Tag: B.J. Penn

UFC 118 Press Conference Video

Filed under: UFCUFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, former champion B.J. Penn, UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and former boxing champion James Toney will all meet the press, joined by UFC President Dana White, at Wednesday’s UFC 118 pre-fight pres…

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UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, former champion B.J. Penn, UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and former boxing champion James Toney will all meet the press, joined by UFC President Dana White, at Wednesday’s UFC 118 pre-fight press conference. And if you can’t be there in person in Boston, you can watch it right here at MMAFighting.com.

The star of the show is likely to be Toney, who will draw plenty of mainstream media attention and talk plenty of trash about Couture. It’s going to be easy to forget that Edgar-Penn 2 is actually the main event.

The UFC 118 pre-fight press conference begins Wednesday at 3PM ET and the video is below.

Kenny Florian Not Worried About Maynard’s Wrestling, Thanks to Help from GSP

Filed under: UFCEvery fighter wants a chance to compete in front of a hometown crowd. At least they think they do. There’s no hassle with airports, no strange restaurants, no frantic searches for a health food store so you can stock your hotel room wit…

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Every fighter wants a chance to compete in front of a hometown crowd. At least they think they do. There’s no hassle with airports, no strange restaurants, no frantic searches for a health food store so you can stock your hotel room with gluten-free whatever. It’s familiar. It’s home. And it doesn’t hurt that you get to walk out on fight night to a unanimous chorus of cheers.

But sometimes home isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Not when every local media outlet wants a piece of you and every person who ever sat next to in a high school geometry class wants you to get them a ticket to the fights.

That’s the situation Boston native Kenny Florian is in this week. On Saturday night at UFC 118 he takes on Gray Maynard in a fight to determine who will get the next crack at the UFC lightweight title, and he does it in front of a hometown crowd that will place its hopes and expectations for a local victory onto his narrow shoulders.

“It can be a little distracting,” Florian told MMA Fighting. “But it’s stuff I’ve dealt with before. People want you to get them tickets to every fight. You have to win every fight. You always have your fans supporting you and people in your corner expecting you to do well. That’s just how it is.”

Now We’ve Seen it All Alert: BJ Penn and Jens Pulver Make Amends

While Chael Sonnen has been capturing much of the attention lately due to his mouth’s rather alarming ability to entertain and or enrage thousands at the same time, a certain P4P contender named Mr. BJ Penn, has also been known to do the same. As we’ve seen several times over the last few years, Penn’s never really […]

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While Chael Sonnen has been capturing much of the attention lately due to his mouth’s rather alarming ability to entertain and or enrage thousands at the same time, a certain P4P contender named Mr. BJ Penn, has also been known to do the same. As we’ve seen several times over the last few years, Penn’s never really been shy about sharing his ‘true feelings’ (dare we bring up the whole GSP thing?).

After losing to Jens Pulver way back in 2002, Penn never really ‘warmed up’ to the former champ, and during the fifth season of “The Ultimate Fighter” we all witnessed just how much Penn loathed his rival coach (you may recall that Penn cruised through Pulver in the 2007  rematch). Well, apparently time really does heal all wounds. In a video posted on the official BJ Penn site, here is some of what the Hawaiian had to say to Pulver, face to face:

“I’ve known this guy for a long time and over the years I’ve done some bad stuff to him. I’ve said bad things about him and as a man to another man I want to apologize for everything over the years. I know I’m going to need your help one day and as a man to a man that’s all in the past…”

Single tear? Pulver seemed pretty thrilled to be in the good books with BJ; maybe he’s picked up a few pointers for his War on the Mainland fight tomorrow. Jens will take on the 4-1 Diego Garijo, and as you probably know, the likeable Pulver needs a win really, really, really badly.

To bet on BJ’s upcoming rematch with Frankie Edgar head here.

MMA Top 10 Pound-for-Pound: Anderson Silva Slips

Filed under: UFC, WECThere’s another change at the top of my pound-for-pound rankings.

A month ago I dropped Fedor Emelianenko from the top of the list to all the way off the list following his loss to Fabricio Werdum. When Fedor dropped out I moved A…

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There’s another change at the top of my pound-for-pound rankings.

A month ago I dropped Fedor Emelianenko from the top of the list to all the way off the list following his loss to Fabricio Werdum. When Fedor dropped out I moved Anderson Silva to the top. But on Saturday night we watched the worst performance of Anderson Silva’s UFC career, and although Silva pulled off a brilliant submission to win the fight, he struggled enough through the first four and a half rounds that he deserves to drop in the rankings.

Find out who’s No. 1 now, and how far Silva fell, below.

UFC 118 Betting Odds (And No Respect for Frankie Edgar)

The only people close to being as upset as Chael Sonnen and his camp were after getting unexpectedly submitted by Anderson Silva in the fifth round would be the people who wagered their mortgage on Chael Sonnen pulling off the upset…only to see their +350 unexpectedly snatched from them with two minutes remaining. Ouch.
Anyway, we’re just […]

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The only people close to being as upset as Chael Sonnen and his camp were after getting unexpectedly submitted by Anderson Silva in the fifth round would be the people who wagered their mortgage on Chael Sonnen pulling off the upset…only to see their +350 unexpectedly snatched from them with two minutes remaining. Ouch.

Anyway, we’re just a couple of weeks away from the next card, so time to get over it, move on, and take a look at UFC 118 betting odds.

:: Frankie Edgar is the UFC lightweight champion. He pretty much (and shockingly) dominated B.J. Penn in Abu Dhabi. Oddsmakers don’t care. Edgar is a huge dog across the board, listed at +250. Penn is listed from -317 to -350. Now, of course, we think Penn is the more talented fighter, if not the greatest lightweight of all time. But facts are facts, Edgar won the first match, and maybe his style is one that just gives Penn fits. We think Penn wins this fight, but huge value in taking Edgar now at +250. Grab him at BetUS here.

:: Similarly, in the UFC, we’ve learned that nobody really deserves to be a -700ish favorite. But Randy Couture is listed as just that (-600 to -700) against James Toney. Like with Penn, we think Couture wins this one. But we also know Toney is more than capable of connecting a shot that would mean lights out for Couture. We LOVE the value in this one, so grab Toney at +465 here.

MMA Top 10 Pound-for-Pound: Emperor’s Reign Ends

Filed under: UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, Rankings, OverallFedor Emelianenko has been at the top of my list of the Top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in mixed martial arts for a year and a half, since he beat Andrei Arlovski in January 2009. He’s obviously not …

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Fedor Emelianenko has been at the top of my list of the Top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in mixed martial arts for a year and a half, since he beat Andrei Arlovski in January 2009. He’s obviously not at the top anymore, after Fabricio Werdum submitted him in just 69 seconds on Saturday night.

But is Fedor still in the Top 10? Not on my list.

Some people would say Fedor’s body of work merits inclusion in the Top 10, but this isn’t a list of the greatest fighters of all time, it’s a list of the greatest fighters right now. And the soon-to-be 34-year-old Emelianenko, even though he is the greatest fighter of all time, isn’t one of the 10 best right now. My list, the first one I’ve ever put together without Fedor on it, is below.