MMA News

bjpenndotcom - October 5, 2016

When it was announced earlier this year that #13 ranked UFC middleweight Dan Henderson would be getting first crack at Michael Bisping and his middleweight championship, there was widespread outrage regarding Bisping cutting the line to get a middleweight title shot. While many MMA fans wanted to see the UFC 100 rematch between Bisping and Henderson, the general consensus among fans was that Henderson shouldn’t receive a title shot, despite the fact that he has promised this will be his final MMA fight.

Tom Taylor - October 5, 2016

One of the biggest storylines to emerge from Rizin Fighting Federation’s latest card, which went down on September 25 in Saitama, Japan, was the reemergence of an age-old beef between “Felony” Charles Bennett and the much larger Wanderlei Silva. Bennett and Silva’s beef stems from an infamous 2005 locker room brawl. Footage of this brawl, which shows Bennett being choked out by Silva compatriot Cristiano Marcello, has been surfacing and resurfacing on the Internet for years. According to Bennett, however, the real reason for this beef is what occurred in the un-filmed portions of the incident. If the legends are to be believed, Bennett was able to knock Silva unconscious when the cameras weren’t rolling.

bjpenndotcom - October 5, 2016

Despite appearing to be a good card on paper, UFC Fight Night: Dodson vs. Lineker on Saturday night pulled the lowest ratings for any Fight Night card this year. The event had a paltry 657,000 viewers on FS 1 Saturday night, which made it the lowest for a Saturday night prime time show so far this year, according to David Meltzer.

Tom Taylor - October 5, 2016

In June of this year, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson extended his win-streak to seven with a decision win over recent Bellator signee Rory MacDonald. With the win, he established himself as the obvious opponent for Robbie Lawler and Tyron Woodley’s July welterweight title fight. When Woodley won the title with a first-round KO of Lawler, however, Thompson’s contender status began to look less certain, as the new champ expressed interest in “money fights” with Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz, and a complete disinterest in a bout with the division’s number one contender.

Tom Taylor - October 5, 2016

In April of 2013, a 25-year-old Conor McGregor waved goodbye to a job as a plumber’s apprentice and made a successful UFC debut with a first-round TKO of Marcus Brimage. In the moments after the win, McGregor would famously call for a knockout of the night bonus. He would receive that bonus, and return home to Ireland $60,000 richer. Given that McGregor had just collected a welfare check for €180—roughly $230 USD at the time—this was obviously a huge moment for him.

Russell Ess - October 5, 2016

#1 UFC ranked lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov is not happy that he is not challenging Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 205 in New York. Nurmagomedov feels he was “used” to set up the lightweight title fight between Eddie Alvarez and Conor McGregor, which will headline the UFC 205 card. Instead of fighting for the lightweight title, Nurmagomedov was given a fight against Michael Johnson, which the Russian says will be his last fight before he gets to the title.

Russell Ess - October 5, 2016

Tragic news hit the MMA community on Wednesday when it was revealed that UFC middleweight Josh “Anqa” Samman had passed away at the young age of 28-years-old. Samman, who made his way to the UFC on TUF season 17, “Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs Team Sonnen” was found unresponsive in a Florida apartment last week.

bjpenndotcom - October 5, 2016

This weekend, in the main event of UFC 204, Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson will step into the Octagon in Manchester, England, to square off for Bisping’s UFC middleweight championship. While the fight has the potential to be Bisping’s first successful title defense, it could also mean MMA history for Henderson.

bjpenndotcom - October 5, 2016

Last week, Conor McGregor and Eddie Alvarez came face to face for the first time at the UFC 205 press conference ahead of their historic fight for Alvarez’ lightweight championship in the main event of UFC 205 on November 12th. When Alvarez fielded his first question from a media member, he was meet with boos from McGregor fans, whereas the featherweight champ was given extremely loud cheers from his fans whenever he would touch the mic.

bjpenndotcom - October 5, 2016

In just over 72 hours, Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson will step into the Octagon in the main event of UFC 204 in Manchester, England to fight for the UFC middleweight championship. In addition to the fight being a highly anticipated rematch of the pair’s UFC 100 scrap that saw Henderson pick up arguably one of the most iconic knockouts in MMA history, the fight will serve as Bisping’s first title defense after knocking out Luke Rockhold to win the belt in the main event of UFC 199 back in June.

bjpenndotcom - October 5, 2016

This past weekend the UFC hit Portland, Oregon for an action packed night of fights. The event started off with a bang on UFC Fight Pass as Curtis Blaydes picked up a spectacular KO win over Cody East, leaving East with a massive welt on his head from brutal elbows. Throughout the event the ball kept on rolling with highlight reel finishes, and stellar performances.

Tom Taylor - October 5, 2016

Last Saturday, South Korean promotion Road FC announced that they’ll be hosting a 32-man lightweight tournament. According to the burgeoning organization, the winner of this massive tournament will take home a whopping $1,000,000. According to the folks over at BloodyElbow.com, this tournament will kick off in the spring of 2017, and will unfurl over the course of 5 rounds. These 5 rounds will be spread out over the year, and occur not only in South Korea, but also in Japan and China.

Tom Taylor - October 5, 2016

https://youtu.be/snigTc_iaXM Earlier this year, news broke that Bellator heavyweight and former UFC star Kevin Ferguson – more widely known as Kimbo Slice – had tragically passed away. The beloved fighter died of heart failure after being rushed to a hospital in Florida.

bjpenndotcom - October 4, 2016

Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw has been doing everything in his power to secure a rematch with UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. Cruz, who returned to the Octagon earlier this year, fought Dillashaw in the main event of ‘UFC Fight Night: Boston’ back in January, and reclaimed the bantamweight championship that he never actually lost inside the Octagon as he picked up a split decision win over Dillashaw.

bjpenndotcom - October 4, 2016

At the beginning of 2016, many predicted that 21-0 Brazilian bantamweight Thomas Almeida would climb to the top of the UFC’s bantamweight rankings by the end of the year, and even potentially earn himself a crack at bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. On May 29th, Almeida stepped into the Octagon against Team Alpha Male prospect Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt, who was also entering the bout undefeated. Ultimately, it took just two minutes and 53 seconds for Garbrandt to finish Almeida with a highlight reel knockout, putting an end to his undefeated streak.

bjpenndotcom - October 4, 2016

Scott Coker took over operations for Bellator MMA back in 2014, when Viacom replaced Bjorn Rebney with the former Strikeforce president. Ever since, Bellator has signed some massive free agents, from Rory MacDonald to Benson Henderson. Bellator’s Facebook page pasted a video on Monday in celebration of Coker’s birthday, and some of the major successes the company has had since he took over.

Russell Ess - October 4, 2016

Current UFC interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo has come to a point in his career where he is simply fed up. The Brazilian champion recently stated that he wants to be released from his UFC contract to pursue new opportunities outside the world of mixed martial arts.

bjpenndotcom - October 4, 2016

Eight years ago today, the MMA world was turned upside down with one punch and 14 seconds. Ultimate Fighter season 2 alum Seth Petruzelli, who was filling in for Ken Shamrock after a last-minute cut forced Shamrock off the card, had done something remarkable. He knocked out Kimbo Slice in one of the highest viewed MMA events in television history.