MMA News

bjpenndotcom - October 22, 2016

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor is undoubtably one of the most polarizing figures in the MMA world due to his brash persona, as well as incredible volume of trash talk. While McGregor has been criticized for his constant trash talk of fighters, his fighting persona has brought an incredible amount of attention to the sport of MMA, aiding him in setting Pay-Per View records, and setting records for UFC events with the highest gate. Ahead of UFC 205, where McGregor has the chance to make history and become the first simultaneous 2-division UFC champion with a win over UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier believes McGregor is to the UFC, what ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin was to the WWE.

bjpenndotcom - October 22, 2016

In just three weeks, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor will step into the Octagon against UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez for an extremely rare champion vs. champion matchup. The fight is set to headline the UFC’s first event at the Madison Square Garden, UFC 205, which is widely regarded to be the biggest event in the history of the promotion. In addition to the fight headlining a historic event, the fight will give McGregor the opportunity to emerge as the first simultaneous 2-division champ in the history of the UFC, in addition to becoming just the third man in UFC history to hold belts in two weight classes.

bjpenndotcom - October 22, 2016

Earlier this month at UFC 204, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, and MMA legend Dan Henderson stepped into the Octagon in a highly anticipated rematch, this time for Bisping’s UFC middleweight championship. The fight was an extremely spectacular one, with Henderson showing off the power he possesses in his right hand even at 46 years old as he dropped Bisping in both the first and second rounds. Ultimately however, Bisping was able to weather an early storm from Henderson as he continued to outwork the MMA legend throughout the course of the remaining 3 rounds, out-striking Henderson as he poured out an impressive volume of strikes.

bjpenndotcom - October 22, 2016

The string of recent UFC employees being laid-off has now extended beyond the corporate side of the UFC, as the new WME-IMG owners have now removed 13 fighters from the roster. MMAFighting broke the story, which has reported that the following fighters have been cut from the UFC roster:

bjpenndotcom - October 21, 2016

Jon Jones was unceremoniously pulled from a milestone event in UFC 200 after USADA flagged him for a positive drug test. Just days before he was set to rematch Daniel Cormier to unify the light heavyweight belts, Jones was forced off the card and replaced with Anderson Silva, who stepped in following Jones’ failed drug test. Recent revelations however suggest that Jones may not have been misleading when they blamed the failed tests on tainted supplements.

Chris Taylor - October 21, 2016

Current UFC interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo met with UFC president Dana White earlier this week to discuss his fighting future. The long time pound-for-pound great had recently requested his release from the promotion, this while stating that his desire was to retire from the sport of mixed martial arts.

Chris Taylor - October 21, 2016

Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen recently told TMZ that his upcoming Bellator 170 opponent Tito Ortiz was going broke. “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” did not take well to Sonnen’s comments and quickly fired back at Chael by releasing the following video on his Instagram:

bjpenndotcom - October 21, 2016

ONE FC champion Ben Askren is widely believed to be one of the best fighters not currently signed to the UFC. With a 15-0 professional record that has seen Askren not only claim the ONE championship, but also win the Bellator welterweight championship. As if that weren’t enough, Askren defended his ONE FC championship once, and also defended his Bellator championship belt 4 times. Despite that, the accomplished wrestler has never competed under the UFC banner, which has brought him quite a bit of criticism when fans discuss the top welterweights in MMA.

bjpenndotcom - October 21, 2016

In the beginning of October, former Bellator MMA champion Will Brooks stepped into the Octagon for his second UFC appearance on the main card of ‘UFC Fight Night: Portland’. Brooks was stepping into the Octagon against Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira, who was supposed to be making his lightweight debut at the event. The day prior however, when the Portland Athletic Commission opened up the scales for early weigh-ins, Olivera was one of the first fighters on the scale, coming in 5.5 pounds over the lightweight non-title fight limit of 156 pounds. While Brooks was given the option to decline the fight given that Oliveira came in quite a bit over the weight limit, he opted to fight ‘Cowboy’. Unfortunately, when the two stepped in the Octagon, an early knee from Oliveira injured one of Brooks’ ribs. As the fight progressed, the injury became more & more severe, with Oliveira ultimately securing the 3rd round TKO win.

Russell Ess - October 21, 2016

The UFC Octagon Girls are the beauty to balance the violence that goes down in the Octagon.

Russell Ess - October 21, 2016

UFC welterweight Alan Jouban is looking to make a big statement in his next fight coming up against the undefeated Mike Perry at UFC on FOX 22 in December. Jouban is confident that with a big win over Perry, he will punch his way into the UFC welterweight rankings.

Russell Ess - October 21, 2016

Georges St-Pierre may be in for the biggest fight of his life and it won’t even be close to taking place in the Octagon. On Monday, the former UFC welterweight kingpin announced on The MMA Hour that he was a free agent after his legal team terminated his contract with the UFC. Later that day, the UFC released a statement saying that St-Pierre was in fact still under contract with them.

Tom Taylor - October 21, 2016

https://youtu.be/OPKjIVsmuGg Earlier this year, in the main event of UFC 196, Stockton, California’s Nate Diaz shocked the world with a second-round submission defeat of Conor McGregor. Several months later, in the main event of August’s UFC 202, the pair went at it again.

bjpenndotcom - October 21, 2016

Earlier this month at UFC 204, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping made his first successful title defense as he went to war with MMA legend Dan Henderson in a main event scrap in Manchester, England. Bisping was dropped early in the fight, but weathered an early storm from Henderson that saw the champ dropped in both the first and second rounds. Bisping continued to out-work Henderson throughout the fight, ultimately earning himself a unanimous decision win to retain the middleweight strap.

Tom Taylor - October 21, 2016

We’re all familiar with The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC’s trademark reality show, throughout which contestants compete for UFC contracts and sometimes even title shots or championship belts. Though the series has produced a few lacklustre seasons, its also given us UFC stars like Nate Diaz, Forrest Griffin, Diego Sanchez, Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping, TJ Dillashaw, Rose Namajunas, Tony Ferguson, and John Dodson. It’s also widely credited for the UFC’s transformation from a polarizing spectacle on the fringes of the sporting world to a legitimate mainstream sport.

Tom Taylor - October 21, 2016

On November 12, in the main event of the universally anticipated UFC 205, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor will challenge Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title. If McGregor is successful in this attempt, he’ll become the first fighter in UFC history to wear two belts simultaneously. In advance of this high-stakes showdown, the advantages possessed by both men are quite clear. McGregor should have a significant edge in the striking department, while Alvarez should be the better man in the grappling and cardio departments.

Russell Ess - October 21, 2016

With Halloween approaching, the marketing team at The Asylum haunted house in Ireland just issued a great challenge. Following UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor commenting on the recent scary clown hysteria, “The Clown” at The Asylum challenged the UFC superstar to last 15 minutes in their haunted house.

bjpenndotcom - October 21, 2016

Recently, it was confirmed by the UFC brass that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey would be making her highly anticipated return to the Octagon at December 30th in the main event of UFC 207, the UFC’s New Year’s Eve card, to fight women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in a highly anticipated showdown for the women’s bantamweight title. While Nunes headlined UFC 200 with Miesha Tate, who she defeated via submission in the main event to claim the women’s bantamweight championship, she has been very open about the fact that she believes this is the biggest fight of her career, and that the fight will certainly bring her quite a bit of attention from viewers.