MMA News

Tom Taylor - March 20, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to London, England, the UK’s own Jimi Manuwa scored a crushing, first-round knockout of the game Corey Anderson. With this win, which followed a similarly impressive knockout of Ovince St. Preux, Manuwa reaffirmed his status as one of the best light heavyweights on earth, and one of the top contenders in the division. With this latest win, there are many interesting options available for Manuwa’s next fight. Apparently, however, there are only four opponents he’s willing to accept at this point: light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, upcoming title challenger Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, former champion Jon Jones, or boxer David Haye.

Russell Ess - March 20, 2017

The boxing match between undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor seems to be getting closer and closer to becoming a reality. On St. Patrick’s Day, “The Notorious” was in New York at Madison Square Garden as he walked out fellow Irishman Michael Conlan for his professional boxing debut. McGregor made a bit of time and spoke with the media, including an exclusive with the Los Angeles Times on the superfight between the two sport’s biggest stars.

Chris Taylor - March 20, 2017

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm (10-3 MMA) is being targeted to return at June’s UFC Fight Night event in Singapore. According to BJPENN.com’s very own Chris Taylor, “The Preacher’s Daughter” has been offered a bout against undefeated Korean fighter Ji Yeon Kim (6-0-2) for the June 17 event.

Tom Taylor - March 20, 2017

Earlier this month, BJPENN.COM’s own Chris Taylor reported that Chan Sung Jung – more widely known as “The Korean Zombie” had his crosshairs set on fellow featherweight contender Ricardo Lamas. Just spoke with Korean Zombie's manager who revealed to me that KZ is targeting former title challenger Ricardo Lamas for his next fight

Tom Taylor - March 20, 2017

Earlier this year, heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko was expected to make his first steps into the Bellator MMA cage. His opponent in this Bellator debut was supposed to be dangerous UFC veteran Matt Mitrione. Regrettably, Mitrione was forced out of the fight at the very last minute with a bout of kidney stones. With this disappointing twist of fate, it looked as though Bellator would attempt to rebook a Fedor vs. Mitrione bout for sometime later in the year. Apparently, however, these plans might have been axed.

Tom Taylor - March 20, 2017

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is currently transfixed on a potential boxing mega fight with recently un-retired great Floyd Mayweather. And though this fight initially looked like a downright impossibility, it is starting to look like a real possibility – even a likelihood. If McGregor does end up competing in a boxing match with Mayweather, it’ll be a huge moment for combat sports, and an exciting moment for the fans. It will also be a frustrating moment for Tony Ferguson who, having won nine-straight fights, has more than earned a shot at the lightweight title McGregor currently holds.

Tom Taylor - March 20, 2017

Not long ago, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman amused the MMA community with a story about a street fight that he and UFC light heavyweight Gian Villante got into back in the day. Apparently, this wasn’t the only street fight the former champ was involved in in his youth. On a recent episode of Submission Radio, Chris Weidman detailed yet another skirmish. This time, he and a much smaller training partner took on three guys outside a bar.

Tom Taylor - March 20, 2017

This May, in the co-main event of UFC 211, dominant UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk will attempt to make the fifth defense of her title against dangerous Brazilian contender Jessica Andrade. While Jedrzejczyk’s victory against an opponent of Andrade’s caliber is far from guaranteed, she is already looking ahead to her next challenge as UFC strawweight queen. On a recent episode of The MMA Hour, Jedrzejczyk explained that, if she beats Andrade, she expects her next challenger to be “The Karate Hottie” Michelle Waterson. For this to happen, Waterson will first have to defeat the ever-dangerous Rose Namajunas, who she’s scheduled to fight this April.

Tom Taylor - March 19, 2017

Last night, in the co-main event of UFC London, Icelandic grappling specialist Gunnar Nelson scored an extremely impressive submission win over a game Alan Jouban. With this win, Nelson reminded the world why he’s considered one of the best welterweights on earth, and set himself up for some massive fights in the stacked welterweight division. Nelson, of course, has never been much of a talker, so impressive wins like this are very important for him when it comes to maintaining the interest of the fans. In the wake of Nelson’s win, his training partner Artem Lobov took to Twitter to express his belief that fighters should do their talking in the cage, rather than outside of it. In this Tweet, he directly addressed UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley, who has recently generated some controversy by calling himself the worst treated champ in UFC history, and claiming that he frequently deals with racism, even as a UFC champ.

Tom Taylor - March 19, 2017

Last night, in the co-main event of the UFC’s latest trip to London, England, Iceland’s Gunnar Nelson scored an impressive win over the ever dangerous Alan Jouban. This win, which occurred after a fairly dominant first round, saw Nelson put his American foe on roller skates, before chasing him to the mat, where he locked up a guillotine choke for the win.

Tom Taylor - March 19, 2017

Over the weekend, South Korea’s Battlefield Fighting Championship (Battlefield FC) took over the Seoul Olympic Hall in Seoul, South Korea with an exciting night of mixed martial arts and grappling bouts. Unfortunately, this interesting night of combat sports now has a massive shadow cast over it, as grappling specialist Jeff Glover recently took to Instagram to report that he – and to his knowledge, all other fighters on the card – were given I.O.U.’s instead of payment from the promoter. See Glover’s video below (h/t MMASucka.com). https://www.instagram.com/p/BRz6o_yBBjx

Tom Taylor - March 19, 2017

Last night, World Series of Fighting returned to the state of New York with WSOF 35, a card highlighted by three title fights. In the main event of the evening, Bulgarian heavyweight champion Blagoy Ivanov attempted to defend his crown against dangerous UFC veteran Shawn Jordan. Ivanov made it look easy, dropping his experience foe less than two minutes into the fight, and polishing him off with a series of followup ground-strikes.

Tom Taylor - March 19, 2017

UFC London is now in the rear-view, and it was a good one. In the main event, we saw England’s own Jimi Manuwa score a crushing, first-round knockout of the game Corey Anderson, flaunting some solid takedown defense in the process. In the co-main event, we saw Icelandic grappling specialist Gunnar Nelson drop Alan Jouban with a punch before locking up a submission for the victory. Elsewhere on the main card, we saw UK MMA pioneer Brad Pickett come up short in his retirement fight, succumbing to a third-round Marlon “Chito” Vera head kick, while rising featherweight prospect Arnold Allen scored a competitive win over fellow prospect “Mr. Finland” Makwan Amirkhani.

Tom Taylor - March 19, 2017

Things are suddenly looking pretty interesting in the UFC light heavyweight division. Champ Daniel Cormier and challenger Anthony “Rumble” Johnson are scheduled for an imminent title rematch. Pride legend Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is enjoying an unlikely, late-career resurgence, and appears to be poised for one last title run. England’s Jimi Manuwa has burst into title contention with destructive knockouts of top-10 foes in Ovince St. Preux and Corey Anderson. And all the while prospects like Tyson Pedro, Paul Craig, Volkan Oezdemir and Misha Cirkunov are working to earn their places in the light heavyweight ranks. All the action that occurs at light heavyweight, however, has a shadow cast over it by one man: former champion Jon Jones, who was stripped of the title after a litany of troubles outside the cage – several of which were drug-related.

Chris Taylor - March 18, 2017

Jimi Manuwa challenges former boxing heavyweight champ David Haye to a fight inside the squared circle. Fresh off his sensational one punch knockout victory over Corey Anderson in last night’s UFC Fight Night 107 main event. Perennial light heavyweight contender Jimi Manuwa issued a challenge to former boxing heavyweight champion David Haye.

Chris Taylor - March 18, 2017

UFC light heavyweight contender Jimi Manuwa is not interested in booking a fight with former division kingpin Jon Jones, at least not yet. “The Poster Boy” scored another highlight reel knockout in the featured bout of last night’s UFC Fight Night 107 event in London sending his opponent Corey Anderson crashing to the canvas with a brutal left hand in the opening round.

Chris Taylor - March 18, 2017

UFC bantamweight veteran Brad Pickett retired following his UFC Fight Night 107 TKO loss to Marlon Vera last night in London, England. Pickett had a strong opening two rounds utilizing some timely takedowns and ground and pound to get up on the judges scorecards 20-18 heading into round three.

Chris Taylor - March 18, 2017

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has released the official poster for UFC on FOX 24 which takes place next month in Kansas City. The April 15 fight card is headlined by a flyweight title fight featuring current division champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson taking on surging contender Wilson Reis.