MMA News

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2016

On November 12, on the main card of UFC 205, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman will look to get back on track after losing his title to Luke Rockhold almost a year ago. His opportunity to do so will come against Cuba’s Yoel Romero, a former Olympian who has not lost a fight since a 2011 knockout at the hands of Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante. Though Weidman is clearly dead-set on this looming bout with Romero, he’s also keeping busy outside of his training schedule – and we’re not talking about his war of words with reigning middleweight champion Michael Bisping.

Russell Ess - October 18, 2016

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is set to defend his title against Anthony Johnson at UFC 206 on December 10. The pay-per-view card is taking place in Toronto, Canada and many were expecting the return of former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre to be announced for the card. However, on Monday, St-Pierre announced on The MMA Hour that he and his legal team were unable to come to an agreement for a return fight and was released from his contract with the UFC.

bjpenndotcom - October 18, 2016

Former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre may have been close to finalizing a deal with the UFC that would have seen him return to the Octagon , however this week it was revealed by St-Pierre that he was officially a free agent after negotiations with the UFC failed. With that being said, earlier this month, St-Pierre maintained that news regarding his next fight would be revealed in the coming weeks. Following St-Pierre’s announcement that he was a free agent, the UFC brass was quick to release a statement regarding the matter, refuting the former welterweight champ’s claims that his contract with the UFC had been terminated.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2016

UFC 207, which is scheduled for December 30 in Las Vegas, Nevada, is starting to take shape. Just days removed from the announcement that Ronda Rousey will be returning to action against bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes in the main event, the card has grown with the addition of an awesome, welterweight showdown. That showdown will pit surgical Belgian striker Tarec “Sponge” Saffiedine (16-5) with gritty American brawler Matt “The Immortal” Brown (20-15)

bjpenndotcom - October 18, 2016

UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping is fresh off his UFC 204 unanimous decision win over Dan Henderson earlier this month, and already has his sights set on another potential top contender. Following Bisping’s win over Henderson, he used his post-fight Octagon interview to take shots the top of the middleweight division, saying:

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2016

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2016

After a hot-and-cold run as a middleweight, Lorenz “The Monsoon” Larkin completely revivified his career with a drop to the UFC’s welterweight division. This drop to welterweight began with a blistering, first-round TKO of a game John Howard. His sophomore effort in the division, meanwhile, saw him take out Santiago Ponzinibbio with second-round punches. And though he experienced his lone welterweight hiccup in his next bout thereafter, giving up a razor-close split decision to Albert Tumenov, he has since rebounded from that loss with a decision victory over Jorge Masvidal and, most impressively of all, a first-round savaging of the highly regarded Neil Magny.

bjpenndotcom - October 18, 2016

Last month, tragic news surfaced that UFC middleweight Josh Samman was found unresponsive in his Florida apartment along with his roommate, MMA announcer Troy Tirkingburg, who was found dead. Samman was taken the the hospital, where he reportedly remained in a coma which trying to recover. There were no updates immediately given on Samman’s condition, however Samman’s mother released a statement in which she refuted rumors that there was heroin found in her son’s system.

bjpenndotcom - October 18, 2016

While interim UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is still unhappy with the UFC brass given that they didn’t force UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor to take a fight with him after his UFC 202 majority decision win over Nate Diaz, former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has taken a step back. After it was announced that Conor McGregor would be moving to lightweight to fight Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205, rather than drop back down to featherweight for a rematch with Jose Aldo, who he knocked out in 13 seconds in December of 2013, Aldo requested his release from the promotion with the intention to retire and move to another sport entirely.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2016

Earlier this year, the UFC was sold for a whopping $4 billion – quite a jump from the $2 million Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta purchased it for back in the year 2000. With this groundbreaking sale, which saw the company’s reigns handed to talent agency WME-IMG, the UFC seemed poised to reach new and exciting heights. Yet while the UFC has experienced some interesting changes under this new ownership, things have not been looking especially good for the company over the last few months.

bjpenndotcom - October 18, 2016

Although the UFC and former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre were reportedly close to finalizing a deal that would see St-Pierre make his highly anticipated return to the Octagon in the near-future, St-Pierre and the UFC are now at odds after St-Pierre announced that he was a free agent, and the UFC refuted the claims. St-Pierre, who hasn’t fought since his 2013 split decision win over Johny Hendricks, has maintained that he is ready to make his return to MMA. Despite that, UFC President Dana White has maintained that he believes St-Pierre doesn’t want to fight. In a recent interview, White went as far as to explain that he knows people who want to fight, and Georges St-Pierre isn’t one of them.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2016

In late 2011, Junior Dos Santos planted a bomb behind the ear of then heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. A few followup ground-strikes later, and the heavyweight title was his. Given that this title-winning knockout occured in just 64 seconds, however, many fight fans felt that they hadn’t actually seen Dos Santos and Velasquez fight. We’d seen Dos Santos land the right punch at the right time, yes, but his winning so quickly deprived us of the chance to see what Velasquez was really capable of.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2016

On Yesterday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Canadian welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre dumped the fight game on its head by announcing that he’d terminated his UFC contract, and that he planned to explore free agency. Though the UFC quickly released a statement to the contrary, it’s clear that St-Pierre and the organization are not seeing eye-to-eye. The apparent gripes between the two parties stem from the failed negotiations surrounding St-Pierre’s long-discussed return to competition. Though his comeback was rumored for UFC 206 on December 10 in Toronto, he and the UFC were ultimately unable to reach an agreement to this end.

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2016

Back in September, it was announced that Canadian MMA veteran Jordan Mein (29-10) would be emerging from a short-lived retirement to make a UFC return. Today, the opponent for that return came to light. The returning veteran will take on Norway’s Emil Meek (8-2-1) at UFC 206. The card will emanate from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on December 10.

Russell Ess - October 17, 2016

Big news hit the MMA community on Monday. During Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre made a shocking announcement. The former king of the UFC welterweight division announced that with the help of his legal team, he was now a free agent and no longer under a contract with the UFC.

bjpenndotcom - October 17, 2016

Both Michael Bisping and Gegard Mousasi earned huge wins over the weekend, with Mousasi finishing Vitor Belfort with strikes in round two and Bisping going the distance in a close but entertaining five round decision.

Russell Ess - October 17, 2016

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is getting back to competition for a title fight in the Octagon after taking more than a year off. Rousey will take on the current champion, Amanda Nunes, in a five-round title fight at UFC 207 in December. Rousey last fought in November of 2015 where she lost for the first time in her professional mixed martial arts career. Rousey suffered a devastating knockout delivered by Holly Holm at UFC 193 in Australia.

Tom Taylor - October 17, 2016

Earlier this month, in the co-main event of UFC 204, Gegard Mousasi got a fight with an opponent he’d been calling out for years: Vitor Belfort. He did not let this long-awaited opportunity to fight Belfort go to waste. After a strong first round, the Dutchman finished things off in the second, grounding the fight, climbing into full mount, and raining down the punches for a nice TKO win. With this win in the books, Mousasi now sets his sights on his next step up the light heavyweight ladder. Because the division’s top four contenders are currently scheduled opposite one another, however, Mousasi was forced to get creative in the hunt for his next opponent. This led him to call out aging middleweight GOAT Anderson Silva.