MMA News

Mike Pendleton - June 18, 2019

When Deron Winn makes his UFC debut at UFC Greenville next weekend, Daniel Cormier won’t be in his corner, but there’s a good reason for that. “We argue all the time, even when we are coaching high school wrestling, we’ll be arguing throughout the meet.”

Mike Pendleton - June 17, 2019

Former UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw is currently serving a two-year suspension from USADA for his use of EPO, and recently spoke on his decision to take the banned-substance, but he also discussed more than that in his interview with Chael Sonnen. During his interview on the “You’re Welcome” podcast hosted by Chael Sonnen, Dillashaw discussed the return of his former coach and teammate Urijah Faber who is ending his retirement to take on Ricky Simon at UFC Sacramento on July 13, and didn’t hold back in his thoughts on Faber’s return. Faber recently spoke on the possibility of fighting Dillashaw, and it’s a fight that interests him when his former teammate returns from suspension.

Mike Pendleton - June 17, 2019

As the UFC’s lightweight championship picture continues to take shape, the road back to the Octagon for former featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor also seems to be taking shape. Back in March while doing a Q&A with fans McGregor said he feels he owes it to Nate Diaz to have a trilogy fight, but that idea was recently shut down by Diaz himself. When Conor McGregor does decide to return his head coach John Kavanagh has a preference as to what opponent he wants his fighter to face first, and it’s the trilogy fight with Nate Diaz. Speaking to Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Kavanagh spoke about his preference wanting Diaz as McGregor’s next opponent, saying it’s something he’s wanted for a while.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2019

Last weekend, on the main card of Bellator 222, Dillon Danis improved to 2-0 in MMA with a submission victory over Max Humphrey. Shortly after this sophomore win, the Brazilian jiu jitsu specialist and Conor McGregor stablemate made yet another callout of reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Speaking on Monday’s edition of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Danis made a bold prediction for a potential fight with the light heavyweight legend. Despite the fact that he would be surrendering roughly 30 pounds of weight to Jones, and quite a bit of height and length, Danis is confident confident he could earn the tap if he attacked the UFC champ’s legs.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2019

This weekend, in the main event of BKFC 6 in Tampa, Florida, former boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi will meet UFC veteran Artem Lobov in bare knuckle fight. Given his accolades in the boxing arena, Malignaggi is expecting an easy night of work against his foe. And he’s thanking the “f**king stupid” MMA fans that support Lobov for helping to set this easy night of work up for him.

BJPENN.COM Staff - June 17, 2019

Tournaments and Grand Prix are excellent for martial arts promotions. It hearkens back to the golden days of competition in a variety of combat sports. ONE Championship is capturing that magic with its various ladder-style tournaments. Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev has already secured himself a spot in the lightweight final on the strength of two KO victories over Ev Ting and Amir Khan. Arslanaliev will face the winner of the Timofey Nastyuhkin vs. Honorio Banario semifinal, which takes place in Manila this August.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2019

Last month, in the main event of UFC Rochester, long-time UFC lightweight contender Kevin Lee made his debut in the welterweight division opposite a fellow former lightweight in Rafael dos Anjos. Unfortunately for Lee, this first welterweight bout didn’t go as planned, as he was submitted by his foe in the fourth round. While Lee didn’t get the result he wanted in this fight, however, he says his preparations went very well.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2019

From the sounds of it, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is open to a rematch with his last opponent, Conor McGregor, who he submitted at UFC 229 in October. Before this prospective blockbuster can occur, however, the champ wants to see the Irish star put in some work and earn it.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2019

Aaron Pico has long stood out as one of the hottest prospects on the Bellator MMA roster. Regrettably, the 22-year-old has been brutally knocked out in his two most recent bouts, leaving some real concerns about his future in the sport. Speaking at the Bellator 222 post-fight press conference, shortly after Pico’s knockout loss to Adam Borics, Bellator President Scott Coker discussed the recent rough stretch of this promising prospect.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2019

UFC President Dana White has recently expressed interest in investing in the purchase of an NFL team with former UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta. When asked about this topic on a recent episode of LVSportsBiz Guerrilla Cross Radio, however, the UFC President peppered in another very interesting detail with respect to his career as a titan of the sporting world. He claims he’s signed a brand new 10-year deal with the UFC. That’s right. Another decade of profanity-laced tirades and interim titles courtesy of Uncle Dana.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2019

Justin Bieber recently made his way into MMA headlines by calling for a fight with Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise and asking the UFC President Dana White to promote it. I wanna challenge Tom Cruise to fight in the octagon. Tom if you dont take this fight your scared and you will never live it down. Who is willing to put on the fight? @danawhite ?

Christopher Taylor - June 16, 2019

Fan favorite Nate Diaz will return to the octagon at August’s UFC 241 event for a welterweight bout with former 155-pounch champion Anthony Pettis. Diaz has not stepped foot inside the octagon since August of 2016, where he suffered a controversial majoirty decision loss to Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 202.

Tom Taylor - June 16, 2019

UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo is not just a tremendous fighter but also an interesting character. While some members of the MMA community find his personality charming, however, not everybody is on board with it. File former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley into that latter group.

Tom Taylor - June 16, 2019

Earlier this year, former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw tested positive for the banned substance EPO and suspended for two years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency as a result. Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi says he suspected the bantamweight of doping for “a long time.” https://youtu.be/1dARnaz-JWM

Jason Kindschy - June 16, 2019

Valentina Shevchenko returns to recap her incredible performance at UFC 238 against Jessica Eye. With what many consider a front-runner for KO of the Year, the “Bullet” further cemented her place as one of the pound-for-pound best. We’ll discuss the victory in depth, hear Valentina’s reaction to receiving a congratulatory phone call from the president of her native Kyrgyzstan, and discuss the possibility of Shevchenko bringing the UFC to her home country. With rumblings that the UFC wants to book Valentina against Liz Carmouche for July 20th in San Antonio, Texas, we’ll also get Shevchenko’s thoughts on the potential matchup and the likelihood of the bout coming to fruition.

Tom Taylor - June 16, 2019

Tony Ferguson has earned himself a fight with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. That much is undeniable. Unfortunately for Ferguson, Nurmagomedov is currently tied up with a fight with Dustin Poirier, scheduled for UFC 242 on September 7 in Abu Dhabi.

Tom Taylor - June 16, 2019

Heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko has signed a new multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA, per Bellator boss Scott Coker. According to Coker, this new contract will see Emelianenko embark on a “retirement tour,” taking on foes of a similar vintage in the final bouts of his career. “It’s a multi-fight deal, multi-year [deal] and this is going to be his retirement tour,” Coker told the media after Bellator 222 (via MMA Mania). “I think we’d like to take him to a lot of countries and cities that maybe haven’t seen him in a long time or have never seen him. It’s going to be fun when we roll this thing out.

Tom Taylor - June 16, 2019

On Saturday night, UFC welterweight contenders Jorge Masvidal and Anthony Pettis met in a charity grappling match. After ten minutes of entertaining action that saw both men have some success and lots of fun, the bout was scored a draw. https://twitter.com/HodkoV6/status/1140098070778195968