MMA News

Tom Taylor - May 4, 2017

The lightweight division is one of the most stacked divisions in the UFC. That said, things are a little chaotic in the division at the moment, as champ Conor McGregor is pursuing a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov has been sidelined with illness and religious obligations, and the fan favorite Nate Diaz has no plans to fight. On Wednesday’s edition of BJ Penn Radio, dangerous lightweight contender Michael Johnson weighed in on the situation at lightweight – particularly on the absences of McGregor and Nurmagomedov.

bjpenndotcom - May 4, 2017

It’s no secret that the UFC brass and Stockton California’s very own ‘Diaz Brothers’ don’t exactly see eye to eye all the time. The pair have frequently been involved in public disputes over things such as fighter pay, contract negotiations, and upcoming fights. With that being said of course, it appeared as though after Diaz defeated Conor McGregor at UFC 196 that Nate Diaz and UFC President Dana White had turned a new page in their story, one that even saw White allow Nate Diaz to land the ‘Stockton Slap’ onhim in a clip which quickly made the rounds on social media.

Russell Ess - May 4, 2017

The next UFC women’s bantamweight title fight is now official as the champion Amanda Nunes is set to defend her title against the #1 UFC ranked women’s bantamweight contender Valentina Shevchenko. BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor originally reported the championship bout was in the works on April 22 and it was later confirmed by MMA insider Dizz. Now, it has once again been confirmed by MMAFighting.com.

Tom Taylor - May 4, 2017

On July 7, Canadian middleweight Elias Theodorou will face a tough test in Hawaii’s Brad Tavares. The two will meet at the finale of the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, in Las Vegas, Nevada. On the latest edition of BJ Penn Radio, Theodorou discussed this looming scrap with Tavares, and was quite complimentary of the Hawaiian’s skill and potential.

Tom Taylor - May 4, 2017

Yesterday afternoon, fan favorite lightweight Nate Diaz appeared on a special edition of The MMA Hour to give the fight community an update on the state of his career, and when he might fight again. The news was not good. While many were expecting Diaz to announce a fight during this anticipated interview, he instead announced plans to sit out for the remainder of the year, and also suggested his brother Nick was likely to do the same.

Tom Taylor - May 4, 2017

On Wednesday evening, almost 15,000 people tuned in to listen to a special edition of The MMA Hour, during which MMA star Nate Diaz did his first real interview in many months. As is the case with almost every Diaz interview, it was pure entertainment.

Chris Taylor - May 3, 2017

Jim Miller vs. Anthony Pettis set for UFC 213 A lightweight scrap between former division title holder Anthony Pettis and perennial contender Jim Miller has been added to July’s UFC 213 pay-per-view event in Las Vegas.

Tom Taylor - May 3, 2017

Just months after crowing its first ever female featherweight champion in Germaine de Randamie, the UFC now has plans to introduce a 125-pound women’s division. For smaller female bantamweights, such as Jessica Eye, and strawweights who had a difficult time making the cut to 115-pounds, like the recently released Valerie Letourneau, this is undeniably good news. This development is also likely to spark the interest of dominant strawweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who has previously stated interest in fighting for flyweight gold, should the UFC introduce the division. The first-ever UFC women’s flyweight champion will be crowned on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, which is also how they crowned the strawweight division’s first ever champion, Carla Esparza. All women currently signed with the UFC will be allowed to audition for this season of TUF, as will unsigned women.

bjpenndotcom - May 3, 2017

BJPENN.COM Radio is live at 8PM ET/5PM PT with John Wayne Parr, Elias Theodorou, and Michael Johnson! 8:15PM ET- Kicking off tonights show is the legendary kick boxer, John Wayne Parr @johnwayneparr. Just a few weeks removed from his blistering head-kick KO victory over Nando Calzetta at Bellator Kickboxing 5, we’ll be discussing the huge win in Italy and get his thoughts on making his Bellator debut. While JWP was originally expecting to face Giorgio Petrosyan, you’ll hear the latest on what Parr’s intentions are moving forward with the promotion.

Russell Ess - May 3, 2017

Vitor Belfort will meet Nate Marquardt at UFC 212 in what “The Phenom” is calling his last fight before he retires from mixed martial arts. With the two middleweight division fighters going to duke it out in the Octagon, the champion of the division, Michael Bisping had some interesting things to say about the two fellow fighters at 185.

Russell Ess - May 3, 2017

It has been nearly a year since former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold last fought in the Octagon. Rockhold was upset by current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, losing the UFC middleweight title after getting knocked out by “The Count” in the first round of their UFC 199 championship fight.

bjpenndotcom - May 3, 2017

#5 ranked UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal put together arguably one of the most impressive runs in 2016. After snapping a 2-fight skid by defeating Ross Pearson via unanimous decision. Following that, Masvidal picked up a controversial TKO win over Jake Ellenberger after ‘The Juggernaut’ got his big toe stuck in the cage wall. Most recently, Masvidal picked up a performance of the night bonus for his TKO win over Donald Cerrone, which snapped Cerrone’s four-fight win streak. Now, with Masvidal’s upcoming #1 contender fight with Demian Maia next weekend quickly approaching, the top ranked welterweight is questioning if he will truly be crowned the welterweight #1 contender with a win over Maia.

Tom Taylor - May 3, 2017

When Kyrgyzstani bantamweight Valentina Shevchenko submitted the streaking Julianna Peña in January of this year, she earned herself a shot at reigning bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, who she lost a competitive decision to in early 2016. While we have known for some time now that Shevchenko would get the next crack at bantamweight gold, however, the date and location of her opportunity to do so have not yet been made official. We do, of course, have plenty of reason to believe this title fight will occur at UFC 213 this July 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada. BJPenn.com previously reported that this bout was in the works for the card, while Twitter user Dizz went on record saying this was the case.

Tom Taylor - May 3, 2017

Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis had a bit of a tough run as a featherweight. Though he defeated Charles Oliveira in his first fight in the division, he would be TKO’d by Max Holloway in his second – which really wasn’t even technically a featherweight bout, as he missed the division’s 145-pound limit. After his tough loss to Holloway, Pettis confirmed that he’d had enough of the rather difficult cut to featherweight, and that he planned to return to the lightweight division where he once wore gold.

Russell Ess - May 3, 2017

Jimi Manuwa and Daniel Cormier have been building up a potential fight with each other with Manuwa climbing his way up to a title shot, currently sitting at #3 on the official UFC light heavyweight rankings. Cormier and Manuwa even agreed to fight during a heated twitter exchange. However, Manuwa said when it came down to seeing each other in person when they were both backstage at an event, Cormier didn’t have much to say when they were in close proximity.

bjpenndotcom - May 3, 2017

Former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre is currently gearing up for his 2017 return to the Octagon, which will see him challenge Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title after three years away from the Octagon. While the UFC announced earlier this year that a Bisping vs. St-Pierre fight will take place at some point this year, it has not been announced when St-Pierre and Bisping will fight for the title. This of course has led to Michael Bisping stating that if St-Pierre isn’t ready to fight this summer, he will take the title shot from the former welterweight champ and give it to the middleweight #1 contender, Yoel Romero.

Tom Taylor - May 3, 2017

Since he became the UFC middleweight champion with a shocking, first-round knockout of Luke Rockhold, Michael Bisping has generated quite a bit of controversy for chasing lucrative “money fights” over fights with the middleweight division’s top contenders. His taking fights with opponents like Dan Henderson and Georges St-Pierre has generated backlash from fighters like Yoel Romero, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Luke Rockhold, Chris Weidman, Tyron Woodley, and others. You can now add streaking welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal to the list of fighters who are unimpressed by Bisping’s alleged unwillingness to fight the middleweight division’s top contenders. On Tuesday night, Masvidal took to Twitter explaining that he’d received some heat from Bisping for not wanting to be on his “14 person total audience” podcast, Believe You Me. Apparently, this prompted a response from Bisping. This response drove Masvidal to call Bisping out for “avoiding everybody that’s a threat” and being the “only champ that does not fight top ten contenders.”

bjpenndotcom - May 3, 2017

Rory MacDonald was a staple of the UFC’s welterweight division for many years prior to his departure from the promotion last year, which saw him promptly sign a contract with Bellator MMA. While MacDonald’s Bellator MMA debut fight wasn’t immediately announced, the former UFC welterweight staple reveled that he was going to take his time before his Bellator MMA debut in order to let a broken nose heal fully. Now however, with just two weeks to go until MacDonald’s debut fight against Paul Daley, MacDonald is back training with his old coach prior to his jump to Tristar gym.