MMA News

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

The UFC rankings were adjusted following the UFC Fight Night 89 event over the weekend. The main event winner Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson climbed to the top of the UFC welterweight division after picking up a unanimous decision win over the former #1 ranked welterweight, Rory MacDonald, who dropped down a spot to #2.

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.

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

Earlier this month at UFC 199, fighters were given the opportunity to weigh-in throughout the course of the day prior to fight night, rather than weighing-in during the live weigh-in event. The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) allowed fighters to do so in order to give them more time to rehydrate before their fights the following night. While there was hope that other commissions would follow suit and allow fighters the same opportunity in other states, no official word had been given. Now, ahead of UFC 200, the Nevada Athletic Commission has unanimously approved morning weigh-ins for ‘UFC FN: 90’, the TUF 23 finale, and UFC 200. Fighter’s on those events will get to weigh-in between 8 and 10 a.m., and will have their weights read during the live weigh-in.

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

After nearly a decade as a professional fighter, Miesha Tate captured UFC gold after choking Holly Holm unconscious in the co-main event of UFC 196 on March 5th. Following the fight, many began calling for a trilogy fight with Ronda Rousey, who was on an indefinite hiatus after being brutally knocked out by Holly Holm in November. While Tate may be down to scrap with Rousey a third time, Rousey has yet to announce her plans to return to the Octagon. The former champ is currently filming movies in Hollywood, and while UFC President Dana White has stated that Rousey will fight in November, Tate isn’t so sure. In addition, Tate pointed out that she doesn’t want to overlook her UFC 200 opponent, Amanda Nunes. She spoke on Conan on TBS:

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

Earlier this year, after Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds to claim the UFC featherweight championship, McGregor was slated to move up to lightweight to fight lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC 196. Unfortunately, dos Anjos was forced out of the bout with a broken foot, and was ultimately replaced by Nate Diaz, who defeated McGregor in a welterweight matchup. With a rematch between McGregor and Diaz slated for UFC 202 on August 20th, dos Anjos spoke to MMAJunkie to give his thoughts on that bout, and campaign for a fight with McGregor:

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

https://youtu.be/byKT5CSzdgE This past weekend in Ottawa, Canada, Valerie Letourneau and Joanne Calderwood competed in the first UFC women’s flyweight matchup in the UFC. Calderwood won the fight decisively, rocking Letourneau numerous times with shots to the face and body.

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

At UFC 200 on July 9th, pound for pound kingpin Jon Jones will have the opportunity to reclaim his UFC light heavyweight championship as he fights Daniel Cormier in a title unification bout. Ahead of the fight, Jones’ manager reached out to NAC director Bob Bennett to express his concerns over veteran referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy being the referee for Jones vs. Cormier II. McCarthy, who has earned the reputation as one of the best referees in MMA, is also rather strict on allowing fighters to extend their fingers with an open hand, something Jones does frequently in order to hand fight with his opponents. Jones’ team’s concern over McCarthy being the referee likely has something to do with McCarthy’s policy on fighter’s extending fingers.

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

During UFC 199, fight fans were shocked to find out that popular MMA journalist Ariel Helwani had been kicked out of the event, and had been banned from future UFC events as a media member after breaking the news of Brock Lesnar returning to the UFC at UFC 200. Helwani took to social media to fight the ban, which resulted in him gaining enough support that the UFC ultimately lifted the lifetime ban on Helwani just days after banning him for life.

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

It’s no secret that UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor likes to enjoy “the fruits” of his labor. McGregor frequently posts pictures to his social media accounts of luxury cars and designer clothes which he purchases for himself and his girlfriend. McGregor’s father, Tony McGregor, opened up in a recent interview with Independent about the presents his son purchased for the family:

bjpenndotcom - June 21, 2016

In the main event of UFC 199, UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was knocked out cold by Michael Bisping, earning ‘The Count’ the middleweight championship after nearly a decade with the UFC. Following the bout, the pair were involved in two post-fight exchanges. The first took place in the Octagon, when Bisping attempted to shake Rockhold’s hand for a second time. The second came at the post-fight press conference, where Rockhold stated that he would “kill” Bisping.

Russell Ess - June 21, 2016

On Monday, FloCombat reported that Zuffa accepted a $4.2 billion bid for the purchase of the UFC. The report indicated that they confirmed through multiple sources that a $4.2 billion bid coming from a group that consisted of WME-IMG, the Dalian Wanda Group, The Kraft Group and Tencent Holdings was accepted by Zuffa. However, late Monday, UFC Vice President of public relations, athlete marketing and development, Dave Sholler, sent Yahoo Sports a statement denying the report of the UFC sale.

Russell Ess - June 21, 2016

https://youtu.be/-dbU3_j-tdw Take a look at the UFC’s newly released promotional video for UFC 200!

Russell Ess - June 21, 2016

UFC Hall of Fame legend Randy Couture spoke with ESPN1100 on Friday in Las Vegas and was asked to comment on the reported sale of the UFC. The two-weight UFC world champion opened up on what he has been hearing and his sources have told him that the deal was already finalized last week.

Russell Ess - June 20, 2016

Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre made it clear on Monday’s episode of “The MMA Hour” that he is ready to get back in the Octagon. “Rush” last fought in November 2013 where he took a controversial split-decision win over Johny Hendricks.

Russell Ess - June 20, 2016

Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is set to return to the UFC Octagon once again at UFC 200 in July as he will take on the heavyweight knockout specialist Mark Hunt. Lesnar’s return was questioned by many after it became known that he was given an exemption from the UFC for the standard four months of random drug testing done by the U.S. Anti-Doping Association (USADA). Lesnar is not totally exempt from USADA’s testing, but the time frame of his testing was shortened with his individual case.