MMA News

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2017

Despite two valiant efforts, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson has now failed twice to swipe the UFC welterweight title from Tyron Woodley. Given this, he will now re-enter the exciting welterweight contendership race in an effort to earn himself a third crack at gold. Speaking with BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor, Thompson gave his take on what should be next for Woodley in the meantime. While the logical answer is Demian Maia, who will look to solidify his number one contender status against Jorge Masvidal this May, Thompson doesn’t believe it’s quite that simple.

bjpenndotcom - April 6, 2017

MMA veteran and former Bully Beatdown host Jason Mayhem Miller managed to avoid jail time this week after pleading guilty to numerous charges, including assaulting a police officer, battery, and resisting arrest. The Orange County Register broke the story, which also revealed that Miller had plead guilty to nearly a dozen charges, resulting in the MMA vet being sentenced to 100 days in jail, as well as 3 years probation. Fortunately for Miller, he managed to avoid jail time given that the 50 days he served previously counted as ‘one for one’ meaning for every day Miller served, it counted as two.

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2017

Cris “Cyborg” Justino is no longer the Invicta Fighting Championship featherweight queen. Now firmly embedded as a member of the UFC women’s featherweight roster, she was recently asked to give up this title. With this development, Megan Anderson, who previously wore Invicta’s interim featherweight title, was promoted to undisputed champion. Speaking to BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor, Cyborg recently explained that, while she is no longer directly tied to the Invicta organization, she is excited for a seemingly inevitable showdown with Anderson down the road.

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2017

Last December, in the co-main event of UFC 207, Team Alpha Male’s Cody Garbrandt swiped the bantamweight belt from the waist of Dominick Cruz with a dominant, unanimous decision win. Though he briefly offered Cruz a rematch, Garbrandt’s first title defense will instead pair him against former training partner and one-time bantamweight king TJ Dillashaw. The two are likely to meet sometime this summer – perhaps during International Fight Week in July.

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2017

Riding high on a three-fight win-streak, rising welterweight Colby Covington has been looking for a step up in competition for some time. Unfortunately for him, finding a willing dance partner has proven incredibly difficult. Thankfully, after being turned down by former lightweight champ Rafael Dos Anjos, he’s now been booked for a scrap with Dong Hyun Kim at UFC Fight Night Singapore this June. Finding a willing dance partner, however, was not easy.

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2017

There is ever-increasing reason to believe that a boxing mega-fight between UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor and undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. could actually happen. According to Mayweather’s Uncle, Jeff Mayweather, however, there remains one massive hurdle in the way of this fight: the UFC wants a massive piece of the pie.

Tom Taylor - April 6, 2017

Earlier this year, former UFC lightweight champ Rafael Dos Anjos announced his intention to move up to the welterweight division. Shortly after the former champ made this announcement, he began fielding callouts from a number of notable welterweights. Of all the welterweights to call Dos Anjos out, however, none did so with quite the same fervor or creativity as rising star Colby Covington. Unfortunately for Covington and his fans, Dos Anjos ultimately opted to sign on for a fight with former Strikeforce champ Tarec Saffiedine, which will go down when the UFC returns to Singapore on June 17.

bjpenndotcom - April 5, 2017

As reports have continued to emerge regarding a potential Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather fight, fight fans have continued to be split regarding who they feel will win the fight.

bjpenndotcom - April 5, 2017

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is arguably one of the most decorated fighters on the UFC roster. In addition to reigning as the UFC light heavyweight champion, Cormier is an extremely accomplished wrestler, qualifying as a NCAA Division I All-American, and as an Olympic wrestler. Of course, Cormier also was the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix champion in 2012 prior to signing with the UFC, defeating Josh Barnett in the finals of the tournament. With that being said, UFC President Dana White cannot fathom why Cormier isn’t more popular among fans.

bjpenndotcom - April 5, 2017

BJPENN.COM Radio is live at 8PM ET/5PM PT with Heath Herring and Colby Covington! 8:15PM ET- We kick things off tonight with “The Texas Crazy Horse” Heath Herring @TheHeathHerring. Following an eight-year hiatus from MMA, Heath returned to action in December under the RIZIN banner and is set to face Satoshi Ishii on April 16th. While he never officially retired from MMA following the loss to Brock Lesnar, most believed that he would never compete again. We’ll get the scoop on what brought Heath back to competition, what he thinks of the sport today, and what his immediate goals are. Pride never dies and you can expect a great conversation with a truly seasoned veteran of MMA.

bjpenndotcom - April 5, 2017

Throughout the course of 2017, fight fans have continued to anxiously await news regarding a potential showdown between UFC superstar Conor McGregor & undefeated Boxing icon Floyd Mayweather. While reports had begun to emerge that led fans to believe the chances of a fight happening were rather slim, the UFC champion recently stated during a surprise appearance at the Madison Square Garden that a fight was “very close” to being finalized. The statement from McGregor was a relief for fight fans, given that it followed a statement from boxing promoter Bob Arum just weeks before, in which he stated that the UFC was proving to be the biggest obstacle in finalizing the fight.

bjpenndotcom - April 5, 2017

This past weekend, MMA veteran Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal stepped into the Bellator MMA cage with MMA legend Rampage Jackson in Rosemont, IL. The fight was a rather dominant one for King Mo, who stated before the fight that he planned to use his wrestling to dominate Jackson, who weighed in nearly 50 pounds heavier than King Mo. With that being said, a time came in the second round when Jackson was landing strikes, and it appeared as though he may be on his way to a stoppage win over Lawal. ‘King Mo’ rallied between rounds however, and ultimately secured the win, avenging his loss to Jackson two years ago.

bjpenndotcom - April 5, 2017

In just over two months, UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will step into the Octagon with former Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine for the former champ’s highly anticipated welterweight debut in Singapore. Ahead of the fight, Dos Anjos is hoping to experience a bit of a career resurgence as he looks to snap a 2-fight skid that saw him lose the lightweight championship to Eddie Alvarez nearly a year ago, and then most recently drop a unanimous decision to top contender Tony Ferguson, who defeated Dos Anjos in November to cement his place among the top of the UFC’s lightweight division.

bjpenndotcom - April 5, 2017

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has been scheduled to fight former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones on numerous occasions, however with that being said, the pair have only stepped into the Octagon together on one occasion. With that being said, just nine months ago, Cormier and Jones were set to have a title unification fight in the main event of UFC 200 in July of 2016, however just 48 hours before the fight, Jones was pulled from the card for a failed out-of-competition drug test several weeks prior. Jones and his team made their defense, and the former champ was ultimately handed a one-year suspension retroactive to July.

Tom Taylor - April 5, 2017

This weekend, in the main event of UFC 210, light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier will attempt to defend his title against brick-fisted challenger Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. The bout will be a rematch of an exciting 2014 affair, which saw Cormier weather an early storm to submit Rumble in the third. Speaking to MMAJunkie.com, UFC analyst and former fighter Kenny Florian weighed in on the many variables that come into play in a rematch, explaining that, sometimes, the winner of the first fight will take the rematch less seriously.

Tom Taylor - April 5, 2017

This weekend, the UFC will touch down in Buffalo, New York with UFC 210. In this anticipated card’s co-main event, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman will take on dangerous Dutchman Gegard Mousasi. The bout will mark Weidman’s opportunity to bounce back from two straight losses: a TKO against Luke Rockhold, which marked the end of his title reign, and a thudding, third-round knockout dealt by Yoel Romero. As Weidman’s shot at redemption looms on the horizon, his brother-in-law and training partner Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson spoke to BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor to discuss the former champ’s preparation for Mousasi.

Tom Taylor - April 5, 2017

Over the last few weeks, consensus-best female featherweight Cris “Cyborg” Justino has been campaigning for a  fight with UFC featherweight queen Germaine De Randamie. Cyborg is hoping to make this fight happen at UFC 214, which is scheduled for July 29 inside Anaheim’s Honda Center. Responding to BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor, Cyborg explained that at the moment, there’s no indication that her desired fight will occur at UFC 214.

Tom Taylor - April 5, 2017

Former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler is known for his frenzied and ferocious fighting style. The former champ is also known for an extremely stoic personality outside the cage. He’s quiet. He never talks trash. He rarely smiles. Apparently, however, Lawler is in fact capable of smiling. All it takes to get an ear-to-ear grin out of the welterweight destroyer is an encounter with WWE star John Cena. On Wednesday morning Bellator light heavyweight star Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal shared a photo of Lawler and Cena together, and sure enough, Lawler’s face is painted with a big smile. Who knew such a thing was possible? See King Mo’s photo of Lawler and Cena together – which generated some excitement from MMA reporter Ariel Helwani – below.