MMA News

Russell Ess - October 4, 2017

UFC Hall of Fame legend Matt Hughes is well on his way to recovering from his horrifying accident. In June, Hughes was involved in a crash when his pickup truck that he was driving was struck by a train while crossing the train tracks. Hughes was airlifted to the HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Illinois near his hometown and was cared for by the medical staff.

Russell Ess - October 4, 2017

Tony Ferguson has the biggest fight of his life coming up this weekend as he is set to take on Kevin Lee in their UFC interim lightweight title fight at UFC 216. Ferguson and Lee are scheduled to headline the card with Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson set to defend his title and perhaps set the UFC record for most consecutive title defenses in history as he meets Ray Borg in the center of the Octagon in the co-main event.

Tom Taylor - October 4, 2017

If Kevin Lee beats Tony Ferguson at UFC 216 this weekend, he’ll be crowned the UFC interim lightweight champion and establish himself as one of the most likely opponents for reigning lightweight champion Conor McGregor. In the event that a win alone isn’t enough to coax the Irishman into a fight, Lee says he’s also preparing to cut a dynamite promo for a fight with McGregor in his post-fight Octagon interview. Lee admitted this plan on a recent episode of Big Brown Breakdown with Brendan Schaub.

Justin Golightly - October 4, 2017

While nothing is official, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson’s manager revealed that Johnson would be meeting with the UFC to discuss a potential comeback. This time, he’d be entering into the heavyweight division. The former two-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger just retired back at UFC 210 in April this year. Daniel Cormier thinks Johnson should have took a little bit of more time before decided to come back that fast and details why on the recent episode of his podcast. “Here’s the thing. There’s something that’s kind of bothering me right now. News that Anthony Johnson is coming out of retirement. First off, I feel like if he was going to retire maybe he should have stayed retired a little bit longer. Because when you do that, you come back this quick, it just kind of feels like ‘oh you were mad because you lost, so you just quit’. Right? It’s not even a six month retirement. So, it feels kind of like you were mad because you lost, and you kind of just quit. That’s not the way things are supposed to be, you know?” — Daniel Cormier on his Talk and Talker podcast. 

Russell Ess - October 4, 2017

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a big fan of mixed martial arts and at one point in his life even considered pursuing a career in MMA. We’ve seen Johnson show love for our very own BJ Penn shouting him out while in Hawaii and wearing some Penn gear during training in the past.

Russell Ess - October 4, 2017

Former boxing world champion Paulie Malignaggi is still not letting his beef with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor go. The two had a couple of sparring sessions together after McGregor’s team asked Malignaggi to help “The Notorious” prepare for his professional boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather. Their training relationship came to an end after Malignaggi felt he was “exploited” with photos that made him look bad by Conor and his team.

Tom Taylor - October 4, 2017

This Saturday, in the main event of the stacked UFC 216, Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson will battle for the UFC interim lightweight title. Lee will enter this fight on an applause-worthy 5-fight win-streak. Ferguson, meanwhile, will step into the cage with an even more impressive nine straight wins in his wake.

Justin Golightly - October 4, 2017

On Friday last week, Conor McGregor made his first major public appearance since his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. We didn’t learn much from the man, other than he has options open to pretty much fight anyone he wants to in his UFC return, but we already knew that. Out of the about seven names mentioned, Max Holloway was one of them. The “champ champ” took out time to praise Holloway and didn’t rule out a rematch. However, it’d have to be in the 155-pound division. “I sonned that young boy. I’m not mad at [Max Holloway]. He’s done a great job. He’s climbed up and claimed that featherweight belt. You see some fights, and so do the public, you see him go in there and you watch him win or lose and you watch how they act and how they carry on. He lost to me and he took it on the chin, he kept his mind frame sharp. Same with [Dustin] Poirier, he’s another guy who kept his mind frame sharp and carried on. [Eddie] Alvarez as well, he took it well – you’ve got to take it on the f-king chin.”

Tom Taylor - October 4, 2017

Mairbek Taisumov, one of the UFC’s fastest rising lightweight contenders, is hoping to set himself up with a big step up in competition. On Tuesday, the surging Russian knockout artist took to Twitter to call out long-time lightweight contender Edson Barboza. Tired of talking but the fans asked for this fight, I’m ready anytime! Are you ready @EdsonBarbozaJR? #Taisumov#Berkut#UFC @ufc@UFCEurope pic.twitter.com/waSxl0XR5M

Tom Taylor - October 4, 2017

The UFC on FOX era could be drawing to a close. Yesterday, the promotion’s exclusive negotiation period with FOX ended, which means it will now be able to negotiate with other bidders as it hunts for a new partner for its TV broadcast rights.

Tom Taylor - October 4, 2017

Last night, a UFC 218 featherweight title fight between champ Max Holloway and challenger Frankie Edgar was made official, confirming earlier reports from BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor. Shortly after this fight was made official, the challenger Frankie Edgar took to Instagram with a quick reaction to the big news. In his post, Edgar chose to quote a line from the Action Bronson song Actin’ Crazy. 

Tom Taylor - October 4, 2017

Originally, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson was expected to attempt his potentially history-making 11th-straight title defense in the main event of UFC 215. Yet when his opponent, Ray Borg, was forced out of the fight at the last-minute with an injury, this flyweight title fight was rescheduled for UFC 216. Given that the original UFC 216 headliner, a fight between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee, is for the interim lightweight title, many people expected Borg and Johnson’s legitimate title fight to usurp the top spot on the bill. Instead, however, Johnson and Borg were shoehorned into the co-main event, under the interim title fight on the bill.

Chris Taylor - October 3, 2017

The first title defense of new UFC featherweight king Max Holloway will go down at UFC 218, this December 2 in Detroit, Michigan. The bout was first reported to be in the works by our own Chris Taylor, a title fight pitting Holloway against former UFC lightweight champ and two-time featherweight title challenger Frankie Edgar is in the works for the anticipated December card. Max Holloway vs Frankie Edgar being discussed for #UFC218 in Detroit!

Justin Golightly - October 3, 2017

Rafael dos Anjos’ run in the welterweight division much like his former opponent “Cowboy” Donald Cerrone. He’s taken out Tarec Saffiedine and Neil Magny, and he’s not even close to slowing down. Kamaru Usman was campaigning for a fight with dos Anjos after destroying Sergio Moraes at UFC Fight Night 116. However, dos Anjos is looking to take advantage of his name and quick rise in his new division for a shot at Tyron Woodley. “I just beat the No. 6 in the division and I’m currently at No. 5, it doesn’t make any sense to fight the No. 10 [Kamaru Usman]. I understand that everyone is trying to promote themselves to get interesting fights, but I’m worried about fighters who are ahead of me. Even [Tyron Woodley]’s manager said I deserve to fight for the title. So, I don’t know why he’s worried about me.”

Justin Golightly - October 3, 2017

The UFC women’s featherweight champ, and arguably the most dominant female fighter on the planet, still doesn’t have a fight. After a long social media campaign to try and finally get the title defense booked against Holly Holm, Cris Cyborg and their team have called off negotiations and canceled their upcoming meeting to solidify a deal. According to Cyborg, the UFC offered her even less money than her fight against Tonya Evinger when she captured the title. My meeting with the @UFC for next week has been canceled. They want to pay me less to fight @HollyHolm than I made to fight Tonya Evinger

Russell Ess - October 3, 2017

UFC welterweight Mike Perry is steadily climbing the UFC rankings after making his debut with the promotion last year. Now, with five fights in the UFC, “Platinum” spoke with BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor about some potential fights and working his way to the top of the chain. Taylor asked Perry if we could expect to see him back in the Octagon soon, perhaps rescheduled for a fight with Thiago Alves at UFC 218 on December 2 in Detroit. Alves, who lives and trains in Florida, was forced to pull out of his slated UFC Fight Night 116 bout with Perry due to Hurricane Irma.

Russell Ess - October 3, 2017

Rangers fan throws a drink over Conor McGregor for singing a Celtic tribute song in Glasgow. pic.twitter.com/wLgzyo0CiU — UFC Related 👊🏼 (@UFCrelated) October 2, 2017

Justin Golightly - October 3, 2017

Fight week for fighters is a special kind of hell. You’re so close to the fight that you’ve prepared months for, but it’s just out of reach. You’re doing media, cameras are always around you, and worst of all, you’re cutting weight. Some fighters cut an obscene amount of weight. Conor McGregor went through a completely tame MMA cut in comparison to his others for the Floyd Mayweather fight, and Mayweather was worried he wouldn’t even make it to the fight. One guy who never worries about his cut, is Demetrious Johnson. In fact, he basically eats whatever he wants. He detailed his diet sitting next to Kevin Lee, who was visibly tortured and munching on arugula. “I’ll stay at 125lbs. After this I probably won’t fight until March, maybe February or March possibly. We’ll see. I’ll stay at 125lbs. Last night I went out to dinner, had two chicken breasts with mashed potatoes, broccolini, it was seasoned, had all the good-goods on it. And I woke up weighing 138.1lbs. So, it’s not [a problem for me to make 125lbs]. the only time I get to like, 142-143lbs, is I have a rack of ribs with a delicious Negra Modelo. I eat whatever I want and still be able to make this weight. Yeah, I eat dessert and all this stuff. I had Oreos before I came down [to the media lunch]. I had chocolate ones because I ate through all the vanilla Oreos that day before.”