MMA News

Russell Ess - May 19, 2016

UFC President Dana White announced Wednesday on ESPN’s SportsCenter that he would be having dinner with Conor McGregor to arrange his next fight in the UFC. The two were caught on video leaving their dinner meeting and McGregor looked to be in good spirits, despite their disagreement with UFC 200 and being pulled off the main event last month.

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2016

In the main event of UFC 199, fight fans will see Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping square off in the Octagon for the 2nd time as Bisping looks to finally capture UFC gold. Chris Weidman was initially slated to fight Rockhold, however a neck injury forced Weidman out of the bout, which led to Bisping stepping in on short notice for the former champ.

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2016

While UFC 197 served as the highly anticipated return of Jon Jones, and was also another dominant performance for UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, the event fell a bit short in terms of pay-per view buys considering Jones was fighting for the first time in nearly two years. According to MMAFighting, the event did between 375,000 and 450,000 buys. For comparison, Jones’ last 5 fights reportedly did the following numbers according to MMAPayout:

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2016

At UFC 198, fights didn’t just take place inside the cage. Top ranked UFC welterweight Matt Brown was hit in the head multiple times on his walkout to the Octagon. In addition, Brown was then hit in the back of the head in the hotel lobby the next morning. The man, who was revealed to be Brown’s former coach Rodrigo Botti, was then chased down and caught in a video posted online.

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2016

While Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson defeated Henry Cejudo less than a month ago, Johnson is looking to build on the win at UFC 201 on July 30th as he faces Wilson Reis. A win over Reis would put Johnson just 1 title defense away from tying Anderson Silva’s record of defending his middleweight championship 10 times. Currently, Johnson sits with 8 title defenses.

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2016

This past weekend at UFC 198, Stipe Miocic shocked the world as he knocked out Fabricio Werdum in the 1st round of their heavyweight title fight with just one punch.

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2016

Since UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor was pulled off UFC 200 for refusing to fulfill his media obligations, there has been much speculation as to how great the rift was between he and the UFC brass.

Russell Ess - May 19, 2016

https://youtu.be/uVY21BPyL_I UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will look to defend his belt at UFC 199 against a newly scheduled opponent on June 4.

bjpenndotcom - May 18, 2016

This past weekend at UFC 198, Cris Cyborg made her UFC debut against Leslie Smith in Curitiba, Brazil. The Invicta FC champ didn’t disappoint in her debut, and ultimately picked up a 1st round TKO win over Smith. Following the fight Cyborg called out Ronda Rousey for a fight, however with Rousey currently content to film movies until later this year, the MMA community recognized that the odds of a Cyborg-Rousey fight in the near future were incredibly low.

Russell Ess - May 18, 2016

Despite all the buzz of a boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, UFC President Dana White is working on the next UFC fight for “The Notorious.” White appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday to announce Luke Rockhold would be fighting Michael Bisping at UFC 199 after Chris Weidman was forced out of the middleweight championship bout due to an injury. White was asked about the latest on McGregor and he shared this bit of information.

bjpenndotcom - May 18, 2016

After former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman withdrew from his UFC 199 title fight with Luke Rockhold due to a neck injury, there was much speculation as to whether Jacare Souza or Michael Bisping would be given the short-notice fight against Rockhold. While Jacare was reportedly the UFC’s first choice given his dominant performance against Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 this past weekend, Michael Bisping was given the nod.

Russell Ess - May 18, 2016

Michael “The Count” Bisping will get his first UFC title shot just shy of the 10 year anniversary of his UFC debut. Going into his 26th UFC fight, Bisping will fight middleweight champion Luke Rockhold for the title on June 4 at UFC 199. Bisping steps in on two and a half weeks notice after Rockhold’s originally scheduled opponent, Chris Weidman, was forced to pull out of the fight due to an injury.

Russell Ess - May 18, 2016

Number 10 UFC ranked Uriah Hall was hoping that he would get the call to step in and fight Luke Rockhold for the middleweight title at UFC 199 on June 4 after Chris Weidman was forced to pull out of the originally scheduled match. Unfortunately for Hall and his fans, the UFC announced on Wednesday that number 4 UFC ranked Michael Bisping would be stepping in on two and a half weeks notice to fight Rockhold for his title.

bjpenndotcom - May 18, 2016

Tuesday afternoon, news broke that former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman would no longer be able to compete in his scheduled UFC 199 rematch against Luke Rockhold. Weidman went on to explain that he suffered an injury in training that would result in surgery, sidelining him for 8-12 weeks. Wednesday morning it was announced that Michael Bisping would be stepping in on short notice to fight Rockhold for the middleweight championship, a rematch of their 2014 fight in which Rockhold submitted Bisping in the 2nd round.

Russell Ess - May 18, 2016

.@Indians might need to take a closer look at @stipemiocicufc. @ufc champ was raking. He even went yard during BP! https://t.co/XG2CfFwWMj — SportsTime Ohio (@SportsTimeOhio) May 18, 2016

bjpenndotcom - May 18, 2016

[ooyala code=”1qOWJpMzE69PsmASPw-tq99EYqPrNymr” player_id=”b8fa6431adff441580c2e2bf5e6bd724″ auto=”true” width=”1920″ height=”1080″ autoplay=”true”] Renowned wrestling coach Izzy Martinez has become a staple of the JacksonWink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, aiding UFC stars such as Jon Jones, Holly Holm, Donald Cerrone, and many other fighters in their preparation for fights.

bjpenndotcom - May 18, 2016

This past weekend in Curitiba, Brazil, Stipe Miocic shocked the world as he picked up an incredible one-punch knockout win over UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum. Miocic landed a right hook as Werdum rushed forward, and put the heavyweight champ to sleep in the very first round to claim the UFC heavyweight championship. One man who was “flabbergasted” by the quick win was the self-proclaimed heavyweight #1 contender, Alistair Overeem, who spoke on SiriusXMRush’s Toe-2-Toe with Brian Stann.

bjpenndotcom - May 18, 2016

While Jose Aldo is currently gearing up for his UFC 200 interim featherweight title fight against Frankie Edgar, an eventual rematch with Conor McGregor seems to be the main focus of Aldo.