MMA News

Cole Shelton - March 11, 2021

Petr Yan believes Aljamain Sterling is the real paper champion. In the lead-up to UFC 259 and Yan’s first title defense, Sterling was calling the Russian a paper champion. He didn’t think Yan had earned his way to the title as he did, and he planned on proving that inside the Octagon.

Cole Shelton - March 11, 2021

In the main event of UFC Vegas 21, Leon Edwards is making his return to the Octagon as he takes on Belal Muhammad. Heading into the fight, Edwards is a -275 favorite while the Palestinian-American is a +215 underdog. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. To no surprise, the majority of pros have Edwards extending his winning streak to nine.

Adam Martin - March 11, 2021

UFC bantamweight Dominick Cruz slammed TJ Dillashaw for his cheater comments towards Petr Yan, telling him “you’re about eight years old.” In the wake of Yan’s DQ loss to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259, Dillashaw took to his social media to call the former champion a “cheater.” Dillashaw, of course, hasn’t fought in over two years due to a suspension by USADA, and he has admitted that he cheated the system in order to gain an unfair advantage. Seeing the comments that Dillashaw made about Yan and bunching him into the same group of cheats that Dillashaw belongs to was something that Cruz, a former opponent who fought at UFC 259, wasn’t thrilled about seeing.

Adam Martin - March 11, 2021

UFC middleweights Darren Till and Marvin Vettori have officially been announced as headliners for the “UFC on ABC: Battle of Europe” event. “The Battle of Europe” event will the UFC’s second event on the ABC Network following January’s UFC Fight Island: Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar card. Just like that fight which featured a great main event, the UFC is bringing the goods to its ABC audience once again for this second card. This time around, two of the best middleweights in MMA headline when Till takes on Vettori. Both men are vying for the opportunity to take on UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, so a win here is very important for both men.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2021

Belal Muhammad is making no secret of his disdain for fellow UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington. Muhammad is slated to take on No. 3-ranked welterweight contender Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC Vegas 21 this Saturday in Las Vegas—an opportunity he accepted on short-notice.

Adam Martin - March 11, 2021

UFC Hall of Famer Matt Serra said he felt “disrespected” that Aljamain Sterling didn’t want to have him in his corner at UFC 259. Sterling fought Petr Yan for the UFC bantamweight title this past weekend and won it via fourth-round DQ when Yan made the bonehead mistake of illegally kneeing a downed opponent. In Sterling’s corner for that fight was his longtime coach Ray Longo and Xtreme Couture’s Eric Nicksick. Sterling grew up training with Team Serra – Longo on Long Island, but he recently started doing more training in Las Vegas. So when it came time to picking his cornerman for his title fight with Yan, Sterling had to make a choice, and he chose to leave Serra out of his corner instead of taking his longtime coach on the title journey.

Adam Martin - March 11, 2021

Check out the complete betting odds for this Saturday’s UFC Vegas 21 card featuring Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad in the main event. The main event sees the No. 3 ranked welterweight Edwards take on the No. 13 ranked Muhammad. Edwards was originally set to fight Khamzat Chimaev, but his opponent was forced off the card due to COVID-19 health issues and replaced on short notice by Muhammad. Theis fight is a fascinating matchup between two of the most well-rounded fighters at 170lbs. Edwards is currently riding an eight-fight win streak, while Muhammad has won eight of his last nine fights overall. It’s worth noting that Edwards has had a long layoff, having not fought since a July 2019 unanimous decision win over Rafael dos Anjos.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2021

Julianna Pena has a message for Amanda Nunes: Vacate the bantamweight title if you’re not going to defend it. Nunes currently holds the UFC bantamweight featherweight titles, and has defended both multiple times. Her last two fights, however, have both been featherweight title defenses, which has evidently drawn the frustration of Pena.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2021

UFC President Dana White believes former two-division champ Conor McGregor was looking past Dustin Poirier in the pair’s recent fight. McGregor and Poirier, two top lightweight contenders, met in the main event of UFC 257 in January. The bout was a rematch of a 2014 featherweight fight that McGregor won by knockout.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2021

Former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan has hit his latest opponent, Aljamain Sterling, with some serious accusations. Yan and Sterling met on the UFC 259 main card, with the bantamweight title on the line. Yan, who entered the cage as the champion, seemed to be in control through most of the fight, but ultimately blasted Sterling with an illegal knee to the head. When Sterling couldn’t continue, he was named the winner by disqualification—which meant he left the cage as the new UFC bantamweight champ.

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2021

UFC President Dana White plans to bet $1 million on Ben Askren beating Jake Paul this April—and now, Paul has responded. Askren and Paul will collide in an eight-round boxing match in Atlanta, Georgia on April 17. Heading into the matchup, there’s widespread debate as to who will come out on top.

Drake Riggs - March 10, 2021

Dominick Cruz opened up an unexpected can of worms after his win at UFC 259. One of which that his Alliance MMA teammate Angela Hill has some thoughts on. Defeating Casey Kenney by way of a hard-fought split decision in the final prelim of the night, Cruz would follow-up his first win since 2016 in an interesting fashion – a callout of Monster Energy representative, Hans Molenkamp.

Cole Shelton - March 10, 2021

Eryk Anders is expecting a highly entertaining fight for the fans on Saturday night To open up the UFC Vegas 21 main card, Anders is set to face Darren Stewart. In the lead-up to the fight, Anders, the former D-1 football star at Alabama, left home to go to Arizona and train at Fight Ready. For Anders, he says he needed a change in order to improve.

Cole Shelton - March 10, 2021

Tim Elliott dominated Jordan Espinosa for 15 minutes, but he still wasn’t happy with his performance. On the prelims of the card, Elliott and Espinosa were finally set to meet after the fight was rumored to take place for months. Throughout the fight, Elliott used his wrestling to take Espinosa down and control him. However, although he clearly won all three rounds, Elliott wasn’t happy with his performance.

Adam Martin - March 10, 2021

Boxing legend Mike Tyson says Derrick Lewis vs. Curtis Blaydes was the “Fight of the Year” and praised Lewis for his massive knockout power. Lewis picked up one of the biggest upset wins of 2021 when he KOed Blaydes with a nasty uppercut in the main event of UFC Vegas 19. Lewis was a +350 betting underdog heading into the fight and he shocked the world when he caught Blaydes right on the chin after a sloppy takedown shot. Lewis is one of the best heavyweights in the sport, not to mention one of MMA’s best personalities, so it’s not surprising he has caught the attention of Tyson. From one KO artist to another, there seems to be a lot of mutual appreciation here.

Cole Shelton - March 10, 2021

Israel Adesanya’s coach, Eugene Bareman, believes there are only two fights for him at middleweight. After Adesanya lost to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 for the light heavyweight many wondered who would be next. There are three big fights in Darren Till vs. Marvin Vettori, Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa, and Kevin Holland vs Derek Brunson. However, according to Bareman, the only fights that make sense are the rematch with Whittaker or fighting Till.

Cole Shelton - March 10, 2021

Dana White likes Ben Askren’s chances to beat Jake Paul. On April 17, Askren will make his professional boxing debut against YouTuber turned boxer, Jake Paul. It is a fight that has captured the attention of the world as this will be Paul’s toughest test to date, and if he can get past Askren, he proves to everyone he is a legit combat sports athlete.

Adam Martin - March 10, 2021

UFC heavyweight Jon Jones took a shot at Israel Adesanya’s coach, saying “Your boy has almost no takedown defense or offense off his back.” Adesanya lost a unanimous decision to Jan Blachowicz in the main event of this past Saturday’s UFC 259 event. Aside from being statistically outstruck on the feet, Adesanya was also dominated on the floor. Blachowicz was able to take his opponent down in the later rounds of the fight, lay on him, and beat him up from the top position. Adesanya, who was tired at that point of the fight from a bigger man laying on top of him, was not able to muster any offense from his back and went on to drop the decision on the judges’ cards.