MMA News

Adam D Martin - May 4, 2021

UFC play-by-play commentator Brendan Fitzgerald discussed the production meeting incident with Joshua Fabia and Diego Sanchez on Fight Island. Last week, it was revealed that the UFC had cut Sanchez after a back-and-forth email exchange with the promotion’s lawyer Hunter Campbell. Sanchez and Fabia were requesting medical documents and the UFC believed that it was the right call to release him instead. Later on, there was a video leaked of an argument between Fabia and the UFC production team on Fight Island. Fitzgerald himself was in the room for it and speaking to John Hyon Ko of South China Morning Post, he gave his thoughts on the situation.

Adam D Martin - May 4, 2021

UFC welterweight Alex Morono reacted to the news that he will be taking on Donald Cerrone at this weekend’s UFC Vegas 26 event. Cerrone was expected to take on fellow Octagon veteran Diego Sanchez this Saturday night at UFC Vegas 26, but the fight fell apart when Sanchez got into a medical disagreement with the UFC and was released from his contract. The UFC has spent the last week looking for a replacement opponent to keep Cerrone on the card, with a number of fighters offering to fill in on short notice. In the end, the matchmakers decided that the right man for the job is Morono, who will step in on just six days’ notice to fight Cerrone this Saturday night.

Adam D Martin - May 4, 2021

UFC welterweight contender Leon Edwards reacted after his scheduled fight at UFC 262 against Nate Diaz was pushed back to UFC 263 instead. Diaz suffered a minor injury during his training camp that has pushed the fight against “Rocky” back about a month. Instead of the two rivals meeting at UFC 262 on May 15 in Houston, Texas, the two will now meet at UFC 263 on June 12 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diaz vs. Edwards bout was is scheduled for five rounds despite it being a non-title fight, and it will be one of three, five-round fights that take place at UFC 263, along with Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori 2 and Deivieson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno 2.

Harry Kettle - May 4, 2021

UFC referee Herb Dean has given his thoughts on the controversial ending to Petr Yan vs Aljamain Sterling back at UFC 259. In their UFC Bantamweight Championship clash, it appeared as if Yan was well on his way to successfully retaining his title. However, after he threw an illegal knee at a downed opponent, Sterling was able to leave the UFC APEX as champion through a disqualification victory.

Adam D Martin - May 3, 2021

UFC light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes issued a statement following his brutal knockout loss to Jiri Prochazka at UFC Vegas 25. Reyes entered this fight against Prochazka on the heels of back-to-back losses to Jon Jones and Jan Blachowicz, so he badly needed to get a win and get back in the victory column. Unfortunately for Reyes, the fight did not go his way once again as Prochazka battered him all over the Octagon until eventually scoring the finish in the second round. It was another phenomenal performance by Prochazka, who looks to be a serious title contender at 205lbs, while for Reyes it was another tough loss that will drop him out of title contention.

Drake Riggs - May 3, 2021

Tatiana Suarez’s days at 115-pounds may be behind her. After seeing how the last UFC flyweight title bout played out, the dominant wrestler likes her chances against one of the sport’s very best. Having not competed since June 2019 due to lingering injuries, the undefeated 8-0 season 23 winner of The Ultimate Fighter is now feeling a move to flyweight could be in her future. Therefore making the ultimate goal a showdown with reigning queenpin, Valentina Shevchenko.

Drake Riggs - May 3, 2021

Joanna Jedrzejczyk hasn’t been seen in the Octagon in over a year – that doesn’t mean she isn’t staying busy and taking some damage. On Monday, Jedrzejczyk took to Instagram to share a photo of herself in the hospital. However, rather than just a wholesome selfie, the former UFC strawweight champion was sporting a gnarly gash on her shin.

Cole Shelton - May 3, 2021

Triller is continuing to go after people who illegally streamed their Fight Club event on April 17 between Jake Paul and Ben Askren. Triller recently came out and said they were filing a lawsuit seeking $100 million in damages from illegal streamers. Now, the promotion is taking it one step further suggesting that anyone who illegally watched Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren can pay the $49.99 price tag for the event. In exchange, those individuals’ names will be removed from lawsuit, which seeks a $150,000 penalty from every person who pirated the card.

Adam D Martin - May 3, 2021

UFC bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley will return to the Octagon on July 10 at UFC 264 when he faces off against Louis Smolka. MMA journalist Ryan Frederick was the first to report the O’Malley vs. Smolka fight, which will take place on the Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor III undercard at UFC 264. Multiple sources have indicated to BJPenn.com that this booking is accurate and will take place.

Adam D Martin - May 3, 2021

UFC middleweight contender Robert Whittaker was criticized by coach Eugene Bareman for turning down a title shot against Israel Adesanya. After defeating Kelvin Gastelum in lopsided fashion at UFC Vegas 24, it was fully expected that Whittaker would get the next title shot against Adesanya. However, the promotion announced that it will be Marvin Vettori who next takes on Adesanya at UFC 263 on June 12. Whittaker later explained the reasons that he was unable to go so soon because he’s banged up, and the UFC decided to go with Vettori. But for Bareman, it was a bad call.

Adam D Martin - May 3, 2021

UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is confident that the trilogy fight against her rival Amanda Nunes will happen one day. The calls for a trilogy between Shevchenko and Nunes are high after “Bullet” ran through Jessica Andrade in her last outing at UFC 261. Since moving down to flyweight, Shevchenko is a perfect 7-0, with a 6-0 record in flyweight title fights. The UFC is having trouble finding opponents for Shevchenko as she has been blowing everyone she fights out of the water. The only trouble she has ever had in her UFC career was against Nunes, and thus fans want to see them fight again. The two rivals previously met in 2016 and 2017, with Nunes winning a unanimous decision at UFC 196 and a split decision at UFC 215.

Adam D Martin - May 3, 2021

UFC welterweight contender Stephen Thompson is confident that his brother-in-law Chris Weidman will fight in the UFC Octagon once again. Thompson was in the corner of Weidman last weekend at UFC 261 when he suffered one of the worst injuries we have ever seen in the history of the sport when Weidman broke his leg on a checked kick against Uriah Hall. Immediately after throwing the kick, Weidman’s leg snapped in half and he went down to the mat right away. Weidman was rushed to hospital and had surgery on his leg and is expected to make a full recovery. However, he is unable to walk at the moment and won’t be able to start training hard for 6-12 months.

Adam D Martin - May 3, 2021

UFC women’s strawweight Randa Markos questioned her opponent Luana Pinheiro for not continuing after an illegal upkick at UFC Vegas 25. Pinheiro and Markos met in the headliner of the UFC Vegas 25 preliminary card. Right from the start of the fight, Pinheiro was controlling where the action took place with her grappling skills as she slammed Markos to the mat multiple times. It is also worth noting there was a nasty eye poke where the referee and doctor took a closer look at stopping the fight. In the end, the fight continued, but unfortunately for Markos, it ended very soon after that after she landed an illegal upkick that appeared to knock Pinheiro out.

Cole Shelton - May 3, 2021

In the main event of UFC Vegas 25, Jiri Prochazka was looking to become a top-three light heavyweight as he battled Dominick Reyes who was coming off back-to-back losses for the belt. Prochazka entered the fight after making good on his UFC debut as he KO’d Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 251. He was also the former RIZIN champ. Reyes, meanwhile, was coming off a TKO loss to Jan Blachowicz for the vacant belt and a decision loss to Jon Jones for the title.

Adam D Martin - May 3, 2021

UFC welterweight prospect Khamzat Chimaev appears to have a tracheostomy scar following his scary battle with COVID-19 earlier this year. Chimaev was supposed to be one of the UFC’s biggest stars in 2021, but it has been a forgettable year for the young Swede so far. Earlier this year, Chimaev contracted COVID-19 and had to pull out of his scheduled bout with Leon Edwards twice. Chimaev had such a scary situation with his health that he even considered retiring before he got healthier, changed his mind, and decided to return to the sport. He is now targeting a return later this summer or fall and has been calling out Nick Diaz in hopes of a big comeback fight.

Adam D Martin - May 3, 2021

UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas said following her UFC 261 title win, “I love Joanna (Jedrzejczyk) but she gonna be mad.” Namajunas made history last weekend at UFC 261 when she knocked out Weili Zhang with a head kick to become the first two-time women’s champion in UFC history. Namajunas previously held the UFC women’s strawweight title from 2017 to 2019 after she knocked out Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217 and defended it once successfully against Jedrzejczyk until she lost it via slam KO to Jessica Andrade. Now that she has gotten her old belt back, she has no plans on giving it up anytime soon, especially to her old rival Jedrzejczyk.

Adam Martin - May 2, 2021

UFC bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili released a statement following his unanimous decision win over Cody Stamann at UFC Vegas 25. Dvalishvili won his sixth straight fight as he improved to 6-2 overall in the UFC with the dominant win over Stamann on the main card of UFC Vegas 25. Dvalishvili utilized his powerful takedowns as he always does, but he also showed improved striking in this matchup as Stamann was at times able to match him in the wrestling department. In the end, Dvalishvili walked away with the win and he emerged as a real player at 135lbs.

Adam Martin - May 2, 2021

UFC commentator Michael Bisping trashed “toxic little sh*t” Joshua Fabia following the promotion releasing longtime veteran Diego Sanchez. The UFC cut Sanchez last week after 16 years with the company due to issues with his medical clearance. Fabia had questions about Sanchez being able to fight and voiced them with UFC staff at a meeting that was leaked online. Sanchez was set to fight Donald Cerrone in what was set to be his retirement fight on May 8, but the UFC released Sanchez from his contract, choosing instead to pay him out after a back-and-forth email exchange between Sanchez and UFC lawyer Hunter Campbell over medical records, which was also leaked online.