MMA News

Chris Taylor - August 27, 2016

A lightweight rematch between veterans Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller kicked off tonight’s UFC on FOX 21 main card in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Round one begins and Lauzon presses forward with a front kick. Both men exchange combinations early. Miller lands a nice body kick. Lauzon shoots in and attempts a heel hook. It is not there. The fighters stand back up and begin trading punches. Lauzon presses Miller against the fence. Jim lands some knees to the body of Joe and they break. Miller presses forward with punches. Lauzon fires back with a left hook. Joe lands a right hand and presses Miller against the fence. Jim lands a big knee inside. The fighters break. Joe shoots in and lands a takedown. He moves to half guard. Lauzon with some nice shots form the top. 90 seconds remain. Miller is able to scramble and get back up to his feet. Both men trade some solid shots. Miller lands a nice left hook. Lauzon presses forward but eats a counter shot. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - August 27, 2016

UFC middleweight Sam Alvey just picked up a big TKO victory over Kevin Casey at tonight’s UFC on FOX 21 event in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Alvey landed a solid left hand that dropped Casey and then followed up with some nasty ground and pound that prompted the referee to step in and stop the bout.

Chris Taylor - August 27, 2016

Following Anthony Johnson’s brutal 13-second knockout victory over Glover Teixeira in the co-main event of UFC 202, many fans and analysts expected that “Rumble’s” next fight would be a title bout against current champ Daniel Cormier. However, shortly after Johnson’s blistering uppercut victory, UFC president Dana White shocked fans by stating that he liked the idea of a fight between Anthony Johnson and Jon Jones as opposed to a rematch between “Rumble” and “DC”.

Chris Taylor - August 27, 2016

Former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald made waves last week when he announced that he had ‘jumped ship’ and signed with Bellator MMA. The top ranked welterweight fighter revealed his reasons for leaving the UFC during last night’s Bellator 160 press conference (watch here).

Chris Taylor - August 27, 2016

TUF Nations winner Chad Laprise was able to score a first-round TKO victory over Thibault Gouti in the featured bout of the UFC on FOX 21 prelims. Laprise landed a beautiful counter right hand that sent Gouti crashing to the floor and then quickly pounded on his opponent with ground strikes forcing the referee to step in and stop the action.

Chris Taylor - August 27, 2016

https://youtu.be/Idix_NYCtmM UFC President Dana White was a recent guest on ESPN’s Sports Center where he discussed what is next for UFC 202 headliners Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor.

Chris Taylor - August 27, 2016

Former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald recently jumped ship and signed a deal to fight under the Bellator banner.

Chris Taylor - August 27, 2016

UFC on FOX 21: Maia vs. Condit takes place tonight in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The event is headlined by a key welterweight fight featuring former UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit taking on former middleweight title challenger Demian Maia.

bjpenndotcom - August 27, 2016

Fan favorite UFC fighter Donald Cerrone, who is fresh off a spectacular welterweight win over Rick Story at UFC 202 this past weekend, recently earned his BJJ black belt. Cerrone, who has won 16 of his 31 professional MMA wins by way of submission, posted about getting his black belt on Instagram:

bjpenndotcom - August 27, 2016

The rivalry between UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and top ranked UFC bantamweight Cody Garbrandt, has been a very public one. Since Cruz defeated Garbrandt’s mentor and coach, Urijah Faber, at UFC 199, the pair have sent verbal jabs back and forth. Following Garbrandt’s UFC 202 win over Takeya Mizugaki, he called out Cruz in his post-fight Octagon interview. With both men verbally agreeing to the fight, Garbrandt once again sent some verbal blows Cruz’ way. This time however, the Tweet was deleted, and later reposted without offensive terms.

bjpenndotcom - August 27, 2016

News surfaced earlier this week that UFC veteran Rory MacDonald had decided to sign with Bellator MMA after opting to test free agency following his ‘UFC Ottawa’ scrap with Stephen Thompson earlier this summer. While the announcement of MacDonald signing with Bellator was all but official given the fact that the UFC declined to match Bellator’s offer, it wasn’t until Saturday that the signing was made official.

bjpenndotcom - August 27, 2016

Unfortunate news surfaced this weekend that UFC middleweight Adam Hunter had been pulled from his scheduled UFC Vancouver fight with Ryan Janes on Saturday on less than 24 hours notice after a ‘Potential USADA Violation’ was reported from an out-of-competition drug test earlier this month. Without enough time to further investigate the potential failure, the UFC was forced to scrap the fight. Janes, who won’t receive a replacement opponent on such short notice, was less than thrilled with the situation.

bjpenndotcom - August 27, 2016

While Adam Hunter may have weighed-in for his scheduled ‘UFC Vancouver’ fight Saturday night, the popular middleweight found himself pulled from the card for a potential USADA violation. The violation is in regards to an out-of-competition drug test from August 11th. The UFC released a statement on the situation, which in-part read:

bjpenndotcom - August 27, 2016

Since Eddie Alvarez knocked out Rafael dos Anjos to claim the UFC lightweight championship last month, #1 ranked UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov has continuously called him out. Nurmagomedov has taken to Twitter on several occasions, and even sent verbal shots Alvarez’ way in various interviews.

bjpenndotcom - August 27, 2016

This evening, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will make his highly anticipated UFC featherweight debut against Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira. Pettis will enter the fight on a 3-fight losing streak, and will look to return to the win column and cement his place as one of the best featherweights on the planet with a win over Oliveira.

Chris Taylor - August 26, 2016

Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn will return to the octagon on October 15, when he squares off with former UFC featherweight title challenger Ricardo Lamas in the main event of “UFC Fight Night Manila 2”. The UFC Hall of Fame fighter, Penn, has been on the sidelines for over two years now and has not won inside the octagon since his first-round KO victory over Matt Hughes at UFC 123 in November of 2010.

Russell Ess - August 26, 2016

UFC 202’s main event featuring Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor will be talked about for a long time. The epic five-round battle saw both competitors find their moments of success but ultimately “The Notorious” walked out of the Octagon with the majority decision win in their second meeting. With the five-round battle, Diaz landed 252 of 435 total strikes thrown in the contest while McGregor landed 197 of 322, according to Fight Metric. With those numbers, Diaz established himself as Fight Metric’s UFC fighter that has the most total strikes landed in UFC history, moving past Frankie Edgar to take the number one spot.

Russell Ess - August 26, 2016

UFC 202 was one of the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) draws the UFC has ever had. The UFC stated that 202 came in as the third biggest PPV in the company’s history right behind UFC 196 and 100. To get an idea of how important the rematch between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor was, just take a look at this snapshot of this person in custody with the police as they watch the fight.