MMA News

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2016

Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was slated to fight Uriah Hall this past weekend at UFC 198 in his hometown of Curitiba, Brazil, however an inflamed gallbladder forced Silva off the card, and ultimately onto the operating table. ‘The Spider’ was forced to undergo surgery to have his gallbladder removed, and will be unable to train for approximately 4-6 weeks while he heals. Silva took to Instagram with an update for his fans:

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2016

https://youtu.be/QnoiDMUF4j4 Ronda Rousey’s verbal attack on Paige VanZant at a recent Reebok shoot was a rather popular topic in the media. However, with that being said, VanZant has no animosity towards Rousey.

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2016

https://youtu.be/z-v7DnVzOC0 Luke Rockhold may have found out earlier this week that he would now be facing Michael Bisping at UFC 199 instead of Chris Weidman, however it appears that the champ hasn’t missed a beat when it comes to training.

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2016

https://youtu.be/3WV2MaEuP48 Earlier this week it was revealed that former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman would be unable to compete in his scheduled UFC 199 title fight against Luke Rockhold.

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2016

Earlier this week, UFC President Dana White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta joined UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor for dinner to discuss McGregor’s next fight. While the champ was initially slated to fight Nate Diaz at UFC 200 in a welterweight showdown, he was then pulled from the card for refusing to fulfill his media obligations for the event.

Russell Ess - May 19, 2016

UFC strawweight Paige VanZant has been busy on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” and will be looking to win the entire competition as a finalist. Win or lose, VanZant will likely be bringing a whole new group of fans that will be following her for her next UFC fight and gave some of those crushing on her a glimpse of her outside of the Octagon in a hot new photo.

Russell Ess - May 19, 2016

Despite facing defeat over the weekend at UFC 198, Matt Brown doesn’t agree with the UFC’s decision to have Tyron Woodley fighting for the welterweight title against Robbie Lawler in the main event at UFC 201. “He didn’t beat nobody,” Brown said to MMAjunkie. “Gastelum is nobody that you beat to get a title fight. The Condit fight – do you even consider that a victory? That’s debatable in itself. He didn’t beat Condit; he won by default. He hasn’t really done anything else beyond that.”

Russell Ess - May 19, 2016

The UFC announced an exciting bantamweight matchup that is bound to be a war as John Lineker is set to take on Michael McDonald at UFC Fight Night 91. The fight takes place on July 13 at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. McDonald vs. Lineker will be featured as the co-main event ahead of the headliner that will feature Tony Ferguson and Michael Chiesa.

Russell Ess - May 19, 2016

Former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm admits that she did turn down the offer to welcome Cris Cyborg to the Octagon in her UFC debut. Holm has her reason, after getting her belt taken from her in the very last round of her championship fight against Miesha Tate at UFC 196.

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

The MMA world was rather stunned when Michael Bisping revealed that his upcoming short notice fight against Luke Rockhold would actually be a trilogy fight, and not a rematch as many believed. When Chris Weidman withdrew from UFC 199 earlier this week due to a neck injury, fans anxiously waited to find out whether Michael Bisping or Jacare Souza would be given the nod to fight for the middleweight championship on short notice.

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

Late Wednesday, it was announced on “UFC Tonight” that the UFC was hoping to get Cris Cyborg back in the Octagon for another 140-pound catchweight bout at UFC 201. The UFC even had an opponent in mind as the report said they were looking to get Cyborg matched with Germaine de Randamie. However, Cyborg took to twitter to clarify what her fight plans are for the immediate future.

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.