Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Chris Taylor - August 6, 2017

At 38-years-old, former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson (22-9 MMA) remains one of the very best 155-pound fighters in the sport of mixed martial arts. The product of American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) was most recently seen in action this past February in San Jose, where he had his two-fight win streak snapped by Patricky Freire via a controversial second-round knockout.

Tom Taylor - August 3, 2017

On September 16, when the UFC touches down in Pittsburgh, PA, ever entertaining welterweight “Platinum” Mike Perry will step onto the canvas with former welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves. Alves, of course, has long stood out as one of the welterweight division’s most exciting – and dangerous  – fighters. The one knock against the Brazilian star, however, is that he’s had some real difficulty making weight in the past. To recount, Alves has missed weight for welterweight fights with Matt Hughes and Jon Fitch, and for his lone attempt at making lightweight, when he tipped the scales at 162 pounds rather than the mandated 155. And while he seemed to have his weight under control for his last fight – an exciting decision defeat of Patrick Cote – there seems to be an ever-present possibility that he misses again.

Tom Taylor - August 3, 2017

On September 16, all-action welterweight “Platinum” Mike Perry will step into the Octagon with former title challenger Thiago Alves. While Perry has endured pretty difficult weight cuts in the past, he expects his cut for this battle with Alves to be quite easy. This is in part due to intense training and clean eating, but also due to a wild accident wherein Perry swallowed a piece of metal and got violently ill. The fan favorite welterweight shared this story on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio:

Tom Taylor - August 3, 2017

On September 16, when the UFC touches down in Pittsburgh, PA, rising welterweight slugger “Platinum” Mike Perry will look to take another big step up the ranks with a win over former title challenger Thiago Alves. Perry discussed the matchup on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, telling host Kinch that he grew up watching Alves, but has no problem beating him up. In fact, he believes nobody has ever decisively defeated Alves, and hopes to be the first man to do so.

Tom Taylor - August 2, 2017

Last Saturday, in the co-main event of UFC 214, Tyron Woodley made a third defense of the UFC welterweight title with a decision defeat of Demian Maia. Unfortunately, Woodley suffered a torn labrum in the bout, which is likely to keep him on the sidelines for at least five months. Though Woodley is likely to be out of action for the latter half of 2017, he has already begun considering the possibilities for his next title defense. Speaking to BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor, the champ explained that there is not exactly a clear welterweight contender out there at the moment. He also ran through some potential welterweight matchups that might produce a clear-cut contender.

Tom Taylor - August 2, 2017

UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley (18-3-1) successfully defended his title this past weekend in Anaheim, scoring a unanimous decision victory over top contender Demian Maia in the co-main event of UFC 214. “The Chosen One” was able to stuff all 21 of Demian Maia’s takedown attempts, and left the Brazilian submission specialist with two badly swollen eyes. Shortly following the UFC 214 event, Tyron Woodley revealed that he had suffered a torn labrum during the opening five minutes of his bout with Maia. On Wednesday, “T-Wood” spoke to BJPENN.com’s Chris Taylor about his five-round fight with Maia at UFC 214 and how the shoulder injury affected his performance:

Chris Taylor - August 2, 2017

Tyron Woodley (18-3-1 MMA) successfully defended his title this past weekend in Anaheim, scoring a unanimous decision victory over top contender Demian Maia in the co-main event of UFC 214. “The Chosen One” was able to stuff all 21 of Demian Maia’s takedown attempts and left the Brazilian submission specialist with two badly swollen eyes.

Tom Taylor - July 27, 2017

This weekend, in the opening bout of the UFC 214 main card, Swiss striker Volkan Oezdemir will collide with British knockout artist Jimi Manuwa in what is widely perceived as a light heavyweight number one contender. Earlier this week, Oezdemir took time out of his busy fight week for an interview with BJ Penn Radio. During this interview, the Swiss upstart broke down his looming matchup with Manuwa, and gave a very bold prediction for the fight.

Tom Taylor - July 23, 2017

On August 26, UFC lightweight Conor McGregor will step into the boxing ring with undefeated great Floyd Mayweather Jr. While McGregor is tremendously talented as a mixed martial artist, he’s being given little chance against Mayweather in the boxing ring. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, top UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal weighed in on this fight, and explained why he shares the widespread belief that McGregor will most likely lose decisively. “In a fight with two guys with their hands up with bad intentions, there’s always a chance – always in a fight,” Masvidal explained. “You can get beat up for 14 minutes, and at 14:55, you land that one blow that changes the whole fight. Anything can happen to anybody. But those chances are so slim against Mayweather… The only way I can see Mayweather losing is if Mayweather just doesn’t take him seriously at all. If he does like an Anderson Silva, you know – hands straight up and he actually lets him hit him in the chin. But I don’t see Mayweather losing this.”

Tom Taylor - July 23, 2017

Jorge Masvidal doesn’t like UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. When Bisping ripped up a Cuban flag during Yoel Romero’s UFC 213 fight with Robert Whittaker – a flag Masvidal also calls his own – Masvidal’s dislike for the middleweight king ballooned even bigger. Apparently, however, his distaste for the champ is older than most fans would guess. Jorge Masvidal recounted his longstanding dislike for Bisping on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio.

Tom Taylor - July 20, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Glasgow, Scotland, Argentina’s Santiago Ponzinibbio authored an epic, first-round knockout of longtime Icelandic contender Gunnar Nelson. Unfortunately, many fans – and Nelson – felt that Ponzinibbio’s win was spurred on by multiple, inadvertent eye-pokes. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, top UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal shared the dramatic, negative effects of eye pokes, and why the rules surrounding inadvertent eye-pokes needs to change. “If you’ve ever been poked in the eye, man, it sucks,” he said. “It sucks in practice, and it sucks even more in the fight. Depending how hard you get poked, you can man up and keep going –I’ve done things like that – but your vision is off. One eye is swollen at the time. For some reason, you’re getting that blurred double vision, because one eye is at a different focus than the other eye that didn’t get poked. That takes time [to recover from]. That’s not like, oh a second later, because the doctor looked at it and you said you’re ok. We’re only saying we’re ok because we’re fighters.

Tom Taylor - July 20, 2017

UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal does not like UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. He has made no secret of this fact over the last few months, as he has happily bashed the Brit whenever the opportunity has presented itself. Interestingly enough, however, the two rivals had never met face-to-face until recently. When they did finally encounter each other in person, things got pretty tense. Masvidal recounted his heated run-in with Bisping, which occurred in the buildup to UFC 213, on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio.

Tom Taylor - July 13, 2017

Over the last year or two, we’ve seen many aging legends of MMA return to the cage against younger, faster competition. The results of these fights have been varied, but the pre-fight outcries that the legend should be retiring instead of fighting are constant. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, Rich Franklin – an MMA legend who has recently floated the possibility of a comeback – gave his take on when aging fighters should hang up the gloves. “I think you should hang ’em up when you get to a point where it’s detrimental to your wellbeing,” Franklin explained. “I used to speak to my coaches about that. My boxing coach, Rob, I used to be like ‘hey look man, you’re the most in tune with my speed and my reflexes and stuff like that. So let me know, be straight with me. If there comes a day where you’re like, ‘look bro, you’ve lost a step’, and it’s time to step down, tell me. We never had that conversation. Since I never had that conversation with a coach, in my mind, I still have what it takes to compete and do what I need to do. But every athlete is different. Some athletes, there body is more beat up, they’re a bit run down, they lose a step, their reflexes aren’t there. Whatever it may be, they’ve lost their chin… the list goes on and on. I think that each of those athletes needs to have somebody in their inner circle that can give an objective point of view and just be like ‘look man, it’s time.’ And they need to be able to listen to that person. But that’s on an athlete to athlete basis.”

Tom Taylor - July 13, 2017

Until recently, Ludwig Martial Arts – the academy operated by UFC veteran and renowned MMA coach Duane Ludwig – was a fairly exclusive club. That is no longer the case. The gifted instructor has now opened his doors to all fighters, and is hoping they’ll come from far and wide to learn what he has to teach. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, Coach Duane Ludwig (who is credited in large part for TJ Dillashaw’s evolution into a championship-level fighter) explained the choice to open his academy’s doors to all fighters.

Tom Taylor - July 13, 2017

On July 29, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley will attempt to defend his title against Brazilian jiu jitsu wizard Demian Maia. To prepare for this difficult challenge, Woodley has been working with one of the best wrestlers in MMA, One Championship welterweight king Ben Askren. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, Ben Askren broke down his recent work with Woodley.

Tom Taylor - July 13, 2017

Earlier this month, in an interview with MMAJunkie Radio, former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin suggested he might consider ending his retirement if the right bout was offered to him. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, Franklin elaborated on these comments, explaining that while they were blown a little out of proportion, he could be coaxed back into the fold if he found a potential matchup exciting enough. “I’ve not given that a lot of thought,” he said of a possible comeback. “I was asked in an interview if the door was 100% shut. This is a self-defeating statement, but I try to be a never say never kind of guy. And so, the exact statement I made was ‘a return is not probable but it is possible.’ I could be enticed with the right opponent. I don’t know who that would be, I would have to sit down and think about who’s active and who would make sense and all that.”

Tom Taylor - July 6, 2017

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has knocked a lot of people out. He’s knocked even more people down, some of them multiple times in a single fight. Needless to say, the champ hits incredibly hard. If you ask Woodley himself, he’s probably the hardest hitter in the UFC, pound-for-pound – especially now that the brick-fisted Anthony “Rumble” Johnson has called it a career.

Tom Taylor - July 6, 2017

On July 29, in the co-main event of UFC 214, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley will attempt to defend his title for a third time opposite Brazilian grappling wizard Demian Maia. Because this fight was just made official last week, there has been widespread speculation that Maia has been short-changed on time to prepare for this rapidly approaching challenge. According to Woodley, however, there’s no reason to feel bad for Maia.