MMA News

Russell Ess - October 26, 2017

It was huge news when former UFC welterweight king Georges St-Pierre and the UFC had reached an agreement in February for a new contract to come back to compete in the Octagon. One man who played a key role in getting both St-Pierre and the UFC to agree on terms is legendary boxing trainer Freddie Roach. Roach will enter as a cornerman in MMA for the first time when St-Pierre returns for his fight scheduled against Michael Bisping at UFC 217 on November 4.

Justin Golightly - October 26, 2017

Next weekend, UFC 217 will finally be upon us, lighting up the night with three huge title fights that will have us screaming and jumping out of our seats. One of the many awesome fights we are blessed with by the MMA gods will be Joanna Jedrzejczyk throwing down with “Thug” Rose Namajunas. Leading up to her title defense against Namajunas that could potentially tie Ronda Rousey’s record, Jedrzejczyk is giving us an unprecedented look into the lead-up with her “Champ Camp’ video blogs. In her latest one, she shoots some b-ball in the park as part of her active rest and one kid tries to convince his friends that it really is “deadass” the UFC strawweight champ. Kid arguing with his friends if that’s really @joannamma ballin’ in the park or not. #UFC217 pic.twitter.com/gYQFXXbHWd

Russell Ess - October 26, 2017

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is set to return to competition after over two years since last fighting in the Octagon. Machida is coming off an 18-month suspension after admitting the use of the banned substance 7-Keto-DHEA. Machida claimed that he did not know that the pills he bought over the counter contained anything on the banned substance list. With a return to the Octagon set for UFC Fight Night 119 on October 28 in Sao Paulo, Brazil against Derek Brunson, Machida was pumped up during their staredown on Thursday. After the two faced each other in front of the media, Machida and Brunson turned to the audience and Machida let out a big yell that shocked some in attendance.

Justin Golightly - October 26, 2017

After months and months of speculation, it looks like Ronda Rousey has finally signed on the dotted line with the WWE. According to Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Rousey is not only training at the WWE’s performance center, but preparing for a huge match at Wrestlemania 34 in New Orleans. It would pit pro-wrestling’s all-female Four Horsewomen against MMA’s Four Horsewomen: Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Bayley wrestling Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir.  Everything changes now…… https://t.co/k0rDxSwKTV

Justin Golightly - October 26, 2017

Volkan Oezdemir was the guy we all wondered why was ranked so high, until he showed us. He mowed through Ovince Saint Preux, Misha Cirkunov, and Jimi Manuwa to skyrocket to the second-ranked UFC light heavyweight in the world. Daniel Cormier made it clear that he’s the guy who gets the next shot at the title, a fight that would happen sometime in early 2018. Volkan Oezdemir recently took to Twitter to tease a his next fight announcement, could it be with the champ himself? Nothing can stop me 🌋 #onmywaytobethegoat #Notime #UFC #staytuned pic.twitter.com/WYWMY30kAv

Tom Taylor - October 26, 2017

On November 4, in the main event of UFC 217, former UFC welterweight champion and bona fide MMA great Georges St-Pierre will return from a multi-year hiatus to battle reigning UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping. While many fans envision a return to excellence for St-Pierre, his long-time friend and mentor Kristof Midoux does not. In fact, he believes Georges St-Pierre’s comeback is ill-advised, and that it could end in disaster. “I do not agree with this return and I do not know who managed to convince him,” Midoux recently told UFC veteran Patrick Cote on the Uppercut Podcast (translated from French via Le Journal de Montréal). “I do not see the objective surrounding this fight.

Tom Taylor - October 26, 2017

Earlier this week, on The Unnamed Podvideocast, UFC President Dana White admitted that he can potentially see the UFC promoting boxing matches in the future. “I could see bringing boxing under our umbrella and trying to see what we could do with that,” White said (h/t Sherdog.com). “I could see doing that.”

Tom Taylor - October 26, 2017

Georges St-Pierre‘s UFC 217 shot at Michael Bisping’s middleweight title has generated plenty of controversy. St-Pierre, after all, hasn’t fought since November of 2013, and has never before fought in the middleweight division. Needless to say, he’s far from the most deserving middleweight contender in the traditional sense. That being said, the reason for Georges St-Pierre’s title shot is pretty clear: the UFC is hoping to bank on his name, and cash in with a big-selling pay-per-view.

Tom Taylor - October 26, 2017

UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and top contender TJ Dillashaw, who will battle in the co-main event of UFC 217 this November 4, share one of the most sizzling beefs in MMA. This beef began when Dillashaw left Team Alpha Male, where Garbrandt still trains, to pursue other opportunities. In the opinion of Garbrandt, this is a move Dillashaw likely regrets every day.

Justin Golightly - October 25, 2017

As if we needed to have November 4th’s stacked UFC 217 card sold to us, we’re just a couple of weeks away and the promotional engines are firing on all cylinders. Cody Garbrandt just probably had his best verbal performance of his career and is convincing us all a fight with Demetrious Johnson is next. Meanwhile, Joanna Jedrzejczyk is cutting at Rose Namajunas deep on the UFC 217 conference call, but was it too harsh? “Hey, listen to yourself, you didn’t want to do media, you didn’t want to do extra media — how are you going to be a champion and deal with all the things? You know what, you are not strong mentally. You are mentally unstable and you are broken already and I will break you in the fight. This country’s been amazing to me. I think that you have some personal problems, and I will show you what’s your problem, OK? You’re never going to be a champion.” — Joanna Jedrzejczyk on today’s UFC 217 conference call. 

Justin Golightly - October 25, 2017

Cody Garbrandt is about to squash one of the biggest rivalries in MMA with the violence that awaits us at UFC 217. He’ll be defending his title against TJ Dillashaw, who needs no introduction. Potentially stacking back-to-back wins over long-time bantamweight king Dominick Cruz and former champion Dillashaw, would be a huge feather in the hat of Garbrandt. However, the current belt holder doesn’t want to just stop there, he wants to fight Demetrious Johnson next to become a two-division champion. He’s talked about it before, but he doubled-down on this ‘business move’ today on the UFC 217 conference call. “With a knockout over TJ [Dillashaw] I’ve wiped out the division. There’s a big gap between myself, then it goes [Dominick Cruz], and then TJ, and then it falls off from there so TJ is my next adversary, my next challenge. I know what he brings to the table. I’m focused and prepared on that, to wipe him out and then go on from there. I always like to have a fight ahead of myself, you know, plan ahead, and obviously I’m focused on TJ, but Mighty Mouse is next at 125 pounds. I can make 125 on November 4th if I wanted to.”

Jason Kindschy - October 25, 2017

BJPENN Radio returns tonight at 8PM ET/5PM PT with three awesome guests! 8:15PM ET- First up, the undeniable “King of the Slam,” Gerald Harris, joins us to recap his farewell performance last week at XFN 22. “The Hurricane” yet again finished his opponent with a brutal slam, but this time rather than a knockout, Gerald broke his opponents arm in the process. We’ll discuss his career as a martial artist, what Harris has planned for life outside the cage, and much more.

Russell Ess - October 25, 2017

You often hear that there are two sides to every story and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. With the feud between former Team Alpha Male teammates Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw, there is one particular story that claims Dillashaw ended a Team Alpha Male teammate’s career. Garbrandt claims Dillashaw hit Chris Holdsworth with a cheap shot to the back of the head during practice, badly concussing the TUF 18 season winner.

Justin Golightly - October 25, 2017

If Conor McGregor campaigned for a fight against the winner of Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre, then he’d probably get it. You’re talking about a fighter who pick whoever he wants out of thin air and fight then. All of this taken into consideration, it’s easy to understand why it’s so hard to figure out his next move. Meanwhile, Tony Ferguson has an interim belt he says might as well be the real thing, something Dan Hardy thinks McGregor needs to take care of. Not just because it makes sense, but to silence his critics. “What I would like to see him do is unite the belts. I think Tony Ferguson is definitely deserving of that title shot against Conor McGreogr and I don’t like two belts floating around in the division for too long. I think that the interim title is a placeholder for the real title. You shouldn’t have that for very long. So, it makes sense for McGregor to come back and defend the belt against Tony Ferguson. Obviously the money fight is [Nate] Diaz, everybody wants to see that, including me. But, for the integrity of the sport and for McGregor’s legacy, he needs to solidify himself as a champion that would defend his belt, which he has not done yet. He’s getting a lot of heat for that from the fans and I think now he’s got a bank account full of cash. He doesn’t really need to worry too much about that now. He can focus on the things he wants to achieve as an athlete.”

Tom Taylor - October 25, 2017

Bellator’s heavyweight division is starting to look pretty damn good. The division’s top fighters include Matt Mitrione, Cheick Kongo, and Roy Nelson, while other stars like Fedor Emelianenko, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, Bobby Lashley, Javy Ayala, and Sergey Kharitonov are also in the mix. Unfortunately, however, the division doesn’t have a champion, and hasn’t since former champ, Vitaly Minakov, was stripped in the midst of a contract dispute. Yet according to Bellator head honcho Scott Coker, that could change in the first quarter of 2018. “I think that we’ll probably crown a new champion first quarter of next year and then we’ll start having a lot more fights in the heavyweight division,” Coker said on the latest episode of The MMA Hour. “We’ve got some great heavyweights now, there’s a lot of matchups that I can’t wait to see and I’m excited about 2018. I think 2018 is going to be a very busy year, a big growth year for Bellator, and the heavyweight division will be a big part of it.”

Russell Ess - October 25, 2017

Andre Fili pulled off his own version of the “billionaire strut” in the moments leading up to his fight against Artem Lobov over the weekend. Lobov had his good friend and training partner Conor McGregor sitting cageside for his fight. While Fili was in the Octagon waiting for Lobov to enter from his walkout, “Touchy” says he got more motivation from seeing the UFC lightweight champion eyeing him down from the crowd.

Justin Golightly - October 25, 2017

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Chad Mendes in the UFC. After suffering two back-to-back losses to Conor McGregor and Frankie Edgar, he popped for GHRP-6 and was suspended for two years. GHRP-6 sounds like some sort of robot from Star Wars, but it’s actually a growth hormone peptide that ended up being inside a cream that Mendes used to treat his chronic plaque psoriasis. With all of that said and done and with his body healed from non-stop competition, Chad Mendes is getting close to returning to the UFC.  “We’ll be back in the Octagon either the end of May or beginning of June is what we’re shooting for. A little over two years is what it will be [since I’ve fought for the UFC]. In 24 years, I’ve never taken a year off. From five-years old, there was never an off time. I think both mentally and physically it’s been so great for me. Just being able to step away from it and let my body heal. I had bumps and bruises, broken the tops of my foot, there was just so many things that never gotten the time to heal. […] I think just having the time off, being able to mentally step away form it, let everything recharge — like, I have that drive again. This is the type of sport you can’t half ass. You’re going to get hurt if you do.” — Chad Mendes speaking to Jason Hariston.

Justin Golightly - October 25, 2017

We’re edging closer and closer to the return of Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217, who’ll be challenging Michael Bisping for the middleweight title. The stakes are gigantic. If St-Pierre loses, Bisping gets a huge notch in his legacy and GSP has said he’ll retire. If St-Pierre wins though, he’ll be cemented once again as one of if not the greatest of all time and he goes on to defend against Robert Whittaker. …Or will he? Michael Bisping thinks there is a much greater master plan by the UFC brass that he is set to spoil. “[Georges St-Pierre] keeps talking about, ‘It’s in the contract. It’s in the contract that I fight [Robert] Whittaker,’ but he ain’t. He ain’t gonna’ fight Whittaker if it’s in the contract or not. I believe it is in the contract but all he’s gotta do is say, ‘I don’t fancy doing that and if you want me to fight again and maybe sell a lot of pay-per-views, it’s gotta be someone else.’ The UFC would fold, I’ve got to imagine. He wants to beat me, go back down to welterweight, beat Tyron [Woodley], and then face Conor [McGregor], beat all three, and then retire and make a ton of money. And the UFC probably wants that to happen. By that I don’t mean beat Conor, I mean beat me. Beat me, then either beat Woodley or go straight to Conor.”