UFC NEWS

BJPENN.COM News - February 7, 2013

UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will defend his title in a long-awaited showdown with Gilbert Melendez, the last man to hold the Strikeforce® lightweight title, on Saturday, April 20 when the Ultimate Fighting Championship brings the Octagon back to HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. The 29-year-old Henderson is 6-0 in the UFC, including two consecutive title defenses over Nate Diaz and Frankie Edgar. He’ll look to cement his status as the world’s best 155-pounder when he meets Melendez, a San Francisco resident riding a seven-fight winning streak.

BJPENN.COM News - February 6, 2013

bjpenndotcom - February 6, 2013

BJPENN.COM News - February 6, 2013

Randy Couture finds himself in a bit of a pickle. According to UFC President Dana White he is no longer allowed to attend any UFC events. He is banned for life for signing with SPIKE TV and Bellator.

BJPENN.COM News - February 6, 2013

Zuffa, LLC, owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship®, released the following statement today regarding drug test results from UFC on FX 7 that took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on January 19, 2013. All 22 fighters on the UFC on FX 7 card were drug tested at the event and all fighters passed their drug tests with the exception of Thiago Tavares. The results for Tavares showed the presence of Drostanolone, an anabolic steroid and banned substance. Tavares has been informed that he will receive a 9-month suspension retroactive to the date of the event and that he must pass a drug test upon completion of the suspension before receiving clearance to compete again.

BJPENN.COM News - February 6, 2013

“I would not fight [Daniel Cormier]. He’s my coach, teammate and my friend.” In true Cain style, the champ kept it short and sweet when asked about a potential matchup between himself and Daniel Cormier. This comes out of last night’s “UFC Tonight” on FUEL TV.

BJPENN.COM News - February 6, 2013

“I want to fight [Rory MacDonald]. If anything happens with Carlos Condit, God forbid, or something happens with that fight, I already told Dana White. Nobody’s calling him out for a reason, because he’s freaking unreal. But if you wait, you think he’s going to stop getting better? In two years, this kid’s probably going to be one of the best fighters in the game. I’d rather knock his butt off now like I knocked off [Tarec Saffiedine’s] just before he got the Strikeforce gold. Everybody’s been Tweeting about [Demian Maia]. I don’t mind the fight. If he fights me the way he fought Fitch, then it’s not that dangerous of a fight. He just took him down and jumped on his back. I think Demian Maia’s tough. He just didn’t really impress me very much. I think if you match us up, it’s going to be a boring fight and we’re both going to get hella flak. I would rather fight [Nick] Diaz, Rory MacDonald, Condit. I would rather fight one of those guys, to be honest. They’re going to bring out the fight. They’re going to make me fight harder.”

BJPENN.COM News - February 6, 2013

“He’s good where I’m good — he likes to stand, trade and bang, and I feel like I’m more well-rounded and can offer him a big challenge…. Aldo is a tougher fight [than Ben Henderson] … that’s why I asked for it. He’s going through opponents like crazy. He just beat the last 155-pound champion. I think, for me, Aldo is definitely the tougher challenge. I already beat Ben Henderson once and I think I’m going to be doing it again soon. But, I think Aldo is the guy who is on the radar.” “It’s been something I’ve been thinking about for awhile now. I can make the weight easily. The reason why I haven’t done it before was Erik Koch — he’s a teammate of mine who was right up there for a title shot, so, I don’t want to cross paths with him so I pushed that back a little bit. But, after being at the fights, I thought it was the right idea to call out Aldo — he’s at the top of the division and he’s probably one of the best guys in the 145 to 155 pounds range. So, or me, it was just wanting to fight the best. It’s been awhile since [I last weighed 145 pounds]. Getting down to 155 was kind of hard for me until I got on a clean diet. It’s becoming a lot easier — my last fight I went into the hot tub for two minute and made weight.”

BJPENN.COM News - February 6, 2013

BJPENN.COM News - February 6, 2013

What was Uriah Hall feeling post-fight? Watch The Ultimate Fighter Tuesdays at 9 ET/PT on FX with replays on FUEL TV.

BJPENN.COM News - February 6, 2013

The Ultimate Fighter returned Tuesday night on FX with the third episode of the season – “Embrace the Suffering.” In the second preliminary bout of the series, Uriah Hall, from Queens, N.Y., defeated St Louis’ Adam Cella with one of the most shattering knock outs in TUF history. With four seconds remaining in the first round, Hall, 7-2 in mixed martial arts, delivered a devastating spinning back kick to the jaw, dropping Cella (4-0) to the mat and claiming a second win for Team Sonnen.

BJPENN.COM News - February 5, 2013

With a division as ripe as the UFC’s 145-pound weigh-class, it’s hard to understand why title challengers keep dropping down to face the Brazilian born champion, Jose Aldo. The latest to do so is lightweight contender Anthony Pettis, who will make the transition to featherweight on August 3rd to fight for UFC gold against Jose Aldo.

BJPENN.COM News - February 5, 2013

The UFC has never set in place a rankings system to classify their fighters as top 10 caliber. Until recently, the media and fans and commentators were all pretty much left to speculate on who was top 10 worthy.

BJPENN.COM News - February 5, 2013

“Blackzilians didn’t represent [at UFC 156]. It was a bad night for them. In the first round, [Overeem] was running into a clinch. He wasn’t throwing anything. Running into a clinch, his hands were down by his knees. Yeah, it was a weird fight. “I don’t know if he thought he could out-slick him and … I don’t know what he thought. He looked terrible. Both of them looked out of shape. Rashad did nothing but this all night (mimics catching jabs with hand). They had a bad night. They probably got to reevaluate some things in their camp.”

BJPENN.COM News - February 5, 2013

“You know, If I say it simply, he is out of my level, he doesn’t deserve to be fighting me, I feel like that sounds worse than it actually is and it almost sounds like I am talking about his character a person rather than his fighting skills. So let’s say, what he’s done in the UFC which is one win, and I guess if you count his old two losses, it doesn’t really warrant him a fight with me. But, you know, it’s fine. Listen, I don’t do matchmaking, Joe Silva is a genius and I am just going to go with what he says, I don’t question him, the man knows what he’s doing.”

BJPENN.COM News - February 5, 2013

BJPENN.COM News - February 4, 2013

Last weekend UFC 156 took place from The Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Thirteen of the evenings competitors have received medical suspensions from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

BJPENN.COM News - February 4, 2013

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has released the disclosed fighter salaries from last weekend’s UFC 156 event. Former UFC light-heavyweight champion, Rashad Evans, took home the largest cut on the night even in defeat.