MMA News

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk (13-0) put her title on the line against undefeated challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz (10-1) during tonight’s UFC 205 main card in New York city. Round one begins and Karolina begins the forward pressure to start. Joanna lands a jab to the body. She follows up with a low kick. Karolina with a right hand. Joanna responds with a nice combo. Karolina with the forward pressure she lands a leg kick and then charges forward with punches. A beautiful combination from Joanna scores. Karolina replies with a right. Joanna answers with an inside leg kick. She lands another low kick. Karolina presses forward but misses with her combo. Joanna circles away and lands a kick to the body. The fighters clinch and Karolina presses JJ against the fence. Joanna lands a knee and breaks free. Karolina misses with a right hand but lands an elbow. Round one comes to an end.

bjpenndotcom - November 12, 2016

On the main card of UFC 205, top ranked UFC middleweight Yoel Romero made his triumphant return to the Octagon following a suspension. While Romero appeared to have lost the first round, he appeared to have found his rhythm in the second as he began to utilize his elite level wrestling more and more. In the third round, Romero landed a brutal flying knee that instantly knocked Weidman out, opening up a massive cut on the side of Weidman’s head that poured blood out on the Octagon. With the win, Romero is now the middleweight #1 contender and has earned himself a crack at Michael Bisping’s middleweight championship.

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

Yoel Romero just shocked the crowd at Madison Square Garden by scoring a highlight reel third-round knockout victory over Chris Weidman. The Cuban sent Weidman crashing to the canvas after landing a brutal flying knee in the early second of the third-round and then followed up with some punches forcing the referee to step in. Check it out:

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

A key middleweight tilt between former champion Chris Weidman (13-2) and surging contender Yoel Romero (13-1) took place during tonight’s UFC 205 main card in New York. Round one begins and Weidman starts things off with a leg kick. He presses forward with a front kick and the lands another low kick. Romero fakes a kick and Weidman miss with one of his own. Both fighters pawing with the jab. Weidman leans in right. He scores with a left jab. Weidman with the forward pressure here. Romero lands a nice kick to the body. Weidman shoots for a takedown and gets it. Yoel pops right back up. Weidman goes upstairs with a head kick that is partially blocked. Romero has his right hand cocked. Weidman with back to back kicks to the body. He misses with an axe kick but lands a low kick. And another. He is throwing a lot of volume here. Romero gets a hold of Weidman but it is short lived. Romero with a low kick. Chris shoots in and scores a takedown. Romero is able to get back up and round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

Following her UFC 205 unanimous decision loss to Raquel Pennington at tonight’s UFC 205 event in New York, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate announced her retirement from the sport of mixed martial arts. Tate, who had won the UFC women’s bantamweight champion at UFC 196 this past March by submitting Holly Holm, was dominated by Pennington throughout the fight, particularly in the stand-up.

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

A women’s bantamweight scrap between former champion Miesha Tate (18-7) and Raquel Pennington (9-5) kicked off tonight’s UFC 205 fight card in New York. Round one begins and Tate starts things off with left. They exchange quickly. Miesha with a low kick. She follows up with a right. Pennington counters with a strike. Tate circles and lands an inside leg kick. Pennington with a right hook and then a jab. She lands another. She is applying pressure. Miesha with an inside leg kick. A nice leg kick and then a jab scores for Raquel. Miesha is already busted up. She pushes forward. Raquel lands an uppercut. Miesha presses her against the cage and begins looking for a takedown. She attempts a double leg. Raquel defends and locks in a guillotine choke. It is deep. Miesha wall walks on multiple occasions to survive the choke. Wow. Miesha Tate scores the takedown after all of that. Pennington scoots to the cage in attempt to wall-walk. She is able to get back to her feet. Miesha is on her back though. She is attempting to take the back of Pennington along the fence here. Pennington drops down for a submission and the horn sounds to end round one.

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

A key featherweight tilt between former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar (21-5-1) and knockout artist Jeremy Stephens (25-13) served as the featured bout of tonight’s UFC 205 prelims in New York. Round one begins and Stephens throws a left jab to start. He misses with a leg kick. Frankie is utilizing his fantastic footwork early. He shoots for a takedown but Jeremy stuffs the attempt. “Lil Heathen” with a nice leg kick. Edgar again shoots in for a takedown but it is not there. Good start for Stephens. Frankie pumps a double jab and then throws a leg kick. Jeremy just misses with a knee. Frankie shoots in for another takedown attempt but once again Stephens defends. Frankie has a single leg and uses it to pick Stephens up and slam him down. Jeremy pops right back up. Edgar is still all over him though. Jeremy breaks free and takes the center of the octagon. He lands a nice kick to the body. Edgar with a jab but misses with a follow up leg kick. Stephens returns fire with a head kick that misses. A nice jab scores for Frankie. Jeremy misses with a front kick. A nice right hand lands for Stephens. Frankie with a jab. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

A key lightweight tilt between Khabib Nurmagomedov (24-0) and Michael Johnson (18-11) took place during tonight’s UFC 205 preliminary fight card in New York city. Round one begins and Johnson misses with a left hook to start. Khabib presses forward but eats an uppercut. He backs off and Johnson comes forward with a right. Michael lands a nice leg kick. He follows that up with a left hook. Another leg kick and a left from Johnson. “The Menace” lands a pair of jabs to the body. Johnson goes upstairs and rocks Khabib. Nurmagomedov presses forward and shoots in for a takedown. He eventually gets it and moves immediately to side control. He secures a mounted crucifix. Johnson scrambles and gets his arm free. Khabib remains in side control and delivers some short shots. Johnson battles his way to half guard. Big elbows from the top by Nurmagomedov. He switches to punches and begins teeing off. Johnson is scrambling but he cannot escape the position. Huge shots from the top by Khabib. He moves to full mount. Huge shots from Khabib. These left hands are hard. More big shots. This fight is close to being stopped. Johnson survives to see round two.

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

A welterweight bout between Vicente Luque (11-5-1) and Belal Muhammad (10-2) kicked off tonight’s UFC 205 prelims on FS1. Round one begins and Luque misses with a high kick but lands back-to-back low kicks. Muhammad responds with a low kick of his own. Luque with another nice leg kick and then he lands one to the body of Belal. Vicente is using a lot of pressure. He lands a right hand. He scores a huge left hook that drops Muhammad. He follows up with ground and pound and this one is over.

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

A catchweight scrap between Jim Miller (28-8) and Thiago Alves (21-11) served as the featured bout of tonight’s UFC Fight Pass prelims in New York. Round one begins and Miller presses forward and lands a jab. He follows that up with a leg kick. Jim pressing the action here and lands a jab upstairs and then one to the mid section. Alves lands a nice counter. He misses with a wild right. Miller comes forward and lands a nice straight left. Alves fires back with a kick to the body. Both men land jabs. Miller lands a left. Thiago goes upstairs with a kick but it is caught. Miller uses that to score a takedown. He begins working from full guard. Jim tries to take the back of Alves but Thiago scrambles and gets back to his feet. Miller lands a nice right. Alves with a kick to the body. Miller fires back with a hard low kick. The fighters trade punches. Miller with rights and Thiago with lefts. Alves goes for a high kick but it is blocked. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

A women’s bantamweight bout between Liz Carmouche (11-5) and Katlyn Chookagian (8-1) kicked off tonight’s historic UFC 205 fight card at Madison Square Garden in New York. Round one begins and Liz comes out with a combination that misses. Chookagian is circling and pumping her jab. She lands a nice leg kick. She attempts another but misses. Liz lands a heavy leg kick. She comes forward and lands a push kick. Chookagian returns fire with back-to-back leg kicks. Carmouche fires backs with a leg kick of her own. Both fighters land jabs. Liz lands a nice kick to the body and then a jab. She lands a nice right hand. Liz presses forward and shoots in for a takedown. She gets it. Liz with some decent shots from the top. Katlyn is able to wall-walk and get back to her feet. Still, Carmouche is all over Katlyn. She lifts up Chookagian and slams her back down to the floor. Nice short elbows from the top by Carmouche. Round one comes to an end.

bjpenndotcom - November 12, 2016

Tonight in New York, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor and UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez will step into the Octagon for a highly anticipated lightweight title fight. The fight will give McGregor the opportunity to become the first simultaneous two-division UFC champion, eight months after he was scheduled to contest for the lightweight title at UFC 196 against Rafael dos Anjos.

bjpenndotcom - November 12, 2016

Tonight, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor will take the Octagon against UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in a historic title fight that could see McGregor cement his place in the UFC’s history books as he could potentially become the first simultaneous two-division UFC champion. The way top ranked UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi sees it however, McGregor shouldn’t be in this position. He spoke to MMAWeekly:

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

Yesterday morning news broke that former TUF winner Kelvin Gastelum had missed weight for his scheduled UFC 205 fight with Donald Cerrone, forcing the promotion to scrap the bout entirely from tomorrow night’s historic card in New York. Following the news, UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal took to Twitter where he offered to fight “Cowboy” on short-notice.

bjpenndotcom - November 12, 2016

Tonight, fight fans will witness history as they tune in for UFC 205, the UFC’s inaugural event at the Madison Square Garden following the legalization of MMA in New York earlier this year.

bjpenndotcom - November 12, 2016

While Michael Bisping currently reigns as the UFC middleweight champion, ‘The Count’ knows, no one can fight forever. On the heels of his impressive unanimous decision win over Dan Henderson in Manchester, England last month in the main event of UFC 204, Bisping is currently waiting to find out who the next challenger to his middleweight title will be. In the meantime, it looked as though Bisping would be fighting former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre at UFC 206 in Toronto, although negotiations between St-Pierre and the UFC failed, leaving Bisping sidelined as he recovered from injuries sustained in his UFC 204 fight with Dan Henderson.

Chris Taylor - November 12, 2016

Tomorrow night, on the main card of UFC 205 in New York, former Olympic wrestler Yoel Romero will take on former middleweight champion Chris Weidman in a highly anticipated middleweight bout. In advance of this pivotal showdown, the Cuban contender joined Chris Taylor on BJPenn.com’s Rapid Fire where he discussed a number of different topics including which champions he thought would retain their respective titles tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden. “I believe that Conor McGregor will become the first fighter to carry two belts simultaneously in UFC history. I do believe that Tyron Woodley is going to successfully defend his title against Stephen Thompson. I think he will win this one for sure. As for Joanna. I believe she will continue to dominate that weight class for a long time to come.”

Russell Ess - November 12, 2016

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor will be fighting at lightweight for the first time in his UFC career on Saturday at UFC 205. “The Notorious” will look to put on the performance of his life at 155 pounds as he takes on UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in what could potentially be the most historic fight of the Irishman’s career. If McGregor gets his hand raised over Alvarez on Saturday night, he will be the first fighter to hold two UFC division’s titles simultaneously.