MMA News

BJPENN.COM News - September 3, 2015

Is Manny Pacquiao’s boxing career coming to an end? It appears to be. According to Top Rank leader and longtime promoter Bob Arum, who talked to TMZ, the Filipino boxer is looking to retire from the sport in order to focus on a presidential run in his home country.

BJPENN.COM News - September 3, 2015

MMA fighter Monique Bastos, a strawweight from Brazil was walking down the street when all of a sudden she was being attacked and robbed by two men. They were after her cell phone. One of them got away, but the other guy wasn’t so lucky. Bastros grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground. After that she was able to get him in a triangle choke and hold him there until the police arrived to the scene.

BJPENN.COM News - September 2, 2015

Former UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen is making his way to the World Series of Fighting. The promotion announced the news via a press release, stating that Sonnen would be joining the team as a color-commentator for several events. Sonnen’s first gig as a WSOF commentator will take place on Sept. 18 for “WSOF 23: Gaethje vs. Palomino II”.

BJPENN.COM News - September 2, 2015

‘In the seventh episode of Phuket Dreaming we follow teenage Muay Thai fighters Wayunoii & Phet Dum. Competing as top ranked Rajadamnern Muay Thai fighters. We also check out K-1 sensation Marat Grigorian as he trains at Phuket Top Team ahead of the 70kg K-1 Grand Prix tournament.’ Catch the latest episode of the popular web series, ‘Phuket Dreaming,’ below. You don’t want to miss the seventh episode of the second series!

BJPENN.COM News - August 31, 2015

Floyd Mayweather’s fight with Manny Pacquiao may have shattered pay-per-view numbers, but it left fans of the sport hungry for a fight with more action. Boxing fans rejoiced when Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto finally agreed to terms after months of negotiations to square off at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout is set to take place on November 21st and (Canelo’s) promoter Oscar de la Hoya thinks it COULD break 2,000,000 pay-per-view buys.

BJPENN.COM News - August 31, 2015

The Ultimate Fighting Championship may have made one of their best signings of the year by picking up LEGACY FC mainstay Sage Northcutt. It sounds like a name out of a movie, but the Texas native is the real deal. Northcutt is a kickboxing and sport karate champion who has been training since the age of five. Northcutt is undefeated with an impressive record of 5-0 and is expected to make his octagon debut at UFC 192 in his home-state. The nineteen-year old fighter has finished ALL of his opponents, letting only his most recent foe make it to the second round. Check out his latest fight below!

BJPENN.COM News - August 31, 2015

Davi Ramos turned out to be one of the top grapplers of the weekend at the Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championship (ADCC 2015) on Sunday. He capped off his gold-medal performance with a submission that will be talked about in the grappling world for years to come. (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));

BJPENN.COM News - August 30, 2015

It has been just over a year since Scott Coker marched in to Bellator and turned it into the company it is today. Gone are the days of seasons and tournaments; Bellator operates just like any other mainstream mixed martial arts company would with regular numbered shows and super-cards. Coker recently sat down to discuss his first year with Bellator in an interview you can check out below

BJPENN.COM News - August 30, 2015

Rousimar Palhares claimed to have turned a new leaf when he inked a deal with World Series of Fighting in 2014. He made his promotional debut against Steve Carl and, of course, held the inverted heel hook a bit too long. He followed that performance with a WSOF Welterweight Championship defense against Jon Fitch where he cranked the hold too quickly, barely giving Fitch a chance to submit. Palhares had once again gained the reputation of a dirty fighter and Jake Shields was going to take it upon himself to punish him for it. Instead, their fight at “WSOF 22: Palhares vs. Shields” was surrounded by controversy instigated by Palhares’ actions throughout the fight. An investigation proved that Palhares poked the eyes of Shields several times throughout the fight before holding on to the final submission attempt in the third round too long, causing Shields to submit and scream in agony.

BJPENN.COM News - August 30, 2015

Tito Ortiz is getting another opportunity to become a champion in mixed martial arts when he steps into the cage to face Liam McGeary. The two will square-off to decide the fate of the Bellator Light Heavyweight Championship at “Dynamite”, a joint promotion show between Bellator and kickboxing company GLORY. https://www.whipclip.com/video/f4iw0

BJPENN.COM News - August 30, 2015

Melvin Guillard has had issues picking up momentum since getting released from the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2014. After a controversial split with World Series of Fighting earlier this year, “The Young Assassin” signed with Bellator with hopes of picking up lightweight gold. Guillard will have to wait until his hand recovers in order to do that, however, as he suffered a ‘shattered’ right hand during a split decision loss to Brandon Girtz at Bellator 141. Bellator officials have since confirmed that Guillard will be undergoing surgery later on this week for his broken hand. Check out the picture of his hand moments after the fight below. The content is graphic!

BJPENN.COM News - August 30, 2015

Brandon Halsey is ready to square off with Rafael Carvalho at “Bellator 144” for the championship he never truly lost in competition. Earlier this year in May, Halsey was all set to defend his Bellator Middleweight Championship with Kendall Grove at “Bellator 137”. However, the day before his defense Halsey missed weight and was stripped of the title. The stipulations of the fight the following day were changed so that Grove would take home the championship in the event of a victory, but Halsey ended up knocking the Hawaiian out in the fourth round of the catchweight bout. As a result of his victory, the middleweight championship has since remained vacant. Bellator President Scott Coker recently appeared on “The MMA Road Show” and announced that any issues the company had with their former champion have since been resolved and he will be meeting Rafael Carvalho for the title at “Bellator 144”.

BJPENN.COM News - August 30, 2015

Bellator and GLORY’s first joint event is set to go off with a bang in September as “Dynamite 1” will feature a one night, four man light heavyweight tournament. UFC veteran Phil Davis, Emanuel Newton, Linton Vassell, and Muhammed Lawal will battle for supremacy and possibly the right to face the winner of Ortiz/McGeary for the light heavyweight championship. One night tournaments are a tricky thing in the world of mixed martial arts as the company runs the risk of getting one of the participants injured in their opening round fight. In the event that Davis, Newton, Vassell or Lawal get injured or are not cleared to compete by the athletic commission in the finals of the tournament, Bellator has set up an alternate fight between another octagon vet in Francis Carmont and Philipe Lins.

BJPENN.COM News - August 30, 2015

Scott Coker has been behind the scenes at Bellator for just over a year now and is finally looking to ramp up the output of events the company has. By year’s end, Bellator will have dished out sixteen fights in just twelve months. The final event of the year will be Bellator 147 where former UFC title contender Josh Koscheck is set to make his debut. Next year, Coker is hoping to put out at least twenty-two fights!

BJPENN.COM News - August 30, 2015

The undefeated king of professional boxing is set to make his return to pay-per-view when he squares off with Andre Berto in what is expected to be “Money’s” final fight. The bout is set to take place on September 12, 2015. Go behind the scenes of both fighters’ training camps by watching the following episode of “All Access”! In the most recent edition of “All Access”, one of Mayweather’s employees finally got his wish to grace the ring with his presence during a training session. The employee, Jesse Mack, claimed to be a former mixed martial artist who retired back in 2004. Well, he got served in the boxing ring that day as he fell to the mat VERY quick. Check out the replay in the video below!

BJPENN.COM News - August 29, 2015

Even though Ronda Rousey’s next opponent is already lined up, Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino is not backing off the trash talk. Tito Ortiz has chosen to keep quiet on trying to make Rousey/Cyborg happen, but “Cyborg” knows a payday when she sees one. After Rousey’s quick disposal of “Pitbull” Bethe Correia at UFC 190, fans and fighters alike were clamoring for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion to finally fight “Cyborg”. After almost two weeks of speculation and rumors, UFC President Dana White laid the rumors to rest that the fight would take place at “Cowboy’s Stadium” in Dallas, Texas; Ortiz’s previous claims that it was happening were false and White didn’t even have the stadium booked.

BJPENN.COM News - August 28, 2015

Bellator MMA will be putting on quite a show at their ‘Dynamite’ event coming up next month. There will be a cage for MMA fights and a ring for GLORY kickboxing matches in the same venue, something that really hasn’t been done before. The night will feature GLORY title fights and a Bellator light heavyweight title fight between the champ Liam McGeary and MMA legend Tito Ortiz.

BJPENN.COM News - August 28, 2015

In the night’s main event we got to see former UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard step into the Bellator cage for the first time, to face Brandon Girtz. They both felt each other out for a while, then Girtz exploded and threw a massive punch, grabbed Guillard, picked him up and slammed him to the mat. Guillard got to his feet quick, but Girtz stayed on him and got him back to the mat.