MMA News

Tom Taylor - July 3, 2017

In late June, in the co-main event of Bellator NYC, Russian heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko had his lights shut off by UFC veteran Matt Mitrione. This loss marked the latest hiccup in Emelianenko’s clear decline, and in the opinion of Alistair Overeem, a heavyweight legend of the same vintage as Emelianenko, a signal that it might be time to hang up the gloves. Overeem broke it down in an interview with Fight Hub TV (via MMAFighting.com).

Tom Taylor - July 3, 2017

This September 9, when the UFC debuts in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with UFC 215, former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez will reportedly look for a fresh start in the featherweight division. His opponent for this featherweight debut will be hard-hitting veteran Jeremy Stephens. This bout was first reported by Damon Martin.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2017

This Saturday, in the co-main event of UFC 213, surging Cuban contender Yoel Romero will collide with Kiwi standout Robert Whittaker for the interim UFC middleweight title. Brazil’s Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza – who has long stood out as one of the best middleweights on earth – is one of just a few men to fight both Romero and Whittaker. As such, his thoughts on this fight are particularly interesting. “I think Romero wins this fight,” Souza told MMAFighting.com. “He’s stronger, keeps the distance well and is really calm. Robert Whittaker can surprise him and win because he’s really fast for the middleweight division, but I bet on Romero.”

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2017

This Saturday, on the main card of UFC 213, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will look to correct one of the toughest slumps of his career opposite lightweight veteran Jim Miller. While Miller represents a small step down in competition for the struggling Pettis – who has recently battled a procession of top-10 foes in Max Holloway, Charles Oliveira, Edson Barboza, Eddie Alvarez and Rafael Dos Anjos – this is apparently a fight Pettis asked for specifically.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2017

Originally, Aljamain Sterling expected to fight Renan Barao at bantamweight at UFC 214 this July 29. Unfortunately, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) ultimately decided to forbid Barao from fighting at bantamweight given his previous difficulty cutting to the weight class. As such, Sterling was asked to meet Barao at a 140-pound catchweight. While Sterling is willing to meet Barao at 140, he recently divulged to MMAFighting.com that he has not yet signed the contract to do so, as he’s hoping for a bit more money.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2017

On June 24, Bellator MMA touched down in New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden with the aptly titled Bellator NYC card. This card stands out as the biggest in the promotion’s history. The card was headlined by a light heavyweight grudge match between UFC veterans Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva, which Sonnen won by unanimous decision. The co-main event, meanwhile, occurred at heavyweight, where UFC veteran Matt Mitrione knocked out MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko. Other highlights of the main card, meanwhile, included a successful title defense from welterweight champ Douglas Lima, who defeated Lorenz Larkin by decision, and an upset win from Brent Primus, who defeated Bellator star Michael Chandler to win lightweight gold.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2017

Heading into his UFC 213 bout with Oleksiy Oliynyk, Travis Browne has been training with former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett – a man he knocked out back in late 2013 with a series of hellacious elbows. In order to begin training with Barnett, Browne first had to squash his beef with the former champion. This beef stemmed from the fact that Browne stole Barnett’s post-fight celebration – a throat slashing gesture – moments after he knocked him out.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2017

Late last month, in the main event of the UFC’s exciting stop in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Kevin Lee scored an impressive – though somewhat controversial – first-round submission win over top-10 lightweight Michael Chiesa. This win set the 24-year-old Lee up for more big tests in the stacked UFC lightweight division, and post-fight, he made some suggestions to that end, dropping names like the “already down the hill” Edson Barboza.

Chris Taylor - July 2, 2017

Donald Cerrone vs. Robbie Lawler has been rebooked Good news!

Chris Taylor - July 1, 2017

Luke Rockhold plans on “making some noise” in his octagon return Luke Rockhold has not stepped foot inside the octagon since losing his UFC middleweight championship to Michael Bisping at UFC 199 twelve months ago in Los Angeles, California.

Chris Taylor - July 1, 2017

Georges St-Pierre refutes Dana White’s recent news Earlier this week it was announced that current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley would be defending his title against top division contender Demian Maia in the co-main event of UFC 214 on July 29 in Anaheim, California.

bjpenndotcom - July 1, 2017

More movement to go along with all the huge amount of daily traditional work: mitts, heavy bag, cardio and lots of sparring. Keeping the brain quick, the eyes sharp, the feet light. When such a zero impact drill is involved the 'software is upgraded without damaging the hardware' (John Kavanagh) and extra motor learning and re-patterning can occur at scenarios that are hard to target in traditional sparring in such dosages and frequency. At the same time these are not rehearsed or pre-set sequences. This will need to be transfered later into sparring but provides room for experimentation, growth, research and lots of extra practice to feed into sparring and technical work. A major reason why many fighters can't break through plateus and fail to continue to evolve beyond a certain point is the minimal amount of experimentation, research and trial&error made possible inside a regime of solely heavy sparring rounds from one hand or simple, predetermined and dry technical work from the other. @thenotoriousmma #mcgregorvsmayweather #conormcgregor #idoportal #ufc #boxing #movementculture A post shared by Ido Portal (@portal.ido) on Jun 24, 2017 at 3:03pm PDT

bjpenndotcom - July 1, 2017

UFC lightweight Edson Barboza is undoubtably one of the best strikers in the UFC’s lightweight division. In addition to 11 knockout wins in 19 professional fights, Barboza racked up a 25-3 professional kickboxing record, with 22 of those wins coming by way of knockout. Fresh off a KO win over Beneil Dariush at ‘UFC Fight Night: Fortaleza’ back in March, Edson Barboza is looking to secure what could very well be the biggest fight of his professional career.

bjpenndotcom - July 1, 2017

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is currently gearing up for his highly anticipated showdown with Floyd Mayweather on August 26th, where the Irish superstar will look to shock the world and hand Mayweather his first professional loss. Ahead of the fight, many question whether or not Conor McGregor has the ability to catch Mayweather, arguably the most defensive fighter of this era, given that he has no professional boxing experience. With that being said, McGregor’s sparring partner, Irish amateur boxing champion Tiernan Bradley, praised McGregor as a boxer in an interview with MMAFighting, saying:

bjpenndotcom - July 1, 2017

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes has been on a tear of the women’s bantamweight division over the past two years, going on a 5-fight win streak that saw her finish four of her five opponents. In addition, nearly one year ago, Nunes picked up a first round submission win over Miesha Tate to claim the women’s bantamweight championship in the main event of UFC 200. After winning the belt, Nunes turned around and defended the belt at UFC 207 against none other than former champion Ronda Rousey in a fight that served as Rousey’s highly anticipated return to the Octagon. When the two met in the Octagon, it took just 48 seconds for Nunes to finish Rousey with strikes.

bjpenndotcom - July 1, 2017

Ahead of Conor McGregor’s highly anticipated showdown with Floyd Mayweather on August 26th, the UFC lightweight champion enlisted the help of several elite level boxers to assist him in the monumental task of shocking the world on August 26th. One of the men brought in to aid Conor McGregor is 6 time Irish boxing champion, and Commonwealth silver medalist Tiernan Bradley, who boasts a 98-12 amateur record, and has spent the past 13 years learning to move, and punch, like Floyd Mayweather.

bjpenndotcom - June 30, 2017

In a rather unexpected move, the UFC has signed rap icon Snoop Dogg to a broadcasting deal as part of UFC President Dana White’s “Tuesday Night Contender Series” which will air on UFC Fight Pass every tuesday starting on July 11th. ESPN broke the story, which revealed that Snoop Dogg and Urijah Faber were going to be teaming up for a ‘secondary broadcasting team’ which will be dubbed “SnoopCast”. The duo will give viewers a different option of commentary for those who don’t want to listen to traditional commentary, which will be provided by a team which has yet to be announced.

Russell Ess - June 30, 2017

Earlier this year, Ronda Rousey and Travis Browne got engaged and the UFC power couple is looking forward to their future married life together. As Browne is set to fight against Aleksei Oliynyk at UFC 213, which takes place next Saturday on July 8, “Hapa” spoke with the media about how much pressure he put on himself for perfection in asking the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey to marry him.