MMA News

Tom Taylor - December 14, 2016

This Saturday, the UFC will touch down in sun-soaked Sacramento, California with UFC on Fox 22. One of the many highlights of this card is a welterweight scrap between bona fide excitement generators “Platinum” Mike Perry and Alan Jouban. Given the propensity for violence shared by these two fighters, many fans consider their imminent scrap a contender for Fight of the Night honors. In fact, it seems to have all the ingredients required to go down as an absolute classic.

bjpenndotcom - December 14, 2016

This past weekend, the UFC held their second event in New York following the legalization of MMA earlier this year. The event was headlined by a heavyweight clash between Derrick ‘The Black Beast’ Lewis and Shamil Abdurakhimov. Lewis ultimately secured himself a fourth round TKO win despite what he believed was a disappointing performance. In the co-main event, Francis Ngannou continued his reign of terror as he picked up a first round submission win over Anthony Hamilton, continuing his 4-fight win streak in the Octagon.

Russell Ess - December 14, 2016

Former WWE superstar Shad Gaspard brought some of his body slamming days back into his life when he stopped an alleged criminal in a gas station convenience store recently.

bjpenndotcom - December 14, 2016

2016 has been quite the year for WMMA pioneer Miesha Tate. Tate kicked off 2016 by fighting Holly Holm for the UFC women’s bantamweight championship at UFC 196 in March. With the fight looking as though it was going to the judges scorecards midway through the fifth round, Tate secured a submission win to earn the women’s bantamweight championship. In her next fight, Tate put her title on the line in the main event of one of the biggest cards in the history of the UFC at UFC 200, where she fought Amanda Nunes. Unfortunately for Tate, she was rocked and then submitted in the first round by Nunes.

bjpenndotcom - December 14, 2016

This week, the UFC announced that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm, and #11 ranked women’s bantamweight Germaine de Randamie would be fighting for the inaugural women’s featherweight championship at UFC 208 on February 11th. That didn’t sit too well with Invicta FC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, who is now 2-0 in the UFC after making her successful UFC debut earlier this year. According to UFC President Dana White, Cyborg turned down two fights for the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight championship, forcing the promotion to opt to give the title fight to Holm & Randamie.

bjpenndotcom - December 14, 2016

This week, the UFC announced that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm would be stepping into the Octagon against #11 ranked women’s bantamweight, Germaine de Randamie, at UFC 208 for the inaugural women’s featherweight title. The news followed a statement from UFC President Dana White earlier this week, in which the UFC President stated that the UFC offered Invicta FC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg the fight on two occasions, however she declined both.

Tom Taylor - December 14, 2016

Sorry guys, I know it was rumored I was fighting in Dec but it's not happening, here's why. pic.twitter.com/VOEyldLPLs — Angela Hill (@AngieOverkill) December 13, 2016

bjpenndotcom - December 14, 2016

The war of words between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, and undefeated prize fighter Floyd Mayweather continued this week when Mayweather took verbal blows at McGregor during a live video streaming. Earlier this year, after McGregor was pulled from his UFC 200 headlining scrap against Nate Diaz, there were rumors of McGregor making the move to boxing for a boxing match with the legend Floyd Mayweather. While the talks began as hypotheticals, things progressed to the point of Fox Sports 1 host Colin Cowherd even going as far as to announce the date of the potential boxing match. Ultimately of course, McGregor and the UFC worked things out, and the Irish superstar returned to the Octagon to face Nate Diaz at UFC 202, where he avenged his loss at UFC 196.

Tom Taylor - December 14, 2016

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone is one of the most popular fighters in the game today. This is due in part to his high-action fighting style, but it can also be attributed to his action-packed lifestyle outside the cage. When the former lightweight title challenger and current welterweight contender isn’t training and fighting, he’s rock climbing, horseback riding, hunting, wake boarding, bull riding, scuba diving, and sometimes almost dying as a result.

Tom Taylor - December 14, 2016

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos has recently been angling for a fight with reigning champ Stipe Miocic. Apparently, however, the Brazilian striker has settled for a fight with towering Dutchman Stefan Struve. The two heavyweights will meet in the main event of the UFC’s return to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on February 19. Dos Santos and Struve, of course, have met once before. Their first fight occurred at UFC 95, all the way back in 2009. On that night, Dos Santos earned a TKO win in a mere 54 seconds. Since that first fight, the two fighters have embarked on very different career trajectories.

Russell Ess - December 13, 2016

The UFC women’s division took a big turn on Tuesday when it was announced that an inaugural women’s featherweight title fight between former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie would be taking place at UFC 208. This comes shortly after UFC President Dana White had stated that he offered Invicta featherweight champion Cris Cyborg two dates to fight for the inaugural title.

Chris Taylor - December 13, 2016

Earlier tonight the UFC announced that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie would be squaring off at February’s UFC 208 event in Brooklyn for the promotions inaugural women’s featherweight title. In addition to that huge news, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto also revealed that two more fights had been added to the event, which takes place February 11 at the Barclays Center.

Russell Ess - December 13, 2016

The clash between the top two UFC lightweights looks like it just on the verge of being finalized. #1 ranked UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov and #2 ranked UFC lightweight Tony Ferguson have been in a social media war and things seem to be on track for a lightweight title eliminator fight.

Russell Ess - December 13, 2016

Newly crowned UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor seems to be enjoying his time off from fighting. In November, “The Notorious” became the first fighter in history to be a concurrent two-weight UFC champion by defeating Eddie Alvarez. For a short period, McGregor held both the UFC featherweight title and lightweight title before “relinquishing” the featherweight belt.

bjpenndotcom - December 13, 2016

UFC lightweight #1 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov has been on a tear of the UFC’s lightweight division since making his return to the Octagon earlier this year. Prior to being sidelined with injuries for two years, ‘The Eagle’ racked up six straight wins in the UFC to extend his undefeated record to 22-0. In April of this year, Nurmagomedov returned to the Octagon where he fought Darrell Horcher, earning himself a second round TKO win. Most recently, Nurmagomedov returned to the Octagon at the UFC’s historic UFC 205 event in November, where he picked up a dominant third round submission win after landing brutal ground & pound shots on Michael Johnson over the course of the first two rounds.

bjpenndotcom - December 13, 2016

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort will be returning to the cage in 2017, just five months after his second round TKO loss to Gegard Mousasi on the main card of UFC 204 back in October. Following the fight, there were reports that Belfort was planning to retire given his dismal 2-3 record over the course of his last 5 fights, which most recently featured a 2-fight losing streak. Belfort took to Instagram following the fight with a message many took to mean that he was retiring, however the MMA vet was quick to explain that he was not retiring, but rather bringing back ‘The Phenom’.

Russell Ess - December 13, 2016

Max Holloway is ready to launch himself into superstardom following the biggest win of his career over the weekend at UFC 206.Holloway became the first man to stop former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and also picked up the UFC interim featherweight belt in doing so in Toronto, Canada. Now, with a title unification bout against the undisputed champion Jose Aldo likely next on the young Hawaiian’s plate, “Blessed” told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour that he isn’t convinced that Aldo’s head is totally in the game.

Russell Ess - December 13, 2016

After a war like Cub Swanson and Doo Ho Choi got into over the weekend at UFC 206 in Toronto, Canada, there was a great amount of respect earned for both opponents. The two athletes that left everything they had in the Octagon had gained a great amount of admiration for each other and from fans around the world. Following the announcement of the judge’s unanimous decision in favor of Swanson, the JacksonWink MMA fighter said in his post-fight Octagon interview that Choi lit a fire when he called him out to fight.