MMA News

Chris Taylor - June 12, 2016

According to former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen, a highly anticipated middleweight fight between Uriah Hall (12-6 MMA) and Anderson Silva (33-7 MMA) will take place at July’s blockbuster UFC 200 event in Las Vegas. No official announcement has been made by the UFC, but this is what Sonnen had to say during his “You’re Welcome” podcast:

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

Unfortunate news surfaced Saturday afternoon that former Bellator MMA fighter Ivan Cole was found dead in a Dallas apartment earlier in the day after shooting himself in the head while playing a game of Russian roulette. The Dallas Police Department confirmed Cole’s death on their website, where they reveal that Cole was killed around 7:31am Texas Time.

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

When Chris Weidman withdrew from his UFC 199 scrap with Luke Rockhold with just two weeks to go until fight night, many believed Jacare Souza would step-in on short notice to fight Rockhold. Unfortunately for Souza, he was forced to undergo surgery for a torn meniscus, and was unable to take the fight. Michael Bisping ultimately stepped in on short notice to fight Rockhold, and the rest is history.

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

Since winning the UFC featherweight championship back in December, Conor McGregor went up to welterweight for a UFC 196 fight with Nate Diaz, which was initially supposed to be a lightweight title fight with Rafael dos Anjos. McGregor lost the fight, and then was rebooked to fight Diaz at UFC 200, however he was pulled from the card after refusing to fulfill his media obligations for the event. Now, with Frankie Edgar vs. Jose Aldo set for the interim featherweight championship at UFC 200, and McGregor vs. Diaz II set for UFC 202, many are wondering if McGregor will ever go back down to featherweight to defend his title.

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

In just under one month, fight fans will witness a historic night of action in Las Vegas at UFC 200. The event, which features two title fights, an interim title fight, and the return of Brock Lesnar, will go down on July 9th, and leave fight fans in awe. With just under one month to go until fight night, take a look at the updated odds from Bovada for the entire event

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

On June 18th, two elite members of the UFC’s welterweight division, Rory MacDonald and Stephen Thompson, will square off in a pivotal welterweight matchup that could see the next welterweight title challenger determined.

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

The landscape of the UFC women’s bantamweight division changed greatly on November 15th at UFC 193 as Holly Holm knocked out Ronda Rousey to claim the women’s bantamweight championship. Rousey had reigned as the only women’s bantamweight champion in UFC history until she was knocked out by Holm in Australia. In Holm’s first title defense at UFC 196, she was choked out cold by Miesha Tate in the 5th round of their co-main event scrap. With Tate now the UFC women’s bantamweight champion, many are wondering when Rousey will return from her hiatus for a trilogy fight with Tate.

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

Although Chris Weidman was forced to withdraw from his UFC 199 rematch with Luke Rockhold for the middleweight championship, Weidman has managed to keep his name in the headlines. After Michael Bisping knocked out Luke Rockhold this past weekend to claim the UFC middleweight championship, Weidman wasted no time in attempting to secure a title fight with Bisping via Twitter.

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

All Roads Lead to #UFC200 | UFC.com/200 A video posted by ufc (@ufc) on Jun 10, 2016 at 11:50am PDT

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

[ooyala code=”cxeWczNDE6RJ040jXyA_Gp-ffv3gFDLW” player_id=”bd214e34cfad476984102de4bf5e8da2″ auto=”true” width=”1280″ height=”1600″ autoplay=”true”] “Working on my karate point sparring technique with @hayabusafight #teamhayabusa” While the entire UFC 200 card has been announced, and former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will not be returning to the UFC for the highly anticipated card, he has continued to train as if he were preparing for a comeback.

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

During the UFC 199 broadcast this past weekend, it was announced that former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, who currently competes in the WWE, would be making his return to MMA after nearly 5 years away from the sport. Lesnar, who will still be making an appearance at the next WWE pay-per view this summer, being granted permission from the WWE to fight at UFC 200 could very well be a move of good faith from the WWE, who reportedly are hoping to secure former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey for a match at WrestleMania 33.

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo has been criticized quite a bit for backing out of fights with injuries. Most recently, Aldo backed out of his title fight with Conor McGregor at UFC 189, and was replaced by Chad Mendes. With a false rumor surfacing earlier this week that Aldo was injured and unable to fight Frankie Edgar for the interim featherweight championship at UFC 200 on July 9th, Edgar decided to poke some fun at the former champ in an interview with Fox Sports:

bjpenndotcom - June 11, 2016

https://youtu.be/TubJH4IMl54 Ahead of Brock Lesnar’s return to the Octagon in less than a month at UFC 200 after nearly 5 years away from the Octagon, take a look back at Lesnar’s UFC 100 rematch against Frank Mir.

bjpenndotcom - June 10, 2016

[ooyala code=”AxcmIzNDE6I17C8ikBgtjO2EN31w_YmV” player_id=”bd214e34cfad476984102de4bf5e8da2″ auto=”true” width=”1280″ height=”1280″ autoplay=”true”] Exactly 4 weeks ago, former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva underwent surgery to have his gallbladder removed after he was pulled from his UFC 198 scrap against Uriah Hall in Curitiba, Brazil.

bjpenndotcom - June 10, 2016

During the UFC 199 broadcast this past weekend, it was announced that Brock Lesnar would be returning to the UFC at UFC 200 to fight Mark Hunt in the co-main event of the historic card. In the following days it was revealed that Lesnar had been granted a USADA exemption and missed the first 3 cycles of USADA testing, but would be tested in the month leading up to the fight.

bjpenndotcom - June 10, 2016

Bisping and Rockhold still going at it after the post fight press conference. pic.twitter.com/Ojiiwlo9O1 — Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) June 5, 2016

bjpenndotcom - June 10, 2016

Wednesday night after the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors game in Cleveland, Ohio, pop music star Justin Bieber started a brawl in Cleveland. Footage of the altercation shows Bieber punching the man, and then being thrown to the ground before bystanders pulled the man off Bieber.

bjpenndotcom - June 10, 2016

https://youtu.be/B4kI4Cb-X70