MMA News

Tom Taylor - December 23, 2016

https://twitter.com/foxsportslive/status/812125442689773570 On December 30, former women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will make her first steps into the Octagon since she was knocked out cold by a Holly Holm head kick in November of 2015. She will do so in the main event of UFC 207, when she takes on the division’s current champion Amanda Nunes.

bjpenndotcom - December 22, 2016

Thursday morning the MMA community woke up to news that Invicta FC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg had failed a USADA drug test earlier this month. The UFC was notified of the drug testing failure and released a statement of their own. While Cyborg’s team maintained radio silence on the matter immediately, the WMMA vet has now released a statement of her own through Facebook:

Russell Ess - December 22, 2016

Japanese MMA promotion RIZIN has announced that Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Gabi Garcia will be facing a new opponent on the New Year’s Eve card scheduled to take place at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan. Garcia’s originally scheduled opponent, 52-year-old Japanese judoka, pro wrestler, and MMA fighter Shinobu Kandori was forced out of the bout due to an injury.

Russell Ess - December 22, 2016

UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and Cody Garbrandt are just a short time away from settling their feud in the Octagon. The two scrappers are set to fight in a five-round title fight in the co-main event of UFC 207 where Ronda Rousey makes her long-awaited return to challenge UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.

Russell Ess - December 22, 2016

Big news hit the MMA community on Thursday when the UFC released a statement that they were notified that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) informed Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection on December 5, 2016. Cyborg gave a short statement to MMA Fighting following the news of the potential Anti-Doping Policy violation.

bjpenndotcom - December 22, 2016

On the heels of news that Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie would be competing for the inaugural women’s featherweight championship at UFC 208, it has now been revealed that the UFC has been notified of a failed drug test from Cris Cyborg.

bjpenndotcom - December 22, 2016

While a controversial split decision loss to John Lineker may have halted John Dodson’s hopes of making a statement in the bantamweight division in 2016, ‘The Magician’ is currently struggling to find a 135 pound fighter who is willing to fight him!

bjpenndotcom - December 22, 2016

Back in October, two of the most exciting fighters in the UFC’s lighter weight divisions stepped into the Octagon in the main event of ‘UFC Fight Night: Portland’. Former flyweight title challenger John Dodson was looking to pick up his second straight win since returning to bantamweight, while John Lineker was looking to continue his reign of terror in the bantamweight division after being forced to move up from flyweight at the end of 2015.

Russell Ess - December 22, 2016

It looks like Alistair Overeem vs. Mark Hunt is a done deal as the UFC has announced the bout on their UFC 209 website. The heavyweight bout is the first fight to be announced by the promotion for the UFC 209 event taking place on March 4 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

bjpenndotcom - December 22, 2016

Earlier this month, recently promoted UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo revealed that not only was he going to be moving up to lightweight, he would be competing for the interim featherweight championship. While this is likely due to Aldo’s desire to avenge his 13 second KO loss to Conor McGregor, it was also revealed this week that Max Holloway would be sidelined until April or May with an ankle injury, forcing him out of his scheduled UFC 208 title fight with Aldo.

bjpenndotcom - December 22, 2016

In just over a week, UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will step into the Octagon against undefeated bantamweight prospect Cody Garbrandt in a highly anticipated showdown for the bantamweight title.

bjpenndotcom - December 22, 2016

On December 30th, in the main event of UFC 207, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will look to make her first successful title defense as she steps into the Octagon for a highly anticipated showdown with Ronda Rousey. While Nunes will be riding a 4-fight win streak into the bout, Ronda Rousey will be returning to the Octagon after suffering the first loss of her career at the hands of Holly Holm back in November of 2015 at UFC 193.

bjpenndotcom - December 21, 2016

With just nine days to go until UFC 207, where former heavyweight champions Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum are set to have a highly anticipated rematch for the heavyweight #1 contender spot, many fans will likely be shocked to hear that Velasquez is dealing with a pretty significant injury. During his training camp for the fight, Velasquez revealed that he was already scheduled to undergo back surgery just five days after the fight. With that being said, no one could have guessed the severity of the situation.

bjpenndotcom - December 21, 2016

During the UFC 205 fight week, Irish superstar Conor McGregor and UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley were involved in several heated situations of their own, despite the fact that both men were slated to fight other men. The first incident was a very minor one, however it set the stage for the remainder of the week. At the UFC 205 pre-fight press conference, McGregor stated that he was coming for all the belts on the table, which included Woodley’s welterweight championship.

bjpenndotcom - December 21, 2016

UFC superstar Nate Diaz has been absent from the Octagon since his UFC 202 main event scrap with Conor McGregor back in August. Following the fight, Diaz revealed that the only way he would return to the Octagon would be for a massive payday. Since then, there has been no further word on when Diaz will be returning to the Octagon, however following the recent news of Conor McGregor being granted his boxing license in California, Diaz revealed his intentions to leave MMA to pursue professional boxing:

Russell Ess - December 21, 2016

The media battle between current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather has been going on for some time now ever since the rumor came up about a potential fight, which Mayweather claims to have started himself.

Russell Ess - December 21, 2016

With Jose Aldo’s long reign as the featherweight champion before meeting Conor McGregor at UFC 194 last year, “Scarface” was the king of the featherweight division and ranked #1 on the UFC pound-for-pound list. However, with being the top ranked pound-for-pound fighter, Aldo says that he never got all the opportunities Conor McGregor has. Aldo has stated that when there were talks about him fighting then-lightweight champion Anthony Pettis for the lightweight title, he did not have the option to retain the featherweight title like McGregor did at UFC 205 against Eddie Alvarez.

bjpenndotcom - December 21, 2016

BJPENN.COM Radio is back at 8PM ET/5PM PT tonight with a great guest lineup for your MMA fix! 8:15PM ET- Tonights show kicks off with John “The Magician’ Dodson @johndodsonmma. He’ll be discussing the controversial loss to John Lineker back in October and where he thinks he should be ranked in the Bantamweight division. We will also be getting Dodson’s take on both the bantamweight and flyweight landscape, what he thought of D.J.’s performance against Tim Elliott and which of the two divisions he intends on competing in moving forward. Tons of personality in a small frame!