MMA News

Justin Golightly - November 8, 2017

Are you sitting down? If you’re not, you may want to and grab some Kleenex while you’re at it. Just when you thought it was safe to get on the internet, the MMA world gets some heartbreaking news. Former UFC featherweight challenger Frankie Edgar is out of his fight with Max Holloway at UFC 218. According to Combate, he suffered an injury to his face that will require some surgery. Once again, Edgar unfortunately loses out on his shot at UFC gold. Confirmed with source Frankie Edgar is off UFC 218. First reported by @canalCombate. I’m guessing Holloway stays on card, we’ll see.

Justin Golightly - November 8, 2017

Even though Dustin Poirier is about to fight Anthony Pettis this weekend, he still wants to know ‘where the f-ck’ Eddie Alvarez is. We all know the story by now, but these scrappers were on their way to Fight of the Night back at UFC 211 and Poirier felt he was on his way to a victory. We were potentially robbed of both by some illegal shots by Eddie Alvarez which made the bout a no contest. The two still have unfinished business, but Poirier driven toward something even bigger: UFC lightweight gold. “You know, in that fight, everybody who watched it saw I whipped Eddie Alvarez, made him look like an amateur. I mean the guy was two steps behind, couldn’t keep up. And then he kneed me in the back of the head with a shot that was illegal. And in the heat of the moment, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I thought it could’ve been an accident. I thought he might’ve been hurt, you know, and he was in fight mode, survival mode, he was just fighting and he kneed me. I told the crowd in Dallas to stop booing him, stood up for the guy, then he came out on social media talking sh-t, saying I wanted out of the fight.”

Jason Kindschy - November 8, 2017

BJPENN Radio returns tonight at 8PM ET/5PM PT with more of what you crave! 8:15PM ET- First up, coming off a second round finish against Joe Duffy, “The Texicutioner” James Vick returns to the show to recap the big win in MSG. It seems evident that this victory is one he’s needed to get a push from the company, and in turn line up bigger fights. We’ll get his take on the division, who’s likely to be his next opponent, and if will see Vick with the strap in 2018.

Justin Golightly - November 8, 2017

Fans and media weren’t the only ones shocked and celebrating Rose Namajunas putting on her incredible, belt-stealing performance against Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217. Former title challenger Jessica Andrade compared her division’s reaction to a World Cup win. In a recent interview, she broke down how Namajunas did the unthinkable and wasted no time at all calling out the new champion. Things just got really interesting at women’s strawweight. “[Joanna Jedrzejczyk] definitely underestimated [Rose] Namajunas. She got in there as it was just another fight, that it would be easy. She was more aggressive, but she forgot that Namajunas is taller than her previous opponents, like me and Claudia [Gadelha], and has a bigger reach. That’s how Namajunas found the opening. Namajunas trained for that and did a great job. I was rooting for Namajunas to win. When I saw her going down the first time, I said ‘damn, this will be good.’ When Namajunas dropped her the second time and knocked her out, I said ‘I can’t believe it.’ It was like a World Cup game, you know? Everybody screaming and celebrating because it’s easier now for the division to move and we have another opportunity to fight for the belt again.”

Justin Golightly - November 8, 2017

While taking out four fighters in a row and winning the strawweight tritle, Angela Hill’s time in Invicta FC was like a greatest hits of video game and pop culture references. Each weigh-in, she turned up like it was Comic Con and it was awesome. After clawing her way back to the UFC, she picked up right where she left off, laughing on stage as Sagat from the Street Fighter franchise. Her next idea to show up as Marvel’s Black Panther was shot down though, due to the restrictive Reebok outfitting policy. “I had a whole routine planned out [for the weigh-in with Ashley Yoder]. I was going to do the Jacare crawl to the scale, and just kind of come up like Batman. And be super dramatic with it, and then point at her with my claw gloves and just be really ridiculous, but then when they said I couldn’t do It I said, ‘F-ck it, I’ll just stare at her and look mean. I can’t wait [for Marvel’s Black Panther movie]. It’s going to be so good. It’s going to be great for everyone; for the comic book community and especially for the black community.”

Russell Ess - November 8, 2017

UFC superstar Conor McGregor scooped up the biggest payday of his entire career with his professional boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather. Although the UFC lightweight champion came up short and was stopped by the undefeated boxing legend in the 10th round, he still won in terms of pay. “The Notorious” earned a guaranteed $30 million fight purse while “Money” Mayweather got his demands of a guaranteed $100 million fight purse. In addition to their fight purses, a substantial amount of money was made for both fighters from the pay-per-view revenue.

Russell Ess - November 8, 2017

Rose Namajunas was stone cold leading up to UFC 217 where she was a big underdog going up against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who was looking for her sixth straight title defense. Nothing seemed to have gotten Namajunas off her focused mindset, not even Jedrzejczyk placing her fist on “Thug’s” face during their staredown days before their fight.

Justin Golightly - November 8, 2017

Absolute Championship Berkut just snagged a big name out of nowhere for their card at the end of November. He’s a former opponent of Conor McGregor and he’s fresh off his decision win over legend BJ Penn at UFC Fight Night 112. That’s right, Dennis Siver has just signed on with ACB for a four-fight contract. They’re must be a lot of ACB fighters rushing to come up with strategies for that mean spinning back kick as we speak. Ex-UFC @DennisSiver signs with @ACB_League and will headline #ACB75 in Stuttgart, Germany pic.twitter.com/ajUFovQjH5

Russell Ess - November 8, 2017

UFC President Dana White is currently in the process of getting his boxing promoter’s license. Speaking on Tuesday in Santa Monica at the extension of Freddie Roach’s infamous Wild Card Boxing Club at the Wild Card West boxing club, White told Lance Pugmire of the LA Times that he is “getting into boxing, 100 percent.”

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2017

One of the brightest young stars in MMA today, ONE Championship atomweight queen Angela Lee, was involved in a “terrible” car accident yesterday, during which her car is reported to have flipped over as many as six times. Thankfully, the champ escaped with only a concussion, some minor burns and some more general bumps and bruises. Her upcoming title defense, a planned November 24 rematch with Mei Yamaguchi, however, has been nixed as a result of this harrowing accident. This news comes from ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong, who explained the situation in a Facebook post. 

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2017

Yesterday night, UFC President Dana White announced his plan to move the promotion’s planned February 24 from Orlando, Florida, to Liverpool, UK. The intention, he said, was to pit Liverpool’s own Darren Till against a fellow striking whiz in Stephen Thompson on the card. “I literally [switched] my whole schedule. I’m laying [stuff] out here I shouldn’t be talking about,” White told the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire. “We’re supposed to do this fight in Orlando. I’m pulling it from Orlando and I’m moving it out to [Till’s] hometown in England.”

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2017

Having reclaimed the UFC bantamweight title with a second-round knockout of Cody Garbrandt, TJ Dillashaw is now hell-bent on a flyweight title fight with dominant divisional king Demetrious Johnson – perhaps the best fighter alive today. “Demetrious can’t run from this one,” Dillashaw said shortly after he defeated Garbrandt to reclaim the bantamweight title. “This one’s too big. (Johnson) broke his (title-defense) record. He got to pad himself and break his record. Now, let’s make some money.”

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2017

Last weekend, the UFC returned to the combat sports Mecca of Madison Square Garden with the ridiculously stacked UFC 217. The card went down as one of the absolute best in the long and illustrious history of the UFC. In the UFC 217 main event, we saw former UFC welterweight king Georges St-Pierre return from a four-year hiatus to battle UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping. In spite of his layoff and size disadvantage, St-Pierre achieved this epic feat, choking Bisping unconscious with a rear-naked choke in the the third to become one of just four men to win UFC titles in two divisions.

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of the absolutely stacked UFC 217 card, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre returned to the Octagon after a four year hiatus. Though St-Pierre’s glory days occurred at welterweight, this return to action occurred at middleweight, where he battled reigning middleweight champion Michael Bisping for the divisional crown. St Pierre looked as good as ever in his return, bludgeoning the ever dangerous Michael Bisping to a third round technical submission win, choking him unconscious with a rear naked choke.

Chris Taylor - November 7, 2017

This just in! UFC President Dana White announced tonight that current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor’s next fight will take place in Las Vegas. The brash UFC boss gave the following statement to Lance Pugmire of The LA Times.

Chris Taylor - November 7, 2017

The UFC has changed locations in order to have undefeated welterweight Darren Till fight a former title challenger in England. Lance Pugmire of The Los Angeles Times was first to break the news reporting that a scheduled February 24 UFC event in Orlando, Florida will be moved overseas in order to have surging contender Darren Till fight in his backyard of England against former two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson.

Justin Golightly - November 7, 2017

There’s no rest when it comes to being a champion, especially one who comes back after four years and puts on a performance like Georges St-Pierre did at UFC 217. Everyone wants to know what is next, especially fighters like Robert Whittaker and Tyron Woodley. Even though the Powers That Be have said a defense against Whittaker is next, Freddie Roach thinks St-Pierre’s future fights should be contested at lower weights even after successful middleweight experiment. “I was a little concerned [with Georges St-Pierre’s stamina]. It was obviously a fast-paced fight, and he did box very well in the first round, and I was very happy with it. [Michael] Bisping is a very tough opponent. He came back in the second round. I think moving up in the weight division, I am not sure that’s his best weight division or if we will fight there again. We will see where it goes. The weight got to him. He’s not used to carrying that much weight, and it fatigued him quicker than usual. Again, we will work it all out and get together with the whole team and discuss what the next best move is for Georges.”

Justin Golightly - November 7, 2017

It wouldn’t be a UFC card in New York without a little bit of controversy. Walt Harris had Mark Godbeer in a bad way, but due to a questionable glancing knee and a follow-up illegal kick, he ended up losing the fight in a rare disqualification. The referee was running and yelling at Harris to stop the action, but Harris followed through with his technique and Godbeer stated he could not continue. After speaking to Dana White at UFC 217, Walt Harris decided he will appeal the official decision. “I spoke with Dana right afterward, and he told me to contest it. He told me to appeal it. He said he felt like, you know, there’s a replay and I had a chance to win if I appealed. And that’s what I’m going to do. I feel like, at worst, it should have been a no-contest. If you remember, Curtis Blaydes and Aleksei Oleinik had the same type of situation, and they gave Curtis the win. I don’t understand how mine just went straight to a disqualification when there was conclusive evidence on the replay that the knee didn’t land low and I was in the heat of the fight. It wasn’t like the ref had put his hands on me, stopped my momentum, and then I took off and went and hit him. I was in the middle of a combination. So, to just go straight to a disqualification is like – I don’t understand it.”