MMA News

Scott Hernandez - December 22, 2016

In an effort to once again switch things up once again, it appears as though the UFC will be making the next season of The Ultimate Fighter an all-star season, rather than bringing in a new group of contestants to compete on the show. MMAJunkie broke the news, revealing that the promotion is targeting an ‘all-star- welterweight lineup for the 25th season. The past season of the show was certainly a different one, and in the eyes of many, was the change fans were hoping for. In this past season the promotion brought in flyweight champions from various other MMA promotions, with the winner getting a fight with UFC flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson. Ultimately, UFC vet Tim Elliot earned his way back into the promotion as he won the season.

Scott Hernandez - December 21, 2016

With just nine days to go until UFC 207, where former heavyweight champions Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum are set to have a highly anticipated rematch for the heavyweight #1 contender spot, many fans will likely be shocked to hear that Velasquez is dealing with a pretty significant injury. During his training camp for the fight, Velasquez revealed that he was already scheduled to undergo back surgery just five days after the fight. With that being said, no one could have guessed the severity of the situation.

Scott Hernandez - December 21, 2016

During the UFC 205 fight week, Irish superstar Conor McGregor and UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley were involved in several heated situations of their own, despite the fact that both men were slated to fight other men. The first incident was a very minor one, however it set the stage for the remainder of the week. At the UFC 205 pre-fight press conference, McGregor stated that he was coming for all the belts on the table, which included Woodley’s welterweight championship.

Scott Hernandez - December 21, 2016

UFC superstar Nate Diaz has been absent from the Octagon since his UFC 202 main event scrap with Conor McGregor back in August. Following the fight, Diaz revealed that the only way he would return to the Octagon would be for a massive payday. Since then, there has been no further word on when Diaz will be returning to the Octagon, however following the recent news of Conor McGregor being granted his boxing license in California, Diaz revealed his intentions to leave MMA to pursue professional boxing:

Scott Hernandez - December 21, 2016

Since winning the interim featherweight championship earlier this month by TKOing Anthony Pettis, it was reported by recently-promoted featherweight champion Jose Aldo that he and Max Holloway would be fighting at UFC 208 in Brooklyn in February. Unfortunately, following Holloway’s win over Pettis, it was revealed that he had suffered an ankle injury and would be unable to compete at UFC 208. Holloway released a statement on the matter, pointing out that Aldo should not be criticizing his decision given the fact that he has pulled out of six fights.

Russell Ess - December 21, 2016

With Jose Aldo’s long reign as the featherweight champion before meeting Conor McGregor at UFC 194 last year, “Scarface” was the king of the featherweight division and ranked #1 on the UFC pound-for-pound list. However, with being the top ranked pound-for-pound fighter, Aldo says that he never got all the opportunities Conor McGregor has. Aldo has stated that when there were talks about him fighting then-lightweight champion Anthony Pettis for the lightweight title, he did not have the option to retain the featherweight title like McGregor did at UFC 205 against Eddie Alvarez.

Scott Hernandez - December 21, 2016

BJPENN.COM Radio is back at 8PM ET/5PM PT tonight with a great guest lineup for your MMA fix! 8:15PM ET- Tonights show kicks off with John “The Magician’ Dodson @johndodsonmma. He’ll be discussing the controversial loss to John Lineker back in October and where he thinks he should be ranked in the Bantamweight division. We will also be getting Dodson’s take on both the bantamweight and flyweight landscape, what he thought of D.J.’s performance against Tim Elliott and which of the two divisions he intends on competing in moving forward. Tons of personality in a small frame!

Russell Ess - December 21, 2016

Many fans were talking about Conor McGregor’s UFC 205 backstage incidents with #1 UFC ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov and current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.

Scott Hernandez - December 21, 2016

While Conor McGregor revealed this week that he could very well be returning to the Octagon after Christmas, rather than taking 10 months off like UFC President Dana White stated, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson have continued to talk trash at one another on social media.

Scott Hernandez - December 21, 2016

Lightweight #1 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov is looking to get one last fight in between now and May 27th, when he begins to take time off from training for Ramadan. While after UFC 205 all signs pointed to Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson fighting for the chance to challenge Conor McGregor for the lightweight championship, Nurmagomedov revealed recently that a fight between the pair was not only nearly official, it would be for the interim lightweight title. Unfortunately however, Ferguson revealed on Twitter this week that he plans to hold out for more money.

Scott Hernandez - December 21, 2016

Max Holloway is fresh off a third round TKO win over Anthony Pettis earlier this month at UFC 206, which saw him claim the interim lightweight championship, and secure himself a fight with featherweight champion Jose Aldo.

Russell Ess - December 21, 2016

Team Alpha Male’s Paige VanZant had to deal with the sting of defeat for the third time in her professional mixed martial arts career.

Tom Taylor - December 21, 2016

Jon Jones is known for many things.

Scott Hernandez - December 21, 2016

While Conor McGregor may have been denied a boxing license in Nevada, he was granted a boxing license in California. This once again reignited talks of a potential Mayweather vs. McGregor boxing match. While both men have verbally agreed to the fight, there has been no official word on if the fight will ever take place. Despite that, combat sports fans have continued to discuss the potential fight, with the combat sports community torn on who they think will win the fight. While many argue that in a boxing match, Mayweather would pick Conor McGregor apart and continue his undefeated streak, others believe that McGregor’s precision and power would result in him handing Mayweather the first loss of his career.

Tom Taylor - December 21, 2016

Earlier this month, the UFC made its first trip to Toronto, Ontario, Canada since 2013. It did so with the much maligned, but ultimately action-packed UFC 206. This thrilling card was headlined by an interim featherweight title fight between former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, and streaking featherweight contender Max Holloway. Though Pettis was not without his moments in this fight, he ultimately came up short, as he wilted under a swarm of Holloway strikes in the third round.

Scott Hernandez - December 21, 2016

While it is undeniable that Max Holloway will be getting the next crack at Jose Aldo after winning the belt at UFC 206 earlier this month, there has been some confusion in regards to when the pair will fight. While Jose Aldo has been informing fight fans that prior to Holloway vs. Pettis, ‘Blessed’, ‘Showtime’, and Aldo were all aware of the fact that the winner would fight Aldo at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, Holloway wasn’t made aware of the situation until after he TKOd Pettis.

Tom Taylor - December 21, 2016

When Gegard Mousasi avenged his previous loss to Uriah Hall in November, he set his sights on the middleweight division’s top-5, where he hoped to find an opponent who could propel him the rest of the way to a title shot. Now, it appears as though his crosshairs have landed on Chris Weidman, who is currently on a tough, two-fight skid after an admirable reign as UFC middleweight champion. “[The UFC] offered you the fight days ago, [Chris Weidman],” Mousasi said to Weidman on Twitter. “Suddenly you have disappeared. Accept the fight already. I am waiting, pal. #Don’tBeScared.” 

Tom Taylor - December 21, 2016

When Conor McGregor won the UFC lightweight title from Eddie Alvarez in November, he became the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes concurrently, as he still owned the organization’s featherweight belt at the time. Yet given that it had been nearly a year since he’d won that featherweight title, and that he seemed to have no immediate plans to defend it, the UFC ultimately decided to strip him of it, ending his reign as two division champ as they did. When they stripped McGregor of the featherweight crown, they promoted Jose Aldo – the man he knocked out to win it – back to undisputed featherweight champion. Given that Aldo had been knocked out by McGregor so recently, this was an immediately controversial move, as many fans and pundits posited that it’d be hard to consider him the real champ until he avenged his loss to McGregor.