MMA News

bjpenndotcom - August 1, 2017

Prior to Jon Jones’ triumphant return to the Octagon this past Saturday in the main event of UFC 214, it was revealed that Jones and UFC President Dana White hadn’t talked since UFC 200, when Jones was pulled from the card for a potential USADA anti-doping violation just 48 hours before the fight was scheduled to take place. UFC President Dana White was understandably frustrated with the situation, and the rift between Jon Jones and Dana White grew. As previously stated, ahead of UFC 214, the rift continued to grow, as White stated that he hadn’t spoken to Jones since the incident. On the heels of the fight however, Jones’ manager, Malki Kawa spoke on The MMA Hour to discuss the rift between Jones & White, and why he isn’t overly worried about it, saying:

Tom Taylor - August 1, 2017

Last Saturday, in the co-main event of UFC 214, UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley successfully defended his title for the third time, shutting down 21 Demian Maia takedown attempts to a clear unanimous decision win. Unfortunately, the insipid nature of Woodley’s win drew the ire of many members of the MMA community, including UFC President Dana White, who berated the champ with an unsavory verbal onslaught at the UFC 214 post-fight presser. Woodley responded to White’s criticism on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, explaining that his tepid performance was due to a shoulder injury he sustained early in the fight. He then demanded a public apology from the UFC boss, and threatened to leak negative information if he didn’t get one.

Tom Taylor - August 1, 2017

In preparation for his August 26 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr., UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor recently sought the help of former boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi. McGregor also enlisted the aid of boxing referee Joe Cortez, who was put in charge of overseeing his sparring sessions with Malignaggi. Speaking to SiriusXM Boxing, Cortez recently shed some light on Malignaggi’s sparring sessions with McGregor. Apparently, McGregor actually held his own, and the two fighters got quite heated.

bjpenndotcom - August 1, 2017

In 2014, prior to Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones’ first meeting inside the Octagon, the pair both appeared onstage together at a press conference for the ‘tickets on sale’ event prior to the fight. During the course of the press conference, Jones declared that he had been able to pick out some rather glaring tendencies in the game of Daniel Cormier. He stated:

Tom Taylor - August 1, 2017

In 26 days, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will step into the boxing ring for the first time. His opponent in this professional debut will not be another green fighter, however, it will be undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. While McGregor is a tremendously talented mixed martial artist, he’s not being given much chance in this boxing match with Mayweather. The majority of fans and pundits seem to be leaning toward a dominant Mayweather win. That said, there are some notable members of the community who do foresee some success for McGregor, such as former UFC heavyweight Brendan  Schaub. Schaub weighed in on the fight in a recent interview on The Kicker and even went so far as to bet a “dick pic” on McGregor’s success.

Tom Taylor - August 1, 2017

What does Conor McGregor have to do to defeat Floyd Mayweather? @UFCONFOX@DominickCruz breaks down next month’s anticipated mega-fight. pic.twitter.com/jok3YKOG9q — Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) July 30, 2017

Tom Taylor - August 1, 2017

On July 8, on the undercard of the anticipated UFC 213, Russian-Ukrainian heavyweight Alexey Oleynik built on the momentum of his dazzling, Ezekiel choke defeat of Viktor Pesta with a slick rear-naked choke defeat of former contender Travis Browne. With this impressive win, Oleynik set himself up for more big opportunities inside the heavyweight top-10, and from the sounds of it, he’s already got an opponent in mind. His desired opponent is legendary knockout artist Mark Hunt. Oleynik made his callout of Hunt on Instagram, explaining that he’d been waiting for Hunt to agree to fight him for two weeks.

Chris Taylor - July 31, 2017

Current UFC middleweight champion of the world Michael Bisping is known for being brash. “The Count” was exactly that during his recent appearance on FS1 where he took shots at both current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and former 170-pound kingpin Georges St-Pierre.

Chris Taylor - July 31, 2017

Tyron Woodley retained his UFC welterweight championship this past weekend in Anaheim, scoring a unanimous decision victory over top division contender Demian Maia in the co-main event of UFC 214. “T-Wood” was able to shutdown all 21 of the Brazilian submission specialists takedown attempts while getting off enough offense to leave Maia with two badly swollen eyes.

Russell Ess - July 31, 2017

UFC President Dana White was not exactly thrilled with the UFC welterweight title fight between champion Tyron Woodley and challenger Demian Maia that took place over the weekend at UFC 214. It’s a tough thing to deal with as styles make fights and Woodley executed exactly what he wanted to do in avoiding all of Maia’s takedowns and keep the fight on their feet. However, White did state that the title fight between the two set a record for the least amount of punches thrown in a five-round title fight. White added that he believes Woodley could have turned it up and got the finish over Maia but was unwilling to take the risk.

Russell Ess - July 31, 2017

Paulie Malignaggi has a new found respect for UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor after getting some time in the gym with the Irish superstar. Malignaggi was brought into McGregor’s camp for sparring and the former boxing champion also got to see “The Notorious” and his work ethic in the gym, which Malignaggi says changed his outlook on him.

Russell Ess - July 31, 2017

Volkan Oezdemir has made a very clear statement to the UFC light heavyweight division with his last two impressive performances in the Octagon. Oezdemir holds a 15-1 professional MMA record and has only had three fights in the UFC, making his UFC debut against Ovince St. Preux at UFC Fight Night 104 back in February. Oezdemir took a split decision win over St. Preux and then went on to face Misha Cirkunov in his next fight in the Octagon. Oezdemir needed just 28 seconds to KO Cirkunov in his second UFC fight. It was quick work again over the weekend for Oezdemir who went into the fight ranked #5 by the UFC against #3 ranked Jimi Manuwa. The fight lasted just 42 seconds as “No Time” scored another highlight reel KO finish over Manuwa.

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

Over the weekend, Jon Jones reclaimed the UFC light heavyweight title by knocking out his arch rival, Daniel Cormier. In the buildup to and fallout of this fight, Jones generated a tidal wave of headlines by expressing interest in a blockbuster super fight with former UFC heavyweight champion and long-time WWE star Brock Lesnar. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Jones’ manager Malki Kawa reiterated the new champ’s interest in this fight.

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

Shortly after his UFC 210 loss to then light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, brick fisted contender Anthony Johnson announced his plan to retire from MMA. While the fighter nicknamed “Rumble” assured his retirement was probably for good, he did suggest he’d be willing to come back for a future bout with light heavyweight great Jon Jones. After Jones’ UFC 214 destruction of Daniel Cormier, which he witnessed live, Rumble’s interest in a comeback seems to be inflating. He discussed the possibility on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

Former UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, who has not fought since late 2013, is widely regarded as the greatest welterweight of all time. Current UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley, who has now defended the title three times, is keen to usurp St-Pierre’s rep as the welterweight GOAT. If Woodley could beat St-Pierre, of course, he’d have a much easier time claiming to be the best. Unfortunately, St-Pierre doesn’t seem interested in accepting a fight with Woodley, and is instead keen on fighting UFC middleweight Michael Bisping. Woodley thinks this is because St-Pierre is avoiding him – which should make him the welterweight GOAT by default.

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

Last Saturday, Daniel Cormier’s reign as UFC light heavyweight champion came to a crashing halt, as he was put down by a third-round head-kick dealt by his rival Jon Jones. Some 24 hours later, Cormier released a statement on his Instagram account, during which he congratulated Jones, and apologized to referee John McCarthy for initially protesting the stoppage. First off, thank you all for the kind words. I have felt the support. Congratulations to Jon Jones and his team. They did a phenomenal job and got the victory. Also, to Big John McCarthy, I would like to apologize for acting up with you. I am thankful for the time you gave me to try and defend myself and stay in the fight. You are the best in the business for a reason. I also wanna thank my team and my coaches. I love you all from the bottom of my heart. Your time and energy is greatly appreciated. You guys did a wonderful job, I was ready. It’s a fist fight and things happen. Dana White and the @ufc, thank you for being the premiere organization in all of MMA. Again, congrats to Team Jones and JacksonWink. Love you all. I’ll see you soon. DC 📷@layziethesavage

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

@JonnyBones Only loss by DQ, he’s got my vote for GOAT, slight edge over @SpiderAnderson congratulations! pic.twitter.com/F1EWVbvg0Q — Mike Goldberg (@GoldieOnTV) July 30, 2017

Tom Taylor - July 31, 2017

Corner audio of both teams during Jon Jones’ knockout over Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 pic.twitter.com/ILqIQulqIx — UFC Insiders (@UFCInsiders) July 31, 2017