MMA News

Adam D Martin - May 20, 2021

Bantamweight Brett Johns explained his decision to part ways with the UFC for Bellator, saying that “they weren’t willing to pay the money.” Johns went 5-2 overall in the UFC from 2016 to 2020, and he finished off his run in the Octagon with back-to-back wins over Montel Jackson and Tony Gravely. He is a very good bantamweight fighter and considering he is just 29 years old, the Wales native still has a ton of untapped potential and upside in the sport. By all accounts, this looks to be a tremendous signing for Bellator, and it’s a wonder why the UFC let Johns get away.

Adam D Martin - May 20, 2021

UFC middleweight veteran Ronaldo Souza is finally home with his family after having arm surgery following a nasty break at UFC 262. Souza suffered one of the most horrific arm breaks we have ever seen in the UFC when Andre Muniz snapped his limb with an armbar in the first round of their fight at UFC 262. For the 41-year-old Souza, the loss to Muniz marked his fourth straight defeat in the Octagon, and breaking his arm in the loss certainly didn’t help. But he has remained a true professional in spite of the loss, as he congratulated Muniz for the victory, and has had a smile on his face the entire time despite having his right arm snapped in half last weekend.

Cole Shelton - May 20, 2021

In the main event of UFC Vegas 27, Rob Font and Cody Garbrandt are set for a pivotal bantamweight fight. It’s an evenly matched fight and the odds have it as a pure pick’em as both men are -110. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their prediction for the scrap. The majority believe Cody Garbrandt gets the job done by KO to extend his winning streak to two.

Adam D Martin - May 20, 2021

UFC president Dana White says that the UFC will be “ready” for lightweight standout Kayla Harrison when her PFL contract is officially up. Harrison is currently in the PFL, where she is the defending lightweight champion. She is part of the promotion’s third season and is already well on her way to winning another $1 million dollars after smashing Mariana Morais in her first outing this year. Harrison’s contract is up later this year and there have been whispers that she could test free agency once that happens. It’s possible that Bellator could be interested in having her fight Cris Cyborg, but Harrison has made it clear that her goal is to ultimately join the UFC roster.

Adam D Martin - May 20, 2021

Former UFC welterweight Dan Hardy says that he was “disappointed” to learn the UFC blocked Georges St-Pierre from boxing Oscar de la Hoya. We found out last week that UFC president Dana White shut down GSP vs. de la Hoya after not taking phone calls from Triller executive Ryan Kavanaugh. GSP himself confirmed that the fight was blocked and that he was upset because he wanted to have a fun fight with one of his idols in de la Hoya and then give most of the money to charity. But White refused to let St-Pierre out of his UFC contract to join the Triller Fight Club promotion.

Adam D Martin - May 20, 2021

UFC heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis shared a photo highlighting the facial injuries he provided to an attempted car thief in Houston. Lewis’ car was reportedly broken into earlier this week in his hometown of Houston, Texas. “The Black Beast” took to his social media and posted a photo of his bruised knuckles after capturing the would-be thief, and now we have a bit more information about who tried to break into Lewis’ car. The UFC heavyweight contender took to his social media on Wednesday to post a photo of the thief and link to his social media so people know who he was. Lewis put this robber on blast but made sure to let everyone know that “he’s ok.”

Harry Kettle - May 20, 2021

Cody Garbrandt is ready to showcase a brand new version of himself when he meets Rob Font at UFC Vegas 27 this Saturday. Garbrandt, also known as “No Love” by mixed martial arts fans across the world, has been on quite an interesting journey over the last few years. After working his way up to the top of the division before winning the UFC Bantamweight Championship, he proceeded to go on a three-fight losing streak.

Drake Riggs - May 19, 2021

Anderson Silva is set to make his boxing debut. In the meantime, the possibility for his fellow MMA legend in Georges St-Pierre to follow suit has been presented. However, the UFC went ahead and blocked that from happening before the Canadian icon could even make a real decision – much to the dismay of Silva.

Cole Shelton - May 19, 2021

Mike Brown, the head coach of Dustin Poirier, believes his upcoming trilogy against Conor McGregor could be the biggest pay-per-view of all time. In the main event of UFC 264 on July 10, Poirier and McGregor are set to have their trilogy in a highly-anticipated bout. After Poirier scored a second-round TKO over the Irishman at UFC 257, both men called for the trilogy to happen given they are 1-1 against one another. With that, Brown thinks that adds to the storyline and adds to the hype of the fight.

Cole Shelton - May 19, 2021

Cody Garbrandt believes a win over Rob Font on Saturday night could net him title shots at bantamweight and flyweight. Garbrandt was expected to drop down to flyweight to face Deiveson Figueiredo for the title at UFC 255. However, the former champ was forced out of the bout due to an injury and will now stay at bantamweight in the main event of UFC Vegas 27 against Font.

Adam D Martin - May 19, 2021

Former UFC champion Vitor Belfort says he’s moving to boxing, and he challenged Oscar de la Hoya and Anderson Silva to future boxing matches. Belfort left the UFC in 2018 after getting knocked out by Lyoto Machida in his final fight in the Octagon but he was expected to fight in ONE Championship after that. However, for whatever reason Belfort never made his debut for ONE even though he was connected to several fights in the promotion. Now, we finally have an update on his ONE contract.

Adam D Martin - May 19, 2021

PFL welterweight Rory MacDonald fights fellow UFC veteran Gleison Tibau in his next regular-season match in the Professional Fighters League. The PFL made the MacDonald vs. Tibau fight announcement official on Wednesday, along with announcing the rest of the PFL 5 card. The event takes place on Thursday, June 17 at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Check out the full card below.

Adam D Martin - May 19, 2021

Georges St-Pierre confirmed Dana White stopped a potential boxing match with Oscar De La Hoya, saying “It would have been a dream come true.” GSP is happily retired from MMA right now, but we recently found out that he was apparently offered a boxing match in Triller against de la Hoya. However, reports suggested that UFC president White blocked the fight from happening. In fact, White said at the UFC 262 post-fight press conference that Triller has been contracting him but he doesn’t pick up their calls because he has no interest in working with them at all.

Adam D Martin - May 19, 2021

UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman says that we “know what would happen” in a potential Charles Oliveira vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov fight. Oliveira knocked out Michael Chandler at UFC 262 this past Saturday night to become the new UFC lightweight champion. Of course, the former champion Nurmagomedov gave up his belt a few months ago which was the reason the vacant title was available in the first place. Now that Oliveira has won the belt in such impressive fashion, there have been some suggestions that Nurmagomedov could be interested in the fight. But if you ask Usman, although fans might want to watch this fight, he thinks he knows what would happen.

Cole Shelton - May 19, 2021

Edson Barboza still isn’t sure how he got the KO win over Shane Burgos at UFC 262. Opening up the main card, Barboza and Burgos were engaged in a back-and-forth fight. Both men were landing heavy shots. After the second round, many thought it would come down to the final round, but the Brazilian was dealing with a cut on his shin from all the kicks he landed.

Harry Kettle - May 19, 2021

Aljamain Sterling has revealed that he wasn’t feeling well on the night of UFC 259 as he prepares to return to the Octagon later this year. On that night in Las Vegas, Sterling gave as good as he got against Yan – but ultimately, many fans felt as if “No Mercy” was starting to move ahead in the scorecards heading into the later rounds of the fight.

Adam D Martin - May 19, 2021

Former Ultimate Fighter winner Tatiana Suarez has announced her return to the UFC and says she will be moving up to the flyweight division. Suarez won TUF in 2016 and quickly went 5-0 in the Octagon, with wins over the likes of Carla Esparza and Nina Nunes, as she jumped to the top of the women’s strawweight contender rankings. However, Suarez has not fought since June 2019 due to a neck injury, and she was recently removed from the 115lbs rankings due to inactivity. Now that she’s finally healthy again, Suarez is ready to return to the Octagon, only this time she plans on coming back at a higher weight class as she has her eyes set on the flyweight division.

Adam D Martin - May 19, 2021

UFC middleweight Andre Muniz reveals that he had a backstage conversation with Ronaldo Souza following his nasty arm break at UFC 262. Muniz picked up one of the most incredible submission wins we have seen so far this year when he became the first man to tap Souza out in MMA when he broke his arm with an armbar in their UFC 262 middleweight bout. For the 31-year-old Muniz, it was by far the biggest win of his career to date, while for the 41-year-old Souza, it was a terrible way to lose. “Jacare” has now lost four straight fights and his future with the UFC is unknown.