MMA News

Tom Taylor - November 29, 2016

If Anthony “Rumble” Johnson had his way, he’d be fighting Daniel Cormier for the UFC light heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 206 on December 10. Unfortunately for him, Cormier was forced to withdraw from this bout with a groin injury. In the wake of Cormier’s withdrawal from the card, the UFC tried valiantly to find a replacement opponent for Rumble. The most suitable option they could fish out of the small pool of fighters who were willing to fight a monster like Rumble on just a few weeks notice, was the UFC’s fifth ranked middleweight, Gegard Mousasi.

Russell Ess - November 29, 2016

Many people were shocked when the UFC announced that Irish superstar Conor McGregor “relinquished” the UFC featherweight title over the weekend. Coming just two weeks after winning the UFC lightweight title from Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, “The Notorious” is now just the UFC lightweight champion of the world. McGregor was the first fighter in history to concurrently hold two UFC division’s titles, even if it was for a short period.

bjpenndotcom - November 29, 2016

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida was recently handed an 18 month suspension from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which will leave him sidelined for another 11 months while he finishes the remaining time left on his suspension. Machida’s case with USADA has been a very public one, with ‘The Dragon’ blaming USADA for not being aware of the fact that the substance he disclosed taking, 7-KETO-DHEA, was on the banned substance list.

Russell Ess - November 29, 2016

UFC superstar Conor McGregor was the first fighter in history to be the champion of two UFC weight classes at the same time. With his historic win over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 that won him the UFC lightweight title while still maintaining the UFC featherweight title, “The Notorious” marked another record to his name and did so with an absolutely brilliant performance.

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

Earlier this month at UFC 205, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman returned to the Octagon for the first time in a year. The fight was Weidman’s first since his UFC 194 TKO loss to Luke Rockhold back in early December of 2015, which saw him lose the middleweight championship. When Weidman stepped into the Octagon at UFC 205 earlier this month, it was in front of his hometown New York crowd, where he was fighting top ranked middleweight Yoel Romero. With the fight tied at 1 round each, Weidman appeared to have gained some momentum going into the third round. Unfortunately for ‘The All American’ he found himself on the wrong end of a brutal flying knee KO that also opened up a massive cut on the side of his head.

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.

Tom Taylor - November 29, 2016

Last December, in the main event of UFC 194, Jose Aldo was knocked out by Conor McGregor in just 13 seconds. The loss forced the end of his decade-long unbeaten streak and his incredible reign as WEC and UFC featherweight champion. In the year since his defeat of Aldo, McGregor has taken two welterweight fights with Nate Diaz, and a lightweight title fight with Eddie Alvarez, which he won by second-round TKO. In the wake of this lightweight title win, McGregor embarked on an open-ended hiatus from competition to father his first child.

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.

Russell Ess - November 28, 2016

It was stated numerous times by UFC President Dana White that Conor McGregor would have to vacate a title if he won the UFC lightweight belt against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. “If he wins, he’ll hold two belts,” White said prior to UFC 205 taking place. “Then he’ll decide which one he wants to give back to me. He can’t hold both. He’ll have accomplished this. Then he’ll have to figure out which one he wants to give up. He can’t hold up two divisions.”

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.