MMA News

Russell Ess - December 1, 2016

Mariusz Pudzianowski put in his time as a World’s Strongest Man competitor and took the title of World’s Strongest Man five times.

Russell Ess - December 1, 2016

If there is one thing the current #1 UFC ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov is fed up with, it is the “bullshit.”

Russell Ess - December 1, 2016

The UFC has updated their rankings following the UFC Fight Night 101 event that took place in Melbourne, Australia over the weekend. Only two divisions were affected in the rankings following the event as Robert Whittaker’s exciting win over Derek Brunson bumped him up to the #6 spot in the middleweight division surging ahead of former UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva.

bjpenndotcom - December 1, 2016

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been very open about his past battle with addiction, and his pride in now being sober. Despite his past battles with addiction, Jones reigned as the youngest UFC champion in the history of the promotion for nearly five years as he dispatched of top ranked contenders such as Daniel Cormier & Alexander Gustafsson, while also defeating MMA veterans such as Rampage Jackson and Lyoto Machida.

bjpenndotcom - December 1, 2016

Wednesday evening, the MMA community learned that UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor had received his boxing license in California, but had been denied a boxing license in Nevada due to the fact that he has not proven his qualifications as a boxer. Of course McGregor receiving a license to box in California added fuel to the fires of speculation regarding a potential boxing superfight with undefeated boxing icon Floyd Mayweather. Earlier this year, McGregor and Mayweather were rumored to be fighting close to the end of 2017 after McGregor was pulled from his UFC 200 scrap against Nate Diaz for refusing to fulfill his media obligations.

Russell Ess - December 1, 2016

The UFC 208 event which was scheduled to take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California on January 21 has been canceled. There will still be a UFC event in Anaheim but is now scheduled to take place much later in the year on August 5. The UFC released the following statement on their website on Tuesday:

bjpenndotcom - December 1, 2016

As top ranked UFC featherweight Max Holloway gears up for his UFC 206 interim featherweight title fight with Anthony Pettis on December 10th in the main event of UFC 206 in Toronto, the streaking featherweight has his eyes set on a rematch with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, who just recently relinquished his featherweight championship. McGregor of course won the UFC featherweight championship a year ago when he knocked out reigning featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds at UFC 194. Over the course of the last 12 months, McGregor fought Nate Diaz twice at welterweight, losing the first fight, before then bouncing back and winning a majority decision back in August, and fought once at lightweight, where he captured the lightweight championship by TKOing Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 earlier this month.

bjpenndotcom - December 1, 2016

This week news surfaced that UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor had been given a boxing license in California, which added quite a bit of fuel to the rumors regarding a potential Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing match. Despite McGregor’s dominance inside the Octagon, and the fact that he was recently crowned the first ever simultaneous two-division UFC champion when he TKOd Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, the NSAC denied his request for a boxing license until he can prove that he is qualified as a boxer to have one. With that being said however, the California State Athletic Commission has granted McGregor a boxing license, which theoretically would give him the ability to take a boxing fight in California in order to prove his qualifications to the NSAC, which would then result in him being approved for a boxing license in Nevada.

bjpenndotcom - December 1, 2016

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is currently gearing up for his UFC 207 scrap with Fabricio Werdum, which will not only serve as Velasquez’ shot at redemption at ‘Vai Calvao’, but also as the heavyweight #1 contender fight. Ahead of the fight, both men are coming off wins, which returned them to the win column. Werdum’s win came in October at UFC 203, where he defeated Travis Browne via unanimous decision. Velasquez’ win on the other hand came as a UFC 200 TKO win over Travis Browne.

bjpenndotcom - December 1, 2016

Former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre frequently finds himself at odds with the UFC brass. When St-Pierre initially stepped away from the sport in 2013 following a split decision win over Johny Hendricks, ‘Rush’ began to speak out about PEDs in MMA, calling for a clean sport if there was any chance of him returning. This year, talks of GSP making a return to the Octagon picked up quite a bit of steam as all signs pointed to St-Pierre returning to the Octagon on December 10th to fight Michael Bisping for the middleweight championship in Toronto, Canada.

bjpenndotcom - November 30, 2016

Wednesday afternoon, the MMA community was forever changed as several high profile fighters including former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre, top ranked UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy, and former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, along with several others, announced the formation of the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association. Prior to the formation of the Mixed Marital Arts Athletes Association however, former UFC champion Randy Couture, as well as several other fighters, united to form the Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Association, which has similar goals to the MMAAA, but spans across all MMA promotions, not just the UFC.

bjpenndotcom - November 30, 2016

https://youtu.be/xR1AHwCBKfY It’s been a rough couple of months for former UFC lightweight champion Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis. Last month, Pettis’ Milwaukee home was targeted as several of his cars were damaged and set on fire in his driveway. Fortunately, while the cars were destroyed, no one was injured by the fire.

bjpenndotcom - November 30, 2016

Wednesday afternoon, the MMA community was forever changed as a group of fighters, which included former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre, former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, fan favorite fighter Donald Cerrone, and several others, announced the formation of the MMA Athletes Association.

Tom Taylor - November 30, 2016

Earlier this month, it was announced that UFC Hall-of-Famer and former two-division champion BJ Penn would be making his long awaited return to the Octagon against Mexican featherweight prospect Yair Rodriguez. The two will share the main event honors of the UFC’s upcoming return to Phoenix Arizona on January 15. As this massive showdown draws ever closer, Penn spoke with BJPenn.com to weigh in on Rodriquez, and the interesting challenges he presents.

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

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.

Russell Ess - November 30, 2016

On Monday, it was announced in a press release that some major names in the sport of mixed martial arts were going to make a “industry re-defining” announcement on Wednesday. Many were speculating the announcement to have to do with a fighter’s union or association and it was revealed on the media conference call to be just that.