MMA News

Russell Ess - April 22, 2016

Former UFC and WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson made his Bellator debut on Friday in a five-round welterweight title fight against Andrey Koreshkov at Bellator 153. Henderson found that the Bellator champion had a lot to offer and gave “Bendo” trouble in his Bellator debut. Koreshkov connected with a hard knee to Henderson’s head at the end of round 1 that put the crowd on their feet.

Chris Taylor - April 22, 2016

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones returns to the octagon tomorrow night to battle Ovince Saint Preux for the UFC’s interim light heavyweight title. The “Bones” vs. “OSP” bout, which headlines tomorrow’s UFC 197 event in Las Vegas, was put together on short-notice after current UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier was forced to pull out of the Jones rematch due to an injury.

Chris Taylor - April 22, 2016

During today’s UFC 200 press conference, UFC president Dana White stated that current UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor had officially lost the opportunity to compete at this summer’s blockbuster UFC 200 event in Las Vegas. The brash Irish superstar quickly fired back at his boss via Twitter while the UFC 200 press conference was still under way:

Chris Taylor - April 22, 2016

According to MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani, most of the UFC fighters he spoke with at today’s UFC 200 press conference had no issue with Conor McGregor not attending the media event. I talked to several fighters who were on that stage this week, the vast majority, off the record, did not have an issue w/ Conor not coming.

Chris Taylor - April 22, 2016

During today’s UFC 200 press conference, UFC president Dana White announced that there was no longer any chance that current featherweight champ Conor McGregor would be fighting at this summer’s blockbuster event. Shortly after making that statement, Dana White was asked if it was possible that a light heavyweight championship rematch between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones could be put together in enough time for UFC 200 this July. White responded with the following statement:

bjpenndotcom - April 22, 2016

At the UFC 200 press conference on Friday, many expected to find out who would be stepping in on short notice to fight Nate Diaz. While Diaz’s new opponent wasn’t announced, UFC President Dana White did explain that the door was now closed for McGregor to fight at UFC 200. White explained that there were fighters at the press conference who flew in from all over the world, and it wasn’t fair for McGregor to skip the event.

bjpenndotcom - April 22, 2016

At the UFC 200 press conference on Friday, many expected the UFC to announce who Nate Diaz’s replacement opponent would be for UFC 200. While UFC President Dana White didn’t announce Diaz’s new opponent for the event, he did confirm that Diaz will in fact remain on the card despite reports that indicated he had been pulled. In addition, White revealed that the door was now closed for McGregor, and he would not have an opportunity to fight at UFC 200.

bjpenndotcom - April 22, 2016

At the UFC 200 press conference on Friday, there was much speculation as to whether or not the UFC would make an announcement regarding who will fill the main event slot at UFC 200. During the press conference UFC President Dana White announced that after much speculation Nate Diaz will remain on the card, however White gave no word on who Diaz will be fighting.

bjpenndotcom - April 22, 2016

There is no hatred between @JonnyBones & @003_OSP​, but Jones is already looking towards facing @dc_mma at @ufc​ 200 https://t.co/SznGkV6jNB — FSLive: #JayAndDan (@foxsportslive) April 22, 2016

bjpenndotcom - April 22, 2016

Conor McGregor and Gunnar Nelson sparring hard at Mjölnir MMA.

bjpenndotcom - April 22, 2016

There has been much speculation about what the UFC will do for the main event of UFC 200 on July 9th after it was announced that Conor McGregor had been pulled from the event for refusing to fulfill his media obligations. McGregor released a statement on Thursday announcing that he isn’t retired, and explaining that he was still prepared to fight at UFC 200, but wouldn’t interrupt his training for a UFC 200 media tour.

bjpenndotcom - April 22, 2016

It’s no secret that MMA is one of, if not the single bloodiest sport on the planet. While the average fight doesn’t consist of tremendous amounts of blood, some fights do.

bjpenndotcom - April 22, 2016

The UFC has been left in a bit of a scramble after Conor McGregor announced his retirement, un-retired, and was pulled from his UFC 200 welterweight main event scrap with Nate Diaz. While Nate Diaz was supposed to fly to Vegas to discuss new opponents for the fight, a report emerged Friday morning that Diaz had now been pulled from the card for unknown reasons. A new report has now emerged from LayzieTheSavage which indicates that the UFC could be looking to book Jones-Cormier II sooner rather than later if Jones defeats Ovince Saint Preux this Saturday at UFC 197.

bjpenndotcom - April 22, 2016

By now, the MMA community knows that Conor McGregor ‘retired’ from MMA on Tuesday. Following that, The UFC announced that McGregor had been pulled from his UFC 200 main event fight with Nate Diaz for refusing to fulfill his media obligations. McGregor then released a statement on Thursday explaining that he wishes to focus on training rather than doing excessive amounts of promo work for UFC 200. The featherweight champ also explained that he was willing to fight at UFC 200, but that he wouldn’t do promo work at the expense of his training. McGregor then ended to announcement by stating that he isn’t retired. While UFC President Dana White stated that Nate Diaz would be flying to Vegas to discuss new opponents, it appears that is no longer the case.

bjpenndotcom - April 22, 2016

https://youtu.be/Ds4Fze-sVWY Top ranked UFC light heavyweight Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson was the first man the UFC called when they needed someone to fill-in for Daniel Cormier against Jon Jones in the main event of UFC 197. Unfortunately, Johnson had recently undergone mouth surgery and would be unable to put a mouthpiece in for several weeks.

Chris Taylor - April 22, 2016

Since the late 1800’s, only one Bare Knuckle Boxing event has been sanctioned in the United States of America. That lone stateside ‘BKB’ event took place on August 5, 2011 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Russell Ess - April 21, 2016

It was revealed this week that Ronda Rousey, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion made it on Time Magazine’s 2016 list of “100 Most Influential People.” Rousey is the only MMA fighter to make Time’s prestigious list.

Russell Ess - April 21, 2016

Thursday was a media day for UFC 197 as the fighters are in Las Vegas, Nevada tying up the last of their obligations before their bouts on Saturday.