MMA News

bjpenndotcom - November 18, 2016

Top ranked UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi has been on a tear of the UFC middleweight division over the course of 2016. Mousasi kicked off the year by defeating Thales Leites at ‘UFC Fight Night: London’ in February, before making it 2-straight wins as he KO’d Thiago Santos on the UFC Fight Pass prelims of UFC 200 in July. In his most recent Octagon outing, Mousasi TKOd former UFC champion Vitor Belfort in the co-main event of UFC 204 in Manchester, England, back in October, cementing his place near the top of a stacked UFC middleweight division.

bjpenndotcom - November 18, 2016

Several weeks ago, all signs pointed to former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre returning to the Octagon at UFC 206 to fight UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping for the middleweight title at UFC 206 in Toronto, Canada. Unfortunately, while both men verbally agreed to the fight, there were several hangups on the matchup, with St-Pierre’s deal with Under Armour being one notable conflict of interest given the UFC’s partnership with Reebok.

Tom Taylor - November 18, 2016

On December 17, when the UFC returns to Sacramento, California, rising welterweight Bryan Barberena will take on highly regarded prospect Colby Covington. If he defeats Covington, he’ll extend his win-streak to three, having taken out Sage Northcutt and Warlley Alves in his last two bouts. Despite the big stakes of this upcoming bout, Barberena recently took time out of his busy schedule for an interview with BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor.

bjpenndotcom - November 18, 2016

Several months ago, popular UFC middleweight Uriah Hall controversially stated in an interview before UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping’s first title defense against Dan Henderson at UFC 204 that he kicked the champ’s ass in training. Bisping, who of course went on to successfully defend his title against Dan Henderson, remained quiet regarding the situation for quite some time.

Tom Taylor - November 18, 2016

Last Saturday, in the co-main event of UFC 205, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley attempted the first defense of his crown against streaking striker Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. Given the finishing ability shared by these two fighters, many fans and pundits expected this title fight to end emphatically, one way or the other. In the end, however, it was as close as they come. After five frenzied rounds of action that saw both men enjoy plenty of success, this fight was ruled a majority draw. With this result, Woodley held on to the welterweight title – though probably not in quite the fashion that he planned.

bjpenndotcom - November 18, 2016

While Conor McGregor’s win over Eddie Alvarez this past weekend in the main event of UFC 205 was certainly an incredibly dominant one, which saw McGregor dominate Alvarez bell to bell en route to a 2nd round TKO win, members of the fight community have mixed reactions to McGregor’s odds in a potential boxing match with undefeated boxing icon Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather, who was briefly linked to a bout with McGregor starting back in July when McGregor was pulled from his UFC 200 headlining scrap against Nate Diaz for refusing to fulfill his media obligations for the event, has continued to discuss the possibility of fighting McGregor in a boxing match.

Tom Taylor - November 18, 2016

Who should Conor McGregor​ fight next in the Octagon? Eddie Alvarez's answer to that question might surprise you. pic.twitter.com/UiRf0vo4DO

Tom Taylor - November 18, 2016

Now closing in on the end of the two years of mandatory military service required of South Korean citizens, Chan Sung Jung – more widely known as “The Korean Zombie” – is poised for  return to the Octagon. In advance of his return, the featherweight favorite spoke with Chris Taylor on BJPenn.com’s Rapid Fire to discuss the state of the division, and the man who rules it: Conor McGregor. According to the South Korean legend, McGregor has made things complicated at featherweight. That said, he doubts the Irish star will ever return to the division.

Tom Taylor - November 18, 2016

This is not a joke. For the third time in four months, fan favorite flyweight Ian McCall has had a fight cancelled just days before it was supposed to happen. He’s been forced to withdraw from his planned bout with Neil Seery, which was to headline the Fight Pass Prelims of the UFC’s Saturday return to Belfast, Northern Ireland. McCall has been pushed out of the bout with an illness, which apparently took effect before he had even began cutting weight.

Russell Ess - November 17, 2016

If it wasn’t enough with training in the various aspects of mixed martial arts, leave it up to Conor McGregor to up the game by adding the marketing of one’s self to be a highly successful MMA fighter. This is how UFC flyweight Louis Smolka sees it, and with the way Conor McGregor has taken the UFC by storm, it’s hard to deny.

Chris Taylor - November 17, 2016

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is coming off a remarkable performance against Stephen Thompson at UFC 205, which saw ‘The Chosen One’ retain his title after an epic five-round war with ‘Wonderboy’ was ruled a majority draw. During Friday’s UFC 205 weigh ins, the UFC welterweight champion had a pair of altercations with Irish superstar Conor McGregor. Neither run-in resulted in anything serious but it was clear that ‘Mystic Mac’ was trying to get under ‘The Chosen One’s’ skin.

Russell Ess - November 17, 2016

The next middleweight title bout could be a matchup between champion Michael Bisping and challenger Yoel Romero. After a devastating finish over former middleweight champion Chris Weidman at UFC 205 over the weekend, Romero and Bisping had a little exchange during the “Soldier of God’s” post-fight Octagon interview as “The Count” was in attendance hosting the fight recaps for UFC on FOX.

Russell Ess - November 17, 2016

11-2 UFC flyweight Louis Smolka is looking to bounce back from a bitter loss. At UFC Fight Night 96 in a bout against Brandon Moreno, Smolka was finished for the first time in his professional MMA career as Moreno locked in a guillotine choke forcing the Hawaiian to submit. With his only loss prior to fighting Moreno being a close split-decision, “Da Last Samurai” is hungry to get back in the win column.

bjpenndotcom - November 17, 2016

Earlier this year the MMA community was left stunned as MMA veteran Nate Diaz not only defeated Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 196 on just two weeks notice, but also rocked and submitted the featherweight champ. McGregor, who appeared to gas early in the fight, was noticeably drained going into the second round, where Diaz managed to land a perfect 1-2 combination that wobbled McGregor. The Irish superstar then shot for a takedown, which Diaz stuffed, ultimately resulting in Diaz securing a rear naked choke win.

Russell Ess - November 17, 2016

The UFC rankings were freshly updated following the historic UFC 205 event that took place at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Chris Taylor - November 17, 2016

Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn (16-10-2) was expected to make his octagon return against former UFC featherweight title challenger Ricardo Lamas at last month’s scheduled UFC Fight Night 97 event. However, due to an injury suffered in training camp, “The Prodigy” was forced to pullout of the contest and October’s UFC Manila event was later cancelled entirely.

bjpenndotcom - November 17, 2016

This past weekend at UFC 205, top ranked UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov stepped into the Octagon on the preliminary card portion of the historic fight card to square off against heavy handed lightweight Michael Johnson. The fight was an incredibly dominant one for Nurmagomedov, who made it 8 straight wins in the UFC, extending his undefeated professional record to 24-0 as he secured a 3rd round submission win over Johnson. As if the win, which included some brutal ground and pound shots from ‘The Eagle’ wasn’t enough, footage from the ‘UFC 205: The Thrill and Agony’ preview shows Nurmagomedov so confident and dominant in the fight that he begins to talk trash to Johnson while landing his ground and pound shots, saying: “You have to give up” before then turning to UFC President Dana White while still landing strikes on Johnson, and saying “I need to fight for the title, you know this. I deserve it.”

bjpenndotcom - November 17, 2016

While Yoel Romero is undeniably the #1 contender at middleweight following his vicious 3rd round KO of Chris Weidman this past weekend at UFC 205, Romero is also on the receiving end of quite a bit of criticism given his controversial mid-fight antics. The most notable situation came back in 2014, when Romero was nearly finished by Kennedy at the end of the 2nd round of their UFC 178 fight. Between the second and third rounds, Romero and his corner engaged in several blatantly obvious acts to allow him more time to recover before the start of the third round, ultimately buying ‘Soldier Of God’ an extra minute on the stool. When the third round started, Romero went out and TKOd Kennedy just 58 seconds into the round.