MMA News

Russell Ess - October 5, 2016

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier will return to the Octagon to defend his title at UFC 206 in Toronto, Canada. The event is scheduled to take place on December 10. Cormier made his announcement on Wednesday night’s “UFC Tonight” show on FOX Sports 1. Cormier is slated to face Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in another UFC light heavyweight title rematch. The two first met in the center of the Octagon at UFC 187 in May of 2015 where “DC” was able to submit Johnson by rear-naked choke in the third round, which earned Cormier the vacant UFC light heavyweight title after former champion Jon Jones was suspended after legal troubles with a hit-and-run car accident.

bjpenndotcom - October 5, 2016

The long-awaited return of BJPENN.com Radio takes place at 8PM ET/ 5PM PT on October 5th!For the flagship show relaunch we bring you a savage lineup of guests from accross the combat sports spectrum. 8:15PM/5:15PM- Matt “The Immortal” Brown @IamTheImmortal will kick off the show to discuss what the welterweight contender has planned for the remainder of 2016 into early 2017, as well as his take on the current landscape of the welterweight division.

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.

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.

bjpenndotcom - October 5, 2016

It looks as though the MMA community will have to wait longer for the return of pound for pound kingpin, interim light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. After it was revealed last month that Jones would be appearing in front of the NSAC on October 10th along with Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor, who could be facing repercussions for their UFC 202 water bottle fight, many expected Jones to return to the Octagon sooner rather than later given that UFC President Dana White previously stated that Jones’ appeal process was going well.

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.

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

Josh Samman managed to live an extraordinary life despite his relatively short 28 years here, becoming a widely recognized UFC fighter and best-selling author without ever reaching his 30th birthday. Although Samman enjoyed massive successes as a prize-fighter and writer, he endured as much tragedy as he did triumph.

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.

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.

bjpenndotcom - October 5, 2016

Wednesday morning the MMA community was hit with a tragic development regarding UFC middleweight Josh Samman, who has been in a coma since being found unresponsive in a Florida apartment last month. While there has still been no word as to why Samman was found unresponsive, and another man with him was found dead, Samman’s mother recently released an update on her son, in which she refuted claims that there was heroin involved.

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

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

https://youtu.be/etWtQoKHxEo The historic UFC 205 card taking place at Madison Square Garden will feature a main event bout between UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor. Alvarez will look to defend his belt for the first time while “The Notorious” will look to stamp his name in mixed martial arts history as the first UFC fighter to ever hold two championship belts from two different UFC weight classes at the same time.