Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Tom Taylor - May 24, 2018

Having won his four four bouts in the UFC’s Octagon, Australian featherweight Alex Volkanovski (17-1) has been rewarded with a big step up in competition. He’ll be battling 10th-ranked UFC featherI honestly think I can finish himweight contender Darren Elkins (24-5) when the UFC touches down in Boise, Idaho on July 14, as first reported by BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor. 

Tom Taylor - May 11, 2018

Back in September, fearsome kickboxing legend Gokhan Saki made a successful UFC debut, authoring a thunderous first-round knockout of Henrique da Silva. On July 7, when the UFC returns to glimmering Las Vegas, Nevada with UFC 226, Saki will partake in his second UFC bout, as he faces off with the dangerous Khalil Rountree. Saki’s bout with Rountree was initially supposed to occur in December, but was postponed when he sustained an injury in training.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

On June 9, in the co-main event of UFC 225, top welterweight contenders Colby Covington and Rafael dos Anjos will battle for the interim welterweight title. While this matchup seems to have many fans and pundits divided, Covington’s friend and training partner Jorge Masvidal feels dos Anjos is in for a tough night.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

Former UFC flyweight title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi has looked absolutely unstoppable since parting ways with the promotion, rattling off five-straight victories in the Rizin Fighting Federation ring — many of which have come against significantly larger foes.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

When Gunnar Nelson was forced out of his UFC Liverpool co-main event showdown with Neil Magny, Jorge Masvidal offered to step in and replace him. Masvidal only asked that this short-notice bout with Magny be contested at 180 pounds, as he would have difficult making the welterweight limit’s 170-pound with an abridged training camp.

Tom Taylor - May 10, 2018

Back in November, in the co-main event of UFC 217, TJ Dillashaw stepped into the cage with Cody Garbrandt in an attempt to reclaim the UFC bantamweight title. In the second round, Dillashaw succeeded on this mission, putting his rival down with a crackling combination.

Tom Taylor - May 9, 2018

Kickboxing legend Gokhan Saki, who made his UFC debut in September with a first-round demolition of Henrique da Silva, might just be the most accomplished striker to ever set foot in the Octagon. As such, his opinions on the UFC’s other striking specialists are particularly interesting. In a Wednesday interview with BJPenn.com’s Jason Kindschy, Saki was asked to size up the UFC’s other striking experts. Let’s just say his answer reflected his tremendous confidence in his own abilities.

Tom Taylor - May 9, 2018

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has been trying to find a suitable opponent for his retirement fight for some time, but seems to be having a little bit of difficulty doing so. Kickboxing legend Gokhan Saki, who is now firmly embedded as a member of the UFC light heavyweight roster, is hoping to make the search a little easier for the former middleweight champ. Shortly after Bisping took to Twitter to ask the fans who they wanted to see him fight in his final bout, Saki threw his own name in the hat.

Tom Taylor - May 7, 2018

In the span of a year, Colby Covington has become known as one of the UFC’s biggest trash talkers. The American, who battles Rafael dos Anjos for interim welterweight gold at UFC 225 this June 9, is constantly generating headlines with his words.

Tom Taylor - May 4, 2018

Originally, Colby Covington’s anticipated interim welterweight showdown with Rafael dos Anjos was expected to occur at UFC 224, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ultimately, however, this massive welterweight battle was moved to UFC 225, which goes down on June 9 in Chicago, Illinois.

Tom Taylor - May 4, 2018

Dominick Reyes’s MMA career could not be off to a better start. The California-born light heavyweight has won all eight of his professional bouts, including two in the UFC’s Octagon. Only one of those victories has reached the judges’ scorecards.

Tom Taylor - May 4, 2018

Originally, recent UFC light heavyweight title challenger Volkan Oezdemir was expected to collide with former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the co-main event of the UFC’s May 19 debut in Santiago, Chile. In the end, however, the bout was relocated to the main event of the UFC’s July 22 stop in Hamburg, Germany, as a result of the legal issues Oezdemir is currently dealing with in the United States.

Tom Taylor - May 4, 2018

Ever since it was announced that former WWE star CM Punk — nee Phil Brooks — would be taking a second fight in the UFC’s Octagon, Mike Jackson has been angling to be his opponent. It’s an opportunity that Jackson believed was his, all along. “It wasn’t about getting the fight, because in my mind, it was my fight,” Jackson told BJPenn.com’s Jason Kindschy this week. “You know, Phil, I’ve just known that if [his second UFC fight] were to happen that I would be the guy, because there’s literally no other person that makes sense for this fight outside of myself. The storyline writes itself. I’ve already been in the UFC. We both have in common, a point, in Mickey Gall. I mean, it’s just … the love triangle is there. And you really can’t bring in another person, you can’t.”

Tom Taylor - May 4, 2018

Back in January, in the co-main event of UFC 220, Swiss knockout artist Volkan Oezdemir failed to grab the UFC light heavyweight title from champ Daniel Cormier, succumbing to a meteor shower of second-round ground-strikes. Showing true championship spirit, however, Oezdemir has not been deterred by this failed title bid, and is determined to work his way back to a title shot in No Time at all.

Tom Taylor - May 4, 2018

At UFC 225, which goes down on June 9 in Chicago, Illinois, Colby Covington will step into the Octagon to battle former lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos for the interim welterweight belt.

Tom Taylor - May 2, 2018

When Gunnar Nelson was forced out of his UFC Liverpool co-main event showdown with Neil Magny, sixth-ranked UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal offered to step in and replace him. He only asked that this short-notice bout with Magny be contested at a 180-pound catchweight, as he wouldn’t be able to make the welterweight division’s 170-pound limit in time for the card. “My manager told me about [Nelson’s withdrawal,] and he was like ‘hey man, here’s your chance to smash Magny,’ cause he knows I don’t like Magny one bit,” Masvidal told BJPenn.com’s Jason Kindschy on Tuesday. “So he offered it to me, and he was like ‘what do you think?’ We’ll make it at a catchweight, cause I’m a little heavier right now.”

Drake Riggs - April 20, 2018

How does the popular quote go? ‘It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey’?

Tom Taylor - April 19, 2018

Earlier this week, we learned that Hawaiian welterweight slugger Yancy Medeiros will return to the cage opposite a fellow action fighter in Mike Perry. The pair are scheduled to collide in the midst of International Fight Week, at UFC 226 on July 7.