MMA News

bjpenndotcom - December 24, 2016

While UFC President Dana White maintains that a boxing match between Conor McGregor and Floyd Maywather will never happen, that hasn’t stopped both men from taking shots at one another in interviews in the media. Following Conor McGregor’s UFC 205 win over Eddie Alvarez that saw the Irish superstar claim the lightweight championship, McGregor and Mayweather began to send shots at one another in the media. This led to McGregor even going as far as to get his boxing license in California, stating in interviews that he was looking into taking other boxing fights in the meantime to prepare himself for a match with Mayweather.

bjpenndotcom - December 24, 2016

In this rare video, you can see MMA icon Fedor Emelianenko competing against UFC featherweight Chan Sung Jung, also known as ‘The Korean Zombie’ in a foreign gameshow. While the ‘fight’ is certainly a friendly one, with smiles being exchanged by both men throughout the session, Emelianenko doesn’t hesitate to use his Sambo and throw The Korean Zombie from the clinch whenever he gets the chance. Ultimately, Emelianenko’s size and Sambo experience prove to be the difference maker, as he secures a key-lock armbar on Jung and gets the submission.

bjpenndotcom - December 24, 2016

At UFC 207 on December 30th, former UFC heavyweight champions Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum will square off in a highly anticipated heavyweight #1 contender fight. In addition to a title fight with Stipe Miocic being on the line, the fight will give Velasquez a chance to avenge his UFC 188 loss to Werdum. In that fight, the pair met in the main event of UFC 188 in Mexico City, where Werdum’s cardio proved to be the X-factor as he submitted Velasquez in the third round, and unified the UFC heavyweight championship and the interim heavyweight championship.

bjpenndotcom - December 24, 2016

It’s no secret that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, and the Diaz Brothers were once extremely close. While the trio still remain friends, Rousey trained with the Diaz brothers when she first was promoted to the UFC women’s bantamweight champion, frequently appearing in photos with the Stockton superstars. Ahead of Rousey’s return to the Octagon on December 30th, where she will look to reclaim the UFC women’s bantamweight championship by defeating Amanda Nunes, Nate Diaz recalled a time when he was nearly submitted by ‘Rowdy’.

bjpenndotcom - December 24, 2016

While Bellator MMA may now be run by veteran MMA promoter Scott Coker, it was Bjorn Rebney who founded the promotion bak in 2008. Rebney spent six years as Chairman and CEO of the promotion, marketing Bellator MMA as “The Toughest Tournament in Sports”, running 11 ‘seasons’ of the promotion, with each season being a tournament in a different weight class.

bjpenndotcom - December 24, 2016

It has now been three years since UFC flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez shared the Octagon. The last time the pair met inside the Octagon, Johnson picked up a 1st round KO win to retain his title for the third time. That fight came just over a year after the pair had their first meeting in 2012, where Johnson picked up a split decision win to win the UFC flyweight championship. Now, in the midst of a 6-fight win streak that recently saw him pick up a split decision win over Henry Cejudo at the TUF 24 Finale in December, Benavidez is hopeful that he will be able to secure a trilogy fight with the flyweight champ.

bjpenndotcom - December 23, 2016

In just under one week, UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will step into the Octagon against #8 ranked bantamweight Cody Garbrandt in a highly anticipated grudge match for the bantamweight title. While Garbrandt is entering the fight undefeated, on a 10 fight win streak that has seen him go 5-0 inside the Octagon, the champ believes that the challenger’s confidence going into the fight is nothing but ignorance.

bjpenndotcom - December 23, 2016

UFC veteran Martin ‘The Hitman’ Kampmann spent 10 years fighting professionally, ending his career earlier this year after a 3-year hiatus following his 4th round TKO loss to Carlos Condit, resulting in ‘The Hitman’ being on a 2-fight losing streak. With 27 professional MMA fights, in addition to numerous amateur Muay Thai & Boxing matches, Kampman has spent quite a lot of time in the gym perfecting his craft.

Tom Taylor - December 23, 2016

During a Thursday evening interview with Fox Sports’ Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes touched on the clear favoritism for her opponent Ronda Rousey in the promos for their UFC 207 fight. During a Friday morning media scrum in LA, the women’s bantamweight queen elaborated on the inherent Rousey focus in these UFC 207 promos. In her opinion, the UFC is using these one-sided promos to help Rousey rebuild her confidence after her famous 2015 knockout loss to Holly Holm.

Russell Ess - December 23, 2016

Following his historic win over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in New York, Conor McGregor held both the UFC featherweight and lightweight belts for a short time before relinquishing the 145-pound division title. With stamping his name yet again in the history books of the UFC, “The Notorious” told the media at the post-fight press conference that he would be taking a break from fighting for the birth of his first child and also to negotiate with the UFC.

Russell Ess - December 23, 2016

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes says she has been training her entire career for a fight against Ronda Rousey. Rousey, the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion helped put women’s mixed martial arts on the map, opening the eyes to many new fans of the sport but hit an abrupt bump in the road in November of 2015 when she took the first loss of her professional MMA career. Rousey was defeated by Holly Holm in a devastating knockout loss and has been out of competition for over a year.

Russell Ess - December 23, 2016

The media battle between UFC superstar Conor McGregor and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather has been going on for quite some time now.

Tom Taylor - December 23, 2016

In one week’s time, in the co-main event of UFC 207, bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will attempt to defend his title against undefeated challenged Cody Garbrandt. Though Garbrandt has yet to beat a top-5 opponent, his incredible punching power and sizzling beef with the champ have most members of the MMA community pretty excited for their fight. That does not include former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, who recently weighed in on Garbrandt’s title shot in an interview with Fox Sports. “Really it’s all just kind of bullsh*t,” Dillashaw said of Cruz’ bout with Garbrandt. “It makes no sense at all how they give the No. 8 guy, who skips over seven guys to get a title shot. It’s kind of whatever the UFC wants to do and they’re letting Dominick Cruz hand select his fights right now.”

bjpenndotcom - December 23, 2016

Since Conor McGregor won the UFC lightweight championship by TKOing Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205 back in November, there has been much talk regarding who McGregor will face next as he will have to defend his lightweight title. With that being said, McGregor revealed at the UFC 205 post-fight press conference that he will be taking some time off due to the upcoming birth of his firstborn child in May. That was followed up by a statement from UFC President Dana White, who stated that McGregor would be taking 10 months off from fighting. That was refuted by McGregor this week, who revealed that his ‘break’ could very well just be a Christmas break.

Tom Taylor - December 23, 2016

There is nothing quite like a highlight reel knockout. One well placed punch, perfectly timed kick, or surprise knee, and bam, it’s curtains.

Russell Ess - December 23, 2016

There is a perfected recipe for UFC success with Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz being the two main ingredients. McGregor and Diaz who headlined UFC 196 and UFC 202 have two of the highest, if not the top two highest UFC pay-per-view buys in the history of the UFC. Diaz was able to shock the world and submit McGregor in the second round of their first meeting at UFC 196. Then McGregor came back to win the rematch at UFC 202 by majority decision and both events were a massive success.

bjpenndotcom - December 23, 2016

Last month at UFC 205, Khabib Nurmedomedov cemented his place as the lightweight #1 contender when he picked up a horrifically dominant win over Michael Johnson. Nurmagomedov used his grappling skills to repeatedly take Johnson down, and land countless elbows, complete with trash talk to Johnson mid-fight, and a conversation with UFC President Dana White between rounds. Ultimately, in the third round ‘The Eagle’ was able to secure a submission, and get the win.

bjpenndotcom - December 23, 2016

This week, news surfaced that Invicta FC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg had failed a random out-of-competition drug test on December 5th, and was potentially in violation of USADA’s anti-doping policy. The UFC was quick to release a statement on the matter, which was ultimately followed up by a statement from Cyborg herself on social media, in which she explained that the failure was the result of a prescription, not a performance enhancing drug: