MMA News

Russell Ess - June 22, 2016

Dana White is a little rough around the edges when it comes to his persona.

Russell Ess - June 22, 2016

https://youtu.be/0c2zakWKFCY Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre announced on Monday’s episode of “The MMA Hour” that he is ready to come back and fight again in the UFC Octagon.

bjpenndotcom - June 22, 2016

Jun22.2002 14 years ago today,@JoeRogan made his 1st appearance as a commentator for the UFC.

bjpenndotcom - June 22, 2016

This past weekend, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors in game 7 of the NBA Finals to win the NBA Championship and end the city’s 52 year streak without winning a major sports championship. On Wednesday the city held the championship parade for the team, which was led by none other than Independence, Ohio native and UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, who recently defeated Fabricio Werdum back in May.

bjpenndotcom - June 22, 2016

After knocking out Thomas Almeida earlier this month, many wondered what would be next for the undefeated bantamweight prospect, and Team Alpha Male prodigy, Cody Garbrandt. While Garbrandt has done his best to bait UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz into a fight, it appears that the UFC has other plans. According to ADCombat.com, the UFC is reportedly looking to book Garbrandt to fight Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 202 on August 20th.

bjpenndotcom - June 22, 2016

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor has certainly become one of the most recognizable faces in sports, in addition to being one of the most popular fighters in the UFC. After a concert with his girlfriend, Dee Devlin, McGregor posed with pop music icon Rihanna backstage. Both stars ended up posting pictures to their social media accounts with kind words about each other.

bjpenndotcom - June 22, 2016

UFC 199 was undoubtably an incredible night of fights. On the main card, Dan Henderson mounted an incredible comeback and knocked out Hector Lombard in the 2nd round with a vicious elbow. In the main event, Michael Bisping knocked out Luke Rockhold on just 2 weeks notice to claim the UFC middleweight championship. Following the event, there was much talk of a potential Bisping vs. Henderson rematch for the middleweight championship, with Bisping hoping to avenge his UFC 100 loss. While Henderson is not a top ranked middleweight, and is just 2-3 in his last 5 fights, the fight has received quite a bit of attention from fans.

bjpenndotcom - June 22, 2016

On July 9th, Frankie Edgar will get the chance to avenge his 2013 loss to Jose Aldo for the featherweight championship when the pair face off in an interim featherweight title fight. In addition to winning the interim featherweight strap, the winner of the fight will secure a featherweight title fight with Conor McGregor for the undisputed featherweight championship. He spoke to MMAJunkie to analyze Edgar’s game ahead of their rematch, as well as his own prior to his loss to Conor McGregor, as well as since his loss to McGregor:

bjpenndotcom - June 22, 2016

The MMA world has anxiously awaited the return of former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey following her brutal KO loss at the hands of Holly Holm in the main event of UFC 193. Following the loss, a devastated Rousey headed to Hollywood to film several movies before she returned to the Octagon. While the UFC brass initially hoped that Rousey would return at UFC 200, Rousey’s return has continuously been pushed back.

bjpenndotcom - June 22, 2016

Initially, Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor were slated to have their highly anticipated welterweight rematch in the main event of UFC 200 on July 9th. McGregor refused to fulfill his media obligations for the event, and as a result was pulled from the card after briefly retiring. Now, with the pair set to collide in a highly anticipated rematch on August 20th in the main event of UFC 202, the UFC has booked the pair to appear for a press conference prior to UFC 200 during international fight week.

Russell Ess - June 22, 2016

Nate Diaz has spent the majority of his UFC career fighting at lightweight. However, with taking the fight with Conor McGregor at UFC 196 on short notice, Diaz and McGregor agreed on fighting at welterweight. When Diaz caused McGgregor to tap in the second round of the fight, “The Notorious” was described as being “obsessed” with beating Diaz in a rematch under the same exact conditions, which is why their rematch is again at 170 pounds.

Russell Ess - June 22, 2016

A newly released report from FloCombat indicates that the sale of the UFC has gone through with the investment group led by the William Morris Endeavor-IMG agency purchasing the company with a winning bid close to $4 billion. Despite UFC Vice President of public relations, athlete marketing, and development, Dave Sholler’s statement denying the sale of the UFC, FloCombat reports that their sources have told them that the general terms of the deal were agreed upon between Lorenzo Fertitta and CEO of WME-IMG, Ari Emanuel, during a dinner in Hollywood last Sunday. A few UFC and WME-IMG executives were also present at the dinner.

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

While Khabib Nurmagomedov may have no intentions of fighting during Ramadan, ‘The Eagle’ isn’t ready to let UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos forget about their fight in 2014 in which Nurmagomedov defeated dos Anjos via decision. The pair often exchange verbal jabs through interviews, however there has been no word yet as to what it will take for Nurmagomedov to get a crack at RDA’s lightweight championship. Ahead of RDA’s title defense against Eddie Alvarez on July 7th, Nurmagomedov took to Instagram to taunt the champ:

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

Recently, a video emerged of UFC lightweight Nate Diaz using the ‘Stockton Slap’ on UFC President Dana White. The clip left everyone stunned as they wondered why White would allow Diaz to slap him. On the first episode of UFC Unfiltered, White recalled the situation:

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz has never been one to shy away from giving his thoughts on his fellow fighters. In addition to being able to dish out an incredible volume of trash talk, Cruz backs up his talk inside the Octagon, earning him the reputation as one of the most talented fighters in the UFC. Cruz, who holds a win over arguable pound for pound kingpin Demetrious Johnson, was asked by MMAJunkie for his thoughts on Johnson’s upcoming UFC 201 fight with Wilson Reis:

Russell Ess - June 21, 2016

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone is one of the most active and exciting fighters that you see in the UFC. After his impressive performance at UFC Fight Night 89 where he put Patrick Cote away in the third round of their welterweight bout, “Cowboy” made a comment during the post-fight press conference about his pay.

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

This past weekend, Joanne Calderwood kicked off the main card of ‘UFC Fight Night: 89’ by dominating Valerie Letourneau in the first ever UFC women’s flyweight fight. Calderwood dominated the bout from start to finish, landing numerous blows that dropped Letourneau, a former title challenger at strawweight. Calderwood ultimately ended up finishing the bout in the 3rd round, but unfortunately was not given a performance bonus for the win.

Russell Ess - June 21, 2016

The Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) issued a suspension dealing with a positive drug test on Tuesday, according to a report from MMA Fighting. UFC lightweight Carlos Diego Ferreira was handed the year-long suspension from competition after testing positive for the banned substance Ostarine, which is defined within the class of SARMS (selective androgen receptor modulators). Ferreira’s suspension will be retroactive to April 30, 2016.