MMA News

Tom Taylor - September 30, 2016

Earlier this year, it was announced that the UFC had been sold for more than $4 billion. The organization was purchased by Hollywood talent agency WME-IMG, who would take the reigns from long-time owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. When news of this massive sale first broke, it was unclear what effect it would have on the company. Today, however, it’s becoming quite clear that WME-IMG plans to push the UFC–and by association, the larger sport of MMA–further into the mainstream sports landscape. The new owners’ latest effort to this end has been the assembly of a group of A-list celebrity investors.

Tom Taylor - September 30, 2016

Artem Lobov may have been born in Russia, but he is very much an Irishman. As such, the hard-hitting Conor McGregor training partner has been added to the lineup for the UFC’s November 19 return to Belfast, Ireland, where he will take on Japanese fan favorite Teruto “Yashabo” Ishihara. This exciting featherweight showdown was revealed by Petesy Carroll of the Irish Daily Mirror.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

While Conor McGregor stated at the UFC 205 press conference earlier this week that he believes he is the reason for the UFC’s $4.2 billion value, UFC President Dana White seems to think that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is a bigger star. While Rousey has been absent from the Octagon for nearly a year following her horrific KO loss at the hands of Holly Holm at UFC 193, reports have begun to surface which state that Rousey will return by the end of 2016. In addition, Rousey’s coach, Edmond Tarverdyan, has stated that Rousey could very well return by the end of the year if negotiations with the UFC brass go well.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

UFC President Dana White caught quite a bit of criticism recently when it was announced that UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor would be moving up to featherweight for a lightweight title fight with Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205. While White stated prior to McGregor’s showdown with Nate Diaz at UFC 202 that ‘Notorious’ would be forced to defend his featherweight championship, or vacate the belt, it was revealed that McGregor will not be stripped of the 145 pound championship despite his fight with Alvarez. Rather, McGregor will only have to vacate a title belt if he emerges from his UFC 205 scrap with Alvarez with the lightweight championship.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

For years, there have been debates and discussions about a Ronda Rousey vs. Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino super-fight. While the two women fight at different weight classes, that hasn’t curbed the enthusiasm for such a showdown between two of the best female fighters to ever step foot into the octagon. Former woman’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey hasn’t fought since a devastating knockout loss to Holly Holm back at UFC 193 in November 2015, while ‘Cyborg’ (16-1) has now won two UFC fights in a row by TKO.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

Georges Saint Pierre allegedly asked for a whopping $10 million to fight UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor, according to former champ Jose Aldo. GSP, who has been in retirement since a 2013 split decision victory over Johnny Hendricks, was contemplating a UFC return amidst links to potential fights with Tyron Woodley who called GSP out, as well as Conor McGregor.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

Video by Youssef Hannoun Earlier this week it was announced that Conor McGregor and Eddie Alvarez would be squaring off in the main event of UFC 205 for the lightweight champion in the UFC’s historic inaugural Madison Square Garden event.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

Earlier this month, former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen announced that he was coming out of retirement, and had signed an exclusive, multi-fight deal with Bellator MMA. While Sonnen remained adamant throughout the course of his 2-year suspension that he was indeed retired from MMA, it took just over one month from the time his suspension ended, for ‘The American Gangster’ to sign with Bellator MMA.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson has had his own issues with referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy, but ‘Smooth’ says he would never have considered kicking him, as Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson did on Saturday. Following a crushing uppercut that sent opponent ‘Bigfoot’ Silva crashing to the mat, Nelson finished the fight with some ground-and-pound, causing what ‘Big Country’ believed to be a very late stoppage against a personal friend.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

Max Holloway is currently in quite the odd position in the UFC’s featherweight division. While he currently sits at #3 on the official featherweight rankings behind interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo at #1, and Frankie Edgar at #2, Holloway boasts the longest active win streak in the UFC. Since dropping a unanimous decision to Conor McGregor back in 2013, Holloway has gone on to rattle off 9 straight wins, including finishes of Cub Swanson and Charles Oliveira. In addition, Holloway’s 9-fight win streak includes wins over Jeremy Stephens, and most recently former featherweight title challenger Ricardo Lamas.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

UFC heavyweight Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva is undoubtably one of the most recognizable heavyweights in MMA. With over 11 years of experience as a professional, and notable wins over MMA icon Fedor Emelianenko, former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski, and MMA veteran Alistair Overeem to name just a few, Bigfoot is a very well known fighter in the MMA world. Unfortunately however, Silva could very well find himself as a free agent following his 1st round KO loss to Roy Nelson on the main card of ‘UFC Brasilia’ this past weekend. The loss to Nelson made it 3-straight for ‘Bigfoot’ and dropped his record to 1-4 in his last 5.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

UFC heavyweight Gabriel ‘Napao’ Gonzaga has some of the best knockouts in the history of the UFC’s heavyweight division. A UFC veteran with 23 fights under the UFC banner, Gonzaga has been a staple of the UFC’s heavyweight division since he made his debut in 2005, where he knocked out Kevin Jordan in the 3rd round with a spectacular superman punch.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is never one to shy away from voicing his opinion, regardless of whether or not the MMA community will agree with him.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

Earlier this month, it was revealed that UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez would be stepping in the Octagon on November 12th to defend his lightweight championship against UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor in the main event of the historic card. The announcement was followed up by the UFC 205 press conference on Tuesday afternoon, where Alvarez and McGregor came face to face for the first time. During the course of the press conference, Alvarez repeatedly called McGregor’s featherweight championship the ‘little boy belt’ and referred to his lightweight championship as the ‘big boy belt’ due to the fact that their fight at lightweight will be 10 pounds higher than where McGregor reigns over the featherweight division.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

While interim UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is currently still under contract with the UFC, the offers have begun to pour in for the former featherweight kingpin to jump to other promotions. After it was revealed that Conor McGregor would hold onto his UFC featherweight championship despite moving up to lightweight to fight Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205 in New York, Aldo requested the UFC release him from his contract.

bjpenndotcom - September 29, 2016

Max Holloway has been on a campaign for a featherweight title shot, both inside and outside of the octagon. And with a nine-fight win streak, the longest in the featherweight division,  you would think the 24-year-old Hawaiian would have earned a title shot already, but with the logjam that is the current state of the 145 pound division, Holloway’s pursuit for UFC gold remains as uncertain as ever.

bjpenndotcom - September 28, 2016

While former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre and the UFC are currently still in negotiations regarding St-Pierre’s potential return to the Octagon, news emerged this week that indicates St-Pierre is one step closer to returning to the Octagon. According to MMAWeekly, ‘Rush’ has entered the USADA testing pool and has already been tested. This news comes after it was reported last month that St-Pierre had began the ‘USADA process’ in order to return to the UFC. At that point, St-Pierre had just begun the process, whereas now he has reportedly been tested 4 times according to USADA’s website.

bjpenndotcom - September 28, 2016

Interim UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo’s ongoing saga with the UFC brass could get even uglier if both sides stand their ground. After the UFC announced that Conor McGregor would be fighting Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight championship at UFC 205, and would not be vacating the featherweight championship, Aldo requested that the promotion release him from his contract.