MMA News

bjpenndotcom - January 19, 2017

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and former UFC pound for pound kingpin Jon Jones have a very long and very public feud dating back several years. While the men have been booked to fight numerous times, they have only stepped into the Octagon once, where Jones emerged victorious. After their UFC 200 scrap in July fell through just 48 hours before the men were set to step into the Octagon, Jones was handed a one-year suspension, keeping him sidelined until July of 2017. With that being said, Cormier is still looking for a Jon Jones rematch.

bjpenndotcom - January 19, 2017

Earlier this month, UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn stepped into the Octagon for just his second fight in the past 5 years. Penn of course was stepping into the Octagon to fight streaking featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez in a highly anticipated main event showdown in Phoenix, Arizona. Unfortunately for Penn, when he stepped into the Octagon with ‘Pantera’, the young fighter picked him apart with kicks, ultimately picking up a second round TKO win over Penn, knocking ‘The Prodigy’ down for the first time in his career with a punch.

bjpenndotcom - January 19, 2017

UFC flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson is hailed as one of the greatest fighters on the planet today. With a superb 11-fight win streak that has seen him defend his flyweight title nine times over the past four years, Johnson currently sits atop the UFC’s official pound for pound rankings. With that being said, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley believes that Demetrious Johnson doesn’t get the push he deserves because of race.

Russell Ess - January 18, 2017

https://youtu.be/mgIMkKy9r8Y The infamous Pride Fighting Championships commentating duo, Bas Rutten and Mauro Ranallo were guests on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast last week and went over some classic stories from their past.

Russell Ess - January 18, 2017

Former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks will be going up in weight to fight in the middleweight division for his next bout. According to a report from Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting, the UFC is working on Johny Hendricks vs. Hector Lombard for UFC Fight Night: Halifax, which is scheduled to take place on February 19. This will be Hendrick’s middleweight debut as he has had several incidents with making the 170-pound welterweight limit and after missing weight in his bout against Neil Magny at UFC 207 in December, the former champion said he was done fighting at welterweight.

bjpenndotcom - January 18, 2017

Since suffering the second straight defeat of her professional career, several members of the MMA community have continued to offer Ronda Rousey support. There were many questions regarding how Ronda Rousey‘s striking would look leading up to the fight after having taken a year off following her UFC 193 loss to Holly Holm in November of 2015, however when Rousey stepped into the Octagon with Amanda Nunes at UFC 207, it didn’t take long for Nunes to expose Rousey’s underdeveloped striking game.

Russell Ess - January 18, 2017

If you think that Conor McGregor needs to fight in the UFC to make money, think again. The savvy businessman is part of something quite clever that his die-hard fans will surely want to be a part of.

bjpenndotcom - January 18, 2017

BJPENN.COM Radio returns tonight at 8PM ET/5PM PT with another incredible line-up of guests! 8:15PM ET- Kicking off tonights show is UFC women’s bantamweight contender, Valentina Shevchenko – @bulletvalentina . “The Bullet” is slated to face Julianna Peña next weekend on FOX in a showdown that will likely determine the No.1 contender. We will get Shevchenko’s breakdown of the matchup, what she would do differently in a rematch with Nunes, and her thoughts on the women’s bantamweight division.

bjpenndotcom - January 18, 2017

After handing Ronda Rousey a 48 second loss at UFC 207 to close out 2016, it may come as a bit of surprise that UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes is now offering Ronda Rousey advice on how she can make a successful return to the cage. After suffering the first defeat of her career at the hands of Holly Holm in November of 2015, Rousey took over a year away from the Octagon to recover from several lingering injuries, while taking some time to film several movies in Hollywood. Leading up to her return fight with Nunes at UFC 207, there were many questions regarding whether the former champ would return to the Octagon with an improved standup game. That, coupled with Rousey’s media blackout leading up to the fight not only drew the former champ some criticism, but also left fight fans unsure of Rousey’s mind state leading up to the fight.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

Last November, in the co-main event of the landmark UFC 205, Tyron Woodley sought to make his first defense of the UFC welterweight title against streaking karate specialist Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. Five, razor close rounds later, the fight was ruled a majority draw. With this result, Woodley hung on to the UFC welterweight crown, though surely not in the fashion he’d hoped.

bjpenndotcom - January 18, 2017

This past weekend, the UFC hit Phoenix, Arizona for UFC Phoenix headlined by a featherweight tilt between streaking contender Yair Rodriguez and UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn which saw Rodriguez pick up an impressive 2nd round TKO win. In addition to Rodriguez’ impressive win, in the co-main event Joe Lauzon picked up a rather controversial split decision win over Marcin Held in a fight which Lauzon himself admitted was scored incorrectly. The main card also featured the return of Ben Saunders, as he picked up a unanimous decision win over Court McGee.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

Back in July of 2016, in the last-minute main event of UFC 200, Brazilian talent Amanda Nunes swiped the women’s bantamweight title from Miesha Tate with a dominant, first-round submission win. Later in the year, in the main event of December’s UFC 207, Nunes defended that title with an even more dominant win, brutalizing returning former champion Ronda Rousey in just 48 seconds. Speaking to FloCombat.com in the weeks after her win, Nunes said that she didn’t think anything could stop her from defeating Rousey at UFC 207 – she was simply too focused.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

Earlier this week, UFC middleweight contender Tim Kennedy announced his retirement from mixed martial arts with a heartfelt post to his Facebook page. This retirement announcement followed a lopsided knockout loss to Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 206. Shortly thereafter, Kennedy spoke with MMAFighting.com to elaborate on his decision to retire, and give updates on his involvement with the new Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association, and his future in the martial arts.

bjpenndotcom - January 18, 2017

This week, MMA veteran Tim Kennedy announced his retirement from MMA several weeks after dropping a 3rd round TKO to Kelvin Gastelum on the main card of UFC 206. The loss marked Kennedy’s second in a row, and his first fight in over two years. At UFC 178 in 2014, Kennedy and streaking middleweight Yoel Romero stepped into the Octagon for what remains to this day, one of the most controversial fights in MMA history. At the end of the second round, Kennedy had Romero rocked and nearly finished. ‘Soldier of God’ survived the end of the round, and was in the process of recovering between rounds. When the horn sounded to signal the start of the third round, Romero remained on his stool while referee Big John McCarthy called for Romero’s corner to wipe excess vaseline from him, and retrieve the stool from the cage. Kennedy complained as Romero continued to sit on the stool, ultimately buying himself nearly an extra minute between rounds to recover. When the third round started, Romero went out and TKOd Kennedy. Of course this caused quite a bit of controversy as many criticized Romero for stalling between rounds. Despite that, Romero explained the reason he was rocked at the end of the second was because Kennedy had allegedly stuck his fingers in Romero’s gloves in order to land the shots.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

https://youtu.be/PYh_uMb8Hoc Over the last few weeks, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has been heavily involved in the promotion for the Pegasus World Cup Invitational, an anticipated horse race with a massive, $12 million prize. In the buildup to this race, the champ has appeared in a series of hilarious videos with actor John Lovitz, during which we’re led to believe he will be participating in the race as the 13th jockey.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

In late 2016, former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was forced out of a highly anticipated rematch with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza with an injury. This fight would have been Rockhold’s first back since he surrendered the UFC middleweight title to Michael Bisping in June, succumbing to a shocking, first-round knockout. Early last week, Jacare made headlines by suggesting that Rockhold wasn’t actually injured, and that he pulled out of their planned rematch because he was scared.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

Chael Sonnen has become one of the most interesting commentators in MMA. If there’s a major headline cooking up, the three-time UFC title challenger and current Bellator star will have something thought-provoking to say about it. The latest issue that Chael Sonnen sounded off on revolves around the derailed career of the once dominant Ronda Rousey, who was first levelled by a Holly Holm head kick in 2015, and more recently, mauled by reigning bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes in her long-awaited Octagon return.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2017

Nate Diaz is well on his way to acquiring a boxing license in the state of Nevada. According to ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto, who spoke with Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) executive director Bob Bennett, Diaz has been working toward this end for several months. Having paid the $50,000 fine he was handed by the NSAC last month, which stemmed from a bottle-throwing skirmish with Conor McGregor at a UFC 202 press conference, he is now filing the required paperwork to obtain this license. He has also submitted submitted footage of his gym’s boxing training for the commission to look over.