MMA News

bjpenndotcom - March 8, 2017

Former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre has not fought in over three years now. The last time ‘Rush’ stepped into the Octagon to fight, he was competing against Johny Hendricks in hopes of defending his welterweight title for the 9th time. St-Pierre and Hendricks went to war over the course of 5 rounds before St-Pierre was awarded the split decision win over Hendricks. Immediately after the fight, St-Pierre took an indefinite leave of absence. With speculation arising as to why the 170 pound kingpin was walking away from the sport as such a dominant time in his career, St-Pierre pointed to the UFC’s drug testing policies, expressing a dissatisfaction with the lack of thorough drug testing.

bjpenndotcom - March 8, 2017

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes has been extremely open about the fact that she would like to become the first ever two-division UFC women’s champion. With the recent addition of the women’s featherweight division, Nunes had her eyes on the recent UFC 208 inaugural women’s featherweight title fight, where Germaine De Randamie defeated Holly Holm to win the inaugural title. While Nunes could likely get an immediate title shot at featherweight, it’s no secret that Cris Cyborg, who was recently cleared of her USADA violation, is the #1 contender at 145 pounds. With that being said, Nunes still has plans to go for the women’s 145 pound belt, but without fighting Cyborg.

bjpenndotcom - March 8, 2017

Top ranked UFC middleweight contender Ronaldo Jacare Souza has been on a tear of the UFC’s middleweight division. With a controversial split decision loss to Yoel Romero being the only mark on his otherwise unblemished record, Souza remains one of the most lethal contenders at 185 pounds. While Souza is currently set to fight Robert Whittaker on April 15th, it wasn’t that long ago that Souza was set to fight former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold in the main event of ‘UFC Fight Night: Melbourne’. Unfortunately, Rockhold withdrew from that fight, and Souza was left without an opponent. With that being said, ‘Jacare’ was able to close out 2016 with a win as he submitted Tim Boetsch in the very first round.

bjpenndotcom - March 8, 2017

This past weekend, undefeated UFC lightweight Khabib ‘The Eagle’ Nurmagomedov was set to step into the Octagon with streaking lightweight contender Tony Ferguson for a highly anticipated interim lightweight title fight. Unfortunately, the morning of weigh-ins, reports began to surface that Nurmagomedov had been hospitalized. These reports were confirmed shortly thereafter, and Nurmagomedov was ultimately pulled from the card altogether after it was determined that he would not be fit to compete in time. While the UFC initially was looking for a replacement opponent for Ferguson, they ultimately chose to scrap the fight as a whole.

Tom Taylor - March 8, 2017

The biggest ongoing narrative in combat sports today surrounds a potential boxing mega fight between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, and semi-retired boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr. Each week, this prospective showdown seems to generate dozens of new headlines, some suggesting the fight might actually happen, others suggesting it’s a near impossibility. Unsurprisingly, this influx of Mayweather-McGregor stories is starting to grow old for some members of the combat sports community. We know that UFC welterweight Stephen Thompson, for example, is sick and tired of hearing about it – and he’s certainly not alone.

Russell Ess - March 7, 2017

UFC heavyweight fighter Ben Rothwell has been flagged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for a potential anti-doping violation. The UFC released the following statement on their notification from USADA on Tuesday:

bjpenndotcom - March 7, 2017

The UFC’s lightweight division is going to get much more interesting in Conor McGregor’s absence! While UFC 209’s Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson interim lightweight title fight was scrapped, two other top ranked lightweights will now look to move one step closer to lightweight title contention at UFC 211. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto has broken news that former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez will step into the Octagon for the first time since his UFC 205 loss to Conor McGregor and fight Dustin Poirier.

Russell Ess - March 7, 2017

The UFC updated their rankings following UFC 209, which took place over the weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley was able to jump up a spot to the #8 spot in the pound-for-pound ranks with his majority win over Stephen Thompson. Interestingly, TJ Dillashaw went up a rank in the pound-for-pound ranking over Khabib Nurmagomedov with both fighters not competing over the weekend.

Tom Taylor - March 7, 2017

https://youtu.be/HKY9GiJgUHw This weekend, former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort will return to the Octagon. He will do so in his native Brazil, where he will be taking on former welterweight contender Kelvin Gastelum in the middleweight main event of UFC Fight Night 106.

bjpenndotcom - March 7, 2017

https://youtu.be/eM_UVKacqPA Ahead of UFC veteran Diego Sanchez’s UFC Fight Night 108 scrap with Al Iaquinta, ‘The Nightmare’ is looking to strengthen his chin in an effort to avoid being knocked out.

Russell Ess - March 7, 2017

Former UFC and Bellator fighter War Machine, born Jonathan Koppenhaver, went to trial on Monday with 34 counts against him, which include attempted murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault.

Tom Taylor - March 7, 2017

Having been knocked out by Conor McGregor in November, Eddie Alvarez is no longer the UFC lightweight champion. That said, he still seems to have a target on his back, as he’s been called out by several top lightweights over the last few weeks. One of these lightweights has been Dustin Poirier, who recently defeated Jim Miller in a three-round thriller. Another is The Ultimate Fighter winner and number-eight ranked lightweight Michael Chiesa.

Tom Taylor - March 7, 2017

For many years, Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva stood out as the two best fighters in MMA. Given that they were separated by just 15 pounds, there was always a widespread desire to see them fight. Unfortunately, this super fight never materialized. On a recent episode of the UFC Unfiltered Podcast, St-Pierre recounted the UFC’s previous attempts to book a fight between him and Silva, and explained why the fight never occurred.

Russell Ess - March 7, 2017

Coming off a majority decision win over Stephen Thompson at UFC 209, it looks like UFC welterweight division champion Tyron Woodley will likely be taking on the next welterweight contender rather than getting himself a superfight with some of the stars surrounding the welterweight division.

bjpenndotcom - March 7, 2017

In the main event of UFC 209, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley retained his welterweight strap in a rather controversial performance against welterweight #1 contender Stephen Thompson as he was awarded a majority decision. Many, including UFC President Dana White scored the bout 3 rounds to 2, with Stephen Thompson being the winner. With that being said, the judges scorecards revealed that one judge scored the 5th round 10-8 for Tyron Woodley, resulting in that scorecard being a draw, rather than a decision for Stephen Thompson.

bjpenndotcom - March 7, 2017

This year, former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre will return to the Octagon for a highly anticipated showdown against UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. While it has been quite some time since St-Pierre stepped in the Octagon of course, rumors of his return have continued to surface over the course of the last several years until he and the UFC were finally able to reach a deal. According to St-Pierre however, both he and the UFC are rather unhappy with the new deal that will see him return to the Octagon.

Tom Taylor - March 7, 2017

After months of contract negotiations, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is finally poised for a comeback. He will not, however, be returning to the welterweight division he once ruled so dominantly. Instead, he will challenge Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title at a to-be-determined date and location, probably sometime in the second half of this year. Given the way that St-Pierre’s title shot deprives legitimate middleweight title contenders like Yoel Romero and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza of the shots they’ve earned, this booking was an immediately controversial one. Yet Georges St-Pierre is one of the biggest stars in MMA history, so it’s understandable why the UFC gave him the fight he asked for.

bjpenndotcom - March 7, 2017

This past weekend at UFC 209, fight fans turned in for an action packed night of fights in Las Vegas, headlined by a welterweight title fight between Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson. Ultimately, Woodley won the fight via majority decision after 5 lackluster rounds that left fight fans booing ‘The Chosen One’ throughout his post-fight Octagon interview. In the co-main event, Lando Vannata and David Teymur squared off in a highly anticipated showdown that was promoted to the co-main event slot after Khabib Nurmagomedov was forced off the card the morning of weigh-ins after being hospitalized and given an IV.