MMA News

BJPENN.COM Staff - June 4, 2025

Croatian knockout artist Roberto Soldic arrived in ONE Championship as the hottest free agent in mixed martial arts. Fans worldwide expected a bombardment of destructive knockouts to quickly develop. But he didn’t have a fairytale start. “Robocop” built a terrifying rep across his European MMA stint. He’d scored 17 knockouts in 20 wins, becoming a two-weight KSW Champion.

BJPENN.COM Staff - June 4, 2025

Results haven’t recently favored Japanese striking standout Taiki Naito. So this year, “Silent Sniper” has been honing his craft in to reinvent himself. Naito duels with #5-ranked flyweight Muay Thai contender Johan Estupinan at ONE Fight Night 32 this Friday, 6 June, inside Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Stadium.

Cole Shelton - June 4, 2025

Sean O’Malley and Conor McGregor appear to no longer have a beef with one another. When O’Malley broke onto the scene in the UFC, McGregor was backing him, as many thought ‘Suga’ was similar to the Irishman. However, recently, the two stopped seeing eye-to-eye, and they even took shots at one another on social media and in interviews.

Cole Shelton - June 4, 2025

Tristan Hamm is looking to bring Uly Diaz into the influencer boxing scene. Diaz recently spoke to BJPENN.com and called out Hamm for a boxing match in Misfits in Miami. They used to spar together, and Diaz wants to prove how much better he is than Hamm. However, the Canadian disagreed and fired back at what Diaz had to say.

Cole Shelton - June 4, 2025

Joe Pyfer has ripped Bo Nickal after he suffered his first career loss to Reinier de Ridder at UFC Des Moines. Nickal was a massive favorite but suffered a TKO loss. Although the loss happened a month ago, Pyfer took aim at Nickal as he claims the former All-American wrestler got fraud checked, while he didn’t in his loss to Jack Hermansson.

Cole Shelton - June 4, 2025

In the main event of UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey, the bantamweight title is up for grabs as Merab Dvalishvili defends his belt against Sean O’Malley in a rematch of their fight last September. Heading into the fight, Dvalishvili is a -310 favorite while ‘Suga’ is a +230 underdog on FanDuel. Ahead of the scrap at UFC 316, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the bantamweight title fight. The pros believe Dvalishvili will be too much for O’Malley again as he will be able to take ‘Suga’ down and get a decision win to defend his belt.

BJ Penn Staff - June 4, 2025

Bryce Mitchell is reportedly headed down to the UFC bantamweight division. Mitchell has spent the entirety of his UFC career so far competing at featherweight. At one point, he was one of the hottest young contenders in the division. He even managed to crack the division’s top-15. However, things have taken a pretty nasty turn for the man known as “Thug Nasty” in the last few years.

BJ Penn Staff - June 4, 2025

UFC CEO Dana White will see his eighties—and possibly even his nineties. That’s according to Gary Brecka, a self proclaimed “biohaker.” Long term UFC fans may remember Brecka’s name. Years ago, he linked up with White, and estimated the UFC boss had only 10 more years to live. That was obviously a grave concern for White, who then continued to work with Brecka in hopes of expanding his lifespan.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - June 4, 2025

One all-time bantamweight great isn’t upset about G.O.A.T. talks surrounding Merab Dvalishvili. While Dvalishvili has only had one successful title defense thus far, his work against elite competition prior to fighting for the UFC bantamweight gold has left some convinced that “The Machine” is the greatest bantamweight ever. The list of names Dvalishvili defeated before receiving his first crack at UFC gold included Jose Aldo, Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, and Marlon Moraes.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - June 4, 2025

Ian Machado Garry thinks one former UFC titleholder should hang up his gloves. It isn’t often that fans and experts call for an ex-titleholder’s retirement after just two straight losses, but that’s exactly what’s happening with Leon Edwards. “Rocky” lost the UFC Welterweight Championship to Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision. He followed that up with a submission loss to Sean Brady.

Harry Kettle - June 4, 2025

BKFC veteran Mike Perry has questioned whether or not Robbie Lawler is afraid to fight him in the bare-knuckle promotion. As we know, Mike Perry is pretty much the king of bare-knuckle boxing – and it’s all thanks to his run with BKFC. He has pretty much been the face of the promotion ever since he first stepped foot in the ring, and he’s had some pretty interesting fights along the way too. Of course, he’s the kind of guy who is always looking ahead to the next thing, and it’s clear to see that he has some big plans for himself.

Harry Kettle - June 4, 2025

UFC star Maycee Barber has provided an update following her recent health scare at the UFC Apex last weekend. As we know, Maycee Barber was scheduled to face Erin Blanchfield last weekend in a really important flyweight encounter. There was a chance that the winner could go on to face Valentina Shevchenko for the championship, highlighting just how much was on the line for both women. Unfortunately, the fight never happened, as a result of Maycee suffering an undisclosed health issue just minutes before they were scheduled to walk out.

Harry Kettle - June 4, 2025

Patricio Pitbull will reportedly square off against Dan Ige at UFC 318, which is set to go down on July 19 in New Orleans. For the longest time, fight fans were wondering what would happen if we got the chance to see Patricio Pitbull step into the Octagon and compete for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Recently, we received an answer as he made the jump to battle it out with Yair Rodriguez. Unfortunately for his fans, he wasn’t quite able to get the job done in what proved to be a tough first outing.

Cole Shelton - June 3, 2025

Mario Bautista is glad to be the one to welcome former Bellator bantamweight champion Patchy Mix to the UFC. Bautista was supposed to fight Marlon Vera at UFC 316, but the former title challenger had an injury and was forced out of the bout. After ‘Chito’ was injured, Bautista made it known he would remain on the card and didn’t care who he would fight.

Cole Shelton - June 3, 2025

Paige VanZant will no longer be competing for the Power Slap title. VanZant was supposed to rematch Mikael Michelle Brown for the first-ever women’s title on June 27 during International Fight Week, but that will no longer happen.

BJ Penn Staff - June 3, 2025

Ever wonder how much money Sean Strickland has made during his time in the UFC? Well, he’ll be more than happy to tell you. Strickland recently spent some time with influencer Adin Ross, and gave fans plenty of the wild sound bites we’ve come to expect from him.

BJ Penn Staff - June 3, 2025

Kayla Harrison is in incredible shape ahead of her first bid at UFC gold — not that it’s any surprise. Harrison is a former Olympic gold medalist in judo, and entered the MMA limelight as a multiple-time PFL champion at lightweight. After parting ways with the PFL, she signed with the UFC last year, with plans to compete at bantamweight. She won her first two fights with the promotion, first stopping former champ Holly Holm, and later beating Ketlen Vieira by decision. Those wins put her in position for a title shot against Julianna Peña — though many fans feel she deserved the opportunity right out of the gate.

BJ Penn Staff - June 3, 2025

Derrick Lewis is coming clean. Apparently, “The Black Beast” intentionally broke the rules in one of his past UFC fights—and possibly others. Lewis is one of the most experienced fighters in the UFC heavyweight division, and holds the distinction of having the most knockout wins in UFC history. That includes a second-round TKO over South Africa’s Ruan Potts.