MMA News

Russell Ess - April 28, 2017

Ryan Bader is one of the noteworthy fighters that jumped ship from the UFC to Bellator MMA recently. With going through the negotiation process between the two major mixed martial arts promotions, Bader ultimately felt like he would be better off changing things up and signing with Bellator. A big factor in Bader’s decision to sign with Bellator surely had to do with the amount of money he could make with his personal sponsorships. With the UFC tied into an exclusive uniform deal with Reebok, many UFC fighters such as Bader lost out on a lot of money from their personal endorsements.

Russell Ess - April 28, 2017

Mark Hunt has been a notable figure in the world of combat sports for a quite some time. With his many fights in K-1 Kickboxing championships and PRIDE in Japan, “The Super Samoan” has a big Japanese fan base. As a combat sports figure, there are lots of merchandise opportunities that companies seek and there is one that Hunt found to be quite unsettling.

bjpenndotcom - April 28, 2017

Laying it all on the line… On this episode of American Animals, the Animals are here to bring the latest and greatest in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Erik Apple reviews all the happenings from UFC Fight Night 108 in Nashville, Tennessee, which featured a main event bout between “Cub” Swanson and Artem Lobov. Swanson reigned supreme over Lobov, landing a whopping 209 punches and breaking his hand in the process.  Swanson now looks ahead to the UFC 212 event and hopes to meet the winner of the featherweight title bout between Jose Aldo and Max Holloway. Plus, the Animals get the opportunity to speak with one of the most popular and well-known sports handicapper’s in the world today, Dave Oancea. Dave shares with us his inspirational story of self-belief and what it really means to “lay it all on the line.” Step inside the octagon with this episode of American Animals!

bjpenndotcom - April 28, 2017

In 2016, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey returned to the UFC, after over a year away from the Octagon following her UFC 193 KO loss to Holly Holm, to fight Amanda Nunes for the bantamweight title she once held. While Rousey hoped to return to the win column and reclaim the bantamweight title from Nunes at UFC 207, it took just 46 seconds for Nunes to TKO Rousey and retain the bantamweight title.

bjpenndotcom - April 28, 2017

Two of the most talked about topics in MMA at the present time are performance enhancing drugs in MMA, and the dangers of weight cutting. While the UFC has partnered with USADA to crack down on the number of active fighters who use and abuse performance enhancing drugs, the question of what the UFC and athletic commissions can do about the dangers of weight cutting has remained one that has gone relatively unanswered.

bjpenndotcom - April 28, 2017

Myself and @sbgcharlestown have been working together on unrestricted, unarmed fighting, since we are kids. Not much will change when I fight under the famed, yet very limited, Queensbury rules. No disrespect to single discipline fighters, from boxing to kicking to grappling, just know that understanding one style of fighting is simply not enough. You are lying to yourself. You are easily dismantled in a true fight. A fight with no rules to protect you. In a straight fight, you do not possess enough tools to keep you alive. You will be dismantled and killed. Like the late, great Bruce Lee once said: "When you are talking about fighting, as it is, with no rules, well then baby, you'd better train every part of your body" A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on Apr 26, 2017 at 5:16pm PDT

bjpenndotcom - April 28, 2017

While talk of a potential Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing superfight has the entire combat sports community talking, updates regarding the potential scrap have continued to pour out. As of late however, updates have become less and less frequent in regards to the potential scrap. With Conor McGregor’s newborn son’s due date is rapidly approaching, many fans are wondering what the UFC superstar’s next move will be. While all signs pointed to a McGregor-Mayweather showdown being made official, a new update from Showtime Sports executive Stephen Espinoza to discuss the bout, and why negotiations have hit a standstill.

bjpenndotcom - April 28, 2017

Former UFC champion Vitor Belfort has been on quite the skid as of late. The MMA legend went into 2016 hoping to build momentum on a 1st round KO win over Dan Henderson, however back to back TKO losses to Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza and Gegard Mousasi resulted in Belfort going winless in 2016. Following his loss to Mousasi, reports began to emerge that Belfort would be retiring from MMA. ‘The Phenom’ posted a lengthy status to Instagram, however he then revealed in a separate interview that he would not be retiring from MMA just yet. To kick off 2017, Belfort stepped into the Octagon with Kelvin Gastelum in the main event of ‘UFC Fight Night: Fortaleza’, where he dropped a 1st round TKO to the streaking contender. Following his fight with Gastelum, Belfort confirmed that his next fight would indeed be his last.

bjpenndotcom - April 27, 2017

Following news that the WSOF has closed its doors and is now under new ownership, operating under the name of Professional FIghter’a League, it is now being reported that former WSOF lightweight champion Justin Gaethje has signed with the UFC. Gaethje, who holds a professional record of 17-0, won the WSOF lightweight championship in 2014, and defended the belt 5 times over the course of the past three years, defeating notable opponents such as former UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard, and Luis Palomino.

EVOLVE MMA - April 27, 2017

This article/video was first published on Evolve Vacation. At the tender young age of 19, Singapore’s “Unstoppable” Angela Lee became the youngest world champion in mixed martial arts history. She captured the inaugural ONE Atomweight World Championship in 2016.

Chris Taylor - April 27, 2017

Jessica Eye vs. Aspen Ladd set for July in Las Vegas A women’s bantamweight scrap between Jessica Eye and Aspen Ladd has been added to July’s “The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale” event in Las Vegas.

Russell Ess - April 27, 2017

Two rising prospects are set to meet in the Octagon as Marc Diakiese will take on Drakkar Klose at The Ultimate Fighter Finale on July 7 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Diakiese is undefeated with a 12-0 professional MMA record and turned a lot of heads with his last knockout performance against Teemu Packalen at UFC Fight Night 107. With his flashy style and knockout power, many fans are excited to see what the “Bonecrusher” will bring in his next UFC appearance.

Russell Ess - April 27, 2017

Current #1 ranked UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov will be out for some time to get his health back up to par after being hospitalized and pulled from the UFC 209 interim lightweight title fight against Tony Ferguson. With Nurmagomedov out, “El Cucuy” is still looking to solidify himself as the top UFC lightweight as the champion of the division, Conor McGregor is concentrating on getting himself a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. Earlier this month, Ferguson said on The MMA Hour that he was interested in a fight with Nate Diaz out of all the lightweight contenders and pushed on the matchup speaking on the 5ive Rounds podcast recently. Currently ranked #2 by the UFC in the lightweight division, “El Cucuy” said that he is actually doing Diaz a favor with trying to arrange the matchup as the Stockton scrapper is sitting further down the ranks at #8.

Russell Ess - April 27, 2017

“Dana White, bring me somebody that can beat me. I got $200K. You can’t find nobody that can beat me.” That is the challenge Jorge Masvidal threw out to UFC President Dana White during his post-fight Octagon interview following his big win over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC on FOX 23 back in January.

bjpenndotcom - April 27, 2017

While former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, and UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt certainly have a very public and very longstanding feud, the pair momentarily put their beef aside recently after Garbrandt revealed via social media that he was engaged to be married. Garbrandt posted a photo with his fiancé to social media, which prompted a response from Dillashaw:

Tom Taylor - April 27, 2017

When Jimi Manuwa knocked out Corey Anderson in their March light heavyweight showdown, he established himself as one of the top contenders at light heavyweight. In fact, were it not for the looming return of former champion Jon Jones, Manuwa could well be looking at a shot at reigning champ Daniel Cormier right now. Given that Jones is likely to return to the cage to an immediate title shot against Cormier at UFC 214, however, Manuwa has confirmed to BJPenn.com that he’s got another fight in the works, and that he hopes it occurs on the same card as this Cormier-Jones fight. The reason Manuwa wants to be on this card is that it gives him the opportunity to replace either man, should one be forced to withdraw from the fight.

Tom Taylor - April 27, 2017

Mike Perry entered mainstream MMA consciousness in a rather strange way. Though diehard fans had been aware of him for some time, his first steps into the limelight occurred at the UFC 202 weigh ins, when he faked a handshake with his opponent Hyun Gyu Lim, then pulled his hand away at the last minute, and screamed in Lim’s face. While this move certainly served to get the attention of the MMA community, it did so in a rather negative way, as Perry was immediately branded  by many as a bit of a hot-head.

bjpenndotcom - April 27, 2017

In the main event of ‘UFC Fight Night: Nashville’, top ranked UFC featherweight veteran Cub Swanson stepped into the Octagon with unranked Artem Lobov for a highly anticipated fight which was prefaced by months and months of trash talk between the two men. When the pair stepped into the Octagon, they delivered an impressive fight, and both drew praise from not only the fans, but one another as well. Interestingly enough however, when the medical suspensions were released, it was revealed that Swanson would only be out for the minimum 7 days required. On the flip side, Artem Lobov would be suspended for a potential 60 days.