MMA News

bjpenndotcom - November 29, 2016

Earlier this month, unfortunate news surfaced that UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier had been forced out of his UFC 206 scrap with Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson on December 10th, and would be sidelined until March due to a torn adductor in his groin. While the UFC began looking for a replacement opponent for ‘Rumble’, it wasn’t long before fight fans realized the odds of Johnson staying on the card were relatively slim given that he has not only defeated, but knocked out, all of the light heavyweights in the top 5.

bjpenndotcom - November 29, 2016

At UFC 205 earlier this month, teammates Chris Weidman and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson both stepped into the Octagon for fights on the pay-per view portion of the historic fight card. Weidman fought first, stepping into the Octagon for the first time in nearly a year as he fought former Cuban Olympian Yoel Romero in a middleweight #1 contender fight. With the scorecards tied at 1 round each, Weidman found himself KO’d with a brutal flying knee in the third round, which also opened up a horrific cut on the side of his head. Just two fights later, Weidman’s brother in-law, Stephen Thompson, was making his walk to the Octagon for a welterweight title fight with Tyron Woodley.

bjpenndotcom - November 29, 2016

While top ranked featherweight Max Holloway was initially supposed to be fighting former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in the co-main event of UFC 206 on December 10th, the bout was recently promoted to the main event, and made into an interim featherweight title fight after UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, who was supposed to be fighting Anthony Johnson in the main event, was forced out of the fight with an injury. The UFC then ultimately opted to strip Conor McGregor of the UFC featherweight championship, and promote interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo to the undisputed featherweight championship, while making the fight between Holloway and Pettis an interim featherweight title fight.

Tom Taylor - November 29, 2016

What do Anthony Pettis, Sergio Pettis, Urijah Faber, John Dodson, Cub Swanson, Joseph Benavidez, and Henry Cejudo have in common? They all consider UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson one of the best fighters ever. Some have fought him in the past, some hope to fight him in the future, some reside well outside the weight class he rules, but they all agree that the flyweight champion is the pound-for-pound king.

bjpenndotcom - November 29, 2016

While the American Kickboxing Academy is home to some of the best fighters in the world, including UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, and top ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov to name just a few, the camp is often criticized for its fighters frequently pulling out of fights with injuries.

Tom Taylor - November 29, 2016

Earlier this year, the UFC was sold by Zuffa, its long-time parent company, for a whopping $4 billion. With this massive transaction, the company’s reigns were handed to WME-IMG, an American talent agency helmed by Ari Emanuel. One of the major discussion points surrounding this sale was the UFC’s television broadcast deal, which is set to expire in 2018. The UFC’s current broadcast deal is with Fox Sports. This deal has a seven-year shelf life, and earns the UFC $115 million annually. While this sounds like a pretty cushy deal for the promotion, its actually a relative steal for Fox. Yet that could soon change.

Tom Taylor - November 29, 2016

Earlier this month, in the main event of UFC 205, Conor McGregor knocked out Eddie Alvarez to win the UFC lightweight title. Because he already owned the UFC featherweight title, this defeat of Alvarez made him the first fighter in UFC history to hold belts in two divisions simultaneously. Just weeks later, shortly after the UFC 206 main event got cancelled, the UFC announced that the card’s Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis co-main event would be for the interim featherweight title, and that Jose Aldo had been promoted from interim champion to undisputed champion. This, of course, meant that McGregor had been stripped of the featherweight belt – or as they put it, he’d “relinquished” it.

Tom Taylor - November 29, 2016

These days, many fighters seem to be disgruntled with the state of the UFC. It’s for this reason that a mysterious Wednesday conference call featuring former Bellator president Bjorn Rebney and fighters like Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, TJ Dillashaw and Tim Kennedy is generating so much attention. While not much is known about the call at this time, it certainly seems like fighters are beginning to mobilize to improve their situations. If this is indeed the case, it’s likely to go over well with former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, who recently told Combate (via BloodyElbow.com) that he’s not especially happy with the way he’s being treated by the UFC.

Russell Ess - November 28, 2016

Some big players in the world of mixed martial arts are about to drop some big news on Wednesday. According to a press release sent out on Monday, an “industry re-defining” announcement will be made on Wednesday on a media conference call.

Russell Ess - November 28, 2016

Fans are anxiously awaiting to hear what matchup will come next for UFC superstar Conor McGregor and big news regarding “The Notorious” broke this weekend. The UFC announced during the UFC Fight Night 101 broadcast that McGregor “relinquished” the UFC featherweight title.

Russell Ess - November 28, 2016

Being a referee in a mixed martial arts competition is not an easy job that comes with a lot of criticism. Refs often get scrutinized if they stop a fight in what some may view as either too early or too late. Under certain circumstances, it is tough for the referee to make the best judgment all in the heat of the moment while at other times viewers have questioned the officiating calls in utter disbelief.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2016

Earlier this month, lightweight contender Tony Ferguson extended his win-streak to nine with a win over the division’s former champion, Rafael Dos Anjos. One week later, Khabib Nurmagomedov scored a similarly impressive win over Michael Johnson, extending his record to a ridiculous 24-0 in the process. Given their current streaks, either man could easily be awarded the next crack at UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Because McGregor is currently enjoying some time off, however, it’s likely that they’ll wind up fighting each other for an interim lightweight title in the meantime. Whoever wins this potential interim title bout would almost certainly fight McGregor to unify the lightweight title when he returns from his hiatus. Tony Ferguson, however, is confident that McGregor wants no part of him, and will do whatever he can to avoid this prospective showdown.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2016

Though it is currently without an official headliner, UFC 208 looks to have grown by one massive fight. This fight is expected to pair England’s Jimi Manuwa with Brazil’s Glover Teixeira in a clash of top-ranked light heavyweights. This compelling showdown was first reported to be in the works by FloCombat.com. Should this fight occur, it’ll be a big one for the light heavyweight division, which was recently rocked by the last minute cancellation of a title fight between champion Daniel Cormier and challenger Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.

Russell Ess - November 28, 2016

Jose Aldo is once again the undisputed UFC featherweight champion. This all comes after the UFC announced that Conor McGregor “relinquished” his featherweight title shortly after winning the lightweight title against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, making him the first concurrent two-division UFC champion is the history of the sport.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2016

Earlier this month, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Mexico, Tony Ferguson outpointed former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos. It was the biggest win of his career, and it thrust him into the uppermost echelon of the lightweight division. In his post-fight interview, however, Ferguson neglected to call out the champion, or even another top-ranked fighter. During an appearance on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Ferguson explained this strange silence to host Ariel Helwani.

Russell Ess - November 28, 2016

Over the weekend it was announced that UFC superstar Conor McGregor chose to “relinquish” the UFC featherweight title and hold on to the UFC lightweight strap. “The Notorious” was the first fighter in history to be a concurrent two-division UFC champion after beating Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 earlier this month. McGregor held both the UFC featherweight and lightweight titles for two weeks after winning the belt from Alvarez.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2016

When Vitor Belfort lost to Gegard Mousasi in the co-main event of UFC 204, he fell to a tough 2-3 in his last 5 fights – with both of those wins coming against the now retired Dan Henderson. Needless to say, the former light heavyweight champion appears to be on a bit of a downslide. As such, many fans were quick to call for his retirement in the wake of his loss to Mousasi. Though it seemed for a moment that Belfort actually planned to retire after this loss, we later learned that he intended to keep fighting.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2016

Veteran referee “Big” John McCarthy made his first Octagon appearance all the way back at UFC 2 in the year 1994. As such, he and his trademark “let’s get it on” fight-staring line are as much a symbol of the UFC as Bruce Buffer, Joe Rogan, and the Octagon itself. Of course, Big John’s officiating duties extend far beyond the confines of the UFC’s Octagon. Over the course of his lengthy career as a mixed martial arts referee, he’s officiated bouts in other high profile promotions like Bellator, and is even qualified to handle boxing bouts.