MMA News

Fernando Quiles Jr. - March 20, 2025

Demetrious Johnson has high praise for Alexandre Pantoja. Pantoja is the reigning UFC Flyweight Champion. His most recent title defense took place at the UFC 310 pay-per-view against Kai Asakura. Pantoja secured a second-round technical submission finish to retain the 125-pound gold. After the fight, Pantoja called out Johnson, who retired from pro MMA competition in Sept. 2024.

Harry Kettle - March 20, 2025

UFC commentator Paul Felder believes Colby Covington is struggling to maintain his ‘heel’ persona these days. Over the course of the last decade or so, Colby Covington has portrayed a bad guy within the world of mixed martial arts. He has done everything possible to get under the skin of his opponents – sometimes it works, and sometimes it falls short.

Harry Kettle - March 20, 2025

UFC star Leon Edwards’ coach has once again questioned the 5am start time from his defeat to Belal Muhammad last year. As we know, in his most recent fight, Leon Edwards lost the UFC welterweight championship. After beating Kamaru Usman for the belt before successfully defending it twice, ‘Rocky’ fell short against Belal Muhammad in London. Now, this year, he’ll fight in the English capital once again when he locks horns with Sean Brady on Saturday night.

Harry Kettle - March 20, 2025

UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev has claimed that he’s already accepted a date for his next fight. As we know, Magomed Ankalaev is the new king of the light heavyweight division. He earned that title as a result of his triumph over Alex Pereira at UFC 313 which, while not 100% emphatic, certainly emphasized that he is operating at a brand new level right now – and that he deserves to be wearing the gold.

BJPENN.COM Staff - March 19, 2025

Decorated Japanese kickboxing star Takeru Segawa has cemented himself as an all-time great in the striking realm. But to be undeniable, he feels he has to conquer ONE Championship – more specifically, Rodtang Jitmuangnon. “The Natural Born Krusher” collides with the former ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion in a flyweight kickboxing super-fight at ONE 172 this Sunday, March 23, inside Japan’s Saitama Super Arena.

BJPENN.COM Staff - March 19, 2025

Reigning ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Champion Tawanchai PK Saenchai dreams of becoming a two-sport ONE World Champion. To keep that dream alive, he believes he must make his opportunity count at ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang. The 25-year-old faces Masaaki Noiri for the ONE Interim Featherweight Kickboxing World Title this Sunday, 23 March, at Japan’s illustrious Saitama Super Arena.

BJPENN.COM Staff - March 19, 2025

Accomplished featherweight kickboxing star Marat Grigorian senses that a knockdown, drag out war is on hand against Kaito Ono at ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang. The Armenian striker faces the promotional newcomer in a highly anticipated featherweight kickboxing outing this Sunday, March 23, inside Japan’s Saitama Super Arena.

Cole Shelton - March 19, 2025

In the main event of UFC London, former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards will take on Sean Brady. Heading into the fight, Edwards is a +130 underdog while the American is a -166 favorite on FanDuel. Ahead of the scrap, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro-fighters to get their predictions for the welterweight main event. The pros are torn but the majority believe Brady will silence the crowd and beat the former champ.

Josh Evanoff - March 19, 2025

GLORY Kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven has revealed talks are ongoing for a fight against PFL champion Francis Ngannou. ‘The Predator’ hasn’t been seen in the cage since a clash against Renan Ferreira in the PFL cage last October. Fighting for the first time since his destructive knockout loss to Anthony Joshua in March, Francis Ngannou handed ‘Problema’ a first-round stoppage loss. The bout was his first time stepping into the cage since his win over Ciryl Gane in January 2022, his final UFC appearance.

Josh Evanoff - March 19, 2025

Cory Sandhagen has no issue with Sean O’Malley getting the next UFC bantamweight title shot. ‘The Sandman’ recently booked his return to the octagon for May in Des Moines. Last suffering a unanimous decision loss to Umar Nurmagomedov in August, the bantamweight contender will meet former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo next. For his part. ‘Deus da Guerra’ is fresh off a lopsided decision loss to Petr Yan in November. That defeat snapped a three-fight winning streak for the Brazilian.

Josh Evanoff - March 19, 2025

Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira badly wants a rematch with ‘BMF’ titleholder Max Holloway. ‘Do Bronx’ hasn’t been seen in the octagon since a rematch against Michael Chandler in November. Three years after handing ‘Iron’ a knockout loss to win UFC lightweight gold, he handed him a unanimous decision loss in New York City. As of now, Charles Oliveira remains unbooked. With all of the uncertainty in the title picture around Islam Makhachev, the Brazilian remains hopeful he’ll fight for gold next.

Josh Evanoff - March 19, 2025

Former UFC title challenger Yoel Romero will make his GFL debut against Gegard Mousasi this summer. ‘The Soldier of God’ hasn’t been seen in the cage since a clash with Thiago Santos last February. On the PFL vs. Bellator undercard, Yoel Romero handed the former UFC light-heavyweight contender a unanimous decision loss. At 47 years old, the Cuban fighter has won three of his last four bouts.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - March 19, 2025

Tom Aspinall’s father has had enough of Jon Jones. The general consensus is that the biggest fight the UFC can make is a heavyweight title unification bout between Jones and Aspinall. “Bones” holds the main heavyweight title, while Aspinall is the interim champion. Both men have each had a successful title defense, but they’ve yet to share the Octagon.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - March 19, 2025

One ex-UFC contender doesn’t see Kayla Harrison fighting at 135 pounds for much longer. Harrison is rumored to be competing for Julianna Pena’s UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship at UFC 316 on June 7. Many believe Harrison will be a sizable favorite going into the matchup if that is indeed the plan. Harrison is riding a three-fight winning streak and she only has one lost in her pro MMA career.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - March 19, 2025

Bo Nickal wasn’t Reinier De Ridder’s first choice for his next opponent, but he has no complaints. De Ridder and Nickal will collide on the UFC Des Moines card on May 3. It’s Nickal’s chance to enter the top 10 UFC middleweight rankings for the first time. As for De Ridder, he admits that he wasn’t expecting to receive the bout offer to fight the surging 185-pounder.

BJ Penn Staff - March 19, 2025

UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is on one of the best runs in MMA right now, with wins over a host of former champions and undefeated contenders behind him. In a recent conversation with X user @judobetter995, he ranked his five most recent opponents in terms of difficulty.

Harry Kettle - March 19, 2025

UFC star Bo Nickal has become the latest fighter to criticize UFC events taking place at the promotion’s Apex facility. Over the course of the last few years, we’ve seen a parade of UFC shows take place at the UFC Apex arena. It was originally done as a way to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but even after the pandemic came to an end, the promotion continued to use it for fight night cards.

Harry Kettle - March 19, 2025

Former UFC champion Jan Blachowicz plans on taking Alex Pereira’s UFC title rematch away from him at UFC London. For the longest time now, Jan Blachowicz has either been a champion or a top contender in the light heavyweight division. He’s had incredibly close matchups with a lot of fighters around him in the rankings, and that includes Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev. He was narrowly beaten by Pereira, whereas he fought to a draw with Ankalaev.