MMA News

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2016

In May of 2015, Daniel Cormier and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson fought for the interim UFC light heavyweight championship. In the end, Cormier would use his Olympic-caliber wrestling to ground this fight and lock up a fight-winning rear-naked choke in the third round. Yet the Olympian very nearly didn’t escape the first round, as he was nearly finished by a rocket-fuelled Rumble punch just moments after the bout began. Today, Cormier has been elevated from interim champion to undisputed champion, and Rumble has bounced back from his loss to Cormier with three straight knockout wins. As such, a title rematch between the two light heavyweights appears to be imminent.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2016

Michael “The Menace” Johnson scored a brutal first-round knockout victory over Dustin Poirier in the main event of tonight’s UFC Fight Night 94 event in Hidalgo, Texas. Johnson was able to slip a Poirier combination and then catch “The Diamond” with a big counter right hand, followed by a straight left, which sent Dustin crashing to the canvas.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2016

A key lightweight bout between Michael Johnson and Dustin Poirier served as the main event of tonight’s UFC Fight Night 94 fight card in Hidalgo, Texas. The fight started and both men seemed happy to stand and trade strikes early.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2016

A key lightweight bout between Dustin Poirier and Michael Johnson served as the main event of tonight’s UFC Fight Night 94 fight card in Hidalgo, Texas. Round one begins and Johnson starts things off with a leg kick. He misses with a follow up jab. Poirier comes forward but eats a nice counter shot from “The Menace”. Dustin with a leg kick. Johnson replies with a jab and Poirier fires back with another leg kick. Michael is applying pressure here and lands an inside leg kick. Michael Johnson connects with a huge punch that floors Poirier. He follows up with some ground and pound and Dustin is out cold.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2016

A key middleweight bout between Uriah Hall and Derek Brunson served as the co-main event of tonight’s UFC Fight Night 94 card in Hidalgo, Texas. Round one begins and Brunson immediately uses some forward pressure to push Hall up against the cage. He begins working for a takedown but Uriah is able to defend the attempt. Hall breaks free and lands a front kick to the body of Derek. Brunson presses forward and lands a big left that drops Hall. He moves in and lands a couple of shots and Herb Dean calls the bout.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2016

A lightweight bout between Evan Dunham and Rick Glenn took place on tonight’s UFC Fight Night 94 main card in Hidalgo, Texas. Round one begins and Glenn quickly takes the center of the cage and lands a front kick to body of Evan. Dunham fires back with a combination and lands a big left hand. Evan presses forward and lands a nice knee to the body of Glenn. Dunham shoots in and scores a double leg takedown. He begins working from the full guard of Rick Glenn. Dunham lands some shots to the body. He transitions to half guard and locks in a choke. Glenn is able to fight off the submission attempt and gets back to full guard. Dunham with a couple of big shots from the top. Evan lands back-to-back hard elbows and follows those up with a hard right hand. Glenn scrambles and gives up his back. Evan wastes no time taking the back position and working some short shots. Dunham locks in a rear-naked choke. Glenn somehow fights through the submission attempt. Unbelievable that he was able to survive that choke. Dunham still has his back but only 20-seconds remain. Glenn scrambles and gets back to half guard position. He lands some elbows from the bottom as round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2016

A welterweight bout between Roan Carneiro and Kenny Robertson took place on tonight’s UFC Fight Night 94 main card in Hidalgo, Texas. Round one begins and Robertson pushes Roan against the cage. Carneiro quickly switches the position and ends up scoring a takedown. Roan immediately moves to half guard and works some shots from the top. Robertson scrambles and gets back up to his feet. Roan lands a crisp jab. Robertson replies with an overhand left. Carneiro circles away and lands a solid leg kick. Kenny has his hands low but is applying the pressure here. The fighters trade shots. Roan retreats. Carneiro is looking to counter Kenny as he comes in. Some good shots land for Robertson. Roan needs to circle away from the cage and he finally does. Carneiro lands a nice leg kick to end round one.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2016

Chas Skelly kicked off tonight’s UFC Fight Night 94 main card in spectacular fashion by scoring a record-setting submission victory over Maximo Blanco. Kelly immediately rushed after his opponent to begin the fight and landed a jumping body kick that dropped Blanco. Chas quickly pounced on his wounded opponent and locked up a tight guillotine choke. Skelly adjusted the choke and transitioned it in to an anaconda choke that sent Blanco to sleep.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2016

A featherweight bout between Chas Skelly and Maximo Blanco kicked off tonight’s UFC Fight Night 94 main card in Hidalgo, Texas. Round one begins and Chas Kelly immediately lands a big kick to the body that drops Blanco. He quickly pounces on Maximo and locks up a guillotine choke. He transitions to an anaconda choke and this one is all over as Blanco goes to sleep.

bjpenndotcom - September 17, 2016

Cat Zingano is in quite the peculiar place in the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division. While ‘Alpha Cat’ is ranked at #6 on the UFC’s official women’s bantamweight rankings, she holds a dominant TKO win over Amanda Nunes, who is currently the women’s bantamweight champion. In addition, Zingano holds a win over Miesha Tate, who Nunes beat to claim the women’s bantamweight champion at UFC 200. With that being said, Zingano is on a 2-fight losing streak that saw her suffer the first defeat of her professional career at the hands of Ronda Rousey back in 2015, and more recently saw her drop a unanimous decision to Julianna Pena.

bjpenndotcom - September 17, 2016

https://youtu.be/M5oX_JDu_14 In the co-main event of UFC 203 earlier this month, former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum squared off against Travis Browne in a highly anticipated rematch.

bjpenndotcom - September 17, 2016

In less than a month, our namesake, BJ Penn, will make his highly anticipated return to the Octagon in the main event of UFC Manilla as he faces #4 ranked featherweight Ricardo Lamas. The fight will serve as not only Penn’s return to the Octagon, but also his featherweight debut. While Penn was originally slated to fight Dennis Siver earlier this year for his return fight, he now meets arguably one of the toughest fighters in the division, former featherweight title challenger Ricardo Lamas.

bjpenndotcom - September 17, 2016

https://youtu.be/eguVRHNbXgE ‘Master Thong’ has been a staple of Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male gym for quite some time. In addition to being one of the best striking coaches on the planet, Master Thong has caught the eye of several MMA fans with his hilarious and over-the-top fight night outfits when he’s cornering fighters.

bjpenndotcom - September 17, 2016

The bantamweight division has been in a state of unrest since Dominick Cruz reclaimed the title over TJ Dillashaw back in January. With the emergence of contenders like Cody Garbrandt, the idea of who gets the next title shot becomes even murkier. Former champion TJ Dillashaw discussed the landscape of the 135 pound division, and even took some parting shots at former teammate Urijiah Faber when asked of a possible fight with ‘the California Kid’.

bjpenndotcom - September 17, 2016

Prior to Mickey Gall’s UFC 203 scrap with CM Punk, it was revealed that UFC President Dana White had blocked Gall’s walkout song. The song in question? ‘Mickey’ by Toni Basil. While Gall stood backstage just moments before his walkout, he was shocked when his walkout song started playing:

bjpenndotcom - September 17, 2016

UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is fresh off his UFC 203 TKO win over Alistair Overeem earlier this month in Cleveland, Ohio. The win marked the first title defense for the Ohio native, who won the heavyweight championship earlier this year when he knocked MMA legend Fabricio Werdum out cold.

bjpenndotcom - September 17, 2016

[ooyala code=”AyZHB4NTE6KriC0zx8LKAzCQ07oMUxHq” player_id=”bd214e34cfad476984102de4bf5e8da2″ auto=”true” width=”1280″ height=”1600″ autoplay=”true”] Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans has been on a bit of a slide as of late. In 2013, Evans went on a 2-fight win streak that saw him defeat Dan Henderson via split decision, and defeat Chael Sonnen via 1st round TKO. Unfortunately, Evans was sidelined for the next 2 years due to injuries. When he made his highly anticipated return to the Octagon back at UFC 192, he was defeated via unanimous decision by Ryan Bader. Evans returned to the Octagon just 6 months later to fight Glover Teixeira in a pivotal matchup. Just one minute and 48 seconds into the fight, Teixeira knocked Evans out cold. A disappointed Evans spoke in his post-fight Octagon speech, saying that fighting used to come so easy to him.

bjpenndotcom - September 17, 2016

https://youtu.be/3drmd_mWGFw UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor has been in the United States working on motion capture for ‘Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’. ‘The Notorious’ gave fans a first look at what his character would look like in the game. Shortly after, footage emerged of McGregor doing motion capture for the game, leaving fans wanting more.