MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2017

Last Saturday, Bellator MMA returned to our screens with Bellator 170, an exciting card in Los Angeles, California. This card’s headlining slot was filled by a light heavyweight bout between retiring MMA legend Tito Ortiz, and fan favorite Chael Sonnen, who was returning from a hiatus of three years. Though many expect Sonnen to be too much for the aging Ortiz, Ortiz actually ended up winning this one handily, submitting Sonnen with a rear-naked choke just over two minutes into the first round. Ortiz’s victory was so lopsided, in fact, that some fans – and even some respected media members – suggested the fight might have been a fix.

bjpenndotcom - January 24, 2017

SUG 3 just got a lot more interesting! Just days after dropping a first round submission loss to Tito Ortiz in the main event of Bellator 170, MMA veteran Chael Sonnen has now stepped in on short notice for Hector Lombard to grapple with Garry ‘The Lion’ Tonon on January 29th in a grappling match at Submission Underground 3.

Russell Ess - January 24, 2017

https://youtu.be/eLdRpAXI3Y0 If you have ever seen UFC commentator Joe Rogan display his martial arts skills, you soon realize that the man behind the mic knows exactly what he is talking about.

Russell Ess - January 24, 2017

If you have a draw in the sport of boxing, why wouldn’t you drop your name in the hat to be in the talks of a superfight with UFC superstar Conor McGregor? Manny Pacquiao is one of the latest boxing stars to say that he would fight McGregor if given the opportunity and chances are that the fight would be much more exciting stylistically than a bout with Floyd Mayweather. UFC President Dana White recently made Floyd Mayweather an offer to fight Conor McGregor for a guaranteed $25 million and a split of pay-per-view buys to be negotiated.

Russell Ess - January 24, 2017

August 20, 2016 was the last time Nate Diaz stepped into the Octagon for a fight. Following a majority decision loss to his rival Conor McGregor at UFC 202, Diaz has stated that he is only looking for big fights that will result in a big payday. Given his history and payouts for his two bouts with Conor McGregor, a third fight between the two fighters is sure to bring in the cash once again.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2017

In April of 2016, it was announced that Frank Mir had been notified of a potential USADA violation, and that he could be facing up to two years on the shelf as a result. In the face of this lengthy suspension, Mir seemed to be seriously considering retirement. In the months since this USADA violation was announced, however, he has changed his tune. In a recent interview with Australia’s Submission Radio, Mir explained that he’s itching to get back to the cage, ideally sometime in early 2018. And while he’ll be closing in on 40 by that point, he still believes he’ll be able to hang with the division’s best. The precedent is there, after all.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2017

According to reliable Brazilian MMA publication Combate, UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic will next defend his title against an old foe in Junior Dos Santos. Combate’s report says this heavyweight title fight is likely to headline UFC 211, which will occur in Dallas, Texas on May 13. Miocic and Dos Santos first met back in December of 2013. On that night, Dos Santos weathered an early storm to steal the momentum in the second half of the fight, and ultimately capture a contentious unanimous decision win. This criminally unheralded heavyweight war earned the pair Fight of the Night honors.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2017

https://youtu.be/erftfWuqmZo This Saturday, the UFC will return to Denver, Colorado with an exciting night of fights. This card, which will air on Fox, will be headlined by a bantamweight number-one-contender fight between Julianna Peña, the first woman to win the Ultimate Fighter, and Valentina Shevchenko, who is the perhaps best striker in the division. The co-main event, meanwhile, will pit fan favorite gunslinger and hometown hero Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone against Jorge Masvidal.

bjpenndotcom - January 24, 2017

https://youtu.be/wSn2gVRaqYU Episode 4 of The Celebrity Apprentice saw Chael Sonnen fired for tip-toeing in a grey area. While Sonnen had been looking to win the latest season of Celebrity Apprentice hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger in Donald Trump’s absence, ‘The American Gangster’ found himself fired early in the season.

bjpenndotcom - January 24, 2017

While TUF season 17 winner Kelvin Gastelum is certainly a top 10 fighter in both the welterweight and middleweight divisions, Gastelum has received quite a bit of criticism for missing weight on numerous occasions when making the cut to 170 to fight at welterweight. Kelvin Gastelum’s first run-in with the scale came at UFC Fight Night 44 in 2014, where he missed weight by almost 2 pounds before his fight with Nico Musoke. Following that, Gastelum has another run-in with the scale in 2015, when he missed weight by ten pounds ahead of his UFC 183 scrap with Tyron Woodley, where he lost a split decision. Most recently, Gastelum was forced out of his UFC 205 scrap with Donald Cerrone when he actually skipped attempting to formally make weight as he was aware that he was well over the welterweight non-title fight limit of 171 pounds.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2017

Though Ronda Rousey is widely credited with putting women’s MMA on the map, Gina Carano was the first real female star the sport ever produced. The Muay Thai specialist realized her stardom – which admittedly paled in comparison to the eventual megastardom of Ronda Rousey – in the cage of the long defunct Strikeforce organization.

bjpenndotcom - January 24, 2017

This past Saturday at Bellator 170, knockout artist Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley picked up another highlight reel knockout as he knocked Brennan Ward out with a vicious flying knee in the co-main event. The win returned Daley to the win column after dropping a unanimous decision to Douglas Lima at Bellator 158 back in July of 2016, which snapped a 5-fight win streak for ‘Semtex’. The flying knee of course left Ward with a horrific cut on the side of his face, an image of the injury has since gone viral as fight fans and social media users have all collectively gazed at the photo in awe.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2017

With no UFC card last weekend, the MMA spotlight was fixed firmly on Bellator 170, which went down on Saturday night. This card was headlined by a light heavyweight fight between retiring MMA legend Tito Ortiz, and returning star Chael Sonnen. In advance of this fight, Sonnen assured it was one he’d wanted for years, and one he was determined to win. Despite all of this pre-fight talk, however, Sonnen could not have looked much worse on fight night, as he was soundly out-grappled by the aging Ortiz, and ultimately wound up tapping out to a poorly applied rear-naked choke just over two minutes into the fight.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2017

On March 4, in the co-main of UFC 209, streaking lightweights Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will finally go to war. They will do so for interim lightweight gold, while the division’s undisputed champion Conor McGregor enjoys a break from competition to father his first child. In a recent interview with Fox Sports, Nurmagomedov opened up on this bout with Ferguson, and explained that he has plans to break his foe’s arm – something he was careful not to do when he recently tapped Michael Johnson with a kimura. The motivation behind this threat is to teach Ferguson some respect.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2017

Over the last few months, Tyron Woodley has generated dozens of headlines by claiming that, even as the UFC welterweight champion, he experiences racism on a frequent basis. Some fans have responded to these claims by accusing him of “race-baiting”. Others have applauded him for shining a light on these ugly issues which, to this day, have their claws embedded in North American culture. On a recent episode of The MMA Hour, host Ariel Helwani gave Woodley the chance to elaborate on his recent comments. The champ did not hesitate to do so, explaining that he’d actually prepared notes for the interview so as to assure he articulated his points effectively.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2017

Shortly after the UFC was purchased by entertainment giant WME-IMG midway through 2016, a string of high-profile layoffs began. The most significant of these layoffs occurred at the end of the year, when we learned that long-time UFC commentator Mike Goldberg would be parting ways with the organization after UFC 207 on December 30. On the most recent episode of The MMA Hour, Goldberg opened up on his departure from the UFC, which was not even mentioned during his final broadcast. Unsurprisingly, he said the news that his contract would not be released was not easy to to take.

Russell Ess - January 23, 2017

Leave it up to the Diaz brothers to highlight smoking out of an MMA glove.

Tom Taylor - January 23, 2017

Earlier this month, long-time middleweight contender Tim Kennedy announced his retirement from MMA. With this retirement from competition, Kennedy now shifts his focus to a new fight, as he battles on behalf of fighters as the President of the new Mixed Martial Arts Athlete’s Association. During an appearance on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Kennedy gave an update on this association, which has been somewhat quiet over the last few weeks. During this segment, Kennedy touched on the controversial involvement of former Bellator president Bjorn Rebney, and shed some light on how the fighter recruitment process is going.