Exclusive MMA Interviews News

Tom Taylor - October 19, 2017

On November 18, when the UFC touches down in Sydney, Australia, rising UFC featherweight Alexander Volkanovski will take on Humberto Bandenay, who replaces his originally planned opponent, Jeremy Kennedy. If Volkanovski wins this fight, he’ll take another big step up the UFC featherweight rankings, toward the divisional top-10, and perhaps, an eventual featherweight title shot. As one of the featherweight division’s brightest young contenders, Volkanovski will be watching UFC 218’s Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar featherweight title fight very closely. While Holloway is a slight favorite heading into this fight, Volkanovski sees a bit of himself in Frankie Edgar, and as such, believes Edgar has what it takes to pull off the upset.

Tom Taylor - October 19, 2017

Ian McCall was recently released from his UFC contract, ending a long stint in the promotion’s flyweight division. Just days later, the flyweight star found a new home in Japan’s Rizin Fighting Federation, and was quickly plunked into the promotion’s exciting bantamweight Grand Prix. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, McCall explained how he wound up in Rizin’s Grand Prix. Apparently, the first offers he received came from Russia. Rizin, however, simply came to the table with the best offer.

Tom Taylor - October 15, 2017

Shortly after Tony Ferguson captured the UFC interim lightweight title with a submission defeat of Kevin Lee, UFC President Dana White claimed that Ferguson will be the next man to battle undisputed lightweight champion Conor McGregor. This claim from the UFC boss is a stark contradiction of the recurring rumors that McGregor’s next bout will be a trilogy fight with rival Nate Diaz. If Ferguson is indeed the next man in line for the undisputed champ McGregor, he could very well come out on top. In fact, many people believe that Ferguson is an even tougher matchup for McGregor than Diaz is.

Tom Taylor - October 15, 2017

As the undisputed UFC lightweight champion and interim UFC lightweight champion respectively, Conor McGregor and Tony Ferguson seem destined to fight. At this point, it really just seems to be a question of when they actually collide. Whenever the fight happens, fans are bound to be divided in their predictions for it. The fight’s early odds reflect this reality. Even Eddie Bravo, Ferguson’s long-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach, has a hard time predicting what might happen when the cage door closes on McGregor and Ferguson.

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2017

Now that Tony Ferguson is the UFC interim lightweight champion, pretty much everybody wants to see him take on undisputed lightweight champion Conor McGregor. That, of course, includes long-time Tony Ferguson trainer Eddie Bravo. Speaking on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, 10th Planet jiu jitsu founder Eddie Bravo weighed in on a fight between Ferguson and McGregor. Apparently, he think it’s a near certainty that this massive lightweight title unification fight happens soon.

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2017

If things had gone according to the initial plan, the UFC 216 main card would have featured a heavyweight scrap between ranked contenders Derrick Lewis and Fabricio Werdum. The undercard, meanwhile, would have featured a collision of rising heavyweights Walt Harris and Mark Godbeer. Yet what we ended up with was a heavyweight scrap between Werdum and Harris, which Werdum won with a first-round armbar. It was all the result of an unfortunate back injury, which forced Derrick Lewis out of his fight with Fabricio Werdum. Though it briefly sounded as though the undercard bout between Mark Godbeer and Walt Harris would replace Werdum vs. Lewis on the UFC 216 main card, Harris was instead pulled from his bout with Godbeer, and plunked into the cage with Werdum with mere hours to prepare.

Tom Taylor - October 9, 2017

In the wake of Jon Jones’ latest failed drug test, which was administered in the buildup to his UFC 214 title fight with Daniel Cormier, many fans have questioned the legitimacy of his legacy, suggesting that perhaps his greatness can be the attributed to PED abuse. In the opinion of top light heavyweight contender Volkan Oezdemir, however, these claims are not exactly fair. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio “No Time” shared his belief that, while Jones’ could well have been helped by PEDs, his talent remains unquestionable. “It’s hard to answer to this, because the way Jones fights, it’s just amazing,” Oezdemir said. “He’s doing stuff nobody does. He just has a really high IQ when it comes to fighting. He’s doing stuff with perfect timing, crazy, spinning back elbows… you know. You cannot take anything off Jon Jones, because he so much talent. So, I don’t think it’s really tarnished his legacy. When you watch his fights, he doesn’t win because [of the banned substances]. Of course, it probably helped, but he doesn’t win because he’s so strong and so big. It’s all about the intelligence that he has, and also the IQ, fight IQ. He’s just an amazing athlete.” 

Tom Taylor - October 5, 2017

Back in June, in the co-main event of the Bellator NYC pay-per-view, Bellator heavyweight star Matt Mitrione stepped onto the canvas with MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko. The fight was absolutely while it lasted. About a minute into the first round, Fedor and Mitrione both threw, both landed, and both hit the deck. In an instant, it all seemed to come down to who would be able to regain their composure and crank up the offense first. In the end, that man was Mitrione, who stormed his legendary foe with punches en route to a first-round knockout win.

Tom Taylor - October 5, 2017

Over the last few years, Bellator’s heavyweight division has really come together, as the promotion has bolstered its roster with names like Cheick Kongo, Bobby Lashley, Matt Mitrione, Fedor Emelianenko, Sergey Kharitonov, Javy Ayala, Roy Nelson, and most recently, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. That said, the organization has not had a heavyweight champion since it stripped the undefeated Vitaly Minakov of the belt after a bevy of contract issues. Matt Mitrione is hoping that changes soon. The Bellator heavyweight star discussed Bellator’s empty heavyweight throne on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio.

Russell Ess - October 3, 2017

UFC welterweight Mike Perry is steadily climbing the UFC rankings after making his debut with the promotion last year. Now, with five fights in the UFC, “Platinum” spoke with BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor about some potential fights and working his way to the top of the chain. Taylor asked Perry if we could expect to see him back in the Octagon soon, perhaps rescheduled for a fight with Thiago Alves at UFC 218 on December 2 in Detroit. Alves, who lives and trains in Florida, was forced to pull out of his slated UFC Fight Night 116 bout with Perry due to Hurricane Irma.

Chris Taylor - September 30, 2017

Valentina Shevchenko (14-3 MMA) is one of the toughest and most talented fighters in the UFC. “The Bullet” proved her grit last month when she challenged “The Lioness” Amanda Nunes for the UFC women’s bantamweight championship at UFC 215 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2017

Over the last year, UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and his allies at Team Alpha Male have had plenty to say about former Team Alpha Male staple TJ Dillashaw and his coach Duane Ludwig. With Garbrandt and Dillashaw’s UFC 217 bantamweight title fight now just weeks away, we can expect Team Alpha Male’s trash talk to ramp up yet again. Yet according to Ludwig, who appeared on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio, this trash talk doesn’t really affect him or TJ Dillashaw.

Russell Ess - September 26, 2017

Rising UFC featherweight Yair Rodriguez is one of the most entertaining fighters that you will see compete in the Octagon. With his exciting striking capabilities, “El Pantera” has grown a large fan base and many are surely curious as to when we’ll see the Mexico native back in the Octagon. BJPenn.com’s Chris Taylor caught up with Rodriguez on Tuesday and asked Yair when fans could expect to see “El Pantera” back in action.

Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

“Platinum” Mike Perry is one of the fastest rising contenders in the UFC welterweight division. Since joining the UFC fold in August of 2016, he has knocked out Hyun Gyu Lim, Danny Roberts, Jake Ellenberger, and most recently, Alex Reyes. Though these knockout wins were interspersed by a decision loss to Alan Jouban, they have still been enough to elevate Perry to the number-15 spot in the UFC welterweight rankings. And now that he’s in the top-15, he’s putting all of his peers on notice. One of the latest fighters to find himself in Perry’s crosshairs is two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, who battles Jorge Masvidal at UFC 217 on November 4.

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

UFC 217, which goes down on November 4 inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, is one hell of a fight card. Topped by a trio of title fights, it could even be the biggest fight card of the year outright.  Given the scale of the card, it should come as no surprise that a great many fighters were eager to shoehorn themselves onto the bill. Fourth-ranked UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal, who battles Stephen Thompson on the main card, is one of the fighters that was lucky enough to succeed in his effort to do so. He couldn’t be happier about this fact.

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

Last weekend, in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 116, rising welterweight slugger “Platinum” Mike Perry authored yet another brutal knockout, this time putting down Alex Reyes with a rocket-fuelled knee against the cage. Reyes, of course, was not supposed to be Perry’s opponent. Perry was originally expected to battle former UFC welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves on the card. It was only when Alves was forced out of this anticipated booking that Reyes got the call and agreed to step in against Perry on mere days’ notice.

Tom Taylor - September 21, 2017

Last weekend, in the co-main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Pittsburgh, brick-fisted welterweight “Platinum” Mike Perry picked up a thunderous knee-induced KO win over Alex Reyes, who stepped in to replace Thiago Alves on short notice. Shortly after this win, Perry made an exciting callout of former UFC welterweight king and fellow knockout artist Robbie Lawler. On the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio Mike Perry explained the reason for this callout of Lawler.

Tom Taylor - September 14, 2017

On October 28th, on the main card of UFC Fight Night 119 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, red-hot welterweight contender Colby Covington will battle recent title challenger Demian Maia. While Covington has repeatedly shared his confidence in the way he matches up with Maia, he actually has ample respect for the Brazilian grappling specialist. That respect does not extend to UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley – at all. Covington explained why he respects Maia but not Woodley on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio.