MMA News

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2016

https://youtu.be/xe8aTuP3z8w It’s no secret that Anthony “Rumble” Johnson is one of the hardest hitters in MMA. The top-ranked light heavyweight has showcased his incredible power time and time again, scoring blistering knockout wins over game competition in Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Alexander Gustafsson and most recently, Jimi Manuwa, Ryan Bader, and Glover Teixeira.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2016

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor is not only a word class fighter, he’s also an astute business man. Over the course of his UFC career – which is now just over three years old – the Irish superstar has set and reset dozens of money-related records. In March of this year, for example, he became the first fighter in UFC history to earn a disclosed purse of $1 million. And though that record was broken just months later by Brock Lesnar’s $2.5 million dollar UFC 200 purse, McGregor quickly reclaimed his status as the UFC’s highest-paid fighter with a massive, $3 million dollar disclosed payday for his UFC 202 rematch with Nate Diaz.

bjpenndotcom - September 28, 2016

The man with the longest winning streak in the UFC’s featherweight division is losing his patience in getting a fight with interim champion Jose Aldo. Max Holloway (16-3), has won nine UFC fights in a row since dropping a decision loss to Conor McGregor back in 2013.

bjpenndotcom - September 28, 2016

Tuesday afternoon, UFC interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo left the MMA community stunned as he requested that the UFC release him from his contract so that he could retire from MMA and move to another sport entirely. Aldo expressed his frustration with the UFC for not making good on their promise to force Conor McGregor to defend his title after his UFC 202 scrap with Nate Diaz. While UFC President Dana White was adamant that McGregor either defend the belt in a title unification fight with Jose Aldo, or vacate the strap, McGregor has now been booked to fight Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight championship in the main event of the UFC’s historic card at the Madison Square Garden.

bjpenndotcom - September 28, 2016

Perhaps no man is more deserving of a title shot at middleweight than ‘Jacare’ Souza. The former Strikeforce champ has rattled off six wins in his seven UFC fights, most recently finishing Vitor Belfort with strikes in the first round of their UFC 198 showdown. With number 11th ranked middleweight Dan Henderson getting the first shot at Michael Bispings belt due to some lingering bad blood between the two, ‘Jacare’ discussed the landscape of the middleweight division’s top ten, as well as the ever-elusiveness of a title shot of his own.

bjpenndotcom - September 28, 2016

Ahead of UFC 202, where Conor McGregor ultimately ended up avenging his UFC 196 submission loss to Nate Diaz, UFC President Dana White stated that after the fight McGregor must defend his featherweight title, or be forced to vacate it. Immediately following the fight, McGregor was asked at the UFC 202 post-fight press conference if he would be returning to featherweight for a title unification fight with Jose Aldo. McGregor remained noncommittal about returning to featherweight, explaining that the first time he was slated to face Aldo, Aldo backed out; and when they did fight, he won in 13 seconds.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2016

Last December, Ireland’s Conor McGregor won the UFC featherweight title by knocking out the seemingly unbeatable Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds. Instead of turning around and defending his newly won title, however, McGregor then set his sights on a lightweight title shot opposite then champion Rafael Dos Anjos. As we now know, McGregor’s lightweight goals would not unfold as he planned. When Dos Anjos pulled out of their planned bout with a foot injury, the Irishman would be forced to shift his focus to a hastily-arranged welterweight bout with Nate Diaz – a fight he would lose by second round submission. This shocking loss was followed by some fairly pungent dirty-laundry-airing between McGregor and the UFC, and ultimately, by a rematch between McGregor and Diaz, in which McGregor would even the score by capturing a hard-fought majority decision win.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2016

In late 2014, Brazil’s Claudia Gadelha lost a hotly debated split decision to Poland’s Joanna Jedrzejczyk. In July of this year, the two women went at it again, this time with Jedrzejczyk’s well-guarded strawweight title on the line. While Gadelha started strong in this rematch, she ultimately faded down the stretch, and surrendered another decision loss to her Polish rival as a result. Now an unfortunate 0-2 against the strawweight division’s reigning champion, Gadelha finds herself in a bit of a difficult position. That said, the talented Brazilian strawweight appears eager to return to her winning ways, as she has announced she’ll be taking on “Cast Iron” Cortney Casey at UFC Fight Night 100 this November 19 in her native Brazil. Gadelha announced this fight on her Twitter account on Tuesday afternoon.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2016

Last night, at the official press conference for the stacked UFC 205, Jeremy Stephens did what very few fighters have the courage to do, and engaged MMA’s reigning trash-talk king Conor McGregor on the microphone. This attempt did not go especially well for the featherweight slugger. I appreciate Jeremy Stephens efforts he but he got totally destroyed by Conor McGregor. 'Who the fuck is that guy?' pic.twitter.com/Q5CyG0f7fk

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2016

In January of 2015, in the main event of UFC 183, former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz engaged in a memorable battle with middleweight legend Anderson Silva, ultimately coming up short on the judges’ scorecards. Unfortunately, the Stockton native has not been seen in action since. In the days following the fight, it was revealed that both Silva and Diaz had failed drug tests. Silva had failed a pre-fight test for the banned substances drostanolone, androstane, oxazepem, and temazepem, while Diaz was popped for marijuana metabolites in a post-fight test.

bjpenndotcom - September 27, 2016

Interim UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo has been waiting in limbo to find out whether UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor would be returning to featherweight for a title unification fight. Aldo, who earned himself a rematch with McGregor by defeating Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 in July, has been campaigning for a rematch with McGregor since being knocked out in just 13 seconds in the main event of UFC 194 in December.

bjpenndotcom - September 27, 2016

McGregor Fan Clowns Eddie Alvarez With Question At #UFC205 Press Conference pic.twitter.com/D0UpBdeDD3 — SportsCast (@SportsCast_THN) September 28, 2016

Russell Ess - September 27, 2016

Nate Diaz doesn’t think much about the UFC 205 lightweight title fight between lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez and featherweight champ Conor McGregor. Diaz tweeted during the UFC 205 press conference, “My little bitches up there fighting for that #2 spot …#industrypunks,” and followed it up tweeting, “Fake phony motherfukers 🔫🔫🔫”

bjpenndotcom - September 27, 2016

Conor McGregor was in top form during Tuesday’s UFC press conference for the first official event in the Empire State. When asked who would be the hardest fight out of every fighter on stage for the UFC 205 presser, Conor McGregor immediately shut down Jeremy ‘Little Heathen’ Stephens, who interrupted ‘Mystic Mac’ before he could answer.

bjpenndotcom - September 27, 2016

The man known as ‘Mystic Mac’ has never been shy over predicting the method and minute in which he will end a fight. And for eight out of nine UFC fights he accurately predicted, it’s safe to say that Conor McGregor has earned the ‘Mystic Mac’ moniker. McGregor (20-3), who was just announced as lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez’s first title defense at the UFC’s historic first event in New York, did not hold back when asked about how the fight will go down during Tuesday’s press conference.

Tom Taylor - September 27, 2016

Last night, it was announced that UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor will be receiving a crack at Eddie Alvarez’s lightweight title. The two will share the main event honors of UFC 205. While this news garnered massive amounts of excitement from the fans, it did not go over so well with a number of McGregor’s peers. One fighter who appears to be particularly upset with the announcement of McGregor’s lightweight title shot is Jose Aldo.

bjpenndotcom - September 27, 2016

#UFC205: @EAlvarezFight 🇺🇸 vs. @TheNotoriousMMA 🇮🇪 Press Conference Staredown https://t.co/UjJHVWDmsX — UFC Ireland (@UFC_Ireland) September 27, 2016

bjpenndotcom - September 27, 2016

Monday evening, the UFC announced that Conor McGregor & Eddie Alvarez would square off in the main event of UFC 205 for Alvarez’ lightweight championship. The event will not only be a historic one, it will give McGregor the opportunity to enter the UFC record books as only the third man to hold a UFC championship in two weight classes. In addition, McGregor could become the first fighter to hold two UFC championships simultaneously.