MMA News

Russell Ess - December 29, 2016

Current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor stated after winning the lightweight belt from Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 that he would be taking time off from fighting for the birth of his first child. “The Notorious” also stated that he wants to meet with the new owners of the UFC to talk business and said that if they want him to continue fighting in the Octagon to bring in the massive numbers, he wants some shares in the company. UFC President Dana White spoke with the media on Wednesday ahead of UFC 207 and said that he hasn’t been thinking about McGregor ever since the lightweight champion told him his timeline to fight again.

Chris Taylor - December 29, 2016

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will make her highly anticipated return to the octagon in the featured bout of this Friday’s UFC 207 pay-per-view event when she challenges current title holder Amanda Nunes. “Rowdy” has not competed inside the cage since suffering a shocking head kick knockout loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193 in November of 2015.

bjpenndotcom - December 29, 2016

And @rondarousey has weighed in for her @ufc 207 fight, briefly emerging in public for the first time this week A video posted by Adam (@adamhilllvrj) on Dec 29, 2016 at 9:02am PST

bjpenndotcom - December 29, 2016

‘Groovy’ Lando Vannata may only have two fights in the UFC, however the New Jersey native has an extremely loyal fan-base, which has only grown over the course of 2016. In the middle of the year, TUF winner Michael Chiesa was forced out of his scheduled ‘UFC Fight Night: Sioux Falls’ scrap with top ranked lightweight Tony Ferguson. On short notice, Vannata stepped in against the #2 ranked lightweight in the world. To make the situation even more impressive Vannata put on a spectacular show against Ferguson in a back-and-forth fight which he ultimately lost via submission. Despite that, the promotion awarded both men with ‘Fight of the Night’ honors for the thrilling scrap.

bjpenndotcom - December 29, 2016

UFC welterweight Mike Perry made quite the impact on the UFC’s welterweight division in 2016. Entering into the promotion a perfect 7-0 in his professional career, with all of his wins being KO/TKO wins. When Perry stepped into the Octagon against Hyun Gyu Lim at UFC 202 in August, it took him just over three minutes to pick up a TKO win over the UFC vet, and secure himself his first UFC win. Perry continued to make waves in the division through the media through training camp leading up to his next fight, a UFC 204 scrap with Danny Roberts. Perry won that fight too, picking up a late third round KO win over Roberts, and advancing to 2-0 in the UFC.

bjpenndotcom - December 29, 2016

Cro Cop takes out King Mo to end the night. #RIZIN2016 pic.twitter.com/dfysY0AlhP — Josh Sánchez (@jnsanchez) December 29, 2016

bjpenndotcom - December 28, 2016

Leading up to UFC 207, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has been the focus of the promotions efforts to promote the fight, using Rousey as the focus of their TV ads. With that being said, Rousey has been given an exemption from her usual media obligations leading up to the fight, and has not spoken to the media or been a regular part of the UFC Embedded series leading up to the fight. Because of that, many have criticized not only Rousey for skipping out on her media duties, but also the UFC for the fact that UFC superstar Conor McGregor was pulled from his scheduled UFC 200 fight with Nate Diaz because he refused to attend a press conference.

bjpenndotcom - December 28, 2016

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum was recently left without an opponent when former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was forced out of their scheduled UFC 207 scrap just days before the event after the NSAC deemed Velasquez medically unfit to fight.

bjpenndotcom - December 28, 2016

Today, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will step onto the scale to weigh-in for her highly anticipated UFC 207 scrap with Amanda Nunes on Friday night. While most fighters have to do the remainder of their weight-cut during fight week, UFC President Dana White says that Rousey was already on weight days ago.

Chris Taylor - December 28, 2016

During today’s UFC 207 media scrum in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White revealed to MMAFighting’s Luke Thomas that former Stirkeforce champion Nick Diaz has been offered several welterweight fights by the promotion but unfortunately turned them all down. https://twitter.com/SBNLukeThomas/status/814255801216811009

Chris Taylor - December 28, 2016

(via The Fight Network) Bitter rivals Dominick Cruz and Cody Garbrandt will finally take to the octagon this Friday night at UFC 207 in Las Vegas with the UFC’s coveted Bantamweight title up or grabs.

bjpenndotcom - December 28, 2016

Earlier this month, reports began to surface that Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson would be fighting for the interim UFC lightweight champion. The pair traded barbs on social media, with both men stating that the ball was in the other’s court. Ultimately, Ferguson revealed that he would be holding out for more money from the UFC. Subsequently, talks began to die down as Ferguson’s name was no longer mentioned in talks of an interim lightweight title fight. Instead, reports began to surface that Jose Aldo could be involved in the fight, and so could Nate Diaz. Recently however, UFC President Dana White stated that Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor could very well be the first lightweight title defense in McGregor, with the promotion looking to host the fight in Russia.

bjpenndotcom - December 28, 2016

UFC heavyweight veteran Todd Duffee has been absent from the Octagon since being KOd by Frank Mir in the first round of their ‘UFC Fight Night: San Diego’ scrap back in July. Following the KO loss, there was no mention as to when Duffee was planning to return to the Octagon, or if he would be able to return to the Octagon following several years that had seen him plagued with injuries and medical conditions. After dropping a KO loss to Alistair Overeem for the interim DREAM heavyweight championship in 2010, it would be almost two years before Duffee returned to the cage. When he did so, he did so triumphantly as he picked up a 1st round TKO win over Neil Grove. Later that year, Duffee return to the UFC where he picked up a 1st round TKO win over Philip De Fries, earning himself knockout of the night honors. Unfortunately, it would be two more years before Duffee fought again. When he did, he picked up yet another first round KO win as he knocked Anthony Hamilton out at UFC 181. Unfortunately, the next time Duffee stepped into the Octagon, he dropped a first round KO loss to Frank Mir, ending his three-fight win streak.

Russell Ess - December 28, 2016

UFC commentator Joe Rogan has been around the sport for a long time and has grown with the UFC since the early days of the promotion.

Tom Taylor - December 28, 2016

In March of this year, Nate Diaz shocked the world by submitting then featherweight champion Conor McGregor in the second round of a last-minute welterweight fight. Given McGregor’s previous dominance, and his status as MMA’s biggest star, he was given an immediate shot at redemption against Diaz. Though this rematch with Diaz was initially expected to headline UFC 200 in July, it ultimately occurred atop UFC 202 in August. When it finally did go down, McGregor nabbed a majority decision from Diaz, evening their score to 1-1 in a bona fide Fight of the Year contender. Given that McGregor and Diaz are now tied across two fights, a massive third fight between them seems like a pretty logical choice for the UFC. Their first two fights, after all, were two of the most successful pay-per-views in the promotion’s history.

Russell Ess - December 28, 2016

https://youtu.be/9DlzpDOHYDY Ronda Rousey is making her return to the UFC Octagon after losing for the first time in her professional mixed martial arts career.

bjpenndotcom - December 28, 2016

After a period of speculation following reports that the UFC was looking to replace the ‘hype master’ style of commentary delivered by Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan, reports are now surfacing that longtime UFC commentator Mike Goldberg will be making his last broadcasting appearance with the UFC this Friday at UFC 207. UFC President Dana White recently stated that he was working on assembling what he believes to be the ‘dream team’ of commentary. While White didn’t mention who he was looking to have on board, he did praise Joe Rogan as the best commentator in the business, leading many fans to believe that Rogan would be staying on board. While there has been no further word on the matter since then, SB Nation’s Luke Thomas confirmed news this week that UFC 207 would indeed be Goldberg’s last appearance:

Russell Ess - December 28, 2016

Tiffany “Time Bomb” van Soest was recently crowned the first-ever female champion in the prestigious Glory kickboxing promotion. With the historic win under her resume, “Time Bomb” says that her future in mixed martial arts all