MMA News

Russell Ess - February 3, 2017

Before Mark Henry and Eddie Alvarez took on Conor McGregor in the Octagon, the coach of the then-UFC lightweight champion didn’t have a lot of good things to say about McGregor. With campaigning for fights for both his students, Frankie Edgar and Eddie Alvarez, Alvarez was the one tasked with taking on the Irish superstar at UFC 205. “The Notorious” ended up winning in the second round by TKO, putting on a stellar performance and became the first fighter in history to simultaneously hold two separate UFC weight division titles.

Tom Taylor - February 3, 2017

Back in November of 2015, in the main of UFC 193, Holly Holm shocked the world by knocking out seemingly unbeatable women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey with a second-round head kick. Her victory was emphatic enough that it kept Rousey out of action for more than a year. Eventually, of course, Rousey made her long awaited return to the cage. She made this return in the main event of UFC 207, when she took on reigning women’s bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes. Regrettably for Rousey and her legions of fans, however, this comeback fight with Nunes would go even worse than her fight with Holm did, as she was mauled to a TKO in just 48 seconds.

Tom Taylor - February 3, 2017

Late last month, in the co-main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Denver, Jorge Masvidal scored one of the biggest wins of his career, ending Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone’s win-streak with a second-round knockout. With this win, the American Top Team veteran burst into the ranks of the welterweight elite, where fights with fellow top contenders await. One such contender is Demian Maia, a BJJ specialist who, were it not for Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson’s recent draw and resulting rematch, would probably be scheduled for a title shot right now. Masvidal, unsurprisingly, is very interested interested in a fight with Maia, telling BJPENN.com he’d be happy to “whoop his ass.”

Tom Taylor - February 3, 2017

Late last year, on the main card of UFC 206, featherweight veteran Cub Swanson engaged in one of the greatest fights of all time with South Korean prospect Doo Ho Choi. For three, frenzied rounds, the two fighters thrilled the fans and Toronto and those watching on screens around the world, pelting each other with a dizzying array of strikes in an incredible display of violence. Despite being hurt on several occasions, Swanson ultimately won this contest, walking away with a unanimous decision victory. Having secured this unforgettable win, Swanson reaffirmed his status as one of the best featherweights on earth, and as such, found himself in the crosshairs of many rising fighters. One such fighter was Artem “The Russian Hammer” Lobov, a Russian-born Irishman and training partner of MMA superstar Conor McGregor at SBG Ireland.

bjpenndotcom - February 2, 2017

Veteran Featherweight Thiago Tavares is no longer a UFC fighter after the UFC chose not to issue him a new contract. As first reported by MMAFighting.com, the Brazilian had been fighting for the UFC since 2007. Tavares came into the UFC with a 10-0 record and leaves a decade later with a record of 20-7-1. Tavares lost seven times in the octagon with five coming by knockout. His last win came in November 2015 against Clay Guida where he won via Guillotine Choke in the first round.

bjpenndotcom - February 2, 2017

Please help https://t.co/1kxaWLieH0 pic.twitter.com/fMCqWVf8an — michael (@bisping) February 2, 2017

Russell Ess - February 2, 2017

The UFC on FOX 23 card had a few key fights take place that shook up the official UFC rankings. Jorge Masvidal went into his fight ranked #12 against then-ranked #5 welterweight Donald Cerrone. Following his second round TKO over “Cowboy,” Masvidal now stands in Cerrone’s #5 spot, moving up seven spots in the official welterweight UFC rankings. With his first UFC welterweight loss, Cerrone dropped three spots down to the #8 rank.

Russell Ess - February 2, 2017

We don’t see the power couple Travis Browne and Ronda Rousey out much in the public eye together. With Rousey coming off the second loss of her career, she has stayed out of the media spotlight for the most part, with just a few glimpses of her out in the public and on social media.

Russell Ess - February 2, 2017

Opposing views and beliefs has much of this country in a heated feud. With Donald Trump being recently inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America, citizens have been going to war with one another with their polar points of view. On Wednesday, Milo Yiannopoulos, a strong right-wing social figure, was scheduled to speak at UC Berkeley. However, protests that grew into violence between members of opposing sides broke out causing Yiannopoulos’ speech to be canceled.

Russell Ess - February 2, 2017

Dillon Danis has been making a lot of noise with being associated with current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Danis was brought in to help prepare for McGregor’s UFC 202 rematch against Nate Diaz and also helped train and corner “The Notorious” in his historic lightweight title fight against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205.

bjpenndotcom - February 2, 2017

One UFC lightweight could play a pivotal role to potentially help Floyd Mayweather training for Conor McGregor. With talks of UFC champion Conor McGregor making the move to boxing in 2017 looking more and more likely, talks of a potential Mayweather-McGregor boxing match have begun to dominate headlines. To start the new year, Mayweather offered McGregor $15 million for a boxing match. The offer was quickly countered by UFC President Dana White, who offered Mayweahter $25 million to box McGregor. Mayweather fired back shortly after by calling the UFC President a comedian, reiterating that he wouldn’t fight for less than $100 million.

bjpenndotcom - February 2, 2017

While Ronda Rousey’s head coach Edmond Tarverdyan often receives quite a bit of criticism from fight fans for his coaching style, UFC heavyweight Travis Browne is looking to set the record straight. After Rousey’s UFC 193 loss to Holly Holm over a year ago, Tarverdyan received the brunt of the criticism for what many believed to be giving Rousey a false sense of security in her striking, ultimately resulting in her being knocked out by Holly Holm. When it was announced that Ronda Rousey would be returning to the Octagon to fight Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in 2016, many speculated as to whether or not Rousey’s striking would look underdeveloped once again.

bjpenndotcom - February 2, 2017

Fresh off his ‘UFC Fight Night: Denver’ win over Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone this past weekend, Jorge Masvidal is already being linked to other matchups. After UFC President Dana White revealed that he had offered Demian Maia a fight with Masvidal, it didn’t take long for Masvidal to reveal that Maia turned the fight down:

bjpenndotcom - February 2, 2017

This past weekend at ‘UFC Fight Night: Denver’, top ranked women’s bantamweight contender Valentina Shevchenko secured herself a title fight with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes as she picked up a spectacular submission win over Julianna Pena.

bjpenndotcom - February 2, 2017

Ahead of UFC heavyweight Travis Browne’s ‘UFC Fight Night: Halifax’ scrap with Derrick Lewis in just over two weeks, rumors have continued to fly regarding Browne potentially leaving Coach Edmond Tarverdyan and Glendale Fighting Club. While Travis Browne remains in a relationship with former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, reports had surfaced that Browne was doing his training camp at another gym, not Glendale Fighting Club. ‘Hapa’ remained silent on the matter for quite some time, but spoke in length on ESPN’s 5ive Rounds podcast, saying:

bjpenndotcom - February 1, 2017

At UFC 210, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier will step into the Octagon in hopes of defending his title for the second time when he faces streaking contender Anthony Johnson in a highly anticipated rematch. This isn’t the first time the pair have met in the Octagon. After Jon Jones was pulled from his fight with Anthony Johnson for his infamous hit-and-run incident, the UFC replaced Jones with Cormier and made the fight for the vacant light heavyweight title. Cormier of course won the fight via submission, claiming the vacant light heavyweight title in the process. Since then, Johnson has rattled off four straight wins to earn himself another crack at the light heavyweight belt once again.

bjpenndotcom - February 1, 2017

If at first you don't succeed, cheat right? @yoelromeromma anyway you can right? Steroids, water, greasing, fence grabbing. Nothing is off limits with this guy. #taintedsupplementsmy ass see you soon BOY! #andstill 🇬🇧 A video posted by Mikebisping (@mikebisping) on Jan 31, 2017 at 9:22pm PST

Russell Ess - February 1, 2017

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was once thought of as unbeatable force that many fans and pundits believed would go down as the greatest fighter to ever live.