MMA News

Tom Taylor - January 13, 2017

Late last month, in the main event of UFC 207, Cody Garbrandt defeated Dominick Cruz with a unanimous decision, winning the UFC bantamweight title as he did. Earlier that same night, former bantamweight king TJ Dillashaw scored a big win of his own, defeating the highly regarded John Lineker by decision. With his UFC 207 win, Dillashaw seemed to guarantee himself the next shot at Garbrandt – who he used to train with a team Alpha Male. Shortly after the card, however, Garbrandt began to call for a “money fight” with Jose Aldo, unconcerned about leaving Dillashaw out in the cold.

Tom Taylor - January 13, 2017

Oft-criticized MMA coach Edmond Tarverdyan has recently been enduring a bit of a rough patch. In late 2015, his star pupil Ronda Rousey was turned off by a Holly Holm head kick in one of the biggest upsets our sport has ever seen. Rousey’s long-awaited comeback fight, which pitted her against Amanda Nunes in the main event of UFC 207, ended up looking more like a public execution, as she was mauled in just 48 seconds. And then, there’s Travis Browne, Tarverdyan’s next most prominent student. He’s currently on a tough, 2-fight losing streak and could conceivably be cut from the UFC if he comes up short in his next bout. Needless to say, things have not been going well for the infamous coach.

Tom Taylor - January 13, 2017

This February, Stefan Struve was supposed to have the opportunity to avenge one of the ugliest losses of his career: a crushing 2009 knockout dealt by Junior Dos Santos. The two heavyweights were expected to rematch on February 19 in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Regrettably, Struve was forced out of this bout with a should injury, which means his shot at redemption at Dos Santos will have to wait. On Thursday evening, the towering Dutchman took to social media to shed some light on his injury, give a timeframe for his return, and apologize to his fans and planned opponent. His words:

Tom Taylor - January 13, 2017

2016 couldn’t have started better for Dominick Cruz. In January, he returned from years on the injury list to reclaim the UFC bantamweight title from TJ Dillashaw. Then, in June, he defended that title against on old rival in Urijah Faber. Unfortunately, however, Cruz failed to end 2016 on the high note with which he began it.

Russell Ess - January 12, 2017

MMA legends Tito Ortiz and Chael Sonnen are set to compete in the Octagon at Bellator 170 on January 21.

Russell Ess - January 12, 2017

UFC superstar Conor McGregor and BJJ phenom Dillon Danis are surely feeding off of each other’s strengths. For McGregor’s UFC 202 rematch against Nate Diaz, “The Notorious” brought in Danis to work on his Brazilian jiu-jitsu after being submitted by Diaz in their first bout at UFC 196. Danis, a black belt under Marcelo Garcia has built a strong relationship with McGregor and it surely seems that the character of “The Notorious” is rubbing off on Danis.

Russell Ess - January 12, 2017

You have likely seen the hilarious videos on the Internet of patients coming out of surgery where they are still loopy from the drugs given to deal with the procedure. Here we take a look at a video from former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar fresh out of surgery on his groin, as he finally got to take care of an injury that has been bothering him.

Russell Ess - January 12, 2017

Conor McGregor has taken over the game of mixed martial arts in just a few years fighting in the UFC.

Scott Hernandez - January 12, 2017

JiuJitsu wizard Dillon Danis has quickly become a familiar name to the combat sports community due to his training with UFC superstar Conor McGregor over the course of the past year. While Danis has never competed in MMA, the JiuJitsu competitor has teased a jump to MMA over the course of the past several months, most recently calling out young UFC prospect Sage Northcutt for what he believes would be an “easy fight”. In addition, Danis has called for a grappling match with UFC light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones, who recently submitted Dan Henderson at Submission Underground 2.

Scott Hernandez - January 12, 2017

While there was a point that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey looked nearly invincible inside the Octagon, ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey is now on a 2-fight skid that has seen her drop back to back lopsided losses. After losing her UFC women’s bantamweight championship to Holly Holm at UFC 193 back in November of 2015, Rousey took over a year away from the Octagon before returning at the end of 2016 to fight Amanda Nunes for the women’s bantamweight championship. Unfortunately for Rousey, it took just 48 seconds for Nunes to pick up a devastating TKO win and retain the belt.

Scott Hernandez - January 12, 2017

Sunday, January 15th, in Phoenix, Arizona, UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn will make his highly anticipated return to the Octagon when he steps into the cage to fight streaking featherweight prospect Yair Rodriguez in a highly anticipated showdown. For BJ Penn, he will be looking to capture his first win since formally ending his retirement in 2016, where he also announced his intentions to make a run at the featherweight title with famed coaches Greg Jackson & Mike Wikeljohn in his corner.

Scott Hernandez - January 12, 2017

While talks of a potential Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing match have been dominating the combat sports world for quite some time now, the odds of the fight ever actually taking place have remained extremely slim. Following his dominant UFC 205 win over Eddie Alvarez in November, McGregor was issued his boxing license in California, adding fuel to the fire of a potential showdown between the two men in the boxing ring. With that being said, despite the two men firing shots at one another in interviews over the course of the last several weeks, talks never resulted in contracts being issued.

Scott Hernandez - January 12, 2017

Leading up to UFC 207 on December 30th, where former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey made her highly anticipated return to the Octagon over a year after suffering the first defeat of her career at the hands of Holly Holm at UFC 193, where she lost the women’s bantamweight championship.

Scott Hernandez - January 11, 2017

Shocking news broke late Wednesday night that former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler has officially left his longtime camp at American Top Team. Lawler had been with the camp for many years, including his UFC welterweight title run, and throughout his title reign. MMAFighting confirmed the news this week, following an initial report from ENTImports.

Scott Hernandez - January 11, 2017

BJPENN.COM Radio is back tonight at 8:30PM ET/5:30PM PT with Juan Archuleta and Ray Borg! 8:15PM ET- Kicking off tonights show we are joined by Jaun “The Spaniard” Archuleta @jarch141 . Juan is is making waves as an up-and-comer who is clearly UFC bound. A champion of three weight classes in King Of The Cage, Archuleta will be discussing his recent victory, his goals as a martial artist, and what kind of opportunities he expects to arise in 2017.

Scott Hernandez - January 11, 2017

Julianna Pena is currently on quite the win streak in the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division, winning four straight fights, three of which coming since she made her return to the Octagon following an injury layoff from 2013-2015. Most recently, ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ competed at UFC 200, where she picked up a dominant unanimous decision win over Cat Zingano. While the win cemented Pena’s place near the top of the UFC’s bantamweight division on the UFC’s official rankings, Pena is currently slated for a bantamweight #1 contender fight against Valentina Shevchenko at ‘UFC Fight Night: Denver’ on January 28th. Going into the fight, it’s no secret that the winner could very well see themselves earn a title fight with women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.

Russell Ess - January 11, 2017

The beef between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather likely just took a turn to getting real personal. The buzzing fantasy matchup between the MMA star versus the boxing star has been going on for quite some time now. However, a social media post from “The Notorious” on Wednesday took things to an entirely new level.

Russell Ess - January 11, 2017

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is polishing up his acting skills starring in a series of commercials for the Pegasus World Cup Invitational.