MMA News

Scott Hernandez - January 6, 2017

In the main event of UFC 207, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey returned to the Octagon to fight Amanda Nunes in a highly anticipated showdown. Just 48 seconds into the fight, referee Herb Dean was forced to call a bout after Rousey continued to eat unanswered shots, noticeably out on her feet. That didn’t sit too well with Michael Rapaport, who appeared on Fox Sports 1 to explain that the stoppage was premature, and that he believes Rousey was saved by “white girl privilege”.

Tom Taylor - January 6, 2017

Last Friday, on the main card of UFC 207, TJ Dillashaw coach Duane Ludwig watched his star pupil score a lopsided win over John Lineker, the bantamweight division’s number-two ranked fighter. Logic would suggest that with this win, Dillashaw guaranteed himself at the UFC bantamweight title he once owned, which is now held by Cody Garbrandt. The widely applauded TJ Dillashaw coach, however, isn’t sure what the future holds. While he hopes his fighter will get the next shot at gold, he is far from trusting of the UFC’s current matchmaking strategy.

Scott Hernandez - January 6, 2017

To close out 2016, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey returned to the Octagon for her highly anticipated return after suffering the first loss of her career at the hands of Holly Holm back in November of 2015.

Scott Hernandez - January 6, 2017

When UFC President Dana White announced that Ronda Rousey would be returning to the Octagon to fight Amanda Nunes on December 30th in the main event of UFC 207, he also pointed out that if Rousey were to emerge from her UFC 207 scrap with Nunes victorious, she would then likely move on to fight Cris Cyborg in a highly anticipated superfight. While the superfight was always just out of reach from fight fans, during Ronda Rousey‘s hiatus from the time of her loss to Holly Holm, to her fight with Amanda Nunes, Cyborg fought twice in the UFC, going 2-0 at catchweight fights of 140 pounds. While it appeared as though the stars were aligning for the potential superfight to become a reality, Rousey’s one-sided loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 this past weekend ended talks of a potential fight with Cris Cyborg.

Tom Taylor - January 6, 2017

Last week, UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping and UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley made waves by agreeing to fight each other at a catchweight of 180lbs. Their agreeing to do so, of course, only means so much. Woodley, after all, currently has his hands full with streaking welterweight contenders like Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and Demian Maia. Bisping, on the other hand, has an extremely dangerous challenge on his horizon in former Olympian Yoel Romero. Given this, the possibility of the UFC actually pitting the two champions against each other seems somewhat slim.

Scott Hernandez - January 6, 2017

Leading up to the highly anticipated return of Ronda Rousey to close out 2016, many were questioning whether fight fans would see a different Rousey than they did in her UFC 193 loss to Holly Holm. While the expectations were that Rousey would return to the Octagon with improved striking, when she stepped into the Octagon with Amanda Nunes at UFC 207, it didn’t take long for Rousey to show fight fans that her striking game had not developed enough to compete with an elite level striker like Nunes. Just 48 seconds into the fight, referee Herb Dean was forced to stop the bout due to Rousey being out on her feet.

Scott Hernandez - January 6, 2017

While Amanda Nunes may reign as the UFC women’s bantamweight champion, the only woman to beat Nunes inside the Octagon is none other than top ranked women’s bantamweight Cat Zingano. When Nunes joined the UFC in 2013, she immediately went on a 2-fight win streak as she TKOd Sheila Gaff and Germaine de Randamie in her first two UFC scraps. The UFC game Nunes a step up in competition when the had her fight undefeated Cat Zingano in her third UFC fight. In that fight, Zingano picked up a dominant third round TKO win to snap Nunes’ 2-0 streak. Following the loss, Nunes has rattled off 5 straight wins, with her most recent being a 48 second KO win over Ronda Rousey last weekend.

Tom Taylor - January 6, 2017

Ronda Rousey coach Edmond Tarverdyan continues to find himself in the firing line, taking the brunt of the blame for his fighter’s failed comeback. This comeback, which occurred in the main event of UFC 207, saw Rousey return from an absence of more than a year to be knocked out in just 48 seconds by reigning bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes. The reason that Tarverdyan is receiving so much flack for Rousey’s UFC 207 performance is that Rousey showed almost nothing in the way of improvement between her shocking 2015 knockout loss to Holly Holm and her recent loss to Nunes. While this is of course partially her fault, it is the job of a coach to ensure their fighters are always evolving, and Tarverdyan has clearly failed abysmally in this department when it comes to Rousey. This fact, when paired with the recent records of Tarverdyan’s other high-profile fighters, such as UFC heavyweight Travis Browne, has resulted in his being roasted by many members of the MMA community.

Tom Taylor - January 6, 2017

After his UFC 207 defeat of Dominick Cruz, new UFC bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt claimed that he’d like to fight current featherweight champ Jose Aldo next. Given that Garbrandt’s fighting Aldo would deprive TJ Dillashaw of the bantamweight title shot he’s so clearly earned, this assertion was met with some criticism. Luckily for Dillashaw, Garbrandt has backtracked a bit, saying he’d happily defend the title against him.

Chris Taylor - January 5, 2017

Tyron Woodley is fresh off the holidays and ready to get back to defending his UFC welterweight title in the Octagon. Coming off a majority draw against Stephen Thompson at UFC 205 in his first welterweight title defense, BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor caught up with the Woodley on Tuesday’s episode of Rapid Fire to get the latest from the champ.

Russell Ess - January 5, 2017

Fans of UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley are anxiously awaiting to hear what will be next for “The Chosen One.” With there being a few options that the UFC has to put together to take on the king of the welterweight division in the Octagon next, Woodley is looking to build on his legacy with some dream matchups including both the champions in the weight classes surrounding him at 170.

Scott Hernandez - January 5, 2017

On January 21st, UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz will step into the cage for the final time when he squares off against former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen for a highly anticipated grudge match. Ahead of the fight, both men have continued to trade verbal jabs at one another, with both men promising to leave the other a bloody mess come January 21st.

Scott Hernandez - January 5, 2017

Last month, a horrifying attack on Russian MMA fighter Rasul Mirzaev flew under the radar after a night out with UFC fighters Ali Bagautinov and Artem Lobov quickly turned into a horrific night for Mirzaev. According to reports, Lobov returned to Russia last month, where he spent time with both Bagautinov and Mirzaev after Bagautinov had spent time with Lobov in Ireland back in November. The trio went out for a night at the club when several men brought up Lobov’s teammate, Conor McGregor, and his unwillingness to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov. While Mirzaev and several of the men were involved in a brief altercation, security broke up the incident and the men carried on with their night.

Russell Ess - January 5, 2017

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor made it clear after his last historic fight against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 that he wants to meet with the new owners of the UFC to talk business.

Scott Hernandez - January 5, 2017

Last month, the UFC announced a thrilling heavyweight matchup between former UFC heavyweight title challenger Alistair Overeem and heavyweight MMA legend Mark Hunt for UFC 209 on March 4th. While the MMA community was quick to express their excitement over the matchup, Hunt was quick to shut down the reports as he explained that the fight was offered to him, however the UFC was unwilling to put a clause in his contract that protected him from once again stepping into the Octagon against an opponent who was using PEDs. When the UFC didn’t cooperate with Hunt in regards to putting a provision in contracts, Hunt took to social media to attempt to negotiate with Overeem directly.

Scott Hernandez - January 5, 2017

Back in November at UFC 205, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate retired from MMA in the midst of a 2-fight losing streak. Tate had quite the emotional rollercoaster of a year as she won the UFC women’s bantamweight championship in March by picking up a spectacular 5th round submission win over Holly Holm as she submitted ‘The Preachers Daughter’ with less than two minutes to go in a fight she likely would have lost on the judges scorecards. Following her win over Holm, Tate stepped into the Octagon in the main event of UFC 200 in July for a highly anticipated showdown with Amanda Nunes. Just moments into the fight, Nunes landed a big punch that stunned Tate. ‘Cupcake’ never fully recovered, and ultimately Nunes picked up a first round submission win over Tate to claim the women’s bantamweight championship.

Scott Hernandez - January 5, 2017

While leading up to UFC 207 Ronda Rousey was touted as the toughest test of Amanda Nunes’ MMA career, when the pair stepped into the Octagon Nunes made quick work of Rousey, dispatching of the former champ in just 48 seconds after landing a big punch just moments into the fight that stunned Ronda Rousey. With the win, Nunes advanced to 3-0 over the course of 2016, secured her first title defense, and extended her win streak to 5, with her only UFC loss coming at the hands of Cat Zingano in 2014.

Scott Hernandez - January 5, 2017

When Ronda Rousey lost to Holly Holm at UFC 193 back in November of 2015, a lot of fingers were pointed in regards to who should shoulder the blame for Rousey’s loss. With this, many fingers ended up pointed at Rousey’s head coach, Edmond Tarverdyan, who many believe gave Rousey a false sense of security in her striking leading up to the fight with arguably the best striker in the women’s division, Holly Holm. Following the loss, several members of the combat sports community, including Floyd Mayweather, offered to train Rousey on her boxing. Despite that, when it was announced that Rousey would be returning to the Octagon at UFC 207 to fight Amanda Nunes, Ronda Rousey returned to Glendale Fighting Club to train under Edmond Tarverdyan.