MMA News

Tom Taylor - September 16, 2016

Last weekend, on the main card of UFC 203, former WWE star CM Punk came up short in his long-awaited UFC debut, tapping to a first-round rear-naked choke applied by the young Mickey Gall. When it was first announced that Punk had signed with the UFC, the reaction was almost universally negative. Here was a guy, after all, who was waltzing onto the sports biggest stage with no martial arts experience. It was an overt publicity stunt on the part of the UFC, and opportunity Punk wasn’t believed to deserve.

Russell Ess - September 16, 2016

Bellator MMA will be getting a ton of memorable quotes now that “The American Gangster,” Chael Sonnen has signed a multi-fight deal. The former UFC title contender and Bellator MMA President Scott Coker were on a conference call with the media on Friday, a day after the news of Sonnen’s signing was released by the Associated Press.

Russell Ess - September 16, 2016

#UFCHidalgo can't come soon enough!@DustinPoirier vs @FollowTheMenaceLIVE & FREE on @FS1 10pmET https://t.co/Krray80v8S — UFC (@ufc) September 16, 2016

bjpenndotcom - September 16, 2016

While UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley may have been quick to shut down Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson on the Fox Sports 1 post-fight show after winning the welterweight championship, the pair are now slated to fight at UFC 205 in New York. On the #UFCHidalgo weigh in show, @TWooodley confirms he’ll be fighting @WonderboyMMA at #UFC205 in New York.

bjpenndotcom - September 16, 2016

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/283207968″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn was a recent guest on BJPENN.com’s “Rapid Fire”, with host Chris Taylor, where he discussed a number of different topics including his comeback fight against Ricardo Lamas which takes place next month in Manila, Philippines.

Tom Taylor - September 16, 2016

We’re now just one month away from the hotly anticipated Octagon return of MMA legend B.J. Penn. The Hawaiian great will be taking on dangerous featherweight Ricardo Lamas in the main event of the UFC’s return to Manila on October 15. As we eagerly await Penn’s comeback, another legend of the sport appears to be gearing up for a comeback of his own: former Penn rival Georges St-Pierre. Though the Canadian is currently mired in contract negotiations with the UFC, he’s made no secret of his desire to return to the cage.

bjpenndotcom - September 16, 2016

Less than 24 hours ago, former UFC middleweight, and light heavyweight, title challenger Chael Sonnen announced that he had ended his retirement, and signed an exclusive multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA. While no date was given for Sonnen’s first fight, there was some speculation regarding whether Sonnen would fight at middleweight, or light heavyweight given the fact that he has fought at both weight-classes in the past.

bjpenndotcom - September 16, 2016

Thursday evening, news broke that former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger Chael Sonnen had ended his retirement, and signed an exclusive multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA. No immediate word was given in regress to when Sonnen would be making his Bellator MMA debut, however ‘The American Gangster’ was campaigning for a fight with former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz. Ortiz, who is coming off a submission loss to Liam McGeery for the Bellator light heavyweight championship, has been away from the cage for nearly a year after having his 2-fight win streak snapped since moving to Bellator.

Tom Taylor - September 16, 2016

Derek Brunson has made no secret of his disdain for Uriah Hall in advance of their middleweight showdown this Saturday. The Strikeforce veteran has spent the past few months lambasting his upcoming foe, even accusing him of PED-use on several occasions. Unsurprisingly, Brunson’s verbal onslaught hasn’t gone over well with Hall, and in a recent interview with Fox Sports, Hall finally launched some return fire.

bjpenndotcom - September 16, 2016

Julianna Pena is looking for a fight! ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ is currently riding a 4-fight win streak that most recently saw her pick up a unanimous decision win over Cat Zingano at UFC 200 in July. Pena, who is ranked at #5 on the UFC’s official women’s bantamweight rankings behind Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, Valentina Shevchenko, and Holly Holm, took to social media with quite the message for Nunes:

Tom Taylor - September 16, 2016

[ooyala code=”1vMDR4NTE6QbgnxwYZHCn1sfwDErWDh9″ player_id=”bd214e34cfad476984102de4bf5e8da2″ auto=”true” width=”1280″ height=”724″ autoplay=”true”] Interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo is still an absolute monster. The video above – which shows the Brazilian great smashing mitts with Emerson Falcao – is all the proof of that statement you need.

bjpenndotcom - September 16, 2016

Thursday evening, it was announced that former UfC title challenger Chael Sonnen had officially ended his retirement, and signed an exclusive multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA. At the time of the announcement, there had been no word given as to when Sonnen would be making his Bellator MMA debut, however it was revealed that Sonnen was campaigning for a fight with former UFC champion Tito Ortiz, who is coming off a failed bid at the Bellator MMA light heavyweight championship which saw him get submitted by Liam McGeery.

Tom Taylor - September 16, 2016

Last week, Luke Rockhold made waves by blasting the UFC over fighter pay, referring to an offer the organization made him as “bullsh*t.” Just days later, however, it was announced that former middleweight champion would be returning to action against Brazilian contender Ronald “Jacare” Souza. The two top middleweights will headline the UFC’s return to Melbourne, Australia on November 27. Obviously, the booking of this fight suggests that the UFC opened up their wallets and made Rockhold an offer that he found more reasonable. On this week’s episode of the Extra Rounds podcast, Rockhold confirmed this, and gave a bit more information on his recent remuneration-related gripes.

Tom Taylor - September 16, 2016

In January of this year, TJ Dillashaw surrendered the UFC bantamweight title to returning champion Dominick Cruz in a competitive, five-round battle. Having rebounded from this title loss with a nice, decision win over Rafael Assuncao at UFC 200, Dillashaw’s focus is now locked on a rematch with Cruz, and the chance to reclaim the title that was once his. But that doesn’t mean the former champion isn’t looking further into the future. On the most recent episode of The Fighter and the Kid podcast (via MMA Latest), Dillashaw told hosts Brendan Schaub and Bryan Callen that, once he’s reclaimed the bantamweight title from Cruz, he’s got his eyes on a flyweight title fight with pound-for-pound king Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson.

bjpenndotcom - September 15, 2016

While the MMA world awaits news regarding whether or not UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor will return to the featherweight division following his majority decision win over Nate Diaz last month, interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo can’t help but play matchmaker. While many are calling for #3 ranked featherweight Max Holloway to get a fight with Jose Aldo, the featherweight champ wants a fight with former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, who recently made his successful featherweight debut.

bjpenndotcom - September 15, 2016

This week, news surfaced that former UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen had ended his retirement, and signed with Bellator MMA. Sonnen, who recently celebrated the end of his 2-year suspension, remained adamant over the course of the last 2 years that he is indeed retired. When ‘The American Gangster’ announced that he was ending his retirement, he stated that the reason he lied about his retirement was because “heels lie”.

Russell Ess - September 15, 2016

Russell Ess - September 15, 2016

12-6 Uriah Hall has his own big fight coming this weekend as he takes on 15-3 Derek Brunson in the co-main event of the UFC Fight Night 94 event taking place in Hidalgo, Texas. While Hall is focused on his bout with Brunson, the rising middleweight star commented on his division’s title fight coming up between UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and his rival Dan Henderson.