UFC News

Adam Martin - July 2, 2019

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum wants out of his UFC contract, but the world’s leading MMA promotion is holding him to it. In an interview with Combate, Werdum admitted he asked the UFC to terminate his contract following his USADA suspension due to performance-enhancing drugs. Werdum said the UFC told him no, and that he must finish out his contract once he is eligible to return to the Octagon in 2020.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2019

The Bottle Cap Challenge has been sweeping the MMA world. This online craze entered our little bubble late last week, when UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway tried his hand at it. He then passed it on to John Mayer, who nailed it, and Mayer passed it on to actor Jason Statham, who also nailed it. Statham directed his followup challenge to UFC veteran James Moontasri and director Guy Ritchie, both of whom succeeded. Yet his challenge also caught the attention of former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor. Conor McGregor, unsurprisingly, easily accomplished the challenge, and then passed it on to undefeated boxing legend and former opponent Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Cole Shelton - July 2, 2019

UFC 239 is set to go down from Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday. The card is headlined by two title fights, and also on the card is an intriguing welterweight fight between Ben Askren and Jorge Masvidal, where the winner could very well get the next title shot. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the fight. Although Askren is a -250 favorite, while Masvidal being the +195 underdog, the majority of the pros are leaning towards Masvidal giving Askren his first professional loss.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2019

This Saturday, on the main card of UFC 239, Ben Askren will collide with Jorge Masvidal in a pivotal welterweight contender bout. Askren originally expected to fight Darren Till in his next bout, but then Masvidal knocked Till out, jumping the line in the process. “Going in to the fight with Masvidal, I thought [Darren] Till was going to win,” Ben Askren said when speaking to MMA Fighting. “Masvidal was already making excuses so I didn’t really think it was a good possibility of me fighting Masvidal but then when he won, they started looking around at opponents for me and “Wonderboy” [Stephen Thompson] lost [to Anthony Pettis] and Masvidal was the one that made the most sense.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - July 1, 2019

Leon Edwards feels he’s on the right path to a shot at UFC gold. On July 20, Edwards will collide with former UFC lightweight title holder Rafael dos Anjos. The welterweight scrap will serve as UFC San Antonio’s main event. “Rocky” will be looking to extend his winning streak to eight. Meanwhile, dos Anjos hopes to snag his second straight victory.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - July 1, 2019

Chi Lewis-Parry has given his side of the story when it comes to beefing with Jon Jones. Back in May, Lewis-Parry confronted Jones during the Bodypower UK 2019 event. Jones was making a scheduled appearance. Lewis-Parry hurled insults at Jones before being taken away by security.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2019

Before his heavyweight title shot against Stipe Miocic, Francis Ngannou was regarded as a near unstoppable force in the Octagon. After the world watched him get walloped by the Miocic for five rounds, however, that perception changed. Suddenly, he looked like a flawed, inexperienced fighter that anybody with the right gameplan could beat. When Ngannou followed this loss up with an utterly forgettable decision loss to Derrick Lewis, fans began to question his mental game too. In the span of a few months, he’d devolved from a juggernaut to a flash in the pan. Hope for his future as a world-class heavyweight was all but gone.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2019

This list of people willing to fight Francis Ngannou is seemingly getting shorter and shorter. Having rebounded from two worrying losses with a trio of blitzkrieg knockouts of Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos, Ngannou has reasserted himself as the scariest fighter in MMA. Yet there is still one man ready and willing to step into the cage with the talented Cameroonian-Frenchman: Brazil’s Johnny Walker. Walker, to remind, is not even a heavyweight, but a light heavyweight. Nonetheless, he is confident that if was locked in the cage with Francis Ngannou on this very day, he could win.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2019

MMA stars Ben Askren and Chael Sonnen both had plenty to say about Paulie Malignaggi after the boxer lost a bare knuckle boxing match to Artem Lobov at BKFC 6. Last week, Malignaggi responded to these criticisms. 

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2019

For a time, there was much discussion about a potential flyweight title super fight between TJ Dillashaw and Demetrious Johnson, then the UFC bantamweight and flyweight champions respectively. At the time of these discussions, Johnson expressed some doubt that TJ Dillashaw would be able to make the 125-pound limit for their potential flyweight title fight. Dillashaw later made 125 pounds for a January title fight with Henry Cejudo, but subsequently tested positive for EPO, and named his tough weight cut as one of the reasons he turned to this substance.

Tom Taylor - July 1, 2019

After back-to-back losses to Tyron Woodley and Jorge Masvidal, English welterweight contender Darren Till finds himself on shaky ground. He’ll enter his next fight in a must-win situation, as a third straight loss could be disastrous for his UFC career. Despite the massive stakes of his next fight, Darren Till says he absolutely intends to fight again this year. The Brit opened up on his fighting future in a fantastic interview with James Edwards of Fighters Only.

Cole Shelton - July 1, 2019

Don’t call it a legend tour. Michael Chiesa is set to fight longtime veteran of the sport, Diego Sanchez at UFC 239. And, after beating another veteran in Carlos Condit last time out, many are saying he is fighting legends of the sport. But, the 31-year-old makes it very clear, Sanchez is not a washed-up legend like fans are making him out to be.