MMA News

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2016

When Stephen Thompson extended his win-streak to seven with a June win over Rory MacDonald, he seemed like a shoo-in for a shot at the winner of Robbie Lawler and Tyron Woodley’s July welterweight title fight. When Woodley stole Lawler’s title with a blistering, first-round KO, however, Thompson’s future became far less clear. Immediately after the win, Woodley began expressing his interest in welterweight “money fights” with superstars like Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz. At the same time, he expressed a complete disinterest in Thompson being his first title challenger. Even when the ever-courteous Thompson tried his hand at trash-talk, saying Woodley seemed “scared,” the champ wouldn’t budge.

Chris Taylor - September 18, 2016

UFC welterweight standout Alan Jouban (14-4 MMA) is quickly climbing the promotions 170-pound ranks, having won two fights in a row and four of his past five overall. Jouban’s most recent effort came at this past July’s UFC Fight Night 90 event in Las Vegas, where he picked up a unanimous victory over Belal Muhammad.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2016

Last night, in the main event of UFC Fight Night 94, Michael Johnson scored big with a beautiful, first-round knockout of the streaking Dustin Poirier.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2016

On Saturday night, the UFC took over the small border town of Hidalgo Texas with UFC Fight Night 94. In the main event of the evening, Michael Johnson dazzled with a first-round knockout of streaking contender Dustin Poirier. In the night’s co-main event, rising middleweight Derek Brunson scored a similarly emphatic win, leveling the hot-and-cold Uriah Hall with a thudding left hand against the cage. The end occurred at the 1:41 mark of the first round, making the co-main event just 6 seconds longer than the main event.

Chris Taylor - September 18, 2016

‘UFC Fight Night 96’ in Hidalgo, Texas delivered some memorable fights and solid finishes. With that said, four “Performance of the night” awards were handed out at yesterday evening’s post fight press conference.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2016

Last night, the UFC touched down in the small border town of Hidalgo, Texas with UFC Fight Night 94. In the evening’s main event, former featherweight contender Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier looked to improve to 5-0 since returning to lightweight. His opportunity to do so came against long-time lightweight contender Michael “The Menace” Johnson, who entered the bout with back-to-back losses to Nate Diaz and Beneil Dariush in his wake. Though Johnson was considered a slight underdog by oddsmakers in advance of the fight, he ultimately came out in the first round, flattening his streaking foe with a blistering two-punch salvo, and burying him with ground and pound. The end came at the 1:35 mark of the first frame, making it the second fastest win of the night.

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 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 Derek Brunson and Uriah Hall served as the co-main event of tonight’s UFC Fight Night 94 card in Hidalgo, Texas. Brunson was able to land a huge left hand early in round one that sent Hall crashing to the canvas.

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

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 lightweight bout between Chris Wade and Islam Makhachev took place on tonight’s UFC Fight Night 94 main card in Hidalgo, Texas. Round one begins and Wade comes forward with a front kick to the body. He follows that up with a solid leg kick. Makhachev shoots in and scores a takedown. He immediately transitions to half guard but Wade is able to pull off a sweep and wind up in top position. Makhachev locks in a triangle choke and it is tight. Wade throws down some big shots while locked up in the submission. Islam is forced to let go of the attempt. Chris continues to work some shots from guard before the horn sounds to end round one.

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

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

UFC analyst and former welterweight title contender Dan Hardy believes Dustin Poirier will have the edge going into Saturday night’s fight against Michael Johnson at UFC Fight Night 94. Poirer (20-4) has been on a four-fight win streak since moving up to lightweight from featherweight, while Johnson looks to get back on track after a two-fight losing streak.