MMA News

Cole Shelton - September 7, 2023

Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou had a faceoff ahead of their highly-anticipated boxing match on Oct. 28 in Saudi Arabia. With the fight still over a month away, the two held a press conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to help promote the fight. Although Fury is a sizeable betting favorite, the fight is still intriguing as Ngannou has legit one-punch KO power.

Cole Shelton - September 7, 2023

In the main event of UFC 293, the middleweight title is up for grabs as Israel Adesanya looks to defend his belt against Sean Strickland. Heading into the scrap, Adesanya is a massive -720 favorite while the American is a +450 underdog on FanDuel. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. To no surprise, the majority of the pros are picking Adesanya to defend his belt with ease, although some are rooting for Strickland to pull off the upset.

Susan Cox - September 7, 2023

Merab Dvalishvili is reacting after Sean O’Malley claims he knocked him out at UFC 292. It was in fact Sean O’Malley (17-1 MMA) vs Aljamain Sterling (23-4 MMA) this past August at UFC 292. The main event title fight saw O’Malley defeat ‘Funk Master’ by TKO at 0:51 of round 2 to claim the bantamweight belt.

Susan Cox - September 7, 2023

Tai Tuivasa is sharing his prediction for the UFC 293 title fight between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland. UFC 293 takes place this coming weekend, on Saturday, September 9th at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Susan Cox - September 7, 2023

Dricus Du Plessis is being advised that he better ‘show up’ at UFC 293 or he’ll risk losing a shot at the title. UFC 293 takes place this coming weekend, on Saturday, September 9th at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.

BJPENN.COM Staff - September 7, 2023

ONE Women’s Strawweight MMA World Champion Xiong Jing Nan is gearing up for a unique challenge. She faces Muay Thai phenom Nat “Wondergirl” Jaroonsak in a special rules striking match at ONE Fight Night 14 on Prime Video. The bout airs live in U.S. primetime from the Singapore Indoor Stadium on September 29.

BJPENN.COM Staff - September 7, 2023

ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Champion Jonathan Di Bella can’t wait for his next assignment. The Canadian-Italian striker defends his belt against Danial Williams at ONE Fight Night 15 on Prime Video. The matchup goes down at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on October 6, and airs live in U.S. primetime.

Harry Kettle - September 7, 2023

Sean O’Malley has teased Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling as he continues to enjoy life as champion. Last month, Sean O’Malley knocked out Aljamain Sterling to claim the UFC bantamweight championship. As you can imagine, this represented a seismic shift in the division, with ‘Suga’ taking over as the new king. Naturally, many other fighters in the top 10 have been calling for a showdown against the champ.

Harry Kettle - September 7, 2023

Chan Sung Jung aka The Korean Zombie has admitted that there’s a chance he could test the waters in boxing following his MMA retirement. Last month, Korean Zombie went head to head with Max Holloway in what would prove to be his final fight in the UFC. He gave it his all and certainly went down swinging but in the end, he couldn’t get the job done, and wound up suffering a knockout loss at the hands of ‘Blessed’.

Harry Kettle - September 7, 2023

Israel Adesanya doesn’t believe that Sean Strickland will do the “man dance” with him when they collide at UFC 293. This Saturday night, Israel Adesanya will defend his UFC middleweight championship when he goes head to head with Sean Strickland. It will serve as the first time he’s defended the strap in his second reign, following his knockout win over Alex Pereira earlier this year.

Zain Bando - September 6, 2023

“UFC Noche” is nearly a week away, and the promotion is pulling out all the stops to ensure the event captures the essence of Mexican Independence Day. Dana White admitted the UFC missed the boat on bringing the Mexican fanbase the best event possible. Still, it’s a near-perfect alternative with Alexa Grasso as the headliner in the highly-anticipated flyweight title rematch against Valentina Shevchenko. White posted a newly minted surprise for Alexa Grasso, who upset then-champion Shevchenko in March at UFC 285. A UFC champion is getting a custom-made country-themed belt for the first time in promotional history. Not to be confused with the lineal title; however, White revealed Alexa Grasso will get to keep the custom belt, win or lose.

Cole Shelton - September 6, 2023

Israel Adesanya believes Alexander Volkanovski has cemented himself as the GOAT. Volkanovski is the UFC’s current featherweight champion and is undefeated in the weight class. He has only two career losses on his record, one which came on the regional scene at welterweight and the other at 155lbs to Islam Makhachev for the UFC lightweight title. However, that fight was close and some thought Volkanovski did enough to get the win.

Josh Evanoff - September 6, 2023

Jorge Masvidal wasn’t impressed by Jake Paul and Nate Diaz’s boxing match last month. On DAZN pay-per-view from Texas, ‘The Problem Child’ returned in August. The boxing match was his first since suffering a defeat to Tommy Fury in February and was also the first ten-rounder of his career. Meanwhile, Nate Diaz made his boxing debut that night but was no stranger to combat. In his UFC stint, he faced names such as Jorge Masvidal, Conor McGregor, and more.

Cole Shelton - September 6, 2023

Sean O’Malley says he lost to Marlon Vera back at UFC 252 on purpose as he knew it would set up a massive rematch. In the co-main event of UFC 252, O’Malley was set for the toughest test of his career as he was facing Vera in an intriguing matchup. O’Malley entered the fight as a sizeable betting favorite but a leg kick from Vera caused ‘Suga’ to keep rolling his ankle. ‘Chito’ eventually won the fight by ground-and-pound TKO.

Josh Evanoff - September 6, 2023

Ahead of his title shot on Saturday, Sean Strickland got work in with a fan at UFC 293 open workouts. ‘Tarzan’ is slated to face Israel Adesanya this weekend in the biggest fight of his career. For his part, Sean Strickland enters the first title fight of his career riding a two-fight winning streak. Earlier this year, he captured lopsided wins over Abus Magomedov and Nassourdine Imavov.

Josh Evanoff - September 6, 2023

It appears that the boxing match between Logan Paul and Dillon Danis is now in jeopardy. ‘The Maverick’ and ‘El Jefe’ are slated to fight in October in the co-main event of KSI vs. Tommy Fury. For Logan Paul, the boxing match will be his first since a June 2021 exhibition with Floyd Mayweather. Meanwhile, the fight will be Dillon Danis’ boxing debut and first combat sports appearance since 2019.

BJPENN.COM Staff - September 6, 2023

Stephen Loman is gearing up for a fight that could alter the trajectory of his career forever. Loman, ONE Championship’s No. 2-ranked bantamweight MMA contender, is set to face top-ranked John Lineker. The match goes down at ONE Fight Night 14 on Prime Video, which airs live in U.S. primetime on September 29.

Cole Shelton - September 6, 2023

Chepe Mariscal is excited to go down to Australia at UFC 293 and fight in enemy territory. Mariscal is coming off his UFC debut back in June when he beat Trevor Peek by decision in a very fan-friendly fight. After the performance, he wasn’t sure what would be next, but he wanted a quick turnaround, which is what he got.