UFC News

Cole Shelton - May 16, 2019

In the main event of UFC Rochester, Kevin Lee is moving up in weight to make his welterweight debut against former lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the fight.

Tom Taylor - May 16, 2019

This weekend, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will look to correct his recent losing streak against a fellow former lightweight in Kevin Lee. The pair will collide in the welterweight main event of UFC Rochester. Before Rafael dos Anjos was offered this fight with Kevin Lee, there were several other opinions on the menu for him, including Santiago Ponzinibbio, Jorge Masvidal, and most surprisingly, the long absent Nate Diaz.

Jordy McElroy - May 15, 2019

We’ve seen fighters cry, run out of the cage unexpectedly and even demand an immediate rematch after losing the UFC title. Not Rose Namajunas.

Cole Shelton - May 15, 2019

Dustin Poirier has had a crazy road to get to a title shot. The 30-year-old had fought the very best of both the featherweight and lightweight divisions before getting an interim lightweight title shot against Max Holloway at UFC 236. Poirier would go on to defeat Holloway for the second time in his career that night in Atlanta. To see ‘The Diamond’ finally capture UFC gold was a surreal feeling for American Top Team owner, Dan Lambert.

Tom Taylor - May 15, 2019

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping means no disrespect to new UFC strawweight champ Jessica Andrade, but feels the Brazilian’s slam knockout of Rose Namajunas was a bit of a fluke. Michael Bisping dished on the topic on a recent episode of his Believe You Me podcast, pointing to the fact that Andrade has landed this maneuver many times with less definitive results, and sharing his confidence in Namajunas should the pair rematch.

Tom Taylor - May 15, 2019

Conor McGregor doesn’t currently have a fight booked, but if the former two-division UFC champ decides to return to the Octagon, his long-time coach John Kavanagh will coach and corner him. The other long-term members of McGregor’s inner circle will also apparently be there to pitch in. “I don’t think [me cornering Conor] is in doubt,” Kavanagh told the Irish Mirror of a McGregor comeback. “I’m sure I’ll be there, we talk almost daily.

Adam Martin - May 15, 2019

Johnny Walker, one of the top young light heavyweights in the game, is eager to get a shot at the belt. Speaking to reporters at UFC 237 in Rio de Janeiro, the streaking UFC light heavyweight contender said he wants to fight UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones as soon as possible.

Tom Taylor - May 15, 2019

Former WEC featherweight champion and long-time UFC bantamweight contender Urijah Faber is currently retired, but it doesn’t sound like his retirement will last much longer. Speaking on his official Instagram page, the former champ and new father divulged that he’d like to fight at the upcoming UFC Sacramento card, which is scheduled for July 13 in the California city. He added that he’d be willing to fight at featherweight or bantamweight.

Tom Taylor - May 15, 2019

Dana White has always had a pretty good eye for future stars. From the sounds of it, that’s what he sees when he looks at former Invicta champ and current UFC featherweight contender Megan Anderson. White praised Anderson, who returns to the Octagon at UFC Rochester this weekend, in a recent interview with NYUP.com.

Cole Shelton - May 15, 2019

Kevin Lee is set to make his welterweight debut this Saturday against former UFC lightweight champion and current third-ranked welterweight Rafael dos Anjos. For Lee, to get the chance to fight a top-three opponent in his welterweight debut is exciting. He also likes the fact that dos Anjos is a former lightweight too.

Tom Taylor - May 15, 2019

Last year, former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum tested positive for the anabolic steroid Trenbolone and was suspended two years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). “Werdum, 41, tested positive for trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone following an out-of-competition urine test conducted on April 25, 2018,” a USADA statement issued at the time explained. “Trenbolone is a non-Specified Substance in the class of Anabolic Agents and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.

Tom Taylor - May 15, 2019

With Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dustin Poirier, Donald Cerrone, Tony Ferguson, Nate Diaz and Max Holloway all currently booked, there aren’t a lot of viable opponents left for former UFC lightweight and featherweight champ Conor McGregor. One option that is still available, however, is former World Series of Fighting lightweight king Justin Gaethje. While a the idea of a McGregor vs. Justin Gaethje fight is likely to excite many fans, Gaethje’s manager Ali Abdelaziz does not believe the fight would be competitive. He believes his client would dominate the Irishman, and used all kinds of creative metaphors to describe the color of McGregor’s flesh after a potential meeting with Gaethje.

Drake Riggs - May 14, 2019

The UFC is headed back to Texas for UFC San Antonio on July 20. With no fights yet to be announced… that’s about to be changed. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto has confirmed that a pivotal flyweight match-up between seasoned veteran top contenders and former title challengers, one at bantamweight and the other at flyweight, is close to finalization for the event.

Cole Shelton - May 14, 2019

At UFC 240 current featherweight champion Max Holloway will look to defend his title against Frankie Edgar, not Alexander Volkanovski, as many expected. The former UFC lightweight champion is just 1-1 in his last two fights and hasn’t fought since April 2018. But, according to Edgar, he knew he was next after talking to the UFC. After all, he did give up his title shot when Holloway got injured and accepted a short-notice fight against Brian Ortega, which he ended up losing.

Drake Riggs - May 14, 2019

On July 13, UFC Sacramento goes down and it’s beginning to really shape up with four fun fight additions. The UFC revealed on Tuesday that the inaugural flyweight champion, Nicco Montano (4-2) will be making her long-awaited return for the first time since winning the title in December 2017. She would defeat Roxanne Modafferi via unanimous decision to take home the gold.

Drake Riggs - May 14, 2019

On Monday, Neil Magny was suddenly pulled from his UFC Rochester co-main event bout with Vicente Luque this Saturday night due to undisclosed reasons. Well, we now know why. The 20-fight UFC veteran took to Instagram on Tuesday following the news and revealed that his removal from the fight was due to a positive out of competition USADA testing from this past Saturday.

Drake Riggs - May 14, 2019

At UFC 235 in March, the former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt went to war with Brazil’s rising contender, Pedro Munhoz. Unfortunately for the Team Alpha Male staple, he would suffer his third consecutive defeat via knockout. Of course, it’s never a fighter’s desire to take damage, especially in the form of a knockout. So when it comes to getting back to fighting, health and timing are critical.

Natasha Hooper - May 14, 2019

Speaking on a recent episode of his Below The Belt Podcast, former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub discussed the UFC’s recent decision to make its pay-per-views available exclusively on ESPN+. Schaub feels that this is significantly and negatively influencing pay-per-view numbers, which is in turn hurting the fighters. https://youtu.be/MFR0-s1GckM