MMA News

Russell Ess - January 16, 2017

It was not the outcome that BJ Penn and his loyal fans were looking for on Sunday at UFC Fight Night 103 in Phoenix, Arizona. The UFC Hall of Fame legend ended up losing to rising UFC star Yair Rodriguez in the main event of the evening in the second round as referee “Big” John McCarthy called a stop to the fight after Rodriguez dropped Penn for the first time in his career and followed up with a flurry of punches on the ground.

Russell Ess - January 16, 2017

Boxing legend Floyd Mayweather holds a polished 49-0 undefeated boxing record and has recently been a hot topic amongst MMA fans with the talk of a potential fight with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Another name in MMA that came up a lot with Mayweather was former UFC women’s bantmaweight champion, Ronda Rousey, as the two stars had their own war of words in the past.

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2017

Not long ago, The Blackzilians, who were based out of the Jaco Hybrid Training Center in Boca Raton, Florida, were one of the biggest and most successful teams in MMA. Home to names like Rashad Evans, Michael Johnson, Kamaru Usman, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, Alistair Overeem, Stefan Struve, and Vitor Belfort, the team’s success even earned them a spot opposite American Top Team on a special season of The Ultimate Fighter. Today, however, The Blackzilians team is fractured, as owner Glenn Robinson has sold their original training facility, and inner drama has pulled the team and coaching staff in different directions. On Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans gave an update on the state of the team, and things are not looking good.

Russell Ess - January 16, 2017

BJ Penn and Jason Parillo have a long history with one another and have gone through it all, both winning and losing championship title fights in the UFC together.

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2017

On January 28, the UFC will return to Fox with an exciting card. This card will be headlined by a women’s bantamweight contender bout between TUF winner Julianna Peña and Kyrgyzstani striker Valentina Shevchenko. In advance of this high-stakes fight, which is likely to produce the next challenger for champion Amanda Nunes, Peña says that she hopes fans are grateful that she accepted the fight, as she believes she’d already be scheduled for a title shot if she’d opted to wait rather than stay active. Peña explained this feeling in an interview with BloodyElbow.com.

Russell Ess - January 16, 2017

Mike Goldberg was in attendance for UFC Fight Night 103 on Sunday night but it wasn’t cageside commentating for the fights. With having his last UFC commentating gig at UFC 207 in December, Goldberg is on to the next chapter in his life but surely isn’t just walking away from the sport of mixed martial arts.

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2017

Earlier this month, UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes made headlines by calling for a shot at the winner of Holly Holm and Germaine De Randamie’s inaugural women’s featherweight title fight, which is scheduled for the main event of UFC 208 on February 11. The champ made this call on Twitter. I'm ready to make wmma history.... I want the winner. @danawhite @ufc @seanshelby vamos Fazer historia no mundo quero lutar com quem ganhar. pic.twitter.com/VQXyp4SCaO

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2017

Last night, the UFC returned to sun-scorched Phoenix, Arizona. They did so with UFC Fight Night 103, a card that featured plenty of action, controversy, and even a bit of UFC history. At the moment, the purses for this 12-fight Phoenix card have not been disclosed. We do, however, know how much the card’s 24 fighters took home through the UFC’s outfitting deal with sports apparel giant Reebok. Under the UFC’s deal with Reebok, fighters are paid based on the amount of fights they’ve had in the UFC’s Octagon, and in the Zuffa-owned eras of Strikeforce (April 2011 and after) and WEC (January 2007 and after). Champions and title challengers, however, are paid $40,000 and $30,000 respectively, regardless of their experience in the aforementioned promotions. These are the two highest payouts possible under this UFC-Reebok partnership.

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2017

Last week, we witnessed perhaps the biggest development in the ongoing Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor narrative thus far. UFC President Dana White made the retired boxing great what he called a “real offer” to fight the MMA superstar. This offer was for $25 million dollars, and a to-be-negotiated pay-per-view split.

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2017

These days, it seems that pretty much everybody wants to fight UFC lightweight champ and bona fide MMA megastar Conor McGregor. You can add middleweight legend Anderson Silva to that list. Silva explained this desire in a recent interview with Brazilian media outlet GloboTV. His words:

Tom Taylor - January 15, 2017

UFC Phoenix Results: BJ Penn vs. Yair Rodriguez  The UFC Phoenix main event saw featherweight prospect Yair Rodriguez get a huge step up in competition against our own BJ Penn – a former two division champion and UFC Hall of Famer.

Tom Taylor - January 15, 2017

UFC Phoenix Results: Joe Lauzon vs. Marcin Held  The co-main event of UFC Phoenix was a compelling clash of lightweight grapplers, as fan favorite veteran Joe Lauzon took on former Bellator title challenger Marcin Held.

Tom Taylor - January 15, 2017

UFC Phoenix Results: John Moraga vs. Sergio Pettis The UFC Phoenix main card was kicked off by a flyweight bout between Sergio Pettis and former title challenger John Moraga, who replaced the injured Jussier “Formiga” da Silva.

Tom Taylor - January 15, 2017

Wow! And that's why @OleynikUfc is called "The Boa Constrictor" #UFCPhoenix pic.twitter.com/XgmAJFGoQW — UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) January 16, 2017

Tom Taylor - January 15, 2017

Right hook + Knee + Straight left = FINISH HIM!!! @TheBigTicket205 w/ a HUGE KO!!! What a start to #UFCPhoenix pic.twitter.com/GtW5RiGw1A — UFC (@ufc) January 16, 2017

Tom Taylor - January 15, 2017

As the UFC’s 11th ranked light heavyweight, Sweden’s Ilir Latifi is undeniably one of the best light heavyweights in the world. At just 5’10, however, he’s also one of the division’s shorter fighters. Given his short stature, many fans have suggested that Latifi would be wise to drop from the light heavyweight division to the middleweight division. In a Sunday morning post to Instagram, however, Latifi explained that he’s far more likely to head north to the heavyweight division than he is to cut down to middleweight.

Tom Taylor - January 15, 2017

According to a report from MMANewsline.com, the upcoming, 25th instalment of The Ultimate Fighter will be coached by new bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt, and estranged former Team Alpha Male stablemate TJ Dillashaw. This report claims to have confirmed the two bantamweights as the TUF 25 coaches with sources close to Team Alpha Male and several rumored TUF 25 cast members. The cast for this upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter will be composed of veterans of the UFC, The Ultimate Fighter, and apparently, several current UFC fighters. These experienced fighters will be competing in the welterweight division.

Tom Taylor - January 15, 2017

.@FloydMayweather talks possible boxing fight with @TheNotoriousMMA #Boxing #JackDeGale pic.twitter.com/tTxyL4pglg — ALL THE SMOKE Boxing (@atsboxing) January 15, 2017