UFC News

Adam Martin - September 22, 2020

Former UFC welterweight Ben Askren took a shot at Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz ahead of their title fight this weekend at UFC 253. Since retiring from mixed martial arts following back-to-back stoppage losses to Jorge Masvidal and Demian Maia, Askren has become an outspoken voice on social media. Askren is particularly popular on Twitter where he has a big following due to his hilarious comments and often contoversial hot takes on all sorts of different subjects.

Adam Martin - September 22, 2020

UFC middleweight Paulo Costa looks to be in amazing shape heading into UFC 253, with his manager calling it his “best weight cut ever.” Costa takes on UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in the main event of this Saturday’s UFC 253 pay-per-view card. The world’s leading MMA promotion returns to Fight Island in Abu Dhabi with this amazing contest as the headliner, a fight that UFC president Dana White has said is his personal pick for “Fight of the Year” in 2020.

Cole Shelton - September 22, 2020

Paulo Costa has addressed Israel Adesanya’s PED accustations ahead of their highly-anticipated title fight at UFC 253. In the lead up to the fight, Adesanya had some questions on if Costa is taking steroids and whether or not USADA is testing the top contender in Brazil.

Cole Shelton - September 22, 2020

Justin Gaethje promises to make Khabib Nurmagomedov bleed when they fight for the lightweight title at UFC 254. Gaethje is known as one of the most violent fighters on the UFC roster. In most of his fights, he and his opponent are bleeding. Yet, if you look at Nurmagomedov’s fights, he is never bleeding. So, for “The Highlight” he is interested in seeing how the champ reacts when he sees and tastes his own blood.

Cole Shelton - September 22, 2020

Juan Espino is back. The 39-year-old, Espino has not fought since he won The Ultimate Fighter 28 back in November of 2018. Since then, many were eager to see how the heavyweight would do inside the Octagon given his wrestling and jiu-jitsu background.

Tom Taylor - September 22, 2020

Former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier is hoping the promotion will book a fight between Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington next. Masvidal has recently been linked to a high-profile rematch with Nate Diaz, targeted for early 2021. However, that potential booking has not been overly popular, as Masvidal defeated Diaz fairly decisively when they fought for the BMF title in 2019.

Cole Shelton - September 22, 2020

Jan Blachowicz wants to do what no one has done before. Finish Dominick Reyes. Blachowicz and Reyes are set to fight in the co-main event of UFC 253 for the vacant light heavyweight title. For Blachowicz, he knew he would be fighting for UFC gold after he beat Corey Anderson, but didn’t know the date or against who.

Tom Taylor - September 22, 2020

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya believes his UFC 253 opponent Paulo Costa is a “tailor-made” opponent for him. Adesanya gave one of his more recent breakdowns of this matchup in an interview with Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports. He shared his belief that Costa’s aggressive, forward-marching style will play perfectly into his hands.

Adam Martin - September 22, 2020

The oddsmakers have opening betting odds on who UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington will take on in his next fight inside the Octagon. Covington defeated rival Tyron Woodley in the fifth round by stoppage after his opponent verbally conceded the fight due to a rib injury. Covington looked fantastic in the fight as he was able to dominate it from the opening bell up until the stoppage. He needed to bounce back with a win like this after being finished via TKO by UFC welterweight champ Kamaru Usman in his last fight.

Tom Taylor - September 22, 2020

Reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is not riding the Khamzat Chimaev hype train. Far from it. Chimaev was the breakout UFC star of the summer. The Chechen-Swede first picked up two wins in the span of 10 days on Fight Island in July, defeating John Phillips by first-round submission and Rhys McKee by first-round TKO, then picked up his third win of the season when he knocked out Gerald Meerschaert at UFC Vegas 11, also in the first round.

Tom Taylor - September 22, 2020

Charles Oliveira is not happy that Michael Chandler has been tapped as the back-up fighter for the UFC 254 main event on October 24. Chandler, the former Bellator lightweight champion, recently signed with the UFC. While he does not yet have an opponent for his Octagon debut, he has agreed to step in if either UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov or interim champ Justin Gaethje fails to make it to their planned title fight at UFC 254.

Adam Martin - September 22, 2020

UFC welterweight contender Stephen Thompson made his “first Twitter call out ever” when he requested a fight against Leon Edwards. Thompson, who is generally regarded as MMA’s resident ‘nice guy,’ took to social media on Tuesday to call out Edwards for a fight between two of the best welterweights in the world. Check out the message that the veteran “Wonderboy” sent to Edwards on his Twitter as ‘the nicest guy in MMA’ gave “Rocky” the honor of being his first-ever Twitter call out.

Cole Shelton - September 22, 2020

The 11th episode of Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com with Cole Shelton is here ahead of UFC 253. We’re first joined by third-ranked light heavyweight and one-half of the vacant title fight, Jan Blachowicz (2:34). Next, seventh-ranked flyweight, Kai Kara-France (15:52) comes on. 13th ranked bantamweight, Sijara Eubanks (40:27) then joins the program. Finally, 10th ranked flyweight, Brandon Royval (51:47) closes out the show.

Tom Taylor - September 22, 2020

Stephan Bonnar recently shared a pretty wild story involving Diego Sanchez, the mountains of Albuquerque, some psychedelics, and apparently, UFOs. Sanchez and Bonnar got to know each other on season one of The Ultimate Fighter, but the pair have recently reconnected, and Bonnar will actually corner Sanchez in his UFC 253 undercard fight with Jake Matthews.

Harry Kettle - September 22, 2020

UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley was tapped out by Robert Degle in the finals of a recent jiu-jitsu tournament. O’Malley is coming off the back of a devastating defeat at the hands of Marlon “Chito” Vera, and as he continues to wait for an opportunity to get back to winning ways inside the Octagon, he is using the time away to compete in a different martial arts competition.

Harry Kettle - September 22, 2020

UFC middleweight Markus Perez has challenged Khamzat Chimaev to step up and replace Rodolfo Vieira for a proposed fight on October 10 after Vieira withdrew. The rise of Chimaev has been fascinating thus far, and this past weekend, his legend rose even further as he knocked Gerald Meerschaert out cold to take his UFC record to 3-0 and his mixed martial arts record to 9-0.

Adam Martin - September 21, 2020

UFC welterweight Colby Covington fired back at his critics, claiming that NBA superstar LeBron James “wouldn’t last 10 seconds” with him. Covington took a shot at James, the LA Lakers superstar, following his fifth-round TKO win over Tyron Woodley at UFC Vegas 11 this past Saturday night. In his post-fight interview, Covington thanked all the first responders in the United States for their service and bashed “woke athletes” and “spineless cowards,” naming James.

Cole Shelton - September 21, 2020

Daniel Cormier has high expectations for Khamzat Chimaev. Chimaev made his UFC debut back in July and took the MMA world by storm after he dominated John Philipps en route to a second round submission win at middleweight. He then fought again 10 days later where he beat Rhys McKee by TKO at welterweight.