MMA News

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

Sean O’Malley has an interesting reason as to why he didn’t finish Thomas Almeida in the first round. Early on in their UFC 260 fight, O’Malley was having a ton of success and landing heavy shots. Midway through the first round, he dropped the Brazilian with a left hand and walked away as he thought he had the walkoff KO. However, the ref didn’t stop the fight and it then took O’Malley until the third-round to get the TKO finish.

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.

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.

Adam Martin - March 29, 2021

Former UFC champion Daniel Cormier came to the defense of longtime rival Jon Jones, saying he is not scared of fighting Francis Ngannou. Ngannou knocked out Cormier’s other rival Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 260 this past weekend to capture the UFC heavyweight title. Following the fight, UFC president Dana White suggested that Jones should move down to 185lbs and that he’s scared of fighting Ngannou. Ever since then, Jones has taken to social media to vent his frustrations with the UFC and with White following his comments. Jones has gone on to say that he hopes that the UFC just releases him so that he can move on with his fighting career.

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

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 UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic has released a statement following his second-round knockout loss to Francis Ngannou at UFC 260. Miocic suffered a brutal second-round KO loss to Ngannou in the pair’s rematch, which headlined this past Saturday’s UFC 260 pay-per-view card. Following the loss, Miocic has now taken to social media to release a lengthy statement. In it, he congratulated Ngannou on the victory and said he will be taking some time off to recover. Read it below.

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.

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

A new camera angle shows just how brutal Sean O’Malley’s “unnecessary” final punch on Thomas Almeida was during their UFC 260 fight. O’Malley took on Almeida in a highly-anticipated bantamweight bout between two strikers on the UFC 260 pay-per-view card. In the first round, O’Malley knocked Almeida down along the fence with strikes but he walked away and somehow the Brazilian was able to recover and survive. In the third round, however, O’Malley was able to knock Almeida down again and this time, he didn’t let him off the hook. After dropping his opponent to the canvas, O’Malley landed an absolutely brutal hammer fist that put his lights out completely.

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.

Harry Kettle - March 29, 2021

Chael Sonnen listed the reasons why Derrick Lewis deserves the next shot at the UFC heavyweight title – while taking a shot at Jon Jones. We now all know that at UFC 260, Francis Ngannou finally ascended to the top of the mountain and beat Stipe Miocic to claim the heavyweight crown. In doing so, he also avenged his defeat to Miocic from UFC 220 back in 2018.

Christopher Taylor - March 28, 2021

Dana White is not sure what the future holds for Stipe Miocic following his title loss to Francis Ngannou at last night’s UFC 260 event. Miocic (20-4 MMA) and Ngannou (16-3 MMA) squared off for a second time yesterday evening on pay-per-view. The pair had originally collided at UFC 220, with the Cleveland native emerging victorious by way of unanimous decision.