MMA News

Tom Taylor - March 16, 2017

The next title fight in the ever-exciting UFC bantamweight division will pit reigning champion Cody Garbrandt against former champion and estranged teammate TJ Dillashaw at a to-be-determined date. Before the two bantamweight stars collide for gold, however, they will star as opposing coaches on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. Garbrandt and Dillashaw’s time on the show, has given their already sizzling beef plenty of time to slow-cook.

Russell Ess - March 16, 2017

UFC President Dana White has his finger on the pulse for what is happening with his biggest stars in the UFC, which include Nick and Nate Diaz.

bjpenndotcom - March 16, 2017

Streaking UFC featherweight prospect Makwan Amirkhani has certainly proven himself to be one of the hottest rising stars on the UFC’s roster as he has gone 3-0 in the UFC, with two of his wins being first round finishes. With his 8 second flying knee KO of Andy Ogle immortalized on UFC highlight reels, Amirkhani’s star power over in his home country of Finland is without a doubt rather high, so high that he believes that he can hold out from fighting after this Saturday until the UFC visits Finland.

bjpenndotcom - March 16, 2017

Conflicting reports have continued to emerge regarding the status of a potential Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather superfight, with UFC President Dana White, and undefeated prizefighter Floyd Mayweather denying reports of a nearly being finalized. Given this, fight fans have been left to wonder if a fight between McGregor & Mayweather will ever materialize. This week, Dana White stated in an interview that he now believed a fight between Mayweather and McGregor would happen, however according to Fox Sports’ Skip Bayless, White was merely calling Mayweather’s bluff.

bjpenndotcom - March 16, 2017

It’s no secret that UFC President Dana White and UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz certainly have their fair share of animosity dating back many years. At one point in time, the two men were set to step into a boxing ring to settle their beef, however despite months of training on both men’s side, and the event making it all the way up to weigh-ins, the NSAC forced their way into the matter, demanding that they oversee the bout. Ultimately, the exhibition boxing match was scrapped.

Tom Taylor - March 16, 2017

Late last year, featherweight superstar Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino failed a drug test administered by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Given that Cyborg has had issues with performing enhancers in the past, the MMA community was quick to pick up their torches and pitchforks and accuse her of cheating. In the end, however, Cyborg was granted a retroactive Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for Spironolactone, the substance in question. As such, she was cleared of any guilt, and will be able to continue to compete as normal. While Cyborg was proven innocent, however, many members of the MMA community still question the legitimacy of her legacy of dominance. In the opinion of Megan Anderson, who holds the Invicta interim featherweight title and stands out as one of Cyborg’s biggest rivals, this isn’t exactly just.

bjpenndotcom - March 16, 2017

Throughout the course of 2017, conflicting reports have continued to emerge regarding the status of a potential Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather superfight in the boxing ring. While Mayweather and the UFC President both made one another offers, neither offer was pleasing to both men, and as a result talks appeared to die down. Shortly after however, the NSAC confirmed that while a fight was still far off from being finalized, negotiations between the two parties were ongoing. This has then been followed up by several conflicting reports of whether or not a fight was close, with both Mayweather and White saying that a fight was far from official.

Tom Taylor - March 16, 2017

On April 8, the UFC will touch down in Buffalo, New York with UFC 210. In the card’s main event, we’ll see light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier attempt to defend his title against an old foe in Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. Cormier and Rumble first met back in 2015. On that night, Rumble nearly took Cormier’s head off in the first round, but was ultimately overwhelmed by his foe’s wrestling and cardio, and submitted with a rear-naked choke in the third round. Given Rumble’s incredible punching power, however, the outcome of this fight could well be different. As such, The MMA community seems to be divided when it comes to predictions for this battle.

Tom Taylor - March 16, 2017

The next season of The Ultimate Fighter, TUF 25, looks like it should be a good one. The season will be coached by reigning bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and former champion TJ Dillashaw, who are estranged former teammates and heated rivals. The cast, meanwhile, will be composed of TUF veterans – ranging from Joe Stevenson to Julian Lane to James Krause – each eager to get their career back on track with a TUF tournament win. According to Duane Ludwig, who spent three days a week helping his star pupil Dillashaw coach these veterans, the season also produced some dynamite fights. In fact, Ludwig believes this season of the show produced the best fights in TUF history. He explained this belief on Wednesday’s edition of BJ Penn Radio.

Tom Taylor - March 16, 2017

Misha Cirkunov is widely regarded as the hottest prospect in the UFC light heavyweight division. So, when it sounded like a contract dispute would drive him away from the organization, there was widespread disappointment. Luckily, Cirkunov and the UFC were able to iron out their differences and agree to the terms of a new contract. The Latvian-Canadian destroyer is now scheduled for a fight with the dangerous Volkan Oezdemir, which will occur in Stockholm, Sweden on May 28.

Russell Ess - March 15, 2017

What do Willie Nelson, Nick, and Nate Diaz all have in common? They are all legends for one, but another common interest among the three men is their admiration for marijuana.

bjpenndotcom - March 15, 2017

Recently, UFC lightweights Michael Chiesa and Tony Ferguson have gone toe to toe in various interviews as ‘The Maverick’ and ‘El Cucuy’ have continued to trade barbs back and forth following Chiesa’s callout of the top ranked lightweight contender. Following Chiesa’s callout of Ferguson for an interim lightweight title fight, Ferguson shut down the idea, explaining that fight with Chiesa wasn’t appealing to him, and that he would prefer to fight Nate Diaz.

bjpenndotcom - March 15, 2017

BJPENN.COM Radio returns tonight at 8PM ET/5PM PT with another awesome lineup! 8:15PM ET- First up, we are joined by surging UFC light heavyweight prospect, Misha Cirkunov –@mishac911 Following a submission victory over Nikita Krylov at UFC 206, Cirkunov will next square off with Volkan Oezdemir at UFC Fight Night 109 in Stockholm, Sweden. We’ll get his breakdown and prediction for the matchup as well as the contract negotiations with the UFC that almost sent him into free-agency. Much to discuss with the grappling wizard!

bjpenndotcom - March 15, 2017

UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping recently shed a bit of light on the ever-confusing reports regarding a potential Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing superfight following a statement from UFC President Dana White that revealed a fight between Mayweather and McGregor is far from being finalized. That followed a statement from Floyd Mayweather in which, he stated that if McGregor truly wants to fight, he should sign the papers:

bjpenndotcom - March 15, 2017

MMA legend Mauricio Shogun Rua has continued to continue his winning ways despite the fact that at 35 years old, and with fifteen professional fights, Rua is one of the most seasoned MMA veterans on the active UFC roster. Despite that, and several 2-fight skids in recent memories, Rua is currently on a 3-fight win streak that has seen him pick up back to back decision wins, before recently picking up a 3rd round TKO win over Gian Villante this past weekend in Fortaleza, Brazil.

bjpenndotcom - March 15, 2017

Several times a year, the UFC goes through the process of purging their UFC roster as they remove inactive fighters, and cut fighters who are currently on losing streaks. The latest list of fighters is a rather lengthy one with several well-known fighters on the latest cut-list according to UFC Fighter’s Info: Brandon Thatch Li Jingliang Yusuke Kasuya Felipe Olivieri Chris Avila Jason Novelli J.C. Cottrell Nicolas Dalby Dong-Yi Yang Erick Montano Viktor Pesta Valerie Letourneau Kelly Faszholz Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger

Tom Taylor - March 15, 2017

Despite being a tough 1-6-1 in his last 8 fights, former UFC heavyweight title challenger Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva shows no signs of slowing down. Some five months removed from his corruption filled loss to Ivan Shtyrkov in Russia’s Titov Boxing Promotion, the Brazilian heavyweight will once again fight in the country, this time against former Bellator heavyweight champion Vitaly Minakov, who is far and away the best heavyweight currently competing outside the UFC. The two big men will meet under the Fight Nights Global banner in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 2. Considering the fact that Bigfoot pocketed a whopping $200,000 for his shady loss to the relatively unknown Shtyrkov, his willingness to return to Russia to fight an opponent of Minakov’s standing is understandable. That said, the Brazilian is likely to be a substantial underdog heading into this fight, and rightly so.

bjpenndotcom - March 15, 2017

‘The Ultimate Fighter: Live’ winner Michael Chiesa has proven to be one of the most consistent lightweights in the UFC today. With a UFC record of 7-2, with one of his losses coming by way of doctor stoppage due to a cut on his eyebrow, Chiesa has found himself at #7 on the UFC’s official lightweight rankings. With only a handful of fighters above him, Chiesa is looking to leverage his impressive 3-fight win streak into an interim lightweight title fight with Tony Ferguson, who recently found himself without an opponent when Khabib Nurmagomedov was forced out of their UFC 209 scrap the morning of weigh-ins.