MMA News

Chris Taylor - July 22, 2017

A heavyweight scrap between Junior Albini and Tim Johnson served as the third fight of tonight’s UFC on FOX 25 event on Long Island, New York. Round one begins and Johnson charges forward with punches in bunches. Albini circles off the fence and regroups. Albini with a nice kick to the body and then another. Johnson once again charges forward and presses Albini against the cage. He begins working some knees inside. Albini tries to break free but Johnson stays on him. More knees from Tim. Junior returns fire with some of his own. The fighters break and Johnson misses with an attempted uppercut. Albini with a nice right hand and then an uppercut. He throws a kick to the body of Johnson that lands. Another left hook finds a home from Albini. He follows that up with another left hook and then a straight right hand that floors Johnson. He lands a couple of hammer fists and this one is all over! What a debut for Albini.

Chris Taylor - July 22, 2017

A featherweight scrap between Shane Burgos and Godofredo Pepey served as the second bout of tonight’s UFC on FOX 25 event on Long Island. Round one begins and Pepey misses with a wheel kick attempt to start thing off. Burgos presses forward but Pepey lands a right hand over the top. Burgos presses forward. Pepey lands a body kick but Shane replies with a crisp left jab. A good left hook from Burgos finds a home. Pepey shoots in for a takedown but it is not there. Burgos lands a huge knee and Pepey hits the deck. Burgos tells him to stand up. Pepey does and Burgos floors him with another uppercut. Pepey seems to be ok and once again Shane tells him to stand back up. Pepey gets back up and immediately shoots in and presses Burgos against the cage. Pepey drags him to the floor but Burgos gets right back up and breaks free. Shane comes forward and lands a left hand to the body and then a right hand over the top. Pepey replies with an uppercut. Both men land left hooks. Pepey shoots in but cannot secure the takedown. He presses Shane against the fence. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - July 22, 2017

A lightweight scrap between Frankie Perez and Chris Wade kicked off tonight’s UFC on FOX 25 event in Long Island, New York. Round one begins and both men, Perez and Wade, trade body kicks early. Wade is applying a lot of forward pressure here. Chris shoots in for a takedown and presses Perez up against the cage. Wade continues to attempt a double leg takedown while trying to transition on to Perez’s back. Wade gets the takedown. He begins working some short shots. Perez scrambles and gets back up to his feet. Wade immediately drags Frankie back down to the floor. Perez again scrambles and is able to get back up. He presses Wade against the cage now and begins searching for a takedown attempt of his own. He gets it after scoring a trip. Frankie working some shots from top position now. Wade is able to scramble and get back up to his feet. He scores a throw and winds up on top. The horn sounds to end round one.

bjpenndotcom - July 22, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has now been absent from the Octagon for over a year. In his last Octagon appearance, Rockhold looked to defend his middleweight title against his longtime rival Michael Bisping, who stepped in to fight Rockhold on short notice after Chris Weidman was forced out of his rematch with Rockhold due to injury. When Bisping and Rockhold stepped into the Octagon together at UFC 199, Bisping managed to avenge his previous loss to Rockhold as he picked up a 1st round KO win to claim the middleweight title. Following the fight, Rockhold was slated to fight Jacare Souza in November in Melbourne, however Rockhold was forced out of the fight due to an injury, and has yet to be scheduled to fight again.

bjpenndotcom - July 22, 2017

Prior to the August 26th scrap between Floyd Mayweather & Conor McGregor being finalized, the UFC lightweight champ and two-time boxing champion Paul Malignaggi both engaged in some heated trash talk. After the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight was finalized however, Conor McGregor and his team reached out to Malignaggi to join Team McGregor and help the UFC champ prepare for what many believe is a nearly impossible task. Following the Mayweather-McGregor world tour, Malignaggi joined Team McGregor, and was seen in a pic sparring with McGregor this week.

bjpenndotcom - July 22, 2017

UFC welterweight Neil Magney has been absent from the Octagon since his UFC 207 win over former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks back in December. The win was a particularly impressive one for Magny, who defeated Hendricks in the former champ’s final welterweight fight before moving up to middleweight. The fight saw Magny return to the win column after having a 3-fight win streak snapped at the hands of Lorenz Larking at UFC 202, after picking up wins over Erick Silva, Kelvin Gatelum, and Hector Lombard. Now, after an eight-month layoff following his win over Hendricks, Magny has officially been cleared to fight once again.

bjpenndotcom - July 22, 2017

On the heels of his massive submission win over Michael Chiesa earlier this month, Kevin Lee was offered a position coaching on The Ultimate Fighter opposite Eddie Alvarez. While Lee apparently accepted the fight in minutes, Alvarez turned the fight down. I've been asked to do TUF and accepted in 2 minutes, @Ealvarezfight turned it down. I'm just waiting on the holdup @Justin_Gaethje.

bjpenndotcom - July 21, 2017

Throughout the course of the buildup to Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather’s highly anticipated boxing match on August 26th, combat sports fans have continued to question just what would happen if Conor McGregor were to begin using MMA moves against Mayweather in the fight. While it has been made explicitly clear that if McGregor were to use MMA moves against Mayweather, that he would be sued, Joe Rogan and many other fans have stated that McGregor would go down as a legend if he were to kick Mayweather in the fight. Despite that, many know that the odds of McGregor using MMA against Mayweather are slim to none.

bjpenndotcom - July 21, 2017

Earlier this month, top ranked middleweight Robert Whittaker defeated Yoel Romero to claim the interim UFC middleweight title in the main event of UFC 213. The fight was a particularly impressive one for Whittaker, as he fought through a knee injury to defeat Romero via decision. While UFC President Dana White stated prior to the fight that the winner of the fight would go on to fight Michael Bisping for the undisputed title, the morning of UFC 213, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre texted both Dana White and Michael Bisping formally requesting a fight with Bisping. This built on the lengthy saga of a Bisping vs. St-Pierre fight, which ultimately saw White declare that the winner of the Whittaker-Romero fight would secure a fight with Bisping.

Russell Ess - July 21, 2017

Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo’s next competition will interestingly not be in the UFC as “Scarface” is set to compete next weekend. According to the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, Aldo will be competing in their jiu-jitsu tournament, which takes place July 28-30.

bjpenndotcom - July 21, 2017

Earlier this month in the main event of UFC 213, Robert Whittaker realized a dream as he defeated Yoel Romero via unanimous decision to claim the interim UFC middleweight title, and secure himself a fight with middleweight champion Michael Bisping. For Robert Whittaker, the fight was not without its share of difficulties. Early on in the fight, Whittaker appeared to hyperextend his knee, and as commentator Joe Rogan pointed out, was noticeably unsteady on the leg. Despite that, Whittaker put on an impressive display as he stuffed the Olympian’s takedowns, and continued to out-strike Romero.

Russell Ess - July 21, 2017

The estimated pay-per-view numbers for UFC 213 and Bellator NYC have been released and they are estimated to be rather low. According to Dave Meltzer’s report for MMA Fighting, UFC 213 is projected to be in the range of 125,000 to 150,000 pay-per-view buys. According to Meltzer, UFC 213 has brought in one of the lowest buy rates over the past 10 years aside from “some shows” headlined by UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson.

bjpenndotcom - July 21, 2017

Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez spend several months gearing up for his highly anticipated UFC 205 scrap with Conor McGregor in 2016. Throughout the course of several press conferences leading up to the fight, Conor McGregor and Alvarez traded scathing verbal blows. When the pair stepped into the Octagon together, it was McGregor who dominated the fight, dropping Alvarez several times en route to a 2nd round TKO win to win the UFC lightweight title. Given Alvarez’ experience in combat sports, in addition to his experience sharing the Octagon with McGregor, he recently spoke on ESPN’s 5ive Rounds podcast to discuss the Mayweather-McGregor world tour, as well as McGregor’s chances in his upcoming boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.

bjpenndotcom - July 21, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has been absent from the Octagon for over a year now following his 1st round KO loss at the hands of Michael Bisping at UFC 196, where he lost the UFC middleweight title. After recovering from an injury that forced him out of his UFC Melbourne scrap with Jacare Souza, Rockhold all signs pointed to the former champ fighting Gegard Mousasi in a pivotal middleweight fight, however Mousasi went on to sign with Bellator MMA.

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2017

Throughout the course of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor world tour, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor repeatedly referred to members of the TMT Security Team as ‘juice heads’ insinuating that the men were taking steroids. The press conference which resulted in the most notable beef between McGregor and Mayweather’s security team came during the third stop of the tour in Brooklyn, where Greg La Rosa says he offered to take a USADA test to prove to Conor McGregor that he doesn’t use steroids.

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2017

On July 29th, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier will meet in the Octagon at UFC 214 for one of the biggest grudge matches in the history of the UFC. That fight will serve as a rematch to one of the most highly anticipated fights in UFC history. In the pair’s first fight, Jones took a unanimous decision as he outstruck Cormier throughout the course of the 5 round title fight at UFC 182. In addition, Jones also landed several takedowns throughout the course of the fight, surprising many.

Russell Ess - July 20, 2017

If you haven’t watched episode two or the highlights from Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, you may not have been introduced to a new MMA star on the rise, Sean O’Malley.

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2017

Big news surfaced Thursday morning regarding two title fights. UFC President Dana White informed TSN this morning that UFC 215, which is set to take place at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, on September 9th, will feature a main event scrap between UFC flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson, and top contender Ray Borg, with a women’s bantamweight showdown between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko set for the co-main event. Johnson vs. Borg and Nunes vs. Shevchenko set for UFC 215 on September 9th. pic.twitter.com/mZdAeMIo0n