Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Cole Shelton - September 21, 2018

There is no question about it. The top fighters in the UFC make a pretty penny, while the fighters competing on the prelims often struggle to get by. This has been a huge concern for several fighters, some of whom have attempted to start a fighter’s union to improve things, though these efforts have not gained much traction. South Dakota native Devin Clark falls into this second category of fighters. He is currently not ranked and isn’t fighting the kind of big fights that will improve his pay. While Clark will be taking on Aleksander Rakic at UFC 231 on Dec. 8, he knows he has to win to get his win bonus, as well as make it flashy for a shot at a performance bonus.

Cole Shelton - September 20, 2018

Devin Clark will be fighting inside the Octagon very shortly at UFC 231 on December 8 in Toronto against Aleksander Rakic, who is currently 2-0 in the UFC. While both Clark and Rakic are currently unranked, the fight should bring fireworks as both have knockout power. However, even though the fight should be a fun one, it isn’t one Clark wanted. After working his way up the UFC light heavyweight rankings, Clark wanted a bigger name, but when none were offered, so he had to settle for Rakic.

Cole Shelton - September 20, 2018

Santiago Ponzinibbio will finally be making his long-awaited return to the Octagon at home in Argentina as the main event on Nov. 17 against Neil Magny for UFC Fight Night 140. Ponzinibbio last fought in Dec. 2017 where he defeated Mike Perry by unanimous decision. However, following the fight against Perry, Santiago Ponzinibbio was looking to gain momentum in the welterweight rankings as he was scheduled to fight Kamaru Usman at UFC Fight Night 129, but the Argentina native had to pull out due to injury. The 31-year-old is now ready to return again and make his way up the rankings.

Tom Taylor - September 20, 2018

Back in July, on the main card of UFC 226, kickboxing legend Gokhan Saki stepped into the UFC’s Octagon to do battle with rising light heavyweight contender Khalil Rountree. Heading into this fight, the widespread expectation was that Saki would have a significant edge in the striking department. Unfortunately for Saki and his legions of fans, however, this fight did not go the way he planned. Instead, he was put down by a thunderous Rountree punch in the bout’s first round. While this outcome was undeniably disappointing for Gokhan Saki, he showed incredible sportsmanship after the fact, congratulating his opponent on the upset victory. That being said, Saki feels the outcome of this fight can be attributed more to his own errors than Rountree’s technique.

Tom Taylor - September 20, 2018

In 2017, Argentina’s Santiago Ponzinibbio burst into welterweight title contention with a decision defeat of Nordine Taleb, an 82-second knockout of Gunnar Nelson, and a thrilling decision triumph over “Platinum” Mike Perry. Unfortunately, he’s yet to fight in 2018 thanks to a serious hand injury that ultimately required surgery. While 2018 has not been particularly kind to Santiago Ponzinibbio thus far, things are definitely looking up. With his surgery in the rear-view and his health back to 100%, he’s been booked for a high-stakes showdown with long-time contender Neil Magny. And that’s not where the good news ends. The fight will go down in the main event of the UFC’s first-ever trip to Ponzinibbio’s homeland of Argentina.

Tom Taylor - September 19, 2018

When fighters make their UFC debuts, they’re generally given opponents of similar experience levels. This will not be the case for featherweight prospect Bobby Moffett (13-3). Shortly after earning himself a UFC contract with an impressive D’arce choke win on an August episode of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, Moffett was matched up with Chas Skelly (17-3), who is already nine fights into his UFC career. The pair will meet when the UFC returns to Denver, Colorado on November 10. While this fight with Chas Skelly represents an uncharacteristically tough test for a debuting fighter, Bobby Moffett is looking forward to the challenge.

Cole Shelton - September 19, 2018

Devin Clark’s path to the UFC involved getting noticed on the reality show ‘Dana White Looking for a Fight,’ where he won the RFA Light Heavyweight Championship. Since that moment where White announced he was going to sign the South Dakota native, Clark has had aspirations to capture the UFC light heavyweight title. Clark lost his first fight in the UFC, but then went on a roll and won back-to-back fights by unanimous decision before getting his toughest test in Jan Blachowicz. Unfortunately, Clark got submitted by Blachowicz in this fight, but he’s since rebounded with a decision win over Mike Rodriguez, which occurred at UFC 223 in April.

Tom Taylor - September 18, 2018

Having dispatched Darren Till with a D’arce choke at UFC 228 earlier this month, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley can now look forward to a huge showdown with his arch rival Colby Covington. Although this Tyron Woodley vs. Colby Covington fight is not official yet, it is possible that the UFC schedules it for the main event of UFC 230, a massive card that goes down on November 3 inside New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden.

Tom Taylor - September 16, 2018

In the main event of UFC 229, which goes down on October 6 in Las Vegas, Nevada, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor will make his long-awaited return to the cage opposite reigning UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. The fight is inarguably the biggest of the year for the UFC, and one of the biggest in the promotion’s history outright. For some reason, however, the fight has been grossly under-promoted. It’s now just three weeks away, and we’re still waiting on the first official press conference. Former UFC interim welterweight champion Colby Covington believes he knows why that is. On the one hand, he understands why McGregor is unwilling to travel across the Atlantic to participate in a distracting media circus. He is, after all, gearing up for one of the toughest fights of his career. Yet Covington also thinks McGregor’s partying might also be deflating his will to promote the fight.

Tom Taylor - September 16, 2018

Shortly after UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley defended his title with a second-round submission of Darren Till at UFC 228, he announced that he would be releasing a rap single. Colby Covington, the former interim champion and Woodley’s arch rival in the welterweight division, was not impressed by this announcement. Colby Covington trashed Woodley’s rap career on the latest episode of BJPENN.COM Radio.

Mike Pendleton - September 14, 2018

Chicago is known for some pretty famous athletes. Names like Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, Frank Thomas, Paul Konerko, Sammy Sosa, Anthony Rizzo, and so many others have been engraved in the city’s sports history, but what about the female athletes? What about MMA fighters from Chicago? While there are a few climbing up the ranks like Curtis Blaydes, Jose Shorty Torres, and Ricardo Lamas, there has yet to be a female athlete, let alone a female fighter, to put Chicago on her back and show what she is all about. Pearl Gonzalez has been in the UFC before and although her first run in the promotion didn’t work out the way she hoped, like many from “The Windy City” she stayed fighting and is making the most of her second opportunity. Gonzalez’s mindset and attitude that makes her the woman and fighter she is today can all trace back to her Chicago roots, she told BJPENN.COM in an exclusive interview.

Cole Shelton - September 14, 2018

One of the big headlines in the MMA world this morning was that Antonio Carlos Junior is out of his UFC 231 matchup against Elias Theodorou. The first replacement matchup that comes to mind with Carlos Junior on the bench is Eryk Anders vs. Theodorou, given that Anders called out Theodorou after his UFC Fight Night 135 knockout win over Tim Williams. Why Anders wants to fight Theodorou so badly is for one reason and one reason only.

Drake Riggs - September 13, 2018

Two of the MMA world’s biggest personalities reside in the welterweight division and it was only a matter of time until they got on each other’s minds.

Tom Taylor - September 6, 2018

In December of 2015, in the co-main event of UFC 194, Luke Rockhold stepped into the cage with Chris Weidman in hopes of capturing the UFC middleweight title. On that night, Rockhold succeeded on his mission, defeating Weidman by fourth round TKO. On November 3 of this year, on the main card of UFC 230 in New York City, Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman will fight again. This time around, there will be no title on the line, but the winner will be within sprinting distance of a middleweight title shot.

Tom Taylor - September 6, 2018

On October 6, on the main card of the blockbuster UFC 229 card, surging light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes will take on the biggest test of his career in former interim title challenge Ovince Saint Preux. While Dominick Reyes harbors no ill will against his opponent, he’s hoping to make a real statement in this fight and propel himself into the uppermost reaches of the light heavyweight rankings.

Tom Taylor - September 6, 2018

By now you’ve surely heard that UFC welterweight contender Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone has parted ways with his former gym, JacksonWink MMA. Cerrone announced his departure from the gym — which has been anything but amicable — on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show. He cited a growing distaste for JacksonWink coach Mike Winkeljohn and the gym’s choice to train his upcoming opponent Mike Perry as reasons. Speaking on the latest episode of BJPENN.COM Radio, long-time JacksonWink fighter Leonard Garcia, who also happens to be a close friend of Donald Cerrone, gave his take on this very public falling out.

Tom Taylor - September 6, 2018

Leonard Garcia, a veteran of the UFC and WEC featherweight divisions, is planning to end his retirement. The all-action veteran is plotting a move to the growing sport of bareknuckle fighting, where he will compete under the Bareknuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) banner. Spoke to @badboygarcia on @bjpennradio last night and he told me that he's coming out of retirement to compete in @bareknucklefc early next year!! More coming to @bjpenndotcom soon. #TheFightersVoicehttps://t.co/HQVRFz43lu

Tom Taylor - September 4, 2018

Curtis Blaydes has earned a shot at UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier. His recent dominations of Mark Hunt and Alistair Overeem make that pretty much undeniable. Unfortunately for Blaydes, the UFC has opted to give the next heavyweight title shot to Brock Lesnar, who has not legitimately won a fight since he choked out Shane Carwin in 2010. When it was first announced that Lesnar would get the next heavyweight title shot, Curtis Blaydes was not happy. He did not hide his disappointment either, venting frequently on social media.