MMA News

Russell Ess - September 6, 2017

Daniel Cormier is waiting in a very strange and uncomfortable place after losing to Jon Jones at UFC 214. With losing the UFC light heavyweight title and being knocked out and finished for the first time in his professional MMA career, Cormier could be on a path to getting the loss overturned and getting the belt back with Jones facing another potential anti-doping violation stemming from his drug test administered after the UFC 214 weigh-ins. Cormier has been very respectful of the due process as Jones is still innocent until the established process can determine otherwise.

Jason Kindschy - September 6, 2017

BJPENN Radio is back tonight at 8PM ET/5PM PT with more of what you crave! 8:15PM ET- Kicking off the show tonight we are joined by the No. 3 Ranked UFC Flyweight, Ray “The Tazmexican Devil” Borg. Just days before the biggest fight of his career we’ll preview Ray’s first attempt at UFC gold as he faces the pound-for-pound best athlete in MMA, Demetrious Johnson. While DJ looks to break the record of most title defenses in UFC history, Borg has his own plans to steal the show and become one the youngest champions at just 24 years of age. You’ll hear why the Jackson/Wink-trained Borg believes he is the one to dethrone “Mighty Mouse” and where he expects to have clear advantages.

Russell Ess - September 6, 2017

In Los Angeles during the first stop of the Mayweather vs McGregor world tour press conference hyping up their multi-million dollar boxing match, Conor McGregor’s mic was cut off when it was Floyd Mayweather’s time to address the crowd. McGregor was not happy with the technical issue and targeted Showtime and executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports, Stephen Espinoza as enemies in the buildup for the fight. In Toronto for the second stop on the world tour, McGregor let it be known calling out Showtime and Espinoza. McGregor hurled insults at the Showtime Sports executive, pointing him out as a “weasel” and a “bitch.”

Justin Golightly - September 6, 2017

A stacked UFC 217 card is coming just around the corner in November, complete with (at least) two title fights. One of which will be Cody Garbrandt defending his bantamweight title against bitter rival and former champ, TJ Dillashaw. Behind one of the most skilled match-ups the UFC can make, lies the fire of a heated gym triangle surrounding the two fighters and once-shared friend, Urijah Faber. Sometimes featuring cameos by coach Duane Ludwig, the feud reached its boiling point on season 25 of The Ultimate Fighter, coached by Garbrandt and Dillashaw. However, this MMA drama owes its origins to an earlier season. On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Faber revealed that Conor McGregor served as a catalyst in this ongoing Team Alpha Male saga. “The whole thing with Conor [McGregor] happened on the [Ultimate Fighter 22] TV show before this. Before any of this happened, Conor McGregor started calling [Dillashaw] a snake because me and Conor had one conversation. We were sitting there and he goes, ‘Man, congratulations on TJ for defending his belt,‘ because he was still on our team his last title defense. And I go thanks, [McGregor] goes, ‘but what’s up with Duane [Ludwig] saying no one on your team wants to be a champions, that’s weird.‘ I said, oh he’s just bitter because he’s trying to get everyone to go out to his camp, he’s just being a hater, this and that. He took that little bit of drama between me and Duane […] then the next time he saw TJ he goes, ‘oh, there’s the snake in the grass‘, and just built it into this big thing.”

Tom Taylor - September 6, 2017

UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor‘s showdown with undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. was expected to shatter all kinds of combat sports records. While the jury is still out on some of those records, we now know that the card did not, despite early optimism, set the all-time record for live gates. Instead, the August 26 mega-fight generated an official gate of $55,414,865.79. This number registers as the second biggest ever, falling short of Floyd Mayweather’s 2015 battle with Manny Pacquiao, which raked in upward of $70 million.

Justin Golightly - September 6, 2017

Back on Friday, Michael Johnson told fans and media at the UFC Rotterdam Q & A that he was going to move to featherweight. If that news wasn’t unexpected enough, he told everyone that the first fight he wants for his debut at the weight was none other than Jose Aldo. He’s opened up more about the move since then and it turns out it was always his plan. Not only that, but this move and potential fight could possibly come before the end of this year. “I was looking toward December, and November got brought up, so we’ll have to see. We’ll have to see everybody’s schedules and see where they can fit me in. [If I can’t fight Jose Aldo, I want] the next toughest guy in line. I think that’s maybe detrimental to my career, maybe hurts it a little bit that I always go for the toughest fight. But my first fight at 145, Aldo is a former champ, he’s one of the best in the world – always been. So, that’s one guy that I would love to fight. I’m not in this sport to fight the guy that’s OK. I want the toughest guy. I want everybody that says he can’t be beat.”

Justin Golightly - September 6, 2017

Conor McGregor lost the biggest fight so far in his career against Floyd Mayweather, yet he’s still a multi-millionaire living it up right now in Ibiza. We all know how he got there, despite being a 0 – 0 boxer, McGregor climbed to the top of MMA and he can captivate an enormous crowd of people just by talking. At the end of this month, fans in London will get intimate access to the “champ champ” as McGregor takes over the O2 Indigo for a special night. It’s not just McGregor though, Dan Hardy will talk with him live on stage for an entire hour. https://twitter.com/MDGEvents/status/905108852823248896

Tom Taylor - September 6, 2017

Today, bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt and his UFC 217 challenger T.J. Dillashaw stand out as two of the fiercest rivals in MMA. There was a time, however, when they trained together, as teammates, under the roof of Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. Then again, it doesn’t sound like they got along that well in their days as training partners, either. On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Garbrandt went off on his upcoming opponent, accusing him of getting too rough in practice, and even badly concussing Team Alpha Male staple Chris Holdsworth.

Tom Taylor - September 6, 2017

Karolina Kowalkiewicz, one of the strawweight division’s top contenders, is set for a return to action. The former title challenger is set to battle 6-time Invicta Fighting Championship veteran Jodie Esquibel at UFC Fight Night 118, on October 21 in Gdansk, Poland. This bout was first reported by Dizz, and later confirmed by Kowalkiewicz and the UFC.

Tom Taylor - September 6, 2017

The first title defense of new UFC featherweight king Max Holloway could go down at UFC 218, this December 2 in Detroit, Michigan. According to our own Chris Taylor, a title fight pitting Holloway against former UFC lightweight champ and two-time featherweight title challenger Frankie Edgar is in the works for the anticipated December card. Max Holloway vs Frankie Edgar being discussed for #UFC218 in Detroit!

Tom Taylor - September 6, 2017

Back in August, we learned that long time strawweight contender Paige VanZant was moving on up to the UFC’s new women’s flyweight division, where she’ll battle Jessica Eye at UFC 216 on October 7. The reason for this move, as it turns out, is not just that VanZant is looking for a fresh start. Apparently, she’s been enduring a far tougher weight cut than any of us knew. VanZant shared the details of her brutal cut to the strawweight division’s 115-pound cap on the latest edition of The MMA Hour.

Chris Taylor - September 5, 2017

Perennial UFC featherweight contender Cub Swanson (25-7 MMA) is currently riding an impressive four fight win streak and is on the cusp of earning a shot at the promotions coveted featherweight title. Swanson was last seen in action this past April in the main event of UFC Fight Night 108 where he scored a unanimous decision victory over Artem Lobov.

Justin Golightly - September 5, 2017

The fight with Floyd Mayweather may have not gone as well as Conor McGregor and his team wanted, but it could have gone way worse. Both fighters have celebrated by sharing comments about walking away with an impressive amount of cash. Still, money isn’t everything, McGregor definitely wanted to win that fight and take over all combat sports as we know it. He even protested the stoppage, saying that he would have rather been knocked out. Coach Owen Roddy didn’t like it either, but he respected referee Robert Byrd’s decision to stop the fight. “The ref is in there to look after the fighters. I honestly think that because it was McGregor’s first boxing match and Conor got knocked out. There was some damage to Conor and he thought, ‘look, I’m not going to take the risk. He looks wobbly and I’m going to call it.’ I definitely think he could have gave him a count or something, I don’t know, but the ref is only trying to protect the fight so I’ll leave him to it.”

Russell Ess - September 5, 2017

What has been trending to be the richest fight in the history of combat sports lived up to the hype for many as Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor put it all on the line in their boxing match. McGregor showed that he could compete with Mayweather, who many consider the greatest boxer of this generation and one of the best of all time as he caught “Money” with some clean shots throughout their fight. It has been a tough task to do as not many of Mayweather’s boxing world champion opponents were able to find Floyd at the end of their gloves. While Mayweather was much more aggressive than he has been in his previous fights, it doesn’t deny the fact that “The Notorious” was able to land some nice punches one of the greatest defensive boxers the world has seen.

Russell Ess - September 5, 2017

Current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is coming off the biggest payday of his career in the multi-million dollar boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, which is trending to be close to or breaking the Mayweather vs Pacquiao record for the richest fight in history. Following his 10th round TKO loss to Mayweather, McGregor held his head high in the ring and the two superstars shared a great deal of respect for one another. The two embraced in the ring after the fight was over and had good things to say about each other at the post-fight press conference.

Russell Ess - September 5, 2017

How many fans have been thinking about the trilogy fight between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz now that the Mayweather boxing match is out of the way? Diaz was the last to defeat McGregor in mixed martial arts as he submitted the Irish superstar at UFC 196 back in March of last year. The two rivals met in a rematch at UFC 202 where McGregor won a close majority decision.

Justin Golightly - September 5, 2017

We are just a couple of days from Demetrious Johnson trying to make history at UFC 215. In lieu of a fight with T.J. Dillashaw, Johnson wanted to continue his journey toward breaking Anderson Silva’s title defense record. He tied the record with 10 defenses after a dominating performance over Wilson Reis, now he looks to beat the impressive stat in his upcoming fight with Ray Borg. It would seem like the road to this record is paved in gold with a giant, neon sign pointing down to the finish line. However, Ray Borg isn’t counting himself out and neither should you. He’s confident enough to go on record saying he’ll give Johnson a rematch when he defeats him. “I’d take my niece to Disney Land, then I’d fight DJ again.” – Ray Borg if he wins at #UFC215 https://t.co/cdrpwfP9kY

Tom Taylor - September 5, 2017

This weekend, on the undercard of UFC 215, undefeated heavyweight prospect Arjan Bhullar will make his anticipated debut in the Octagon opposite Brazil’s Luis Henrique. Bhullar’s debut will be a historic one, as he’ll be the first Indo-Canadian fighter to step foot into the Octagon. According to a recent report from Chamatkar Sandhu, Bhullar will be walked to the cage by another Indo-Canadian sports star in WWE Champion Jinder Mahal. Just spoke to Arjan Bhullar (@theone_asb) who told me it's 100% confirmed. @JinderMahal will walk him out to the Octagon at UFC 215.