MMA News

bjpenndotcom - December 3, 2016

in the main event of the Ultimate Fighter season 24 Finale, Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson and TUF 24 winner Tim Elliot squared off in what turned out to be a spectacular fight. In the first round, Elliot left MMA fans stunned as he not only dropped the flyweight champ, but won the round with his unorthodox striking and impressive display of heart. Throughout rounds two through five however, the champ’s fight IQ showed as he repeatedly took the challenger down, controlling him and launching numerous submission attempts, all of which Elliot defended against.

bjpenndotcom - December 3, 2016

https://youtu.be/8CQLTEkLJGU In the main event of the TUF 24 Finale, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson proved once again why he is the pound for pound kingpin as he secured a unanimous decision win over Tim Elliot.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2016

A flyweight title fight between champion Demetrious Johnson and challenger Tim Elliott served as the main event of tonight’s TUF 24 Finale fight card in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Elliot connects with a handful of punches, however none of them stun Johnson. Johnson shoots for a takedown, which resulted in Elliot ending up on top with a guillotine, however Johnson escaped the submission and made it back to his feet, landing a head kick on Elliot, who appeared to be gassed. Johnson then ends up on top position looking for a choke of his own, however Elliot is defending well. The TUF winner makes it back to his feet and lands an elbow that lands clean on Johnson, who fires back with a punch of his own that lands. Johnson advancing as Elliot is looking exhausted. Elliot lands a flurry of hooks to the body as Johnson is against the cage, dropping Johnson. 45 seconds left in the round, and Elliot lands a takedown. Elliot in half guard with 30 seconds left as the round ends.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2016

A key flyweight bout between TUF 24 coaches Joseph Benavidez and Henry Cejudo served as the co-main event of tonight’s TUF 24 Finale fight card in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Benavidez lands a leg kick to start. Henry charges forward but eats a counter from Joe. Henry with a nice combination and he hurts Joe. He lands a knee and then a follow up body kick. Cejudo with a left that drops Benavidez. Joe pops back up. Cejudo with a big kick to the body. Both men trading shot. Benavidez’s left eye is already busted up. Cejudo with a kick. Henry with a shot in the pocket. Cejudo catches a kick. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2016

A fight between Jared Cannonier and Ion Cutelaba took place on tonight’s TUF 24 Finale main card in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Cannonier lands a hard leg kick to start. Ion charges forward with a combination. Jared circles out and lands a jab. He follows that up with a right over the top. Ion lands a right hook and then a knee to the body. Cannonier lands a nice right hand. Ion with a left hand and then a knee. Cannonier presses him against the fence and lands a foot stomp. Knees inside from Jared. Ion scores a trip takedown and winds up in full guard. He postures up and lands a right hand. Jared looks for a sweep attempt but Ion is not having it. He moves to half guard and lands another big shot. Cannonier scores a sweep and gets back to his feet. Ion with a nice leg kick inside. He lands a right hand and then a knee to body. Ion grabs a hold of Jared and tosses him to the floor. Jared gets back up but eats a partial head kick for his troubles. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2016

A women’s bantamweight bout between Alexis Davis and Sara McMann took place on tonight’s TUF 24 Finale main card in Las Vegas. Round one begins and McMann starts things off with a right hand. Davis presses forward and lands a combination. Sara goes to the body with a jab and then upstairs with a right. She circles out and then comes forward with another crisp combination. She throws a right hand and then shoots in and scores a takedown. Alexis is trying to lockup a triangle choke. She switches to some elbows from the bottom. Sara gets off a right hand from the top. She switches to a left. Sara postures up and lands a couple of big shots. Alexis attempts to scramble. She switches to a triangle choke and begins working some more elbows from the bottom. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2016

A flyweight fight between Ryan Benoit and Brandon Moreno kicked off tonight’s TUF 24 Finale main card in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Moreno lands a good combination to start things off. He charges forward and presses Ryan against the fence. He looks for a takedown and gets it. Benoit immediately pops back up but Brandon drags him right back down. Benoit scrambles back to his feet and they break. Moreno presses forward with a right hand and pushes Ryan against the fence. He lands some decent short shots from the clinch. They break and Moreno connects with an accidental groin kick. The referee steps in a breaks the action. We restart and Moreno lands a nice combination. He presses forward but eats a huge body kick from Ryan. Benoit with a big right hand and then a left. He lands another kick. Moreno eats it and presses forward with a combination of his own. Benoit with a counter left. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2016

A featherweight tilt between Ryan Hall and Gray Maynard served as the featured bout of tonight’s TUF 24 Finale prelims in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Hall misses with a high kick to start. He shoots in for a takedown but it is not there. Maynard presses forward and Hall dives in for another takedown attempt that misses. Maynard lands a kick to the body. Hall responds with a body kick of his own. Maynard charges forward and lands a right hand. Gray with a ton of forward pressure. He lands another right. Hall dives for a leg and attempts a submission. Maynard escapes and gets back to his feet. Hall chases after Gray and attempts to pull guard. Gray escapes and circles out. A right hand lands for Hall. Ryan with a high kick but Gray blocks it. Maynard charges forward with a right. Hall lands a head kick. Maynard is bleeding from his left eye now. Ryan lands a push kick. He comes forward with another high kick but it is blocked. Maynard lands a hard right. Hall tries to pull guard. Gray is not willing to go to the ground. Hall gets up and lands a spinning back kick. Gray with a right hand. Ryan with a kick. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2016

A lightweight bout between Dong Hyun Kim and Brendan O’Reilly took place on tonight’s TUF 24 Finale prelims in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Kim quickly gets O’Reilly pressed against the cage. Kim working some short shots and knees. Brendan switches the position and drops down for a takedown. It is not there. Kim reverses the position and works some knees from the clinch. O’Reilly throws a knee but Kim catches it and scores a takedown. Kim lands in half guard and begins working some shots. He transitions to the back of O’Reilly. Good knees from the back by Kim. Brendan gets back to his feet but Kim drags him right back to the floor. Kim takes Brendan’s back and sinks in both hooks. O’Reilly scrambles but winds up mounted. He continues to scramble and somehow gets back to full guard. Good shots from the top by Kim. He moves to half guard and works some more short shots to end round one.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2016

A women’s strawweight bout between Kailin Curran and Jamie Moyle kicked off tonight’s TUF 24 Finale prelims on FS1. Round one begins and Curran presses forward with punches. Moyle ducks under and lands a takedown. She begins working from full guard. Kailin is able to scramble and get back to her feet. Jamie misses with a wild combination. She continues to press forward and pushes Curran against the cage. Good knees inside from Moyle. Curran lands a nice knee inside. Moyle replies with some knees of her own. Moyle is working hard to keep Curran pressed against the cage. Curran locks in a choke. It looks deep. Moyle escapes but now has her back pressed against the fence by Curran. The fighters break. Moyle misses with front kick. Curran throws a combination. Moyle ducks under and pushes Curran back against the cage. Good knees inside from Jamie. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2016

A middleweight bout between Elvis Mutapcic and Anthony Smith served as the featured bout of tonight’s TUF 24 Finale prelims on UFC Fight Pass. Round one begins and Mutapcic presses forward and throws a front kick. Smith replies with a low kick that lands. Anthony with a nice jab and then a left hook. He follows that up with a hard leg kick. Mutapcic shoots in and scores a takedown. He begins landing some hard shots from the top. Smith is using a butterfly guard from the bottom. He goes for an armbar attempt but Elvis pulls his arm out. Mutapcic begins landing some big elbows from the top. Anthony scrambles back to full guard. More big shots from Elvis. He is smothering Anthony on the ground here. More good ground and pound from Mutapcic before the horn sounds to end round one.

Chris Taylor - December 3, 2016

A light heavyweight bout between Devin Clark and Josh Stansbury kicked off tonight’s TUF 24 Finale event in Las Vegas, Nevada. Round one begins and Clark lands a body kick to start. Stansbury presses forward and misses with a hook. Clark ducks under the punch and presses Josh against the fence. Knees inside from Clark. Stansbury returns fire with some knees of his own from the clinch position. The fighters break and Devin lands a push kick. He presses forward but eats a nice counter right hand from Josh. Stansbury misses with a high kick. He connects with a follow up body kick. Clark presses forward and shoots in for a takedown. He gets it. He begins working from half guard. Clark works some short shots from the top. Stansbury scrambles and is able to get back to his feet. Clark still has Josh presses against the fence. He misses with a spinning elbow attempt. Stansbury switches the position and sinks in a guillotine choke as Devin shoots in. Round one comes to an end as Stansbury was trying to readjust the submission hold.

bjpenndotcom - December 3, 2016

Earlier this week, unfortunate news surfaced that former UFC women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza was looking to sell the Harley Davidson motorcycle she won on The Ultimate Fighter season 20, which also saw her crowned as the first ever UFC women’s strawweight championship. Esparza took to Instagram to explain the situation:

bjpenndotcom - December 3, 2016

Former UFC lightweight kingpin Benson Henderson has been competing under the Bellator MMA banner throughout 2016. In April, ‘Smooth’ made his Bellator MMA debut as he stepped into the cage as a welterweight to fight Andrey Koreshkov for the Bellator welterweight championship. Unfortunately for the former UFC champ, he dropped a unanimous decision to Koreshkov. In his second Bellator MMA appearance, Henderson picked up a TKO win over former Bellator champion Patricio Freire in a lightweight title eliminator. Unfortunately for Henderson, in his next fight, which took place in November, he dropped a split decision to Michael Chandler in what many believed to be a ‘Fight of the Year’ performance.

bjpenndotcom - December 3, 2016

While Conor McGregor is undoubtably one of the most dominant UFC champions in the sport right now, the possibility of the Irish superstar making the jump to boxing has fight fans split down the middle in regards to how they feel the two-weight champ would fair in the boxing ring. While some believe that McGregor’s precision striking, combined with the power in his left hand, would make for a successful transition to the boxing ring, others believe that regardless of his boxing abilities in MMA, McGregor doesn’t stand a chance against top ranked boxers, especially Floyd Mayweather.

bjpenndotcom - December 3, 2016

This week it was revealed that UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor had received his boxing license to box professionally in California. With that being said however, it was also revealed that Mcgregor had been denied a boxing license in Nevada. Despite that, the reports of McGregor being approved for a boxing license in California threw fuel on the fire of rumors of a potential boxing match between the Irish superstar and undefeated boxing icon Floyd Mayweather.

bjpenndotcom - December 3, 2016

While Tito Ortiz is currently gearing up for his Bellator 170 scrap with Chael Sonnen on January 21st, Ortiz has kept the fact that the fight will be his last under wraps, until now. Earlier this year, Sonnen celebrated the end of his two year suspension handed down by the NSAC. Following the end of his suspension, it didn’t take long for Sonnen to announce that he was ending his retirement, and had signed an exclusive multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA. In addition, it didn’t take long for Sonnen to call out former UFC champion Tito Ortiz for a fight, which was eventually booked for January 21st in Inglewood California.

bjpenndotcom - December 3, 2016

Gerald Harris vs Aaron Cobb #Legacy63 @legacyfighting #RIP More Angles pic.twitter.com/FVMjFu3usN — Zombie Prophet (@ZPGIFs) December 3, 2016