MMA News

BJPENN.COM Staff - December 9, 2025

Mongolia President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh personally congratulated Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu following his stunning fourth-round submission victory over Fabricio Andrade at ONE Fight Night 38 on Friday, December 5, inside Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The 36-year-old entered as the #4-ranked bantamweight contender facing a dominant champion who’d never tasted defeat inside ONE Championship under MMA rules. But Baatarkhuu turned the impossible into reality. He scored a rear-naked choke at 1:33 of the fourth round that forced the Brazilian to tap.

Curtis Calhoun - December 9, 2025

Longtime UFC analyst Joe Rogan put Petr Yan’s performance at UFC 323 as one of the all-time greatest showings. Petr Yan got his revenge over Merab Dvalishvili to reclaim the UFC bantamweight championship belt at UFC 323 last Saturday. In what was a five-round instant classic, Yan shut down Dvalishvili’s grappling in the later rounds to score a unanimous decision win.

Cole Shelton - December 9, 2025

Henry Cejudo issued a lengthy statement following his retirement. Cejudo suffered a decision loss to Payton Talbott at UFC 323 on Saturday, which was his retirement fight. Although Cejudo lost his final fight, he was happy with how he went out.

Curtis Calhoun - December 9, 2025

Former UFC star Matt Brown believes Joshua Van is facing unfair criticism of his UFC 323 post-fight celebration. Joshua Van earned the UFC flyweight championship under unideal circumstances last weekend at UFC 323.

Curtis Calhoun - December 9, 2025

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill shared his side of the viral altercation with Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 323. Jamahal Hill and Joanna Jedrzejczyk were involved in a heated altercation while attending UFC 323 last Saturday in Las Vegas. In now-viral footage, Hill can be heard threatening to ‘knock the f— out of’ Jedrzejczyk as UFC security personnel intervened.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - December 9, 2025

Aljamain Sterling won’t find too many people who agree with his UFC 323 take. In the UFC 323 main event, Merab Dvalishvili put the UFC Bantamweight Championship on the line against Petr Yan. The bout didn’t go the way many envisioned, as Yan thwarted the grappling of “The Machine.” He was also able to pepper his opponent on the feet on his way to a unanimous decision win.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - December 9, 2025

If Gina Carano were to make an MMA comeback, she’d have the full support of her coach. Carano recently turned some heads after she posted new training footage. In the caption of the post, Carano wrote, “Grateful to be here for my health, the people around me, the people who inspire me and the desire to do better.”

Fernando Quiles Jr. - December 9, 2025

Joshua Van has been under some scrutiny following UFC 323, but a retired fan favorite is coming to his defense. Van shared the Octagon with Alexandre Pantoja for just 26 seconds this past Saturday. Van was challenging for the UFC Flyweight Championship. Early on, Pantoja injured his shoulder while trying to break his fall. The fight was called off and Van was awarded the win.

Harry Kettle - December 9, 2025

UFC star Sean O’Malley has given his thoughts on a possible rematch between himself and new bantamweight champion Petr Yan. As we know, Sean O’Malley is a former UFC bantamweight champion and one of the biggest names in mixed martial arts. After consecutive losses to Merab Dvalishvili, though, he needs to rebuild his reputation at 135 pounds, and that starts with a clash against Song Yadong next month.

Harry Kettle - December 9, 2025

Demetrious Johnson has given his thoughts on Alexandre Pantoja’s unfortunate arm injury that occurred at UFC 323. Last Saturday night at UFC 323, Alexandre Pantoja lost his UFC flyweight championship. He was beaten by Joshua Van, but the result came under controversial circumstances as the Brazilian star fell on his arm and was rendered unable to continue due to injury.

Harry Kettle - December 9, 2025

UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev has given his thoughts on who he could take on next in the division. Right now, Khamzat Chimaev is on top of the world. He is the king of the middleweights after dethroning Dricus du Plessis, and many are excited to see what’s next for him. According to the man himself, though, we shouldn’t expect to see him stick around for too much longer at 185 pounds before he ventures up to light heavyweight.

Cole Shelton - December 9, 2025

The 212th episode of Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com with host Cole Shelton is live to preview UFC Vegas 112. We’re joined by 10th-ranked UFC strawweight Gillian Robertson (0:53) to preview her fight against Amanda Lemos.

Dylan Bowker - December 8, 2025

Henry Cejudo made a playful reference to Raoni Barcelos, and Chael Sonnen by proxy, in the wake of Cejudo’s loss to Payton Talbott, and Talbott has since responded. The MMA reference point of “just how good is…” refers to a trope that Chael Sonnen established years ago, asking the ever-present question of “just how good is Kevin Lee?”, which became a common reference framework in mixed martial arts circles since. With the Olympic gold medalist retiring from mixed martial arts over the weekend, Henry Cejudo took to his personal X page to interject something a bit light-hearted in the fallout of losing his swan song bout, as Cejudo said,

BJPENN.COM Staff - December 8, 2025

Bokang Masunyane faces Ryohei Kurosawa in strawweight MMA at ONE Fight Night 39 on Friday, January 24, inside Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The #3-ranked contender spent his last appearance testing himself at flyweight. That experiment against Sanzhar Zakirov revealed improved ground skills but ended with a decision loss after three hard rounds. Now Masunyane drops back down where his blinding speed and explosive athleticism have always played best.

Dylan Bowker - December 8, 2025

Petr Yan put together a masterclass performance to become a two-time UFC bantamweight champion, but he also put his name in the record books in a fashion that no fighter had done previously in the octagon. Yan avenged a prior loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 323 to unseat the dominant champion in a one-sided performance that shocked many due to the lack of competitiveness within it. When Yan fell short to Dvalishvili in their initial fight, it was the third loss in a row for the Russian combatant, with prior setbacks to Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley. In a statistic provided by X account @MMAonPoint, it drew attention to the fact that no UFC fighter has ever gone on to regain their title after going on a three-fight losing streak since losing their hold on the gold.

Cole Shelton - December 8, 2025

The UFC had its final pay-per-view card of the year on Saturday as the promotion was in Las Vegas, Nevada, for UFC 323. The main event saw Merab Dvalishvili defending his bantamweight title in a rematch against Petr Yan. The co-main event saw Alexandre Pantoja defending his flyweight strap against Joshua Van. In the end, it was Yan who pulled off the upset as he dominated Dvalishvili in all five rounds to cruise to a lopsided decision win to reclaim his bantamweight title. Van, meanwhile, became the new flyweight champ as Pantoja suffered an arm injury not even a minute into the fight.

Curtis Calhoun - December 8, 2025

UFC Hall of Famer Joanna Jedrzejczyk issued a social media statement addressing her altercation with Jamahal Hill at UFC 323. UFC 323 was a night of great fights and great aura, but two fighters made headlines over the weekend for their actions outside of the Octagon.

Curtis Calhoun - December 8, 2025

Coach John Wood issued his first public remarks about what went wrong for dethroned bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 323. Merab Dvalishvili’s UFC bantamweight title reign came to an abrupt end via a loss to Petr Yan at UFC 323 last Saturday in Las Vegas. In a five-round instant classic, Dvalishvili lost to Yan by unanimous decision as the former titleholder reclaimed the bantamweight belt.