MMA News

bjpenndotcom - December 16, 2016

Unfortunate news surfaced this week that UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping had an expensive Rolex watch stolen from his home in Los Angeles. Bisping posted on social media earlier in the day that he was having construction work done on his house, and that the workers were racing against time to finish the project in just 48 hours before his mother and sister landed from England. Unfortunately, rather than the picture being followed up with a picture of the completed work, the champ took to social media to reveal that his Rolex SubMariner watch had been stolen out of his house.

bjpenndotcom - December 16, 2016

While top ranked lightweight contenders Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson have continued to trade verbal blows via social media, there have been no updates regarding the negotiations for the pair to fight. Earlier this week, Nurmagomedov took to social media to reveal that he had already accepted his next fight, but was simply waiting on his opponent, who remained nameless, to sign the agreement. That was followed up by a social media post from Ferguson, who took to Twitter with a message of his own for Nurmagomedov, in which he stated that he agreed to the fight, however the UFC and Nurmagomedov needed to agree on terms for the fight.

Tom Taylor - December 16, 2016

Later tonight, in the main event of Bellator’s debut in Ireland, light heavyweight veteran Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal will take on Satoshi Ishii in a heavyweight bout. If he emerges the victor in this bout, he’ll reestablish himself as one of the very best heavyweights on the Bellator roster. This, of course, would put him neck-and-neck with the winner of January’s Chael Sonnen vs. Tito Ortiz bout. If Sonnen wins that fight, however, don’t ask King Mo to fight him. As he explained in a recent interview with MMAFighting.com, that’s something he’ll never do. King Mo’s reluctance to fight Sonnen comes down to a staph infection that he suffered in 2012. When he was dealing with his infection, King Mo says that Sonnen approached him, out of nowhere, and offered him financial help if he found himself needing it.

bjpenndotcom - December 16, 2016

This Saturday in Sacramento, California, two of the youngest fighters on the UFC roster, Sage Northcutt and Mickey Gall, will square off in a highly anticipated matchup. At just 20 years old, Northcutt has quite the impressive resume. With an 8-1 professional record, Northcutt has gone 3-1 inside the Octagon, dispatching of Francisco Trevino via first round TKO in his UFC debut, before then submitting Cody Pfister in his second UFC fight. Northcutt then had his two-fight win streak snapped earlier this year when he was submitted by Bryan Barberena in January, marking the first loss of his professional career, as well as his UFC career. ‘Super’ Sage bounced back however, picking up a unanimous decision win over Enrique Marin at UFC 200 in July.

bjpenndotcom - December 16, 2016

While many combat sports fans believe that talks of a potential Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing match are nothing more than talks to stir up the combat sports community, Mayweather has continued to indicate that he has every intention of fighting Conor McGregor.

Tom Taylor - December 16, 2016

Last weekend, the UFC returned to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the first time since 2013. The promotion did so with UFC 206. In advance of this Toronto return, the card was heavily criticized for its lack of big names. When its originally planned Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson main event fell through, these criticisms only grew louder.

Tom Taylor - December 16, 2016

This Saturday, MMA legend Urijah Faber will compete in the last fight of his career. He will do so against England’s Brad Pickett on the main card of UFC on Fox 22, which will emanate from his hometown of Sacramento, California. With his fighting career in the rear-view, Faber will shift his focus to managing Team Alpha Male, the world-famous gym he founded in his hometown. Though these duties will surely keep him plenty busy in his post-fighting life, Faber recently explained on UFC Tonight that he’s not willing to entirely rule out a return to competition down the road.

Tom Taylor - December 16, 2016

Last November, in the main event of UFC 193, then women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was knocked out by a Holly Holm head-kick in one of the biggest upsets in the history of our sport. She has not returned to the cage since.

Russell Ess - December 15, 2016

Phil Brooks, better known by his WWE wrestling name, CM Punk, made his professional mixed martial arts debut at UFC 203 in September. There were some people that were unhappy that the former WWE wrestling superstar seemingly strolled his way into the biggest MMA promotion in the world while others were happy to have the star bring in some new fans over to watch the sport of mixed martial arts.

bjpenndotcom - December 15, 2016

This Saturday, MMA veteran Urijah Fbaer will step into the Octagon for the final time as he fights Brad Pickett in front of his hometown fans in Sacramento, California. For Faber, the fight will mark the end of what has been a truly remarkable MMA career that has seen him compile a 33-10 record over the course of 13 years competing professionally. Given that it would be Faber’s final fight, it came as a surprise to many when the UFC opted to put ‘The California Kid’ as the co-main event behind Paige VanZant vs. Michelle Waterson as the main event.

Russell Ess - December 15, 2016

https://youtu.be/T81m3AdHDx4?t=3m5s Nick Diaz has been enjoying his time off from fighting and it is surely showing in some of his recent interviews and guest spots on radio shows and podcasts.

Russell Ess - December 15, 2016

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is set to make her comeback after over a year out from competition. “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey will take on the current UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in a five-round title fight and will get a chance to get back to the top of the division. This comes just a little over a year since Holly Holm shocked the world by knocking Rousey out in the second round of their fight at UFC 193.

bjpenndotcom - December 15, 2016

Earlier this year, former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar made his return to the Octagon after five years away from the Octagon. Lesnar fought fan-favorite heavyweight Mark Hunt, and while the fight was a highly anticipated one, the month leading to the bout wasn’t without controversy. It was announced at UFC 199 that Lesnar would fight Hunt at UFC 200, which was just one month away. It was revealed that Lesnar had been given an exemption from the mandatory testing period a fighter must go through in order to become eligible in the eyes of USADA.

bjpenndotcom - December 15, 2016

CAPTION THIS! Best caption wins $10,000.00. The winner will be announced on Monday, Dec 19. Stay tuned ! #TMT A video posted by Floyd Mayweather (@floydmayweather) on Dec 14, 2016 at 8:51pm PST

bjpenndotcom - December 15, 2016

Earlier this year, it was revealed that UFC superstar Conor McGregor would be making the transition to Hollywood for a role in the next highly anticipated installment in the ‘xXx’ franchise, ‘xXx: The Return of Xander Cage’. Those plans changed back in March however, when Rafael dos Anjos withdrew from his scheduled UFC 196 lightweight title fight with Conor McGregor just two weeks before they were scheduled to fight. The UFC decided to replace dos Anjos with Nate Diaz, and move the fight to welterweight. As the sporting world knows by now, Diaz rocked and then submitted McGregor in the second round, handing the Irish superstar his first loss in the UFC.

bjpenndotcom - December 15, 2016

Earlier this month at the ‘Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions’ finale, TUF winner Ryan Hall squared off against UFC veteran Gray Maynard in a fight which had all the makings of an old-school ‘style vs. style’ matchup. Maynard of course looked to keep the fight standing in hopes of landing a big punch and picking up yet another knockout win. Hall on the other hand was looking to take the fight to the mat and use his elite level Jiu-Jitsu to secure a submission win. With that being said, the way Hall looked to get the fight to the ground was a bit controversial. Upon Maynard closing the distance, Hall would slip a punch and drop to the canvas looking for a leg lock on ‘The Bully’.

bjpenndotcom - December 15, 2016

Earlier this month, former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre joined several other high-profile fighters such as Cain Velasquez, TJ Dillashaw, Donald Cerrone, and Tim Kennedy in announcing the formation of the MMA Athletes Association. The association was the first of its kind, and while the MMA Fighters Association was announced earlier this year, the MMAAA featured marquee fighters such as St-Pierre & Velasquez, and was geared towards helping UFC fighters.

Russell Ess - December 14, 2016

Despite losing the initially scheduled UFC light heavyweight main event between champion Daniel Cormier and challenger Anthony Johnson, the UFC 206 card that took place in Toronto, Canada over the weekend gave fans an action packed event.