MMA News

Justin Golightly - August 31, 2017

A lot of people thought that Conor McGregor exceeded expectations in his fight with Floyd Mayweather, Kevin Lee thought the opposite according to his latest Submission Radio appearance. He’s about to fight Tony Ferguson in October at UFC 216, but he’s keeping McGregor on the backburner. He plans to go all “Rampage” on Ferguson and then fight Khabib Nurmagomedov, essentially trapping the UFC into only having him as an option for McGregor. After seeing the UFC lightweight champion lose to “little brother-sized” Mayweather, Kevin Lee thinks if he ever gets his red panty night, then it will be a cakewalk. “I mean, let’s be honest, the man got walked down by a 40-year-old dude that weighs 150 pounds. I’ve stood next to Floyd Mayweather, he’s my little brother’s size and he’s a 125-pounder. I mean, he got backed up. I thought before the fight that it was going to be McGregor that was doing the stance switches and being able to fight out of both stances, and it turns out, like, the man can’t fight as well from orthodox as he says he can because it was Mayweather who was the one switching stances on him and hitting him with the southpaw jabs and straight lefts, you know, it was Mayweather that mixed it up a little bit more.”

Russell Ess - August 31, 2017

Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor gave fans a fight to talk about before and after they settled things in the boxing ring at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although not a complete sellout for the live show, many celebrities were in attendance. Cleveland Cavaliers stars from the NBA, LeBron James and J.R. Smith had seats in the house and chatted about the main event between Mayweather and McGregor following the fight. TMZ caught the two talking about the respect they had for Conor McGregor even after his 10th round TKO loss to the undefeated boxing great.

Tom Taylor - August 31, 2017

On the latest edition of his podcast, You’re Welcome, three-time UFC title challenger and current Bellator MMA star Chael Sonnen shared a pretty intense story about UFC lightweight champ and combat sports superstar Conor McGregor. Apparently, he and the Irish champ nearly came to blows a few years back. According to Sonnen, the trouble began when he asked McGregor the name of his fiancee, Dee Devlin, and McGregor misheard what he said. See a transcription of Sonnen’s account below:

Justin Golightly - August 31, 2017

Things have changed. It’s the era of the superfight and Tyron Woodley is looking for a greater challenge that will earn him larger profits. Last week, he talked about there is a shortage of contenders and he’s ready to jump up to middleweight to earn a second belt. This isn’t the first time, he wanted to arrange a fight with Michael Bisping at the very beginning of this year. Since then, he’s beat Stephen Thompson again and took out the most dangerous grappler in the division, Demian Maia. At this point, Tyron Woodley feels like the only thing separating him from being the best welterweight of all time, is beating Georges St-Pierre. In a comprehensive and in-depth interview by Mike Dyce from Sports Illustrated, Woodley made sure people knew he’s serious about this. “I wanted to go out here and beat [Demian Maia] and I wanted to fight Georges-St Pierre in November in New York City. This would’ve been the greatest year competitively and after I beat Georges, there is no question that I’ll be Fighter of the Year. I fight five title fights in 18 months and beat the greatest welterweight of all time, nobody has done anything like that in our sport. God does things on his time. He wanted me to sit down and wanted me to get some other aspects of my life back in order.”

Justin Golightly - August 31, 2017

Kevin Lee has quietly stacked up five straight wins, finishing four of those opponents. Fingers crossed that the card stays together, UFC 216 will push Lee into his highest profile bout yet. He’s going to headline the card against Tony Fergusonin a fight for the interim UFC lightweight title. Ferguson has already been vocal about what he’s going to do to Kevin Lee, mainly choke him until he slowly fades away into darkness. No kidding, he really said that. Of course, Lee disagreed and doubled down with the guys over at Submission Radio that he’s going to destroy Ferguson like a former Pride and UFC veteran, Quinton Jackson. “I mean, [Tony Ferguson] tries to finish everybody with that weak-ass D’arce choke. I mean, apparently the man believes in it, but he ain’t never faced nobody like me. He’s never faced a wrestler like me. He’s never faced somebody with the movement that I’ve had, especially a weak-ass D’arce choke. And look, if he gonna go for that D’arce, I’m gonna pick him up over my head and I’m gonna Rampage his ass.”

Tom Taylor - August 31, 2017

Shortly after his thrilling boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Conor McGregor and his team began expressing interest in a trilogy fight with his fiercest rival, Nate Diaz. This trilogy fight, McGregor said, would have to be in the 155-pound lightweight division, rather than the welterweight division where the pair’s first two battles occurred. Speaking to Submission Radio, Diaz’s boxing coach Richard Perez weighed in on a possible rematch with McGregor. He believes it’s going to take a significant pay boost to get Diaz back into the cage with the Irishman.

Tom Taylor - August 31, 2017

For a long time, UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson was the king of the pound-for-pound list. Then Jon Jones, the former pound-for-pound king, returned to action, knocked out Daniel Cormier to reclaim the UFC light heavyweight title, and stole the top spot back. Unfortunately, Jones once again found himself in boiling hot water when news broke that he’d failed a drug test on the eve of his UFC 214 battle with Cormier. In the wake of this news, his status as pound-for-pound king was once again called into question.

Tom Taylor - August 31, 2017

Attempting an armed robbery is always a bad idea. Attempting an armed robbery on an MMA gym with the words “Fighters Made Here” emblazoned on the door ranks among the dumbest decisions a person can make. Yet that’s just what somebody did on Tuesday night, in Burbank, California. The would-be robber’s target was Defiant MMA and Fitness. He entered the gym with a handgun, which he pointed at instructors and students. Unfortunately, he then encountered Jacobe Powell, an instructor and pro fighter. Powell is reported to have knocked the gun out of the robber’s hand  – though the blood visible on said Robber’s face in the video above suggests that’s not where Powell’s work ended.

Tom Taylor - August 31, 2017

With the exception of his post-fight media blitz, UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor has been relatively silent since he came up short in the boxing ring opposite Floyd Mayweather last Saturday. That has now changed. Early on Thursday morning, the Irish champ took to Instagram with a lengthy statement that addressed everything from his training, to his cardio issues, to his fighting future, and even Floyd Mayweather’s chances in MMA. See McGregor’s statement in full below!

Jason Kindschy - August 30, 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 one of Bellator’s surging contenders, undefeated AJ “The Mercenary” McKee. Coming off yet another dominant victory at Bellator 182  over Blair Tugman, the 22 year old phenom officially made history with Fridays performance as he now has the longest win streak in the promotions history with a record of 9-0. We’ll recap AJ’s historic win, discuss the ever-brightening future that lies before him and hear what this future champion has in mind for his next outing.

Justin Golightly - August 30, 2017

It’s finally over. Conor McGregor did his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. Sure, he lost but everyone involved in that mega fight all came out as winners. McGregor walked away with just a black eye and $30 million just for his fight purse. He still stands to earn much more from sponsors and PPV numbers. While he won’t be able to take that extreme of a pay day back to the UFC with him, he could be able to use his new skills to improve his MMA game. That’s what Kenny Florian thinks at least. Florian spoke about what he expects from McGregor for his UFC return and who he thinks that Conor will fight. “I think Conor [McGregor] is going to learn so much from this. He’s going to come back to mixed martial arts I think even sharper, even stronger mentally, stronger physically. He’s going to be an absolute beast because there’s so many lessons that you can take away from fighting a composed and clean fighter like Mayweather.”

Justin Golightly - August 30, 2017

> Derrick Lewis isn’t called The Black Beast for nothing. Ever since UFC 192, he tore through the heavyweight division and even beat the likes of Roy Nelson and Travis Browne, before eventually losing to Mark Hunt. His next fight will be a high-profile bout against Fabricio Werdum, but it’s not the fight that everyone is talking about. Instead, the Lewis news that’s going around everywhere is his valiant efforts to help with the severe flooding in Texas. “First of all, me and my wife was watching the news and we heard that the officers are not going to be going out. The only way that they’re going to be going out is life or death situations. I seen that and I really didn’t like that so I went out and tried to help as many people as I can.”

Russell Ess - August 30, 2017

Floyd Mayweather has made his fight walkouts something to talk about. From his days of having Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne, and even the Burger King mascot walk out with him to the ring, Mayweather has made it a point to make his entrance to the ring a spectacle. For what has been talked about as the richest fight in the history of combat sports, Mayweather gave the viewers something to talk about as he walked out dressed in black attire with a black ski mask on.

Russell Ess - August 30, 2017

Conor McGregor was not given much of a chance from the majority of the boxing community in the matchup against Floyd Mayweather. Given that Mayweather was regarded by many as the best boxer of his generation and in the talks of all time greats, it was a tall order and the current UFC lightweight champion was more than up for the task.

Justin Golightly - August 30, 2017

Sometimes the MMA gods smile upon us, other times they curse us. Jon Jones allegedly popped for performance enhancing drugs and is now entitled to his due process. If the worst of the worst happens, a domino effect of consequences crashes down upon himself, the UFC, and the light heavyweight division. Jon Jones could be suspended for as long as four years. This leaves Daniel Cormier in a bad position and he may run out of time before he gets to fight Jones one last time in the Octagon. That being said, Cormier may have thought up a clever way to still fight him. Episode 5: we discuss Jones test results, Money vs Mac, movies and Dennis large pizza fetish. Listen on iTunes or https://t.co/I7SOOWnvrq pic.twitter.com/JMr89mB3sO

Tom Taylor - August 30, 2017

While Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor‘s battle raged in the the desert town of Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night, former UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey and her beau, UFC heavyweight Travis Browne, tied the knot in Hawaii. From the looks of it, it was a gorgeous wedding. Unsurprisingly, this wedding was a pretty exclusive affair. That said, a well-known trio of Rousey training partners in Jessamyn Duke, Shayna Baszler and Marina Shafir were obviously on site for the festivities. At some point in the night, Rousey and the three women, who together compose a quartet nicknamed The Four Horsewomen, posed for an awesome photo. See it below:

Russell Ess - August 30, 2017

Many believed that Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor would be the richest fight in the history of combat sports by breaking the 2015 records that Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio set in 2015. Although not a sellout for the attendance at the event, Floyd Mayweather said during the post-fight press conference that they did break the record for the gate and also the pay-per-view record he and Pacquiao set in their fight. “We did break the record tonight for the biggest gate,” Mayweather stated at the post-fight press conference via MMA Weekly. “Me and Pacquiao done $72 million. I think we done somewhere over $80 million in the live gate (with McGregor).”

Tom Taylor - August 30, 2017

Over the last few months, a seemingly endless list of MMA fighters have expressed interest in testing their hands in the professional boxing ring. Fighters from Stipe Miocic to Jimi Manuwa to Artem Lobov to Anderson Silva have all done so, and now, Jose Aldo is doing the same. Aldo, of course, has shared interest in a move to boxing several times in the past, but having watched Conor McGregor perform remarkably well against Floyd Mayweather last weekend, his interest in a boxing career appears to have crescendoed to new heights.