MMA News

Drake Riggs - March 29, 2021

At UFC 260, Vicente Luque finished a former champion in the first round. Afterward, he was hoping to challenge the BMF himself. Unfortunately for Luque, Jorge Masvidal has now been granted a rematch with the current undisputed UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman. Thus throwing a wrench in the Brazilian’s plan.

Adam Martin - March 29, 2021

Former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion GSP is training with Tony Ferguson and Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Boxing Club. Ferguson revealed a few weeks ago that he will be training with Roach ahead of his upcoming lightweight bout at UFC 262 against top contender Beneil Dariush. After losing back-to-back fights to Justin Gaethje and Charles Oliveira, Ferguson wanted to mix things up and add to his camp. Working with one of the best boxing coaches in the world in Roach surely helps. As well, it appears as though the UFC legend GSP is also training with the two. In a new photo posted on his Instagram, GSP shared a picture of himself with Roach and Ferguson. GSP has worked with Roach before, but training with Ferguson is new.

Cole Shelton - March 29, 2021

Sean O’Malley is interested in fighting Dominick Cruz next. After O’Malley scored a third-round TKO win over Thomas Almeida at UFC 260, Cruz reportedly texted Chael Sonnen to say he is interested in a fight with ‘Sugar’. It is a matchup that makes sense and would be a very fun stylistic fight. For O’Malley, he says if the fight happens, he wants it to be the co-main event to Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 3 in July.

Cole Shelton - March 29, 2021

Rashad Evans believes Jon Jones and his team should’ve handled his move to heavyweight much better. After Jones vacated his light heavyweight title, he said he would be moving up to heavyweight. The plan was to face the winner of Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou 2 this summer. However, after Ngannou became the new champ, Jones started to say the UFC needs to pay him what he wants. For Evans, he believes “Bones” gave up all his negotiating power by already vacating the belt and changing his body for a heavyweight move.

Cole Shelton - March 29, 2021

Chael Sonnen doesn’t think Jon Jones truly wants to fight Francis Ngannou. In the lead-up to UFC 260, it was well known that the winner of Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou 2 would welcome Jon Jones to the heavyweight division. It would be a massive fight, but after UFC 260 ended, it became uncertain if Jones would fight Ngannou.

Cole Shelton - March 29, 2021

Jake Paul believes he is Conor McGregor’s money fight. After Paul scored a highlight-reel KO over Nate Robinson, he began to call out McGregor. He claimed to have offered the Irishman $50 million for the fight, but it did not come to fruition and McGregor returned to the UFC where he suffered a second-round TKO loss to Dustin Poirier.

Alfredo Zullino - March 29, 2021

A middleweight encounter between Alessio Di Chirico (13-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC) and Roman Dolidze (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) is slated for later this summer, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told BJPENN.com. The sources asked for anonymity since the news hasn’t been officially confirmed yet. No word on the official location.

Adam Martin - March 29, 2021

UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou issued a statement following his brutal second-round KO win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260. Ngannou and Miocic met in the main event rematch this past Saturday night at UFC 260 in Las Vegas. Though Miocic won the first fight at UFC 220 in 2018, Ngannou dominated the rematch, showing improved takedown defense and then scoring the knockout in the second. It was an incredible knockout by Ngannou and now he’s the champion. Now, following his title fight victory, “The Predator” has issued a statement on his victory.

Cole Shelton - March 29, 2021

Joe Rogan thinks there is a chance UFC 260 was the final time Stipe Miocic competes. In the main event of the pay-per-view card, Miocic fought Francis Ngannou three years after he dominated the first fight to defend his heavyweight title. However, in the rematch, Ngannou showed off his improved takedown defense and sprawling abilities. On the feet, he was landing heavy shots and in the second round, after dropping Miocic, he landed a clean shot that put the heavyweight champ out cold.

Adam Martin - March 29, 2021

UFC bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley was praised by UFC president Dana White for his “masterpiece” of a performance at UFC 260. O’Malley put on another fantastic performance as he finished Thomas Almeida in the third round with punches to bounce back from a TKO loss to Chito Vera in his last fight. O’Malley hurt Almeida badly in the first round with strikes only for his opponent to somehow get up and stay in the fight. However, O’Malley continued to pepper Almeida with shots until eventually taking him out in the third round with an “unnecessary” knockout blow.

Adam Martin - March 29, 2021

Bellator released its inaugural rankings and Patricio Pitbull and Cris Cyborg have topped the promotion’s pound-for-pound rankings lists. Bellator announced the first-ever edition of its promotional fighter rankings on Monday. 17 media members voted on the Bellator rankings, and you can see them all below.

Adam Martin - March 29, 2021

UFC superstar Jon Jones took to social media on Monday afternoon and asked the world’s leading MMA promotion to release him from his deal. Jones and the UFC are currently going head-to-head over a potential Francis Ngannou superfight. Jones announced last summer that he would be moving up to heavyweight in 2021, and UFC president Dana White teased that he would be next in line to fight the winner of Ngannou vs. Stipe Miocic at UFC 260, which turned out to be Ngannou. However, after the event was over, White insinuated that Jones was scared of moving up to heavyweight to fight Ngannou and instead suggested he move down to middleweight.

Adam D Martin - March 29, 2021

Former Cage Warriors featherweight champion Paddy Pimblett has officially signed a new free-agent contract with the UFC. Pimblett first appeared on the UFC fan rankings last week, which hinted that he could be signing with the promotion soon. Sure enough, the UFC has inked the former Cage Warriors star to a new deal. On Monday, the UFC officially announced on its social media pages that Pimblett has signed a contract to fight in the Octagon. Check it out below.

Cole Shelton - March 29, 2021

In the main event of UFC 260, Francis Ngannou and Stipe Miocic had their rematch three years in the making for the heavyweight title. Miocic entered the fight coming off of his trilogy fight against Daniel Cormier to reclaim and defend his heavyweight title. He also dominated Ngannou for five rounds using his wrestling to win the fight. Ngannou, meanwhile, was on a four-fight winning streak with all four wins coming by first-round KO and the longest fight going 71 seconds.

Adam D Martin - March 29, 2021

The Bellator debuts of Anthony Johnson and Yoel Romero have been delayed until May as the promotion shuffled up its upcoming schedule. Bellator’s Light Heavyweight Grand Prix begins in April with eight of the world’s best 205lbers going at it for the chance to win $1 million and the belt. On April 9 at Bellator 256, the tournament begins when Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida have a rematch. The two previously met in the UFC back in 2012 with Machida winning the fight by knockout. Nine years later and they meet again under the Bellator banner. The co-main event for that card was supposed to feature Corey Anderson vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradv, but that fight has now been pushed back to Bellator 257 on April 16. That means that the fight between Johnson and Romero, which was originally targeted for that date, has been rescheduled.

Adam D Martin - March 29, 2021

The trilogy fight between UFC superstar Conor McGregor and rival Dustin Poirier is close to being made official for UFC 264 this summer. We have known for a few weeks now that the UFC plans on booking McGregor vs. Poirier 3 in the wake of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement from MMA, but it’s getting closer to the point of both men putting ink to paper. We heard recently that the July 10 date for the fight seemed likely, and now we have a name for the event as UFC 264 is what it will be called. According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, the trilogy between McGregor and Poirier is close to being booked and could be finalized this week.

Adam D Martin - March 29, 2021

Bellator heavyweight contender Matt Mitrione has been forced out of his upcoming fight against Tyrell Fortune this Friday at Bellator 255. Mitrione vs. Fortune was set to be the main card opener of Friday’s Bellator 255 show, which takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Unfortunately, Mitrione is now off the card as he pulled out from the Bellator 255 event for undisclosed reasons. MMAjunkie.com’s Nolan King was the first to report that Mitrione fell off the card. With Mitrione now off the card, Bellator is targeting a rematch between Fortune and Jack May on short notice. They fought to a No Contest last year after low blows ended the fight.

Adam D Martin - March 29, 2021

UFC middleweight contender Derek Brunson suggested that former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic make the move down to light heavyweight. Miocic was knocked out in brutal fashion by Francis Ngannou in a failed bid to capture the title in the main event of UFC 260. After surviving a tough first round, Ngannou finished the job in the second with heavy strikes. What was interesting about this fight was the weight difference. Ngannou tipped the scales at 263lbs, while Miocic weighed in at just 234lbs, which was far lighter than the 246lbs that he came in during the first fight at UFC 220. The low weight of 234lbs has led some to wonder if he could potentially even cut down to 205.