Retired UFC star B.J. Penn was arrested late Saturday night after allegedly assaulting a friend during an altercation at a Maui hotel.The arrest was first reported by MauiWatch.com and later confirmed by Steph Daniels of Bloody Elbow. The Maui Cou…
Retired UFC star B.J. Penn was arrested late Saturday night after allegedly assaulting a friend during an altercation at a Maui hotel.
The arrest was first reported by MauiWatch.com and later confirmed by Steph Daniels of Bloody Elbow. The Maui County Police Department declined to give any specifics about the case when contacted by Daniels, as did members of Penn’s camp.
MauiWatch.com’s report indicates Penn “severely assaulted” a friend at the Four Seasons Maui. Alcohol is believed to be involved, as Penn was described as being inebriated.
No other details about the case are known at this time. The former UFC light heavyweight champion is from Hawaii and still lives in the area. He retired from mixed martial arts at age 35 last June after losing to Frankie Edgar via TKO at The Ultimate Fighter 19 finale. It was Penn’s third straight defeat.
Three days after defeating Daniel Cormier in their light heavyweight championship bout at UFC 182, pound-for-pound king Jon “Bones” Jones announced his intention to enter a drug rehabilitation facility.
Jones’ attorney released a statement to Kevin Iol…
Three days after defeating Daniel Cormier in their light heavyweight championship bout at UFC 182, pound-for-pound king Jon “Bones” Jones announced his intention to enter a drug rehabilitation facility.
With the support of my family, I have entered into a drug treatment facility. I want to apologize to my fiancée, my children, as well as my mother, father, and brothers for the mistake that I made. I also want to apologize to the UFC, my coaches, my sponsors and equally important to my fans. I am taking this treatment program very seriously. Therefore, at this time my family and I would appreciate privacy.
Jones (21-1, 9 KOs) defeated heated rival Cormier via unanimous decision Saturday night. It was his eighth consecutive title defense, putting him two away from matching the record set by all-time great Anderson Silva.
While the bout went off without a hitch, the Nevada State Athletic Commission confirmed to Iole that Jones failed a drug test on Dec. 4 prior to the bout. The test revealed Jones had benzoylecgonine in his system, which metabolizes cocaine. Iole confirmed Jones was able to pass a subsequent test.
There is no word on when Jones will return to the ring. Bob Bennett, the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s executive director, would not speculate on whether the positive test would affect his eligibility in the future.
“At this point and time, Jones checked himself into a rehab center, and we’ll cross that bridge when he get to it,” Bennett told MMAjunkie.
Looking for a bone-crunching knockout that will end up in endless GIFs and Vines over the next few days? UFC 182 wasn’t for you. The five fights on Saturday night’s main card featured exactly zero knockouts, with each fight going to the judges’ scoreca…
Looking for a bone-crunching knockout that will end up in endless GIFs and Vines over the next few days? UFC 182 wasn’t for you. The five fights on Saturday night’s main card featured exactly zero knockouts, with each fight going to the judges’ scorecards.
For the most part, the results were self-explanatory. Donald Cerrone and Brad Tavares each earned clean 30-27 sweeps in wins over Myles Jury and Nate Marquardt, respectively, while Kyoji Horiguchi and Hector Lombard each only dropped a round on one judges’ scorecard. (Note: Of course, those who watched the Fox Sports 1 prelim saw a flurry of knockouts, but we’re not counting those for these purposes.)
One could easily argue the closest fight of the evening came in the main event. The otherwise staid card was to some saved by the world’s best pound-for-pound mixed martial artist, as Jon Jones retained his light heavyweight championship via unanimous decision over Daniel Cormier. While all three judges scored the fight four rounds to one in Jones’ favor, the action lived up to its intense build-up for the most part.
Cormier came out from the opening bell as the aggressor, looking to burrow his way close to the longer Jones and eliminate his reach advantage. The 35-year-old, who’d been undefeated coming into Saturday night, had a strong Round 1 and was by far the better fighter in Round 2. Getting out of the gate strong, Cormier was able to land a series of clean punches to begin gathering momentum
Early in Round 3, it would have been fair to wonder if we were headed for a historic upset to start 2015. Cormier went immediately back to the strategy that got him the second-round victory, peppering Jones with shots that appeared to make the champion a little weak in the knees.
But following a short stoppage, Jones gathered himself, took control and did not look back. A flurry of well-placed kicks and continued movement forced Cormier‘s aggressive tactics to slow, and Jones’ impeccable conditioning seemed to be an advantage as the fight progressed. He dominated the fourth round from start to finish and closed the final round with enough gusto that he decided to top off the victory with a nod to WWE’s Attitude Era.
“It felt great (to take him down),” Jones said after the fight to Joe Rogan (h/t Steven Muehlhausen of Sporting News). “The undefeated ‘DC,’ the haters, all the crap he talked, it motivated me. I took him down. I think it was like, I don’t know, five takedowns to zero. For everybody who bought a Break Bones shirt, take it back now. You wasted your money. I’m sorry I’m being classless right now. I do not like ‘DC,’ and this is why I’m being this way.”
Jones’ win was his eighth title defense and 12th straight victory overall. There is rarely any question that Jones is the best light heavyweight in the sport’s history. Now, increasingly, it’s a question of whether he’s the baddest man the sport has ever seen period.
The shortlist begins with Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre, well-rounded superstars with long and storied careers. After that would be a series of question marks, depending on how much leeway you give forebears like Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, who helped build the sport from the ground up but may not have always been as polished as today’s elite.
“I will put Georges and Anderson above me, and that will keep me honest. It will keep me determined and driven. I’ll keep that as my psychology until it can’t be argued anymore,” Jones told Anton Tabuena of Bloody Elbow, though at the same time saying he has the “toughest resume” of anyone in history. “2015 will be my best year.”
For as much bluster as he brings to the table, Jones isn’t far off. He’s two away from matching Silva’s record for the most title defenses with 10, and there doesn’t appear anyone within his general stratosphere as a fighter. No light heavyweights come close to touching most pound-for-pound rankings. The best potential match on the table would be against Cain Velasquez, but that would involve one of the pair shedding or gaining significant weight.
Like Silva’s reign atop the middleweight division, Jones appears to have no equal in sight. Anthony Johnson is probably next in line if he can defeat Alexander Gustafsson later this month, and Rashad Evans looms as a potential spoiler if he can stay healthy.
But for now, any effort to take down Jones appears futile. Get used to it.
When Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes first stepped into the Octagon two years ago, the high-profile bout was over before it could begin. An Aldo knee to Mendes’ skull knocked the challenger out and allowed the champion to retain his title, though the quick e…
When Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes first stepped into the Octagon two years ago, the high-profile bout was over before it could begin. An Aldo knee to Mendes‘ skull knocked the challenger out and allowed the champion to retain his title, though the quick ending proved something of an anticlimactic finish to the anticipated fight.
When Aldo and Mendes agreed to get into the ring once more, again it seemed only disappointment would follow. An Aldo neck injury forced the promotion to wipe out UFC 176 altogether, as the promotion was unable to find a suitable opponent for Mendes in time to justify holding the event. Rescheduled for Saturday’s UFC 179, Aldo and Mendes knew they’d have to turn in the fight of their lives to justify the surrounding hype.
They did just that. And then some. Aldo managed to retain the featherweight championship with all three scorecards reading 49-46 in the champion’s favor. In a five-round fight, that might look like a blowout. But the scorecards in this case do not tell the whole story, as Aldo and Mendes turned in one of the best fights of 2014.
Both fighters had opportunities to seal the deal. Aldo and Mendes traded first-round knockdowns, Mendes dominated the fourth round and Aldo had his opponent on the proverbial ropes at numerous points. When it looked like one fighter was about to take over, though, the other would come battling back—as if each were writing the script to their own sports movie.
The only stoppages in the action came when Mendes twice poked Aldo in the eye, first in the opening round and then again in the third. No points were deducted from either fighter’s total, though the decision to not shave a point from Aldo following a late first-round punch was controversial. It’s impossible to tell how a points deduction would have altered the fight—the result here is immaterial because of how fights can ebb and flow—but UFC president Dana White and Aldo both claim there was no intent to injure.
“After that first round, a couple people came over and started saying, ‘He hit him with two punches after the bell. That was late,’” White told John Morgan of MMA Junkie. “I didn’t hear anything. It was so loud in that arena, I didn’t hear it. It didn’t look like the referee heard it.”
In the end, the judges got their cards right. Aldo, despite some of the best tactical fighting of Mendes‘ career, never lost control of the fight. The champion was an expert at halting the momentum of his challenger, only ceding during a fourth round that he seemingly punted away. Having secured the first three rounds by most objective observations, it’s possible that Aldo gave Mendes the fourth round to conserve energy.
“I think every fight is the toughest fight of my career,” Aldo said, perBrett Okamoto of ESPN.com. “I think I deserved to win. He hit me a few times but I him a lot more. But congratulations to Chad Mendes. I have respect for him, his whole team, his family. Inside [the cage] it is a rivalry, but outside we’re friends.”
The win was Aldo’s seventh title defense and his 18th straight victory overall. The 28-year-old Brazilian has become a master of doing exactly what’s needed to dominate a fight. Aggressive, TKO-heavy bouts of his early career have slowly ceded to more and more decision wins. Five of his seven title defenses have gone to the judges’ scorecards, with not a single one having him on the losing end.
In some ways, Aldo is emerging as a generational answer to Floyd Mayweather. Like Mayweather, Aldo thrives when he’s taking away what an opponent does best. Aldo, like Mayweather, is a very good offensive fighter but a great defensive tactician. Comparing anyone to Mayweather is unfair—especially given his single-handed propping up of his sport—but Aldo is well on his way to carving a sterling long-term legacy.
Saturday night, Aldo showed what he could do when challenged. It’s a side we’ve rarely seen since he moved up from the WEC in 2010. It’s also a side that seemed to bring out the best from one of the world’s mixed martial artists. It’s a side we expected in their first fight, waited for despite the postponement of their second and finally got in Rio deJaneiro.
More than two years after being excised from the UFC and left to pick up what was left of his tattered mixed martial arts career, Anthony Johnson proved once again it’s never too late for a comeback story.
Johnson, in his first UFC fight since January …
More than two years after being excised from the UFC and left to pick up what was left of his tattered mixed martial arts career, Anthony Johnson proved once again it’s never too late for a comeback story.
Johnson, in his first UFC fight since January 2012, shocked the world with his unanimous-decision victory over Phil Davis, beating high odds and slowing the momentum of perhaps the sport’s most red-hot light heavyweight. With a flurry of punches from the opening bell and ice-cold disposition, one would have never guessed which one of these men was fighting for his career.
Johnson was dominant from the opening bell. He left nothing to chance. He stalked around the ring and waited for his openings in the first round, and when Davis let his guard down for a second, Johnson began striking like he was trying to recreate the lyrics to Jay Z’s “Heaven.” Arm, leg, leg, arm, head, this was indeed God body but not by the man anyone expected.
Davis, who to his credit showed great toughness, saw a huge cut above his eye by the end of the first five minutes. Johnson’s combination of power, speed and sterling strategy made it clear from the opening seconds he was not to be taken as an underdog. By the time the bell rung to close the first round, the entire narrative focus had shifted.
The next two rounds didn‘t go much differently. Johnson stalked, punched and kicked Davis to near-knockout status multiple times, as the No. 4 contender in the light heavyweight division merely tried to stay off the ground. Davis rarely mounted anything resembling momentum. Not one of Davis’ eight takedown attempts was successful—a death knell for a former collegiate wrestling star so reliant on his ground work.
When the judges came out with the scorecards, it was a mere formality. There would be no C.J. Ross in this judging pool—it was impossible. With three consecutive 30-27 scorecards, Johnson staked an early claim in the light heavyweight division while sending a message that his second UFC chance would not go like the first.
“Every win is a great win, this one included,” Johnson told reporters, per MMA Junkie. “He had good movement; he’s a very evasive fighter—not to mention he has an incredibly hard head. I didn’t have any octagon jitters. I felt right at home back in the UFC.”
“Home” would not have been the word to describe Johnson’s relationship with UFC prior to Saturday night.
Johnson’s last fight in the UFC was a first-round submission loss at the hands of VitorBelfort at UFC 142. A former rising contender, Johnson’s issues with making weight became so pronounced that UFC president Dana White had enough. When Johnson came in overweight—resulting in a catchweight bout—and then turned in a borderline embarrassing performance against Belfort, White released him from the promotion.
“That was one of the most unprofessional things I’ve ever seen,” White told reporters at the time. “The guy was at 170 pounds. He moved up to 185 pounds so this wouldn’t happen anymore, and this is the worst weightcutting disaster he’s ever had. He almost ruined the co-main event here in Brazil. I don’t know what else to say about that one. I’m not happy about it.”
It was the third time Johnson missed weight in his first 11 UFC bouts. White promised to cut and ban Johnson, who bounced around from Titan Fighting Championship to the World Series of Fighting during his hiatus, if he failed to make weight again.
“That’s the man who changed me,” Johnson said of White. “He made me turn into a beast.”
Now, the question opens of what comes next. Johnson was one of the strongest underdogs on the card, per Oddsshark. Davis was the fourth-ranked fighter in the light heavyweight division. Johnson was fighting in his first light heavyweight division bout in UFC.
Yet Johnson was so good, it calls into question not only Davis’ long-term status—he’s probably at least three straight wins away from a title fight at this point—but also what White can do with his redemptive star.
Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who earned a unanimous-decision win over Glover Teixeira on Saturday, already has a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson in his crosshairs. Rashad Evans still has no set return date from his ACL tear. Maybe Dan Henderson could be an option if he defeats Daniel Cormier at UFC 173, or Teixeira and Johnson could agree to link up.
White needs to put Johnson in the ring against a test and attempt to capitalize on the momentum soon. I doubt he’s trusting in Johnson enough to put him alone on a main card—he would probably be a co-headliner at this point—but what we saw Saturday night was the grounds for something special.
At age 30, Johnson is still more than young enough to compete toward the top of the division for the foreseeable future. His combination of hard striking and takedown defense presents a challenge to everyone he steps into the ring with.
The version of Johnson in Baltimore was not the man who left UFC two years ago. He was hardened, motivated by the two-year absence that nearly stripped his livelihood away. The man who talked before the bout was one far more mature than we’d seen him at any point. The result was bar none the best I can ever remember Johnson being in an Octagon.
For Johnson and the UFC, just one question remains: Can he stay motivated enough to keep it up?
UFC welterweight star Georges St-Pierre suffered a torn left ACL while in training recently and will undergo surgery this week, the fighter announced on his Twitter feed Thursday:
It’s unclear as to what St-Pierre refers to when he says “training…
UFC welterweight star Georges St-Pierre suffered a torn left ACL while in training recently and will undergo surgery this week, the fighter announced on his Twitter feed Thursday:
It’s unclear as to what St-Pierre refers to when he says “training.” The longtime UFC Welterweight Champion vacated the title in December after a grueling split-decision victory over Johny Hendricks and was taking some needed time away from the sport.
While St-Pierre, 32, never officially retired, it was unknown whether he was planning an immediate return to the ring or simply training to stay in shape. Hendricks captured St-Pierre’s vacated championship with a unanimous-decision win over Robbie Lawler at UFC 171 this month.
Working sporadically as a fight analyst and with the UFC making public appearances, St-Pierre hasn’t sounded like someone itching for a comeback. He told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports before UFC 171 that he was better off having given up the title, and his life without the competitive pressure has allowed him to decompress:
When I have a fight, it completely takes over my brain and all of my thoughts. From the day they told me, ‘Georges, you’re going to fight this guy, or you’re going to fight that guy,’ I didn’t think of anything else. When I was awake, it was always in my head and in my mind. I would completely obsess about every detail of that fight. ‘Am I doing this right? Do I need to do this? Should I do that?’ It was crazy.
St-Pierre will be forced into an even longer break now—whether he was planning it or not. This is the second time the Canadian has torn an ACL in the last three years. In December 2011, St-Pierre blew out his right knee while training for a fight with Nick Diaz at UFC 143 and was forced to sit out until the following November while recovering.
He came back to the ring 11 months later, which falls in line with a typical ACL timetable. Depending on the sport and how rehabilitation goes, recovery from ACL tears usually last at least eight months.
More than recovery time, though, one has to wonder whether this setback will push St-Pierre into permanent retirement. It was obvious that the limelight and pressure was eating him away toward the end of last year, and the potential to take a full year off could make him realize he’s better off riding off into the television sunset.
Then again, with athletes like St-Pierre, it’s impossible to tell. His legendary competitive spirit may kick in one last time and force him into a rigorous rehabilitation program aimed at a comeback—simply to prove that he can do it. Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden is one of many who have pointed out how much the sport would benefit from his return:
Ultimately, time will tell the story. But now more than ever, it looks like the final shot UFC fans will get of St-Pierre in the ring is of him raising his hand after his controversial win over Hendricks.
Looking for a bone-crunching knockout that will end up in endless