MMA News

bjpenndotcom - January 5, 2017

Last month, a horrifying attack on Russian MMA fighter Rasul Mirzaev flew under the radar after a night out with UFC fighters Ali Bagautinov and Artem Lobov quickly turned into a horrific night for Mirzaev. According to reports, Lobov returned to Russia last month, where he spent time with both Bagautinov and Mirzaev after Bagautinov had spent time with Lobov in Ireland back in November. The trio went out for a night at the club when several men brought up Lobov’s teammate, Conor McGregor, and his unwillingness to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov. While Mirzaev and several of the men were involved in a brief altercation, security broke up the incident and the men carried on with their night.

Russell Ess - January 5, 2017

https://youtu.be/J74WLR7apuY UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor made it clear after his last historic fight against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 that he wants to meet with the new owners of the UFC to talk business.

bjpenndotcom - January 5, 2017

Last month, the UFC announced a thrilling heavyweight matchup between former UFC heavyweight title challenger Alistair Overeem and heavyweight MMA legend Mark Hunt for UFC 209 on March 4th. While the MMA community was quick to express their excitement over the matchup, Hunt was quick to shut down the reports as he explained that the fight was offered to him, however the UFC was unwilling to put a clause in his contract that protected him from once again stepping into the Octagon against an opponent who was using PEDs. When the UFC didn’t cooperate with Hunt in regards to putting a provision in contracts, Hunt took to social media to attempt to negotiate with Overeem directly.

bjpenndotcom - January 5, 2017

Back in November at UFC 205, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate retired from MMA in the midst of a 2-fight losing streak. Tate had quite the emotional rollercoaster of a year as she won the UFC women’s bantamweight championship in March by picking up a spectacular 5th round submission win over Holly Holm as she submitted ‘The Preachers Daughter’ with less than two minutes to go in a fight she likely would have lost on the judges scorecards. Following her win over Holm, Tate stepped into the Octagon in the main event of UFC 200 in July for a highly anticipated showdown with Amanda Nunes. Just moments into the fight, Nunes landed a big punch that stunned Tate. ‘Cupcake’ never fully recovered, and ultimately Nunes picked up a first round submission win over Tate to claim the women’s bantamweight championship.

bjpenndotcom - January 5, 2017

While leading up to UFC 207 Ronda Rousey was touted as the toughest test of Amanda Nunes’ MMA career, when the pair stepped into the Octagon Nunes made quick work of Rousey, dispatching of the former champ in just 48 seconds after landing a big punch just moments into the fight that stunned Ronda Rousey. With the win, Nunes advanced to 3-0 over the course of 2016, secured her first title defense, and extended her win streak to 5, with her only UFC loss coming at the hands of Cat Zingano in 2014.

bjpenndotcom - January 5, 2017

When Ronda Rousey lost to Holly Holm at UFC 193 back in November of 2015, a lot of fingers were pointed in regards to who should shoulder the blame for Rousey’s loss. With this, many fingers ended up pointed at Rousey’s head coach, Edmond Tarverdyan, who many believe gave Rousey a false sense of security in her striking leading up to the fight with arguably the best striker in the women’s division, Holly Holm. Following the loss, several members of the combat sports community, including Floyd Mayweather, offered to train Rousey on her boxing. Despite that, when it was announced that Rousey would be returning to the Octagon at UFC 207 to fight Amanda Nunes, Ronda Rousey returned to Glendale Fighting Club to train under Edmond Tarverdyan.

Chris Taylor - January 4, 2017

Fast rising UFC bantamweight contender Bryan Caraway (21-7 MMA) has been forced out of next weekend’s UFC Fight Night 103 event in Phoenix, Arizona. Caraway suffered an undisclosed injury in training and will no longer be able to compete at the January 15 event according to MMAJunkie.

bjpenndotcom - January 4, 2017

BJPENN.COM Radio returns tonight at 8:30PM ET/5:30PM PT with Duane Ludwig and Marlon Moraes! 9PM ET- Kicking off the first show of 2017, Marlon Moraes – @MMARLONMORAES joins us to discuss his victory over Josenaldo Silva at WSOF 34 on New Years Eve. Marlon will be giving us his thoughts on injury-induced TKO, what it was like competing in Madison Square Garden, and testing the waters of free agency. Undefeated for the past 5 years and always looking for the finish, it’s hard to imagine that Moraes isn’t on the UFC’s shortlist for new talent. We’ll get the scoop on all that and much more.

Russell Ess - January 4, 2017

The next match for UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is still up in the air. However, the king of the UFC 170-pound division does have a few names on his list that he would like nothing more than to do battle with in the Octagon. With potential fights against UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, MMA legend Nick Diaz, and another go with Stephen Thompson for a rematch, Woodley is waiting to see which pieces of his next matchup puzzle will come together.

Tom Taylor - January 4, 2017

Former UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar really couldn’t have looked any better in his UFC 200 fight against devastating striker Mark Hunt. Considering he hadn’t stepped foot in the Octagon in some five years, his scoring a three-round domination of a legitimate, top-10 foe was truly impressive. Unfortunately, Lesnar had the rug pulled out from under him in the days following the fight, when it was revealed that he’d tested positive for the estrogen blocker clomiphene. After a long legal process that saw Lesnar and his team attempt to blame his failed tests on everything from his foot cream to his eye medication, he was handed a year-long suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. They also fined him $250,000 and overturned his win over Hunt, changing the result to a no-contest.

Tom Taylor - January 4, 2017

Picking the best UFC PPVs of 2016 is not an easy task. This year was, after all, a year of incredibly stacked pay-per-view cards.

bjpenndotcom - January 4, 2017

Dominick Cruz kicked off 2016 by reclaiming the bantamweight championship he never lost inside the Octagon, before then defending the belt against his nemesis Urijah Faber. Despite that, Dominick Cruz entered 2017 without the bantamweight championship. In the final UFC event of 2016, Cruz stepped into the Octagon against undefeated Team Alpa Male prospect Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt for a highly anticipated grudge match. While many believed that Garbrandt was overly emotional going into the fight, he quickly proved to the MMA community that being the less experienced fighter didn’t mean anything.

Russell Ess - January 4, 2017

Catch all the UFC Phoenix results and action from Arizona as we update you live on fight night! Stay glued to this page for live results, and stay tuned to BJPenn.com for recaps of each fight from the event on January 15. UFC Phoenix will feature the return of UFC Hall of Fame legend BJ Penn. The former two-division UFC champion will enter the Octagon for the first time since 2014 and will face the young and talented Yair Rodriguez in a featherweight clash in the main event of the evening.

bjpenndotcom - January 4, 2017

On the heels of UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley’s majority draw against Stephen Thompson at UFC 205 in November, a five-round contest that saw him retain his welterweight title in the co-main event, there has been much speculation as to who Woodley’s next fight will be against. Given that the fight with Thompson was a draw, UFC President Dana White stated immediately following the fight that the next step would be for the pair to have a rematch. While Woodley was initially open to the idea of a rematch, he then changed his tune after re-watching the fight and coming to the conclusion that the fight shouldn’t have been scored as a draw.

bjpenndotcom - January 4, 2017

Leading up to UFC 207, UFC legend Forrest Griffin made his official prediction for the UFC 207 co-main event scrap between Dominick Cruz and Cody Garbrandt.

bjpenndotcom - January 4, 2017

2016 was a big year for MMA veteran Nate Diaz as he defeated Conor McGregor at UFC 196 on just two weeks notice. Following the incredible win over McGregor, Diaz once again stepped into the Octagon with the Irish superstar at UFC 202 in August, where the pair fought to a majority decision. Ultimately, McGregor was awarded the win, however the fight was an extremely close one, with many praising Diaz for the fight.

bjpenndotcom - January 4, 2017

Top ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov has been on a tear of the UFC’s lightweight division 8-0 since joining the promotion in 2012. Unfortunately after defeating Rafael dos Anjos in 2014, Nurmagomedov was sidelined for the next two years with injuries. In early 2016, ‘The Eagle’ was set to make his highly anticipated return to the Octagon as he was slated to fight Tony Ferguson at ‘UFC on FOX: Tampa’. Unfortunately, Ferguson was forced out of the fight on short notice, and was replaced by Darrell Horcher. Ultimately, Nurmagomedov defeated Horcher via 2nd round TKO as he advanced to 23-0 over the course of his professional career. Following that, Nurmagomedov stepped into the Octagon against Michael Johnson for a highly anticipated lightweight showdown at UFC 205, where he picked up a dominant 3rd round submission win, complete with trash talk to UFC President Dana White as well as Johnson during the fight.

Tom Taylor - January 4, 2017

The official UFC Phoenix fight card has been finalized and will occur in sunny Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday, January 15. Note: that’s Sunday, not the typical Saturday. The card will be headlined by a compelling featherweight showdown between rising Mexican prospect Yair Rodriguez, and our very own BJ Penn.