MMA News

bjpenndotcom - June 7, 2017

While the UFC hasn’t done a ‘Fight for the Troops’ card recently, UFC lightweight veterans Diego Sanchez and Joe Lauzon recently went over to Iraq and visited with troops. Despite the men having no mats to train, they attempted to assemble rubber floor tiles in a makeshift grappling area. While the floor continues to come apart throughout the grappling sessions, the two men both get some grappling in with the troops in an awesome video which can be seen above!

Russell Ess - June 7, 2017

A new undisputed champion was crowned in Brazil over the weekend as Max Holloway continued his impressive winning streak, now riding 11 UFC wins in a row. It was no easy task as the young Hawaiian dethroned Jose Aldo in their UFC 212 featherweight title unification bout on Aldo’s home turf. In the first round, Aldo showed off his speed and skills that made him the champion for so many years. In round two, Holloway started to find his rhythm and range making things more competitive between the two. The tables turned in round three as the Hawaiian connected with a combo that dropped Aldo and followed up with a relentless ground attack where referee “Big” John McCarthy eventually called an end to the fight.

Russell Ess - June 7, 2017

UFC President Dana White is buying up a good part of his fancy Tournament Hills neighborhood in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to a report from the Las Vegas Review Journal, the UFC boss has purchased three mansions since October of last year that are very close to his mansion that he has had since 2006. The new properties that White picked up include “a roughly 7,700-square-foot house for just under $1.8 million in October, a 5,500-square-foot home for $2.4 million in January and a nearly 4,700-square-foot house for $2 million in March, county records indicate.”

Russell Ess - June 7, 2017

It’s hard for the everyday Joe to even fathom the amount of money that the world’s highest paid athletes make as they rake in millions of dollars every year. Forbes released their list of The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes on Wednesday and once again, only one mixed martial arts superstar made their top-100 list.

Tom Taylor - June 7, 2017

Last Saturday, Hawaii’s Max Holloway ventured into Rio de Janeiro’s Jeunesse Arena for a showdown with undisputed featherweight champ and Brazilian hero Jose Aldo. Though he experienced a patch of adversity early on, Holloway surged back in the third round, ultimatately stopping his legendary foe with a storm of punches. Holloway now sits proudly on the UFC featherweight throne. Though he will certainly have his work cut out for him with contenders like Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson on the horizon, his looks like it could become a fairly dominant reign.

bjpenndotcom - June 7, 2017

Throughout the course of 2017, talks of a potential boxing match between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather have continued to progress. Recently, UFC President Dana White finalized McGregor’s half of a contract for a potential boxing match with Mayweather. Despite that, Mayweather has yet to sign his end of the contract, leading Conor McGregor’s teammate Artem Lobov to question whether or not Mayweather truly wants to fight.

Tom Taylor - June 7, 2017

On June 24, Bellator MMA will host just the second pay-per-view of its already illustrious history. This pay-per-view, which will broadcast live from Madison Square Garden in New York City, is aptly named “Bellator NYC.” Bellator NYC will be headlined by a light heavyweight grudge match between three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen and Pride legend Wanderlei Silva. The co-headliner, meanwhile, will pit heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko against UFC veteran Matt Mitrione in a bout that was originally scheduled for January of this year. It will also feature two title fights: one at lightweight, where champ Michael Chandler will take on Brent Primus, and another at welterweight, where champ Douglas Lima will battle Lorenz Larkin.

bjpenndotcom - June 7, 2017

This past weekend, in the co-main event of UFC 212, former UFC strawweight title challengers Claudia Gadelha and Karolina Kowalkiewicz stepped into the Octagon for a pivotal scrap that saw Gadelha pick up an early 1st round submission win. The win was a particularly impressive one for Gadelha, who is now on a 2-fight win streak following her TUF Finale loss to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a failed bid for the women’s strawweight title nearly a year ago.

bjpenndotcom - June 7, 2017

This past weekend, in the main event of UFC 212, interim UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway stepped into the Octagon with Jose Aldo, where he claimed the undisputed featherweight title. Immediately following the fight, many began to speculate as to who Holloway would defend his title against first, with the general consensus being that former UFC lightweight champion turned featherweight Frankie Edgar was the #1 contender. Holloway spoke at the post-fight press conference, and welcomed a fight with Edgar.

Tom Taylor - June 7, 2017

These days, there is a lot of talk about boxing matches between boxers and mixed martial artists. Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor are attempting to fight in a contest that would go down as the biggest in combat sports history. UFC light heavyweight Jimi Manuwa is flirting with the idea of a boxing match with David Haye. Roy Jones Jr. and Anderson Silva still occasionally talk about a boxing match. And then, of course, there is UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic’s interest in a boxing match with recently crowned heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua. Speaking on a recent episode of The Fight Society Podcast, Miocic weighed in on this possible boxing match.

Tom Taylor - June 7, 2017

On August 19, on a to-be-announced card that is expected to occur in Seattle, Washington, former Bellator middleweight king and one-time welterweight contender Hector Lombard will step back into the Octagon in what looks like a make or break fight. His opponent will not be Vitor Belfort as he previously called for, but towering middleweight finisher Anthony Smith. This news was first reported by MMAJunkie.com.

Tom Taylor - June 7, 2017

One of the biggest stories of the week thus far has surrounded a scathing, tell-all statement released by UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. In this statement, the champ blasts the UFC and its president Dana White for attempting to force him into a fight with former bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw, rather than letting him fight established flyweight contender Ray Borg. It also criticizes the UFC for failing to promote his division or his fights in an adequate way. Finally, Johnson also claimed in the statement that White threatened to close the division if he didn’t play ball. Needless to say, it was not a particularly good look for White or the UFC.

bjpenndotcom - June 6, 2017

This past weekend at UFC 212, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo was handed a devastating TKO loss at the hands of Max Holloway in his home country of Brazil. Following the loss, Aldo was noticeably devastated, however the Brazilian MMA community was quick to express their support for the former champion:

Russell Ess - June 6, 2017

June 6, 2017, marks one year since the legend Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson passed away at the age of 42.

Russell Ess - June 6, 2017

Dillon Danis has gotten a lot of attention since teaming up with Conor McGregor for his last two fight camps helping with his jiu-jitsu game. Danis was initially brought in to help McGregor for his UFC 202 rematch against Nate Diaz after he was submitted by the Stockton scrapper in their initial meeting at UFC 196. After McGregor was able to get redemption by winning a majority decision over Diaz at UFC 202, Danis was a part of the training camp for McGregor’s UFC 205 fight against then-lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez. McGregor ran through Alvarez and is now looking to cash in on the biggest fight of his career by stepping into the boxing ring against Floyd Mayweather.

Russell Ess - June 6, 2017

There has been quite a bit of buzz surrounding a potential return to competition for former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell. There was talk from his longtime coach John Hackleman saying his blessing would depend on who the opponent is and Liddell himself did not give a definitive answer on if we will be seeing him fight again. There was also the lunch meeting between Bellator boss Scott Coker and Lidell. More speculation grew when Liddell posted a photo of him and longtime rival Tito Ortiz in a staredown photo they took together where Liddell said in the caption, “Why not?”

Tom Taylor - June 6, 2017

Originally, Ricardo Lamas was expected to take on a fellow former title challenger in “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung when the UFC touches down in Anaheim, California, this July 29. Unfortunately, the undead Korean was forced out of this anticipated featherweight scrap with a severely damaged leg. And so began the hunt for a replacement opponent for the ever-dangerous Lamas. That replacement opponent has now been found.

bjpenndotcom - June 6, 2017

This past weekend, in the main event of UFC 212, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo stepped into the Octagon in hopes of defending his new featherweight title for the first time. On the other hand, interim featherweight champion Max Holloway was looking to unify the two belts and capture the undisputed featherweight championship. After weathering an early storm from Aldo in the first, Holloway began to find his rhythm in the second. In the third round, it took just two minutes for Holloway to drop Aldo with a big right cross. Ultimately, Holloway showcased his impressive ground game as he controlled Aldo on the ground, landing a barrage of ground and pound strikes before ultimately earning the 3rd round TKO victory, and claiming the undisputed featherweight championship.