MMA News

bjpenndotcom - June 9, 2017

While Tyron Woodley and Demian Maia have no date finalized for their highly anticipated welterweight title fight, all signs point towards Maia getting the next welterweight title fight against the champ. That fight has the MMA community torn on their predictions for the scrap, with many wondering stylistically how the pair will matchup given that Maia’s strength is his Jiu-Jitsu, and Woodley’s strength is his impressive wrestling background.

bjpenndotcom - June 9, 2017

The ongoing saga of former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre‘s comeback fight continues to be a confusing one, as the former champion has now proclaimed that he is remaining “positive” in hopes of a fight with middleweight champion Michael Bisping happens, despite his eye injury sidelining him through the fall. While UFC President Dana White was quick to inform fans that the UFC wasn’t planning to wait until St-Pierre’s eye injury healed, ‘Rush’ revealed in a recent interview with TSN that he spoke to Dana White on the phone, and is confident that after their conversation, he will still have the opportunity to return to the Octagon and fight Micheal Bisping.

bjpenndotcom - June 8, 2017

Recently, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier put former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones on blast ahead of their July 29th rematch at UFC 214 for the undisputed light heavyweight title. Ahead of the fight, Cormier made some controversial statements on ‘The Herd with Colin Cowherd’ as he proclaimed that he believes Jon Jones was forced to fight PED-free for the first time when he fought Ovince Saint Preux:

bjpenndotcom - June 8, 2017

Top ranked UFC light heavyweight knockout artist Jimi Manuwa has been on a tear of the UFC’s light heavyweight division recently, going on a 2-fight win streak that has seen him knock out both Ovince Saint-Preux, and Corey Anderson. The back to back wins for Manuwa saw the English striker land at #2 on the UFC’s official rankings behind his teammate, #1 contender Alexander Gustafsson. Following UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier’s recent win over Anthony Johnson in April, Manuwa called for a title fight with Cormier. Ultimately, the UFC booked a light heavyweight title fight between Cormier and former light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones for this summer, and booked Manuwa for a UFC 214 showdown with Volkan Oezdemir on July 29th.

Russell Ess - June 8, 2017

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and former champion Jon Jones are scheduled to fight once again at UFC 214, which takes place on July 29 in Anaheim, California.

Russell Ess - June 8, 2017

A deadly shootout between two Chechen clans took place in Moscow on Monday evening. According to a report from Life.ru that was translated by Karim Zidan of Bloody Elbow, former UFC and Strikeforce fighter Adlan Amagov was allegedly involved in the violent incident where two were left dead and six people injured.

bjpenndotcom - June 8, 2017

Former UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson has been absent from the Octagon since his UFC 209 showdown with Tyron Woodley for the welterweight championship, a highly anticipated rematch from their UFC 205 co-main event showdown that saw Woodley retain the belt in a majority draw effort. Following the rematch at UFC 209, Thompson revealed that he injured his knee in his rematch with Woodley. While there has been no word on when ‘Wonderboy’ will return to the Octagon, he spoke to Submission Radio this week to unveil his ideal return plan:

Tom Taylor - June 8, 2017

AJ McKee and James Gallagher are two of the hottest prospects on the Bellator roster and as luck would have it, they happen to compete in the same weight class and have some real issues with one another. Though Gallagher is currently scheduled for a stark test against Chinzo Machida at Bellator 180 on June 24, he and McKee seem to be destined to collide. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, McKee explained to host Kinch that he hopes to fight Gallagher, whether the Irishman wins or loses against Machida later this month.

bjpenndotcom - June 8, 2017

It has now been nearly an entire year since Luke Rockhold has been in the Octagon. After winning the UFC middleweight championship by defeating Chris Weidman at UFC 194 back in December of 2015, Rockhold was set to have a rematch with Weidman at UFC 199 in June of 2016. Unfortunately, Weidman sustained an injury during training camp and was unable to fight at UFC 199, leading the UFC to select Michael Bisping as a last minute fill-in opponent for Rockhold just two weeks before the fight. When the pair stepped into the Octagon for their highly anticipated rematch, it took just minutes for Bisping to knock Rockhold out cold and claim the UFC middleweight championship.

Tom Taylor - June 8, 2017

UFC 212, which went down in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil last Saturday night, was a big one for the Hawaii, as Max Holloway defeated Jose Aldo to win featherweight gold, and Yancy Medeiros thumped Erick Silva to move to 2-0 as a welterweight. Hawaii, of course, has always been a hotbed for mixed martial arts – thanks in large part to our own BJ Penn. Yet with Holloway sitting on the featherweight throne, and Medeiros surging into welterweight contendership, the island’s status as a crucible for top fighters is surer than ever.

Tom Taylor - June 8, 2017

Last weekend, on the main card of UFC 212 in Rio de Janeiro, Yancy Medeiros stepped into the Octagon with ever-dangerous Brazilian finisher Erick Silva. Despite the scale of this test, the Hawaiian talent defeated Silva in his own back yard, putting him down with a thudding, second-round combo. With this impressive win, Medeiros built on the momentum of a submission defeat of Sean Spencer, and moved to 2-0 since jumping from lightweight to welterweight.

bjpenndotcom - June 8, 2017

https://youtu.be/a5RiQU4f0O8 On this day in MMA history, heavyweight MMA icon Fedor Emelianenko picked up an impressive 1st round submission win over Kazuyuki Fujita after nearly being finished by ‘Ironhead’ in the opening minutes of the fight.

Tom Taylor - June 8, 2017

Earlier this week, we learned that former fighter War Machine – born Jonathan Koppenhaver – had received a sentence of 36 years to life for his gruesome assault on ex-girlfriend Christy Mack, and her boyfriend at the time, Corey Thomas. War Machine was facing 29 charges including sexual assault, battery and kidnapping. Now several days removed from this sentencing, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson spoke to MMAJunkie.com to explain why War Machine received such a substantial sentence.

Tom Taylor - June 8, 2017

Over the last few weeks, UFC President Dana White has been pushing UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to accept a fight with a slimmed down former bantamweight champion in TJ Dillashaw. Johnson, however, has some real reservations. He believes the next flyweight title shot should go to the established Ray Borg, and is reluctant to take any huge risks for the UFC President, who he recently divulged hasn’t treated him especially well. During a Wednesday night appearance on UFC Tonight, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier weighed in on this complicated UFC-Johnson-Dillashaw debacle. In his opinion, if the UFC wants to make this Johnson-Dillashaw happen they need to make it worth the flyweight champ’s while. Cormier believes a one million dollar payday should be enough in that regard.

Tom Taylor - June 8, 2017

On July 29, in the main event of UFC 214, former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will return from a lengthy layoff to challenge reigning champion Daniel Cormier for the title. In April of 2016, Jones returned from a similar layoff. Though he was originally expected to challenge Cormier for gold in this 2016 return to action, a last-minute Cormier injury meant he instead battled late-replacement Ovince St. Preux for interim gold.

Tom Taylor - June 8, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 212, interim UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway stepped onto the canvas with undisputed featherweight champion Jose Aldo in a compelling featherweight title unification fight. As many expected, it was an interesting battle from the opening bell. The fight began with Aldo efficiently navigating his Hawaiian foe’s substantial reach advantage, blasting into range to land crackling, multi-punch combos on the interim champion. This trend continued until the end of the second round. In the third, however, Aldo began to fade abruptly while Holloway simultaneously cranked up the offense. Before the third round ended, Holloway was being peeled off of his legendary foe by the referee, signalling a career-changing title win.

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.