MMA News

bjpenndotcom - June 28, 2017

This past weekend in New York City, Bellator MMA held their first pay-per view event, which was headlined by a highly anticipated middleweight fight between former UFC middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen, and former Pride FC champion Wanderlei Silva. The fight saw Sonnen win via unanimous decision thanks to his wrestling, which saw Silva have no answer to Sonnen’s repeated takedowns. With that being said, ‘The Axe Murderer’ dropped Sonnen in the second round with a well placed shot behind the ear that resulted in Sonnen’s legs giving out.

bjpenndotcom - June 28, 2017

This Sunday in Oklahoma City, Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee stepped into the Octagon for a highly anticipated grudge match. The fight didn’t make it out of the first round, as Lee picked up an impressive submission win over Chiesa. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the fight was stopped before Chiesa physically tapped, with referee Mario Yamasaki stopping the fight when Chiesa stopped hand fighting with the choke. While many, including UFC President Dana White, ripped referee Mario Yamasaki for the stoppage, which he also agreed was premature, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping took things one step further, calling for referees and judges to be held accountable for poor decisions. He spoke on his Believe You Me podcast:

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2017

UFC 215 just grew by one massive heavyweight showdown. This tilt will see former heavyweight champion and recent title challenger Junior Dos Santos collide with surging French contender Francis Ngannou. This fight, which has been rumored for some time, was announced on the UFC’s official Facebook page. The UFC also announced a light heavyweight bout between long-time Swedish contender Ilir Latifi and Australian prospect Tyson Pedro.

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2017

Back in May, we learned that former bantamweight champion Renan Barao would be returning to the division he once ruled after a 2-fight run at featherweight. The former champ’s bantamweight return was pencilled in for UFC 214, on July 29 in Anaheim, California, where he will take on long-time bantamweight contender Aljamain Sterling. According to a report from FloCombat.com, however, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) will not be allowing Barao to brave another gruelling cut to the bantamweight division’s 136 pound cap – a cut that has gone disastrously for him in the past. Instead, the commission has decided to change Barao and Sterling’s fight to a 140 pound catchweight so that Barao doesn’t put himself in danger by cutting down to 136.

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2017

If you haven’t already heard, UFC 213 was dealt a real blow this morning, as Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone was forced out of his scheduled showdown with Robbie Lawler with an undisclosed injury. And though the UFC is reportedly considering moving this fight to UFC 214 on July 29, one eager fighter is hoping to step in for the injured Cowboy and fight Lawler on just over a week’s notice. That fighter is Norway’s Emil Meek. Nicknamed “Valhalla,” Meek made his call for the last-minute fight with Lawler on Twitter.

bjpenndotcom - June 28, 2017

This Sunday, fight fans tuned in to an action packed night of fights in Oklahoma City, headlined by a highly anticipated grudge match between two of the lightweight division’s most promising fighters. When Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee fought however, it was a rather controversial affair, which many felt didn’t do the matchup justice. Ultimately, Kevin Lee won the scrap after Chiesa stopped hand fighting and referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight when Chiesa appeared to go limp. Also on the main card, in the co-main event, Tim Boetsch handed former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks his first loss at middleweight after his successful debut earlier this year against Hector Lombard. Below you can see the full salary report for the card courtesy of BloodyElbow:

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2017

Over the years, we’ve seen a number of high-profile mixed martial artists strip down for ESPN’s Body Issue, from Gina Carano, to Jon Jones, to Miesha Tate. The latest fighter to do so is UFC strawweight contender and former Invicta atomweight champ Michelle Waterson – otherwise known as “The Karate Hottie.”

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2017

On August 26, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will take his first steps into the professional boxing arena opposite undefeated defensive specialist and possible GOAT Floyd Mayweather Jr. It’s a fight that initially seemed almost impossible, but one that ultimately came to fruition. In the opinion of UFC light heavyweight champion and Fox Sports analyst Daniel Cormier, that fact can be largely attributed to McGregor’s gift for promotion. “Floyd had to listen for this to happen,” Cormier recently told Fight Hype (h/t BloodyElbow). “Floyd had to take notice. How did Conor McGregor, a mixed martial arts guy – he has no boxing experience – get the attention of the pound-for-pound number one fighter in the world, and maybe the best boxer of all-time? How did he do that?”

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2017

The injury bug has taken a big bite out of UFC 213, which goes down on July 8 in Las Vegas. According to a report from MMAFighting.com, Donald Cerrone has sustained an injury in training that is likely to force him out of his anticipated UFC 213 bloodletting with former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler. Apparently, however, the injury is not too severe, and the fight could be rescheduled for UFC 214, which goes down on July 29 in Anaheim. This marks the second time this all-violence Cerrone vs. Lawler bout has been nixed. The bout was originally scheduled for the blockbuster UFC 205 back in November, but was unfortunately scrapped just days after it was announced when Lawler withdrew.

Chris Taylor - June 27, 2017

Cris Cyborg reacts to Megan Anderson being forced off of UFC 214 Earlier tonight news broke that Megan Anderson had been forced to withdraw from her highly anticipated UFC 214 title fight with Brazilian star Cris Cyborg.

Chris Taylor - June 27, 2017

Megan Anderson issues a statement after being forced to pull out of UFC 214 Unfortunate news struck the mixed martial arts world tonight as ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reported that Megan Anderson (8-2 MMA) had been forced to withdraw from her scheduled UFC title shot opposite Cris Cyborg (17-1 MMA) at UFC 214 due to personal reasons.

Chris Taylor - June 27, 2017

With Megan Anderson out, Cris Cyborg gets a new opponent for UFC 214 Cris Cyborg will still be fighting for the UFC women’s featherweight championship on July 29 at UFC 214 in Anaheim, but it won’t be against Megan Anderson.

Russell Ess - June 27, 2017

Robert Whittaker is set for the biggest fight of his career as he is set to take on Yoel Romero in a UFC interim middleweight title fight at UFC 213. Coming off an impressive TKO stoppage over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Whittaker has worked his way up to an interim title bout by letting his performances in the Octagon do the talking and not by hyping himself up with trash talk.

Russell Ess - June 27, 2017

The money fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor is now less than two months away as the two combat sports superstars will meet in the boxing ring on August 26. Many from the world of boxing are not giving UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor much of a chance at beating the undefeated defensive boxing specialist. Boxing analyst Max Kellerman is even claiming that “The Notorious” will not land a single punch on “Money” in the course of their entire fight.

Russell Ess - June 27, 2017

The UFC 213 broadcast schedules are set as the event approaches on July 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will look to defend her title for the second time against Valentina Shevchenko in the pay-per-view main event. This will be a rematch between the two bantamweight rivals as they first met in a three-round non-title fight at UFC 196 back in March of last year where Nunes was able to outpoint Shevchenko to take a unanimous decision win.

Tom Taylor - June 27, 2017

Conor McGregor‘s training camp for his August 26 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. is now well underway. The UFC lightweight champ is currently undergoing a crash course on the sweet science in Ireland, and will soon relocate to Vegas, where he spend the duration of his camp. Today, McGregor shared a number of photos from his latest training session to Twitter. The captions attached to these photos seem  seem to suggest that the Irish superstar is focusing on developing the very same elusiveness for which Mayweather has become famous.

Tom Taylor - June 27, 2017

The official announcement of UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor’s boxing match with undefeated defensive great Floyd Mayweather Jr. is now several weeks old. As such, McGregor’s training camp is now well underway. While McGregor is still a significant underdog heading into this fight, his head coach John Kavanagh has suggested that things are going very well as the Irishman prepares for the monumental challenge ahead. In fact, Kavanagh feels McGregor would be ready to fight Mayweather in three weeks – far less than the eight weeks he actually has between now and fight night.

EVOLVE MMA - June 27, 2017

This video was first published on Evolve Vacation. Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos is known as one of MMA’s most vicious offensive fighters. His ability to batter his opponents with lightning quick punches and kicks has led to a series of highlight reel stoppages over the course of his career. Today, Dos Anjos is known as one of the most feared competitors in the UFC.