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LOS ANGELES — Jessica Penne watched the build up to the UFC women’s strawweight title fight between Carla Esparza and Joanna Jedrzejczyk closely.

Day after day during UFC 185 fight week in March, UFC Embedded captured Jedrzejczyk doing something to get into Esparza’s head. There was the angry scowling, the tirade after media day and, finally, the olive branch in the form of a cookie that Jedrzejczyk gave the then-champion after weigh-ins.

Penne was stunned that her friend Esparza, considered at the time the best women’s 115-pound fighter in the world, really didn’t have a response.

“I was like, ‘Carla, what are you doing?!'” Penne said at a media lunch last week. “I was like, ‘Say something. Why are you letting her do this to you?’ It was really surprising. You’re just going to let her do that to you? OK.”

Jedrzejczyk ended up finishing Esparza by TKO in the second round to win the belt. Now, Penne is next up as title challenger at UFC Fight Night 69 on Saturday in Berlin. She doesn’t foresee the Polish champ getting in her head this week.

“I’ve dealt with bullies my whole life,” Penne said. “It doesn’t really bother me. They have to things to make them feel better about themselves and they want a reaction.”

Penne (12-2) was not supposed to be in this position initially. She was slated to face Juliana Lima at UFC Fight Night: Condit vs. Alves last month in Brazil. But when Alexander Gustafsson, the headliner for UFC Berlin against Glover Teixeira, got injured, the UFC had to shuffle the deck. Jedrzejczyk headlining near her home country was a no-brainer and Penne was right there among the next in line. She was not surprised that she got the call from UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby.

“I feel like it’s my time and I feel like I definitely earned it,” Penne said. “I was expecting to be right there after my win over Lima. But it just came a little bit sooner.”

Penne said Esparza texted her when she found out that Penne would get the next shot at Jedrzejczyk. The two remain friends, though Esparza beat Penne in the Ultimate Fighter 20 tournament semifinals, and Penne wishes her well. She thinks a very stressful year ultimately led to the best Esparza not showing up against Jedrzejczyk.

“The stress from being on the show straight into promoting it, straight into a fight, straight into another fight was a lot,” Penne said. “I think it would have been a lot for anyone. She’s taking some much-needed downtime. I’m sure she’ll come back strong.”

Penne, 32, thinks all the head games definitely played a part in Esparza’s loss. And she doesn’t necessarily blame Jedrzejczyk for utilizing that strategy.

“She’s a bully and it’s mental warfare,” Penne said. “She plays the game and she plays it very well. She knows what she needs to do to make herself feel strong in the fight and she does it effectively.

“I think it’s a big part of her game. I definitely do. It’s smart. It works for her, so why not?”

Penne is a big underdog, around +500. But she’s very confident in her experience, striking and grappling that is among the best in the division.

“I think I’m a more well-rounded fighter,” Penne said. “I’ve been in this game a long time and I have what it takes to beat her — with or without the mental games.”

Joanna Jedrzejczyk is a stalker. When she senses vulnerability in her opponent, she pounces. She throws knees, elbows and punches in flurries. She is relentless.Jedrzejczyk proved again Saturday in Berlin that she’s the UFC strawweight division’s version of Ronda Rousey. With a little bit of Conor McGregor thrown in.Today’s Talking Points are all about girl power – Joanna’s power.1. Jedrzejczyk’s three-round dismantling of No. 3 contender Jessica Penne follows a dominant knockout of Carla Esparza at UFC 185 in March. She took the championship belt from Esp … Read the Full Article Here

This is the Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock live blog, a heavyweight bout at Friday night’s Bellator event at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Slice, who is 4-2 in his professional MMA career but hasn’t fought since UFC 113, will face Shamrock, who is 28-15-2 in his professional career, and has won two of his past five fights, in the main event.

Check out the Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock live blog below.

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Tito Ortiz is coming back to the Bellator cage. And so is the tournament format.

Ortiz will challenge Liam McGeary for the Bellator MMA light heavyweight title in the main event of a Bellator-GLORY hybrid show Sept. 19 in San Jose, Bellator announced Friday afternoon at a press conference. Also on the card will be a four-man, one-night light heavyweight tournament and three GLORY kickboxing matches.

The event will be branded “Dynamite,” as an homage to past MMA-kickboxing cards in Japan.

The one-night tournament will feature new Bellator signee Phil Davis, Muhammed Lawal, Emmanuel Newton and Linton Vassell. Joe Schilling and Paul Daley will be involved in the GLORY kickboxing matches, Bellator MMA president Scott Coker said. There will be a cage and a ring inside the SAP Center for the card.

For the tournament, Coker said the first round will be two, five-minute rounds and the finals are three, five-minute rounds. No first-round matchups have been announced yet. Reserve bouts are also expected to be added.

“That’s how I grew up, competing in martial arts tournaments,” Coker said. “That’s just how it was.”

Ortiz said Coker offered him bouts with Ken Shamrock and Kimbo Slice, the two men who will fight at Bellator 138 on Friday night in St. Louis, but Ortiz, the UFC Hall of Famer wanted a crack at the title.

“I just think that’s behind me,” Ortiz said of bouts with guys like Shamrock and Slice.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk would make for a terrible Secret Santa.

For the second straight weigh-in, the UFC women’s strawweight champion brought a gift for her opponent. Jessica Penne, though, wasn’t nearly as accepting as Carla Esparza.

Jedrzejczyk went to give Penne a macaroni necklace (get it, because her name is Penne?) after an intense staredown. Penne slapped it away. But Jedrzejczyk came prepared — with another macaroni necklace.

UFC champ @JoannaMMA came to the #UFCBerlin weigh-ins bearing gifts. http://t.co/r3tN0PU4dn

— UFC (@ufc) June 19, 2015

Penne brought a gift of her own, though. She wanted Jedrzejczyk to have a ring. Earlier in the week, she said the champion looked like Smeagol from the Lord of the Rings movies. When Penne tried to slip the ring into Jedrzejczyk’s bikini top, Jedrzejczyk slapped her hand away.

At UFC 185 weigh-ins in March, Jedrzejczyk brought Esparza a cookie, which Esparza later said was expired. Esparza’s nickname is “Cookie Monster.” Jedrzejczyk ended up beating Esparza by second-round TKO the next night to win the women’s strawweight belt.

Oh, that Joanna. She gives and she takes.

Michael Chandler went from top prospect to red-hot, up-and-coming fighter to perhaps one of the best five or so lightweights in the world. It all happened very quickly, too, culminating with a classic, fourth-round submission win over Eddie Alvarez in 2011 that won him the Bellator lightweight title.

Chandler started off his career 12-0 and, at one point, might have been the best fighter in the world not in the UFC. Since then, though, he’s lost three straight and has not won in nearly two years.

The wins have not been there, but Chandler’s confidence has stuck around.

“At the end of the day, I’m a great competitor,” Chandler said. “I’m a great fighter. I still feel like I’m the best lightweight in the world. I just have to go out there and perform. And if I do that, there’s nobody in the lightweight division, in my opinion, that can beat me.”

He’ll set out to prove all that against Derek Campos at Bellator 138 on Friday night in St. Louis. Chandler might have three losses in a row, but two were controversial split decisions and the other was a bizarre TKO against Will Brooks last November.

Chandler (12-3) dropped the Bellator title to Alvarez in November 2013 in a very tight split decision. Most media members had Chandler winning the fight 48-47, according to MMADecisions.com. In his first fight with Brooks, in May 2014, Chandler lost again by split decision and almost all media members had it for Chandler or a draw.

But Chandler doesn’t blame the judges — or anyone else — for past results. He blames himself. The Alliance MMA product believes he got away from his bread and butter: wrestling. Chandler was an All-American at the University of Missouri and came up the MMA ranks with dominant wrestling.

Lately, he has become more of a standup fighter and Chandler plans to change that. For the first time in a long time, Chandler has hired a wrestling coach, working with Darryl Christian at Studio 540 in Solana Beach, Calif.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re the best boxer in the entire world,” Chandler said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao. If one of them comes into MMA and only works on the ground game, he’s gonna lose that boxing. I was a wrestler who came into it and I didn’t focus as much on my wrestling, because I already had it where I needed to be. I’ve continued to improve my wrestling, which is really my strength. There’s nobody in this division that should be able to wrestle with me. There’s nobody in this division that should be able to get off the cage if I want to put him on the cage. There’s nobody in this division that should be able to stop my takedowns.”

Chandler, 29, has also gone back to his former striking coach Gil Martinez, who he used to work with at Xtreme Couture. Chandler did part of his camp with Martinez in Las Vegas and Martinez will be in his corner Friday night.

“I’m still with Alliance, but I’m not gonna be like put in a box where I have to train with certain coaches,” Chandler said. “I want to be able to look back when I’m 35, 36, 37 years old — whatever — when I retire I want to look back and say I gave myself the best situation possible to win.”

Campos (15-4) is a tough, aggressive fighter in the prime of his career. But by all accounts, Chandler should beat him and put himself on track for a shot at his old title. Campos has won six of his last seven fights, but has losses to Patricky Freire and Rich Clementi in Bellator. Chandler is a -550 favorite.

Not that Chandler is overlooking Campos. Hardly. If he were, he wouldn’t have made these changes in his preparation. He’s very serious about not only making another title run but solidifying his place among the best lightweights in the world.

“If I’m not putting myself in the best situation possible to win fights and become a huge name in this sport, become a champion in this sport, I’m selling myself short in that aspect as far as leaving a legacy and inspiring and motivating people,” Chandler said. “That’s what’s been on my heart and it’s time to right the ship.”