MMA News

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

For a time, former WEC champ Urijah Faber and former UFC champ TJ Dillashaw trained happily together, as mentor and protege, under the roof of Sacramento, California’s Team Alpha Male. Today, however, the two fighters could not be more distant. Not long after Team Alpha Male brought striking veteran Duane Ludwig in to serve as a coach, Ludwig departed the camp, and relocated to Colorado. Having formed a close relationship with the striking coach, Dillashaw then followed him to Colarado, where he now splits his training between Team Elevation and Ludwig’s gym.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

Though the UFC is the biggest and most popular mixed martial arts promotion in the world, it is often criticized for the way it treats its fighters. The promotion frequently catches flack for underpaying it’s athletes, and for its controversial outfitting deal with Reebok, which seems to pay fighters much less than they’d make if they pursued their own sponsorship. Lately, however, their seems to be cause for optimism on these fronts, as Bellator MMA is enjoying such a surge that it’s starting to look like legitimate competition for the UFC, and a legitimate alternative for unhappy UFC fighters.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

To say UFC flyweight Ian McCall has been unlucky of late would be an understatement. Since he last fought in January of 2015, he has been scheduled to fight five separate times, and not one of these scheduled fights has come to fruition. Though several of these cancelled fights have been due to opponent injuries and other issues, many of them can also be attributed to bouts of illness on McCall’s side. Apparently, these bouts of illness are not just random bugs, but part of a larger health problem that seems to be thrown into overdrive by weight cuts.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

Conor McGregor is the biggest star in MMA, and arguably the biggest star in combat sports outright. It’s for this reason that he’s become the highest paid fighter in MMA history. This is also why he might just be allowed to break from his current UFC contract and battle boxing great Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring. The latest indicator of McGregor’s incredible stardom is his inclusion in TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people on earth. McGregor, who currently holds the UFC lightweight title, made the list under the Pioneers branch, alongside names like Chance the Rapper, Jordan Peele, Yuriko Koike, Glenda Gray and Riz Ahmed. McGregor was nominated for a spot on this list by bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

Nate Quarry, who is a TUF veteran and former UFC middleweight title challenger, is involved in a class action lawsuit against the UFC, and stands out as one of the promotion’s most outspoken critics. One of the issues that gets the former fighter most fired up is the UFC’s outfitting deal with sports apparel giant Reebok, which pays fighters small sums to wear Reebok clothes in place of the sponsorship deals they would initially pursue themselves. At this stage, it’s been made quite clear that most fighters actually lost money as a result of this deal. According to Quarry, however, it’s worse than most of us can imagine. Quarry tore the UFC-Reebok deal to shreds on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio.

Tom Taylor - April 19, 2017

https://www.facebook.com/BoxingArchives/videos/1398235063569348/ When Anthony “Rumble” Johnson announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in the wake of his UFC 210 submission loss to Daniel Cormier, we mourned the departure of perhaps the hardest puncher in the sport. MMA, of course, is chock full of hard punchers, but there was something special about Rumble’s fists… They seemed extra concussive. Though only his opponents can say for sure, his punches seemed to land with the same impact as a 40-pound dumbbell fired out of a cannon. At times, it was almost uncomfortable watching his punches land. You worried for the people he was hitting.

Tom Taylor - April 19, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of the UFC’s trip to Kansas City, flyweight champ Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson made a 10th straight defense of his title, submitting BJJ blackbelt Wilson Reis with a third-round armbar. With this win, Johnson reminded the world why he is considered by many members of the MMA community to be the best fighter in the world. Even many of Johnson’s former opponents hold him in this esteem. Ian McCall, who fought Johnson twice, first battling him to a controversial draw, then losing to him by decision, is absolutely of this opinion. He explained his reasoning on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. Yes,” McCall said plainly when asked if he considered Johnson the best fighter alive. “Yeah he is, because in my opinion he’s the best at each [facet of MMA].”

Tom Taylor - April 19, 2017

If things had gone according to plan, former welterweight contender Kelvin Gastelum would be gearing up for a UFC 212 middleweight bout with MMA legend Anderson Silva as you read this. Regrettably, the young fighter became the latest victim of the United States Anti-Doping Commission’s controversial anti-marijuana legislation, and was forced out of this planned contest when he tested positive for marijuana metabolites. Apparently, however, things might not be as bleak for Gastelum as they initially seemed. According to the ever reliable Ariel Helwani, who spoke with Gastelum’s management at Dominance MMA, there is some cause for optimism regarding his current situation with USADA. Apparently, his anticipated return to the cage could come sooner than expected.

Russell Ess - April 19, 2017

Rory MacDonald is set to make his Bellator MMA debut at Bellator 179 in the main event on May 19. The former UFC title challenger will have his hands full as he takes on the knockout specialist Paul Daley at the SSE Arena in London. MacDonald spoke with BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor on Monday’s episode of Rapid Fire about a few topics including his recent fight schedule.

Russell Ess - April 19, 2017

Marijuana is becoming more and more accepted in the US as many states have legalized the use of medical marijuana. A few states have recently even legalized the use of recreational marijuana. Chances are you have seen some cases on the Internet where patients with certain conditions have had tremendous help with treatment from medical marijuana. However, UFC veteran Diego Sanchez said on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour (transcribed by Scott Harris for Bleacher Report) that after getting his medical marijuana license and experimenting with the treatment for a few months, he encountered a situation where he thought he could have died.

Russell Ess - April 19, 2017

UFC President Dana White said it himself, there is a ton of money to be made in the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match. Even with the UFC lightweight champion not having a single professional boxing fight to his name going up against arguably one of the greatest boxers in the history of the sport, the masses will surely tune in, if the superfight takes place.

Tom Taylor - April 19, 2017

Back in November of 2015, Leo Kuntz touched down in his ancestral home of South Korea for a fight with South Korean star Tae Hyun Bang. The pair’s battle occurred on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 79. At a glance, the fight was pretty standard, as Bang emerged the victor with a hard-fought unanimous decision. While the fight itself was not especially memorable, however, it has earned a place in the MMA history books for a rather unfortunate reason. The bout marked the first verifiable case of fight-fixing in UFC history.

bjpenndotcom - April 19, 2017

BJPENN.COM Radio is live at 8PM ET/5PM PT with another great lineup! 8:15PM ET- Kicking off tonights show we are joined by UFC Flyweight Ian McCall. “Uncle Creepy” has been the victim of some seriously bad luck in recent years. Having not fought since January of 2015, McCall has been scheduled to compete numerous times but the MMA Gods have not looked kindly upon his attempts. A string of injuries sustained by himself and/or opponents, or falling ill just days before a fight, nothing seems to give. We’ll get the latest on his possible return to action and if this series of misfortune will deter him from ever fighting again.

Tom Taylor - April 19, 2017

Under normal circumstances, Jimi Manuwa’s back-to-back knockouts of Ovince St. Preux and Corey Anderson probably would have earned him a shot at Daniel Cormier’s UFC light heavyweight title. With the return of former champion Jon Jones towering on the horizon, however, the contendership picture at light heavyweight is far from normal. Earlier this week, UFC President Dana White confirmed to ESPN that, if the former champion Jones is ready to return in time for UFC 214 on July 29, he will be granted an immediate title shot against Cormier, who he defeated by decision back in January of 2014. The other possibility, of course, is that Jones – who has not fought in more than a year – isn’t ready in time for July 29. In this event, the next title shot will go to Manuwa, and Jones will be given a so-called tuneup fight (we explored that possibility here).

Tom Taylor - April 19, 2017

Earlier today, we learned of a nefarious fight-fixing scandal that occurred when the UFC touched down in Seoul, South Korea in late 2015. This scandal surrounded a lightweight bout between South Korea’s Tae Hyun Bang, and American Leo Kuntz. In advance of the fight, the betting odds made a drastic, unprecedented shift in Kuntz’s favor, which immediately reeked of a fix on the Bang-end of things. When Bang won the fight with a hard-fought split decision, however, there seemed to be far less reason to believe that any malpractice had actually occurred.

Tom Taylor - April 19, 2017

Riding high on an eight-fight win-streak, which includes triumphs over names like Derek Brunson, Brad Tavares, Tim Kennedy, Lyoto Machida, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Chris Weidman, Cuba’s Yoel Romero has done pretty much all he can possibly do to earn a shot a UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. The same can be said of 26-year-old Kiwi Robert Whittaker, who recently extended his middleweight record to a perfect 6-0 with a dominating TKO win over Jacare.

Tom Taylor - April 19, 2017

This weekend, when the UFC touches down in Nashville, Tennessee, fan favorite lightweight Joe Lauzon will take on Scotland’s Stevie Ray. The bout will mark Lauzon’s 24th fight under the UFC banner – an incredible run that has seen him earn a record 15 performance of the night awards. Ahead of his latest battle, Lauzon joined BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor to discuss his fighting future, and his inevitable retirement from the sport of mixed martial arts:

Tom Taylor - April 19, 2017

Back in November of 2015, Tae Hyun Bang stepped onto the canvas with Leo Kuntz. He did so on the undercard of a UFC Fight Night in Seoul, in his native South Korea. In the end, Bang and Kuntz’s fight went down as a fairly forgettable one, with Bang earning a close, split decision win. The final hours before this fight, however, stand out in the memory as some seriously suspect ones.