MMA News

Russell Ess - June 22, 2016

Prior to his first loss in the UFC against Nate Diaz back in March, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor was talking about moving up several weight classes beyond his home of 145 pounds. The new UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping was recently asked about how a fight would go between him and McGregor and “The Count” replied in typical Bisping fashion.

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

At UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil, Invicta FC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg made her highly anticipated UFC debut against Leslie Smith. The fight was a short one, with Cyborg getting the TKO win over Smith in the 1st round. Following the win, Cyborg expressed her interest in going back to Invicta to defend her featherweight championship. Despite that, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate eyes a future fight with Cyborg.

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.

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

[ooyala code=”pzbWJiNDE6AD-A24WYJxhp0EsbPZuvxQ” player_id=”bd214e34cfad476984102de4bf5e8da2″ auto=”true” width=”1280″ height=”1280″ autoplay=”true”] UFC featherweight prospect Makwan Amirkhani has quickly become one of the brightest prospects in the UFC. The featherweight standout has amassed a 13-2 record throughout his professional career, including a 3-0 record in the UFC.

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:

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

This past weekend, Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson and Rory MacDonald squared off in a highly anticipated matchup of welterweight contenders for a title shot against the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Tyron Woodley. The fight, which went the full 5 rounds, was an extremely technical matchup between two of the best strikers in the welterweight division. Ultimately, Thompson’s precision and ability to stuff takedowns earned him the victory.

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.

Russell Ess - June 21, 2016

The long awaited UFC debut of Phil Brooks, who is much better known by his professional wrestling name, CM Punk, is being targeted for UFC 203 in Cleveland, Ohio, according to Ariel Helwani. Helwani, who has created quite a stir recently with breaking news of UFC announcements before the organization tweeted on Tuesday, “Current plan at the moment is CM Punk vs. Mickey Gall at UFC 203, per sources. Far from a done deal but that’s the direction as of this AM.”

Russell Ess - June 21, 2016

John Kavanagh, head coach of Conor McGregor, will soon come out with his autobiography book “Win or Learn.” In the opening of his book, Kavanagh delved into Conor McGregor’s first UFC loss, which came at the hands of Nate Diaz at UFC 196.

Russell Ess - June 21, 2016

https://youtu.be/pDWCbDygY-w Even if Ariel Helwani’s lifetime ban was lifted from the UFC, Dana White is still pissed off with him.