MMA News

Russell Ess - February 10, 2017

The #1 UFC ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov and #2 ranked Tony Ferguson are set to meet in the Octagon for the interim UFC lightweight belt at UFC 209 on March 4. However, the future of a lightweight title unification bout is hazy as Conor McGregor currently holds the undisputed lightweight title and is taking time off from fighting for the birth of his first child. Ferguson feels that “The Notorious” is just trying to slip away from defending his title. With McGregor most recently stating at his pay-per-view interview that he only has Floyd Mayweather in his sights for his next bout, Ferguson may be right. “The Notorious” predicted that the fight with Mayweather will come together toward the end of this year or early next year, which would mean it could be quite some time before we see “The Notorious” back in the Octagon if a bout with Mayweather is truly his next fight.

Russell Ess - February 10, 2017

It sounds like Max Holloway no longer has to look for Jose Aldo. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto tweeted on Friday that he spoke with Dana White and the UFC President told him that Jose Aldo vs. Max Holloway is set.

Russell Ess - February 10, 2017

Bellator heavyweight Bobby Lashley is on an eight-fight winning streak in MMA and also is the current TNA professional wrestling World Heavyweight Champion. With all of his success in mixed martial arts and professional wrestling, Lashley is still gunning for one big opponent. “I want that fight with Brock Lesnar,” said Lashley in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated. “I don’t care if it’s the ring, the cage, or in a street fight.”

bjpenndotcom - February 10, 2017

With numerous top ranked welterweight contenders, is a Demian Maia title shot inevitable? the ranked welterweight has been on a tear of the UFC’s welterweight division over the course of the past two years as he has put together a 6-fight win streak. Following back to back decision losses, Maia bounced back just three months later as he picked up a decision win over Alexander Yakovlev in May of 2014. Following that, Maia picked up three straight wins in 2015, including a submission win over Neil Magny and a unanimous decision win over Gunnar Nelson at UFC 194. Maia carried the momentum into 2016, where he picked up back to back rear-naked choke wins over Matt Brown & Carlos Condit to cement his place at the top of the welterweight division.

bjpenndotcom - February 10, 2017

UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw certainly have a rather public, and longstanding, feud following Dillashaw’s departure from Team Alpha Male quite some time ago. Leading up to UFC 207, Garbrandt, who was gearing up for his bantamweight title fight with Dominick Cruz, found himself being called out by Dillashaw on social media. Dillashaw claimed to have made Garbrandt quit during practices at Team Alpha Male, which of course resulted in ‘No Love’ firing back in a Tweet of his own, in which he claimed to have knocked Dillashaw out in a training session which Team Alpha Male coach Justin Buchholz allegedly had video footage of.

Tom Taylor - February 10, 2017

Tomorrow night, the UFC will return to our screens with UFC 208. This card, which will emanate from beautiful Brooklyn, New York, will be headlined by a bit of history, as former bantamweight champion Holly Holm and kickboxing veteran Germaine de Randamie battle to become the UFC’s first ever women’s featherweight champion.

bjpenndotcom - February 10, 2017

This past weekend, featherweight superstar ‘The Korean Zombie’, Chan Sung Jung stepped into the Octagon for the first time in nearly 4 years. The return was a triumphant one for the fan-favorite featherweight, who had been absent from the Octagon since his 2013 TKO loss to Jose Aldo. Following that fight, The Korean Zombie began his mandatory two-years of military service to South Korea. Fortunately, The Korean Zombie was able to continue training despite his military service, however that combined with fatherhood has certainly left a lasting impact on the zombie, and how he views fighting.

Tom Taylor - February 10, 2017

Last weekend, the UFC touched down in Houston, Texas with its annual Super Bowl weekend card. This year, the card was headlined by an intriguing featherweight showdown. In one corner, we had Dennis Bermudez. In the other, we had Chan Sung Jung – more widely known as “The Korean Zombie” – who was returning from a hiatus of more than three years. Despite his lengthy layoff, which was due in large part to the two years of mandatory military service required of all South Korean men, the Korean Zombie looked better than ever in this fight, knocking his foe out with a rocket-fuelled uppercut in the very first round. With this emphatic win, fans began to drool over the many exciting matchup options that exist for him in the UFC featherweight division, from Cub Swanson, to Yair Rodriguez, to Jeremy Stephens.

Tom Taylor - February 10, 2017

When Yoel Romero knocked out former middleweight champ Chris Weidman with a flying knee at UFC 205, he seemed to have guaranteed himself a shot at reigning middleweight king Michael Bisping. Though UFC President Dana White has assured Romero would get the next crack at middleweight gold on several occasions, Bisping himself has wavered on this fight, explaining that he’d rather take a more lucrative fight, and that he doesn’t want to fight Romero based on his 2016 brush with USADA.

Tom Taylor - February 10, 2017

On March 4, in the co-main event of UFC 209, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will battle for the UFC interim lightweight title. The winner of this fight is then likely to challenge undisputed champion Conor McGregor sometime down the road. According to Ferguson, however, the winner of his bout with Nurmagomedov should be considered the toughest man in the division, as he doesn’t believe McGregor is interesting in defending the title.

Russell Ess - February 9, 2017

If there was one man you probably would not want to mess with at any heated situation just based on looks, MMA veterean Jeff Monson will come out at the top of the list probably every time if he is present.

Russell Ess - February 9, 2017

https://youtu.be/kIok6pZrGpk When Matt Mitrione signed his latest Bellator MMA fight agreement, he had no idea who he would be matched up against.

bjpenndotcom - February 9, 2017

In surprising news, Bellator MMA CEO Scott Coker has revealed that accusations of potential Bellator fixed fights have been passed on to the promotion’s parent company, Viacom. The promotion has been scrutinized on several occasions for what viewers believe to be fights ending with questionable stoppages. Most recently, UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz submitted Chael Sonnen with a rear naked choke that many viewers believed to only be partially sunken in. That combined with footage of Ortiz allegedly making a discreet sign to Sonnen that quickly led to the fight ending grappling exchange, have been enough for viewers to question the legitimacy of the bout.

bjpenndotcom - February 9, 2017

Ahead of her UFC 208 inaugural women’s featherweight tile fight, Germaine de Randamie has defended her combative sports resume, explaining how while she may still be relatively fresh in MMA, she has a very extensive professional kickboxing record that saw her go undefeated. In addition, de Randamie explained that she had even knocked out a male opponent who outweighed her by 40 pounds, pointing out that she isn’t too concerned with fighting women at 145 pounds:

Russell Ess - February 9, 2017

Mike Goldberg, one of the longtime voices calling the fights for the UFC may be back to commentating MMA fights again soon. According to MMA reporter Simon Head, Bellator MMA President Scott Coker has been in talks with Goldberg to join the play-by-play commentating team for events that Sean Grande isn’t able to take on.

bjpenndotcom - February 9, 2017

Former high-profile manager to Anderson Silva and numerous other UFC stars, Ed Soares, recently took to social media with a message calling out WMMA phenom Gabi Garcia. Garcia, who is riding an impressive 4 fight win streak in MMA that has seen her go undefeated under the Rizin Fighting Federation banner, allegedly skipped out on rent, and her bills, after Soares and a partner helped her rent an apartment.

bjpenndotcom - February 9, 2017

Former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler was a long-time staple of American Top Team in Florida. With that being said, fight fans were rather surprised to learn that the former welterweight champion had split from ATT following his 1st round KO loss to Tyron Woodley at UFC 201, where Lawler lost the welterweight championship.

bjpenndotcom - February 9, 2017

This Saturday in the main event of UFC 208, Germaine de Randamie will step into the Octagon to fight former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm in a highly anticipated showdown for the inaugural women’s featherweight championship. While fight fans are certainly familiar with Holm due to her famous knockout win over Ronda Rousey at UFC 193, Randamie is still relatively young in the sport, with only 9 professional MMA fights. With that being said however, Randamie had a 37-0 professional kickboxing record before making the transition to MMA, making her an extremely experienced fighter.