MMA News

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.

bjpenndotcom - September 16, 2016

At the end of the first year of random out-of-competition testing, the US Anti-Doping Agency expressed their desire to increase the number of out-of-competition drug tests in the program’s second year with the UFC. Former UFC lightweight champion, and #2 ranked UFC featherweight, Frankie ‘The Answer’ Edgar took to Instagram to reveal that he was tested by USADA this morning. Edgar also included the captions “#SoFreshAndSoCleanClean” and “#CleanAF”.

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:

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, UFC middleweight veteran CB Dollaway was marching straight toward a light heavyweight bout with Brazil’s Francimar Barroso. The two were scheduled to meet on the undercard of UFC 203, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Unfortunately, Dollaway would never make it into the Octagon, as he was forced to withdraw from the fight on the eve of battle. After the weigh-ins on Friday night, Dollaway and a number of other fighters (including Fabricio Werdum and Urijah Faber) were involved in a freak accident in one of the hotel’s elevators.

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

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

Former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen has signed with Bellator MMA, according to the Associated Press. The 39-year-old MMA veteran is fresh off a two-year suspension after testing positive for multiple banned substances in 2014.

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.

bjpenndotcom - September 15, 2016

Last month at UFC 202, top ranked light heavyweight Anthony Johnson picked up a major win as he knocked out Glover Teixeira in the first round of their UFC 202 scrap. Following the fight, ‘Rumble’ called for a rematch with UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier. Cormier verbally agreed to the fight, stating that Johnson deserved a rematch, regardless of whether or not Jon Jones appeal process with USADA goes well.

bjpenndotcom - September 15, 2016

New Jersey native Frankie Edgar’s dreams of fighting in Madison Square Garden are closer than ever from coming into fruition. Brazil’s Combate is reporting that Edgar will be taking on Jeremy ‘Lil Heathen’ Stephens in a featherweight showdown at UFC 205 for the UFC’s first event in New York. Growing up and training just an hour drive from downtown Manhattan, Edgar, 34, is one of many New York and New Jersey natives that are filling out the card.

bjpenndotcom - September 15, 2016

One of the two women who competed in the UFC’s first ever woman’s fight is set to return to the Octagon, as sources are saying the promotion is considering Katlyn Chookagian as Liz Carmouche’s at UFC 205 in the UFC’s first ever foray into the Empire State, according to Ariel Helwani of MMAfighting.com. Carmouche (10-5) took part in the historic title fight with Ronda Rousey back at UFC 157 shortly after the women’s bantamweight division was absorbed into the UFC following their purchase of Strikeforce.

Russell Ess - September 15, 2016

The argument of what has caused “Nick The Tooth” to depart from the “Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight” series is going back and forth between Matt Serra and “Nick The Tooth.” Last Wednesday, Serra who is starring in the “Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight” series along with UFC President Dana White and now Din Thomas, spoke with Bruce Buffer on his “It’s Time” podcast. On the podcast, Buffer asked why “Nick The Tooth,” who originally started the series, was no longer a part of the crew.

bjpenndotcom - September 15, 2016

The UFC 205 fight card is starting to take shape! Following several reports that former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, and top ranked middleweight Yoel Romero would fight on the card, MMAJunkie has confirmed that the fight has been finalized. While the UFC has yet to formally announce the bout, fight fans can likely expect an announcement shortly.

bjpenndotcom - September 15, 2016

Leading up to UFC 200, all signs pointed to former UFC light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones and UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier having their highly anticipated rematch in the main event of the bout. Both fighters made it to fight week uninjured, and were taking part in their media rounds ahead of the fight. Unfortunately, just 48 hours before the event, USADA informed the UFC that Jones had failed an out-of-competition drug test back in June. With no other option, the UFC was forced to pull Jones from the bout.