MMA News

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2017

Late last year, New York’s Al Iaquinta withdrew from the stacked UFC 205, citing a contract dispute with the UFC. This dispute continued over the coming weeks, until Iaquinta opted to hang up the gloves, and focus on a burgeoning real estate career. Thankfully for Iaquinta fans, this retirement was short-lived. Over the weekend, the New Yorker returned to the cage to become the first man to legitimately knock out Diego Sanchez, putting the veteran down with punches in the first round.

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2017

Earlier this year, when the UFC touched down in London, England, undefeated lightweight prospect Marc Diakiese picked up one of the best knockouts of 2017 thus far, one-punching Teemu Packalen just 30 seconds into the first round of the fight. With this win, Diakiese moved to an impressive 12-0, and set himself up for a big step up in competition. For a time, it looked as though he’d get that step up in competition, as he and established lightweight striker Paul Felder began engaging in a heated war of words in interviews and on social media.

Tom Taylor - April 26, 2017

Earlier this month, news broke that former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir had been slapped with a two-year ban from the United States Anti-Doping Agency. His suspension stems from an in-competition test, conducted after his knockout loss to Mark Hunt. Mir tested positive for metabolites of the banned substance dehydrochloromethyltestosterone.

Russell Ess - April 25, 2017

UFC President Dana White has been in the fight business for a long time.

Russell Ess - April 25, 2017

It has been a rough year for former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. After testing positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT) in March 2016, which is on the banned substances list, Mir just recently was given his sanction from USADA that has him banned from competition for two years. Mir is eligible to fight again in April 2018.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2017

2016 was a great year for UFC knockouts. We saw Michael Bisping KO Luke Rockhold. We saw Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone chop Matt Brown down with a head kick. We watched Tyron Woodley crush the notoriously durable Robbie Lawler to win UFC welterweight gold. We saw Conor McGregor smash Eddie Alvarez to win the UFC lightweight title. We watched Jimi Manuwa club Ovince St. Preux to a second-round KO. We witnessed Stipe Miocic’s first title win, as he clobbered Fabricio Werdum to a first-round knockout. The list goes on and on. As amazing as 2016 was for emphatic knockout wins in the Octagon, however, 2017 is looking like it could be even better. Already, we’ve witnessed some truly unforgettable KOs under the bright lights of the UFC. Check out 10 of the best UFC knockouts of 2015 in the fan-made video at the top of this post! The knockouts in the video are:

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2017

On June 17, the UFC will return to Asia with UFC Singapore. The promotion has been sure to stack this Asian return with some excellent fights. In the UFC Singapore main event, we’ll see former UFC women’s bantamweight champ and recent featherweight title challenger Holly Holm take on former bantamweight title challenger Bethe Correia. The bout will mark Holm’s opportunity to rebound from three-straight losses to Miesha Tate, Valentina Shevchenko and Germaine de Randamie. Correia, meanwhile, will look to rebound from a razor-thin draw with Marion Reneau.

bjpenndotcom - April 25, 2017

This past weekend the UFC hit Tennessee for ‘UFC Fight Night Nashville’ which featured a featherweight showdown between #4 ranked featherweight Cub Swanson, and SBG Ireland’s very own Artem Lobov. While the two men traded quite a bit of trash talk leading up to the fight, the two men earned one another’s respect by the end of the incredible 5-round scrap which saw the two men put on a thrilling fight. Ultimately, Swanson was awarded the win, however Lobov drew praise from not only his opponent, but also fans.

bjpenndotcom - April 25, 2017

Several years ago, UFC bantamweights TJ Dillashaw and Jimmie Rivera took part in a sparring session at Roufusport gym in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2017

Bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw used to train together at Team Alpha Male. Now, they don’t. Instead, they seem to share a real, reciprocal disdain for one another – a disdain that will come to a head when they battle for the divisional title at UFC 213 this July. Much of Dillashaw and Garbrandt’s beef can be attributed to Garbrandt’s frequent claims that he has footage of himself knocking Dillashaw out in a training session. This alleged video recently started generating headlines again when Garbrandt suggested he’d sell it and give the profits to charity.

bjpenndotcom - April 25, 2017

This past weekend, on the main card of ‘UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Lobov’, UFC icon Diego Sanchez returned to the Octagon in hopes of building on his November win over Marcin Held. Unfortunately for Sanchez, who has been known as ‘The Original Ultimate Fighter’ given the fact that he was the inaugural TUF 1 middleweight tournament winner, he was KOd in the very first round by Al Iaquinta. The loss was a particularly spectacular one for Iaquinta, who was returning to the Octagon for the first time since 2015. With that being said of course, the loss was a particularly devastating one for Sanchez, who received good news that his CT scan came back normal following the KO.

bjpenndotcom - April 25, 2017

In 2016, UFC superstars Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz put on two of the most iconic fights in UFC history. Just two weeks before Conor McGregor was scheduled to challenge Rafael dos Anjos for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 196, it was revealed that the lightweight champion was forced out of the fight with a broken foot. Ultimately, after a brief scramble which saw many fighters offer to fill-in for dos Anjos, the UFC chose Stockton California’s Nate Diaz as a replacement opponent for McGregor. On just two weeks notice, Diaz proceeded to shock the world by submitting McGregor in the second round. After the UFC attempted to schedule the rematch for UFC 200, which resulted in McGregor briefly retiring from MMA, the two met once again in the Octagon at UFC 202 in November of 2016, where McGregor avenged his loss by picking up a majority decision win over Diaz.

bjpenndotcom - April 25, 2017

This past weekend in Nashville, Tennessee, UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta returned to the Octagon after nearly a 2-year hiatus from the Octagon. In 2015, Iaquinta quickly climbed the UFC lightweight rankings, as he went on an impressive 4-fight win streak. Iaquinta was fresh off a submission loss to Mitch Clarke in 2014, when he picked up an impressive TKO win over Rodrigo Damm just four months later. ‘Ragin’ Al built on the momentum when he TKOd Ross Pearson in Sydney, Australia to end 2014 on a 2-fight win streak. In 2015, Iaquinta continued his momentum as he defeated UFC veteran Joe Lauzon via TKO. Iaquinta then stepped into the Octagon with Jorge Masvidal for what turned out to be one of the most controversial decisions in UFC history.

bjpenndotcom - April 25, 2017

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor certainly possesses some of the best knockout power in the UFC. As Tristar gym head coach Firas Zahabi has explained it, McGregor has the ‘touch of death’ in his left hand. Meaning that if he touches you with his left hand, he will likely be able to put you to sleep. That power has been a major factor in predictions for a fight between McGregor and undefeated boxing icon Floyd Mayweather. While Mayweather of course is arguably the greatest boxer of all time, going undefeated throughout his entire career while displaying phenomenal defensive abilities, many believe McGregor’s power and size could present an interesting challenge for Mayweather.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2017

Season 25 of The Ultimate Fighter seems to have people pretty excited. Between the sizzling beef shared by bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and estranged former teammate TJ Dillashaw, the “redemption” theme of the cast, which is composed of a handful of TUF veterans, and the typical in-house machismo and drama, there are some great reasons to tune in. Apparently, however, TUF 25 is not off to a great start from a viewership perspective. Despite the seemingly numerous reasons to watch this latest season of the long running show, its Wednesday night debut on Fox Sports 1 attracted the smallest audience ever for a premiere episode of The Ultimate Fighter. According to Showbuzz Daily (via MMAPayout.com), this first episode of TUF 25 drew in a paltry 288,000 viewers. For those unfamiliar with television viewership numbers, that is very low, especially for the premiere of a well-established franchise.

bjpenndotcom - April 25, 2017

This year, the MMA community celebrated as it was revealed that former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre would be returning to the Octagon in 2017 to fight middleweight champion Michael Bisping.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2017

At a to be determined date later this year, former long-time UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will make his much discussed return to the Octagon. He will not, however, be returning to his former haunts in the middleweight division. Instead, he’ll be moving up to middleweight where he’ll receive a somewhat controversial title shot against reigning champion Michael Bisping. When St-Pierre steps onto the canvas with Bisping, who used to fight at light heavyweight, he’s likely to surrender a fairly significant size disadvantage. To combat this, the former welterweight says he’s packed on some size – to the point that he’s bigger than he’s ever been. St-Pierre explained his physique change during a recent Q&A with sponsor Hayabusa. “I have always been the same weight,” he said (via BloodyElbow.com). “When I knew that we were going to fight Michael Bisping, when I signed the contract, that’s when I decided to put on a little more weight. I won’t be able to put a lot, because I’m a natural guy. But I’m already a little bit bigger than I was.”

Russell Ess - April 24, 2017

There is a new name that was recently established as one of the threats to the UFC middleweight title. Robert Whittaker’s second round TKO over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at UFC on FOX 24 really put the division on notice and notched Whittaker up three spots on the official UFC rankings from the #6 spot to the #3 position falling right behind #1 ranked Yoel Romero and #2 ranked Luke Rockhold.