch. He tries to take Edson’s neck but Barboza survives to see round two.

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

A key women’s strawweight scrap between surging contender Cynthia Calvillo and former champion Carla Esparza took place on the main card of tonight’s UFC 219 event in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Esparza rushes in and lands a nice right hand over the top. Both women are swinging wildly early on here. Both ladies connect with right hands. Esparza scores with a hard low kick and then circles out. Calvillo leaps in and scores with a double leg takedown. She immediately moves to half guard and begins working some short shots. Esparza is throwing more from her back at the moment but Cynthia is working on trying to advance her position. Esparza is able to get back to full guard and then throws up an armbar attempt. Calvillo could be in trouble here. Esparza cranks the hold but Cynthia moves and breaks free. Calvillo instantly passes to side control and begins working some elbows. Still, Esparza continues to land a lot of shots from her back. Calvillo moves to mount and then tries to take the back. Esparza scrambles and winds up in top position. She lands a couple of shots before the horn sounds to end round one.

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

A welterweight scrap between former interim title holder Carlos Condit and perennial contender Neil Magny kicked off tonight’s UFC 219 pay-per-view card in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Magny comes forward quickly. Condit catches him with a nice leg kick. Carlos attempts a head kick but it misses the mark. Condit lands a leg kick but Magny catches it and forces Carlos to the ground. Condit immediately rolls for a knee and tries to scramble back up to his feet. Neil prevents Condit from getting up and takes full guard. Condit quickly scrambles to his feet but Magny immediately drags him back to the floor. Another scramble and Condit is back up. He presses Magny against the cage and lands a knee. The fighters break and Condit throws another kick. Once again Magny catches it but this time he cannot use the limb to score a takedown. Neil wth a nice jab. Under two minutes remain. Condit misses with a combination. He lands an outside low kick. Magny just misses with a straight right hand. Condit circles out. He is having a hard time finding his rang here. Magny with a nice jab to the body. Condit leaps in with a combination. Magny avoids any significant strikes and dives in on a single leg. Condit avoids the takedown attempt and circles out. Condit with a nice left hand and then a body kick. “The Natural Born Killer” lands a spinning back kick. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

The salaries for tonight’s UFC 219 main card fighters are in! The pay-per-view event is headlined by a women’s featherweight title fight featuring current champion Cris Cyborg taking on former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm.

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

It appears that plans for a super fight between UFC champions Demetrious Johnson and T.J. Dillashaw are officially underway. Earlier tonight the UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson was live streaming on Twitch when a conversation between UFC executives was recorded that appears to detail promotional plans for a “Mighty Mouse” vs. Dillashaw super fight.

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

A flyweight scrap between Matheus Nicolau and Louis Smolka kicked off tonight’s UFC 219 prelims on FS1 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Smolka lands a good kick to the body. Matheus steps into the pocket and lands a heavy left hook. Smolka circles out and then comes forward with a jab. Nicolau counters with a nice right hand over the top. Smolka responds with an uppercut and then a hard kick to the body. Matheus circles out and then leaps in with a left hook that sends Smolka crashing to the canvas. Nicolau immediately jumps on the Hawaiian with some heavy punches. Smolka scrambles but Matheus winds up in full guard. After another scramble Smolka is back to his feet. Once again Nicolau lands a leaping left that floors Smolka. This time Matheus follows Louis to the ground and locks in an arm triangle choke. Somehow Smolka is able to escape and get back to his feet. Nicolau with another big left hook followed by some body shots. Smolka attempts to circle out but gets dropped from another hard left hook. Nicolau jumps on Smolka but winds up in an armbar. The horn sounds to end round one.

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

A bantamweight scrap between former flyweight title challenger Tim Elliott and UFC newcomer Mark Delarosa kicked off tonight’s UFC 219 event in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Elliott presses forward quickly. Mark grabs a hold of his neck and drops for a guillotine. Elliott is able to escape and winds up in side control. He drops down a hammer fist. Delarosa rolls and throws up and armbar attempt. It looks deep. Tim is in some trouble here. Elliott is able to step over and escape. Mark attempts to scramble up but gives up his back to Elliott. Tim drops down some big shots from the position. Delarosa rolls and winds upon the bottom with Elliott in full guard. More shots from Elliott now. He grabs a hold of guillotine choke and proceeds to move to full mount position. Somehow Mark escapes the submission attempt and winds up back in half guard. Another scramble and round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

UFC 219 Live Results Thread Unable to catch tonight’s UFC 219 event in Las Vegas? BJPENN.com has you covered! Stay glued to this page for up to the minute live results from all of tonight’s action.

Chris Taylor - December 30, 2017

Earlier today rumors surfaced that former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn would be returning to the octagon this February to battle promotional newcomer Suman Mokhtarian at UFC 221. If this poster is real or not, doesn't matter. @Suman_att will be the talk leading up to #UFC219 & BJ Penn is probably somewhere thinking do I got a fight in Perth. #postergate #MMA pic.twitter.com/BLtJ8PvHb8

Justin Golightly - December 30, 2017

Fans spent a year and a half screaming at their televisions and rubbing their thumbs raw, fighting their friends and random strangers on the internet in EA Sports UFC 2. Even Demetrious Johnson got in on the fun against his Mighty Squad, Rampage Jackson and Max Holloway. For mixed martial gamers wanting a new experience, EA Sports UFC 3 drops in February and boasts tons of new features along with their updated roster. One of these updates is a completely new career mode. It’s no longer just about getting a belt, you’re trying to become the greatest of all time. “What was missing in ‘EA UFC 2’ was a sense of, ‘When am I done? When have I beat the game?’ We now have a bar that determines your G.O.A.T status. The objective of career mode is to become the Greatest of All Time, and to do that you have to accomplish a certain amount based on long-term goals. You can do well in the octagon, but if no one pays attention to your fights are cares about you, you’re only going to make it so far.”

Justin Golightly - December 30, 2017

When the UFC released a video about Max ‘Blue Carnage’ Carlyle, needless to say that a lot of people were confused. We learned about Carlyle’s struggles and his journey to achieve his dream of becoming the first Orc to ever fight in the Octagon. Dana White dismissed the idea that his kind would ever step foot into the UFC, much like he did when asked if women would ever fight for the organization.  Of course, all of this ended up being an elaborate tie-in to Will Smith’s new film Bright which debuted on Netflix. The teaser promised we’d see the rest of the story and today the conclusion dropped. Watch me face off with @travisbrowneMMA 12/30. Only on @UFC. pic.twitter.com/RyERr65R1g

Justin Golightly - December 30, 2017

The main and co-main event of UFC 219 are some of the best fights all year, with the match-ups that we’ve had in 2017, that’s high praise. Cris Cyborg defending her women’s UFC featherweight title against Holly Holm is arguably the biggest female fight of all-time. Meanwhile, Khabib Nurmagomedov makes his triumphant return to fight against top contender and dangerous striker Edson Barboza in a war for title contention. It’s interesting to see Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh’s outlook on the match-ups — especially the co-main event — seeing as how he could still be a future opponent for McGregor, especially if he does end up ever fighting in Russia. “Khabib [Nurmagomedov] by stoppage in the championship rounds. He will be hit in the first but wrestling, in particular his body lock, will break [ Edson] Barboza as fight progresses. Ground-and-pound stoppage in fourth or fifth round. [Holly] Holm by stoppage within three rounds. The lack of size advantage [for Cris Cybog] plus Holm’s technical ability in striking will decide this. Cyborg relies on strength and intimidation a lot, she wont have that here.” – John Kavanagh via his Twitter.

Justin Golightly - December 30, 2017

Stipe Miocic is about to step into the Octagon with a force that the UFC is hyping more than any other heavyweight since Brock Lesnar. After a devastating knockout of Alistair Overeem, the promotional power seems to be warranted. The UFC has found the beast it has been looking for and they needed it, especially with Cain Velasquez being out and Miocic beating everyone else. Perhaps this is the reason why Miocic just doesn’t seem intimidated by Francis Ngannou. That and the fact he runs into burning buildings when he’s not fighting the Earth’s baddest men. “This is what I signed up for. Why would I be intimidated by another man? Good for [Francis Ngannou]. Let him get all the hype he wants. I’m going to do what I do and keep winning.” Francis is an amazing fighter. Him starting in so fast. He’s got great power, he’s very athletic. He’s a big heavyweight. He’s definitely showing it and that’s why he’s here. I think everyone [wants to see another knockout by Ngannou] but that ain’t gonna happen. He can do it to someone else, but it ain’t gonna happen to me. I’m the underdog. What do you expect? That’s what the betting line says, right? But I like being underdog because I shut people up.” — Stipe Miocic at the UFC 220 press conference.

Justin Golightly - December 30, 2017

From transitioning into a MMA by fighting, to being brought on to help with ZRUFFA Boxing, there has been ton of rumors flying around about Floyd Mayweather joining forces with the UFC. These rumors didn’t get born on some forums or on Twitter, this info came straight from Dana White’s mouth. It’s info that Mayweather wants stopped. He’s come out against it once, now he’s flat-out accusing White of just bringing up his name to leverage a better TV deal now that their time at FOX is ending. “Their deal with Fox is coming to an end. So, they’re trying to renew a new deal with any company what better name could they use than Floyd Mayweather? Because that’s a great name to use. I would use a Floyd Mayweather so I could leverage also and say, ‘You know what? Floyd’s gonna come back, he’s going to fight in the UFC. Floyd’s gonna come back and he’s gonna fight McGregor in the Octagon.’ So they can leverage and get another big deal. I don’t have anything against Dana White. At all. He’s a remarkable guy, a very, very smart guy. Smart business man. I don’t need to fight again. If I chose to fight in the Octagon, I’m choosing to fight in the Octagon because that’s what I want to do.”

Drake Riggs - December 29, 2017

UFC 219 is tomorrow! Which means we got the weigh-ins today. Check out all the fighters making weight and their stare downs at the ceremonial weigh-ins.