Latest news with #UFC-record
USA Today
08-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Joe Rogan: B.J. Penn in prime could beat any lightweight
Joe Rogan: B.J. Penn in prime could beat any lightweight – including Khabib Nurmagomedov Joe Rogan thinks B.J. Penn in his prime could take out any UFC lightweight past or present. Penn may have parted ways with the UFC on a seven-fight losing skid, but the former two-division champion had a reputation for being one of the most naturally talented fighters on the roster during his heyday. Rogan raved about Penn's lightweight title run which saw him run through Joe Stevenson, Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian, and Diego Sanchez, defending his belt a UFC-record three times. That record was later tied by numerous fighters, including Khabib Nurmagomedov, who many consider the greatest lightweight in history. But what does Rogan think? "People talk about Khabib being the greatest lightweight of all time, and maybe he is. It's very possible he is," Rogan said on his "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast. "But I would put the B.J. Penn that fought Joe 'Daddy' Stevenson, the B.J. Penn that fought Sean Sherk, the B.J. Penn that was in that peak when he was training ... I would put him against anybody – against anybody. "When he fought Diego Sanchez, he couldn't be stopped. And if you got him to the ground, his f*cking submission game was insane. He was insane off of his back. He would take your back, you were dead. He would knock you out standing up. His kickboxing was elite." The popular podcast host was asked how Nurmagomedov would approach Penn in a fight. "Take him down for sure," Rogan said. "He'd probably fight him the same way Georges St-Pierre did, but the difference in size between B.J. Penn and Georges St-Pierre is pretty significant. B.J. Penn was really a 155-pound guy who actually later in his career fought 145, when he was kind of at the end of his career. But, Georges is way bigger. Georges was a big 170, big muscular 170 with great wrestling, nasty ground-and-pound, and a black belt in jiu-jitsu himself, and also a really good striker." Current UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev recently broke the record for most title defenses when he submitted Renato Moicano for his fourth defense at UFC 311 in January.
USA Today
01-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Dillon Danis vows to retire Tony Ferguson ahead of GFL matchup
Dillon Danis plans to put the nail in the coffin of Tony Ferguson's MMA career. Danis (2-0), who is a part of GFL's Team New York, takes on Team Los Angeles' Ferguson (25-11) in a lightweight main event bout May 25 at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. In his most recent outing, Ferguson suffered a UFC-record eighth consecutive loss when he was submitted by Michael Chiesa this past August. Danis aims to add to 'El Cucuy's' losing skid. 'I'm going to retire Tony Ferguson and bury 'El Cucuy' in the same grave as his win streak,' Danis told MMA Junkie in a text message Tuesday. Danis was scheduled to face KSI in a 185-pound boxing match, slated to headline Misfits Boxing 21 on March 29 in Manchester, England. However, the bout was scrapped when KSI withdrew due to illness. The controversial jiu-jitsu practitioner hasn't competed since boxing YouTube and WWE star Logan Paul in October 2023 – a fight he lost by disqualification. His last MMA fight came in June 2019 when he submitted Max Humphrey at Bellator 222. While Danis is booked to face Ferguson in May, his in-cage return might come even sooner. In a recent interview on 'The Ariel Helwani Show,' Mike Perry revealed that he said yes to replacing KSI against Danis, but in a Misfits-first MMA fight, which would likely take place in April. 'KSI is out, Dillon Danis wants to fight MMA,' Perry said. 'I'm saying yes, so we have got to see what Mams (Taylor) is coming up with over there in Misfits, and they're changing it completely because he was going to fight KSI in boxing. Looks like the date has changed a little bit but might not be too far away. So I said yes to fighting Dillon Danis in MMA, but they've got to come correct. It's a last-minute call, so if they want to make the fight happen, let's do it.'
USA Today
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Tony Ferguson reflects on UFC departure: 'It was the hardest f*cking thing I had to do'
Tony Ferguson's release from the UFC was an emotional time in his career. Ferguson (25-11) parted ways with the UFC after almost 14 years of competing inside the octagon. It was a successful ride for Ferguson, who kickstarted his tenure by winning Season 13 of 'The Ultimate Fighter' in 2011 en route to capturing the UFC interim lightweight championship. However, Ferguson closed out his run on a historic downfall after amassing a UFC-record eight consecutive losses, most recently a submission to Michael Chiesa last August at UFC on ABC 7. 'I have to tell you, I packed up all my UFC stuff, I put it into bags, and it was the hardest f*cking thing I had to do,' Ferguson said Monday on 'The Ariel Helwani Show.' 'It was a couple of days where it took time for me to be able to adjust. I put everything in big storage bags, and I was ready to move on. I went into 'The Ultimate Fighter' with the purpose of winning a fat check so I can help my family out, my grandma and everything, and I ended up getting a contract. So, this whole entire process has never been a disappointment, 'But what it has been is a learning experience of how, one, about how I go about my business. Two, about how I treat my close circle. Three, about how I want to plan for the future. Right now where we're at in this stage, it's so amazing that there is an opportunity for a lot of other people to display their things and new clothes and a new jersey and a new name on the shirt. It's such a great feeling to have and a relief to move on. No bad blood anywhere, I think this is great.' 'I'm a human being' Ferguson has already moved on. He inked a deal with the Global Fight League and said he'll fight Dillon Danis on May 11 in Los Angeles. While Ferguson is at peace with his time in the UFC, he can't help but feel bitter about some of the things that happened – including being stripped of his interim title when he withdrew from his title bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 after blowing out his knee in a freak accident. 'I have fought for f*cking, I don't know how many years waiting for a championship and then getting it and then having it taken and then dangling in front of me again. Like what? What do you think I am? I'm a human being,' Ferguson said. 'I'm not trying to b*tch and moan. I'm a tough motherf*cker, and I'm a human being, but at least if you do this to me, you're not going to feel bad for doing it to the next person. And then there's a lawsuit, and there's other things, but that's not what I'm focused on. My focus is always to what? Keep the sport moving.'
