MMA News

bjpenndotcom - November 23, 2016

Next month, MMA legends Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic and Wanderlei ‘The Axe Murderer’ Silva will step into the ring on December 29th in the quarterfinal round of the Rizin FF openweight Grand-Prix. For Cro-Cop, the fight will not only be his second under the Rizin FF banner, but will give him the opportunity to make it 5-straight wins over the course of the last two years. For Silva, the fight will be his first in over three years, with his last fight being a 2013 second round KO win over Brian Stann in Japan in a Fight of the Night performance.

bjpenndotcom - November 23, 2016

This past weekend during the main card of ‘UFC Fight Night: Sao Paulo’ top ranked women’s strawweight fighters Claudia Gadelha and Cortney Casey stepped into the Octagon in a highly anticipated showdown. For Casey, the fight was an opportunity to extend her win streak to 3, as she hoped to pick up a win over former strawweight title challenger Claudia Gadelha. On the other hand, Gadelha was looking to return to the win column following her July loss to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a failed bid at the strawweight title. Gadelha ultimately won the fight via unanimous decision, picking up 30-27 scores on all of the judges scorecards, however in the third round there was a bit of controversy as Gadelha threw a kick at Casey, who was on the ground at the time. The kick grazed Casey’s ponytail, and she grabbed at her head as if the kick had landed clean. Surprisingly, the referee didn’t take a point away, and the fight continued after Casey was able to recover.

bjpenndotcom - November 23, 2016

Earlier this month, top ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov delivered a spectacular performance as he picked up a third round submission win over #8 ranked lightweight Michael Johnson in a highly anticipated matchup. The win was not only a finish for Nurmagomedov, but a rather dominant one as he put on a horrendously vicious display of ground and pound throughout the fight, talking trash to both Johnson, and UFC President Dana White in the middle of the fight. Following the fight, there have been conflicting reports form both Nurmagomedov and his camp regarding his next move. Immediately following the fight, Nurmagomedov offered the UFC an ultimatum, stating that if he wasn’t given a title shot for his next fight, he would be looking to fight for another promotion in the future. That was then followed up by an interview with Khabib’s father, who said that his son would be willing to take another fight in the meantime to cement his place as the #1 contender.

bjpenndotcom - November 23, 2016

BJPENN.COM Radio is back in your life tonight at 8:30PM ET/5:30PM PT with more awesome guest for your weekly fight fix! 8:15PM ET- “Rocky” Raquel Pennington @rockypmma kicks off the show to discuss her huge victory over former champion Meisha Tate at UFC 205. Pennington will give us her breakdown of the fight, how it felt to compete against her former coach on TUF, and where the Colorado native feel she stands in title contention. We will also be getting Raquel’s take on the women’s bantamweight division and what match-ups interest her most going forward, aside from a crack at the belt.

bjpenndotcom - November 23, 2016

Next month fight fans will finally see former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey step into the Octagon in a highly anticipated return bout to the Octagon. Rousey of course will be returning from her year-long hiatus to square off against women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes for the UFC women’s bantamweight championship in what will be her first bout since suffering the first loss of her career back at UFC 193 at the hands of Holly Holm. When it was announced that Rousey would be returning to the Octagon, UFC President Dana White also announced that if Rousey were to win her return fight, she would then have a superfight with Cris Cyborg.

Russell Ess - November 23, 2016

New York is proving to be a strict state when it comes to their athletic commission. On Wednesday, MMA Fighting reported per New York State Department spokesperson Laz Benitez that Yoel Romero has been suspended for 60 days for exiting the Octagon after beating former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman in their UFC 205 contest.

bjpenndotcom - November 23, 2016

Former UFC champion Lyoto Machida’s case with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has been a very public one. Several months ago, USADA approached Machida for a random out-of-competion drug test. Machida disclosed that he had been taking a supplement called 7-Keto, which resulted in an anti-doping policy violation. Machida was handed an 18-month suspension, which didn’t sit too well with ‘The Dragon’ as he repeatedly blamed USADA for the infraction, claiming that he wasn’t properly informed on the fact that the supplement is on the banned substance list. Machida then went as far as to say that he believed USADA was ruining the UFC.

Russell Ess - November 23, 2016

UFC 202’s main event was a wildly exciting bout featuring the rematch between rivals Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor. The two UFC stars create a pay-per-view recipe for success and for good reason as both men battled in an exciting five-round war where McGregor had his hand raised in a majority decision at the end of the contest.

bjpenndotcom - November 23, 2016

Top ranked UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov is undoubtably one of the best lightweights in the UFC. In addition, ‘The Eagle’ boasts a cult-like following of fans in the MMA community, who are very eager to see the undefeated Dagestani fighter given a title shot. With that being said, Nurmagomedov’s star-power is increased tenfold in his native country of Russia, where he was reportedly recently offered $5 million to fight according to his manager Ali Abdel-Aziz.

Tom Taylor - November 23, 2016

Last weekend, during the Bellator 165 broadcast, we learned that heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko had signed with the promotion. The Russian great will debut at Bellator 172 on February 18 in San Jose. He’ll make this Bellator debut against dangerous UFC veteran Matt Mitrione.

Tom Taylor - November 23, 2016

As the undisputed champion of both the featherweight and lightweight divisions, Conor McGregor is one of the very best fighters in the world. He’s also one of the best trash talkers in the game, as he frequently lobotomizes his opponents with his sharp tongue, and throws them off their game before the fight even begins. Given McGregor’s penchant for trash talk, many fans have wondered how he’d fair in the scripted world of pro wrestling – particularly in the WWE ring, where other combat sports stars like Ronda Rousey and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have made appearances in the past.

Tom Taylor - November 23, 2016

In a few short weeks, in the co-main event of UFC 206, Hawaiian featherweight Max Holloway will take on former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. If Holloway defeats Pettis, his win-streak will grow to a baffling 10-straight. Needless to say, Holloway has done pretty much all their is to do to earn a featherweight title shot. Yet with undisputed featherweight champion Conor McGregor testing his mettle in heavier divisions, and interim champ Jose Aldo so jaded with the state of things that he’s contemplating a move to another sport, the title situation at featherweight is quite murky.

Chris Taylor - November 22, 2016

https://youtu.be/nQfilTLadJs Irish superstar Conor McGregor (21-3 MMA) has taken over the sport of mixed martial arts by becoming the first ever fighter to hold titles in two different weight classes simultaneously.

Chris Taylor - November 22, 2016

Yoel Romero (12-1 MMA) extended his current win streak to eight in a row earlier this month in New York, this after scoring a devastating third-round knockout victory (flying knee) over former middleweight champion Chris Weidman on the main card of UFC 205. With the win, “The Soldier of God” solidified his status as the 185-pound divisions number one contender and earned himself a title shot against current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping.

Russell Ess - November 22, 2016

There is much speculation as to what will come next for UFC superstar Conor McGregor. With his last title fight against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, “The Notorious” became the first fighter to be a concurrent two-division UFC champion, holding both the featherweight and lightweight titles.

Russell Ess - November 22, 2016

Conor McGregor isn’t the first one to do it, but he has surely lit the fire to bring it to a lot of people’s attention.

Russell Ess - November 22, 2016

The idea of Conor McGregor moving up to fight Tyron Woodley for the welterweight title is surely a possibility with the way “The Notorious” has been working. Despite McGregor having a 1-1 UFC record at 170, the most recent welterweight title challenger, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson feels that “The Notorious” isn’t physically big enough to compete with the UFC welterweights. McGregor has fought twice in the UFC at 170. However, both welterweight bouts were against Nate Diaz, who has spent most of his career in the UFC lightweight division.

Tom Taylor - November 22, 2016

In mixed martial arts, there are few paths to victory as emphatic as the head-kick knockout. A twist of the hips, a swing of the leg, and bang, that’s it.