MMA News

bjpenndotcom - November 30, 2016

Wednesday afternoon, MMA stars such as former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre, former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, and fan favorite fighter Donald Cerrone, among others, gathered to announce the formation of the MMA Athletes Association. The announcement was certainly a major one for the MMA industry, with the fighters involved, in addition to former Bellator MMA CEO Bjorn Rebney, pointing out that they would like to have a lasting impact on the MMA community with the formation of the MMA Athletes Association. UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy was the one who formally made the announcement at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, in which he stated that “I am proud to announce the official launch of the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association.”

Russell Ess - November 30, 2016

With the big announcement of the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association on Wednesday, another very interesting bit of news broke late Wednesday surrounding the UFC’s biggest draw, Conor McGregor. MMA journalists Ariel Helwani and Brett Okamoto tweeted news late Wednesday that Conor McGregor has been issued a boxing license in the state of California.

Russell Ess - November 30, 2016

It is Gabi Garcia’s most controversial matchup thus far in her 3-0 professional mixed martial arts career. The female Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt world champion that fights at light heavyweight will be fighting the 52-year-old Japanese judoka, pro wrestler, and MMA fighter Shinobu Kandori at RIZIN 4 on December 31.

Russell Ess - November 30, 2016

Two-time, two-weight UFC champion BJ Penn is busy training for another competition in the Octagon. The UFC Hall of Fame legend will be taking on rising star Yair Rodriguez in the featherweight UFC Fight Night 103 main event on January 15.

bjpenndotcom - November 30, 2016

Just weeks ago, UFC light heavyweight #1 contender Anthony Johnson was slated to headline UFC 206 in Toronto in a highly anticipated rematch for the light heavyweight title against UFC champion Daniel Cormier. Unfortunately, Cormier was forced out of the fight with a groin tear, and has been sidelined until March, when he expects to be able to return to the Octagon.

Russell Ess - November 30, 2016

UFC Hall of Fame legend BJ Penn will be making his way back into the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 103 on January 15. The Hilo native is set to headline the FS1 televised event taking place in Phoenix, Arizona against rising star Yair Rodriguez.

bjpenndotcom - November 30, 2016

BJPENN.COM Radio is back at 8PM ET/5PM PT with another great lineup! 8:15PM ET- AJ “The Mercenary” McKee – @AJMcKeeJr kicks off tonights show to preview his fight with Ray Wood at Bellator 166 this weekend. AJ is one of the most promising upcoming prospects in MMA and has impressed the fans thus far, finishing all of his opponents as a pro. We will get his take on the last minute change of opponent, his long-term goals in MMA and life with mentor and father, combat sports veteran Antonio McKee.

bjpenndotcom - November 30, 2016

The MMA community recently received word that former two division UFC champion, UFC Hall of Famer, BJ Penn would be returning to the Octagon in January at ‘UFC Fight Night: 103’ as he steps into the Octagon to face streaking featherweight prospect Yair Rodriguez. Penn announced earlier this year that he was ending his retirement, and with famed coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn in his corner, revealed that he was planning to make a run at the featherweight championship. Unfortunately however, Penn’s return to the Octagon was halted when he was forced to withdraw from his ‘UFC Fight Night: Manila’ headlining scrap against Ricardo Lamas due to an injury.

bjpenndotcom - November 30, 2016

On December 11th, former UFC light heavyweight champion, and pound for pound kingpin Jon Jones will return to competition to compete against former Olympian & MMA legend Dan Henderson at Submission Underground 2. Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first time that the pair have been set to compete against one another. Back in 2012, Jones and Henderson were set to meet in the Octagon at UFC 151 for a highly anticipated light heavyweight title fight, where Henderson hoped to capture the elusive UFC championship belt.

Tom Taylor - November 30, 2016

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson have been neck-and-neck atop MMA’s pound-for-pound list for years. Now that Jon Jones is out of competition with a suspension, however, there is little denying that Mighty Mouse is MMA’s pound-for-pound king. According to Mighty Mouse, however, being the pound-for-pound best doesn’t mean all that much. In a recent interview with Fox Sports, Mighty Mouse addressed his place atop this speculative list.

bjpenndotcom - November 30, 2016

I want to see who can Rip some Apples! #SuperSage A video posted by Sage Northcutt (@supersagenorthcutt) on Nov 29, 2016 at 10:46am PST

Tom Taylor - November 30, 2016

Scotland’s Joanne Calderwood, who currently holds the number seven spot in the UFC strawweight rankings, has recently made a home at Montreal’s TriStar gym. As such, she had plans to attend UFC 206 in nearby Toronto, where many of her teammates are fighting. Given her status as one of the best strawweight fighters on earth, Calderwood was under the impression that she might get her hands on a complimentary ticket for the Toronto card. Apparently, however, this will not be the case.

Tom Taylor - November 30, 2016

On December 10, the UFC will return to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the first time since late 2013. It will do so with UFC 206. Originally, this card was supposed to be headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between champ Daniel Cormier and challenger Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. When Cormier withdrew from the bout with an injury, however, the UFC was forced to scramble in the creation of a new main event.

bjpenndotcom - November 30, 2016

Over the course of the past week, the UFC has had to fight several wildfires, on several different fronts. The first situation, was UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier withdrawing from his scheduled UFC 206 headlining bout against Anthony Johnson due to a tear in his groin. The promotion’s initial plan was to find a replacement opponent for Johnson, however given that Rumble has not only defeated, but knocked out, every fighter in the top 5 of the light heavyweight division, they were unable to do so. Several men, including middleweights Gegard Mousasi and Tim Kennedy, offered to take the short notice fight with ‘Rumble’ however Johnson has opted to wait for Cormier unless he can find a heavyweight opponent willing to fight.

Tom Taylor - November 30, 2016

It’s been a banner year for undefeated bantamweight Cody Garbrandt. The 25-year-old kicked off 2016 with a first-round knockout of Augusto Mendes. Next up was another first-round KO, this time over the then undefeated Thomas Almeida. Then, in his most recent bout, Garbrandt delivered a 48-second knockout of gritty Japanese veteran Takeya Mizugaki. If Garbrandt is able to win his next fight, however, it will blow all these other impressive performances out of the water. His next fight is, after all, a championship bout with dominant bantamweight king Dominick Cruz. If Garbrandt caps off 2016 with a knockout of Cruz, he’ll have had one of the finest years imaginable in MMA. In fact, he thinks a defeat of Cruz would be more than enough to earn him 2016’s Fighter of the Year award.

Tom Taylor - November 30, 2016

https://youtu.be/KFs-nnYJGXg  

Tom Taylor - November 29, 2016

Earlier this month, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland, Gegard Mousasi scored a beautiful first-round win over an old foil in Uriah Hall. This win pushed Mousasi up to the outer edges of middleweight title contention. One week after Mousasi’s big Belfast win, Robert Whittaker scored a first-round win of his own over the streaking Derek Brunson. With this win, the young Whittaker found himself almost neck-and-neck with Mousasi in the UFC middleweight rankings.

Russell Ess - November 29, 2016

Cole Miller: My Strained Relationship with the UFC