MMA News

bjpenndotcom - July 21, 2016

With just two days to go until UFC 200, UFC pound for pound kingpin Jon Jones was pulled from the event due to a potential USADA anti-doping violation. The following morning, Jones and his manager held a press conference, where they addressed the situation to media members. Throughout the course of the presser Jones was adamant that he didn’t knowingly take any banned substances, and that he would be found innocent. Since then, the former champ has continued to defend himself via social media, telling fans that they shouldn’t write him off just yet. Wednesday afternoon, Jones’ manager Malki Kawa spoke on Chael Sonnen’s “You’re Welcome!” podcast to discuss the situation, and reveal some interesting details:

Russell Ess - July 21, 2016

Alexander Gustafsson is on a mission to get back to a title fight after suffering two losses in a row for the first time in his professional career. Gustafsson fell short in his two UFC light heavyweight title fights, losing to Jon Jones by unanimous decision at UFC 165 and by split decision to current champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 192. Many argue that Gustafsson could have won both bouts, but judges felt otherwise.

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2016

Back at UFC 193, Holly Holm shocked the world as she knocked out Ronda Rousey with a head kick to become the UFC women’s bantamweight champion in the main event of the thrilling card. Fast forward just 4 months and Holm was submitted by Miesha Tate in the co-main event of UFC 196 on March 5th, losing the title in the 5th round of their scrap.

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2016

UFC 200 was arguably the biggest event in the history of the UFC. Unfortunately a dark cloud now looms over the event after Jon Jones was pulled from the event during fight week for a USADA violation, and Brock Lesnar was notified of two USADA violations after the event. With USADA handing top ranked featherweight Chad Mendes a two year suspension this week, many are wondering if Lesnar and Jones will both be receiving similar suspensions for their infractions.

Russell Ess - July 20, 2016

Undefeated flyweight Ilima MacFarlane is looking to establish herself as one of the primary names under the Bellator MMA promotion. MacFarlane, who went viral with her destruction of her opponent in her professional MMA debut is now gunning to become Bellator’s first women’s flyweight champion.

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2016

It’s been nearly a year since former UFC champion Tito Ortiz competed in Bellator MMA. In his last outing, the ‘Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ lost to Liam McGeary via 1st round submission. Now, nearly a year later, there are talks of Ortiz stepping into the Bellator cage to square off against arguably the greatest fighter of all time, Fedor Emelianenko.

Russell Ess - July 20, 2016

The case of Jon Jones’ potential Anti-Doping Policy violation that got him removed from his title fight with Daniel Cormier at UFC 200 has been a hot topic.

Russell Ess - July 20, 2016

https://youtu.be/W7S6kaNQdd8 UFC 202 is scheduled for August 20 in Las Vegas, Nevada and Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor are set to headline the event in their highly anticipated non-title welterweight rematch. MMA fan @BrattMamley has created another great promotional video featuring Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor that will surely get you excited for the bout.

Russell Ess - July 20, 2016

UFC’s #4 ranked featherweight Chad Mendes will apparently be out of competition from fighting after being suspended by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). On June 10, the UFC announced that Mendes was flagged for a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collected on May 17, 2016.

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2016

Rizin FF has continued to keep the ball rolling since MMA icon Fedor Emelianenko made his return to MMA on New Year’s Eve. Since then, the promotion held their official ‘Rizin 1’ event back in April, and will look to build more momentum as we get closer to the end of the year. Earlier this month, the promotion announced that they will be having a 16-man tournament, which will see Mirko Cro Cop make his promotional debut, as well as Wanderlei Silva. The event will go down in Tokyo, leading many to expect an evening reminiscent of the Pride FC days of MMA.

Russell Ess - July 20, 2016

UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt has had enough with being left in the dark on Brock Lesnar’s potential Anti-Doping Policy violations after having fought the WWE star at UFC 200. Hunt was interviewed by MarkHunt.tv and the UFC veteran is calling for all fighters to come together to create a fighter’s association so that incidents such as his with Lesnar will be minimized.

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2016

While Jacare Souza may be the #3 ranked UFC middleweight, it’s #13 ranked Dan Henderson who is getting the next middleweight title shot. Henderson will be fighting UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping in October according to the middleweight champ, who also revealed that the fight would likely be going down in Manchester, England. Jacare spoke to Globo to explain why he feels as though Henderson doesn’t deserve a title shot. In addition, Jacare revealed his own plan for getting a title shot:

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2016

Back at UFC 193, Holly Holm shocked the world as she dominated Ronda Rousey for nearly two rounds, ultimately knocking the champ out in the 2nd round with a perfectly placed head kick to claim the UFC championship.

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2016

During the UFC 200 post-fight show, UFC President Dana White revealed that UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping would likely be making his first title defense against Dan Henderson. White also revealed that the event would likely be going down in England. On a recent episode of The Luke Thomas show, Bisping discussed the fight, explaining that the fight will likely go down in October.

bjpenndotcom - July 20, 2016

While Dominick Cruz holds a win over former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, Dillashaw has continued to blast the bantamweight kingpin. Following Dillashaw’s UFC 200 win over Raphael Assuncao, the former champ took to Instagram with a lengthy message directed at Dominick Cruz. The message ended with “Stop running, let’s get this on paper”.

Russell Ess - July 20, 2016

Invicta featherweight champion Cris Cyborg wants to fight in the UFC at 145 pounds. However, there is currently no women’s featherweight division for her to fight in. Cyborg took to social media and made her statement on why the UFC should create a women’s 145-pound division for her to fight in.

bjpenndotcom - July 19, 2016

With just over a month to go until UFC 202 on August 20th, where Conor McGregor & Nate Diaz will square off in their highly anticipated welterweight rematch, the UFC has made a pretty big adjustment to the card. Carlos Condit vs. Demian Maia, which was expected to be on the pay-per view portion of the card, has now been rebooked for UFC on FOX 21 on August 27th in Vancouver Canada.

bjpenndotcom - July 19, 2016

With the news of Brock Lesnar failing two drug tests for his UFC 200 bout with Mark Hunt, one out-of-competition, and one fight night, many are wondering what the repercussions will be for the former heavyweight champ. Given the precedent set by the NSAC in the past, many are expecting Lesnar to be fined and suspended for the infractions. While that may be the case, Lesnar would have to pay a fine on his $2.5 million purse regardless of whether or not he chooses to fight again.