Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Tom Taylor - October 10, 2019

Eddie Alvarez has had an interesting run in ONE Championship thus far. After losing his promotional debut at the hands of Timofey Nastyukhin in March, he rebounded with a beautiful, come-from-behind submission defeat of the former champion Eduard Folayang in August. Alvarez was then expected to meet Saygid Guseyn “Dagi” Arslanaliev at ONE: Century in Tokyo this weekend, but was unfortunately forced off the card with an injury.

Cole Shelton - October 10, 2019

In the main event of UFC Tampa, Joanna Jedrzejczyk returns to the strawweight division to take on Michelle Waterson. Heading into the fight, the former champion is a big favorite at -335 while ‘The Karate Hottie’ is a +255 underdog. Ahead of the fight — which will happen after much speculation it won’t –, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. To no surprise, the majority favor Joanna Jedrzejczyk to get the job done here.

Tom Taylor - October 10, 2019

Former UFC light heavyweight contender Jimi Manuwa is currently retired, but that doesn’t mean he’s ignoring the happenings of his old division. Manuwa still plays close attention to the UFC light heavyweight division, which is currently ruled by Jon Jones. While Jones has been the picture of dominance throughout his career, Manuwa believes there’s at least one fighter on the UFC light heavyweight roster than can provide the champ with a challenge: Johnny Walker.

Tom Taylor - October 10, 2019

ONE Championship heavyweight contender Arjan Bhullar has known former UFC heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier for more than 15 years. He’s trained with Cormier at American Kickboxing Academy for many of those years. Based on that, watching Cormier lose the UFC heavyweight title to Stipe Miocic at UFC 241 was not easy for him. That being said, Bhullar is still proud of his friend’s performance.

Tom Taylor - October 10, 2019

It’s been a tough year for Angela Lee. After failing to wrest the ONE strawweight title from the waist of Xiong Jing Nan in March, the ONE atomweight champ came up short in another strawweight contest opposite Michelle Nicolini in July.

Cole Shelton - October 9, 2019

Jason Knight is confident he will win his newly announced rematch against Artem Lobov. The two will run it back on Nov. 16 at BKFC 9 following a fantastic fight at BKFC 5 that went to the judge’s scorecards. Jason Knight called for this fight earlier this year, and is ecstatic it is happening even though he still believes he won the first fight.

Alfredo Zullino - October 9, 2019

2019 hasn’t been a great year for MMA in Italy, as most of the Italian fighters signed to the biggest international promotions haven’t been able to bring victories home. Of a total of 22 fights, Italian athletes have only won 6 of them. One of those winners was Mauro Cerilli (13-3; 1-1 ONE 1-1), former Cage Warriors heavyweight title-holder and current ONE Championship heavyweight contender.

Cole Shelton - October 8, 2019

Eryk Anders is back to middleweight following a brief stint at light heavyweight. When he makes his return to 185 pounds at UFC Tampa this Saturday, Gerald Meerschaert will be standing across from him. Although Anders is coming off of a knockout win at light heavyweight last time out, he has a simple reason for moving back to middleweight.

Cole Shelton - October 7, 2019

Michelle Waterson is calling it the biggest fight of her career. In the main event of UFC Tampa, she is taking on former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and the winner could very well be getting the next title shot.

Tom Taylor - October 4, 2019

Sergio Pettis was scheduled to battle Kai Kara-France at UFC 245, but was pulled from the matchup when it came to light that his current UFC contract has concluded. Pettis is now exploring free agency, and from the sounds of it, he can expect some interest from Japan’s RIZIN Fighting Federation. Speaking to BJPENN.com’s Tom Taylor, RIZIN CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara commented on Pettis’ free agency. He believes the long-time UFC flyweight contender could be a great addition to the RIZIN bantamweight division.

Tom Taylor - October 3, 2019

Arjan Bhullar was expected to make his ONE Championship debut against Mauro Cerilli back in August. Unfortunately, this plan was nixed at the very last minute when Cerilli was forced out of the contest with a medical issue. Luckily, this cloud turned out to have a silver lining.

Cole Shelton - October 3, 2019

In the main event of UFC 243, Robert Whittaker is looking to defend his middleweight title against the interim champion, Israel Adesanya. Heading into this fight, the champion is a -110 underdog while “The Last Stylebender” is a -120 favorite. Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. As the odds suggest, the pros truly believe it is a pick’em fight, but the majority believe Robert Whittaker gets it done.

Cole Shelton - October 2, 2019

Gilbert Burns is now 2-0 since returning to the UFC welterweight division. First, the former lightweight contender took a short notice welterweight bout against undefeated Alexey Kunchenko and handed him his first loss. A month and a half later, he took another short-notice fight, this time against fellow grappler Gunnar Nelson. He once again got his hand raised.

Cole Shelton - October 2, 2019

Al Iaquinta is looking to return to the win column at UFC 243 when he takes on Dan Hooker. The Long Island-native will be heading to Australia to take on the Kiwi in Hooker. It will no doubt be a very entertaining fight, yet Iaquinta believes he will get his hand raised and dominate the fight for the full 15 minutes. That, or score an early finish.

Tom Taylor - October 2, 2019

Jimi Manuwa is feeling the itch to fight again, but he’s not sure if it’s an itch he should scratch. The long-time UFC light heavyweight contender retired in early June, days after an undeniably brutal knockout loss to Aleksandar Rakić. He did so with his health in mind, but admits the urge to dust off his gloves often out-muscles the concern that led him to retire in the first place.

Cole Shelton - October 1, 2019

Robert Whittaker’s longtime jiu-jitsu coach Alex Prates recently said his pupil is a better version of Georges St-Pierre. “Maybe you’ll see Robert Whittaker using a style that I think is the one that suits him better but he never really needed it because it was always comfortable for him on the feet for most of his fights,” Prates told MMA Fighting, discussing Whittaker’s looming showdown with Israel Adesanya. “With Yoel Romero, for example, it would have been stupid to try to take him down. But Robert has great wrestling and great timing. I honestly think Robert is a better version of GSP. And we might see this now.”

Cole Shelton - September 30, 2019

Robert Whittaker sees a clear path to victory against Israel Adesanya and it is not by using his wrestling as some would expect. At UFC 243, the UFC middleweight champion will return to the Octagon for the first time since June of 2018. He will make his return against the interim champ in Adesanya. It is a highly anticipated fight between an Australian and a Kiwi in Adesanya, and it’s being billed as the biggest fight in Oceanic history.

Cole Shelton - September 27, 2019

Macy Chiasson expects to keep her finish streak alive at UFC Copenhagen The Fortis MMA product is 5-0 as a pro, with four wins by stoppage, including all three of her UFC bouts. When she takes on Lina Lansberg, she’s confident she’ll add another stoppage to her record.