MMA News

BJPENN.COM Staff - May 2, 2024

Anatoly Malykhin backs his Russian compatriot Natalia Diachkova as she gears up for the most crucial bout of her career. Diachkova challenges Smilla Sundell for the Swede’s ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Championship in the main event of ONE Fight Night 22 on Prime Video. This U.S. primetime event airs live from the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, May 3.

BJPENN.COM Staff - May 2, 2024

Ok Rae Yoon is on a mission to recover the ONE Lightweight MMA World Championship, but first he must overcome a formidable opposition to get a crack at gold. The former divisional king squares off against unbeaten debutant Alibeg Rasulov at ONE Fight Night 23 on Prime Video. This U.S. primetime event takes place at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 5.

Curtis Calhoun - May 2, 2024

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has addressed a prominent MMA content creator’s claims that he’s a homosexual. Jones is working towards an Octagon return after winning the UFC heavyweight title last year at UFC 285. He was booked to face Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 before withdrawing due to injury.

Susan Cox - May 2, 2024

Stephen A. Smith is sounding off after the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson was sanctioned as a professional bout. On Saturday July 20th at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Jake Paul will get in the ring with former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson.  The event will be streamed globally on Netflix.

BJPENN.COM Staff - May 2, 2024

American Muay Thai star Jackie Buntan ventures over into the kickboxing world to take on one of the sport’s greats for World Title glory.  The California native faces French-Algerian legend Anissa Meksen for the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight Kickboxing World Title at ONE Fight Night 23 on Prime Video. 

Harry Kettle - May 2, 2024

UFC star Paul Craig believes that the promotion would prefer for him to lose to Caio Borralho at UFC 301. This weekend, Paul Craig will make his return to the Octagon when he battles Caio Borralho. The Scot is coming off the back of three losses in his last four, but the veteran is still hungry to make an impact in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Harry Kettle - May 2, 2024

Sean O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch has weighed in on the recent Alexandre Pantoja/O’Malley sparring controversy. This weekend, Alexandre Pantoja will defend his UFC flyweight championship against Steve Erceg. As you may have heard, though, Pantoja has been talking a great deal in the build-up to this contest.

Harry Kettle - May 2, 2024

Cage Warriors champion Paul Hughes has explained why he decided to sign for PFL ahead of UFC. For those of you who don’t know, Paul Hughes is a fascinating lightweight prospect. From his fight style to his impressive 11-1 pro record, there was always going to be a lot of intrigue when it comes to where he was going to sign next. In the end, though, instead of joining the likes of fellow countrymen Conor McGregor and Ian Machado Garry in the UFC, he opted for PFL.

Zain Bando - May 1, 2024

Ilia Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), the UFC’s newly minted featherweight champion, is unhappy after recent comments from UFC color commentator Joe Rogan regarding Topuria’s intention not to immediately rematch Alexander Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) at UFC 305 in Australia in August. On a recent episode of “JRE,” the most widely-consumed podcast in the world, Rogan, who has been with the UFC since 2002 after a brief stint in the mid-90s, suggested that Topuria would not fight the former champion in Volkanovski based on rumors he had heard around the community.

Cole Shelton - May 1, 2024

Steve Erceg is expecting a hostile crowd on Saturday when he faces Alexandre Pantoja for the flyweight title in the main event of UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Erceg knows Brazilian fans like to get loud and chant ‘You Will Die’ in Portuguese to the opposing fighters. With Erceg fighting for the belt and being the main event, he’s expecting to get booed. Not only is he expecting to get booed, but Erceg thinks people will be throwing stuff at him after he finishes Pantoja at UFC 301.

Cole Shelton - May 1, 2024

Alexander Volkanovski hails Jose Aldo as the greatest featherweight of all time. Volkanovski defeated Aldo en route to winning the featherweight title, and both are in the conversation of being the greatest ever. However, Volkanovski says he still has to give it to Aldo due to the length of his title reign, and being so dominant in wins makes him the featherweight GOAT.

Zain Bando - May 1, 2024

Michael Bisping is all too familiar with playing the underdog role. Despite Steve Erceg’s (12-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) similar position Saturday at UFC 301, Bisping said he plans to go conservative and pick Alexandre Pantoja (27-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) to defend his flyweight title in his home country of Brazil. “Alexandre Pantoja, this man’s phenomenal,” Michael Bisping said.  “He’s pretty much gone through the entire flyweight division.  Brandon Moreno, the Royvals, the Kapes.  You name it, he’s been there and done it. He’s got no weak areas.  He’s got a strong mind.  He’s resilient.  He’s got an amazing gas tank.  He can strike.  He can wrestle.  He’s got world-class jiu-jitsu, and he’s a nasty bastard on top of it.”

Cole Shelton - May 1, 2024

In the main event of UFC 301, the flyweight title is up for grabs as Alexandre Pantoja looks to defend his belt against Steve Erceg. Heading into the fight, Pantoja is a -200 favorite while the challenger is a +154 underdog on FanDuel. Ahead of the scrap, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to make their picks for the flyweight title fight. The pros are unanimous in thinking Pantoja will remain the flyweight champ as they believe this is too big of a step up in competition for Erceg.

Curtis Calhoun - May 1, 2024

BMF titleholder Max Holloway wasn’t one to hold animosity toward other UFC fighters, until Ilia Topuria claimed the featherweight throne. Holloway earned the BMF belt by knocking out Justin Gaethje with one second left at UFC 300 last month. The win was his first career UFC lightweight victory and opened up many options for his next fight.

Curtis Calhoun - May 1, 2024

Former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski detailed how Steve Erceg can drop jaws and secure the flyweight belt at UFC 301. Erceg will face UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja in the UFC 301 main event on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro. The No. 10 flyweight got the title shot despite a small sample size inside the UFC Octagon, capped off by a recent knockout of Matt Schnell.

Josh Evanoff - May 1, 2024

It appears that UFC light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has better wrestling than Daniel Cormier believed. ‘Poatan’ is fresh off his return to the cage in the main event of UFC 300 last month. In the headliner of the historic event, Alex Pereria faced former champion Jamahal Hill. Ultimately, it took the Brazilian less than a round to knock out ‘Sweet Dreams’. However, Hill later stated that Herb Dean’s refereeing played a role in the defeat.

Cole Shelton - May 1, 2024

Jose Aldo got into a heated faceoff with Jonathan Martinez ahead of his return to the Octagon at UFC 301 on Saturday. Aldo is set to face Jonathan Martinez in the co-main event of UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It marks his first MMA fight since August of 2022 when he lost a decision to Merab Dvalishvili. Since then, the UFC allowed Aldo to take boxing fights, as he had three of them, but he will fight out his contract on Saturday.

Susan Cox - May 1, 2024

David Feldman is confirming that Conor McGregor will have ‘a lot to say’ in future BKFC operations. The announcement came this past Saturday, April 27th during the BKFC KnuckleMania 4 broadcast, that Conor McGregor is now a part owner in the promotion.