MMA News

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

Famed R&B artist Chris Brown may have been linked to a boxing match with rapper Soulja Boy, however the R&B star recently featured in a song called Jiu-Jitsu.

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

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.

Tom Taylor - April 25, 2017

Yes, you read the headline of this article correctly. According to a report from WMMARankings.com, a 12-year-old Japanese fighter nicknamed “MoMo” is scheduled to make her amateur debut against a grown-up, 24-year-old woman in Momoko Yamasaki. To make matters worse, Yamasaki will enter this contest having carved out a 2-3 record across 5 amateur bouts, while the 12-year-old MoMo, unsurprisingly, has never competed before. This fight will occur at DEEP JEWELS 16 on May 20. It will be contested in the 95-pound minimumweight division. DEEP JEWELS 16: 12-year-old MoMo set to make MMA debut against 24-year-old Momoko Yamazaki https://t.co/z6CWFJroZX pic.twitter.com/D8wJdvkumu

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.

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

It’s now been several weeks since Chris Weidman’s controversial TKO loss to Gegard Mousasi, which marked his third-straight strike-induced loss in a row.  The controversy of this loss surrounded a strange choice by the referee, who first paused the action on the assumption that Mousasi landed an illegal knee, then called the fight when he realized the knee had been legal. On the latest edition of The MMA Hour, Weidman broke down this chaotic sequence, and his choice to appeal the outcome of the fight with the New York State Athletic Commission. His words (h/t MMAMania.com):

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.

Russell Ess - April 24, 2017

Fans of Conor McGregor are all anxiously waiting for some sort of official announcement regarding his next bout. Whether it is in the UFC or stepping into the world of professional boxing against Floyd Mayweather, people just want to see “The Notorious” fight. Conor McGregor’s manager, Audie Attar spoke with Ariel Helwani on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour and gave his latest on the bout negotiations between the undefeated boxing star and current UFC lightweight champion.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

In a few short weeks, Rafael Dos Anjos will make his debut in the UFC welterweight division, taking on former Strikeforce champ Tarec Saffiedine at UFC Fight Night 111 in Singapore. The reason for this move is an increasingly gruelling cut to the lightweight division’s 155-pound cap – a cut that sometimes began north of 190 pounds. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Dos Anjos explained that his cut was so severe that it actually caused him to pass out for several minutes in the buildup to his June title loss to Eddie Alvarez.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Earlier this year, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos announced his plans to abandon the 155-pound lightweight division he had called home for so long in favor of the 170-pound welterweight division. Though this plan seemed to be motivated in part by his consecutive lightweight losses to Eddie Alvarez and Tony Ferguson, he made it clear the real reason for this change of scenery was a brutal and exhausting cut to the lightweight division’s 155-pound cap. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Dos Anjos provided some context as to just how big he gets between fights, which in turn gives an idea of how much weight he has to cut to make lightweight. “195,” he said, when asked by Ariel Helwani how much he weighs currently. Apparently, however, this rather bulky amount is not due to his looming welterweight debut. instead, this is pretty standard for him between fights.  “Usually [this is where I start],” he said. “Usually I get [up to] 200 pounds, but I’ve been training for over a month. Actually, I don’t stop training. I’m always training. But as I trained, I had to diet really hard, because as much as I trained, my body would hold more water. Everything that I ate, my body kept. That’s why I decided to go up a weight [class]. My body holds too much weight.”

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Though Al Iaquinta made a successful return to the Octagon last weekend, clobbering a durable Diego Sanchez to a first-round KO, the issues that kept him out of the cage for the previous two years are still festering in his mind. Chief among these issues is the way he is treated, and paid by the UFC. On Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, a fired up Iaquinta explained that he has a particularly difficult time swallowing the UFC’s modest pay of fighters, while the promotion is so hesitant to cover its fighter’s costs when they get hurt. “The UFC has done nothing for me,” he told host Ariel Helwani. “They left me high and dry [when I was injured]. I had to beg them for freakin’ knee surgery. Their doctor said I would never fight again if I had the knee surgery I wanted. Two nights ago I got in the cage.” “They told me I would never fight again if I had the surgery I wanted to have,” he elaborated. “I did all the research. I did. All day, I would wake up in the morning and I was on the computer all day doing research about knees. I could freakin’ do a knee surgery myself at this point. And they told me I would never fight. They wanted to send me out and get stem cell injections, take six weeks out of my life – six months really – and they wanted to try stem cell. I said ‘it’s proven it doesn’t work. Why are we doing this. You’re wasting my time.’ They said ‘well, we want to give it a shot before we pay $60,000 for a surgery.’ $60,000 for a surgery is nothing to you, and you’re going to cry? They only wanted to pay $15,000. A normal surgery at a normal hospital would have cost $15,000, but because I wanted to go to a good hospital, a hospital with a special surgery and the best doctor in the world – I wanted that – they said ‘oh it’s $60,000. We’re gonna pay for the regular [$15,000], you’ve gotta make up the rest.’ I said ‘I can’t make up the rest, are you fucking kidding me? How? How am I going to do that? I was going to say, ‘listen, pay for the surgery and take it out of my next purse when I fight again.’ I couldn’t freakin’ shell out money for a surgery. Go fuck yourself.”

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Bellator MMA’s run of signing high-profile free agents continues. According to the ever-reliable Ariel Helwani, the rising MMA promotion has officially picked up former UFC strawweight title challenger Valérie Létourneau . The Canadian is expected to debut with the promotion sometime in the late summer. She will compete in the organization’s women’s flyweight division. Former UFC title challenger @ValTroubleMMA has officially signed with @BellatorMMA, I'm told. Late summer debut planned in 125 division.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Last weekend, on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 108 in Nashville, Tennessee, 23-year-old flyweight prospect Brandon Moreno dropped the far more experienced Dustin Ortiz with a head kick, then tapped him out with a rear-naked choke. With this win, the young flyweight star moved to 3-0 as a member of the UFC flyweight roster. In his first bout in the division, he shocked the world with a first-round submission over the ever-dangerous Louis Smolka. In his next outing, he built on his momentum with a split win over the tough Ryan Benoit. Now, with this latest win over Ortiz, he stands out as one of the fastest rising stars in the talent starved flyweight division.