Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Tom Taylor - November 10, 2018

On Friday night in Singapore, (Friday morning in North America), in the main event of ONE: HEART OF THE LION, Filipino spitfire Kevin Belingon ended the reign of longstanding ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano Fernandes with a thrilling split decision victory. For Belingon, who lost his first encounter with the champion Fernandes by first-round submission, this title victory was a huge moment.

Tom Taylor - November 9, 2018

Miesha Tate is the latest high profile mixed martial arts star to sign with Singapore’s ONE Championship — but she will not be fighting for the promotion. Instead, the former UFC bantamweight champion will be working as a ONE Championship executive and color commentator. Tate was in attendance at ONE Championship’s ONE: HEART OF THE LION card in Singapore on Friday, and despite having just arrived in the city and being plagued by jet-lag, graciously fielded a few questions from the media in attendance.

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

23-year-old Malaysian bantamweight Muhammad Aiman is known for his unpredictable style inside the cage. One moment, he might be biding his time, and the next, you might catch him throwing back-to-back cartwheel kicks or leaping onto his foe’s back chasing a rear-naked choke. Outside the cage, however, “Jungle Cat” is not nearly as wild.

Cole Shelton - November 8, 2018

At UFC 230 Jared Cannonier stepped in on short notice to face top 10 middleweight David Branch. It would be Cannonier’s toughest fight to date. Making it even harder was the fact that it was Cannonier’s middleweight debut and he was riding a two-fight losing streak. To beat Branch by knockout in the second round and look as good as Cannonier did was impressive, to say the least. Although the win was impressive, it was an important win for Cannonier who did not want to go on a three-fight losing streak.

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

On Friday night (Friday morning in North America), in the main event of ONE: HEART OF THE LION in Singapore, ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano Fernandes will attempt to unify his undisputed title with the interim title currently owned by Kevin Belingon. As this challenge bears down, the dominant ONE Championship bantamweight king is dialed in on the task at hand.

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is now a ONE Championship fighter, and it’s becoming clearer and clearer that he’s a perfect fit for the promotion. Mere weeks into his time as a ONE Championship fighter, he’s already being pushed by the full muscle of the promotion’s substantial marketing department. Given that he occasionally felt a little under-promoted by the UFC, he’s very excited about this. “It feels good,” Demetrious Johnson told BJPENN.COM in Singapore this week. “I think with the UFC, their model is different than ONE Championship’s is. They’re looking for the next big star and trying to push out that next pay-per-view. And that’s what the North American audience wants. They want to see confrontation.”

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

Earlier this week, ONE Championship featherweight contender Christian Lee hopped on a plane to Singapore to support his sister Angela in her ONE: HEART OF THE LION main event showdown with Xiong Jing Nan. Unfortunately, the ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion was forced out of this main event battle with an injury while her brother was making his transpacific journey. Christian Lee was understandably quite disappointed to hear that his sister would not be able to compete in the ONE: HEART OF THE LION main event as planned. In a strange twist of fate, however, his sister’s bad break ultimately resulted in an interesting opportunity for him.

Tom Taylor - November 7, 2018

ONE Champion is welcoming Eddie Alvarez to its roster in style, having recently announced that the former UFC and Bellator lightweight titleholder will make his promotional debut as part of a wild, eight-man Lightweight Grand Prix. Like most combat sports fans, Eddie Alvarez was thrilled to learn about this upcoming tournament.

Cole Shelton - November 7, 2018

Jarred Brooks and many other UFC flyweights got the call today. That call would be that their services would no longer be needed in the UFC. The promotion is going about shutting down the division. It is a tough pill to swallow and now leaves about 25 fighters or so out of a job. “Nobody called me from the UFC, they let my manager know,” Brooks told BJPENN.com when discussing the news, “I was just working out and actually, my coach called me. My coach and my manager are really tight, he said ‘yeah news is they are cutting the 125-pound division’ and Justin Scoggins and I were getting cut.”

Tom Taylor - November 7, 2018

Former UFC champions Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson are far and away the biggest free agent signings ONE Championship has ever made. Both fighters have the potential to become dominant champions in their respective divisions, as well as lucrative stars for the promotion —much like Myanmar’s Aung La N Sang. Aung La N Sang, who currently holds the ONE Championship middleweight and light heavyweight belts, is one of the biggest and best established stars to emerge from the Singapore-based promotion.

Tom Taylor - November 7, 2018

At a Wednesday afternoon press conference in Singapore, ONE Championship announced plans for a Flyweight Grand Prix. This intriguing flyweight tournament is expected to feature stars such as reigning ONE flyweight champ Geje Eustaquio, former champions Adriano Moraes and Kairat Akhmetov, rising contender Danny Kingad, and of course, new ONE Championship athlete Demetrious Johnson. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp3qsDKhUCi/

Mike Straus - November 6, 2018

Emmanuel Sanchez has a chance to realize a dream more than 10 years in the making on November 15, when he takes on Patricio Freire for the featherweight title at Bellator 209 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Timing is everything. For Sanchez, the timing of his title fight with Patricio Freire couldn’t be any more advantageous. “El Matador” just received his BJJ black belt a few weeks ago. His hard work is starting to pay off.

Tom Taylor - November 6, 2018

At ONE: HEART OF THE LION, which goes down on November 9 in Singapore, five-time EBI Grappling Champion Garry Tonon will look to improve to 3-0 in the mixed martial arts arena as he takes on South Korea’s Sung Jong Lee. Tonon, as always, has done his research heading in to this fight. And having reviewed Lee’s tape, he feels there’s a good chance the South Korean will actually try to drag the fight to the mat — something that many other fighters would likely to find unthinkable, given Tonon’s incredible submission ability. Lee has submitted three of his six opponents (all with heel hooks), and Tonon believes he might look to do the same in Singapore.

Drake Riggs - November 5, 2018

The welterweight division has always been one of the most stacked divisions in all of MMA. In 2018, Vicente Luque continues to help show why. At UFC 229 on October 6, Luque added yet another highlight to his already very impressive highlight reel with a first-round knockout of Jalin Turner.

Tom Taylor - November 4, 2018

ONE Championship heavyweight kingpin Brandon Vera is once again set to defend his title. The Filipino-American striking specialist will do so on November 23 in Manila, The Philippines, where he will battle Cage Warriors heavyweight champion Mauro “The Hammer” Cerilli. Given the skill of his upcoming opponent, Brandon Vera knows that victory is not a certainty. What he is certain of, however, is that the bout will be thrilling, and that it could end at any second. For that reason, he urges his fans to save their bathroom breaks for after the fight.

Tom Taylor - November 4, 2018

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal in the cage, but he’s been staying plenty busy outside of it. Masvidal just wrapped up a stint on a Spanish reality television show called Exatlón Estados Unidos.

Tom Taylor - October 26, 2018

If former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson does indeed migrate to ONE Championship as expected, he’ll receive a warm welcome from two familiar faces. His long-time head coach Matt Hume is ONE Championship’s Vice President of Operations, while Bibiano Fernandes, arguably the most crucial training partner of his illustrious career, is the promotion’s reigning bantamweight champion. Bibiano Fernandes, who has become one of ONE Championship’s biggest stars, believes that Demetrious Johnson would be a perfect fit for the promotion. ONE, Fernandes reminds, places far more value on performances than it does on things like trash talk and showmanship.

Christopher Taylor - October 25, 2018

Current ONE Championship bantamweight kingpin Bibiano Fernandes and former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson are longtime friends and training partners. With that said, it is unlikely fight fans will ever see “The Flash” and “Mighty Mouse” throw down inside the ONE Championship cage.