MMA News

Tom Taylor - March 3, 2021

Rising UFC bantamweight contender Ricky Simon wants to fight Sean O’Malley, and would even be willing to do so on short-notice. Simon is currently riding a trio of impressive victories over Ray Borg, Gaetano Pirrello and Brian Kelleher, which separated him from a hype-deflating loss to Urijah Faber.

Harry Kettle - March 3, 2021

MMA fan favorites Jim Miller and Roxanne Modafferi are both booked in for their next UFC appearances, as per MMA Junkie and Combate. Both of these veterans are coming off the back of defeats with Miller losing to Vinc Pichel via unanimous decision last August. Modafferi, on the other hand, was defeated by Viviane Araújo back in January.

Harry Kettle - March 3, 2021

A recent press release has indicated Conor McGregor could be on the verge of being bought out of his Proper No. Twelve Irish whiskey brand. It’s been a few years now since McGregor introduced the world to his new whiskey and ever since then, it’s taken off in more ways than one in countries all across the globe. However, a recent press release from Becle stated: “On February 23, 2021, the Company provided notice of the exercise of its call option to acquire 51% of the equity interests of EBS.”

Christopher Taylor - March 2, 2021

Aljamain Sterling is brimming with confidence ahead of his bantamweight title shot against Petr Yan at this weekend’s highly anticipated UFC 259 event. This Saturday on pay-per-view the UFC will hold a total of three title fights, which includes a men’s bantamweight bout between Yan and Sterling.

Cole Shelton - March 2, 2021

Paulo Costa has jokingly responded after all the backlash he received for saying he fought Israel Adesanya with a hangover. Costa had entered the Adesanya fight sporting an undefeated record, but something appeared to be off in the scrap. With that said, it was “The Last Stylebender” who emerged victorious by way of second-round TKO.

Adam Martin - March 2, 2021

UFC superstar Jon Jones offered to end his rivalry with Daniel Cormier, sending DC the following message: “What do you say DC, friends?” Jones and Cormier had one of the most bitter and heated rivalries in UFC history. The two were on a collision course for the UFC light heavyweight title and met in a highly-anticipated main event at UFC 182 in 2015. Jones won a unanimous decision that night but would soon deal with several legal issues and find himself stripped of the title. In 2017, Jones and Cormier met in a rematch, and Jones knocked DC out with a head kick. But the result of the bout was overturned to a No Contest after Jones tested positive for PEDs.

Adam Martin - March 2, 2021

UFC superstar Conor McGregor assured his fans that he’s going to “cheque the leg kick” the next time he steps into the Octagon. McGregor was stopped by rival Dustin Poirier in the pair’s rematch at UFC 257 in January. Part of Poirier’s gameplan was to land devastating calf kicks that greatly inhibited McGregor’s ability to move around the Octagon. The result was McGregor being unable to get away from Poirier’s big power shots, and paying for it with a second-round TKO defeat. The lack of urgency by the Irishman to check the low kicks by Poirier directly contributed to the loss, and now “Notorious” is letting fans know he won’t make that same mistake again.

Cole Shelton - March 2, 2021

Luke Rockhold is not a fan of Paulo Costa. After Costa suffered his first career loss to Israel Adesanya at UFC 253 for the middleweight title he immediately said something happened. However, just recently, he explained that “something” was the fact he was dealing with a hangover. He said he drank a bottle of wine the night before the fight in order to fall asleep.

Adam Martin - March 2, 2021

Former rivals Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold hugged it out at the RVCA gym in Costa Mesa, California, run by boxing coach Jason Parillo. Bisping and Rockhold fought twice in the UFC and for many years their rivalry was one of the UFC’s most heated. In November 2014, Rockhold submitted Bisping with a guillotine choke at a UFC Fight Night card in Australia. Two fights later, Rockhold defeated Chris Weidman via TKO to become the new UFC middleweight champion. At UFC 199 in June 2016, Rockhold was set to take on Weidman in a rematch. However, Weidman pulled out of the fight and Bisping got the rematch with Rockhold. Despite taking the fight on short notice, Bisping pulled off one of the most incredible upsets in UFC history when he knocked Rockhold out as a massive underdog to take home the middleweight title.

Cole Shelton - March 2, 2021

Israel Adesanya still wants to fight Jon Jones. When Adesanya first became UFC champion, he and Jones started to call each other out. Many fans wanted to see it take place and “The Last Stylebender” initially said the bout would happen in Las Vegas in the summer of 2021 at the new Raiders stadium. However, due to the pandemic, the timeframe has changed but Adesanya still wants the fight to happen.

Cole Shelton - March 2, 2021

Jan Blachowicz knew Israel Adesanya would be his next opponent. After Blachowicz TKO’d Dominick Reyes at UFC 253 to become the new light heavyweight champion, and Adesanya beat Paulo Costa on the same card, the promotion was quick to offer the fight. Not even a full day went past and Dana White and company were suggesting that the fight could headline UFC 256. But, with a baby on the way, Blachowicz asked for the contest to take place in March.

Adam Martin - March 2, 2021

UFC middleweight contender Uriah Hall is confident he would “f*ck up” Israel Adesanya if the two ever step into the Octagon together. Hall is currently the No. 9 ranked middleweight in the UFC and is one of the many contenders vying for a title fight against the champion Adesanya. So far in his MMA career, Adesanya is a perfect 20-0 and 9-0 in the UFC alone. He has been destroying pretty much everyone in his path, with knockout wins over the likes of Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa. This weekend, Adesanya moves up to 205lbs in an attempt to become a double UFC champion against Israel Adesanya. Win or lose, however, “The Last Stylebender” said he still plans on moving back down to middleweight after the fight.

Adam Martin - March 2, 2021

Chael Sonnen blasted the “fake tough guys” atop the UFC welterweight division, suggesting that “none of the top-five guys want to fight.” Sonnen was a guest on the “Victory Loves Company” podcast with Jim West and James Lynch, and was asked his thoughts on the UFC welterweight division. Kamaru Usman currently is the champion and seems likely to rematch Jorge Masvidal in his next fight, but nothing has been put to paper yet. Meanwhile, Colby Covington continues to sit out in hopes for a big fight, while Leon Edwards hasn’t fought in almost two years. It’s been frustrating for fans to watch, as the UFC 170lbs division is one of the marquee weight classes in the promotion. Yet for whatever reason, there doesn’t seem to be much urgency for the top fighters in the weight class to step into the cage, and Sonnen finds that very frustrating.

Tom Taylor - March 2, 2021

Daniel Cormier has responded to the latest diss from his long-time rival, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Jones and Cormier, widely regarded as two of the best fighters of all time, have met twice previously. They first met in January, 2015, with Jones winning by decision. In their second meeting, which occurred in 2017, Jones knocked Cormier out, but the result was overturned when he failed a drug test.

Adam Martin - March 2, 2021

Former UFC title contender Rory MacDonald is set to soon make his PFL welterweight debut against David Michaud when they square off in April. PFL is set to return this spring for its third season after missing all of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The promotion has brought in a number of new fighters to improve its roster, with six divisions of 10 fighters each, including tournament fighters and alternates. One of those fighters is MacDonald, the former Bellator welterweight champion. “The Red King” signed with PFL in late 2019 and was expected to fight in 2020, but his promotional debut was delayed until now as we now have a date for his next fight.

Tom Taylor - March 2, 2021

Dustin Poirier is haunted by a crucial error he made in his 2019 lightweight title fight with unbeaten Khabib Nurmagomedov. Poirier challenged Nurmagomedov for the lightweight belt in the main event of UFC 242, and ultimately came up short via submission. However, at one point in the early phases of the match, he threatened the champion with a tight guillotine choke.

Cole Shelton - March 2, 2021

In the main event of UFC 259, Jan Blachowicz is set to defend his light heavyweight title against middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya. Heading into the fight, Blachowicz is a +190 underdog while “The Last Stylebender” is a -240 favorite. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. The pros are unanimous in thinking Adesanya’s striking is too good and will beat Blachowicz to become a champ-champ.

Cole Shelton - March 2, 2021

The 30th episode of Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com with Cole Shelton is here ahead of UFC 259. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_50564985", "obj": {"id":"22947","width":"100%","height":"","video":"730545"} });