MMA News

Drake Riggs - April 14, 2021

Christian Lee is proving with each fight that he’s truly come into his status as a champion. At ONE on TNT 2, he added to his highlight reel. Taking on the dangerous Russian in Timofey Nastyukhin—most famous for upsetting former UFC and Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez in Alvarez’s ONE Championship debut—the eldest Lee brother needed only 73 seconds to earn his second career title defense.

Drake Riggs - April 14, 2021

With the upcoming boxing match between Jake Paul and Ben Askren rapidly approaching, the community’s excitement is building. Stephen Thompson, however, isn’t among those in anticipation. On April 17, the world finally gets to see if the younger Paul brother can defeat an actual combat sports veteran. But despite Askren’s former fellow UFC welterweight contender in Thompson supporting “Funky,” he won’t be watching.

Christopher Taylor - April 14, 2021

Paul Daley claims a previous altercation with UFC standout Dustin Poirier resulted in his bitter rivalry with Bellator 257 opponent Sabah Homasi. The veteran welterweight, Daley (42-17-2 MMA), returns to the cage this Friday night in Uncasville for a bout with the streaking American in Homasi (15-8 MMA).

Christopher Taylor - April 14, 2021

Rose Namajunas is not backing down after receiving a ton of heat for her “better dead than red” comment regarding UFC champion Weili Zhang. Namajunas (9-4 MMA) is set to challenge Zhang (21-1 MMA) for the promotions undisputed strawweight champion in the co-main event of UFC 261 on April 24 in Jacksonville.

Adam Martin - April 14, 2021

UFC veteran Jeremy Stephens still wants to fight Conor McGregor, and he says he will finish the fight with calf kicks if they ever meet. In 2016 at the UFC 205 press conference, Stephens and McGregor were involved in one of the most oft-quoted pieces of back-and-forth in UFC history. When asked by a reporter who the toughest fight on stage for McGregor was, Stephens decided to take matters into his own hands and say it was him. Only he ended up getting absolutely roasted by McGregor.

Cole Shelton - April 14, 2021

Eddie Alvarez is looking like he will be the one to welcome Oscar De La Hoya back to the boxing ring this summer. Over the past few months, De La Hoya has hinted at a possible return and said he wanted a big named opponent. However, he was mentioning boxers as his opponent. But, as of late has changed his attention to MMA fighters, and Alvarez says he is in talks with De La Hoya.

Cole Shelton - April 14, 2021

Nate Diaz is a win away from a welterweight title shot, according to Kamaru Usman’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz. In the co-main event of UFC 262 on May 15, Diaz is set to return to the Octagon against Leon Edwards in a highly-anticipated fight. The scrap will also be five rounds and according to Kamaru Usman’s manager, if Diaz wins, he would be the number one contender and get the next title shot.

Cole Shelton - April 14, 2021

Dustin Poirier has apologized for bringing the Conor McGregor donation issue to the public. Over the past week, Poirier and McGregor had a heated back-and-forth after “The Diamond” claimed the Irishman never paid the $500k to his charity as he said he would. After some tweets at one another, Poirier issued a statement on the situation and apologized for bringing it to light.

Cole Shelton - April 14, 2021

Check out the complete betting odds for this Saturday’s UFC on Vegas 24 card featuring an intriguing middleweight bout between Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum. The UFC Vegas 24 main event sees Whittaker and Gastelum finally fight after they were supposed to meet in 2019 for the title but Whittaker was forced out of the fight on the day of the event. Whittaker is coming off back-to-back decision wins over Jared Cannonier and Darren Till to return to the win column after losing his belt to Israel Adesanya. Gastelum, meanwhile, returned to the win column last time out with a decision win over Ian Heinisch.

Cole Shelton - April 14, 2021

Ben Askren won’t be retiring from boxing after Saturday night if he beats Jake Paul. On April 17, Askren is set for his first professional boxing fight as he is set to face brash YouTuber, Jake Paul. It’s a highly-anticipated fight that has the combat sports world talking about it as “Funky” is far from a boxer.

Adam D Martin - April 14, 2021

Former UFC and Bellator heavyweight Justin Wren ripped Conor McGregor for not following through on his donation to Dustin Poirier’s charity. Wren competed in MMA between 2006 and 2017 with one appearance in the UFC and three outings in Bellator. However, he did not compete at all between 2010 and 2015, as during that time Wren founded the “Fight For The Forgotten” where he traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to help the Mbuti pygmy people build shelter and get fresh water. Wren’s charity work has been praised throughout the MMA community and he even co-wrote a book with MMA journalist Loretta Hunt titled “The Fight For The Forgotten: How a Mixed Martial Artist Stopped Fighting for Himself and Started Fighting for Others” in 2015.

Adam D Martin - April 14, 2021

Watch former UFC fighter-turned-boxer Ben Askren hit the pads ahead of his boxing match with Jake Paul on Saturday on Triller. Askren makes his highly-anticipated boxing debut this weekend when he takes on the YouTuber-turned-boxer in a high-profile boxing match. Askren came up as a wrestler in college before making the transition into mixed martial arts during the late 2000s. Since 2009, Askren has been competing at the highest level of the sport in both Bellator and in the UFC, racking up a 19-2, 1 NC record overall in MMA. However, after losing to Demian Maia and Robbie Lawler in the UFC in 2019, he decided to walk away, citing a hip issue.

Cole Shelton - April 14, 2021

Drakkar Klose is eager to welcome Jeremy Stephens back up to lightweight. With Stephens on a five-fight winless streak, the 10th-ranked featherweight decided to move up to lightweight and will face Klose at UFC Vegas 24. For Klose, he is much more excited about this fight than his past couple.

Adam D Martin - April 14, 2021

UFC welterweight Mike Perry scoffed at the boxing advice given by Twitter users after suggesting he wants to improve that part of his game. Perry lost a lopsided unanimous decision to Daniel Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 23 last week. “Platinum” was jabbed up the entire fight and, although he did score some takedowns, took a ton of damage on the feet and wasn’t able to fire much back in return. With the loss, Perry has now dropped four of his last five fights. While Perry started off his UFC career five years ago knocking everyone out and becoming a fan favorite, he has really struggled as of late. At this point, you have to wonder what’s next for Perry. He likely will get another fight in the UFC due to being a fan favorite, but it would be a must-win fight if it happens.

Adam D Martin - April 14, 2021

UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz will defend his title on September 4 when he fights No. 1 contender Glover Teixeira at UFC 266. Blachowicz defeated UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in his first title defense back at UFC 259 in March. Following the fight, UFC president Dana White made it clear that Teixeira would be next in line to fight for the belt. After Blachowicz requested six months off to rest and recover after the Adesanya fight, the promotion granted his wishes and he will return this fall when he takes on Teixeira for all the gold. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto was the first to report this Blachowicz vs. Teixeira fight. The venue or location has not been determined, but it seems likely that fans will be in attendance for this fight either way.

Cole Shelton - April 14, 2021

On April 17, Ben Askren is ending his retirement to box YouTuber, Jake Paul in a highly-anticipated bout. Heading into the fight, Askren is a +145 underdog while the YouTuber is a -175 favorite. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their prediction for the bout. The pros have a slight lean towards Ben Askren getting his hand raised, while some believe Paul will be able to walk through the UFC veteran.

Adam D Martin - April 14, 2021

Legendary MMA referee John McCarthy criticized the referee in ONE Championship who DQed Eddie Alvarez at ONE on TNT 1 last week. Referee Justin Brown took matters into his own hands when he handed Alvarez a red card and a DQ loss last Wednesday at ONE on TNT 1. In the fight, Alvarez took his opponent Iuri Lapicus to the ground and started to rain down punches on his face. However, his opponent slightly turned his head, which caused Alvarez to land one or two punches that might have hit his opponent in the back of the head. As his opponent was unable to continue and had to be stretchered out of the cage, the referee decided he had no choice but to DQ Alvarez.

Adam D Martin - April 14, 2021

UFC lightweight Tony Ferguson explained why he called Nate Diaz his bitch: “Just some light banter, man. I got nothing against the dude.” Ferguson recently made a tweet where he said that Diaz was his “b*tch” ahead of UFC 262. The card takes place on May 15, and Ferguson faces off against Beneil Dariush on the main card. In the co-main event of the evening, Diaz returns from his layoff to take on Leon Edwards in a No. 1 contender fight. In Ferguson’s tweet, he suggested that it was because of him that the event sold out in minutes. He then used the tweet as an opportunity to take a shot at Diaz, not to mention former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.