MMA News

Chris Taylor - April 16, 2016

A catchweight bout (160-pounds) between Darrell Horcher (13-2 MMA) and Khabib Nurmagomedov (23-0 MMA) took place on tonight’s UFC on FOX 19 main card in Tampa. Round one begins and Khabib misses with a big right hand. Leg kick lands for Nurmagomedov. Horcher replies with a leg kick of his own. Horcher lands a left hand. Nurmagomedov shoots in but Horcher shakes off the takedown attempt. Khabib shoots in and locks up a double leg. He picks up Horcher and slams him to the ground. Working from half guard now and Khabib is landing some shots. Nurmagomedov moves to side control and starts landing some big shots. Horcher fights back to half guard but Khabib hops back to side control and gives up his back. Big shots from the back position by Khabib. The bell sounds to save Darrell.

Chris Taylor - April 16, 2016

A featherweight bout between Cub Swanson (22-7 MMA) and Hacran Dias (23-4-1 MMA) kicked off the UFC on FOX 19 main card in Tampa. Round one begins and Dias starts things off with a leg kick. He lands a good right hand on Cub. Swanson misses with a jab to the body. Excellent leg kick scores for Swanson. Dias with a good left hand. Nice leg kick from Hacran. Dias with a nice leaping right. A leg kick scores for Cub. Dias replies with a leg kick. He follows up with a front kick. Good kick to the body from Cub. Dias fires back with a leg kick. Good combination from Dias. Good body shot from Cub and Dias replies with a leg kick. Nice combo from Dias to end round one.

Chris Taylor - April 16, 2016

A lightweight bout between Michael Chiesa (14-2 MMA) and Beneil Dariush (12-2 MMA) took place at tonight’s UFC on FOX 19 event in Tampa. One round begins and the fighters exchange a few good leg kicks. Big shot lands for Dariush that wobbles Chiesa. Michael fires back with a leg kick. Another good shot behind the ear lands for Beneil. He follows up with two excellent leg kicks. Chiesa tries to earn a takedown. Dariush won’t have it and lands a knee to the body. The fighters clinch. On the break and Chiesa attempts a high kick. It is blocked. Dariush with a leg kick and then he shoots for a takedown. The fighters clinch against the fence. Good elbow on the break from Dariush. Beneil with a trip and gets top position to end round one.

Chris Taylor - April 16, 2016

A women’s bantamweight bout between former title challenger Bethe Correia (9-2 MMA) and Raquel Pennington (7-5 MMA) took place on the UFC on FOX 19 prelims. Round one begins and Correia lands a good left jab. Pennington with a leg kick but Bethe catches it. The fighters exchange left hands. Good jab by Correia and then another. Nice combo from Bethe. Raquel responds with a good shot and moves in for the clinch. They break. Correia with a nice combo. Raquel with a leg kick. Nice kick lands from Bethe. Correia with some quick jabs. Nice combo from Bethe. Pennington with a good right hook. Bethe did not like that. Another good right from Pennington finds a home. Bethe gets a hold of Raquel and lands some knees. They break and Correia lands a combo. Leg kick from Bethe. Raquel comes forward with punches but they miss. Bethe clinches up and pushes Pennington against the cage. Nice shots from both women to end round one.

Chris Taylor - April 16, 2016

A welterweight bout between Randy Brown (7-1 MMA) and Michael Graves (6-0 MMA) kicked off the televised portion of the UFC on FOX 19 prelims in Tampa. Round one begins and Michael Graves shoots in for a takedown. The fighters clinch against the fence. Brown scores a trip but Graves shoots back up to his feet. They clinch against the fence again. Graves shoots in for a double leg. Brown defends the takedown well. More clinch work from the fighters and the referee decides to force the break. Good strike lands for Brown. Graves rushes in and scored the takedown. Michael begins working from half guard. Randy adjusts and moves to full guard. Good upkick scores for Brown from the bottom. Graves with a good right hand. Brown is searching for a triangle and then an armbar but neither submission is there for the taking. Brown is defending well but Graves is on top. Triangle choke attempt from Brown falls short on time as round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - April 16, 2016

A bantamweight bout between former flyweight title challenger John Dodson (19-7 MMA) and veteran Manny Gamburyan (15-9 MMA) served as the main attraction of the UFC on FOX 19 Fight Pass prelims in Tampa. Round one begins and Dodson lands a left hand to start. Manny responds with a leg kick. John lands a front kick to the body. Big left hand from Dodson. Manny is hurt. More shots big from Dodson. It is all over!

Chris Taylor - April 16, 2016

A middleweight bout between Oluwale Bamgbose (6-2 MMA) and Cezar Ferreira (9-5 MMA) served as the second fight of tonight’s UFC on FOX 19 card in Tampa Bay, Florida. Round one begins and Bamgbose opens with a leg kick. Ferreira responds with a huge leg kick of his own. Big punches and a kick from Bamgbose. Another big punch from Oluwale drops Ferreira. Bamgbose follows him to the ground and lands a couple of shots but Cezar gets back to his feet. Good takedown from Ferreira who begins unleashing some brutal ground and pound. Bamgbose scrambles and gets back to his feet. Ferreira slips and ends up on his back. Bamgbose decides not to follow him to the ground. Round one comes to an end.

Chris Taylor - April 16, 2016

A welterweight bout between Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (15-5 MMA) and Omari Akhmedov (15-4 MMA) kicked off tonight’s UFC on FOX 19 card in Tampa Bay, Florida. Round one begins and Akhmedov opens with a jab that misses. Dos Santos and Akhmedov exchange leg kicks. Big right hand just misses for dos Santos. Akhmedov lands a good shot. Elizeu replies with a leg kick. Akhmedov shoots in and lands a takedown. Dos Santos with a heel hook attempt and uses it to take top control. The Brazilian moves to halfguard and Akhmedov locks up a kimura. It is tight but dos Santos is able to roll and escape. Back on their feet and dos Santos eats a solid jab. He responds with a heavy leg kick on the lead leg of the Russian fighter. Round one comes to an end.

bjpenndotcom - April 16, 2016

On July 7th on UFC Fight Pass, Rafael dos Anjos will fight Eddie Alvarez in a lightweight title fight. The fight will be dos Anjos’ first back in the Octagon after he was forced to withdraw from his UFC 196 title defense against Conor McGregor back in March. While dos Anjos believes that Alvarez will try to out-wrestle him, he also believes that his elite level Jiu-Jitsu will be the X-factor.

bjpenndotcom - April 16, 2016

In a stacked welterweight division there has been much speculation as to who will get the next welterweight title shot. While some wanted to see Lawler vs. Condit II, others believe that Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson deserves a welterweight title shot after becoming the first man to stop Johny Hendricks. During his filming for the upcoming episode of “Lookin’ For A Fight” UFC President Dana White spoke to Pat Miletich and Michael Schiavello on AXS TV to reveal that Robbie Lawler will most likely be defending his title at UFC 201 in August, or UFC 202 in September against Tyron Woodley.

bjpenndotcom - April 16, 2016

After Rafael dos Anjos’ trainer posted a video of the lightweight champ training following a broken foot, there was much speculation as to when RDA would return to the Octagon. The UFC wasted no time announcing dos Anjos vs. Alvarez for a July 7th event on UFC Fight Pass.

bjpenndotcom - April 16, 2016

After New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill officially legalizing MMA in New York, it didn’t take long for the UFC to announce their inaugural event in The Empire State. The UFC revealed that its first event will be UFC 205 at the Madison Square Garden, and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta revealed the UFC’s intentions to hold an event at the Yankee Stadium.

bjpenndotcom - April 15, 2016

Earlier this week news broke that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had officially signed the bill legalizing MMA in New York. The UFC promptly announced its inaugural event in New York at the Madison Square Garden on November 12th, which was later revealed to be UFC 205.

bjpenndotcom - April 15, 2016

Friday afternoon news broke that Islam Makhachev had been pulled from his UFC on FOX 19 scrap with Drew Dober on Saturday in Tampa after it was discovered that he had used a banned substance. The UFC promptly released a statement on the situation via UFC.com which read:

bjpenndotcom - April 15, 2016

Saturday night in Tampa, fight fans will tune in to Fox for UFC on FOX 19, which will be headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between Glover Teixeira and former champion Rashad Evans.

bjpenndotcom - April 15, 2016

Earlier this week news broke that Lyoto Machida had been pulled from his UFC on FOX 19 scrap with Dan Henderson after admitting to using banned substances during a random out-of-competition drug test. Now, with less than 24 hours until fight night, Islam Makhachev has been reportedly pulled from his fight with Drew Dober after he was flagged for using banned substances as well.

Russell Ess - April 15, 2016

Star UFC veteran Nate Diaz and UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor are set to fight in an immediate rematch at UFC 200. Some fans could not wait.

Russell Ess - April 15, 2016

It didn’t take long for the UFC to sell out the UFC Fight Night 89 event, which is the UFC’s debut in Ottawa, Canada. Over 10,000 tickets were sold. According to the UFC, the event “will be the largest arena show in TD Place history. It also marks the fastest sellout at The Arena at TD Place.” The event is headlined by Canadian local Rory MacDonald (18-3) taking on fellow top welterweight contender Stephen Thompson (12-1). The winner of the bout could determine the next fighter in line to have a shot at the welterweight title.