MMA News

Russell Ess - January 26, 2017

Newly crowned UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt is set to take on former teammate and former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw as the two are coaching the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter. The two have had a long history together as they were both on Team Alpha Male. However, an issue with coaching disputes led Dillashaw to split from Team Alpha Male in Northern California and train full time with Duane “Bang” Ludwig with the Elevation Fight Team in Colorado.

Russell Ess - January 26, 2017

You won’t see former kickboxing and Muay Thai champion Joe Schilling and MMA pioneer Phil Baroni enjoying any time when near one another. The two scrappers have had bad blood for quite some time, and their rivalry spiked up recently as seen from their interaction in the comments on an Instagram post by Nate Diaz.

Russell Ess - January 26, 2017

Former UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva wants a piece of the current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Although technically two weight classes apart as of their last fights, McGregor has fought Nate Diaz twice at welterweight.

bjpenndotcom - January 26, 2017

Yoel Romero is really working for the middleweight title shot! To end 2016, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping made his first successful title defense as he picked up a unanimous decision win over Dan Henderson at UFC 204 in England. Following the win, Yoel Romero was crowned the middleweight #1 contender after picking up a brutal 3rd round KO win over former middleweight champion Chris Weidman on the main card of UFC 205 in November. With Romero declared the middleweight #1 contender, many were wondering when the UFC would officially announce the scrap, however Bisping revealed in a recent interview that he would be sidelined until April or May as he recovered from knee surgery, at which point he would pursue a money fight.

bjpenndotcom - January 26, 2017

Ahead of Johny Hendricks UFC 207 scrap with Neil Magny at the end of 2016, the former welterweight champion revealed that he could very well be on his way to retirement depending on how the fight played out. Unfortunately for Hendricks, not only did he miss weight by three and a half pounds, he then dropped a unanimous decision to Magny. The loss made it three straight for Johny Hendricks, who is now just 1-4 since losing the title to Robbie Lawler at UFC 181 in 2014. In addition, Hendricks missed weight for his two most recent bouts, and was forced out of a fight with Tyron Woodley due to an emergency from a weight-cut complication. This has led to UFC President Dana White forcing Hendricks to make the jump to middleweight, where he will fight Hector Lombard on February 19th. Ahead of that fight, Hendricks has revealed that he could very well retire depending on how his move to middleweight goes.

bjpenndotcom - January 26, 2017

In 2017, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will step in the Octagon at welterweight for the first time in his professional career after dropping back to back losses at 155 in 2016. Halfway through the year, dos Anjos stepped into the Octagon in hopes of defending his lightweight title for the second time as he faced Eddie Alvarez. Unfortunately for the champ, just minutes into the fight the referee was forced to intervene and stop the bout, as Alvarez was awarded the TKO win and the lightweight championship. In his next fight, RDA was looking to return to the win column as he fought streaking contender Tony Ferguson in a highly anticipated showdown. Ultimately, Ferguson picked dos Anjos apart over the course of 5 rounds, and was awarded the unanimous decision win.

bjpenndotcom - January 26, 2017

This week, news surfaced that former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman would be stepping into the Octagon at UFC 210 in April to fight streaking middleweight veteran Gegard Mousasi in a highly anticipated showdown that will see one man climb the middleweight rankings, while the other will be forced to take a step down in competition. Despite being on a 2-fight skid that saw him lose his middleweight championship to Luke Rockhold in 2015 before then dropping a 3rd round TKO to Yoel Romero at UFC 205 to end the year. While he may be on a 2-fight skid, Weidman is now moving forward and looking towards returning to the Octagon at UFC 210, and looking like his old self.

bjpenndotcom - January 25, 2017

This Saturday, in Denver, Colorado, top ranked UFC welterweight Donald Cerrone will step into the Octagon against #12 ranked welterweight Jorge Masvidal in a highly anticipated showdown. While the two men initially agreed to fight on social media, for Jorge Masvidal, it goes back much further than that. He spoke on UFC Unfiltered:

bjpenndotcom - January 25, 2017

Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson is official! Wednesday evening, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier announced via UFC Tonight that he would be stepping into the Octagon on April 8th in Buffalo, New York to square off against top ranked light heavyweight contender Anthony Johnson. The fight is expected to headline the event, and will mark the first time the UFC has been in Buffalo, New York in over 20 years, with the last event they hosted there being UFC 7 in 1995.

bjpenndotcom - January 25, 2017

The UFC 209 poster has arrived! On March 4th, the UFC will hit Nevada once again for UFC 209, which is shaping up to be an early contender for ‘Card of the Year’. In the main event, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley will step into the Octagon in hopes of successfully defending his welterweight strap as he looks to defeat Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson. The pair of course fought once before, in the co-main event of UFC 205, where they fought to a majority draw that saw Woodley retain his 170 pound strap.

bjpenndotcom - January 25, 2017

At one point in time, UFC bantamweight Michael McDonald was one of the most highly touted bantamweight prospects on the UFC roster. An 8-fight win streak that ‘Mayday’ rode from the regional scene into the top 10 of the UFC’s bantamweight division had the young prospect fighting Renan Barao in 2013 for the interim UFC bantamweight championship. Unfortunately for McDonald, Barao submitted him in the 4th round of the scrap, putting an end to his 3-year unbeaten streak. McDonald bounced back by submitting Brad Pickett before then dropping a submission loss to Urijah Faber in 2013.

bjpenndotcom - January 25, 2017

BJPENN.COM Radio returns tonight at 8PM ET/5PM PT with more of what you’ve come to expect; great guests! 8:15PM ET-  Kicking off tonights show we are joined by TUF 24 winner and recent title challenger Tim Elliott – @telliott125 . We’ll recap his impressive outing against Mighty Mouse, a performance in which Elliott was able to expose some chinks in the armor of the flyweight champ. Tim will elaborate on the decision to move to bantamweight, what opponent interests him most for his next bout, and give us his opinion on the landscape of that division.

Russell Ess - January 25, 2017

https://youtu.be/lzGu5VrJN34 Tito Ortiz left his gloves in the cage following his first round submission over Chael Sonnen in the main event at Bellator 170 over the weekend.

Russell Ess - January 25, 2017

The main event of Bellator 170 had Chael Sonnen coming out of retirement to take on Tito Ortiz for “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s” last fight of his career. It was a fairytale ending for Ortiz, as the UFC Hall of Fame legend and pioneer of the sport finished Sonnen in the first round with a rear-naked choke submission that forced Sonnen to tap.

Russell Ess - January 25, 2017

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is getting locked and loaded.

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2017

While a case can certainly be made for Douglas Lima, Rory MacDonald and Jon Fitch, it’s very possible that One Championship welterweight king Ben Askren is the best welterweight outside the UFC. Despite his status as such, however, the former Bellator champ has yet to reach a deal with the UFC, and so its impossible to say how he’d fare against the promotion’s best welterweights. That, however, hasn’t stopped him from talking about these potential fights. On a recent episode of Chael Sonnen’s You’re Welcome podcast, Askren offered his thoughts on how fights with the UFC’s two best welterweights would go.

bjpenndotcom - January 25, 2017

UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt is currently gearing up for his UFC 209 rematch with Alistair Overeem on March 4th in Paradise, Nevada, however he has had to take some time to contact police after threats were made against his kids on social media.

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2017

Today, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is one of MMA’s pound-for-pound best fighters, and the biggest star the sport has ever produced. Really, the Irishman has become such a massive superstar that it’s hard to imagine him as anything else. Of course, he hasn’t always been the spotlight dominating celebrity that he is today.