MMA News

Russell Ess - January 3, 2017

https://www.facebook.com/AnnaJaneKesington/videos/383320015350309/ Cody Garbrandt robot danced his way to victory during his UFC bantamweight championship fight at UFC 207 on Friday.

bjpenndotcom - January 3, 2017

To close out 2016, the UFC hit Las Vegas one final time for UFC 207. The event was an extremely entertaining one which left fight fans with plenty of memories. From Alex Garcia’s first round KO of Mike Pyle on the preliminary card to Cody Garbrandt’s masterful performance against Dominick Cruz in the co-main event, to Amanda Nunes’ brutal 48 second KO of Ronda Rousey, UFC 207 delivered on all marks.

Russell Ess - January 3, 2017

Michael “Venom” Page isn’t letting his foot off the gas pedal following Ronda Rousey’s devastating UFC 207 loss to Amanda Nunes. The flashy Bellator fighter took to social media the day after UFC 207 where he made a song and dance mocking Rousey getting punched in the face with his “Do the Rousey” video. Page went as far as to ask fans to do their best version of the dance and created a hashtag campaign for it all.

bjpenndotcom - January 3, 2017

In one of the final UFC scraps of 2016, undefeated bantamweight fighter Cody Garbrandt put on the performance of a lifetime as he picked apart Dominick Cruz over the course of five rounds to secure the UFC bantamweight championship. In addition to picking Cruz apart, Garbrandt landed several big punches on Cruz that sent the champ to the canvas dazed and confused. Following the fight, Garbrandt presented his friend Maddux Maple with the UFC bantamweight championship belt, many years after he promised his young friend that he would win the UFC championship belt for him, if he beat Leukemia for Garbrandt. While Garbrandt’s performance in the fight was certainly a big moment from the night, it was Garbrandt giving Maple the bantamweight championship belt that really left a lasting impression on the MMA community.

Russell Ess - January 3, 2017

Cody Garbrandt has done what most UFC fighters can only dream of. “No Love” impressively made his debut in the UFC and became a UFC champion in less than two years. On this day in 2015, Garbrandt entered the Octagon for the first time and faced Marcus Brimage at UFC 182. “No Love” put on a memorable performance in his debut, putting away Brimage in the third round by TKO.

bjpenndotcom - January 3, 2017

To close out 2016, undefeated Team Alpha Male prospect Cody Garbrandt put on the performance of a lifetime as he not only defeated former bantamweight kingpin Dominick Cruz, but picked ‘The Dominator’ apart over the course of five rounds, even rocking Cruz several times throughout the fight. Leading up to the fight, Garbrandt stated several times that he would be happy to give Cruz a rematch when he emerged from UFC 207 victorious. In addition however, leading up to UFC 207, Garbrandt and former teammate TJ Dillashaw exchanged barbs. With both men emerging from their respective UFC 207 fights victorious, many believe the stage had been set for a fight between the two former teammates.

Tom Taylor - January 3, 2017

With Conor McGregor now soundly out of the picture, the featherweight spotlight is fixed firmly on two men. The first is Jose Aldo, who surrendered the belt to McGregor in 2015, but was promoted back to undisputed champion when McGregor was stripped of the featherweight title in late 2016. The other is Max Holloway, who won the interim featherweight title with a defeat of former lightweight champ Anthony Pettis at December’s UFC 206. As the champion and interim champion of the division, Aldo and Holloway have been rumored for a title unification bout for several weeks. Apparently, however, the UFC is having a difficult time putting this fight together, as the bout has yet to be made official.

bjpenndotcom - January 3, 2017

This past weekend at UFC 207, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey made her return to the Octagon for the first time since suffering the first loss of her career at the hands of Holly Holm over a year ago. Unfortunately for Rousey, her return didn’t go as planned. While leading up to the fight, the former champ stated that she needed to return to the Octagon and avenge the first loss of her career and reclaim the women’s bantamweight championship, Amanda Nunes ended those hopes as she picked up a dominant 48 second knockout win.

bjpenndotcom - January 3, 2017

Following Ronda Rousey’s UFC 193 loss to Holly Holm in November of 2015, the former champ was very open about her thoughts of suicide backstage immediately following the loss. Several months following the loss, Rousey joined Ellen DeGeneres on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ to discuss he suicidal thoughts post-fight, saying:

bjpenndotcom - January 3, 2017

This past weekend, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey made her highly anticipated return to the Octagon after over a year away from the cage. The return was a very short lived one as Rousey was tagged in the opening moments of the fight before ultimately being stopped just 48 seconds into the fight due to strikes. Following the fight, an emotional Rousey skipped out on her post-fight Octagon interview and opted to head backstage. It was there that UFC President Dana White helped console the former champ for nearly 45 minutes. He spoke to ESPN:

Tom Taylor - January 3, 2017

Last Friday, in the main event of UFC 207, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey stepped into the Octagon for the first time since she was KO’d by Holly Holm more than a year ago. She did so against the bantamweight division’s current queen, Amanda Nunes. Rousey’s comeback fight would go down as a downright disaster, as she found herself on the wrong end of a TKO just 48 seconds into the fight.

Tom Taylor - January 3, 2017

On Friday night, in the main event of the stacked UFC 207, Amanda Nunes made her first successful defense of the bantamweight title she won from Miesha Tate in July. She did so with a 48-second mauling of women’s MMA trailblazer Ronda Rousey. With a firm grip on the UFC women’s bantamweight title, Nunes finds herself in the crosshairs of the division’s many talented competitors, from Valentina Shevchenko and Juliana Pena (who fight on January 28), to Raquel Pennington, to Cat Zingano.

Tom Taylor - January 3, 2017

On Friday night, MMA nutritionist Mike Dolce watched his star client get thrashed in a mere 48 seconds. We’re talking, of course, about Ronda Rousey, who was dominated by women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in her long-awaited comeback fight. The beatdown occurred in the main event of UFC 207. Given that the once dominant Rousey is now 0-2 in her last two fights, losing both by knockout, there is widespread doubt that she’ll ever compete in the Octagon again. You might suspect that Dolce, a long-time part of Rousey’s team, could shed some light on the possibility of her fighting again. When asked to do so on the latest episode of The MMA Hour, however, he explained that he’s as unsure as anyone. In his opinion, you may as well flip a coin.

Russell Ess - January 2, 2017

https://youtu.be/fRiIcXszU7g Ronda Rousey, the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion suffered the second defeat in her professional mixed martial arts career on Friday night against the current champion Amanda Nunes in the main event of UFC 207.

Russell Ess - January 2, 2017

The elusive style of now former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz was figured out by Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207 on Friday. Garbrandt was able to get the better of the exchanges over the five-round championship fight and became the undisputed champion of the men’s 135-pound division with a unanimous decision win.

Russell Ess - January 2, 2017

https://youtu.be/snzXWZf7TS0 It was a night of celebration as Team Alpha Male’s Cody Garbrandt was crowned the new UFC bantamweight champion on Friday night.

Tom Taylor - January 2, 2017

Last Friday, in the co-main event of UFC 207, Cody Garbrandt put forth a masterful performance, swiping the bantamweight title from the waist of Dominick Cruz with a clear-cut unanimous decision win. With this win, logic would suggest that Garbrandt will now set his sights on top contender TJ Dillashaw, or even on a rematch with Cruz. Apparently, however, the new champ has his sites set on “money fight” with reigning featherweight king Jose Aldo. Garbrandt made this admission on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - January 2, 2017

With UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor currently taking a hiatus from competition to father his first child, the lightweight limelight is shining on two men: Dagestan’s Khabib Nurmagomedov, and California’s Tony Ferguson. Under normal circumstances, either man could easily be argued to be deserving of the next shot at the lightweight title. Because the champion is currently out of the picture, however, they’ve shifted their focus to one another. For weeks, it has been rumored that the two streaking lightweights will fight for the division’s interim title sometime in the first quarter of 2017, and they’ve spiced these rumors up with plenty of trash talk on social media.