MMA News

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2017

This Friday, in the main event of Bellator 175, MMA legend Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will take on wrestling specialist Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in a compelling heavyweight grudge match. In advance of this fight, Rampage explained to Yahoo! Sports that he is not a fan of King Mo’s wrestling based style.

bjpenndotcom - March 28, 2017

Later this year, bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt will put his UFC bantamweight title on the line as he faces TJ Dillashaw in a highly anticipated showdown, where he will look to defend his bantamweight title for the first time. The former teammates are currently filming the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, where they will coach opposite one another. Of course, given the pair’s rivalry, things have been understandably tense on-set, with footage emerging of the champ grabbing Dillashaw by the throat during a verbal altercation.

bjpenndotcom - March 28, 2017

On April 8th in Buffalo, New York, light heavyweight #1 contender Anthony Johnson will step into the Octagon for a highly anticipated rematch with Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight title. Ahead of the fight, Johnson has been on a tear of the light heavyweight division, going on a 3-fightwin streak that has seen him pick up three straight knockout wins, with the most recent being a 13 second KO win over Glover Teixeira.

bjpenndotcom - March 28, 2017

After Max Holloway defeated Anthony Pettis via TKO at UFC 206 to win the interim featherweight championship, all signs pointed to Holloway then fighting Jose Aldo for the undisputed featherweight title. While no immediate timetable was given for when the fight would take place, it was reported that the winner of Holloway vs. Pettis would fight Aldo at UFC 208 in Brooklyn. Ultimately, the fight fell through as Aldo looked to move to lightweight to chase a rematch with Conor McGregor. Of course, with McGregor on the sidelines, and reports of a superfight with Floyd Mayweather dominating MMA headlines, Aldo now realizes a rematch may never happen.

bjpenndotcom - March 28, 2017

Bellator MMA’s Chael Sonnen recently made his promotional debut against Tito Ortiz in The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s retirement fight earlier this year. Unfortunately for Sonnen, who was returning from his lengthy layoff following a suspension, he was submitted in the very first round. During a recent episode of The MMA Hour, Sonnen spoke about the loss, and why he believes that Ortiz is actually a terrible fighter:

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2017

Back in 2014, UFC and Bellator veteran Jon Koppenhaver – more widely known as War Machine – brutalized his ex girlfriend Christy Mack, leaving her with a “blowout fracture of her left eye and several other broken bones in her face, two missing teeth, a lacerated liver, broken ribs and serious bruising in several places.” During this attack, War Machine also assaulted Mack’s then-boyfriend, Corey Thomas, with such severity that Mack believed he was going to be killed. Over the last few weeks, War Machine underwent his trial for these grisly attacks, and on March 21, we learned that he’d been found guilty on 29 of 34 charges.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2017

On June 24th, Bellator MMA will simultaneously make it’s first stop in New York City, and take its second crack at the pay-per-view business. It will do so with a stacked card titled Bellator NYC.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2017

2016 was an incredible year for fights. It was the year that gave us Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit. It gave us Dominick Cruz vs. TJ Dillashaw. It gave us Michael Bisping vs. Anderson Silva. It gave us Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi. And of course, it gave us two unforgettable scraps between MMA superstars Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, whose rivalry affected two record-breaking pay-per-views. The first of these fights, which was put together on short notice when Rafael Dos Anjos was forced out of a bout with McGregor, saw Diaz shocked the world with a second-round submission of McGregor, who seemed nearly unbeatable at the time.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2017

At a to-be-determined date later this year, former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will return from a long hiatus to challenge Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title. Given that St-Pierre has never fought at middleweight before, his being given this opportunity over deserving middleweight contenders like Yoel Romero and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has generated ample criticism. The latest of this criticism comes from former champion Luke Rockhold. On UFC Tonight Rockhold suggested that, while a champion should be able to pick their challengers out of a small pool of top-5 foes, picking a challenger who’s never fought in the division before is a bit excessive. His words via MMAWeekly.com.

Chris Taylor - March 27, 2017

Michael Bisping threatens to give Georges St-Pierre’s title shot back to Yoel Romero UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping wants to fight Georges St-Pierre on July 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Chris Taylor - March 27, 2017

Holly Holm has declined an offer to fight at UFC Singapore A week ago we reported that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm (10-3 MM) had been offered a bout with undefeated Korean fighter Ji Yeon Kim (6-0-2 MMA) for ‘UFC Fight Night 111’ which takes place June 17 in Singapore.

Russell Ess - March 27, 2017

It’s hard to imagine former UFC heavyweight champion and WWE star Brock Lesnar in better physical shape than what he already displayed throughout his career. According to Lesnar’s manager, Paul Heyman, Lesnar was never at his physical peak dating back to when he was winning wrestling championships in college.

Russell Ess - March 27, 2017

Kelvin Gastelum has the biggest fight of his life coming up against the former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Although it has been years since Silva has been champion, Gastelum says that Silva is the greatest of all time and was surprised that “The Spider” accepted the fight against him at UFC 212 in Rio de Janeiro.

Tom Taylor - March 27, 2017

Over the last year, the UFC has been criticized on several occasions for booking fights that focus more on entertainment than they do on legitimate ranking-based matchmaking. Former featherweight champion Conor McGregor‘s immediate lightweight title shot against Eddie Alvarez, for example, was initially criticized. So too was former bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey‘s recent title shot against reigning champ Amanda Nunes. And then of course, there’s the latest example: former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre’s immediate middleweight title shot against Michael Bisping. All of these matchups have generated backlash for awarding the title shot to a fighter that has not necessarily earned the top contender spot.

Russell Ess - March 27, 2017

TJ Dillashaw has been busy preparing for his shot at regaining the UFC bantamweight title with his fight against champion Cody Garbrandt approaching.

Tom Taylor - March 27, 2017

Earlier this month, in the co-main event of the UFC’s latest trip to London, England, Icelandic welterweight Gunnar Nelson stepped onto the canvas with the ever dangerous Alan Jouban. In this compelling welterweight style clash, Nelson did what he does best: measuring and deconstructing his opponent until the window for a finish materializes, and capitalizing. The end came at the 46-second mark of round two, when Nelson floored Jouban with a punch, followed up with a high kick, then chased him to the mat to lock up a neck crank for the victory. With this win, Nelson improved his overall record to an impressive 16-2-1. More impressive still is the fact that all but one of his 16 wins have come by way of knockout or submission. Yes, Gunnar Nelson is a true finisher, and this, he recently told ESPN, is the mark of a true champion:

Tom Taylor - March 27, 2017

This June, in the main event of UFC 212, Jose Aldo will attempt to unify his undisputed featherweight title with the interim featherweight title currently owned by Hawaii’s Max Holloway. It’s an undeniably massive fight for the Brazilian, and one that will require him to be on his A-game. While this bout with Holloway is surely Aldo’s main focus at this juncture, however, he is still desirous of a rematch with MMA superstar Conor McGregor, who knocked him out in just 13 seconds back in 2015. While this is a rematch Aldo would very much like, however, he no longer expects it to happen. The featherweight champ explained this feeling during a media scrum in Rio de Janeiro (via MMAFighting.com).

Tom Taylor - March 27, 2017

https://youtu.be/ECMSoQz9MRw It’s difficult to say if the headline-dominating boxing match between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and recently un-retired boxing great Floyd Mayweather will ever happen. The logistical and bureaucratic hurdles of a fight of this scale are going to be very difficult to navigate. That being said, there seems to be more and more reason to believe this combat sports mega-spectacle could actually happen.